Go ahead and stand up and thrust your pelvis right now. Which one, you ask? Good question! Today, we go over what I call ‘the many pelvises theory’. You may know a little bit about the pelvis you mostly use, but why limit yourself to just one? Let’s broaden up the characteristics of the […]
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Know how to fold ‘em
Gravity can be a cruel mistress. Picking things up from the ground is often a source and/or contributor to low back pain. There are 4 things you need to know about your back when lifting. Keep your trunk straight. This one is the most obvious, but you need to do what your mom always told […]
Shoulder impingement – is it what we think it is?
If you have shoulder pain, chances are you’ve been told its from impingement. So what is impingement? Impingement means something is being pinched, and in the shoulder, this refers to the rotator cuff being pinched by the top of the shoulder blade called the acromion. Why would it do this? Normally, the acromion is […]
IAATG
Straining your adductor muscles is often called pulling your groin, which is actually the lesser of 2 evils, with the alternative being ‘tearing your groin.’ Even so, pulling your groin is no fun. IAATG – something that any athlete in a sport that involves cutting motions (quick movements to the side) can sometimes, unfortunately, […]
Hypnotic pain relief – an explanation
I’ve talked about 10 approaches of hypnotic pain relief (https://theunitedstrengths.com/blog/f/approaches-of-hypnotic-pain-relief), but how does hypnosis work? First, you need to understand the neuroscience of pain. Pain starts as a signal that is carried by your nerves and there are several ‘gates’ that can block the signal from getting to the brain. If the signal doesn’t […]
Strength programming
This is a general run down of strength programming to lift heavy weights, starting from the simplest program and going to more complicated ones. Linear periodization This is very simple and if you are a beginner, you should definitely use this scheme because it is the fastest. All you do with linear periodization is keep […]
Squat form determinants
At some point, all weight lifters must bend the knee to serve the king of exercises – the squat. The question then is, how to best serve? First, this guide isn’t for Olympic lifters. If you’re an Olympic lifter, your only goal is to squat as similarly to the recovery phase of the clean […]
Relieve yourself
Breathing regularly has been shown to improve health, but what about wellness? Breath work is a common part of many methods such as yoga, meditation, hypnosis, relaxation routines, and more. Most people focus on the inhale, with the emphasis placed on diaphragmatic breathing. This is important, but much of the release of tension comes from the exhale. Sighing is […]
Addressing knee pain – a guide
Knee pain is very common but also very treatable. Today’s post will be going over the various things that may be contributing to your knee pain and what can be done about them. This will include ideas you can use for yourself, but always keep in mind that consulting a specialist like a physical therapist will make the process much easier.
Improving the runs
Want to improve your running? Here are 3 important factors to address: fixing energy leaks, improving cardiovascular fitness, and horizontal force production. 2 of those topics I’ve already covered so I’ll briefly cover them here and also refer you to those articles. You can look them up, or just go to the blog and click on […]
How to have ideal running form
There’s no such thing. You can have acceptable running form though – see ‘how to have acceptable running form’ post on that.
How to have acceptable running form
There are essentially only 3 actual factors to monitor to decrease your risk of injury while running: be symmetrical, don’t collapse too much, don’t overdo it. Seriously, comb through running research and injury prevention. A lot of what is being sold to prevent injury or improve performance is not worth your money. Take a look at any […]
Approaches of hypnotic pain relief
There are 10 broad approaches I can think of that are useful for hypnotic pain relief. Each of the things listed will just be a general approach. For any given approach, there are many techniques to accomplish the desired effect. This list is meant to pique interest in hypnosis as a clinical tool as well […]
slaoG
What’s the easiest way to solve a maze? Often it’s the same way with accomplishing your goals. Here’s a helpful drill that I use with people when they feel overwhelmed or don’t know how to start or move towards their goal. I call it the ‘Days before’ drill.
Meaningful goals
I once received a physical therapy referral to treat the sprained joint of a lady’s middle finger. It’s the middle finger, haha, yes that’s funny – but now consider the fact that she was to come in to do physical therapy on a jammed finger. Not a broken finger, not a torn tendon, a jammed finger. Needless to say, I was very curious how our interaction would go, but it turned out her finger was healing normally (surprising no one) and she was actually coming in because she had chronic low back pain.
Maximus your gluteus
If you run, jump, swing a racket/club/bat, or punch or kick – your glutes need to be maximus. When you powerfully shift your weight – your glutes are providing that power. Read on to learn how to squeeze the crap out of your glutes (metaphorically)!
