Only 384 days until Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens opens (Dec 2015). So we’re clear: having a nerd boner for that long is completely healthy, right?
I trust JJ Abrams implicitly. He mentioned in an interview I read not too long ago that he was going to try to not rely on CGI too much and revert back to the look and feel of the first trilogy. Based off this trailer it seems he’s keeping his word.
[watches trailer for 6th time]
Okay, my boner just got a boner. It’s getting weird now.
I read a recent article by my good friend, Jordan Syatt, on the Personal Trainer Development Center’s website titled No One Ever Got Better Solely From Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercises and I liked it for two reasons:
Photo Credit: Shawn Rossi
1. It’s a message that needed to be said. Breathing drills (and to be more specific, diaphragmatic breathing drills) aren’t going to add 50 lbs to your deadlift, nor improve your vertical jump, and they certainly aren’t the “x-factor” when it comes to improving one’s sex appeal.
Last time I checked no one ever thought to themselves, ” Whoa, that’s one sexy Zone of Apposition goin on there. I need to get naked with that person, like, right now!”
I’m sure there’s someone out there with some sort of creepy ribcage/thorax re-setting fetish, but for the sake of argument lets just agree that breathing drills won’t land you on the cover of People Magazine anytime soon.
2. Jordan gave props to Cressey Sports Performance in the article. What what!
There’s no denying that “breathing” is all the rage right now – especially in the fitness industry. And more to the point, there’s no denying that the peeps over at the Postural Restoration Institute (PRI) are leading the charge.
Funnily enough: while the breathing hype has gained momentum in the last 2-3 years, PRI has been around for DECADES. I guess it just goes to show there’s a tipping point for everything.
I wrote a post a few months ago calling some trainers out who go a little too far down the PRI rabbit hole. I highlighted the fact that I like PRI; I use PRI; I just feel it’s crippling many fitness professionals who take it too far.
One of my biggest pet peeves is when trainers and coaches forget that they’re trainers and coaches and stop training their athletes and clients. Instead they start treating them, which isn’t their scope of practice in the first place. Worse is that their clients rarely (if ever) get a training effect!
I’m sorry but if your client is 30 lbs overweight or just interested in going to a Bootcamp class, they don’t need to be breathing into a balloon for 20 minutes.
At CSP, because we work with a lot of athletes who live in a constant state of (spinal) overextension, in addition to general fitness clients who come in with a wide variety of movement dysfunctions, we have found that these drills are a nice fit for our demographic. It’s borderline voo-doo(ish) how much improvement we can glean – both from a postural standpoint and pain reduction standpoint – from having someone focus on their quality of breathing for a few minutes.
Take for example a trainer who, while attended mine and Dean Somerset’s workshop in LA last weekend rolled his eyes and made the off-handed comment, “if I did this stuff with my clients, I’d be fired” as I was taking the attendees through a few drills.
1. No shit Sherlock! If the bulk of your clients are celebrities more interested in shadow boxing and looking good for the camera, then of course you’re not going to place a premium on alignment and how breathing mechanics play a role in improving it.
2. So, yeah, placing some emphasis on breathing and breathing mechanics isn’t a good fit depending on who you work with.
Thanks for the insight, dick.
I’ve stated this in the past, but it bears repeating here: GETTING PEOPLE STRONG IS CORRECTIVE!!!!!! This happened to be the larger point I was trying to make which said trainer seemed to overlook. Or maybe he missed it because he was too busy texting on his phone the duration of my presentation.
Okay, okay….not a big deal Tony. You know, people are busy and need to keep in touch with their clients. It’s not th end of the wor…….GODDAMMIT!!!!!! [punches wall].
Why I stress this point is important, because when I do talk about breathing drills and how we incorporate them with our athletes and clients at CSP (regardless of sports played, injury history, and postural imbalances), it’s important to understand that it takes up roughly 2-5% of the total training volume.
That’s it.
Call me crazy, but that’s a pretty awesome minimal investment of time given the profound effects it can have!
From my perspective here are a few bullet points.
NOTE: a MAJOR shout out to Michael Mullin, ATC, PTA, PRC, Mind-Jedi Level II for much of what follows. He’s visited the facility a handful of times to enlighten the CSP staff on some PRI basics.
