Back(side) by popular demand! In the kinetic train of human performance, the real locomotive that drives our speed and explosive power is actually the caboose. Having a full, round backside might not actually make you a more well-rounded person, but it can certainly enhance the fit of your wardrobe. And avoiding the “half-arsed” condition known as buttock deficiency can improve…
There are practically innumerable ways you can classify training. A lot of times the manner in which you describe your training is dependent upon your goals, or where your mind is in the moment. In many situations, a great way to consider your workouts is in regard to two distinctions. Is the session geared toward improving the mechanical efficiency of…
Fitness competition has been around for a while now. One of the all-time most popular articles on the platform, which I wrote over 4 years ago, is CrossFit vs. Spartan vs. Hyrox. I really appreciate the thought and variety applied to these and other forms of sport and movement. Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to coach and train…
The title says it all. Well, almost! I’ve received a multitude of outstanding questions from our community over the past several weeks. It was time for a Mail Bag Q&A episode. I personally replied to all of the inquiries but I saved three great questions for a deeper discussion. Ever popular and for good reason, the topic of resistance training…
Rate of Perceived Exertion, or RPE, is something we are always talking about in our community. We’ve certainly featured RPE as a popular article and podcast topic. Yet I continue to encounter many well-meaning Lifetime Athletes who struggle with the concept. My goal today is to simplify RPE in the clearest way possible. We’ve talked about the original Borg Scale…
One of the most common situations we encounter as Lifetime Athletes is the need to adjust a workout to fit our needs. Make a training session meet your unique body where it’s at…perfectly. This is a big FAQ in our community and it’s an outstanding topic for today’s discussion. Almost any workout can be scaled up or down, and that’s…
Jumping is fun. It’s a natural, playful action in the human beast that is equal parts performance-enhancing and function-preserving. Jumping helps us to maintain our fast-twitch capacities, reactivity, and youthful vitality. The key to successfully incorporating jumping into your routine is doing so safely and sensibly. We use jumping with almost all our clients, including those in their 70’s and…
I absolutely love this topic. It represents the crux of our quest at TLA. At some point, every Lifetime Athlete ponders some version of the following question: “How can my lifestyle interventions and behaviors, including but not limited to training and nutrition, impact both the length and quality (health, functionality, performance) of my lifespan?” What matters most? Living as long…
Today’s topic is being presented secondary to popular demand. I frequently receive inquiries from our community regarding exercise selection concerning a variety of performance capacities. Recently, and extensively, Zone 2 Cardio has been at the top of the list. The questions abound and they are very insightful. I’ll bullet them out and then address each one independently. But before I…
Many exercises and movement patterns offer us a selection option between the open and closed kinetic chain. As a Lifetime Athlete, you may want to give consideration to how you utilize these tools. Let’s begin with a few simple definitions. A kinetic chain implies that a series of segments or linkages within the body are involved in the execution of…
Exercise selection is a fascinating topic. We choose exercises based on our desired outcomes and with regard to what works best for our unique bodies. And we determine how we perform those movements pertaining to body position, load, range, and tempo. Last week we talked about training for movement competency. We acknowledged the value of an exercise for strength, hypertrophy,…
We train for many reasons. Peak performance in sport is often a target. You might work out to improve your strength or muscle development. Maybe you exercise to increase your VO2max. Others engage in sessions to enhance their mobility. All of those things are good…in fact they are great. The objectives of training are indeed many. The intention of becoming…
Every now and again I like to reflect back on something I’ve written or said in the past and see where my mind is at currently. Occasionally, I end up not agreeing with a portion of what I’ve stated because my experience and knowledge has changed with the passage of time. But often, I find myself in concurrence with past…
This post could also be labeled “Staying Bouncy as You Get Older,” or “Jumping for Joy.” Such phraseology connotes the preservation of elastic properties in the evolving human. Aging. Doing so gracefully. Maintaining health until right up to the very end. Keeping performance, and functional capacities, at a relatively high level for as long as possible. This is good stuff…
This is a sequel to Part 1 on this topic, which I posted almost 3 years ago. While this followup may seem long overdue, it has actually taken a full 33 months to complete my investigation and reach my final conclusions. Since it’s been quite a while, you may have interest in reading Shooting with a Recoil-Sensitive Shoulder, Part 1.…
Training does not need to be elaborate to be effective. Sometimes simple is best. In our Training Tribe programming, we often use just a single implement for all or part of a workout. This month, in some of our sessions, we are employing a Simple Kettlebell Warmup. We start all our workouts with an activation or preparatory segment. Depending on…
Success stories are fun to hear. Steven Graves, a member of our Lifetime Athlete community, and now a true mountain badass, just got back from an amazing adventure. He checked off a bucket list item at 53 years young, scaling mountains and battling extreme weather in Southeast Alaska. This resulted in him taking a trophy mountain goat at 44 yards…
Do you need a coach? The answer to this question ranges anywhere from “absolutely yes, maybe, or probably not.” This is definitely a concept worth exploring. If you are performing at your maximum potential, are free from injury, have excellent health markers and body composition, feeling fantastic, and totally satisfied with your training and lifestyle…you don’t need a coach. In…
Here at TLA, we talk a lot about training. All-around fitness. Complete athleticism. Developing strength, speed, power, agility, and endurance. We train for health, longevity, and performance in all aspects of life. But we also give equal consideration to sports. We train for sports. We participate in sports. Play. Compete. Win. Lose. There are unique benefits from sports. While we…
As summer comes to a close, it’s fitting that we conclude the season with a discussion of endurance. We’ve talked about strength (and hypertrophy), speed, power, and agility. The 5th and final capacity of athleticism in our training discussion is endurance. And of course it’s always important to keep in mind that all of these capacities are of equal importance…
