Articles - Gary Heshiki Fitness: Recent Episodes

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You wake up in the morning and give it a big stretch before rolling to the side to start your day. Then you stand up and your back gives you a sharp twinge. What do we do now?

Is it your back or your hips?    Our back would include areas directly over the spinal column or off to the sides.

Our hips would include anything below the top of your pelvic bones. Things like SIJ and piriformis related issues can be lumped into a hip issue.

It’s Your Back

Issues related to spinal column dysfunction can generally be categorized as mechanical or neuro. Meaning either there’s something about how you’re moving (not moving) or you have some nerve involvement. Ultimately, restoring motion through a segment of the spinal column that doesn’t currently move is the key to create measurable change in a spine.

I think of this exact scene anytime I’m teaching isometric ramping.

It all begins with increasing ones ability to sense an area of the body. If you can’t voluntarily contract an area, you don’t have control and thus will have changes at rest.

If you have neural (nerve) symptoms, this changes things a bit but at that point I would have referred you to an in-person provider.

It’s Your Hips

Can you move your femur? How well does your pelvis move around a fixed femur?

These are two distinctions within hip mobility and both require a slightly different approach. When starting with the femur on pelvis, I’d like to see go IR and ER.

Easy place to start is with a 90-90 hip shift. This comes from PRI, where the goal is help get you into a position to be able to access neutrality. Not keeping you in a state a neutral, which is theoritcally impossible, but to transition.

What you may notice is a smoother walk afterwards and potentially less lower back pain.

This was my go-to approach for managing most hip issues. But what I’ve learned is that you can ramp up for days, but unless you’re able to access both sides of your pelvis in a more balanced and controlled way, the benefits will always be limited.

Takeaways

• Take a moment to stay calm, it can be jarring to get out of bed and be in pain.
• Get your body to settle down using a 90-90 hip lift with shift.
• Increase tension through the lower back with 2 positional isometrics (Hip IR and lumbar spine)

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 Are we missing the picture on training?

Achilles ruptures aren’t random or bad luck. Training science hasn’t fully adapted to reflect this reality, mainly because many of our current models are centered around different limiting constraints.

Thanks to Soviet and Bulgarian training systems, we now understand that neurological output is often the primary constraint in performance. However, the prevailing strategies, like deloading, fail to consider other critical factors.

Why deloading isn’t the solutionLet’s start by defining reactive strength.

Reactive strength is traditionally understood as the ability to utilize the stretch-shortening cycle, a key quality often equated with athleticism. It’s what gives an athlete that “pop” or their ability to change direction, accelerate, and get off the ground quickly.

Rate of force development (RFD) eccentrically equally as important as RFD concentrically

More specifically, it’s the capacity to transition rapidly from eccentric (lengthening) to concentric (shortening) contractions—to absorb force and then produce maximal force in another direction within a short time window.

This is often measured through a reactive strength index or RSI. This is calculated by dividing the height jumped with ground contact time. This can be improved by increasing jump height or decreased ground contact time. However, RSI testing requires specialized equipment, which becomes a barrier for many coaches seeking to understand or train reactive strength effectively.

Reactive strength is directly related to a term called rate of force development. What we see as explosiveness is the simultaneous output of your CNS to recruit the muscular tissue via CT tissue.

Rate of force developement is generally understood by many as a purely concentric action. This however is only one component of reactive strength.

In reality, reactive strength depends on the rapid transition between eccentric and concentric phases, meaning both the lengthening and shortening of tissue must occur at a high rate of force (application).

Explosive strength, therefore is the result of both CNS output and tissue-specific function.

Take for example an NBA player undergoing load management. The athlete is rested, allowing their CNS to recover. As a result, their RSI improves. But here's the issue: their connective tissue which is highly sensitive to mechanical load also gets deloaded.

This tissue is highly sensitive to mechanical load as a stimulus. The output of strength and afferent information of reactive strength work on different timelines in terms of an optimal strategy for progressing reactive strength.

• CNS recovery 1-3 days
• Connective tissue recovery 5-7 hours post stimulus

So when an athlete comes back their nervous system has recovered but their connective has regressed further from where it needs to be. This mismatch of neuro and biology creates a big asymmetry which is why the strategy is failing.

The NBA in particular has a reactive strength problem. According to their return to play data, 36.8% either retired or play fewer than 10 games post injury in their career.

What is the Deloading Strategy? Each team differs, I don’t presume to know what every protocol looks like, all the general public has is access to this publication on policy regarding injuries.

What’s the logic behind this?

• Fatigue is a big RSI risk factor which is highly monitored
• When the number drops below a mean, a player is rested.

What’s the solution? We don’t need deloading strategies, we need better programming.

1. Output of RSI - also measuring tissue-tension to identify CT abnormalities in addition to RSI measurements.
2. Stimulation of CT tissue more frequently - High frequency input for the CT allowing the tissue to keep working and moving towards balance with the CNS.
3. Loading continuum - Using treatment and training concurrently, allowing optimal frequency of tension or load without fatiguing the nervous system.

Movement is Feedback
Movement provides feedback which directly impacts CNS output. The argument can be made that RSI alone is not going to provide an NBA staff enough information to manage CT injuries. Discerning the length-tension changes provides the missing information to base decisions on how to proceed.

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When we take a step back and look at human movement from a broad perspective, our body processes the world through three key systems: visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive. This means that how you move provides your brain with critical information about your environment and your body's condition.

When a muscle is injured, its firing patterns change, altering how the brain perceives and controls movement. This is one reason why chronic injuries take so long to resolve—your brain has adapted to compensate, often in ways that reinforce dysfunction.

That’s why the varying sensations of stretch, tension, and contraction you experience are more than just local discomfort; they’re clues about a larger, often overlooked, neurological picture. All of this information is processed by your nervous system, which can either facilitate movement or, more commonly, create barriers by increasing pain sensitivity or muscular tension.

For clinicians, it's easy to get caught up in data and high-tech assessments. But one of the simplest and most valuable tools we have is asking our patients what they feel. Combining this subjective feedback with a solid understanding of biomechanics and anatomy allows us to make more effective treatment decisions—without overcomplicating the process.

What I do:

• I like to ask all my clients the same questions during assessments: what are you feeling? Where? Is the contraction or stretch even?
• When we do our rehab, same questions related to assessments, when you move or lift, how do you feel things are being loaded.
• In combination with what I see, we come to a conclusion of something being effective or not.

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GH Note:

I attempted to get this paper published a few times, honestly I don’t much want to go through the process of editing and formatting this for each different journal. Instead, in line with my goal this year of open sourcing the information I’ve learned for the betterment of all coaches and therapists; here it is for you to read.

A question that gets raised all the time, if the system is great why is there no research. There are cited papers to show where the ideas are generated from, but even fellow certified practitioners continue to struggle with these concepts and ideas as it pertains to what is currently available research wise. Hence, this is where the idea for this paper was born. I suppose since it will live here on my website, it can be a living document I periodically update.

Gary

Editorial: Functional Range Conditioning (FRC): Where’s the Research?

Dr. Gary Heshiki, DPT, CSCS

Gary.heshiki@gmail.com

Doctor of Physiotherapy, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist

No university affiliation

Sydney, NSW Australia

The author does not have any financial disclosure

No external funding received

The author states a conflict of interest as a certified FRC practitioner but does receive any financial benefit or funding through Functional Anatomy Seminars

Functional Range Conditioning (FRC) : Where’s the Research?

Abstract

Background: Functional range conditioning (FRC) is a mobility-strength training system created by Dr. Andreo Spina focusing on joint health optimization based on scientific principles and research (FRS1). Popularized over a decade ago, FRC has been presented to hundreds of professional sports teams and consulted with NASA. Despite the recognition FRC has gained, there is a dearth of direct research examining FRC within the strength and conditioning or rehabilitative fields.

Clinical Questions: What are relevant studies corroborating the usage of Controlled Articular rotations (CARs) and Progressive Angular Isometric Loading (PAILs) and Regressive Isometric Loading (RAILs)?

Key Results: A 2018 systematic review by Oranchuk et al (2018 23) examined the various effects of isometric exercise in varying joint angles. This review collated various trainable qualities encompassing the FRC system, including concepts from various adjacent scientific fields.

Clinical Application: Through the clinical adoption of CARs, coaches can confidently manage clients in a time-efficient and empowering methodology.

Key Words: FRC, Cars, Pails, Rails, isometrics, objective assessments, Physiotherapy, chiropractic

This commentary aims to help coaches and specialists connect the dots behind the principles of the FRC system in the hopes of future clinical research.

INTRODUCTION:

Clinicians working within a musculoskeletal setting use range of motion as a primary clinical outcome measure (Gajosik and Bohannon2). This is based on a rigid understanding of a joint’s degrees of freedom. We currently understand a shoulder to have three degrees of freedom (DOF), knees to have two, and so on as understood through arthrokinematics. This assumes looking at human movement only within the constraints of a rigid system. When examining adjacent fields of science, it is understood that the human body is a dynamic system with access to an infinite number of positions. This was originally proposed by Bernstein as a DOF problem (Bernstein3). When examining human movement as a system, we look at capacity as a measurable unit where we build from the inside to increase the system’s ability to undertake demands. This examines it as a system that has a global space in which it can work. For years, our understanding of DOF has been rigid to make it easier to study the function of a joint by reducing the variables to account for. When we substitute DOF for functional degrees of freedom (fDOF) we can focus on a non-linear view of human movement as a phase space that is made up of an infinite number of combinations for movement (Li4).

The rationale for an alternative MSK standard assessment of joint rotation is proposed. In human movement, each joint represents a single specific DOF. Life is inherently multidimensional, characterized by diverse movements in various planes. When analyzing what we traditionally consider as linear motions, the primary joints typically function through a combination rotational mechanisms. This prompts us to ask: When studying movement, where does one motion transition into another, such as horizontal abduction to full flexion? Our understanding of movement is currently defined by DOF, specifically altering joint positions to affect the DOF accessible to our bodies.

Introduced by Functional Anatomy Seminars, a CAR refers to an active, rotational movement performed at the outer limits of a joint's range of motion (ROM). Through CARs, FRC attempts to account for both rotational and transitional zones of movement. For instance, an individual progresses from a straight-line shoulder flexed position into abduction, then internally rotates to explore the outer limits of their active range of motion (ROM). This approach allows clinicians to gain a comprehensive view of an individual's fDOF and articular health.

Understanding CARs:

Our joint capsules contain specialized receptors such as Ruffini-like receptors, Golgi tendon organs in ligaments, and encapsulated Pancian-lie corpuscles. These mechanoreceptors are densely concentrated in regions associated with extreme movements, with capsular tissue serving as the primary sensory mechanism to detect these limits. They provide afferent information to the central nervous system (CNS), activating reflex mechanisms aimed at preventing injury (Zimny et al5). During a CAR, the muscle spindle undergoes stretching, transmitting sensory information to the CNS. This activity enhances alpha motor neuron function and helps maintain optimal length-tension properties (McGee6 Scholz and Campbell7).

During a CAR, the joint is moved through its full range, emphasizing end ranges of motion. This practice aligns with one of the fundamental principles of CARs, illustrating the effective transmission of afferent-efferent information between joint mechanoreceptors and the central nervous system (CNS). A CAR serves as an external indicator of the cortical action map, reflecting the brain's perception of spatial orientation based on sensory feedback. Changes in afferent information from peripheral joints are believed to precede neuroplastic changes in neural activation (Ward et al8).

When examining the glenohumeral joint (GHJ), it primarily consists of synovial cells, fibroblasts, and an extracellular matrix (ECM). The ECM is mainly type I collagen fibers in the superficial layers and type II and III collagen fibers in the deeper tissue layers. Type I mechanoreceptors are slow-adapting and primarily responsible for kinesthetic awareness (Cooper et al9). This is the histological pattern seen in the shoulder, hips, and neck, whereas the lumbar spine, hand, and feet primarily contain type II mechanoreceptors. This reinforces the idea that changes in areas of greater type I mechanoreceptors will require more frequent input to drive adaption.

Figure 1: From left to right, positions and transition zones of a shoulder CAR.

Figure 2: From left to right, positions and transitions zones returning through a shoulder CAR.

Capsular Assessment Through CARs

The posterior capsule limits posterior translation of the humeral head on the glenoid, and it tightens with glenohumeral joint (GHJ) internal rotation (IR) and GHJ horizontal adduction (HAD) (Hjelm et al10, Dashottar and Borstad11). Histological studies have shown that ligaments contain extensive populations of receptors, including Ruffini, Pacinian, and Golgi receptors (Duthon et al12, Zimny and Wink13, Zimny et al14)

A primary diagnostic use of CARs is examining if the restriction is a closing angle joint pain. If we understand GHJ IR and HAD to increase tension on the posterior capsule, it is surmised that if it is not able to accept the load, it will result in a closing angle joint pain eg: as one moves into internal rotation, you get pain anteriorly in the direction you are moving in. Similarly, we can attribute part of the closing angle joint pain experienced during end-range hip flexion to a possible lack of posterior translation of the femoral head within the acetabulum (Addison, D.E.15).

Using this information:

Building off the work of Stephen Levin and biotensgrity, a mechanical model, that takes into consideration the fascia line system (Bordoni and Meyers Thomas Meyers 16), FRC has coined a term called bioflow which is defined as a conceptual framework to understand the continuous nature of human movement and the tissues that produce it (FRS 1).

When we break down the system from a cellular level, first we understand that musculoskeletal muscle fibers are heterogenous and not homogenous. This is interpreted as fiber architecture made of short fibers in series as opposed to one long fiber running the length of attachment sites (Heron and Richmond 17). Based on this understanding of fiber architecture hierarchy, the gaps between these short fibers are filled in with connective tissue. Both Levin and Spina posit that connective tissue is not merely a passive structure but one that is involved in force production and transmission of said forces to be propagated through the system.

The work of Helene Langevin has been pivotal in the development of the FRC system as it confirms the importance of connective tissue within the human movement system. The linking of readily available research will serve as the foundation from which future research can investigate the system’s efficacy and validate FRC as a primary system that therapists might use to run their patients through. Langevin’s work centered around a change in conceptual understanding that the deformation of connective tissues to stretch demonstrated alpha and beta-actin response despite not being myofibroblastic cells. This explains how mechanotransduction and subsequent dynamic remodeling occur over time (Langevin et al 18-19). This serves as the foundation for the physiological changes that might explain the benefits of FRC’s second core modality, pails and rails.

Pails and Rails

These are isometric contractions, sometimes combined with stretching, used to communicate with both the connective tissue and neurological systems (FRS1). PAILs look to train articular angles to focus on articular strength at angles with the purported benefit of tissue adaptations at shorter tissue angles.

When reviewing stretch physiology, our current flexibility can be seen as our stretch tolerance. This is determined by your previous CNS experience and the ability of your muscles to function at a particular range (Magnusson et al 20). As we progressively increase the CNS ability to control new ranges of motion, we now effectively activate the greatest number of motor units via our understanding of overcoming isometrics (Thibaudeau 22). Current understanding within strength and conditioning (S&C) of the SAID principle can be applied not only to musculoskeletal tissue but all the enveloping tissues as they too contain contractile properties (Klinger et al 21). We can surmise that contractile proteins contain tensile properties and the ability to adapt to loads.

Key Result

Pails contractions are understood to be an overcoming isometric. The goal here is to contact the greatest amount of tissue on the lengthened side. Rails contractions are understood as an end-range active isometric contraction or a yielding isometric contraction. While the nomenclature suggests it’s an isometric, it is an active and persistent attempt at increasing tensile forces in the respective tissues (Thibaudeau 22).

A 2018 systematic review by Oranchuk et al (2018 23) examined the various effects of isometric exercise in varying joint angles. One aspect was comparing isometrics at short (SML) and long (LML) muscle lengths regarding muscle architecture. The vastus lateralis fascicle length at mid portion increased following short muscle length isometrics. Whereas LML increased distal fascicle length within the same muscle (Noorkoiv et al 24).

Tendon adaptations were investigated across six studies focusing on structural and functional changes. Notably, high-intensity isometric training led to significant increases in both Achilles tendon cross-sectional area and stiffness, whereas low-intensity training did not produce similar effects. A limitation of these studies was the narrow range of intensities examined, specifically at 55% and 90% of maximal voluntary isometric contraction, leaving a significant portion of the intensity spectrum unaddressed (Kubo et al 25).

Research suggests that long muscle length (LML) training favors morphological changes in the tendon. For instance, Kubo et al. examined knee extensors at 50 and 90 degrees of flexion, finding that training at the latter angle resulted in significant increases in tendon stiffness, as indicated by elongation of the distal tendon and aponeurosis. In contrast, short muscle length (SML) training led to only minor changes, supporting the conclusion that tendon adaptation can occur irrespective of muscle length during training. This underscores the idea that the greater load associated with long muscle contractions may contribute to positive tendon adaptations. All basic properties within the system of FRC in musculoskeletal training and therapy.

Currently in pre-publication by (Oranchuk et al27), a 2024 review highlights key principles regarding the use of isometrics in rehabilitation and training. The authors distinguish between two types of isometrics: "pushing" to represent overcoming isometrics (e.g., PAILs) and "holding" to represent yielding isometrics (e.g., RAILs).

The review emphasizes that yielding isometrics (holding patterns) tends to increase muscle activation with fewer neurological disturbances, particularly in joint pain. During yielding isometrics, there is an initial neurological activation followed by a sustained hold, which is less complex than the continuous adjustments required during isotonic movements. This balanced contraction reduces shearing forces across the joint, a principle that has been supported by its application in various injury management protocols.

Interestingly, most isometric protocols examined in the review focused on mid-range joint positions (90 deg), where resistance training commonly occurs. This positioning may influence the observed outcomes, as mid-range is associated with favorable joint mechanics and muscle recruitment. The authors also reported uneven distributions of effort between overcoming and yielding isometrics, noting that overcoming isometrics (pushing patterns) facilitates greater neurological adaptations.

A major drawback from this review is that the majority of studies (39/54) investigated intensities lower than 30% of intensity whereas a small amount (5/34) examined contractions up at 100% max voluntary isometric contraction intensity.

I propose that yielding or holding isometrics, which do not involve pushing against an external object, are inherently less stable and therefore less intense. This distinction may further explain differences in muscular and neurological responses between these two isometric strategies.

Clinical questions

Clinically this is a change from the traditional view of assessing movement to adopt a deeper, less empirical view of movement where one looks to remove a systems 1 approach to assessment (Tay et al26). Movement assessments come with drawbacks, primarily the inability to discern between aberrant tissue behavior and one that is related to motor control, e.g.: a poor squat does not equal a weak hip.

Clinical Application

When using CARs, breaking down the movement into positions and transition zones promotes inter-therapist consistency. Thereby improving therapist outcomes as an improvement in CARs can be seen as greater capsular tissue quality and increased workspace.

An overlooked benefit of running FRC to assess clients is the significant time savings. Traditional assessment methods require observing active motion before passive motion. Prioritizing efficient use of training time, the ability to evaluate a patient’s movement and identify dysfunctional joints without switching between active and passive assessments becomes highly relevant. This is especially important in a clinical environment where coaches frequently feel constrained by limited time for preventative care over performance training.

Finally, while CARs are a significant component of the FRC system, understanding that as a stand-alone exercise does a disservice to our patients. Without proper coaching and a thorough understanding by the coach of what they are observing, CARs could be no more effective than any randomly chosen movement.

Within the Functional Range System community, the question of research pops up, I hope that this commentary enhances practitioners' understanding of the FRC system and encourages others to investigate the effectiveness of FRC against standard traditional training models.

ACKNOLWEDGEMENTS:

The author is certified through Functional Range Systems but holds no direct financial ties to the organization.

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A few weeks ago, I achieved a milestone I once thought might never happen—I earned my Doctor of Physiotherapy degree. My patients call me Gary, but the title "Dr." is mostly on paper and for marketing materials.

The journey wasn’t without its doubts. Over the past two years since I enrolled in the program, I've had many moments of self-reflection.

During this time, younger coaches and former colleagues often reached out asking the same question: Should I pursue this path, too? Is it worth it?

This is what I’d tell them—and what I’d tell my younger self if I had the chance.

Dear Gary,

In two years, you will have gone through it but you will make it through your program. It won’t come without many low points, some of which you aren’t sure if you’ll survive. You do but this is what I would want you to know.

Going to PT school is more an act of attrition than it is challenging academically. The more time you spend learning about modalities and techniques, the less you will want to use them. Your previous experiences will serve as a double-edged sword. You will have managed very complex problems for people, successfully, and yet you will be challenged to bite your tongue and be tested to regurgitate less effective methods of treatment.

You'll encounter many educators who seem disengaged, lacking the passion to teach, or have honest conversations about needed changes in the profession. It’s tough because you genuinely care about making a difference, and it’s frustrating to see the cycle of tired techniques taught as the basics.

You will learn that with an increased scope of practice, you may question your ability to do good. As personal training and massage therapy are less regulated, your ability to help people at a lower price point is something to consider as it will change. The degree isn’t cheap, so you will end up seeing people less often due to needing to charge more. This in turn results in the inability to see problems fully like you may prefer to.

Your classmates will be the saving grace. Not only because you find a few good friends but because in them you can influence the next generation of clinicians. You get to share your experiences and educate them on what you know, knowing this is what spurs your desire to become a clinical educator. Mind you, not all of them are going to be open or ready for what you have to share.

At times you will question if this was the right decision, and to be frank, I don’t have an answer as to whether it was just yet either. What I can say is the growth you experience and having your skills stretched to find a greater level of competency is worth it. You will come out of this a better professional and a better human. Trust me.

Good luck,

Old man Gary (only two years older)

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Pain in general, is rooted in perception. Therefore, if we change our perception we can then change our current experience with pain.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dr. Gary Heshiki, PT, DPT (@garyheshiki)

But what does that mean, how does changing your perception influence your pain?

Think about cooking dinner, you’re making this pasta dish that needs a splash of lemon. You squeeze the lemon and now you have this stinging sensation at your fingertips. You have a cut that you are now clearly aware of. It was always there, you were just unaware. As time passes, you still feel the discomfort, long after washing your hands and enjoying your meal.

Let’s take this concept a step deeper.

When we think about perception, we first think about vision. This is our primary way of experiencing the world using our eyes. Next is our vestibular system, located in our ears which senses changes in position and space. The last is the one most coaches and therapists are aware of, proprioception. We experience the world through our movement. Changes in vision or vestibular systems can influence things like balance and gait, therefore it makes sense that this shapes how well you can interact with the world.

The one place we have a large direct impact is movement-based training inputs.

How you move right now is your interpretation of the worldMuscles have spindles that detect the rate of stretching that occurs during your movement.

This information (afferent information) goes up to your brain, which in less than a second creates a plan for movement and produces an electrical current (efferent information) to produce muscle contractions. This is a closed feedback loop that will provide a road map for how much tone or tension you feel at rest. It’s why you have tight shoulder muscles, no amount of massages is going to change that.

When you try to massage, foam roll, trigger point, acupuncture/dry needle, stretch, cup, or whatever; it attempts to circumvent the incoming information at the muscle tissue level. This is why you get a temporary decrease in tension and an increased ability to move deeper.

This is the problem of thinking I can loosen up before a lift, run, or movement-based activity and get stronger there. You have temporarily increased your range of motion but overall, your movement capacity remains the same. This is why you have to continue loosening yourself up before training. From a macro perspective, your movement is the same, at a micro level, it is continuing to stagnate.

I say this half joking, but have you thought about moving better?

It’s important to keep in mind that until you intervene at the appropriate level, it will not change your movement quality (let alone alter any tissue composition properties).

This cross-section of muscle illustrates the point that all levels of muscle, tissues sense tension. Regardless of what you’re doing, you’re either improving tissue quality or it’s getting worse. Maintenance is a myth.

Change the incoming information in your back to increase the utilization rate of your muscles. This will be due to an improved outgoing signal.

And no, you can’t just stretch (because if it was going to work, it would’ve already the other times you’ve tried to stretch your back).

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You’ve woken up and you have pain across the back of your hips and gluteal area with some discomfort out into your hamstring. You go visit your therapist or chiro who pushes on your vertebrae to tell you that L5-S1 is not moving well (they can’t actually feel it move). They may then ask you to do a squat, and you shift away from the side that’s bothering you. It makes perfect sense that you move away given it hurts on the opposite side. You sit back down on the table and get your muscle strength checked, glute med/min and ankles are weak and it’s causing your hips to be off balance.

While nothing is unsafe (priority number 1), it is inherently short-sighted to assume anything about this all-too-common assessment provides insight beyond an inability to control movement and a lack of strength in areas where you’d expect it to be weak. Not to mention manual muscle testing is a very unreliable “quantified” way of measuring strength.

(In my opinion, the grading scale makes sense only for gross movements not fine, where a 0 means nothing, a 3 is held on your own, and a 5 is where you can hold against some kind of resistance. Trying to specify and say it’s a 3+ or 4- is way too subjective to be used reliably.)

In this example (or any movement screen), a squat screen where you aren’t moving well only tells me you can’t squat, and nothing beyond that where you leap being told you have hip dysfunction or weakness.

This may be a motor control problem that is dependent on neurological mechanisms such as speed and activation. If these neurological mechanisms have good incoming and outgoing information flow between the joints, muscles, and connective tissues; motor learning can occur.

A lack of balance here manifests as altered movement.

Muscle strength is useful clinically when we look at potential neuropathic-related problems like radiculopathy, but outside of that context, being told you have weakness is an unreliable cause. Your pain may inhibit firing but remember that pain may not be coming from the area of discomfort rather your brain sending a signal that something is not right.

Like a smoke detector, it only tells you there’s an increase in heat or smoke not that there’s a fire. Pain is the smoke detector, something’s not right and we need to investigate WHY.

Find a therapist who looks at the why instead of what. When I ponder about that statement, it means going beyond the superficial explanations of if this is “out of balance” and you need to strengthen muscles to pull it back.

Simply treating the symptoms or focusing on strengthening specific muscles may not be enough to address the root cause of the problem. Sometimes, the pain may temporarily decrease due to accidental problem-solving by the therapist, but the underlying issue may persist. In such cases, the pain is likely to resurface once you resume your activities. This happens when the therapist focuses on WHAT instead of WHY.

So what is the why behind your pain? No one can say, but to fit it into a neat box where it’s an “If this, do that” approach is not going to cut it for the majority of more complex problems that people get.

This I suppose, is the point of this article, when a treatment is based on an assessment that only looks at one subsystem (which is a part of a complex multi-systems entity like a human) it will fall short when it isn’t a muscular system problem.

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Strength Training = Mobility TrainingAre you among the many people who treat strength training and mobility work as separate entities? If so, then you are missing out on a significant aspect of physical fitness. While weight training can help you build strength, treating mobility work as a pre-hab routine can make one susceptible to typical “overuse” injury and pain. Instead, it is essential to recognize the interconnected relationship between mobility and strength and treat them as such.

Remember, one cannot achieve optimal physical fitness by focusing solely on strength-building exercises or by treating mobility as unweighted movements. Without sounding like an infomercial, you’ll be amazed at the difference it can make when you change your approach.

An ExampleThe New Year is approaching and you hire a personal trainer who teaches you the “correct way” to deadlift.

You get positive reinforcement and continue to increase weight in this specific movement pattern.

One day, you bend down to pick up the barbell and get a twinge in your lower back. You ignore it and finish your workout. The following morning, you have trouble getting out of bed, and sneezing sends you through the roof. You take some time off, figuring poor technique might be have been the cause of this issue. You decide to focus on core strengthening and learn some mobility drills. Finally, things start to settle down and you get back to your regular training routine, but unfortunately, after a year, you experience the same issue again.

This example only considers the frequent bending over one specific line, the environment likely played a role as well. For this example, we’ll keep to a singular focus on mechanical stress across a tissue.

Changing Your Perspective* What I described is the hamster wheel so many active individuals find themselves in. * When you deadlift (or insert any physical activity), you can only produce force and get stiff in one particular position of +/- 15°. So what happens when you’re mid-lift and you deviate? Well, you are currently exposing your tissues to a new stress, a heavy one at that. Is it any wonder you got hurt when you only allowed yourself to get strong in one line of stress? * This phenomenon is known as accommodation. This is defined biologically as a convenient arrangement, settlement, or compromise of our tissues. Our goal as movement professionals should be to prevent internal accommodation. Simply stated, all external-based movement goals will lead to accommodation as they’re a reflection of disorganization at an internal level.

Mobility is your ability to physically get into positions and accurately move in an intended pattern. A pigeon pose decreases low back discomfort like static stretching prevents injuries in runners ( it doesn’t). What all these drills lack is specificity to the demands of loading.
Eg: when performing a stretch at length, you are loading the connective tissues due to the length-tension properties of musculoskeletal tissues tapering off and that tension gets funneled somewhere.

When was the last time you trained this, if ever?

So What to Do?Ask any strength and conditioning coach, and they’ll be well-versed in periodization (organized training focusing on different aspects of training). But when you discuss the concept of mobility, you get some cookie-cutter bodyweight drills that are supposed to carry over to training. More forward-thinking coaches may use dynamic stretches or plyometric-looking drills.

But where’s the specificity? What drills focus on building qualities of endurance, strength, or power at all tissue levels? Because after the warm-up, you go right into patterned training (eg: deadlift).

If you’re looking to increase your functional mobility shouldn’t you periodically increase the demand? When we focus too much on increasing complexity but not the load (e.g., more tension), we leave a lot on the table regarding our ability to handle stress in our joints out in positions that are considered vulnerable. The human body is a system, and systems theory tells us that for said system (the human body) to handle more, we cannot redistribute the stress but there is a need to build depth (capacity) instead.

If you need help scaling your training to handle the demands of life, click on the button below to work with me online. Together we can go over the concepts to keep yourself running optimally and handle all that life can throw at you.

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Pull-ups have a way of humbling the strongest of lifters. This is due to the fact that you got to pull your own weight, literally. A lot of people have a huge goal of doing a pull up but many of the programs out either sit behind a pay wall or don’t take into account the importance of screening for pre-requisite movement and the importance of taking a bottoms up approach.

Part 1: Screening the body

• What does the body need to be able to do and what is required to perform a pull up?
• Why it matters to manage these issues before embarking on your pull-up journey.
• What should a finishing position for all back exercises feel like?

Part 2: Training the Core

• Why it’s important to start from the floor before moving up to the bar.
• How jumping the gun and beginning with a band assist pull up isn’t the best use of your energy and time.
• Basic exercises to start with

Part 3: Strength Training

• Using the finishing positions from part 1 and bringing it all together.
• Basics of rowing and pulldowns.

• Tips on manipulating your positioning and tempo to increase effectiveness.

  Free ProgramDownload a sample 3-month programA few key points:

• The sets and rep schemes are fairly consistent with how I would program for most individuals.

• The weight recommendations are just that, a recommendation. If it’s too heavy or too hard, make it appropriate to fit your starting point.

• Progress appropriately

  • Begin with the core work on the floor.
  • Once you start hanging from a bar, the dead hang and scap pull-ups should start to get easier with minimal swinging.
  • If you get to the isometric holds and negatives, you should be fairly stable. If you look like you’re on a swing, you’ve moved on too quickly.
  • The inverted row is a nice way to manipulate your bodyweight by changing your position while maintaining that isometric hold. It’s analogous to the holds you do hanging from a bar.
  • When doing any of the movements, when you complete the motion, you should FEEL the finishing position. If you don’t feel it, it’s likely too hard.

If you have any questions, feel free to drop a comment or send me a message!

Work With Me Have trouble figuring this all out? Sign up to work with me online where I’ll design a program centered around your current abilities, gym set up and other goals.

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Photo by Meghan Holmes on Unsplash

Lock your knees out. Especially when you lift!

But have you heard the advice that you shouldn’t lock your knees out because it’s bad for you? Ever wonder why that is?

This myth has origins in stories of soldiers standing at attention for hours on end only to end up fainting as they had their knees locked out. It was postulated that this was due to compression of the popliteal artery (a branch from the important femoral artery).

Secondarily, this also centers around old beliefs about arthritis and how excess wear and tear might cause a breakdown. Instead, researchers now are finding it may not be a disease of breakdown but rather uncontrolled local inflammation in the knee joint. (1)

Screw-Home MechanismThe screw home mechanism is an integral part of ensuring good knee stability. For most healthy individuals this is something you don’t think much about. However, for anyone with prior operations or lingering anterior knee issues, this is an important concept to understand around general knee function.

The medial condyle is 1/2 in. longer than the lateral condyle. This allows the femur to screw home when fully extended and this stabilizes the knee joint. This is an essential aspect of being able to walk and support yourself during the swing phase (Standing on one leg while the other one swings through).

The movement of internal rotation of the femur on the tibia associated with the later stages of extension of the knee constitutes a locking mechanism, which is an asset when the knee is subjected to strain.

In general, it works like this:

• Closed chain (like squatting) the femur moves on a stable tibia (shin bone). (2)

  • The Femur rotates externally to unlock the tibia.
  • The femur rotates internally to lock on the tibia.

