CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 7/31/15

Before we dive into this week’s list I wanted to say “thank you” to everyone who chimed in with their kind words and internet high-fives over my Vogue Magazine story the other day.

It was nice to know I wasn’t too off-base with my thinking and that many of you felt the same level of disbelief and WTFness that something absurd would make it to print in a mainstream magazine.

I (and Lisa) felt much better after writing it. Please continue to spread the word! It’s a message that needs to be heard.

Complete Shoulder & Hip Workshop

 

As a reminder: Dean Somerset and I are excited to announce our latest gig: The Complete Shoulder & Hip Training Workshop.

It’s like a travel Cirque du Soleil show, except with no tents, flashy acrobatics, animals, or ripped half- naked dudes contorting themselves into pretzels. Unless, of course, Dean decides to take people through one of his epic warm-up routines.

He’s a surprisingly supple bastard.

We teamed up last year for a handful of workshops that were really successful – London, DC, LA –  and didn’t want to kill each other, so we figured we’d do it again this year

This time we’re going to place a ton of emphasis on the hips and shoulders. We’ll talk anatomy, assessment, corrective exercise, programming, and we’ll also be doing a fair amount of coaching/hands-on demonstrations. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll bring along a slide show of all my wedding pictures.

Lisa and I finally received a bulk of them the other day. Here’s a sneak peek of one of our favs…

Nom, nom, nom, nom

CEU’s will be available for all workshops.

EDMONTON (only three weeks away!).

ST. LOUIS (in September, the EARLY BIRD rate is still active, but will end soon.)

CHICAGO (I’ve never been, and can’t wait to explore.)

(Just Added) LOS ANGELES (in November, I’ll finally be able to tour all the bars from the movie Swingers).

To Crunch or Not to Crunch: An Evidence-Based Examination of Spinal Flexion Exercises, Their Potential Risks, and Their Applicability to Program Design – Bret Contreras and Brad Schoenfeld

This is the full study printed in the Strength and Conditioning Journal and NOT an article. It’s long, it’s boring. Caffeine is recommended.

It’s older (four years), and for some reason I’m just now reading it. I suck.

I’m definitely someone who’s based most (if not all ) of his approach to core training and lower back “management” on Dr. Stuart McGill’s research. He’s the godfather of spinal research and biomechanics (and has an epic mustache) so who am I to disagree?

That said, I also like to consider myself open-minded and am more than willing to absorb new information and research that may be contrary to my former beliefs.

Three Daily Rituals That Stop Spouses from Taking Each Other for Granted – Peter McFadden

Holla – another wedding pic! And, guess who did her chin-ups leading up to the big day?…;o)

Relationships are work. Nothing comes easy. And Lisa and I always try our best to be open and cognizant of our relationship and the epic journey we’ve had and will continue to have.

We have date night every Saturday night. We pick a restaurant in the city (Boston) and we go enjoy a lovely night of cheese, meat, libations, and carbs. It’s important to us and something we always look forward doing. It keeps things fresh. Like we’re still dating.

Sometimes when we’re out I can’t help but observe other couples who sit across from one another in a seemingly blank void of “thereness.” They’re both there, but not there. Or worse, both on their smart phones.

Anyways I came across this article and liked it. I actually sent it to Lisa who immediately knew the researchers named in the article (she’s a psychologist), and was elated I took the time to read it.

Even if you’re not married, and in a committed relationship, I’d encourage you to read it.

An Open Letter to CrossFit HQ – Dr. Adam Schulte

Like a moth to a flame I found myself watching a few minutes of the CrossFit Games last weekend. To not be impressed by the strength & endurance exhibited by the participants would be a lie.

I was impressed. I know I couldn’t do it.

But I wouldn’t want to.

To say the entire event was brutal would be an understatement. I “get” that that’s the point (to a degree), but to me, as a casual observer, it seemed more like a circus aiming to give the audience a shiny bright object to divert their attention every few minutes.

And, to be honest, after reading this article, the guys running the show come across as pretty nonchalant about things. Unfortunate.

Also

Eric Cressey and Mike Reinold’s Functional Stability Training (all THREE modules) is on SALE at 20% off through the end of this week.

I was on-hand during the filming of all three (I even make a cameo, Spoiler Alert: shirtless, in the upper body module) and can say I still feel it’s one of the best resources out there on assessment and gaining a better understanding of “functional” anatomy.

If you’re a trainer, coach, or someone who likes to nerd out on scapulohumeral rhythm this will be right up your alley. And, I want to hang out with you.

Functional Stability Training

CategoriesFemale Training rant

Hey Vogue Magazine, Thanks For Setting Women’s Fitness Back A Few Decades

My wife is angry at you Vogue. And so am I.

The other night as I plopped down on the couch after a long day at the gym to say hello to Lisa and to catch up on her day, she chuckled and said, “oh boy, do I have something to show you.”

She had ripped a page out of this month’s issue of Vogue Magazine (August 2015, pg. 128) and handed it to me.

Knowing it was Vogue I wasn’t sure what to expect. All I knew was that Lisa had handed me the piece of paper with some conviction.

Was it fashion tips for me?1 Outlandish outfits? Offensive accessories? Was neon green named this year’s color of Fall? Shit, no, maybe it was something far, far worse…skinny jeans for men are here to stay!?!?!

Thankfully it had nothing to do with any of those things.

Rather the article she handed me was on, of all things….foam rolling?

At first my wife was like “oh, wow, cool…..I can’t believe there’s an article on the benefits of foam rolling in a mainstream magazine like Vogue!”But then she read it, and noticed the all-too familiar feeling she gets whenever she ends up reading mainstream fitness fiction: Disappointment and the uncontrollable urge to punch a wall.

I couldn’t find a link online, so I opted to take a picture instead. Here you go.

I take no responsibility if a small piece of your soul dies:

Behold: A parfait of fitness fact and fiction, topped with a fluffy yet crisp meringue of bullshit. Toning, lengthening, leaning, bullshit.

Some Highlights:

1. The subtitle:

“Amid the current craze for foam props, Courtney Rubin asks, can they really make you LONG AND LEAN – or is that a bit of a stretch?”

– Is the craze really that current? I started using foam rollers with my clients over a decade ago. I’ll give a pass here because Vogue is a fashion magazine, not a fitness magazine, and staying on top of the latest fitness trends isn’t their strong suit. Plus, Lisa did defend this subtitle, reminding me that foam rollers can now be spotted in gyms, commercial and otherwise, as well as stores like Marshall’s and other chains with popular fitness equipment.

However, after reading on, I wished Vogue decided not to stray from their wheel house.

