I don’t consider myself a kettlebell expert, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express once so that has to count for something.
Note from TG: For those non-American folk who may be reading and have no idea WTF staying at a Holiday Inn Express has to do with anything let alone kettlebell training, maybe watching THIS clip will help.
For those who did get the joke: Bwahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
In all seriousness, while I’ve never taken the RK or HKC or the Strong First course (it’s on my fitness bucket list though), or climbed Mt. Everest, I like to think that despite those minor short comings, I still know a thing or two when it comes to coaching the kettlebell swing, among other KB related exercises.
And while I’m on the topic, I always find it comical when I hear stories from my clients who travel and they tell me how, at certain gyms they’ve come across, they’re not allowed to use the kettlebells without a trainer’s supervision, as if they run the risk of poking their eye out.
Yet, upon watching said “certified” trainer (99.9% of the time not certified through Dragon Door or Strong First) demonstrate a KB workout, whether it entails swings, get-ups, cleans, or snatches, my client’s have to keep their corneas from perpetually bleeding because the trainer’s technique is just god-awful.
Like Jillian Michael’s god-awful:
All that said, because I don’t want to get all fired up and throw my laptop through the window, today I just want to hit on two often overlooked technique snafus that a lot of people make with their swings.
Number One: making the mistake of allowing the KB to drop BELOW the knees.
I wrote a blog post on the difference between a squat swing (wrong) and a hip snap swing (right) a while ago (HERE), and I think anyone who’s curious should check that out first before going any further.
Outside of that, I stole the above gem from the one and only Neghar Fonooni, and it’s something that really made a lot of sense to me when I heard it, and high-five to myself, was something I was instinctively coaching already.
Most of us have heard the often quoted cue from Dan John about keeping the KB closer to the body and “attacking the zipper.” This works well, but I still often find that many trainees will allow the KB to drift below the knees which can wreak havoc on the lumbar spine.
This is more of an “eyeball” what-you-see-is-what-you-get observation, but if it’s something you find yourself or your clients doing, it would be a good idea to, you know, stop it.
Number Two: allowing the KB to “get away.”
This was actually something I snaked from one of my clients who heard it from Dr. Stuart McGill who I think heard it from Han Solo. But I can’t back that up.
When we transition from the hike pass to the actual swing and end up with our arms full extended out in front of us, it’s important not to let the bell itself to “get away” and cause more shear load on the spine.
I always like to tell people they’re going to snap/push their hips through and the arms are just along for the ride. When their arms are fulling extended, the objective is not to be holding on for dear life, they’re going to “relax” for split second, and pull the KB back down towards the swing portion.
During the “relax” portion, however, they want to be fast (and loose) at the top, but not to the point where the KB is going to jolt their spine (for lack of a better term).
The short video below (just a bit over two minutes) tries to hit on both points. I hope it helps. For those celebrating Labor Day Weekend – enjoy!
OMG – I just completed an awesome bench session with Greg Robins and Jamie Smith, and after mustering up enough energy to drag myself to my office I turned on my laptop to check emails and received a note that my latest article on T-Nation just went live.
Sha-zam!
I know what some of you may be thinking: “Dude, Tony, we need another deadlifting article about as much as we need another Kardashian spin-off. What’s the deal?”
And I get it. I know there’s only so much you can say when it comes to deadlifting, and I talk about deadlifting a lot. Maybe too much. But this isn’t entirely an article on deadlifting. Rather it’s about addressing what tends to be weak in most lifters – upper and mid back strength.
Give it a read, and I’d love to hear what you think about it on the LiveSpill on T-Nation’s site.
Lifters go out of their way to pull heavy things off the floor, yet many fail to make much progress due to a lack of upper and mid-back strength. Here’s how to fix it.
Let’s first address the elephant in the gym. Yes, rounding your back when deadlifting isn’t ideal. And yes, there are plenty of examples on YouTube of guys pulling with atrocious technique and it’s a miracle they haven’t shit their spleen.
In most cases they deserve the criticism. But what dumbfounds me is when people watch a video of say, Eric Cressey pulling 650 pounds at a bodyweight of 170, and start playing technique police.
Note from TG: There’s a video that goes here, but you’ll have to click on the link below to see it. Don’t roll your eyes at me! Just click on it, okay. Do it! DO IT!!!!!
Many who watch Eric’s heavier pulls will cry that he’s rounding his lower back, when it fact most of the “rounding” is coming from his mid and upper-back.
This is significant because he, along with many advanced lifters in the same boat, has programmed himself to stay out of the danger zone, which is those last 2-3 degrees of end-range motion in his lumbar spine.
By contrast, he’s reverted to getting a bit more ROM where there’s more of a safety net (the mid and upper back). So, in short, no, he’s not rounding his lower back.
Second, unlike the vast majority of beginner and intermediate lifters, guys who are pulling upwards of two to four times bodyweight have generally built up enough strength to literallynot buckle under the pressure. They’re able to prevent their spine from collapsing like a melting candle when things start to get ugly.
Lets be clear from the start: there’s really no such thing as a “perfect” assessment. I’ve seen coaches and trainers spend as little as ten minutes assessing their clients, as well as those who take roughly the same time it would take to read the Harry Potter series, and both have been equally as successful with getting results.
