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Dr. Craig Liebenson was kind enough to lend us an hour of his time to discuss movement, strength, and the concept of becoming Anti-Fragile for an episode of Strength Chat. We dove into all areas of human performance but his priority list for becoming anti-fragile is what stood out the most to me. We often hear about mental toughness or cringe worthy statements such as “pain is weakness leaving the body”. But, it’s not so often we get to pick the brain of a professional as respected as Dr. Liebenson. Aside from his work as the Director of L.A Sport and Spine (a pain management, rehabilitation, and performance enhancement center) Dr. Liebenson is an active consultant for professional sports organizations such as the MLB and NFL.

I’ll set the stage for Dr. Liebenson’s formula for anti-fragility with a quote below.

“Isn’t the pursuit of perfection really the opposite of...

Coaching cues are one of the most prevalent and important parts of coaching. When you’re trying to get somebody to put their body in a certain position or generate force a certain way, you need to give that person a point of reference for how to do that. People often shout very generic intrinsic cues like “core tight” or “knees out”. There are some things that need to be looked at when things like this aren’t getting the results you want. Too often, I’ve seen people use a cue only to have it result in no change and they resort to simply saying it louder or faster instead of changing their approach. This approach doesn’t create meaningful change or help anyone, it often leads to tension and frustration between the coach and person being coached. There needs to be a multi layered approach to thinking about how to cue things and get people to do movements in the way that you want them to.

If a person is struggling to achieve a...

This piece was written by Mark Langley on his blog.

TL;DR

-The purpose of this article is to address the validty and reliability of velocity based training (VBT) measurement devices.

-Three devices were compared to video analysis: Beast, PUSH, and OpenBarbell V2. Of the three, OpenBarbell seems the most appropriate for powerlifting.

– “This will be covered largely from a powerlifting standpoint. Also, did I mention this is geared towards powerlifters? I mostly wrote this for people interested in improving their squat, bench press, and deadlift. Athletes that focus on these movements in particular are powerlifters. I wrote this for powerlifters. Powerlifting.”

-The most important considerations for a VBT device for powerlifters are affordability, reliability at low-end velocity, and support for powerlifting specific movements (primary and secondary lifts)

-There is nothing that makes a tethered or accelerometer VBT device better than other options without...

Surgery was exactly four weeks ago and after spending the first three weeks in a right-arm (sling which severely hampers the ability to type) I have been released to begin rehab work. In addition to the resurfacing procedure of the joint, the surgeon repaired my bicep tendon which had become frayed by the interaction with the raw bone. The first few sessions consisted of the therapist performing passive circumduction. We quickly moved to pendulum swings and then pulley work to extend range of motion frontal and then abduction. Because of the nature of the surgery and the need to cut through the infraspinatus to get to the joint, I will be restricted to just 20 degrees of external rotation for another three weeks. However, I can already tell that the severe pain from the osteoarthritis in the shoulder is gone and that this was absolutely the right decision. It will allow me to get back to full competition after rehab.

In my third PT session, I took a Boomstick in to demonstrate its...

Reese Hoffa

What is the oblique sling, and how does it affect me as an athlete? Are you a baseball player and want to throw harder and hit the ball further? Or are you a volleyball player that wants to increase arm speed and hit harder? Or are you a quarterback that wants to throw with a little more mustard? Your ability to do so is dependent upon your ability to load and create length through your oblique sling. This sling is our bodies personal whip. Understanding how to use it is a insanely effective way to improve sport performance.

What Is The Oblique Sling?

Your oblique sling is a line of musculature that runs from your shoulder to the contralateral side of your pelvis. In other words, right shoulder to left hip and left shoulder to right hip. This line of musculature is what rotates our pelvis into side lying. As mentioned, it is our bodies’ own personal whip. When looking at your torso, your oblique sling begins just above the hip at the external oblique, moves to...

About Fifteen years ago, when I was then older than most of you readers are today, my doctor gave me three keys to a long and healthy life:

1. Pick your parents
2. Take a baby aspirin every day
3. Exercise every day that ends in “y”

If you’re reading this then you can eliminate directive number as no one gets to select the DNA they are born with. Obviously, your chromosomal makeup plays a vital role in who you are physically and mentally. Your genes determine your eye and hair color, your body type, height, I.Q. blood type, susceptibility or resistance to certain ailments or diseases and thousands of other features that make you unique. You may have “good genes” that bless you with good health or you may have inherited a body type that is less than athletic or an immune system that is not as robust as the average person.

However, you can control your what you do with the body and mind that was given to you at birth. At age 67, I have tried to adhere to items...

There is a great deal of carryover from what is done in the gym to how you live your life.   I’m not talking about physical strength but lessons learned from dealing with adversity, managing your ego, mental preparation, and planning (along with many more).  But the ones I choose to highlight now are both short and long term goal setting. I’ve created my #GrandGoals plan in order to both deadlift and squat 1000lbs (and be the lightest man to do so), and I’m currently working on the first portion of that goal now.  In the following video I discuss a little bit about how #GrandGoals relate to both business and life, as well as challenge you with the question, “What are your Grand Goals?”

Perhaps surprisingly, I’ll admit that #GrandGoals itself is both superfluous and unimportant.  Lifting an arbitrary weight (or setting some record) has very little impact on what is truly important in my life.  Nor does it...

Body and mind

Sport Psychology, though not new, in theory has gained widespread practice in the past two decades. Today’s athletes and teams at all levels employ professional sports psychologists to assist in the acquisition of both fine and gross motor skills and to achieve the highest mental focus and self-confidence levels necessary to optimize physical performance.

An Eye on the End Game

A wise man, maybe it was Yogi Berra, once said “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” To translate: without a goal, dream or purpose in your life you are adrift in a massive ocean in a boat without a sail or a rudder. With no end game in mind, millions of humans stumble through careers, diets, relationships and leisure time resulting in mediocre income, poor health, loneliness, and boredom.

Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve. – Napoleon Hill

The Power of Thought is immeasurably critical in the development...