– Because lo and behold, there they were, those terrible words, rearing their ugly heads again….the dreaded “long and lean” buzz words that mainstream magazines love to use to prey on women and promote unrealistic expectations.

2. From the first paragraph of the article:

“These days, those of us who dream of long and lean (<—ahhh, my eyes) physiques are turning to – or rather, rocking over – foam rollers.”

– LOLLOLOLLOL. I see what you just did there Vogue. Very witty. But come on, can we stop with the LONG AND LEAN nonsense?

Let’s first review a clear and permanent fact you can’t lengthen a muscle without lengthening bone. Muscles have what we refer to as an origin and insertion. This is something you cannot change without some rather extensive (and painful) bone lengthening surgery or a magic spell from Professor Dumbledore.

And lean means fat loss. People become more lean by losing fat. By alluding that foam rolling will lead to lean physiques is somewhat comical and borderline shameful. But hey, catchy titles that use buzzwords sells magazines right?

A defender of the article might argue that a muscle could technically be “longer” (or lie flatter?) after scar tissue, adhesions, or “the kinks” as they refer to them, has been rolled out. Do you think your reader is thinking technically, Vogue? Of course you don’t. You know that when the average reader is reading “longer and leaner muscles” she is not envisioning excellent tissue quality, like this:You know that she’s envisioning this:

So, was this statement made out of ignorance of human anatomy, or a deliberate twisting, or “spinning” of a fact in order to promote magical thinking? Either way, it is offensive to those who know better, and a major disservice to those who don’t, but would very much like to!

Many (not all) women who read this article are going to equate foam rolling with trimming their waist and getting skinnier, which is absurd.

This is why people (women and men) do stupid shit, often waste their time spinning their wheels at the gym, and why many have unrealistic expectations and rarely (if ever) attain the results they’re after.

Foam rolling DOES have a place and there’s a ton of validity to it. Just not in the way it’s being portrayed in this article.

Continuing On

3. From there it’s more blah, blah, blabiddy, blah and then we get into some legit, credible information:

“Rolling key areas of the body such as the hamstrings or hips back and forth for as little as a minute releases fascia – the connective tissue that webs through our muscles and contracts to produce stiffness and pain. Lose the kinks, the thinking goes, and you will improve body function and lengthen muscles, too.”

– Love it! The article did give a loose “background” of the history of foam rolling and how it’s been traced back to the rehab/physical therapy realm, that it targets fascia, and that rolling helps “break up” connective tissue which can (not always) lead to stiffness and pain. Bravo

It’s quick and a bit reductive in it’s explanation, but whatever. It’s not inherently wrong. And I’d imagine there was a word count to be cognizant of.

Unfortunately, this brief little blurb takes another wrong turn – right back to fiction. This is why everyone gets duped. Articles like this toss out a fact as bait, switch to fitness fiction, brimming with magical cures and fairy princesses (or Gwyneth Paltrow. But same difference), and then start to mind fuck the reader.

Cue Revolutionary Magic Pill

4. And right on cue we get introduced to some revolutionary answer/quick fix.

“So and so’s (I’m not going to share the name, you can read it for yourself) foam rolling method is designed to redistribute bulk – her clients, who include Devon Aoki (no idea who that is) Gwyneth Paltrow2 say the elongating effects of six months of biweekly $495 sessions can help trim their waists.”

– What does “redistribute bulk” mean?

Push around problem areas?

What is “bulk”? Is it fat? Muscle? Vital organs? Whatever it is, it’s negative, and when you prompt the average American woman to consider the presence of “bulk” on her body, the resulting thoughts and feelings are not good.

They’re negative, judgmental, and completely fictional. What’s worse, is that the average American woman now believes she has discovered a method of “redistributing” her unwanted “bulk” (again – love handles? Juicy quads? Kidneys?)

So anyone reading this is going to think to herself, “Hmm, I have big thighs and big hips,”(undoubtedly leading to a negative inner monologue about her body) and THEN she’s thinking a foam roller is going redistribute her bulk from her hips and thighs to maybe other areas of her body.3

FML.

– Also, can we do the math? Six month’s worth of twice-a-week foam rolling instruction is costing someone roughly $12,000???? Must be tricky! It must be too complicated/sophisticated/dangerous for someone to perform on her own. For free.

 

Even more ironic is that I googled some videos put up by said foam rolling expert and most of them don’t even show her using the foam roller for its intended use (in the away the Vogue article suggests). I mean, she uses the foam roller (as a prop) to perform various glute bridges, push-ups, rollouts, etc…but not in the way suggested by the article.

Sure, the article says “props” but then discusses rocking/rolling and addressing fascia/kinks/etc. Not the same thing.

To her credit, though, the woman does have several videos demonstrating more traditional uses geared towards self-myofascial release and addressing (soft) tissue quality, which I am 100% on board with.

But still: $12,000? To bridge and perform push-ups? Yowsa/mad respect.

– Next:

CAN HELP TRIM THEIR WAISTS???!!!! My wife was yelling when we got to this part. Vogue has just notified all readers that they can trim their waists by foam rolling. Just let that sink in.

A Trimmer Waist.

By F*&%#@^ FOAM ROLLING!

But the best case scenario is that women read this article and feel indignant and insulted. Buzzwords like elongating, lean, lengthen, etc should instantly put up a red flag. The worst scenario? That women are going to read this article and think foam rolling will trim their waist and get them leaner. (Just for the record. One more time. Fat loss gets folks leaner).

NOTE: It would help if Vogue took the time to differentiate between actual foam rolling and using the word prop correctly. I know, I’m being nit-picky.

5. In the middle we get some more quality nuggets of information, this time factual (again the parfait effect):

Rolling is also beloved for its performance-enhancing properties. “I recommend foam rolling prior to physical activity,” says Nina Figeroa, owner of Base Physical Therapy, where the majority of clients are assigned foam-rolling homework.

Awesome. I’m on board with that. I feel bad for Nina, though. She’s most likely someone who’s well-versed and understands the science, yet quoted in an article selling foam-rolling as a body slimming method.

6. And the coup de grace, end-all-be-all shititude of a comment from the article:

“Makeup artist Gucci Westman has two rollers at home, one long, one short, to help her break up lactic acid before and after workouts.”

Amazing!!!!!

Too bad lactic acid is “buffered” by the body fairly quickly and converted back to glucose to be used as energy substrate during exercise.

Lactic acid doesn’t “build up.”

Lactic acid can’t be broken up by a foam roller.

Do you even science Vogue Magazine? And why are you soliciting fitness advice from make-up artists?