Although, in the case of the latter, I’d argue that some fitness professionals spend an inordinate amount of time assessing things that don’t really matter and/or are outside their scope of practice in the first place. Big toe dorsiflexion? Really?
The person standing in front of you is 25 lbs overweight and moves about as well as a one-legged pirate. It’s not rocket science. Get them moving. End of story.
Nevertheless when it comes to assessment I’ve always lived by the mantra of “different strokes for different folks.” As an example, at Cressey Performance, we work with a metric boat load of baseball players which is a unique population with regards to the demands placed on their body. Much of what we look at with them – comparing total glenohumeral ROM between dominant and non-dominant sides, for instance – may not be relevant to someone that walks into the facility who’s just looking to get a little stronger, fix their nagging lower back pain, or not be embarrassed to take their clothes off with the lights on.
That said, how we go about assessing our athletes and clients at Cressey Performance suits ourneeds, ourfacility layout, and our business model.
Put another way: how we go about doing things isn’t to say that we’re right and everyone else is wrong; nor is it to imply that our way is the end-all-be-all of assessment; nor is it suggest that everyone should kneel before us General Zod style:
It all mounts down to what we’ve found works for us. It’s as simple as that.
However, I will say that I do (and always will) feel the push-up is an unsurpassed assessment tool that should be a staple in most assessment protocols.
Not many “tools” can give as much information and feedback to the fitness practitioner than the push-up, and it behooves anyone to dismiss it.
Did you hear me? I said it behooves you! I’m bringing back old-English people, so you know I mean business. You’re just lucky I didn’t grab a white glove, slap you across the face, and challenge you to an old-fashioned bare knuckled boxing match.
Taking actual technique out of the equation (it amazes me how many guys come in to see us with cranky shoulders, only to have some of the worst push-up technique this side of Charlize Theron in the movie Prometheus), the push-up assessment parlays very well to a variety of populations.
With our baseball guys – and even our general population clientele – it gives a good scope to see how well their scapular stabilizers (particularly the lower traps and serratus anterior) are working – if one or both are weak, the scapulae will be more anteriorly tilted and abducted (not “hugged” against the rib cage) which can result in compromised stability.
Too, and an often overlooked component, is anterior humeral glide. You can see this in someone’s standing posture very easily, but it also becomes very pronounced when you watch someone perform push-ups, or just hold the push-up position isometrically.
This can be detrimental in that if it’s not corrected or just left to it’s own vices can lead to increased anterior instability of the shoulder, which as we all know, not only kills baby seals, but also makes your shoulder hate you.
Using a more glaring and obvious anecdote, push-ups are also a fantastic assessment tool because they make it abundantly clear where someone’s weak points are. And almost always, many are going have weak lumbo-pelvic-hip control – to the point where they’ll be hanging on their lumbar spine as well as rocking a nasty forward head posture.
On the flip-side many may also demonstrate a dominant rectus abdominus pattern, which typically means their external obliques are non-existent and they probably spend way too much time in front of a computer stalking people on Facebook.
Again, in both scenarios it’s just valuable feedback for you which will dictate that person’s programming moving forward.
Another dimension of the push-up assessment that I never really thought of before – and something I stole from Mike Robertson – is the concept of ‘core delay.’
In short, instead of starting someone in the standard push-up position – away from the floor with arms fully extended – you start from the floor.
In this way you can see whether or not someone has adequate stability or if there’s a delay in firing, and the hips come up first.
The key is to make sure that whoever it is you’re testing is completely relaxed on the floor, and then you just observe and make a judgement call from there.
The first rep would be considered a “passable” rep and shows that the person (me) has good core stability. They (me) were able to keep the spine in a “neutral” position and everything seemed to fire simultaneously.
And, not to mention their (um, me) triceps were gunny as shit……;o)
With the second rep, though, there was a little wackiness, and you’ll notice how my hips shoot up first and my lumbar spine goes into immediate hyperextension. This shows a ‘core delay,’ which is just a fancy way of saying “dude needs to work on getting his glutes to fire to posteriorily tilt the pelvis more, along with the external/internal obliques and RA.”
In the end I just feel utilizing the bottoms-up push-up is another great way to evaluate clients and to better ascertain where their weaknesses lie and how their programming may manifest moving forward.
1. Might as well start the week off with a funny story from this past weekend. Saturday after work I had the honor of being invited to Norwood, Mass to speak at Velocity Sports to take their staff through an in-service on assessment and shoulder/arm care, with some shadow puppets mixed in for good measure.
On my way to Norwood I decided to stop by a Whole Foods to pick up a quick bit to eat, and as per usual I perused the prepared food section and got a chicken breast and then picked up a few protein bars. Now, Whole Foods’ version of “protein bars” is a bit different than mine, but what I like about their selection are that the ingredients are limited and they don’t look like they came from a science fiction movie.
As such, lately, whenever I happen to stop by Whole Foods, I’ve been crushing Greens Plus Protein Bars, which,along with the benefits of not including any processed sugar, salt, corn syrup, hydrogenated oil, synthetic sweeteners, or any GMOs, also includes 16g of whey protein isolate. Not too shabby if you ask me.
As I was going through the checkout line the cashier asked me if I had ever tried their (Greens Plus) Chia bars? I replied no but that I love chia seeds, and that I include them on a daily basis in my shakes.
