The Muscle Manager

When comes to visit.

Very best of luck to all our clients, friends & team mates taking part in Regionals today.

Congrats to our client & all round awesome human





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South of Ireland 🎾

Well done to clients

and , and awesome result for their coach



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PROUD POST

Delighted to announce the updated 100% Raw World Powerlifting Rankings have been put up and we have 5 lifters included.
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First up massive congrats to the unstoppable lifting machine that is .burke.104. World Number 1 Open deadlift & masters deadlift, number 1 masters squat, number 3 open squat, number 5 masters bench & number 10 open bench. •
Congrats to World Number 1 open deadlift & number 4 open bench.
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A huge congratulations to joint World number 6 in open deadlift in her comeback competition.
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Congrats to the little engine that's too stubborn to quit World open Number 4 Squat, Number 9 bench & joint 6th (with Órla) Deadlift.
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Last, but most definitely not least very proud of World masters Number 3 Bench Press & Number 3 deadlift.
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Client & all round tremendous guy .mur97

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Top single of 160kg followed by back off sets of 150kg. Both moved exactly how I wanted them to, as you can tell at the end of the second clip I was quite pleased 😂 both at an rpe of 7. Also thanks to for being pure sound and helping my back be less s**t, especially with the comp in two weeks!

☡Long wordy progress post☡
Pictures are a collage of a standard part of my Tues & Thurs morning Snapchats called "Where's Rob?"
My clients often ask what are the best exercises to do for fitness and I usually start off by telling them a squat, bench & deadlift strength based approach to training has helped me with my goals and then advise them to talk to one of the coaches at CityGym Limerick. Coaching/Training is their field of scope & often fitness goals will vary from client to client. For me the last few years (and in particular the last few months) have been about becoming a functioning human being.
Getting back to a routine was the first challenge - thankfully Rob Moloney was there to help with this, every Tuesday & Thursday mornings for PT and then providing a programme for a Sunday session. The next hurdle was trying to ingrain a good technique across the squat, bench & deadlift. And now we are on the road to further progress. A few months back we did our first max test, and this week we did a surprise second max test - (by that I mean Rob didnt tell me it was happening this week).
Happy to report squat is up 7.5kg, bench is up 7.5kg and deadlift is up 10kg.
What does this translate to for me? I feel stronger, I have had no negative impacts from previous injuries, I can see the progress I have made towards training both physically & mentally. Don't get me wrong, there was crap days training & some days where I didn't or couldn't train, but seeing the increases in those 3 lifts this week has got me looking forward to the next training block. It's almost as if there is something to this consistent training thing 😂

Serratus Anterior

Serratus anterior originates in the upper 8th/9th rib on the outter surface and inserts into the scapula.

In lifting based sports, or those who incorporate a high level of lifting in their gym programmes, we find that often times this muscle is restricted, as some athletes have no use for strengthening overhead movements.

A weakness in this muscle group can lead to
1. Winging of the scapulae.
2. Shoulder impingement.
3. Weak overhead mobility.

By strengthening the serratus anterior with exercises that require protraction of the shoulder blade will help in the reduction of the above symptoms.

Got the chance to chat with at the opening a few weeks ago. What a sound guy. Great to have the chat.
Have to credit for getting my good side.

Well done to client & all round sound guy

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Unbelievable day today, ended up winning the 93kg division totalling 642.5kg, the first time in a long time that I've been satisfied with my performance on the platform all thanks to for the top class coaching and attempt selection and also a big thanks/ congrats to for putting on an amazing competition and also putting on an amazing performance yesterday along with my other child ... super proud of both you guys ❤️ special mention to my alcohol intake monitor for keeping me from partying too hard and affecting my lifts 😂here are my best three lifts from my 9/9 performance 232.5kg squat/ 142.5kg bench /267.5kg deadlift... peace ✌️





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Tight Hamstrings

Ask Coach Rob, and he will tell you that hamstrings are the bane of my existence. The start of every training session involves getting these muscles, and the supporting muscles read for the session.

The hamstring & glutes are all part of the posterior chain. Many athletes across all sports complain of tight hamstrings, and for all the stretching they do, they seem to go back to square one. With gym goers, we notice that those who low bar squat and those who conventional deadlift seem to experience this tightness because of the high hamstring engagement associated with these exercises.

Observations of tight hamstrings:
1. Posterior pelvic tilt during squat & deadlift
2. Chronic lower back pain from a flat back.
3. Limited range of motion - hard to touch toes
4. Forward lean in the squat.

