In today’s world of social media and AI, it’s becoming harder than ever to separate signal from noise when it comes to exercise. Scroll Instagram or TikTok for five minutes and you’ll find countless videos promising that one specific exercise will completely eliminate neck pain, low back pain, shoulder pain—you name it. So what actually works? Before we can answer that, we need to step back and ask a more important question: Why are we doing certain exercises in the first place, and what outcome are we actually trying to achieve? Most of the people I work with are coming from a rehab setting. They’re in pain and looking for a solution. That solution can look very different depending on the person and the situation. Treating someone who can barely walk due to acute low back pain requires a very different plan than working with an athlete who only experiences back pain after long practices or games. This is where the conversation shifts to the difference between rehab and strength training. These are often treated as completely separate worlds, but in reality they’re much closer than most people think. I prefer to think of them as points along a spectrum. On one end, you have basic rehab. On the other, you have full-blown strength training. The key is progression—using the right exercises at the right time to gradually increase capacity. The goal is to build someone’s tolerance to load. As that tolerance improves, certain exercises eventually stop being challenging enough to create further adaptation. At that point, they’re no longer effective—and it’s time to progress to something more demanding. This is exactly why watching a random exercise on social media can be misleading. Those videos don’t account for your starting point. The most important questions to ask are: What is the objective of this exercise? And when does it stop doing its job? A common example is shoulder pain, often labeled as a rotator cuff issue—whether that’s a tear, tendinopathy, or tendinosis. Many people are sent home with a red resistance band and told to keep their elbow pinned to their side while rotating the arm outward for three sets of ten. On the surface, this isn’t a bad exercise. But what does this plan usually lack?

Back pain. Shoulder pain. Neck pain. Rib pain. What do all of these have in common from a rehab standpoint? They almost always start with the same exercise: diaphragmatic breathing (belly breathing). At first glance that sounds odd. Why would we focus on breathing when the pain is so far away from the lungs? Because your breathing pattern alters everything you do. Whether you’re a college athlete or someone who sits at a desk all day, you breathe thousands of times per day. If that breathing pattern is dysfunctional, then every other movement you make is built on compensation. What is the diaphragm, really? The diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle that sits underneath the lungs. It separates the chest cavity (heart and lungs) from the abdominal cavity (digestive organs and more). It’s unique because it has two critical roles. First, respiration. When the diaphragm contracts, it descends and flattens, expanding the lungs and drawing air in. Second, core stability. The diaphragm forms the top of what we call the core cylinder: - Diaphragm on top - Pelvic floor on the bottom - Core musculature (obliques, rectus abdominis, multifidus) wrapping around As the diaphragm descends, it pushes abdominal contents downward. The pelvic floor resists that pressure (a topic that deserves its own post). This interaction creates intra-abdominal pressure (IAP). IAP acts like an internal weightlifting belt, stiffening and stabilizing the spine against shear and bending forces. This is the foundation of proper core engagement. So, what happens when we don’t use it properly? When the diaphragm doesn’t do its job, people become chest-dominant breathers. Instead of expanding through the abdomen and ribs, the body recruits muscles around the neck and shoulders to pull air in from above. These muscles were never designed to be primary breathing muscles. Over time they fatigue, posture deteriorates, the head drifts forward, the shoulders round, and those same muscles can no longer properly support the neck and shoulders.

I’ve noticed that a lot of fitness coaches and trainers put in countless hours trying to grow their brand, post on social media, and run back-to-back sessions with clients — but at the end of the day, they still feel stuck when it comes to creating consistent income or reaching a wider audience. The truth is, there’s only so much time in a day, and if everything depends on you being present 24/7, burnout eventually kicks in. What’s interesting is that some coaches have started looking at things differently. Instead of only chasing likes and followers, they’ve begun building assets that actually work for them in the background. For example, a channel that keeps attracting people to their content every single day, or a system that allows clients to purchase programs or products without needing the coach to be online. It’s a completely different way of thinking — one that focuses on growth that scales beyond your personal time and energy. It made me curious to hear from others in this community: if you had to choose only one, would you rather spend your energy on building a bigger online audience (through platforms like YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok) or setting up systems that can sell your programs and products automatically (like online shops or funnels)? And why?

Most people train their core like it’s only about moving the spine — endless crunches, sit-ups, or twists. But for athletes (and anyone who wants to move pain-free), the core’s real job is stability — controlling the spine and pelvis under load so your arms and legs can do their job. An example of core straining that is looking at resisting movement from all different directions would look like this: 1️⃣ Anti-extension → McGill Curl-Up → Plank → Ab Wheel 2️⃣ Anti-lateral flexion → Side Plank → Copenhagen Plank → Unilateral Farmer Carry 3️⃣ Anti-rotation → Bird Dog → Bear Crawl → Single-Leg RDL This way, you train your core to handle forces in all directions — exactly what happens in sport and life. Now why is training you core important? The core isn’t just your abs—it’s the entire system of muscles that stabilize your spine, pelvis, and rib cage. Its primary job is to transfer force efficiently between the upper and lower body while protecting the spine from excessive movement or load. Research shows that better core stability is linked to: - Reduced injury risk — particularly low back pain and lower extremity injuries in athletes (Huxel Bliven & Anderson, Sports Health, 2013). - Improved performance — enhancing sprinting, jumping, and change-of-direction ability by creating a more stable base for limb movement (Reed et al., Sports Medicine, 2012). - Efficient force transfer — allowing you to generate more power in lifts, throws, and hits without “leaking” energy through poor trunk control (Behm et al., Sports Biomechanics, 2010). In short, a strong, stable core means you can move more powerfully, with less wasted motion, and with a lower chance of breakdown over time. What do you do for core training? And if you have no clue where do start, go to the movement prescription in the classroom section and get started.

I went down a bit of a rabbit hole this week watching training content. First was the Arizona Wildcats football team doing their in-season workouts—lots of stability drills, balance work, and injury-prevention stuff you don’t always see in regular gym programs. Then I watched Marquese Brownlee break down the tech he uses for training and recovery—some of it’s pretty simple, but super useful even if you’re just a weekend warrior.If you’re into sports, staying healthy, or just finding ways to recover faster, these kinds of videos are gold. You see what the pros are doing and start realizing, “Hey… I could actually do some of this too.” Biggest thing with these videos is that there are a lot of techniques that they are using for their athletes that cost a person nothing but have a large impact as opposed to to the expensive tech which people tend to gravitate toward. Check them out this weekend! Do you use any recovery tools like these?