1. Airflow drives the nervous system. More importantly, the respiration you learned about in school is gas exchange. BREATHING is movement.
2. Taking this a step further, much of the advantage of the PRI approach – and why addressing breathing patterns is important – is that it leads to better outcomes for clients and athletes. Teaching and grooving more efficient breathing is every bit as important as teaching and grooving a proper hip hinge or squat pattern.
3. People who present with a more scissor posture will have a harder time recruiting and using their diaphragm.
In short, the diaphragm is kind of a big deal, and because many of us are locked into a scissor pattern in conjunction with a left rib flare – what PRI refers to as a Zone of Apposition – we have a hard time breathing correctly.
Ideally the diaphragm will act as a superior and inferior “canister,” descending/compressing when we inhale and elongating/doming out when we exhale….which in turn provides optimal stability up and down the kinetic chain.
Unfortunately, due to the aforementioned scissor posture (to the far right in the pic above), we tend to see more anterior translation of the diaphragm locking us into more extension, which in turn doesn’t allow it to perform optimally.
For the more visual learners out there, here’s how the diaphragm should work:
4. All of this to say: these drills help to “encourage neutral.” The body WILL NEVER by symmetrical due to our anatomy, but when someone lives in extension these drills help to get someone closer.
5. Likewise, the brain wants efficiency and will do whatever it takes to get you there. If you watch how most people stand, they’ll revert to what’s known as a Left AIC (Left Anterior Interior Chain) stance, like this….
The right side of the pelvis will be more internally rotated and ADD-ucted and the left side will be more externally rotated and AB-ucted. This, too, causes all sorts of wackiness and effects posture all up and down the kinetic chain. PRI helps to address this and tries to “encourage neutral.”
Exercise drives the sympathetic nervous system and put people on “alert.” I like to incorporate basic breathing drills to engage the parasympathetic nervous system and help people to tone it back down closer to homeostasis.
In addition, anecdotally, so many people are type-A, live in a sympathetic state, and are always “switched on” that they’re unable to relax. Breathing helps to turn on the parasympathetic nervous system and allows people to smell the roses so-to-speak.
There’s obviously A LOT more to all of this and I’m only scratching the surface with this post. It’s a topic that requires a bit more time (and I encourage you to seek other resources if it interests you). That said, everything I alluded to above hits on a few BIG ROCK points that I hope resonates with everyone.
Whether it’s a good fit for YOU and YOUR clients is a discussion that needs (and should) to be considered. In the end, like anything….it depends
Before I get to the meat and potatoes of today’s post I first wanted to thank everyone one who came out to CrossFit 714 in Anaheim, CA for mine and Dean’s workshop. We had 30 trainers and coaches from all over the Western portion of the country attend (even from Utah and Hawaii) and I think it was a massive success. I mean, no one asked for a refund or screamed “YOU HATE DIPS AND KIPPING PULL-UPS!?!?!? YOU’RE RUINING MY LIFE TONY GENTILCORE!!!”
So win-win.
And let me just say that the traffic in LA is NO JOKE! I read about how much of a nightmare it is and how it’s the worst thing ever, and honestly, having lived in Boston for eight years – where traffic isn’t exactly a cake walk – I always thought to myself “how bad can it really be?”
On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being “Traffic? What traffic? We’ll be there in ten minutes!” and 10 being “I’d rather walk on broken glass.” traffic in LA is the equivalent of Graham’s Number in sucktitude.
I made it back, I had a day to recover and catch up on some sleep, and now it’s back to business as usual.
I’m about five minutes away from heading out to the facility, but I wanted to share an article I had published on Stack.com recently.
It deals with a topic we have to teeter-totter with a lot at Cressey Sports Performance and it’s also a question I receive often in various places I speak:
Should a young athlete specialize in one sport, and if so, how early?
Truth be told: I’m not a fan of athlete’s specializing before a certain age. I feel it causes more harm than good and handicaps more athletes than it helps from developing their full spectrum of athleticism.
Too, nothing makes me cringe more – outside of maybe a botched rendition of the National Anthem – than when I ask a 13 year old kid what sports (s)he plays and their response is “x sport” and nothing else.
Adding to that point, we’ve also had parents with children as young as 7-8 years old contact us for our services, and while it’s always a compliment, we always tactfully say no.
