The psoas march is among my favorite corrective exercises to prescribe for athletes needing improved lumbopelvic control. This exercise has helped athletes with everything from psoas strains, low back pain, squat technique, and even “tight” hip flexors (because often weak muscles become tense). If you...
We've covered how specific mobility limitations, hip socket alignment, and bone lengths can impact squat performance in the last three parts of this series. In this final installment of individual differences affecting squat technique we will discuss sports variations.Let's begin by looking at Olympic weightlifting...
In Parts I and II in this series on how individual anatomical differences can impact squat performance we covered the effects of various levels ankle mobility, hip mobility, and hip boney anatomy. These two articles provide a significant amount of evidence for the need to...
Last week in Part I of this series on individualizing squat technique prescriptions, we covered how an athlete’s hip and ankle mobility (or lack thereof) can impact their squat form. These variations in individual anatomy mean that many of the “rules” for what a proper...
The pull-up is a foundational movement for the fitness athlete and is often underestimated in its importance. Requiring back, core, and shoulder strength, this movement is fantastic for any athlete. The major problem with the pull-up is that many athletes struggle to build the foundation of...
The bird dog, traditionally programmed for people who either are doing some low back rehab or trying to work on some spinal stability, can be one tough exercise. Rotary stability, glute activation, anterior core control, scapular stability, and lower trap development. Very few athletes, coaches,...
The muscle up is a CrossFit skill that often takes athletes a long time to develop and perfect. I've previously published two articles (1 and 2) to help you develop a framework for developing this movement. The drills give you a great progression to get...
The squat butt wink is one of the most well known and dreaded of all squat movement faults. If you haven’t heard of butt wink before, it is the term used to describe the excessive flexing of the lower back during squats. This puts the...
Weightlifting Mobility Needs As much as any other sport, olympic weightlifting requires incredible mobility if an athlete is to perform the lifts with proper technique and lift maximum weights. Without enough mobility, athletes will lack full depth and positioning, as well as expose themselves to potential...