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Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Squatting: Do's and Don't

By: Joel Luedke

I was listening to Barbell Shrugged and there would talking to the creator of The Movement Fix and Fitness Pain Free.  In this conversation they started talking about squat form and what is "good" squat form and what isn't.  I was really hoping to gather some very deep insight into the squat as these are some great minds when it comes to training and that they would have some tips that I could implement into what we do at UW-La Crosse and my own personal squat.


In the whole conversation there was an overlying theme...you have to squat how it works best for you and how your body moves.  There appears to be some general guidelines we should all follow but how the squat is actually performed is highly individual.  Everyone's body structure is different.  Femurs can be longer or shorter, how the femur sits in your hip joint, the motion at your ankles and many other factors.


We aren't going to try and explain the perfect squat in this article but we are going to try and hit some highlights of the "Do's and Don'ts":

The Do's
-Break and the Hips First: Letting your hips go first allows you to load your glutes and posterior chain and take extra stress off your knees. While this also helps you take stress off your knees but it can also increase your strength output.
-Find Where Your Feet are Comfortable: I typically start with 10-15deg of rotation out (external) to allow for easy knee tracking and keeping your hips engaged.  This is an area that can be played with to see how your body feels moving through the squat motion.
-Track Your Knees Over Your Foot (2nd and 3rd toe are a good landmark): This allows you to keep your hips engaged and also make sure you're knees aren't going all over the place through both the eccentric and concentric portions of the movement.  The 2nd and 3rd toes are a very solid landmark.
-Work to Parallel Depth: Rarely do you ever want to move your joints not through their entire range of motion and your knees are no exception. It can take awhile to get there but it is well worth it for your long term knee health.
-Brace with Your Breath: You want to go into these movements stable and bracing deep through your entire core can get you there.  Using a belt can be useful to feel if you're bracing correctly when setting up for your movement.

The Dont's
-Knees Moving First: We don't want this to happen as this loads your quads and can put a lot of stress on your knees as they will be taking a lot of the force when the movement starts.  Over time this can lead to wearing down of your knees which causes a lot of problems down the road.
-Knees Caving In: NO, DON'T EVER, PLEASE!  If this is happening you're losing all control of your hips and your feet/ankles.  Take a step back and remove the weight and practice with body weight.
-Hips Moving Up Before Knees: When coming out of the bottom of the squat you want everything to move up at the same time and not have your hips move and then your knees and then you extend at your back.  Move in one coordinated movement and stand up.

There are always modifications you can make and working to depth is important as we would always like everyone to move through a full range of motion.  If you're struggling with depth you may want to look into weightlifting shoes (LINK) or use something to prop your heals up and inch or so to help your ankles work through a greater range of motion.  With that if it is something that works for you we want to make sure you are working on improving that range of motion.  Find a link below:


Squatting is a great movement and one that can happen to improve your daily life as well as increasing your performance.  We want to see everyone squat and do so through full movement and pain free.  If you have questions please get in touch with us and we would be happy to talk through the squat.

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Friday Food: California Grilled Chicken

Just a small change to your chicken can make a huge difference in your taste profile and this is one of those recipes.  By adding the California flavor to your grilled chicken you get a whole other experience and it is a great one to add into your summer routine while it still lasts.  Enjoy this one.

Ingredients:
-3/4 c. balsamic vinegar
-1 tsp. garlic powder
-2 tbsp honey
-2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp. Italian seasoning
-Kosher salt
-Freshly ground black pepper
-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
-4 slices mozerella
-4 slices avocado
-4 slices tomato
-3 tbsp. sliced basil
-Balsamic glaze, for drizzling

The Game Plan:

  1. In a small bowl, whisk together balsamic vinegar, garlic powder, honey, oil and Italian seasoning and season with salt and pepper.  Pour over chicken breasts and marinate 20 minutes
  2. heat grill medium high.  Grill chicken until internal temperature reaches 170degF on an instant-read thermometer.
  3. Top chicken with mozzarella, avocado, and tomato and over grill to melt, 2 minutes
  4. Garnish with basil and drizzle with balsamic glaze.
Recipe via Delish

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Friday Food: Zucchini Nachos

Thanks to a colleague we got a couple zucchini.  Now that isn't much of a story except when these 3 zucchini could feed us for two weeks and we might still have some left over.  They were gigantic.  So, Kelley in her ongoing search for new recipes found this one via Delish.com.  We are definitely going to give it a shot because it looks awesome but we also have to use the zucchini up.  Check it out.



