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5 Mistakes That Got Me INJURED (Avoid These!)

5 Mistakes That Got Me INJURED (Avoid These!)

by | Oct 22, 2023 | Blog, Exercises, Foam Rolling, Functional Fitness, Pain Relief

Injuries suck.

No one likes them. No one wants them.

And they only seem to add up more and more the older we get.

I’ve personally suffered from far too many of them because of ego and stupid mistakes.

Mistakes I want to help you avoid.

That’s why in this video I’m going to go over 5 training mistakes I made that lead to injury to help you avoid making the same mistakes and even come back stronger than ever no matter your age!

By learning from my own mistakes, I now feel stronger and move better than ever before and have helped many of my clients overcome chronic aches and pains to move and feel their best as well!

So let’s jump right in with mistake #1….

Mistake #1: Just resting an injury.

Rest can be a key component of recovery. 

But far too often we just rest it then go right back to what we were doing that lead to the injury in the first place.

We never actually correct the underlying cause or problem.

We never address the movement compensation causing overload.

And then we wonder why a few months later we are sidelined with the same issue or another injury even on that same side of our body. 

Resting it doesn’t fix the problem!

If you have an injury, you need to assess what lead to the overload of that area in the first place.

Because often the point of pain, the place that got injured, isn’t even where the problem started. 

Even previous injuries may have resulted in changes to our movement patterns leading to the issues we now have.

Like that ankle sprain you got years ago you never rehabbed may be why you have hip or lower back aches and pains now. 

So instead of just resting an area, or even if you do need to rest to recover to start, focus on taking things back to basics and doing that rehab work to improve your mind-body connection and make sure you are performing exercises correctly. 

You want to come back to training and work on improving and retraining proper movements over just going back to what you were doing.

And regress to progress. Start back slowly to make sure you’re building up using the correct muscles to power moves! 

Which brings me to Mistake #2: Focusing only on proper form.

The more advanced an exerciser you are, the more you know what proper form should be…

And the more you can also CHEAT and compensate.

So picture perfect form doesn’t always mean we’re using the correct muscles. 

And this ability to mimic proper form is also why you can get injured while saying, “I have great form with moves! I know what I’m doing!”

Too often we force a movement pattern we can’t fully control, which leads to us overusing muscles not meant to handle the load or seeking out mobility from joints that aren’t meant to help us get that range of motion and movement. 

It’s why we may feel our lower backs as we try to extend our spine to perform the bent over row with a straight back. 

If we have limited thoracic mobility, due to hunching over a computer, we may end up overarching our lower back to compensate.

This can then lead to us overusing our lower back and ending up with back pain while our row form looks good.

We also have to remember that proper form isn’t a one size fits all thing. There are variations to what is perfect.

Like with the squat….

Social media may show you this one version of a picture perfect squat with super upright torso, feet hip width and completely straight ahead as the person squats ass to grass… 

But if you have a shorter torso and longer femurs or a different hip socket shape and depth, you may need a different stance or have more of a forward lean.

We don’t want to just ignore the importance of form, but we do want to recognize that there are acceptable variations we may each need based on build or even previous injuries or even mobility restrictions. 

If we try to force our body into a form mold that doesn’t fit, if we try to do a move we can’t control using the correct muscles, we are going to end up injured.

So focus not only on the movement pattern itself, but what you actually feel working to power the move.

And don’t be afraid to use variations or tweaks to movements to fit what you need!

Next Mistake #3: Not keeping in rehab as prehab.

You can NEVER stop doing what makes you better. 

And so often future injuries are a result of PREVIOUS aches and pains we didn’t fully address or keep addressing. 

How many of us have had an injury, done some rehab, had it go away, stopped the rehab then been frustrated when it seems like the injury keeps flaring back up?

It’s because we stopped doing the rehab that improved our mobility and built up strength in underactive and weak muscles! 

And the second we stop doing what made us better, we start to fall back into old postures, movements and recruitment patterns, overusing muscles not meant to carry the load.

Often we want to default back into movement patterns we did for a long time that have become natural. 

Movement patterns and postures we constantly have to fight against to ingrain new ones that will become natural only with time.

Time we don’t often truly dedicate to the changes!

So once you finish up rehab and start feeling good, you need to turn that rehab into prehab. 

You can’t just stop it at the first sign of feeling better and go back to what you were doing!

Include that prehab as part of your warm up or on recovery days BEFORE anything adds up! 

This helps ensure you’re using the correct muscles in movements and have mobilized joints to work through a full range of motion.

And if you do feel any aches starting to slightly reappear, whether you’ve spent longer hours at your desk or have been traveling and got a bit lax on your prehab, step up that mobility and stability work and assess what other moves in your workouts you may need to modify to address what is going on! 

But don’t think just because you did some physio or rehab for a bit the issue is magically solved forever!

We get good at what we consistently do and we need to keep doing those boring basics to maintain the foundation we built!

And while prehab and mobility work is key…

We can’t out rehab our daily movements and the way we then train in our workouts… 

This is why you have to be conscious of Mistake #4: Not checking your ego at the gym door.

Trust me…I want to push hard in my training sessions. 

And I know ego can push me to want to eek out an extra rep or use a heavier weight even as my form breaks down. 

There are definitely those workouts where I finish a set and know I wasn’t engaging the correct muscles as I got tired…yet I pushed through anyway.

This happens because we want to see results and we want to see them now.

But there is a fine line we have to tread when it comes to pushing hard and pushing to a point where we are ultimately creating overload and pain. 

We need to focus on being intentional with our workouts and making each rep quality.

We need to realize when our ego needs to be put in check.

We also need to embrace MODIFYING at times to get more out of moves. 

Sometimes we advance to a movement we haven’t earned, thinking if the exercise is technically harder it will help us see better results faster.

But since we haven’t earned the move, we compensate. We don’t actually work the muscles fully that we want to target. 

Not only does this not get us the full benefit of the move, so we’re wasting effort and time, but it can lead to injury.

If we instead had modified and regressed to progress, we could have made the move harder for ourselves because we were actually able to use the correct muscles. 

So as much as you may want to do that push up from your toes, check your ego. 

If your hips are sagging, your head is jutting forward or your form is just fugly, modify it to make it picture perfect.

