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How To Increase Metabolism At Any Age (6 Tips)

How To Increase Metabolism At Any Age (6 Tips)

by | Jul 23, 2023 | Blog, Diet, Workouts

Our metabolism does slow down as we get older.

But so much of the metabolic slowdown that we blame on age is actually due to lifestyle factors we can CHANGE adding up.

We have to remember that nothing works forever.

And often what we “got away with” even when we are younger is now coming back to haunt us.

As our body and lifestyle evolves, we’ve got to adjust how we fuel and train.

That’s why I’m going to share 6 tips to help boost your metabolism to lose fat at any and every age.

First, Focus On Hydration. 

Many of us know we should drink more water. 

But the struggle is real to actually change this habit.

Not only is it confusing to know how much water to drink but it’s hard to stop yourself during the day to get water when it isn’t already a part of your routine or you’re not really thirsty for it. 

However, proper hydration becomes more important as we get older and even start the hormonal changes of perimenopause.

Especially if you’re training hard, you want to consider consuming MORE than the general recommendation of 50% of your bodyweight in ounces.

You want to even shoot for 70% of your bodyweight in ounces of water consumed every day.

While you may find setting out a filled water bottle by the coffee maker helpful to remind you to drink water even as you make your coffee, you can also improve your hydration levels by consuming more high water content foods over the course of the day. 

To help you hit this amount and stay hydrated, don’t just only focus on drinking more water, as key as that is.

Make a salad of cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes and lettuce – all high water content foods. 

Add berries to your oatmeal for breakfast to improve your hydration to start your day. 

Or try melons in your cottage cheese as a protein rich snack to stay hydrated. 

But focus not only on ways to drink more water but even improve your hydration through fruits and vegetables that also pack in the micronutrients to your diet as well!

Second, Eat 30-40 Grams Of Protein Per Meal. 

Increasing your protein is key.

And while most of us have heard we can only consume 20-30 grams of protein at one sitting, this just isn’t the case. 

While 20-30 grams may be the max we need to specifically utilize to build muscle from one sitting, this is also based on studies of protein supplements. 

The other macros consumed at a meal will impact the rate of digestion, slowing the process even to better let us utilize more at a time.

Not to mention as we get older, we are less able to utilize protein as efficiently, meaning we need more to see the same results. 

That’s why increasing our intake to 30-40 grams per meal, especially in our post workout meal can be super beneficial.

The harder you train, the more you want to focus on a higher protein intake to make sure you’re able to repair and recover more efficiently from your training. 

If we aren’t able to recover and rebuild properly, we may see our hard work in the gym not pay off the way we’d like in terms of strength gains and muscle growth, which can impact our metabolic health. 

And protein is not only key because of its muscle building benefits but also because it keeps us feeling fuller if we are in a calorie deficit to lose weight. 

This can make sticking to our nutritional plan easier long-term which allows consistency and time to work their results magic.

Plus, protein has a higher thermic effect than the other macros, meaning your body burns more calories to digest and utilize it for other bodily functions and to keep the tissues of your body strong and healthy.

It’s also important to find your food quality balance.

I’m a big believer in working in the foods you love. 

I love having a rice krispie treat or Reese peanut butter cup or ice cream as dessert.

And I will plan these things in first when I want them.

I also think we too often sabotage ourselves with this clean eating pressure where we feel we can’t have things we enjoy and eliminate foods arbitrarily that aren’t even necessarily an intolerance we personally struggle with. 

BUT we do need to find a balance.

Quality fuel helps our body function best. And we always want to seek to balance enjoying life and functioning optimally! 

We need those essential micronutrients to not only feel our best and stay healthy, but even to keep our metabolic rate higher and help us lose fat. 

A few micronutrients you may want to focus on more if you are working to lose fat and rev that metabolism are choline, magnesium, vitamin D, selenium and zinc. 

Choline is involved in the process of lipolysis, or fat loss, helping to break down fat into smaller pieces to be burned as energy. 

Eggs, beef, red potatoes and kidney beans are all great sources to include. 

Magnesium is involved in nearly everything, but when it comes to fat loss and metabolism, it helps control insulin and glucose, which both impact fat storage. 

It also can help with water retention and bloating, especially as you are increasing protein and making other dietary changes. 

Pumpkins, chia seeds, almonds and spinach are all great sources of magnesium.

Vitamin D is also key to include although harder to boost through our food consumption.

Even if we try to get out in the sun daily, as we get older we want to make sure we are boosting our intake even with a supplement. 

Studies have shown that low levels of vitamin D are linked to higher rates of overweight and obesity.

And both selenium and zinc are key for proper thyroid functioning. Impaired thyroid function will lead to a slower metabolic rate.

To increase your intake of selenium include foods like brazil nuts, yellowfin tuna and halibut and to increase zinc consider oysters, pumpkin seeds, pork loin or even oats. 

While I’ve talked about 3 key nutritional tips, the best results happen when our diet and our workouts work together.

