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  This was a recent post at KevinNeeld.com that I wanted to share with you. Forgive my anatomical nerdiness… Everyday at Endeavor I see people doing “rotator cuff” exercises. I’m not against doing some cuff work, but people often make a fatal mistake-they load too heavily! Your body has amazing adaptive powers. If you use heavier weights, you’ll recruit larger muscles often at the expense of the muscles you’re targeting. Consider these two examples: 1) Exercises involving glenohumeral (”shoulder”) external rotation are usually performed to the rotator cuff muscles that assist in external rotation (teres minor, infraspinatus). If the load is too heavy your posterior deltoid will take over and imbalances around your shoulder are exacerbated. 2) High load core exercises (e.g. rollouts) can become very rectus abdominis (the “6-pack” muscle) dominant, sometimes at the expense of the transverse abdominis. The same is true for teaching people to “fill up their belly” with air to stabilize their spine without teaching them to pre-tension their core first. The problem with this is that the rectus doesn’t attach to the spine or share the lumbodorsal fascia connections that the transverse abdominis and obliques do, meaning your core strength may not create the spinal stability you’re looking for. One of the things I’m starting to include in more programs these days is intentional low load exercises like: -Alternate DB Row (intention: stimulate spinal stabilizers) -Standing Belly Press (intention: stimulate “inner core” in anti-rotation pattern) -Alligator Breathing (intention: teach diaphragm breathing) I love helping people get strong, but I think low load training is necessary to improve stability and overall movement quality. After all, if stabilizers aren’t doing their jobs the larger surrounding muscles need to split attention between creating stability and demonstrating strength/power. The key to strong, powerful, efficient movement is appropriate joint stability. Keep training smart! Kevin Neeld
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When it comes to building strength, it's important to maximize the recruitment of your muscles (more muscle recruitment = more strength). Every muscle fiber is driven by a unit of your nervous system, called a motor neuron. If the motor neuron isn't recruited, the muscle doesn't actively produce force. One way to recruit more motor neurons, and therefore more muscle mass, is to move the bar through the "up" phase (think pulling yourself up in a chin-up, or pressing a bar off your chest during a bench press) as quickly as possible. When the weights get heavy, it's not possible to actually move the weight fast, but even the INTENT to move the weight quickly lowers the recruitment threshold of the motor neurons. This helps them become active earlier in the movement and helps you get stronger. This is not true for the "down" or lowering phase of lifts, so always perform this portion of your lifts under control. -Kevin Neeld
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I’ve been hearing a common message from parents and coaches of players that train at Endeavor recently: “He/She looks so much more confident out there!” Whether it’s on the field, court, or ice, players that put in the time to train hard with us, almost instantly gain the confidence they need to dominate at their sport. It’s evident from the stands. Something about them changes. They play more aggressively. They don’t hesitate. They LOOK more confident out there. Amazingly, parents and coaches are commenting on these changes in their players within the first two sessions they have with us. Within two hours of training, athletes completely transform their psychological make-up to become a more confident, formidable competitor. THAT is incredible. Training at Endeavor will make athletes stronger; it will make them faster; it will make them better conditioned; and it will drastically reduce their injury risk. Most of all, it will make athletes more confident and mentally tougher. Who wouldn’t want that? -Kevin Neeld P.S. Call me today at (856) 269-4148 or click here to email me to get started on the training program that will completely change your physical AND mental make-up!
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Med ball throws are one of the best ways to develop full body power, especially in rotational patterns. Unlike most traditional lifts, you don't need to worry about decelerating the load, which can put a lot of stress on your muscles and joints and cause you to reduce your power output. With med ball throws you just throw the ball as hard as you can, generating power straight through to the release. We have 15 medicine balls at Endeavor ranging from 3-7 kg. For months I've been telling my athletes that if they throw them hard enough, the balls will pop. That's always the goal: Throw the ball with everything you have. Make it pop. Most people are skeptical when I say the balls can pop. Check out this picture from my former home at Cressey Performance in Hudson, MA:  Eric Cressey, co-owner of Cressey Performance, calls this the Med Ball Graveyard. In an email from Eric, he notes, "These are just the ones on display. We've got about two dozen broken ones behind the wall, too. I'd say we break one every 10-14 days." This is a brilliant display of extreme power. ...Either that or Eric slits all the balls before his athletes come in. -Kevin Neeld P.S. For more information on how you can train to develop the full body power you need to excel at your sport, contact Kevin Neeld at (856) 269-4148 or via email by clicking here.
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I've been EXTREMELY fortunate to have some incredible interns at
Endeavor Fitness. Frankly, it wouldn't be possible for me to write
programs the way I do without them.
David Lasnier recently moved down to New Jersey from Quebec to
start an internship with us. He's been an incredible asset at
Endeavor; we're really lucky to have him with us. In this post he
discusses the "Top 3 Supplements" for people to consider. Introducing, David Lasnier: Top 3 Supplements "The supplement industry has been growing a lot in the last few years. There is an incredible number of supplement companies out there and an even bigger number of products available on the market. Let’s be honest, probably at the least 90% of all the products sold by the supplement companies are pretty much useless. It would be the subject of an entire book to try to cover each of them and trying to describe their effects and which ones are really worth it. However, I feel there are 3 supplements that are essential that you need to know about and should consider taking on a regular basis. Here they are in no particular order: Fish oil – and more specifically omega 3(EPA/DHA). EPA/DHA omega 3s are essential fatty acids that are found in very few food sources that would be pretty much limited to fatty fish. EPA/DHA have been proven to have many health benefits including improved hearth and cardiovascular health, decreased risks of a number of deceases including Alzheimer and certain types of cancer, anti-inflammatory, decreased muscle soreness and increased insulin sensitivity (which helps decrease body fat levels) just to name a few. Fish oil supplementation has been proven effective and the number of studies supporting the effects of EPA/DHA is constantly growing. For optimal health benefits, aim for at least 3g of combined EPA/DHA per day. Vitamin D – it is found in few food sources including fatty fish and fortified milk. Vitamin D is synthesized by our skin from sun light which would be the main source we are getting it from. Unfortunately, the amount of time we are exposed to sun light during winter months, for those living in the northern part of the continent, is negligible and even during the rest of the year a lot of people aren’t getting nearly enough. Recent research shows us that vitamin D deficiency could be associated with increased risk of different types of cancer, chronic fatigue, depression, hypertension and diabetes. Therefore, you might want to consider starting supplementing with vitamin D. If you do, start with 1,000 IU per day, and you might want to get that number up somewhere around 2,000-3,000 IU per day during the winter or if you feel you’re not getting enough sun light. Protein powder – this might be a no-brainer for those of you who are working out and trying to put on some muscle mass. Protein can sure help you gain muscle mass by recovering faster, but it can also decrease muscle soreness, help you preserve lean mass when dieting and control your hunger. Drinking a protein shake during your afternoon break can go a long way in preventing you from getting those cravings for sugary snacks and buying unhealthy foods from the vending machine. Add that to the fact that a lot of people who exercise don’t eat enough protein, and you have very good reasons to supplement with protein. Sure you could get more from your diet, but protein powders are cheap, very convenient and digest faster than any other protein source. When buying protein powder, you want to look for whey isolate and casein sources since they’re the highest quality out there and you want little to no carbs and fat in your protein powder. Protein needs vary according to your bodyweight, but you might want to start with somewhere around 1-2 protein shakes per day with 1 scoop of protein(~20-30g) in it."
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