That tweak can actually make the move HARDER because you’re able to use the correct muscles. And you’ll see better results because of it. 

Modifying doesn’t mean making a move easier. It means making a move match what you need.

And this can help you train harder without creating aches and pains!

And this final mistake is one we so often make and think we could “get away with” when we were younger…Only to now realize “getting away with it” may be why we have more aches and pains…

Mistake #5: Not doing a proper warm up.

Ever go into a workout without doing a warm up because you’re short on time and feel like it takes multiple rounds of your training session or even half your workout before you’re feeling warm and squatting as low as you’d like? 

Well not only did you end up wasting half your workout time by not “wasting time” warming up, but you also put yourself at greater risk for overload and injury.

We have to recognize that our bodies aren’t primed for the movements we are about to do because we’ve spent our day driving in a car or hunched over a computer or doing other repetitive movements and suboptimal postures. 

So that heavy overhead press you want to perform that keeps hurting your shoulder or neck or back, may be because you aren’t addressing your hunched over desk posture and first working on your thoracic extension.

You aren’t doing the mobility work to properly press overhead and engage your upper back while having proper scapular control. 

But all you need to do to fix this is include foam rolling, stretching and activation in your warm up prior! And do so CONSISTENTLY!

Your warm up is the time you address daily postures and ready your body for the movements you are going to do. 

It is the time you can address past aches and pains to make sure you’re not creating the same overload that can lead to injury.

This prehab work done just even for 5-10 minutes in your warm up CONSISTENTLY can add up more than a once a week recovery session. 

So in your warm up…

Foam roll to relax tight and overactive muscles… 

Perform dynamic stretches to warm up your body and mobilize your joints… 

Then include activation moves to engage those underactive muscles while improving your mobility and stability. 

Through this 3-part prehab process, you can ready your body to put in some quality work during your workout. 

You can help prevent your desk job posture and lack of activity during the day from impacting how you train!

If you want to avoid aches and pains from getting worse and adding up more and more over the decades, focus on truly addressing what caused the pain in the first place. 

Don’t push through it. Don’t skip your prehab.

Focus on what you feel working in movements and never stop doing what made you feel better! 

For more injury resources, CLICK HERE.

7 Big LIES About Exercise and Aging

7 Big LIES About Exercise and Aging

by | Oct 9, 2023 | Blog, Exercises, Functional Fitness, Mindset, Workouts

The best way to feel and look old really quickly is to stop doing all the things that kept you healthy.

Too often we hit an age that we deem “old” and stop pushing ourselves the way we used to in our training.

Heck I even found an article on WebMD about exercises to avoid after 50 and it said…

“Lifting weights is a great way to build muscle strength, but when you’re over 50 there is no reason to push yourself too hard.”

I’m sorry….NO.

While we can’t change our age, at any time we can make changes to move and feel our best.

And the best way NOT to see results is NOT to challenge yourself.

Use it or lose it.

Getting older doesn’t mean you now should stop pushing yourself to conquer new challenges or step outside your comfort zone.

Getting older actually makes it even more important that you do so that you stay healthy and strong till your final day on this planet!

That’s why in this video I want to refute 7 reasons I often hear people use as excuses not to push themselves outside their comfort zones when it comes to their strength training once they hit whatever age they believe to be “old.”

Myth #1: I shouldn’t push myself too hard. 

I can’t even describe the spasms my face wants to go into stating that myth even for the 100th time.

No wonder we’re seeing more injuries, more cognitive decline…

No wonder we think aging just means gaining weight and getting out of shape?! 

We’re promoting attitudes that perpetuate that!

I don’t care if you’re 20 or 90, you need to CHALLENGE yourself with your training to keep pushing your body to adapt and grow stronger and MAINTAIN your strength. 

Sarcopenia, or muscle loss, is so prevalent because we’ve too easily adopted the belief that we don’t need to push ourselves with our training. That with age we deserve to be lazy.

But if you want to stay strong and fit and even mentally with it till your final day on this planet, you NEED to push yourself to feel worked in your workouts. 

This doesn’t mean every session should slaughter you. But it shouldn’t be that way at any age. 

But every single workout you do want to create that progressive overload and do something hard.

We build and retain lean muscle through pushing our bodies to do more than they could the previous session!

Myth #2: X Move Is Bad And Dangerous. 

You can get hurt training at any age.

And as someone who has learned a lot since their early meathead days, I would say we actually end up being smarter in our training as we get older as we often appreciate the value of just moving well over letting ego dictate what we do. 

BUT no matter our age we have to stop just demonizing exercises. Or blaming exercises for aches and pains.

Squats don’t hurt your knees.

Bad squats or recruitment patterns with loads you haven’t earned do. 

And unless you don’t ever plan to sit down to a toilet again, it would be in your best interest to learn to really control and retrain that squat movement pattern as much as you can!

If you want to be able to do a movement or maintain your mobility, you need to train that movement pattern in the gym!

Regress to progress.

Training only leads to injury when we haven’t earned a move or misuse a move. 

By doing a move that doesn’t match your needs and goals, you can get injured at ANY age. 

Often the fact that we even did moves with ego when we were younger, is what has now led to the aches and pains we even have.

But training isn’t dangerous.

We need to even see the gym as an opportunity to PRACTICE proper movements so that we are at less risk for injury in everyday life. 

The gym is a perfect place to learn to move well. 

Just don’t be afraid to regress to progress and focus on intentionality with your movement to earn those advancements! 

Because if you train smarter and not just harder, you put yourself at less risk for injury getting up and down of the ground or lifting that box!

Myth #3: I shouldn’t lift too heavy.

First off, what is too heavy?

A weight you can’t lift?

Something you can’t lift with proper form?

If that’s the case, you shouldn’t EVER lift too heavy.

But if you don’t challenge your muscles, you won’t create that stimulus for muscle growth. 

And we want to do everything we can to promote that environment for growth as we will find it gets harder and harder to build muscle the older we get!

But especially as we get older we need to focus on maintaining maximal strength. 

That means NOT shying away from lower rep, heavy weight work in our training.

Maximal strength work means we are better able to prevent falls and fractures and are not only stronger, but have more lean muscle mass which keeps our bones healthy and helps us look leaner. 

So lift heavy for strong bones and a lean physique! 

Stop defaulting to only doing 15-20 rep work with lighter loads.