That’s why you can’t ignore the importance of your training for your metabolic health. 

When designing your workouts, stop just doing body part splits.

(Looking for workouts designed strategically to help you reach your goals? Check out my Dynamic Strength App!)

Design progressions that Work Your Upper And Lower Body In The Same Workout. 

Full-body workouts or anterior/posterior splits can be beneficial if you are looking to keep your metabolism healthy as you get older without having to spend hours in the gym 6 days a week. 

Not only are these workouts more efficient, but you will target multiple big muscle groups each and every workout to more effectively build muscle while also burning more calories per session.

While I never like to focus on training as just a time to burn more calories, this extra calorie burn because you’re working more big muscles per session to build more muscle isn’t a bad added bonus! 

And by doing these splits, you can also increase your training frequency for each area over the week.

Training a body part 2-3 times per week over simply doing more for an area in a single session may help you see better muscle gains. 

That training frequency for especially hard to grow areas of 2-3 times per week has shown to yield the best results.

It can also help you train the area at a higher intensity each session, performing a higher overall quality of work, as too often we simply include more training volume in a workout that becomes wasted as we fatigue over the session. 

So consider designing workouts that allow you to target different areas every workout while hitting both big muscle groups in your upper and lower body each session!

The next training tip is to Focus On Low Reps And Heavy Weights. 

Too often we turn to more cardio or metabolic workouts when we want to lose fat. They make us feel out of breath and like we worked hard. 

But muscle is what stokes that metabolic fire.

To build that muscle we need heavy loads and progression in movements that challenges our muscles to tear them down so they have to rebuild stronger.

This is why you want to work down in reps and up in weights during your training.

And while using a diversity of rep ranges is ideal, do not ignore that maximal strength rep range of 1-5 reps even if muscle hypertrophy and fat loss is your goal. 

Increasing our strength allows us to then move more weight overall during our training, resulting in better muscle gains.

So while you may have heard that 6-12 reps is best for muscle hypertrophy and you do want to include this rep range, working lower in reps with even heavier loads will ultimately make you stronger to lift more for those exercises done in the 6-12 rep range.

Consider including a single heavy compound lift at the start of your workout for 4-5 rounds of 3-5 reps, resting 3-5 minutes between rounds. 

Follow that up with other compound accessory exercises in the 6-12 rep range to target specific muscle groups you’ve already started fatiguing with that first lift! 

The final tip is to Sprint More.

That high intensity interval work is so key to our conditioning and metabolic health. It is a great way to burn calories in an efficient way as well.

And if you perform short intervals of work of even just 10-20 seconds with 3-5 times the rest, you can really train speed. 

Just don’t get caught up on doing a bazillion rounds.

You don’t want to feel beat down from these short sessions. Less is more. Think even just 8-10 rounds of sprints. 

Go all out and fully recover. You want to train speed which means not doing a work interval again until you’ve recovered.

When you include sprints in this way, not only can you help keep your metabolic rate higher, even increasing your calorie burn after the sessions, but you’ll help improve your mind-body connection to even get more out of your lifting. 

This explosive power work helps you more efficiently recruit muscles which can lead to better strength gains.

These short intense bursts also help us see better results from our other workouts because they improve our conditioning and therefore our ability to recover more quickly between rounds of work. 

Better recovery means better quality of work during our training!

Using these 6 tips you can improve your metabolic health to lose fat at any and every age. 

Just remember the best results happen when our diet and our workouts work together!

3 Workout Tips To Lose Fat Faster

3 Workout Tips To Lose Fat Faster

by | Jul 17, 2023 | Blog, Exercises, Functional Fitness, Workouts

You want to lose fat and actually keep it off?

Stop thinking of your training as a chance to burn more calories.

The benefits of working out for fat loss aren’t in the calories burned during our training sessions.

Training helps us see better results faster through building muscle, improving our movements and increasing our resting metabolic rate.

Because the calories burned from our training sessions are minimal compared to the calories we burn over the course of the day.

That’s why I wanted to share 3 tips to help you get better results from your workouts and see those fat loss results build faster!

To start off – Don’t Repeat Movements Over The Week.

Your workouts don’t need to be boring to get results.

While there are some fundamental movement patterns you want to include in your training, you shouldn’t be so married to only one form of a movement that you only use the same exercise over and over again.

You should include a diversity of movements over the course of your weekly progression but repeat those same workouts for 2-4 weeks at least.

That repetition of the same workouts allows you to see growth in the movements.

But it’s key you include a diversity of movements during the week to create progression through the same but different and avoid your ego getting in the way.

Like including not only the barbell hip thruster but also the single leg foot raised variation as well.

This diversity in the exact form of a movement pattern you include allows you to target and work all aspects of a muscle and in different ways.

It also allows you to use the same movement pattern both as a primary heavy lift and even an accessory move.

You can even change up the types of resistances you use or the exact range of motion and tempos on a movement to drive muscle growth more efficiently over the week.

