Rolling On Demand

Are you checking in on Gain On Demand? If you aren’t, you’re missing out on a new feature for our members. We have follow along strength and conditioning workouts, cardio focused workouts and follow along mobility sessions.

I just uploaded an 18 minute follow along upper back, lats and adductors foam rolling session. We all need more upper back work to undo those hours spent sitting and on the computer. The lats are huge muscles on our sides hat we don’t often roll. They require a little extra time to relax so they typically aren’t in our rolling sessions. I finish up with some rolling on the adductors, or groin muscles. Another area we could all use some rolling on.

The goal with Gain On Demand is to make a utility for our members. Something you can check in on while traveling, or on that day you can’t make it to the gym. Likewise, those cardio and mobility options are on there for you to get some additional training in when you’re away from the gym.

Gain On Demand is for members of the gym only. If you need the password to get on, just let me know. If you’re not a member, but curious about what we’re doing with it, use THIS LINK to check out my rolling video from today, on the house. Enjoy! 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Still Recovering

You may have heard about the running route I took on about 3 weeks ago. I spent 20 something hours trying to move as quickly as I could through the gnarliest mountain terrain New Hampshire has to offer. It was quite the feat. Such a feat, in fact that I’m still recovering from it today more than 3 weeks later.

We all imagine that when we exercise, our bodies build strength and muscle and more fitness right then and there. However, this is a huge misconception. We don't adapt while exercising, exercise is stressful. Instead, we adapt and improve and see our gains once we recover. My reason for sharing the story above is to help relate that message. It’s easy to see after a massive effort like that you’d be feeling a little slow or tired or unenthusiastic about training, but that happens with our everyday gym efforts, too.

Our efforts in the gym accumulate. Every now and then, you may find yourself out exercising your recovery abilities. And you guessed it, the more fit you are, the better at recovering you are. The point I want to stress today is that your gains happen when you’re away from the gym and it’s all stuff that you know about. Hydration, sleep, nutrition, stress management. All the these play an integral role in our recovery, and therefore our fitness. It’s easy to see in the extreme example that recovery takes a long time, but day in and day out, we forget that we are in control of so much that happens to us outside of the gym.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Stretching Those Hamstrings

Everyone’s hamstrings are tight. At least that’s what 9 out of 10 people tell me when doing an initial consultation at the gym. I’ve come to expect it from everyone, and they all have tried the same solution: stretching. There’s a couple issues with this. The main one being that they don’t actually stretch, or they do what many people call stretching, and that’s holding a position for about 4 seconds before moving on. Of course you didn’t make any change! There was no time spent in the position you’re trying to improve.

Stretching protocols aside, maybe tugging on the tissues trying to make them longer isn’t what we need to release our hamstrings. If you came to the gym today, you know what I’m talking about - hamstrings flossing.

The idea is that we’re tricking the nervous system, our brain, into releasing some of the tension we feel. So sure, it looks like stretching, and even feels like stretching. But we aren’t trying to make longer muscles, we’re trying to disarm the tension by showing our brains it’s going to be okay, that nothing bad is going to happen if we have more range of motion.

So instead of holding an uncomfortable position for a long time. Let's find a position of maximum tension near the end-range of motion we have, and keep moving in and out of that space. Try to squeeze your quads when you do this - turning on the opposite muscles can help too. Every rep when you lock your knee into place should get a little easier, a little less tension.

Do this instead of stretching your hamstrings. I’m always a fan of adding in more movement and control. Let’s be active and engaged when we stretch.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

reGAIN - I need your help

Hello Devoted Blog Reader,

First, thanks for checking this blog on the regular. I’m continually surprised and pleased at all the questions and conversations that have spawned from these posts over the past 18 months.

Today, however, I don’t have one of those posts that’s going to inspire you to think, or challenge your perspective. Today, I’m asking for your help spreading the word about my new online program, reGAIN.

I’ve been working in the fitness industry for 10 years now. For all 10 years, I’ve avoided anything to do with online training. It was always clunky, and I never wanted to film and edit and upload all the demo videos required. On top of that, Google Docs and Excel spreadsheets were always a difficult way to track workout progress and manage accountability.

Well as you know, we’ve started using Truecoach at the gym. I love it. The software makes programming seamless and easy to track accountability. As times of adversity tend to do, this pandemic forced my hand and got me to launch my first official online coaching and training plan through Truecoach.