Come On Vogue!

You just wrote an article that set women’s fitness back decades, and told them that foam rolling will slim their waist and worse, redistribute bulk. Why not just roll out some stock footage from the 1920’s of women using those vibrating belts to battle belly fat?

It’s just as useful as this article.

Worse, you continue to use fictional buzz words and questionable commentary that does nothing other than confuse the reader and make the weeds thicker. You can do better than that.

For the record: This isn’t advice coming from a meanie head strength coach either. This is coming from my wife, a reader of your magazine. A fan of your magazine. And a woman who’s offended on behalf of women who want to learn and understand how to be fit and gorgeous.

CategoriesProgram Design speed training Strength Training

How Lifters Can Unleash Athletic Power

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of strength coach and writer Eric Bach. Eric’s a coach I respect a lot and someone who’s consistently pumping out quality content.

His new resource, The Four Week Power Primer, is on sale starting TODAY.

How Lifters Can Unleash Athletic Power

What You’ll Learn

– Raw Strength isn’t enough.


- You need to generate fast strength via power.

– Lift heavy and lift fast to maximize muscle unit recruitment

– Incorporate bodyweight and explosive, submaximal work. 
       

– You’ll bridge the gap between strength and speed to become a beast!

Here’s the deal:

Most lifters mistakenly think their goal should be getting as strong as humanly possible. Not so. They should focus instead on improving power. This article explains why.

Sure, maximum strength is important. It builds a foundation to train other physical qualities. But there is an added dimension that separates the okay form the elite:

Power: or the ability to generate force rapidly.

Athletes in sports other than powerlifting run into time constraints when applying as much force as possible. This results in strength plateaus and poor carryover into sport-specific tasks.

Neglecting power leaves huge performance gaps. It results in athletes who are unable to translate their strength into success on the field.

This Power Primer will show you how to:

* Unlock a nervous system that fires faster


* Create greater levels of useful strength


* Create greater levels of strength


* Improve your ability to generate force


* Rapidly improve your athleticism

Understanding the Force-Velocity Curve (and Pie)

When looking at the force velocity curve I think of pie (Mmm…pie!)

Maximal strength provides the essential crust. It’s the foundation for a great pie. But you also need finger lickin’ filling, toppings and spices. Think of the fillings, toppings and spices as the ingredients that make the pie unique.

Without the foundational crust a delectable pie isn’t possible. It’s purely mush, much like training for speed and power without a base of strength.

Without careful attention to the other ingredients, there is nothing special about the pie. This is akin to having a base of strength, yet never refining the basic product for maximum performance.

Which brings us to the force velocity curve.

It provides a continuum of training for performances and actions that require different speeds against a variety of loads. These could include:

  • propelling your body though space
  • 
throwing an opponent to the ground
  • engaging in a free for all light-saber battle over that piece of pie

There’s an inverse relationship between load and velocity. The heavier the weight, the slower it moves and the lighter the resistance the faster the speed.

These qualities make up opposite sides of the spectrum, with speed-strength, strength-speed, and power making up the middle of the curve.

Building Explosive Power

Training with a combination of loads improves all-around explosive power, assuming there is a foundational crust of maximal strength.

Unfortunately, most lifters and coaches love hammering huge weights (nuttin’ wrong with that) to the detriment of higher speed movement (something wrong with that.).

This adds adding cheap, canned fillings, toppings, and spices to the pie to an awesome pie crust. Worse still is adding nothing at all. You just end up with the crust.

Stop chasing absolute strength. Most athletes and lifters would derive immediate benefits from lighter, more explosive training that bridges the gap between strength and speed.

Train the factors along the force velocity curve you’ve been neglecting. 
You will become a more powerful athlete.

That said, you must have a base of maximal strength to develop power.

To maximize power, focus on maximum bar speed with various loads. You will develop strength and speed along the force velocity curve. You will improve your power and your rate of force development. Use heavy weights with fast bursts, such as 3×3 at 90% 1-RM two times per with maximal muscular (2).

Improve Intramuscular and Intermuscular Coordination

Intramuscular coordination is the secret sauce that separates smooth, explosive athletes from rigid, uncoordinated ones. Intramuscular coordination is the coordinated firing of motor units within a single movement.

There are three main components when looking at when looking at improved intramuscular coordination:

  • Rate Coding: The capacity to increase firing rate (motor unit discharge rate) in order to express more strength.
  • Recruitment: Recruiting more motor units simultaneously when performing a muscular action.
  • Synchronization: The ability of muscle units to contract nearly simultaneously, with very minimal delay.

Through using multiple loads across the force velocity curve we’re able to improve intramuscular coordination. In time, this teaches the nervous system to recruit fewer motor units for the same relative intensity.

More motor units are available for activation for higher intensity exercise. That could translate into more weight on the bar or a faster sprinting speed.

How to Generate Maximum Force When Lifting

Few things, except coming home with the pie you’ve been eyeballing all night, are as fun as lifting maximal weights.

That said, too much pie (and maximal weights) isn’t good either.

Except for the rare genetic elite, your nervous system, joints, and tissues will scream at you before too long. Luckily, there are two ways to maximize force when lifting:

  1. Lift heavier weights
  2. Lift lighter weights (or your body) faster

Lift compound movements like squats and deadlifts as fast as possible, while still controlling each rep during the eccentric. By moving weights as fast and as hard as possible, you’ll recruit a greater number of muscle fibers for more muscle growth. You’ll also maximize nervous system recruitment for greater performance.

Submaximal Weight Training

Speed-Strength exercises, like sub-maximal lifting, result in high power outputs.

They produce super-high power outputs compared to longer duration, lower velocity max strength exercises.

Compare a tractor-trailer and a Ferrari. It’s great to have a ton of horsepower, but for high-performance it’s best to generate horsepower rapidly.

Power= Work/Time

In this case, explosive exercises are best using loads between 20%-85% for multiple low-rep sets is best (1). If I were a betting man, I’d wager you’re already using a sub-maximal squat day plus multiple warm-up sets between 50-80% 1-rm.

If you’re warming up like a good lad, you’re already getting some volume within the strength-speed realm.

Here’s the Kicker:

The missing piece is lighter, more explosive work.

Speed-strength movements will address this with high-velocity movements movement against a small external load. Exercises like the jump squat, back toss, and overhead slam train an explosive transition from eccentric-to concentric against a light load.

For the athlete or lifter, this requires practicing a specific movement (intermuscular coordination) patterns for optimal transfer.

