There are a lot of moving parts to performing each lift safely and at a high level; much more so than compared to upper body counterparts such as the bench press or chin-up/pull-up.
This is not to say upper body movements don’t require warming up or attention to detail, they do. However, when all else is equal I find upper body movements lend themselves to a little more of a lackadaisical approach compared to lower body movements. Admittedly, it’s 100% anecdotal on my end, but it’s more common to see people walk into a gym, mosey on over to the bench press area without much of a song and dance with a warm-up, and pretty much get right into the nuts and bolts of their workout than it is to see the same person walk in, start deadlifting, and not be leaving five minutes later because their spine just flipped them the middle finger.
Plus, lets be honest: if there’s ONE thing you’re going to omit from your training session for the day when you’re in a rush (or because it’s a Wednesday) it’s your warm-up. You skip it, I skip it, your friends skip it, there’s no point in pretending we’re all warming up 100% of the time. Heck, I’d be surprised if most people did it 50% of the time.
As a fitness professional the warm-up is a bit of a catch-22. On one hand I can’t deny it’s importance. People are too tight, too stiff, too loose, or 2 legit 2 quit.1 The warm-up serves as a fantastic way to hone in on any “correctives” that any one person may need to address whether it’s any of the above or inhibited glutes, immobile hips and t-spine, and/or general movement malaise. Moreover, the warm-up serves as a way to increase body temperature, joint lubrication, and CNS up-regulation.
It’s here, during the warm-up, we can attack movement dysfunction and better set people up for a productive training session.
On the other hand, people can be handicapped by the warm-up. As in…the warm-up becomes this drawn out, overly dramatic “thing” to the point where some people spend 45 minutes on a foam roller hitting every inch of their body and/or performing an inordinate amount of mundane correctives before they even touch a dumbbell or barbell. To which I am always quick to say:
“Get off the f***ing foam roller. That’s why you’re always hurt.”
Nevertheless, I tend to fall on the “better to do it than skip it” side of the fence. Albeit something I have been toying with of late with my own training and that of my clients is using more combo or “hybrid” drills to help expedite the process.
Take a lower body day for example where squats or deadlifts are on the agenda.
Glute Bridge w/ Rotation
Key Notes
Addresses both glute activation and t-spine rotation/mobility
Careful not to go into excessive lumbar extension at the top. “Feel” your glutes fire and then make sure when you rotate to one side you move everything as one unit.
You should feel a nice anterior hip stretch on the contralateral side (if you rotate towards the right, you’ll feel a slight stretch on the front side of the left hip).
1-Legged RDL to Cossack Squat
This is climbing the ladder as one of my “go to” hybrid drills as it accomplishes a lot.
Key Notes
Try to get the backside as long as you can – reach both forward with your arms and back with the moving leg.
Try to prevent any hip rotation – toe of moving leg should point towards the floor and to the midline.
“Soft” knee on standing/supporting leg.
Idea of Cossack squat is to sit BACK into the hips. ROM will be limited in some people, so don’t worry if you cannot get to the ground at first; use what ROM you do have available.
Heel should be down and it’s okay to point the toes of the straightened leg up towards the ceiling.
If you have to use your hands as support for the first rep or two or for the entire set, that’s fine. Eventually, the idea is to be able to perform with using your hands.
Bear Squat
Key Notes
Start in a “deep squat” position. Push knees out with elbows to help get more hip abduction and make sure chest is UP or “tall.” T-spine extension is important.
Walk out making sure not to “collapse” the shoulder blades. Try to push away from the floor. This will help with a little serratus activation.
The walk out also helps with anterior core engagement (never a bad thing), and at the same time you’re also getting a fair bit of ankle (and big toe) dorsiflexion into the mix as well.
Try not to allow your lower back to sag or torso to teeter-totter. Pretend as if there’s a bottle of water (or battery acid) on your back and you don’t want it to spill. Ouch.
You can also up the ante by adding an overhead reach component before you “bear crawl” out, like so:
Just a Taste
There’s obviously an endless parade of exercises I could showcase here. But hopefully these give you a little taste of a few you can implement prior to a lower body session that’ll help speed up your warm-up yet target many of the problematic areas most people need to hit prior to hitting squats or deadlifts hard.
As this post goes live my wife and I are en route (5.5 hours in the car) back to central NY to spend Thanksgiving with my family. Or, depending on what time it is and when you read this, I may be three slices into my mom’s homemade apple pie. Who knows?