And this will allow you to see progression each week in these different ways and address any weak links you may have.

If you instead repeated the same barbell back row twice in a week, you may find your ego pushes you to try to lift more each workout, when you can’t. 

That second time using the row, your back may be fatigued from previous workouts. So you need to use less weight. But it can be hard to go lighter on the same move you did earlier with more.

By simply even using a single arm dumbbell row as that second row variation in the week, you now won’t force out more weight than you can control AND you’ll get the benefits of a unilateral move.

You’ll allow yourself to use more ways of creating progression to drive muscle growth while keeping your workouts fun and challenging.

You’ll see quicker gains in strength and even feel functionally more fit from your workouts! 

The second tip is – Start Global. Go Local.

In other words go big to small.

When you’re looking to include a variety of movement variations over the course of the week, you don’t want to just think about different tools or tempos or postures. 

You also want to think about how many muscles and joints are involved in the movement.

Include heavy compound lifts, like the deadlift, but also more isolated movements, especially to target those more stubborn areas, like the bicep curl. 

This combination of both types of movements leads to the best muscle gains.

While compound movements are more time-efficient and should be our focus when we have less time to train, isolation exercises help us work a muscle closer to failure to promote optimal growth. 

You want to be strategic in how you combine these movements over the course of your workout to get the best results from each type.

Generally, you want to start with big, heavy compound lifts, more global movements before you progress on to smaller, more isolation exercises to work local muscles. 

This way you are fresher to maximize those big lifts and lift heavier weights before you push a muscle to full fatigue and create a bigger volume of work with the isolation focus. 

Movements like the bench press are a great option to start your training.

Because you are fresh for this lift by including it at the start of your workout, you’ll be able to work more at your true 100% intensity and lift heavier for quality reps. 

Exercises that allow you to lift heavier weights build strength which allows you to move more weight not only over the single session but also the weeks and months.

By working from heavier compound lifts toward more accessory moves and isolation exercises, you can fully fatigue the muscles worked during that primary exercise and use all 3 drivers of muscle growth. 

With isolation moves, you aren’t focused on low reps and maxing out on loads, but instead of creating more of a pump or burn in the muscles through higher reps with loads that make you want to stop 5 short of where you do. 

These weights shouldn’t feel light for the reps you perform even though the loads will be lighter than you may use for a compound exercise.

Moves like the leg extension done later in your workout should fully fatigue your quads after you’ve done other exercises like squats and front lunges earlier on. 

Even if you’re short on time or only training 3 times a week, consider adding in a finisher to your workout with an isolation exercise or two to target your stubborn muscle groups! 

The third tip is – Don’t Turn Your Strength Workouts Into Cardio

Stop trying just to feel tired and out of breath from your workouts. Don’t just seek to feel the burn every training session. 

Too often to burn more calories and feel more worked, we end up turning our strength workouts into cardio sessions. 

We cut out all rest. We rush through movements. We add more volume or more reps and sets.

And I know this makes us feel like we’re working harder, which makes us believe we’re going to see better results faster, but ultimately this is what holds us back.

By turning our strength sessions into cardio workouts, we aren’t going to see the muscle growth we want to improve our metabolic health and lose fat faster. 

We can even end up losing muscle by doing this and find it harder to keep our nutrition dialed in and our calories in check.

Muscle growth is dependent on a stimulus that challenges the muscle and forces it to grow and adapt. 

These sessions may feel hard but they aren’t tearing down your muscle so that it has to regrow stronger. 

As you rest less, rush through moves and add more and more volume, your intensity drops.

What “feels” like you giving 100% isn’t a true 100% for very long.

This means you aren’t able to lift as heavy or do the quality repetitions you need to create that progression in your training to create those muscle gains. 

And often in making our sessions more cardio, we deplete our glycogen stores more and simply make ourselves hungrier. This can then make it more of a mental battle to keep our nutrition in check!

Don’t cut out rest. Don’t just add in more reps. Slow down your movements even. 

But stop seeking to just feel out of breath from your training and like you’re exhausted each and every session.

Realize that resting between rounds so you feel ready to go to work at a true 100% intensity for longer, and even like you’ve EARNED the rest from lifting heavy the round before, is what you need to build that lean muscle!

Be strategic in how you design your workouts to build muscle and help you burn more calories even at rest. This will help you see better fat loss results and maintain them long term.

We have to remember that systems work together to produce results which is why we can’t just randomly string “good moves” that “feel hard” together without a purpose!

 For workouts to help you reach your goals, check out my Dynamic Strength program!

Do 15 Min Workouts Work? (6 Tips To Get Results!)

Do 15 Min Workouts Work? (6 Tips To Get Results!)

by | Jul 10, 2023 | Blog, Workouts

“I don’t have enough time.” 

This is one of the most common excuses I hear as to why people believe they can’t achieve results. 

They believe a lack of time is why they can’t stay consistent with their training. 

But there is always a way to design for the time we have to do SOMETHING and help ourselves move forward.