She was like, “yeah, it’s a great bar…..you know, because they ONLY use soy protein, which is so healthy for you.”
Little did she know that I was thiiiiiiiiiis close to going all Dead Poet’s Society on her, jump up on the counter, and scream how afoul her assertion was that soy protein was a healthy option.
Oh Captain, my Captain……
I’m not one of those guys who claims that soy protein is going to make you grow a third nipple – a little here and there certainly isn’t going to be the end of the world – and besides, it’s in almost everything, so it’s not like you can avoid it altogether anyways.
But to claim that it’s “so healthy for you” is a bit much. The soy that we eat here in the Western part of the word – full of anti-nutrients and phytoestrogens – is a far cry from the soy sources that are ingested in the East (which are not nearly as processed).
I wanted so badly to tell her to go read The Whole Soy Story and then tell me that soy is good for me.
But I’ve learned to pick my battles, and I just politely said, “yeah, that’s great,” smiled back, and went on my merry way. And then a vomited a little in my mouth in the parking lot, but that’s neither here nor there.
2. I’ve recently been asked by Stack Magazine to provide more monthly content for their website, and they basically gave me free reign to write about whatever it is I want to write about, so long as it has to do with high-school and college athletes.
I figured I might as well nip things in the bud from the get go and decided to write about supplements and why I generally take more of a minimalist approach when suggesting to young(er) athletes on what to take. In fact, I think the word “supplement” should be the last thing in their vocabulary.
3. On a somewhat related note my friend, Jen Ator, is releasing her very first book for Women’s Health titled Shape-Up Shortcuts on September 3rd.
I was lucky enough of being asked by Jen if I’d be willing to include my own workout into the mix, and I gladly obliged. I provided a pretty kick-ass kettlebell circuit that will get many women outside their comfort zone, but ultimately enjoy and have fun with.
In a nutshell the main theme of the book is that it’s not about being perfect 100 percent of the time or maintaining a strict diet or exercise routine; but rather doing the little things each day (like finding 20 minutes to exercise efficiently, making healthier choices even at just one meal per day, taking the stairs instead of the elevator) that can help keep you fit and healthy for life.
It’s available through pre-order NOW, and I’d be thrilled if you checked it out because I know Jen busted her butt to put this thing together, but also too, I think it’s a fantastic book.
4. If you have 12-15 minutes to spare I’d HIGHLY encourage you to check out this short feature on Innercity Weightlifting (located here in Boston) that was featured on ESPN a few weeks ago. Pretty powerful stuff.
5. And just another reminder that registration for the 2nd Annual Cressey Performance Fall Seminar is still in full swing. For a full re-cap on the presentations or can go HERE.
But here are the nitty gritty details:
Location:
Cressey Performance,
577 Main St.
Suite 310
Hudson, MA 01749
Cost:
Regular – $129.99 regular early bird (by September 8), $149.99 thereafter Student (must present current student ID at door) – $99.99 early bird (by September 8), $129.99 thereafter
Date/Time:
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Registration 8:30AM
Seminar 9AM-5:30PM
I know, I know – I’m posting this badboy up a bit later than usual, but I actually have a legitimate excuse. For starters, ummmmm, hello??? Freakin Ben Affleck is slated to be the next Batman!!!!
I don’t know how I feel about this yet. Part of me is like “hell yeah.” He’s an often under appreciated actor, and he’s obviously made his mark as an A-List director (Gone Baby Gone, The Town, Argo), so I feel like he’s a good fit because he knows what it’s like to direct and will offer his own vision to some degree.
Plus, lets be honest: he’s got the jawline for the role.
And part of me wants to punch a hole in the wall because I’m so enamored with Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight’ franchise and Christian Bale’s portrayal of Batman/Bruce Wayne, that it kind of makes me sad that we’re moving on and turning the page on that chapter in the Batman franchise.
It’s going to be interesting for sure, and if nothing else, this marks Day One of my campaign to try to convince Ben Affleck to come to Boston (his home town no less) and train for his role at Cressey Performance.
Someone contact DC Comics for me and make that happen!…….;o)
But in all seriousness, the reason I’m a bit late posting today is because we’ve been absolutely swamped at CP with new assessments (16 this week alone), and I (along with the rest of the staff) have been writing programs like a boss. I swear every waking moment outside of coaching has been spent writing programs. Okay I watched the season 7 finale of How I Met Your Mother, but other than that, I’ve been glued to Excel.
Moreover I was the one who ran Excellence Bootcamps this morning, and treated all the participants to a little TG techno magic time. Which is to say, for five hours straight there was nothing but Swedish House Mafia, Tiesto, Deadmaus, and other sick beats while I took everyone through a healthy dose of Prowler pushes, carries, deadlifts, and fist pumps for days.
It was awesome. But I guess you had to be there.
Nevertheless, even though most people reading are no longer at work, and are probably 2-3 Martinis deep into their weekend, here’s some stuff to read:
I respect the hell out of Artemis, and not because she can round house kick me to the face faster than I can say “Tracy Anderson is about as intelligent as a ham sandwich.”
Which is pretty darn fast, mind you.
I just love the consistent message that Artemis relays on her blog, and it’s pretty cool to witness.
Please, ladies: check out her stuff and forward to ALL of your friends who are married to the scale.