Push those heavy weights as you earn them and build up to keep yourself strong and your metabolic rate higher! 

Myth #4: I have (insert health concerns here). 

We always want to address injuries and health concerns with our training routines.

But this should be the case at any age.

However, too often, as we get older and more health concerns may pop up, we see this as a reason to stop pushing hard in our workouts or train at all. 

When often training will help us improve our health and can even combat many of our symptoms!

Strength work can help reduce chronic inflammation. It can reduce our risk for osteoporosis. It can improve our cognitive functioning.

It can help us sleep better to recover from illness faster.

It can help us maintain our bone health. 

It can even help us retrain movements and strengthen muscles to overcome injuries. 

It can help us move and feel a whole heck of a lot younger. 

Overall, strength training is linked with a 10%–17% lower risk of heart disease, total cancer, diabetes, lung cancer and death from any cause. (According to a review study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (2022; 56 [13])) 

Yet so often we let health concerns stop us instead of finding a way to strengthen around them. And THAT is what makes us feel older so much faster!

Find ways to regress moves and address what you need to focus on feeling the correct muscles work.

Design workouts around your schedule based on the intensity you need. And start back slow. 

But the key is to START and to focus on building, meeting yourself where you are at!

Myth #5: I shouldn’t do awkward moves. 

As we get older, we are less willing to make ourselves feel uncomfortable or awkward or even bad at something.

When we’re young, we embrace it more as we encounter new things on almost a daily basis even. 

But as we get older, we don’t like to push to do new things that feel awkward and uncomfortable. 

The thing is…we need to.

Those awkward moves improve our mental health.

They also keep our mind-body connection strong which allows us to react more quickly in everyday life. 

Many even improve our balance and core strength, especially if they are single sided moves! 

And these moves help us even build muscle, creating progression in different ways, changing the range of motion, stability and even tempos.

They challenge not only our body but even our mind to keep us younger and healthy!

And ladies, studies have shown even greater benefits from physical activity in terms of our thinking speed as we get older! 

Myth #6: I can’t build muscle. 

Yup. It does get harder to build and retain lean muscle as we get older.

But trying to use this as an excuse to not even try?

NOPE!

It is even more reason to push hard and lift heavier! 

It’s also a reason to cut back on the chronic cardio, which can not only cause more inflammation and joint issues, but lead to us struggling even more to build and retain lean muscle. 

Instead we need to do everything we can to combat the fact that we don’t have the optimal hormone levels for muscle growth Any exercise we once did and we don’t utilize protein as efficiently. 

We need to do everything we can to focus on lifting heavy, challenging ourselves and pushing hard in our training while including adequate recovery. 

This is the only way we can build muscle and at least make sure we maintain what we already have as the more we lose through inactivity, the more we will struggle to get it back the older we get!

Myth #7: I can’t recover as quickly so I shouldn’t do as much. 

We may find that our recovery does change as we get older, especially even during menopause when our sleep may be impacted more.

But this is all the more reason to train with purpose and design intentional workouts that we can be CONSISTENT with. 

Because the more inconsistent we are, the harder we make it on ourselves to recover.

We don’t often realize that, as we’ve gotten older, we actually are less consistent in having that set gym training routine.

And that inconsistency can make every workout feel new to our body, so we are constantly getting sore.

Make sure to set a schedule you can be consistent with. 

Then don’t randomly string together moves or workouts without a plan.

Create a set schedule you repeat for a few weeks so you can slowly progress and build each week.

This will help improve your recovery over always feeling beat down.

Plus, including mobility work and not feeling pressure to do wasted volume may not only help you recover faster but even build strength more efficiently from your training. 

Often less is more and too often, when we’re younger, we do more just because we can or because we’re trying to out exercise our diet.

So see this as an opportunity to make some changes that lead to even better gains!

Define aging on your own terms.

Stay strong till your final day on this planet by never stopping to push yourself and challenge yourself. 

Include those strength workouts that make you uncomfortable but that meet you where you are at to see fabulous muscle and strength gains at any and every age! 

For an amazing community of women building their leanest, strongest bodies at any and EVERY age, join my Free Facebook Group! 

How To Increase Metabolism At Any Age (7 Workout Tips)

How To Increase Metabolism At Any Age (7 Workout Tips)

by | Oct 1, 2023 | Blog, Exercises, Workouts

The number one thing impacting your metabolic health isn’t your age…

It’s your muscle mass.

And so often as we get older, we DO lose muscle.

Not to mention previous dieting and workout practices for weight loss often cause us to lose muscle as we strive for faster results on the scale.

And this muscle loss is often why we see more metabolic decline and adaptations over time.

The great thing is…

We can REVERSE these things and improve our metabolic health at ANY age.

But boosting our metabolism isn’t just about our diet, it’s also about how we train.

We need to focus on training practices that create that stimulus for muscle growth while also helping us to burn more calories throughout the day.

More muscle requires more calories consumed to be maintained and more calories burned even at rest!

That’s why in this video I wanted to share 7 tips you can use to improve your training schedule and boost your metabolism

Tip #1: Work legs AND upper body in a workout.

Working two large muscle groups in a single session helps you burn more calories DURING the workout and build muscle faster.

This creates a greater calorie burn during the day for better fat loss results, but also raises your resting metabolic rate because of the added muscle.

More muscle means more calories burned even at rest to build and maintain it. Your energy demands go up!

By not only working two large muscle groups in general but specifically pairing LEGS and UPPER body in a session, you can promote an even more optimal hormonal environment for growth.

By doing legs BEFORE upper body in a session, studies have shown you release more testosterone and growth hormone, which can lead to faster muscle gains.

So whether you do butt and hamstrings with back exercises or quads and chest, consider pairing lower body with upper body in a workout.

This can help you get in more quality work for muscle groups not only in a single workout but over the week.

This is also a great way to pack in more to shorter training sessions, which can also lead to a better hormonal environment for growth.

Too often we make our sessions longer, leading to not only wasted volume but a rise in cortisol levels which can fight against our gains.

So alternate areas worked in your sessions so that one muscle group gets to rest as you work the other. This will keep your sessions shorter!

And make sure you’re focusing on big heavy compound lifts for each area for the bulk of your workout!

Tip #2: Use cluster sets to lift more.

