I’ve seen too many patients come to my physical therapy clinic with hip pain secondary to poor advice given by mistaken trainers & therapists. While this has not been done purposely, there are several concepts that every trainer needs to know when it comes to the squat. And failure to recognize these concepts puts your athletes at risk for injury...

If you are an Olympic weightlifter or CrossFit athlete you know how important ankle mobility is for your performance. When your ankle joint moves well, you can easily hit great positions in your cleans and snatches, and your squat depth will often be limited. When you have poor ankle mobility, you’ll have to fight your own anatomy during workouts, robbing you...

The psoas march is among my favorite corrective exercises to prescribe for athletes needing improved lumbopelvic control. This exercise has helped athletes with everything from: Psoas strains Low back pain Squat technique Hip impingement pain “Tight” hip flexors (because often weak muscles become tense) If you are ready for a stronger core and better control then give the psoas march...

We’ve covered how specific mobility limitations, hip socket alignment, and bone lengths can impact squat performance in the last three parts of this series. In this final installment of individual differences affecting the squat technique, we will discuss sports variations. Sports Positions for the Squat Let’s begin by looking at Olympic weightlifting where athletes must perform the snatch and the...

In Parts I and II in this series on how individual anatomical differences can impact squat performance. We covered the effects of various levels of ankle mobility, hip mobility, and hip boney anatomy. These two articles provide evidence for the need to individualize our squat technique prescription to every athlete that we work with. This week’s article will further investigate...

In Part I of this series on individualizing squat technique prescriptions, we covered how an athlete’s mobility impacts their squat form. These variations in individual anatomy mean that many of the “rules” for what a proper squat should look like are false. So many of the popular coaching points such as point your toes forward will actually negatively impact an...

How squat mobility impacts performance One of the biggest misconceptions I see and hear when working with various fitness coaches is that there is a certain way to squat and certain keys to proper squat mobility. Knees must be positioned in a certain spot, feet must be pointed a certain direction, and coaches try to force their athletes to squat in...

We’ve all used foam rollers, stretching, band joint distractions, and lacrosse balls to improve mobility. But there is a big gap between having the available range of motion and being able to use that available motion. Eccentric isometrics fix that! It is rare to find athletes that can functionally utilize their full available range of motion. I commonly see athletes...

I realized a terrible truth this week…a while back, I wrote an article on the best kettlebell exercises to use in rehab. But despite being The BARBELL Physio, I’ve never written about the best barbell rehab exercises. Travesty!  So here we go, our favorite exercises with the barbell to use in rehab! For more rehab exercises, see my articles on the...