A few months ago, I put up a post talking about how I’m trying to get into doing the splits and how some of the best methods I’ve found don’t involve static stretching, but more active mobility work and some dedicated core stabilization work. This caused a few feathers to ruffle, including one commenter on Reddit who said I was “full of shit to think I could get that mobility without any static stretching.” While I am full of a bunch of things (cookies, protein shakes, hatred for Tracy Anderson, love of puppies), this is something I’m not full of due to a twice daily ritual trip to the bathroom.

How I was able to gain some degree of flexibility through my hips in spite of a pretty serious SI joint and low back injury, and how I’ve been able to help a lot of clients get more mobile and control through their mobilities is with the use of active stretching and dynamic mobility. It’s a simple concept that tends to get taken out of the mix in favour of dogmatic approaches, simply because they consistently are being used.

Let’s look at some of the physics for creating movement in a system resistant to movement. I’ll use a blacksmith as an example. If they want to bend a piece of metal, they heat it up to make it more pliable. Then they hammer the living hell out of it or bend it while it’s warm, and then put it back into the fire to heat it again to continue to keep it pliable.

Yeah, you’re man card isn’t nearly as burly as his man card is.

If you were to try to apply a force to the metal as it cooled, the metal would become more resistant to changing shape, and you would need increasingly higher amounts of force to produce a change in shape. Consistently keeping the metal warm and pliable makes shape changes a lot easier.

The reasoning for this is that heat causes the particles within the substance to expand and take up a greater volume. The increased spacing between the molecules means the substance can bend and shape more easily, and as it cools the spacing between the molecules begins to reduce to match it. The one substance that follows a bit of an opposite rule with this regard is water, which tends to expand as it gets closer to freezing, and explains why when Edmonton road crews decide to leave an inch of packed snow on the roads instead of cleaning them off completely, the thaw-then-freeze cycles we get every single year causes a crazy amount of car-swallowing potholes that costs the city millions to fix.

When stretching a muscle, the static holds tend to cause the nerve affecting the muscle to adapt and reduce the force producing capabilities, which means when you try to get up form a sustained hamstring stretch of any length of time greater than 30 seconds, you wind up walking like Bambi for the first time on solid ground. The sustained hold also reduces blood flow into the area and decreases fluid perfusion into the tissues. This is common knowledge stuff among those with some physiology backgrounds.

When you perform some active mobility work, you essentially keep the muscle warm, which makes it more pliable. By holding positions for a short duration and then pumping through a couple different positions, the muscle increases temperature, blood flow into the tissues increases, oxygen delivery increases, Predator can see you more easily with his thermal scan head set, and you start to get the feeling of being more than just bullet-proof. Dare I say, Matrix level??

So with all that in mind, I wanted to show a sample of my own hip and lower body warm up that I use before any heavy lower body work. I change it up and incorporate different movements here and there as I feel the need or if there’s something that’s a little more restricted than something else, but it give you the idea of what an active mobility series could look like. 3 minutes and I’m ready to get into the meat and potatoes of a good heavy workout without feeling like I’m stuck in the mud with stiff and immobile hips that aren’t doing me any favours. Plus, it’s always fun when someone comes up afterwards and says “Hey, what does that work? Your hamstring?”

Enjoy!

In a week where Gwyneth Paltrow was simultaneously named as the most annoying celebrity and the most beautiful person in the world, Edmonton finally decided to begin the initial mating dance with spring in an effort to conceive summer. Much like the captive panda, the breeding of Edmonton Summer is a tricky adventure, and in this case it meant snowfall into the end of the April and a disproportionate number of potholes. The dreariness of constant cold, crumbling roadways, and thick layers of concealing clothing, the myopic landscape breaching way for a glimmer of warmth and sunshine seems as much like an oasis in the desert as, well, an oasis.

The lifestyle for about six months in Edmonton involves checking outside to see if it snowed, driving to work in the dark, working all day, driving home in the dark, shovelling, and then going to bed. Once summer rolls around, I can start biking to work, running Boot Camp classes outside, mowing my lawn, and getting an epic farmer tan like no other. Well, except for maybe the farmers.

After a while, winter wears on me. Likewise, after a while I get bored with summer and need to see some fall colours and feel a slight nip in the air that doesn’t involve turning the air conditioner up to high. Maybe it’s my own built in ADD, maybe it’s a desire to experience life to its fullest, or simply to do something different for the sake of doing something different, I tend to want to break my routine on a regular basis.

We all have routines. Some of us have ruts (a routine that is so engrained it is nearly impossible to get out of). Some of us have compulsions (everything has to be exactly so or ALL HELL WILL BREAK LOOSE!!!! SERIOUSLY PUT BACK THE NUTMEG TO ITS PROPER POSITIONING 6 CENTIMETERS AWAY FROM THE EDGE OF THE COUNTER AND PERPENDICULAR TO THE PHONE OR I’LL HAVE TO TAP MY FOOT THREE TIMES!!!!). Consider that the two most common rituals we all go through are our morning routines and evening routines in the bathroom. Be it the shower and shave in the morning or the brushing of teeth and washing of face in the evening, or the specific and highly sensitive moisturizing routine, we all have a thing we do that makes sense in our heads and makes other scared to talk to us.

