What are your Hip Flexors?
Hip Flexors is a word you’ll hear tossed around quite a bit, especially by your trainer. Have you ever heard that you have tight hip flexors and that sitting all day is the culprit? Has your trainer ever talked to you about your immobile or tilted hips? If so, you’re probably familiar with the term […]
Exercise(s) of the Week: Rhomboids
Here’s part 2 of our series on a lesser-known muscle, your rhomboids! Earlier this week we discussed what they do and why they are important to train, and in this post we’ll show a few exercises you can do to make them stronger. The Face Pull My personal favorite exercise to get those rhomboids working […]
Empower Receives Acupuncture
Hello Empower Community~ My name is Shea D Broussard,M.A., L.Ac., and I am excited to be a new addition to the Empower Team! I am happy to be offering Alternative Healthcare Services to supplement your commitment to a healthy life. My services include Acupuncture, Chinese Herbal Therapy, and Medical Qi Gong. Acupuncture is a painless, […]
Meet Your Rhomboids
Some muscles take all the spotlight. You’re probably familiar with your pectorals, your abdominals, calves, quadriceps, hopefully even your hamstrings and glutes! Unfortunately, this leaves some very important muscles by the wayside. They may not be what you can easily see in the mirror, but they serve us well and deserve some of the attention […]
Tight Hamstrings & You!
Inflexible hamstrings can be a real pain in the gym. Movements like squats, lunges and any deadlift variation become much more difficult to execute with proper form. So what can we do about it? First instinct says that they need to be stretched liberally throughout the day, but is that really the solution? Have you […]
Partner Workouts
Looking to get your significant other or friend into exercise? Try doing some fun partner exercises to start out with! Having a training partner can definitely benefit your workout. 1) Being accountable to more than just yourself. Even if you already have a trainer, sometimes it can still be easy to say “I don’t feel […]
Exercise and the Heart
Did you know that February is Heart Health Month? In the spirit of the month and Valentine’s Day this Tuesday, our blog post this week will talk about how exercise affects our heart. Let’s start with a little review of what our heart actually looks like! How romantic! The heart functions to circulate the […]
Exercise of the Week: Split Squats
Single-leg exercises are an important part of anyone’s exercise program – especially field athletes, runners and those who want to work on their balance and stability. What makes single-leg work so important? 1) Increased Leg and Knee Stability Often times with a new trainee, before progressing to barbell movements such as the bench press, it […]
Eat with Friends!
Our blog post today will deal with how we eat more than what we eat. Keeping in theme with our chili cook-off this week, we’ll discuss how eating socially with friends and family can affect our eating habits. 1) Getting kids involved in cooking and teaching them about food It’s a little scary how many […]
Exercise of the Week: The Box Squat
This week we’ll take an in-depth look at a great precursor to a full barbell back squat, and a very difficult exercise in its own right, the box squat. The box squat is a compound, total body lift that works your hamstrings, glutes, hips, spinal erectors, and core hard. So why should you box squat? […]