As Mike Boyle has stated in the past, “your kid doesn’t need a strength coach, he needs a bike.”
Nevertheless I had a few more things to say on the topic and I hope you take a few minutes to check it out as I feel it’s a very important message.
Greeting from Los Angeles! I landed at LAX a little less than a hour ago, and as you can see I wasted no time firing up my laptop to bang out a quick post today.
Photo Credit: Natasha Bishop
I have a few hours to kill so I might as well do something. Dean’s (Somerset) flight doesn’t arrive until later this afternoon, and since he’s my ride from the airport to our hotel this weekend I might as well try to be somewhat productive between now and then.
Not that I haven’t been productive already.
On the flight over from Boston I was able get some writing done, finished a few programs, tinkered with my presentations, and took a quick power nap. I never sleep on planes, like ever. So the fact I was able to snake 20 minutes was a bonus.
And while I’m on the topic of my flight: I’m not one to complain, but I was a bit miffed at Virgin America that they didn’t offer any free snacks on a six hour flight. I mean, what the hell!?!?!
Not even a bag of peanuts. Or a rice cake. Nothing!
And to throw some salt on the wound, I was so hungry when I got off the plane and so focused on finding something to eat, that when I did, I completely forgot I left my phone charging in the arrival terminal.
It wasn’t until I walked through the security check point and into the next terminal that I realized my boo boo.
Thankfully there was a nice TSA employee (I know, right? They do exist) at the checkpoint who was kind enough to walk back to the phone charger station thingamajiggy and snatch it up for me. I’m hoping that’s my only snafu for the entire trip. Fingers crossed.
On my approach in I saw the Hollywood sign, and I’m trying my best not to creep people out with one-liners from my all-time LA based movie, Swingers.
“You’re so money, and you don’t even know it!”
Others on the list: Heat, Collateral, Escape From LA…;o)
Unfortunately I won’t have much of an opportunity for too much sight seeing, but all I really care about is soaking up all the vitamin D I can muster in the next two days. It’s gorgeous here!
Next stop CrossFit 714 (located in Orange) for mine and Dean’s workshop!
And on that note, here’s some stuff to read….
Yet again, Bryan holds no punches with calling people out on their shenanigans.
Here Bret provides a video on how you can go about finding YOUR ideal squat depth based if YOUR body type and limitations.
Not all squat depths are created equal!
In this eye-opening infographic, the team at Precision Nutrition gives insight on what it REALLY takes to get to a certain level of body fat. It’s not all unicorn kisses and rainbows people.
My former editor at T-Nation, Bryan Krahn, used to cringe sometimes when I sent him an article. It seemed every other article I sent him would hover around the topic of deadlifts.
Top Tips to Improve Your Deadlift
Deadlifts For Mass Gains
Deadlifts For Athletic Gains
How Deadlifts Can Spice Up Your Sex Life & Are Actually An Underrated Kitchen Condiment!
Which is Better: Deadlifts or Oxygen?
Every now and then I’d get a note back…
“Dude, enough with the deadlift articles! If I have to read another word on the hip hinge I’m going postal!”
I’d take the subtle hint and lay low on the deadlift content for a few months. But inevitably I’d revert back to my old ways.
As it happens, THREE of my articles (including four of Eric’s) made T-Nation’s list of 22 Most Popular Deadlift Articles.
I’m like, so popular.
I feel like I should pat myself on the back. It’s been a few months since I’ve written anything specific about the deadlift on this site. That’s right on par with Food Babe going a few days without fear mongering us to death and telling us drinking Pumpkin Spice will give us a third nipple or Carrie Bradshaw going more the five minutes without talking about shoes!
More to the point, I want to take a few moments to talk about TENSION!!!! Getting (and maintaining) tension throughout a set is one of the keys to solid deadlift technique. It’s the key to technique for A LOT of movements, but today I’m going to focus on the deadlift.
I’ve discussed this point in the past, but it bears repeating: One of the dead giveaways that someone lacks tension during their pull is if 1) their upper back rounds1 and 2) their hips come up too early. Like this:
In both scenarios I’ll almost always attack lat activation/engagement and upper back tension.
