NSCA Washington State Fall Clinic Review

NSCA Washington State Fall Clinic Review

I was at the NSCA Washington State Fall Clinic.

It was a great event. Let me share a few of the highlights.

Dave Suprak of Western Washington University was there chatting about shoulders. I picked up a few great tips from Dave. He had some great information on what happens to the scapula and scapular stabilizers when your client has poor posture. He gave me some great resources that will help me improve the scapular stabilization exercise program and effective rotator cuff exercise program.

One presenter that I wanted to see was Guido Van Ryssegem. Guido was presenting at the same time as I was, but I got a copy of his presentation. Wow, it was packed with high-level shoulder exercise information! When I get home, I will have to digest it more.

During our learning lunch, Susan M. Kleiner had an evidence-based talk on proteins and amino acid supplementation. Some great information!

I finally got to meet Tim Vagen and see his presentation on Functional Fitness After Fifty. It was wild to see the exercises he gets his active seniors doing. The big things I got from his presentation were adding power and rotation exercises and teaching your clients active hips. Leave a comment below if you would like me to do a video on active hips; it is a great fall prevention strategy that Tim uses.

I also did a great interview with Tim Vagen on Shoulder Injury Exercise a few weeks back on the blog.

It has been some time since I have been doing triathlons, but I am getting the itch to get back into it. I watched Carmen Bott’s presentation on Planning Off-Season Strength Training for the Triathlete. I got three tips from the production that will help you with your endurance athletes.

3 Tips from Carmen Bott when Strength Training Triathletes

  1. Working on the posterior chain of an endurance athlete is a must. For example, deadlift exercises are a great exercise to give, while a squat is not.
  2. With the squat, there is a lot more quadriceps activity that can lead to greater leg mass, which is not the goal of an endurance athlete, while a deadlift focuses more on the gluteus maximus and hamstrings.
  3. Another tip I learned from Carmen was to get your clients to use their non-dominant arms first when performing unilateral exercises. Your client uses their dominant arm to do everything during the day, so getting them to use their non-dominant arm first will give them a break and build strength in their non-dominant arm.

deadlift exercise

Deadlift and Back Pain

Something that came up at all of the presentations was the deadlift. Many presenters love the deadlift and ensure it is a part of their client’s exercise program. I have shied away from the deadlift of late, but it may be time to re-visit the deadlift. I had chatted about the deadlift in a previous video. If your client has back pain with a deadlift, CLICK HERE to watch the video.

A big thanks to Kathryn Russell of, the NSCA Washington State representative.

A huge thank you to Pro Sports Club in Bellevue, Washington. What a venue!

Rick Kaselj, MS

Scapular Stabilization Exercises