Happy Thursday everyone, for those in northeast I know you all have dropped to your knees and thanked who or whatever you believe in that the humidity dropped for a couple days. It was nice to not go outside and feel like I needed to swim through the air.​

Alright enough of that, on to the subject for today. Most hammerheads you see in a typical commercial gym are doing bench, bi's and tri's like Gabriel Iglesias eating tacos. Most of them, along with the majority of the developed world, sit at a desk all day. The combination is just begging for an injury. 

One thing that is really easy to cycle into any program that's very press or push heavy, is some sort of row or pull. Here's an easy list of those pulls that you can do in most gyms (some of the harder ones perhaps not). There's a million directions to go with these, point being don't start with with a TRX row and feet elevated unless you're competent in some less challenging moves first. Not every list of progressions is perfect for everyone, but it's good to have a starting point at least.

Seated Cable Row: This is a pretty basic exercise that most people can still butcher the heck out of, it's usually 2 big culprits. Rounded back on the extension part, causing flexion in the spine (not something you typically want. Once people get out of bad habit one, they go into bad habit too which is something I call over rowing. yes believe it or not you can pull too far, far enough to the point where the head of your shoulder will slip out of place. Not detrimental if it happens once, but over and over under load can lead to BIG problems.

BB Bent Over Rows: I usually don't throw this at someone until they've been with me for 2-3 months. Yes if you coach the crap out of it you can probably get in the right position...to start. Most people wind up standing up more and more as their grip starts to go. If you can't do a proper RDL or have issues with rounding your shoulders during away, master those first before getting to this. Any error with those will definitely come out when you do these, so make sure you've got those positions and movements on lock.
 

It's Thursday ya'll! Today I want to dig into something that is becoming more common, but still has a long way to go: companies paying for employee wellness.
 
Quick detour: This weekend brings me down to Providence for the Perform Better Summit, I hope to see some of you down there. I am one of those weird people that goes to all three days. Last year, I saw two colleagues make their speaking debut, and I’m looking forward to more great talks this year.
 
Okay back to the matter at hand. Let me start by saying, I am not an expert in health insurance, especially when it comes to group benefit costs. However, I do know it costs less to insure healthy employees. Bear with me as I explain why companies should invest in their employees’ wellness instead of just their healthcare.
 
What we're looking at here is a preemptive strike against avoidable medical costs for people (employees). Let me say it again, investing in employee’s wellness, in my opinion, will prevent medical costs down the road. If you start incurring medical costs at the ripe young age of 40, you have just become the drug companies’ favorite customer, and a costly employee to insure. Have you ever seen the ‘retail’ costs for medical services – yikes.
 
Some insurance companies do reimburse a percentage of a gym membership, but those companies are the exception, not the rule. Even more rare are the insurance companies that reimburse members for "nontraditional” fitness facilities, such as Crossfit boxes or training studios, like the one I operate out of.
 
More companies and health insurance providers should follow this lead and provide nontraditional wellness benefits, like personal training (FROM THIS GUY) or the ability to work with a nutrition coach. It's beneficial for companies to have these types of programs, because it not only shows you have a heart, but I bet you’ll see increased productivity. And we all know increased productivity keeps the bosses happy.
 
We didn’t get into the specific medical benefits today, but trust me there are numerous studies showing healthy people cost less to insure. Hey, wait a minute, less overhead and increased productivity? This is starting to make sense. 

Don't just take my word for it, type in "exercise and work performance" or "exercise and productivity" into your search engine. Go ahead I'll wait *taps foot and glances at drawn on watch pretending to wait*. Do you see all of those articles that are popping up, even if you're not a fan of the scholarly articles, there's some respectable periodicals on that list.

To summarize: investing in employees and member through a wellness program is a win win.
 
Hope everyone enjoyed, have a good weekend, look out for Thing I've Found tomorrow and go out there and get after it!

Happy Friday all, I don't know about any of you but it's been a busy one despite it being a short(er) week for most. I've got some good stuff for you all to check out today. Hopefully everyone picks something up from each one of these pieces and I'll be back with my own stuff next week.

What's Wrong With Your Deadlift?-Naturally a deadlift article makes it. Todd Bumgardner's piece from Bodybuilding.com gives some great tips on the deadlift. Having issues off the ground, locking out or in the middle? Todd has it covered pretty easy right here.

Ask Mike Reinold Show Episode 22- With the news of Matt Harvey needing surgery to fix his Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, I figured this episode from Mike Reinold's podcast was appropriate. I'll let you click the link and enjoy, it's only 17 minute episode (less than that without credits and such).

My 5 Least Favorite Coaching Cues- Last month Mike Roberston posted a piece that was the exact opposite (here). I figured this was a good week to get the other side of the coin. It's a piece that probably ruffled some feathers, just the same we always need to be improving  cueing as coaches, couldn't hurt for those that are just enthusiast to have a peek either.

Enjoy everyone, I'll be back with some good stuff of my own next week!