More gym gains, fewer nagging injuries! Contrary to popular long-standing belief, you don’t need to squat, bench, overhead press and deadlift with a barbell to build muscle and get stronger. The idea that the “big 4” is required for a lifting program is precisely why so many gym-goers are always banged up and not making […]
Can beet juice improve athletic performance? One of the latest hypes for endurance athletes isn’t from one of the big sports labs. In fact, it’s not from a lab at all. And even though it looks like the perfect Valentine’s Day cocktail, it actually tastes a little bit like, well, dirt. And it’ll probably make […]
Make this back exercise a staple. You know how important back strength is. A strong upper back is arguably one of the most important physical attributes for any athletic endeavor. You can’t neglect upper-body “posterior chain” exercises and expect to perform your best on the field or in the gym. Without a solid base of […]
Exercise doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing. If you don’t have the time or space to get a full workout in (or if you’re just not comfortable going back to the gym yet), welcome to the club. Just like almost everything else in 2020, we’re all finding new ways to make our lives and bodies work […]
Can swearing at the gym make you stronger? Anyone who’s ever really pushed themselves to run farther, lift heavier weights, or spin faster knows that intense exercise can cause even the most reserved gym-goer to unconsciously mutter expletives. And if you don’t typically cuss when you’re working out, you may want to try it: New […]
Are Sit Ups Bad For Your Back? The US Army recently nixed sit ups when they updated their physical readiness tests, and the Navy and Marines are set to do the same this summer. They’re all finally following what fitness researchers (and your chiropractor) have been saying for years: sit ups, V-ups, and the like […]
Fitness Fix: Help for Weak Wrists! Maybe you’re recovering from an athletic injury, or you’re finding you need to end push-up sets early to shake out your wrists. Or maybe your wrists are screaming from long days spent at your computer or even just holding onto a squirming baby for hours at a time. Whatever […]
Get moving with these moves! At Ascent Chiropractic, we see athletes every day ranging from pro cyclists to kayakers to powerlifters. And while, yes, they’re often here for relief from the back pain & neck pain the rest of us experience, they also come to us to help improve their natural mobility. I’m constantly preaching […]
No pain, no gain? We’ve all experienced that day-or-two-after-a-workout agony – the kind where just getting out of your car or wobbling up the stairs makes you feel like you’re 95 years old. It’s called delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), and if you’ve been in the gym enough you’re probably not a stranger to it. […]
Gym closed? Here’s how to avoid the #Quarantine15. Let’s be honest, the majority of Americans are going to come out of this quarantine in one of two ways: super fit because they’ve had nothing to do but workout for weeks or in dire need of a diet and serious chiropractic care because they rarely left […]
“Work your glutes!” If you’ve ever been treated for low back, sacroiliac or pelvic problems at Ascent Chiropractic, you’re probably sick of hearing me talk about the importance of glute strength.
Workouts: Should You Lift or Do Cardio First? I get it: we’re all insanely busy and it’s a miracle that we can get to the gym at all. So when we work out, most of us try to get in both strength training and cardio exercise in a single session. But should you do weights […]
Fix your posture, grow your delts & heal your shoulders! What the heck are face pulls? If you’ve ever been treated for a shoulder injury at Ascent Chiropractic there’s a good chance you know all about them. But if you’ve never done them before, face pulls just might be one of the best-kept workout secrets.
Gym Fundamentals: Do You Have A Plan? At Ascent Chiropractic, we’re serious about the belief that everyone can — and must — work out. Seriously, I’ll often literally give my patients a prescription for it and help them develop a lifting program specifically for what’s going on in their bodies.
What’s Better For Your Back: Barbell or Hex Bar Deadlifts? The deadlift is one of the gold standard lifts in the gym. It’s pretty simple, really: You load a barbell up with weight, grab it with a shoulder-width grip, plant your feet on the floor and pull until the weights come off the floor.