This was a fantastic article over on Fitocracy.com by former CP intern, Kyle Arsenault, on the many benefits of sprinting and why many people probably shouldn’t doing it. At least not yet.
There are a lot of, shall I say, “douchey” personal trainers out there. Most don’t know their ass from their acetabulum, yet are able to hit their quotas each and every month because they’re essentially glorified babysitters. They train their client’s mouths more than they train their posterior chain.
Rare is the event where a client “buys in,” or hits that tipping point where they finally “get” what you’re trying to accomplish with them as their trainer.
Even rarer when you convert your client’s train of thought into actually LIKING lifting heavy things and showing up week in and week out for more “torture.”
In this thought provoking post, Justin describes the “buy in,” and how you as a trainer can get to that point.
This was a quick article I wrote for MensHealth.com on Olympic lifting and why I tend to shy away from including them in 99.98% of the programs that I write.
I’d love for you guys to check it out and show MH.com some love by “Liking” the article. But if you think it sucks, that’s cool too. I won’t cry. That much.
Anyone in the strength and conditioning realm, or general fitness for that matter, has at one time or another come across the name ‘Tabata’ during their various fitness related rendezvous.
Most common would be those interested in interval training for fat loss. Back in 1996 Dr. Izumi Tabata and his colleagues submitted what is now a well renowned (and often misinterpreted) study that revolutionized the fitness industry.
In fact, as my good friend, Mark Young, noted a while ago, “this study created such a rage that now hundreds of thousands of trainees around the world now include “Tabatas” as part of their fat loss programming.”
You name it, people have Tabata the shit out of it. You have your garden variety bike and sprint intervals, which most people equate Tabatas with and are most familiar with. And now it’s not uncommon to see people performing Tabatas with the Olympic lifts (borderline asinine), deadlifts, squats, kettlebell swings, push-ups, pick your poison and it’s been done.
Hell I wouldn’t be surprised if Tabata cow tipping has entered the foray somewhere. Anything to feel the burn, right?
Well now it seems it’s gaining steam elsewhere, and I suppose it was only a matter of time before it happened.
My other good friend, Emily Socolinsky (which many who read this blog consistently should recognize), posted the following picture on Facebook wall yesterday:
After ungluing my face from my keyboard, I couldn’t help but think to myself, “poor Mr. Tabata.”
You see what many out there think is Tabata training is anything but, and jives AGAINST what the actual study demonstrated.
Rather than try to explain it myself, I’m just going to defer to Mark Young again who wrote THIS post a while ago on some common Tabata Myths:
Despite the widespread use of this system, most people have absolutely no idea what the actual Tabata protocol is. In the often cited (but rarely actually read) study, one group performed moderate intensity (70% VO2 Max) steady state cardiovascular exercise for one hour on 5 days per week. This would be along the lines of what most people would be accustomed to doing in the gym.
The other group used the Tabata protocol which consisted of a 10 minute steady state warm up followed by 7-8 sets of 20 seconds at 170% VO2 Max on a mechanically braked cycle ergometer. Subjects were given 10 seconds of rest between each set.
One more interesting part? On 4 days of the week the Tabata group performed this exact protocol. On the fifth day they actually did 30 minutes of steady state exercise at 70% VO2 Max followed by 4 Tabata style intervals.
So over the course of a week the Tabata group also did a total of 70 minutes of steady state exercise as well!
But here is where most people mess up. VO2 Max is determined (in this case) by having the person ride the ergometer while measuring their oxygen uptake and gradually increasing the wattage until the person’s oxygen uptake no longer continues to rise. This is considered 100% of their VO2 Max and it is often associated with complete exhaustion and/or vomiting.
Now imagine increasing the resistance on the bicycle to increase the wattage to 170% of that value. That is the intensity required for a true Tabata interval. Each interval is completed with maximal effort.
Despite what you’ve been told, front squats, resistance bands, or any other bodyweight routine you might be doing may replicate the time sequence of the Tabata protocol, but it is NOT a Tabata interval. If your first set is performed at a submaximal weight that becomes maximal by the final set this does not even come close. It might be hard, but it isn’t a Tabata.
Now I know what some of you may be thinking: “what the hay Tony…..why are you chastising people for wanting to work hard, and what’s more, why are you playing semantics?”
Listen I’ll never downplay anyone who wants to work hard and take steps to improve their health. Moreover, I don’t necessarily care how they go about doing it. Sure I have my own biases as to what I feel are the most ideal, time efficient, and most important of all, SAFE, ways to go about things given one’s goals and ability level; but in all, if someone is taking steps to improve their health, I’m all for it.
Who am I to judge?
I just think it’s funny (and by funny, I mean the exact opposite of funny) that the word Tabata has grown to encapsulate what mounts to, well, everything.
Tabata burpees; Tabata apple picking; Tabata recycling; Tabata Dating………..I’ll keep going! I’ll do it!
And I’ll just add as an afterthought my fingers are crossed that there’s some semblance of assessment (and regression/progression system) to ascertain one’s ability level before starting one of these classes.
The last thing Dick from accounting, who’s 40 lbs overweight and hasn’t exercised since Patrick Swayze made stone-washed jeans cool, needs is to jump into a 30 minute class of mountain-climbers and lunges on day one.
