James Tatum joins me this week to discuss improving positioning in the snatch for optimal performance and decreasing excessive strain on the body. James has won three national championships in weightlifting and has extensive knowledge in prepping athletes for maximal strength. I highly recommend checking out his new eBook THE PHYSICALLY PREPARED WEIGHTLIFTER. . For more help improving your mobility,...

Good coaches have an excellent eye for watching an athlete move and knowing what needs to be corrected. Excellent coaches take that a step further by then giving that athlete great cues that produce the desired outcome rapidly. We’ve all heard the cues “sit back” and “screw your feet into the ground” but having a more diverse set of cues...

The overhead squat provides a significant challenge to many athletes. The combination of lower body power, core stability, and overhead strength can humble many respectable athletes. If you practice the Olympic lifts or CrossFit, then this is a skill set you must master for optimal performance. Before we dive into some of my favorite drills to improve the overhead squat,...

In sports and fitness, the ability to get your body into proper positions is incredibly important to properly executing movements with efficiency to maximize performance. Fortunately, most athletes and coaches understand this principle and are programming mobility work with the hopes of improving their performance. BUT more often than not, the mobility work they are using isn’t good enough to...

The Most Overlooked Training Variable: Training Volume When athletes exercise or coaches program training plans, there is no lack of attention to sets, reps, variation in exercises, and providing sufficient stimulus for adaptations to occur. But the most overlooked training variable I see both from a performance standpoint, and an injury factor is training volume. Often athletes will blame their...

Commonly when lifting weights, we see the body choose to move in such a way as to bias its strengths and protect its’ weaknesses. That is because the human body is an efficient organism trying to complete any task using the easiest available route. The good-morning squat is a great example of an athlete moving is this manner. Note: for...

I’m really excited this week to have Josh Jeffery of Carolina Performance Training join us to discuss the need for fitness athletes to develop their aerobic energy system. This is often skipped over in the fitness world but greater aerobic fitness will improve performance greatly. Josh does a fantastic job sharing the need to develop aerobic fitness, the limiters of...

The back squat is considered by most in the strength & conditioning world to be the king of all lifts, BUT what do we do when our squat progress stops? How do we address our specific weak points limiting progression? Try these squat variations to address your specific problem areas! Note: for more details on diagnosing squat weaknesses, check out...

Blood flow restriction training has recently emerged as a game-changer in the rehab and sports performance worlds. While typically strength & hypertrophy gains aren’t seen without lifting weights greater than 65% of an individual’s one-rep maximum, with blood flow restriction training (BFR) similar gains have been seen with loads as low as 20% of an individual’s 1RM! Even more impressive...