Archives for May 2009

Golf Shoulder Exercises To Prevent Golf Swing Shoulder Pain

Proper golf shoulder exercises can usually correct poor golf swing mechanics. I have identified 4 common reasons that contribute to golf shoulder pain:

1. Poor posture: Having forward rounded shoulders and a slouched upper back limits shoulder motion and proper shoulder turn during your golf swing. As a result, shoulder turn during your golf swing is decreased and increased stress occurs to your rotator cuff.

2. Limited trunk rotation: Proper rotation must happen at your hips and trunk to allow proper shoulder turn and a balanced golf swing. When trunk rotation is limited it prevents proper hip and shoulder turn which can force the rotator cuff muscles in the shoulders to overcompensate resulting in pain.

Large deficits in trunk rotation results in lateral body movement which displaces your center of gravity and throws your golf swing way off balance.

Lateral deviation of your body during the backswing or downswing often results in:

loss of balance
reduced power
poor accuracy
over-slicing the ball
topping off the ball

3. Poor shoulder flexibility: This is frequently caused by tightness in the pectoralis major/minor muscles of the chest. When these muscles are tight they limit the amount of external rotation at the shoulder which results in poor golf swing mechanics and increased stress to the shoulder.

4. Weakness in the upper and mid-back muscles: The muscles that make up your upper and mid-back are very important for healthy shoulders and a proper golf swing.

rotator-cuff I won’t get to scientific here but basically each rotator cuff is comprised of 4 muscles that attach to your shoulder. The rotator cuff’s primary function is to stabilize your shoulder during movement. But, your shoulder isn’t the only
attachment site of your rotator cuff. Your rotator cuff muscles originate from your shoulder blades.

And, your shoulder blades are controlled primarily by the muscles in your upper and mid-back. When properly conditioned, your upper and mid-back muscles help to allow proper shoulder motion and swing mechanics. When these muscles become weak and deconditioned the deltoid muscles in your shoulder and even your neck muscles can start to overcompensate which leads to shoulder and/or neck pain.

In the video to the right I show 3 key golf shoulder exercises I’ve used for my golfing clients with great success:

Wall Rows
Diagonal Shoulder Patterns
Trunk Rotations
My 3-way doorway stretch

These can help correct golf swing mechanics and prevent golf swing shoulder pain.

Post a comment below and let me know what you thought of this post and the video.

Why Your Knees Hurt Squatting And 3 Alternatives To Keep Your Knees Healthy

By Kevin 34 Comments

This is a guest post from Kevin Yates, founder of Yates Performance Training, and new blogger over at Post Rehab Exercise. Check out his new site, read the article below, and then watch the video to the right. Thanks Kevin!

Just because your knees hurt squatting doesn’t mean that squats are a bad exercise. In fact, squats and lunges have gotten such a bad reputation for causing knee, hip and lower back problems when this is absolutely not true.

In this post I will share 3 alternatives to eliminate knee pain squatting but before I get there you need to know why squats hurt your knees.

In nearly a decade of working with clients who have had issues such as back pain, lower back fusion surgery, knee pain, meniscus surgery, acl reconstruction, knee replacements, hip replacement surgery and other nagging injuries I have yet to see any indication where squats were directly responsible for knee pain or back injuries.

The truth is that knee pain during squats is almost always the result of doing the exercises incorrectly. Squats will not hurt your knees if you do them correctly. But, most people do not perform them correctly even if they think they do.

Mistakes That Make Your Knees Hurt

Below are the most common mistakes I have identified in individuals whose knees hurt squatting. Just one of these mistakes is enough to feel knee pain during squats:

Weight on the toes: This happens a lot when using too much weight which tends to pull your body too far forward. Other times it’s simply a lack of awareness of how to distribute one’s body weight.
Knees moving forward while squatting: This is another common example of using too much weight. It can also be the result of the quadriceps (thigh muscles) overcompensating for weak glutes.
Thigh and lower back muscles doing most of the work: This happens when the glutes and hamstrings are weak. When you lack proper hip strength muscle imbalances often result in the quadriceps and lower back over working. This is one of the main reasons for knee pain during squatting.
Glutes and hamstrings are weak: These muscles need to be properly strengthened in order to eliminate knee and lower back pain.
Trunk collapsing too far forward: This is a sure-fire sign of weak core muscles and/or quadricep and lower back overcompensation. Typically, weakness in the abdominal and hip muscles are the problem.

