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Reconnect with Your Core Postpartum: How Breath Equals Strength

gmwj Apr 28, 2025

Pregnancy and childbirth change your body in incredible ways, but they can also impact core strength and stability. Many postpartum moms struggle with diastasis recti, pelvic floor dysfunction, and weakened core muscles. The good news? Your breath is the key to rebuilding core strength.

In this guide, we’ll explore how to properly engage your core postpartum using breathwork and movement to create strength from within.

Why Core Engagement Matters

Many people associate core engagement with the common cue: “belly button to spine.” There’s nothing wrong with it, but often this leads to sucking in the stomach rather than properly activating the transverse abdominis (deep core muscles).

True core activation starts with breath control, which manages intra-abdominal pressure and supports the pelvic floor, diaphragm, and deep core muscles.

Step 1: It Starts with Your Inhale

Inhale through your nose and expand your ribs all around—front, sides, and back. Avoid simply breathing into your b...

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Upper Back and Core Strength for Pressing Power (Part 3)

Uncategorized Apr 25, 2025

Elite Edge Deep Dive: Upper Back and Core Strength for Pressing Power

Unlocking Scapular Strength and Core Stability for Stronger Lifts

Why Upper Back and Core Strength Are Essential for Pressing Power

Elite pressing strength isn’t just about how much weight you can move—it’s about how well your body can stabilize and transfer that force. Without a strong upper back and core, pressing movements become inefficient and dangerous. Athletes often end up compensating with poor technique, which opens the door for shoulder strain, postural breakdown, and reduced power output.

At HitSquad Elite, we design every pressing day to include upper back and core development because:

  • Stronger Backs Support Better Pressing Mechanics: A stable scapula and strong posterior chain keep the bar path locked in and shoulders protected.
  • Core Engagement Maximizes Force Transfer: A weak core leaks energy. A strong one turns every press into a full-body effort.
  • Injury Prevention Starts with Stability: R...
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Upper Body Max Strength: Overhead Strength & Tricep Power (Part 2)

movement Apr 18, 2025

Elite Edge Deep Dive: Overhead Strength and Triceps Power

Building Lockout Strength, Durability, and Pressing Endurance

Why Tricep Lockout Strength Matters for Athletes

Section 1: The Power of the Lockout in Sports

If you play a sport, chances are you're using your arms to hit, block, push, or strike. But it's not just about how strong your chest or shoulders are—real power comes from your ability to lock out your arms fast and hard. That final piece of a bench press? That’s your triceps doing work. And if they aren’t strong enough, you’ll stall out in the lift—and on the field.

Whether you’re a lineman trying to finish a block, a wrestler looking for that final push in a takedown, or a basketball player finishing through contact, tricep lockout strength can be the difference between winning and losing the rep. It’s not just about upper-body strength—it’s about converting that strength into explosive, sport-ready movement.

Lockout Supersets—3 Upper Body Combos to Build Real G...

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C-Section Awareness: Why Touching Your Scar is Important

gmwj Apr 14, 2025

Why Touching Your C-Section Scar is Important: Healing Your Body and Mind

If you’ve had a C-section, you might have complicated feelings about your scar. Maybe it feels numb, tingly, or even painful. Maybe you don’t want to look at it or touch it because it reminds you of a birth that didn’t go as planned. You’re not alone—many moms feel this way. But here’s the thing: touching your scar can actually help you heal, both physically and emotionally.

Your Scar and Your Body: Reconnecting Through Touch

When you have surgery, tiny nerves in the area are cut. This can leave the skin feeling strange—numb in some places, extra sensitive in others. By gently touching your scar, you’re helping those nerves wake up again and reconnect with your brain. Over time, this can reduce discomfort and make the area feel more like “you” again.

Touching your scar can also help prevent stiffness and tightness. Scar tissue can sometimes stick to deeper layers of skin and muscle, making m

...
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Breakdown of the Upper Body Max Strength Session (Part 1)

Uncategorized Apr 11, 2025

Building Pressing Power, Joint Stability, and Injury Resilience

The Key to Upper Body Strength: Smart Training for Maximum Gains

Strength isn’t just about lifting heavy—it’s about lifting efficiently and strategically to maximize gains while preventing burnout and injury. The HSE Conjugate System for Youth Athletes applies max effort upper-body training to build absolute pressing power, joint stability, and long-term resilience.

The foundation of this session is training to reps in reserve (RIR). This means athletes stop short of failure, typically with one rep left in the tank. This protects the nervous system, ensures high-quality lifts, and allows athletes to capitalize on high-energy days while managing fatigue on tougher ones.

This deep dive breaks down the science of strength, explains how our superset structure enhances power, and shows how this training method directly improves sports performance.

 

The Science Behind Max Effort Upper Body Training

Max effort lifting...

