Video Blog 8 - Hips Don't Lie

Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
www.MitchRFitness.com
MitchRFitness@gmail.com
510-754-7113
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Deadlifting 101 - The Article

Hello, everyone! I hope you’re doing well. Today I want to talk about an exercise that I feel is one of the most important you can do. The Deadlift. Why is it so important? Well, how many times have you heard of someone who hurt their back picking a pencil off the floor? The deadlift teaches us proper form for doing something we all need to do: pick things up. Whether it’s a pencil, a bag of groceries or our kids, we need to use proper form when we pick something up. The deadlift also strengthens very important muscles in our upper and lower back, hips, core and arms. Another thing I love about it, is how easy it is to adjust the exercise for people of all fitness levels. To see me demonstrate a few variations, please see my video blog below.

Today I’ll describe the easiest version of this lift, which I call the Dumbell Deadlift. Take an appropriately weighted dumbbell and put it straight up and down on the ground so that one end is on the ground and the other end is up. Stand with the dumbbell right between your ankles and your feet about shoulder width apart. From here take a deep breath into your chest and, holding that upper body position, bring your hips back with your arms reaching for the dumbbell. Keep bringing your hips back until you can grab the dumbbell and stand up. At the top, squeeze your glutes hard to finish the lift. To put the weight back down just reverse the order of what you’ve just done. The keys here are maintaining the arch in your lower back, staying back on your heels and keeping the weight as close to your body as you can.

Many people don’t have the necessary mobility to be able to get down low enough in a good position to do this lift. If this is the case, simply put the weight on a step to raise it up. As you get more flexible and mobile try to lower the starting position so that you can eventually lift it from the ground.

There are different variations of the deadlift that can make it easier or harder. You can go to my video blog below to see me demonstrate a few of them as well as the version I wrote about here. Suffice to say that if you are not including some kind of deadlift in your exercise program you are probably making a mistake.
Please drop me a line if you have any questions about the deadlift or anything else and remember to consult a doctor before beginning any exercise program.

Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
Mitch Rothbardt Fitness
510-754-7113
www.MitchRFitness.com
MitchRFitness.blogspot.com
MitchRFitness@gmail.com
Text CVBootcamp to 77948 for a Free Two Weeks!

Discover Your Strength!

Deadlifting 101

Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
http://www.mitchrfitness.com/
MitchRFitness@gmail.com
510-754-7113
Text CVBootcamp to 77948 for A Free Two Week Membership
Text MRFitness to 77948 For Two Weeks of Semi-Private Training
Discover Your Strength!

Stand Up Straight!

Hello, everyone! I hope you all had a great Easter. This week I want to talk about what I feel is probably the biggest problem that I see, and it’s probably not something many people think about. When I first speak to people about their goals, most tell me that they’d like to lose weight or gain muscle. In other words they’d like to improve their appearance in some way. That’s a great goal, but for many people there is a very simple way to look better without even setting foot in a gym. Improve your posture.

Stand Up Straight!

In today’s society, most people spend all day sitting in front of a computer. What this does to our posture is incredibly destructive. Bringing our arms up to the keyboard causes us to raise our shoulders, staring intently at the screen causes us to bring our head forward, sitting causes us to slouch and round our lower back and sitting also causes our hips to stiffen up which puts a tremendous amount of strain on our backs, knees and shoulders.

For the purposes of this article where we’re talking about appearance, what do you think makes us look better, being all slouched over or standing up straight?



Don't Slouch!



What I have found is that there are two keys to improving your posture. The first one is simply knowing what it feels like to be in good posture. To do that, what I want you to do is stand up, relax your shoulders down and back and take a deep breath into your chest. Relax right there. For most people, this will put them in a reasonably good position. The most important thing for you to note is the down-and-back position of your shoulders. After you’ve established what it feels like to be in good posture the most important thing you can do is just stay aware of your position and correct yourself. Remember this is going to take some work. You’ve most likely gotten yourself used to your posture over a period of years and it is going to take some time to break that habit.

One way to do this is to set a reminder on your phone or computer to stand up every 25 minutes or so and stretch for 30 seconds to a minute. For a few more thoughts and some good stretches and exercises to help your appearance and posture, go to my blog at MitchRFitness.blogspot.com.

So remember to stand up straight just like your second grade teacher told you! Also, be sure to consult a doctor before beginning any exercise program.





Mitch Rothbardt, CPT

http://www.mitchrfitness.com/

MitchRFitness@gmail.com

510-754-7113

Text CVBootCamp to 77948 For A Free Two Week Membership to My Bootcamp!

Text MRFitness to 77948 For Two Weeks of Free Semi-Private Training!

Discover Your Strength!