For example:

Athlete Movement: Triple Extension in sprinting

Training Movements: Resisted sprinting, clean, squat jump

 Or…

 Athlete movement: Powerlifting Squat

Training movement: Barbell jump squat

To maximize the benefits of intramuscular coordination, exercises of mechanical demands should be practiced with various loads to improve the efficiency of the nervous system.

In time, this teaches the nervous system to recruit fewer motor units for the same relative intensity.

How to Immediately Improve Your Power

Provided you already have your foundation of strength, you can rapidly improve your power with a few tweaks to your training.

First, you need to continue training with heavy, multi-joint exercises and explosive intent on reach rep. This maximizes motor unit recruitment, improving RFD.

Second, when warming up accelerate every rep to the best of your ability. This trains in the strength-speed and speed-strength portion of the force velocity curve, specifically with loads between 20-80%.

Third, incorporate light speed, and speed-strength training methods with low-movement load (0-20%) and high-speeds. This comes in the form of jumps, sprints, throws, and other upper/lower body plyometrics.

Fourth, match the explosive movement patterns used to the movements you’re looking to improve using post-activation potentiation (PAP).

PAP, although an advanced method, uses the biomechanically similar exercises to groove explosive movement patterns after a heavy strength exercise.

For Geeks Only: How Does it Work? (Pie-Loving Regular People Can Feel Free To Skip this Section)

According to Hamada et. el (2000), there is an increased phosphorylation of myosin regulatory light chains during a maximum voluntary contraction (MVC). This allows the actin and myosin binding (for muscle contraction) to react to the increased calcium release. This reaction triggers a cascade of events leading to enhanced force muscle production at the structural level of muscle (Horwath & Kravitz ).

Thus, increased muscle activation yields a greater duration of calcium ions in the muscle cell environment, yielding a greater phosphorylation of the myosin light chain protein (Rixon et al. 2007).

The second theory is based on the H-reflex, an excitation of a spinal reflex elicited by afferent muscle nerves. It is theorized that the PAP intervention enhances the H-reflex, thus increasing the efficiency and rate of the nerve impulses to the muscle (Hodgson, Docherty, Robbins, 2005). Your nervous system get’s jacked up full-go.

When a jump is performed, your body is prepared to fire on all cylinders. So when only your body weight is used, the over-stimulated nervous system and muscles will be primed to the max for a higher jump.

Here are some Common Pairings:

Main Exercise: Explosive Movement:

Bench Press                               Clap Push Up, bench plyo push up

Shoulder Press                          Overhead medicine ball slam/ throw

Squat                                           Jump squat, vertical jump, box jump

Deadlift                                       Broad jump, kettlebell swing

What to do:
 Pick an explosive exercise that matches the movement pattern of your main lift and perform 3-5 reps immediately after your pure strength movement. Rest 2-3 minutes between sets to achieve a PAP effect

Wrap Up

Most lifters plateau in the gym and stay mediocre because they continue doing what they’ve always done in the past. They lift only heavy and focus only on the weight or muscle. They neglect rep quality and explosiveness. 


This mistaken approach is not performance training.

A solid strength foundation remains essential. 

Build on that foundation to focus on:

* quality explosive reps to improve neuromuscular performance

* rep speed


* movement quality over quantity

Now, It’s Time to Put the Plan to Action:

If you’re looking for a short-term plan of attack to improve your strength and athletic performance, then check my resource the Four Week Power Primer. It’s a four-week plan to increase your power for bigger numbers in the gym, and better performance on the playing field.

If you’re a coach, you should absolutely own this to understand the science of power, as it’s loaded with the science behind improving performance.

If you’re a meathead just looking to add some strength to the bar, then great: This could be the missing component holding you back from smashing a new PR.

Seriously, don’t wait, because the chance won’t be available for long.

Grab the Power Primer during the limited time sale, and leave Eric any questions you have below.

—> Power Primer <—

Resources and Stuff

Horwath, R., & Kravitz , L. (n.d.). postactivation potentiation: A brief review. Informally published manuscript, Exercise Science , Retrieved from http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article folder/postactivationUNM.html

Rixon KP, Lamont HS, Bemben M. Influence of type of muscle contraction, gender, and lifting experience on postactivation potentiation performance. J Strength Cond Res. 2007; 21: 500–505.

Robbins, D.W. Postactivation potentiation and its practical applicability: a brief review. J Strength Cond Res. 2005, 19(2): 453-458.

CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 7/24/15

Only ONE week left until the Elite Training Workshop – Boston is held on Saturday, August 1st, featuring myself, Mike Reinold, Artemis Scantalides, and Ryan Ketchum.

I’m really excited for this event and think it’s going to be a awesome experience for those who attend. The line-up is pretty rad and the flow of the day is set up in a way where each presenter does there schtick and then immediately follows that up with a hands-on portion.

So it’s less blah-blah-blabidy-blah and more “holys*** did you see Artemis Turkish get-up Tony? That’s badass.”

If you’re looking for some practical information that you’ll be able to use for yourself or with your clients, and earn CEUs to boot then this will be a great opportunity.

Click HERE for more information.

Complete Shoulder & Hip Workshop

 

Dean Somerset and I are excited to announce our latest traveling show: The Complete Shoulder & Hip Training Workshop.

It’s like a travel Cirque du Soleil show, except with no tents, flashy acrobatics, animals, or ripped half naked dudes contorting themselves into pretzels. Unless, of course, Dean decides to take people through one of his epic warm-up routines.

He’s a supple bastard. It’s deceiving.

We teamed up last year for a handful of workshops – London, DC, LA –  and didn’t want to kill each other, so we figured we’d do it again this year

This time we’re going to place a ton of emphasis on the hips and shoulders. We’ll talk anatomy, assessment, corrective exercise, programming, and we’ll also be doing a fair amount of coaching/hands-on demonstrations. And maybe, just maybe, in honor of Dean’s Canadian heritage, honor Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill in some fashion. I mean, it was 20 years ago this month that that album was released.

Yep, I feel old.

CEU’s will be available for all workshops.

EDMONTON (in August, so it won’t be cold as balls).

ST. LOUIS (in September, the EARLY BIRD rate is still active, but will end soon!)

CHICAGO (I’ve never been, and can’t wait to explore.)

(Just Added) LOS ANGELES (in November, Tony finally does his tour of bars from the movie Swingers).

Why the Fitness World Needs Tracy Anderson – Lee Boyce

Funny story on this. An ex-athlete of mine sent me a message the other day on Facebook linking to this article with a note “Really? Is this guy serious?”

I wrote back, “Lee’s my boy. It’s total tongue in cheek. He’s one of the good ones.”

