October 17, 2019
Most runners have heard that lifting weights can make you slow and bulky. Not only is this a falsely perpetuated myth, but strength training is a great way to reduce injuries and shave precious seconds off of your race times involves weight training. Strength training is also a great way to complement your 5k or marathon training and can have a positive effect on your daily life as well. Here are a few reasons why every runner needs to be...
October 8, 2019
By: Jared Blincow, CSCS, Strength Coach LIFT Chicago The average person spends eight hours of their day sitting at a desk only to get home and sit on the couch watching tv, surfing the internet, or scrolling through their phone. This daily pattern can wreak havoc on your posture and is a popular culprit for a number of different injuries and might be the source of your chronic pain. The “rounded shoulders” (shown on the left) look is caused by...
September 19, 2019
It’s educational. Sessions are much more than you just working out. You gain knowledge of what to do, how to do it, and how it benefits your health and fitness. You learn the most important things you need to concentrate on to be most successful and what things are fitness myths that are very irrelevant. Education is going to help you focus on your goals and develop a strategy to get there.They perfect your form. Don’t think it’s that important?...
May 8, 2019
If you have ever train here at LIFT you may have noticed we don’t always directly train the arms because compound lifts (just a fancy word for 2 or more joints) are more efficient for our clients. Having said that, we do believe there are benefits to hitting the arms when programmed correctly.Benefits:Improve compound liftsImprove shoulder healthImprove arm growthThinking about how you program arm training can do wonders to consistent and sustainable growth. Here is what we like to consider…What...
May 4, 2019
The squat is a functional movement that our bodies naturally begin to develop from infancy. Unfortunately, some individuals begin to regress in this movement over time and now struggle to perform it properly. It is one of the foundational bilateral movements we use here at LIFT to build strength in the lower body and core. It’s rare for us to complete a training session with a client without having them perform some variation of a squat at least once. Let’s...
April 8, 2019
Core training may be, simultaneously, one of the most overused and most commonly misunderstood concepts in the fitness world. Whether we are at the gym, taking a yoga class, or simply scrolling through social media, we see countless fitness influencers performing incredibly complex movements and slapping them with labels such as “functional” and “core” training. Some of the most common examples include people throwing themselves to the floor and jumping back up, swinging their legs to pull up over a...
March 1, 2019
When it comes to push-ups we tend to see a massive array of form choices and/or habits that create problems left and right for the trainee. Whether it is the “lazy seal”(hips sagging to ground), the “head nodder”, or the “butt up wonder” the form is wrong and may be dangerous. Progressing into a full push-up can be difficult, but definitely not impossible. Here are a few exercises you can do to hold fantastic form while building that push-up strength.Wait…we...
February 6, 2019
If you have been exercising for quite some time and feel you aren’t getting any stronger try concentrating on a few of these pointers! Maximizing strength is a lot more straight forward than people make it out to be. Let’s take a look at what I am talking about. First, simplify everything! If you want to be strong at deadlifts don’t waste your time doing 4 sets of 20 chest flies and start deadlifting! Too many times people become too...
