When your shoulders have issues, the rest of your body will suffer. Trust me. Been there, done that on MANY fronts. Back in high school I remember feeling like someone was stabbing my shoulder with a knife every time I perform the dumbbell press with the elbows out. I had half a brain and tested elbows in and it worked. In my mind 20s my brother and I wound up wrestling and I was in a precarious position and refused to let go. The result was a tear to the rotator cuff. It was so painful I was … [Read more...]
Archives for March 2013
Why You Must Improve Your Posture & Train For Life
I just had an amazing weekend in Alexandria, Va. My family and I took a short weekend trip to hang with great friends and get my learn ON. Kelly Starrett was in the house for a private seminar at Trident CrossFit, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Quatro Deuce. Stop learning and you stop living. Period. I am gonna be attacking my learning this year like never before. The goal is to get smarter and better in order to help Underground Strength Nation & Underground Strength Gym become BIG time better … [Read more...]
Odd Object Lifting For “Functional Strength”
Through my own experiences as an athlete and training other athletes, I was taught a powerful lesson that was once (and perhaps still is seen as a fad): Training ONLY with free weights and bodyweight exercises is limiting your potential in developing strength above and beyond the "norm", especially if you're an athlete. The body quickly gets bored and adapts to training methods unless you implement variety. Variety can be the training tools, the speed of the exercises, the range of motion, the … [Read more...]
The 9 Best Sandbag Strength Training Exercises
Sandbag training has been one of the most powerful methods I've implemented with training my athletes. The various sandbag workouts & exercises have developed a type of strength and mental toughness that is unique to say the least. Using sandbags has helped with developing explosive power, brute strength, mental toughness and has even reduced injuries and weakness in odd / awkward positions that tend to happen during sports such as the round back position in wrestling, lifting opponents … [Read more...]
Learning The Olympic Lifts, Part II
One of the toughest Olympic Lifting exercises for me to learn (STILL learning, ALWAYS learning!) was the power clean. Some of my problems were common problems for other aspiring Olympic Lifters as well: - My wrists were extremely tight - My shoulders and lats lacked mobility - I wasn't using a grip that was conducive for my own physical capabilities AND faults You see, back in the day.... … [Read more...]
Learning The Olympic Lifts
Years and years ago Coach Reeve told me how he would train his Football players while also playing videos on TVs of The IronMind Olympic Lifting Training Halls. I snatched up those highlight DVDs immediately and the footage blew me away! I couldn't believe how damn STRONG these dudes were! Not only were they hitting the olympic lifts with heavy weights AND fast, but they were also powerlifting with extreme poundages using NO support gear. About a year ago I decided I would start learning the … [Read more...]