That’s why I wanted to share 6 tips to create more efficient workouts to lose fat and build lean muscle so that you don’t have to spend an hour in the gym! 

And bonus, at the end I’ll show you how to put these tips together in a 15 minute full-body session! 

Tip #1: Use Intervals And Timed Circuits

When we’re short on time, part of the struggle is even getting started.

We think “I only have 15 minutes” and because we either can’t complete the session we had planned or just feel stressed trying to make sure we are done, we skip our workout. 

We don’t do anything.

That’s why designing backup workouts for the time you have is so key. 

And more importantly designing workouts that are timed to FIT what you need helps you not rush through the session. 

For efficient, fast workouts, use interval workout designs or timed circuits even if you’re focusing on building strength. 

Instead of 8-12 reps for 3 sets, think 1 minute intervals of work for 3 rounds.  

Or a 5 minute circuit where you do as many rounds of squats, push ups and sit ups as you can.  

By using timed rounds of work, you can focus on what you feel working to be more intentional with your exercises and create that training density to see better results while spending less time working out.

Training density is the amount of work or reps you complete in a set amount of time.

When you have that interval or timed circuit, you can focus on doing more reps each week in the same timeframe over feeling like you have to work out longer to do more reps!

And because you know your workout is exactly the length you need, you won’t be tempted to rush through the reps and sets listed to just get it done.  

This can help you make sure you’re getting the best quality training session possible.

So instead of just listing out reps and sets to complete, make sure everything you include has a specific time frame to guarantee it will fit your busy schedule and allow you to focus on quality movements over being stressed and just rushing through the moves! 

Tip #2: Pick One.

Something is better than nothing. 

I know this can be hard to accept when we want to do the ideal, but one little change, one single action can add up when done repeatedly over the weeks and months.

While I of course would love to make sure everyone is doing extra prehab work every day, even just adding in 1 foam rolling, 1 stretching and 1 activation movement is better than nothing. 

Especially since so often we want to skip our warm up when we are short on time.

Instead of focusing on the ideal, think about the minimum you can do to still be consistent with things.

Then set a timer for even just 30 seconds per move or per side for a quick under 3 minute warm up to maximize your time training! 

Those 3 minutes may not seem like much, but over the week that adds up to 21 minutes and even 90 minutes per month! 

And that mobility work can keep us training hard during our quick sessions while making sure we are getting the most out of every movement!

Tip #3: Force Yourself To Fail.

While we always want to challenge ourselves with our training to achieve the best results as fast as possible, when you’re short on time, you want to see how you can create that challenge in less time. 

This means choosing moves that max you out faster.

Use variations of moves where you can only do 5 reps in a row. Pick weights or tempos or ranges of motion that make even just a couple of reps challenging. 

You can then build up volume through those time circuits, cycling through the areas you are working. 

By moving from exercise to exercise, even when you can only do a few reps, you will let that volume accumulate over the rounds.

What may only be 2 reps in a row of an airborne lunge can end up being 16 reps in total when the circuit is done.  

You’ll create that stimulus to build lean muscle by selecting a move that was challenging and pushed you to failure in the time you had! 

Tip #4: Don’t Work The Same Muscle Back To Back

We need rest to keep working at a true 100% intensity.

But when we are short on time, we don’t want to spend any of that time NOT doing work even when we know it is beneficial. 

That’s why circuits are great to use, especially if you design them to cycle through exercises that work different areas. 

This way one muscle is resting while another is working.  

So instead of working the same muscle group back to back, like including two quad intensive moves like squats and front lunges, cycle through moves that alternate areas worked like doing a single leg deadlift followed by a back row. 

You’ll get to keep moving while resting and end up creating a great volume of work while targeting more areas during your short time to train.

And if you do find you need a “recovery” move, including more focused core work can help you bring your heart rate down while still getting in some work for another area! 

By keeping your workouts more full body, you’ll also be able to increase your training frequency for areas over the week to help see better muscle growth even with short training sessions!

Tip #5: Use Moves That Target MULTIPLE Muscle Groups At Once

You want moves that target those big muscle groups and work more muscles at once so you can burn more calories and really challenge your entire body with short sessions. 

While isolation moves can make muscles feel fatigued, they aren’t going to be as efficient when we are short on time. 

So instead of a tricep extension, focus on close grip push ups which will be tricep intensive but also work your chest and shoulders.

Even use some hybrid movements like the climber push up that may be more core and arm intensive while still working your chest, shoulders and triceps with the push up.

But don’t waste time using moves that isolate one muscle group at a time unless you’re using them as active rest.

Get as many muscles worked in these short sessions as possible pairing compound moves for different areas back to back whether you use intervals or timed circuits.

Tip #6: Focus On Full-Body Workouts

Because your workouts are short and you’re not getting in a ton of volume for muscle groups each workout, you want to increase your training frequency for areas over the week by making each workout more full body. 