It’s an older article – I can’t believe I missed it the first time around – but it’s a good one!

Squat Depth: The Final Answer – Dr. John Rusin

This was a great article by Dr. John (<– hope it’s okay I call him that), and it falls in line with many of my own thoughts on the topic.

Basic rule to follow: different squatters squat differently. Don’t be an a-hole and think there’s only ONE best way to squat.

How to Teach the Clean for Maximizing Athletic Power – Eric Bach and Loren Landow

Coaching the OLY lifts is definitely a weak spot for me as a coach, which is why I often refer out whenever an athlete or client wants to learn them.

But after reading this article and watching the videos I’m pretty sure I’m ready for 2016. See you in Rio de Janeiro everyone!

BONUS STUFF (Because, Why Not?)

HERE’s an article I wrote on Active.com on muscle soreness and whether or not you should be sore after every workout.

HERE’s an article I wrote for Stack.com that re-ran on Men’s Health on why I feel benching with your feet in the air is moronic for most guys most of the time. There’s a time and place for it, but then again there’s a time and place for sticking your finger in an electrical socket. I guess.

The trailer for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s (21 Grams, Babel, Birdman) next movie, The Revenant, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy, looks siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick.

I’m predicting winner for Best Cinematography right now.

CategoriesUncategorized

Registration Now Open for the 4th Annual Cressey Sports Performance Fall Seminar

It’s that time of year.

Sorry, but it’s a little early for Christmas.

And no, it’s not that time of year where I put on full movie quality Chewbacca costume and perform an entire deadlift session like a boss.4

It’s time to sign up for the annual Cressey Sports Performance Fall Seminar.

We’re very excited to announce that on Sunday, September 13, we’ll be hosting our fourth annual fall seminar at Cressey Sports Performance. As was the case with our extremely popular fall event over the past three years, this event will showcase the great staff we’re fortunate to have as part of our team. Also like last year, we want to make this an affordable event for everyone and create a great forum for industry professionals and fitness enthusiasts alike to interact, exchange ideas, and learn.

Here are the topics:

Pete Dupuis — Empowering Your Fitness Team

This presentation will serve as an introduction to the Cressey Sports Performance method for leveraging each coach’s unique skill-set in an effort to create a superior training experience. In this presentation, Pete will discuss the importance of cultivating distinctive assessment skills, personal brand development, and the importance of employing a broad spectrum of personality types on your fitness team.

Greg Robins — What Matters Most

One of the characteristics that makes the fitness industry special is the variety of approaches. However, it can also be a bit noisy. Constant access to new ideas and the plethora of free information may leave trainers, coaches and clients a bit confused. In this presentation, Greg will reflect on what he has found to matter most, both in getting you and your clients where you want to be.

Chris Howard — Referred Pain: What is it and what does it tell us?

Practically every fitness professional has encountered an athlete or client dealing with referred pain whether they knew it or not. In this presentation, Chris will discuss what referred pain is, what it tells us about our clients, and training modifications to alleviate our client’s pain. Whether you are a strength coach, personal trainer, physical therapist or athletic trainer, this presentation will provide a new perspective on your client’s pain.

Tony Bonvechio — Creating Context for More Efficient Coaching

Coaches put endless focus into what they say, but this presentation will illustrate the importance of how they say it. Creating context with your clients goes beyond internal and external cueing, and the ability to create “sticky” teaching moments will get your athletes moving better and more efficiently. Tony will discuss different cueing approaches, how they resonate with different learning styles, and how to say more with less to help your clients learn new movements with ease.

Tony Gentilcore — Wearing a Pink Dress Shirt Spinal Flexion: A Time and Place

Spinal flexion is a polarizing topic in the fitness world. Spine experts have illuminated the risks associated with loaded spinal flexion, leading to crunches and sit-ups getting labeled as taboo. In this presentation, Tony will discuss when encouraging spinal flexion – specifically on the gym floor – can address pain and dysfunction in our athletes and clients while also improving performance.

Miguel Aragoncillo – Cardio Confusion: A Deeper Look at Current Trends

Designing the cardiovascular aspect of a comprehensive exercise program often leaves us with more questions than answers: Is it helpful for body composition or performance? Should you run or should you sprint? Are there other ways to improve cardiovascular fitness? In this presentation, Miguel will discuss the trends and evaluate existing research of various conditioning methods. Finally, he’ll offer practical strategies for immediate application with your Monday morning clients.

Eric Cressey – Bogus Biomechanics and Asinine Anatomy

The strength and conditioning and rehabilitation fields are riddled with movement myths that just never seem to die. Drawing heavily on case studies, scholarly journals, and what functional anatomy tells us, Eric will “bust” some of the common fallacies you’ll encounter in the strength and conditioning field today. Most importantly, he’ll offer drills and strategies that can be utilized immediately with clients and athletes in place of these antiquated approaches.

**Bonus 2:30PM Saturday Session**

George Kalantzis and Andrew Zomberg– The Method Behind CSP Strength Camp Madness

Group training is rapidly overtaking one-on-one training as the most profitable fitness service. However, an effective group fitness system is often difficult to create and sustain. In this session, George and Andrew will take participants through an actual CSP strength camp. The training session will be accompanied by a brief presentation and handouts that dive into the components of programming, coaching and marketing strategies to drive new business and client retention within a group training model.

Location:

Cressey Sports Performance
577 Main St.
Suite 310
Hudson, MA 01749

Cost:

Regular Rate – Early Bird $129.99, Regular $149.99
Student Rate – Early Bird $99.99, Regular $129.99

The early bird registration deadline is August 13.

Date/Time:

Sunday, September 13, 2014
Registration 8:30AM
Seminar 9AM-5PM

**Bonus session Saturday, September 12 at 2:30pm.

Continuing Education:

0.8 National Strength and Conditioning Association CEUs pending (eight contact hours)

Click Here to Sign-up (Regular)

or

Click Here to Sign-up (Students)

We’re really excited about this event, and would love to have you join us! However, space is limited and each seminar we’ve hosted in the past has sold out quickly, so don’t delay on signing up!

If you have additional questions, please direct them to [email protected]. Looking forward to seeing you there!

PS – If you’re looking for hotel information, The Extended Stay America in Marlborough, MA offers our clients a heavily discounted nightly rate of just under $63.00. Just mention “Cressey” during the booking process in order to secure the discount. Their booking phone number is 508-490-9911.

CategoriesMotivational

Why Gym Culture Is So Important

You’ve heard me mention it before, but it bears repeating: what I feel separates a good gym from a great gym is the notion of CULTURE.

