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,...

We often think of nutrition, hydration, and mobility work in our preparation for sports. But how often have you considered your internal core temperature or ways to regulate that to improve your performance? Probably not very often. But, simple tactics like palm cooling have been shown to have dramatic effects in athletics. Let’s discuss how. Thermoregulation and Performance In the...

Developing a strong skillset as an orthopedic physical therapist requires a broad range of skills. We must be able to create buy-in with our patients, analyze movement, and formulate a plan to attack areas of weakness. The following are the best physical therapy books I’ve read to address all three of these areas. I hope they help you in the...

The hip thrust, popularized by Bret Contreras, is one of the most widely used exercises for targeting glute strength and hypertrophy. This movement takes the standard glute bridge and increases the difficulty by elevating the shoulders for a greater range of motion. A variety of different variations will allow us to increase the intensity of the hip thrust for more...

The psoas march is one of the best exercises for strengthening the hip flexors and abdominal muscles. It’s effectiveness makes it a staple in many programs I write for addressing hip impingement, hip flexor tightness, diastasis recti, and low back pain. If you’re looking to improve any of those areas, then these psoas march (PM) variations will be sure to crush...

The GHD Sit Up is one of the most challenging abdominal exercises in all of fitness. This exercises takes the abdominal muscles through a larger range of motion as the spine extends and flexes during the GHD sit up than most “core” exercises commonly used. This large motion results in the GHD sit up being incredibly challenging and many athletes...

There isn’t a ton of information on the internet about how exactly to return to kipping pull-ups postpartum. There’s even less when we talk about other gymnastics movements such as toes to bar and handstand work. And of the information available, it is often put out by athletes that have had their first child and instantly consider themselves a postpartum...

Whether your goal is to PR your squat and deadlift, or to simply finally get long-lasting relief from low back pain, strengthening the muscles of your lower back is important. While I believe firmly that the deadlift is the best exercise you can do to strengthen your lower back, there is a lot of value in having other exercises to...

If you are looking to improve your hip mobility for improved performance or less pain, then using different banded hip mobilization techniques can be incredibly helpful. There are a number of different ways we can set a band up to help with opening up different directions of motion. Choosing the best mobilization for your specific needs is key to seeing...