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Building a Well-Rounded Athlete Through Strategic Lower Body Training (Part 4 of 4)

movement Apr 04, 2025

Elite Edge Deep Dive: Integrating Lower Body Max Strength into the HSE Conjugate System (Part 4 of 4)

Building a Well-Rounded Athlete Through Strategic Lower Body Training

Bringing It All Together: The Role of Lower Body Max Strength in the HSE Conjugate System

Over the past three parts of our series, we’ve dived deep into the critical components of our Max Effort Lower Body Training:

  • Part 1: An overview of the methodology—focusing on max effort lifts, contrast training, PAP, force coupling, and elastic energy utilization.
  • Part 2: The importance of building a powerful posterior chain—targeting the glutes, hamstrings, and spinal erectors to enhance sprinting, jumping, and overall force production.
  • Part 3: Developing lateral strength and speed—focusing on side lunges and lateral plyometrics to improve cutting, agility, and injury prevention.

 

In Part 4, we integrate these elements into the broader HSE Conjugate System for Youth Athletes, demonstrating how our lower...

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The Three Plus One Method: A Simple Nutrition Hack for Busy Moms

gmwj Mar 31, 2025

Want to make your nutrition effortless? 

Try The Three Plus One Method: A Simple Nutrition Hack for Busy Moms

As a mom, personal trainer, and nursing student, I know how overwhelming it can be to prioritize nutrition while juggling a million responsibilities. The last thing on my mind is macro counting. For me it’s stressful, strict, and I always feel restricted.

So I coined the Three Plus One Method—a foolproof way to eat well, nourish your body, and stay energized without overcomplicating things.

What is the Three Plus One Method?

It’s two simple rules:

1. Three meals a day PLUS One protein shake

This ensures you're fueling your body consistently throughout the day, avoiding energy crashes, and keeping hunger in check.

2. Three essential macronutrients PLUS One colorful food in every meal

Each meal includes:

  • Protein for muscle recovery and satiety
  • Healthy fats for sustained energy
  • Carbs for energy
  • One colorful fruit or veggie for vitamins and fiber

By focusing on nu...

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Elite Edge Deep Dive: Building Lateral Strength & Speed (Part 3 of 4)

movement Mar 28, 2025

Elite Edge Deep Dive: Building Lateral Strength & Speed (Part 3 of 4)

Developing Agility, Power, and Injury Resilience

Why Lateral Strength & Speed Are Essential for Athletes

Athletic performance isn’t just about moving forward—it’s about moving efficiently in all directions. Whether it’s a football player cutting past a defender, a basketball guard executing a crossover, or a soccer player reacting to an opponent’s movement, elite-level agility separates dominant athletes from the competition.

Lateral strength and speed are critical for:
✅ Explosive Change of Direction – The ability to decelerate and re-accelerate without losing power.
✅ Injury Prevention – Weakness in lateral stabilizers increases ACL and groin injury risk.
✅ Sport-Specific Movement Quality – Acceleration and deceleration occur in multiple planes of motion in nearly every sport.

The HSE Conjugate System for Youth Athletes integrates lateral strength work, plyometrics, and contrast training to enhance agility, r...

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Elite Edge Deep Dive: Building Posterior Chain Power (Part 2 of 4)

movement Mar 21, 2025

Elite Edge Deep Dive: Building Posterior Chain Power

A strong posterior chain—the glutes, hamstrings, and lower back—is the foundation of elite speed, explosive power, and injury prevention. The HSE Conjugate System for Youth Athletes maximizes posterior chain strength using a scientifically structured Max Strength Lower 2 program.

This session incorporates superset methodologies, combining Post-Activation Potentiation (PAP), contrast training, force coupling, and progressive overload to improve strength, speed, and movement efficiency. If you’re an athlete looking to run faster, jump higher, and improve resilience, this breakdown will show you exactly how we program posterior chain power for optimal performance and injury prevention.

The Science Behind Posterior Chain Power

The posterior chain is the powerhouse of athletic movement. Whether sprinting, jumping, or changing direction, strong glutes and hamstrings are essential for:

✅ Force Production – More power in each stride...

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Prenatal & Postpartum Exercise 101: All Things Relaxin

gmwj Mar 17, 2025

Pregnancy and postpartum recovery are beautiful yet challenging times for the body, and understanding the role of relaxin—a hormone that significantly affects joints and ligaments—can help moms navigate movement safely and effectively. Whether you're pregnant or recently had a baby, being informed about relaxin’s effects on your body will empower you to exercise with confidence while minimizing discomfort or injury.

What is Relaxin?

Relaxin is a hormone that prepares your body for pregnancy and childbirth. Its primary job is to loosen joints and ligaments, especially in the pelvic region, to allow for a growing baby and a smoother labor process. However, relaxin doesn’t just affect the pelvis—it impacts ligaments all over the body, which can lead to increased flexibility but also instability and discomfort.

How Relaxin Fluctuates During Pregnancy and Postpartum

Relaxin begins to rise early in pregnancy, starting around ovulation and increasing through the first trimester. By the ...

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