There are a thousand and one gyms out there who hire the best trainers/coaches, have access to every piece of training equipment you could ever ask for, offer competitive rates, and spice things up with various amenities such as juice bars, WiFi, cafe, group exercise classes, yoga, pool, massage therapy, and maybe even access to steam rooms.

Although, if I were you, I’d steer clear of them. Trust me.

Yet, many often fail or have a less than stellar retention rate because they lack any semblance or culture or community.

Places like Cressey Sports Performance, Mark Fisher Fitness (in NYC), IFAST (in Indianapolis), Tuff Girl Fitness (in New Haven, CT), Movement Minneapolis (in Minneapolis), Results Fitness (in Newhall, CA), and yes I’ll even toss CrossFit into the mix here, are a speck of dust in comparison to some of the monstrosities that take up a city block.

None offer fancy amenities, may or may not even offer a place to shower, and are often set at a much higher price point compared to their big-box gym counterparts.

Yet, they thrive and have the most loyal members you could ask for. As Simon Sinek noted in his outstanding book Start With Why:

“There’s a big difference between repeat business and loyalty. Repeat business is when people do business with you multiple times. Loyalty is when people are willing to turn down a better product or a better price to continue doing business with you.”

Why the Loyalty?

Because every single gym above, in their own unique way, has placed a premium on building a culture where people want to train, want to spend their time, and more importantly feel empowered and encouraged by the staff and other members.

Training around like-minded people has a palpable effect on not only performance but overall experience too.

Take what happened last Saturday at CSP.

To give a little backstory: I’ve long championed the mentality that women should focus more on performance based goals in the weight room rather than things like scale weight or emulating a celebrity look or listening to anything the mainstream media has to say on the topic of women and fitness.

Most of it is unrealistic, toxic, and sets back women’s fitness 20 years.

I 100% feel strength training is the key to pretty much anything, even for more aesthetic based goals.

What’s more, using the popular analogy, strength training is a glass. Most people’s glass (men included) is far too small and they have little room to “express” any other qualities such as sprinting, jumping, hitting a golf ball 250 yds, deadlifting a tank, farmer carrying bags of groceries from the store to your apartment, fighting crime, or doing anything remotely athletic.

Strength training makes your glass bigger so that you can put more “stuff” into it. It allows you the freedom to not pull a hamstring just thinking about chasing after a taxi.

It allows for stuff like this to happen:

 

This is a video I took this past Saturday of four random women who train at CSP (admittedly, the first one, Nancy, is a current intern), the youngest of which is 15.

For the hell of it I challenged one of them to see if she could do a one-arm chin-up, and before I knew it several was lining up to try.

How baller is that?

None of them walked in on day one and said, “you know what Tony? I’d like to be able to perform a one-arm chin-up.”

But because we’ve built a culture where people (men AND women) love to lift heavy things and get after it, and because all four embraced the importance of hard work and bought into our way of doing things, it has allowed them to do stuff like this.

Because, why not?

CategoriesAssessment Program Design

When To Progress an Exercise: Muscle Confusion is Wack

“How do you know when to progress an exercise whether it be increasing load or implementing a different exercise altogether?”

This is a question I receive a lot from other trainers and coaches, as well as many of the athletes and clients I work with on a daily basis.

And to be honest there’s no one clear-cut answer. As is the case with any question asked the appropriate response is…it depends.

What do you want for dinner tonight? It depends.

Who are you going to vote for in 2016? It depends.

Where should we go on vacation? It depends.

What do you want to watch tonight on tv? It depends. But if it’s Downton Abbey I’d rather swallow live bees.

The above examples aside, when it comes to anything related to fitness, and especially with regards to exercise and weight selection, the default answer is always…it depends.

There’s a cacophony of factors that need to be considered, including but not limited to one’s training history, experience, injury history, training schedule, equipment availability, work ethic, not to mention any number of specific goals and needs that need to be taken into consideration.

All factor in and play an important role in designing a training program.

Speaking from a generic vantage point I do feel there’s an easy answer to the question.

1. How To Progress Load

Lets use an example I think everyone reading can relate to. Have you ever been working with a certain weight on any exercise and crushed it, only to increase the load 5, 10, maybe 15 lbs. and it seems as if gravity increased tenfold? The weight doesn’t budge. Or if it does it’s infinitely more challenging?

What gives?

Simple.

You haven’t “earned” the right to increase load yet. You haven’t performed enough repetitions at “x” to increase to “y”.

I get it: Progressive overload is KING.  It behooves all of us to make a concerted effort to try to increase load (increase sets or reps or both, or decrease rest intervals) – to do more work – each and every week. I think this is a fantastic approach and something many trainees often overlook in lieu of the more sexy or unconventional answer.

It’s not the lack of chains, or bands, or some lost Eastern Bloc Undulated Block Periodization set/rep scheme written in Elvish that’s the reason you’re not getting stronger or making progress.

For whatever reason many people resort to long division or Common Core for the answer when all they needed to do was add 2+2.

Or, in this case…add more weight to the bar.

But even that simple approach will only go so far. And this is what occurs when we add 5-10 lbs. to the bar and it’s as if a giant magnet is underneath the floor.

Stick with the lower weight. Stay there. Own it.

You’re not any less of a human being or the spawn of Satan if you perform an exercise with the same weight for multiple weeks in a row. Life will go on.

For further reading on progressive overload check out my article on BodyBuilding.com on the topic HERE.

2. When to Progress An Exercise?

The answer to this is a little trickier and a bit more murky. Without getting too far into the weeds I find that most trainees (and even worse trainers/coaches) suffer from exercise ADD.

The market is saturated. Walk into any commercial gym and you’re likely to see anywhere from 10-20 head shots of personal trainers near the front desk all highlighting their certifications, education, and how long they’ve been eating Paleo.

Who to choose?

Far be it from me to tell you. While I attempt to answer that question HERE, it’s hard to say with any certainty what you’re getting when you hire a personal trainer. There are plenty who look amazing on paper who end up making people do shit like this:

 

And this is what I mean when I refer to exercise ADD. Because the market is so saturated many trainers resort to gimmicks and smoke & mirrors (and use buzz words like “functional training” and “core” and “balance”) to separate themselves from the masses.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

The more “gimmicky” and against the grain a trainer appears, sadly, the more attention they get. Goblet squats just aren’t as sexy as whateverthef*ck is being demonstrated above is.

Personal training has become more about entertainment and one-upmanship than getting people results and helping them become more autonomous.

READ: the goal of any trainer should be to educate and make it so their client DOESN’T need their services.

