The latest buzzword is corrective exercise. Is corrective exercise the latest fad like “drawing in “ was a few years ago? What exactly is corrective exercise? I think I know, but it is a misleading concept. What exactly are you correcting? It sounds to me like another reductionist approach to the human body based on pseudo scientific principles and marketing. The exercises that I see labeled a [...]

No overhead lifting. When squatting do not let the knees go past the toes. Keep spine neutral. Draw in to activate TA. And on and on and on, bla, bla bla. Don’t fall into this trap, these are all rules made to be broken. They are all based on false assumptions. They will work if you live, work and play in phone booth. As humans and athletes we do not. We live in a proprioceptively demanding grav [...]

Back and Front Squats are fine. Not everyone can squat heavy but the exercise is still royalty. Mike Young's article and countless world class athletes are not idiots, the exercise is just an option. The real issue is that the squat is common and measured. Can't squat deep? Bad Mobility. Can't squat heavy? Bad strength program. Can't squat correctly? Bad Strength Coach. Can't squat at all? Fa [...]

I was driving from Burlington Vermont to Boston last night after thanksgiving and made a split second decision. I was ready to go home after a long day and saw a small sign telling that the Robert Frost Farm was exit 4. Many times when driving long distances all over the country a small historical area is on a major interstate but requires you to take a small detour. I saw the sign and then turned [...]

Someone send me this last week: “Mike Boyle's RFESS (rear foot elevated split squat) has made some serious waves in the strength and conditioning community. I think that is important that he dares say no to back squat or front squat any more.” I think this is a sad commentary on the strength and conditioning community. What will it be next, I am not interested in creating controversy or getti [...]

Mike Boyle's RFESS (rear foot elevated split squat) has made some serious waves in the strength and conditioning community. I think that is important that he dares say no to back squat or front squat any more. My question now is with olympic lifts being bilateral, can the same be said with the back being a poor transducer (better stated as a coupling agent due to anatomical syntax) with cleans? I [...]

Someone sent me a picture of one Americas promising young hammer throwers squatting an ungodly amount of weight. I was amazed that with everything we know today that coaches are still having their athletes do this. Why in an event that demands high speed coordination are we still training our athletes to be slow? This type of work is roadblock to success, not a building block.This is just one even [...]

Study Design: A biomechanical lumbar spine model was constructed to simulate three-dimensional spinal kinematics under the application of pure moments. Parametric analysis of the model allowed for the estimation of how much of the coupled motions could be predicted by the lumbar lordosis and the intrinsic mechanical properties of the spine.Morning research is always an interesting as it manages no [...]

Is the "Boylegarian" leg exercise the new front squat? We are back full circle with spinal loading with a split squat but that is another argument. Now I have nothing against Mike Boyle advocating single leg biased exercises but the math is not adding up. The RFESS (rear foot elevated split squat) is not a single leg exercise but more like a 1.5 leg exercise. I would bet that none of his freshma [...]

Why is finding actual video of speed guys lifting good numbers like finding bigfoot? Surely if people can post pictures and videos of themselves drunk, they can post a photo or video squatting 400+. I have been keeping my eyes open on this for years with no result. All I see is Mike Conley 1/8 squatting 405, Staffan Strand squatting 185, still photos of Kajsa with a bar on her shoulders that lo [...]