It’s my sincerest hope that everyone reading is enjoying the day with family and eating the most un-Paleo friendly meal possible. And if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving: sorry. Happy Thursday then? Or, better yet: Happy “six days until my birthday?”
HINT: my Birthday is six days away. The big 4-0. Like, whaaaaaaaaaaaat.
Basically it’s been described as the Hamilton of fitness products. Except, you know, without any dancing or rapping Presidents.
If you were someone who missed out on the sale price during the original release, what the heck? What’s next? Telling me you’ve never watched House of Cards or GoodFellas?
On the off-chance that the former happened, you’re in luck. Dean and I are putting it back on sale at $30 off the original price starting today through this weekend.
Fitness Professionals: If you’re looking for a product that covers anything and everything as it relates to shoulder and hip assessment, addressing common movement dysfunctions, and a resource that helps connect the dots towards improved results and performance with your athletes/clients this will do the trick.
Non-Fitness Professionals: If you’re someone who likes stay in at home on a Friday night and nerd out over this stuff and/or are looking for tips on improving exercise technique with common lifts such as squats, deadlifts, and chin-ups (among others) this will be very helpful to you as well. What’s more there’s TONS of exercise regressions, progressions, and lateralizations to consider based off varying goals, anatomical factors and injury history.
You get 11+ hours of both lecture and hands-on material in addition to some epic LOLcat and Star Wars references (if that’s your thing).2And to top things off CEUs are available.
There you go. Do you need more incentive? Maybe if I included a steak dinner in there? You only have a few days to act.
You don’t need to be be doing core stability exercises or core strengthening exercises. You NEED to be doing BOTH!
What is Core Stability?
Core stability is the ability of the musculature of the trunk aka the “core” to be able to maintain a certain position. It involves musculature contractions typically 20-25% of MVIC (Maximal Voluntary Isometric Contraction). Another way to think of it is that these exercises require precision and control of movement rather than brute strength.
An example of a “core stability” exercise would be the Bird Dog.
The Bird Dog movement requires the participant to maintain a neutral spine position while moving an arm and leg. This does not require a maximal contraction of the abdominal musculature. It requires a low-level, precise contraction of certain musculature to maintain a neutral spine. There are NOT large amount of forces being exuded to cause the person to have to exhibit brute strength to have to perform.
Other examples of “Core Stability” exercises are:
½ Kneeling Chops
½ Kneeling Lifts
Dead Bug
Segmental Rolling
Prone Superman’s
The exercises mentioned above are all movements that can be made more difficult by adding weight or resistance. The purpose of these “easy” movements are to improve the timing and sequencing of the core musculature. Performance of these exercises are to be performed with precision and control.
What is Core Strength?
Core Strength is the ability of the core musculature to maintain or control a certain position against increased forces of gravity, resistance, or weight. Exercises or movements that would be considered core strength are:
Swiss Ball Rollouts
RKC Plank
Stir the Pot
Sledgehammer Hits
Anti-Rotation (Pallof) Press
All the movement mentioned above are using some form of external force. Whether it be gravity, weight, etc., the core musculature has to exhibit a much greater force to resist moving through the spine.
Why Do WE Need BOTH?
Well, you can have great core stability and be weaker than a baby kitten in a wet paper bag or you can have the strongest core in the world and can have poor core stability.
How is that so?
For example, maybe you can hold a plank with proper form for an inordinate amount of time, ie. 5 minutes. I would say that you have great core strength. But we can’t say that you have great core stability.
Here are a few quick tests to determine how someone’s core stability is functioning:
Segmental Rolling
Key Points:
Attempt to roll from your back to your stomach using one arm and no legs.
You may lift your head and reach with one arm.
Bird Dog
Key Points:
Can you maintain a neutral spine while alternating arms/legs?
Does the pelvis remain level while performing?
If so, then you passed. If not, then barring any type of decreased hip extension, thoracic spine extension, or upper extremity flexion mobility, your core stability may be impaired.
½ Kneeling
Key Points:
Bring front foot so that it is in line with down leg.
You should be able to maintain your balance without shaking or using your arms for balance.
Typically, one side is more difficult than the other. There may be a core stability issue if you cannot maintain an upright posture in tandem ½ Kneeling.
If you can perform the ½ Kneeling Test and both sides feel relatively equal, then you passed. If not, then barring any type of decreased hip extension, ankle, or thoracic spine mobility limitations, this could be indicative of a core stability issue.
I don’t think I need to go into as much detail for core strength, but the importance of maintaining a certain position when deadlifting, squatting, lunging, etc. is hugely important to decrease risk of injury and to improve performance.
