The Safety of Deep Squats I am excited to have Dr. Mitch Babcock of HealthHQ contribute this amazing research review on the safety of deep squats. Squats unfortunately continue to get a bad wrap in the medical world as a knee destroyer. But the available literature on deep squats shows them to be very safe. Research also proves them to be...

Rib cage flare during overhead lifting is a common movement fault seen in fitness athletes. While it is not always an issue, quite often it needs to be addressed for better positioning as an athlete moves weight overhead. If you aren’t familiar with the term rib cage flare, it is another name for overextension of the spine. This usually occurs...

I previously published an article on BENCH PRESS MOBILITY. In this article, I outlined several of the key mobility areas to address to allow for proper bench press form. One of those areas was shoulder extension mobility, a commonly overlooked component of shoulder mobility that can impact not only the bench press, but also pushups, dips, and muscle-ups. Since publishing that...

Deadlifts are unfortunately all too commonly believed to be unsafe exercises for an individual’s low back health. But the research says quite the opposite of what many believe. Crazy right? An exercise known to help make your back and hips STRONGER might also make it HEALTHIER!!! Let’s dive into the research on deadlifts for low back pain. Are Deadlifts Safe?...

The push press is a great exercise for improving sports performance, but for a lot of people in the strength conditioning world, it’s a really undervalued exercise in terms of analyzing how an athlete moves and figuring out what they need to work on to improve as on overall athlete.   Push Press Video Transcript: So what’s the Push Press?...

Postpartum Fitness Sarah Duvall At the start of 2018, I asked TheBarbellPhysio followers what they wanted more information on this year. By far the biggest request I had was for Postpartum fitness advice. So, I reached out to my friend Sarah Duvall. We recorded a talk on postpartum issues to give athletes, coaches, and clinicians some guidance on this area....

No matter what recreational activity you choose to follow, minor tweaks and injuries are inevitable. Participating in CrossFit is no exception to this. Injuries happen with CrossFit, just as they do with powerlifting, weightlifting, bodybuilding, running, and any organized sport. Yet, there is still a widely held belief that CrossFit is itself a more dangerous activity. But is this true...

Note: This article is a bit heavier on the science than what I typically put out. BUT understanding WHY tendinopathy occurs is vitally important to properly rehabbing them. Please thoroughly read this before implementing it with yourself. As clinicians, there are some injuries and dysfunctions we see more commonly than others. Tendinopathy ranks high on the “most frequent” list when...

Without a doubt, the most common complaint I hear from athletes is that they have “tight hip flexors”. Most of the time they’ve spent months stretching and foam rolling with no effect. Most of the time, performing combinations of core strength, hip flexor strength, and loaded mobility drills create far more significant and permanent changes than what they’ve been wasting their...