Fixing Your Achy Wrists

Do you experience pain in your wrists while doing exercises like bench presses or planks? If so, then read on!As I've mentioned 1,000 times (and you're probably sick of me saying it already), we always have to look distally (farther away) from the area in question. Think of your entire arms as a train....

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Much Ado about Hip Mobility

Since I've made a post about shoulder restrictions, I've received a few requests about how to loosen up stubborn hips.This is my dad, unintentionally showing off hisperfect bottom position and impressive ankledorsiflexion.One thing I'd like to mention, which has been noted in previous posts, is...

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Is there Such a Thing as "Too Much" Mobility?

If you Google "mobility," you can find pages upon pages of articles about how to improve your mobility at any given joint. Thoracic mobility, shoulder mobility, ankle mobility, and the like are central themes on fitness blogs all over the internet (mine included). As a trainer, it satisfies me to see...

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Sturdy Shoulders (How to Spare Your Shoulders from Injury)

I'd say nearly every person I've trained has, during an assessment, mentioned a previous shoulder injury. Even I have suffered from the plague that is shoulder pain in the past.The shoulder (glenohumeral) joint is the most mobile joint in the body. The ball and socket architecture allows it to move...

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4 Quick Tips to Fix Your Ankle Mobility

"Ankle mobility" seems to be a buzzword these days. Coaches often tell their athletes that the limiting factor in their squats is the lack of range of motion in the ankles. Everyone claims to have poor ankle mobility, and they're all looking for the magical way to improve it. You'll see them stretching...

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Your Butt is Affecting your Shoulder Stability

If your shoulder hurts, you've probably assumed something with your shoulder is inherently dysfunctional. While that may not be false, you also have to consider what's going on around your shoulder. Ida Rolf, a famous Structural Integration practitioner said it perfectly, "Where you think it is, it...

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Check Your Ribs! 4 Exercises to Fix Your Rib Position

What's wrong with this picture?Yes, this model has an incredibly impressive physique, but I'm referring specifically to her posture. Her ribs, in particular, are the first thing I notice.Rib flaring is an extremely common postural fault. I mainly see this in women, but there are many men who are guilty...

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Where Does Your Knee Pain Really Come From?

The knees are the largest joints in the human body. Unfortunately, these large joints also seem to be an even bigger area for pain and injury. In the U.S. alone, surgeons perform around 700,000 knee replacements annually--that's a lot of bionic knees! Other knee-related injuries include ACL tears, MCL...

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5 Exercises to Strengthen Your Neck

In the prequel to this post, I explained why so many of us carry a lot of tension in the neck. Stress, poor posture, and breathing can all contribute to elevated shoulders and a heavy head. I taught you a few quick movements that will strengthen the muscles of the chest, back and shoulders, and today...

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3 Reasons Why Your Neck is Always Tight

If you had to pick one place where you regularly carry the most tension in your body, what would you choose? I'm willing to bet you chose your upper trapezius muscles.The upper trapezius muscles seem to be (in my experience) some of the most overused and abused muscles in the human body. Many people...

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Behind the Neck Exercises: Do You Need Them?

For every exercise, there's an equal and opposite, behind-the-neck variation. Behind-the-neck lat pull-downs, pull-ups, push presses, strict presses, are just a few examples of exercises I've seen people try to do behind their necks. Perhaps they're trying to hit the same muscle groups in a new way,...

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Just Say No to the Smith Machine