This allows you to create better muscle growth by still getting in the work you need over the week even if it is more spread over multiple days.

When you design your workouts, focus on cycling through compound moves that target each area – consider a leg and glute exercise like backward lunges, a chest, shoulders and triceps move like bench press and a back exercise like rows to hit major muscle groups efficiently. 

Then cycle the variations of moves you use for those areas over the week instead of repeating the same exercises over and over again.

Use a squat or deadlift instead of lunges on other days. Try an overhead press or even a standing cable chest press instead of the basic bench. Do pull ups or a barbell row over dumbbells. 

But vary the way you target muscles over the week as the same but different can help you create overload and progression!

Putting it all together… 

Here’s a quick full body bodyweight series using intervals. It’s just 15-minutes and because you know exactly how long it is, you don’t need to feel rushed! 

Even if you’d usually go to the gym for an hour, it is never bad to have back up short workouts on hand for those busy days to help yourself stay consistent and in the habit.

We have to remember that the more we do, the more we do so doing SOMETHING keeps the momentum going in the right direction! 

15 Minute Full-Body Bodyweight Blast

Warm Up:
30 seconds per side TFL Foam Rolling
30 seconds per side World’s Greatest Stretch
30 seconds Thoracic Bridge with Sit Thru

Workout:

Complete 2 rounds through the circuit below without resting.

CIRCUIT:

1 minute per side Side To Curtsy Lunge
1 minute Doorway Row
1 minute Toe Touch Push Up
1 minute Bridge to Sit Up

Cool Down:
30 seconds per side Star Stretch with Quad Stretch
30 seconds per side Upper Back Foam Rolling

Want more amazing workouts at your fingertips whenever you need?

Check out my Dynamic Strength Program!

The Most Underrated Plank Exercise

The Most Underrated Plank Exercise

by | Jul 2, 2023 | Blog, Core, Exercises, Functional Fitness, Pain Relief

The plank is an amazing core move and a fundamental we need to include. 

But holding longer only helps us build strength to a point.

And just because a move is a must-do basic, doesn’t mean we can’t have fun using other variations especially to target specific muscles of our core more. 

Because the basic plank doesn’t help us work on that rotational core strength nor does it include any lateral flexion.

And learning to power and control both of these movements is key if we want not only a toned, strong core but also to improve our shoulder, hip, knee and even ankle stability.

So if you want to work those obliques and glutes even more with both a rotational and lateral flexion movement, while improve your shoulder stability try this amazing plank variation – the Plank with Oblique Knee Tuck! 

In this video, I’ll show you how to perform this move and modify it to fit your current fitness level so you can build a strong core!

And I’ll share my “secret” to finding a way to modify ANY exercise to fit someone’s needs and goals. 

How To Do The Plank With Oblique Knee Tuck:

This plank variation actually combines the basic front plank with the side plank as you transition from side to side with this rotational exercise.

And then it advances the basic side plank by adding in that oblique knee tuck.

Because you are stabilizing on just one arm and one leg, this move needs to be built up to slowly so that you aren’t overloading your shoulder or knee.

It is a challenging plank variation to work on your shoulder, hip and knee stability and will really work those obliques and glutes!

To do the Plank with Oblique Knee Tucks, set up in a forearm front plank from your elbows and toes.

Stack your elbows under your shoulders but outside your chest and focus on engaging your back to really lock your shoulders in place. Your hands will be in toward each other as your elbows are wider. This will feel more comfortable as you rotate.

You can even start with your arms fully perpendicular to your body under your shoulders.

Flex your quads as you drive back slightly through your heels and perform a small posterior pelvic tilt to feel your abs light up.

Maintain a nice straight line from your head to toes.

Then rotate to one side. Make sure your elbow stays stacked under your shoulder and your hips don’t drop as you twist.

As you move into that side plank, also make sure your foot that stays on the ground is flexed. This protects your knee and ankle to create better tension up your leg to engage your glute.

Squeeze your butt forward as you lift your top leg up and reach your top hand overhead.

Then tuck your elbow and knee together. You will crunch them together slightly in front of you, but do not allow your bottom hip to sag.

You want that bottom oblique and glute working!

After performing the tuck and reaching back out move back to face the ground and rotate into a side plank on the other side to perform the oblique knee tuck.

Do not rush this move. Take it slow to really stabilize and feel those obliques and glutes working!

So How Can You Modify This Move?

Adding movement to a plank exercise creates a new stability challenge. And side planks themselves are already very challenging.

You do not want ego to get in the way. So just because you can do a full plank from the ground, doesn’t mean you’ve necessarily earned this variation. 

The rotation into the side plank and then supporting yourself with only your bottom leg as you tuck the top leg, requires more strength and stability than we realize. 

If you find yourself losing balance or rushing, try first modifying with your elbow up on a bench, stair or incline. 

By lifting up your elbow, you reduce the resistance on your upper body and put less strength demands on your entire core. 

I prefer the incline to modify because it allows you to learn to engage everything down to your feet. 

