A) Get injured

B) Become frustrated and quit

C) Can’t figure out how to make their workout plans “feel” better.

Back pain, knee pain, and other injuries sidetrack most people from their normal workout routine and make it seemingly impossible to achieve their fitness goals.

Enter Eric Cressey. During the last 10 years, Eric has repeatedly proven himself as not only one of the smartest coaches in the industry but also someone that understands how to train people for success while minimizing the likelihood of injury. Why just avoid activity when you can still find ways to train pain-free?

If you’ve ever struggled with shoulder pain, squats, deadlifts, the bench press, or any other common exercise problem, these six movements can be substituted into any workout to make you feel better–and help you see better results, too. -AB

6 Exercises That Make You Feel Great

By Eric Cressey

Exercise #1: Back-to-Wall Shoulder Flexion

The Benefit: Helps you determine if you’re ready for overhead movements like snatches and overhead squats.

This is a drill that just about every one of our new clients has in their initial warm-ups. It’s absolutely essential to be able to get the arms overhead without compensation in the lower back or neck, and this drill both assesses and trains that quality. If you can’t pass this with flying colors, you really aren’t ready for overhead pressing or a host of other exercises that require great overhead shoulder function.

How to do it: Work it in for one set of eight reps in your pre-training warm-ups.

Exercise #2: Walking Spiderman w/Hip Lift & Overhead Reach

The benefit: It prepares your body for any type of activity by blending all of the necessary components of a warmup into one movement.

This is a great catch-all mobility drill that I like to include an “integrate everything” strategy at the end of a warm-up. You train multiple hip mobility qualities and open up your thoracic spine (upper back) on the reaching component of the movement.

How to do it: Make it a staple of your warm-up with five reps per side.

Exercise #3: Wide-Stance Anti-Rotation Chop w/Rope

The Benefit: You won’t find a better core stability exercise than this.

You have to work hard to resist both rotation and extension (arching) of your lower back, and you also build some hip and upper back mobility in the process. What’s not to love?

How to do it: Work this in later in your training sessions for 2-3 sets of 8-10 reps per side. You can also experiment with doing this from the high or low cable setting to work in some variety.

Exercise #4 Anterior-Loaded Barbell Bulgarian Split Squats

The Benefit: It’s the perfect exercise to help add new muscle mass while keying in on some of the most common weaknesses for most people.

This movement is awesome but be warned: it really sucks to perform. But, as a general rule of thumb, everyone needs a little “suck” in their training programs if they want to make progress. This exercise trains a lot of athletic qualities that can hide as reasons why you don’t become stronger – single-leg strength, core stability, upper body mobility – while still giving you enough loading to put some mass on your lower body.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBCo_NgO8rk

How to do it: Work this in for sets of 4-8 reps. You can do this early in the session in place of squatting for variety, or if you’re unable to squat because of injuries or mobility restrictions. You can also try it out for higher reps as a first assistance exercise after you squat or deadlift.

Exercise #5: Anderson Front Squats from Pins

The benefit: Squats are still “king,” but if you always do them the same way they can eventually become stale.

One way to shake things up is to squat with a pause at the bottom, whether that’s with a free squat, box squat, or squat from pins, like this:

This can be a great strategy for breaking through a strength plateau if you’re struggling to be fast out of the hole.

How to do it: You won’t move as big a weight as you would if you were doing normal reps without a pause at the bottom, but you can expect great returns on your “training investment” if you do some paused squats for a few weeks, and then return to regular squatting. Just make sure to keep the reps low (below 3 per set).

Exercise #6: Half-Kneeling 1-Arm Landmine Press

The Benefit: This is an awesome upper body exercise to use to “cancel out” some of your bench pressing.

This can be done half-kneeling, tall kneeling, standing, or split-stance, but the coaching cues are largely the same. You see, you want exercises that both keep the shoulder blades stationary (bench press) and those that allow the shoulder blades to rotate freely (push-ups, landmine presses) in your training programs.