Now that you know why your knees hurt squatting we can focus on 3 simple guidelines and alternatives you can use to get rid of painful knees and use squats to strengthen your core and hip muscles.

In the video below I share some unique tips to use so you’ll eliminate knee pain during squats. And at 3:38 I reveal a powerful tip to strengthen your hips almost nobody knows about.

3 Squat Alternatives

Static squat: teaches the basic technique of squatting. To do this stay back on your heels and slowly descend into a half squat position and hold. The goal is to focus on using your glutes and hamstrings and not just your quadriceps (thighs). Once you master this it’s time to move on to some progressions listed below.
Dumbbell deadlifts: an easier option rather than using a barbell because barbell deadlifts pull you forward which can make it harder to stay back on your heels. The difference when using dumbbells is that the dumbbells stay at your sides and don’t have as much forward pull which makes it easier to maintain proper technique
Dumbbell front squats: these help you maintain a more upright trunk because the weight of the dumbbells has a slight forward pull to it which makes you counter balance by remaining upright. You’ll automatically pull yourself to a more upright position to even out the load.

So, what do you think of this post? Anything you disagree with? Any tips of your own that you think should be included? Let us know in the comments below.

The Site Has Been Redesigned Using The Thesis Template

By Peter Leave a Comment

For a while now I’ve been thinking about redesigning this site to make it a bit easier to update, and to make it more flexible when I’m making changes.

I’ve been designing graphics for websites for quite some time now through my other site, Logos For Websites. I started years ago designing logos for friends who had stores on Ebay, and just needed a quick graphic to show on their ebay store. Over the years I’ve moved on to other projects including header logos, twitter backgrounds, entrecard logos, gravatars, ebook covers and anything else you can think of.

One of the more challenging things I’ve done is design header logos for WordPress Templates. The problem is that often the templates are not setup in an easy to understand manner, and there is no real way to know what size the logos should be, how it will fit into the template, and a variety of other issues relating to how the logo will look once inserted. They’re just not user friendly.

Recently I started getting requests to design logos for people who are using the Thesis WordPress Template. Thesis is one of the more popular themes in use today, and after helping design logos for several people using the template, I found out why. It is one of the most flexible, and easy to use templates available. Since I knew so many people who had been happy with the template, I took the plunge and bought it for myself.

Chris Pearson, designer of Thesis talks about why he designed the template:

I built the Thesis Theme because I wanted a framework that had it all—killer typography, a dynamically resizable layout, intelligent code, airtight optimization, and tons of flexibility. Now, after months of field testing, I’m confident enough to offer it to those of you who have come to expect nothing but the finest themes from me.

Some of the benefits of the template, as listed on the Thesis website:

SEO: the degree to which your code and content are organized and optimized for both search engines and people
accessibility: your ability to reach different audiences—those with special needs, people using alternative Web browsers, mobile users, etc.
usability: how effectively your users are able to navigate and interact with your site
flexibility: how easy is it to get the look you want by providing rich markup for styling and customizations via a control panel

So the Thesis theme is flexible, easy to use -even for novice users, has good SEO so you’ll be showing up in search results, and on top of all that they have a top notch support forum where you can find answers to just about any question you might have.

I had a problem with one client’s logo getting inserted into the template. I did a quick search of their support forums and had my answer within a minute or two. Piece of cake!

So if you want an awesome theme that’s guaranteed to give your website the fresh look you need and an easy to use back end, check out Thesis. You won’t regret it!

So what do you think of our new design on Quick To Fit? What things do you like? What things do you not like (for example, is the color too bright?) Let us know in the comments!