With regards to the lats I’ll approach it in a few ways:
1. I’ll have the lifter assume their starting stance in the bottom position and then kinda poke a prod their armpits/lats and tell them to “get tight/stiff here.” That’s pretty easy. Hopefully they’re not too ticklish.
2. Once I have that, I’ll then tell them to “pretend like you’re squeezing an orange in your armpit during the entire rep and you’re trying to make orange juice.” Again this helps to fire the lats more effectively (external cues usually work a lot better than internal cues), which in turn helps transfer force more efficiently as well as provide a ton more spinal stability.
If neither of those two cues work, a simple drill I like to use is this:
NOTE: with beginners with poor kinesthetic awareness, before I have them touch a barbell I’ll start them off with this drill so I can kill two bird with one stone. I’m getting to feel what it’s like to engage their lats WHILE grooving a hip hinge.
With regards to the upper back there’s a little more to things than just telling someone to “get your back tight!” Moreover, some lifters make the mistake of literally pinching their scapulae (shoulder blades) together in an effort to get “tight.”
This is wrong. And will actually work against you.
Instead I’ll tell trainees to “set their shoulders,” and to think about placing their shoulder blades in their back pocket. What this does is posteriorly tilt the scapulae (NOT retract). Retracting the shoulder blades makes your arms shorter which will make it harder to get to the bar.
Additionally, the preferred cue helps to elicit more upper back tension.
Watch this video to see what I mean:
I have a home base or “go to” for just about everything. And by that I mean the thing – however ordinary, ornate, ominous, or obligatory – I’ll always default to when in a pinch or when I know I won’t be able to make up my mind and just want something familiar.
Home base restaurant (general): Chipotle
Home base restaurant (in Boston): Beehive or Sunset Grill.
Home base movie: GoodFellas
Home base television show: House Hunters International Fresh Prince of Bel Air re-runs.
Home base book: anything written by Kurt Vonnegut (or has lots of pictures).
Home base lazy day activity: hanging with my cat or going to the local bookstore.
Home base musical artist: Norah Jones. Whatever dude, don’t judge me! I saw that REO Speedwagon mix tape in your glove compartment.
Home base is simple. It’s what we know. It’s consistent. No matter what, it’s what we’ll always gravitate towards when left to our own devices and just want to go with the flow. It’s home.
There’s a lot of noise out there to distract us. Every week there’s a new diet book that hits the New York Times Best Seller list.
Last week it was Paleo Rules: The Ultimate Diet We Have Little Proof Existed In the First Place and Meant Different Things to Different Parts of the World Depending on What Food Was Available to Them At the Time (Yet Will 100% Cure Everything, Ever. Including How Fat You Are)2, and this week it’s the seminal hit, Gluten Is Basically Worse Than Ebola3.
Adding fuel to the fire, one week dietary fat is bad and will steal your lunch money, and the next it’s our BFF. A few years ago intermittent fasting was all the rage. Now it’s all about if-it-fits-your-macros, yo!
NOTE: for an excellent, all-encompassing (free) resource on intermittent fasting go HERE.
It’s no wonder so many people are so confused on what to eat! I overheard a conversation not too long ago between two women at Panera where one of them was having a mid-life crisis on eating an apple before bed. She had been so indoctrinated that all carbohydrates were bad, she needed to find solace from her friend to reassure her that it was okay. The fructose police weren’t coming after her.
Listen, I’m not a hater. I recognize that what works for one person, may not be an ideal fit for the next. I also recognize there’s going to be a bit of experimentation to figure out what works best for any one individual. If you want to eat nothing but grapefruits for 17 days or ingest some magical pills that have you shitting detox rainbows, have at it!
I feel the whole “detox” trend is BS, but if that’s your bag so be it.
If it works for you and it makes you happy, cool. However, I do feel it’s important to have a home base. A place you can feel “safe” and revert to when things get dicey or unclear.
Using myself as an example, I know what works for me and what makes my body feel good. I remember I did an intermittent fasting experiment two years ago for a month to see what all the buzz was about. I hated it.
I typically train between 9-11 AM and my lifts suffered because I’d get halfway through my session and think about nothing other than when I was going to eat.
I lasted 3-4 weeks and reverted back to my “normal” diet. Lots of whole eggs, beef, chicken, fruits/veggies, etc. Sounds very Paleolike, right? I guess you could say I roll with that crowd…..to a degree. Keep reading.