I’d argue that if most people placed a premium on getting stronger, were CONSISTENT, didn’t automatically feel that they have to resort to 30 minutes of “HIIT” training to the point where they can’t feel the left side of their face, stopped crushing Frappuccinos, and actually went to bed at a decent hour (and drank more water), they’d be surprised with their results.
As some of you know I had the luxury of spending the past few days attending Phase II of the Elite Baseball Mentorship hosted at my stomping grounds, Cressey Performance, listening to Eric Cressey, Eric Schoenberg, and Matt Blake discuss, well, training baseball players.
And while training baseball players is our Soup de Jour at Cressey Performance, what many fail to realize is that we train a wide variety of athletes (softball, basketball, football, hockey, boxing, and at one point we even trained a fencer!) as well as general population clients at the facility.
While the crux of the information covered over the weekend pertained to baseball players and the intricacies involved with managing their care and programming, a fair percentage of it spilled over into the meathead/general population crowd as well.
As is the case every time I attend a seminar or workshop there’s always a nugget or two of information that blows me away and makes me wonder “why am I such a moron?”
One such instance involved a comment that Eric Schoenberg made regarding lunges and how we (as an industry) coach them. In a nutshell he questioned the audience (us) as to why we don’t include more of a hip hinge pattern when we introduce it and coach the lunge?
Ask any strength coach how he or she generally “patterns” the squat, deadlift, kettblebell swing, or any number of other foundational movements, and almost always they’ll say everything revolves around the hip hinge.
Why, then, when we coach the lunge, as Eric noted, do we gravitate towards more of an upright torso (which in turn results in more of a “gross” extension based pattern)?
“Huh,” I thought. “That’s interesting.”
But to be more specific, for visual reference, the video below best depicts my reaction the second Eric made this point.
To give more of a play-by-play description: I’m Triple H, and Eric’s comment is John Cena straight-up power slapping me in the grill.
It……was……awesome. And helped to turn on a light bulb in my head.
And, the whole shebang makes perfect sense when you think about it.
Coaching the lunge with an upright torso isn’t inherently wrong; it just might not be the most ideal way to go about things for some people.
Especially with regards to baseball players and more of the meathead/athletic crowd (who live more of their lives in “gross” extension anyways).
Think about it: those in extension tend to have excessive anterior pelvic tilt, which in turn leads to more femoral internal rotation, which in turn leads to more tibial internal rotation, which then, as we all know, is the real cause of global warming.
But in all seriousness, someone may exhibit faulty hip mechanics, we then coach them to perform a lunge pattern in a way that feeds into said faulty hip mechanics, and then we bark at said athlete or client when his or her’s knee caves in when they lunge.
What’s more, coaching the lunge with a more upright posture only feeds into the extension pattern which doesn’t do their lumbar spine (and more specifically their facet joints) any favors.
And, to add insult to injury, if someone is purposely programmed to think that staying upright is ideal (which isn’t always the case for some), the DBs are going to serve as a counterbalance to keep them in extension.
Instead, what’s wrong with cueing more of a hip hinge and slightforward lean to save their back and to help offset a poor pattern?
One simple cue would be: don’t think of shoulders over the hips, but rather shoulders over the knees.
Thoughts?
This is something that completely flew over my head up until this past weekend, and is something I plan to fix sooner rather than later.
Sadly, I can’t fix the epic fail of having Taylor Swift playing in the background in the above videos.
For those wondering what the picture is on the left, that’s this week’s Cressey Performance nutrition tip. While we do go out of our way to post beneficial tips for our clients – like providing simple strategies to increase fruit and veggie consumption, protein shake recipes, and letting them know that a kitten dies every time you toss an egg yolk into the kitchen sink – we also like to have a little fun from time to time.
Hope you got a little chuckle out of it.
It’s been a busy week on my end, and I have a few deadlines to meet. Note to my editors: I love you.
This weekend is looking to be just as jammed pack what with Phase II of the Elite Baseball Mentorship going down at the facility. It’s basically three days filled with talking about anything and everything as it relates to training baseball players, and I’m pumped to hear what Eric Cressey, Eric Schoenberg, and Matt Blake are going to be sharing (even though I kinda already know what’s going to be covered).
On that note, I hope everyone enjoys their weekend, and I’ll see you back here next week!
I love me some rants. And this my friends, is an EPIC rant. I don’t think I’ve high-fived my computer screen as much as I did listening to this seven minute video.
We can discuss any industry and go on and on and on about how many people within that industry suck. Just like there are shitty personal trainers out there (and there are A LOT), we can also make a case for all the shitty lawyers, doctors, car mechanics, and librarians out there too.
Because there’s no real governing body when it comes to personal trainers, and access/certification is nothing more than a $99 credit card payment to some random website, it’s not surprising that many people have a bad taste in their mouth when it comes to personal trainers.
Thing is though: many of the PTs that we deem as “sucking donkey ass (my words, not the internet’s),” don’t even realize how much they suck. They’re meeting their quotas, they’re making money, they have an arm band tribal tattoo. Life is good!
Anyways, I think many of you will enjoy this rant and will be nodding your head in agreement as much as I did.
I love this post for a variety of reasons – but mainly because of how beautifully simple it was. Some people will go out of their way to come up with the most asinine rationales for why they’re not making progress in the gym.
My left big toe dorsiflexion is off.
I didn’t feed my pet bald eagle this morning.
It’s a leap year.
