Sideline that slouch with these five moves that target your upper posterior chain to help you stand taller and lift heavier. Since the average American spends around 13 hours a day sitting, having a spine like a question mark punctuated by a concave chest and rounded shoulders is typical for the 9-to-5 desk jockey. Such habitually...
When you push hard day after day, you risk being sidelined by injury. Here's how to avoid overtraining to stay fit and healthy. Once you’ve had the “No Pain, No Gain” mantra chiseled into your brain, it can be a bit tough to rewire your thought process and modify your workout. But there are a few...
Weary of all the research that links stretching to injury? Follow the six rules below to make sure you’re doing it safely and effectively.You don’t need to be able to break out into the splits on cue, but the first step to having a more limber body comes with understanding some general guidelines. The problem?...
Untie the knots that are holding you back by releasing these five problem areas.Though they're not fully understood, trigger points are commonly believed to be mini muscle spasms caused by repetitive trauma to the tissue, either because of poor posture or repetitive movement patterns that, over time, cause a compensation to occur. That compensating muscle...
If you want to improve your lifting potential, prevent injury and tie together your physique, it’s time to accessorize.An accessory movement is a lift that targets muscles that provide vital assistance during the larger lifts that get you the most bang for your buck. For example, the lats are the primary movers in...
With all of the running, jumping, squatting and bending you do, it’s important to take care of your knees. Here's how to avoid damaging this crucial joint.Whether you’re reading this article sitting down, hovering over your kitchen island, or gliding on the elliptical trainer, your knees are hard at work. As with most parts of...
Including more balance and stability training is a brilliant way to enhance your athletic performance and physique goals.As athletes, we know we should follow a balanced workout program, but as humans, we tend to do what we like and avoid what we don’t. Along those lines, balance and stability training probably take a back seat...
Try these six moves to release — and relieve — your lower back.The world sits. A lot. And according to the National Institutes of Health, eight out of 10 people experience back pain at some point in their lives. Though sedentary living is the No. 1 reason people experience back pain, gym-goers are not exempt:...
Integrate these moves into your program to improve flexibility and protect your shoulders from all angles.The shoulder is a tricky joint because it moves in multiple directions as well as in rotation. Ensuring the joint is mobile both before and after training is key to executing solid lifts and preventing injury. Integrate these moves into...
Trade tight hips for peachy-keen glutes with this smooth-flowing dynamic stretching routine.Tight hip flexors can neurologically weaken your glute complex, robbing you of the ability to fully extend your hips and cash in on complete gluteal activation. This means all that hard work you’re doing in the gym — lunging, squatting and deadlifting — may...