After decades of pain-free living, I was blindsided by lower back issues late last year. Everyday activities became a challenge, and squats and deadlifts were off the table. The turning point came from revisiting Dr. Stuart McGill’s literature, specifically Back Mechanic, Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance, and Gift of Injury. This deep dive inspired a…
Hanging leg raises stand as a cornerstone in core training, particularly beneficial for athletes, as they target the lower abdominal muscles and hip flexors. As your strength progresses, introducing advanced variations becomes crucial to sustain the challenge. In this article, we delve into two advanced hanging leg raise techniques designed to push your limits and…
First workout of the year and I had the pleasure of doing horizontal ring chin-ups (also known as inverted rows). This is a great exercise—if it’s done right! Three key points: brace the core, set the shoulder blades to start, and pause in the top (contracted) position. It’s natural for your range to diminish a…
Inserting strategic pauses when lifting weights is an excellent way to break inertia and increase muscular involvement. Pausing in the bottom position of a lift helps dissipate the stretch-shortening cycle, reducing elastic rebound from tendons and forcing the muscles to do more of the work. If you rest the bar for a solid two seconds…
I first came across this exercise in the book Underground Secrets to Faster Running by Barry Ross. No matter how strong you think your core is, Ab 45s will humble you! Here’s how you do it: Lie on your back with your knees bent and hook your feet under something stable that won’t move—like a…
Here’s a way to make push-ups more challenging: place your hands on a wobble board, elevate your feet on a step, and wear a weighted vest to increase the load. Aim for a full range of motion and keep the wobble board level by bracing your core throughout the set. In the video below, my…
In most gyms, you’ll see people doing knee-ins with a medicine ball or dumbbell held between their feet. While that adds resistance, it also forces the hip flexors to work overtime just to keep the weight elevated — because the resistance is vertical. A smarter alternative is to use horizontal resistance with a low-pulley cable….
The lean-away chin-up is a great exercise not only for your lats and biceps but also for the subscapularis, serratus anterior, triceps—and believe it or not, the abdominals. Yes, a strong contribution from the abdominals is required to stabilize the core during lean-away chin-ups, especially when additional loading is used. It’s not uncommon to hear…
A classic debate among fitness professionals is whether the abdominals should be divided into upper and lower sections. Some experts argue that the abdominals function as a single muscle, with no distinction between upper and lower portions. However, research suggests otherwise—you can selectively recruit different segments of a muscle depending on the type of exercise…
More people are concerned about their midsection than any other body part. The core comprises roughly a third of the body, yet it receives full attention in the gym. Sporting a great set of abs is high on anyone’s list. Let’s face it—if the core is in shape, the whole body is in shape! The…