  • Open chain (like a leg extension) where the tibia moves on a fixed femur. (2)

  • Tibia internally rotates to unlock

  • Tibia externally rotates to lock

I Don’t Have Knee Problems…Why is This Important?* Most knee problems occur at the terminal extension with a lack of VMO function. Ah, for some, I’m sure you recognize the VMO, this is why so many coaches prescribe terminal knee extensions. Why isolate one motion when you can easily train this whenever you hit leg day!? * As you flex your knee, the PCL relaxes and the ACL is tightened. The reverse is true, as you extend your knee the ACL tightens and contributes to stability while the PCL relaxes(3). Seems important to ensure these structures are exposed to stressors so they can improve stabilization (albeit minimally). * If you lack terminal knee extension, you will likely rely on a few strategies.

+ Think of an elderly person who shuffles their feet. They can’t lock their knee out, therefore, decreasing the amount of time they stand on one leg during the gait cycle. So they shorten that time by shuffling their feet instead.
+ You can’t lock your knee out, you either walk with more flexion and increase stress on other structures or you walk with some limp. A limp also increases the reliance on other structures, namely your hips to help keep this show running.

• This is why you may not need to squat “ass to grass” but you do need to expose your knee to deep flexion to end-range extension. Pain-free deep flexion tells our brains via our receptors in the deep knee capsule stuff to maintain these structures. This in turn supports our ability to access such positions.

The easy take-home is to do leg presses or lunges maybe. It doesn’t have to be heavy, it just needs to be deep.

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Capsular Constraint Mechanism

Why it might pinch when you rotate your joints.

Photo by Otto Norin on Unsplash

I sat down at a Functional Range Conditioning seminar in late November 2017 and heard a concept that fundamentally changed the trajectory of my career.

If your capsule is restricted you can’t rotate, you don’t have a joint.

It took me some time to truly understand what Dr. Spina meant by this. In time as I went about training humans and assessing joints, it clicked the more I learned about the FRS system.

The statement above doesn’t mean you’re having some arthroplasty, rather your joint doesn’t have access to all its degrees of freedom.

In plain English: You’re lacking control in the range of motion your joint should have available to it.

Capsular Constraint Mechanism

Let's use your shoulder joint.

The capsular constraint mechanism states that a tight capsule around the humeral head shifts the direction opposite to the tightness being produced(1). An analogy that helped me understand this is that the joint capsule is like a stress ball that encloses the space between two bones, so as you rotate in one direction, the opposite side needs to accommodate for that.

Applying this to a real-world example. Let's say you’re getting ready to back squat and you set your upper traps under the metal barbell and grab it on both sides as you externally rotate underneath only to feel this pinching sensation on the back side of your shoulder.

“Must just be tight back there”, so you grab your foam roller or lacrosse ball. You roll on the thing for a few minutes and your posterior shoulder feels “looser”. You get back under that bar, pinch! It’s because you’re chasing the symptom and not the root cause.

This makes sense when you look at a dissection of the shoulder, your rotator cuff tendons all blend into the joint capsule. (2) If we lose the ability to rotate, there’s a solid chance your “tight muscles” can’t be stretched or massaged because your problem isn’t only muscular, it’s capsular. When the capsule lacks the space to accommodate the movement, you get that pinching sensation.

It’s all in your brain…kind of

Why does this happen? A little anatomy to help explain this.

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

In your shoulder, you have your labrum and the next piece of tissue is your joint capsule. The capsule contains mechanoreceptors that sense the world around you and sends that information up to your brain.

In general, sensory information is relayed to an interneuron at the spinal cord before it is either remedied through a reflex or sent up to your brain where it’s sorted to the proper areas before kicking the signal back down to your muscles.

We have 4 types of mechanoreceptors that relay information about what’s going on. The joint capsule contains type 1 and 2 receptors.

Type 2 receptors (Pacinian-like or Krause corpuscles) skip that step at the interneuron and travel right up the spinal cord and report directly to the brain. This means your capsule senses movement long before your muscles do!

Now, why is this important?

Well, if we understand that mechanoreceptors sense information about our movements and our movements aren’t very good. Then the information relayed to the brain is that of aberrant movement. Over time, the nervous system interprets this as your new normal and you end up with poor length-tension relationships for your muscles. (3)

This ultimately leads to changes in your joint capsule space (not good) because based on the information your movement gave the brain, it interpreted that you didn’t need all the available workspace.

So, if we know that joint capsules will ultimately restrict our movements and the joint capsule of the shoulder is intimately tied to the rotator cuff, shouldn’t you maintain rotation as much as you can? (the answer is yes, you should)

So what about that pinchy shoulder?

This applies to both internal and external rotation, assuming you don’t have some more serious injury like a labrum tear or ligamentous sprain.

• When you rotate your shoulder externally, you will inevitably reach that pinch point. Back out of that position a little bit.
• Find an object and rotate externally and try ramping up isometrically to as strong of a contract as you can maintain. Hold for about 10 seconds.
• When you externally rotate further, I’m willing to be your shoulder magically has both more ROM and no pinch, at least not at the position you initially felt that.
• Repeat until you get to your desired end range.

Conceptually, the same process applies to internal rotation.

Long-term-wise, training with the intent to maintain end-range rotation training is key to keeping joints healthy.

References:

1. Kim Y, Lee G. Immediate Effects of Angular Joint Mobilization (a New Concept of Joint Mobilization) on Pain, Range of Motion, and Disability in a Patient with Shoulder Adhesive Capsulitis: A Case Report. American Journal of Case Reports. 2017 Feb 10;18:148–56.
2. Witherspoon JW, Smirnova IV, McIff TE. Neuroanatomical distribution of mechanoreceptors in the human cadaveric shoulder capsule and labrum. Journal of Anatomy. 2014 Jul 9;225(3):337–45.
3. Ganguly J, Kulshreshtha D, Almotiri M, Jog M. Muscle Tone Physiology and Abnormalities. Toxins. 2021 Apr 16;13(4):282.

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You and Your FeetThe foot is most stable when it is straight. When your feet are turned out, the integrity of your foot's arch is not being maintained. The further out you rotate your foot, inherently it tends to get less stable. As you stress out the plantar fascia, the flat connective tissues (ligaments) that connects the heel bone to your toes, the transverse and longitude arch will collapse without external rotation.

It is important to keep your feet pointing forward when you're walking and stable while lifting. If turned out of alignment, the knee and ankle will be open and the hip therefore be unstable. Instability can lead to hip, knee, ankle problems or even skeletal issues like bunions or chronic knee and/or back pain.Hips or Feet?Is the root of the issue coming from your hips or feet being turned out? A simple test can be performed by looking performing at the single leg squat.

1. Set up a camera straight on
2. Stand on one leg and drop into a single leg squat.
3. Repeat on the other side.

Start by looking if any knee rotation occurs in or out but your feet appear relatively set. If so, the problem may be coming from your hips.

Do your knees remain stable, but your foot rotates in or out? Then it’s likely due to your feet.

Possibilities also include poor motor control, tight calves or an issue with your anterior tibialis (the muscle next to your shin).

The majority of cases I work with have exhibit some combination of the two.

The Good NewsThe good news is that you can fix muscular imbalances and improve subsequent motor control discrepancies.

WalkingThe most common way doctors choose to remedy this problem is with the use of orthotics. They artificially create stability though the feet, which works great until you have to shell out a good chunk of change for a new pair. An expensive solution to a problem that can be remedied by training the intrinsic foot muscles and improving internal hip rotation.

Below is a whole post I created on Instagram around the topic:

View this post on Instagram Build Stronger Feet 👣 - The initial shot shows maintaining a short foot-arch versus allowing the transverse arch to collapse. Collapse isn’t an issue, rather it’s uncontrollable collapse that is a problem. - Toe Control The ability to control your toes says a lot about the overall health of your feet and the muscles that cross the area. First begin by tapping the big toe up and down while maintaining the other four up. Then switch! Aim for controlled reps of 10. - Single Leg Balance Frontal Swings Taking the position from before maintaining your arch, now we add in movement making it more reactive in nature. Because the motion comes from the side, it’ll challenges you more dynamically. And dynamic stabilization is much more important because eventually you’ll have to test it out by running and cutting but initially this is where you begin building those intrinsic foot muscles. - Single Leg Balance and Reach An extension of the last exercise is a forward, side and backwards reach with the free leg. Good foot positioning allows the hip to do its job and by proxy aides proper alignment of the knee. - Concentrated Calf Raise Wall Nice and slow, we look to push through the ball of our foot up onto our toes, stabilizing via the big toe. If you can “stick” the position by pausing it’s a plus. - Single leg RDL w/ Band The band goes under the ball of your foot by the big toe. Proceed to add some tension to the band and perform SLRDLs. The goal is proper foot position, otherwise you’ll lose the band!

A post shared by Gary Heshiki (@garyheshiki) on Mar 7, 2018 at 9:04pm PST

It’s All in the HipsPractice standing, walking, and running with neutral feet. People watching in public places and see who walks/runs neutral and who has funky movement. If you can spot the error in others than you will be more cognizant of your own movements. In most cases, being aware of the issue is more than half the battle.

Organizing our feet is easier if you are in a braced position as well.

1. Being Aware of Your BalanceA few key components to achieve neutral resting position (balanced posture) is the following:

1) Engage your glutes (pelvis rotates posteriorly)
2) Engage your abs (ribs rotate downward)
3) Move your shoulders back and down (palms should be touching the side of your legs with thumbs pointing forward)
4) Tuck you chin backwards (like a turtle retracting its head back into the shell or double-chin)
5) Weight distribution (tripod positioning, heel, ball of the foot and outside of the foot)Internal hip rotators

Tension is held in the following: Calf complex, peronal complex, bottom of feet.
Strength of: TFL, glute medius, glute minimus.

Keep in mind there is no perfect posture, the best one is a changing one

2) Strengthening the HipsMy favorite movement to use is the RNT split squat. It works to train both hip and foot muscles in one movement.

Place a band around your knee and have it pull you INTO collapse which will force the muscles to engage harder and thus help groove the motor pattern. You can load it with a dumbbell or kettlebell in a goblet position at chest level for added resistance.

Clamshells are a great exercise, big coaching cue is to make sure you aren’t rocking backwards as your open the hips. Think about keeping the hips stacked on top of each other.

Glute bridge variants are fantastic, you can start with the basic two legged bridge and progress to a single leg version, before trying things like marching or incorporating sliders.

• Improve general glute strength (single leg work like the RNT split squat, clamshells, Glute bridges)
• Strength in plantar muscles
• Strengthen dorsiflexors (mainly the anterior tibialis, shin muscle)

3) Begin Mobilizing and Incorporating gait patterningSingle Leg RDL: Fantastic movement to train the hip in multiple planes of motion. Problem? It’s usually too hard on balance and subsequently a lack of tension in the right places.

Here I’m performing a TRX assist SLRDL where as you hinge back, reach with your arms and hands forward and back. As you go further, you can spread the arms to widen your balance.

Seated 90/90 mobilizations: The full movement might be too difficult for some, you can work on the 90-90 shifts first

Split stance kneeling adductor mobilizations: Good adductor length is important in maintaining good balance during lower body strength exercises. While it may not directly influence hip and foot dynamics, it can still have an indirect negative effect.

Good ankle dorsiflexion: here is a whole post I made about this before.
First about good foot balance

View this post on Instagram Foot Position and Improving Hip & Knee Stability - A follow up to last nights post about hip stability, tonight I’ll be tying in our feet to the equation. Our feet have the ability to help us drive up out of a squat or contour as an athlete dynamically cuts through a court or field. Our feet also have the ability to slow us down or decrease neural drive by losing ground contact. - •Our weight should be distributed somewhere between the ball of our foot to the heel. •Too much pronation, or loss of 4 outside toes decreases hamstring recruitment and shifts more onto the quads •Too much supination, or big toe off the ground and we get decreased quad recruitment with more work going to the hamstrings. - So where do you go after you improve intrinsic foot strength and/or hip stability: Loading it via resistance training. One way to check you’re ready for more is to change the angle of your feet - Start feet Straight Ahead •Start with the feet straight ahead, achieving subtalar neutral. •Squat down to a depth while keeping the ankle centered. •You’ll want to watch if the midfoot collapses inward during motion, squat to or beyond your desired depth. - Feet Turned out •Achieve a centered ankle position •Drop down to depth desired •This position is “easier” for your hips but often may come at the expense of foot or back position. In which case I’d argue this isn’t a good position for lifting •Hugely important during almost every sport which requires change of direction. - Feet Turned In •Turn the feet in with the ankle neutral •Drop down while paying attention to positioning of the knee throughout. •Important for athletics (a position many basketball players take off from when dunking) or weightlifting/CrossFit when athlete catch a barbell overhead during the jerk. - “Knees Out!” This is a really common cue. Instead coaches and lifters should focus on their feet. This is key because if your feet are neutral, you will automatically be using your hips to achieve that centered ankle position. Think about using your hips to help in getting to neutral, and often better knee-hip function will follow

A post shared by Gary Heshiki (@garyheshiki) on Jun 11, 2019 at 8:57pm PDT

551 Likes, 33 Comments - Gary Heshiki (@garyheshiki) on Instagram: "Foot Position and Improving Hip & Knee Stability - A follow up to last nights post about hip..."

Ankle PAILs and RAILs

1. Start by placing the ankle in as deep of dorsiflexion as possible. Then relax for at minimum 1 minute
2. Then start by contracting down towards the floor for 10 seconds as hard as you can manage (PAILs)
3. Immediately without changing positions, try to pull your foot up towards your shin. Even if no movement occurs, continue pulling. It’s all about intent (RAILs)
4. Then relax into the new end range and repeat 2 more times. You can begin the PAILs contraction once you feel like the tissues have “relaxed”

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Gary Heshiki (@garyheshiki) on Jul 8, 2019 at 9:09pm PDT

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The alarm goes off, you roll over to turn it off as you take a glimpse at the time, 6 AM.

Sigh, it’s okay, time to eat before heading to the gym. As you gingerly roll out of bed, you go to stand only to feel stiffer than usual. You make your way to the kitchen and are met with an immediate uncomfortable sensation. You continue to move but this sharp debilitating pain starts running throughout your back and radiating down your leg. As the sensation increases, you are frozen by the pain.

Tell me if this sounds familiar:

You sneeze and throw out your back
Bend over to tie your shoes, throw your back out
Rotate to place an object on the floor from a seated position and are met with back pain.

What all these innocuous scenarios have in common is that they’re not the reasons why your back hurts. They were the last straw, a coincidence because no one would argue that sneezing or tying your shoes are mechanisms for low back pain. There is no such thing as non-specific back pain, only reasons that have yet to snuffed out.

Relax…You’ll be OkayMany individuals come into my office with some sort of “generic” back pain or self diagnosed sciatica. Their pain is real and they don’t care so much about what it is (at least not in the moment) and are more interested in if we can get rid of the issue.

After tissue exploration and manual therapy, we stand up to perform some exercises to help improve the tissue’s capacity. I’m quick to let them know its not as bad they think and that together we can solve this. Not surprising, most individuals I’ve worked on will remark that they feel immediate relief.

I’m not some magician, but I do let clients know that bending over, sneezing or standing up wasn’t the reason for their pain. Instead it was one of the following reason(s).

Your spine moves when your hips should By now, most know that if you’re always putting yourself into bad spots, it’s not if but when will you get into trouble. Your body is no different.

The topic of posture is at the current forefront of social media with polarizing views that you have to be a certain way for perfect posture or that posture doesn’t matter. The truth is always somewhere in the middle. If you’ve read my work on Instagram you’ve heard me say this but it begs to be said again:

“The best posture for you is one that is always changing.”

Your movement capacity is the same. Say you have a job that requires you to bend over and move 15 lb sandbags. If you only needed to move 10 bags, you could essentially move them however you felt like and be fine. But if you needed to do that for 8 hours each day, 6 days a week; you’re probably going to want to move in a biomechanically sound manner.

Learning how to hinge, disassociate hip from lumbar movement and rotate well go a long ways in improving load bearing and avoiding an overuse pattern.

Related to movement from the hips and not the lower back would be the ability to contract into hip extension without compensation. Lying on the floor offers a great deal of stability and lets you see what each side is capable of doing.

If one can’t get good hip extension while lying down, there stands a solid chance there is excess motion elsewhere when upright.

Your Spine Doesn’t Segment Well Can you Cat-Cow? Many have performed this ubiquitous yoga movement, but few have used it to asses their capacity to move their spine.

Common for individuals with lower back pain is an inability to move segmentally move their lumbar spine without overly hinging through their mid backs. When this is the case, a hinge point develops and this is the site of stress. The back is a bridge, so the load should be evenly distributed versus being placed just in one section of the vertebral column.

Your Hips Don’t Move Well Single leg stability: You should be able to drop down to about an equal depth on both sides. This is an easy way to assess whether one hip moves better than the other. Things to note would be how smooth each side feels and if the foot/knee collapses during the squat.

The RNT split squat is a great way to help shore up the strength and subsequently their stability on that side as well. The band helps pull your knee into compensation, so you have to use your muscles to maintain proper tension and alignment during the exercise.

90-90 Hip Transitions: These are a fantastic way to mobilize and loosen up the hips before activity. I also like them to discern if there’s a control issue somewhere along the chain. You go from transitions to a lunge and squat pattern during them as well here.

You Have a Structural Problem Spinal Compression Test
Take a seat and sit up tall
•Get into a good “posture” with your arms by your side (slight arch in your back)
•Grab the chair with your hands and pull up to compress your spine.
•Did you have pain in your back now that it we added a bit of compression in the rounded position?
•If so, it would mean that even when your spine is in a good biomechnical position, it doesn’t tolerate compressive forces well.

Shear Test:•Same as above but let your back round out
•Did this recreate your pain?
•If so, it would indicate that your pain is triggered by lifting out neutral, flexion intolerance.

What to do if these tests come back positive?

Flexion Intolerance
•Try not to slouch too much when standing or sitting
•When bending down to grab things, learn to hinge properly or kneel down in addition to improving core strength
•Lie stomach down a few times a day.
Extension Intolerance

• When standing, try to vary positions. When seated, sit back into your chair.
• Work on improving mechanics during movement and core strength as well.

Ultimately should you have an issue, be sure to visit a professional to help rule out any serious problems. The advice shared here should help the majority of individuals get on the right track, but you always want to be sure to not be overlooking a larger problem.

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Every year, over three million cases of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) are reported in the United States (Mayo Clinic). True CTS results from irritation or inflammation of the median nerve as it passes through the tunnel in your wrist. This tunnel is a narrow passageway of ligaments and bones at the base of your hand. Pressure can build up in this tunnel, resulting in numbness or tingling in the hand. Continued strain can lead to severe pain in your wrist, making work and daily activities uncomfortable to accomplish.

However, symptoms such as numbness, tingling, and wrist pain are oftentimes resulting from musculoskeletal dysfunction (meaning: tight muscles), and not true CTS.

Sometimes, thickening from the lining of irritated tendons or other swelling narrows the tunnel and causes the median nerve to be compressed. The result may be numbness, weakness, or sometimes pain in the hand and wrist, or occasionally in the forearm and arm. CTS is the most common and widely known of the entrapment neuropathies, in which one of the body’s peripheral nerves is pressed upon.

Many cases of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome are misdiagnosed for several reasons.

• We don’t truly understand the causes of Carpal Tunnel. It seems to be aggravated by overuse and strong evidence that by correcting daily movement you can make significant improvement.
• While the Median Nerve is implicated in CTS, it actually begins from the spinal cord and rooting through your neck and out almost every vertebrae before running down towards your fingers.
• Given that the Median Nerve crosses many muscles on the way to your fingers. It’s no wonder that any number of factors might cause CTS-like symptoms like a tight muscle in your neck or shoulder may cause “tingling” in the fingers. And while it’s similar it isn’t necessarily CTS.

• It goes misdiagnosed because most doctors aren’t necessarily well versed in understanding soft tissue related dysfunction. This leads to a general diagnosis of “tendonitis” which often will call for you to rest.

  • Do seek a second and third opinion if the doctor wants to inject you or schedule you for surgery.

Fortunately, carpal tunnel-like symptoms can often be easily managed with soft tissue work performed on the scalenes, pec minor, coracobrachialis, and several other upper extremity adhesion sites at the cervical spine.

Two very common suggestions to relieve CTS are cortisone injections in your wrist, or surgery to cut the transverse carpal ligament to release pressure.

While it may seem like a quick fix, I am strongly against cortisone injections as they have been shown to speed up degeneration of damaged ligaments and cartilage.

Do I Have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?Many cases of CTS are often misdiagnosed but can be resolved with soft tissue work and improving every day movement. The following tests will help gauge if you should seek help from a medical professional:

1. Phalen's Test

2. You can perform this seated or standing.

3. Passively let your wrist flop into a flexed position as shown in the diagram above.
4. Hold this position for 60 seconds or until symptoms are reproduced.
   Positive response: numbness and tingling occurs on the palmar aspect.
   Negative response: 3 minutes passing without symptoms reproduced.

(The two hand version above is an alternative way to test, though I prefer the one hand version.)

1. Tinel's Test

Tap where circled

1. Lightly tap over the median nerve as it passes through the carpal tunnel in the wrist.
2. Follow your index finger from the tip, then down the palm and up the forearm looking for any sensation.
   Positive response: A sensation of tingling in the distribution of the median nerve over the hand or in the thumb or first 3 digits.
   Negative response: no sensations.

If either test returns positive, I recommend seeing a doctor. If both tests return negative, great! You most likely do not have CTS and can relieve symptoms without surgery.

What to do if both tests return negative:1. Correct Your Posture

Great little infograph from The Art of Manliness on standing posture

• Focus on sitting up straight, shoulders neutral, and keep the chin in and head straight. By making sure you're sitting and standing upright, it will take the tension of the muscles that might be causing your CTS-like symptoms in the first place.
  Releated: Thoracic Spine and Breathing to help unlock better posture

• Keep your wrists in a neutral position, not bent backwards. This can help prevent a lot of the tightening of the muscles which can possibly entrap a nerve.

• StretchAs stated above, something as simple as poor posture can give you CTS-like symptoms. Here are three main areas of the body and their stretches to relieve poor posture:

• Upper shoulders and neck (upper trapezius, levators, SCM, scalenes)

• Upper chest/shoulders (pectoralis major and minor, serratus anterior)
• Forearm (numerous muscles, including pronator teres.)

Upper Shoulders and Neck (Trap) Stretch:

1. Reaching your right hand down at your side towards the floor, let your head tip to the left.
2. Slightly vary the angle of your head to feel different versions of the stretch.
3. Hold this to each side for 15-30 seconds and repeat 2-3 times per side.

Chest and Shoulder Stretch:

1. Standing up straight with a tightened belly, reach your arms straight out to your sides at shoulder height (as seen above).
2. Move your arms straight back as far as they’ll go without arching your back. You can do this with assistance from a doorway or wall to help your hands move back.
3. Hold for 10-30 seconds, without pain. Repeat 2-3 times.

Forearm Stretch:

1. With your right arm held out in front of you, use your left hand to stretch the wrist stretching the hand up (shown above).

2. Hold each for 15-30 seconds, 2-3 times. Repeat on other side.

3. Manual Therapy & Corrective ExerciseIn conjunction with the improving your posture, wrist position, and stretching, manual therapy from a Licensed Massage Therapist can greatly relieve CTS-like pain. After finding and relaxing the contracted muscles in the above mentioned areas, corrective exercises are performed to offset any problems associated with poor posture and poor breathing patterns.

Has a doctor suggested wearing a wrist brace for extended periods of time (all day and all night, even when you're sleeping)? Restricting wrist movement isn't a solution and doesn't address the true underlying problem.

If this sounds like you and the tests above show you don't have true carpal tunnel syndrome, schedule a consultation in person or online and get rid of your tingling, numbing, debilitating wrist pain for good.

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Improving internal hip rotation is important for a variety of reasons including:

• It allows us to go into a deep squat position safely
• Key contributor to knee and low back pain
• Poor movement for rotation sport athletes like baseball or even golf
• For runners, it doesn’t allow the athlete to extend the hip to engage the glute.

Hip IR should be tested in two positions, because different structures can limit your range of motion depending on whether the hip is extended or flexed. The second test is actually a mobilization for improving hip IR if and when progressed properly.

Testing Seated Internal Hip Rotation Sit at the end of a table, with your knees bent over the side, and hold onto the table itself.

Now internally rotate the hip, without abducting or side bending, which is a sign of compensating with the lower back.

Generally speaking 35 degrees is good in the general fitness population and 40-45 degrees in competitive athletes.

A quick check to see if you may simply have a "lazy" side if one leg has better hip IR than the other. Perform a side plank on the side that's lagging and reassess. It should improve if it's simply an activation problem, otherwise it helps to narrow down the problem to a structural/muscular or alignment (though not very common) problem.

Mobilizations to Improve Hip IRKneeling Glute MOB * Set up on all fours with hands under the shoulders and knees under the hips. * Maintain a slight arch in the lower back and place your right foot on the back of your left knee. * With your back set sit back into your right hip and hold for a 1-2 count before moving back. Perform 5-10 reps on both sides.

Lying Knee Pull Ins * Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. * Exaggerate the width between your feet. * Think about trying to internally rotate your femurs which as a result have your knees touch together while keeping your feet on the floor. Hold for a two count and return to the starting position. The stretch should be felt in the hips and not the knees. * Perform 8-12 reps before working out. * Good for those with muscular restrictions.

Prone Windshield Wipers (TEST #2) * Lie on your stomach with your knees together and feet up in the air. * Keeping the knees together, let the feet fall out to the sides. * Hold for a two count and return to the starting position. * Perform 8-12 reps prior to workout. * This is great in particular for those with a capsular restriction.

Passive Internal Rotation Stretch This goodie comes courtesy of Dean Somerset. This is more of an advanced stretch and would be sure to be able to knock out all the above aforementioned ones before using this one to help maintain proper hip IR.

• Sit at the end of a table or elevated step and lift one leg back into internal rotation as shown.
• Progressively work your work close to the table, and hold for 30 seconds.
• Repeat on the other leg.

I hope that this post will help steer you in the right direction to improve your lifts in the gym and your times on the trail.

If you should have any specific questions please shoot me a message and I'll be happy to try and help out. If any of this information was insightful, helpful or funny please share it with a friend!

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The photo above was taken in 2010 I believe while I was playing in the World Poker Tour LA Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino.

I used to take playing poker very seriously. I spent countless hours playing out hands in my head, reading forums and books to go along with thousands of hours spent playing online (before it was deemed illegal). My best stretch was when I was 22 and cleared a shade under $10,000 in 4 months during a summer. I was pretty good but I really disliked the unhealthy lifestyle that came with playing for 8-12 hours daily to make a living.

Poker is a zero sum game. This means that in order for there to be a winner, there has to be a loser. And at times the best play was to target those who would exhibit signs of addiction as those people aren't playing a sound game, mathamatically speaking, This is not something I feel particularly proud of but that's the game.

And while I no longer play to pay my bills there were a lot of lessons I picked up playing cards. Many lessons that translates over to life and business. Here are a few of them.

Expected Value (EV)In probability theory the expected value of a random variable is the sum of the probability of each possible outcome of the experiment multiplied by the outcome value (or payoff).

Simply stated EV (in poker) is the amount of money you can win or lose on your average bet. It's often explained by flipping a coin, which is an example of neutral EV. What are the odds it will be heads or tails? Over a small sample size it's 70% tails, extrapolated over 1,000 or 10,000 flips, it will be closer to 50/50.

No one, not even the best players win every tournament, let alone every single hand they play. Whether you play well or poorly, you'll win some and lose some. Good players are profitable over the long haul because they maximize their spots when they're winning and minimizing losses when cards aren't running their way. They focus on making good decisions regardless of the outcome.

This rings true in business. If you continue to put yourself in the best position by playing the positive percentage plays, more often than not you'll be a winner.

Which leads me to the next point.

You can do all the right things and still loseThis one drove me insane. How can I be an overwhelming 95% favorite and STILL LOSE!!!

Because like in life, you aren't in control of everything so anything can happen. Yes you should've won, you should've gotten that business because you're better than your competition, but a'las they've decided to go with Joe-Trainer instead. That's completely out of your control and you need to accept the cards of life as they fall even if they're not in your favor. Move on to the next play.

Always Moving ForwardPiggybacking off the last point, even if you don't get the business, you can't dwell on it for long. Continually beating yourself up for mistakes isn't going to help you change for the better. It's only a complete failure if you fail to learn from your mistakes.

There were so many times I made the wrong move at the table which cost me tournament wins and money! I was angry/sad for a bit but ultimately I would reflect on what I could've done differently. There's no point in being upset with something that's now in the past.

Learn from the past, be in the NOW, and always be preparing for the future. Bankroll ManagementIf I bring in $1,000 and spend $900 of it on going out. I'm not left with much else for anything else. Let alone any unanticipated expenses.

Knowing how to budget your money is an invaluable skip to learn. You need to stay within your means because you never quite know what might happen. In the case of Poker it might be a few dry months where your cards couldn't hit the side of a barn; in life it could be a car accident or broken appliance you clearly weren't expecting.

It goes without saying again: Always be saving and stay within your means so you can weather the bad times. If you take one too many risks, you might play yourself right out of the game.

Know Your NumbersWhat are the odds of flopping a third Ace when you have two of them in Texas hold em?
Odds of flopping a straight?
How about completing a flush on the river if I only need one last card?

I know these numbers off the top of my head like the back of my hand. I'm not rain man, I just memorized them. But knowing your numbers is just as important in business.

What's your conversion rate for free consultiations to paid clients?
Run any marketing campaigns? What's your CAC (customer acquisition costs)?
What are your food costs?

You don't need to know these things at an accountant level, but you should know what's going on behind the scenes. Knowing the lingo helps you communicate with experts and understand what's going on in your business.

In case you were wondering:
Flopping 3 of a kind 8.5:1 or 10.5%
Flopping a straight about 1%
Completing a flush on the river, assuming you have all 9 remaining cards of that suit, is roughly 18%.

Understanding basic human psychologyMost people have watched high level poker on ESPN and imagine that pros can detect any facial tick or lean which gives them an edge. While this is sort of true, what great players pick up on are patterns. I would often pay close attention to deviations in patterns:

How did they play after losing a hand?
Does that change if it was "unlucky" versus playing poorly? Do they even think that was a poor play?
Are they more talkative when they're nervous? Do they always take a sip of water when making a borderline decision?

It comes down to understanding how people normally act and if or when there's a change, deciphering what it means. When dealing with clients who are resistant to change, knowing how to pick up on non-verbal cues has been an invaluable skill to have cultivated.

Implied OddsThis is calculating the odds of completing your hand and the future bets you would collect if you do. You need to take stock of the percentage chance you have to complete you hand versus the amount of money already sitting in middle of the table.

Simply stated: Calculating risks is a little more cut and dry in poker since it's all math. But the same basic principles apply where you need to take stock of what an investment of time or money will cost you, and whether or not it's going to be worth doing. If you make decision"x" what will be your return on investment? And how long will it take for you to break even?

Poker is a game that's easy to learn but hard to master. There are only a few of the lessons I've picked up from this game. I believe poker is a fantastic training camp for those looking to cultivate skill necessary for business and critical thinking.

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The ability to perform a pull up isn't simply a feat of strength but a byproduct of a structured balanced training program. Before we go on any further lets be specific on what a strict pull up is:

• From a dead hang
• Arms are full extended at the start
• Chest/sternum to the bar
• Minimal swinging

Where To BeginCan you get your arms in the right position to perform any sort of vertical pulling motion? I would begin here against the wall in a back to wall shoulder flexion screen

1. Begin with your back from head to tailbone against the wall.
2. Flatten out your lower back (slight posterior pelvic tilt)
3. Lift your arms straight out in front of you towards the wall

You pass if you can reach the wall comfortably without losing contact of the wall.

This screen shows us a few things:

• Good core positioning
• Adequate shoulder mobility to an overhead position
  • Limited external rotation (Including short pecs, lats, and subscapularis)
  • Lack of upward scapular motion (including weak lower trapezius and serratus anterior along with synergistic dominance of the levator scapula, rhomboids, and pec minor)
• Poor thoracic spine extension
• Lack of anterior core stiffness

This is important because if you can't get your arms overhead at rest what makes you think you'll be able to under full bodyweight load hanging off of a bar?

If you didn't pass, I would address the soft tissue restrictions listed above and improve mobilization in the thoracic spine and improving upward scapular motion.

Here are a few video to help you get started with that.

Thoracic Spine Extension Do's & Don'ts DONT •allow rib cage to flare up, this puts excessive strain on the low back. •support the neck so you don't end up extending backwards. DO •set the ribs by exhaling which controls the thoracic spine in a better position. •once you move down as far as you can controlled, then practice taking deep breaths without releasing the set rib position. •this then segue ways into adding an overhead motion while keeping the core set.

A post shared by Gary Heshiki Fitness (@garyheshikifitness) on Jun 30, 2016 at 9:08pm PDT

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Related: Thoracic Spine and Breathing

If you passed congrats you can physically get into an overhead position safely, but now where do you go from there?

That Pull-Up Machine

Yeah stay away from the counterbalance machine that most commercial gyms have. My main beef with the machine is the lack of stability required to perform this version (hint: it's zero). I've seen it many times, a lifter works their way down to the lightest setting, only to barely be able to get anywhere close to an actual pull up. But why?