It’s called reGAIN. It’s designed for former athletes who are struggling to feel as athletic as they used to. For former athletes who know they need a tough, challenging workout, but don’t know where to begin or can never manage their own accountability. The program uses bodyweight strength training, sprinting, core stability movements and a lot of jumping and landing to reclaim what they’ve lost.

As a former athlete myself, I know how tough those first few years post athletics can be. I felt lost without hockey to train for, and as the years passed by, I felt more and more fragile. I stopped training like an athlete, even though I now know that’s exactly what I should have been doing. I got through, and learned how to train for life, not just for sports. And I’ve never felt more like an athlete than I do now. Which is exactly why I’m excited to help others who are where I was.

I want to help get people moving, get them back in the groove and on track. I want to help them reGAIN their athletic self. If you know someone who would be a good fit, do me a favor and send them my way, I would really appreciate it.

The best place to go is my Instagram, which you can find HERE

The finer details:

There is a 5 day per week and 3 day per week option.

People should feel comfortable jumping and sprinting and running if they want to get involved.

You should have a good background in strength and conditioning in order to take on this challenging program.

It’s not for: people with injuries, people who can’t sprint or jump, people who would need a lot of modifications, people who aren’t motivated or who want to lift weights, it’s bodyweight only.

Thanks for spreading the word!

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Simple Long Term Training Solution

Yesterday we talked about how strength coaches write programs to help clients or athletes reach their goals in a progressive and safe manner. Realizing that it’s a little complicated, or more in depth than many of you care to go, I’ve thought of a simpler way to portray my message that each and every workout will not necessarily be more impressive than the previous. Getting strong and healthy is hard, we don’t do ourselves any favors in thinking that progress should be so easy to come by.

Here it is. 

Go hard sometimes. Go medium sometimes. Go easy sometimes. Take a day off every now and then.

Expectations make all the difference. We all expect ourselves to go hard, each and every workout. That’s just unrealistic though. Setting realistic expectations, that sometimes you want to take a day off, or keep the workout light, can make all the difference in your ability to stick with the habit.

This highlights the importance of having a training plan to follow. More than that, it highlights the importance of having a coach. Someone telling you to push a little harder, or back off or even skip the workout all together. Being responsible for you fitness is hard, get some help.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Can Progress Always be Linear?

When we think about progress, we imagine it happening in a straight line. From start to finish we see ourselves steadily progressing in an upward trajectory to our goals. This is especially true with all things fitness related. Weight loss, strength gains, muscle definition, all of it. In fact, even in strength and conditioning the most common way to write a program is named Linear Periodization.

It works great too. Do a little more, and a little more each week and progressively build your strength and make the straight line up. There’s a problem though. If this linear, progressive overload always worked, wouldn’t we all be able to deadlift 500 pounds in due time? Imagine that, adding five pounds to the bar each week and you could just count ahead to the day you’d hit 500. Okay so max deadlift week 1 is 315, only 37 weeks till I pull 5 bills! 

Not only that, but life gets in the way too. You get sick, travel and get bored and tired. Even with planned down time, which is an important part of Linear Periodization, it’s impossible to predict every single session weeks in advance.

Linear’s counterpart, Nonlinear or Conjugate Periodization, forces adaptation in a different way. This approach is more varied and manipulates load, tempo, volume and intensity more frequently to provide new stimulus and to improve several qualities all at once. Linear Periodization is great for training one specific thing, like increasing squat max or a specific event like a race or meet. Instead of planned downtime like we see in the linear model, nonlinear deloads based on feel rather than schedule.

If we zoom in closely, all our progress happens in an undulating fashion. Life throws us peaks and valleys and so will training. The longer you’re in this for, the more nonlinear your program will be. You need to learn to listen to your body and know when it needs a heavy load or something light and fast or long and slow. 

When we’re beginners, adding weight to the bar, or even dropping pounds can be relatively easy. When the linear nature of progress runs out of steam though, expect your gains to go up and down a bit. As long as you’re still headed in the right direction, you’ll be fine. Just keep moving the dirt.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

More Z's More Goals

Regardless of your goal, I have a secret that will propel you towards it. Really. Whether you want to get stronger, lose 15 pounds, get leaner, faster, smarter, anything, really anything, this will help. It’s getting 8 hours of sleep every night. Not most nights, not some nights, but every single night.