Ingredients: 
-3 large zucchini, sliced into 1/2" rounds (or one gigantic one)
-1 tsp. cumin
-1/4 tsp. chili powder
-1/4 tsp. smoked paprika
-Kosher salt
-Freshly ground black pepper
-1 1/2 c. shredded cooked chicken
-1 c. shredded Monterey jack
-1/2 red onion, chopped
-1 avocado, cubed
-Pico de Gallo
-Pickled jalapeƱos

The Game Plan: 

  1. Preheat oven to 400degF.  Place sliced zucchini on a large baking sheet in a single layer.  Toss with olive oil, cumin, chili powder and paprika then season with salt and pepper.  Bake until slightly tender, 5 minutes.
  2. Keep zucchini rounds on the baking sheets and top with shredded chicken, Monterey jack and red onion.  Bake until the cheese is melty and the chicken is warmed through, about 10 more minutes.
  3. Top zucchini nachos with avocado, pico de gallo and pickled jalapeƱos. 


Monday, August 14, 2017

7 Lessons to Adopt a Stoic Mindset

By: Kyle Boland

Love him or hate him, you can’t argue with the success that Conor McGregor has created. The man certainly knows what he is doing and has been a game-changer in the MMA, and now boxing, world. Whatever the outcome of his upcoming bout with Floyd Mayweather, the man’s attitude and perspective are something to learn from. Check out the takeaways from the video below… they may be well worth implementing in your own daily life.

1. Want what you already have. Realize the solution to your unhappy life is right in front of you. Focus on being content with where you are and what you already have. Learn to appreciate what you already have. Never take anything for granted. Don’t root your sense of happiness in possessions or achievements. Be grateful.


2. Everything that happens in the world is neutral. All events have a different effect on everyone. Your reaction and perception is what matters. No matter how you react to an event or situation, the facts remain the same. Instead of overreacting and thinking you are powerless, focus on what you can control. Everything is neutral.

3. Practice separation. Separate your life into things you can control and things you cannot. Improvise, adapt, and overcome. You will have a greater probability of success if you don’t waste time worrying about or tweaking things you cannot control. Spend your time and energy on things you can control.

4. Turn the obstacle upside down. Defeat negative judgement and turn the obstacle around to suit your purposes. Avoid judging events as purely good or bad. Seek to integrate things you would normally consider negative as positive opportunities. Make a habit to force alternative thought patterns to gain perspective and be able to rationally move forward. See the negative events as an opportunity to practice inner strength, calm control, and level-headedness (improve). There is no such thing as good or bad… only your perception of it and you decide how to deal with it.

5. Assume voluntary discomfort. Make your life artificially difficult and uncomfortable for a set period of time in order to gain the perspective that you tried hard to avoid. The more you seek the uncomfortable, the more you will be comfortable. Dissatisfaction in our daily lives is the result of a certain level of entitlement. We expect things to run smoothly. This is the type of mindset that will spiral you into being upset by the little things. Just because you can afford a nice meal every single day, doesn’t mean you should do so. Skipping a meal and experiencing hunger builds perseverance and grit. It demolishes the sense of entitlement that chips away at your happiness. By experiencing discomfort, you will walk away stronger by realizing you experienced what you dreaded and suffered no ill effects from it. Seek the uncomfortable.