We need to lift more weight to build muscle.

The more you can progress and lift, the faster you can build.

But this isn’t just about what you can lift for a single rep.

It’s about the total loads lifted overall for an area in individual workouts and even over weeks and months.

The more weight you move overall, the more you’ll see that growth.

But this weight lifted needs to also be quality work.

This is where cluster sets, especially for a compound exercise to start your workout can be an amazing tool to increase your training density and actually lift more weight overall for an area.

With cluster sets, you are breaking up your traditional set of 8 reps, into fewer reps, say just 2 or 3 in a row, with just 10-30 seconds of rest between those mini sets, before you rest longer and do another round.

Because you are only performing 2 or 3 reps before the short rest, you will find you can use more weight for the full 8 reps than you would have been able to if you had tried to just do 8 in a row.

You may also find you avoid that last kind of half done rep because of fatigue for quality reps all the way through.

More weight lifted in a set amount of time for quality reps leads to faster muscle growth and ultimately helps boost that metabolism!

Tip #3: Design shorter and harder workouts.

So often we focus on doing more, making our workouts longer and harder to try to make ourselves more sore, thinking that will lead to better results faster.

Instead we need to focus less on time and volume and more on quality, intensity and intentionality with everything we do.

Less is more when what we do is done well.

While we may feel like we are giving 100% as our workout gets longer and we do more reps and sets, that 100% intensity isn’t a true 100%.

If instead we focus on giving that full true 100% effort for less, we will see that quality pay off.

Not to mention hormone levels start to fight against us the longer those sessions get, especially if we aren’t including enough rest but instead just trying to do more reps and exercises for the same muscle.

While we don’t want to just demonize a hormone like cortisol because it does help promote fat metabolism, exercising for too long can elevate levels of cortisol to catabolize muscle protein for fuel instead of conserving it to be used to repair damaged tissues.

So we want to be conscious that we are including everything in our sessions with purpose and not just making them longer and longer to feel harder thinking that will lead to better gains!

Focus on quality and what you truly feel working with each rep. Be present in your workouts to push the effort and maximize everything you include!

Tip #4: Use interval finishers.

Keeping our heart healthy is key and strength training can be metabolic and improve our conditioning and cardiovascular healthy.

But it can also be key to include some cardio to help us recover faster so we can lift more.

Not to mention interval training can lead to more calories being burned even at rest while, if done strategically, not leading to muscle catabolism or impaired recovery.

Interval training can increase our EPOC or excess post exercise oxygen consumption…often called the afterburn.

And while no magic pill, this increase in energy expenditure to help us recover, repair and rebuild can lead to better fat loss results and offset some of the metabolic changes we’ve experienced as we build lean muscle.

Consider including short interval sessions as the end of your workouts, varying work to rest intervals.

Don’t add 20 minutes on to your workout, but consider interval work for about 5 minutes – whether you include longer work than rest like 20 on, 10 off or longer rest to work 10 on 30 off!

That variety can help you work different energy systems and even improve your recovery time to be able to lift more in your strength workouts!

Tip #5: REST REST AND…oh yea…REST

This is the least sexy of all 7 tips but the most important.

Your muscles only grow if they have time to repair and rebuild.

This doesn’t mean you have to wait a whole week before working an area again or that you won’t see gains if you do work a muscle on back to back days at times, but you want to be conscious that areas have time to recover.

And the more frequently you work an area in a week, the more you need to lower the number of reps and sets and work you do per session.

Focusing on rest also doesn’t just mean recovery between sessions but DURING your workout.

If you rush through sets without allowing yourself enough rest, you’re going to see your work output and intensity drop quickly.

This can lead to you feeling tired and challenged while not actually challenging yourself to the fullest extent possible.

It may be why you aren’t building muscle as fast as you’d like or really creating that anabolic hormonal environment for growth.

So don’t skip on the recovery!

It is truly the part so often overlooked that can fight against our muscle gains and perpetuate those metabolic adaptations.

Tip #6: Don’t forget your power work!

Explosive power work is not only key if you want to stay functional stronger and better able to avoid injury as you get older, but it can also help build muscle.

It helps us improve our mind-body connection and recruit muscles faster in the correct order, which also results in us being able to lift more.

Yet often we avoid it because we only think of it as jumping.

And while we shouldn’t avoid jumping as we get older, I also understand that injuries may not allow us to do that jump training as part of our explosive work, which can lead to us not doing any at all.

Not to mention, too often we lump in explosive power work to interval work when it needs to be its own set thing.

When doing power work, short explosive max effort intervals with longer rest periods are essential. Otherwise you end up fatiguing and training slowness.

You want to move quickly, go at 100% intensity then rest fully.And you want to do this when you are fresh.

Consider including power work before your first heavy lift after your warm up routine.

Including things like sprints, even on a bike if you want to reduce impact, or weighted exercises like med ball work, kettlebell swings or even Olympic lifts if you’re experienced, can lead to amazing muscle gains.

They can also promote optimal hormone levels, increasing growth hormone production, for our strength workouts!

Tip #7: Walk for recovery! 

Our body was meant to move. Moving more is key to our health and even our fat loss results.

But we don’t want to just include workouts that beat us down.

That’s why walking is so key to include.

The extra movement can help us burn more calories while not being catabolic to our muscle mass.

It can help increase our metabolic rate while being a great restorative activity.

And if you can get outside to even get Vitamin D, it is a win win for your health and body recomp!

So if you’re someone that struggles to take time off, or you’re working to lose weight and want to fight those metabolic adaptations, include more walking in your routine, especially on “rest days.”

You can even add in some bonus mobility work before your walk to help your body recover for your next training sessions so you can push hard!

Metabolic changes happen but there is so much we can do to reverse them and see better fat loss results no matter our age.

However, we need to make sure we’re focusing on doing everything we can in our workouts to build that lean muscle if we want to increase our metabolic rate.

Use these 7 tips to boost your metabolism and see your hard work in the gym pay off!

Ready to accelerate your results with metabolism boosting workouts?

–> Join Dynamic Strength

 

7 Bad Habits That STOPPED Me From Losing Weight

7 Bad Habits That STOPPED Me From Losing Weight

by | Sep 17, 2023 | Blog, Diet, Exercises

I’ve made all the mistakes when it comes to trying to lose fat, gain muscle and create a sustainable lifestyle.