Sounds easy, right? Sleep is important for recovery and rejuvenation, without it, we’re leaving major gains on the table. That’s how it can help all those goals, because regardless of which one of those you're chasing, more sleep will lead to better recovery, which leaves you more prepared to face the day’s challenges.

Here’s how I know it’s hard. I barely every hit my 8 hour sleep goal. I track it using my watch, and more often than not, I’m close  to 8, but rarely ever perfect. My best week was 5 out of 7 days greater than 8 hours. I go out of my way to prioritize it too. I cut back on caffeine, screen time, dim the lights and make sure the room is pitch black and cold.

If you want to up your sleep game, and therefore up your game everywhere else, I recommend you start tracking your Z’s. Without knowing how much, or how little you’re getting, you’ll have no direction as to how to improve. You don’t need a fancy watch either, just pay attention to your bedtime and wake up time. Are you consistent or all over the place? Do you wake up refreshed or fight the alarm clock everyday? 

Whatever your goals are, I’m willing to bet better sleep will help. Don’t neglect it!

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Losing Track of Time

For this Monday, I have a quote from my favorite newsletter. If you’ve read any of these blogs, you know I’m a fan of James Clear and his ideas about around habits. After reading this quote last week it stuck with me all weekend.

When you lose track of time you’re either living your best life or wasting it. - James Clear

Have a good rest of your Monday. Set the tone, make smart choices and build momentum for the rest of the week.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Defining Strength and Conditioning - what does that mean?

What does Strength and Conditioning mean? What is it? Who’s method is it and is it a trademarked thing?

The beauty of Strength and Conditioning is that it is many methods and scientific principles put together to be an all encompassing style of functional, physical training.

Is it athletic development? Yes, this is where it started. Just 10 years ago if you said you were a strength coach, that 100 percent meant you worked exclusively with athletes.

Is it powerlifting? No, but powerlifting is part strength and conditioning. Many of the aforementioned strength coaches (including myself) dabbled in powerlifting to learn the principles needed to build maximum strength.

Is it Olympic weightlifting? No, Olympic weightlifting is actually a sport. However, in Strength and Conditioning we can use Olympic weightlifting as a way to train power, explosiveness and skill.

Is it functional fitness? Yes, it can be. But some functional fitness methodologies aren’t Strength and Conditioning.

Is it calisthenics? Well, calisthenics, or bodyweight training certainly falls under the Strength and Conditioning bubble.

Is it yoga? No, but there are many similarities between the two. Specifically, the need to create and maintain total body tension while moving and breathing and using fundamental shapes and positions.

What about Barre? No, Barre doesn’t use full range of motion, or progress people in a linear or nonlinear fashion to train for specific adaptations. Meaning you can get stronger doing Barre, but it’s a side effect rather than the objective.

Is it CrossFit? No, but CrossFit is Strength and Conditioning. CrossFit used Strength and Conditioning movements, and equipment (barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, sleds, etc.) to create their own methodology of training which evolved into a sport.

Remember in middle school how you just had science class, which covered a wide variety of disciplines? Think of Strength and Conditioning as that. When you got to high school you dove deeper into more specific subjects of science. Classes like chemistry, biology, physics and anatomy. Strength and Conditioning is the overarching thing that unites many of these methodologies.

Strength and Conditioning doesn’t follow one methodology or program or only use a specific type of equipment. It uses scientific principles to physiologically adapt to a certain stimulus. The first thing they teach you in Strength and Conditioning 101 is the S.A.I.D. Principle; Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand. Generally, for us that means we want to build strength, promote lean tissue growth, improve joint range of motion and improve cardiac health. How it is implemented is up to each coach or program. Gain isn’t franchised or trademarked because the style of programs we write is something I learned through 10 years of doing this.

There are dozes of ways to reach those goals, but not being tied to a specific methodology, or trademark or franchise allows us at Gain to pave our own path. We use our scientific knowledge in combination with our real-world experiences as coaches to create an effective Strength and Conditioning plan. Based on each individuals needs, we can add some of this or some of that to get the specific response needed.

