A happy end of the week to everyone (almost there, YES). For those that may not have noticed, I'm making a concerted effort to get some new content up on a more regular basis for you all to enjoy. Today is likely to speak to every one of us, so sit back and have at it.

It happens to everyone, myself included, that creaky cranky shoulder that absolutely bugs the daylights out of you. For most people, when that happens, your traditional pressing exercises; bench press and military (overhead) press are off the table for the time being. That doesn’t mean that we throw out the movement pattern entirely, rarely a good idea. These are 6 of my upper body pressing go-to’s when clients’ shoulders aren’t cooperating with them.


DB Bench Press

Using Dumbbells instead of a bar provides your shoulders that wiggle room to press from a position that’s more friendly. As no two hips are created the same (yes that means both your own hips) no two shoulders are created the same either, so if your shoulder is getting fussy, forcing it to be locked down on a straight bar is probably not a bright idea.

It's HUMPDAAAY, I know I'm not the only one that's gotten a chuckle out of seeing that old commercial resurface recently. Today I have a quick post to answer a frequently asked question by many, especially around this time of year with everyone setting new goals and so forth.

The question, if you missed the title of the post, is "How Much Weight Should I Be Losing Each Week?"

​This is a touchy subject for many, I'm not one that wants to get people locked into a numbers spit out by a scale.

To answer this question as directly as I can; It depends on who you are and how much body fat (read weight), you have to lose. Some folks will lose 7 pounds in a week, some will lose a pound, it entirely depends on the individual. Metabolism is a real pain in the ass sometimes, because of this people tend to get frustrated when they don't see the number on the scale plummeting like an anvil from a Looney Tunes cartoon.

Here's the thing I want everyone to remember from this post, so listen up and put your latte down for just a second, please. The important thing to remember is that the number on the scale doesn't mean a damn thing about who you are as a person and gives no one a right to put you down. No one is perfect, some people are jerks though, that's life. Recognize them, ship them out of your prevue and keep trudging forward. Things will get difficult, but if you keep at it, and keep trying, even if takes longer than the next person, their story is not YOUR story, so keep getting after it, you'll start to feel better.

A tip I like to give my clients is, and many have probably heard me say this before, set a performance goal, like doing X number of push-ups or doing your first bodyweight chin-up. Focus on that while cleaning up the food choices a bit, and it'll make your brain hurt a bit less.

Thanks for your time guys, hope everyone has success with their goals in 2019! Go out there and get after it!

Happy Saturday all, I'm sure many of you will be passing this over while you enjoy that morning cup of coffee. For those that take the time to stop and read this quickie, thanks for doing so and I hope you enjoy.

We all know that balance is important in life in general, let alone in things like recovering from a lower body injury. Many of us have struggled with gaining balance and stability after such an injury. With those, usually comes a ton of physical therapy and retraining of the movements you lost. Unfortunately most people lean way too heavily on things like, unstable surface training, to regain and/or maintain balance and stability. Unstable surface has a place in PT, that's OK, it's the rest of the professionals out there leaning on similar training that I'm sure can do better. As a side note, the bosu ball is one of my mortal enemies. If you in fact find me working out of a facility that has a boss ball in it, just assume I’ve been taken against my will and that I need to be rescued.

Here are three exercises that you will see way better results from, in terms of improved balance and stability, as opposed to continuing to smash your nose into a brick wall with “unstable surface” training.

Single Leg Standing Battle Ropes: Definitely jacked this from someone, might have been Ingrid Marcum. In either case, it’s easy, grab yourself a rope and stand on one leg. You can do side to side like I’m doing, you can use two ropes and do that too, or you can do your regular rope waves that your use to. In either case, your joints are going to be worked to keep you from falling on your backside. Did I mention it works everything untestable surface claims it’s doing.
​