TOP 3 FIXES FOR THE BODY FOUND FROM THE OVERHEAD SQUAT ASSESSMENT

On my Instagram account, I posted a video of myself demonstrating the overhead squat assessment. 

According to the National Academy of Sports Medicine, the overhead squat assessment is designed to assess flexibility, core strength, balance and overall neuromuscular control. If you are someone who wants to take your fitness to the level of physical competition (powerlifting, Olympic weightlifting, bodybuilding), discovering what your muscle imbalances are and fixing the issues WILL help you break through plateaus that you might have when training. SO with that, here are those Top 3 fixes.

1) Perfect Posture. And I'm not talking standing up straight and looking like a noob. I’m talking about posture in weight training pertaining to certain movements like the snatch and even the squat. These are movements that are typically awkward and you can feel forced when performing them. This feeling is because there are flexibility issues and tightness in areas like the hip flexors that don't allow you to perform the movement easily. By figuring out these imperfections, and working on gaining flexibility in them, you will, guaranteed, be able to push more and more weight.

2) A REALLY custom workout plan. Workout plans get even more personal after performing the overhead squat assessment. You will become more familiar with muscles and tendons that are overactive or inactive. Now you can tailor your routines to hit these lacking areas so that you can eventually perform exercises with the full support of all your muscles.

3) Works for the upper body too! Having your arms above your head during the assessment allows for you to take note of upper body tightness and imbalances. For example, if your arms fall during the movement, it might mean that your lats are overactive. With overactive lats, there is a possibility of inactive muscles needing to be strengthened like the shoulders and pecs. Finding that initial lat problem now allows you to focus on the shoulders and pecs to eventually balance this issue out.

When you find these imbalances, your program can change significantly. This assessment allows for the most individualized program that you can get. Be the best athlete you can be and assess yourself using the Overhead Squat Assessment. 

For more detail on the overhead squat assessment along with videos and explanations, visit:

http://bit.ly/1B9Gzra

3 Tips for Competing on a Budget

The life of a fitness competitor can be a tough one. It's something that takes over your life and you have to be OK with that in order to be successful in the fitness industry. Besides a lifestyle change, competing can be quite expensive. BUT, where there is a will there is a way.  There are things you can do to keep your competing expenses at an all-time low. Here are the top 3 things you should be doing to get more bang for your buck.

1) Food

So, pretty much every neighborhood has multiple markets. You need to be hands on and visit them all. Grab the magazines from each and compare prices. If you have to make multiple stops to each market to get the best price, DO IT! There are places that sell packs of meat or yogurt for example, at cheaper prices based on their stock and other reasons. Have a day you set for meal prep that includes shopping. The extra one it might take is worth the extra bucks you will have in your pocket.

2) Supplements

The first thing to remember is NEVER BUY SUPPLEMENTS IN A STORE. supplements are just too expensive at any store. Buy online! There are websites that sell supplements for a lot cheaper than stores. Some examples are allstarhealth.com and drugstore.com. I buy a 10 lb bag of protein from allstarhealth for the price of a 5 lb bag in store. Also be strategic when you buy online. Things take a couple days or more to ship so when you see you have about 5 days left of something, order asap so by the time you run out, your new stock is at the door.

3) Gym Membership

Gym memberships are expensive. Sometimes out of budget after all the money you spend on good and supps. One way to get around this is to work for one. Either as a trainer, a floor instructor, front desk person. These kind of jobs give you a free membership where ever you choose to work. Now let's say you have a full time job already. Apply to be a sub instructor or sub front desk. Maybe work one day out the week at the facility just to claim the membership. Now if you have virtually no time to spend as an employee at a gym but still can't really afford a membership, you can get savvy. There are so many gyms out there and most of them have free week trials or day trials. With so many of them, you can work the system for a while until you save up money to get a membership or just work for a gym.

Remember, you are not doing this because you want to. You are doing this because the passion inside says you have to! Don’t let anyone or anything make you think you can’t achieve your dreams.