Not being tethered to certain methodology allows us to use the right tool for the job. Maybe you want to get really strong, so we can use some powerlifting principles. Maybe you’re a former athlete who likes to push hard, in that case we can use some CrossFit workouts to provide a tough cardiorespiratory stimulus. Whatever the problem is, or the goal, we can adapt our training plan based on the needs of each person. Strength and Conditioning transcends fitness methodologies and is in a class of its own.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Shut it Down

One of my good qualities as a coach is telling people when to back off. Our culture around fitness is that more is better, pain is good and if you’re not suffering, you’re not trying hard enough. Our bodies and brains are complex though. They can only take so much, and sometimes a little less is exactly what they need. Rest and recovery is not often part of the fitness equation, but so much relies on it. We shouldn’t be ashamed of our off days, but instead, proud we listened to our bodies. 

You may have seen my wife, Hannah, working out on Instagram this morning. I’ve been writing Hannah’s workouts for 8 years now. She’s been through every excel template, tested all my crazy ideas and always follows the directions. She’s been remarkably consistent through it all. So consistent, in fact, that I spend more time telling her to back off than I do anything else. She knows her technique and besides the occasional tune up, moves really well. She’s tough on herself and hates deviating from the schedule though.

That’s where I come in. I tell her to sleep in and hit ten thousand steps tomorrow and don’t even think about working out. She fights it every time, but has gotten better at listening to her body and being intuitive about backing off, especially during pregnancy. 

The current fitness climate has this resting-is-bad-and-unproductive stance. If more fitness professionals had conversations about taking care of your body, opposed to feeding the push harder to succeed story, maybe we wouldn’t be so unhealthy. Maybe more people would have better relationships with moving and exercising (which, is important to differentiate, by the way).

Most of all, more people would understand how to listen to their bodies. Just like you need to know when you should sleep in a bit and skip the morning workout, you need to know when to crank it and test the waters. The gym can teach us so much about our bodies if learn to listen.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Hannah pushing Alex on the sled - December 2015

Oh Yeah

After you’ve spent a lot of time in the gym you learn which movements expose you. For me, front squats have always been tricky. I prefer a big lean forward when squatting and the upright, rigidness required for an excellent front squat has always been difficult for me. That combined with stiff wrists and repeatedly sprained ankles always leaves me feeling stiff the day after performing them.

All of those reasons are why I need to front squat more though. By exposure, I mean they show me my weak points. They show me I’ve been neglecting my right wrist that doesn’t have much range of motion. It reminds me to keep working on my ankle mobility, even though it’s pretty good, and to always spend time trying to improve strength on tough movements. 

Exposure is one of the reasons we go to the gym. We need to find our weak points, learn our habits and become aware of how we move. If we increase our awareness inside of the gym, it’ll help us outside of the gym. So when we go to lift a kayak, bag of concrete or run up the stairs, we automatically find our good, strong and stable positions. 

Another movement that exposes my bad habits are kettlebell swings. I’m a chronic over chin tucker, meaning I look down while performing kettlebell swings, instead of gazing at the horizon. This particularly holds true when I’m fatigued, since it requires more focus no to drop my chin. It shouldn’t come as that big of a surprise then, when I run and get tired, I tend to round my upper back and drop my chin, and looking at the ground instead of straight ahead. 

A while back, that got me into some trouble. I was tip-toeing down some rocky trail, paying too much attention to my feet, when all of a sudden I found myself on my back with blood running down my forehead and dripping onto my nose. 

While staring at my feet, I managed to run into a tree that fell across the trail. I got a nice scar because of it. This is an example of habits we notice in the gym manifesting themselves during a real life situation. I managed to be okay from my cut, but it could have been a lot worse. I do now, however, pay much more attention to how my head is reacting to movements while training.

Remember that this is the point. Using our in gym time to learn about ourselves and our habits so we can perform our best when life calls. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

The Weight of Goals

Are you aware that your goals have responsibilities attached to them? A goal is something to hold you accountable. It creates a process, or the steps needed, in order to achieve what you set out to do. More often than not, we aren’t accountable to our goals. Instead, we scapegoat the responsibility by blaming something else.

That diet was too restrictive, I wanted to get fit this year but just hate working out at home, the class times are too rigid or I need a different type of program. Whatever it is, these are excuses we use. We blame that thing, i.e., the diet being too restrictive, as the reason we cannot achieve our goal. It’s nice to skirt the responsibility on to something else, something out of our control, when really, we’re the ones to blame.

In order to achieve a goal worth striving for, you’re going to face adversity. When faced with adversity though, are you going to play the blame game? That’s the "If I just find the right diet I’ll be successful,” attitude. Or are you going to take responsibility for you, your goals, your habits and your choices?

