Pre-Script

Quad Extension 101

Understanding the indirect contribution of muscles in a movement is a great way to start maximizing the efficiency of each rep and each set.

In the quad extension, it's favourable to maximally dorsiflex the ankle in order to use the lengthened gastrocnemius to help stabilize the knee as you get into the shortened position of the movement.

People leave a lot of reps on the table approaching this movement with an ineffectual ankle joint.

TLDR: Toe towards shin = good reps.

Stability = Output

The more stable you create the external environment of an exercise, the less self-organizing you have to undertake when performing it, leaving you more resources and better counterforce to apply tension to the intended tissue.

The Cable Fly is a great example of this principle.

We can do a cable fly any number of ways that scale up and scale down our ability to push the pec to its limit within a set.

For maximum output we’d look at a cable fly machine or even a seated cable fly (brining a bench in to a small cable stack) But even non supported variations have levels of external stability and counter force

For example, a standing vs. hinged cable fly will give you different levels of output because you can use the weight of your torso in the hinged positon to get your torso stable when compared to a standing variation.

It’s not about “better” or “worse” variations, it’s about understanding the differences and where these differences can serve you in the totality of your program.

Exercise Intent

Continuity in training requires understanding the intent behind each movement in your program. When equipment becomes the variable, being able to recreate the intended stimulus in any environment, no matter what equipment you have access to becomes a huge driver of progress.

Next time you’re picking exercises, think about what the core essence of an exercise is and how you can reproduce that stimulus even if you’re not on the same machine every day.

Delt Details

It’s often said that neutral is a range, which on mass is true, but neutral for any individual person comes down to a confluence of unique factors of that persons structure.

Understanding the angle that’s created by the trajectory of the scapula set forth by the rib cage is a potent positional landmark for everyone to know.

This is how understanding the neutral scapular plane helps improve efficiency of a basic cable lateral raise.

But this position and principle can be cross applied to so many different exercises.

We don’t do it for the credit.
We do it for the experience.

Pre-Script Level 3 - First class of 2026.

What an experience it was.

DIP PART 2

START AT THE BEGINNING

I see this problem A LOT with so many exercises. Where people aren't aware of the importance of maintaining a good starting position on the success of the ex*****on of the entire movement.

With machine dips, we see the issue of clients not being able to maintain that starting position of having their shoulders away from their ears.

Instead, fall into a passive shrug at the beginning of the movement, where their shoulders are only going to further elevate as they move through to the bottom of the movement.

One of the big secondary benefits of dips is the utilization of the lower traps to maintain that shoulder blade position at the top of the movement in that low reach positon. But that benefit can only be realized if we cue the shoulders to stay away from the ears at the top.

Be good♥️🤘🏼

DIP (Part 1)

Machines are built for everyone, and in turn, oftentimes built for no one. But all hope isn't lost.

Here are two tips that will help your dip machine ex*****on.

1. Sit further back: Just get your knees under the pad, rather than having the pad up at the hip crease. You'll have to use a little bit more "abs" to control your position but it will make for a much better shoulder position.

2. Grab the handles at the bend: We want to have a ~ 45-degree angle of abduction at the shoulder which can be difficult if you grab the bar at the parallel part of the handles. Grabbing at the bend will let the elbows flare slightly and pair well with you sitting a little further back in the seat.

If you can't "activate" your glutes, you're in the wrong position.

Your nervous system will only allow you to load as much as it trusts you to stabilize. A lack of pelvic stability is proportionate to a lack of muscular recruitment in the glutes.

If you want to be maximally effective in your glute training you need to understand how to stabilize your pelvis first.

SHOULDER PAIN (FIX) ✅

Pain is a check-engine light, and oftentimes not the root cause of an issue.

With the shoulder being such a mobile thoroughfare within the body it often becomes a common intersection where proximal or distal issues converge to sound the alarm.

Using a split stance and a more horizontal vector (cable instead of a dumbbell) Can force your body into co-contracting muscles that would otherwise lay dormant during a conventional lateral raise. This co-contraction can offer meaningful support to decreasing the contribution of some of these more peripheral factors of shoulder pain.

Now, be realistic. You're not going to split lunge yourself away from pain in the presence of major structural damage, but it's a good tool to keep in your arsenal to keep intensity high on days where DB laterals just arent cutting it.

Do you know how to use your shoulder?

The scapulothoracic joint is unique because the scapula attaches to the axial skeleton through musculature and not ligaments.

This is different from most other joints in the body because the lack of structure creates a demand for voluntary control of the musculature that crosses the joint to create stability.

Shoulder stability will always be governed by scapular stability. Scapular stability is governed by the ability to control the ribcage and scapula articulation.

Awareness is the first step.