Vancouver Canada Personal Trainer and CEO of The Bar, located in South Vancouver. My passion is to help people become better and move better, using a science based approach for optimizing each individuals performance in different areas of training. My main areas of focus are in Powerlifting, Calisthenics, Joint mobility, Rehab, sports performance, Fat loss and conditioning. @Adairtrainer
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
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!
"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
This is a test I use with my clients to determine what muscles are tight/overactive around the hip capsule, a lot of people that have pain in the hips try to fix the problem directly at the hip. In a lot of cases I have tested people and the Rectus Femoris (a quad muscle) is the main culprit to their pain and releasing it makes a huge change in performance and pain relief!
I recommend you get this test done by a qualified coach/trainer but you can also do it yourself and use it as a great stench for the hips😊😊😊😊While laying down on a box/table, grab one leg and pull it into your stomach slightly, let your other leg hang in a relaxed position. Pull your ribcage down and flatten your spine to the box, It's a very common error to arch the back during this test or stretch so try to keep the back flat! So here's the main things to look for💪🏼.
👉🏼(Iliopsoas) -Does the thigh reach extension, the knee should be just under the box into slight extension.
👉🏼(Rectus Femoris) -Can the knee break 90" without the thigh raising? The knee should be able to be at a 90" angle without raising the thigh.
👉🏼 (TFL)-Does the thigh move laterally into abduction? The knee should line up with the hip not track in or out.
I hope this helps some of you out, I only had 1min to explain this when there is so much more to it 😁 for a more personalized approach contact me for a 1on1 full movement joint mobility assessment adair.personaltrainer@gmail.com
This is a sagittal plane shoulder assessment to check "SHOULDER FLXION" I use it with all my clients before starting any exercise program to see each individual's joint mobility/strength/weakness or motor control problems with the shoulder, limited shoulder flexion will have a huge impact on exercises like overhead pressing, handstands, Olympic lifting and overall injury prevention for the shoulder.
Shoulder flexion is the ability to get your arms overhead without any restrictions or compensation in the spine, having full range means you should be able to go from 0-180 degrees of flexion ending with the humerus beside your ear without any pain or restrictions. Before taking this test it's important to be aware of any individual postural alignment issues that could be affecting joint kinematics and the outcome of this test, if the shoulder or scapula has any major alignment issues it's going to have a big impact on your shoulder flexion and over all mobility of the joint.
The 2 main assessments I use are passive and active shoulder flexion, here is how to do them.
💥Passive shoulder flexion test:
-Lay on the ground in a prone position, knees bent, hands beside hips and thumbs pointed to the ceiling
-Posteriorly rotate your pelvis so lower lumbar stays flat against the ground throughout the entire movement
-Start by raising your arm while keeping the shoulder, elbow and wrist in a straight line then with the help of a partner or gravity try to let your humerus drop down beside your ear and thumb touching the floor behind you. Make sure to stop if your back lifts off the floor at any point of the movement, if you can remain in neutral and reach the floor move onto the active assessment.
💥Active shoulder flexion test:
-The same rules apply as the passive test but this time you will be actively contracting the shoulder flexors (Anterior delt/ Coracobrachialis/ Biceps brachii/ Pec major) also the traps/ serratus anterior are involved in flexion above 90 degrees along with a few other muscles.
-Standing with your back flat against a wall, keep your feet 6-8" away and maintaining a neutral spine position during the entire movement.
-Raise your arm with thumb pointing up and stop if there is any change in positioning of the spine or you feel you hit end range.
There are actually a lot of areas that may be limiting or inhibiting the ability to get your arms overhead including soft tissue, length tension relations, motor control, joint capsule restrictions or alignment issues and it's very individualized. These are some of the main areas that I work on with clients that make a big improvement to the vast majority of people.