We needcore stability because throughout the spine there are tiny stabilizing muscles that go from spine segment to spinal segment.
If you present with an imbalance during the Bird Dog, try performing with a towel roll on your low back and widen your base of support so that the movement is challenging but you can perform it with good form.
If the ½ Kneeling Test has imbalances present, try performing ½ Kneeling Chops with a band around the lower legs to improve core musculature recruitment.
The responsibility of these muscles is to stabilize from one spinal segment to another or stabilize a few spinal segments that they may cross over. If these tiny muscles don’t do their job and stabilize like during a bird dog, ½ Kneeling position, or during segmental rolling, compensation will occur.
Instead of those aforementioned muscles working, the work will be placed upon the larger muscles such as the paraspinals, etc.
Who Cares?
Well, if the small, stabilizer muscles aren’t stabilizing effectively and the larger muscles are working harder than they need to, then this can cause movement compensations over time and in turn place you at risk for injury or decrease performance.
If you present with an imbalance during segmental rolling and either can’t do a certain direction or one direction is harder than the other, perform it with some assistance.
If all else fails, see a licensed medical provider with a background in the Selective Functional Movement Assessment here (http://www.functionalmovement.com/site/aboutsfma)
With that said, we need BOTH. Performing core stability exercises as mentioned above during a dynamic warm-up or super-setted in a workout AND doing core strengthening super-setted during a workout.
Run yourself or your client through some of these tests and see what you can do to help improve their movement quality through core stability and core strengthening.
About the Author
Andrew Millett is a Metro-West (Boston) based physical therapist.
WHEW – talk about a whirlwind day yesterday. I spent the bulk of it glued to my laptop3 making sure things ran smoothly with the launch, answering questions and emails, and trying to stay on top of social media engagement.
This sucker contains 11+ hours of content covering everything from upper and lower extremity assessment, corrective exercise strategies, numerous hands-on breakouts, as well as program design and exercise technique troubleshooting (with maybe, 37 seconds worth of Star Wars references).
Here are two sneak peak segment from both Dean and I.
The One Where Tony Discusses Scapular Motion
The One Where Dean Talks Hip Integration (and makes a bunch of fitness pros groan)
And there is tooooooons more where that came from.
If you’re a fitness professional I can almost guarantee you’ll pick up something valuable (hopefully several) that will help your clients or athletes. And even if you’re not a fitness pro, and just like listening to two dudes talk shop about training or you’re just looking to pick up some cool new exercise variations to keep your shoulders and hips healthy this resource would be a home run.
Dean Somerset and I have spent the better part of the past two years traveling all across North America and parts of Europe presenting our Complete Shoulder & Hip Workshop. All told, we’ve presented it 10-15 times4.
I’m not kidding, either: I…could…not…sleep last night.
I kept waking up every few hours as if I were 11 years old again waiting for Christmas morning to arrive. To say I am excited for this would be an understatement. There’s also a small fraction of me doing the best I can not to destroy the back of my pants out of shear terror.
As of this moment it’s 99.2% excitement, and 0.8% “hoooooooly shit this is happening.”5
I mean, there’s always a degree of vulnerability anytime you put something out there for the masses. However I KNOW this is going to be a resource that will help tons of people.
What Is It
The Complete Shoulder and Hip Blueprint is an 11+ hour digital product that takes you through the systems that both Dean and I use with our athletes and clients to improve upper and lower body function, strength, endurance, and resiliency.
We show you how to connect the dots between a thorough assessment, understanding what corrective strategies (if any) will work best, and how to build a training program to help you and your clients in the most direct way possible.
And there’s a few cat memes and light saber jokes tossed in for good measure.
Why This Matters to You
Are you a fitness professional? Do you work with people with shoulders? What about hips?
Well then, this sucker is right up your alley.
More specifically here’s what you can expect:
Help your clients get through common shoulder issues more effectively.
Streamline your assessment and program design, helping you get faster results and more efficient use of your time, and that of your clients’
Help you see the details of shoulder motion you didn’t notice before, and whether something you’re using in your exercise program is working or not.
Upgrade your exercise toolbox to address commonly overlooked movement issues.
You can help clients see IMMEDIATE improvements, sometimes in as little as a minute or two, which will help them buy in to your abilities.
Help you target in on what will work best for the person in front of you, saving you both the time spent on useless exercises or drills.
Connect the dots between assessments, mobility, strength, and conditioning program considerations
Break down a system you can use today with yourself or your clients to see instant benefit while removing the guess work.