But I like to think all of my…interesting experiments…weren’t for nothing.

Because I’ve made so many I can help my clients avoid making those same mistakes and wasting time.

That’s why I wanted to share 7 bad habits that kept me from losing fat for the longest time!

And I’ll be honest…most sabotaged my success because they were simply unsustainable and created a mindset of restriction and deprivation.

Because while achieving our goals does mean making sacrifices at times,
we also have to learn to create a balance, meeting ourselves where we are at.

And that’s why I think this first bad habit is something many of us have had sabotage our results…

Focusing On Eating Too Clean. 

I literally ended up curled up on the bathroom floor of a hotel in San Diego. I was pasty white, in a cold sweat and looked like death. 

All because I’d been eating only chicken and broccoli and extremely clean, one ingredient foods for weeks before the vacation. 

One spicy sangria and a couple of appetizers later and I was sick. 

It’s because I’d created these extreme limitations on myself that not only had left me miserable for weeks, while not seeing better results faster, but they led to me being sick at the first deviation from my clean eating plan.

Too often we try to make ourselves feel guilty for not hitting some arbitrary standard of clean.

But this mindset of good and bad foods not only assigns moral value to foods that don’t have any, leading to GUILT when we eat one thing we aren’t supposed to, but it also can sabotage our results and long-term consistency. 

This extremely restrictive clean mindset can lead to an obsession with food.

It can also lead to us creating nutrient deficiencies.

And it can lead to us ultimately feeling so miserable and deprived we give up. 

And then we feel that reaching our goals is impossible and we just don’t have the willpower. We start to even DREAD the idea of making diet changes.

And all because we’re trying to force something unsustainable.

Instead of focusing on “eating clean,” focus on small swaps to foods and ingredients based on what you’re currently eating. 

Realize that whole natural foods are key BUT that you can and SHOULD include the foods you love.

However, this does bring me to bad habit number 2….

Including Too Much Food Diversity. 

After attempting to cut out all unclean foods, and the massive backfire I suffered…not to mention I literally couldn’t even look at chicken and broccoli for awhile… 

I went to include as much diversity as humanly possible.

I thought it was a great idea to include things to keep my meals interesting and get micronutrients from a diversity of sources. 

And while we do want to include a diversity of foods for optimal health to get vitamins and minerals in different forms…

Trying to include too much diversity can be overwhelming and lead to actually more cravings!

The more we give ourselves, the less of a routine and habit we get into and the more we WANT.

It becomes then a slippery slope of more and more foods creeping in. 

And the less nutrient dense they are and the more processed, the easier it becomes to overeat and feel hungry even when we’ve eaten enough calories.

Not to mention it can make grocery shopping, meal prepping and hitting those macros more overwhelming when there are so many more pieces to the puzzle. 

Simplifying and focusing on a set grocery list and meal plan with a few key ingredients each week can help us stay consistent and not be overwhelmed as we make changes! 

Studies have even shown that we are less likely to overeat when eating the same things repeatedly, making it easier to maintain our macros and calories to lose the fat!

It leads to fewer cravings and a better shut off mechanism when we’ve consumed what we need! 

The 3rd bad habit is a hard one to change when we want results as fast as possible…

It’s Always Going Hard And Never Cycling Intensity.

Sometimes less is more.

And sometimes if we back off when we aren’t motivated or proactively give ourselves a break, we actually stay more consistent overall. 

If you’ve been dieting and in a deficit for a while, you may both physically and mentally start to feel the impact of the lower calories.

Your body does want to fight the weight loss process as weight loss is seen as a threat to your survival.

So you will find that cravings go up even as you get leaner and your mind fights against what you know you “should” be doing. 

You may even feel demotivated to train in the way you need.

This is where potentially a deload week or a dieting break may come in handy.

The key is doing these things strategically and with a plan not just eating everything in sight while you lay on the couch for a couple of weeks doing nothing. 

But give your body a break from the calorie deficit, maybe including even a few foods you’ve wanted but haven’t had.

Just be strategic in giving yourself guidelines to eat at maintenance calories and even hit easier macro ratios.

Don’t let this become a free for all. 

And then you may find you’re more motivated to train with the increase in fuel or that a deload week allows your body a break to repair and rebuild while also giving you a mental break from the strain of constantly pushing that progression. 

But be proactive if you’ve been dieting for awhile and give yourself that strategic break. You may be surprised by how much it even helps you bust through a plateau!

The next bad habit is one I think many of us fall prey to that prevents us sticking with the habits we need to see the body recomp we want…

And it is – Only Using The Scale To Measure Progress. 

I think the scale can be a great tool. And I think it can even be a good thing to weigh daily.

But the scale also doesn’t show us the full picture.

It can make you feel like you’re actually even losing ground when results are truly building. 

And this is because the scale just tells you your weight in that moment on that day.

It doesn’t tell you if you’ve gained weight because you’ve gained muscle while losing fat or if you’ve lost weight by losing muscle and even gaining fat.

And seeking to see faster results on the scale, can actually sabotage your fat loss efforts, especially your long term maintenance.

Because the faster we seek to see results on the scale, the more we often end up losing muscle mass and NOT just fat.

So if you want to focus on truly losing fat to look leaner, you need to track your progress by taking body measurements and progress pictures. 

Especially progress pictures of areas you don’t even care about changing. 

Because often the places we want to lose from the most are the LAST to go.

So by taking multiple angles and areas, we can see fat loss occurring in other places to know to stay the course! 

The next bad habit is one that I’ve found personally the hardest to break…especially because I always enjoyed training…

It was – Trying To Out Exercise My Diet.

Many of us fall into this habit because it actually does work…to start! 

But relying on this is also what ultimately keeps us stuck in this yo-yo dieting cycle, struggling to lose more and more as we get older.

It works because most of us are more comfortable being uncomfortable in our training than we are with making nutritional changes. 

We also can create that calorie deficit to start by doing MORE in our workouts.

And it makes us feel really in control to push hard. 

We feel good about our hard work. 

But working hard doesn’t mean we’re working hard in a direction that moves us forward.

And over time, our body adapts to the training stimulus, which means we aren’t then creating the calorie deficit we once were. 