The main cause is poor tension throughout the body along during the movement. You spent so much time building strength in a stable position, a free standing pull up is anything but. I would say it's akin to push ups from your knees, you may get the big muscles strong but you aren't stable enough to express your strength.

Which is why I start all my clients with...

Inverted Rows The inverted row allows you to learn how to properly engage the right muscles while having to actually stabilize your bodyweight. Most every gym has at least one of these TRX straps hanging in their facility so just about anybody can do these.

The ability for an individual to get good scapular motion, pull and engage their lats, traps and rhomboids is key to being able to have that carry over to performing a pull up. This move should be the main bodyweight motion until you're able to perform them with your feet elevated.

Really any row variation is great at teaching engagement of the proper muscle, a favorite of mine is the chest supported variety which keeps you honest from momentum. A chest supported T-Bar works well too.

Negative & Isometric Pull Ups After some time working on strengthening the proper muscles, I would then begin both negative only motions and isometric holds.

This is an intelligent way to overload the motion because as the muscle lengthens under tension, it is able to produce greater force. Unlike the concentric (think pulling yourself up) the joint is pulled in the direction of that contraction whereas the eccentric (lowering) contraction the muscle slows down the joint at the end of a movement.

In plain english: Your body is significantly stronger from an eccentric stand point versus a concentric only.

I would have the client jump up, sternum to the bar and contract the lats, stick the shoulder blades into their back pockets and slowly lower themselves back down to the box. The most important aspect is control. If you can't come down at a 3-5 sec count, then I would go back to inverted rows until you are able to.

Band Assist Pull UpsFrom there I would also incorporate the band assist version. This would be done in conjunction with the isometrics and negatives only. The only problem is not everyone has access to these bands but they are very useful (also they can be a little pricey for a full set of bands).

And then it's simply a matter of patience. Put in the work and soon you'll be knocking out pull ups like a champion. There are many other variations I use with clients but this is at it's simplest the most straightforward progression that most individuals can follow.

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"I'm sick, can you please direct me to the cheapest doctor that will do the job?"

"My car is making a weird noise, can you recommend the least expensive mechanic?"

"My roof is leaking, will you please call the cheapest repair man?"

"I need a personal trainer, do you know anyone cheaper than the guy at the gym?"

Of the four statements I bet most people would say that number four is the one they would likely think or say. Why is that?

Standards in FitnessIt's a catch 22--you don't know what to do and you want to hire someone. The problem is that a $30 per hour trainer may not know how to work around your specific injuries, compensations and/or lifestyle so they may in fact do more harm than good. But no one bats an eye after you get hurt because they say it's part of the process. No pain no gain, right? (No, it's not.)

Do you have to seek out the most expensive trainer around? No, and in fact there are fantastic coaches available at all price points if you look hard enough. The problem isn't the consumer being educated but the industry as a whole. Whether you hire a commercial gym trainer or an independent seasoned vet, you should be able to get results and be better off having hired said coach, not worse. Unfortunately this isn't the case across the board.

Why Do Some Trainers Cost $100+ per hour?Why do some trainers command over $100-150 per hour if all should be qualified enough to help you out with any straight forward goals, like adding on muscle or losing 15 pounds?

It comes down to specialization and likelihood of remaining safe. Price often acts as a filter for quality, though not always the case.

Lets use a doctor's analogy: If you have a cold, you would likely visit to a general practice physician. But if you have a broken leg and needed surgery, you'd likely go to an orthopedic doctor and surgeon. It makes sense that the person who specializes in that specific area of medicine would be the person to cut you open, not the general practice doctor. But both are doctors! Yes, but one has a bit more knowledge about the matter at hand. And since a surgery is a much more dangerous and intricate procedure, I'm willing to bet they will cost more.

So can the $30 per hour trainer help your daughter with her ACL post-physical therapy outpatient rehab? Maybe, but I bet that $200 per hour trainer who has testimonials of similar cases and the background to aid her can. Yes, it's a lot more money, but if you want the job done right, you hire once and you hire right. For me, I'd rather spend three months with a more knowledgable, more expensive trainer than 8 months with a less expensive, less knowledgable one if it means I'll get the best results possible. In this scenario I'm also willing to bet you'll remain safer with the $200 per hour coach.

Too often the fitness industry writes articles about how the consumer needs to become more educated, pushing the onus on them. While I don't disagree that a more educated customer is beneficial, I also feel that the industry as a whole needs to take more accountability on raising their own standards of practice. Only then will telling people you're a "personal trainer" actually mean something more than just a guy who counts reps and grabs you a towel.

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It's late one night and you're scrolling through a social media feed on your phone and come across some friends working out. Like most individuals you might give them a like or comment about how that's awesome or congratulating them on a new accomplishment in the gym.

You go to the comments and see:

"Not hitting depth, smh""I'd be careful, your back shouldn't be like that""Shoot your hips back more and focus on arching""Leg drive! Arch! You'll push more once you learn to do that"The "Fit Pro" CommenthYou click on the profile of the individual who left one of these types of comments and discover they're trainers and coaches who've decided they know best on how EVERYBODY should train.

Now I'm not talking about the fitness enthusiast who fancies themselves an uncertified trainer because they have a six pack or competed in a powerlifting meet. I'm talking about a true "professional" who puts food on the table training others. These are the guys I have a gripe with. I used quotes because these "pros" aren't very professional.

Here's why it's a load of bull for one fitness "professional" to call out another publicly on social media.

I'm ACE, NASM, NCSA, ISSA, ABC123 CPTWhile you may not agree with what you're seeing, it's also not your job to be judge and jury for all things fitness simply because you passed the most rudimentary of Personal Training certifications. Nor does ripping off someone else's training philosophy and system suddenly make you an expert. As a professional it is your job to help YOUR clients and contribute to the fitness industry. It's easy to move on and not waste your time being the form police. Instead of tearing others down why not be a positive beacon building others up by reaching out. Don't try and hijack someone else's feed by putting them down and trying to show how superior you are and why they or their followers should add you, they won't.

Did it ever cross your mind that the person you're critiquing is the very person in the video, a person who is NOT a professional but a paying customer? Now I know what you're thinking, hey if that coach did a better job the client would be moving better. Heres the problem with that line of thinking. You have no context as to how long this client's been training and more importantly how much progress said client has made.

While you may be watching someone perform a squat to a less than desirable depth or deadlift with a slightly rounded back, you didn't know that the coach wanted the client to be focused on hip positioning today. They're crushing their hip position and in time I'm sure they'll fix that back position as well. This often can be the case for very untrained individuals because they can easily become overwhelmed with dozens of cues and checkmarks. A good coach breaks things down into easy manageable steps. Sharing progress is that, progress and not the final product. Critiquing the technique of a beginner is as ridiculous as over analyzing a T-ball swing, really man what are you doing?!

Social Media CrusaderHere's my biggest gripe I have with other fitness "professionals" criticizing other pros via social media: Your critique can be the sole reason another person loses business and is unable to keep the lights on in their home. Said client may read your comment and decide that maybe their trainer isn't good and decides to stop. While you may think you're doing a service to the industry, all you're doing is a being a jerk. I've meet thousands of trainers, some good and some needing more CEU's, but for the most part they've been good people. Judging others coaching abilities isn't up to you! Who are you to be reaching in and taking money out of somebody else's pockets?! Don't be upset with them, be upset you aren't better at marketing your services to help more people.

I firmly believe the cream rises to the top. If a coach is good they'll succeed on their own, just like they'll run themselves out of business all the same if they don't deliver results. It shouldn't be because you're planting the seed of doubt into their client's head. Yes sometimes these coaches have their clients performing less than stellar technique on a regular basis but also remember that their poor training only highlights how good you are without saying a single word.

If you really feel the need to criticize another coach, for all that is good and holy just send them a private message.Lastly lets stop being lazy with these bot comments and copy+paste DM's. I get you're trying to build up your following but you're trying to do so by being lazy and trying to take a short cut. Some of these comments don't even make sense, I'd ask for a refund for that bot if I were you.

I continue working on my own social media presence, it takes work and if you're a true professional, you'll be working on it yourself.

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Fad Dieting

"I've tried everything, I lose some weight but when I go back to eating regular food I regain it all back."

• I only eat veggies and drink water for two months.
• Detox juices
• The Blood type diet
• Cabbage soup diet
• Paleo diet
• Cucumber and milk
• I only eat fruit
• Drink this tea and lose weight

These are all examples of fad diets. Some better than others but really what they all have in common is that they tell you NOT to consume certain foods for the sake of maintaining a specific "diet".

What is a Calorie?A Calorie is chemistry. It is the measure of energy stored in food. More specifically the amount of energy it takes to raise the temperature of 1L of water by 1 degree Celsius. Food energy is turned into eat which is how we measure what we understand to be food calories.

Science and Your Body70% of weight and body shape is hereditary. This is where we get body shapes like the ones below.

Photo Courtesy: Precision Nutrition

However I believe that while you may be predisposed to a certain body shape it isn't an excuse to blame your parents for why you can't lose weight. No matter your body shape there's no reason you can't look the best YOUR body can be. You can lose some weight on any diet, but it comes right back on if it wasn't built upon proper nutrition habits.

Psychological Aspect of Weight LossJohn goes on a diet to lose weight. And he is able to lose 10 lbs in 3 weeks. John proceeds to tell everybody how great his diet was. He gives full credit to the diet. The problem is John proceeds to go back to his usual eating habits and regains the weight. Instead of blaming the diet, he blames himself. Does this sound familiar?

Often times these diets restrict and cut out a large macronutrient. That alone will force weight loss, albeit mostly water and glycogen stores. The diet had very little to do with the person's success and now it damages the individual's psyche because they don't believe they're able to succeed. And that alone is large enough of a reason to not entertain trying these types of diets.

Many fad diets have little science to back-up their crazy ideas and claims. This is why the results aren't what you're hoping for. Just because something works for someone else doesn't mean that it works for you. When you're looking to lose weight like getting a thinner waist or smaller thighs, your body doesn't know that's all you want. Metabolically speaking, it adjusts and when you continue to consume the same amount of food you ate to lose weight; you stop losing weight. In the same way that exercise needs to be progressed so too does your nutritional protocol.

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Would you rather consume:
A fully "organic" meal regardless of the distance the ingredients had to travel for you to eat
or
A fully locally farmed meal?

To me there's no real answer, because like in so many facets of exercise and health "it depends" is the correct response. It's widely known that the organic certification is a lengthy and expensive process that some farms are unable to pay for. They may have fully organic practices but simply can't afford the process of getting certified.

Organic biodynamic farming practices have been shown to have a less detrimental effect on the soil where all of the micronutrients are. This is to say that most of the studies that compare conventional farming methods with GMO's and Organics are identical because the method of farming remains the same. The only change are the pesticides sprayed which are "organic", the yield will still be nutrient deficient.

On the other hand today is Wednesday and around lunch time millions of people will head out in search of a "healthyish" meal. They walk into a restaurant that serves green juice, kale salads and chicken; sounds like you hit the jackpot. You want to order your favorite cherry tomato, corn, blackened chicken salad. Here's the problem: Tomatoes and Corn aren't in season.

So where did they come from?
How far did they have to travel for you to eat?
Chances are the corn is commodity corn which is subsidized by the government (GMO CORN).

So back to the question, which would you prefer?

Today local farmer's markets are growing in popularity and I know as long as you buy something, farmers are more than willing to share with you the growing process. To me it will always be a case by case basis in determining what I choose.

I'm likely to choose locally sourced ingredients over supermarket "organics" because it both decreases resources used to lug my vegetables to Los Angeles but because my purchase supports a small local farm, a small local businesses like ME! Would you rather give your money to Whole Foods Market, Sprouts (a company owned by Smart and Final btw) or a small family farm?

It's not easy because life gets in the way. Meetings and trips come up where you hadn't planned on not being back for lunch or dinner; you have to make decisions. In my opinion for most it boils down to being prepared. When we're not prepared we often make poor choices, so always have a plan!

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What I want to lay out for you is the framework for a program you can alter accordingly based on how you're feeling and what you see staring back at you in the mirror. I'll outline a few guidelines and you can increase weight, reps and exercises as you see fit along with the rationale for why.

Progressive Overload This is the concept that you're continually be trying to get your body to adapt to the stresses you're placing on it. It's a key component to both growing a muscle and decreasing body fat to improve muscle tone.

When discussing progressive overload, it's about building strength. You want to build strength because:

• Stronger muscles are generally larger muscles
• Strength gets rid of nagging pains (I.E: Nagging low back pain)
• The stronger you are the heavier your rep work will be (more on that in a moment)

Getting Your Reps InAfter the main strength component will be more targeted repetition work. Think of this as supplemental work to the squats, deadlifts, and thrusts you'll be doing. Often this includes things like lunges, step ups, and squat-deadlift variants. Even here we still want to be moving the weights in an upward trajectory albeit not as aggressively.

Targeted Glute WorkYou'll be performing some sort of glute work EVERY SESSION. This is a concept borrowed from High Frequency Training. Short band exercises will be included every time. Skip the abductor/adductor machine, band work is a superior option since it will maintain structural balance of the joints and muscles.

Program OverviewDay 1: Main Strength Day + Rep Work

Strength will be a Squat, Deadlift or Hip Thrust in a progressive manner. The numbers listed below simply mean a percentage of your one reputation max. You would test then plan your month accordingly. Your warm up sets DON'T COUNT towards the 5 work sets.

For example lets say your 1RM is 200lbs.
You warm up: Barbell-5x, 55lbs-5x, 80lbs-5x, 100 lbs-5x, 125lbs- 5x. NOW you perform 5 sets of 8 at 70% which would be 140lbs.

• WK 1: 5x8 @70%
• WK 2: 5x5 @75%
• WK 3: 5x3 @80%
• WK 4: 5x2 @85%

Rep work (5 sets of 8-12 reps) can entail:

If you Squatted: Reverse lunges, step ups, front squats
If you Deadlifted: KB Swings, cable pull throughs, Romanian deadlifts

Afterwards you would perform a superset (back to back) of core and a side lying clamshell (3-5 sets of 15-20 reps).

Day 2: Main Thrust Day

Today you'll be performing a lot of prone hip extension movements. If you're someone who's happy with the size and shape of their legs I would opt for the glute bridge over a hip thrust.

I would treat it similarly as the squat and deadlift strength days where I'm progressing clients through the rep ranges while simultaneously increasing the weight on the barbell. The one difference would be the final set or two.

EX: 5x10 Hip thrust @70% of best thrust.
185lbs- 5 sets of 10 repetitions.

On the final 2 sets of 185 lbs I would perform a hard long isometric hold at the top squeezing the glutes as hard and as tightly as possible.

Now where the real magic happens: perform 2 more sets decreasing the weight about 30-50% for no less than 20 repetitions. Even better if performed as a continuous hip thrust.

Supplemental Work: I would include MORE thrusts or bridge variations like single leg and stability ball leg curl+bridges along with a seated band abduction for no less than 20 repetitions.

Day 3: Unilateral Day

This day would include split squats, Bulgarian lunges and reverse lunges. These days will often be a variation of 5-8 sets of 8-12 repetitions each side.

I would then include a superset of side lying clamshells with frog pumps (4 sets of 20) and core work.

Day 4: Power

This day you can pair however you like:
Squats + Vertical Jumps
Deadlifts + Broad Jumps
Thrusts + Swings

I'd keep the weights more conservative on this day, your goal is to get a good pop from the weights and train explosiveness.

Afterwards I would include more band work: Seated band abduction into bodyweight weight hip thrusts off the seat (5 sets of 20) and core.

Notes:

• You should perform some sort of upper body pulling every day, examples include: Rows, pulldowns, inverted rows, and chin/pull ups.
• 2 days of upper body pressing, examples include: Push ups, dumbbell bench presses, dips, landmine press variations, dumbbell overhead press
• Core work should include: rollout variations, paloff presses, side planks, planks, and offset loaded carries like a one arm farmers walk.

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Walk through your local gym you'll see dozens of personal trainers stretching their clients. No doubt this has been going on forever, but is technically outside of the personal trainer's scope of practice.

Scope of Practice- Procedures, actions, and processes that a healthcare practitioner is permitted in undertaking.

Scope of Practice for Personal Trainers (according to NSCA)

"Developing and implementing appropriate exercise programs, assisting clients in setting and achieving realistic fitness goals, and teaching correct exercise methods and progression.” Nowhere in there does it mention any sort of muscle manipulating techniques.

Ouch That HurtsHey can you move back to that other spot...a little lower....YEAH! OUCH! You got it.

This was a typical exploratory palpation session with clients whenever they were unable to release muscle on their own and so it made sense for me to get it out for them so we could get back to training. When I started doing bodywork I had already been a trainer for over 5 years and was decently versed on anatomy and biomechanics.

This all is a rationalize for what I was doing, which was outside the guidelines of my liability insurance and scope of practice. The results I got were positive across the board, but I also knew I wasn't allowed to do what I was doing. The more injuries I would encounter, the better I got at feeling healthy tissue and fibrous restrictions in the fascia and muscles. Though in the back of my mind I knew what I was doing was illegal.

I observe dozens of coaches, many of whom I see jam their elbows and fingers in areas where they shouldn't be. And not because now that I'm a manual therapist I'm on my high horse but because they're actually pressing down, rather hard I might add given the discoloration of the skin around said area, into a place where there's way too many nerves or organs.

Pot Meet KettleI will never tell any other coach they shouldn't be placing their hands on their clients, because that would make me a giant hypocrite. I do however advise these coaches to exercise ALOT of caution. In an effort to add value to sessions coaches range from the harmless assisted static stretching to downright dangerous let me dig my elbow into your anterior triangle.

What I've LearnedI Didn't know WHY only how
A Manual therapist, massage therapist or LMT has undergone more extensive training than personal trainers where it pertains to understanding of how and more importantly WHY to work in a given area. They learn more manual muscle testing and specific assessments to address movement compensations. I could copy a technique but didn't fully grasp the methodology behind it.

Most trainers who perform assisted soft tissue via foam roller, ball or roller stick think: harder is better. It's not.Getting work done on you doesn't in turn show you how to treat your clients
Copying a given technique performed on you might help YOU, but could injure your client. In the same way you wouldn't give a 65 year grandma the same exercise protocol a 25 year old would receive, the same goes for soft tissue manipulation. In the past I've seen coaches receive a quickie treatment only to see them performing the exact thing on their clients that same evening.

I hadn't earned the right to put my hands on clients. Trainers are not therapists.
Many colleagues who are both manual therapist and trainer had to juggle massage therapy school and a full slate of clients at the same time. Depending on where they're located, schooling can range from 500 hours to over 1000 hours. And while this may be a lot or a little depending on how you look at it, it's a large commitment for anyone with full time obligations.

Trainers are not physical therapists. Most of the corrective exercises seen today don't work because the coach implementing them lack an understanding that the issue needs both manual therapy and corrective exercise.

I of course will not fool myself thinking that I am anywhere near the level of a DPT (Doctor of Physical Therapy) either. I always had a firm grasp on anatomy, or so I thought. I came to see that I lacked a comprehensive understanding of:

• Origin and Insertion sites
• Layers above and below muscles
• Feeling the difference between muscle and organ
• Progressions for treatment
• Contraindications with degenerative and acute diseases or injuries

I understand now I had not earned the right to put my hands on a single client because I had not committed to fully understanding the topics above. I had not put in the time, literally. I thought because I could recite muscles and actions off the top of my head that I could manipulate muscles. I was wrong. On one hand all the clients I've helped has allowed me to get a head start on my education in treating soft tissue restrictions but I also understand I probably shouldn't have ever laid a hand on a single person, no matter the outcome.

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Lower back pain is something most of us will deal with at some point in our lives. You bend over to pick up your kids or tie your shoelaces and BAM! out of nowhere your back goes out. An overwhelming number of low back injuries stem from chronically poor body mechanics and even more likely from poor everday posture.

If you’re reading this on your phone, take a moment to sit up straight and pull the phone up so your neck isn't being cranked downwards.

Here are three things you need to know about back pain:

1. Back Pain Worse After Standing- Extension Based
   Back Pain Worse After Sitting- Flexion Based

For those who suffer from extension based back pain this is likely caused by: Short Hip flexors, poor glute activity and a lack of anterior core stabilization. The combination of weak glute function with shortened hip flexors often leads to lumbar extension substituting for hip extension during activities such as deadlifting, jumping, and running. Put simply if you aren’t putting your glutes into it, you back will be.

A sure fire postural sign a person is a candidate for extension based back pain is viewed from the side via anterior pelvic tilt, or the back of your pelvis is higher than the front.

I meant to take a buttfie

Flexion based back pain often afflicts those who sit for long periods of time like office workers or truck drivers. The main muscle that creates problems for these individuals is the Psoas. This is the only hip flexor that remains active once you draw your leg up above 90 degrees. Those seeking hip flexion like during a squat will get lower back rounding instead. Their problems are aggravated by a host of other factors such as: Poor glute function, cervical spine positioning, lack of thoracic spine extension and poor anterior core stability.

Someone with this type of back pain is in a catch-22. They need to stop sitting so much but they likely sit a lot due to work. For this individual I would recommend setting a timer to periodically stand up and stretch to break up the monotony. Along with taking time each day to use a foam roller or lacrosse ball to break up any soft tissue adhesions formed in the hip flexor muscles.

1. Not All Back Pain is Due to “Tight” Hips

From an anatomical standpoint the hip flexors are a combination of muscles: illiopsoas, sartorius, and rectus femoris.

Lets focus on the Psoas.

The psoas attaches through the side of the lumbar spine and connects to the discs in the area of T12-L5. Because of this vertebral origin point, the psoas is also involved in 360 degrees of spine stabilization.

For those who believe they have chronically tight hip flexors, stretching them isn’t going to magically solve the problem because the underlying cause may not be tight hips but an unstable spine and poor core strength. If a muscle is short and tight, stretching it won’t release any neural tone which only leads to it tightening back up afterwards.

Their issues may be solved simply through core and glute activation.

A properly performed plank will solve all that ales you. Not only because by staying in a neutral position will you decrease recruitment of the illiopsoas but also by squeezing the glutes hard you’ll force the muscle to relax due to reciprocal inhibition.

Talking about hips and glutes leads me to the final point

1. Poor Internal-External Hip Rotation

A quick screen for both:

Need Internal Rotation 35 degrees

External Rotation 45 degrees

Less than stellar results?

Corrections:

Need Internal Rotation- Side Plank

External Rotation- Prone Plank

The muscles that resist internal rotation are all located on the outside of the hip. By stimulating these muscles it forces them to all stabilize the spine and possibly allow your hips and core to work correctly.

On the other side of the equation are the muscles that resist external rotation found on the inside and anterior aspect of the hip. All these muscles co-mingle when it comes to core stability. Like in the aforementioned tip, when a properly performed prone plank is performed, the hip flexors are held in a tight stretched position to help the hips and spine stabilize.

Correcting these restrictions can bring relief to those suffering from chronic lower back pain. These screen are the beginning to figuring out if you need more mobilization or simply needed more stability.

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The key component to more efficient running and avoiding most injuries is improving on landing softly. Not exactly groundbreaking advice but how does one go about learning to absorb contact more effectively?

Photo by Mārtiņš Zemlickis on Unsplash

First thing to address is technique. Landing hard on your heel is often due to over-striding instead of landing with the foot underneath your hip. Butt-kicks mimic where your foot shot be landing, when you're warming up perform a few meters of butt-kicks before resuming your regular stride.

Second would be posture. You want to maintain a slight forward lean which will in turn aide in your ability to use gravity to land more mid-foot. I always think hips high and run tall. I would be remiss if I didn't mention not everyone likes to run with a forefoot landing, preferring a heel landing, which still doesn't change the focus of today's topic of "landing softly". Many elite long distance runners are heel to toe type runners, so you have to find what sort of stride works bests for you.

Often heard advice on running faster is increasing cadence, or stride frequency, but if you're plodding along loudly like a hungry dog the only thing that's going to increase are hip, knee and ankle issues.

The final thing I would address is strength training protocol. Are you performing any type of jump training? It's important to focus on absorbing contact just as much as it is in learning how to produce more of it.

Here is a Depth Jump progression that can help you start running

Depth Drop

• Teaches you how to land properly and absorb the impact.
• The mechanics are similar to squatting, I would not have a client perform any type of plyometric work until they can properly demonstrate a basic understanding of the squat.

Depth Jump

• Like the depth drop, upon landing immediately dip back down and explode up.
• Focus on landing softly.

Single Leg Depth Jump

• Stepping off a 12 inch box, landing softly with both feet.
• Using only one leg, dip down and jump straight up. Land softly and repeat. This time by jumping off the other foot upon landing.

Depth Broad Jump

• Step off a 12 inch box, landing softly and immediately performing a broad jump.
• Focus on using the hips, full extending, and once again land softly.

Ice Skater & Bounding

• Ice skater focuses on lateral absorption and power development.

• Motion needs to occur from the hips, land softly. As competency increases, so can speed of the movement.

• Bounding is a forward motion, great for working on timing, footwork, and linear power development.

Give these a try and see how it might improve your ability to run faster, run longer and stay injury free.

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The thoracic spine/ribcage is the boss when it comes to deciding where the scapula sits. Trainers and coaches find that if an athlete is having trouble with overhead movements, thoracic extension and the muscles involved must be mobilized.

Some lifters don’t respond well to traditional t-spine exercises like thoracic extensions or back-to-wall slides, no matter how many times they're performed. For these individuals those particular drills and mobilizations don't help because they're already stuck in extension. The goal is to try and move them into a more neutral position where the diaphgram and pelvic floor face each other. This allows for the upper back to move into extension thus allowing better movement and less strain on secondary breathing muscles.

Improving your squat requires reps, so too does your breathing. By fully drawing in air and exhaling, you'll improve your rib and thoracic mobility. By correcting this it will free up a majority of shoulder impingements at the top of pressing movements. I have had countless clients attempt to breathe deeply only to be able to take in air for 2-3 seconds at most.

I would add that these clients often exhibit dysfunctional breathing muscular restrictions like overactive scalene, sternocleidomastoid, levator scapulae, pec minor and traps.

Before beginning, if you're a female in the Los Angeles area looking to make long lasting changes and lose that stubborn weight, click on the link above in my profile for details👆🏼😬 ️⃣️⃣️⃣️⃣️⃣️⃣*️⃣ 90-90 hip lift with balloon. If you change your breathing mechanics, you can drastically improve your thoracic mobility. Using a balloon is an amazing tool to teach you how to better engage the muscles needed to stabilize the trunk and creating intra-abdominal pressure voluntarily. How to: Lie on your back with your feet flat against a wall. Knees and hips at 90 degrees. Stick your tongue to the roof of your mouth in order to maintain pressure. The hip lift encourages posterior tilt by trying to engage your hamstrings not the abdominal muscles. 1) Begin with an exhale to set rib position. The goal is use a minimal amount of oblique contraction to the ribs down during inhalation 2) Exhale fully through mouth without clamping down on your rectus abdominis (6 pack muscle). 3) Pause 2-3 seconds before inhaling again. Inhales and exhales should be relatively effortless. Limit straining, keep a relaxed neck. 4)Expand chest 360 degrees. Chest should expand, not rise towards the shoulders.

A video posted by Gary Heshiki Fitness (@garyheshikifitness) on Feb 1, 2016 at 9:03pm PST

I learned this trick from the Postural Restoration Institute (PRI).

The balloon is an amazing tool to teach you how to better engage the musculature needed to stabilize the trunk, create and release pressure voluntarily. Really honing this skill has immense carryover to all lifts and movements.

Try to not pinch off the balloon with your teeth. Stick your tongue to the roof of your mouth in order to maintain pressure. The arm lift helps to facilitate opening up the chest and the hip lift which encourages posterior tilt where you are trying to engage your hamstrings.

Key Points

• Begin with an exhale to set rib position.
• The goal is use a minimal amount of oblique contraction to the ribs down during inhalation
• Exhale fully through mouth without clamping down on your rectus abdominis (6 pack muscle).
• Pause 2-3 seconds before inhaling again.
• Inhales and exhales should be relatively effortless. Limit straining, keep a relaxed neck. Expand chest 360 degrees.
• Chest should expand not rise towards the shoulders.

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Photo Courtesy: WWE

Growing up in the early 90's I spent a large amount of time watching WWF wrestling. These larger than life men running around in their underwear with muscles captivated me. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Slyvester Stallone were all over the movie screens with their oiled up muscular bodies; what boy didn't want to be like Rambo or the Terminator! I wanted to be like them.

5'7" 135lbsUThat was me my senior year of high school. And this was AFTER discovering what a gym was. I had gained 10 solid pounds over the summer and was "on my way" to being like these guys I idolized as a little boy.

Today I have a different perspective on the "ideal" male physique. Are we driven to want big, lean muscles because that's something we legitamely want or have we been told by others that's the physique we should aspire to?

Most men interested in fitness have seen this meme on the internet. From a performance stand point it doesn't make any sense. The activities while similar (both are running) require two completely different physiological adaptations. One is endurance related and the other is power based. To compare the two is apples and oranges.

What I get from this photo dives deeper into the consciousness of Men. It illustrates the point that we should want to be big and muscular. But Why? From an early age we're told that unless you're big and muscular, that you weren't a "real man". Hell even our action figures were buff! So If you don't look like an upside triangle with a giant V-taper, you don't fit society's ideally male body. You aren't built for survival.

Does this mean you think the marathoner isn't fit? Fitness means a lot of different things. I believe being fit comes in a variety of shapes, forms and modalities. Each physique is capable of things the other cannot do. It doesn't mean one is better than the other, it simply means they're different.

"That dude is scrawny"So what?
Why does it even matter? I believe it comes down to this:

How big is big enough?How strong is strong enough?How fast is fast enough?I would argue that unless your job is professional bodybuilder, weightlifter or athlete there should be more or less a target for you to aim for. Why do we lift weights, run and eat well? Other than looking good, its to live a long healthy life. Yes you should strive to always be getting better, but just because someone doesn't fit YOUR ideal depiction of fitness doesn't make them or their goals lesser than.

I'm sick of hearing bodybuilders saying those powerlifters are fat.

I'm sick of weightlifters saying those bodybuilders aren't functional or mobile.

I'm sick of runners saying I don't do weights because then I'd be slow like those powerlifters.

Regardless of what you enjoy doing, there's A LOT to learn from each other. So instead of focusing on all of our short comings, we should be helping each other get better and be happy. But a lot of guys won't because talking smack is easier than raising each other up, because putting others down means you're a man. A real man, right?

I say that's one insecure man, now could you oil me up while I wear my man thong-singlet for my 10k meet?

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I got this variation from the LA Lakers S&C coach Tim DiFrancesco

I believe most people would benefit from performing more side plank variations as it will increase lateral stabilization and often times fix most internal hip rotation restrictions. 

A side plank targets muscles like the Quadratus Lumborum, Lats, Obliques, and the Rectus Adomonis. The best part of this movement is that as you rotate in and out of the plank variations you'll have to get tight throughout the body and resist both extension and lateral rotation forces on the body. 

How To:

• Begin in a prone plank position with your arms at 90 degrees, one in front of the other.
• Brace into a plank position, deep exhale as to set the ribcage in the proper position and to achieve a strong core brace.
• Rotate onto one side while simultaneously rotating the feet to help facilitate a proper side plank position. Careful to not lose proper "shoulder stacking", meaning you should not feel ALOT of pressure in the front of your shoulder while doing this.
• Rotate back to the prone plank and then repeat on the other side.
• Perform 8-12 passes total near the end of a workout.

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I'm a little more than half way through my Massage Therapy program.

Most of the time I leave my home between 530-7am and don't get home until about 9-10pm.

When I get home, it's tidy and dinner is often waiting for me. My wife doesn't really enjoy cooking but for this brief period she has hot food waiting for me. I don't often get to tell her how thankful I am for all her help but I know that without her help and constant support I would not have the energy to put in 12+hour days 5-6 times a week. She has a lot of other things on her plate but she is always there to lend me a hand or pick up the slack when I'm not around. Basically: I'm certain I would have misplaced my head from my shoulders without her.

For any successful man, there's always a highly supportive and loving woman behind him. These guys need to be sure to let their wives know how thankful they are, I know I am.

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I recently finished an interview on Voyage LA detailing my history as a trainer and the road to where I am today.

To read the full write up:

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Single leg exercises are fantastic for many reasons one of which is shoring up any strength discrepancies from the left and right sides.

One of the better hip dominant movements is the single leg Romanian deadlift.

How To

• Pick up one foot and have a slight bend in the down leg.
• Push the hips back making sure to hinge at the hips.
• Focus on making sure the hips don't swivel as you push your butt back. A great way to help facilitate this is by kicking your leg straight as you hinge over.
• Hinge back and squeeze the glute in the down leg.
• Perform 5-10reps and repeat on the other side. I would include this in the middle of a leg workout as an accessory movment

Here I've loaded the movement with a kettle bell, shown is the easier way to hold onto the weight by hugging it against your chest to decrease the lever of the body aka: makes it easier than holding it in your hands.

