Belt Squats are a fantastic squat variation where the resistance is attached to a belt around an athlete’s hips so that the load stays on the legs with minimal spinal loading. In this article, we’ll discuss the pros and cons of different options for performing belt squats. First though, let’s cover why athlete’s might want to incorporate belt squats in...

In this video, we’re talking about the best exercises to bulletproof your lower back. For more, please be sure to check out our Bulletproof Back Builder accessory program! The low back is typically overlooked when we’re talking about sports performance and helping to improve moves like your squat and your deadlift. We so often focus on just building leg strength,...

 A lot of athletes program single leg dead lifts as a way to strength their hamstrings, their glutes, and their low back, but they often find that the balance requirements of your standard single leg deadlift tend to be the biggest limitation of their ability to progress that more so than the load that they have on the bar....

A common expression among various fitness circles is “there’s no such thing as overtraining, just under-recovering”. Regardless of your stance on the topic of overtraining it warrants further discussion. For instance, an individual may experience all the symptoms of overtraining but simply not be getting sufficient sleep to support their recovery. Once sleep is corrected, their performance will return to...

One of the least discussed components to an athlete’s workout programming is the workout warm up. This piece of your workout will get your body prepared for optimal performance and should not be ignored. In this article, I’ll outline how athletes should structure their workout warm up and then share several examples of warming up for specific movement patterns. Workout...

In this video, we talk about shoulder pain with kipping pull-ups and muscle-ups and four of the most common things we see leading to people getting irritated shoulders during those movements. We also recently discussed this topic on the Performance Plus podcast! Shoulder Pain with Kipping Pull-Ups Issue # 1 – The Stiff Shoulder The first thing’s going to be,...

The deadlift can be one of the best exercises for building total body strength and improving the health of your spine. But many athletes get recurring low back pain after deadlifts. If that is you, then we will share the most common causes of this to help you get past deadlifts being an aggravating activity. Low Back Pain After Deadlifts...

When discussing the thoracic spine (upper back), we often focus on the importance of mobility in this area. Limitations in upper back range of motion can have a huge impact on your overhead mobility, neck pain, and lower back health. But weakness of the thoracic spine is not commonly discussed. But if you are doing front squats, cleans, and deadlifts,...

Many athletes trying to push their squat weight up end up dealing with shoulder pain with squatting. While we don’t commonly associate the back squat with upper-body injuries, this is far more common than you might think. But breaking down your upper body mobility and addressing tightness can help alleviate this issue while you use other squat variations to continue...