The sooner we recognize that goals take up time, energy and brain power, the sooner we’ll recognize they come with a responsibility, a weight to carry. Without realizing this, you don’t have goals, you have hopes.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Just GO

“Stop worrying about how long it’ll take and get started. Time will pass either way”

- James Clear

Getting that quote in my inbox this week was a nice reminder that sometimes you just need to pull the trigger and get moving. After being fearful how much work it would be to launch a new online program, I decided to just put it out there and force myself to get it together. This ready, fire, aim approach really gets you moving, it leaves no other option.

Have a great Fourth of July weekend and we’ll see you in the gym next week.

NO ZOOM ON SATURDAY

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Visualize it, Feel it

One of the best ways to become a better mover is to increase your visualization capabilities. To make squats or push ups or an Olympic lift look and feel seamless, you need to have a mental model of what exactly it feels and looks like. 

Visualization is tricky though. My junior year of college I was having a hard time whenever I touched the puck. I would freeze up and not know what to do as soon as that little black disc touched my stick. I became a liability on the ice and my nervousness about a potential screw up only made it worse. When a coach first approached me about visualization, I was hesitant. I had been trying but the only outcome was visualizing bad outcomes. It actually got so bad I started having a recurring dream of ringing a puck off the crossbar while on a breakaway.

My visualization was focused on how things could do wrong. My coach set me on a better course by getting me to visualize was it was going to feel like to success, not just what it would look like from a bird’s eye view. I started focusing on what my stick would feel like in my hands with the puck, what the cool air of the rink felt like and the sounds of skates cutting into the ice. 

When you’re doing a squat, focus in on what it feels like not just what it’s supposed to look like. That’s why we don’t have mirrors in here, by the way. Where do you feel a stretch? Where’s the pressure on your feet? What happens when you squeeze your butt at the top of the rep? What’s it feel like to brace your abs and hold that heavy heavy kettlebell? 

Visualization is just as much about feel as it is looks. Give it a shot! 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Planks Shouldn't Be Easy

If you’ve been following along with the Gain On Demand workouts, you’ve been rewarded by seeing some simple planks kick my ass. Planks are generally regarded as an effective core exercise and they’re universally known by all from 8th graders to grandmothers. Why is it then that they’re often executed poorly? 

In my opinion, it’s because they’re usually written off as a beginner exercise. The thing with planks however, like most exercises, is that the better you get at them, the harder they can be. Planks can teach us about tension, how to get stiff and how to breathe while bracing. If you don’t know what that means though, it can be challenging to do it properly. That’s my issue with these long plank hold challenges, they reward survival, not quality.

Next time you do a plank keep these things in mind. Turn on everything. Try to squeeze all your muscles, dig your toes into the ground, push your elbows away from your and breathe deep down into your hips. If someone walks over to you and nudges you on the side of your hip, you should be able to resist the force and not move. A great visual is to pretend like you're getting ready for someone to punch you in the stomach, a sure fire way to get those abs working. 

Don’t be passive while holding that plank. Squeeze, brace and make it hard, don’t just lay there quickly counting your breaths, make those breaths big and deep. The better you breathe, the harder the plank will be. 

Justin Miner 

@justinminergain

(pre COVID picture)

Remember to Keep Moving the Dirt

I was recently having a conversation with a new personal trainer. He was having a hard time getting his clients to see the big picture, to get over the need for quick fixes and unrealistic results. The conversation turned towards one of my favorite training analogies, moving a pile of dirt.

If you can imagine training, or better yet working towards your goals, like moving a big pile of dirt, you’re going to be successful in the long term. The idea is that as long as you move some dirt every day, you’re headed in the right direction. Sometimes you’ll get a big shovel full, sometimes you’ll get a teaspoon. The important thing to remember is that it doesn’t matter how much dirt you move, just that you’re moving dirt at all. 

Moving dirt can come in many forms too. It can be anything from a solid eight hours of sleep, having a big salad with dinner or just making it to the gym - regardless of what your training session looks like. We’re all really good at picking out where we do poorly. Instead, I think we should be trying to notice the positive habits. The things that move dirt and help us, instead of only seeing the negative. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Set the Tone

I often write about how Monday’s can build momentum for a good week. A good Monday workout or a Monday with lots of vegetables or hitting your steps goal or whatever it is really sets the tone.