And you don’t necessarily have to be a fitness professional in order to reap the benefits of this resource. Dean and I offer tons of practical information in the form of hands-on applications in addition to breaking down many common exercises such as the deadlift, squat, chin-up, and Landmine variations.
The Part Where I Entice You More (or Guilt You) Into Buying
Choose any of the following that resonates with you:
1. “What is this, Napster? Pay for something once, would you?”
2. “Pretty please?”
3. “I got kids! Well, I’ll have one soon, in January, and that shit’s expensive.”
4. “I’ve written tons of free content over the years. Each time I’ve written an article or blog post that’s helped you out, I put a dollar on your tab. It’s collection time, you son of a bitch.”
Okay, for real: I think it’s a great resource, I feel it’s going to help a lot of people, and I’d be honored if you’d consider checking it out.
We’ve put Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint on sale this week. From today through Saturday, November 5th you can purchase it at $60 off the regular price. What’s more there are Continuing Education Credits (CEUs) available through the NSCA, which makes this a solid professional development investment.
Today’s guest post comes courtesy of Gavin McHale, a Certified Exercise Physiologist from Winnipeg, Canada (in his words, straight north of Fargo). Gavin attended a workshop I did with Dean Somerset in Minneapolis a few weeks ago and he wanted to write up some of the things he picked up from it.
Read on to find a breakdown of how you can clean up your shoulders and hips, lift more weight and allow yourself to relax, just by changing the way you breathe.
A client or physical therapist refers someone to me and they walk in ready to get their ass handed to them. After our initial conversation, I tell them we’re going to start the session with some breathing drills.
They often glaze over and assume it means something else, until I tell them to lie down and take a deep breath.
“Wait, you just want me to breathe?”
“That is correct.”
Almost every time, I can provide a new client a take-home benefit with a couple of breathing cues, all inside the first 2 minutes on the gym floor.
Image courtesy of Crossfit Southbay, via A.D.A.M
Why, you ask? Well there are lots of reasons why breathing is a good practice to get into, and I’m not talking about the breathing we do mindlessly, day-in day-out. I’m talking about mindful “diaphragmatic” or “belly” breathing.
We live in what I’d call a very sympathetic world. Our sympathetic nervous system, also known as fight-or-flight, is cranked up all the time. We have to drive to work in traffic, get a project done, feed the kids, manage the mortgage… you get the point.
All this stress kind of shuts down our parasympathetic nervous system, also known as rest-and-digest. You know, the one that fixes all our shit? Ya, that one.
The diaphragm is actually intended to be our body’s primary breathing muscle, but as a consequence of modern life, it’s been shunned like Tony and I are by all those cat haters (I see you). Instead, the much less efficient breathing muscles of the upper chest and neck then must take over, creating all sorts of issues.
Although it doesn’t look very sexy, diaphragamatic breathing allows us to create a better balance between fight-or-flight and rest-and-digest, and could be the key to fixing a lot of movement issues as well.
When we breathe, this dome-shaped muscle contracts, allowing the lungs to take in air. What we should see is the stomach rising as the dome compresses the abdominal cavity. This is why I tell my clients to try and “get fat” if they’re having trouble figuring it out. I often see the exact opposite, and while it may present a more pleasing side profile, it only allows the lungs to partially expand and results in weaker core stabilization.
So why do we do it?
Not only is it a good idea to get back to the muscles we should be using for an activity like breathing, but an under-active or dysfunctional diaphragm is going to lead to movement issues as well. Neck and shoulder issues are the bulk of what I see, but back and hip irritation have also been linked to breathing concerns.
Proximal stability leads to distal mobility.
If we can create more stability in the core and centre of the body, the limbs and other areas where we need to be more mobile are free to do their job as well.
Test/Re-Test
Below, I’m going to give you several tests to try based on areas that you may have trouble with or issues you want to clean up. The protocol here is to test the movement, correct with a breathing drill, the re-test to see if it got better.
If it did, great! If not, we may have to do some more digging. The breathing correctives are outlined at the end of the article.
1. Shoulder Issues
I found it very interesting how many people had shoulder pain and dysfunction when I first started training. I cleaned up their technique, had them pull way more than they pushed and focused on opening up their thoracic spine. Things got better, but never really got better, ya know?
Then I went further down the rabbit hole and recognized there was more to it. I realized that almost all shoulder problems are somehow tied to breathing mechanics, and a couple of simple drills can make a world of difference, especially when done consistently. Here are two (related) tests to see where problems may lie and outline the path to correcting them.