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Tim DiFrancesco of the Los Angeles Lakers w/Jordan Clarkson

Question I received: "Gary, I really want to get certified as a trainer. I've been lifting since high school and I'm thinking about quitting my job as a pharmacy tech. I really hate it and want to leave as soon as I get certified. I love basketball, so I definitely want to train mostly athletes." First off I told him it was great that he figured out what his passion was, but also that it would be a long road ahead with a huge pay cut. If he was happy taking a pay cut to become a trainer then by all means full steam ahead and I would be more than happy to give him resources to be the best trainer he could be. But if he had responsibilities and things to pay for, that he may be better off as a part time trainer initally on his days off to really see if he enjoyed training and working with others for a living.

As a pharmacy tech or any health field background, becoming certified as a trainer isn't a big stretch. The science part should come easy, but those experiences won't cover coaching people. It's easy to train your friend who is young and healthy, but what do you do with the former athlete who has a surgically repaired ACL or bum hip? What happens when you get a difficult client that doesn't seem to take your advice on proper nutrition?

I brought up the point that he's currently employed with a steady job, by leaving the comfort of that job to become his own boss to "train athletes" right out the gate; he would be in for a rude awakening. Some trainers believe that within a year they'll be working with high level athletes. The problem with that naive line of thinking is this:

You've worked with ZERO athletes, what makes you think a million dollar body is going to take a flyer on a rookie trainer? (hint: the answer is none)If he had only mentioned he wished to train athletes in the future I wouldn't have come at him hard with the truth. I've had the opportunity to meet plenty of well intentioned people who like this individual, they quit their jobs to "follow their passion" only to fall flat on their face after going independent. Wishing to be your own boss and actually cultivating all the skills required to succeed are two completely different things.

I've learned this:

You cannot live wishing to be an entrepreneur when your skill-set and mindset haven't been cultivated to be one

Remember when you're out there on your own, there are zero guidelines on what to do next and how to spend your time. For many the risk of the unknown and leaving something "steady" is not worth it and I would advise this person to seek a different JOB instead of taking a weekend course to change industries cold turkey.

Some simply can't get organized enough to get a business off the ground. Other's aren't wired to think on a deeper level strategy-wise. I used to think "what do I need to do? I want to work but I don't know what to do!" If you really don't have any clue what to do, go get a job. I mean there are so many resources and you still don't know what to do!? I.E: Google it!

It got to the point where I would pester my wife with "so what should I do?" which is an asinine thought considering I was supposed to be my own boss.
(Note: I knew what to do, I was being lazy and didn't want to own up to doing the work)

Being your own boss is a skill too, one that you may not have been born with. You can still be your own boss but to temper expectations if you don't end up rising to the top of your industry. You'll earn 45K instead of 1 million dollars each year.

It boils down to being happy > everything else.

Ultimately he wrote back and said thank you for my input and that he would be getting certified to start training part time and see if it might be something he wished to pursue full time. He mentioned it hadn't occurred to him that it would be THAT difficult getting in front of ONE professional athlete. I gave him some more resources, said he should try his hand at working at the high school level and left it off with an open invite anytime he was in Los Angeles to drop on by and I would love to host him for an hour at the gym.

Ball is life...until you have to pay your bills.

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Everybody wants to get faster and jump higher. For most clients they have to learn to slow themselves down to go faster. 

This isn't some Yoda jedi mind trick, it really does mean that by learning how to effectively slow yourself down, you'll be better abled at accelerate safely out of said stop. 

There's not a whole lot to it except this cue: Land like a cat, not a dog.

Most cats at least, are pretty quiet when they move around. There's been times I'll be sitting forward in my chair only to lean back a bit and discover a cat behind me now. Gotta be nimble and quiet like cat.

If when you land you make a loud THUD foot slapping the ground noise, you're too loud. This also applies to box jumps where you're stomping onto the box. When you don't land controlled and softly it only shifts the weight more onto your joints, and that's a recipe for injury down the road. 

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"Smarter, Faster, Better" by Charles Duhigg explores the science behind how we motivate, manage and become more productive humans.

In a nutshell it's more about how you think as opposed to what you think, which is a mindset I believe that can change your life.

We make good choices based on our past experiences which allow us to forecast the future more accurately.Charles believes “good decision making is contingent on a basic ability to envision what happens next.” This only happens when we have the ability to see how what's going on is different than how we actually believe things should be which is known as a mental model.

Characteristics of individuals good at managing their attention

1. They create pictures in their minds of what they expect to see
2. They tell themselves stories about what’s going on as it occurs
3. They narrate their own experiences within their heads
4. They are more likely to answer questions with anecdotes rather than simple responses
5. They say when they daydream, they’re often imagining future conversations
6. They visualize their days with more specificity than the rest of us do

Motivation is not innate, it is a skill that can be cultivated and improved upon.In the book he uses an example from the Toyota company where they are tasked with reopening a former GM plant with the same workers which forced this factory to close. They allowed workers to feel like they had autonomy over their actions and surroundings, which led to a successful relaunch of this car factory. Motivation often has more to do with the belief we are in control more than the actual choices we have to make.

“Productivity is the name we give our attempts to figure out the best uses of our energy, intellect, and time as we try to seize the most meaningful rewards with the least wasted effort.”At times when we look to be productive it comes at the expense of performing a task or unpleasant chore. Instead of groaning, we should take an opportunity to ask ourselves "why" we're begrudging performing this particular task. Only after we become aware of the why do we see that these small tasks are a part of a part of a much larger goal or set of values.

We see that these small chores can have a massive emotional reward which allows us to have a more meaningful view on our decision making, Self-motivation flourishes when we realize that helping around the house or opening a door for someone on its own, might be relatively unimportant. But it is part of a bigger project that we believe in, that we want to achieve, that we have chosen to do.

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The band resisted kettlebell swing is great when you:

1. Run out of heavier bells
2. Want to increase the rate of force development

The second reason is the one I'm usually interested in. By increasing the rate at which your muscles fire, you recruit greater amounts of muscle fibers and thus allows you to more efficiently grow muscle and get stronger too. Many let gravity do the work on the downswing, I say no thanks! I would put the prerequisite that your technique be spot on before increasing the speed of the kettlebell swing, which in itself is already a very dynamic movement.

How to:

1. Grab a band and choke it on the handle of the band. I like to have the band pulled so the band is on the sides and not in the middle where my hands go!
2. Set the kettlebell in front of you like a football and hike it to begin with a solid hinge and forceful hip extension.
3. What you should watch for is as the bell hits shoulder height, the band will get taught and you will have to reverse the motion much more quickly than if it were kettlebell only.
4. Repeat for 8-12 repititions.

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Being a former professional cook and now fitness professional, this question is always a subject of debate.

Let's be honest, healthful food can only taste so good. REALLY TASTY food often contains high calorie ingredients like fats (cheese, oils, butter) salt, sugars and less than optimal cooking techniques (i.e. frying).

I like roasted chicken but you know what's even tastier? Fried chicken. Greek Yogurt parfaits are good but Ice Cream is even more delicious.

The following is my opinion for you to agree or disagree with: If I'm going to indulge it's got to be worth eating. On a day to day basis I eat healthy food. I indulge a bit but 90% of my day is composed of lean proteins, a lot of vegetables, seeds/nuts, black coffee, and water. I rarely stray from this. My only compromise is if I somehow end up at a place I really have been wanting to try or an unexpected lunch meeting where I try to order a healthy item off the menu. On the weekend I make time to go out with Sara. Here we tend to make similar decisions about where to eat opting to support a small business producing a quality product.

I believe most people would benefit by having this mentality. What you decide is worthy of eating is completely up to you. If you're consuming these "worthy" meals in moderation, you'll end up eating more home cooked meals and saving a lot of money too. I would rather eat zero "healthy" pizzas and burgers then eat a really delicious one on the weekend. Skip the diet sodas and have a regular one once a week. All these things are a great way to live life while being mindful about what you're putting into your body.

OVERVIEW

• Opt to savor the foods you want to indulge in by saving them for the weekend. Instead of eating Jersey Mikes or Subway for lunch during the work week, bring food from home and enjoy a really tasty sub on the weekend.
• During the week eat more home cooked meal. This allows you to eat more nutrient dense-lower calorie meals.
• Support small local businesses, they are often more transparent about the quality of their food and will gladly talk about it if you ask politely.
• Have a plan if you veer off your regularly scheduled meals during the week when possible. If I'm going out to a restaurant, I always scope out the menu for a healthy option.

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This is a great exercise I've used with runner's who have issues with keeping their hips steading during their runs. 

It's an isometric exercise with a large core stabilization component built into it. You're rock solid if you can do this and make it look as if you still have two feet on the floor. 

HOW TO:

• Lie supine with your feet hip width apart with your knees bent.
• Bridge up squeezing your glutes.
• Now without letting your hips drop, pick one foot up off the floor.
• Put it down and repeat in an alternating fashion for reps.

This is also a great exercise when lightly loaded for individuals seeking more glute hypertrophy. 

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The RKC Plank (Russian Kettlebell Certificafion)

A traditional plank does a poor job of activating the core musculature. I believe it is a great exercise when first learning how to properly engage and create tension through the body but after a solid minute, it really does little for actual core stabilization.

The RKC plank is a fantastic exercise I learned years ago and have been using it for both core work and teaching full body tension. From a more practical standpoint it is a concept which is important for any lifter trying to improve overall strength during most multi-joint lifts.

I also know that compared to a traditional plank, extending the lever (moving your arms forward and way from the body) and getting posterior pelvic tilt (turning the hips so your lower back is a bit rounded as opposed to arching) has significantly greater rectus and transverse abdomonis activation*. (Study via Bret Contras and Brad Schoenfield)

So why not combine the concepts!

HOW TO:* Arms are more narrow than your shoulders and above your head. * Posterior pelvic tilt the hips. * Squeeze the glutes and quads. * Without moving an inch, create tension like you're attempting to bring your arms and legs toward the middle. For those who know the term "piking" thats what you're attempting to do. * The final detail is in the breathing. Be sure to take deep breaths in through the nose and forcefully exhale through the mouth. I like the cue: Imagine like you're blowing out a candle using a straw.

This move is more intermediate-advanced movement so I wouldn't throw this at a beginner.

The amount of tension you're looking for will be no more than 10-15 seconds, if that.

If can hold it longer, you need to turn the intensity dial up to 11.

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"Man Instagram is stupid!"

"Only kids use snapchat!"

"Ain't nobody watching your videos!"

"Social media is a waste of time"

These are things I hear from the same people who still work, market and train their clients like it's the year 2007 instead of 2017.

I get an advantage by working in a shared space where I get to observe various styles and philosophies that run the gamut. This allows me to see, in my opinion, what works and what doesn't. There are very few secrets in our building as a quick google search will show you what each person is up to.

Are they running google adwords? Yelp ads? Groupon? Thumbtack? Facebook ads?

You then take notice of:
Did they increase business?
Did said clients stick around past the introductory period?

Some trainers are able to bring in people, presumably either free or at a really discounted rate, but after one month I never see these individuals again. This leads to the biggest take-home as a professional.

Success leaves clues

You have two ears, two eyes, and one mouth. Use them in that orderThe biggest learning opportunity is right in front of you. You can always peruse the internet but there's nothing better than to watch a live case study. I would not listen to a professional who isn't successfully retaining clients. I will however observe them.

Some professionals teeter right on the line of success and failure, I did for a long time. What are they doing well that I might not be. You should always be looking around for an opportunity to grow as a person and professional.

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Most people know that chin ups and pull ups are one of the best exercises for the upper body including but not limited to:

• Building stronger lats, traps, shoulders and arms.
• Demonstrating proper balance around the shoulder blade, if you perform them correctly
• Creating strong shoulder stabilizer
• Balancing out the numerous pressing motions in most workout programs (unless it's my program, you'll be doing pulls in one form or another every workout)

From a technical standpoint it really should be called chest ups. This means that you aren't barely clearing your chin over the bar, rather bringing your chest to the bar which ensures you're getting proper scapular depression and retraction.

HOW TO (there are many ways to get up there, this is how I like to teach the move)

1. Pull patterning w/squat Aside from not having the strength to pull yourself up to the top of the bar, most have zero clue how to create full body tension. This is noticeable when watching someone who can sort of do 2-3 reps but swing around A LOT.

This is why using a pull-up assist machine doesn't quite help overcome the stabilization you'll need once you jump onto a free standing bar. Not to mention most of these machines are built very poorly with the hand spacing being very off.

This drill allows the lifter to learn the movement correctly, engage the proper muscles (as much as they can) while also focusing on maintaining a tight core the entire time.

I would combine this with Chest supported DB Rows. This will allow you to initially start properly engaging the correct muscles in a safe manner.

2. Inverted Rows The next exercise I like to progress people to is the inverted row. We usually stay with this until the person can comfortably perform a set of 8 reps with their body underneath the anchor point of the suspension trainer or barbell.

I love the inverted row and will start here for those with some established pulling strength in place. It adjusts very easily and allows for quick change by either stepping back or moving forward.

I would combine this with the pull up + single leg patterning.

By lowering the amount of stability and help the legs give with only one foot on the floor it gets harder without actually changing much else. Here we continue to work on stability during the pull up while increasing both the strain on the upper body and need for body control.

1. Kneeling Pull-up I would then move them to a suspension trainer or smith machine they can go from a tall kneeling position into a pull up. This is fantastic since you'll have your legs still on the floor for help but they won't be fully engaged given the positioning of the body here.

This is a great drill for really turning up the tension needed for all vertical pulling.

This can also be used in conjunction with Negatives and isometric holds from the bar.

1. Band Assist Pull-Ups The final progression is to use a superband and perform them hanging from a bar.

Here's a video I created outlining some of the mistakes I see such as putting an unprepared client in a heavy band and watching them practically swing into the other end of the rack.

There's no predetermined amount of time any one person will spend with each of these movements. What's most important is finding what works the best for you and hammering that as hard as possible working towards overloading the muscles. Be patient and in time you'll be flying up and down that pull-up bar.

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If you've followed me for any extended period of time you'll know one of my favorite yet easily butchered exercises are ROWS!!!

One thing that I continue to see is the idea of "STAYING PACKED" as opposed to allowing for free motion of the shoulder blade. The shoulder blade needs to be able to move freely on the rib cage to maintain positioning of the ball in the socket.

See if you keep the shoulder blade packed (squeezed hard down and back) then you create a lot of torque going across the glenohumeral joint. To put it into plain English: the more you stress out that part of your shoulder, the greater the chances you will create some sort of impingement. By not allowing the scapula to move, you create a lat dominant style row (I.E: imbalanced movement).

This is in contrast to proper movement during a row where you're allowing protraction of the scapula and retraction when pulling your arm back. It all comes down to this:

When your arm moves forward, so should your shoulder blade. When your arm moves back , your shoulder blade should move back. This concept applies to pull ups as well.

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• The Scap Pull-Up is one of my favorite "feeler" moves that help individuals groove the initial movement pattern of a chin/pull up.

Most of us sit in an anteriorly tilted position (seated desk hunchback position) which is a result of tight internal rotators and weak external rotators. This move helps to facilitate pulling through posteriorly tilting the scapula via serrates anterior, traps, rhomboids and most importantly using their lats.

Tip:

• I coach my clients to think about pulling through their lats by imagining strings attached to their elbows pulling them down to their sides and not only using their arms.
• Aim to squeeze the lats and pull the shoulder blades together.
• Squeeze for 2-3 second count, and relax but careful to not aggressively shrug, "keep your neck visible".

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I recall a conversation with a fellow trainer in our facility who said something along the lines of

"All you talk about is training and food, don't you have any other interests?"Of course I do.

I love sports, cats, and I'm even growing an interest in the geopolitical landscape. My biggest "outside" interest which I suppose ties into fitness and food is a burning desire to improve society on a much larger scale.

But all those things take a back seat to what I'm currently focus on.

I live, breathe and sleep exercise, nutrition, cooking and all that my business entails. Here's the thing, if you're happy with the current life you have as a trainer, office worker or salesman; then don't change a thing. Keep doing what you're doing and feel free to mock me and my lack of diverse interests.

But if you want to make big changes. Make big moves. And you're still late, wasting money or unfocused; how on earth are you ever going to get there?! Your actions don't map out your words. You my friend are, pardon my French, full of sh*t.

I can say this because I once was as well. I would talk a big game, say I'm going to make a lot of money and make a difference in this world. And how is that going to happen by waking up at 10am and barely working a few hours. Hell I watched more TV than I worked!

I've cut out Basketball (which pains me), poker, and "hanging out" because I don't have time for these things these days. This is the classic "I don't have time" excuse. Making more time often comes at the expense of the softball team or the bowling team or the book club; something you've decided to occupy your time with. It should never come at the expense of family time. This feels right to me, while it may be "unhealthy" to you. Whatever the case may be: YOU need to DO YOU.

Every moment, every minute of my life is consumed by the burning desire (you might say obsession) to be the best.

Every morning I wake up not content wanting to be the best version of myself, but to beThe Best

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If you've ever set up for a deadlift, conventional or sumo, you should feel two things.

1. Tension in the hamstrings
2. Tension in the core and lats

What you get results in added stress to the lower back with a suboptimal set up.

First would be to address the initial hinge. Are you feeling it in hamstrings? If not that's the first place you would want to address. A drill I like for that is the butt tap hinge.

From there you continue down, a great cue from Dead Somerset is to squeeze behind your knee continuing to crank up the tension. All before you even grab the barbell or kettlebell.

At this point you should be over the barbell, from the side view you should have your armpits directly over the barbell once you drop down to the bar.

The goal is always to create tension in the lats without changing the position of your arms. If you retract the shoulder blades aggressively. You want to "squeeze the orange" under your arm pit.

From there big breath, brace the core, and continue the maintain the tension in the hamstrings and then pull to lockout.

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Question: Should I continue to produce content and articles if no one reads or interacts with them?No one?! I high doubt that it's zero, rather you believe your engagement is too low.

If something I say or notice might help someone then that alone is reason enough to continue publishing articles and social media content.

I'll continue to work harder at finding things to share and formulate opinions of thoughtful examination to share with these individuals. By doing so I will only continue to get better at writing and creating videos.

And if by chance someone reads this and they give me their trust, it's even better. A win-win for both parties. I have a fan for life or until I say something dumb or no longer provide any value.

Gaining permission to speak to someone is the most valuable thing, you have their attention. There's no SEO or amount of social media monkey business that allows you to game the system.

Treat others and run your business the way you operate and navigate the world. I engage with everyone (as long as it's not a bot generated comment or cookie cutter email) who wants to speak to me because I love helping other people when possible. To me it's all about creating connections. And large part of that is sharing something of value.

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Ate an extra carrot stick...so I need to add the calories! Carry the one...

1. Eating healthy isn't 100% science. Keep things simple by following basic principles and using common senseI don't count calories, macros or use any sort of fancy complicated formula or equation when preparing my food.

I did a great job if: I ate real whole foods (especially plants), ate when I was hungry, stopped long before I got stuffed and fit in an hour of movement.

Nutritional Science is the backbone of proper eating recommendations. You however don't need to actually know or implement all of that fancy-pants science into your dietary protocols.

The healthiest and leanest people I know don’t overthink nutrition science each day. But you know the people who do? Yo-yo dieters. These are the kinds of people who need an app for every single food they consume and freak out at any deviation.

Take home: Unless you're an elite athlete or a physique competitor, you don't need to worry about the science. Being healthy and lean for life is EASY without a 4 year degree in Nutrition. Principles over plans.

Did you remember to soap and scrub your food? Yeah. No.

2. Healthy eating isn’t black & white. It’s doing your best with what you have.You can have the world's greatest meal plan and guess what? You just ran out of Kale and the store is closed! But..but..my plan calls for kale. NOW WHAT!!!!!????

Great scrap the whole thing, I'm going to eat that pie I bought?

Instead if you run out of kale, do you have ANY other vegetables in your fridge? Spinach? Romaine lettuce? Even frozen vegetables would suffice.

Being able to make swaps and not just follow a black and white approach to your meal planning is vital to long term success.

Take home: Even the best laid out plans can go awry and to make the best of any situation. Often we scrap our plans because we have unrealistic expectations for how we should be eating.

3. Healthy eating isn't calorie counting. It’s paying attention to your body’s natural hunger and fullness cues.This is a tough one for people to understand. They think if only I could eat "x" calories each day, I'd be so friggin hot and ripped.

Except trying to tabulate your calorie intake and expenditure is a losing proposition. There are so many factors that can change nutrient density of vegetables and your proteins like: Variables during growth, your cook preparation style, and even varietal of vegetable.

For some, if they are unable to count calories they don't quite know what to do with themselves. But if you were to look around the world, there are many people who are in great shape because they are more in tune with their body's hunger cues.

Take home: Learning to pay attention and knowing when you're 80-90% (I'm comfortable) versus being stuffed (think after a buffet) is vital to not needing an app for that.

I'd say that Roast beef looks pretty good...I made this =)

4. Healthy eating isn't always AMAZING. It's good but not that good eitherOkay let's be honest steamed vegetables and baked fish isn't nearly as good as a hamburger or pizza.

You can however retrain your tastebuds to enjoy different types of foods, healthier foods. It takes time but it can be done. It's why we eat something from our childhood that we recall as AMAZING, and now it's only okay.

Take home: Food should always taste good, but not so good that it blasts you out in outer space every time. Again this goes back to expectations about how food is going to taste. If you've only been eating big sugary and salty foods, of course the broccoli is going to taste awful.

5. Healthy eating isn’t easy. But if you get organized with your daily routine it enables living healthily, and you'll find it gets easier and easierPiggybacking off the last point, yes it's tough to eat 2 cups of roasted cauliflower instead of that basket of fries.

Remember the hardest part is starting. Decide to have oatmeal instead of cereal. Choose roasted chicken over fried tenders. Great job! Now there will be a bevy of friends, family, co-workers, Dr. Phil, TV, and magazines telling you otherwise. Stay the course! Have a support system that will back you when things get hard and remind you of the goals you need to achieve.

Take home: Luckily the more often you choose being healthy over a late night taco truck run, the easier it will get. I promise you it will.

Bonus: Healthy eating isn’t restriction. It's about striking a balance seamlessly into your life so you can make better healthy choices without feeling "deprived"If I said to a client, starting tomorrow they could no longer have any dessert, I might end up in the poor house. Can't get between a person and their dessert!

But what might also happen is said client going home and inhaling all the ice cream, cake and cookies they can get their hands on.

There's no such thing as "clean" or "good" foods and bad foods. There's simply food.

I recommend to all my clients, indulge a bit everyday.

Take home: We don't set restrictions. But we do practice good portion control. Have a few cookies, just don't eat the whole bag!

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The floor press is a great alternative to the bench press. In particular the dumbbell version where you're allowed more freedom for your shoulders to move about the cabin.

This is used as an accessory movement to improve your bench press and as such should be treated that way. As an added bonus, it helps really develop your triceps without them screaming bloody murder like you might experience when performing isolation work. 

One of the hardest parts of the dumbbell floor press is getting into position. In the video you'll see how I prefer to get set up by kicking up at the same time into position the same way you would on a bench. 

How to:

1. Everything else remains the same about horizontal pressing. After you get into the starting position, pack the shoulders to set the scapula in the proper position. I also like having my feet straight to really eliminate any sort of leg drive.

2. Lower the dumbbells down until your upper arm is on the floor. I like to coach my clients to pause for a second at the floor. This allows you to take a moment to see if you are lined up correctly. 

3. Press back up without letting go of your upper back position and repeat for reps in the 8-12 range.  

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The good morning often is a cause for concern but in reality if you're a healthy lifter with no prior injuries, you should be able to perform them fairly safely.

One thing thats great about the move is that max torque is applied at the hip at 90 degrees. Which is different than say from a horizontal back extension where torque is applied at 180 degrees at lockout. So varying the angles at which you load the hips is of vital importance to improve both an aesthetic goal and a performance based one.

It's a giant hip hinge with the barbell on your back!

1. Set the bar on your back like you would on a back squat.

2. Stand up with the bar and step back. Shoulder blades tight, brace the core, etc.

3. Taking a soft knee bend and bracing your midsection, push your hips back. Drive the hips back to a standing position. Repeat for reps.

Tip: How far down you go will be dictated by how mobile your hamstrings and back allow you to go and how much you can control the movement. Load-wise you want to stay fairly light as it is an accessory movement.

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I LOVE using this photo

Piggybacking off a post during the final weeks of December about deciding to be great at one maybe two things and punting all else; I'd like to elaborate around the context of Personal Training.

As a consumer one should be weary of hiring a coach who claims they're an expert at all things fitness and health. No one coach is THE BEST at building muscle, losing weight, sports performance, rehabilitative exercise, and nutrition.

Lets take Mike Reinold of Champion Physical Therapy based in Boston, Mass who is an extremely talented Strength and Conditioning coach and PT (Physical Therapist). Does one think he is not capable of working with physique competitors? While he's most likely well versed in the process, his main business is working with athletes and post rehab patients. He wouldn't be setting himself or his client up for the best chance at succeeding.

On the other end of the spectrum lets take Bret Contreras who runs the Glute Lab based out of Phoenix, AZ. As a PhD researcher he's one of the leaders in glute hypertrophy (muscle building) and if someone came to him with a SLAP tear of the shoulder, Bret would have an idea of what to do but this type of client would be better suited to someone like Mike because that's his area of expertise.

Each coach is great at what they do and would most likely know what to do with their respective clients. If they however were able to swap people, they would have even better chances at success. Great coaches are well versed at all aspects of training but they know what one or two things they're actually "experts" in.

I am a former professional cook and Precision Nutrition level 1 coach, I feel confident in cooking healthy tasty meal prep for my clients. In addition to that, I am a well versed strength coach who uses strength to aide in weight loss and rehab.

I know how to put muscle on, as well as improving sport performance, but if I received a client whom I thought a colleague would better suited at aiding the client, they'd be on their way with a referral.

In my opinion, looking for a coach who can succinctly state what they're GREAT at is one of the things I would look for in a coach or personal trainer.

Jack of all trades, master of none

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This January marks the seven year anniversary that I've been paid to build strong resilient humans. In that time I can't even count on my two hands how many people I've hurt or injured!

That's because that number is ZERO!!
(One moment while I run around my apartment knocking on every piece of wood ten times over)

To an outsiders perspective my client programs don't wow your socks off. Some might say they look repetitive and boring. But what they don't see on paper is the end result of 2-3 sessions a week after a year. I help individuals get strong as an ox while also improving their mobility and joint health.

My training is all steak and no sizzleThere is no rotating circus moves on a bosu ball or hanging from a bar adductor work (I can't make this stuff up people!). What you will find are time tested movements and exercises that work. I vary my programs up by changing up tempo, loading protocols and positioning.

If you want to make individuals strong you need to make them good at lifting. I coach my clients toward mastery of movements. As they master the movement and get stronger, I can then open up my playbook of exercises if the client wishes to try them or if I think it will help them towards their bigger goals.

What My Programs Consist Of:

• Squat
• Hip Hinge (deadlifts)
• Vertical Push & Pull
• Horizontal Push & Pull
• Loaded Carries
• Anti-Extension Core
• Anti-Rotation Core
• Select Flexion Based Core
• Arm Work (Cuz who doesn't like a good arm pump)

All of the above alternate between unilateral and bilateral movement. Also incorporating in frontal plane (side-to-side) and transverse plane (thinking rotational) specific patterns.

Example:

Day 1

A1) Front Squat
A2) Chest supported DB Row
B1) Sumo Deadlift
B2) Face Pulls
C1) Side plank
C2) One arm KB Racked Carry

Day 2

A1) DB Bench Press
A2) TRX Inverted Rows
B1) DB Z-Press
B2) Farmer's Walks
C1) Plank
C2) Prone Trap Raise

Day 3

A1) Split Squat
A2) Pull Ups
B1) Hip Thrusts
B2) Seated One Arm Cable Row
C1) Pallof Press
C2) Waiters Walk

Day 4

A1) Barbell Front Loaded Reverse Lunge
A2) DB Floor Press
B1) Single Leg RDL
B2) Chest Supported DB Row
C1) Kneeling Stability Ball Rollouts
C2) One Arm KB Racked Walk

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The holiday season is as much a time to celebrate as it is to reflect back on the year that was. For those people who are going in the right direction and are happy keep doing what you're doing. But for any individuals out there who may be feeling a bit down or underwhelmed by what you're currently doing I say take heed, perhaps I can help give you some perspective.

I too would always get down on what I'd currently be doing. Saying I'm not doing enough or not trying hard enough. When I would step back and look at the year as a whole I would feel very differently.

"We overestimate what we can accomplish in a day and underestimate what we can accomplish in a year"So cut yourself some slack if you can honestly say you've moved forward this year. If you've checked something off your lifetime to-do list or started on the path to something bigger and better; you're set up to succeed in 2017. We all want to rush to the end, to the diploma or the lofty retirement when we should enjoy the process of getting there as much if not more than actually getting there.

I am constantly grateful for all the down times because without that I would never full appreciate where I am and never forget where I was. This holiday season I fill myself with gratitude and appreciation for everything I have.

I don't need anything

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This is one of my go-to movements for teaching good upper body posture and is a great exercise to improve cuff strength.

It however is often done incorrectly and for high volumes at that!

The two biggest mistakes are:

Viewed from the front the person looks okay, but stand to the side and you see them in a ton of extension.

Viewed from behind at the shoulder blades, you shouldn't see excessive scapular retraction. The movement doesn't have the person moving much past neutral and should mostly be the ball moving on the socket in the shoulder.

Here you want to get them into a neutral spine throughout the movement.

An easy way to fix this is to perform them supine over a foam roller or half foam roller if available. The roller helps keep your back neutral and as an added bonus gives you feedback about the second issue of being overly aggressive with retracting the scapula.

When you see the shoulder blades pinching aggressively together it doesn't sync the shoulder blade and the humerus which can lead to dysfunctional movement patterns and muscle recruitment.

You ideally want to separate the motion at the humerus before the scapula moves at the end. If you don't feel it burning (mostly) behind the shoulders, you're not doing it right.

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Question: "I'm an aspiring trainer getting my certification and have been following you for some time now on social media. I was wondering what's a day like for you?"My day often beings anywhere from 5am to 6:30am where I roll out of bed and make the same breakfast I've had for years.

3 eggs, 2 pieces of toast and 14oz black coffee pour over. While eating I'll answer any e-mails or I'll study for 25 minutes.

After I get cleaned up and changed I head out to the gym for my morning sessions. While in the car I no longer listen to music instead I'll have on a podcast or a book from audible. This is the plan so long as I don't carry a passenger where I'll play music and not subject them to my books and podcasts.

My morning's fluctuate from one client to as many as four depending on the day. Most mornings I'm free after 10am where I get to workout about 90 minutes. If I don't have any clients immediately after I will head home to eat lunch and get some work done on my computer.

This work ranges from:

• Creating content
• Outlining posts for all social media platforms for the week and what needs to be documented for them
• More Reading/watching a video on whatever it is I'm currently studying
• Programming
• Recipe testing
• Research for future business development

If I have any time before I have to get cleaned up and head back out to work I'll try to bask in my cats love or lack thereof.

They love me...I think

I'll usually start working with clients about 3:30-5pm until about 8:30-9:30pm again depending on the day. I'll slumber home and warm up my dinner which I've usually prepped ahead of time. I'll put it in the microwave for 3-4 minutes while I shower. Again bask in my cats love before doing little more work again on the computer or study for 30-40 minutes. In bed by 10-10:30pm.

Lather, rinse, repeat the next day.

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"Gotta get you calories in! Food is fuel, gotta keep it up. Your body is like a car, keep it filled with gas and you're good to go!" - Overheard at the gym

When you treat food as simply fuel, calories, or energy you will miss out on a much larger picture about what food really is.

*Food Provides MicronutrientsFor example Calcium helps:

• build bones,
• clot blood,
• regulate blood pressure,
• keep our muscles and heart pumping, and
• maintain cell communication.

Magnesium plays a role in more than 300 enzyme systems and helps with:

• protein synthesis,
• muscle and nerve function,
• blood sugar control,
• blood pressure regulation,
• energy production, and
• transport of other minerals.

Folate (vitamin B9) helps:

• convert food into energy,
• the nervous system (including the brain) function,
• tissues grow
• red blood cell production.

None of these aforementioned nutrients provide fuel for the body because if you're missing key nutrients or vitamins in your diet your body won't work the way it's supposed to.

Food Provides PhytochemicalsThese are chemicals found in plants such as flavonoids, phenolic acid and stilbenes/lignans. Some of the most well known phytochemicals are found in soy, teas, and berries. These nutrients have been known to:

• offer DNA protection against free radicals,
• protect against cancer,
• decrease risk of heart disease, and
• reduce overall mortality.

All these chemicals do a lot but one thing that it doesn't do is provide the body with only fuel for energy.

Our bodies have priorities and will extract nutrients by any means necessary to keep you alive, even at the expense of your muscles! I'm sorry does your car catabolize it's own headlights to keep you driving when you're low on gasoline? The human body unlike a machine is a constantly evolving living organism. And as such is infinitely more complicated than a car will ever be. Cars are jealous of humans.