I also remember a stretch where Lisa and I went hardcore Paleo. We took grains, lentils, and beans out of our diet. We also omitted peanut butter – GODDAMMIT!!! – and pretty much all dairy. It was tolerable, but I noticed after awhile I was feeling a bit more lethargic and tired during the day – especially in the mornings, which shouldn’t happen after 9-10 hours of quality sleep.
It didn’t take long before I went all Wilford Brimley and said, “fuck this I’m eating my oatmeal.”
I felt better.
I know my body. I know my body handles carbs well4; I know it prefers a big breakfast every morning; I know it prefers I “taper” carbs as the day progresses; I know it likes potatoes, beans, oats, grains, and everything else people who like to sell books hate; I know it loves eating dead animal flesh; I know it can handle dairy (I’m obsessed with cheese); I know supplements aren’t going to trump real food; and I know it loves mine and Lisa’s “Date Night,” where we go out to eat every Saturday night and not only eat bread, but ask for more than one basket. And then we eat dessert.
If I’m paying $30+ for an entree you better believe I’m having some carrot cake!
I know what works for ME and what allows me to hit my goals. If I ever stray too far away from what I know works, I can always go back. That’s the beauty of having a home base in the first place! Once you know what it is, you know where to find it.
It may take you or someone you know a bit longer to define home base – it can mean different things to different people. For some, home base is 10% body-fat year round and being able to “fuel” every grueling workout. For others, home base is eating GMO, organic sawdust. And for others, home base is eating well-balanced diet (what ever that means).
The point is: a home base exists. It works for YOU. You feel great and it allows you to reach (and MAINTAIN) your goal(s).
Basically what I’m trying to say is: oatmeal is my home base.
UPDATE: maybe I need to write a little sumthin, sumthin in my training home base?
I had the opportunity to make a recent cameo appearance on The Fitcast with Kevin Larrabee.
Some long-time readers may recall I used to be a co-host of the show a few years ago; and some may even recall my now infamous first ever appearance on the show.
This is Tony Gentilcoooooooooooooore.
I was such a tool.
Nevertheless it seems like eons or Klekkets5 since I was last on the show.
It’s always a pleasure to catch up with Kevin and it’s always an honor to continue to be invited back on to talk some shop. So if you’re sitting there at work with nothing to do, or you’re trudging through a brutal cardio session and need something to listen to to pass the time, check it out. We discuss new stuff we’ve implemented at CSP, my own evolution as far as training philosophy is concerned, and more.
A week from today I’ll be on my way out to sunny California. I’ve never been to California. In fact, the furthest west I’ve ever been (in the States at least) is Las Vegas, twice.
I’m making the trek to Los Angeles next weekend for mine and Dean Somerset’s Excellent High Five Workshop. I know it seems like a week doesn’t go by where I don’t say something about our workshop, so some of you will be happy to know that this is the last stop in 2014 for the Dean and Tony show.
What can I say? We’re in demand!
We’ve been through the east coast (Boston, DC), given Canada some love (Edmonton), and we’ve also gone international stepping off of North America to Europe (London), that we figured it was high-time to give the West coast peeps some action.
Don’t worry South – we may be coming to your neck of the woods in 2015! Think: Austin, TX. I’ll be so pumped if that happens!
I’m really looking forward to next weekend’s trip though. So much so that I’ve been foregoing my usual West-Coast rap boycott and playing more Dre, Pharcyde, Masta Ace, and The Alkaholiks at the facility this week.
We have an awesome two-days planned with some cameo appearances from a handful of “fitness celebrities” sprinkled in for good measure. Spots are still available if you’re interested. Go HERE for more information.
Nutrition has been and always will be the one bottleneck for most people. It’s the nature of the beast for many people to overanalyze and pontificate over the most minute things.
“Should I eat 1.1 grams of protein per body weight or 1.2 grams?”
“Carbs are bad. Apples have carbs. Hence, apples are making me fat!”
“Tomatoes are a fruit. Pizza has tomato sauce. Pizza is like eating fruit!”
Likewise, there are a million and one buzzwords that the industry uses to allure and entice people into a mindset:
“If your grandmother wouldn’t recognize the ingredients, then do eat it.”
“Only eat whole foods.”