Chunking up using your mouth
Note: Chunking up is a language technique, not a tutorial on shotgunning pizza (stay tuned on that).
Breaking bod
Last post we discussed helping people change their limiting beliefs they have about themselves in order to move past their problem. Nowhere is this more important than with pain. Things that affect our body, affect the mind. The most common belief is “I have X which causes my pain” with X being arthritis, slipped discs, bone spurs, etc. This can be simplified to the belief: “X causes pain”.
I think, therefore I’m
Most problems are rooted in a limiting belief. There are 5 components to a limiting belief: referent = [bad thing] —> problem. Let‘s take this negative statement, “I am stupid which is why no one likes me.” ‘I’ is the referent (subject of the sentence), ‘am’ is the equivalence (=), and ‘stupid’ is the [bad […]
EBS – Enraged bowel syndrome
If hot lava is flowing out of you and someone asked you at that moment “how are your bowels?”, you are limited to saying they’re irritable. You have ‘irritable’ bowel syndrome. There is no stronger language. Even if your bowels are notably more than irritated even, dare I say, enraged. There is no need to […]
Pre-meditated meditation
If you’ve ever had trouble learning how to meditate, it’s probably because you tried to do it while you were already stressed out. The thought process is that meditation is good for stress relief, but that’s really only true if you already know how to meditate. Otherwise, it probably just seems frustrating and ineffective. Fortunately, […]
Not PC(L)
I worked with a young man who came in with a diagnosis of a PCL strain/minor tear. The PCL is a ligament of the knee, very close to the ACL. It’s important to do your own examination and make your own decision on what is wrong with your client because you’ll often be surprised by […]
Windows pain
Circle ’round folks, it‘s time for a clinical case story. I worked with a lady who had pain on one side of her neck that went down towards the top of her shoulder blade and into the area between her shoulder blades. Just based on that, I knew that the structure that was irritated was […]
Sports elbow – pain in the ol’ cranon
One of my workout partners and I were sparring and he complained afterwards of mild elbow pain after he tried to repeatedly uppercut me. He asked me what the cause of this was and how to fix it… A part of me considered explaining that proper uppercut form was to wrench your back while simultaneously […]
Skin city
Clinicians are taught to mobilize pretty much all components of the movement system from muscles to joints to nerves to fascia. All of these are being mobilized in theory because you cannot actually touch them directly. You only ever touch them indirectly, through the skin. Ironically, mobilizing the skin, the one thing you can directly mobilize, is […]
Lower body exercises
When choosing what to include in your plan, there are a bunch of categories people want to straddle. I’ll go over what I’ve chosen and why.
Troll the respond, Jeremy
Clients often come in with problems and they almost always have the indecency to expect you to help them, just because you took their money. Your goal as a coach/clinician/hairdresser is to get them to solve their own problems – it’s much less work for you that way. So, in that interest, here are 6 ways to respond to your clients to shove them in the right direction.
Playing with yourself from the waist up
If playing with yourself is too easy, that is, if it doesn’t leave you in a hot, sticky mess, then you’re probably ready to increase the intensity of your stimulation. There are a couple of was of changing bodyweight upper body movements to challenge your muscles in new and titillating ways. Adding weight This is […]
Check please!
Are you tired of leaking all of the place when you run? Leaking energy that is. Energy leaks are when you perform a movement without proper stabilization, resulting in less than optimal force transfer. Imagine trying to stand up as fast as you can from a really puffy chair. You won’t be able to go […]
Brace yourself
What do you think when you hear the term ‘adult braces’? You probably come up with the stereotypical image of a muscular man/woman, absorbing a mighty blow from an enemy while engaged in epic combat – the words “Fearsome adult braces for legendary battle” engraved below the scene.
Pulse setting
Today’s post is building on the last one on pulsing. To recap, pulsing is a brief, but intense, core contraction to allow a strong force transfer through the spine for fast movements in sports, such as striking, throwing, or jumping. Read last post to learn about how to pulse your core. Today’s post covers learning […]
Grunt work – pulsing
If you’ve ever watched a tennis match with women who were pro tennis players (and I mean pro as in professional, not as in they’re in favor of tennis players), you already know about core pulsing. The grunting, the screaming. But it’s not limited to tennis, any martial artist also includes the ‘power yell’. Why […]
Defining your core
The core, much like Amazon, is the cause and solution to all of your problems. Want to lift a few more pounds at the gym? Work your core. Want to lose a few more pounds at the gym? Work your core. Want to last longer in bed (where you do sit-ups and other ab work)? […]
Chips with queso and cardio – volume control
What do eating chips with queso and cardio have in common? Two very important things. First, if you have too much of it, your body will be mad at you. If you’re lactose intolerant, the queso will really mess you up. If you’re lactate (the metabolized form of lactic acid) intolerant, the cardio will. But […]
Go long!
