How Thoracic Spine Mobility Affects Your Overhead Press (And How to Fix It)

How Thoracic Spine Mobility Affects Your Overhead Press (And How to Fix It)

How Thoracic Spine Mobility Affects Your Overhead Press (And How to Fix It) By Marcus Cole Your overhead press is stuck. Or worse, it hurts. You’ve done the rotator cuff work. You’ve foam rolled your shoulders. You’ve watched form videos. Nothing changes. Here’s what most people—and most generic training advice—miss: your shoulder pain or pressing … Read more

Should You Stretch Before or After a Workout? The Evidence Finally Has an Answer

Should You Stretch Before or After a Workout? The Evidence Finally Has an Answer

When I was on the swim team in high school, our dryland training was basically an afterthought — we’d either skip warm-ups entirely and jump straight into heavy lifting, or spend half the session doing long, static stretches someone’s older brother swore by. Looking back, that’s exactly why so many of us plateaued at the … Read more

Thoracic Spine Mobility: The Missing Link in Your Overhead Press and Posture

Thoracic Spine Mobility: The Missing Link in Your Overhead Press and Posture

My college roommate was a biology major obsessed with exercise science, and our late-night debates about training methods were basically my real fitness education — which is probably why, years later, I immediately recognized what was happening when a client couldn’t “get his head through” on the overhead press no matter how many cues we … Read more

Hip Flexor Stretches That Actually Work (And the Tools That Make Them Better)

Hip Flexor Stretches That Actually Work (And the Tools That Make Them Better)

Junior year of college, I was grinding through pre-med coursework and training at the same time, which meant every minute in the gym had to count — and nothing derailed a session faster than that stubborn, deep pull in the front of my hip that showed up whether I was squatting heavy or just standing … Read more

A 10-Minute Daily Mobility Routine That Fixes the Damage Sitting Does to Your Body

A 10-Minute Daily Mobility Routine That Fixes the Damage Sitting Does to Your Body

The first CrossFit class I walked into, I couldn’t do a single strict pull-up and I finished dead last in the workout — that was the most educational hour of my fitness life, because what it actually taught me wasn’t about strength or conditioning, it was about how completely wrecked my body already was from … Read more

The Difference Between Flexibility and Mobility (And Why You Need Both)

The Difference Between Flexibility and Mobility (And Why You Need Both)

For about three years in my early twenties, pickup basketball on Sunday afternoons was my main form of exercise — and trying to keep up with guys ten years younger forced me to actually learn how training works. I’d watch teammates drop into deep defensive stances and explode out of them effortlessly, while I was … Read more