When the truth of the matter is it’s never anything remotely as complicated as they think it is.
I often feel like Todd and I are long lost brothers. I mean, we both like to lift heavy stuff, we’re both bald, it’s uncanny!
I don’t think there’s ever been a time where I read something he’s written and I didn’t think to myself, “Wow, it’s almost as if I could have written the same thing!”
Needless to say I really respect Todd’s work, and I always look forward to reading his stuff. This one is no different.
The bench press. There’s no mistaking it’s popularity. Walk into most gyms and you’re bound to see an inverse relationship between the number of bench press stations available and squat racks. Likewise, it’s no coincidence that there’s a lot barrel chested guys walking around with chicken legs than vice versa.
I get it, though. As dudes (and yes, women can enter the conversation too, but they’re not nearly as enamored) it’s almost engrained in our DNA out of the womb to bench press.
Ask any guy what he did the first time he stepped foot in a gym and nine times out of ten he’s gonna say “come on man, I benched.”
No exercise is as glamorized nor put on pedestal as the bench press. Moreover, no exercise eats up one’s shoulders like the bench press.
That said, the bench press isn’t going away anytime soon (not that it should, it’s a fantastic exercise), but below are a few suggestions on how tweak it so that your shoulders are less likely to hate you.
1. Uh, Stop Benching (Just for a Little While)
Whenever I start working with someone and they start to describe how much their shoulder hurts one of the first questions I’ll ask is what their benching frequency is like.
More often than not, to put it lightly, it’s a lot.
And while I realize it’s borderline asinine for me to say (because it seems so obvious), I’m going to say it anyways: stop benching.
If bench pressing hurts your shoulder, stop doing it Sherlock!
But since most guys will react by pounding their feet to ground and screaming, “no, no, no, NO!” and then act as if I just ruined their world and said “you’re not leaving this table until you finish your veggies Mister!” I’ll usually lighten the blow by telling them that I only want them to lay low for a week or two, just to see if their symptoms subside.
In the interim I’ll suggest they ramp up their horizontal rowing frequency to the tune of 2:1 or 3:1 (pull:push) ratio and start adding in more push-up variations (which will usually end up being more of a challenge than they think).
Guys often scoff at push-ups, but you’d be surprised as to how many can’t perform them correctly, let alone be able to do ten straight.
I LOVE push-ups in that they’re a closed chain exercise (bench pressing is open chain) which allow for a little more wiggle room for the scapulae to actually move. Conversely, with the bench press, the shoulder blades are glued to the bench itself which can be problematic down the road.
Sure, setting the scapulae in place for stability and transference of force is paramount, but considering the long-term ramifications that can have on shoulder health, it “may” not be ideal for some.
In any case, it’s amazing how much better most shoulders will feel after a couple of weeks of laying off the bench press and addressing muscular imbalances by including more rowing into the mix.
Speaking truthfully, outside of the powerlifting realm I’d be perfectly content with nixing benching altogether for most guys and just opting for push-up variations and dumbbell work. But since pigs will fly before that happens, and guys are going to want to bench press no matter what, here are some more options.
2. Change Your Hand Position
Utilizing more of a narrow or close grip variation will undoubtedly be more “shoulder friendly” in the long run. When we bench with a wider grip it’s a lot easier for the elbows to flare out, which in turn makes the shoulder more vulnerable, unstable, and want to flip us the bird.
Don’t go too narrow however. The one caveat with using a super narrow grip is that we’ll tend to “crowd” ourselves once the bar reaches chest height and the scapulae will dip into anterior tilt and cause more anterior humeral glide (which again, will lead to more instability, not to mention a pissed off bicep tendon).
My general rule of thumb for close grip is roughly shoulder width apart, maybe a teeny tiny bit less depending on the person. For a frame of reference, here’s a picture I snaked off of Mike Robertson’s site:
3. Get a Hand-Off For the Love of God
If you ask any powerlifter or strength coach how important the initial set-up is for the bench press, they’ll inevitably say it’s VERY important.
I don’t want to get into the specifics here – you can easily go read anything Dave Tate has written on the topic – but suffice it to say it’s crucial to set a stable base of support when benching. And that’s going to entail setting your shoulder blades together AND DOWN!!!
A lot of guys will set up properly only to lose everything once they go to un-rack the bar. In order to un-rack the bar they’ll have to protract and abduct the shoulders which kind of defeats the purpose of going through the trouble to set up.
For whatever reason some guys are stubborn when it comes to getting or asking for a hand-off, as if it’s some kind of hit on their manhood.
You’re asking for a hand-off, not for a pedicure. Not that there’s anything wrong with getting a pedicure from time to time. They’re actually quite lovely sometimes. Er, I mean, that’s what I’ve heard at least.
For those too lazy to click on the link, here’s the video component for your viewing pleasure.
4. Board Presses
We actually have a checklist of progressions that we like our clients and athletes to go through before they actually touch a standard bench press. It starts all the way down with push-up isometric holds (pain free ROM) all the way up to the end game of bench pressing like a boss.
Somewhere in the middle are board presses.
Board presses are beneficial for a variety of reasons
1. For the sake of this conversation they’re fantastic because they allow us to limit the ROM so that benching it’s pain free. But we’re still benching, so psychologically it’s a huge win for most guys.
