David Mills Personal Training

We know that full range of motion (ROM) exercises are superior for building muscle size, compared with partial ROM exercises.

And although strength gains are always joint-angle specific, we know that full ROM exercises tend to display less joint-angle strength specificity compared to partial ROM exercises. Although strength gains are joint-angle specific (to the joint angle where the peak contraction occurs), they are much more joint-angle specific after partial ROM training, than after full ROM training.

This is because the joint-angle specificity after full ROM training occurs because of regional hypertrophy (so it has a lot of carry-over to all joint angles), while the joint-angle specificity after partial ROM training occurs because of increases in joint-angle specific neural drive (which does not transfer to other joint angles).

Many sporting movements, such as vertical jumping and sprinting, require a considerable amount of lower body strength. In reality, this strength is specific to joint angles that correspond to fairly partial ROMs (because the knee is rarely bent very much during the ground contact phase of vertical jumping and sprinting). So theoretically gains in jumping and sprinting should be better after partial ROM training, compared to after full ROM training.

However, in untrained and intermediate lifters, gains in strength at any joint angle are most easily achieved by increasing muscle size. In contrast, in more well-trained athletes, gains in muscle size are harder to achieve, so there is a greater opportunity for partial ROM exercises to achieve the neural adaptations that lead to superior gains in joint-angle specific strength, and transfer better to improvements in athletic performance.

This may explain why partial squats are so effective in a group of well-trained athletes, as reported in this study.

Even if you can only manage 20 minutes of exercise, it's still better than skipping it all together!

10 Ways Exercise Improves Your Physical and Mental Health | David Mills Personal Trainer Aspen You know exercise is good for you, but do you know how good? From boosting your mood to improving your s*x life, find out how exercise can improve your life. 1....

TAKE ACTION! Wanting is not enough; Act upon your goals! If somebody was watching your day-to-day behaviour, would they be able to see what you're working towards; what your goals are? If the answer is no, FIX IT!

Winter is coming! 10 motivational fitness quotes to get you out the door this winter! | David Mills Personal Trainer Aspen

Stunning views on this mornings run!

Be careful of overtraining and be sure to consistently change up your workouts at least monthly. Your body will adapt quickly to the demands of your workout, so you need to continually challenge your muscles in new ways to continue to see changes.

Does Post-Exercise Soreness = Muscle Development? Do you have to be sore in order to qualify your workout as “good”? Brad Schoenfeld, ReebokONE Expert Contributor, explains why that usually is not the case.

Mobility is important but it is like stretching an elastic band that will loosen with foam rolling but just re-tighte. This is because the TFL is pulling it tight again because the Glute Med is not firing. Another consequence of the Glute Med not firing is overworking of the hamstrings. This can lead to the hip being forced forward in the socket and the Hip Flexors becoming over tight as well as the hamstrings, causing more pain in the front of the hip!! So how can you fix this? Yes stretch these tight areas but more importantly you need to strengthen the Glute Med first in isolation and then in functional movement patterns. Some
Great exercise include single leg deadlifts with a Kettlebell. TRX crossover lunges. Banded crab walks. Glute bridges with an unstable platform like a BOSU. Pistol squats. It is important to work the synergistic muscles also and antagonist muscles in order to prevent muscle imbalances.

Your IT Band is Not the Enemy (But Maybe Your Foam Roller Is) Stop abusing your IT band. It is your friend, and you haven’t been treating it like one.

1 hour in the gym is not enough to meet our daily activity needs!

The Office Worker's Workout approved quiz 2: Page 80 How can fitness professionals help desk jockeys boost their daily activity levels? Perhaps it’s time to change the message. Instead of focusing on the risks of inactivity—which hasn’t made much headway—maybe we should appeal to career-oriented sensibilities and explain how e...

Interesting read!

Can Caffeine Improve Exercise Performance? Anecdotally speaking, have you noticed that you feel better during and after training when you’ve put some caffeine in the tank? Research reported in the June issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise (2015; 47 [6], 1145-58) confirmed that while caffeine improves endurance exercise performanc...

This is my favorite exercise type, if done correctly with correct form in mind, you will see quick gains in fitness and weight loss!

Metabolic Effects of HIIT High-intensity interval training is enormously popular in the fitness indus- try this year. HIIT workouts typically include short bursts (6 seconds to 4 minutes) of intense exercise (≥ 90% maximal aerobic capacity) alternating with relief breaks of varying lengths (Kessler, Sisson & Short 2012; Bout...

Check out my favorite ski conditioning exercises!

5 Great Exercises to Prepare You For Ski Season. | David Mills Personal Trainer There is nothing worse than finally hitting the slopes, only to have to stop because your legs are hurting. Although there is no better training tool than actua...