But every now and then, something comes along to shake up that routine, such as travel, a house guest, a late night or early morning, or an alarm clock that’s received a work stoppage order from a mysterious inspector hell bent on making you miss your 6am training session with your awesome trainer who is standing there patiently, yet who still wants to just go grab a coffee before he stabs someone in the eye with his non-clicking pen.

Not that I know anything about that.

Whether we like to admit it or not, we all tend to get into a workout routine that feels right for us, or at the very least doesn’t suck the very soul from our being. You walk in, foam roll a few things haphazardly, warm up on the treadmill or elliptical, and then bang out a few sets of whateverthehellyoucallthat while flexing in the mirror between sets and doing the head nod to everyone you feel you should know but can’t actually remember how or why you know them, nor their name.

Instead of doing the same old same old, try to switch up one thing in your workout to make a massive difference in how that workout goes and what you feel like at the end of it. Here’s a couple examples of simple things to make you feel like a boss during a hiring fare.

1. On The Minute Work Capacity Stuff

Let’s say you want to do squats. Great!! Now instead of taking enough of a rest break between sets to watch an entire episode of Lost, get back under the bar before Cinderellas carridge turns back into a pumpkin. Start your set when the second hand is at the 12. Bang out 5 reps with a weight equivalent to a tough 10 rep set, rack that sucker, and then go again once the second hand creeps up to the 12 again. Hit up 10 sets of this for 10 minutes of heaven, 50 reps of squats with your 10 rep max, and enough time left over to enjoy a pina colada protein shake from the juice bar while you contemplate the idea of people coming out of spin class dressed like they’re ready to rock their own version of the Tour de Nowhere in their full kit, complete with cycling shoes with cleats. For spin class. I repeat, FOR SPIN CLASS.

Why it works

The reduced timeframe on the rest periods helps to keep your heart rate up and you focused on the task at hand. You can’t deviate for anything. Not to scan songs on your iPod, not to get water, NOTHING I SAID!!! The pace is frenetic like the playclock in the NFL, and you have no choice but to reach under that center’s sweaty crevice to fish out the glory of the next touchdown that may be your fourth set of 10, you quarterback stud, you. Hutt HUTT!!!

2. Ultra Long Eccentrics

Say you’re planning an epic chest day. Fantastic!! Good for you!! Let’s flip the script and get jiggy with some stupid tempo variations. Let’s say for your lowering phase (the eccentric for the geeks out there), you slow that sucker down and do a 10-count. This extra time under tension, specifically during the eccentric would make Guantanamo look like a trip to the day spa to get cotton balls put between your toes and stuff like that. The cool thing is you can do this with a barbell, dumbbells, or even a straight up pushup. It’s versatile like that.

Once you’re at the bottom, use what ever kind of testicular fortitude you have to blast that weight up as hard and fast as possible. No problem on the first one, but by rep three or four you’ll more likely be sounding like you’re giving birth against your will and the kids crawling out with a purpose, giving no mind to how your inner self is nicely feng shui’d the way you like it.

If you want to hit this up, use about 60-70% of the weight you would use for the same number of reps for a straight set with a sane tempo, and go until you have to pull your pecs out of the way to see your belt buckle.

Why it works

The ultra long time frame of the eccentric portion helps to produce a greater amount of strain within the tissue and can cause a bigger muscle pump and micro damage that will then repair as bigger, badder muscles.

3. Train at a different time of day

We’re all probably use to working out at a certain time of day due to work schedules, family lives, and availability of ellipticals with fresh magazines stocked on them and ready to go. If you work out in a commercial facility, you’re probably used to seeing the exact same people there all the time when you’re in there training, because they;re all on the same schedule.

Switch things up and hit it up at a different time. It will feel like a completely different crowd, but with all the security of the same equipment, layout, and crappy music played through the communal speakers. Aside from the ambiance, the difference in your circadian clock may prove to be a bit of a shock to your system for the better. I tend to have better workouts between 10am and 3pm, but occasionally when on vacation with my wife, I find myself working out at 7am with her. She’s one who doesn’t like to leave her routine at all when it comes to things like that, but it means we have the workout done and out of the way for vacationy frolicking of an epic varietal.

4. Do a different exercise

Are you functional? Do a damn biceps curl. Are you a bodybuilder? Swing a damn kettlebell. Are you a cardio bunny? Lift a damn weight. Are you listening to anything Jillian Michaels or Tracy Anderson say? Leave. Just leave, and never come back.

SHE’S ALSO A VENTRILOQUIST!