It’s no surprise people are more confused than ever as to what they should and should not be eating. Dr. Berardi attempts to be a voice of reason with this excellent article.
I’m a Jen Sinkler fan (but really who isn’t?) I’d argue there’s no one in the industry who’s as well-rounded and open minded as she is.
Name someone else who’s not only an ex professional athlete but who has also dabbled in CrossFit, tumbling, Olympic lifting, Strongman training, kettlebells, AND Powerlifting?
I wouldn’t be half surprised if Jen said she’s going to run for President, be the first person to walk on Mars AND that she’s Wonder Woman.
She’s awesome. And this article is awesome.
Need a little motivation to lift heavy things today? Read this.
You’re welcome.
As a a predominantly sports training facility it’s no secret that we place a premium on training the backside of the body at Cressey Sports Performance.
While the “mirror muscles” (chest, biceps, quads, abs) get most of the love, what separates the athletes who get cut from the Varsity team to those who earn scholarships and maybe even play professionally are the ones who, outside of having natural ability, understand that training the backside – hamstrings, glutes, erectors, lats, rhomboids, trapzipidus6, etc – is what allows them to run faster, jump higher, and be more explosive.
Photo Credit: Greatist
Not to mention increases your intelligence by 717% in addition to improving your chances of dating a Victoria Secret model by 312%. Trust me, it’s science.
Even if you’re someone who’s not remotely concerned with developing athleticism and all you care about is aesthetics and not being timid to take your cloths off with the lights on, training the non-mirror muscles can have a profound effect on how you look.
Whether we’re talking about helping to offset the deleterious effects of sitting on all day (posture) or just building a well-rounded physique, training the backside of the body is where it’s at.
To that end exercises like deadlifts, squats, RDLs, hip thrusts, glute-ham raises, pull-throughs, and KB swings get a lot of play at CSP.
Another exercise we like to use is the slideboard leg curl. As opposed to the traditional prone 0r seated (machine) leg curl, this variation trains both (main) functions of the hamstrings – knee flexion/hip extension – simultaneously.
One variation of the slideboard leg curl we’ve been playing with recently is the core engaged leg curl.
Who Did I Steal It From: fellow CSP coaches Greg Robins and Miguel Aragoncillo.
What Does It Do: I’ll admit it comes across as a bit gimmicky, but the band does serve a purpose. Bilateral arm (shoulder) extension forces trunk flexion, which is just another way of encouraging a little more posterior pelvic tilt.
By engaging the core, we can keep people from defaulting into too much lumbar extension during the exercise. Since we work with a lot of people who are stuck in extension, this is an exercise that fits very well with our population of athletes and clients.
You can perform this both bilaterally (two legs) or unilaterally (one-legged). As you can see (and hear) from the video, the one-legged variation is hard! I did shoot this video AFTER a training session, so cut me some slack….;o)
Both variations are superb and a great way to train the hamstrings and glutes.
Key Coaching Cues: I like to use a controlled eccentric and extend my legs to the point where my butt just baaaaarely touches the floor. Finish with the glutes at the top!
This is a somewhat self-limiting exercise, so if you’re unable to extend your legs out all the way that’s okay. You can use what ROM you do have and build from there. You also have to consider that the exercise may be too aggressive compared to your current ability level.
Shoot for sets of 8-10 reps if performing with two legs; 4-5 per leg if performing one at time.
Let me know what you think!
I’m an avid reader. At any given time I’m reading 3-4 books at once. I’m always working my way through something related to my field. These are what I like to call the “hafta reads.”
Meaning, I hafta read “x book” in order to stay sharp and on top of things related to my profession (HERE are some of my favs).
Not coincidentally these are also the books which (sometimes) take me F.O.R.E.V.E.R to get through, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. Topics like humeral anterior glide syndrome or the Patheokinesiologic model of movement doesn’t make for light reading.
In addition I like to read a fair amount of non-fiction, particularly self-improvement books or books on behavioral economics. As you can surmise, I’m always the life of the party!
I have a 40 minute commute to and from work each day, so I’ll also be working my way through a book from Audible.com, assuming I’m not listening to ESPN or EW Radio.
And like any true nerd I’m always game for a good piece of fiction, particularly science-fiction.
