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Showing posts from July, 2016

Mind-Muscle Connection

In order to move, we need to voluntarily tell our muscles to contract, choosing how, when, and what we move. In simple terms, our brains send messages to our muscles via nerves. Thanks to our consciousness, we have the ability to voluntarily control which muscles we use and in what proportions we use them. A study conducted by Bret Contreras showed that experienced weightlifters could significantly alter muscle recruitment without significantly altering form 1 . In other words, experienced lifters could actually change what muscles they used in any given exercise simply by using their minds! This may not come as a surprise to some of you but the mind-muscle connection has serious implications for trainers and coaches. The take home point is that just because a client’s form may “look good,” doesn’t mean that the client is actually using the muscles that the exercise is intended to target. Don’t get me wrong, proper form is very important when it comes to training, however

Using The TRX for Rehab

As Chris Flo discussed in a recent 15 minutes of FLO, since 2009 Flo Fitness has incorporated the TRX into both training and rehab protocol. In his video, Chris talks about how he uses the TRX for shoulder rehab; however, in this article we will discuss the wide-ranging benefits the TRX in both training and rehab settings. What is the TRX? According to their website, the TRX was created a NAVY Seal and is “ a highly portable performance training tool that leverages gravity and the user's body weight to complete 100s of exercises.” Here is a link to the website if you would like to check it out: https://www.trxtraining.com/ . Benefits of using the TRX in a training setting -        It is lightweight and highly portable o    It can be used indoors or outdoors for training -        It can be used to perform and/or modify almost any exercise you can think of o    Body position and strap length can be adjusted to increase or decrease the difficulty of any moveme