Nikki Thomas

The Gecko Band: Train Without Your Hands! 🦎🔗 🌐 geckoband.com 🏋️♂️ The Gecko Band is an ingenious piece of equipment designed to revolutionize your cable training. Functioning as a high-quality cable attachment, it allows you to train effectively without using your hands, making it perfect if you are recovering from a hand or grip injury. 🎯 Not only is it great for injuries, but it's also a powerful tool for focused muscle development. By taking the grip, biceps, and forearms out of the equation, the Gecko Band allows you to bypass grip strength becoming the limiting factor. This means you can focus more intently on the muscles that attach to the upper arm, leading to deeper activation and better gains. ✨ Its high quality and strong construction ensure durability and safety during even your most intense workouts. Stop letting a weak grip or a minor injury hold back your progress! #geckoband #cableattachment #handfree #paidpartnership

🏋️‍♂️🏋️‍♂️ Everyone should be doing the Sissy Squat. Sissy Squat is one of the best ways of training rectus femoris, one of your quadriceps due to the position of the lift. But it's extremely f**king hard. Rectus femoris, like all of your quads, extends the knee, but it's the only one of the four that inserts on the hip, which means it is also a hip flexor. So in this movement, it's being lengthened at the knee and the hip, so we'll get a lot of tension in the rectus femoris. If you compare it to something like a squat, it's stretching at the knee end, but shortening at the hip, so we don't get a lot of tension in this muscle. To do a Sissy Squat, grab a hold of something, it takes out the stability aspect, and then we're going to get up on our toes and then drive our knees forward, keeping our body in a straight line. Remember, knees going past your toes being bad for your knees is just a myth. However, this doesn't mean that you'll start by trying to do the whole range of motion. Like any new movement, start by restricting the range of motion and then increase it over time as the tissues get used to the movement. #SissySquat #QuadricepsTraining #RectusFemoris #LegDay #StrengthTraining #FitnessTips

Shoulder Mobility Made Simple 👉Do you feel like there's too many things that you need to do for shoulder mobility? You're probably right. So let me simplify it. Shoulder mobility is the ability of your shoulder joint to move freely and smoothly in all directions. It's important for your posture, performance, and injury prevention. But you don't need to do a million exercises to improve it. You just need to focus on the main categories of shoulder movement: extension, flexion, abduction, adduction, internal rotation, and external rotation. 👉Each category of shoulder movement has a specific function and benefit. For example, extension is when you move your arm behind your body, like when you reach for something in the back seat of your car. Flexion is when you move your arm above your head, like when you raise your hand in class. Abduction is when you move your arm away from your body, like when you do a lateral raise. Adduction is when you move your arm towards your body, like when you hug someone. Internal rotation is when you rotate your arm inwards, like when you scratch your back. External rotation is when you rotate your arm outwards, like when you open a door. 👉To improve your shoulder mobility, you just need to expose the joint to positions and loading that are challenging enough for the joint to force it to adapt. It's just like how heavyweights challenge muscles and they adapt by getting stronger. You can use resistance bands, barbells, dumbbells, or even your own bodyweight to create tension and stretch in your shoulders. The key is to be consistent and progressive with your training. I'll show you some examples of exercises for each category of shoulder movement in my next posts. Stay tuned! #shouldermobility #shoulderhealth #shoulderworkout #mobilitytraining #mobilityexercises #mobilitytips

The Importance of Training Your Glute Medius 🍑 If you're doing exercises to train your glute medius, we need to talk. Training your glute medius is important because a weak one is associated with things like knee pain, lower back pain and even IT band syndrome. 🏋️‍♀️ It's not that exercises like the clamshell are bad, but the problem with them is that they neglect one of the main functions of the glute medius which is to stabilize the pelvis especially on one leg. That's one reason why clamshells don't get a lot of activation in the glute medius when measured by EMG. 🧘‍♂️ So I'll show you a better alternative. Start next to a wall and bring your knee up hip at about 90 degrees. Place that leg flush against the wall. From here rotate your upper leg into the wall. This will create stability to stay upright with the glute medius on the other side. It doesn't look like much but if you do this your glute medius strength and stability will skyrocket. #glutemedius #strengthtraining #stability

Ankle mobility is key to better movement! Improve it with a heavy resistance band attach it low, wrap around your foot, drive your knee forward while keeping your heel down. 2 mins each side daily for smooth ankles. #anklemobility #fitness #healthylifestyle

🧘‍♂️The Modified Thomas Test is a simple way to test hip flexor mobility. 💪Improving hip flexor mobility can improve posture, reduce lower back pain & enhance athletic performance. 🔍Perform the test by laying down with hips at the edge of a chair or bench. #hipflexors #mobility #modifiedthomastest

🦵The TFL (Tensor Fasciae Latae) is a small but mighty muscle on the outside of your upper leg. It helps stabilize your hip and knee, connecting directly to the IT band that runs along your thigh. 💪Stretching your TFL can ease tightness, relieve hip tension, and boost mobility. A flexible TFL supports better movement and helps keep injuries at bay. \#TFLStretch #HipMobility #InjuryPrevention