So at that point either our diet needs to change or we need to train harder and longer.

At some point, trying to only do more with our workouts will burn us out, lead to injury or even ultimately result in metabolic adaptations that make it harder and harder to lose as we get older.

The simple fact is, our nutrition has to match our goals. 

And by adjusting our diet we can see our performance in the gym even improve as we achieve fabulous body recomp.

We will truly see the hard work and sweat we are putting in during our workouts PAY OFF! 

And I think it’s really key we recognize that at times…it WON’T feel like our hard work is paying off.

We won’t see linear progress toward our fat loss goals. 

But this is why I think this next habit is so key to break…

Treating Your Workouts Only As A Means To Lose Weight.

While we do want to design our workouts and our nutrition to work together toward a singular goal, I also think it is key we set complementary goals that further motivate us to do the habits we need to see results. 

And that’s why I found that a secret to consistency and success in losing fat and keeping it off is actually Setting Performance Goals while also NOT seeing my workouts as just a chance to burn more calories and lose faster.

By focusing on a specific performance goal, like improving my push ups, conquering a skill, lifting more weight in a specific lift, addressing an imbalance…even training for a competition…

I help keep myself more motivated to train hard. I have more purpose for each workout. 

And then I have something to track in the gym to see my hard work building toward. 

This ultimately also helped me lose fat because it kept me doing the habits I needed.

I wanted to eat to fuel and feel my best, which resulted in better body comp. 

I wanted to do the recovery I needed to be able to train hard. 

By setting complementary goals, like performance goals for our workouts, we better help ourselves to stay motivated to do the habits we need even when fat loss results are slow or we hit a plateau. 

It allows us to celebrate other wins to keep moving forward!

And the final bad habit I think sabotaged for years and kept me stuck losing the fat to only regain it and feel like I was starting over every January with a new cut was…

Not Doing SOMETHING When It Was Better Than Nothing. 

Every holiday season I would make an excuse not to track. “Oh I know the portions I need to eat.”

“Oh I can find balance I’m not being that off plan.”

“Oh I can take today off.”

And every holidays I would pack on the pounds.

I realized that, while there are times of year I don’t track and stay consistent, the holidays was not one of those times. 

But I also knew the habits I enjoyed when motivated in January wouldn’t fit the holiday season. 

That’s when I realized the power of 1% improvements.

Just being a little more consistent, focusing on doing a minimum, could help me move forward even during a time I didn’t care as much or have the motivation and focus. 

Too often we try and rely on a perfect 21 days or 6 weeks. 

But doing the ideal only during those times doesn’t allow for true habit changes or results to snowball. 

So it’s key we stop the all or nothing habit changes and realize that sometimes something is better than nothing, embracing doing the minimum at times! 

If you’ve been struggling to make consistent and sustainable changes, and have fallen into these bad habits, focus on making one change today!

We need to keep constantly learning and remember that small swaps and changes add up!

Ready to create sustainable habits that help you achieve your leanest, strongest body EVER and maintain those results till your final day on this planet?!

Join my Dynamic Strength program!

Fixing These 5 Abs Mistakes Was A Game Changer For Me!

Fixing These 5 Abs Mistakes Was A Game Changer For Me!

by | Sep 3, 2023 | Blog, Core, Exercises

Want toned abs? That lean-looking six pack?

Then you’ll want to avoid these ab training mistakes.

And yes…I want to discuss the mistakes we make when it comes to our ab training routines.

Because while abs are revealed by what we do in the kitchen, our training can play a huge role in not only the speed but the quality of our results.

And too often our core work is an afterthought in our programming.

A few ab moves strung together, done randomly over the week.

Or some googled “best” core moves we do till they burn and our abs feel destroyed.

That’s why in this video I wanted to share 5 common mistakes I see people making and how to avoid them to really build a killer ab training routine!

Mistake #1: Doing Only Big Heavy Lifts To Work Your Core.

Yes, those big compound lifts DO strengthen your core.

But those moves alone aren’t enough.

Because your core is truly only being worked in one way during these moves – to brace. 

When really our abs, and the other muscles of our core, have so many different functions we can and should be addressing.

By including focused core work and isolation exercises for the different muscles of your core, not only can you create better muscle hypertrophy for more defined abs but you can truly strengthen any weak links. 

The stronger your weakest link, the more you can lift. And the more you can lift, the more muscle you can build which will only further improve your body comp results. 

WIN WIN!

Many of us even do this already with other areas. We include leg extensions to further strengthen our quads after lunges or squats. 

We do bicep curls after back exercises to further target our arms. 

The same thing needs to be done for our abs.

So stop just only focusing on compound moves. 

Include isolation work for your abs and core and address ALL of the functions these muscles perform from spinal flexion and lateral flexion to twisting and even anti-extension and flexion. 

Yes this means doing things like crunches, leg raises, and russian twists…the things so often demonized as not being functional. 

But strengthening movements those muscles are MEANT to perform is actually ESSENTIAL if we want to be functionally strong and see the definition we want!

Which actually brings me to Mistake #2…Fearing Moves Because You’ve Heard They’re “Bad.” 

I know I ruffled some feathers when I mentioned crunches and russian twists already.

Because over the last few years these have gathered more and more hate. 

And 100% NO MOVE IS RIGHT FOR EVERY PERSON.

But just because YOU have an injury that may make a move not right for YOU because you can’t control it, doesn’t make it wrong for someone else or even dangerous.

I can also tell you, too often it wasn’t the move that caused the problem even if you got hurt during it. 

It was improper recruitment patterns or us doing a move that wasn’t yet really earned which we couldn’t fully control that led to the issue.

Often the move we get injured on is even simply the straw that broke the camel’s back as overload had already built up without us fully realizing.

And moves like crunches and russian twists can actually be amazing exercises to target our abs and obliques and build that definition because of how isolated their focus is. 

Because they isolate those muscle groups so well, it can allow us to really learn to engage and activate those specific muscles to prevent overload to our spine.

Learning to control that proper spinal flexion and rotation is a key to avoiding aches and pains. 

So instead of demonizing these isolated movements, we need to use them more. And that focused activation of those core muscles will help you improve your definition.

The more stubborn an area, the more we want to include moves that really hone in on it and isolate it by working it during a movement pattern it controls.