Cheat Your Way to More Muscle? I get this question from my athletes often: When it comes to weightlifting, are ‘cheat’ repetitions worth it? You’re probably not surprised to know my short answer is ‘no.’ The long answer, however, is that not all cheating is created equal.
What Actually Is Muscle Memory? Muscle memory is a fascinating topic that’s essential to understanding what’s going on with your musculoskeletal system. And it’s for more reasons than simply making your muscles look good now that summer’s finally arrived (although I’m plenty aware that that’s important to my patients too).
There’s no excuse for not exercising – your life depends on it! Sure, some of us live for the “workout high” — that intoxicating feeling derived from getting your heart rate up and pushing your body’s limits, while for others exercise is a chore, an item to be checked off their to-do list.
Should you ditch your running shoes? Spring is in the air and everyone is itching to get outside and back in running shape. And with the subculture of barefoot runners and the products catering to them growing daily, I’m frequently asked about my opinion regarding barefoot running.
Feeling especially sore after a workout? Whether it’s a nagging sore shoulder or a stiff and painful lower back, there are a couple warning signs to look out for to determine if it’s a normal post-exercise ache or something you should seek medical attention for. Before you test a minor ache and turn it into […]
Workout Harder and Smarter! Rounding up the most important health and fitness studies of Q1 2019 that you can put to use right now!
The Best Core Strengthening Exercises that Won’t Harm Your Back! THE CORE. We hear about the core and the importance of strengthening the core all the time, and if you’re a patient at Ascent Chiropractic, you’re probably sick of hearing me talk about why you need to be working on your core musculature.
Need some gym motivation for this week? I get it – temperatures are dropping, days are getting shorter and it’s getting tougher and tougher to drag yourself to the gym to lift weights. But there’s good reason to keep with it, and it’s more than for just the muscle-building and bone health benefits that we’re […]
Protect Your Shoulders & Back In The Gym! When it comes to proper lifting form, trainers and fitness gurus tend to harp on making sure your lower body lifts are performed properly. A lot of people end up underestimating how technical upper body exercises actually are, and reserve all that technique work for the big […]
Fix your pushup mistakes! Most of us (including me!) learned how to do pushups in grade school. Ever seen a grade schooler try to do a pushup? It’s not pretty, and unfortunately, few people ever get better.
Why Are We Still Doing Sit-ups and Crunches? Myths (especially myths concerned with health and fitness) take a long time to die. As a sports chiropractor, over the past ten years I’ve seen many ridiculous fitness trends come and go, and it’s finally time for sit-ups and crunches – mainstays of core and abdominal training […]
Squats have long been a staple of lifting programs. It’s easy to see why: it’s hands-down the most effective exercise for building strength, speed, and size, and has a remarkable carryover to everything from the vertical jump to Olympic lifts. When you squat you use pretty much every muscle from the waist down. The big […]
The 8 Best Arm-Sculpting Exercises. We all love doing compound exercises with heavy weights at the gym. But bench presses, squats and deadlifts alone aren’t going to get you sculpted arms because they aren’t sufficiently targeting and isolating the muscles of the triceps, biceps, forearms and shoulders. To maximize arm strength and size gains, we’ll […]
Our Brains Were Wired To Move. For millions of years, our ancestors moved – walking, running, climbing – as an integral part of daily life. Today, most of the modern world doesn’t move nearly as much as we were designed to, and new research suggests that it’s one of the major factors contributing to the […]
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is one of the biggest buzzwords in the fitness industry. The basic idea to do short periods of all-out work followed by short periods of active rest to make the body work harder (and burn more calories) than it might during extended steady-state cardio.
Starting A New Exercise Plan: Sound Familiar? You splurge on new workout clothes and equipment, sign up for the most exciting fitness classes, and hit the gym like an addict for two weeks. But it starts with just one missed workout, progresses to a couple absences per week, and then you’ve completely fallen off the […]
Preparing Your Body For Golfing In any sport getting your warm up right is vital to preventing injury and enjoying your fitness program. A key part of any warm-up routine is dynamic stretching, something a lot of people forget to do before they exercise.