There’s literally hundreds of ways you could spice up a dreary routine without making a big deal about it. A small change can have a big impact on how the workout goes, and give your battery a little kick start to help you want to get your awesome on even more.

What do you do to spice things up in the gym? Drop a comment below and share your fantastic.

It’s been a hectic couple of weeks in the gym, between training about 50 hours a week, writing a few articles for some different publications, organizing distance coaching clients, and even hitting up a wedding in Las Vegas, I haven’t had the time to devote to pumping out the quality content for this here blog.

My bad.

As a way to try to make it up to you in some way, I wanted to showcase a couple of really cool things. First, one of my superstar clients saw a Facebook post I put up a few weeks ago where I commented on a gym member wreaking fashion havoc by rocking out with a burgundy beret on the treadmill during his cardio.

That’s right. A beret to do cardio.

My distance coaching client took it on himself to find a snazzy beret and then put together a little montage of him laying down some rolling thunder stupendousness that just made me smile all day long.

Yeah, that’s a thing that just happened. Deal with it as you will. It just goes to show that fitness should be fun once in a while.

Speaking of fun, who out there likes having their shoulders feel like a flaming ball of fail all the time? Hands?? Hands up??? No one? Okay, good. We’re all on the same page then. You can stay.

Today’s exercise that is the best in ever is a complex of a couple different movements. These are a simple series of movements I’ve been using to replace the old versions of the ITYW movement that involve moving the arm across the body or through oblique lines of action, and instead focuses on getting an increase in thoracic extension, packed neck position, and lower trap stabilization through a reduced range of motion.

Check it out.

As mentioned earlier, a big benefit of this kind of movement with a very reduced range of motion is a focus on more stabilization and positioning than simply moving from A to B. The funny thing is that when you look at the function of the rotator cuff, you see all the time that it acts as a dynamic ligament, stabilizes the glenohumeral joint, and helps provide compressive forces pulling the humerus into the glenoid fossa.

Then you see everyone and their dog trying to work the rotator cuff with hours of elastic rotations in every which way.

This is stupid. It doesn’t look at what we know about the actual function of the cuff, but only applies basic “contract/stretch” kinesiology to training a muscle. Why not just do 50,000 crunches from all angles for our core training?

Training the rotator cuff with a reduced motion in a position that involves as much from the thoracic spine and scapular positioning will help train the rotator cuff more effectively, which is why I’ve always been in favour of using things like loaded carries, dynamic rhythmic stabilization through rotation and axial loading, and other stuff that makes me sound really smert but is pretty simple once you look at it and what it’s supposed to do.

This is another one of those exercises that is really basic but really effective for a lot of people who have shoulder issues. If you can’t go overhead without pain while standing, you can usually do it while in a different position and where gravity is working through a different plane of action like this one. If you can’t get your arms up into the Y or W, you can still do the I and T until you’re blue in the face. Plus, it’s easy to explain to the client, because you just say that you look like the letter you’re spelling out when you look from the top down. With the arms by your side, you look like an “I.” With your arms overhead, you look like a “Y.” Simple.

Some big coaching points: Try to pull your chest off the floor a few inches, and keep your chin pulled back instead of trying to look forward. This reduces the chances of you getting your upper traps doing all the work and you losing your ability to have a distinguishable neck between your shoulders and ears. Last I checked the Spring and Summer runways weren’t chock-full of models accentuating the gap between their thighs and rocking the no-neck look. You probably won’t look like a hot mess if you’re shoulders are jacked into your ears either, so keep those puppies down.

Lastly, focus on trying to get the lower traps doing the majority of the work and keep the arms tight to your body. Ladies, you’ll know if you’re using your lower traps because they’re typically found right below the bra strap and if you get them going it will feel like you’re trying to undue the clasp with your shoulder blades.

Guys, if you wear bras on the weekend, I won’t judge.

Let me know what you think of this exercise by dropping a comment below. Enjoy!!

Squatting is one of those things that a lot of people take for granted. A lot of people hit the gym and think just by doing the movement that they are getting the best benefit from them, regardless of whether they look like the walking embodiment of a train wreck or not.

For the most part, when I have someone start training with me I have them spend a few of the first workouts trying to get their squat working as optimally as possible before we load them up. In most cases we have to regress the movement to something that gives them the best chance to succeed.

Each person will approach it differently. Some people are scared of the movement and hold back on their depth, even if they have all the passive mobility in the world. Others have a lot of mobility, but can’t control it well, and still others are just tight as a drum skin and can’t get anywhere. Each person will need different cues and training concepts to get them the best responses.

So today I wanted to show you two videos of me working with two very different types of clients, one with a lot of mobility and little control and another with limited mobility. They’re both doing the same movement but showing their ability to do it differently, and in need of different cues entirely.


I just realized there’s a guy int he background squatting with probably half reps like a complete champ. At least we don’t see his face so I don’t need him to sign a release form. BONUS!!