Composite Rehab & Chiropractic

06/18/2026

Active people need active solutions 🙌🏻

You’ve heard the cue “shoulders down and back” and now that is all you do… the problem with this is that your shoulder has a high degree of freedom and range of motion that you are only confiding it to a small amount of. Think about how uncomfortable it would be if you clenched your first all day long. It would probably feel uncomfortable and tight over time.

The same is with your shoulder. So while “shoulders down and back” is a great cue in certain scenarios, it should not be the gym rule of thumb for ALL exercises and movements. Context matters. Your shoulder is meant to move, not be locked down constantly.

The landmine shoulder press can be a great way to add some movement variability to start to make the shoulder feel a little less tight and uncomfortable over time!

06/04/2026

You have stretched nonstop to fix your tight hip flexor or shoulder but it has not helped move the needle for long term progress....because the muscle isn't actually "tight" or "shortened" in the sense that we think it is.

Rather than the muscle being physiologically "shortened", muscle tightness is a sensation that can be seen as a protective response from our nervous system to stabilize areas that need strengthening or exposure to a wider range of movement options.

An additional caveat (for active population) would be that if you find yourself always in the same positions (such as anterior pelvic tilt) this could lead to discomfort. Our movement strategies should broaden and should be strategically placed so that we are moving outside of the usual.

So while the stretching might help make it feel better in the short-term, it's time to build beyond this approach!

05/14/2026

TWO of my absolutely new favorite exercises that I have been incorporating with the landmine setup! They both have their use case scenarios - but what they both have in common is strategic set up to help bias and improve internal rotation of the hip.

If you want to move well - then all the more reason to find a clinician who practices what they preach & is constantly experimenting with movement!

04/30/2026

Time is often a major consideration for individuals looking to consider changing health related behaviors and take that step towards exercise. Some people may not even like exercise (although I would argue they may have just not found the right mode of exercise for them yet).

So what truly is the BARE MINIMUM that individuals have to commit to in order to still reap the benefits?

For strength
~1–2 hard sets per movement per week can see improvements for untrained
Currently recommended in trained individuals that performing above for 2-3x/wk
Heavy loads or near failure is key

For building muscle
~4–6 hard sets per muscle per week can produce growth
More volume = more growth, but not proportionally (diminishing returns)

04/09/2026

New exercise antics!

Seems like exercises biasing working hip IR are the craze nowadays. Some of them seemingly appearing as though they would not provide a sufficient stimulus, with a select few checking off many boxes. Here’s my best attempt at playing around with finding the latter. Feels as though it is one I could genuinely load up quite heavy over time as well after attempting!

My quick current reasoning / thought process : picking an exercise where the femur is relatively fixed for the most part (in terms of IR / ER) and through the exercise approximating the pelvis & rib cage through rotation towards the same side to promote relative IR of the front hip. The reach (made possible with the variation) towards the front leg to help “shift” into front hip. A good bottom position to really work on “pressing off” on big toe, for who it’s worth.

Bro talk after attempting? Seemed to feel it quite nicely in adductors in relation to other variations of a lunge. Worth throwing in and having some fun.

04/06/2026

From cutting out a ton of movements to getting back to all of the exercises he loves! Lucas found himself gravitating to only doing a bunch of exercise machines due to persistent off and on back pain. While working with me, he has gradually gotten back to doing variations of squats, lunges, running, jumping, and finally deadlifting! He had essentially cut out deadlifting for about 2 years, but now he is feeling capable & confident! 💪🏻

The goal is that you receive a UNIQUE chiropractic experience that doesn’t just cover hands-on treatment. I go out on the gym floor and cover new exercises and rehab. I let individuals perform exercises they may feel uncomfortable with and give them feedback on how to optimize their movement. While I may provide a niche experience for gym-goers and athletes, we ALL have bodies that move & have different demands to prepare for!

03/27/2026

A pretty great infographic here! Social media and influencers can glorify & show off unrealistic expectations of “working hard” via always seemingly going to failure (that’s what is video’d typically). That being said, building muscle and strength can be done in a way that is strategic in helping keep down the risk of overtraining as well as the risk of injury. Not every set is meant to go to failure!

To Fail or not to Fail(ure) for Muscle Growth: Necessary or Not?

A lot of lifters still act as if a set only “counts” if it ends in complete collapse. The newer evidence does not support that.

Grgic et al. systematically reviewed and meta-analysed studies comparing resistance training performed to repetition failure versus non-failure and found that muscle hypertrophy was not meaningfully different between approaches when training was otherwise reasonably hard and well-designed. In plain English, you do not have to hit failure to grow muscle. PMCID: PMC9068575.

Singer et al. looked primarily at rest intervals and hypertrophy, but an important sub-analysis asked whether the set endpoint mattered, that is, training to failure versus stopping short. Their conclusion was that failure versus non-failure did not meaningfully change the relationship between rest intervals and muscle growth. Again, failure was not shown to be a magic ingredient. PMCID: PMC11349676.

That lines up nicely with the newer ACSM Position Stand (link in bio), which concluded that training to momentary muscular fatigue or failure did not consistently improve hypertrophy outcomes across the evidence base.

So my take-home is simple:

FOR MUSCLE GROWTH, FAILURE IS A TOOL, NOT A REQUIREMENT

You can grow very well by training hard, getting close enough to make the set count, accumulating enough volume, and recovering well.

Not every set needs to become a hostage situation.

Train hard. Leave a rep or two when needed. Come back and do it again.

Citations:
Grgic et al. PMCID: PMC9068575
Singer et al. PMCID: PMC11349676