This post is brought to you by Vital Proteins, who sent me their Collagen Whey which I love because the flavanols are fermented (good for gut health!), and it's excellent for recovery after a workout, helps increase athletic performance, hydration, amino acid absorption, and protein synthesis. It also helps to improve joint mobility, and supports blood flow to the muscles. Aside from all that, it just tastes great. I put two scoops in the blender with a banana, ice and raw milk.

We're back with our regularly scheduled Workout Wednesday and today I'm psyched to kick off a mini series called Ask a Trainer. We'd had a number of submission emails asking if we can discuss Olympic lifts, so I enlisted the help of my friend, trainer and nutrition coach James, who is co-owner at Focused Movement Academy in Miami. You may remember him as one of the key people to help me get past the plateau when I was getting in shape for the photoshoot for Namaslay. If you're interested in working with him on nutrition, click here and and fill out the form at the bottom.

I believe it's incredibly important to build strength as a yoga student because flexibility without control can be a recipe for injury. Now, there are lots of ways to build strength, and Olympic lifting is just one of many options. Lifting weights can seem intimidating, so I wanted to get a thorough explanation down for people.

The clean is an advanced Oly movement that works the entire body. It's one of my favorite lifts and one I do multiple times per week. To start, just use a PVC pipe as James is in the video so you can get your technique down. Then, practice with just the barbell - believe me, as a beginner, you'll definitely feel it as barbells generally weigh between 35 - 45lbs. Eventually, when you've got your form down pat, you can add plates to each side.

Below, I've added key talking points and their corresponding time within the video. James goes over the muscle clean, power clean, hang clean and full squat clean.