Shoulder Test/Re-Test #1: Active and Passive Shoulder Flexion
*Ideally, the shirt is off for all tests of shoulder function. Although it can be awkward, this allows someone to see exactly what the scapulae are doing during these movements.
You may have to stand against a wall to do this properly, but stand tall and proud and slowly brings your hands up over your head in front of you. Your ribcage should stay down (the back should stay against the wall) and the head should stay in a packed position (no poke-necks).
How high did your arms get? Was there any pain?
Here is Tony showing an example of a bad active shoulder flexion (left) and a good active shoulder flexion (right). If you’re not careful, you may think the “bad” test is better than the good one. A closer looks reveals that Tony is flaring his ribcage, overextending his lower back and poking his head forward. The test on the right is a true test of his active shoulder flexion. Not bad T, but why is your shirt still on?
The passive test is the same as the active test, only lying down on your back. The knees should be bent and feet flat on the floor or table. The ribcage should stay down and lower back flush to ensure a true test.
We will review correctives later in the article.
Shoulder Test/Re-Test #2: Scapulo-Humeral Rhythm (probably need a friend for this one)
Stand in the same position as your active shoulder flexion test, but this time we’re going to bring the arms overhead by your sides, trying to touch the backs of your hands together above your head.
As the arms move overhead, the scapula should rotate ½ as much as the humerus does. So, to get overhead (180 degrees total), the humerus should rotate upward 120 degrees and the scapula should rotate the remaining 60 degrees.
Image courtesy of BEST Performance Group
If there is any pain with this movement, you should see a registered healthcare professional (or refer to one, if you’re a trainer).
However, if you’re a trainer and you notice the scapula isn’t moving as it should (i.e. the medial border isn’t at 60 degrees) see if you just help it along by manually moving it to the desired position.
Better? Great, let’s get to breathing and fix that shit. Still painful? Refer.
2. Back Issues
Everyone who’s ever had or worked with people with back issues raise their hand! Ya, a lot of us have, myself included and it’s no fun. Whether it’s chronic back pain or a little tweak here and there, worrying about blowing your back out is a real concern for many people.
They’re scared to lift things around the house, scared to bend over the wrong way and especially scared to lift a shit-ton of weight off the floor in the gym (covered later). We can’t be having that… let’s fix it.
I said that lower back and shoulder issues can be related because their main structures are intimately connected via the thoracolumbar fascia. You can see the lats (major players in the shoulder) and the glutes (major players in the lower back) in the image below. If you have issues getting your arms overhead, you may very well have lower back problems as well, and vice versa.
Image courtesy of Neil Asher Healthcare
Back Test/Re-Test #1: Active Straight Leg Raise
This one is nice and simple. Lie on your back, legs straight. Lift one leg as high as you can before you stop or you feel pain. The knee should stay straight. Note how high you got. A good score is 90 degrees with no movement in the opposite leg.
Image courtesy of www.FunctionalMovement.com
Back Test-Re-Test #2: Passive Hip Rotation (bring that friend back, you’ll need em)
Lie flat on your back with legs straight and lift one leg. Bend the leg at the knee, coming up to 90 degrees hip flexion. Move the hip into external rotation (foot to opposite hip) and internal rotation (foot outside hip) while supporting the knee. Note the angle achieved with each movement. A good score is 90 degrees from midline for external rotation and 45 degrees for internal.
Photo courtesy of geekymedics.com.
LIFTING HEAVY A.F.
(if you have to ask what it means, you’re not ready for it)
There’s no question that if you’ve ever done a heavy squat or deadlift and not wrecked your back, you know that you need to be able to create massive amounts of tension through your core. If you can’t, you get hurt, pretty simple.
The diaphragm plays a massive role in stabilizing the core. It forms the lid on the “core box”, working with the obliques, QL, pelvic floor and transverse abdominus. Being able to take in air and maintain a high-pressure area in the abdominal cavity is crucial for lifting heavy (another reason I start with breathing drills).
RELAXATION
Remember that sympathetic world I spoke about earlier where most of us live that wreaks havoc on our breathing patterns? Needless to say, it can also create difficulty with relaxation and sleep.
I’m pretty sure most of us (and our clients) can agree we’d like to sleep better.
So, when you watch the videos below, don’t just put them in the “workout” box, but remember they can also have a positive impact on your ability to relax and even fall asleep.
Not only will these breathing drills assist in improving movement patterns, they’ll set up the context for creating tension before and during a heavy lift.
