Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries have been a hot topic over the last 10 years due to the dramatic increase of injury. Each year 200,000 Americans are diagnosed with an ACL tear, with women being ten times more likely than men to suffer the injury. The ACL is a structure that helps stabilize the knee joint allowing for proper movement and strength. Without proper function of this ligament, many athletic and life tasks may be inhibited or limited. There are two main types of ACL injuries: contractile and non-contractile. Contractile ACL injuries are simply caused by blunt force. Non-…

The Corn Refiners Association has recently been running ads saying that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is just another form of sugar and that it is completely safe. Well let’s take a closer look at some of the facts and you can be the judge. Sugar and HFCS do share many of the same properties. They are both the main choice of beverage companies when using a sweetener with calories.  Both have been shown to increase weight gain (most markedly fat gain).  HFCS and sugar are carbohydrates, which have been linked to type-2 diabetes.  Finally, according to the Food and Drug Administration, both …

Today I have two short video clips of exercises you can perform throughout the day to help achieve better posture and prevent neck, shoulder, and back pain. Please perform sets of ten at least 2 times a day and leave me feedback about how you feel!

As a strength and conditioning coach I am fortunate to have worked with hundreds of people from all walks of life- from 5-year-olds with debilitating diseases, to high-level professional athletes, to 105-year-old bedridden grandmothers.  One thing that remains constant, no matter what person I am working with, is that their posture always needs work. Posture helps dictate the function of our bodies, and without it being near optimal pain will most likely present itself sooner rather than later.   Where can poor posture cause pain you ask? The neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, fingers, upper …

Yep, you heard it here first, the sad truth is research has found that exercise does not work in changing body composition and diets don’t work because of a lack of compliance. Let’s delve a bit deeper. Dieting is a prescribed selection of foods that are supposed to give you a change in body composition, health benefits, or some combination of the two.  When people diet, it’s usually an all or nothing mentality and for a specific time and a specific goal.  While this works well for some, there is often a crash and burn affect from dieters.  But why is this? Diets are often difficult to follow…

As the New Year comes to a start, people attend local gyms in record numbers.  With this phenomenon, personal trainers are hired at an increased rate. Personal trainers are often highly qualified individuals with years of academic, clinical, and in-the-trenches experience that allows them to give a high quality of service to you.  Unfortunately, the great trainers often get lost in the mix with trainers who don't know their elbow from their ear.  A quick Google search will reveal about 20 different results for personal trainer certifications.  The qualifications to be certified range from an …