If you’re an athlete, chances are you squat on a regular basis. That’s because the squat is one of the most common and important exercises in any routine. We often discuss how strengthening different muscles can help improve your squat performance. But, adjusting your squat stance can be one of the easiest ways to improve your squat performance. When athletes...

The snatch is the fastest of all weightlifting movements. But, it is also the most mobility demanding exercise. Many athletes struggle with this movement due to their inability to get into good positioning. The following exercises are our favorite to improve your snatch mobility and get you lifting more weight! For a complete program designed to improve your mobility for...

Working on improving squat depth can be a long and frustrating journey. And while there are lots of available information on different mobility drills, it can be difficult to determine where to start. Often, I see athletes working a variety of random movements with no laid out plan for improving squat depth. For example, they are stretching their hips because...

The term squat butt wink refers to an athlete’s low back rounding as they reach the bottom position of their squat. Often, this is considered a movement fault as some low back injuries can occur when the low back rounds under heavy loads. If you are dealing with squat butt wink issues, then there few treatment strategies that can help improve your...

Hip impingement can be a problematic condition for individuals. It often limits their ability to participate in their sports and get activities of daily living done. At Onward Charlotte physical therapy, we treat a lot of individuals dealing with hip impingement pain. Also known as femoroacetabular impingement (with or without labrum tears), we use these three hip impingement stretches to...

You walk into your gym and on the white board there it is…the overhead squat. While a few athletes will be thrilled to see this movement most of us won’t. The combination of mobility, strength, control, and coordination needed for this exercise makes it one of the most difficult for many CrossFit athletes.  But there is hope. With the assessments...

If you want to maximize your performance with handstand pushups, walking, and other variations, it is crucial that you have great handstand mobility to get into optimal positions. Many athletes lack the necessary mobility, and as a result, their performance is hindered. Here’s what you can do to get better…   View this post on Instagram   A post shared...

Before discussing hamstring flexibility, we need to talk about testing hamstring flexibility. Many athletes believe their hamstrings are tight. But, often they have all the hamstring flexibility they need to perform all of their sporting activities. If an athlete passes the following tests, they do NOT need to work on hamstring flexibility. Unless they participate in sports requiring extreme hamstring flexibility...

Body tempering (BT), invented by power lifter Donnie Thompson, has gained lots of popularity in the fitness world in the last few years. So what is BT? Does it work? How does it work? Let’s discuss…. What Is Body Tempering? Body tempering is a form of soft tissue mobilization performed by rolling weighted cylinders across muscles and joints. Think of...