#Mobility

Oct 21, 2019
1 min

Re – Learning to Squat Post Injury

Baltic Fitness and Physio is a great little gym that aims to bridge the gap between the treatment table and the gym. Many of their clients are in the “older” category. So as part of the workshop over the weekend, we looked at various ways to use the squat safely with those clients. How can we get them sitting back into their posterior chain? How can we have them move with confidence, safe that they won’t lose balance? The Landmine Squat ticks all those boxes. The bar itself

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Dave Hedges

Feb 17, 2019
2 min

Monday Mobility: Thoracic Extension

It’s been a long time since we had a Monday mobility post. So we have a nice one for you today. Thoracic extension is a bug bear for many. Without good T-spine movement we can say good bye to a good overhead position, we may experience tightness in the musculature on the front and upper sections of the shoulder, we may even have pain in the back. We may not. But with the modern lifestyle of sitting, as I am right now tapping this out on the computer, we are on the whole, in

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Dave Hedges

Dec 3, 2017
1 min

Monday Mobility: The Cossack Squat

It’s been a while since we had a Monday Mobility post. This is a commonly seen exercises, one that carries a great many benefits. But to get those benefits proper form must be followed. Which if you’re on the tight side, can very tricky to accomplish. This video shows the two most common methods we employ to get the most out of this drill If you get stuck at a particular level that you simply can’t seem to get past, you may need to investigate why. It could be old injuries,

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How Indian Clubs helped me become World Champion

Dave Hedges

Mar 8, 2017
4 min

How Indian Clubs helped me become World Champion

Guest Post Alert!!! I finally managed to coax Maria into putting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) and write a blog about her experience of using Indian Clubs. So, without further ado, over to Maria….. In April last year I attended my first Indian Clubs workshop in Limerick, with Mike Simpson and Cillin Cleere. I used some 2lb clubs that day and loved them straight away. After enjoying my introduction so much, I vowed to make clubs part of my training regime. So I drove

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Dave Hedges

Feb 13, 2017
2 min

I Haven’t Forgotten

With Wild Geese being situated so close the the Irish Financial Services Centre in Dublin many of my clients are away on regular trips to their international offices. Which means I’m often getting questions on what sort of training they can do if they get the opportunity. Of course, I recommend bodyweight exercise most of the time, as there’s never any guarantee that there will be any gym facilities at their location. In fact, back in my travelling days, this exactly how I tr

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Dave Hedges

Oct 26, 2016
2 min

“It’s all about Movement isn’t it!” he exclaimed

“It’s all about movement isn’t it!” exclaimed my client yesterday morning. I looked at him a little perplexed thinking maybe I’d missed something. He sees this and expands, “I’m probably the weakest I’ve ever been, but the power I’m putting through the pedals is the best I’ve ever done” You see, he rides mountain bikes like a mad man. Races them. He’s always trained, always been strong but never been “strong enough” to ride like he knew he could. He continues, “I used to war

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Dave Hedges

Sep 21, 2016
2 min

How Mobility Work Can Make You Stronger

“Dave, when can I start training properly?” Asked a new client as he came in and started warming up, “I mean, I definitely feel stronger, and I don’t get out of breath so easily, even though all I’m doing is a bit of stretching” As he said this to me, it was clear that he was missing the irony in his question. “When can i start training properly?” Followed by: “I’m stronger and fitter” I guess the problem was that when he looked around the room, everyone else was lifting kett

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Dave Hedges

Jul 21, 2016
2 min

This is NOT one size fits all

The other day I posted a video clip on instagram. It got a huge response. I was taken aback by the conversation that has ensued on the back of something so simple. So what was it? Well it was a simple demonstration of an exercise which we’d regressed to make it suitable to the man performing it. A demonstration of fitting an exercises to the person, not fitting the person to the exercise. Which is one of my central guiding rules of training people. Many instructors simply giv

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Ask Dave: Can Foam Rolling Build Mobility?

Dave Hedges

Jun 5, 2016
4 min

Ask Dave: Can Foam Rolling Build Mobility?

“Hi Dave, really like the Hip Mobility book. Have to say I completely agree with the simplistic way you describe mobility and the program looks awesome for increasing strength while increasing mobility. For people who need to greatly increase their mobility what would be your thoughts on self myofascial release before this type of workout and assisted passive and active stretching. As this will bring stretch muscle/ move joint into positions that the body will not allow it s

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Dave Hedges

May 5, 2016
2 min

A Perfect Warm Up

Warming up is a critical piece of any workout. Any performance. Yet there’s so much misinformation, so much dogma, so much nonsense surrounding the subject. Over the years I may even have been part of the problem in propagating some of the nonsense. Thankfully, these days I know better. So what is a warm up all about? – Raising the body temperature – Improving muscle function – Focussing the mind – Rehab and Prehab – Doing the things that are important. So a 5 minute jog foll

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Monday Mobility: How To Kick a Storm Trooper in the Head

