Blogs

For those of you that don’t know Eric Cressey, he is an experienced athlete and powerlifter and has quickly established himself as one of the most brilliant strength coaches in the country.  After spending a week at his facility, I realized that he and I share strong opinions on a few issues that may be […]

Yesterday I sat in the office of Philadelphia Flyer’s strength and conditioning coach for over two hours and talked about their program.  Talk about an eye opening experience. I know many strength coaches and personal trainers that will swear on their lives that squats should ALWAYS be performed to a full depth (below parallel). Do […]

Recently I’ve read a few articles and forum discussions that have left me with that “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed” feeling.  Despite writing about this a few times already, it seems that people still do not understand the difference between muscle recruitment and muscle activation. Recruitment refers to the beginning of force production from […]

Throwing weights around is one of my favorite things to do.  Physically, no matter how strenuous the training, I always feel better after than I did before.  Mentally, I find it to be a great time to forget about all the other stressors of daily life. But as much as I’m a weight-lifting enthusiast, I’m […]

I hope you all had a great 4th of July.  I had a lot of fun out in Denver, but am glad to be back on the east coast. One of the primary issues I get questioned about is supplement use. Should I take supplements? What supplement should I take: protein, creatine, etc? What brand […]

Recently there’s been a debate among fitness professionals about whether or not back squatting is necessary.  The “functional” people may have you believe only single leg work is necessary.  The “old school” people or those with backgrounds in powerlifting and olympic lifting won’t listen to a word about cutting squats out of a program.  Depending […]

Why just be fat…. When you can be fat AND uncomfortable?? This is a rhetorical question that I pose to everyone that performs hundreds of crunches and sit-ups to improve the aesthetic appeal of their midsection. The sorer the better, right?? WRONG! Research has been good to us in this area-Spot reduction is not possible! […]

Since a lot of my background is in injury prevention, I get questions all the time about preventing and rehabbing injuries, as well as the “when I do this, this hurts” questions.  The two most common ones: 1) My shoulder hurts after I bench 2)  My low back hurts after I deadlift Both are extremely […]

Do you think all athletes should train the same? Before answering that question, think about differences in the power, speed, strength, range of motion, coordination and conditioning demands of the sport and various positions within a sport. The key to successful training is specificity. I’m a hockey guy so I’ll use that as an example. […]

I have a gift for those of you that have invested in Hockey Training U’s Off-Ice Performance Training Course.  Details below… I just started a new job as the Director of Athletic Development at Endeavor Fitness in Sewell, NJ.  The facility is awesome.  Check out the pictures on their site www.EndeavorFit.com.  If you live anywhere […]