THE BREATHING CORRECTIVES
Prone Crocodile Breathing
If you’re new to the diaphragmatic breathing game, this is your place to start. Maybe you scored poorly on one of the above tests or you have an itch to throw more weight on the bar but aren’t yet comfortable doing so.
Either way, give this drill a shot before moving on.
Prone Lengthening
This one is particularly useful if you have trouble with your shoulder and/or struggled with the shoulder flexion and scapulo-humeral tests. Many people’s shoulder dysfunction comes from a number of factors, one of those being tight/ropey serratus anterior. This drill will help to release that muscle, allowing it to do it’s part in moving the scapula to get that arm overhead.
The serratus anterior (SA) works in concert with the upper traps (UT) and lower traps (LT) to allow the scapula to upwardly rotate.
Note From TG: props to Dr. Evan Osar for introducing me to this exercise a few years ago.
Crook Lying Belly Breathing
This is another great beginner drill as the lower back is supported and the table or floor can provide external feedback. This is also the best position for belly breathing, allowing the belly to fully expand. Along with the others, this one is great for those with back or hip issues.
Quadruped Breathing
This is another great drill for those with issues rotating that scap when going overhead. The serratus anterior is a massive player and if we can get it rotating properly (or at least better than it was), we may be able to provide relief and learn what it is we need to focus on moving forward.
So there you have it, a good, hard look at what we should be looking for and how to make it better, just by changing the way we breathe.
One final note for trainers, make sure you try these yourself as you may find that different cues work better. If you do, please tell me. I want to know all your secrets!
OBLIGATORY PROMOTIONAL PLUG FROM TG (sorry not sorry)
Pretty much everything discussed above is covered in more detail in mine and Dean Somerset’s Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint which is being released this week (Nov. 1st).
In fact the site goes LIVE tonight. You can check back HERE at midnight to get in on the action. It’s totally going to be like a Harry Potter book release! Except, you know, without wizards and Sorting Hats and shit.
Author’s Bio
Gavin McHale is a Certified Exercise Physiologist from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (straight North of Fargo).
He loves getting people to lift things they never imagined they would both in-person and online.
He also likes to lift said heavy things and, much like Tony, loves cats.
I’ve often be anointed as the “guy who dislikes or hates overhead pressing” on the internet. Given it’s the internet, this is pretty good. There are worse things to be called.
“I am not against any one exercise or feel a exercise in particular needs to be contraindicated 100% of the time.6 I do feel there are contraindicated lifters and exercisers.”
Point blank, most people move like shit; especially overhead. And while it’s a blanket comment to make, and there’s a degree of N=1, I’ve-been-coaching-people-for-14-years-(eight of which in a facility where a bulk of the clientele were overhead athletes)-I-know-what-I’m-talking-about, snootiness involved, if you watch most people attempt to do anything overhead, the proof is in the pudding.
First off, pudding is delicious.
Second, here’s what you (tend to) end up seeing:
This:
Take note of the picture to the left. Excessive lumbar extension, massive rib flair, and forward head posture.
Or This:
A cascade of clusterfuckery. <– Not the scientific term, but you get the idea.
Now, to be fair: there are plenty of people who perform overhead pressing movements like the ones pictured above and never have any issues. They’re the outliers. You (and your clients) are likely not them.
In my world…“people need to earn the right to overhead press.”
We spend very little time overhead on a day-to-day basis. Unless you’re paid to hurl 95 MPH heaters 60.6 feet, are an competitive OLY lifter, or, I don’t know, are obsessed with jazz hands…you (probably) don’t spend a lot of energy within that range of motion.
Photo Credit: www.medfordpublicschools.org
To reiterate: I am not against overhead (or vertical) pressing. It’s a basic movement pattern that should be trained or utilized in the weight room and/or in everyday life. There’s a bevy of benefits that result from it. Unfortunately, for a vast majority of people, due to any number of factors ranging from lack of lumbo-pelvic control, tight/overactive lats, scapular dyskinesis (stemming from soft tissue or structural/capsular issues), and Upper Cross (computer guy) Syndrome, it becomes problematic…and “bad things” end up happening.
NOTE: for those who want to geek out more on this topic and read more of thoughts on upper extremity assessment, overhead mobility, etc, you can go HERE and HERE and HERE.
I prefer not to dwell too much on what people can’t do, and more so on strategies that 1) may be a better fit at that point in time 2) are more “joint friendly” and 3) help to still increase one’s overall level of badassery.
