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Category: Exercises

Total Sports TherapyNewsExercises
By Admin 0 Comments Exercises, Glendale Location, Heatlhy Lifestyle, Mobility

3-Way Sciatic Nerve Glide

Have you experienced pain in the low back that travels into the buttock and back of the thigh? If so, you could be dealing with irritation to the sciatic nerve commonly referred to as sciatica. The sciatic nerve is the largest peripheral nerve in the body. Several lumbar and sacral nerve roots exit out each side of the spine and ultimately join together to form the sciatic nerve. With that in mind, there are several areas along its path where the sciatic nerve can become irritated causing this pain that radiates down the back of the thigh.

For recovery and good health, nerves require three main things:

  1. Blood Flow
  2. Space
  3. Movement

A great way to target all three components are nerve glides. The key to these are going to the point of discomfort but not necessarily pushing through it. The goal is for the nerve to gradually desensitize so might notice over time you are able to progress them a bit further before stepping into discomfort. Here we highlight a simple sciatic mobility drill that progresses in intensity throughout. We typically like to prescribe 10 repetitions for each movement, and these can be repeated several times per day. Feel free to give these a try and let us know what you think.

pull-ups
By Admin 0 Comments Bodyweight Exercise, Exercises, Personal Training, Sports Performance , ,

Workout from Home Series: Pull-ups and Chin-ups

Make Bodyweight Exercises a Staple

Squats, deadlifts, and presses are great for getting strong and building a foundation, but you need to make sure you balance them out with a steady diet of body weight training. ⁣Bodyweight exercises keep you honest because you can’t just eat your way to improved leverages to see strength gains like you could with the barbell lifts. ⁣

Here are some of our favorite bodyweight exercises for the upper body that should be a staple in any program: ⁣

  • Push-up variations ⁣
  • Inverted Rows⁣
  • Chin/Pull Ups ⁣
  • Handstand variations ⁣
  • Dips⁣
  • Planks

Remember to scale each movement appropriately and progress according to your skill level. There are plenty of variations to keep you busy for months with this list of movements.⁣

Pull-ups and Chin-ups

Pull-ups and Chin-ups are great exercises that target your back and Biceps.  Unless you have a pull-up bar at home, you may need to go to a local park that has a bar you can use.

A Pull-up is performed by grabbing the bar with palms facing away from you. They target the Latissimus Dorsi, Trapezius, and forearm muscles.  Perform the exercise in a smooth controlled movement.  The goal is to pull your chin over the bar (More advanced: touch your chest to the bar).  Make sure to control the "down" phase of your pull-up in order to protect your shoulder joint

A Chin-up is performed by grabbing the bar with palms facing towards you. They target the Biceps, Latissimus Dorsi, and Teres Major muscles. Perform the exercise in a smooth controlled movement.  The goal is to pull your chin over the bar.  Make sure to control the "down" phase of your pull-up in order to protect your shoulder joint

Inverted row
By Admin 0 Comments Bodyweight Exercise, Exercises, Sports Performance, Therapy ,

Workout from Home Series: Inverted Rows

Make Bodyweight Exercises a Staple

Squats, deadlifts, and presses are great for getting strong and building a foundation, but you need to make sure you balance them out with a steady diet of body weight training. ⁣Bodyweight exercises keep you honest because you can’t just eat your way to improved leverages to see strength gains like you could with the barbell lifts. ⁣

Here are some of our favorite bodyweight exercises for the upper body that should be a staple in any program: ⁣

  • Push-up variations ⁣
  • Inverted Rows⁣
  • Chin/Pull Ups ⁣
  • Handstand variations ⁣
  • Dips⁣
  • Planks

Remember to scale each movement appropriately and progress according to your skill level. There are plenty of variations to keep you busy for months with this list of movements.⁣

Inverted Rows

Inverted Rows are a great back and biceps exercise that you can do at home.  While the demonstrated video shows a person is using a rack and barbell, you can use a sturdy table at home.  Place a pillow under your head before you begin.  Grab the top of the table while underneath, and from an inverted planking position, pull yourself up to the table.  You can also purchase TRX bands and install them at home

push-up variations
By Admin 0 Comments Bodyweight Exercise, Exercises, Personal Training, Sports Performance

Workout from Home Series: Push-up Variations

Make Bodyweight Exercises a Staple

Squats, deadlifts, and presses are great for getting strong and building a foundation, but you need to make sure you balance them out with a steady diet of body weight training. ⁣Bodyweight exercises keep you honest because you can’t just eat your way to improved leverages to see strength gains like you could with the barbell lifts. ⁣

Here are some of our favorite bodyweight exercises for the upper body that should be a staple in any program: ⁣

  • Push-up variations ⁣
  • Inverted Rows⁣
  • Chin/Pull Ups ⁣
  • Handstand variations ⁣
  • Dips⁣
  • Planks

Remember to scale each movement appropriately and progress according to your skill level. There are plenty of variations to keep you busy for months with this list of movements.⁣

Push-up Variations

Push-up variations are one of the best upper body exercises you can perform to target chest, shoulders and triceps.  While push-ups are a great challenging strength exercise, they are one of the easiest to perform.  Below are videos of 4 push-up variations: Clapping Push-up, Diamond Push-up, Decline Push-up, and Dumbbell Push-up.

Scarecrow exercise
By Admin 0 Comments Exercises, Sports Performance, Therapy , ,

Shoulder Pain Series: Scarecrow Exercise

Shoulder Pain? Improve your shoulder health

In order to maximize back development and maintain shoulder health, make sure to include small isolation movements for the middle and lower traps, rhomboids, and rear deltoids. ⁣
Compound movements will often leave these muscles underdeveloped. It’s essential to train these small muscles with exercises such as:

  • ???’? ⁣
    • Retract shoulder blades prior to initiating movement
  • ???? ????? ⁣
    • Use a neutral grip so thumbs are facing you to bias external rotation ⁣
  • ?????????? ⁣
    • “Pretend your biceps is a rotisserie chicken” (???????? ??? ????) to maintain joint centration during rotation ⁣
  • ??????? ???
    • Maintain slight elbow bend⁣
  • ???? ???? ?????? ⁣
    • Straight elbows, initiate movement with shoulder blades⁣
  • ???????? ⁣
    • Hands pull away from body, keep elbows tight to body, maintain flexed elbow ⁣

These exercises can be done twice per week for a few sets of 12-20 reps. ⁣ Make some room for these by adding them into your warm up, in between work sets as a filler exercise, or in between workouts whenever you have free time. ⁣

Scarecrow Exercise

The scarecrow exercise is an excellent exercise for improving shoulder health.  During the scarecrow exercise you target abs and shoulders and also involves upper back & lower traps.  This exercise can be performed using cable pulleys, dumbbells, or elastic resistance bands.  The video below demonstrates the use of cable pulleys.