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Michael Sirani 10/19/17 Michael Sirani 10/19/17

4 Squat Variations You Should Be Using If You Lack Mobility

The ability to squat is one of the most basic human movements. Unfortunately as we age, experience injury, and spend long periods of time sitting at desks and in the car our body loses the valuable mobility that it once had. Loss of mobility in our hips, spine, shoulders, or ankles can make the back squat a difficult and awkward feeling exercise to perform. And despite all of these common mobility restrictions the back squat is one of the most frequently performed exercises in the gym.

Because a mobility restriction makes back squatting a higher risk exercise to perform does this mean that squatting is something you should be avoiding when in the gym? Not necessarily. Like most other exercises you can always make modifications in order to make it safer and more effective for you.

Michael Sirani 10/14/17 Michael Sirani 10/14/17

The Art Of Foam Rolling

I’m no fortuneteller, but I’m usually pretty good at predicting the first few moves people make when they enter the gym. Somewhere between setting down their bag, consuming a healthy dose of caffeine, and loading up the barbell there’s some vaguely defined—albeit well-intentioned—period of time that involves rolling around on a foam roller or digging a lacrosse ball into various body parts.

These types of soft-tissue mobilization techniques have become a standard part of most people’s warm-up routines. But what do we really know about the science underlying these methods? And more importantly, are they right for everyone?

Wouldn’t it be great if we had a purpose and a plan, and not just a bunch of haphazard “I-think-this-is-supposed-to-be-good-for-me” exercises?

This article will explore some of what we know about the science of muscle and fascia, and how we can connect that information to our workouts for the best possible outcomes.

Michael Sirani 10/13/17 Michael Sirani 10/13/17

Modifying Traditional Barbell Lifts for Overhead Athletes

No one has ever gotten weaker from bench pressing, barbell overhead pressing, or back squatting. But many have been injured and have experienced setbacks from incorrectly performing or programming these lifts. When training with these exercises, an injury is most likely to occur for at least one of these four reasons:

Incorrect Technique
Poor Mobility
Too Much Volume in the Gym (Too many sets & reps)
Too Much Volume from Activities Outside of the Gym

The goal of this article is to educate you on why the overhead athlete is more susceptible to encounter injury from bench pressing, barbell overhead pressing, and back squatting. Once you understand the reasoning for avoiding these exercises, we’ll cover three exercises you should be performing instead that’ll allow you train similar muscles, while keeping your joints in safer positions.

Michael Sirani 10/10/17 Michael Sirani 10/10/17

4 Quick Bodyweight Workouts

Sometimes getting to the gym isn’t feasible for a variety of reasons. Life gets busy, you end up having to stay at work late, pick up your kids, or travel. These busy times are stressful enough and become even more stressful when you view working out as black and white. If you view exercise as black and white you may think things like:

If I’m not strength training at a high intensity then I’m not getting better
If I don’t run as far or at as fast of a pace as last time the run was a waste of my time.
If I’m not laying in a pile of my own sweat trying to catch my breath it wasn’t a good workout

This type of mindset can help push people towards making their workouts a priority in their life and drive them to be consistent enough to reach their goals, but it can also increase your stress levels, make you feel irritable, and make you no fun to live with or be around, especially when life throws you a curveball.