I’ve had this question since I first started lifting. If I’m still a bit sore but want to work out, what should I do? In physical therapy school, I learned about something called the soreness rules , which help guide this decision. The soreness rules were originally developed to guide exercise progression during late-stage ACL reconstruction rehabilitation . 1 Your level of soreness helps determine whether you should progress, maintain, or back off your training . If you a

Strength training is one of the most effective ways to build muscle, improve health, and become more resilient to injury. However, many people struggle to see progress in the gym. Here are four mistakes I commonly see and how to fix them. 1. Too Many Exercises Very often I hear people say they are doing every single leg exercise on leg day, or five different chest presses on chest day. More exercises does not necessarily mean better results. Focusing on just 1–2 exercises

Resistance training is about more than just muscles. One of the most powerful, and often overlooked, benefit is in metabolic health. When you eat carbs, they get broken down into sugar (added sugars skip this step), and then stored in the muscles for later use. Once your muscles are full, the rest gets stored as fat. When you train, your muscles use this fuel up and make more room for your next meal. Bigger muscles as a result of training means you can store more in those big

A proper warm up is essential for optimal performance and injury prevention. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. A good warm-up should be specific to the activity or sport you’re about to perform. The RAMP protocol provides a practical framework for warm-up structure. Raise: The goal here is simple: increase body temperature, heart rate, and blood flow. When muscle temperature rises: Nerve conduction velocity increases Muscle elasticity improves Rate of force develo

A meta-analysis found that new lifters perform best training each muscle 3 days per week, whereas experienced lifters tend to do best training each muscle group twice per week. Additionally, they found 60% of 1 RM yields best results for new lifters, and 80% 1RM for experienced lifters. 2 Essentially, new lifters benefit most from moderate weights at higher frequencies, while experienced lifters benefit from more intense weights less frequently. We also know that performin