When you do a knee plank variation, you don’t learn how to create tension into your lower leg.

As you build up and get comfortable with the movement pattern, you can move back to the ground. 

We have to remember it isn’t just strength sometimes but that mind-body connection we first need to work on with movements. We need to build that smooth coordination and get muscles engaged efficiently and correctly to progress.

So slow things down and use that incline.

However, if you find that you can do the full plank off the ground but that you lose balance as you alternate sides, you can even modify by doing one side at a time. 

Just rotate from that front plank to the same time to help you maintain that balance. Then after all reps are complete, switch to the side plank on the other side.

Now what if due to injury, an incline variation still isn’t right for you?

Because I know that not every move is right for every person, I wanted to share some tips to help you learn how to adjust any moves you ever need… 

So my secret to modifying moves?

Not being married to an exercise and instead always prioritizing the muscles I need to train and movement patterns I want to work on.

With this plank with oblique knee tuck, I always want to first see how I can simply regress the exact movement. 

But when this isn’t possible, I go back to why the move was being used in the first place.

Was it that I wanted rotational core work? That extra oblique and glute medius work? That lateral flexion?

When you have a goal for every move you include, you can easily swap in another move or moves that achieve those same goals whenever you need. 

If you did still want a balance and stability component while working on that lateral crunch, but that didn’t require strain on the shoulders, maybe you include a standing oblique knee tuck where you stay balanced on one side. 

Or maybe you wanted more of the rotational element to target your obliques and glutes unilaterally but can’t get down on the ground so you include a cable hip rotation. 

The point is, when modifying, you aren’t as much concerned with the exact exercise as the GOAL for the movement.

And whenever possible, you keep the exercise as close as possible to train that exact movement, build the mind-body connection and build up. 

But when that isn’t possible, you simply stay focused on the goal for including the move so you can see the same benefits!

There is always a way to find a movement variation to match our needs and goals. 

That’s why I love this amazing plank with oblique knee tuck when you want to work your glutes and obliques even more. 

And the rotational movement and lateral flexion are a great way to target your core in multiple planes of motion.

But if you can’t get down on the ground to enjoy this amazing plank move, give these non-floor core moves a try.

–> Non Floor Core Moves

Can’t Build Muscle? Try These 5 Strength Training Techniques

Can’t Build Muscle? Try These 5 Strength Training Techniques

by | Jun 25, 2023 | Blog, Exercises, Functional Fitness

So often we focus on progression only through adding loads or doing another rep with a weight.

But at some point, you can’t just keep adding 5lbs every week.

You can’t do another rep.

That’s why creating progression through the same but different is so key.

You don’t need a crazy fancy new device or some new secret exercise.

You can make small tweaks to the moves you’re doing to see those strength and muscle improvements.

So stop getting caught up in only lifting more.

Here are 5 training techniques to help you create that progression through the same but different and see those better muscle gains!

The first way to use the same moves you love and create a new stimulus for growth is to…

Mix Up Equipment

Barbells vs. dumbbells vs. cables vs. bands can all be used to apply tension and create instability and resistance in different ways.

They often even require you to use a different loading placement which can help you change which muscles get more emphasis during a move.

While dumbbells are a great way to load down a step up and challenge your legs, you can emphasize your glutes more during this move by using cables instead.

The cable being anchored down low and the consistent tension as you drive up and then control the lower back down, can help you really feel those glutes more than even your quads.

It can help you keep progressing that step up if you feel yourself starting to cheat with the dumbbells while allowing you to shift how you use the move in your progression because of the shift in muscle emphasis.

You may even find you combine two types of resistances to get the different benefits each provide when you feel you aren’t able to just add more weight.

If you find you can’t really keep progressing loads with a dumbbell chest fly, try lowering the dumbbell weight you’re using while adding in a band for the movement.

The band applies resistance in a new way and even applies more resistance throughout the arc of the movement while forcing you to really control the fly open.

Just by adding in the band, you may be surprised how much lighter your dumbbell weights have to get, allowing you new room for progression.

Not to mention you can even increase the band tension over time as well.

The second tweak you can make to the exercises you’re already including to create progression is to Adjust Your Posture.

Good form isn’t a simply good or bad as we often act like it is.

There are slight changes in our form we can make to emphasize muscles involved in the movement to different extents while also even hitting different aspects of the same muscle.

You could take the same walking lungeand make it more glute intensive by adding in a more vertical shin angle and slightly angled out wide stride or more quad intensive by keeping it more narrow and allowing your knee to travel further forward over the ball of your foot.

Just like you can change your hand placement on push ups to make them more tricep intensive while requiring less scapular control with a narrow grip or slightly less tricep intensive while requiring more scapular control with a standard grip.

Even super small adjustments like slightly different degrees of hip flexion during seated abduction can help you better establish that mind-body connection and engage different aspects of the glute medius.

So often it isn’t even that we need a crazy new move to work an area, we just need to adjust our form slightly to change how it is working!