Food as a ChefAs someone who has cooked professionally and stood for hours to provide customers with quality food I take the idea that food is only fuel with some offense. To some food means so much more than calories, carbs, fats and proteins. Food tells the world a story offering insight about you as a person. A parent cooks because they love being a provider for their children and spouse. For many food can be an outlet for creativity and without it they would wither away in a cubicle. To many on social media food is a status symbol of being "cool" because they had an opportunity to dine at the newest hipster foodie restaurant. Food is an adventure, because you get to try something once when you're traveling. Food is a social magnet for friends and families where you gather together and break bread with people you love. Where you get your food tells the world you care about supporting local small family run farms.

So tell me again how food is ONLY fuel for your body?

*From Precision Nutrition

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The one arm kettle bell racked carry is a favorite of mine for a few reasons. As is with all loaded carries, they're a core endurance exercise you can't cheat on. This version also helps to lock in the proper core position: THINK: Neutral, Brace, and Breathe.

HOW TO:

1. Choose a kb and lift it up to the rack position at a shoulder.

2. Positioning should be:

3. Elbow packed down by the body

4. Kettle bell resting into your body
5. Wrist neutral

6. Thumb into your collarbone

7. Walk down in a controlled manner focusing on not swaying or leaning. Don't forget to switch sides.

NOTES

• The unilateral loading like in a suitcase carry will force you to stabilize the body and not allow it to lean away.
• Don't stick your arm straight out to your side, it defeats the purpose of the exercise by helping to "balance" yourself out.
• Instead make a fist and simply keep your arm down by your side.
• This is a great go-to move for anyone with rotator cuff issues as it is a huge isometric loaded move. You feel all the muscles in the shoulder working without having to move your arm anywhere.
• Work up alternating between simple one way trips and lightening up the load and performing one side for multiple trips or even for timed sets building up endurance in the shoulder.

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Imagine you've landed a date.

And lets say this person is named Gary....what?
Do you not think I can get a date??? I mean this hypothetical Gary can't land a date?!

Yeah OK! I don't blame you but stay with me here!

Sales and dating have A LOT in common. One sits across the table from another person trying to close a deal.

Gary opens his date with "I'm rich, I have a nice car, a big house, and make a lot of money because I can deadlift A LOT of weight and oh I'm really good looking."

Does Gary close this deal? Maybe once or twice, but moving forward if his goal is to cultivate a long term relationship, it's not going to end well with this approach.

Does Gary score another date with this woman? Nope.

This idiot Gary is only yammering on about the WHAT, when he needs to be telling the person sitting across from him his WHYs. All those things, a big house, a lot of money and a nice car may have helped him secure this date but does very little else to convince this woman that you're not some self absorbed rich douche. And while the big deadlift may impress her (it doesn't...sigh) it only touches upon logical reasons, you've explained the features without the background or context behind those things.

Instead if I...uhh if Gary had said this:

"I get to wake up every morning and do something I love. I get to inspire people and the best part is trying to figure out the different ways to do that. I've even been able to get a large house, that nice car and meet some famous people along the way. BTW did I mention I can deadlift 3x my bodyweight" (no, she's still not impressed by that last one? Damn).

He said all the same things from the first scenario only this time included at the beginning WHY he does what he does.

The why inspires whereas the what is purely logical. This applies to business as well. I don't stand in front of a perspective client touting all that I can do for them. If I do that, in my experience, it will always come down to these two things:

1) Price
2) Convenience

And those two things have very little to do with what I do well. But if you're able to strike a nerve with WHY should someone go with you, the what handles itself. In fact you don't even have to be the best, you just can't be mediocre because if your service or product still stinks, your sunk. If you and the client both understand why you should work together, then you're good to go. But not every perspective client fits your why and you their why for wanting to hire a coach.

And that's okay because you're not looking for just anyone.
And I suppose that applies to dating too!

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I recently received an e-mail in which I am asked the following:

How do you maintain a positive attitude when you have overly negative clients and can't afford to fire them? You appear to be nice to all your clients, some days I just can't.Here was part of my response:

I'm actually an asshole, so it's not hard to understand where these people are coming from. I had to work REALLY HARD at improving who I am or better said who I was, a big selfish asshole.

Growing up I was never far from being the punch line to a joke or being pushed around. I had little understanding up until a few years ago how much that had affected me negatively. From my Mom, my extended family or classmates, there's always been a constant source of negativity in or around my life. I was encouraged to do well, so long as it was in an avenue that deemed appropriate like school or a degree towards medicine.

I always had trouble making friends or initiating conversations with strangers. Even flashing a smile was a pain, preferring to look away from direct eye contact. It's something that didn't come naturally to me. I bottled up my emotions inside, and as a result I was an angry person. An angry person who thought the world had it out for me, and I was putting others down because it was the only way to make myself feel better.

Fast forward to the present day.

While I can "turn it on" and be really outgoing when I need to, it's not who I naturally am. I believe I'll always be a fairly quiet and reserved individual. What I will never be is an overly negative angry person again. Having been in those shoes, perhaps your client needs a friend and I say that in the least condescending way possible. People who are that negative and critical are usually unhappy.

I was an unhappy person.

I tell you all this to give you context. To give you some background behind WHY someone might be the way they are. Anytime someone is rude, inconsiderate or just straight out mean; I take a second to think why are they acting like that and then respond accordingly. It's often hostility masking another emotion: for me it was a feeling of inadequecy and loneliness. Empathy is an under utilized emotion, practice it and you will be an even better coach.

Now to the business side of this question, what to do when you really dread the scheduled hour but you need to keep the lights on in your apartment. Well my friend like any good fitness question the answer is it depends.

Can you scale back spending in other areas to make due?
If so, by how much will you be off your necessary monthly income?
If it's not a lot you can decide then if you wish to keep this client.

If not, what are you proactively doing to replace this client?

We must not act emotionally instead you need to formulate a plan.
Are you marketing?
If so, for how long have you been at it? Has it generated any leads?

Have you tried asking any existing clients for a referral in exchange for a percentage off their next month/package? (By far the best approach)

There's a lot you can do besides simply "firing" the client. Once you can replace the income then you can decide whether or not to cut ties with said "negative" client. Though I would try to take the empathetic route first. I appear to be nice to all my clients because I thoroughly enjoy the time I get to spend with each and every one of them! No acting only geniuine care and love for their health and improvement as people.

Reflecting back on this response I would like to add this: I am a happy person now. I've learned to forgive those who may have wronged me in the past. I hold no grudges and try to always move forward. I have my health, a fantastic home life, a thriving business and my family; really what would I have to be unhappy about. If you put out love and happiness you'll get just that in return.

Smile, it costs you nothing and can even turn someone's day around. I am forever grateful for who I was because it's made me the driven person I am today. This is the first holiday season I can say with clarity that I have everything I will ever need. Anything else I accomplish moving forward is simply the cherry on top.

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Often when I discuss Thanksgiving and the ensuing madness of potatoes, pies and gravy; there's a large contingency of people who just chalk the day up as a loss.

Here are two strategies you can use to help combat the influx of calories and keep you on track.

Get a (Few)Workouts InThis one is pretty obvious. If you're going to go nuts at dinner, you can help offset some of that by going hard in the gym. Do you go before or after the meal.
(Some research points towards going after, but really we're splitting hairs at this point)

Most gyms close fairly early, usually around 1pm at the latest. You're going to be left with going before the big feast now. Considering you don't eat until the mid-late evening and you're kind of stuck in between. So much for a post workout feast!

A great damage control technique would be to increase your workout volume during the week leading up to the planned meal to deplete a little more glycogen. You would perform your usual 45min-1hr weight lifting and then throw in afterwards a 15-20 minute complex or interval session.

Eat Before HandNow I know what you're thinking, "Don't eat anything, you'll spoil your appetite!"

But there is some validity to consuming a small meal before the big feast. This has been shown to improve your body's tolerance to carbohydrates afterwards.

It makes sense since you won't be as hungry if you've already eaten 2-3 hours prior to dinner. It's a sure fire way to force portion control without leaving it to chance or having "will power".

The initial meal needs to be both low glycemic and have a decent amount of dietary fiber as well. A nice sandwich on whole grain bread with a small legume soup would do the trick.

Whatever the case may be, also know that it's a day to enjoy and celebrate with your loved ones. So what if you don't do any of the tips I've outlined above, it's only one day. The most important thing is to have a plan and try to stick to it. And if you don't, know that there's always tomorrow.

And with tomorrow comes another opportunity to get it right.

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My starter movement for any sort of overhead pressing. While it may be a starting point, it is in no way indicative of it being only for beginners. For many individuals the ability to get overhead safely can be challenging.

The Landmine Overhead Press is a joint friendly way to train the shoulders as it combines a vertical and horizontal press into one. The exercise itself forces you to resist extension and will as a result train your core. It's often performed as shown in the video in an offset manner which with enough load can also provide an anti-rotary component too.

If you're having issues with staying tight through your core, you can regress down to the half kneeling landmine press or stand in a split stance. The kneeling version adds in a great hip flexor stretch to the leg that's down on the floor.

HOW TO:

1. Set barbell up into the landmine or into a corner.

2. Pick up the bar so that it sets up right in front of your shoulder. Set your core in position with a good exhale.

3. Press straight up, finishing with a little bit of a shrug (if you need a little bit more trap activation or protraction) and forward lean at the ankle as shown in the video.

4. Return to the starting position, watch that your elbow doesn't go past the midline of the body as your bring the barbell back down. I would also recommend packing the shoulder in this bottom position.

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Photo Courtesy: WWE.com

Growing up I was a huge WWF-WCW pro wrestling fan. And while most kids would have been a huge Hulk Hogan fan (I kind of always preferred Macho Man Randy Savage over him) my all-time favorite wrestler was Bret "Hitman" Hart. His moniker was the excellence of execution, which I suppose would be a little foreshadowing considering how big I am on proper execution of all exercises. Aside from having an opportunity to use a photo of my favorite wrestler today, allow me to use wrestling to convey a much larger point that pro wrestling and social media have a lot in common.

SPOILER ALERT! Pro Wrestling is not real. Not real in the sense that the outcome of the matches are pre-determined. I do however fully understand the massive damage these men and women put their bodies through, nothing but respect. Occasionally I'll catch a match and am still in awe of their athleticism, but gone are the days of hoping the good guy will somehow prevail. Now I simply sit back and try to enjoy it simply as entertainment and that is intertwined with a suspension of belief.

Pro Wrestling works BECAUSE those who are participating and watching understand that it's not real. It works because we understand it's a show, it's all OK because it's a production! Just like your Instagram or Facebook feed is your own self produced wrestling show you broadcast out to the world.

The biggest dilemma is when you don't know that pro wrestling is fake. You think it's okay to objectify women, settle disputes with violence and cheat to win which in the real world rarely ends well. We all know individuals who live in their own wrestling bubble.

These individuals live in a made up universe of who they think they are, a life they think they lead and portray a dream they aren't actually living. They would rather continue to portray this "life", believing that the real world is simply an unwelcome disruptor. Whether it's the endless selfies, new cars or stacks of money everywhere, it's not real life. The real world isn't built on angles and good lighting, but you still believe it makes sense to build a business off of this. Even worse you believe it's okay to sell this "dream" to other people, it's a scam.

Don't you know? Every good champion has their run before they're scheduled for a big loss.

Yes I'm quite aware that Hogan beats Savage on this night

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1. Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart, chest out and your shoulders in a neutral position. Take a deep breath and extend your arms pausing for a 1-2 second count before returning to the start position. 

A few notes:

• Think about sitting the hips back a bit, a lot of individuals end up performing this with their weight shifted too far forward.
• Speaking of keeping the hips in a good position, if you have trouble staying grounded, widen your stance out a bit.
• I would watch for putting yourself into an over extended position during the push out phase. Using the exhale, you can dramatically increase the tension you place on your core. More tension = more effective feeling movement.

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Why Perform Turkish Get Ups (TGU)

• Core strength and stability
• T-spine mobility
• Hip mobility
• Hip extension (glute) strength
• Gleno-humeral (shoulder) stability
• Body awareness and proprioception
• I get to say "SWEEP THE LEG"

How To

1. The first step is “packing” your shoulder/shoulder blade down and back. Everything outlined will be with the right hand being loaded.

If you’re holding the weight in your right hand, your right knee should be flexed with your heel back near your glutes, and your left leg should be slightly angled straight. 2. The first motion is a crunch to get up to your left elbow. Dan John uses the term “punch and crunch,” So you’re going to crunch and punch, but also drive through your right heel as well. If done with lengthening the left heel it'll be much easier to keep the left leg straight and flat.

One key with the crunch is to think of leading with your t-spine or chest. You don’t want your chest caved over. Instead, think about really exaggerating keeping the chest up and out. 3. After getting to your elbow you simply shift your weight onto your left hand. Maintaining your sight on your right hand, right shoulder packed and chest up and out. 4. After shifting to your hand you’re going to actively drive through your right heel into a high bridge. The focal point should be to extend the hips, squeezing the glutes to get full hip extension. This would be the point in the exercise where if you're lacking good thoracic mobility, it'll begin to show. Beyond just the hip extension/glute strength, you’re also getting some fantastic shoulder stabilizing benefits on the left-hand side as well. 5. Anyone who grew up watching the original Karate Kid will love coaching this part as it's commonly accepted to cue "SWEEP THE LEG".

From the high position you think about sweeping your left leg back until your left knee is on the ground underneath you. Here if the client exhibits poor lumbar control, they'll often slip out of neutral. If they have poor hip mobility they will be unable to keep neutral spine as well.

I cue chest up, and keep their lower back as flat as they can which will help them to be mindful of staying "long" through their spine. 6. From there all your going to do is rotate your left leg so it's straight and you should look like the bottom of a lunge. Are you still looking at your right hand? You should be. 7. Now look forward, and stand up. Really it's that simple. 8. From there go backwards, perform a reverse lunge. 9. Once you’re set-up in the half kneeling position, find the kettlebell with your eyes, and doing the “windshield wiper” motion with your left lower leg to get it back into position and actively driving into your right hip. If you do this correctly you should be able to maintain a fairly neutral spine, and get a killer stretch in your right hip as well. 10. SWEEP THE LEG!

On the transition back, we don’t tend to focus on the high bridge as much. Instead, I’ll often integrate a lower “high bridge” at the same time I’m sweeping the leg through. This portion of the lift should look more fluid than anything. 11. With the hips extended, simply drop down to your left hand. Is your shoulder still packed, core tight and eyes fixed on KB? 12. Then down to your elbow and on back down to the floor for the starting position.

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Photo by Celia Sun on Unsplash

Protein supplements and meal-replacement products containing proteins have four commonly used scientific measure of protein quality.

1. Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) which is a measure of growth of animals consuming a fixed amount of dietary protein of a single type. Often considered less applicable to humans.
2. Biological Value of a protein is a measure of the amount of protein that is retained from total absorbed quantity for body composition.
3. Net Protein Utilization measure the amount of amino acids available by any one given protein source which are then synthasized in the body as a new protein.
4. Chemical Score is a measure of the concentration of the nine essential amino acids from a single protein source.

Whey

Whey protein is one of two protein types found in milk often during cheese making, the other being casein. The two type soft proteins are separated from each other and whey was often considered useless. It was discovered that it was a high quality protein.

It is a complete protein and contains all 9 essential amino acids and rates well on all 4 measures for protein measures.

Whey Isolate: Purest form (90-95% by weight) of whey that is great for those who are lactose intolerant as it has had all the lactose removed.
Whey Concentrate: Most common form of whey protein (60-70% by weight). It is inexpensive and can easily be added to different types of products.
Whey Hydrolysate: The protein has water added to the polymers breaking them down into it's individual amino acids. This is to help with the body's digestion and absorption. This is a more expensive form to produce.

Casein

As I mentioned above, casein is distilled through the production of cheese. One for the most important differences in Casein from Whey is that it is an excellent source of glutamine.

It has lower concentrations of BCAA's than whey and because of a higher lactose content can be problematic for those who don't digest the sugar well.

For many strength and physique athletes the slower digestion aides for longer periods of time when there will not be any consumption of food like while sleeping.

Soy

Rich in BCAA but contains only a small amount of methionine. Most forms of soy are highly digestible and absorbed quickly but for many it is considered a slightly inferior source of protein.

Soy isolate is fortified with methionine which now makes it fairly comparable to whey and casein. One of the disadvantages are the isoflavones (anti-nutrients) which have been shown to have an estrogenic effect in the body.

Other Commonly Found Proteins

Rice Protein

Gluten free, neutral tasting and very budget friendly. May be derived from genetically modified rice.

Egg Protein

Fat free, contains a full spectrum of essential amino acids. May cause upset stomachs.

Milk Protein

Often seen as Calcium casein ate. High in BCAA's, contains lactose which may or may not cause upset stomachs.

Hemp Protein

Great source of Omega 3 fatty acids. Provides fiber as well. 100% plant based protein.

Which Protein should you take?

Well that would vary depending on your goals and dietary preferences. But first and foremost is making sure that you're getting the majority of your protein from whole foods and less processed animal and plant based sources. They're called dietary supplements and shouldn't be considered a main staple of your daily intake, rather in addition to.

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After coaching up a client with a PVC pipe and they exhibit a decent understand of how to move from the hips, I'll put them on the cable pull through to really ingrain the movement pattern.

How To:

1. Attach rope to cable station or tie up superband somewhere low by your shins. Straddle rope/rope and walk forward.
2. Soft knees, breaking from the hips push back while maintaining a neutral spine and reaching through your legs.
3. Once you reach the end range, using your hips, drive back forward and lock out the glutes. Think "ugly butt" or "make diamonds" as in you're looking to squeeze your glutes so tightly that you end up with an ugly butt or that you could make diamonds between them cheeks.
4. Repeat for 8-12 reps.

A few pointers

• During the eccentric phase (pushing your hips back) be aware of where your arms are in space. A lot of people end up placing their arms on their thighs and thus reduce the amount of tension placed on the hamstrings and glutes. If you can't control the weight, it's too heavy.
• Once you end up using a decent load the strength of your core will be put to the test in keeping from having the load pull your backwards. As you extend the hips to squeeze your glutes, you cannot stand straight up rather you'll be leaning forward from the ankles a bit. Think straight line from head to ankles at a 15 degree angle.
• Also for those individuals with REALLY strong glutes, and the weight stack is too heavy, you can also use a landmine.

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Face pulls are a great exercise at improving scapular upward rotation including the serratus anterior and mid/upper traps.

I like to have the rope or a band a little lower than my face, no lower than chest level. If the attachment point is up too high you'll end up pulling downwards instead of upwards which is motion that you're trying to get.

Note what you end up doing with your head. Avoid a forward head posture. You're looking to pull the rope to your head not bring your head to the rope.

The final key point is to exhibit control during the face pull. You will be aiming to feel the muscles working (posterior shoulder) and not simply using momentum. 

HOW TO

1. Set up with pulley at chest or chin level.
2. Grab the rope with your thumbs facing you, keep the arms up high and pull the rope towards your forehead.
3. As you approach your face, pull the rope apart. You should feel it in your posterior shoulder area not ONLY between your shoulder blades. This isn't a high row.
4. Return to starting position and repeat for 10-15 reps.

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Sort of wish we still had these old-time looking weights

Fads come and go but cornerstone principles stand the test of time. The concept of variety is grossly overrated in business and in life. Lets use exercise and using a barbell as an example.

A Little Background on BarbellsOne of the earliest recordings of the barbell came in the 19th century where the oldest types of barbells were simply hollowed globes filled with lead shot or sand. It was in 1865 that an American physician, George Barker Windship, presented a practical graduation to the dumbbell.

It was a plate loaded barbell which was made out of 8lbs cast iron shaft with the option of adding 22 plates ranging from a half pound to ten pounds. The maximum weight for the early barbell was 101 pounds. This was the first known incarnation of what we now know as the modern barbell.

So why is this important?Because the barbell has stood the test of time. We've used barbells for years to get in shape and will continue to do so in the future. How do you get in shape? Lift dumbbells, kettle bells, barbells, push sleds, and throw medicine balls. You know what won't work for you? Only using "As seen on TV" fad products and the like, without naming any in particular.

Will squats get you in shape? Definitely.
Bosu ball single leg squat juggling with 3 inferno bowling pins while watching Insanity? Not so much. (let that image settle into your mind for a moment lol)

Squats work thus it makes complete sense that people have been performing them FOREVER. It's not gimmicky, just a core movement that works. No useless informercial product here.

This same concept applies to nutrition.

Beef Chuck Chili > Ground Meat Chili

Believe it or not unless you are a talented home cook if you want to look as lean as possible, a lot of your meals will be both boring and repetitive. Very few people have a few hours a day to dedicate to cooking elaborate meals, so most meal prep often includes boiled/steamed vegetables and stir fried ground meat. It's not sexy but it is what you need to be consuming if you want to get shredded, lean meat and vegetables.

Day in and day out almost every day is going to look similar. Put in the work, grind it out at the gym, meal prep, cardio, then rinse & repeat. It's boring, but it works.

No 21 day juice cleanse.
No 14 day shred diet.
No gimmicky teas or protein shake only diets

Focus your attention on time tested ways to get strong and fit. Once you stop looking for the short cut and commit to consistency will you achieve the goals you've long desired. When life gets hard, when parties get in the way, are you up to the challenge? Will you stay the course when everyone else around wants to try the latest (most likely useless) fad exercise/nutrition protocol?

If you want to get in shape and you're reading this, I have the utmost confidence that you will

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What's something you say you want to do but don't actually do?

Why do we fail to follow through on many things that we should be doing; one that many will bring up revolves around becoming more active.

I want to run 3x a weekI would recommend starting with once a week.

Once a week?! thats not going to do anything!

Therein lies the problem many fall prey to into thinking it's an all or nothing proposition. We'd rather dream about running three times per week instead of actually following through on once per week.

If I get my mind right, then I'll be able to do it We have it backwards: First change your behavior and the attitude will follow.

We want to wake up early and hit the gym or get out for a morning run. Change the focus from "I need to wake up to go to the gym" to "how can I create an environment for success". It can be as simple as laying out your clothes the night before and pre-making your breakfast shake. For others it might be getting to bed at a reasonable time. Those are three examples of behaviors you can adopt that will facilitate change.

What do you consider success?We want to go 0 to 60 overnight. We want those 6 pack abs and shapely glutes fast, but fail to acknowledge that one month ago you didn't go to the gym period and now you hit the weights three per week and perform cardio twice a week as well. Results take time and consistency.

A simple system is to shrink the change:

The 5 Minute Rule Example: If you've been putting off cleaning a room forever, set a timer for 5 minutes and pick ONE spot in the room to tidy up. Once the timer goes off, if you still don't feel like cleaning, you're done. I'm going to take a shot in the dark that once you get going you're just going to keep going.

In psychology this is known as "Attribution Theory" which is our way making sense of our choices and behaviors. This "explains" to yourself that you are choosing to clean this room of your own free will and thus you wind up cleaning the whole room. You ignore the fact that you set up a timer to give you an out at 5 minutes. This can apply to every facet of your life.

We Never Question the Stories We Tell Ourselves "I can't lose weight because of my metabolism"

"I'm not a morning person"

Are these statements actually true? Ask yourself is this really who I am?

If you tell yourself these stories enough, soon they become a self fulfilling prophecy. You won't be a morning person. You won't ever lose the weight. We can live our lives for years and never question these invisible scripts.

Take control of your life, DECIDE that you want to be a morning person. DECIDE that you will no longer lean on your supposed slow metabolism as a crutch for the inability to lose that weight. You will not be the kind of person who allows these self imposed limitations to hold them back any longer.

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Every day we each have a decision to make, how to spend the 24 hours in our day. Answering that differs from person to person.

Where does the time go!?The notion of not having enough time is simply an excuse we tell ourselves to avoid the uneasy truth: It simply wasn't a priority. It wasn't as high of a priority, fun, distracting, profitable or urgent enough to make it to the top of the to-do list. Your priorities dictate your schedule. If you're unhappy with how your schedule looks, I would reorder your priorities.

This of course need not apply to people who actually have no extra time like the single parent working two jobs to support their family and spend what little free time with them.

Time is a finite commodity. People are constantly deciding what appointments to honor, how much time to dedicate to TV shows, and to go or not to go to the gym. The solution won't be solved by giving someone more time (impossible) but by creating a greater sense of urgency.

Every minute needs to count. Well they need to count if you feel like you weren't able to do everything you wanted to do. Need to take a break? Hang out at the bar? Play on the softball team? There's absolutely nothing wrong with those things, so long as you're not complaining about not being unable to accomplish other goals in your life.

Those activites are the types of things that need to be sacrificed in order to get other things done when time is tight. And speaking on the topic of sacrifices, how about we talk about money, specifically your job.

The job you do takes up the majority of your day. Combine that with the 8 hours of sleep you should be getting and we're left with 8 hours a day, 56 hours per week. 56 miscellaneous hours a week for family time and your other goals is more than enough, so what exactly isn't getting done? Sometimes it's a matter of evaluating your happiness versus money.

Here's a real example:

John (not really his name but lets just use John) LOVES basketball. Any free time John has he's playing pick up basketball at the park and plays in two leagues during the week. John also works 40+ hours at an office job he greatly dislikes.

He would always say if he could leave his job and coach basketball while working a part time job he thinks he could be much happier. Unlike the other regulars at this park who told him he'd be dumb to leave a $60K/year job for $40k/year, I asked him would he realisticly be able to live off that? John said he'd have to get rid of his BMW and scale back in a few places but yes he could. I went a different route and said to him, your happiness is worth more than $60k/year and a BMW combined. I told him to be smart, but ultimately to follow what would truly make him happy.

I recently saw John and asked him how things were going. He's made a business out of coaching youth basketball skills and is making a little less than he did at his job (49k/year) but he's immensely happier with his life.

What do you want to do every single day?
If you could do one thing for 12, 15, 18 hours a day and truly be happy, what would it be?
One day you will wake up and it's going to be your last day on this planet. Will you look back happy with the life you lived? Or one mired with regret.

I look back on who I was one year ago and am proud of how far I've come but also ashamed that I had allowed myself to get that low. I borrowed money to make rent. I maxed out multiple credit cards to live. And I could easily blame my business not working or the economy but in reality I simply was not using my time effectively. I wasn't working hard enough. I wasn't making the necessary sacrifices to succeed. I was simply NOT HUSTLING, not prioritizing the things I didn't want to do but needed to do.

I now live my life according to this quote:

“Work like there is someone working 24 hours a day to take it away from you.”- Mark CubanNow get back to work.

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This is a great exercise to mix it up and get in some single leg work without actually having to be standing on only one foot. You can use a trap bar if you have access to one as well. Steps outlined are for the standard straight barbell.

1. Stand with a shoulder width or less stance. Step back with one foot about 12-18 inches and begin by hip hinging back. Focus on keeping a slight arch in the lower back, knee slightly bent and pushing your butt as far back as possible.
   (I would not take too big of a step back when performing this as it only makes it harder to maintain proper position and tension on the correct muscles.)

2. Keeping the barbell as close as possible to the lead leg, I would not go past the knee on the split stance (B-Stance) RDL. 

3. The back foot should push forward slightly as the lead leg reaches full hip extension and you lock out that glute. 

4. Perform 5-8 reps per leg.

Give it some time and load wise it can be comparable to your bi-lateral RDL. 

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Once upon a time I trained with the goal of competing in a powerlifting meet.

My all time best would be (in a self conducted pseudo-meet) as I never quite had the nerve to pull the trigger to get on the platform in my Wrestlemania singlet.

Squat: 330lbs
Bench Press: 300lbs
Deadlift: 415 lbs
Total: 1,045
At a weight of 149lbs

I no longer squat ass to grass and hardly barbell bench press or deadlift off the floor with a straight barbell. Not because I can't but because I don't need to.

Squat I have fantastic mobility and am able to perform a back squat that rivals most lifter's front squat yet I have no reason to squat that low and heavy on a regular basis. Aside from a brief flirtation with olympic weightlifting, there's almost no reason me to go that deep other than "just cuz, hit depth bro".

I now perform a variety of split squat/lunge variations and almost exclusively perform barbell squats to a box (about a hair below parallel, but I'll mix up box heights depending on how I feel after a run). For ME to get ready to squat ass to grass required a good amount of stretching and mobilization which I decided I no longer wished to do every other workout.
(Note: This isn't to say I still don't have to stretch, roll out and mobilize, it now takes a fraction of the time which is important to not waste time or energy pre-lift.)

If I do perform a free standing squat it's because the box is taken, and I'll perform front squats or an anderson squat off the pins. I will also throw in DB or double KB goblet squats during the week where I'm squatting as deep as possible to maintain mobility.

Barbell Bench Press This is the one lift I've taken out and noticed zero changes in performance or physique. I had finally achieved a 2x bodyweight bench press and was ecstatic, however I also had a chronic pain in my shoulder and elbow. I no longer wanted to push through the aches and pains.

I occasionally will perform a shoulder width barbell bench press with zero arch. In terms of muscular development and joint health using dumbbells has been much better for ME. If I need to do something heavy, it'll be dips which I'm close to performing one rep with my bodyweight hanging off me. I can still press 100lbs+ dumbbells and about the only thing I can no longer do is barbell press heavy which makes sense due to the lack of specificity.

Deadlift

One of the last times I deadlifted 400+ off the platform, of course my client only took a photo instead of a video

My FAVORITE lift.

When I was 17 years old, I threw my back out performing a deadlift incorrectly. It no longer bothers me but there are certain movements which when performed heavy enough makes my low back tick. Heavy deadlifts do the trick. I got to 405, that's good enough for me.

I will usually pull a conservative stance sumo now anytime I get the itch to pull off the floor, but now almost exclusively use the trap bar to do all my pulls. I can pull multiples of 405lbs off the platform without having my low back/sciatic nerve hate me the next day.

If you don't compete, you don't need to be programming with a fixed mindset of "the big 3" lifts and everything else being an after thought.

If you train to be a better athlete, you don't program like a powerlifter. If you want to have bigger glutes or larger pecs; powerlifting MIGHT work for some while leaving much to be desired for other individuals.

I routinely work 12-15 hrs/day, and what's often lost in the sea of social media PR's is a simple fact that if I'm tired there's a higher likelihood I might get hurt...
which then means I can't work...
If I can't work, I don't make money...
And then my cat's can't eat. Ain't nobody taking kibble out of my cats mouths!

To ME it's risk-reward, and it's simply not worth it to me any longer. You can still get at it without performing "the big 3".

I squat, deadlift, and pull to improve my running performance. And I bench to make sure I don't wind up like a typical long distance runner. That's why I lift, why do you? Just something to think about. And now some photos of my cats!

An excuse to post photos of my cats? D'uh!

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Ran a half marathon with my super friend-client Megan who's in training to PR a marathon!

10 years ago I completed my last half marathon at a scorching time of 1:16. I also was 20 lbs lighter and made the decision to stop running and focus on "gaining muscle" and "being strong". I figured at age 20, this was the peak time for packing on lean muscle and I could always go back to running. I made a promise to myself that I would revisit distance running at 30.

In the decade that followed I have moved my weight to a steady 147-150lbs and been able to deadlift 3x my bodyweight in every version of the lift (conventional, sumo and trap bar). Yet I still felt unfulfilled and somewhat unhealthy. As a former runner, I had the cardiovascular endurance of elderly sedentary man.

Prior to turning 30, Megan approached me with helping her get ready for the NYC Marathon. The more research I did the more intrigued I became with the notion of maintaining strength while becoming an elite level long distance runner again. We recently completed a half marathon together and all things considered I'm content with my 1:52 finish. Still had a lot left in the tank and was happy to acknowledge the 10 years of strength training had made me more resilient* and able to push a lot harder when I needed.

*In particular my ability to maintain pace regardless of incline has been awesome!

Later during the week I also did this.

Fellow meatheads (male and female), don't be scared to perform cardio. A recent article here very eloquently laid it out, give it a read when you have an opportunity:

https://www.readpt.com/big-man-cardio-primer/

To quote said article:

"Loaded work doesn’t get the same heart response as unloaded work does. Normal cardiovascular exercise, such as running or rowing, stretches the main chamber of the heart eccentrically and allows it to hold more blood. On the flip side of this the strength trained heart gains thickness and your heart responds to training in the same way your other muscles do by becoming thicker and stronger. While a thicker, stronger heart may sound appealing this isn’t necessarily the case. A thicker heart wall can impact the internal diameter of heart. A big thick heart can actually end up with a smaller internal diameter meaning that it can actually hold less blood. That’s bad. That means that despite looking like a Mack truck on the outside you’re being powered by a Prius engine on the inside.

You can’t do intervals. HIIT isn’t your friend. By adding all that muscle you’ve already spent a massive proportion of your time on anaerobic work. You need to do some aerobic work."Piggybacking off that excerpt from the afformentioned article are two benefits to lower intensity steady state cardio for everyone:

• Improve Recovery: What many lifters don't realize is that an efficient aerobic system can help you recovery more quickly as you won't be tapping into your sympathetic (think fight or flight) nervous system. By getting your nervous system into a parasympathetic (netflix and chill), you'll even sleep more soundly which will aide in repairing those muscles.
• Improved Cardiac Efficiency: When performing steady state cardio (about 120-150 bpm) you'll improve cardiac output, which is a fancy way of saying your heart is better able to pump more blood all while decreasing resting heart rate.