6. Emotions are created internally. Emotions come solely from within and they are created completely by your choice. Everything that happens in the world is neutral... bad or good do not exist in external sources. If emotions come from within, then what we tell ourselves is what creates our feelings. We are blank slates, but it’s human nature to blame other people and excuse yourself. When you feel resistance in life, don't look at the things happening outside of you, focus instead on what happens inside…. How you frame that issue in your mind. Remember that you are always in control and nobody can put beliefs in your mind.

7. Care less. Don’t ignore everything that’s going on in your life, but stop caring about things you can't control. Free up your internal resources to focus your time and mental energy on things that really matter. The most precious asset is not money, but time. You can always earn money back, but once a single minute of your life has passed, it is gone forever. Don’t spend your time worrying about external forces that are out of your control. Live as you want right now. It’s all within your control so make a decision and choose to have a better life now.

Mobility Monday: Upper Hamstring and Calf Work


This weeks Mobility Monday addresses a couple of areas that can get very tight and also aren't the easiest areas to work on.  I've also dealt with quite a few athletes that seem to deal with these issues and we work to loosen them up and it can work with ART or massage but sometimes that isn't practical for everyone.  Here, Kelly Starrett goes into couple very useful ideas to utilize to help get everything moving in these hard to hit areas that can get tight.  We highly recommend checking it out if you have struggled with tightness in these areas.


Things It Helps: 
-Upper Hamstring and Glute Pain/Tightness
-Posterior Knee Tightness
-General Posterior Chain Tightness


Tuesday, August 8, 2017

What the CrossFit Games Taught Me

By: Joel Luedke

The Clinically Pressed crew (plus special guest host Andy Askow) got to make a trip down to Madison this past week to visit our friends from Paragon Fitness, the Paul's, and interview some of their sponsored athletes.  We don't talk about CrossFit a lot on this blog but generally follow it and have varying opinions depending on what is being talked about in regard to the fitness movement at the time.  Personally my eyes got blown wide open for the short experience (we didn't even get to

watch the competition) we had down there and I wanted to summarize it in this article.


You Can't Beat the Community
This was the biggest thing for me.  It was incredible.  We got to interview (and eat dinner with) some people at the very top of their game and we had never met them before.  Just with a couple texts and calls we got to head down and meet up and talk about all kinds of things and it was all for the betterment of the CrossFit community.  They all push each other and refuse to leave anyone behind whether that may be in getting a workout in even if people don't quite feel like it or making sure everyone is staying on point with their nutrition (at least mostly).

There are teams and individuals competing in these events but when it comes down to it, its all about the community.

The Lifestyle is Key
Not going to lie, this one made me feel kind of bad but it was not intentionally from anyone.  It makes you feel bad because you want to strive for more in your life and be as dedicated to something as these people are.  It shows how much they don't just workout as a part of life, its ingrained into their routine and what they do and the same goes with nutrition.  We did witness some beer consumption so it isn't struck all the time but because of their dedication it allows for things like that so much easier.  Make it a lifestyle and the choices become easier because its not a choice at that point, you just live how you live.

People Do Incredible Things
If you watched any of the CrossFit games you know they amazing things those people can do.  This part of it goes beyond that.  We talked to any athlete that is competing in the team competition 3 days after taking final exams in physical therapy school.  And she was ready to go.  We talked to another that is only 22 and missed her chance by 3 spots.  There was another who is running multiple businesses plus setting up another amazing series to help promote the sport.  Oh and he was jacked as well.  The most influential interview was by a guy that suffered unbelievable trauma while serving in the Marines and his story on how CrossFit changed his life was truly inspiring and life altering.  Everyone has the capability but the concentration of people we got to meet was truly an honor.

Overall it all seems to come back to the community for me.  It is so strong and people support each other so much in the CrossFit community it makes it literally feel like another family.  We only got to hang out for a few days but felt like the people we knew would do anything for us and us the same for them (if they are reading this please don't hesitate to let us know).  While the movement can be taken to the extreme, but what can't, there truly is a place for anyone and everyone in CrossFit and if that is what helps you get to where you want to be, I say get after it.