Everyone does core training right?  Whether your training clients or rehabbing patients, most of us understand the importance of core training.  Now I won't get into whats all included in the core because that can be debatable at times.  But what I will do is point you in the right direction.  

How many of you incorporate proper breathing into your core training?  Probably not many of you.  I'll admit it, I've been skeptical of breathing training for quite some time.  But within the last 4-5 months I've really started to study and implement it with some patients.  I was fortunate to speak with some highly regarded PT's and strength coaches in high positions who opened my mind up.  

So what is "proper" breathing and when should you use it?  Well, like I said above, I am no expert on this matter yet but Craig Liebenson, DC, has put a few articles out there that have been good.  Check out this one for starting out.  Also, below is a good video by Bill Hartman, PT on apical breathing.  

- Brian 

I recently came across this article written by Rob Panariello.  For those of you unfamiliar with Rob, he is one of the most respected strength coaches/PT's out there.  He has presented numerous times and has had his hand in both the strength and conditioning world and physical therapy community for quite some time.  

This article presented a simple way to test overall glute activity and I found it quite curious.  At face value it seems to be very simple but as Rob explains so well, it really is a good test.  I encourage you to read the comments section under the article as Rob answers some of the readers questions.  

What I liked about this article was Rob's explanation to how hip height in sprinting and glute function is correlated.  Furthermore, he explains the active insufficiency principle to further his reasoning for this test.  I think that many times we forget that the hamstrings are a hip extensor and athletes often overwork their hamstrings in replacement for weak glutes.  As a result we see many hamstring injuries, imbalances, and poor movement patterns in some sets of athletes.  The body will typically travel the path of least resistance and when evaluating the root cause of injuries, we must examine where the primary breakdown has occurred.