If you're a runner and/or lifter looking for more guidance, I also offer distance coaching via exercise.com. Message me for more details about joining my group where I'll post monthly workouts along with a forum to interact with other members.

Let's make cardio a more acceptable part of strength sports again.

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"There are plenty of people who will pander, race to the bottom and figure out how to, "give the public what it wants." But that doesn't have to be you. Professionals have standards. Professionals push back."- Seth Godin

That quote encapsulates everything I stand for, being a professional. Exercise and cooking aren't just hobbies, they're fields that I'm proud to call myself a professional in. I'm not in it for the money or the fame (clearly) but because these are two passions on my mind at every moment of the day. My goal for each day is how can I improve my cooking or coaching so that I can provide greater value to help more individuals. Not what idea will or program will make me a quick buck.

Looking for a fast sale or creating a business just for the sake of making money isn't in my blood. If you're not a professional, none of these principles matter. I will gladly give up the dollar up front for the pot of gold at the end if it also comes with a culture that I can proudly stand behind.

Are you a professional or simply clocking in for a paycheck?*

*There's nothing wrong with clocking in and out for a paycheck, but do you take pride in what you do? Being a professional applies to everyone not just entrepreneurs in my opinion.

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I genuinely ask this question with zero sarcasm.

Whenever I have a client who tells me all about their magical diet that's going to really accelerate their fat loss. I listen and pick out all the things that stand out where I believe it's conducive toward long term change. We reevaluate in two weeks and if nothing has changed, I will ask them about their diet and how that's working out for them?

"Persistence isn’t using the same tactics over and over. That’s just annoying.

Persistence is having the same goal over and over." –Seth Godin

It's one thing to decide you want to accomplish "x" goal. It's a completely different story when you go down a path that doesn't work and instead of changing course you keep trying to jam that square peg in the round hole. I will have in mind the goal, a singular focus, but how I get there doesn't matter as long as I get there (assuming I'm not cheating or hurting anyone of course).

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The Nordic ham curl can be thought of as the child of a full body leg curl and a glute ham raise. It really needs very few things to perform and is one of the best things you can do to bulletproof your hamstrings from injuries. 

A Few Key Points:

• Keep the ankle dorsiflexed to keep your calf from cramping.
• Place something soft under for your knees, it's a lot of pressure to be placing on the knees. No need to be making an uncomfortable movement any more unbearable.
• Be patient, it will take time to be able to reach the floor under complete control.

How To:

• Anchor your ankles comfortably under an immovable object, or have somebody hold down your heels.
• Kneel tall with your arms by your sides and imagine a piece of string pulling you upwards from the crown of your head. Fix your eyes straight ahead.
• Lower yourself as far as you can under control, as you start to fail, allow yourself to fall to the ground and catch yourself with your hands. Push yourself back up to the starting position.
• If you're unable to even get a few inches forward, you can also anchor a band and hold onto it to make it easier.

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IT'S WEDDING SEASON! (Not literally)After turning 30, it seems like everybody is getting MARRIED and having kids! I'm excited to hear about many of their impending marriages and have been fortunate to have been a part of a few special days.

In an ideal world you would have an unlimited budget and a year to get in the BEST shape of your life. This can be difficult with the go-go nature of our society today.

Well my friend and future Mrs., here are a few options for you to get you moving in the right direction.

Former client of mine looking extra fabulous on her special day.

What We'll TargetShoulders and Back:
Especially if you have a dress that accentuates these areas of your body. The added benefit to training these areas of your body is improved posture! No one wants to be the slouching bride.

Legs:
Even though most dresses don't show off your stems, if your goal is to incinerate body fat as quickly as possible you're going to have to take full advantage of the metabolic impact heavy leg training will have on your physique.

A double dip for brides who might change during the reception or wish to look exceptional in a bikini on their honeymoons.

Arms:
This one will vary for each woman depending on their preference for how defined they want their arms to be. The plan below doesn't highlight the arms too much, but if you want slightly more definition in your triceps or deltoid area I would throw in isolation work for them.

Time Frame: 1 Year

This bride planned ahead and has the best chance at walking down that aisle exactly the way she envisions. She won't have to feel too pressured to be super strict, but you also aren't allowed to fall off the wagon every month only to panic 3 months out.

Cardio will NOT have to be the cornerstone of your plan, and while you will have to do some not as much because you planned ahead!

Nutrition wise you have some wiggle room for error. The biggest luxury will be the ability to experiement with your dietary breakdown and find one that works for your current lifestyle.

I.E: You're a doctor and work crazy hours, eating every 3 hours isn't really feasible. For this individual I would recommend the typical 3 times a day eating style, with a snack somewhere in there.

Time Frame: 6 Months

6 months is plenty of time to look great for your big day. Yes you should have started 6 months ago, but like the saying goes, better late than never.

The biggest change will be the cardio and nutrition components.

You'll have to exercise at minimum 4-5x a week, starting with moderate-heavy weights and finishing off with cardio each session. Nutrition will need to be a little more aggressive and on point (hey that's what you get for procrastinating).

For this woman I would suggest a carb/calorie cycle (a diet where you alternate between high and low level of carbs and calories) diet like this:

125lb woman interested in RAPID fat loss (this type of dieting works for those who are already fairly lean >24% body fat)

MENU 1 Baseline: 1000cal, 150g protein, 33g carbs, 30g fat
MENU 2, Higher Carbohydrates: 1250 cal, 150g protein, 95g carbs, 30g fat
MENU 3, Higher Carb and Calorie: 1500 cal, 150g protein, 125g carbs, 45g fat
MENU 4, Higher Calorie 1500 cal, 150g protein, 33g carbs, 85g fat

With the weekly distribution of those menus

Monday: 1
Tuesday: 1
Wednesday: 4
Thursday: 2
Friday: 1
Saturday: 1
Sunday: 3

Time Frame: 3 Months

3 months is still enough time to make significant change, it will however be very dependent on your level of commitment to a plan. Nutrition and exercise will need to turn the dial to an 11.

You now have to be active 5-6x per week and every session needs to include some form of cardio, high interval or steady state cardio.

The nutritional outline described above will need to be altered to include more lower calorie menus if greater fat loss is needed. I would be sure to structure the menu so the highest intensity days correspond with the highest calorie and carbohydrate days.

Sample 6 Week Workout plan (For Bride #1, One Year Time Frame)

Week 1Day 1:
A1) Squat 5x8
A2) DB (Dumbbell) Row 5x8
B1) DB Split Squat 5x8 ea side
B2) Face Pulls 5x15
C1) Dead bugs 4x12
C2) Side lying clamshell 4x15

Day 2:
A1) (sumo or conventional) Deadlift 5x8
A2) Lat Pulldown, supinated (underhand) grip 5x10
B1) Cable Pullthroughs 5x12
B2) Paloff Press 5x10
C1) High-Low Farmers Walks 4x

Day 3:
A1) Hip Thrust 5x10
A2) Push Ups 5x5 (elevated if needed, never on your knees)
B1) KB Swing 5x10
B2) Farmer's Walks 5x
C1) Deadbugs 4x12

Day 4:
A1) Step up x 8 ea side
A2) Chest Supported DB Row 8x
A3) BB (Barbell) RDL (Romanian Deadlift) 8x
A4) Waiter's Walk 5x
A5) Med Ball Slams 10x
Repeat circuit 5x, rest 1-2 minutes between circuits, 15 seconds between exercises.

Week 2Day 1:
A1) Squat 6x6
A2) DB Row 5x8 ea side
B1) DB Step Up 5x8 ea side
B2) Farmers Walk 5x
C1) Dead bugs 4x12
C2) Seated Band Abduction 4x15

Day 2:
A1) Deadlift 6x6
A2) Lat Pulldown, supinated (underhand) grip 5x10
B1) KB Swings 5x10
B2) Paloff Press 5x10
C1) Kneeling Banded hip thrust or Side lying clamshells 5x15

Day 3:
A1) Hip Thrust 5x10
A2) Push Ups 5x5 (elevated if needed, never on your knees)
B1) Squat jumps 5x3
B2) Single KB (Kettlebell) racked walk 5x
C1) Deadbugs 4x12

Day 4:
A1) BB RDL x 10x
A2) Med Ball Overhead Throws 8x
A3) Reverse Lunge 6x ea leg
A4) Med Ball Slams 10x
A5) Plank 30sec-1 min
Repeat circuit 5x, rest 1-2 minutes between circuits, 15 seconds between exercises.

Week 3Day 1:
A1) Squat 4x8
A2) Chest Supported DB Row 5x8
B1) DB Step Up 5x6 ea side
B2) Farmers Walk 5x
C1) Dead bugs 4x12
C2) Seated Band Abduction 4x15

Day 2:
A1) Deadlift 4x8
A2) Lat Pulldown, supinated (underhand) grip 5x10
B1) KB Swings 5x10
B2) Paloff Press 5x10
C1) Kneeling Banded hip thrust or Side lying clamshells 5x15

Day 3:
A1) Hip Thrust 5x15
A2) Push Ups 5x6 (elevated if needed, never on your knees)
B1) Waiters Walk 5x
B2) Side Plank 5x
C1) Clamshells 5x15

Day 4:
A1) Landmine Squat x 10x
A2) Landline Push Press 8x ea side
A3) Landline single leg rd. 6x ea leg
A4) Landmine Anti-rotations 10x
A5) Plank 30sec-1 min
Repeat circuit 5x, rest 1-2 minutes between circuits, 15 seconds between exercises.

Week 4Day 1:
A1) Squat 5x5
A2) Inverted TRX Row 5x8
B1) Seated DB overhead press 5x8
B2) Farmers Walk 5x
C1) Dead bugs 4x12
C2) Seated Band Abduction 5x20

Day 2:
A1) Deadlift 5x5
A2) Lat Pulldown, supinated (underhand) grip 5x6 (go a little heavier)
B1) KB Swings 5x10
B2) Paloff Press 5x8 breaths
C1) Kneeling Banded hip thrust or Side lying clamshells 5x20

Day 3:
A1) Hip Thrust 5x12
A2) Push Ups 5x6 (elevated if needed, never on your knees)
B1) KB One Arm Racked Walk 5x
B2) Face Pulls 5x15
C1) Clamshells 5x15

Day 4:
Round 1, 3 sets
Treadmill at 8mph, 8% incline for 25 seconds.
Goblet Squats (10 reps) and Push Ups (5 Reps)
Rest 2 minutes

Round 2, 3 sets
Treadmill at 9mph, 9% incline for 20 seconds.
KB RDL (10 reps) and TRX Inverted Rows (10 reps)
Rest 2 minutes

Round 3, 3 sets
Treadmill at 10mph, 10% incline for 15 seconds
Deadbugs (10 reps) and Medicine Ball Slams (10 reps)
Rest 2 minutes

Week 5Day 1:
A1) Front Squat 5x8
A2) DB chest supported Row 6x8
B1) Seated DB overhead press 5x8
B2) Farmers Walk 5x
C1) Paloff Press 4x12
C2) Seated Band Abduction 4x25

Day 2:
A1) Deadlift 6x8
A2) Seated Cable Row, 6x8
B1) KB Swings 5x10
B2) Bear Crawls, 5x
C1) Kneeling Banded hip thrust or Side lying clamshells 5x20

Day 3:
A1) Hip Thrust 6x15
A2) Push Ups 6x6 (elevated if needed, never on your knees)
B1) KB One Arm Racked Walk 5x
B2) Face Pulls 5x20
C1) Clamshells 5x20

Day 4:
A1) KB Swings 10x
A2) Inverted Row 10x
A3) Kneeling Banded hip thrust 20x
A4) Med Ball Slams 12x
A5) Lateral Raises 15x
A6) Plank, 30sec-1 min
Rest 20sec between exercises, 2 minutes between rounds. 5 rounds total.

Week 6A1) Squat 6x6
A2) Lat Pulldown, supinated grip 6x8
B1) Waiters Walk 5x
B2) DB Split Squat 5x8 ea side
C1) Paloff Press 4x12
C2) Seated Band Abduction 4x25

Day 2:
A1) Deadlift 6x6
A2) Chest supported DB Row, 6x8
B1) KB Swings 5x10
B2) Bear Crawls, 5x
B3) Broad Jump 3x
C1) Kneeling Banded hip thrust or Side lying clamshells 5x20

Day 3:
A1) Hip Thrust 6x15
A2) Push Ups 6x6 (elevated if needed, never on your knees)
B1) KB One Arm Racked Walk 5x
B2) Face Pulls 5x20
C1) Clamshells 5x20

Day 4:
Round 1, 3 sets
Treadmill at 8mph, 8% incline for 25 seconds.
Goblet Squat Reverse Lunge (10 reps) and Med Ball Slam (10 Reps)
Rest 2 minutes

Round 2, 3 sets
Treadmill at 9mph, 9% incline for 20 seconds.
KB Swing (10 reps) and DB Overhead Press (10 reps)
Rest 2 minutes

Round 3, 3 sets
Treadmill at 10mph, 10% incline for 15 seconds
Paloff Press (10 BREATHS ea side) and Squat Jump (5 reps)
Rest 2 minutes

Notes* The first movement (A1) of every workout is meant to be the main "strength" movement of the day. Each week breaks down into less total reps with the idea that the top sets are a heavish weight. Here's an example:

Each main movement should be ramped up to a top set.
So you would warm up on say a deadlift as such: bar 5x, 75lbs 5x, 95lbs 5x, 105lbs 3x, 135lbs 2x, 165lbs 1x. You would base your reps off of that heavy single for the day.
Week 1: 5x8 (40 total reps) 65% of your "max" for the day placing your 5 sets @110lbs
Week 2: 6x6 (36) 70% 115lbs
Week 3: 4x8 (32) 75% 125lbs
Week 4: 5x5 (25) 80% 135lbs

• The Squat is merely the movement pattern. Depending on your skill level and what's available you can use dumbbells, kettle bells and/or barbells.
• If you need more cardio, I would perform it AFTER the strength training. 20-30 minute of a moderate intensity should suffice. Increase as needed.

If you have any more questions as this is simply a broad starting off point, please don't hesitate to ask. I'll be more than happy to walk you through this so you can walk down that aisle with confidence.

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Today I'm going to break down the concepts for the "Anderson" Press. Also known as a pin press. This was popularized by Paul Anderson, one of the strongest men to walk the planet. He would use this style of training to perform a 1,200bs squat, 628lbs bench press and 820lbs deadlift oh and also a Gold Medal in weightlifting at the Olympic game in Melbourne.

While often used for the squat, you can use the pins for your bench press (like board presses) and deadlift (like pulling from blocks) as well. By breaking the stretch reflex cycle you have to learn to get tight to really generate some power to get the barbell moving again; thus this helps build some true starting strength.

1. Set pins at appropriate height and get set.
2. Pack the shoulders, set the core down (ribs down) and plant your feet into the floor before pressing the bar to full lockout.
3. Return the bar to a complete stop before performing another rep.

I enjoy performing the Anderson "x" style lift for various reasons, a few of them for the pin press are:

1. When pressing you don't have to worry about getting pinned by the weight and feeling embarrassed. This allows you to get close to your max without fear of decapitation.
2. You have to really get tight to move a decent weight off the pins. Sometimes when repping weights you bounce the weight off your chest. No cheating here by relying on the SSC.
3. Trains you to tear the bar apart (not literally but the tension created to "pull it apart") which helps to engage your triceps more. Big triceps = Big press.

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Why I Heart the Front Squat1. Because the bar is positioned in the front, it gives the lifter a counterbalance which allows for better position and often results in improved depth.

1. When you have your arms up, the lats are lengthened. The lack of lat involvement then accounts for lesser loads than the back squat due to the fact the lats are needed to create greater core stability. This means, in order for you to move some big weights on the front squat you have to really strengthen your core.

2. Piggybacking off the point above, it then allows the lifter who may have a lordotic (arched) posture to squat much deeper/cleaner with the front squat. Of course, if they have an excessive lordosis and anterior pelvic tilt, you may not want to start them off with a barbell front or back squat.

On the opposite end of the postural spectrum, we have kyphotic posture, or a rounded back like a scared cat. Which I believe would be one of the worst positions a lifter can be in for front squatting. When your office desk worker gets to the gym and wants to front squat, they may have some issues due to the mobility demands of the front squat.

You need to get the arms into a combination of shoulder flexion and external rotation. A lot of times we think we have immobile wrists or some wacky self diagnosis. Often times it's just some soft tissue restrictions and mobilizations needed prior to lifting.

Step 1: Soft Tissue Work

The rhomboids also have to contract isometrically and can fatigue to the point to where these muscles can no longer maintain proper position as well. This influences bar position as well. I would roll out the entire trap/rhomboid area.

Releasing the pecs and subclavius area goes a long way in helping to achieve a better rack position as well. Video courtesy of Eric Cressey.

Important to keep these loose, even if you're not front squatting, your hands will thank you.

The triceps, in particular the long head is often responsible for being short and not allowing the lats to get to full lengthening.

Step 2: Mobilization

With a moderately heavy band around your elbow, drive it forward and down while simultaneously exhaling to maintain proper rib position. You'll want to perform this in a contract and relax manner.

I would externally rotate (palm facing the ceiling) and then lean back and get a good pull on the lats. You can also do this internally (back of your hand facing you) too.

A few final notes:

Elbows up is a cue that you'll hear very often. This also reinforces the most important position of the movement where the bar will want to roll down at the bottom. The goal should be to keep the elbows pointing as far upwards as possible. think a parallel line between your upper arm and the floor.

Another issue is the california style or cross armed grip which I'm not a big fan of. Under substantial load one elbow stays higher than the other and can be detrimental to proper structural alignment of the shoulders and can potentially create a chain of imbalances through your hip and knee.

This question came over instagram, if you should have any questions use the hashtag #askghfitness and I'll create a piece of content to hopefully solve your problem!

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Learning the inverted row is the first step to performing a chin up/pull up. It teaches you how to properly engage the lats, pack the shoulders and allows you to adjust on the fly. 

The EASIEST way to teach this movement is from the finishing position first, then moving out.

1. Pull the handles back with your elbows slightly past your body with your shoulder blades pack and your lats engaged. Making sure that your shoulders don't roll forward.
2. From there walk yourself forward until you find a position that you're able to hold onto but is only a slight challenge to maintain. That's where you should stand to begin.
3. Keeping the core tight, ribs down, extending the arms and then pull yourself back up.

As you progress, you can slowly work your way towards having the starting point underneath the anchor point of the TRX or suspension trainer. Eventually the final bodyweight progression is to elevate the feet, at that point you should be able to start performing chin ups!

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This is not a new article on T-Nation but they do periodically repost old popular articles that are relevant to the topic of the day. I recall reading this when it was published but they have long since moved their comments section to their Facebook fan page. And of course...

When I got to their fan page, to my amazement this was the sentiment from a majority of the comments there.

Seriously? I made this comparison to a colleague of mine who thought it wasn't completely ridiculous that SO MANY idiot guys thought this way. If you go to restaurant X and they decide that cheeseburgers should be made from ground tilapia and blue cheese, are you going to be pissed that they want to sell burgers like that?

No of course you wouldn't, you would just think that's disgusting and move on with your life. You wouldn't spend any money there nor would you even give it a second thought. It's their restaurant, they can technically serve whatever they want to serve. You wouldn't get high and mighty about how they're ruining burgers.

Whereas if you PAID for a burger and instead of ground beef you got that weird ground fish burger; THEN you can get pissed off.

T-nation is a free webpage. Therefore allowed to post whatever they want. You don't have to read it or even agree with all the opinions posted. If T-nation started charging you a fee to read their EXERCISE and NUTRITION articles but sent you the article above then I agree, get mad.

Until then shut up and enjoy all the FREE information they're giving you, if you stop liking it just go elsewhere! If you don't like it, how hard is it to simply NOT CLICK ON IT! This applies to social media as well, if you don't like something, just don't follow...what a novel idea.
(Sorry guys, the sarcasm is a bit heavy there)

Okay...deep breath before continuing

On a completely separate note, it makes me quite sad to read many of the comments on this post, sad but not surprised. Being a better person needs to supersede improving your lifts or gainz; get it together lifting community. Lifting teaches you so much about life, it's about time you start utilizing those life lessons.

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Photo by rawpixel.com on Unsplash

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/07/05/upshot/is-sushi-healthy-what-about-granola-where-americans-and-nutritionists-disagree.html

This list was recent published alongside the article "Is Sushi "Healthy"? What About Granola? Where Americans and Nutritionist Disagree by the NY Times.

Occasionally we stand in an aisle at the market and we're wondering, is this healthy? I don't see why technology can't be of some help there, but what's most alarming is that most of the list is either a raw ingredient or a pre-packed item which usually means it has a food label.

Of the 50 foods, assuming you aren't cooking from scratch, usually come prepackaged with a label.

• hummus
• popcorn
• peanut butter
• nutella
• granola
• chocolate
• coconut milk
• canned tuna
• feta cheese
• beef jerky
• greek yogurt
• turkey bacon
• yogurt
• dried fruit
• tofu
• cottage cheese
• polenta (it's technically cornmeal, but if it's polenta, that means it's now been cooked and seasoned, thus should come with a food label)
• smoked salmon
• sparkling water
• brown sugar
• rye bread

I left out pizza, as it could or could not be frozen so I didn't add that.

And of the 50, here are the raw, typically unprocessed ingredients:

• couscous
• quinoa
• shrimp
• tuna
• rice
• honey
• tilapia
• watermelon
• pork
• chicken
• salmon
• basmati rice

My two big take aways from this article:

1. Most people have an extremely vague sense of how to select food for a balanced nutritious diet. I understand this is a small sample size, but definitely indicative of the fact that we are extremely undereducated when it comes to knowing what is a solid quality source of protein, fat and carbohydrates. Sadly this article only covers the glaring issue of not knowing WHAT to eat and not how much to eat. We should know chicken (not fried) is probably a solid choice and possibly not know the portion sizing, instead the majority of Americans don't know either!

2. We don't know how to read a food label, or interpret a food label.
   (Note: I understand that this has been a problem for years considering all the rumblings about attempting to redesign the label to make it even easier to understand. Sadly I don't think it's that difficult to understand but a'las sigh.... 'Merica.)

Starting from the top: Serving SizeMany manufacturers try to pull one over on consumers by listing 12g of sugar in one serving, not the whole package which contains 8 servings. Whatever imaginary label this comes from (I took this label off the FDA website) it contains a whopping 96g of sugar per package.

Your daily allowance of sugar should remain below 10% of total calories.

Total CaloriesLearn to use percent Daily Values (DV) to help evaluate how a particular food fits into your daily meal plan. The calories and percentages listed are based off an adult consuming 2,000 calories a day.

A food item with 5% of DV of fat provides 5% of the total fat that this individual should consume a day. Percent daily values are for the entire day not only one meal or snack.

YOU may need more or less than 2,000 calories per day, so for some of the nutrients you're going to need more or less than the listed 100% DV.

You should also aim for lower amounts of saturated and trans fats, cholesterol and sodium. Look for higher amounts of vitamins, minerals and fiber. Most Americans do not consume enough fiber, which should be 35g/day for all adults.

Goes without saying but if a majority of your diet comes from fruits and vegetables without labels, you'll be better off.

Other Nutrients Protein
A percentage Daily Value for protein is not required on the label. Eat moderate portions of lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs, low-fat milk, yogurt and cheese, plus beans and peas, nut butters, seeds and soy products. * Carbohydrates
There are three types of carbohydrates: sugars, starches and fiber. Eat fruits and vegetables plus whole-grain breads, cereals, rice and pasta. * Sugars*
Simple carbohydrates, or sugars, occur naturally in foods such as fruit juice (fructose) or come from refined sources such as table sugar (sucrose) or corn syrup.

It stands to repeat again: Added sugars will be included on the Nutrition Facts label in 2018. The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends consuming no more than 10 percent of daily calories from added sugars.

Ingredients ListDecide what you want (and don't) in your food.* Hydrogenated/partially hydrogenated oils (source of trans fats) * High fructose corn syrup (not necessarily because it’s handled much differently than other sugars, but it usually indicates a non-nutritious food) * Added sugars (including hidden sources like syrups) * Artificial colors (example: FD&C Yellow #5) * Canned items not labeled BPA free * Atlantic or farmed salmon (instead of wild caught) * Products from China (which has recently been busted for many food safety violations, such as melamine in baby formula and heavy metals in various foods and herbal preparations) * Animal ingredients * Gluten * Non-organic * Nitrates/nitrites * High sodium

Photo by Alexandr Podvalny on Unsplash

When in doubt remember the following

Prioritize Ingredients Over Calories

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"Tell me something that's true, but nobody agrees with." Peter Thiel

If you don't know Peter Thiel, he along with Elon Musk (Tesla, SolarCity) and Max Levchin (Yelp) created this tiny payment processing company named PayPal. You may have heard of them. They since sold the company to eBay for $1.5 BILLION and all have gone on to start their own billion dollar companies. Peter has written a book "Zero to One" which I would recommend to everyone, not just entrepreneurs.

This one question gets some context with this statement:

"What great businesses is nobody building? In business, every moment happens only once. The next Mark Zuckerberg won’t be building a social network.”Whether you interpret this as work in the white space or zig when they zag; it boils down to creating a service or product to disrupt you industry or in other words ALWAYS try to put your competition (and yourself) out of business.

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The hip hinge which is demonstrated above during a Romanian Deadlift (RDL) is a core movement in the gym. Hip hinging lays the groundwork for olympic lifting, squats, deadlifts, and kettlebell swings. 

The hardest part of learning this is independently moving the hips through flexion and extension while limiting the movement of your spine, namely thoracic over-extension. The main issue I have with coaching up this movement is that most individuals spend their days slouched over in posterior pelvic tilt (think the opposite of arching your low back for a buttfie).

One of the main go-to drills for building spine stability where you aren't moving into flexion or extension during movement is the dead bug. 

Two main points of a dead bug!
1. Neutral Spine while moving.
2. Exhale fully to ensure proper positioning of your ribcage which is keeping neutral spine while extending your limbs.

If you would like a progressive breakdown of how I coach clients from start to the barbell, please leave me a comment and share this with a friend who looks like a question mark anytime they deadlift!

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I have dreams about this chicken from adHoc

I'm speaking here not just from a culinary stand point but also a fitness professional. Now before you pick up that d-a-f (dry as fuck) see every protein strand because its overcooked chicken breast and come at me, hear me out!

The average piece of chicken breast contains:
231 Calories
43g Protein
5g Fat
0g Carb
1.5g Saturated Fat

And dark meat:
287 Calories
38g Protein
14g Fat
0g Carb
3.7g Saturated Fat

If you look at it based on those numbers, you'll notice that you can squeak out a bit more protein out of chicken breast while keeping your saturated fat intake down. The increase in calories from dark meat comes from fat. (Note: If you have a physique based goal and are watching calorie intake, I would go white meat.)

As a cook, I much prefer cooking dark meat for two reasons: I think it tastes better and it's pretty difficult to overcook thighs and drumsticks. But the SATURATED FAT!!!!!!

And saturated fat is BAD right?!

Here's a few points on Saturated Fats and why you should include them in your diet.

1. Saturated fat seems to support the enhancement of good cholesterol.
2. Fats from palm oil and coconut oil are highly saturated, but not necessarily bad. Palm and coconut also contain medium chain fats, which can support health and optimal body composition.
3. Eating saturated fats showed direct improvement in mood and cognition. It's why comfort foods are often very fatty.

The biggest problem with saturated fats seems to be the sources (processed food and oils) combined with refined carbohydrates which as a result causes your health to suffer. If you do choose to consume tropical oils like palm and coconut oil, I would attempt to eat them in their native form. The refinement process often creates hydrogenated fats in an attempt to make the products more shelf stable.

Saturated fat should make up no more than 10% of total calories. I can't stress that enough....read that sentence above one more time. NO MORE THAN 10%

For someone eating 2000 calories per day, that would be a maximal intake of 200 grams of saturated fat per day.

As a fit pro and common sense weilding human, I know that a bucket of fried chicken or pizza on a weekly basis isn't healthy, but I'm also a lover of good food. And sometimes it comes in the form of a pizza or chicken. I don't deprive myself of these types of foods because of some fad diet.

Always, everything in moderation.

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Looks cool and easy enough, rowing while in a plank. I wish that were so. 

After seeing enough people butcher the movement, I've decided to do a breakdown of how to perform it. 

Equipement needed: 

Sled, Battle Rope, Airex pad (optional)

1. After you tie the rope to the sled, pull the rope out until the end and place an aired pad right in front of it. 
   2. Get into a 3 point plank, and without allowing the hips to rotate, row the rope and pull the sled towards you. 
2. I'm shown here with a cone to really hammer down the point of not allowing the hips to rotate.
3. To make this move harder, feel free to bring your legs closer together to make yourself "less stable" and thus forcing you to work harder and stabilize. 

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This tip today mostly goes out to the ladies but like I've written in the past; guys, lets not neglect glute work because chicks dig glutes too.

This version of the hip thrust is as effective as it is inappropriate looking. Rest assured that if you've been hip thrusting with any regularity and are not satisfied by your results the constant tension hip thrust will give you a kick in the behind. (See what I did there, one moment while I lol here at my own pun)

A few key points:

• You have to be confident with your hip thrusting technique, adding speed to any lift is based on the knowledge that your technique is sound. Otherwise you'll be speeding your way to an injury.
• I like to give the cue it's like a piston on a car engine, you need to come down just as fast as you explode up into full hip extension.
• For greater glute tension, try to move the hips into posterior pelvic tilt.
• Make Diamonds! That's how hard you want to squeeze your glutes at the top of every finish.

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It's been close to 7 years since I last stepped foot in a commercial gym to train. I worked in one of the busiest facilities in all of southern California, and the one thing that remains the same is the crazy ratio of men-to-women in the free weights section.

In that time I've had the pleasure to work with many women who have said to me they were very intimidated by the free weights area of the gym. Even after finishing their time with me and being more knowledgeable than their male friends "who lift", they still feel uncomfortable around the barbells and dumbbells at their local gym.

Because of this many ladies stick to cardio classes, aerobics, or machine based strength training; all of which are good but inferior as it pertains to really making positive physique changes.

Here are four tips to help ladies to feel more at ease in the weight room.

1. Put your headphones on and wear something that makes you feel confident.

AH! The universal sign to GET LOST AND LEAVE ME ALONE, earphones in (sadly some guys will ignore this).

Feel free to turn it up and rock out to whatever it is you're listening to and just zone out for that 40-60 minutes you're in there. You'll drown out the grunting, weights banging and annoying guy asking if you need help to refill your water because you know, you're a woman and you're a delicate flower who shouldn't lift more than 5 lbs!

What you wear will of course depend on what makes you feel like a badass. MOST guys will not bother you, but of course there's always one or two bad apples that stare and gawk in the most obvious way possible. No wonder many ladies feel weird lifting weights. So there's a creepy guy nearby and I need to perform RDL's. Yeah I'd rather hop onto the elliptical.

To this I would tell management about it if you don't feel like slapping this idiot upside the head yourself. I would routinely have to walk up to these guys and let them know we had received some complaints about uncomfortable levels of starring and if they didn't stop we'd have to ask them to leave.

Get it together guys! Quit being assholes. We all pay the same amount for the gym you're attending, be cool!

1. Have a plan once you're in there.

If you have to wander around trying to figure out what to do, it will only lead to you feeling more uncomfortable and unsure about what you're even doing in there.

There are many starter programs out there that would be beneficial for ladies such as Strong Curves by Bret Contreras and Kellie Davis and Lift Weights Faster by Jen Sinkler. When you have a direction, it allows you to go in there and handle business.

1. Find a good gym.

Finding the right gym is important to really excelling. If you aren't comfortable in your gym how will you be able to let loose and have at it!?

Independent gyms seem to be a better option but tend to be inconvenient with most only having one location. Certain commercial facilities are better than others and within each company there are better locations (equipment, parking, amenities, etc).

I was a member of 24 hr fitness, and would rather drive 10 minutes to another location simply because I felt most comfortable there over one down the block from me. If it allows for better results, it's worth the commute.

1. Hire a Trainer

Cough Cough...Hello there! Haha.

I'm on the fence when it comes to this as I've seen my share of TERRRRRRRRRIBLE trainers at commercial gyms.

I mean turrible. Thanks Chuck!

But what they can do is help show you the layout of the facility and some basic movement patterns. Beyond that it's a bit of a crapshoot what type of trainer you'll end up with. Some are better than others, ask around and you'll tend to find which trainer at the facility fits your personality and goals the best.

Unless you hire me.
You're golden with me! ;-)

If any of this information here was helpful, insightful or even just a little funny and you know someone who might benefit from it...please do share!

