Most of us at some point in our life have imagined having amazing washboard abs that we see covering the magazine covers. We have been convinced that to achieve this we must isolate the abdominal muscles with specific exercises to make it stronger and more toned. When it comes to training abs, or the core as it is commonly known, it seems like all knowledge, common sense, and logic on the subject of function is thrown out the window. What we are left with is exercises and methods that either do not work, or lead to severe injuries and pain. And the muscle that is often right in the firing line is the OBLIQUE abdominal muscles. There is no doubt the obliques are a very important part of the human body for controlling movement in the frontal plane and they provide some very unique movements that keep us free from injury and pain. They are also one of the most misunderstood and abused set of muscles and most people are not even aware that there is actually four of these muscles, as there is both internal and external oblique muscles. In this article we will explain why many of the beliefs, exercises, and program methods currently used for the oblique muscles may in fact be weakening you and exposing your body to potential injury. These muscles are not designed to function as other muscles and as a result should not be trained the same way.

A very common injury with many distance runners and one that can be extremely difficult to get rid of is Iliotibial band friction syndrome. It is often referred to as an overuse injury and is where pain is felt across the lateral part of the knee during exercise like running, hence its nickname, “runners knee”. However overuse is just one factor of many that contributes to the onset of this problem and really is just the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Typical treatments for this involve rest, stretching, massage and foam rolling of the area in pain to reduce the stiffness in the iliotibial band (ITB) and even some VMO strengthening exercises. Unfortunately these remedies are usually ineffective and only short term solutions at best as they fail to address the underlying causes of the injury. In this article we will explain what you need to look for to identify the trigger of your pain, and the various exercise solutions you may require to solve the problem for good. 

A lot of you may be wondering, are body-weight workouts enough for me to get stronger and see results? Many people underestimate the benefits body-weight exercises provide and limit their thinking to only one or two exercises, when there is literally hundreds of amazing varieties you could use. The best thing about these exercises is you are not limited with time and you need no equipment meaning you can get a great workout in almost anywhere! This can be a real game-changer for the person who travels a lot, or someone unable to get to the gym.  These exercises are often prescribed by physical therapists and rehabilitation trainers to people with injury for they are excellent choices for improving stability of joints in a closed kinetic chain. And many of the advanced exercises like plyometric training are used by many elite sporting athletes for improving strength and power. In this article we will explain everything you need to know about body-weight exercises and provide you with several simple workouts for general muscle toning and losing fat no matter what level of fitness you think you are at!