Primal Performance

There are many myths in the fitness industry. One of them is that guys and gals with a lot of muscle mass will inherently be "stiff" and immobile. This isn't true. There are people in this world with bodybuilder-like physiques but also with phenomenal mobility. And there are people in this world that don't look like they have much noticeable muscle mass at all but are also super "stiff" and immobile. Working out, like many things in life, isn't just about doing something. It... is "how" you do what you do that will determine the specifics of your outcome. You can 100% train to be more muscular than you are while improving your mobility. It's all in the "how."

You're scaring me . Pleasant surprises are always welcome.

Whether you're in Toronto or a cave on a different continent, our app makes it feel like you have @graemegentle.primalperformance and me in your pocket, at your fingertips to help advise you through the challenges of achieving your strength and mobility goals. Online training isn't about giving you a cookie-cutter program. We assess you and make a program based on your goals, your schedule and what we saw in the assessment. It doesn't end there, though. We encourage all our o...nline clients to send as many technique videos for critiquing so you get the most out of the time you invest in the gym. The ones that get the most results are always the ones that send us regular technique videos to critique. Online training with Primal Performance also gets you access to our tutorial videos for each exercise. Every exercise you'll be prescribed comes with a video description of how to perform the exercise. With online training, you virtually have us in your pocket for every workout.

Intentions and Compensations #minuteclinic #370 I am a big proponent of filming your training to check your technique and make in session adjustments.... When it comes to your mobility work, this is super important. Mobility work requires you to spend time in your or close to your end ranges of motion for the joint you're working. But here's the tricky part, the closer you are to your end ranges, the more likely some of your compensations will rear their ugly heads. Whatever compensations you show are more than likely automated, so without a video or a mirror or a friend, it will be much harder to correct for those compensations. Once you learn how to correct those compensations, you're almost guaranteed to feel more of the range coming from the desired tissues rather than feeling the compensatory tissues. A great example of this is what I show here. I use the "plank" base position because it places a bias towards hip extension, where I am weakest with my hip mobility. The bias is placed on hip extension because the line of force we call gravity is directly opposing the action of hip extension. If you look closely, as my hip gets close to its end range for hip extension and internal rotation, I compensate by slightly arching or extending my lower back and rotating the right side of my pelvis closer to the ground. Both of which are compensations for the lack of hip extension I have there. In the following reps, I watch my hip and back as I approach that position. This helps me fight those compensations with better intent because I can more quickly address things I wouldn't otherwise have. I like to use a mirror (depending on the person's neck mobility and the particular exercise being done). If not a mirror, a video of my sets so I can see what I cannot feel and as it comes to our compensations, they can be challenging to "feel." Why am I tell you all of this? Because this is the type of detail with which we look at video submissions from our online clients. Just because we're not there with you doesn't mean we will not go over your technique with a fine-tuned comb. Attention to the details is where your best bang for your buck lays.

Kick Backs aka Hip Extension #minuteclinic #369 Kick-backs are a common exercise people use. Most of the time, with the intention to work the glutes and hamstrings. If your goal is to also move from your spine, you can disregard what I'm saying. But if you're looking to primarily work your butt, you're better off isolating the movement to hip extension and not hip and spine extension.... The first two reps are how you commonly see attempts at hip extension or the "kick-back," The last two reps are how you want to perform them if your goal is to isolate the hips and learn what it feels like to move from your hips. Go down on the floor now and feel the difference. Being able to move from your hips while your spine stays stable and relatively straight is kin to what happens in a well-performed squat, deadlift, split squats and many of the variations that come out of those exercises. If you're regularly squatting and deadlifting but cannot isolate your hip very well in a drill like this one, it is like you are asking yourself to write a paragraph when you don't know how to construct a word. You have to walk before you run. It's all in the hips.