Tall Kneeling Overhead Press – off Bench
Who Did I Steal It From: strength coach Joel Seedman.
What Does It Do: It still trains the overhead press, albeit in a fashion that’s a little more joint friendly. By performing this exercise tall kneeling (and on a bench….where there’s only two points of contact rather than four) a few things happen:
1) It makes it much harder to compensate through the lumbar spine. If that happens, you fall off the bench.
2) It forces the lifter to use a lighter load. I believe Joel has mentioned in the past that with this variation you can expect to use 80-90% of what you’d normally be able to do with a strict overhead press.
3) There’s an immense amount of core engagement.
Key Coaching Cues: Don’t be a hero: go light. Once in the tall kneeling position, be sure to turn on glutes and to brace the abs. As you press overhead the idea is to keep the rib cage locked down throughout duration of the set.
Here’s the deal: Whether or not someone should stretch and/or utilize the foam roller is up to them. There’s research and anecdotal evidence to back up both sides of the argument
I find value in both as a coach. Considering we’re talking about a 5-10 minute “investment,” and the abyss of benefits involved – improved tissue quality, increased tissue extensibility, decreased likelihood of injury, a more primed CNS, 1007% increase in general level of sexiness – I feel implementing both is a no-brainer.
There’s a degree of expectation management involved, however:
1. Foam Rolling – harder doesn’t mean better. People seem to be under the impression that the more you grimace and induce “pain,” the more benefit you’re getting.
Here’s the progression most people take:
“Soft” Foam Roller —> “Hard” Foam Roller —> Rumble Roller (the one with those spikey thingamabobbers) —> PVC Pipe —> Barbell or Straight Up Lead Pipe —> Live Grenade.
Some people take foam rolling to the next level, as if the goal is to earn a Badge of Hardcoreness. BTW: that badge needs to happen. I do not agree with this approach and find it defeats the purpose.
I also understand there are camps out there who feel foam rolling is a complete waste of time. I tend to call in like with THIS response from Kevin Neeld.
2. Stretching – Lets be honest: this is the first thing that gets “tossed” when there’s a time crunch with training. I hate doing it, you hate doing it, the Easter bunny hates doing, everyone hates doing it. However, it’s hard to discount the mountain of research and anecdotal evidence that it works and does help people feel better.
And I know most people reading along agree with my train of thought: “I should do more of it.”
A funny thing: people tend to stretch what “feels good” or what they’re good at. Or, more commonly, they stretch, but they’re not stretching what they think they’re stretching.
I.e., not a good hip flexor stretch
Nonetheless, while I could keep going on and on and on I want to defer to my colleague, Shane McLean, who offers up some of his insights and “go to” rolling and stretching strategies he uses with his clients.
Enjoy.
To Roll and Stretch Or Not To Roll and Stretch (That is the Question)
Foam Rolling
Don’t you love that person who grabs the foam roller, plonks himself in the middle of the gym and proceeds to twist, grunt and grimace like a game of Twister?
Yeah, that person definitely needs a talking too.
Foam rolling is either better than sliced bread or a complete waste of time depending on whose camp you’re in. However, there is plenty of middle earth ground.7
You should think of foam rolling as a poor man’s massage. Having hands on you with the massage therapist inflicting pain is definitely more effective than the roller. However, foam rolling is cheaper and more accessible.
Just don’t go overboard.
Mike Boyle explains his rationale for foam rolling in The New Functional Training for Sports2nd edition. He thinks foam rolling can help combat muscle creep.
Muscle creep is the extensibility of soft tissues which are those loaded under low pressure for an extended period of time.
A stretched muscle will attempt to go back to its resting length but will give up and in an attempt to bridge the gap will lay down more fibers. If the stretch is applied slowly enough the muscle will change its length and retain that change (Myers 2009, 36).
Doesn’t that sound creepy?
One study by back guru Dr. Stuart McGill concluded that “sitting with the back slouched for as little as 20 min can result in increased laxity in the posterior spinal ligaments” (McGill and Brown 1992).
Now if that doesn’t strike any fear into you to sit up straight this instant I don’t know what will. Prolonged spinal flexion can reduce back muscle protection of the underlying spine due to increased laxity. (1)
The muscles in the back already take a beating and going straight from the office to the squat rack would be as pointless as poking yourself repeatedly in the eye, for fun.
However, showing your muscles a little love with foam rolling to decrease muscular tension before crushing your squats and deadlifts sounds like a much better idea.
