To kick off the new year we thought it would be pretty cool to provide you with your own Calendar featuring the key aspects needed for a great all round training program. Each month focuses on what we would regard as the critical elements needed for any program, whether it is for general fitness and weight loss, rehabilitation and sports performance.

One of the biggest mistakes I have ever made in sporting career is not treating my ankle sprains with enough respect and ensuring I had full mobility, stability and strength before going back to playing and training. I cannot tell you how many times I sprained my ankles, my left in particular suffered at least 3 grade 3 tears! Nearly all of us have sprained our ankle at one point in our life and almost all of us are also guilty of under-playing the consequences just like me. After the initial searing pain, we limp home, reach for the pain-killers, get the frozen peas out of the freezer and on the swollen ankle, before resting on the couch with our foot up for an hour or two. After a few days of hopping around we try to soldier our way on, and before you know it the pain has gone, the ankle is a bit stiff, but we feel we will be back to normal in a week or two. It is about this time we think we are okay have got away with just a sprain. But, as I am going to show in this article it is at this time that even the simple grade 1 sprains can create a dangerous chain reaction of compensatory movements that are conspiring to create much more severe and painful problem. Like I said at the beginning I have made this mistake myself many times and this year I have been involved with 4 people, myself being one of them, that suffered a devastating ACL Tear, and in EVERY case the ankles were either the main cause of the problem or played a big part in creating it!

Having a strong and well functioning shoulder is something we take for granted. And when it comes to shoulder or neck injuries, without a doubt one of the biggest factors to ensuring healthy shoulder function is the role a muscle known as Serratus anterior plays. In this article we are going to give 10 exercises that are great for encouraging this muscle to fire, and work in the way it is designed. It is important to follow a simple step by step process when working with any injury, and shoulders in particular can be very difficult due to the amount of small tiny muscles involved. We always use what is called the Success Formula - assess mobility and flexibility first, followed by stability and movement skills before finally moving  to strength and power. Knowing the cause of your injury is important for not dealing with this will only lead to frustration and leave a weakness throughout the body. The exercises listed below are provided in order from more isolated around the shoulder, with focus on regaining "flexibility & mobility", before moving to more ‘stability’ and eventually integrated full body exercises. You will find the more integrated and functional exercises focus more on the legs initiating the movement. This is a common area of weakness often missed in rehab as people focus so much on the area in pain and forget that if the legs are weak the shoulder will have to pick up the slack. The functional movements are always the most difficult but are superior to all other exercises, if done correctly, as they relate to a real world task, sport or movement we need.