You Should Do This: Front Rack Reverse Lunge

  No quippy, I'd like to think, witty, intro to this one. The Front Rack Reverse Lunge, it's a bitch boss exercise. If you do it, it'll make you better That should be enough. But I have to find something semi-interesting long winded to say I guess, so here goes. Why Reverse Lunge in The First Place: Easier on The Knees: Initiating the movement by sitting back into the hips activates the musculature around the hips (glutes, hams etc) preferentially. This means you're FAR less likely to ram the femur into the kneecap (you can, it's just much more difficult than in forward lunges). Initiating into the hip also helps to lessen the chances of a … [Read more...]

You Should Do This: Offset RDL

Sometimes I think, "WOW that would be a GREAT exercise." "I wonder why no one has done them before? I'm so smart." Then I search the YouTube and learn. People already do it. Have done it for years. I'm not that smart and mostly. THERE IS NOTHING NEW IN EXERCISE. Except Tri-phasic training, that was legit new. Its ALL been done before. So when I had a false ephipany and thought, "Offset RDL's would be a GREAT exercise. I'm glad I thought of them." I hadn't. Within 3 days, I saw a video of them on the Instagram. Silver Lining: That's kind of a good thing, finding that other people do actually think these are worthwhile. Why? Because that … [Read more...]

You Should Do This: Hamstring Slider Curls

I'm going to tell you something you probably don't want to hear... You Have a Weak Core, Ass and Hamstrings... Just kidding, you read this blog enough to know that already. The Posterior Chain: Essentially its all the muscles on the back of the body. Calves Hamstrings Glutes Spinal Errectors Lats Rhomboids Traps Rear Delts Traps Triceps Its important and its usually chronically under trained. Fun Fact: Go find the guy in the gym with a big hard ass and a thick heavy yoke (upper back and shoulders) and I'm gonna bet you he's a strong mutha that can lift some serious stuff. Hamstrings and Glutes, A Match Made in Heaven: Hamstrings … [Read more...]

You Should Do This: Single Leg Deadlift with the Angled Barbell

Just About Everyone Should Deadlift.  I mean, they're pretty much the epitome of a "functional" exercise. Like, ya kinda gotta pick stuff up off the ground. But deadlifts with the straight bar can be the DEVIL. Yes, IF you do them with correct technique you'll be ok. IF you have proper: Mobility Bracing Muscle activation Strength TECHNIQUE You'll be ok. But what happens when you don't have perfect technique, like when you're not qualified to do the lift or fatigue sets in? Truth is, there is a HIGH possibility of: Bad SH@T Happening And unlike some other lifts, when Bad Sh@t Happens in the straight bar deadlift there typically … [Read more...]

You Should Do This: Band Good Morning with Band Around Knees

Ohh low backs, how you ruin our lives.. Truth is, it's not our low backs fault. It's our fault: we develop faulty movement patterns and then unknowingly do things that exacerbate the issue. In this case it's the ability to hinge at the hips. This is mostly comes down to 2 factors:   #1: Initiating Movement at the Low Back #2: A lack of Glute Activation Once we can initiate movement from the hips and turn the glutes on everything else falls in line and you might actually start loading your hips instead of your low back. But I Already Know How To Hinge: Maybe you don't... It's fairly common for experienced exercises to overreach lower back to create a … [Read more...]

Make the Lat Pulldown Machine Useful

For the most part I'm not a big fan of weight machines, but lat pulldowns are pretty good. Especially with the neutral grip bar.... http://youtu.be/JzSzsCGGGeI Thats my online client Nate Dog...doing lat pulldown, nothing special here, just needed a good video and he does a good job. [Tweet "Usually weight machines are nothing but $3-7 thousand dollar coat hangers"]. Fun Fact: Almost every weight machine was produced to replicate a barbell movement. Yeah, I know body builders like them. Yeah, I know that sometimes they do give you a different "feel" and hit the muscle better than a/ the barbell equivalent. <------ Pec Deck: the arms straight kind … [Read more...]