I started reading The Martian by Andy Weir two days ago, and I cannot put it down. Without giving away too many details it’s about astronaut Mark Watney (who’s sense of humor given his circumstances is impressive) and how his crew was forced to evacuate the planet while thinking him dead.
Only he’s not!
Mark is stranded on Mars’s surface with no way to signal Earth that he’s alive. OMG I’m biting my fingers nails as I type this!
It’s sooooo good. And not for nothing, is currently being made into a movie starring Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain and directed by Ridley Scott.7
As is the case every time I read something, I try to find parallels between what’s being written and how I can apply a certain theme or idea to what I do as a coach.
If you can believe it, I found something.
The Martian is about a guy who’s stranded and alone on a desolate planet. I, along with many of my colleagues, often feel stranded and alone when it comes to going against the grain on some common fitness myths and fallacies.
Take for instance……..stretching.
Ever notice how everyone has tight hamstrings or tight hip flexors? Also ever notice how having “tight hamstrings” (and stretching them) is the answer for everything?
Low back pain? Tight hamstrings.
Your butt “winks” at the bottom of a squat? Tight hamstrings.
Chronic hamstring strains? Tight hamstrings!
Bad hair day? It’s tight hamstrings, yo!
Facetiousness aside, this isn’t to imply that there aren’t people out there who have short or stiff hamstrings (or short and stiff anything). They do! Likewise, by all means, there are millions of people who could benefit from stretching those sons-of-bitches, and could benefit from some additional stretching in general.
There’s no denying the many advantages that static stretching provides. I’m not hatin. Although, I’d be remiss if I didn’t state that how most people stretch (and for what length of time they stretch) really does nothing other than increase the tolerance to the stretch.
I.e., you’re not “lengthening” anything.
In order to increase the length of a muscle you need to either 1) lengthen bone (um, ouch!) or 2) in the case of someone who truly presents as short or stiff, increase the total number of sarcomeres in series (which takes a metric shit-ton of stretching).
Ask physical therapist Bill Hartman how long someone really needs to stretch in order to have a significant affect and/or to add sarcomeres, and he’ll tell you the starting point is 2-3, 10 minute holds per day. Working up to 20 minute holds.
That cute 30-second “stretch” you’re doing isn’t really doing anything.
However getting back to my original point, I do find the default suggestion of telling someone to “just go stretch” is a bit overused. While a great piece of advice for some people, it could be a nightmare for others and the exact reason some people remain in pain and never see much improvement(s).
And it’s with that I’d like to highlight some common stretching mistakes and misconceptions.
You’d be surprised how often it’s the latter. Simply put: most people aren’t so much tight as they are misaligned.
It goes back to something physical therapist and strength coach, Mike Reinold, brought up in casual conversation not too long ago.
Those trainers and coaches who swing on the stability side of the pendulum tend to be the overly cautious type who have their clients stand on BOSU balls.
Those on the mobility side snuggle with their copy of Supple Leopard every night.
Neither approach is inherently wrong so much as they’re flawed (if haphazardly assumed as “correct” for every person, in every situation).
If you strengthen (stabilize) in misalignment you develop imbalances. If you stretch (mobilize) in misalignment you develop instability.
Take someone who presents with excessive anterior pelvic tilt. It’s not uncommon for said person to complain about constant “tight” hamstrings, and no matter how often they stretch them, they stay tight.
You would think that after weeks, months, or sometimes even years of non-stop “stretching” they’d see some improvement, right?
The reason why they feel tight all the time has nothing to do with their hamstrings, but rather pelvic positioning. Unless you address the position of the pelvis – in this case, excessive anterior pelvic tilt – you can stretch the hamstrings until Taylor Swift writes a song about not being broken up with (<– not gonna happen), and you’ll never see improvement.
Think about it this way: in this scenario the reason why the hamstrings feel tight is because they’re lengthened and firing on all cylinders. By stretching them you’re just feeding into the problem in the first place!
We could easily chalk this up to the classic Lower Cross Syndrome as popularized by Dr. Vladomir Janda and stretch what’s tight (hip flexors, erectors), and that would be a step in the right direction. Cool.
But I feel for most people that’s not going to solve the problem and raises another issue altogether (which I’ll discuss below).
For most people the bulk of their efforts should revolve around including more things which encourages posterior pelvic tilt. Things like…..
