101 Health and Fitness Tips (PART II)

I have never received that much feedback before from one post.  I'm referring to the "My Evolution of a Strength Coach" post.

If you missed it, you can find it here.

Because it was such a hit, I thought I would come up with another 101 health and fitness tips for you.

Enjoy!!  And please share with friends and please LIKE it!

1.  Any ab exercise sitting is not an ab exercise.

2.  If you're not moving more weight in the gym each workout, you're not getting stronger.
3.  Should beginners always start with 3 sets of 10-12?  I like using many sets of 5.
4.  Can't do floor pushups, do elevated pushups with your feet on the floor.  Keep the mechanics the same so you can transfer to the floor with ease. (noticed the elbows are still tucked)

5.  Instead of asking how much you bench, ask how much can you deadlift.
6.  Do 25 wall slides everyday.
7.  Do hanging leg raises and chin ups together (it's called an L-Chin Up)

8.  Don't wear gloves to workout in.
9.  Are you doing biceps curls or standing back extensions?
10.  Stop drinking diet pop.
11.  Prolonged bad posture can result in a herniated disc.  So can dead-lifting with a rounded back.

12.  Did I mention to pick up heavy stuff off the floor?
13.  The Renegade Row is a wicked anti-rotation core exercise.

14.  Warmup with barbell complexes instead of sitting on the bike.
15.  A complex is a series of exercises performed in a row without putting the piece of equipment down until you're finished (all with a barbell: stiff leg dead-lift, bent over row, hand clean, front squat, overhead press, back squat, good morning)
16.  Stop doing bench press on Mondays!
17.  You should dead-lift with your hips, not your ligaments in your spine.
18.  Sandbags are awesome for grip strength.
19.  Fill a sandbag with a prepackaged back of gravel.
20.  Kegs are a stability tool when 3/4 filled with water.
21.  Land like you're jumping in a library when doing plyos.
22.  Forms drills for runners will help with running mechanics.
23.  Run really fast up a hill.  Walk down.  Repeat.
24.  You'll get that MMA body when you also train 6 hours a day.

25.   Try to get something heavy over your head.
26.  Loaded carries are fantastic for finishers and GPP (general physical preparedness).
27.  Don't catch barbell cleans on your wrists unless you don't need them.
28.  The source of all your power comes from your hips (you don't jump with you knees do you?)
29.  Single leg bounding is a very powerful single leg exercise.
30.  Do hip thrusts to build a strong behind.

31.  Are you doing a squat or a good morning?
32.  Use The Stick on your whole body, often.
33.  Why overhead press a dumbbell when you can overhead press a kettlebell?
34.  Stop bouncing the bar off your chest when you bench press, seriously.
35.  How many times must you check yourself out when taking and putting weights on the rack?
36.  Work on Thoracic Rotation after working on Thoracic Extension.

37.  Stand tall and bring your knee to your chest...now keep it there.  This is called your deep hip flexor.
38.  Do rear leg elevated split squats - yes, I know...they hurt.
39.  Posture is habitual.
40.  Stop rotating through your spine - rotate through your hips!
41.  Do you think the standing quad stretch for 10 seconds before a run is helping?
42.  Roll your arch over a tennis ball while sitting at a desk.
43.  Squeeze your butt really hard when doing planks, front or side.
44.  Soreness the next day or so is not an indication of how good your workout was.
45.  Bear-crawls are moving planks.
46.  It's okay to overhead press, ask Martin Rooney.
47.  There are a lot of exercises where you stick out your butt and your chest at the same time - it's called keeping a neutral spine e.g. stiff-leg dead-lift, good morning, squat, dead-lift etc.
48.  Squeeze your butt hard when you bench press.
49.  Stop humping the sky when doing incline presses - that makes it a flat press!
50.  Stop leaning back when doing an overhead press - that makes it an incline press!
51.  Minimal running footwear is not for everyone.
52.  Suspension training is awesome for developing joint stability.

53.  Runners should focus on strength and olympic lifts in the off season and plyos in season.
54.  Progressive load is the underlying principle to getting stronger.
55.  The Dead-bug is a great exercise to teach abdominal bracing.
56.  A person with a kyphotic posture should never do crunches or sit-ups.
57.  Reverse crunches are great, IN moderation.
58.  The Tabata Protocol was originally performed on a spin bike - the results from that study refer to doing the 20 sec hard 10 sec easy protocol ON A BIKE!
59.  You should always for your entire life be able to squat like you did when you were a baby.

60.  Try seal jumps instead of jumping jacks if you have shoulder impingement.
61.  Jumping rope is a great warmup for a plyometric session.
62.  Towel grip chin ups - do them.
63.  Goblet squat deep until your elbows touch your inner thigh and no, don't lean over to reach your elbows there - sit lower!
64.  Women shouldn't be scared to dead-lift.
65.  Any monkey can put you through a workout - choose your trainer/coach wisely!
66.  DO one pushup and one chin up today - add 1 rep everyday for 2 months.

67.  Battling ropes are a great conditioning tool (plus they provide variety!)
68.  Get 7-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep PER night.
69.  Buy a weight vest.
70.  Try spinach in your smoothie.
71.  Go into a pushup position with a towel under toes on a slipper floor - now walk with your hands.
72.  Who says a Plant Based diet has to be boring?  Try the Renegade Recipe Guide.

73.  Did I mentioned Fat Gripz are awesome?

74.  Power Wheel hand walks will build scapular and core stability.

75.  Your squat should always look the same no matter if you're doing a back squat, front squat, goblet or front squat while catching a clean.
76.  The Gym Boss is a great timing tool.

77.  If you don't emphasize recovery, how do you expect results?
78.  You get stronger and your body adapts at home while recovering, not in the gym.
79.  Don't let your shoulders elevated between reps of chin ups or lat pull downs, keep them packed.
80.  Spread the floor with your feet when you squat.
81.  Squat stance and conventional dead-lift stance are entirely different.
82.  In the gym, do no harm.

83.  If an exercise hurts, stop and re-evaluate.
84.  Train to improve your FMS scores.
85.  No cell phones in the gym.
86.  Just because you do planks - doesn't mean they're right...

87.  Take fish oils...just do it.
88.  After you create mobility with stretching, you have to improve stability in that new range.
89.  A movement based exercise program is far superior to improving your daily life and athleticism.
90.  Wash your hands before you leave the gym.
91.  Don't face the mirror when learning clean and jerks.
92.  Evolve as a strength coach and as a trainee, learn new things and apply.
93.  There is no "best program" or "best exercise."
94.  Terminal knee extensions are good for the VMO; machine leg extensions are not.
95.  Bicycle crunches are TERRIBLE for the spine (flexion plus rotation is a good way to hurt yourself).
96.  Planks to easy?  Load them.
97.  Certain joints like to be more mobile while others like to be more stable - train them that way!
98.  Stability is the ability to control movement.
99.  Don't load dysfunction.
100.  You don't have to bulk when you lift heavy, it's called motor unit synchronization (really good for endurance athletes to understand this).
101.  Yoga and Pilates are not for everyone.

Thanks for reading,

-JK