There's one thing I've found that consistently leads to improvements on the training room floor and in competitive performance. And the thing is this is nothing new. And it works in all areas of life. For example, this approach will lead to a higher GPA in school. It leads to better fiscal health when it comes to your finances. And it improves your relationships. So what is this magical approach that appears to make life better across the board? Well, it's quite simple actually. And unfortunately it's something many people skip past. And here it is. Remove the negative. What? Really? That's what is going to lead to new gains? This will lead to more weight loss? This will reduce joint pain and allow for more efficient movement? Absolutely it will. So how do you identify what your negatives are? Are they the same as your training partner? And how do you go about eliminating them? With these questions in mind here are 3 Strategies to Removing the Negatives. Step #1 - What Do You Not Enjoy?Do you love chin ups? Or pull ups? Maybe you're a huge fan of Turkish Get Ups? I'm guessing 0-for-3 on the above. Which would be no surprise. We tend to steer away from the more challenging movements and exercises. In order to separate yourself from the average gym-goer you need to do the things the average gym-goer won't do. Find out what it is you struggle with and prioritze this in your workout. Step #2 - Add More Glutes, Hamstrings and LatsQuestion...what do the above muscle groups have in common? Answer...you can't see them when you face a mirror. But most people go the gym and want flat abs, bigger biceps and a more powerful chest. So they do crunches, curls and bench press....

In the last post I introduced a discussion about body awareness. And what I meant by this was understanding which muscles were firing, when they are firing and how they are firing. The reason this is so important is that many of us having compensations or deficiencies of some type. Think about it. The aches and pains that we get from time to time are partly due to the strain we put our body under when it is out of alignment. And when we live with these aches and pains for long enough we can sometimes become a little bit desensitized to the feedback our body is trying to give us. For example if you've had a chronic low back problem you may not think about it all the time. But if someone asks you how it is and you stop and think about it for a second you'll realize it simply hasn't corrected itself but instead you learned to block it out somewhat in order to get through the day. And you aren't consciously thinking about it until someone asks you about it or it gets worse. So let's jump ahead and assume that someone was able to point out where it is that you're out of alignment and how to correct this alignment issue. Perhaps it's a lack of frontal plane (think side to side) glute activity and by firing this muscle helps to restore your alignment and take stress off your joints that were 'picking up the slack'. As well, you were also made aware of how you will alter your body position to cheat when your glutes get tired and you don't want them to work anymore.This would all be very useful info to you. So how do you make sure to ingrain this process and ensure...