Happy Thursday everyone, all geared up to join the rest of the country in traveling to your Thanksgiving dinner locales? Yeah, me neither. Last week I posted about what to do with your training when you're not feeling so hot, today I thought I'd share it for you non social media folks (nothing against it I promise). Hope you all enjoy!

’Tis the season for sneezes and runny noses. Most of us get these and press on with our day no problem, they go away after a day or so. What happens when it doesn’t and you’re now officially sick? Please note, I’m not a doctor, so if you have real concerns about where/if you’re sick and if you can train during said sickness, go see yours, don’t ask me. I recently had to battle a bit of sickness, as one does in this region and time of year, so I figured this might be something others would wonder about, should you or can you train if you’re sick?

Here’s a little flow chart or cheat sheet for you, if you have a head cold and are functioning fine otherwise, you can probably train (more on that in a minute). If you’re feeling like your chest/insides are all gummed up and/ore you’re sick to your stomach (even somewhat), I’d pass on training until that goes away.

If you’re feeling well enough to train and want to, do it. Just consider maybe dialing it down a notch, to start. Do the first few sets, and if you start to feel better, crank it back up for the last couple. Sometimes you don’t need to do your workout and you shouldn’t feel obligated to. Take the day off, live to fight another day. Another option could be, you want to train, but maybe you want to do something lighter. A little bit of mobility, activation and some light movement can sometimes cure what ails ya.

Here’s a simple routine to do for those looking to get some movement in, but aren’t quite in that “CRUSH IT” mind set;

Dead Bugs 2x5/
Hip Flexor Mobility 2x10/
Adductor Dips 2x10/
Quadruped T-Spine Mobility 2x5/

A1) GB Squat 2x10
A2) Band Pull Aparts 2x10
​
B1) Hip Bridge 2x10-15
B2) Push-Up Plank 2x15s

​Here’s the thing folks, if you are or want to be a quality coach in the fitness/S&C world, there’s one thing you absolutely must do. Perform the exercises yourself, that you are programming for your clients & athletes before you program them. If you want to take it one step further, you should also understand where they fit in and keep in mind that, it’s very likely, that cool new exercise you found on some random “fitspo”’s instagram page or youtube channel, is not meant for your whole roster of clients, if any.

(Spoiler alert; if it involves a bosu ball or balancing on a stability ball, just keep walking.)

Even something a simple as this 90/90 Hip Switch, is something you need at least give a trial run once, before you even consider what piece this is to a client’s puzzle. Once again, if you want to take it a step further, try doing that new movement as apart of your workouts for a few weeks at least. Now am I super proficient with these? No, as you can see, I kind of suck at them (on my list of things to work on this off-season), but I at least have experience with them, so I know what the point of them is and who they are going to best for.

I've stated before, I’m thankful to have a smart guy that not only programs for me, but also shows me the way when I need my head knocked back into place like Mike Anderson. When he programs something new for me, I know that he was smart enough to do this, so I’d be muddying his name and anyone that has educated him, if I didn’t go about the same process.

Can this lead to some somewhat vanilla programming? I suppose, it depends on a couple of things;

1. How creative you are with your tempo’s, your pauses, your variations and your set/rep schemes. I’m not saying don’t be a little creative, because doing something really vanilla is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, so you’ll have clients that will get a bit bored. Just use the brain space you've been given.
2. What are you doing as a professional to continue your education? Seminars, journals, webinars, blogs, courses, podcasts, books, etc… should all be things that help you learn new movements and drills properly.

Let’s just not be throwing them in to a some asshattery that you found on the inter webs, just for the sake of it. So next time you want to throw an exercise in a program because it looks cool ('likes' aren't worth it), maybe try it yourself, or if you're someone that's just working with a coach or trainer, have them take a look at it first. We can all save ourselves a little pain and anguish by slowing it down just a breath or 2 here.

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read my tangent/rant/lesson today folks. Find yourself a good exercise that's useful and makes sense for you (or your clients) and get after it!

Hello all, happy end of the first week that actually feels like fall! Since I know some of you would rather listen to me babbel (wait what?)...I mean talk about things and are more visual I have this little nugget for you all today with a bit of clarification below it. Have a good one and enjoy!

​While my spoken word could probably use a bit of work, my written 🖊 word has gotten better. (Side note: I promise 🙏 to try to get better at these.) The point I’m trying to get at with this is don’t just hang out on your hips/lumbar spine when you do these. Tension, despite what you might think, makes exercises, like a 1/2 kneeling overhead press, way easier to do. Squeeze the glutes like you’re turning coal into diamonds 💎 and be mindful of where those hips are going kids.