A couple of big things have gone down recently.  First, tomorrow will be a month that I've now been in my  new facility. Its been a lot of  hard work and it has been nothing short of awesome and everyday brings more excitement with this new adventure.  We've got a lot of awesome clients and have created a real motivating atmosphere that is simply great to be around each day.  I can't wait to see the place continue to grow. 

Second, this past Saturday I finally made my return to a powerlifting competition at the Wisconsin State Fair.  The last time that I competed was November of 2008.  For those of you that don't know, I had an injury or two that forced me to step back, reevaluate things and take some time to fix imbalances and weak points and let things heal.  Rather than try to jump into competition again too soon, I decided that I was going to take ample time to make sure I was in full working order and ready to rock the platform without risking another strain. I've spent a lot of time working hard to get better and to come back to this point.  When there was a time that I wasn't sure if I'd be able to compete again, I've made my way back and I'm ready to kill it again.  While I didn't pull what I wanted to, I'm real close to where I want to and need to be and ended up winning deadlift (opened w/ 500, struggled w/ 540 (which I've tripled before) but didn't really train off the floor much until recently so I should shoot up pretty fast now, especially since everything is stronger than ever and I'm feeling good) and also a bench your bodyweight for reps competition (pressed 179 for 29 reps and won 90 bucks).  I didn't really train specifically for the meet but managed to do alright.  Now that I'm officially back into competition mode, I'm on a mission.  I'm on a mission to hit some big numbers and to do so while being smart and staying healthy.   I'm real excited to start pulling from the floor more frequently and plan on hitting some nice numbers this year. 

That being said, there are still a lot of lifters and other athletes out there who are going hard and heavy without taking note of imbalances, movement faults and weak points.  I saw at least a dozen lifters at this meet with less than desirable form and definite imbalances jumping out at me.  If competitors would take the time to get a good assessment and learn what they need to do to fix some of these issues, not only would they be less likely to get injured, they would also be much stronger and improve their performance on the platform or in their sport.  I'm not huge on self promotion but since I've had the opportunity to be a contributor to a great product, I'm going to mention it one more time. I go through multiple assessments and LOTS of exercise progressions to take care of issues found with those assessments in the newest edition of Muscle Imbalances Revealed: Assessment and Exercise.

  It doesn't stop there.  Anthony Mychal goes through some great information to help with athleticism.  One topic he touches on nicely is the importance of proper foot stability and control and how it can affect the rest of the kinetic chain.  It goes along real nicely to compliment some of the things I discuss with the hips and trunk.  John Izzo goes through some great assessments that can help out with general population clients and Rick Kaselj give out loads of info on important things to be done with rehab clients.  The 4 presentation product is full of priceless information and while it is definitely designed for professionals, anybody interested in learning about these things can take away a lot of information from the product. If you grab a copy this week, you will also get access to bonus material and a coaching call with all of the contributors to the product.    Be sure to check it out today!!  Muscle Imbalances Revealed- Assessment and Exercise   Here is a video from Anthony's presentation.  Look at my last blog post to view a clip from my presentation and go to the MIR site to learn more detailed info about the product. 

Also a big congrats to Dr. Therese Miller and Samantha Skeen for doing amazing jobs with their first meet.  Therese benched 125, came close with 140 and deadlifted 305 and ended up taking second for the females.  Samantha deadlifted 230 and probably could have gone heavier, with a third place finish.  I will post more details and some videos in the coming days.  It was an awesome day all around and I can't wait until the next meet.  My goal is to pull 600 by the end of the year and then to total something around 1500-1600 geared and mid to high 1300's raw. 

New Facility.  Return to Powerlifting.  New Product.  Time of your life, huh kid?! 

(If anybody can tell me what that great line is from, you might get bonus points)

Relative flexibility is a topic that is very important when looking at athletes (or any client for that matter).  I have written about it previously so be sure to check out a past article HERE.   With relative flexibility, the difference in stiffness among neighboring muscles is analyzed instead of only looking at the stiffness of one muscle all alone.  As I show in the following video, a common problem seen with many people is that their rectus femoris is stiffer than the supporting muscles of the lumbar spine and pelvis (i.e. external obliques).  This causes compensatory movement in the lumbar spine and unwanted tilt or rotation in the pelvis.  Looking at most athletic needs, this causes energy leaks which can affect performance in a less than desirable way.  So its not necessarily just a problem of the rectus being too stiff (though it can be),  it may be that the supporting cast of the lumbar spine and pelvis needs to be stiffer to help balance out the pull among the neighbors. It might be one,  it might be both.  What this means is that instead of doing random crazy stretches and abdominal exercises that Tanya and Bob,the expert level instructors on your latest workout video told you to do, you need to get more specific with the exercises that you are doing.  It also means that you need to determine what exactly is the weak point that needs to be addressed with your body.  Peep the video.......

If you like what you see in this video, you can find many more on multiple assessments and then tons more on exercise progressions that can be used to address problems and imbalances that you might find with the assessments, in the newest edition of Muscle Imbalances Revealed- Assessment and Exercise.  Myself, Rick Kaselj, John Izzo and Anthony Mychal all contributed to this 4 part DVD and webinar series.  You can find tons of information and video on assessments and exercises for dealing with general population clients, performance clients, athleticism and rehab clients. The product is worth its weight in gold as you basically get a full seminar, receive CEU's, and learn tons of information that you can put to use with your clients right away all while saving money and time with travel and expenses. For a limited time only, you can get the new product for 53% off and also receive 3 free bonus videos and a coaching call with the creators where you can ask us any questions that you might have.  Check it out here.  MUSCLE IMBALANCES REVEALED- ASSESSMENT and EXERCISE

This is a project that I am very proud of and something that I am honored to be a part of.  It is humbling to be a part of something with the amazing professionals that helped with this version of MIR as well as all of the great professionals that contributed to the first two.  A big thank you to Rick Kaselj for his awesome ideas and the opportunity to help out with this.  Hope you all enjoy it!!