I mean, look at a program like High Performance Handbook (which is representative of many of the programs we write at Cressey Sports Performance). There’s not a ton of variety involved. Yet, people get results.

Of course there are outliers and trainers/coaches who don’t fit into this mold. But those are few and far between. In this day in age “success” is defined by Facebook likes and Twitter followers than it is by experience and being able to actually coach someone through a deadlift.

To that end, to answer the question:

1. Read THIS article by CSP coach, Tony Bonvechio, which gives some insight on how to choose the best accessory exercises.

2. I’d argue most people don’t need as much variety as they think they do. The whole notion of muscle confusion and that you have to switch up exercises every few weeks irritates me. For most people this makes no sense because rarely do they allow themselves enough time to learn and “own” the exercise to be able to perform it efficiently.

Alas, they make very little progress.

I’ve used this analogy before, but with program design (especially when the goal is to get stronger) I think of things as a diamond.

At the bottom are your beginners, and at the top are your advanced and high-level competitive clients/athletes. Neither need a ton of variety in their training.

Beginners need to learn and master the basics – squat, hinge, lunge, push, pull, carry, skip, swing, side-shuffle, etc.

Advanced trainees/athletes need to be concerned with their competitive lifts and/or because they’re so strong, don’t require a ton of variety (or stimulus) to maintain that strength.

In the middle, however, are the intermediates. Not coincidentally this is where most of us (even myself) reside.

It’s here where we can be a little more Willy Wonka(ish) and immerse ourselves in the crazy, zany world of variety.

So in many ways how you “progress” an exercise will be dictated by where someone resides in the diamond.

NOTE: I’ll be covering this very topic in more detail at the Elite Training Workshop here in Boston on Saturday, August 1st.

CategoriesMiscellaneous Miscellany

Miscellaneous Miscellany Monday: Perform Better, Strength Pyramids, and Voltron

It’s been a few months since I’ve done one of these so lets jump right to it.

1. If you’re a fitness professional (or someone who likes to geek out and rub elbows with some of the industry’s biggest names and/or stalk Dan John) why haven’t you attended a Perform Better event yet?

This past weekend Perform Better was in Providence, RI hosting their second (of three) weekend Summits.

Note: Chicago and Providence have passed, but there’s still a chance to attend Long Beach on August 7-9th.

I’ve been fortunate enough to attend the Summit almost every year since I’ve lived in Boston (9 years), in addition to a handful of PB’s One-Day Learn By Doing seminars. And it never gets old. I always walk away with numerous new ideas and takeaways. And free samples. What what!!

This year I was only able to make it for one day – the last day, Sunday. As it happened my wife, Lisa, had made plans for us to head out to Brimfield, MA for what’s known as Mordor the largest flea market in North America.

She made the plans a few weeks ago, and being the newly minted husband I am I feigned excitement and agreed to go.

“OMG, are you kidding babe? I’d LOVE to go walk around for an entire day looking at antiques, jewelry, and blankets with flower patterns on them! While we’re at it can we go jump into a live volcano too!?!!”

Giving her credit, Lisa was more than accommodating and compromised with me. In exchange for her being able to take the car for the entire day and spend as much time as she wanted at the flea market, she dropped me off in Providence at 8 AM so I could attend the last day of the Summit.

I dropped in and listened to talks by Michael Mullin, Artemis Scantalides, Brian St. Pierre, Dr. Evan Osar, and Robb Rogers, and also had the chance to catch up with several colleagues and friends.

Special shout-out to Artemis who ROCKED her first speaking appearance for Perform Better. She easily had the best title for her presentation: Toning Is For Printers: I Lift.

One of the highlights from her talk was how empowering it is to help women grasp the concept of STRENGTH TRAINING and how that alone can help them attain their aesthetic goals (something I preach ad nauseam on this site). In particular she spoke to pull-ups and how she goes about progressing and programming them for women. While I wasn’t able to film her talk, many of her same points can be seen in the video below by Karen Smith:

 

I also felt like a pseudo celebrity as numerous people walked up to me to say hello and introduce themselves, and on numerous occasions, in a surreal sort of way, I held open a door for a complete stranger and they’d say “thanks Tony!”

Even more baller was the fact that in a few presentations I sat in on the presenter gave me an unsolicited shoutout. I have to say it’s pretty cool feeling and an honor that I’m recognized by my colleagues.

Nonetheless it was a fantastic day and special thanks to Perform Better for their continued dominance for putting on the best and most professional fitness show on the planet.

2. I originally watched these over on Bret Contreras’ site and figured I’d re-post them here because I really, really5 liked them.

Strength coach and competitive powerlifter and bodybuilder, Eric Helms, did a superb job with this video series and I’d HIGHLY encourage you to watch these if or when you have the time.

I’m only going to link to the first THREE, but there are SIX levels in all.

Muscle and Strength Training Pyramid Level 1: Intro

 

Muscle and Strength Training Pyramid Level 2: Volume, Intensity, Frequency

 

Muscle and Strength Training Pyramid Level 3: Progression

 

3. With the success of this website I often get contacted by various supplement, apparel, and fitness companies asking if I’d be interested in trying their product(s). Some are garbage (especially those that are obviously a canned, arbitrary, altogether impersonal outreach); others just aren’t a good fit for my audience (Hey Tony, ever hear of Blindfolded Yogalates Kick-Boxing?); and others, especially supplements, while I do give them an honest “go,” just end up tasting like sawdust dipped in old people fart.

Not good.

But then again, there are times where I am pleasantly surprised and have no issues spreading the word. One such example is a company called ViewSport.

They use what’s called “sweat activated technology” where an inspirational message appears on your shirt the harder you work. Kind of like how when the ring in Lord of the Rings is put into the fire and a magical message appears, except in this case there’s no ring, no fire, and 100% no magic. Shit.

But it’s still pretty cool.

Both Lisa and I have been wearing our shirts to the gym the past few weeks and love them. They’re super comfy and, while I know better than to think that sweating is an indicator of the effectiveness of a workout, it is pretty satisfying when I get the message to appear.

Check them out. And no, I receive no kick-backs.

4. If you’re not reading Bryan Krahn’s site you should be. His latest article, 10 Reasons It’s Better To Be Lean, Bro is equal parts brotastic and spot on.

5. Based off the recommendation of a friend I just completed reading the novel Ready Player One, written by Ernest Cline.

Anyone who grew up in the 1980’s and 90s will appreciate this book. It’s chock full of pop culture references – Voltron, War Games, Atari, Joust, Adventure, Monty Python, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Godzilla, cue nerd boner here – from that era as you follow the protagonist, Wade (Parzival), as he navigates through a virtual video game of life and death.

