CategoriesExercises You Should Be Doing

Hey there.

It’s been a minute.

In fact, I think this is the longest I’ve gone without writing anything – like, complete radio silence – in the history of this blog.1

I don’t know…I just haven’t been inspired to write much of late. And while part of me feels a sense of regret that I’ve left my audience hanging the past several weeks, the other part of me falls under the umbrella of “better to not write anything at all than write crap.”

So, to that end, what follows hopefully isn’t crap…;o)

Copyright: maridav / 123RF Stock Photo

Exercises You Should Be Doing: Chaos Bridge

For those keeping up with my life, a little over two months ago I ruptured my Achilles tendon. I wish I could sit here and say I did it while doing something cool like split jerking 440 lbs, deadlifting a Mack Truck, or fighting a pack of ninjas.

Alas, I did it while performing a very vanilla, hum-drum drill.

A jump-back start.

Essentially this:

The only difference between what’s shown above and what I did was that 1) I injured my right side, not left and 2) the woman in the video made it waaaaaay further than I did. When I injured mine I fell straight to the floor once my foot made contact with the floor.

In any case, since the injury I’ve been trying to set an example and prove to people that you CAN train around pretty much any injury.

To me “rest” is rarely going to be the long-term answer.

Sure, you need to rest, not be a jerk, and allow ample time post-surgery to heal and recover.

However, the idea that COMPLETE rest is the answer to expediting the healing process and using that as the foundation of rehab is a bit off-kilter if you ask me.

To that end, I wrote THIS blog post a few weeks ago highlighting the concept behind the “Trainable Menu,” or the idea that it behooves most people to focus on what they CAN do rather than what they can’t.

Moreover, I started the hashtag #findyourtrainablemenu on Instagram which I’ve been using to showcase some of my thoughts and ways I’ve been ensuring a training effect working through a significant injury.

As it happens, today’s Exercise You Should Be Doing champions this mindset. But it’s also an exercise that I’d advocate everybody perform, injured or not.

Chaos Bridge

 

Who Did I Steal It From?: Strength & Conditioning coach, personal trainer, and quite literally someone with a MUCH keener eye than myself when it comes to assessing movement, Katie St. Clair.

What Does It Do?: To steal a train of thought from Katie herself:

“Use chaos to build organization.”

Implementing the band forces the body to stabilize itself. Too, and maybe more to the point for my audience: this drill hammers the glutes and hamstrings and anterior core without necessarily placing an inordinate amount of load on the spine.

Believe me: It’s harder than it looks.

Key Coaching Cues: You’ll want to start with thicker band than you think. From there the idea is to press down into the band with one leg while you pull the opposite leg/knee towards your chest (using the bench as a counterbalance).

As you press down into the band try to emphasize feeling your glute contract (the hamstring will take care of itself). Likewise, pull, HARD, toward your chest.

Say hello to your abdominals…;o)

Give this one a try and let me know what you think.

And follow Katie…she puts up amazing content.

  1. I blame COVID-19, #Achillesgate2020, and bananas (<— because, why not?).