Best Exercise To Prevent Injuries

Best Exercise To Prevent Injuries

Hey, it’s Rick Kaselj coming to you from Nashville. I have another fitness mastermind meeting, and this one is in Tennessee. One of the attendees is Eric Allen. If you read yesterday’s email, you will know who he is. Before Eric went to Nashville, he filmed a video for everyone at EFI on the best exercise to prevent injuries. You can check out the video and the exercise below.

Take care, and have a great day!

~ Rick Kaselj, MS


What’s you,p everybody? Eric Allen here of ERA Fitness Systems and Underwear Model Abs. I am linking up with my friend Rick Kaselj today to talk about exercises for injuries or injury prevention. I often get asked what the magic bullet for fat loss is when you are in your 30s or 40s is the best type of workout to prevent injuries.

CLICK HERE to watch the YouTube video.

People want to be active, want to play with their kids, and want to continue competing in sports that they love, but there is no magic bullet for fat loss or injury prevention. I want to give you guys one exercise to continually practice that will build your balance, increase mobility and allow you to decrease the chance of injury in the future. The exercise is called the Overhead Squat.

Overhead Squat

This is an exercise that 90% of the population is incapable of doing. Most people don’t have a range of motion or balance. I will show you the exercise and give you some stretches to help you get into this movement. I’ll also explain the benefits of these stretches.

So if you’ve never seen an Overhead Squat before, what you will do is grab a barbell or whatever you think you can handle. It must be wide enough so that when you lift your leg, the bar will not move. If you are holding it and lifting it with your leg or arm, the bar will not move. From there, place yourself in a squat position, with your legs shoulder distance apart and feet pointed out 20 to 30 degrees. Put the barbell above your head, point your triceps forward, tap your shoulders down back and descend to the ground, knees in line with toes, weight sitting back on the heel, barbell directly over your shoulders, breathe out and come up.

Overhead Squat_Best Exercise To Prevent Injuries

Overhead Squat

This is a very difficult movement to do because of the mobility required. One, you need good ankle mobility. Two, you need really good knee mobility. Three, you need very good hip mobility. Four, you need very good mobility in your shoulders. The external and clavicular pecs need to open up to where the bar can sit.

Below are four stretches to practice to increase your mobility and range of motion to do this lift eventually.

1. Ankle Mobility

To increase ankle mobility, step back and stretch. Breathe in and out, and then move your knee forward. Do this for about 20 to 30 seconds for each calf.

Ankle Mobility_Best Exercise To Prevent Injuries

Ankle Mobility

2. Forward Hip Flexor

Find a wall or post. Place one foot in front and one leg back, stretching your hip flexor. Again, hold for about 20 to 30 seconds with 5 to 6 stretches. On each exhale, you want to follow them deeper into the stretch.

Knees Mobility

Knees Mobility

3. Open the hips a little bit

Sit down on the ground with both legs at a 90-degree angle. Place one hand on the outside of your leg, and bring your other hand next to your foot. Push on that back arm and lean forward over the calf in front of you. Breathe in and breathe out, falling over the calf. Again, hold for 20 to 30 seconds on each side.

Hips Mobility

Hip Mobility

4. Opening up your subclavius, external clavicular pec

You have probably seen this stretch before. One foot is in front of the other. Breathe in and breathe out, falling a little more into this stretch.

Shoulder Mobility

Shoulder Mobility

Doing this exercise might take a month to a year, but I want to share a couple of benefits.

  1. It might engage your glutes more than any other exercise because you are dropping below 90 degrees, and that’s when your glutes are most active.
  2. It will build structural balance on the knee because as you descend below 90 degrees, your VMO (the medial part of your quad) is most active in that range of motion.
  3. You will build structural balance in your back and shoulder as you engage your traps to the top in this range of motion.

Once you get that, you build structural balance and weight incomparable to any other exercise. You will likely be injury-free, hopefully for the rest of your life. I hope this helps, and I will see you in the next video.

Rick Kaselj, MS

If you are looking for a solution to get a flatter stomach and toned abs without the risk of injury, then click here to check out the Invincible Core program.

Invincible Core