“More than nothing” comes to mind and that can be done in a day so boom let’s look to step 2.
Once you’ve given yourself a high five, you might start noticing some aches in your joints like hips, knees, or ankles.
This should be expected because you haven’t taught your tissue what you want it to be able to do.
Read MoreMuscle size is based around fatiguing the muscle so much that it grows bigger through adaptation. With muscle strength, and muscle endurance there will be separate recommendations.
The best way to fatigue a muscle is basically to go to “near-failure” reps. To do this, you’ll need to become familiar with the scale for Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) 1-10. It’s the same thing as the pain scale. 1 is the easiest thing you’ve ever done, 10 is the hardest.
Read MoreThe Key to pain free running is strength through your backside, while taking care of your tissue.
No matter how much stretching you do, without strength you aren’t reinforcing the system to eliminate pain. Stretching is the band-aid, whereas strength is the cure.
Read MoreStart with a difficult position. Find it and hold it for as long as you can. The bottom of a squat, a good solid plank, and a wall sit are all great places to start. This can be done in any movement, even if it’s stopped half way through.
When you do move, go slow, especially in the negative or “eccentric” portion. The slower, the better. A common cadence is 3 seconds on the way down or negative for each rep you do.
Read MoreThere is a visceral response your skeleton has when it’s stressed. We do it all the time, when we carry things on our shoulder, when we do back squats, even gravity creates compression and that’s a constant.
When our spine is loaded too much, too often, we get all types of degenerative disk disease, back pain, and any number of pinches, bulges, or slips that just make life uncomfortable. So let’s avoid that.
Read MoreWhat if I told you that you could jump 5 feet high in the air, but you’d hurt yourself landing. Would you do it?
Probably not, unless you’d also jump off a cliff if so and so asked you to.
It’s a much better idea to teach yourself how to land from 5 feet in the air. Less injuries, more progress.
Read MoreIt relieves what’s called “neurological tone” or “tightness” in your muscles
You would need thousands of pounds of force to “change the tissue” which is what most people think of when it comes to foam rolling.
Read MoreIt’s okay to become intimately familiar with not being ready. Not every day has to be hard. Often times, it’s enough to just get by each day.
If you only focus on being intimate with your peaks, you’re missing half the point. As our bodies need to recovery and then be challenged again there is a natural ebb and flow to progress.
Read MoreYou literally get stronger by tricking your body to keep blood in your muscles (via contractions).
Your body interprets this as a threat, so it sends a bunch of resources to your muscles making them bigger and stronger, voila.
Read MoreCreating pressure through “belly breaths”. This means when you inhale, your belly comes out, as opposed to your shoulders rising.
When your shoulders rise. You’re breathing into your lungs. When your belly expands, you’re using your diaphragm, which is a super strong muscle.
Since your diaphragm is a muscle, it can get stronger!
Read MoreI was the worst about letting one small detail derail my entire day.
I had a bite of a donut because friends brought them to work. My immediate thought would be “well, might as well eat whatever the hell I want the rest of the day and make the most of it.”
It was all or nothing for me.
It doesn’t have to be.
Read MoreFinding the best in yourself is hard.
It’s been a huge part of my recovery to learn how to have gratitude for myself.
To thank my body for working around the clock for me.
To recognize the work i’ve put into getting better.
To be proud of myself.
Read MoreIt won’t always be convenient, and it damn sure won't always be easy.
Life has a way of sweeping your feet out from under you.
It happens to the best of us, and it’s important to be present in both the highs and the lows.
But that does not mean you get to give up.
Read MoreIt was a weird feeling.
I’ve ran plenty in my life. When I was competing in sports I was able to run a mile in 5:59, solely because a buddy who was a former marine ran two steps ahead of me and all I wanted to do was beat him.
Read MoreYou start working out, you see progress, you’re motivated, everything seems to get going swell. Then, your knees start hurting, and your hips, and your back, and now working out becomes a chore, and is actually subtracting from your life as opposed to adding to it.
Read MoreWhat to do, how many to do, and why?
All good questions. Let’s start with what the textbook says. Here the 3 most common rep ranges.
Read MoreWe can argue all day about safety, technique, but the best program that no one does doesn’t help anybody.
If I told you that you are without a doubt going to get better by doing these things, you’d probably be quite a bit more jazzed about it.
Read MoreOur hips, our knees, our shoulders. All of our joints work best in everything is just right.
Unfortunately, it is rarely ever “just right”.
Read MoreYou should feel better, not worse
You should have more energy, not less
You should enjoy what you’re doing, maybe you even look foward to it.
Read MoreI have an entire gym 10 feet away from where i’m typing this, and there are plenty of days where trying to get a simple 20 minute workout in is the last thing I want to do.
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