Staggered Push-ups for Functional and Overall Strength

Staggered Pushup

A staggered push-up is an anaerobic exercise that is a body weight movement performed in the prone position by bending your elbows at 90 degrees while your arms are used to help lower and raise your torso. The gravity and resistance that your body provides during this exercise creates functional and overall strength. Functional strength can best be defined as to effectively producing stabilization and movement to the body with daily activities.

The staggered push-up can be considered a “moveable plank” since the core is utilized for strength just as much as the upper body is during performance. Correct staggered push-ups should be performed with the upper body, torso, and lower body moving as one unit. Staggered push-ups are a tremendous exercise because of the multi-joint and multiple muscle groups they recruit during movement. Moreover and most importantly, staggered push-ups are a true test of strength, stability, endurance, and power.

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Treating Fitness Clients Like Athletes –The Right Way Part 1

Treating Fitness Clients Like Athletes

Ever watch a kid play in the park? If you have not ever taken the time do so, find a park and try not to look too creepy. You will notice that very few kids have flexibility, mobility or stability issues. They jump off of things and start sprinting at full speed at whim. You will find these kids all look pretty athletic. Sure, some may possess more natural ability to jump higher and run faster but, provided the kid is in good shape, most kids have the same athletic ability.

plyometric-depth-jumpAs we get older, our life choices either cultivate this athleticism or hinder it. Some of us stop running around and jumping strictly for fun and restrict it to when we play organized sports while others sit in front of a computer screen or a t.v. for entertainment and get stiff, immobile and lose kinesthetic sense as the years go by.

While we may all start out as athletes, most of us definitely do not stay like that. 

Not Everything Is Appropriate

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The Importance of Stretching and Flexibility for You and Your Clients

Flexibility is one of the five essential components (Strength Training, Cardiovascular Training, Proper Nutrition, Flexibility & Rest) that we as fitness professionals preach to our clients, yet it’s frequently abandoned. Let’s all be open and honest here for a second. How often do you personally, or have you seen exercises, go through a routine and then decide to skip stretching for any number of reasons like:

  • You’re tired and want to go home
  • It doesn’t normally make you sweat
  • It doesn’t provide the immediate results that our society looks for
  • It doesn’t give you that workout pump
  • Or, honestly you don’t think that it makes that much of a difference
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Glorious (Injurious) Gluten

Glorious (Injurious) Gluten

Every now and then I am reminded of, what has become old hat to me,  the new “shiny object” (to avoid) for some. This particular shiny object I am referring to is Gluten.

Before I even venture down this path, I want to be very clear about something; while I may have done enough independent research, out of sheer necessity, and visited enough healthcare facilities to be awarded an honorary degree, I am NOT a Doctor. I’m not even a Phlebotomist.

All my life I’ve been a bit of a medical oddity. There’s been nothing textbook about my body, and the way it responds to “modern” medicine. I could ramble about my medical history for days. Unfortunately, no matter how many times, or how many people have attempted to dissect it, the puzzle pieces never seem to match up. I won’t bore you with my complete medical history, as there simply isn’t enough Ritalin in this world to hold anyone’s attention for that. Not even my own. Yes, you can add Attention Deficit Disorder to that loooooooong list.

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Simon Says

Discover your potential to the power of why

Simon Sinek - Start with WhyThe first thing I said to a friend after hearing Simon Sinek’s keynote speech at the IHRSA 2012 Conference in Los Angeles, was, “We are never going to be the same!” Sinek—author of the book Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action—is leading a movement to motivate people to do what inspires them. Have you ever met someone who makes you bring your “A-game” to life? Sinek’s the same. His infectious enthusiasm and dynamic presence, draw people in. It’s a gift he uses to teach leaders and organizations how to inspire others and find fulfillment by discovering their why; the purpose or cause that drives us.

Sinek refers to the relationship between one’s why, how, and what as the “Golden Circle” and it explains why some are great leaders and are able to obtain loyalty. Intrigued by those with remarkable influence in the world, Sinek has discovered they all have three common traits: They’re clear as to their why and act on it; remain disciplined and accountable to their values and principles that determine how to bring their cause to life; have tangible proof of what they believe as a result of everything they say and do. When you “walk the walk,” people are authentically drawn to you and relationships develop built on trust. Loyalty and lasting success are inevitable.

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FPO 015: Interview with Eldon Brough

Fitness Professional Online

In this epsiode we get to talk to Eldon Brough. Eldon currently holds the position of Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach at the University of Detroit Mercy, a Division 1 school. Prior to Detroit, Eldon spent the 2010-11 and the 2011-12 school years as the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach at Dixie State College of Utah. Eldon got his start in Strength and Conditioning as a student assistant coach at the University of Utah where he graduated, having majored in Exercise Science. He is also CSCS Certified through the National Strength & Conditioning Association. Eldon gives us his exclusive insght on what its like to be a Strength and Conditionig coach working on the field as well as a path of study! Learn how he climbed his way up to the top so you too can be a Strength and Conditioning Success! More from Eldon

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FPO 014: Interview with Karsten Jensen

Karsten Jensen

In this episode, we get to talk to our Strength and Conditioning expert Karsten Jensen! Karsten has 15 years of experience as a Strength and Conditioning Coach and is the owner and founder of Yes To Strength, a company committed to “educating strength coaches, personal trainers, and world class athletes on how to develop unlimited strength, power, speed, and endurance by working with the inherent mechanisms of body, mind, and spirit”. He is the creator of The Flexible Periodization Method and has worked with Olympic, World Class, and International level athletes from 21 sports over the last 2 decades. He is the first Strength Coach to create a complete system of periodization. So don’t waste any time and find out what he has to say!

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Training for Obstacle Course Races: Part I

TrainingForObstacles

Part 1: Building the Base
Obstacle course races such as the Warrior Dash, Spartan Race, and Tough Mudder are getting more and more popular with the general population. As a personal trainer, weightlifting coach, and track and field coach, it is my opinion that the 5K versions of these races are exactly the kind of fitness most of us need for everyday activities: upper and lower body strength, core strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and cardiorespiratory fitness. More importantly, these races are fun and help maintain that sense of play that is so important for all of us. If you can train for and complete a 5k obstacle course race, you have the kind of fitness that is going to keep you going strong for a long time. For my clients who don’t play a sport or have a specific fitness goal, I encourage them to consider one of these races as a fun and reasonable goal to train for. I recently completed the Tough Mudder, an 11 mile, 25 obstacle, challenge with a group of friends as a training challenge.

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