Thoracic spine mobility is essential for upper body movement and health. It affects your posture, breathing, shoulder function and more. Try this simple exercise to improve your thoracic rotation and mobility. #thoracicspinemobility #shoulderhealth #foamroller

Stretching the TFL Muscle 🦵The TFL (Tensor Fasciae Latae) is a small yet important muscle located at the side of your upper leg. It plays a key role in stabilizing your hip and knee, linking to the iliotibial band that runs down the side of your thigh. 💪Stretching the TFL can help alleviate tightness, reduce hip discomfort, and improve overall mobility. Keeping this muscle flexible is essential for maintaining proper movement patterns and preventing injury. #TFLStretch #HipMobility #InjuryPrevention

Ankle Flexibility The Key to Better Movement 🦶Ankle flexibility is an important aspect of overall body movement and function. Poor ankle flexibility can affect not only the ankle joint itself, but also the hips, knees, and lower back. It can even impact the quality of movements such as squats. 🏋️‍♂️Improving ankle flexibility can have numerous benefits for overall body function and movement. It can help reduce strain on other joints, improve balance and stability, and enhance athletic performance. 📈There are several ways to test and improve ankle flexibility. One simple test involves placing your toes against a wall and attempting to touch your knee to the wall without lifting your heel. If you are unable to do this, it may be a sign that you need to work on your ankle flexibility. Exercises such as calf stretches can help improve flexibility over time. #AnkleFlexibility #BetterMovement #FitnessTips

🧘‍♀️The hip flexors are a group of muscles that connect the spine, pelvis, and femur. When we sit for extended periods of time, these muscles can become shortened and tight, leading to back pain. 🏋️‍♂️Tight hip flexors can cause an anterior pelvic tilt, which means the pelvis rotates forward and puts more pressure on the lower back. This can lead to discomfort and even chronic pain. 🤸‍♀️By incorporating hip flexor stretches into your routine, you can help lengthen these muscles and improve your posture. This can help alleviate back pain and improve overall mobility. #hipflexorstretch #backpainrelief #postureimprovement

Shoulder Pain Relief 💪The topic at hand is shoulder pain relief when benching at the gym. A common cause of this pain is not properly warming up the shoulders before an upper body workout. One solution to this problem is using a resistance band to warm up the shoulders. 🏋️‍♂️Warming up the shoulders before an upper body workout has many benefits. Not only can it help prevent pain and injury, but it can also improve your overall performance during your workout. Using a resistance band to warm up the shoulders is a simple and effective way to achieve these benefits. 🔥To warm up the shoulders with a resistance band, set it up about chest height and put one arm through up to the elbow. Place that same side hand on your lower back and walk out to create tension on the band. Let the band pull your shoulder into internal rotation as far as you comfortably can, then push it back and bring your chest through while squeezing your shoulder blade back. Do 10 reps on each side before starting your upper body workout. #shoulderpainrelief #resistancebands #warmup

How to improve your thoracic mobility and reduce neck and shoulder pain 👉Thoracic mobility is key for daily activities, and poor mobility can lead to pain. Improving it enhances posture, breathing, and reduces injury risk. 👉Try resistance band thoracic rotations to stretch and mobilize your upper back. #ThoracicMobility #NeckPainRelief #ShoulderHealth

How to Strengthen Your Quadratus Lumborum and Prevent Lower Back Pain 👩‍⚕️You need to know about this muscle because it could be the source of your lower back pain. Your quadratus lumborum (QL) is actually your deepest abdominal muscle and it connects your pelvis to your spine and ribs, which is why it always pops up when we're talking about lower back dysfunction. You use it every time you take a step and it's critical for the stability of the lower back and pelvis. If it's not strong enough to handle the tasks we ask of it every day, you're asking for trouble. 🏋️‍♂️Strengthening your QL can help you improve your posture, balance, and mobility. It can also reduce the risk of injury and pain in your lower back, hips, and pelvis. A strong QL can also enhance your performance in sports and activities that require lateral movement, such as tennis, golf, or skiing. 👇I'll show you a great way of strengthening it. The 45 degree side bend is a great option but most people don't have that equipment. You can do this one on a flat bench or a chair. I've got a foam roller but you can just use some rolled up towels. We're going to place our hip on top of your object on top of the bench and we're going to straddle our feet. The top foot is in front, the back foot is from behind. Now from here all we're going to do is to dip one side of our body down towards the floor. You should feel a stretch in your QL and then we're going to come back up. It's important that we're not twisting as we do this so you can use your top elbow as a guide. If it is your first time doing this make sure you start with a very small range of motion. #quadratuslumborum #lowerbackpain #corestrength #mobility #anatomy #fitness

Your shoulder’s MVPs are the rotator cuff—a powerhouse of four muscles connecting your upper arm to your shoulder blade. They keep your shoulder stable and fluid, letting you move, lift, and push with ease. Keep them strong for a pain-free, dynamic life! #ShoulderHealth #RotatorCuff #Mobility #Fitness #Strength