The third technique is one most of us often avoid because it can really force us to lighten loads and it can be a bit frustrating since it can make moves awkward…

It’s To Change Our Base Of Support.

If you’ve maxed out on a bilateral or two-limbed move, make it a unilateral or one-sided move.

This can create instability, challenge your core more and requires you to even change how you recruit muscles to improve your mind-body connection.

It can also help you address weak links or a weaker side, which may then allow you to lift more when you thought you’d hit your cap with the bilateral variation.

And even when you’re doing a unilateral variation, you can easily mix things up, because many unilateral moves are more challenging than we give them credit for even with lighter loads.

With something like the single leg deadlift, you may find that starting out you don’t have the balance to do the fully unilateral variation. Or you don’t like how much you really have to drop down in weight.

So instead, maybe you try an 80/20 option, or a bench supported option.

This can help you target each side independently while still going a bit heavier than you may be able to with the fully single leg variation.

And changing your base of support doesn’t always have to mean just creating instability or a new challenge for the exact muscle you want to target.

It doesn’t even always mean making that base of support one sided…

It can even be something as simple as doing a chest supported row over a bent over row so that you can’t bounce the weights or use any momentum.

This can be key if you are finding yourself starting to cheat as you’re getting up in weights to try to eek out more.

Sometimes we want to limit what other muscles can be used to get up more weight to help us better hone in on the areas worked.

This can force us often to even go down in loads to start.

With the chest supported row, you may find that having your core locked into the bench allows you to even better focus on that scapular movement!

The 4th way to create progression and even improve your mobility and flexibility in the process is to…Adjust The Range Of Motion

The best way to make sure your flexibility and mobility work sticks is to then strengthen in your workouts through that full range of motion you’ve worked hard to build.

It’s why progressing from a split squat to a deficit split squat may help you improve your hip range of motion while also giving you a new challenge.

That bigger range of motion will make the move more challenging and create extra stretch on muscles under load to help you drive muscle growth.

However, changing the range of motion to drive muscle growth or hypertrophy doesn’t always mean increasing it.

Because metabolic stress is another driver of muscle growth, shrinking the range of motion at times to keep a muscle under tension can also be helpful.

So instead of just doing dumbbell bicep curls, you can combine that move with a resistance band top only curl where you never release tension and only go halfway down in the movement.

This will create fatigue and push you to failure in a new way and help you get more out of your original basic curl without having to progress the weights past the point you’re able to!

With this curl option you’re also using a new tool to help drive growth as well!

Another way to adjust the range of motion to create a new challenge is to actually change the direction or plane of motion you are moving in.

If you’ve been including a single arm suspension trainer row, you may try a rotational row instead.

This changes the range of motion and plane of motion you are working in to not only target the same muscles in different ways but even get new muscles involved to make sure you’re building functional strength in every direction.

The 5th and final technique that can help you drive that muscle growth even using the same moves and weights you are currently is to….

Emphasize the Eccentric.

Small tweaks to what we are currently doing can really add up! Too often we make massive changes over seeing the 1% opportunities.

And emphasizing the eccentric portion of an exercise is a great way to even use your current workouts while pushing growth.

To emphasize the eccentric, you’re going to focus on the portion of the move that is stretching the prime mover or main muscle driving the exercise.

With a pull up, you will want to focus on slowing down the lower down from the bar.

On the squat, you want to slow down the lower down to the bottom of the squat.

This focus on slowing down the stretch of the muscle to spend more time under tension has been shown to be a great way to drive muscle growth.

And it can be used with so many moves.

Just realize you may find that this can make you VERY sore, especially starting out.

Focusing on the eccentric can also help you tackle movements or weights you can’t yet fully use, especially if you change the move to eccentric only with a reset at the start.

With the push up, if you’re including those to build muscle, but can only currently do them off an incline, you may find you can do an eccentric only version from your toes off the ground.

We are often stronger in that eccentric portion of the move.

And that progression to that full version, plus the time under tension, could help you progress a move you are stuck on to build muscle!

We have to remember there are so many ways to create progression that aren’t just about adding more weight or doing another rep.

And the more advanced we are, the more we need to see opportunity in creating progression through the same but different.

So even using your current workout progression, see how you can use these techniques to make small tweaks and see those muscle gains improve!

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Can’t Do Push Ups? Try These 5 Tips

Can’t Do Push Ups? Try These 5 Tips

by | Jun 18, 2023 | Blog, Bodyweight, Exercises, Functional Fitness, Push Ups

You’ve been working at them and working at them…

But you just don’t feel like your push ups are progressing no matter how hard you try.

Yet you feel like you’re soooo close!

That’s why I wanted to share these 5 tips to help you adjust your workouts and push up work to finally get over that hurdle and bust out picture perfect push ups from your toes.

Because we don’t just want to do one beautiful push up…we want to look like a push up rockstar!

First, don’t just include push ups for only reps and sets – use intervals instead to work on your push ups! 

