Hip mobility is crucial to the fitness athlete wanting to perform optimally. When working on mobility, we want long-standing improvements in hip joint mobility that also translates to improved performance. And that’s exactly what you’ll get with these eight hip mobility drills. If you want a done-for-you hip mobility program, check out our HIP MOBILITY OVERHAUL. This is a four-day...

achieving a solid overhead position won’t be possible making overhead pressing, snatches, overhead squats, and efficiency suffer. Far too often, athletes waste time foam rolling and performing band distraction drills that only temporarily improve their range of motion. Then the next day they must repeat the process again, never seeing the long term improvements they want in their performance. The...

The front rack can be a very challenging position for many athletes to get into. And without a solid front rack, the Olympics lifts, front squats, and even overhead pressing become significantly harder to perform. Then, with repeated workouts involving those movements, pain begins to creep in making the rack position even more difficult. Quite often pain begins in an...

In all athletics core strength is necessary for optimal sports performance. Olympic weightlifting is no exception, especially when hundreds of pounds are rapidly lifted and even elite athletes frequently catch the barbell out of position. The following exercises are my favorite to build core strength for Olympic weightlifters. With Olympic weightlifters, we want to strengthen the body’s ability to maintain...

I’ve seen too many patients come to my physical therapy clinic with hip pain secondary to poor advice given by mistaken trainers & therapists. While this has not been done purposely, there are several concepts that every trainer needs to know when it comes to the squat. And failure to recognize these concepts puts your athletes at risk for injury...

If you are an Olympic weightlifter or CrossFit athlete you know how important ankle mobility is for your performance. When your ankle joint moves well, you can easily hit great positions in your cleans and snatches, and your squat depth will often be limited. When you have poor ankle mobility, you’ll have to fight your own anatomy during workouts, robbing you...

In Parts I and II in this series on how individual anatomical differences can impact squat performance. We covered the effects of various levels of ankle mobility, hip mobility, and hip boney anatomy. These two articles provide evidence for the need to individualize our squat technique prescription to every athlete that we work with. This week’s article will further investigate...

I realized a terrible truth this week…a while back, I wrote an article on the best kettlebell exercises to use in rehab. But despite being The BARBELL Physio, I’ve never written about the best barbell rehab exercises. Travesty!  So here we go, our favorite exercises with the barbell to use in rehab! For more rehab exercises, see my articles on the...

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, and clinicians understand how valuable the bird dog can be beyond simply a rehab exercise....