Strengthening your back for lifting and living is pretty obvious to many. It’s a pretty simple line of reasoning: The more you lift weights, the stronger your [back] muscles get, and the stronger your muscles are, the easier/better life becomes. The flip side to this coin is that lifting can also lead to back discomfort and pain. Or more specifically, …
Make no mistake…the Pilates abdominal series is a real core burner. No matter how strong those abdominals get, these five exercises seem to always cause a few groans whenever I teach them. Unlike your basic ab crunch or sit-up, the Pilates ab series of five can do a lot more than just give you a nice six-pack. They offer up …
Are you using your feet right? Can you ignite the back side of your body when you stand, lift, or move? Â Chances are, the answer is no. I don’t blame you for this. Fitness culture is obsessed with the front side of the body: how it looks, how it moves, how to engage this or that big muscle. It’s …
To the untrained eye, the Rollup appears to be one giant sit-up requiring the kind of core strength one can only dream of. But the truth is, this famous Pilates exercise has less to do with your abdominals and a lot more to do with your back flexibility. This is often the Roll-up can feel extremely difficult even to the …
Long before I became a trainer and barbell connoisseur, I assumed all overhead presses were the same. You grabbed a weight, pressed it over your head, put it down, and turned into a magical unicorn. At the time, I didn’t know the difference between horizontal and vertical pressing movements, just like I had no idea that different presses needed to …
I used to work in an office where good work was rarely rewarded, but mistakes big or small were magnified and publicly shamed for everyone to see. Sometimes the shaming was subtle, and other times it was plain as day. The office’s infamous “Bun Fund” was one example of the deeply rooted culture of shame and fear. The Bun Fund’s …
I’m a big believer in training cycles and adjusting workouts around the seasons of your life. Not only does this make training more sustainable, but it’s a good idea to give your body a break from hardcore workouts or diets throughout the year. For the average person, it’s common to slow down around the holidays and take diet breaks in …
Group fitness studios are popping up all over the place for a reason. Not only do we want a great workout in a top-notch environment, but we humans crave community and connection above all else. That’s why we’re willing to drop hundreds of dollars for studios like SoulCycle, Orangetheory, and even CrossFit. But don’t be fooled by the great …
A few weeks ago, I got together with one of my powerlifting friends and discussed all the valuable things we learning during that season in our lives. We reminisced about how strong we were, how fun competing was and how simple and intentional each workout was. Within that simplicity we made the biggest gains in our strength, technique, muscle mass, …
Long before I became a diehard deadlift diva (how about that for alliteration), I was doing nothing but basic deadlifts. A conventional pull here, a dumbbell RDL there but nothing wild. It got a little stale, and even though I was hitting PRs (I was still a beginner, so that was no surprise), I felt like my goal of deadlifting …
