Saying Good Bye To The Old Gym and Hello To The New Gym (videos inside)

In my last blog post, I mentioned that my gym has changed to a new location. Well, I thought I’d give you some videos to show some of my peeps working hard.  I don’t have a whole lot on video yet at the new facility, so this is just a sneak peak.  But, before I get to the videos at the new space, I thought I’d include a video of me training at the old place (my old basement).  This was my last training session there.  Thanks basement, you we’re good to us, but it was time to move on.

I recently learned about this RDL variation in an article that Ben Bruno wrote.  I’m definitely a fan… great ham/glute exercise.  My hams were sore for days!  Not that soreness is an indication of whether an exercise is effective or not, I’m just saying, walking for the next couple days was not fun!

Perform these like regular RDLs, but with this variation, rest the bar on the pins for a second and “re-start” each rep with a pause.  Tough and effective!

NOTE: Regular Rack Pulls are performed with more knee flexion (like a deadlift) while Rack RDLs are performed with very little knee flexion (i.e. the legs are almost straight).

Next video is of Paityn performing Rack Pulls with chains.  I’ve talked about “accomodating resistance” previously, but in case you missed it – basically we can use bands and/or chains to make the top portion (in the case of a rack pull/deadlift) of the lift harder than usual.  When Paityn nears the top of this lift, notice that the majority of the chain leaves the floor.  This makes the lift heavier at top than on the bottom (the chains are 30 pounds when completely off the floor).  Paityn is getting good with “finishing with her glutes” at the top of movements that involve hip extension (RDLs, Deadlifts, Pull Throughs, Kettlebell Swings, Hip Thrusts, etc.).  This is important for a few reasons…

1) It’ll help her with sports performance as the glutes play a key role in sprinting, jumping, cutting, etc.  She a basketball player, BTW.

2) For anyone; guy, girl, orangutan, polar bear, etc, learning how to properly use your glutes helps make the glutes look better.

3) Stronger glutes decrease the chances of back and knee injuries.

Anyway, nice job Paityn.

And finally, here is Paige performing barbell bulgarian split squats.

Paige does a great job of keeping great form on bulgarian split squats.  Many people let their knee cave when performing these.  This can especially be a problem with females as they have a wider “Q-angle” then men.  This causes more stress on the knee, and is a big reason why women tear their ACL more than men (although torn ACLs are also a problem in men).  Strengthening the right muscles and learning proper movement patterns can go a long way in decreasing the chances of knee/ACL injuries.  Chalk one off for ANOTHER reason to strength train!

Alright, I have some more videos for future installments, and I’ll continue to record some here and there and share when I think they may be helpful to you all.

I’m also (most likely) going to be starting a cardio-based bootcamp on Saturday mornings at the new facility here soon.  If you are interested, check back shortly and I’ll confirm in a future blog post. If you already know you are already interested, contact me here as soon as possible, or leave a comment in the comments section below.  If I hear back from enough people, the bootcamp will go from, maybe I’ll run it, to I’ll definitely run it.

Have a great week!