Add more crunch variations where you can really feel your abs working in isolation. 

Include moves that work on lateral flexion to target your obliques like plank hip dips or the often also hated teapots.

Learn to CONTROL these movement patterns as you focus on isolating those muscles to work so you can have not only a sexy looking core but a strong one! 

And then as you include these moves, realize that you will need to progress them as you go if you want to build that definition.

(Ready for some killer core routines to get that defined 6-pack? Check out my Dynamic Strength App!)

Mistake #3 Is That We DON’T Create Progression In Our Core Work. 

If you’re repeating the same few ab exercises and never making them more challenging, even though you may feel a burn when you do them, you’re not going to keep getting better and better results.

You NEED to find ways to progress those basic exercises.

Whether you add resistance, change tempos, change up the range of motion, adjust training volume or even simply tweak the exact posture or positioning for a move, you need to progress things as you go. 

It’s not good enough that it just “feels” hard.

You need to advance the exercise over time or you’re not forcing the muscle to build back stronger. 

So if you’ve been doing the basic crunch, try holding a dumbbell to add resistance or increase the range of motion by doing it over a bosu. 

Or if you’ve been doing hanging knees to elbows, try toes to bar or just the pelvic tilt to change the range of motion and exact body positioning. 

If you’re shooting for 10-15 reps of a move and only able to do 10 with a weight one week, shoot to do 11 or 12 then next.

Even try just a slightly different variation of the same basic movement can be progression through the same but different! 

But focus on trying to make the move just a little bit harder over the weeks to build that definition. Don’t just go through the motions doing the same moves day after day after day!

Which is part of the 4th Mistake I often see people making – Not Including Diversity In Their Routine. 

We can not only create progression through the same but different, but even small tweaks in how you perform a move can impact exactly how they benefit you.

When we include a diversity of exercises we can address all of the different functions the muscles of our core have. 

It’s why it is key we don’t only work our core by using it to brace for big compound lifts like deadlifts or squats or rows.

We also need to include moves that work on spinal flexion, rotation and lateral flexion not to mention even strengthen muscles to AVOID unwanted extension, flexion or rotation. 

Yup both exercises that power movement, but that also help us prevent it!

And then not only do we want to use a diversity of movements to address all of the actions the muscles perform, we want to use different moves to target muscles to different extents. 

Through using a variety of exercises, you can target different aspects of your abs more or less.

While we don’t have a lower ab muscle, you can target the lower portion of your rectus abdominis to a greater extent through long lever plank variations and lower body crunches instead of doing the traditional crunch. 

Studies have shown that slight changes to our postures and positions can elicit better activation in different areas of the same muscle!

This can help us make sure we are truly getting the fully defined six pack we want!

But just make sure that whatever moves you include, you feel the correct muscles working.

This is where Mistake #5 comes into play…Letting Other Muscles Compensate. 

When you do an ab exercise, ask yourself, “What do I feel working?”

Because whatever you feel working is actually getting the benefit of that exercise.

If you feel your hip flexors or your lower back taking over, instead of your abs doing the work, those other muscles are therefore getting the “benefit” of the move.

This is often not only what leads to injury and us demonizing certain moves, but us also not seeing the ab definition we want resulting from all of our hard work.

If you don’t feel your abs or obliques working during a movement like they should be, regress to progress.

Maybe you need to modify a movement, reducing the resistance or strain on the muscle group as you earn that harder variation.

This could mean bending your knees and tapping your feet down during a full body crunch over extending your legs out straight if you can’t control that posterior pelvic tilt to avoid your lower back becoming overworked. 

Or it may mean implementing a different variation of an exercise, like using a resistance band around your heels during a sit up to remind yourself to push down into the ground and engage your hamstrings as you roll up so you feel your abs and not just your hip flexors working. 

Sometimes you have to change the exact way you use a move to make sure you can feel the correct muscles working.

But don’t just push through using a move someone else said was amazing if you don’t feel the correct muscles working.

Bonus Tip:

The final bonus tip I wanted to include to help you adjust your ab training to see amazing results was to be conscious of how frequently you’re doing core work and when you’re including it in your workouts. 

I find often ab training is used in one of two ways…

Either it is done every day for a bazillion reps.

Or it is done every once in a while as a complete afterthought.

Just like you want to design a clear weekly schedule to build results for other muscle groups, you want to do the same for your ab training. 

Consider including ab exercises 3-4 times a week at the end of your sessions, especially if this is a stubborn area for you. 

Working your abs with isolation exercises at the end of your workouts is helpful if you are including heavier lifts earlier on.

You don’t want your abs fatigued for those moves because that puts you at greater risk for injury.

Also by doing more frequent sessions over the week, you don’t have to go crazy destroying your core each and every time. The volume of work will still add up though over the week. 

This can help you not fatigue your abs so much that your following workouts suffer.

You want to get in the greatest volume of quality work you can to see the best results as fast as possible!

Like any stubborn muscle group you want to build and see amazing muscle definition in, you need to create a plan of action and not just randomly add in moves that feel hard. 

A clear plan so you can create progression and constantly challenge that muscle group is key.

And use that diversity of movement over your workout progressions to your advantage to not only keep things fun but create that killer defined six pack! 

For more tips to help you see that ab definition, especially for the first time, check out this video!

Build Muscle and Increase Strength With This Training Technique

Build Muscle and Increase Strength With This Training Technique

by | Aug 29, 2023 | Blog, Exercises, Workouts

We all want something that helps us get better results faster.

It’s why, no matter how much we know, fad diets and extreme workout routines have an allure.

But often, it is really small 1% improvements and tweaks to what we are currently doing that make the difference.

That’s why I want to share this simple training technique that can accelerate your results.

And you can implement it today without really making any changes to your schedule or workout designs.

It’s adding in an Eccentric Focus to exercises!

In this video I’ll discuss what focusing on the eccentric means, how it can lead to better results faster and how you can include it in your current training routine to accelerate your strength and muscle gains!

And this technique can help you build muscle and strength whether you’re training in a full gym or using only bodyweight exercises!

So First…What Does Focusing On The Eccentric Mean?

Let’s get a little nerdy here…

The eccentric is one of 3 muscle contractions – concentric, isometric and eccentric.

Concentric is the shortening of the muscle-tendon complex. 