Dave Hedges

May 3, 2016
2 min

Monday Mobility: How To Kick a Storm Trooper in the Head

So yesterday was a Bank Holiday Monday, so the gym was closed except for a few dedicated members who have their own keys to get in. I spent the day with my family. Which, as you can imagine, as a full time gym owner and coach, is time that is precious. On Sunday son no 1 made his 1st communion, which here is Ireland is pretty much mandatory if one wants to stand a chance of getting into the better schools. Part of the tradition is that the kids are given gifts of cash. So yes

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Dave Hedges

Apr 11, 2016
1 min

A Simple Hip Opening Sequence

Stretching is far from my favourite topic, but that doesn’t mean I don’t do it or teach it. Usually I like people to move with their stretches, I’m not a fan of pure static work. I find the body responds better to movement. The reasons for why the body responds better to movement seem to change every few years depending on whichever study is currently at the forefront, so I’ve stopped thinking too much about it. It works. It always has done. I reckon it always will do. This

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Dave Hedges

Apr 4, 2016
2 min

This is first time ever to be pain free doing this

I know I talk a lot about the competitive athletes that train with me, the fighters, the mountain bikers, the Kettlebell sports guys etc But if I’m fair, most of my guys are simply in to train for life. Which if we think about it, is the only competition really worth entering as it’s one that we ultimately all lose. But as the saying goes, it’s about the taking part, not about the winning. So when one of my older clients, a man named Shay who has had more struggles than most

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Is Specialising in Kettlebell Sport a Bad Thing?

Dave Hedges

Mar 2, 2016
3 min

Is Specialising in Kettlebell Sport a Bad Thing?

I was just asked a very interesting question. One of my members just won a silver medal in the Irish Nationals for Kettlebell sport. Three medal winning Kettleheads taking events oh so seriously Today we were discussing future training goals now that this event is over. She listed out a few things, including further participation in Kettlebell Sport, but then went on to try to justify her unwillingless to specialise in the sport, as that may not be a healthy way to progress.

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Dave Hedges

Jan 11, 2016
3 min

Movement: The New Sexy Term in Fitness

Movement is a word that’s gaining a huge amount of momentum. get it? Momentum…..movement……? No? Ok, less puns, more blogging….. Yesterday I had a lad in for an Assessment. He told me that his goal was to move better. And that he knows that martial arts people know how to move. Here’s a young Jet Li putting us all to shame: Yesterdays client’s own training, while having gotten him very strong, has also left him immobile, muscle bound. Which is all too common. And this is somet

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Dave Hedges

Nov 25, 2015
2 min

Non Sexy Practice For Super Sexy Results

So I opened up the laptop to write a blog post about shoulder issues in BJJ. That didn’t happen. I started writing and got distracted when I got a message notification from a power lifter I’m working with down in Tipperary (which for my international readers, really isn’t that far away!) He’s asking me questions about the kettlebell snatch. And I’m asking him questions about his return from injury. You see he got in touch around a month ago when he was in ribbons. He couldn’t

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Dave Hedges

Nov 18, 2015
5 min

On Core Stability and Neutral Spine

Over the weekend I was presenting the Upper Body Strength and Mobility Workshop during which I was asked a LOT of questions. We could do a whole “Ask Dave” series of posts just on the what was asked over that day. But one big one, and I mean for a couple for people in the audience, a paradigm shifting, bedrock shaking, belief challenging question or questions came about when I mentioned two things. What are these two things? I don’t like the phrase “Core Stability” and think

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An Ancient Training Tool for a Very Modern Problem

Dave Hedges

Nov 8, 2015
3 min

An Ancient Training Tool for a Very Modern Problem

If you’ve been following my information for any length of time you’ll be familiar with a tool known as an Indian club. You may also have seen me swinging sledgehammers around in circles. Videos like this one: Inward circle and air guitar with the big hammer #indianclubs #clubbells #sledgehammer #shouldermobility #funnotfitness #irishfitfam #wgfamily A video posted by Dave Hedges (@dave_hedges) on Oct 23, 2015 at 7:04am PDT Well all that’s just been taken to a whole new level

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Dave Hedges

Nov 4, 2015
3 min

Strong, but Weak At The Same Time..

Over the last few weeks I’ve been dropping a lot of heavy hints about the upcoming Upper Body Mobility & Strength Workshop this month. But I’ve a story from the gym yesterday to tell you that may just convince you to book a spot for yourselves, or not. You may just like the story. It’s about the Strength part of the title. You see, mobility isn’t a simple thing. Doing a movement is one thing. Doing it right is something else entirely. And moving well requires not only the req

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Breathing for Better All Round Health, an Experiment

Dave Hedges

Oct 23, 2015
2 min

Breathing for Better All Round Health, an Experiment

I’ve little something I’d like you to try for me. You should know by know that I’m a huge fan of breathing. I feel it’s one of the most important, yet most underrated functions of the human animal, so much so that when I assess people I nearly always watch how the breathe regardless of training goals or the injury they walk in with. So when a friend of mine shared the following tweet on his Facebook page, I was instantly interested. It’s from Dr Nerina Ramlakhan, who prior to

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