Charles asked about fixing osteoarthritis: “What about osteoarthritis of the knee? Your healthy your whole life, then all of a sudden this comes upon you and knocks you for a loop! The lovely thing about it is you don’t even know your developing it until it’s at an advanced stage …
Getting Woo-Woo…
Have you heard this term, woo-woo, before? Wiktionary defines it as: Describing a person readily accepting supernatural, paranormal, occult, or pseudoscientific phenomena, or emotion-based beliefs and explanations. (What does this have to do with strength? Be patient, I’ll get there…) Generally, this term is used derogatorily. It’s used as a …
Arch in Handstand Pushups
When it comes to handstand pushups, how little or how much you arch your back can make a big impact on the exercise. First of all, arching is not necessarily going to hurt you like some people claim. As long as you don’t do it excessively, which depends on what …
An Evolved Bob Hoffman
I’ve been called many things over the years. An evolved Bob Hoffmann is a new one to me! Ed writes in regarding Deceptive Strength: I love this book because it confirmed and reinforced many concepts I either knew or had an “innate” understanding, especially what I know best: Olympic Weightlifting …
Hand Position in Handstand Pushups
Your hand position in handstand pushups is not often addressed, even by those that teach the benefits of this exercise. Yet this small piece of positioning makes a BIG impact. In short, by having your hands out a bit wider, it changes the length of the range of motion, thus …
The Recovery Mat
This is something I have personally been using for quite some time, but haven’t let anyone know about, until now. That is laying on top of an acupressure mat after working out. After hearing about these mats I started doing this. Then, I read in Tim Ferriss’ Tools of Titans …
Rafter Rows
One thing I never really had an opportunity to work on is rafter pullups. If you’re not familiar with this exercise, it is where you pinch a rafter, fingers on one side, thumbs on the other, and holding up yourself just like this, you do pullups. In my new place …
How to Snatch Heavy Kettlebells
Are you trying to find out how to snatch heavy kettlebells? This video gives you several tips on how to do it. In this video, I snatch a 60kg, or 132lb, kettlebell, so I know what I’m talking about. Several of the points found here are: It is always good …
Dying Art of Phonebook Ripping
As phonebooks slowly become extinct, you have to be a bit more creative in how you tear them in half. After tearing them for a crowd, I often make a joke, “It’s harder to find a phonebook these days than to rip it in half.” Sadly, this is a dying …
How to Position Feet for Bodyweight Squats
A common question is how to position your feet for bodyweight squats. While this applies to all squats, weighted or not, there are some important aspects you’ll want to note, if you’re focusing on bodyweight. First of all, note that there is no one correct form. Anyone that tells you …
5 Minute Intuitive Mobility Routine
I figured it might be helpful to share an example of me doing an “intuitive mobility” routine. By intuitive, I mean that I’m not just doing the 3 circles per joint, then move onto the next. I start with a movement, feel into my body, and let that guide what …
Twisting Cross Leg Squat
I was flowing around with some of the stand up exercises, and stumbled across this one that I particularly liked. First is a cross leg squat until sitting. If you’re not familiar with this move, it is also the method used in the sitting-raising test. This is then done in …
Total vs Free T (and the Role of SHBG)
On the topic of the recent testosterone articles, Ken asks: “I had blood work done two months ago, and my free testosterone wasn’t bad: 794 ng/dl. But my free testosterone, which I understand is what really counts, was quite low – 9.5 pg/ml. They suggested that might be because of …
Box Breathing
Box breathing is a specific form of cadenced breath. It is called box breathing because each leg of the breath, inhale, hold, exhale, hold, is the same length. Thus, if you drew it out in the number of seconds for each one turning 90 degrees for each transition, it would …
Hanging Body Whip Drill
shoulderIt is great to move your body in many different ways. As such, I often play with movements. And so it was that I found myself going from some hanging drills into the following: The Hanging Body Whip Hang from a bar where you can keep your feet on …