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When you think of the word “power,” what words pop into your head? Odds are that you thought of words like fast, strong, explosive, etc., and you’d be onto something. Or maybe you pictured things like a cheetah chasing its prey, or Usain Bolt running the 100 meter dash. Those are good examples of power...Read More

“Are crunches and sit-ups the best way to train the core?”   I’ve received that question a fair amount over the years, and the simple answer is… nope!  At BSP NOVA we rarely, if ever, program either of those exercises because there are more beneficial ways to train the “core”.  Sure, sit-ups and crunches use...Read More

“Life has it’s ups and downs. We call them squats.” -Anonymous   Last week I wrote about arguably the most important movement pattern to learn, the hip hinge. Another valuable movement pattern is the squat, and for similar reasons as to the hip hinge. We not only squat to accomplish some daily tasks (sitting down...Read More

What is a hip hinge? Why does everyone at BSP NOVA learn to hip hinge, and why is it useful? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? The answers to those questions and more will be provided in this blog (okay, not the Tootsie Pop one). The...Read More

Is living a life of no regrets what we should strive for? Or could not having regrets hinder us from truly living? Sure, the notion of living a life of no regrets sounds peachy keen when said aloud, but, that’s not an ideal worth aiming for. If we truly had no regrets, then did we...Read More

“My life is full of tragedies, most of which never happened.” – William “Pop” Sullenberger   The above quote is something my grandfather (we called him Pop) told me for years while I was growing up and it’s always stuck with me. As a young kid, I honestly didn’t understand the importance of those words....Read More

“The simple things that lead to success are all easy to do. But they’re also just as easy not to do.” – Jeff Olson   The above quote rings true in every area of life, especially when it comes to seeing through results through our efforts in the gym. Want to gain more knowledge about...Read More

You know what really sucks? Vacuum cleaners (and that joke). But seriously, what sucks is busting your butt in the gym only to see little to no progress. You come in consistently to lift and do conditioning, you work on bettering your nutrition, etc., yet the fruits of your labor aren’t ripe yet. At BSP...Read More

Twas the night before Christmas, except that it wasn’t, because it was actually December 1st and 8am in the morning. This time marked the beginning of BSP NOVA’s first Santa Around The World (SATW) competition and it was a blast. We started this competition with the hope to create a fun event for our members...Read More

I remember back in college I used to be obsessed with reading fitness magazines to find out what the latest miracle supplements were.  N.O. boosters, creatine, BCAA’s, protein blends—you name it, I gave it a go.  I got stronger, put on muscle, and got lean when I wanted to shred down.  In my mind those...Read More

The thing with working out and diet is that we just don’t see a difference in body composition in the day to day of it all.  Or, sometimes we think we do but we’re incredibly critical of ourselves—confidence one day, disappointment and shame the next.  And we all do it at some point, it’s our...Read More

Controlled Articular Rotations (CARs) became popularized through the Functional Range Conditioning (FRC) system and they are something we use in one way or another in most of our client’s programs. In general, we program hip and shoulder CARs most often, but we do occasionally program other variations, such as ankle, eye (huh?) and ear CARs...Read More

I’d also add that “hopefully” we all do it. If you’re not currently breathing then please seek medical help before continuing further. Now that the bad joke is out of the way, let’s all take a deep BREATH before we continue…   Breathing is something that all of us do every day. The number of...Read More

Alignment, or posture while weightlifting, is like a good milkshake… because it brings all the boys to the yard.  Wait—umm, that’s not what I meant—let’s try again.  Alignment is like good punctuation, because when and how we use punctuation is crucial.  For example, good punctuation can save lives:       The same thing goes...Read More

We’ve all been there before…  a massive goal is staring us in the face, and we can think of all the things that need to get done for it come to life.       Alright, I’ll just surf Instagram for a few minutes and then get to work. 30 minutes later… Man, I’m kind...Read More

“Ugh, look at all these people… Everyone seems to know what they’re doing—I’m completely out of place here.”     Our friend, let’s call her Becky, just walked into the hustle and bustle of a busy gym for the first time in a long time.  The last thing she wants is to be noticed, especially...Read More

The world lost an amazing woman in Diane Melick on Saturday April 28th, 2018.  She fought long and hard to beat all the odds with pancreatic cancer, and seriously kicked it’s butt for somewhere in the ballpark of 16 months longer than she was given to live.  But even Diane, one of the strongest humans...Read More

When it comes to nutrition, we have these feelings of always wanting to be perfect.   We want to know what foods we should should eat and what foods we shouldn’t.  We start putting labels and rules on our food, like “X food” is good, and “Y food” is terrible—and from my experience of watching...Read More

It’s safe to say that I am s-t-r-u-g-g-l-i-n-g this week. A text message before 6am that the computer at the gym broke, two member cancellation notices by 1:30pm, a call at 2:30pm that my daughter has a fever and what appears to be hand-foot-and-mouth, work piling up amidst 1,001 distractions that need immediate attention, and...Read More

How much of your day is routine?  You wake up and get going with yours, and at this point you don’t even have to think about it, right? You probably commute to work the same way every day, not even noticing the sights and sounds as you go. You constantly check your phone for emails,...Read More