Shawn Adair - Vancouver Peronal Trainer and Strength Coach

 This sums up my training in 2016... Always  trying to combine a variety of training styles into my own because this is what I truly enjoy😊

Pre-hab, 

Powerlifting, 

Calisthenics, 

Bodybuilding, 

Yoga, 

Plyometrics, also just general body control and athleticism are my main areas. Find what training style(s) you enjoy that will help get you to your own personal goals, remember to always think outside the box and try different areas. It's amazing how adding in some calisthenics will help powerlifting or how some pre-hab will help you to breath and brace better for squats/deads🤔 explore more aspects don't get stuck in 1 modality...2017 will be even better 💪🏼😊

Vancouver personal trainer 

Burnaby personal trainer

Richmond personal trainer 

Vancouver fitness 

💥 Poké-Posture💥

Sure it's great people are getting out and walking around to find Pokemon it's definitely an improvement of overall actively in the average population, I see more people outside now than in the past 10 years...but I find it really strange that even though they are outside everyone is blindly staring down into their phone the whole time while having horrible posture doing so.
Be aware of both your surroundings and your posture because people are spending hours in these positions, over time it will have a huge impact on your functionality and even decrease your lung capacity by 30%!

If your going to hunt for Pokemon bring your phone up to your face rather than face to phone, this will not just improve your posture but make you more aware of your surroundings as well👌🏻💪🏼
Ps. No I don't play Pokemon haha

-Shawn Adair
The Bar - Strength and Conditioning
Vancouver BC

How is your squat set up?

Your set up is one of the most important parts of a successful lift and maintaining good form, having a solid repeatable set up that you run through each time will save energy increase strength and also lower your chance for any form break down or injuries. These are all important variables to consider when squatting because they will drastically change your squat with even the slightest adjustment in technique or mental cueing.

Remember everyone is built differently and will squat differently, there is no such thing as a "perfect squat" only general guidelines to follow. Everything on that list can be adjusted quite a bit depending on the person, narrow stance/wide stance, high bar/low bar, feet straight/ feet out ect....one is not better than the other, it's more about what's best for each individual athlete!

As a coach it's my job to find what's optimal for each one of my clients depending on things like high/weight, torso/femur length and/or joint mobility restrictions. The first main goal is getting them squatting safely and then the next will be getting as close to optimal technique as possible for their own personal mechanics. Come down to @thebarvancouver to get an assessment done by ether myself or anyone of our other trainers to see how well you move!

Never Case Fatigue... Chase Performance!

"A coach always trying to "kill" clients in the gym often lacks education. & clients always looking to be "killed" haven't been taught well" - Lee Boyce 

This goes on way to much in the fitness industry, average people start doing these crazy intense bootcamp classes without any coaching on joint mechanics, proper progressions or basic movement foundations. 

People go to these classes with major movement problems and do 100's of repetitions with poor form where quantity/intensity is more important than quality. I have had clients come to me saying "I worked out for 3 years at crossfit/bootcamp/classes" ect.. then put them through a movement/mobility based assessment and I'll find so many problems that were never even brought up as issues to them.

For example, a female client came to me in decent shape wanting to get stronger and lean out. She tells me she was doing classes 4x a week before injuring her hip, Says she knows how to squat no problem been doing it for years under her trainers eye.. I then ask her to do a basic bodyweight squat at our assessment and what do we see? Huuuge lateral shifting, feet collapsing, valgus knees, forward lean, lack of over all tension and stability along with a ton of mobility issues.
None of these were ever brought up to her and she had no idea she was doing them, but she felt tired, sweaty, sore and even lost weight so it must be good for you right? Lol not in the long run..
Don't wait for injuries to happen before you fix the problem, just like you don't wait for your car to break down before you get maintenance done on it. The majority of pain/tightness/stiffness is related back to poor movement and/or lack of movement. Quality should come before quantity 😁 /rant end