Are you someone who has to repeat themselves over and over? Maybe even more miles? Would you like to take that a step (or few thousand) further?
Winning the hypertrophy
Many in the gym seek the hypertrophy. This is not an object like some giant trophy, but a destination. And that destination is the collective objects of your muscles being bigger – essentially turning into giant trophies. So how do you win such prizes? There are 2 main theories about what games must be played […]
Pyramid scheme – rob your clients of their pain!
Hypnosis is based on eliciting different ideodynamic phenomenon, such as the ideomotor response of muscular relaxation or the ideosensory response of feeling like you’re floating. Everything is on a scale though. For relaxation, it can range from light relaxation in the face muscles, to full body relaxation so deep the person can’t even move (similar […]
Go number too
That’s number like to be more numb. Originally this post had the subtitle “relieve that pain in your ass” but I thought that would be too confusing.
Healing water for pain and discomfort
My first real exposure to ideosensory phenomenon was in childhood at a sleepover. I learned that you could take the hand of someone who is in a very relaxed state and gently place it in warm water. You would then be able to actually see them relieve themselves with no further guidance from you. As amazing as […]
Lemon party – ideosensory phenomenon for discomfort
Imagine that you’ve got a ripe lemon in front of you on the kitchen counter. As you cut into it, you can feel how juicy and fresh it is. The aroma of the lemon is in the air, that fresh and sweet smell. You cut a wedge off of half the lemon and pick it […]
Want to lift more? Shave your legs!
How does shaving your legs make you lift more? There is an improvement in your legs’ aerodynamics which reduces resistance and allows you to accelerate faster. The science checks out, so the only question is how to shave your legs? That and more deadlift tips below! Before you go down to grab the bar, look […]
The conventional, and sensual, deadlift
Is there a greater feeling than the strain of trying to lift up something truly heavy? Yes, probably most feelings. But it’s still very satisfying and, dare I say, sensual. Today, we discuss the conventional deadlift which means your legs are inside your arms when you lift (in contrast to the sumo deadlift where the […]
Welcome to the gun show: featuring pistols
People often ask me, “who are you, are you packing heat, and if so, where?” That’s why I preemptively introduce myself to new people by saying, “I’m Eric and I’m packing heat in my pants.” Honestly, it’s saved me a lot of time. It’s important that the exact location of where I’m packing heat, which […]
Spotting a hooker and automatic movement
I was standing in line at a restaurant once and the lady in front of me ordered a drink that came in a bottle with a lid you had to pop off. I knew the kid at the register wasn’t old enough to drink because he was failing horribly at using the mounted bottle opener. […]
TURN ON YOUR FEARING AID!!!
Something interesting about fear is that whatever you’re afraid of, probably isn’t actually happening. If you’re afraid of heights, then you’re not currently falling. Because if you were falling, you’d actually be afraid of landing. But if you’ve already hit the ground, then you’re not afraid of that – you’re afraid of further pain or […]
Sleep like a dog
Here’s my night routine: check that everything’s locked then go to bed and blast my eyeballs with artificial light. After they’re good and burned out, I put it up and immediately go to sleep. Sound familiar? Probably all but the last part. What’s my secret? First, as far back as I can remember, I’ve been […]
Squat form determinants
At some point, all weight lifters must bend the knee to serve the king of exercises – the squat. The question then is, how to best serve?
What is hypnosis? And confidence tip
You know when you see a juicy sock and can’t help but bury your nose in it? Well that’s not hypnosis. Hypnosis is intentionally eliciting a nonconscious response. A nonconscious response is any experience you feel like you didn’t deliberately (consciously) put together. Someone holds out a flyer (that you definitely don’t want) and you […]
Performance enhancement – squat pattern
Have you ever been working out and just felt completely in the groove? The weights felt easy, and your body was firing perfectly. For most people, that’s a rare and elusive feeling. In reality, it’s a skill that needs to be built and practiced. Once mastered, you can call on it as needed. First, the […]
Stress relief – ultradian rest breaks
If you stress something, it means to emphasize that thing or draw attention to it. Most people don’t pay enough attention to themselves and their own well-being which is why, early on, I told people “Stress yourself!” “The more you stress yourself, the better you will feel.” “You cannot stress yourself too much.” “You really […]