There are two types of people in this world, runners and people who despise running. Runners will train with stress fractures and broken limbs, and they’ll be the ones out there in the middle of hurricanes and blizzards. Non-runners generally only run when: Someone or something is chasing them They’re participating in some type of fundraiser or … Read More
Training Programs
Should You Hire a Personal Trainer?
Don’t worry…this is not a sales pitch. 🙂 In fact, I’ll be the first to say that many people do not need a personal trainer in order to reach their fitness goals. If you are ready to start exercising again or you’re ready to take your training to the next level, should you hire a … Read More
5 Tips to Improve Your Turkish Get Up
The Turkish Get Up is a powerful exercise. By doing TGU’s regularly you can build strength, improve shoulder stability and create a rock solid core. Turkish Get Ups are beautiful to watch when executed correctly, but it’s also a fairly technical exercise and can be frustrating for some individuals. Here are a few of my favorite drills that … Read More
A Guide to Heart Rate Monitor Training
You’ve got a heart rate monitor. You’re strapped in and ready to go, but what the heck do the numbers really mean anyway and why should you care about heart rate monitor training anyway? At Skill of Strength, we installed an in-house heart rate monitoring system a few months ago. While most of you have … Read More
A Training System for Life
Over the last 13 years I’ve seen it all. …The functional training phase where everyone was balancing on a bosu ball. …The crossfit boom. …The increased popularity of powerlifting. …and currently we seem to be in a phase where people are focused on movement-based training systems like Movnat, animal flow and original strength. While each of … Read More
Five Tips to Succeed at the Gym
Joining a gym is scary for some people! We get that. For many of our clients, joining SOS is a huge deal. It’s far from what they have done in the past for fitness. Just the other day a client submitted our contact us form ending with “it’s scary to hit submit, but here we go.” … Read More
Essential Strength – Kettlebell Swing and Pull-up Program
I’m huge fan of simple. I’ve seen the best results in my training career when clients (or myself) adhere to a simple and progressive training template. Some Training Programs I Love Weighted Pull-up Training Program (a program I posted earlier this year) Fighter Pull-up Training Program (via Pavel) Kettlebells and Deadlifts (via Pavel) When I take a look back … Read More
Wall Sits Stink {and What to do Instead}
The wall-sit is a very common exercise used by athletes and coaches as a regression to the squat, or as a lower body strengthening exercise. You won’t see me selecting wall-sits for my athletes at Skill of Strength. Today I’ll share with you why I have beef with wall-sits and what I use instead! Frankly, I … Read More
Rethinking Your Warm-up on Deadlift, Squat and Bench day
You likely have a standard warm-up that you do before each workout. (You do warm-up, right?) After you leave the locker room your pre-workout routine probably looks something like this: You do some sort of bouncy tip-toe walk on your way to the foam roller (because that seems like the more athletic and loose thing … Read More
Effective Hip Mobility Drills
For this week’s Mobility Monday, we are flashing back to the first part of a series we did on hip mobility! If you are familiar with our original tag line, it’s as follows: Move Better. Feel better. Perform Better. We meant it. 🙂 If you move well, you will most likely perform well. Here is … Read More