We can start with a 4-5 board press and work our way down three, two, and then one…..so it’s a nice sliding scale of progressions.
2. A bit off topic, board presses are also a fantastic way to teach the body to hold more weight. Because of the reduced ROM, we’re able to load the bar heavier and you can program your CNS to “feel” what it’s like to hold a heavier load.
3. Plus, board presses are an awesome exercise to hammer the triceps.
5. Decline Bench Press
Eric Cressey noted this point yesterday during a staff in-service and is something he’s goes into much more detail on in his Elite Training Mentorship series.
When we’re referencing true “impingement” syndrome with most guys, many will light up when they reach roughly 80-90 degrees of shoulder flexion.
With the decline bench, it’s not uncommon to see 10-15 degrees less shoulder flexion and subsequently guys tend to stay outside of that “danger” zone. So, this is yet another way to make benching a bit more shoulder friendly, and serves as a nice progression leading up to regular bench pressing down the road.
Note from TG: Continuing on from yesterday’s post, today in part deux strength coach Joe Giandanato takes the reigns and talks about his own battles with laxity and how’s he’s been able to manage his symptoms and pain through dedicated strength training as well as some attention to detail with other things.
For those looking to geek out on anatomy and assessment talk (me, me, me!!), Joe breaks down ligamentous verbiage, talks about rate of force development, as well provides some sage words on medical treatment. For the record: it does NOT include watching old Jean Claude Van Damme movies like Blood Sport or Kickboxer or Double Impact.
OMG – those movies were so awesome.
And don’t roll your eyes at me – you know you watched them back in the day. Don’t kid yourself!
Anyways, I’ll let Joe take it from here.
Challenges of Dealing With Lax Athletes
Perhaps one of the greatest challenges I’ve faced as an athlete, lifter, and coach is dealing with ligamentous laxity. I’ve found through my years as a coach and personal trainer that athletes and lifters with ligamentous laxity need to be “slowed down” in the gym. They must master first bridging and planking variations to find a stable core and hips before progressing to barbell exercises.
I’ve found that tempo training works well, especially when the eccentric or isometric is accentuated. Prolonging both help provide the athlete or lifter greater proprioceptive benefits along with a smoother transition to more advanced exercises.
Nine times out of ten, I’ll usually scrap static stretching in the post-workout portion of the training session and in its place, I’d have the athlete perform lower threshold activation exercises for the muscles of the hips, shoulders, and upper back as well as those encircling the knee. (such as what?)
I’ve found these areas to be the most problematic and they’ll typically require the most programming attention. As you’ll soon read, working with athletes with ligamentous laxity can be highly rewarding. Many times, these are explosive individuals who are shrouded by inefficient movement patterns and in some instances dysfunction and pain. With sound programming and proper care, these individuals can blend the best of both worlds – elasticity and strength, unearthing the explosive athlete within.
Joe’s Story
My brief story involves a lifelong love-hate relationship with congenital laxity. My athletic career actually began in a gymnastics studio as a five year old who was enamored by all of the things the older neighborhood girls were capable of. Though my stint in gymnastics didn’t last very long, I remember being just as flexible as all of the girls in class. As I continued my athletic pursuits, which included soccer, basketball, and eventually football, I began to notice that my extreme flexibility had become a detriment of sorts.
Although there was an incredible amount of spring to my step and I was typically one of the faster athletes on the field or court, I was also one of the weakest and most susceptible to joint injury.
Once my mediocre athletic career concluded, which consisted of a brief stint of walking on my local college’s soccer team and flirtations with semi-pro and minor league football, I solely dedicated my extracurricular efforts to the iron.
Although I competed in an unsanctioned push-pull meet a number of years ago, I’ve struggled to keep my body intact long enough to make a concerted attempt in a full powerlifting meet.
The unraveling of my musculoskeletal health triggered an extensive amount of reflection and research. For the past decade I had been bogged down by a cranky sacroiliac joint. If anyone has suffered from SI joint issues, you’ll know that virtually any activity or posture has the capacity to piss that joint off.
SI joint issues aren’t conducive to the “big three” and they certainly don’t lend themselves to productive training sessions.
My maligned speculation of what was causing it was limited to muscles. Although no muscles connect the ilium to the sacrum, the joint itself is governed by the musculature of the lumbopelvic hip complex. A faulty firing pattern could lead to a lateral or anterior pelvic tilt influencing movement of the SI joint.
When the sacrum tips forward, it nutates, when it tips rearward it counternutates. When the SI joint loses its ability to nutate and counternutate effectively, biomechanical compensations occur, which are typically accompanied by pain. Initially, I made the mistake of zeroing in on the muscles responsible for my pain and decreased strength while I overlooked the ligaments.
Ligament A&P Briefer
Ligaments are strong, fibrous bands of connective tissue which connect bones to each other across all joints. Ligaments are composed of both solid and liquid components. The solid components include multiple types of collagen as well as elastin, actin, and proteoglycans, which are glycosylated proteins that play a number of roles in connective tissue health, relevantly the regulation of collagen fibrillogenesis and stimulate cell growth.
The liquid components are mostly comprised of water, which influences cellular and viscoelastic functioning. I should also point out that ligaments are not independent of our body’s neurovascular network as the epiligament, or outer ligament, has a rich supply of proprioceptors and blood.