Why are the glutes involved?
The glutes are responsible for extending the hips back. Due to the nature the of people's jobs and lifestyles, the glutes will become weak and lengthened. The main reason for this is due to prolonged periods of the time spent sitting down. In order to correct this weakness, the hamstrings will take over to job of the glutes resulting in under active glutes and overactive hamstrings.

To correct this we must strengthen the glutes. This can be challenging as we must accomplish this while the hamstrings are still overactive & constantly firing.

Hip impingement is not always the fault of just the hip flexors. If an athlete stretch the hip flexors and this provides a temporary relief only, then we need to consider other possible causes.

ANKLES
Anyone who has received a postural assessment from the team at The Muscle Manager know we pay particular attention as to what is going on at the feet.
Ankles, particularly ankle mobility, can massively impact an athlete’s squat & bench. There is, however, an important difference between fallen aches & flat feet when it comes to ankle mobility.

An athlete can be naturally flat footed and still have goo ankle mobility. This is something we have observed working with Powerlifters, Bodybuilders & Crossfitters.

If the arch falls, the tibia and fibula fall inwards resulting in the Q-angle becoming skewed. Misalignment of this can result in pain in the inside of the know, hip, groin and lower back.

Considering the arches have fallen or falling, the corresponding muscle groups will act differently, and this can have a knock on effect on other areas of the body. Limited ankle mobility will cause the body to compensate elsewhere.
For hip impingement, the muscles that are impacted in the above scenario are…..the hip flexors. The hip flexors could be working overtime due to a lack of mobility at the ankle.
The Tibialis Posterior is a muscle that has it’s origins on the back of the calf and insert on the inside of the foot. This muscle is mainly responsible for creating and supporting the arch. People who are flat footed or have fallen or falling arches can attributed the cause of this to the tibialis posterior. Over time this muscle becomes weak and inhibited.
Introducing tibialis posterior corrective exercises into your training programme will not only improve the arches & therefore mobility, but will also help with the absorption of shock during each step during daily activities.

Hip Impingement (Part 1)

This is one of the more common issues we come across with athletes who incorporate a high degree of heavy weights & lifting into their training e.g. Powerlifting, Bodybuilding, Crossfit etc.

There are numerous reasons why hips are a source of problems for these athletes but as with any injury we must first rule out any previous injury or other medical reason why this pain is occurring.

The next thing we must consider are the problem areas that could impact the hip.
These include:
• Hip Flexors
• Feet
• Shoulders. ☆Hip Flexors☆
After ruling out any preexisting medical reasons for the injury, we then look at the day to day activities/lifestyle of our athlete. A lot of athletes have day jobs and - From our client list- most of these are in fact desk based jobs or the athletes are students who have to sit for hours in class/lectures.

When we sit for period of time, a shortening of the hip flexor muscle occurs. This would be considered a static shortening of the hip flexor. Given that muscles conform to habit it's easy to see how 6-8 hours of sitting would cause these muscle to stay in a shortened position.

Let's consider the art of performing a good squat. When performing a squat, in order for it to be considered a good lift, the hip crease must be below the top of the knee (thanks .hayes for confirming this for me - and if you're wrong there maybe an angry mob looking for you. So, no pressure). A squat would be considered a dynamic shortening of the hip flexors. So if our athlete is performing this exercise with heavy weights it's easy to see how this repetitive shortening could be a root cause of shortened hip flexors.

So couple the dynamic shortening with the static shortening of hip flexors and it starts to pain a picture of how hip flexors could be a root cause of some hip impingement problems.

Conor Walsh on call-out couch cam this morning ahead of his Rose of Tralee International Festival duties this week.

In nearly 3 years here, this is the first time I can ever remember being this quiet on a Saturday. The very best of luck to all our clients & our friends taking part in the Nationals this weekend in Belfast. In the words of "Up CityGym"

on couch cam this evening. Great to have Barry back down in our treatment room in . Making plans for 2018 already.

The best of luck to our client as she competes in the European Championships tomorrow.

Last treatment session with ahead of the European Championships. It's been fantastic working with this dedicated athlete as she came back from injury to be competition ready.

Very best of luck to lifting today in the World Powerlifting Championships.

on couch cam today giving out about the songs on the radio these days.

.connolly.108 on couch cam this evening

Busy man taking calls during his treatment session.