How to do it: This is also an excellent drill for those who aren’t quite ready for overhead pressing, but want to get a similar training effect a bit more safely. We’ll usually do these for sets of 4-10 reps, as you can use it as a pure strength exercise or more of an assistance drill.

READ MORE: 

The Mystery of Squat Form: How Low Should You Go, Really?

How Often Should I Change Reps?

How to Defy Genetics and Build Muscle at Any Age

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post 6 Exercise Upgrades For Better Results appeared first on Born Fitness.

The greatest lie ever told is that adding exercise will ensure your body will never hurt again.

Yes, a smart training plan can go a long way towards preventing injury and feeling great. But your hard work in the gym can be reversed if you don’t take care of yourself outside the weight room. This where you posture can do more damage than you realize.

If there’s anything I’ve heard over and over again, it’s that most people are constantly feeling achy. And the reason is obvious: you spend a lot more time outside the gym than in. Whether you’re on your feet or chained to a desk, the reality is life can be a pain in the back. Literally.

You spend the majority of your non-training time in one of three positions: standing, sitting, and lying. The goal is to minimize unnecessary muscle activity and imbalanced stress across your joints.

The following guidelines are meant to help put your body in a more efficient position and help you fix your posture without extra time in the gym.

Less Pain When Standing

The Correct Position Checklist

• Your feet should be pointed straight ahead or out slightly.
• Your weight will ideally be evenly distributed across your entire foot, and make sure you’re not leaning to one side or another so that one foot takes on more weight.
• Ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, and ears are all in-line.

Common Flaws

• Weight shifted forward on your feet or more to one leg than the other
• Your upper back is slouched
• Your head is positioned forward/in front of your spine

Quick Fix

Perform three quick, small jumps. (Yes, it might look a little funny at a dinner party, so have a good story ready and waiting.)

The jumping should help align your feet and reestablish your balance, which will snap your body back into preferred and ideal posture.

Less Pain When Sitting

The Correct Position Checklist

• Feet flat on ground pointed straight ahead or out slightly.
• Your hips flexed to roughly 90 degrees
• Weight evenly distributed on both sides of your butt
• Hips, shoulders, and ears are all in-line.
• Face and eyes are oriented straight ahead.

Common Flaws

• One leg crossed over the other
• Weighted shifted to one side more than the other
• Upper back slouched
• Head positioned forward of spine
• Arms not supported

Quick Fix

Place both feet on the floor, raise your arms overhead, and then pull your arms down and drive your elbows down and back. (Image you’re performing a chinup). The arms overhead will help lengthen your spine, and pulling your shoulders back should help open up your chest and prevent the hunched-over desk syndrome.

Less Pain When Lying

The Correct Position

• Side-lying position with shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles stacked directly above opposite side.
• Knees and hips slightly bent
• Ankles, hips, shoulders, and ears are all in-line
• Pillow under your head, between your arms, and between your knees to support neutral alignment

Common Flaws

• Lying on your face or back, which applies undesired torque on your neck
• Lying on your side with one shoulder and/or hip rotated relative to the opposite side.
• Lying on your side with your body curled up in a fetal position
• Lying on your side with neck under- or over-supported

Quick Fix

For a week, try going to sleep on your side with a pillow squeezed between your legs. You’ll train your body to sleep in the correct position, and by improving your sleep quality the new position should become second nature.

The Posture Mindset

It’s important to note that while some postures are more desirable than others, the best posture is a changing posture.

In other words, you don’t want to be stuck in the same position for hours on end. That means you should stand up and move a little at least once every hour.

Your body naturally adapts to the positions it spends the most time in. Regularly breaking these cycles with movement and stretching can help ensure you don’t structurally or functionally adapt to a position that is going to limit your performance or set you up for injury.

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post How to Fix Your Posture appeared first on Born Fitness.