Individuals with congenital laxity typically have ligaments that are loose, or for a lack of a better term, “stretchy”. These stretchy ligaments do more than allow laxity sufferers to perform parlor tricks such as stretching a muscle beyond a normally safe end range, they can pull joints out of centration which alters proprioceptive abilities as Miguel alluded to before.
Since stretchy ligaments do not allow an individual to maintain joint stability, much less establish it in first place, then joint health will erode over time. Individuals with congenital laxity are at a greater risk for developing osteoarthritis, degenerative disc conditions, and patellofemoral issues. They are also more susceptible to joint sprains likely due to compromised proprioception.
Benefits of Being Lax
However, having ligamentous laxity doesn’t relegate you to the good girl/bad girl machines tucked away in the corner of the gym. Lax individuals can ramp up rate of force development due to their enhanced elasticity. RFD isn’t just limited to a muscle’s force generating capacity.
RFD is also linked to the contributions of the parallel elastic component (PEC) and series elastic component (SEC). Anecdotally, I have found that trained individuals with laxity are more proficient in absorbing force during eccentric movements, which is likely why many lax pitchers can hurl ched as they gather elastic energy during the windup and cocking phases of the pitch.
Assessing Laxity
Typically congenital laxity is assessed via the Beighton Scale. The test features nine domains which include: bilateral passive thumb apposition, bilateral pinky dorsiflexion, bilateral knee hyperextension of at least 10 degrees, bilateral elbow hyperextension of at least 10 degrees, and bending at the waist and placing your hands on the floor while the knees are locked out. Scoring 4 points will earn you a laxity diagnosis.
Registering a 9 out of 9, like Miguel did in his self-administered exam, will get you enshrined in the laxity hall of fame. As thorough as the test may seem, it is rather limited as it overlooks a number of potentially problematic joints.
Watch as my physician, Dr. Hartman assesses me on the table and demonstrates the examination to Miguel and three medical students who are getting napalmed with knowledge.
Medical Treatment
Receiving treatment from Dr. Hartman has been a godsend. When I first visited him a few months ago, nagging SI joint pain had flared up again rendering mundane ADLs such as bending over to tie my shoes, colossally painful. The closest thing I came to squatting and deadlifting was from a spectator’s perspective, observing my athletes perform these lifts while I was writhing in pain, hunched over a power rack.
While medical management of laxity isn’t necessary for everyone, I can personally attest that Dr. Hartman’s treatments have worked wonders for me. Though pedestrian by powerlifting standards, I can crank out sets of deep squats with 405 and conventional deadlifts with 500 pounds on command. Though there’s still a lot of room for improvement on my end, I have come a long way through Dr. Hartman’s care.
One of the treatment modalities that Dr. Hartman utilizes is prolotherapy. Prolotherapy or “prolo” for short involves injecting a hypertonic dextrose or saline solution into the joint. The injection incites an inflammatory response which promotes tissue repair, thereby improving ligamentous integrity and reducing or eliminating musculoskeletal pain.
Medical research indicates prolotherapy as an effective treatment option for those with laxity of the anterior cruciate ligament (4) and knee osteoarthritis (5). Another study suggests that prolotherapy is effective in treating lower back pain in conjunction with additional interventions (6).
If you’re interested in what a round of prolotherapy treatment entails for the SI joint, check out the video. If you’re squeamish, it’d be in your best interests to avoid the 1:09 mark in the following video.
REFERENCES
1.“Clinical Application of Neuromuscular Techniques, Volume 1: The Upper Body [Hardcover].” Clinical Application of Neuromuscular Techniques, Volume 1: The Upper Body: Leon Chaitow, Judith DeLany: 9780443062704
2. Lephart, Scott M., and Freddie H. Fu. Proprioception and Neuromuscular Control in Joint Stability. [Champaign, IL]: Human Kinetics, 2000. Print.
4. Reeves KD, Hassanein KM. Long-term effects of dextrose prolotherapy for anterior cruciate ligament laxity. Altern Ther Health Med. 2003;9(3):58-62.
5. Rabago D, Patterson JJ, Mundt, M, et al. Dextrose prolotherapy for knee osteoarthritis: a randomized controlled trial. Ann Fam Med. 2013;11(3)229-237.
6. Yelland MJ, Del Mar C, Pirozzo S, et al. Prolotherapy injections for chronic low back pain: a systematic review. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2004;29(19):2126-2633.
About the Authors
Miguel Aragoncillo, B.S., CSCS, H.F.S, is a strength coach at Endeavor Sports Performance in Pitman, NJ. Miguel is also a Personal Trainer in the Philadelphia area. Miguel enjoys short sprints on the beach, lifting heavy things (sometimes even in competitions), and dancing on the weekends. You can check out his musings on his blog HERE, as well asfollow him on Twitter @MiggsyBogues.
Joe Giandonato, MS, CSCS, FSBSCC is the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach and Fitness Director at Germantown Academy in Fort Washington, PA. Giandonato is also a Personal Trainer at the University of Pennsylvania, Department of Recreation. He also serves as the Senior Sports Science Editor on joshstrength.com, a website dedicated to strength athletes and those desiring improved body composition and performance.
In 2012, Giandonato was named a fellow of the esteemed Society of Balding Strength and Conditioning Coaches, hoping to one day join the ranks shared by Tony and Eric (Cressey).