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Why Perform Bear Crawls* Great for serrate anterior recruitment * Scapular upward rotation * Improved anterior core function * Great tri-planr stability

How To Perform Bear Crawls 1. Being by setting up on all fours. 2. Raise the hips up a little higher than the shoulders, moving into slight protraction of the shoulder blades. 3. Maintain a neutral spine and begin by moving opposite leg to foot i.e- left leg-right arm, right leg-left arm. 4. Take a big breathe before moving and exhale as you move. This forces you to slow down and with each big exhale you get the rib cage to drop down as well. 5. As you move you want very little side to side movement. you'll get a little but you want to exhibit great rotary stability. 6. Remember deep breathe before moving and exhale are before moving.

And for the Love of God, please knock it off with the boot camp style dynamic bear crawls. (How NOT to perform bear crawls)

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Good enough for The Rock, good enough for me!

The obvious answer: Pancakes in their typical form is not what one would consider to be a health food. Especially if you're consuming them on a regular basis, no matter how delicious they are!

They can be used to enhance metabolic function if used strategically, and I must add, this doesn't necessarily work for everyone. Typically for men around 15% and women hovering slight below 20%.

Consider the following: a 28 year old, fairly healthy male. Has been lifting weights for 2 years and has a considerable amount of muscle mass and is pretty lean. Let's say he's 14% body fat, which is pretty good. That's the kind of physique where you say "oh yeah, they workout".

And lets say they want to get to 8%, which is where you start to really lean down and look "jacked". The problem is the nutritional protocol you had in place to get you down to 13-15% isn't going to help you get down to 8%. I mean otherwise you would've already gotten there by simply staying the course, right?

So this is where pancakes fit into the picture. If this individual goes from 70% adherance to 85% of the time, they'll make a lot of progress. After a couple months, they get to 10% but they're still not at their goal. Thus a strategic calorie surplus often helps kickstart the fat loss process again. This "cheat meal" also has a lot of psychological benefits by breaking up the monotony of eating healthy foods 24/7.

Keep this in mind whether you are vegetarian, paleo, ketogenic or a "clean eater": When losing weight, there are many roads that lead to a healthier you, this is simply one way.

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Secluded up in the Hollywood hills I had the opportunity to work with a disordered eating and drug rehab facility. Six months ago I was contacted to fill in for 6 weeks and fill in as their fitness director for the patients staying at the clinic. It was a very rewarding experience and I would like to share a few things I learned during my time there.

1. Disordered Eating Affects Over 20 Million Women & 10 Million Men Sometime in Their Lives.

The current figures show that at some point 30 million Americans will suffer from some form of disordered eating. Some of the common ones include:

• Atypical anorexia nervosa (weight is not below normal)
• Bulimia nervosa (with less frequent behaviors)
• Binge-eating disorder (with less frequent occurrences)
• Purging disorder (purging without binge eating)
• Night eating syndrome (excessive nighttime food consumption)
• Orthorexia Nervosa (unhealthy obsession with "righteous eating")

We all at some point struggle with body image and being confident in our own skin. Don't jump to passing judgement on someone simply because they're overweight or what you might consider "too skinny". You haven't walked a mile in their shoes or spent a second in their mind, so what makes anyone feel like they should have the audacity to pass judgement on them.

That person is FAT! Well what you don't see is that they just lost their significant other, and food has become their way of coping.

That person is too skinny. What you don't see is this person has been told they were ugly their whole lives and now compensate by trying to fit into the standards that society deems fit as 'beautiful" by starving themselves eating as little as possible, often times complaining of headaches and lethargy.

Without coming off sounding like a hippie, we all have to live on this planet together while we're here; don't make life harder for everybody by being a jerk. We need to practice compassion and empathy.

1. Talk to the individual if you believe they may have a substance abuse or disordered eating problem.

The prevailing theme I got from all the people I was interacted with was that they eventually had an intervention to make some type of positive change in their lives. The problem was that for some individuals it came a bit too late. Whether they had become morbidly obese or having organ failure due to rampant drug use, these people didn't just wake up with these health problems. Many of them said they wish their loved ones had spoken up sooner.

Often people have these problems and it sits in front of us in plain sight. So if you suspect someone you love has a problem, try to get them professional help before it becomes a chronic issue that will be even harder to overcome.

1. Learning to disassociate food as good or bad.

There's no such thing as "clean" eating. Food is food and I for one LOVE all kinds of food. When an individual begins to think of a typical food like rice as bad or dirty, that gives some insight to both their knowledge of nutrition but also their relationship with food in general.

Many have a fascination about fitting things into a category. I eat paleo, I eat low fat, or I eat gluten free. Most of the diets people think they're following is simply marketing. Everyone was all about juicing a year ago, the narrative has changed very recently.

Education is the key to truly being the master of your health.

What's a quality protein? How about carbs? What happens if you happen to eat too LITTLE carbs and fat? These are common dietary scenarios that individuals live everyday with. Learning more about what goes on in YOUR body will do wonders.

Related: Just say "no" to that detox diet or juice cleanse by Dr. John Berardi

Ultimately being healthy should be the metric we all strive to achieve. Being happy with who you are and striving to be the best version of yourself is what matters the most.

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I often recommend Cal Newport's book to other fitness professionals, but this book can help anyone be the linchpin in their organization and become indispensable. This book is a MUST READ for anyone who hates their current job and wants to do something they're passionate about, but doesn't know where to start. This too, is a fantastic read for anyone who's working hard to build a long career in an industry they love.

Newport goes to great lengths to explain just how terrible "follow your passion" is as career advice. He argues against the "passion" approach, as it can lead individuals down a road that may not be financially viable; just because you enjoy something doesn't mean that you'll be able to make a living doing it.

(GH Note: If you had the choice between making 100k but being miserable and making 70k but being happy; I would choose the latter and find areas of my life where I can scale back. Being happy needs to be at the top of your to-do list when assessing career options)

There's a few reasons one might fail such as an insufficient demand in the market for your skills, or because you may not have enough "career capital" to be successful in the early stages of your career transition. Career capital is described in the book as a set of rare and valuable skills. So as to say these are traits that greatly define amazing work. With competency comes higher job satisfaction. This key component to happiness even outweighs earning a higher salary alone.

The author sites several key case studies that backs his career capital theory. Many professionals work long hard hours acquiring rare and valuable skills that will allow them to have more control over their careers by making them indispensable in their field. They are now able to afford to ask for more compensation and flexible schedules but also to take chances on finding a speciality to further enhance their career financially and increase satisfaction.

Just because you love exercise, don't blow your life savings on a gym when you don't have the rare and valuable skills to succeed in the fitness industry. As it currently stands I believe there's a few reasons why people are so quick to want to jump from behind their desk job to a gym.

The ease of entry into the field is what makes it so appealing to the workout junkie. You can become a personal trainer RIGHT NOW. You can trade in your suit for dri-fit clothing and get a pretty flexible work schedule. Could you "survive" this transition? Yeah you can but you don't want to only get by, you want to thrive in this or any industry of your choosing.

So whether you've been contemplating a change of careers or want to get a promotion, Cal Newport's book will help you better understand how to further your career by putting in the work to go from good to GREAT.

If you found my book recommendation compelling and feel that it might be a read a friend you know needs to get going on, please do share this post. Thanks!

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Photo by Andrew Tanglao on Unsplash

Every so often I receive a text or an e-mail from a friend or current client asking about knee pain. The universe is funny this way because I then proceed to receive 3-4 more messages about knee pain.

It's going to sound like I'm not answering the question but when someone has a knee issue I don't actually focus on the knee.

The only caveat is if they've suffered any trauma to the knee i.e.- they felt a "pop" when they fell or got hit directly in the knee playing pick up Basketball. THEN the knee is the site of the problem.

For the rest of us, the fact of the matter is that knee issues are typically due to problems in other areas of the body, not the knees themselves. The two most common reasons for knee pain are...

• Lack of Ankle Mobility (In particular sagittal dorsiflexion and plantar flexion)
• Poor Hip Mobility

If you said the key to correcting and preventing most knee injuries comes down to improving hip mobility...TELL THEM WHAT THEY'VE WON ROD!

They've won an all expenses paid trip to a lifetime of healthy knees!!!!!!!!

A lack of hip mobility in all planes of motion not only leads to knee pain but can also manifest itself in back pain as well. A lack of mobility in the hips also seems to coincide with an individual's glutes not pulling their weight.

Most who have patellofemoral pain do the Google search and wind up concerned about isolating the vastus medialis obliquus (VMO). Thus they end up performing hours of terminal knee extensions (TKE) and still wind up with fragile knees. Their anterior knee pain in many cases is due to soft-tissue imbalances between the stronger lateral knee structures and the weaker medial knee structures (which includes the VMO). This muscle imbalance leads to a lateral pulling of the patella into the femoral condyle which results in anterior knee pain.

Research has found that many athletes who experience patellofemoral pain had a significant decrease of strength in their hips, as much as 30%. So we need to get the posterior fibers of the gluteus medius and the gluteus maximus to fire more effectively.

HOMEWORK

• Begin by foam rolling of the lateral structures. I'd focus on the vastus lateralis (think the area on top of your leg towards the outside but still on the quad) and IT band.
• Improving general quad strength (via quad sets, leg extensions etc.) TKEs could definitely be part of the program; just understand they aren't a true isolation exercise.
• Improving the motor control and strength of the gluteals
• Stretching the quads and calves
• Not really something that influences it directly but proper program design helps a lot as well.

The Mini band warm up series. Perform 10 lateral steps in each direction, followed by a forward and backwards 45 degree step at 10 & 2 o'clock. I would repeat the series 2-3 times prior to exercise.

Many individuals lack external rotation of the hips. Try the FABER (flexion, abduction, external rotation) test yourself by sitting down tall on a chair and place your foot on your other leg's knee and see if you can get that thigh to parallel to the floor. Most people end up with their leg hiked up like chicken wing. You can perform the actual test if you have a friend who you trust won't tickle you when they try to hold your hip down.

The pigeon pose which is taken from yoga is one of the best static stretches for helping to open up the hips. The biggest takeaway from this movement isn't so much to mimic the pose but to also be able to square your body, hips and shoulders, so that you're not stressing your back or your knee too much. Elevate the front knee with pads until you can get to the floor as shown.

Integrating all this into movement prep will be the squat to stand. If you can properly pull yourself down into the squat position, lifting the arms up and then stand without compensating; you'll be well on your way to achieving your fitness goals.

NOTE: No two knee problems are identical thus you should listen to your body before plotting course on a corrective solution. I believe you should seek professional help if you can't figure out what's going on.

And of course the only thing I ask of you is if any of this information was useful or insightful to please share this with a friend whom this information may be able to help.

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Today I turn 30 years old. And while this is a milestone birthday, I also am aware that Sunday is Father's Day.

So the subject today is one that is very near and dear to my heart, My Father Manuel Heshiki.

While he may never see this, it's important for me to share my thoughts with Father's day right around the corner. My dad came to this country like most parents of first generation born minorities with practically nothing but the clothes on his back. He shared with me how he had been deported TWICE and somehow made his way back. I guess they were a lot less strict about the whole thing back then, if you somehow made it in, they'd let you stay so long as you behaved.

After marrying my mom, my brother was born and he ended up worked two jobs: at a Benihana style Japanese restaurant and at the Ford Motor plant outside of Edison, NJ. After I was born he simply worked two shifts at the Ford plant. I remember growing up and wondering why I never saw my dad and when I would give him a kiss (this is if I somehow managed to stay awake on Friday nights) he always had a really rough face. Later I realized of course he woke up to go to work early in the morning with a clean shaven face with the same disposable Bic razors which he still uses btw, that by the time he came home his beard had started to grow back in. A lot more than a 5 o'clock shadow.

This was my life until we moved out to California in 1991. There my parents both went to work with my Uncle at our family Peruvian restaurant in Los Angeles. This was the beginning of The Bulls dynasty and I was a HUGE Basketball fan. I always wanted to go to the park to play, but my parents were always working. I used to think why can't I go play. Why do I have to spend every moment outside of going to school, here in the back of a restaurant folding menus and eating Peruvian food!?!? (which in hindsight wasn't so bad, Lomo Saltado ftw)

I would whine about not being like every other kid I went to school with. Why did I have to wear Payless shoes and hand-me-down discount clothes. I can never recall my Dad raising his voice or disciplining me about my incessant complaining. (It's quite obvious I was a punk and will pay dearly as a parent in the future)

Instead on weekends he and I would leave for the restaurant early in the morning and he would take me to shoot around with an $8 plastic basketball from K-Mart. My dad was in his late 50's at this point. He somehow found the energy to work 10 hour days, 6 days a week and then put up with me!

I'll never forget this Basketball

While I of course love my Mom, I'll never forget all the amazing things my Dad has done for me. Not just the insane amount of hours he'd work but how he NEVER complained. A trait that as I turn 30, I wish to emulate moving forward. He always seemed to have a goofy smile and tried making a joke even when I was an annoying moody teenager. Little did I really understand what my Dad did for both my Brother and I. The sacrifices to put us through school, to put food on the table and provide for us what little luxuries we could afford like McDonalds after school on Fridays or nose bleed seats to a Lakers game at The Great Western Forum.

If you are fortunate to still have your Dad in your life today, give him a hug and tell him you love him. I hope that in my lifetime I can even be half the man my Dad is. I will forever be grateful to him for showing what it is to be a real man and an even better person.

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Lifting + Running = more calories. CHECK!

So you're trying to be a great long distance runner but still have biceps, pecs and 400lb deadlift? You're crazy! (silence) umm...Is that even possible?

The short answer is I don't know.

I've only started to take up running again. I'm currently tweaking my own programming adjusting under the bar volume, milage on the road and macros in the kitchen.

But I firmly believe this goal is very possible. Here are a few of my observations so far.

Strong legs in the gym= strong legs on the road tooThe biggest thing I've noticed when running 8+ miles is not that my legs get tired; I got the legs just not the lungs for running faster. I recall back in high school and college that my legs would routinely get tired performing anything above 6 miles, add in any kind of considerable incline and my legs were fried.

Years of squatting and deadlifting have made my legs much more resilient to fatigue. This is interesting considering they're technically calling upon different fiber types: slow twitch vs fast twitch and different energy system: aerobic vs anaerobic.

No Cramping or Side stitchesAnother common problem runners have is related to poor breathing mechanics. This often results in getting side stitches or cramps in their oblique area.

As a weightlifter I understand how to properly maintain a certain level of tightness to ensure a stable midsection. This is a result of proper breathing mechanics to ensure not exhaling fully because this will destabilize the trunk (think a relaxing yawn, you draw in A LOT of air followed by fully exhaling).

Also having a core strong enough to perform 20+ reps on a trap bar with 350lbs is a pretty strong transverse abdominis, it should be able to hold up to the fairly easy pounding running transmits. Here's Dr Quinn Henoch demonstrating a PRI technique of how to breathe using the diaphragm.

How This Might Work For YouI suppose it's important to cover who this type of training WON'T work for:

• If you struggle with the core lifts of squatting and deadlifting, and you perform zero unilateral work. (Struggle like you can barely perform your bodyweight on these lift without looking like you're performing it during an earthquake)
• If you think a one minute plank is REALLY hard. (again without looking like there's an earthquake)
• If you're a physique athlete, you'll lose SOME muscle therefore distance running is counterproductive to your goals. (and there are better ways to whittle away that last remaining amount of fat)

Related: Screw Cardio! Four Complexes for a Shredded Physique

Any lifter with a few years under their belt and a decent command of the core lifts would be fine and might even benefit from added C word...Cardio (GASP).

Sunday: OFF

This is in anticipation of a BIG lifting day on Monday morning.

Monday: Heavy lifting session

Here is where I push the envelope on my core lifts. I work up to a heavy single and back off for a decent percentage depending on how I'm feeling 70% ( I feel terrible)- 90% (I have the POWER!!).

I squat and deadlift on the same day. I bookend session with a superset of a chest supported back movement/rear deltoid movement along with anti-flexion core work.

I may or may not perform a light run afterwards, 3-4 miles at a sub-maximal pace 60-70% Max HR.

Tuesday: Lighter lifting session

I'll typically perform hip thrusts on this day, weight is dependent on how I'm feeling of course. I'll typically superset 6 movements, move at a decent pace since I'm not looking to really move the needle on weights. Core movements include anti-rotation like payoff presses.

I will take the day off from running.

Wednesday: No Lifting

Having not run the day before, this is usually my longest run of the week. So far it's been 8 miles. If there's a day where I want to push the distance it's on Wednesday. I move this along on a pace I deem fit, so far it's been slow and steady as to allow my joints to get used to lifting and running.

Thursday: Upper Body

I'll perform 3 supersets consisting of a variety of pressing motions always with a pulling motion. Example: Incline dumbbell bench press and Chest supported incline dumbbell row, dips and a single kettle bell racked walk or standing dumbbell military press and inverted rows. Flexion based movements like reverse crunches and hanging leg raises comprise my core work today.

No running.

Friday: Lower Body

This is my accessory day, depending on how my week went , I'll evaluate if there something that needs strengthening. Here I'll almost always perform some type of unilateral lower body move like split squats to start then move onto technique drive movements like Paused Squats and 1 1/2 rep style deadlifts.

Again I'll perform some type of back work. If Thursday had a lot of vertical pulling, I'll keep it to the horizontal variety on Friday or vice versa. Core is often more dynamic in nature like bear crawls, unilateral farmer's walk or a valslide body saw.

Running: Moderate milages if my low end is 3-4 and high end is 7-8, I'll perform a 5-6 mile pace run where I'm trying to lower my mile pace. If my 7-8 mile run is performed at 8:10, I'll attempt to perform these 5-6 miles at 7:55-8:00.

Saturday: No Lifting

I will run again, usually a really easy sub maximal 3-4 miles. Mostly a recovery run.

Final Notes:

• Leading up to deciding to run again, I was performing some kind of squat pattern movement 4x a week and deadlifting 2x a week.
• I have upped my carb intake, around 3g per lbs now per day and upped my fat intake by 50%. I may play around with this and lower my carb intake. I'd like to see if I'm able to maintain performance and not have to eat 1-2 cups of starchy carbs at every meal. I LOVE rice but after a while, it's a bit much.
• I still play Basketball occasionally. Ball is Life bro...
• I'm performing a crazy amount of soft tissue work to maintain proper muscle length and try to avoid injury considering the amount of added stress to my body. Hence the slow progression of adding in miles. Big milage is often associated with injuries in runners.
• Speaking of recovery, if I don't sleep at least 8-9 hours on lift+run days, I'm a zombie the following day. This makes it even harder considering I'm working all day too.

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Every week I receive an e-mail or inquiry that goes something like this:

I'm looking to get serious about my training but would like to begin in a month. I'm trying to work myself up to working with a trainer.

Here's why you shouldn't feel this way and needlessly spend your time spinning your wheels. Even worse, you may put yourself behind the proverbially eight ball with poor movement patterns and reinforcing bad habits.

We Already Made the Mistakes For YouIndividuals become personal trainers after many years of trials and tribulation both mental and physical. We've failed and learned from mistakes. So why spend weeks or months making those exact same mistakes!

We want to help you get to your goal in the quickest way possible, so you can have the body you've always dreamed of. If you decide to hire a trainer, it's not for an hour of their time, 3x per week. You're hiring them for their years of expertise and knowledge.

I go into work every day with the goal of making you better. Your goals are our goals, if you succeed then we succeed.

We've Been Where You've BeenNobody likes change. Why go through it alone. Part of why you hire a coach is that they've been in your shoes at some point in their lives. That experience is something that can't be taught.

And even if they haven't been in your exact position, a great coach should be able to empathize with your fears and concerns. Sometimes you look at a trainer's physique and think they've never been fat or out shape. Which is simply not true. We all begin from the same start line.

Hair good for the selfie. Now where's that "How to Deadlift video" again?

Trainers Are Usually Not YouTube EducatedWhat I mean by this is not that we don't occasionally peruse YouTube to learn from better coaches, but that the overwhelming majority of our expertise isn't only from the internet.

They've often spent years either in school earning a degree, a CSCS or being accredited by reputable certifying bodies like ACE, NASM, NSCA, and ISSA. This is another aspect of what you're paying for. If all they did was open up a magazine or choose a workout from a website, wouldn't you just do it then!? (sadly the answer is no for a lot of people)

I've spent a decade reading countless books and watching video products to be the coach that I am today. I'm not only proud but can stand with my head held high that I provide people the best possible service that I can. I really believe this, down to my core.

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A starting point would be discussing populations that would benefit from using a speed ladder: beginners, youth and/or out of shape deconditioned individuals. You know what else would improve their general fitness, strength, power and endurance? ANYTHING!

There are "speed" coaches out there who use the ladder drills with their youth population and see great results. Likewise trainers who use them with the elderly population and see an improvement in movement and balance. But I would argue they could perform a rudimentary movement pattern for an hour once a week and produce similar benefits. This holds true for individuals who has less than a year of formal training.

The speed ladder is often used as a tool to improve athletic performance including speed and agility. Lets go over what speed and agility really means in the context of athletics.

Speed involves covering more ground in a shorter period of time. If you can run 100 meters in less time after 1 month of training, you've improved your speed. The basic principles to improving speed is increasing stride frequency to go with stride length as a means of quantifying speed improvement. It's often thought of in more linear movements like the 40yard dash shown here by NFL Running Back Chris Johnson.

Agility is your ability to change direction rapidly while being able to apply more horizontal force into the ground at an angle different than your current direction. To do this effectively your legs must be outside the vertical position of the center of your mass. If your center of mass doesn't move, you won't change directions. All you'll do is move your legs and not fall on your face. Agility often goes hand in hand with change of direction.

Anything we perform in the gym is done to improve general physical preparedness for athletics. Any result to tie-in athletic performance to a drill is pointless since there is a lack of specificity to the activity. Sports in itself is chaotic by nature, and running a linear pattern won't do much to get you ready for the reactive nature of the beast..

Speed and agility are based on rate of force, meaning if you go through the ladder at a sub maximal rate, you'll only improve your conditioning. Likewise any true speed training needs to be done with adequate rest periods, anything less than that you'll simply be performing cardio. For any training modality to work, it has to replicate or produce fundamentally similar benefits as the end goal. The S.A.I.D (specific adaptations to imposed demands) principle applies here, your training needs replicate force, rate of force application, metabolic and neural demands of an activity to have true carry over.

Ladder drills can be very effective as a warm up for true speed training. It can help load and unload the muscles, tendons and incorporates some cardio. Technique needs to be the focal point, so skip the fancy footwork you saw on youtube.

Agility training involves a rapid change of direction from the initial direction of momentum. The most effective way to change direction involves having the legs move well outside of the vertical alignment of the center of mass, and driving into the ground at as horizontal of an angle as possible to create a strong drive against the ground. Momentum can also be overcoming inertia if you aren't already moving. This rapid change from no movement to movement could be considered a “first step,” which does not fall neatly under traditional speed training. The best example of agility would be NFL great Barry Sanders, always amazing to watch!

While ladder drills involve a rapid change of direction from one position to another, the direction one applies force is more linear than horizonatal. As a result any movement outside the center of mass is usually pretty tiny compared to more conventional agility training. Ladder drills would work well as a warm up for the same reasons mentioned above for speed, but in terms of developing higher levels of agility, it may not be as beneficial. It could be incorporated in sub-maximal workouts to involve some change of direction with low loads to stay sharp.

Like with the smith machine and bosu ball, every tool has a job in the gym. The ladder is great when used appropriately. It does very little to build top end speed, agility or quickness compared to conventional training. Relying on the speed ladder as a main cog to your training might actually make the athlete slower.

It's great when used for conditioning, rehabbing and as a warm up for much higher impact movements but as a stand alone training tool, it won't make you an Olympic sprinter any time soon.

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Recently in London Gary Vaynerchuk was at Vaynerworld. This was an event organized by CEO of Creative Content Agency Raj Kotecha and Sujan Shah of Rocaba Group who interview Gary over a variety of subjects. While the interview is GOLD, there is one specific part that resonated with me.

Around the 57 minute mark is where he begins his closing statement and the truth hits hard. He discusses spending a large amount of time in his 20's speaking to 90 year old people. He says he was a hungry guy and wanted to hear it from people who had been there and done it. Gary laments that all of them started their life stories with "I wish". Wishing they had worked harder, spent more time with their family, and followed their true passions and not simply do as their parents desired.

The biggest poison in us is regret.

You can tell me why how bad it is and why you can't do it. It's just not true. If anybody ever did it, then you can too. You're not trying to reinvent the wheel. You simply haven't found the one way to bring yourself disproportionate success. It takes time and effort to find it and when you do, go all in. Is it hard work? Yeah big time. And you may find out it was hard because you're actually lazy. Or discover you talk a big game but you're full of it. You need to come to grips with your truth and only then can you move forward.

Stop making excuses. Stop complaining, nobody's listening. They may pretend like they're listening, the market doesn't care. What you need to do is make one person happy, you. Then you can make everybody else happy. You know why I like making people happy? Because I'm already happy. Understand are you doing the things that are putting you in a position to succeed? Not just in business but in life. When you're happy in life, your business can roll.That final line hit me hard as I'm about to make some life altering changes in the next few months. I kept looking around at the things in my life that weren't working well, namely my business. When in fact I had so much to be happy about. When I acknowledged this, deep down in my core, I finally began to pull myself out from rock bottom.

We only get one life, one time on this planet. Make it count.

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Stir frying or Sautéing is often considered the chef's microwave. Sauté means to jump, which is what you'll be doing (sort of). Quick, fast and tasty dishes are created using this high heat method of cooking and I would say it's my go to cooking method after a long day of work and no leftover prepped food in the fridge.

The MOST important part of stir frying is having all you ingredients ready to go. Dice all proteins and slice all vegetables even before putting the heat to your pan or wok. Any sauces should be pre-mixed as well. Once all prep work is done, you are ready to begin cooking.

Mushroom ChickenINGREDIENTS:

1 lb chicken breasts, cubed into bite sized pieces

3 Tbsp cornstarch

1 Tbsp Canola Oil

1 Tbsp Sesame Oil

8 oz mushrooms, sliced. (Crimini or white button both work)

1/2 onion, sliced thinly

1 Zucchini, cut into half moons

1/4 c Soy Sauce

2 Tbsp Sherry Vinegar or Balsamic Vinegar

4 Garlic coves, minced

2 Tbsp Fresh Ginger, minced

METHOD:

1. Toss chicken with corn starch

2. Heat the pan over medium and add Canola oil. Cook all the chicken.

3. Set the chicken aside and turn the pan/wok up on high.

4. Cook the mushrooms, zucchini and onion until browned.

5. Add garlic and ginger and continue to cook.

6. Once all the veggies have softened a bit, add back in the chicken and mix well.

7. Add in the soy sauce and vinegar. Cook until it reduces a bit to a thicker sauce like consistency.

8. Season to taste with salt and pepper if needed

NOTE: If you watched the snapchat video I added above, you see that I forget to prep the onions. Which took maybe a minute while I was cooking the chicken. Well that minute where I left the chicken unattended allowed some of it to get crispier (because of the cornstarch and subsequently left the pan too burnt to continue cooking with. So I had to remove all the veggies and get a new pan. Take home lesson? DON'T START COOKING UNTIL ALL PREP IS DONE!

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For years I've worked in the fitness industry where at times being ignorant can be the best trait a coach can have. Since you don't know any better and whole heartedly believe in your skills, you don't know that the 10th set of wrist curls isn't doing much to help a 32 year old female client who came to your originally to lose 10 lbs get fit for the summer. You're under qualified, but no one could call you a crook.

What I plan to discuss today isn't this type of coach, it's one LIKE the aforementioned above trainer who KNOWS better but doesn't care. In essence...

The fitness industry is filled with liars and scammers looking to make a quick buck. There's often big promises of "fast results" and "easy ways to lose weight", which I can tell you is utter bullshit considering it's the boring stuff we've done for years that works the best. Lee Boyce addressed this problem that has been written about many times in the past.

When an unsuspecting consumer or follower sees a fit-looking person promoting a questionable exercise, most people will take it at face value and follow suit, assuming that that particular exercise is one reason why that fit person is in shape to begin with.

Examples like the one above are the reason I hate hearing the term "your body is your business card." Sadly, that quote permeates the fitness industry and won't stop. I also have to admit that there's a fair truth to the phrase.

Related: Read the full article http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/lee-boyce/bad-fitness-advice_b_10106516.html

Your body is not your business card, and trainers don't get paid to be in shape or lift weights all day. You should be fit because it's your passion, period. You don't need to look like an upside triangle, but you should look like you could run a 5K without training for it and not die.

The issue is when an individual only markets themselves via how they look, and a lot of very qualified coaches who aren't as "shredded" lose business because lets be honest, we judge books by their cover. It's imperative that the trainer be as qualified as possible and the client has a bit of responsibility to themselves to do some research too. You don't just go on yelp and pick any mechanic or doctor, so why would you do the same by simply going with the first result or the most cost effective trainer running a grouponesque special.

I believe that the cream rises to the top, businesses seeking the quick buck often don't last. Trainers should continue honing their craft and expanding their knowledge base (which should also include business and psychology). In time things have a funny way of working themselves out. I'll close with this quote I heard from a fellow colleague

"He doesn't have 10 years of experience, it's 1 year of experience repeated 9 more times."

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It's been almost a decade since I was consistently crushing half marathons at elite level times of 1:10:00. With that type of natural talent and success I of course took the logical next step to quit because I was tired of looking like a typical marathon runner! (sarcasm level 11) Below is a photo from high school and mind you I had been "lifting" for about 8-9 months. I think my wrists were the same size as my arms.

2003

2013 , I look like a buff oompa loompa

• Competed in a physique competition
• Deadlift 3x bodyweight
• Bench press 2x bodyweight
• Squat 2x bodyweight

And while none of those numbers are going to win me a powerlifting competition, I'm very proud of the weight I've been able to move at 150 lbs. That seems to be where my body likes to maintain homeostasis. Alas I'm a very competitive person and the one thing that I continue to ask myself:

What if I had continued running instead of lifting weights?In less than a month I will be 30 years old. And I remember vividly saying the day I quit running that I could always go back to running when I turned 30. The rationale was that I should take advantage of my prime years building muscles and getting stronger.*

As 30 approaches, I've decided to seek out a new challenge in a familiar activity. Now armed with a decade of lifting and years of experience with a wide range of clients, I now want to know this:

Can I maintain strength and what relative size I've accrued and get back to running elite long distance times?Strength is the basis for all athletic endeavors so it should include long distance running too. While there are diminishing returns on carrying more muscle as it makes you heavier, there is a healthy middle ground. Strength training is the missing component for keeping most recreational runners healthy.

A basic strength program has many benefits such as:

1. Building bone density, something many runners lack due to poor dietary practices leaving them at a high risk for stress fractures.
2. Maintaining muscle mass which is lost during endurance training.
3. Improve functional strength and capacity which declines as you age.
4. Enhances endocrine and immune function which are compromised by endurance training.
5. Ability to rapidly correct muscle imbalances. Strength is a corrective exercise. The running joke with runners seems to revolve around what injury they're dealing with and how long before they can go back to running and ward off that same injury.

What sort of strength training?

Free weights mostly and no machines DON'T count. Part of what makes strength training useful is the fact that you have to stabilize in multiple planes of motion as opposed to only working on a fixed track. A machine workout is practically pointless (from a functional standpoint) because running doesn't occur in a seated fixed motion either.

When you do for example, a weighted step up, your body has to generate force in a single leg position. In order to perform the movement properly you'll need to force muscles like the adductors (inner thigh) and your abductors (outer thigh/butt muscles) to work together to stabilize your leg so you don't fall over. By training in this manner, you improve muscular balance and thus improve running efficiency and prevent problems such as lateral knee pain, hip pain, and lower back pain.

I should add that many runners like to perform machine work in a slow controlled manner because it's somehow similar to running? Put simply, if you train slow, you'll be slow in competition. If you want to run a marathon, specificity of training is more important than mimicking what you think is hitting those "slow twitch" muscle fibers. When you run, focus on running. When you're lifting, focus on progressive overload and getting more athletic.

Practical advice: Set tempo runs on days you lift and separate your longer runs at least a day apart from your strength days.

Weight Training will make me heavy

Endurance training naturally is not conducive to growing muscles, especially in a female population with lower testosterone levels. Getting in enough calories is tough given the amount of volume performed. Any calories you take in will be used to improve overall efficiency rather than actual increases in muscle size. Add in the fact that in order to gain muscle, you need a surplus of calories, that's pretty hard if you're lifting AND running as well.

Practical advice: A stronger muscle will get a little bigger, but make no mistake, you won't look like the hulk running 26.2 miles. Or JJ Watt.

Imagine if he could run a 2 hr marathon, there'd be no escaping him

Wrapping it up

Does every runner need to be able to squat and deadlift 2-3x their bodyweight? No, but you should focus on strengthening the posterior chain (glutes and hamstrings) to help balance out all the quad dominant work that goes on with running. Getting stronger in unilateral movements like lunges, step ups and single leg RDL's will help get the hips more balanced and thus making you a more efficient runner. And more core work like paloff presses, dead bugs and planks will help transfer energy to run faster and absorb the forces of the pavement.

If you found anything I've mentioned helpful, insightful or funny I would request of you one thing, to hit that share button on the bottom and share this piece with another friends who runs or might be needed some guidance. Much appreciated!