Here’s the thing though, it doesn’t actually start with Monday. It starts before that. For me, 5 minutes on Sunday evening outlining my week, going over my schedule, planning runs and workouts makes all the difference. When I don’t take the time to do that, I free fall into Monday and instantly feel that I’m in over my head. 

Get ready for Monday on Sunday. Here’s to a good week ahead! 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Strength and Conditioning vs. Fitness Fads

I have two Strength & Health magazines from the 1930’s. You may have seen them, they’re hanging in the bathroom at the gym. While there are some silly headlines like “Cigarettes, do they give you a lift?” There’s equally, if not more, headlines that hold up to what we know today. “Facts in Progressive Training,” reads like an intro to a strength and conditioning textbook. My favorite part, however, lies on the back cover. It’s an advertisement from York Barbell Company. 

The advertisement claims: The strongest men, the best built men of EVERY nation are barbell and dumbbell built. Underneath the headline it reads, “The barbell and dumbbell system of training by graduated, progressive methods are the accepted methods of building real strength and muscle, the world over. 

That advertisement was published in 1935. Since then, at least, we’ve known that the strength and conditioning principles work. Barbells and dumbbells, when following a progressive, thoughtful program  will make you strong, promote healthy muscle growth and stave off injuries. Why is then, each and every year we have to create another “thing” to get us fit? 

We’ve created so many fads. Step aerobics, Orange Theory, F45, P90X, Insanity, Six Minute Abs, TotalGym, Peloton, and The Mirror are just the first ones that come to mind. We’ve known strength and conditioning works. Period. Why do we keep trying to reinvent the wheel? Purely for novelty. To keep our minds engaged and hope that we can distract ourselves all the way to achieving our goals. 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there is no shortcut. The sooner we all realize there isn’t an easy way or that the next flashy thing isn’t better than an old rusty barbell, the healthier, more fit and happier we’ll all be. All you need to do is look at the obesity and health statistics of the country to know we’re doing it wrong. We can do better and in order to do that, we need to do what’s always has worked (and always will), classic strength and conditioning.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Feeling Overwhelmed

The first time I ran an ultramarathon I realized something significant. When you start to feel overwhelmed, you’re done. As soon as you start thinking about how many miles down or how much time you have left out there, the feeling of overwhelm consumes you. You’re in over your head and you know it. How can I possible go that much longer? How can I finish this? 

You may be thinking, I have no desire to run an ultramarathon so why do I care? Well, the funny thing is that during that same ultramarathon, I realized it was the same feeling I felt the first time I ran a 5k race. I ran a little bit every summer for hockey conditioning, but we did short bursts and sprints, we never ran for distance. On Thanksgiving in 2011 I ran my first 5k and I remember feeling really good, until I ran past the 1 mile marker sign. 

I was crushed. Two more miles! How is that possible? I can’t keep this up for two more miles! The feeling of overwhelm sat with me the rest of the race. It wasn’t until that first 50k in 2017 that I realized I was having the same feeling with 10 miles to go. The distance doesn’t matter. Whether its 10 miles or 1 mile, the feeling of overwhelm handcuffs you.

Whatever your goals are, you need to avoid getting overwhelmed. If the scope of the goal is big and lofty, break it into smaller pieces. Create manageable bites, solid day in and day out processes that make the undertaking manageable. As soon as your thoughts wander on how much longer it will take, or how much further you need to go, you’ll be ditching your goal to pick something safer. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Hours on the Floor

I have a confession to make. I haven’t been working on my mobility as much as I normally do. I’ve been training pretty hard, too. Normally I take time to roll and stretch and mobilize my joints to feel as fresh as possible. I haven’t had to spend as much time dedicated to this since March, and I’ll tell you why: sitting on the floor.

March to June I was coaching at least 5 hours a week virtually. Since June, that changed to 3 hours per week. Each and every Zoom class, virtual one on one and FaceTime consult, I sit on the floor. There’s no magic position I put myself in, but rather try to move around into many different positions. 

I’ve talked before of the importance of sitting on the floor and the numerous benefits. Spending 60 some odd hours on the floor over the past several months certainly helped my hips. Instead of looking for the most ergonomical set up you can find for your office, instead, try to spend a little more time on the floor. It’ll be hard at first, but over time, your mobility will improve and sitting on the floor will be easier. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain