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 …
Take your Fitness to the Next Level with Percentage-based Training
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, …
The Perks of Deficit Deadlift Training
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 …
3 Grips to Boost Your Strength Training
After years of training myself and others, I finally learned (sometimes the hard way), that little tweaks here and there in your programming can be the biggest game changer in your fitness. For example, when I started percentage-based training, my strength levels and muscle definition went through the roof. When I switched to sumo deadlifts instead of traditional, I was able …
Here’s How Long It Takes To Achieve Your Fitness Goals
Let’s paint a picture. Woman walks in to a training studio and proclaims “I want to tighten up, be able to do a chin-up, get stronger, lose this belly [insert aggressive skin grabbing here], and I’d also like to go back into running without my knees hurting.” I, the trainer, sighs and waves a magic wand and everything happens in …
3 Fun, Fast, and Effective Cardio Workouts Using Kettlebells
Cardio gets a bad rep in the strength and conditioning world. Coaches love to demonize it and mainstream media glorifies it. I for one, love all forms of cardio training, especially any that uses kettlebells or other form of weights as the primary tool. This article is mainly about some fun cardio routines you can do with kettlbells, but before …
Four Exercises for Pain-Free Overhead Pressing
While corrective exercises aren’t sexy, they are fundamental for safe overhead lifting. I didn’t know anything about these types of exercises when I started weight training, and if I did, I probably wouldn’t have hurt my shoulders! If you aren’t ready to overhead press, you’ll want to do these exercises regularly as part of your warm-up and recovery routine. Every. …
How to Test Your Mobility for Safe Overhead Pressing
Believe it or not, but just because you can press weights overhead right now doesn’t mean that you should….yet. The majority of us adult athletes and weekend warriors aren’t ready for overhead work simply because we haven’t earned the right to do so, and we rarely question it. We just dive right in to a MetCon and hope for the …
4 Programming Hacks To Spice Up Your Workouts
There was a time that I lost my fitness mojo and feared I’d never get it back. I hated going to the gym, didn’t want to follow any program, and was bored out of my mind. This went on for two years! In that time, I worked with a personal trainer until I could no longer afford it. I followed another …
5 Hip Mobility Drills and Stretches To Instantly Improve Your Squats
You know squats are good for you, and you certainly know that stretching is good for you and your squats. But what kind of stretches should you do? There is a lot of conflicting information nowadays about when to stretch, how to do it, which ones to do, or for how long. Might just be easier to skip it altogether, …