*I've been running for about 45 days at 8:00 minute mile pace, with my best one mile at 6:50. I feel REALLY heavy, but I'm sure I'll continue to improve as I get in more miles. On a positive note, I've maintained strength and my physique fairly well while allowing myself to really up my carb intake to around 400-500g/ day which is pretty awesome.

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This Christmas dinner is not possible without the use of an oven and proper roasting technique

Roasting is one of the most versatile cooking techniques. You can prepare oven roasted vegetables or an elaborate roasted turkey for Thanksgiving. Here's a breakdown of the basics behind each of them.

Roasting VegetablesRoasting vegetables all follow a simple procedure.

1. Preheat oven anywhere from between 400-500 degrees
2. Toss with oil
3. Season salt and pepper
4. Enjoy!

Nicely roasted vegetables need higher temperatures to get the caramelization desired. Here's a batch of roasted Broccoli I made the other day.

Roasting a Whole ChickenBy age 30, I would say every adult should be able to roast a whole chicken. I was planning on creating a video but I always share this video with anyone who asks "what are the basics to cooking a whole chicken?" Who better than Thomas Keller to explain how to do just that!

Basic components of roasted poultry

1. Truss chicken (optional)
2. After room temp, season with salt and pepper.
3. Place on bed of vegetables or on a wire rack baking sheet.
4. Roast in your oven for 40-60 minutes depending on the size of the bird.

I will confess that when I'm pressed for time and want to "just eat", I love to butterfly the whole chicken. As the video will elaborate, it allows the chicken to cook at a more even rate and most importantly, much faster.

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It works...in theory

I'll bet by reading this title you just sat straight up in your chair. Spending 8 hours behind a desk and then hitting the gym with these common issues is a sure-fire recipe for an overuse injury.

I've outlined the top three problems and a few videos showcasing mobilization drills to help undo some of these dysfunctions before you go deadlift the car that parked too closely behind you out of the way.

(You can interchange desk worker with "People who spend 2 hours commuting every day")

NEED: Deep Diaphragm Breathing

Individuals who work desk jobs often exhibit shallow breathing. This person ends up with a dysfunctional breathing pattern overusing the secondary muscles like scalene, sternocleidomastoid and pec minor. This will impair your ability to properly raise your arms overhead which will the limit your pull-ups and all pressing motions.

Your chest rises as the intercostal muscles contract. Yet, the stomach is drawn in by activation of the tranverse abdominis muscle and the diaphragm is not engaged. And while this position looks better in trying to appear slimmer, it also reduces the total amount of oxygen available by only partially expanding the lungs. This also results in weaker core stabilization. Which you can imagine is a disaster when our desk worker attempts squats with only half their available core stability.

Break up the adhesions with a lacrosse ball before moving onto the back to wall shoulder flexion mobilization. When performing both of these be sure to give a nice hard exhale each time you extend. This is exhibited in the final video in the section by Dean Somerset when he's performing dead bugs.

When learning how to properly engage the core and integrate movement, my go-to is the dead bug.

NEED: Thoracic ExtensionTo go along with a rounded forward head posture is an excessively kyphotic (rounded) thoracic spine and internally rotated humerus. This will likely lead to issues with scapular positioning as well. I won't go into too much detail here since poor thoracic positioning also impairs hip position.

I do however advocate both t-spine foam roller extensions and the bench t-spine mobilization below. Combine the movement with the deep diaphragmic breathing and you're on your way to moving better!

For a more in depth breakdown, Jill Miller breaks down how the aforementioned dysfunctional breathing affects thoracic positioning.

NEED: Hip MobilityBeing seated all day you'll end up with excessive lordosis (anterior pelvic tilt) which often manifests itself in lower back pain/stiffness. If you notice there's a degree of overlap in all of these problems. This leads to poor alignment which results in subpar performance in almost every lift including upper body ones too.

Our back extensors (mainly the iliocostalis lumborum and longissimus thoracis) help to counteract shear force, but they are either "locked" at the mid-back or "shut off" from flexion. In his book "Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance," Stuart McGill notes that the ability of the back extensors to counteract shear force is a function of spine curvature.

A neutral spine shows the angle of the extensors are at 45 degrees. However when the spine is flexed it reduces the angle by 10 degrees anteriorly and shear forces cannot be counteracted. When you have poor thoracic mobility, you'll most likely end up with poor hip position when it comes to squats and deadlifts; and thus likely open yourself up to injury.

Below are two of my favorite drills to help open up the hips, the split-stance kneeling adductor mobilization and 1/2kneeling hip flexor stretch.

Things to Purchase

• Lacrosse Ball
• Foam Roller
• Jump Stretch Band

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Relax, you're not Lebron. Now I have to clean up all that chalk!

I'm about a month away from turning 30. There's been a fascinating development in 2016 for all the individuals I grew up with, we're getting old and our bodies no longer rebound as quickly as it used to. Weekend binges with your friends and starvation diets that worked at 20 stop working at 30 and you can't un-do the damage.

OKAY...Guess I'll start going to the gym you say to yourself.

Most restart training focusing on muscular fatigue (aka "the burn"). There's a huge problem with this type of approach for anyone who hasn't ran a mile since high school.

Muscular tissue regenerates approximately 90 days from end to end. Connective tissue however, takes about 200-210 days to regenerate. There's a HUGE gap there. So when an individual is fairly detrained and decides to go H.A.M at the gym, you're making a big mistake. You cannot cheat time, there's no supplement or happy dance to speed up the adaptation process. You will need to work within those parameters and be patient with your progress.

(Note: Please If it hurts, STOP! It will takes longer to repair an injury than it does to simply avoid it.)

When we were young we ran around from sun up to sun down. We hit high school and for many it's their first structured athletic program. We believe the body did well based on that structure, instead of the years of activity as a child. If you're good, you continue playing in college. You graduate and get a job. You go to the gym or play basketball every day and get by.

Suddenly you get married and little by little your level of physical activity decreases. Now you have children, and you haven't been hitting the gym. You spend much of the time hunched over at your desk. And your body yearns to be healthy. You join the softball team and blow out your knee rounding first base. I don't know how many children were blowing out their knees rounding first base. When you run around with your kids or join a rec team, an injury is almost always joint related. Very rarely is it an injury to the muscle belly. If a person trains, they often only train one linear motion e.g.- Squats so that injury should come as no surprise.

There's a point where you abuse the body that it will not come back from. We all see older adults with an extremely hunched forward posture, neck extended hard and chin up to see where they're walking. They can't fix this, the vertebrae are rectangular and years of being hunched over it compresses the front end into a trapezoid. Once it gets to this point, it's game over.

The same thing occurs to our muscle bellies. Individuals who get frozen shoulder or impingement, that's because you stop using the muscle. Lean muscle is metabolically expensive (meaning it requires a lot of energy and calories to maintain it) by not using it the body sees it as non-essential and will begin breaking it down. Of all the processes in the body, endurance is regained the easiest, followed by muscular strength, mobility though once lost takes the longest to regain.

As the muscle begins to lose its' size, but the body will begin to deposit collagen on it and the belly will shorten. For example, the traps start shrinking until a lot of it is connective tissue along the edges and you end up with that silhouette above.

Keep this in mind when you see an adult who's hurting, shuffling their feet and can't pick up their knees with their necks extended; remember they weren't this way when they were 30. This is because of inactivity.

If it happen to them, it can definitely happen to me too.

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Braising is one of my favorite cooking techniques. It allows you to take a tougher less expensive cuts of meat and create some of the tastiest dishes you'll eat. Braising often takes a few hours to break down the connective tissues (collagen) from the muscle fibers via dry and moist heat cooking methods. All braises follow this typical order.

1. Sear the meat and vegetables over high heat.
2. Add liquid and often an acid to further tenderize the meat.
3. Turn heat down to low and cook until meat is fork tender.
4. Reduce liquid into sauce or gravy.

Here's one of my all time favorite dishes Beef Bourguignon. This recipe is a quick version adapted from Thomas Keller's Bouchon cookbook.

1/2 bottle red wine, such as cabernet sauvignon

1 onions, diced

2 carrots, diced

2 celery stalks, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbsp flour

1/2c chicken or beef stock

3 thyme sprigs

6 Italian parsley sprigs

2 bay leaves

1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

2 1/2 pounds boneless short ribs or chuck (about 1 inch thick)

2 carrots, obliquely cut 1/2 inch cooked*

1 box button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced, cooked*

10-14 white pearl onions, cooked*

METHOD

• For the beef: Trim excess fat and any silver skin from the short ribs. Cut the meat into pieces approximately 1 1/2 to 2 inches by 1 inch thick.
• Heat a heavy bottomed pot, when the oil is hot, add only as many pieces of meat as will fit comfortably in a single layer; do not crowd the pan or the meat will steam rather than brown. Once the meat has browned on the first side, turn it and continue to brown the meat on all sides, about 5 minutes total. Transfer the meat to the paper towel-lined baking sheet. Brown the remaining meat in batches, adding more oil to the pan as necessary.
• Add the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic to the pot, stirring and cooking until the vegetables are translucent.
• Sprinkle 2 tbsp of flour over the vegetables and mix together.
• Add back in the beef, and both the stock and wine. Pour enough wine to barely cover all the meat.
• Bring the pot up to a simmer and turn the heat down. Braise the beef for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until the meat is very tender. Periodically skimming off any scum that rises to the top.
• Transfer the meat to an ovenproof pot or container.
• Strain the braising liquid twice through a fine strainer or a medium strainer lined with a clean and dampened tea towel or cheesecloth, straining it the second time into a saucepan. Discard the vegetables.

While the Beef cooks...

• Peel and cut the carrots into about 1/2 inch pieces. Add a pad a butter of butter to a pan and sauce until nicely cartelized.
• Trim the mushroom stems flush with the caps. Heat the butter in a large skillet over high heat until it has melted and the foam has subsided. Add the mushrooms, reduce the heat to medium-low, season with salt and pepper to taste, and cook gently, tossing often, until the mushrooms are lightly browned and tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside.
• Final garnish is to add another pad of butter to a pan, and cook the pearl onions. This I would leave alone for a few minutes before shaking the pan so that the onions can get some nice color to them.

Finally add the carrots, onions, mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper to taste and enjoy.

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(WARNING: RANT COMING!)

Yes let me repeat that, Whole Foods isn't only for rich people.

Yes I know some items there are overpriced, but it's also a great market for those who want more transparency in where their food comes from and how it was sourced.

A lot of things are more expensive because it costs more to humanely raise a piece of cattle than the feedlot variety you pick up ON SALE! at the supermarket for 1.99/lb. Cliche as it may be, but you get what you pay for.

This article published a couple of weeks ago below encapsulates the problem with the perception that Whole Foods is only for the rich, especially here in Los Angeles.

Take a moment to read this...I'll wait.

Waiting....

Okay you're back! $74,371! Are you kidding me!? Here's where I really go Hulk smash and punch in a bosu ball.

(Note: I am aware that these numbers don't add up to 74,371, I'm only quoting the article)

$37,185 for those necessities, $22,311 for fun and entertainment, and $14,871 for savings.

So in order to live comfortably you HAVE to earn over 70K to be comfortable. Are you insane? What city are you living in that you think you need to earn that much. MOVE somewhere more affordable!

Seriously what bizzaro planet do you really think you would be better off spending $7,439 more dollars on FUN than SAVINGS!? If you're a single person living alone or with a significant other and you're pulling in 25-30k a year; you'll only feel strapped because you feel entitled to a better living condition!

Most cities in Southern California Los Angeles area have affordable 1 bd/1ba options in the $1,100-1,300 range.

1 Person @$30,000/YR, $2,500/MO

• Rent: $1,200
• Food: $300
• Utilities: $60
• DSL: $25
• Gas: $80
• Insurance: $60
• School Loan: $500

Even projecting on the higher end for food and a school loan which you could easily change into car payment, you're still left with $355/mo! Is this an ideal set up? No, but you can still put away $100/mo which is more than most do and still have about $250 to go out a weekend or two. Want to save more? Get a roommate to go 50/50 on rent or find ways to cut back on food costs and all the "have to do" things like after work happy hour.

You want to go to coachella? Guess what you don't currently earn enough money to go! Movies every weekend? Disneyland annual pass? I ought to slap you upside the head. You can faceplate into the pavement if you even think about charging those types of expenses.

I know that I can purchase the same organic kale from the exact same farm at a Sprouts market for $0.75-$1/bunch less than at Whole Foods. Are you going to drive to another market? Well if you want to eat well and save some money, plan your drive ahead of time and you can. Even better deals are found at a farmer's market, which most cities offer at least once a week and often have fresh kettle corn for you to happily splurge on!

Since this is a fitness site I would be remiss if I didn't mention physique athletes. Just because you enjoy the competition doesn't mean you HAVE to be a physique athlete. If you actually care about the long term health of your body and the environment, then buying feed lot water injected, antibiotic laden chicken breast value packs shouldn't be in your cart. Maintaining a particular sized physique is hard on the wallet, but also understand this: It is YOUR choice to do this. No one is holding a gun to your head saying COMPETE!!!!!!

One can consume a reasonable amount of protein (1g per kg) to maintain a good physique, which is an arbitrary self imposed standard of course, then you SHOULD be able to afford meat from a place like Whole Foods. If you decide this isn't important, then don't complain about "Whole Paycheck", go back to econo-market bro.

Living beyond your means is the problem most have with trying to live in one of the most expensive cities in the United States, not because they're earning too little. Just because you live here doesn't mean you're entitled to shit. If you're unhappy with your current situation, then change it! This is especially true if you're a healthy single American citizen and fluently speak the English language!!

Stop making excuses why things aren't how you want them to be. Grow up, learn that there's more to life than wasting your money every weekend. Then MAYBE come the following month you won't feel the urge to say ah shit, it's too expensive to live in LA as your search your couch cushions for rent money.

You aren't entitled to a damn thing. You want something go earn it. If you want things to change, the first things that needs to change is YOU.

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Blanching or par-cooking is a technique where you get a pot of salted boiling water, drop the food in for a few seconds to a minute. Then remove and cool down immediately.

This works great for those who don't want to eat microwaved food and want to save a few minutes at the end of a long work day to prepare dinner. The technique works well for incorporating vegetables for omelettes and salads to cutting down on cooking time for stir frys.

You could theoretically do this for protein as well so long as you're able to prepare the chicken later on that same day. You run the risk of more food borne illnesses by heating, cooling and reheating meat.

Here's an easy recipe for Beef with Broccoli

• 1 pound flat iron steak, cut into 1x1 cube (flank steak, skirt steak or hanger steak may be substituted, but won't be as tender)
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup Chinese rice wine (Balsamic vinegar or dry sherry work as well)
• 2 teaspoons corn starch
• 1/4 cup oyster sauce
• 1/3 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 4 scallions, greens and whites sliced.
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon finely minced fresh ginger
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 pound bite-size broccoli florets, from about 1-1/2 pounds broccoli crowns
• 1/3 cup water
• Combine the beef with 1 tablespoon of the soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of the Chinese rice wine (Balsamic or dry sherry) in a bowl and toss to coat. Let marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature while prepping everything else.
• Bring a bot of water to a boil, salt the water. (Note: salted water should taste like the sea, applies to cooking pasta or blanching vegetables)
• Meanwhile, combine the remaining 3 tablespoons of soy sauce with the corn starch and stir with a fork until the corn starch is dissolved. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of wine, oyster sauce, chicken broth, sugar, and sesame oil. Stir and set aside.
• Combine the scallion whites, garlic and ginger in a bowl and set aside.
• By now the water should be boiling, drop the broccoli in to blanch for 1 minute or so. You'll know it's done when the broccoli is bright green and still crunchy. Remove from the pot and run under cold water to stop the cooking process.
• Heat a pan over high heat and add a tablespoon of oil. Add half of the beef, so that it is in a single layer, and cook without moving until the beef is well seared, about 1-1/2 minutes. Continue cooking while stirring until the beef is lightly cooked but still pink in spots, about 30 seconds. Transfer to a plate.
• Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan. Add the remaining beef and cook without moving until the beef is well seared, about 1-1/2 minutes. Add the scallion whites, garlic and ginger mixture and cook, stirring constantly with the beef, for about 30 seconds.
• Add in the broccoli and the other half of the beef to the pan along with the sauce and scallions and mix thoroughly, simmer until the sauce is lightly thickened. Transfer to a serving platter and serve with rice. (Note: If the sauce is too runny, remove the beef and continue to reduce)

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The french have a term "Mise en place" meaning everything in it's place. When reading any recipe, you need to be sure to dice all the onions, measure out the broth and clean/devein the shrimp. There's a reason why restaurants hire people only for prep work, which is one of the most important positions in the kitchen.

Cooking begins with prep!Some of the things I'll cover here are:

• Fabricating a chicken
• Cutting onions (technique can be applied to garlic, shallots, etc)
• Preparing lettuce for salad
• Using a chicken carcass to make chicken stock

Fabricating a ChickenWhy it's important:

• You get more bang for your buck.
• Learn to not waste a single thing
• Learning how to render down and make your own stock

You can see the 3 points all come down to making your dollar stretch, and who doesn't want to save money while eating better?!

Cutting an OnionWhy it's important:

• Onions, garlic, and shallots are considered aromatics. There are a few more that fall into that category but I'll leave it to just those considering they're all shaped similarly.

Preparing leafy vegetablesWhy it's important:

• Most people buy leafy vegetables only to forget about it in the crisper where it gets dry or in the plastic bag they bought it in and it gets all slimy.
• Chop lettuce, spinach (if necessary) or remove stems from greens such as kale and chard.
• Wash greens.
• Dry using a salad spinner or using clean towels.
• Once dry, store in containers or zip lock bags for easy use.

Using a chicken carcass to make chicken stock* Most store bought stock ends up being high in sodium and nowhere near as flavorful as one you make yourself. * Up your soup and sauce game by using your own stock. I should mention it's very easy to do, get one more use of that chicken carcass.

Makes 1.5 to 2 litres white chicken stock:

• 1 chicken, bones and carcasses, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 6 whole peppercorns
• 1 bouquet garni (can include bay leaves, thyme, parsley, and garlic cloves.)
• 2 to 3 litres water (enough to completely cover the bones)
• 1 tbsp cooking wine (optional)

Note: One of the great things about stock is that this is where you can use things like the tops of celery, carrot skin (after it's washed of course of any dirt) and even garlic peel. This is because you're going to skim and filter everything out at the end!

1. Chop the cooked chicken carcass, if uncooked. Heat a large heavy bottom pot with a little oil. Cook off the carcass until it appears cooked. Then deglaze the pan with the wine. Scrap the bottom with a wooden spoon.
2. Remove chicken, add in the mirepoix (french term for onion, celery, and carrots). Cook until translucent for a few minutes.
3. Add back in the chicken and add water. Add in the herbs and spices.
4. Turn the heat up until you can start to see the water bubbling. Turn it down on low. Simmer for 6-8 hours. The longer the better really.
5. Every 15-30 minutes check on it to make sure it's not boiling over and skim off any of the impurities that rise to the top. This helps make a cleaner and clearer stock.
6. After simmering, pass the liquid through a fine mesh strainer. Cool immediately.
7. Skim off any extra fat and refrigerate. You can also portion it in smaller containers to freeze. Should hold for about 4-6 months.

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Photo: NBA.com

Tonight marks the final game for Kobe Bryant in a Los Angeles Laker uniform. Anyone who knows me well knows that I grew up loving the game and was the biggest Michael Jordan fan. While I wanted to be like Mike, I wasn't at an age where I could appreciate the nuances of MJ's game. (Note: Now I watch video and am even more amazed at the things he did)

Photo: bleacher report

By the time the 1996 NBA draft came around I was 10 years old and started to really appreciate all aspects of the game beyond the slam dunk. I still cheered for Jordan and the Bulls during the last 3 peat but during that time I had also become a big Laker fan.

5 championships, 1 regular season MVP (should easily have 2-3, fuck politics), 2 Finals MVP, 18 All Star selections, 3rd leading scorer in NBA history, 20 seasons later; The Black Mamba has been the closest player to emulate the great Michael Jordan. As I matured, so did Kobe's game and mentality. I am particularly saddened to see him retire as I got to watch his entire career start to finish.

As a fitness professional I fully comprehend what's required to compete and remain at that high of a level for this long. It's not just the insane amount of work and hustle but how he's prioritized recovery as well. Sorry Marshawn, he's the OG "Beast Mode".

My favorite story is told by a strength and conditioning coach for the US Olympic team in 2008. This story resonates with me to this day because this team featured some of the best players in the league today: Lebron, Wade, Carmelo, Durant and yet during a time when Kobe was still the best player in the league, he outworked all of them.

I was invited to Las Vegas this past Summer to help Team USA with their conditioning before they head off to London, and as we know they would eventually bring home the Gold (USA). I've had the opportunity to work with Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade in the past but this would be my first interaction with Kobe. We first met three days before the first scrimmage, on the day of the first practice, early July. It was a brief conversation where we talked about conditioning, where he would like to be by the end of the Summer, and we talked a little bit about the hustle of the Select Team. Then he got my number and I let him know that if he ever wanted some extra training he could hit me up any time.

The night before the first scrimmage I remember I was just watched "Casablanca" for the first time and it was about 3:30 AM. I lay in bed, slowly fading away when I hear my cell ring. It was Kobe. I nervously picked up.

"Hey, uhh Rob, I hope I'm not disturbing anything right?"

"Uhh no, what's up Kob?"

"Just wondering if you could just help me out with some conditioning work, that's all."

I checked my clock. 4:15 AM.

"Yeah sure, I'll see you in the facility in a bit."

It took me about twenty minutes to get my gear and out of the hotel. When I arrived and opened the room to the main practice floor I saw Kobe. Alone. He was drenched in sweat as if he had just taken a swim. It wasn't even 5AM.

We did some conditioning work for the next hour and fifteen minutes. Then we entered the weight room, where he would do a multitude of strength training exercises for the next 45 minutes. After that we parted ways and he went back to the practice floor to shoot. I went back to the hotel and crashed. Wow.

And then:

I was expected to be at the floor again at about 11 AM. I woke up feeling sleepy, drowsy, and almost pretty much every side effect of sleep deprivation. Thanks, Kobe. I had a bagel and headed to the practice facility.

This next part I remember very vividly. All the Team USA players were there, feeling good for the first scrimmage. LeBron was talking to Carmelo if I remember correctly and Coach Krzyzewski was trying to explain something to Kevin Durant. On the right side of the practice facility was Kobe by himself shooting jumpers. And this is how our next conversation went -- I went over to him, patted him on the back and said, "Good work this morning."

"Huh?"

"Like, the conditioning. Good work."

"Oh. Yeah, thanks Rob. I really appreciate it."

"So when did you finish?"

"Finish what?"

"Getting your shots up. What time did you leave the facility?"

"Oh just now. I wanted 800 makes so yeah, just now."

My jaw dropped. Mother of holy God...

Just when you think you've worked hard today, your competition is out there working harder. I will always remember that every day is an opportunity to outwork your competition.

I will forever be inspired by his toughness, his grit and his will to succeed no matter what.

"I demanded greatness, and greatness demands everything. Love me when you become greater."

Thank You Kobe.

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“Success and longevity in the fitness industry are created with integrity, substance, and hard work…not with scantily-clad selfies.”- Tony Gentilcore

In an industry filled with photoshop and hyperbole, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to sift through the hucksters to find legitimate sources to learn from. Thanks to platforms like Instagram and Facebook, trainers have been able to lean on technology to work with even more people than ever before. But for every Tony Gentilcore, there will be dozens of “internet trainers” who couldn’t name their glutes even if the were sitting down!

To continue reading: http://bit.ly/whyidonttakeshirtlessselfies

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It’s been ten years since I graduated culinary school. In the years that followed my style of cooking has changed a lot. One thing that hasn't is my respect and admiration for Chef Thomas Keller. He is the proprietor for the acclaimed Michelin Star French Laundry and Per Se, along with a casual French bistro Bouchon, Bouchon Bakery and adHoc restaurants.

So you can imagine the excitement I had during a routine trip to northern California to Yountville to enjoy adHoc fried chicken for lunch and saw Chef Keller walking down the street.

adhoc fried chicken and bbq (ribs and pulled pork) Totally worth the drive to yountville

A photo posted by Gary Heshiki Fitness (@garyheshikifitness) on Jul 18, 2014 at 11:11am PDT

We left our home in Los Angeles early one morning and drove straight to Yountville arriving about 90 minutes ahead of our scheduled lunch. Sara and I figured were could get some coffee and a pastry at Bouchon Bakery and walk around. After parking our car, I spotted a man in chef whites walking down the street and I knew it was him.

I asked if I could get a photo while stumbling like a dope to get my iPhone out of my pocket. Sara quickly got her phone out and snapped this photo. Obviously this was the highlight of the trip for me!

If you still haven’t caught on I hold Chef Thomas Keller in very high regard.

Even now as a fitness professional there are lessons I’ve learned from my time in the kitchen and from Chef Thomas Keller that are very applicable to a fitness professional and enthusiast alike.

1. Starting at the BottomChef Keller started out as a dishwasher in his mother’s restaurant. There he was able to learn many skills that would serve him in the future such as:

2. Organization: Knowing where and how to stack the dishes in the right way so the team could be efficient putting things where they needed to be.

   • If you're unorganized, you’ll walk into the gym and perform a random 45 minutes while accomplishing very little. Plan ahead and be more productive.
3. Feedback: In 45 seconds you know whether or not the dishes are clean or dirty. If they come out dirty, use that immediate feedback to correct the problem.
   • Pay attention to how things feel and look, you should know immediately whether a particular rep was good or not. Take steps to improve on the following set.

4. Repetition: You begin to learn the discipline and habits required to be good at the task you’ve been assigned.

   • Being good at anything requires you to put in time to practice and get better at it. In one year you’ll be good at deadlifts, imagine how great you’ll be in ten years!

5. Cooks cook to nurture people

   "You must take pleasure in serving others. Build a deep desire towards learning your craft. Skills are learned not innate."

Any fitness professional worth their weight in protein powder will make an extra effort to teach the why and how behind the what. They're doing you a disservice if all they do is hand you a sheet with food on it and expect you to follow that blindly. A true pro lives to pass on their knowledge with the endgame being a client who's better than they are.

1. Attention to detail

   "Having an attention to detail is the cornerstone of success. It’s there where you understand what you’re trying to accomplish and how to exceed expectations."

While every armchair quarterback believes they're only a few notches below JJ Watt. I hate to be the barer of bad news: You aren't anywhere near the level of a J.J Watt.

Photo: Men's Health

So training like him is only going to lead to an injury. Blindly following the "workout" printed isn't going to work for two reasons:

1. It's not his actual workout. Do you really think he performs a few supersets and calls it a day?!
2. It hasn't been tailored for your body and goals in mind.

I can recall past colleagues who would lazily take a workout from a magazine and make their clients perform it. They decided it was an inconvenience to make adjustments for the person, glossing over tiny details that would inevitably lead to that client getting hurt.

Don't be a shotgun, be a sniper.

1. Believe in yourself because no one else will until you do.When Chef Keller started, he mentions that his biggest asset was his ignorance of not knowing what it actually would take to start a restaurant. He focused on the small successes and continued moving forward in the face of having no resources, no money, and no job after leaving a failed restaurant in New York. He could've made that restaurant more casual, but it wasn't his vision.

You need to believe in your vision so strongly that you're willing to do whatever it takes to succeed. He would wake up to make calls to banks or fill out forms for loans. He recalls speaking to over 400 people asking them for money. He would tell person after person what he was looking to do, and as uncomfortable as it was, it only strengthened the belief in his vision.

Do you have what it really takes to accomplish the goal you’ve set for yourself? Ask before starting any program whether or not the goal you’re setting will be in line with the choices you’re willing to make. The sacrifices that might be asked of you may be too much.

Related: Cost of Getting Lean

1. Funnel your work into one singular goalKeller states that his initial goals were always about how to make the French laundry a better restaurant. He opened bouchon south of the restaurant so the staff had a place to eat after work because at the time most establishments were closed long after service.

If you're familiar with the bay area you know that it's filled with great bread bakers. Yet he could not find the exact style and size for the French Laundry. Thus he opened Bouchon Bakery to supply the restaurants there with the bread he wanted.

Make sure your goals are consistent with the bigger picture. You may want to have an elite powerlifting total, run a sub 30 minute 10k, and have 8% bodyfat; but unless you’re getting paid to only exercise and recover those goals might be a little hard to accomplish.

Decide what it is you want and go after it channeling all your energies towards that one goal. Keep in mind that even after only 2 years, you can change your mind. 2 years is a drop in the bucket compared to 20.

Allow yourself that flexibility but don’t program hop only after a few months. Give yourself adequate time to asses whether or not what you’re doing is working or not. When making any decision think critically as to whether or not it is helping you achieve the larger goal you've set yourself. Big goals are accomplished by completing a bunch of little ones.

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1. What’s Going On?

As long as there isn’t any radiating pain down your leg, numbness, loss of function or structural damage to the spine, most back injuries a lifter sustains won’t require medical attention. The simple fact is that most back injuries will not be viewable on an MRI, X-ray, or other medical imaging report. Furthermore over 50% of people according to the New England Journal of Medicine reports the general population has a disc bulge, and at least 35% have two or more.

Many are asymptomatic, meaning there's pretty much nothing that can be done to help short of massive invasive surgery that would be completely unnecessary. Most doctors will happily prescribe you a muscle relaxant and tell you to take some time off along with a hefty bill. For the majority of us, taking time off is often not something we want to do.

First thing is to figure out what to do and what to avoid in the gym. The easiest way to go about this is movement mapping. Performing a series of simple movements can help determine which ones cause more pain or less pain, and then use the results to guide you in the gym. It can give you an idea of what may be wrong and what you need to do to fix it, or who you need to see to get it fixed.

2. Get Moving

The majority of acute low back injuries often get better on their own with no intervention within 4-6 weeks. However if it's a chronic problem, the muscles will begin to atrophy and weaken, making future back injuries more likely to happen.

Any movement you perform with a bad back need to be done with the intention of having your core do the bracing for you. The best way to do this is through a concept Dr. Stuart McGill calls "super-stiffness." By contracting all the abdominal, low back, pelvic and intercostal muscles at once, you can increase overall stability of the spine and limit the chance of a buckling injury or any problems with your discs.

To get this idea of super-stiffness to work for you, it has to be 360 degrees of tension. You need to flex your abs as if you’re about to take a punch. Now contract the oblique muscles and low back muscles, and lastly clenching your pelvic floor muscles (anus).

This must be done whenever you're performing any exercise listed below, as well as any type of lifting, pushing, pulling, carries, bending, or twisting.

In other words, everything!

Movement: FlexionThis is by far the most common dysfunction for lower back pain. The majority of disc issues within the lumbar spine involve posterior nuclear migration and cause a bulging of the disc into the central (less common) or lateral (more common) canals, which then pushes on nerves and often leads to intense pain.

The test:

Sit in a chair and touch your toes. If that seems impossible, stop before you hurt yourself. If it’s easy, try to stand upright and touch your toes. Pain or having to slowly climb your way down would indicate a problem and would necessitate that you avoid doing certain things.

Don't Do:

• Deadlifts, bent-over rows, and seated rows
• Spinal rotation movements (twists and chopping movements)
• Sit-ups or any ab isolation movement that forces flexion without co-contraction of the low back muscles.
• Standing calf raises, leg presses and back squats.
  • The direct compression on the discs can be extremely uncomfortable.

Do:

• Glute bridges
  • Allows you to hit your hamstrings and glutes without placing your spine under any negative loads.
• Front squats or goblet squats.
  • Hits the legs without straining the back, and forces the spine to resist being pulled into flexion.
• Any type of chin-up, pull-up, or lat pulldown
  • The lats play a huge role in recovery of the spine, as they wrap all the way from the shoulder down to the pelvis, and can add to the stability of the spine.
• Push-up variations.
  • These will increase the need for spinal stability over bench presses or dumbbell presses, and can be progressed by elevating the feet and then adding weight via chains.

Movement: ExtensionWhile not as common as flexion-based pain, extension can be just as limiting, but is a bit easier to manage. Most extension-related issues revolve around facet joint issues or even soft tissue compression, so movement that involves extension should be controlled or eliminated.

The test:

Lie on your stomach and prop yourself up on your elbows. If this hurts, or if it simply results in a dull ache, stop doing it and follow the recommendations below.

Don't Do:

• Back extensions.
• Deadlifts.
• Barbell squats.
  • The spine has to extend, under compression and against shear forces, to squat. Bad news when you’re unable to tolerate extension
• Overhead pressing.
  • The spine needs to extend to move the arm overhead.
• Rotation
  • Whether standing, sitting or lying down.

Do:

• Dips.
  • The combined effect of core activation and distraction on your spine as you hang your body weight with no force pushing up will feel a lot better.
• Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows.
  • This is a great way to continue to train while reducing the shear force within the vertebrae. This helps protect your back while you're hitting your lats.
• Rollouts, also known as straight-arm extensions.
  • These force you to maintain some form of flexion throughout, or else you'll feel a small pinching sensation in your low back.

Gives these two tests a try and get back in there. The worst part of having an injury is allowing it to leave you completely debilitated, take back control!