Feature Exercise

Barbell Front Lunge Place the bar across your shoulders and trapezius muscles. Step forward 2.5 to 3.5 feet and drop straight down. Try to keep your forward knee above your foot as you lower your body down as far as is comfortable to you, or until your front thigh is parallel to the ground. If your knee moves out in front of your foot you will increase the stimulus to the frontal quadriceps muscles of your leg, but you will also greatly increase the stress to your knee joint. Maintain good posture throughout the lift. Exhale as your push off the front leg and return to the starting position. This is an excellent exercise for developing the muscles in your buttocks and thigh area. View a video of this exercise

If it's time to get serious about your fitness, you need a structured program. I'll tailor a program specific to your goals and abilities, that will contain:
Fully customized workouts, listing: exercises, sets, reps and weights. Exercise videos and descriptions demonstrating proper technique for every exercise. A built in feedback system and email contact with me anytime.
Using the world's most powerful online training tool I can design and deliver a 12-week fitness programfully customized to your personal fitness goals, abilities, and schedule.
For more information about my background, fee structure and how to get started, go to: US Sports Strength and Conditioning . Just fill out the brief contact form if you would like to get started. Contact Me: Nathan Lewis CSCS US Sports Strength and Conditioning
US Sports Strength and Conditioning

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Nathan Lewis CSCS US Sports Strength and Conditioning

If it's time to get serious about your fitness program, you need a structured program tailored to your goals and abilities. Using the world's most powerful online training tools, I can design and deliver a 12-week fitness program fully customized to your personal fitness goals, abilities, and time constraints. Features include: The Fat Burning Workout Everyone Is Talking About Train with some of the World's Greatest Athletes Get the secrets behind building Tactical Muscle

Fully customized exercises, sets, reps and weights. Videos demonstrating proper technique for every exercise. Routines utilizing equipment available to you — home or gym! Personal contact with me anytime via built-in email system. Integrated feedback loop for precise program monitoring. Full Nutritional Counseling With Customized Meal Plan

For more information about my background fee structure and how to get started, go to US Sports Strength and Conditioning

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Today's feature exercise: The Snake Squat

Great Variation on the Basic Squat! Available in many of the US Sports Online Strength and Conditioning Programs

The Snake Squat exercise is a squatting technique that uses variations in the width of your stance to develop strength at various leg positions. This helps to maximize functional strength so that you can generate power whether your legs are close or wide! The Snake Squat is simple to understand. On the first set of your squat workout place your feet 6-8 inches closer than your normal squat position. On the second set place your feet in your normal squat position. On the third set place your feet 6-8 inches wider than your normal squat position. On the fourth set you would come back to the close squat position. If your workout only calls for 3 sets of squats you would complete one full Snake Squat sequence. If your workout has 6 sets of squats you would complete 2 sequences of the Snake Squat. Do not add sets to your workout. Just alternate your stance from close to normal to wide until the required number of sets are completed. Here are the fundamental squat techniques whether your feet are close or wide: Position the bar in a comfortable position across your trapezius muscle area. We recommend this "high bar" position because it promotes flexibility in the hips, it provides for a more balanced work output from the hips, glutes, quads and hamstrings, and it keep the torso in a more upright position lessening the stress to the lower back. However, if you are a competitive power lifter you will want to place the bar across your lower trapezius muscles and the posterior deltoid muscles. This "low bar" position moves the weight closer to your center of gravity and allows for a greater weight to be lifted but it also forces more of a forward lean of yor torso which can be stressful to your lower back! Your stance in the basic squat position should be slightly wider than your shoulders. The distance between your feet should be measured from your heels, not your toes. Your feet should be angled slightly outward. Begin the squat by inhaling deeply and moving your hips backward like you are going to sit in a chair. Your knees should then bend and travel in the direction that your toes are pointing. Don't let your knees wiggle from side to side or go into a knock-kneed position during the movement. This can place stress on your knee joint. Maintain a stable posture with your head and chest up as your slowly squat down until your thighs are parallel to the ground. For maximal development you can squat lower than the parallel position but your must be prepared physically before attempting the lower, Olympic squat position. Exhale as your drive out of the bottom position. Never forcefully lock your knees at the completion of the lift. Keep them slightly bent to remove pressure to the lower back. The squat exercise is a tremendous developer of leg strength and size. But, it must be done correctly to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks of injury. Always use an experienced spotter while performing the squat exercise.

View a video of this exercise If it's time to get serious about your fitness, you need a structured program. I'll tailor a program specific to your goals and abilities, that will contain: Fully customized workouts, listing: exercises, sets, reps and weights. Exercise videos and descriptions demonstrating proper technique for every exercise. A built in feedback system and email contact with me anytime. Using the world's most powerful online training tool I can design and deliver a 12-week fitness programfully customized to your personal fitness goals, abilities, and schedule. For more information about my background, fee structure and how to get started, go to: US Sports Online Strength and Conditioning Contact Me: Nathan Lewis CSCS US Sports Online Strength and Conditioning US Sports Online Strength and Conditioning

Today's Feature Exercise: Barbell Power Shrug

This is a great exercise for shoulder and neck development. With all of the focus on head injuries nowadays, you can go a long way to preventing these in your life by fully developing your neck and shoulders. Contact me to put together a program including this type of exercise.

Barbell Power Shrug	View Video
Exercise Description:
Place a bar on a power rack or on top of blocks. The bar should be at a height of approximately mid-thigh. Grasp the bar with an over-under alternating grip or a double overhand grip. Your hands should be slightly wider than your hips. Bend your knees just slightly and explosively shrug the bar up using your trapezius muscles and a quick punch with your legs. Maintain a strong posture throughout the lift. This exercise is excellent for developing powerful traps, and for maximizing the the second pull phase of the clean. If it's time to get serious about your fitness program, you need a structured program tailored to your goals and abilities. Using the world's most powerful online training tool, I can design and deliver a 12-week fitness program fully customized to your personal fitness goals, abilities, and time constraints. Features include:  Fully customized exercises, sets, reps and weights. Videos demonstrating proper technique for every exercise. Routines utilizing equipment available to you — home or gym! Personal contact with me anytime via built-in email system. Integrated feedback loop for precise program monitoring. For more information about my background fee structure and how to get started, go to US Sports Strength and Conditioning Just fill out the brief contact form to get started.