Expert Insights on Performance & Recovery
The Bench Press: Feet Up or Feet Down
This past week, on a few occasions working with my patients I landed on the conversation of feet up or feet down when bench pressing. Now in the context of a physical therapy clinic, the generalization and potential history of back pain amongst our population skews to slightly higher, thus the consensus of these conversations was feet up to protect their backs.
I’m here to say, benching with your feet up certainly is an option and not necessarily incorrect, however, there are items to consider in the conversation.
The Soreness Myth in Weightlifting and Physical Therapy
Soreness is something we talk about a lot in the clinic. Primarily in the context of expectation setting to the session with a patient. But what is soreness and is it a necessary evil to get stronger and achieve your goals?
Return-to-Ski Testing: Are You Actually Ready to Go Back?
You feel better.
Your swelling is down.
You’re lifting again.
But are you actually ready to ski?
This question matters more than most people realize because “feels good” and “ready for the mountain” are two very different things.
The Big Announcement is Here!
We’re excited and thrilled to welcome Dr. Katie Sauer PT, DPT to the Tundra Performance and Physical Therapy team!
She's a sports physical therapist originally from the East Coast. Graduating from Syracuse University in 2020 with a BS in Health and Exercise Science. From there she went on to graduate school, receiving her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from the University of Rhode Island in 2024. She’s been a practicing sports physical therapist in Denver since then.
RPE, RIR, Percentages…. Huh?
If you don’t know what Burns Night is, neither did we. Anything that involves food and time together though, I’m pretty much in. Well how about RPE and RIR? Maybe some of you are familiar with these abbreviations, along with their relationship to percentages when discussing programming within lifting and physical therapy. Today we’re diving into the differences between the two and why I prefer RPE versus RIR and percentages.
What the Heck is a Zercher?
The zercher squat claims its origin from a weightlifter and strongman from the 1930’s and 1940s, Ed Zercher. In a time of no squat racks, the most efficient way to squat the barbell was to tilt the barbell on its side, get in position underneath, and lift the weight up onto your back while controlling the momentum of the barbell leveling out. Ed decided that was too inefficient of a process.
He pioneered the process of getting your elbows underneath the barbell while it sat on the ground, deadlifting into start position, and subsequently squatting the weight.
In today’s day and age of power racks, here’s 3 reasons why we still use this lift today?