This might seem like a strange item to include in my top 10 list, because it is probably not considered an essential tool by many. So why is it on my list? Because it is fun. And because anyone can do it. And most people should do it. But most people don’t do it.
I had an epiphany recently. My programs might be a little too serious. I’m a big geek. Some of you may not realize that before I became a trainer, I was an engineer. So being a geek is kind of part of the package. And when I put together fitness programs for clients, I look at it as though I’m designing a system. That means attention to every detail. Literally every element of every program has a raison d’etre. That probably doesn’t sound like a bad thing. But what is one of the common threads I hear from reluctant trainees? “It should be fun”. I think all of my programs are fun, of course. I mean come on – half-kneeling chops and lifts! Squats and deadlifts! Fun, fun, fun and fun. Intervals? Read more…
“I always always always shock my body with new exercises.”
“I love it when my muscles are sore, because it means I worked hard.”
I hear some version of those two statements often. Usually it’s people excitedly telling me about their new workout routine. When I see people that say this 3 months later, they usually are not working out anymore, and do not look any different than they did 3 months prior. Read more…
Have you ever wondered if your movement on land was limited? That maybe that was limiting your ability to move well on skis? If yes, try the movements in this video.
If you find that you have trouble with any of these movements, or that they feel differently from one side to the other, you have a limitation. Read more…
This is a clip from a presentation I gave at the Ottawa Ski Show called “Training Tips for Injury Risk Reduction & Performance”. This particular clip addresses squats and lunges and a spectrum of exercises in the squat progression. I think the only exercises missing from the progression I presented are the TRX rear-foot elevated split squat and TRX single-leg squat. Once you see the video, I’m sure you’ll know where to put them. Read more…
The New York Times Health section often carries interesting and somewhat controversial articles, like this week’s article about orthotics. Orthotics are very common, but are they helping? The tone of the article is that they do not, although the specifics are that they do but they’re not sure why.
If you only want to skim, skip ahead to page 2 where they discuss the orthotic study they did with 240 Canadian soldiers (yes, we have more than 240 soldiers).
It would have been great if they had included a third group in the study that did single-leg barefoot strength training to try to improve their foot and ankle strength.
This is the first entry in my new blog-series: My Favourite Training Tools (For my American readers, please excuse the ‘u’ in favourite. It’s a Canadian thing). There are probably thousands of tools out there for fitness. Some are ridiculous fly-by-night items (I can’t help but think of the Saturday Night Live commercial spoof of the Shaker Weight) while some have stood the test of time for hundreds of years (kettlebells). In each entry in this blog series, I’ll talk about one of my 10 favourite tools, in somewhat random order.
Today’s entry features the Functional Movement Screen (FMS). This makes my list even though it does nothing to get you strong. That’s because it is an assessment tool. I love this tool because it helps me to see where people have problems with the fundamental way that they move, and then that helps me to create a great training program for them that will not only get them “faster, higher, stronger”, but will also help fix movement dysfunction that they have developed in life. Read more…
“Why are there no bicep curls?”. This is a question I often hear, probably because I don’t have any of my clients doing bicep curls. Shouldn’t we be working on arms? My answer is that they are doing functional training, and for most people, bicep curls are not functional. If you are a Bavarian waitress, then yes. And if I had one as a client, I would include bicep curls in their program, particularly in the month leading up to Oktoberfest. Read more…
I explained what I’ve written below to my neighbour as I walked by him on my way home from playing ultimate, and he started to chuckle. I asked what he was laughing about and he said “It’s fun watching you grow up”. This is my neighbour who used to be on the Canadian national figure skating team, so he knows what athletes go through as their career (or in my case “career”) winds down. Read more…
I’ve just posted a new video on youtube of the dynamic warmup that I recommend for tennis players before they step on the court. It’s a brief set of dynamic stretches that prepares the body for the movements you will ask of it in the match. The five minutes it takes to run through these dynamic stretches is also a great time to work on your mental focus through means like visualization to ensure that you are mentally prepared as well.
I have a feeling there may be a lot of golfers out there. And I suspect just a few of them (read: most) are interested in improving theirs swing. And another small subset (read: large) are addicted to everything to do with golf. And that these people may just be interested to get a complete assessment of their swing, of the way they move without a golf club in their hand, and of the correlation between the limitations in the way they move and the problems they are having with their swing. And hopefully they will also be keen to do the few corrective exercises that will help them to improve their movement and their swing. I would think that those who don’t play as much as they want to because their back gets sore from a round of golf would be particularly keen on this.
I recently did a Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) assessment on a golfer friend of mine down in Massachusetts who gets up at 430 am every day to fit 9 holes in before work. Despite that incredible dedication to this game (addict?), he has struggled with low back pain of late, and his game has also been suffering somewhat. Take a look at what we found out from his assessment: Read more…
