Dreaming of getting your first pull-up and wondering how to get there? 

While your first pull-up might seem like a far away goal, knowing the exercises to do to get there can help. Here are 5 helpful ways to start building towards that first pull-up: 

The truth is: your core probably isn’t that weak. Can you sit down and stand up? Can you get up off the floor? Yes and yes? Those core exercises you're doing in supine are probably not doing all that much for your strength.

Do you have an “all or nothing” mentality when it comes to your fitness? Do you struggle to take any days off when you are in the zone with your workouts?

There are many issues with this mentality, one of the worst being the lack of rest days. Wondering why you should take rest days? Here are five important reasons!

When you are getting back to running or jumping after having a baby, there is a tendency to just jump right back in and not think about these movements like we would think about other movements such as weightlifting.

I was very young when I realized my legs were bigger than most of the girls at school.

I looked in the mirror and noticed that there was no space in between my thighs like the models in the magazines, and my legs rubbed together. I hated seeing models with skinny, toned legs who could wear shorts that I couldn’t fit into, or looked completely different than I did in a pair of jeans.

Then I started to lift weights. Suddenly the game changed.

All too often this is the cycle of traditional care with high performing/ active humans:

Patient comes in for knee pain. PT sees patient (under insurance) for knee pain and, usually, gets them out of knee pain. Patient returns to doing the same bs (mind my language) things they were doing before - fitness programming and lifestyle factors - that caused their knee pain in the first place, and boom, it returns. It’s cyclical and ineffective in the long term.

During my professional career, I encountered the first serious injury that truly challenged me: a debilitating neck injury. Spending countless hours with my nose buried in engineering textbooks, coupled with my quest to become the fittest person on earth, meant that I often found myself hunched over with the weight of the world on my shoulders—literally and figuratively. This took an incredible toll on my neck.

The simplicity of objectively getting stronger is anything but simple in the way in which it relates to life, especially life as a teenage girl. For one hour after school these girls get to turn off their phones, forget about the perception of the world, and focus on what their bodies can do, rather than what they look like on a grid on social media or walking down the runway, I mean hallway, of their middle school.

As more female athletes are emerging (hallelujah), scientists and doctors have began increased studies on women’s menstrual cycles and how this affects training abilities through different capacities (endurance training, strength training, and more). The findings are really interesting!

You’ve had a terrible day at work. You get home, you change into your workout clothes, pop your headphones in, and although you’re dreading every second, you make your way to the gym. 

You do this because you know that by the end of your session, you’ll feel happier, calmer, and more relieved than you’ve felt your entire day. 

The simple truth is: there is power in movement.