Spotters - You Don't Need One!

Ok, I better qualify that to ensure that what I'm saying is very clear - 99% of the time and 99% of you, do not need to use a spotter - ever! Who and when would the 1% be? Someone like a powerlifter going for a big 1RM on the bench or the squat for example. BUT, the spotter would be doing what a spotter is supposed to do - be there just in case. A spotter's job is not to help you do the lift. Another example where I can see the use of a spotter - again, doing what they're supposed to be doing, which is not helping you complete reps - is getting a hand off when... read more 8 comments

Undulating Periodization

I just put up an article I was asked to write for a print magazine in the Q&A/articles section of the website. You can read it here Periodization of the Undulating Type read more 2 comments

Shoulders - One More Time

So in the first of my two blog posts about shoulders I had mentioned that I'd post up what I have been doing for my own shoulder rehab - with full success I might add. It looks like this: 1. Thoracic Extensions on a Foam Roller 2. Shoulder Dislocations 3. Supine One-Arm Dumbbell Protractions and/or Scapular Push Ups 4. Behind-the-Neck Band Pull Aparts and/or Scapular Wall Slides 5. Prone Internal Rotations 6. Prone Trap Raises I would do this as often as I could - it was nearly daily. I was doing 10-15 reps of each movement, sometimes two sets. I put together a youtube clip of the above exercises just in case you don't know what some of them are. I couldn't convert the Scapular... read more 4 comments

Shoulder Health and Postural Correction Breaks

Ok, back with more on the shoulder issues ... Some more key points: We always hear about doing the right things in the gym, but what we're doing outside of the gym is arguably just as, if not more, important. Think about it. How long do you train? An hour? Contrast that to the other 23 hours of the day. Your body is going to adapt to what you do most often. For example, if you have a sit down/desk/computer job, you're going to have postural adaptations that are going to influence everything discussed in the previous blog post. Tissues can adapt in as little as 15-20 minutes so if you fall into the above category (I do), a good recommendation... read more 6 comments