✅ The easiest place to start is to pull ourselves up from the ground. This variation gives us an opportunity to learn how to engage the back and core with a stable base support.
🆙 Elevating the feet removes the stable base and increases the demands on core and upper body. This can be difficult enough sometimes used for later stage progression.
🤙🏼 Hanging improves grip strength (can’t do pull ups without gripping the bar), scap pull ups develops scapular awareness and strengthens the stabilizers needed during pull ups.
⬇️ Bands take away some gravity while still maintaining the core demand. Perform these safely of course.
💪🏼 Even if we can’t do a pull up, we can still lower ourselves from the bar for a few seconds - this is because our muscles are stronger during the lowering part (the eccentric phase). Work on slow eccentrics to practice recruiting the muscles needed.
🚨 There are many things we can do to improve our pull up game, but nothing replaces practicing the actual movement. Frequency is key 🔑
Happy training!
Our metabolism doesn’t slow down that much, we just become less active as we age.
The food industry isn’t trying to make us sick, they’ve been selling us exactly what we wanted.
It’s easy to play the blame game but ultimately the responsibility lies with us.
Check out the link below if you’re interested in a recent metabolism study on energy expenditure through human life.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abe5017
If you sit a lot throughout the day, it’s likely that your hip flexors are tight. If so, the hip flexor stretch could provide some relief.
Take a little time to learn and feel how to move your pelvis to get the most out of this stretch!
At the core of fitness is the principle of adaptability.
By putting my body through training (strength, cardio, athletic training, etc.), I am creating specific environment so my body can adapt and get stronger.
In order to adapt, my body has to be able to overcome the stress of training (recovery).
The body uses energy to recover, just as it uses energy to handle stress. Recovery suffers when all the energy is used towards handling stress. Over time the body will fight back, we lose motivation, we get fatigue, injured and reach the point of diminishing returns.
Don’t workout to exhaust yourself. Train so you can get better.
Unilateral training should be a non-negotiable in everyone’s training. It translates well into athletics and everyday living. The single-leg Romanian deadlift is one of the best exercises to train the posterior chain.
The hardest part about the single leg RDL is balance and hip control - especially if you don’t usually train this movement.
One common movement fault with the single leg RDL is the outward rotation of the hip. When the pelvis rotates out (and you can see it because the foot/toes likely also point out), we lose the tension needed in the hamstrings and glutes to reap the benefits of this movement.
A simple way to improve this is to use a foam roller for external feedback - it guides the foot as the hip goes into extension and makes sure the leg follows the path throughout the movement.
Hope this helps!
If you sit a lot throughout the day, you likely spend a lot of time in the lumbar flexion position.
The position isn’t inherently bad, but day after day, month after month, the compound effect will leave the low back stiff and achy.
All these exercises in the video are meant to combat lumbar flexion by pushing the spine in the other direction. If they feel too intense, always regress and modify them so they’re tolerable.
It’s easy to take freedom for granted.
Often times we don’t realize we can do something until we can’t do them anymore. Our mobility is one of those things.
Don’t confuse mobility with flexibility though.
Flexibility is the ability for your muscle to lengthen, mobility is the ability for your joint to move through its range of motion.
I know the older I get, the quality of my life depends more on how well I am able to access these ranges of motion.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. It took 10 minutes to do everything in this video. This can be your warm up, cool down, lunch break, or bed time routine.
I hope this serves as a reminder for you to move today.
Earn your mobility 👊🏼