Mind Muscle Specialist

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Mind Muscle Specialist Parker Hardcastle- online personal trainer & nutrition coach. I create fitness and nutrition programs for professionals ages 30 to 60. Free consultation.

MS, CSCS, MEd. (see more on my Instagram: mindmusclespecialist)

09/29/2026

It's easy to miss the whole idea behind an exercise movement. You can often look at the anatomy of a muscle and tell what it'll do if the fibers contract or stretch. Here, that is demonstrated by looking at the fibers of the upper traps and ensuring that you are getting a maximum squeeze back in the traps, as well as a internal rotation forward on the way down for stretch.

09/22/2026

Part 3 of 3. Anterior Serratus stuff

What tends to drive shoulder pain is overuse- and by that, I mean, improper use. And the improper use comes from maladaptive biomechanics. Sometimes that simply just means your coordination through certain movement patterns can be improved just by doing the move it differently, the way it's supposed to be done. This involves activating the right muscles to do the right jobs at the right time.

The shoulder is really complicated and has many moving parts and it's not just the shoulder that's involved in the shoulder movement. Often people overlook the low traps and anterior Serratus and how it controls the shoulder blade. However the shoulder blade moves is how the shoulder will function. Getting these 2 muscles more activated and coordinated in overhead and other shoulder movements helps reduce irritation and inflammation for problem shoulders.

09/17/2026

Part 2 of 3. As always, only do exercises and ranges of motion that do not cause pain.

What tends to drive shoulder pain is overuse- and by that, I mean, improper use. And the improper use comes from maladaptive biomechanics. Sometimes that simply just means your coordination through certain movement patterns can be improved just by doing the move it differently, the way it's supposed to be done. This involves activating the right muscles to do the right jobs at the right time.

The shoulder is really complicated and has many moving parts and it's not just the shoulder that's involved in the shoulder movement. Often people overlook the low traps and anterior Serratus and how it controls the shoulder blade. However the shoulder blade moves is how the shoulder will function. Getting these 2 muscles more activated and coordinated in overhead and other shoulder movements helps reduce irritation and inflammation for problem shoulders.

09/15/2026

What tends to drive shoulder pain is overuse- and by that, I mean, improper use. And the improper use comes from maladaptive biomechanics. Sometimes that simply just means your coordination through certain movement patterns can be improved just by doing the move it differently, the way it's supposed to be done. This involves activating the right muscles to do the right jobs at the right time.

The shoulder is really complicated and has many moving parts and it's not just the shoulder that's involved in the shoulder movement. Often people overlook the low traps and anterior Serratus and how it controls the shoulder blade. However the shoulder blade moves is how the shoulder will function. Getting these 2 muscles more activated and coordinated in overhead and other shoulder movements helps reduce irritation and inflammation for problem shoulders.

09/09/2026

Landmine hamstring work is unique and actially super useful. I have clients do this for the overloading in the stretched range, which should be emphasized in your training at least occasionally (does not have to be every exercise). You don't even need to stand all the way up with these. Just focus on the bottom to mid range angles (fully leaned over to halway up).

Also, this landmine version is really useful for my client how to learn how to push their hips forward and back in the movement. The landmine helps build this pattern in hunge movements because it's at a fixed point and you can try to push hips back more on the way down, then pull with arms and pull hips forward as you stand- feel that more with a landmine than free weights. You can also place feet farther back from your grip on the weight.

09/01/2026

I know not all medical issues are 100% preventable, but by-in-large, they are very much so manageable and you can reduce your risk of those medical issues dramatically through behavior change (the earlier you start the better). There's nothing wrong with anyone that's going through any of the mentioned medical predicaments. I'm also sure they would tell you if they could have prevented that from happening, however, they would have. Not to mention, behavior change now when you do have a medical issue, can be managed greater.

Often, a very potent motivator is thinking about a future you don't want to happen to you. Always keep in mind the positive direction you're going and let that negative future be the thing that will kick you in the butt and make you do the change you don't want to when you need it to.

08/27/2026

Pushing across the body allows for complete adduction of the humerus, which is the pec's main job. There will still be some tricep and anterior deltoid a tivatiin when pushing across the body instead of in front, but to a lesser degree.

A great advantage of practicing this pushing across method is feeling way more squeeze in your pec to facilitate a better mind muscle connection with you pec in general. This has heloed my clients realize they've been doing chest movements with their shoulder and tricep mainly.

08/25/2026

First of all, people don't do split squats and they should. Unilateral training imposes some different demands on the body than bilateral training (2 legs at once) and it can make you stronger at bilateral exercises.

And secondly, when people do split squats, they're usually hip dominant. With bending of the back and shifting of the hips posteriorly and laterally, it makes them easier and only improves relative ranges of motion.

Try to keep your backs right and hips forward and see the immense difference that takes place. You will not be able to lift as much weight as you thought. Only go down as far as you can without your hips tilting laterally or posteriorly and progress that lightly.

08/20/2026

The idea of this external rotation warm up is fine for purposes of external rotation muscle activation. However, the way it is carried out in most instances doesn't make any sense. I think people saw the standing version with bands and decided to do it with dumbbell, but that does not activate the extra rotation muscles as the band does. Since the resistance is horizontal with a band and not vertical, like with gravity when using a dumbbell.

You can definitely use a dumbbell. Just make sure to lean over so that the external rotation muscles are going against the vertical force of gravity- otherwise, your biceps are doing the work when you stand straight up with a 90° bend in the elbow. Try a shoulder wall slide to mix up your warm up if you haven't yet.

08/18/2026

The re**us femoris is kinda tricky. The more hip extension, the more this one is activated compared to other quad muscles (a stretch is good for all muscles still). Leg extension tends to work medalis and vastus lateralis quad heads more- possibly because of the lack of hip extension.

This version allows you to place yourself in as much hip extension as you'd like... as long as you can get in and out of the cable. This muscle tends to be underactivated and concurrently is associated with more knee problems.

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