** Oftentimes the lats are stiff/short and pull people into more of an extension posture. This breathing drill helps to turn off the lats while also cueing PPT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SndY5ctyU8U
You know how I said above that performing hip flexor stretches (stretching what’s tight) may be beneficial but that it brings up another issue altogether. No? Oh, you skipped that part? Well, FML!
Let me repeat:
We could easily chalk this up to the classic Lower Cross Syndrome as popularized by Dr. Vladomir Janda and stretch what’s tight (hip flexors, erectors), and that would be a step in the right direction. Cool.
But I feel for most people that’s not going to solve the problem and raises another issue altogether (which I’ll discuss below).
Stretching the hip flexors is fine and dandy, and a good idea…..assuming you’re doing it correctly.
Here’s how most people stretch their hip flexor, though:
Most aren’t cognizant of pelvic positioning and just go into MORE anterior pelvic tilt and end up hanging on the ligaments of their lumbar spine. This is NOT a hip flexor stretch, and I’d argue is doing more harm than good.
Instead, I coach people to do what I like to call “doing shit right.”
Here’s how you perform a proper hip flexor stretch:
– In the half kneeling position, think chest up.
– Dig the toes of your trailing leg into the ground (toes point into the floor).
– On that same side, squeeze the glute of the trailing leg…..HARD!!! This will posteriorly tilt the pelvis. This cue alone will DRASTICALLY increase the effectiveness of the stretch.
– From there, without cranking through the lower back, gently shift your weight forward a few ticks. It won’t take much. The idea here is to move into a “deeper” stretch through the hip joint itself and not the lumbar spine. SQUEEZE THAT GLUTE!!!!
If you’d like to up the ante, because the rectus femoris crosses two joints – the hip and knee – you can place one hand on the wall for support and reach back and grab the ankle of the trailing leg with the other hand and perform the stretch in that fashion. Honestly, though, most will feel plenty enough of a stretch without doing that.
I posted this Tweet the other day:
If I had nickel for each time someone told me they had “tight” hamstrings, only to test 5/5 on the Beighton Score, I’d have a lot of nickels
— Tony Gentilcore (@tonygentilcore1) November 11, 2014
This sorta mirrors my comments above – when discussing alignment – but deserves a bit more love here.
I can’t tell you how many athletes (particularly baseball players) and even general fitness clients I’ve assessed who adamantly tell me how “tight” they are (and have been told how tight they are from physical therapists) only to pass every range of motion test with flying colors and test a 5/5 (technically 9/9) on the Beighton Laxity Score.
In geek speak it’s called protective tension.
Yet, there they are……stretching, stretching, and doing more stretching.
These people have so much ROM and are so unstable that the body perceives it as a threat and as a results ends up putting on the emergency breaks (your body doesn’t want you to hurt yourself!).
Muscle will hold tension in the presence of implied instability of associated joints. Muscles will relax when the implied instability of the associated joint(s) is improved.
Stretching a tight muscle without improving stability will result in a muscle that remains tight.
As classic example is the person who has a poor squat pattern due to “tight hips.” They lean forward too much, their knees cave in, and they present with all sorts of compensation patterns because they’re so tight.
Of course, they’ve been doing nothing but stretching and implementing a litany of hip mobility drills to address the problem. To no avail.
Try this: have that same person hold a 5-10 lb plate with their arms extended out in front of their body and see what happens. PRESTO……..more often than not you’ll see a profound difference on not only how the squat looks, but how deep they can go.
Holding the weight out front serves as a counterbalance (easier to hip hinge back) and forces the anterior core to engage. Hence provides more stability.
And this phenomenon can be applied to other things as well. As Dean Somerset has noted on several occasions, “muscles do not have origins or insertions, merely anchors to bone.” The body is essentially one muscle connected by fascia. Anyone who disagrees can read Thomas Myers’ Anatomy Trains and get back to me on that.
Or you can watch this video by Dean and see how he’s able to increase one’s hip ROM by having them perform a few repetitions of planks (done correctly).
NOTE: this is the type of voodoo stuff Dean and I go over in our workshops. We’ll be in LA in two weeks.
So, are you tight or just unstable?
Is stretching always the answer?
Are you even stretching the right way? Hmmmmmmmm.
