There are lots of claims about the next big revolution in fitness that fly around yearly, even monthly. Thing is, the latest fitness revolution likely isn’t coming, or at least isn’t as big of a deal as people might think. Of course, many are still anticipating the discovery of the magic pill or magic bullet, whichever term you choose, that'll get everyone fit while putting in 0 effort for it. One step short of that isn’t going to be making it’s debut any time soon either, sorry fam.
 
Peloton, the Mirror and the like were not that big of a deal (glorified hype people, not coaches, isn’t new by the way).

Wearables aren’t that accurate and didn’t bring any new knowledge about. We knew it was helpful to get your heart rate elevated a few times a week and get some steps in long before those things existed. It kept them top of mind for more people, so that is the up side of them. The basics have always worked and always will.
 
Whatever the next big thing folks claim they have (whether it’s on a TV show, infomercial or wherever), it’s not going to be that big of a deal.
 
New movements (exercises) to put in the repertoire aren’t a bad thing, but aren’t going to change things drastically for coaches. If they claim to do so, I’ve got some canned unicorn tears to sell you, my friend.
 
Now, I’m always a critic of people that say what things don’t work or to not do things without providing either evidence or at least something to do instead. Here’s what I got for you;
 
Firstly, don’t get rid of any of the products I mentioned above if they’re helping you get your movement in (unless it’s a bosu ball, that should be lit on fire, somewhere safe). I'm not one to poo poo on things that help folks get their movement in, too many struggle with doing so to begin with, so do you my friend.
 
Next, if you haven’t purchased any of these “revolutionary" products I can save you some time and tell you what you can do for yourself before investing in them.
 
-Get movement in 3-5 times a week, bare minimum of 2 of those days being resistance training.
 
-Get your heart rate up for 20 minutes straight once to twice a week, can be walking, biking, jogging (…ow but OK), swimming, whatever works.
 
-Stand up from that desk as often as you can, if you want to be a maniac and set a timer have at and god speed, but mostly just get up from your desk every 60-90 minutes if you can. I get life happens so trying to be reasonable here.
 
-Eat protein with every meal along with a good serving of vegetables.
 
-Get your butt to bed as early as you can, when you can. 7 hours is the low side and if you have a hard time hitting that, try to balance it out sleeping in a bit another day.
 
There, that’s the basics and it’ll be tough to prove those inferior to whatever next big thing someone claims.
 
Thanks for reading friends and have a good Wednesday

Super belated happy new year my friends! Any of you that have been here for longer than 5 minutes know I was a amateur athlete for 20 years while playing rugby. As formerly one of those and now just concentrating on life being a dad, there’s a few things I want all my friends to keep in mind for their weekend activities.
 
Gotta Train- Whether you play pickup basketball, play 18 holes, run around playing 5 a side or are hitting a 10k, you need to train to keep at it. While you don’t need super serious training (more on that in a minute) you do need to train a bit so you don’t pick up any nagging injuries. Some strength training so the next kick isn’t your last and when the road hits back, you’re ready for it, your body will be thankful later.
 
Don’t train like the pros- Don’t pretend you’re Caitlin Clarke on the court or Brooks Koepka off the tee and try to train like they do. Train to what suits you best, if you’ve got 45 minutes for 3 days a week, perfect. If you only have a couple sessions of 45-60 in you a week, crush them and stick to it. Remember, those athletes are PAID to be athletes and workout (essentially), they have all the time they want if they choose so.
 
Recover- The day (really starting that night) after you’re done being a warrior on the weekend, get yourself into some sort of recovery routine. Hydrate, hydrate and hydrate again, get some gentle movement in and get some high quality eats in. You don’t want to be going into work feeling like you just got hit by a truck because you didn’t want to spend a bit of time respecting your body.

Thanks for reading friends, hope you've all missed me as much as I missed you, back with more next week.

Hello everyone and happy Friday eve (Thursday). Today I want to talk about something I've noted over the last 5-6 years, movements that proper Strength and Conditioning coaches should nail, but amateur coaches (sport coaches trying to be strength coaches mostly) should leave the hell alone.

Usually, these types are movements that a strength coach (trainer) should be able to coach someone up on in a session, maybe two, no more. The top culprits are below, you’ll notice they all belong to one pattern of movement.

KB Swings (snatches, cleans too)- Most want to have their athletes do swings because they know the benefits, BUT could not coach them with worse form though. I believe, when push comes to shove, a quality strength coach should be able to coach this movement up in a session at most. Me personally, I do like to progress and build them up over time, still, if you held my feet to the fire, I could get it done in a day, any of my colleagues as well.
 
1-Leg RDLs- These are problematic mostly because athletes, without the proper coaching, try to rush them, because they are too busy trying to not fall over. These are absolutely a necessity in an athlete’s program, however there are some variations, pregressions and so on, that are more appropriate for the super balance challenged out there. While I believe I can get most people to do a 1-Leg RDL without looking like Bambi, the go to movements to dial things back on are at my finger tips, simply because I've been doing it for a bit, as it should be for most strength coaches.
 
Deadlifts- Super important lift for any athlete here, no denying it, and holy brain farts do I see them butchered with little to no correction from coaches (again not my colleagues that are proper coaches). Credit to them for knowing the value, an F for execution and not thinking about getting help. More often than not, the lift gets super squatty OR the proper variation for the athlete isn’t applied, ever. Too many coaches die on the hill of certain variations being trash over others. If it fits the person, it should be on the table. Kettlebell, trap bar, barbell, sumo stance, conventional stance, elevated, and on and on. Know the variations, know where people need to start, regardless of what they tell you, and know where to go should things start to get wonky. Easy for a strength coach, not so easy for the amateur (or sport coach).
 
*Olympic Lifts- These aren’t quite in the same category, but they’re almost in the same category (so you don’t f**in hit em…anyone?) I see way too many amateur coaches thinking they can coach cleans and snatches, cleans mostly. To be honest, I’m probably only coaching cleans, if either of them, and I used to be much better with both. This poses the question, if I'm a bit gun shy with these, having 10+ years in the field, why the hell do rookies (or pseudo strength coaches) think it’s wise to unleash their athletes (or clients) with them?
 
The solution to them all is ask someone to help coach. Honestly, I myself would jump at the chance if someone either reached out or walked up to me for help coaching. There’s no gate keeping here friends, everyone needs a bit a help so people don’t walk away in serious pain. Thanks for reading friends and if you know this type of stuff is happening to other athletes, I'd highly encourage a conversation between yourself and the sport coach...or just hire someone like me for your athlete. Happy Thursday fam!