Word on the street is that this book is being adapted by Steven Spielberg as his next film project.

I can’t even begin to tell you how many childhood memories were jolted free from the recesses of my consciousness as I read this book. Sooooo many references that I had completely forgotten about. It actually inspired me to do some YouTube searching and I came across this gem.

Anyone remember these 80’s cartoons?

CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work Uncategorized

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 7/17/15

Only two weeks left until the Elite Training Workshop – Boston is held on Saturday, August 1st.

[Can you believe it’s almost August?]

I’m really excited for this event and think it’s going to be a awesome experience for those who attend. The line-up is pretty rad and the flow of the day is set up in a way where each presenter presents and then immediately follows that up with a hands-on portion.

So it’s less blah-blah-blabidy-blah and more “holys*** did you see Artemis Turkish get-up Tony? That’s badass.”

It’s going to be an awesome day for fitness professionals to learn from some of the best minds in the biz. CEUs are available. And I may or may not wear a movie quality Chewbacca mask.

Click HERE for more information.

ALSO: The Complete Shoulder & Hip Workshop

 

Dean Somerset and I are excited to announce our latest series: The Complete Shoulder & Hip Training Workshop.

We teamed up last year for a handful of workshops – London, DC, LA –  and didn’t want to kill each other, so we figured we’d do it again this year

This time we’re going to place a ton of emphasis on the hips and shoulders. We’ll talk anatomy, assessment, corrective exercise, programming, and we’ll also be doing a fair amount of coaching/hands-on demonstrations. And maybe, just maybe, in honor of Dean’s Canadian heritage, play the entirety of Bryan Adams’ library of songs. So much awesome to be had!

CEU’s will be available for all workshops.

EDMONTON (in August, so it won’t be cold as balls).

ST. LOUIS (in September, maybe catch a Cards game?)

CHICAGO (in October, it won’t be windy then, right?)

(Just Added) LOS ANGELES (in November, Tony finally does his tour of bars from the movie Swingers).

Now on to this week’s stuff to read.

7 Bad Foods That Are Good For You – TC Luoma

First: TC is an amazing writer, one of my favorites.

Second: bacon.

Third: that is all.

What Being Obsessed With Your Phone Can Teach You About Fitness – Jessi Kneeland

There’s a joke amongst my friends that I’m one of the hardest people to get a hold of because I hate carrying my phone with me everywhere I go.

It’s not uncommon for me to answer text messages 24-48 hours after the fact.

And don’t even get me started on those people who walk down the sidewalk (or worse, across the street) with their head pointed down towards their phone.

I loved this post by Jessi.

Why Do We Give Caffeine a Free Pass? – Eric Cressey

[Ironically, as I type these words I’m pounding a Spike. Oops]

Excellent post by Eric.

CategoriesAssessment Corrective Exercise

Feed the Dysfunction: A Simple Squat Fix

A few months ago I wrote about my experience participating in the Functional Movement Screen. I spent an entire weekend (something like 20 contact hours) completing both module I and II.

I didn’t get a t-shirt6, but it was an awesome learning experience nonetheless.

You can read all about it HERE.

One of the chief messages that stood out to me was the notion of “feeding dysfunction.” It’s a concept I’ve used intermittently throughout the years to help clean up movement, but hearing it described and used in the confines of four walls amongst so many other smart people…it really resonated more with me.

I’m sure it’s a concept that many of you reading have used as well.

One of the more common iterations is when someone’s knees cave in during a squat.

Unfortunately, there are some trainers and coaches out there who would deem this an acceptable squat pattern, and do nothing to correct it. They should be drop kicked in the neck.

The less lazy trainer may fix it by screaming, “knees out, knees out, PUSH YOUR KNEES OUT!”

It’s a step in the right direction, but sometimes it takes more than a verbal cue. For some trainees their nervous system needs a little more “feedback.”

So the more savvy trainer will wrap a band around one’s knees.

The idea is that the band will push the knees in, giving the trainee some proprioceptive feedback to prevent or resist this action. More often that not it works like a charm.

Squat pattern is fixed, all is right in the world, parades are held in your honor.

What About a Weight Shift?

Ever watch someone squat and he or she tends to sway/weight shift to one side or the other?

There can be any number of reasons this happens.

1. Bony Block. Those with Femoral Acetabular Impingement on any given side will block/impinge quicker on that side, often resulting in a weight shift to that very side.

I don’t want to get into a heavy FAI discussion now, but suffice it to say it’s often in this person’s best interest to 1) stop squatting altogether (in lieu of exercises that require less hip flexion, like deadlift variations) or 2) tweak squat height so they don’t enter the “danger zone” (90 degrees or below).

2. If we were to jump down the PRI (Postural Restoration Institute) rabbit hole we could explain things by stating how much of the population tends to weight shift into their right hip.

CSP coach, Greg Robins, PRI Blue Steel pose

In this scenario – which is very common – people are more internally rotated and adducted on the right side (externally rotate, abducted on the left), which then parlays into their squatting pattern. I.e., you’ll see a weight shift to the right.

As I’ve noted in the past: I like PRI, I use PRI, I think there’s a lot of validity to PRI. And, in this scenario I do feel some dedicated positional breathing drills hold weight with helping to “correct” the issue at hand.

If we can encourage more neutral (we’ll never, ever, like, ever be 100% neutral) and help to shift the hips and own our rib position (reduce Zone of Apposition) the likelihood we can fix the faulty pattern is fairly high.

 

All that said, the PRI rabbit hole is a deeeeeeeeeeeep one, and I do find many fitness professionals tend to overstep their scope of practice and forget that, you know, barbells still work and that our jobs are to still give people a training effect. 

I’m sorry but people aren’t going to get fired up spending 30 minutes of their training session practicing their diaphragmatic breathing. In fact I think a recent research study found that incidences of people wanting to stab themselves in the eye with a pen increase by 130% when this is the case.

Don’t get me wrong: PRI drills could very well be a part of the equation and I have used them to fix this very dysfunction, but I try not to get too carried away with it.

3. Lack of kinesthetic awareness. Much like the notion above with placing bands around someone’s knees to prevent them from caving in, we can use the same concept here.

Band Reactive Neuromuscular Training (RNT)

If you find someone exhibits a weight shift during their squat you can use a band to pull them into the weight shift (“feed the dysfunction”), and attempt to fix the faulty pattern. Essentially you use the RNT factor to help turn other stuff on that otherwise would be under-active or not firing efficiently and contributing to wonky movement.

How’s that for science?

Give the video a quick watch.