By

Chris Merritt
Hey!  It’s been a crazy few days at Beyond Strength Performance NOVA…  So, this weeks post is a) late, b) concise, and c) a bit random.  Don’t mistake that for pointless though! Preventing Shoulder Aches and Pains Earlier this week I wrote a NOVEL of a blog post over on my gym’s site about the...
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There’s so much information out there on strength & conditioning, performance, nutrition, et cetera, making it incredibly easy to get overwhelmed and, as a result, do absolutely nothing with the (sometimes) valuable information we come across.  Me personally, I read.  A lot.  So much so that I typically have four to five books going at...
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Last week I escaped off to the Outer Banks- Nags Head, to be exact.  It’s been two years since I’ve gotten away for a full week (that didn’t involve coaching Dustin with the UFC).  I cannot even begin to tell you how awesome it was to just get away, lay on a beach, read, maybe...
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Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably seen the success stories we’ve posted of our fighters… but what makes a fighter go from good to great?  Well, that’s debatable- but from an athletic development standpoint, conditioning is definitely high up on that list. This past weekend, Beyond Strength Performance athlete, Dustin Pague, showed superior...
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Hey guys and gals, Chris here… it’s going to be a crazy few weeks for me.  I’ve got the “Modern Therapeutic Techniques” seminar this weekend with Todd and Dr. Rabinowitz at New York Chiropractic College.  A few days after that I fly out to Winnipeg to help Dustin Pague with his final weight cut for UFC...
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Hey guys,  I’m going to be honest- this post is going to be a little all over the place.  Why?  I got engaged this weekend!  So the majority of my weekend was spent in a celebratory bliss, going to the Nationals game (where I proposed), visitng wineries, and lounging with my now fiancé, Jess.  But I...
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A few weeks ago I had a high school junior message me through Facebook to ask if I would take some time to answer a few questions on going to college for exercise science.  OF COURSE I said yes…  And my answers were some things I wish that I had heard before starting college as...
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As many of you know, my gym is adjacent to a mixed martial arts school. So, you would think that there’s a constant flow of fighters strolling through the doors. And while there are some, it’s not nearly as many as you think…  You see, there’s a common term thrown around in the MMA game:...
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I’ve come a long way… Sometimes my clients think that I am superhuman.  I move well, I’m damn strong pound-for-pound, I’ll leap a building, I can stay lean rather easily, I’m- okay, okay, I digress… But in all seriousness, most of my clients can, should, and will eventually surpass me if I’m doing my job. ...
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When I was growing up I kind of got in trouble- a lot.  Not big trouble, but I definitely pushed the envelope quite often.  For instance, in the first grade I got in trouble in class for something I don’t even remember.  But, I do remember that the punishment was to take a letter from my...
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Coach Chris here…  Your body and my gym have a lot in common.  When I opened my gym in October of 2011, I had no idea what it was going to look like a year down the road.  I mean, yeah, I had ideas, visions, dreams- but I didn’t really KNOW.  On day one it...
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Coach Chris here!  There are two things that everyone should be doing when starting a program- screening (getting screened) and grading movements.  When people come to my facility we use the Functional Movement Screen and a static postural assessment before taking people through some simple progressions of the major compound exercises that we will [probably]...
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Hey guys, Chris here with a quick post on a drill I came up with for setting your air and getting your patterning down for the hip hinge.  This is quite possibly the most difficult movement for people to get down when first taking on an exercise regimen. This drill was influenced by Gray Cook...
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Hey guys, coach Chris here.  We’ve been ridiculously busy lately (always a good thing!)…  but I wanted to get some videos up here to entertain you as we head into the weekend.  Enjoy! . Todd is getting his strong on And Mike Ranfone is a programming god.: 500 x 3 505 x 2 from a...
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If you were to ask me the most common question that I receive on the regular,  “why am I doing this?” tops that list (right after, “how is your beard so freaking marvelous?”). Hey guys/gals, Chris here- listen, I’m no English major, and I’m pretty sure that the above sentence structure is a wreck… so...
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