A big part of improving our push ups is our mind-body connection, not just our overall muscular strength.

Often we are strong enough already, we just aren’t able to fully recruit the correct muscles in the correct order to work together as efficiently as we need.

It’s why our hips sag as we focus on pushing back up or our elbows flare or we can’t engage our back to support our shoulders.

That’s why interval work over counting reps can help.

Intervals allow us to focus on what we feel working during each and every rep. 

Because we don’t have to care how many we do.

We are just working for that set amount of time. We also don’t get to be “done” any faster by rushing through the reps.

So having that set time frame to work allows us to focus on each rep.

AND it allows us often to do a higher volume of work with a harder variation over getting focused on doing more reps while using a more modified variation.

Often when we see 3 rounds of 8-12 reps listed, we modify the push up to do more reps each round.

But this often only helps us improve our strength endurance to do more reps of that modified variation.

Using intervals, if you know you have 1 minute to work, you can do a rep of the hardest variation, pause. Reset and do another rep of that same challenging variation. Pause again and repeat. You can then modify if you can’t keep the rest about 10-15 seconds between reps.

This allows you to create a great training volume while using that harder variation to build up!

And you can stay focused on what you feel working over just trying to get a certain amount of reps done!

Next, don’t be afraid to mix up the push up variations you use! Push ups can be their own best accessory exercise! 

Often if we can’t yet do a full push up, we don’t consider mixing things up.

But different grips and push up variations can help us target our weak links and strengthen them while also allowing us to get in more push up work.

So instead of just using the standard push up multiple times over the course of the week, vary up the types of push ups you include.

Try close grip to work those triceps more while requiring less scapular control.

Try shoulder tap push ups to work on that anti-rotational core strength and shoulder stability.

Mix up the variations you use, modifying them even to target those weak links while still working on your mind-body connection overall for push ups.

And don’t be afraid to also change up tempos and ways of modifying. If you always use an incline, try a band assisted push up instead!

Which brings me to tip #3….Try doing push ups but ONLY the lower down. 

Often using even just one single aspect of a movement can help us strengthen it.

And when it comes to our push ups, we can see great gains by just focusing on the eccentric portion of the movement, or the lower down, because we are actually stronger during that part.

This means we may be able to slow down the tempo and spend more time under tension while doing a more advanced push up variation than we would be able to if we had to press back up.

So if you’re feeling stuck on an incline or modified variation, try going to that next advanced step up and do only the lower down, focusing on a slow 5-6 count.

Once you lower all the way down, simply reset at the top, don’t try to push back up.

Complete even just 3-5 reps this way or even an interval of work.

But focus on what you feel working and everything engaging correctly as you just control the lower down of the most advanced version you can!

And then even include PAUSES in your push ups, especially in this variation. 

While you can pause at points in any push up variation you include to work on those points you tend to get stuck, it can be extra beneficial to include pauses during the eccentric only push ups at the very bottom.

Hold in that perfect plank an inch or so off the ground. Focus on engaging everything as hard as possible and even run through a checklist of what you feel working in your head.

Hold here for a 3-5 count then relax down and reset.

This ability to hold tension at the bottom of your push up will ultimately help you maintain tension to do the full press back up.

Often when we hit the bottom of the movement, we struggle to shift from lowering down to pushing the ground away to press back up.

This ability to maintain that plank position at the bottom is key.

It’s honestly often the missing component in our mind-body connection and where we lose tension, holding us back from full range of motion perfect push ups!

So try using that pause at the bottom. Although you can also implement pauses throughout the movement if you find there are other points you tend to fail.

Like if you get stuck when your elbows are bent to 90 degrees, try holding there too!

But don’t be afraid to included these pauses to create more time under tension and even give yourself the mental ability to focus on what you feel working without having the movement factor in!

Then stop just trying to do more reps in a row. 

Often to build strength, we do want to do one more rep with a weight.

One more rep of that challenging movement to create progression and build strength and muscle.

But when working to progress a SKILL, simply doing more volume of a more modified variation can keep us stuck.

Instead we want to focus on fewer reps in a row of a harder variation.

We can build up volume by resting even 15-20 seconds between 1-3 reps to get the 8-12 reps we want to complete.

But we can’t just shoot to keep trying to do 10 reps in a row.

Or we will end up continuing to need to use the modified variation and only continue to get stronger with the modification.

Often when we get focused on hitting a higher rep range for a move too, we rush through the rest. This doesn’t allow us to fully recovery and requires us often to modify even more over the rounds.

Instead, rest more and do fewer reps in a row!

Seek to use a variation you can only do a single rep of. If you can even do 2-3 reps, try something harder!

If you’ve been stuck, feeling like you’re just at that tipping point to be able to do a full push up, try implementing these 5 tips in your workout progression.

Use intervals over counting reps.

Use different push up variations.

Focus only on the lower down and even include pauses.

And then don’t be afraid to do single reps in a row, building up that volume over the interval of work!

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