Performing and Scoring the Top Tier SFMA
When it comes to learning everything you can about how a person moves, the SFMA Top Tier is a great place to start. Performing the entire Top Tier only takes a few minutes and it really gives you a lot of information. Over the past few years, I’ve been using...
Techniques for Improving Rolling Patterns
Rolling patterns are one of our absolute favorite exercises to add into a corrective strategy or warm up. These patterns do a great job of getting your inner core to fire quickly to promote stability…and with good stability comes improved performance. I had a...
PRI In-Service (Part 2)
If you missed Part 1, be sure to check it out here: https://smartgrouptraining.com/an-introduction-into-the-postural-restoration-institute/ In Part 1, Nancy, a PRI physical therapist in our network, covers what PRI is and how she uses it to help reposition her...
An Introduction Into The Postural Restoration Institute
Over the past decade, outside of the Functional Movement Systems (FMS, SFMA, Y-Balance), the Postural Restoration Institute, or PRI for short, has been another system or methodology we’ve adopted into our training programs. We don’t go all crazy with PRI specific...
One Simple Exercise to Help Clear the Active Straight Leg Raise
The pelvic tilt is one of the most basic, low-level exercises you can do in any position. Simply taking the pelvis through a series of anterior and posterior tilts in multiple positions can add a tremendous value to your warm-ups. I’ve seen this exercise drastically...
Breathing Like A Baby.
Have you ever watched a baby breathe? They are “Buddha belly breathers”. You will see their bellies go up and down, up and down, as they use their diaphragm to fill their little lungs all the way up. And while we may think of the lungs as doing all the work, it...
Corrective Exercise: The Antibiotic for Dysfunctional Movement
Have you ever gotten sick and been prescribed an antibiotic to clear up the infection or bug you may have? Of course you have. I don’t think the concept of using an antibiotic is foreign to anyone, so it makes for a great analogy with corrective exercise. If you want...
Breaking down the T-Spine
Have you ever struggled with shoulder mobility issues…either with yourself, or with some of your clients? If so, the thoracic spine should be the first place to check. When we see limitations within shoulder mobility, one of the first things we need to do is to screen...
Getting the Most out of Your Medicine Balls
Medicine balls are one of my absolute favorite training tools out there. I use them all the time, and I use them with just about everyone. Since the medicine ball is one of our most popular training tools we use in the gym, understanding a thing or two about them...
3 Tips to Become a Better Large Group Training Coach IMMEDIATELY
Over the past year, I’ve really been focusing on team development and trying to help the coaches at our gym continue to get better. I have no idea how many new coaches and interns I’ve helped coach up, but I can definitely say that it’s more than I can count on my...
How to Improve Stride Length and Gait Patterns with Simple Exercises
The vast majority of the people that come in to our gym for the first time can barely touch their toes or even simply raise their leg off the ground without compensating. This is a pretty big deal, if you ask me. Think about it…An Active Straight Leg Raise, as shown...
FMS Systems Case Study
After reading Steve’s latest article, I felt compelled to elaborate a little more and to show you guys what we’re currently working on to improve our results. I’m going to explain a current client we have, what issues came up, and our solutions to addressing what we...