Isometric is where length remains constant with tension (or a hold). S

And eccentric is the lengthening of the muscle-tendon complex. 

To focus on the eccentric portion of the movement means to slow down the part of an exercise where the prime mover or main muscle group being worked is being lengthened.

This may mean slowing down the lower down on a bench press or balance lunge. Although it applies to when the muscle is being lengthened in ANY movement. 

Now How Does The Eccentric Lead To Strength And Muscle Gains? 

There are 3 big reasons that it’s believed focusing on and slowing down the eccentric can lead to better muscle hypertrophy and strength…

Reason #1: You spend more time under tension which can result in better gains. 

When you slow down the tempo of that lower down, your muscles spend more time in a working state. 

The longer work time, the more time under tension for the muscle.

And this can lead to more mechanical tension and muscle tissue damage, driving better muscle gains.

This time under tension results in more muscle protein synthesis and faster onset of this increased synthesis.

And while you can slow down any component of the lift, there is a specific benefit to emphasizing the eccentric. 

And part of this benefit comes from the fact that we are actually stronger in that eccentric phase!

Which is Reason #2: You’re spending time under tension during a portion of a movement where you’re the strongest. 

This can allow you to do a more challenging variation of a move, especially if you do an eccentric only variation. 

By doing a more challenging variation, you are creating more progressive overload. 

Sometimes we aren’t able to lift more weight for a full movement or progress an exercise yet to a harder variation.

This is where slowing down and focusing on that eccentric can help.

It can help us push to a new level to challenge our muscles and promote better growth and strength gains. 

It can help us do a harder movement for at least a portion of the exercise.

If you can’t yet do a full pull up, but want to progress this move to build strength and muscle, and even be able to rock a full one, you may do an assisted variation up to the top of the pull up, then do a slow lower back down taking on your full bodyweight. 

You’ll find you’re able to control that lower down slowly to challenge your muscles, even if you can’t yet pull up!

And Reason #3: While muscle tissue damage isn’t the only driver of muscle growth, a slow eccentric does lead to more muscle tissue damage, which does force the muscle to repair and rebuild stronger.

Loading muscle fibers when stretched creates a type of stress and muscle tissue damage that requires your body to build new muscle cells.

This leads to both strength and muscle gains.

Eccentric training is a great way to create greater stress and strain on the muscle compared to other muscle actions! 

And bonus, because we are stronger during this phase of the movement, not only can we lift more or do a harder variation of a move, we can often more easily do a higher volume of work which can also lead to faster gains!

Now a WARNING to using this technique before I go over more on how to include this in your workouts… 

Focusing on the eccentric portion of a lift can make you VERY VERY SORE.

Because of the muscle tissue damage and loading under stretch, slowing down the eccentric can cause delayed onset muscle soreness or DOMS.

Be conscious of this fact to make sure you give the muscle group enough time between training sessions to rest and recover.

Also, don’t do a workout loaded down with eccentrics for every single move!

Use different tempos and rep ranges to your advantage. 

And be conscious of the types of moves you use for eccentric focused work.

Especially moves like deadlifts, it is harder to control the eccentric, so you may not want to focus on a slow lower down when you’re doing a 5 rep max, but instead use it during more accessory hip hinge work for 8-12 reps.

It’s also key you create a consistent schedule so you can slowly progress and repeat workouts so constantly doing something “new” doesn’t add to your soreness!

And then don’t ignore the importance of your fueling and recovery work!

So now that you’ve been warned…

How Can You Include Eccentrics In Your Training For Better Results?

Focus on using a slow eccentric for only a main exercise or two in your workouts. 

Even just a 3-5 count lengthening is an amazing slow tempo to use. 

Especially for stubborn areas you’re struggling to build.

You can both use slow eccentric reps at the start of your workout on a single compound lift with heavy weights, like the barbell squat, or even a bodyweight skill you want to progress, like the push up. 

You can also choose to use slow eccentrics for higher rep isolation exercises, like on the bicep curl, at the end of your workout to really target a muscle group and work it to failure.

This time under tension for volume can yield amazing results for those especially stubborn areas. 

And when you do a slow eccentric, you can either:

A. Do A Full Move With A Slow Eccentric Tempo

Or B 2: Do An Eccentric ONLY Variation. 

Any move you’re currently doing, you can make one little tweak to it today by just taking a 3-5 count to lengthen.

This would be a slow eccentric tempo.

But you can also do an eccentric only variation of a move you can’t yet fully perform.

While you can do this with weights by setting up at the top of a move, this technique is especially good to progress bodyweight skills like the push up or pull up. 

For the push up, you would set up at the top of the push up for a variation you can’t yet fully do and do a slow 3-5 count lower down. Then instead of losing form to push back up, you’d simply modify or release and reset at the top! 

Both can work and help you create that progression you need to see better results!

And which you may use may also depend on other limitations you have for progressing your workouts.

Eccentrics are a great way to create progression in your training regardless of their unique benefits. 

So while focusing on the eccentric portion has benefit even when you have other ways to advance exercises, like weights or equipment or harder variations, it can be a great way to progress moves if we DON’T have other tools available. 

It can be a great way to create progression to help you see better results if…

  • You Can’t add heavier weights yet to a move.
  • Can’t yet do another rep with the current weight.
  • Can’t progress to that next harder variation of the movement.
  • Or don’t have other tools to change range of motion or create progression. 

A slow eccentric tempo can be the way we make what we have on hand work for us to meet us where we are at. 

It can be a great way with even bodyweight training to see great muscle growth and strength gains! 

Bonus Tip:

And one last thing I wanted to touch on if you’re wondering if eccentric training is right for you as you rebuild muscle after injury…

YES…IT IS!

Focusing on a slow eccentric can really help you strengthen a muscle through a full range of motion and improve your mobility, flexibility and stability.

Using lighter loads and a focus on that slow controlled eccentric can even be a great way to start back to training to make sure you keep all of the mobility you built up during rehab. 

Just make sure you progress slowly and don’t do too much volume to make yourself so sore you can’t stay consistent with your training!

So if you’re looking to accelerate your strength and muscle gains, try using slow eccentrics with one of the exercises you’re already doing, especially one that targets a stubborn area you want to build! 

For amazing workouts to help you build strength and muscle, check out my Dynamic Strength program!