Foam rolling before warming up sets the table for a better warm up. A better warm up means a better training session and less chance of you ending up on the DL. Doesn’t that sound like a good idea? Thought you would see things my way.
Here are my five preferred must do rolls to help combat the creep and to feel and move well:
1) Foot Massage With Ball
2) Hamstring Roll
3) Piriformis Roll
4) Lower Back Roll
5) Thoracic Spine Roll
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgNWSQx08Hw
Stretching
Stretching is one of those topics that fitness professionals will never sit on the fence about. It’s either the devil incarnate or it’s the cure all. Both sides will argue till their blue in the face.
When coaches get into a pissing match, it’s never pretty. There is plenty of name calling, hair pulling and chests puffed out. However, like with most polar opposite points of view, the truth lies somewhere in between.
Let Mike Boyle be the voice of reason here.
“A lack of flexibility seems to be a causative factor in many of the gradual onset injury conditions that plague today’s athletes. Overuse problems like patella-femoral syndrome, low back pain, and shoulder pain seem to relate strongly to long term tissue changes that don’t respond to dynamic stretching.” (2)
If static stretching good enough for Mike, it should be good enough for the rest of us. Besides, if you stretch for a few minutes it will feel good and the universe will not blow up.
Combining foam rolling for the back of your body with a few stretches for the front may help improve your range of motion and help the stretch tolerance of the foam rolled muscle.
Here my preferred “go to” stretches:
1) Hip Flexor
2) Half Kneeling Quad
3) Biceps
4) Chest
5) Anterior Deltoid
References
1. Is Activation of the Back Muscles Impaired by Creep or Muscle Fatigue? Daniel Sánchez-Zuriaga – Michael Adams – Patricia Dolan – Spine – 2010
2. The Effect of Static Stretch and Warm-up Exercise on Hamstring Length Over the Course of 24 Hours. Volkert Weijer – Gerard Gorniak – Eric Shamus – J Orthop Sports Phys Ther Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy – 2003
About the Author
Shane “The Balance Guy” McLean, is an A.C.E Certified Personal Trainer working deep in the heart of Dallas, Texas.
No, Shane doesn’t wear a cowboy hat or boots. After being told that his posture blows by Eric Cressey, he has made it his mission to rid the world of desk jockeys and have fun while doing so.
After all exercise is fun and never a “work” out.
You can follow Shane on Twitter HERE, and Facebook HERE.
For many people the first choice when their shoulder begins to hurt or if they lack mobility is to start cranking and yanking on it. This is rarely the right approach, and as Andrew Millett (my good friend and Boston based physical therapist) points out in today’s post…there a far better and far more effective approaches.
The shoulders, specifically, the glenohumeral joints, are typically very mobile joints. They need to flex, extend, abduct, adduct, horizontally abduct and adduct and internally and externally rotate in multiple planes and positions in relation to the body. Even though the shoulders are a common area of mobility, many people will present with limitations in at least one aspect of glenohumeral motion.
There are various reasons why someone may have limited shoulder mobility.
Bony Limitations
photo credit: pediatric-orthopedics.com
People who engaged in various overhead sports such as baseball, softball, etc. have been shown on multiple studies to have changes to the glenoid and humeral head. In baseball players specifically, they can appear to have a loss of internal rotation range of motion as compared to their non-throwing shoulder and an increase in external rotation range of motion as compared to their non-throwing shoulder.
This change in range of motion is commonly due to humeral retroversion. Humeral retroversion is the alternation of the humerus and humeral head in relation to the glenoid fossa from years of repetitive overhead activity, specifically throwing.
This is typically only seen in overhead athletes. This differentiation in range of motion side to side in external and internal rotation is considered “normal” for this population. As long as External + Internal Rotation aka Total Motion is within 5 degrees of the non-involved shoulder, then that is considered normal.
Note from TG:In other words, loss of IR in a throwing shoulder is an adaptive response and is normal! It doesn’t necessarily have to be fixed.
With that said, we do not want to crank on someone who has “normal” total motion, but may lack internal rotation on one side versus the other. Asking your patient or client if they engaged in overhead sports as a child is a good clue to this. Then measuring their motion will give more information.
We will get into more detail later on how to improve their motion if their is more than a 5 degree difference in total motion.
Another bony limitation at the shoulder can be acromion type. The acromion is a bony structure that is present in all people that is part of the scapula.
Photo credit: ipushweight.com
All acromions are not created equal though. There can be 3 varying types of acromions.
As you can see in the picture above, a type I acromion is relatively normal in appearance. In type II and III, there is more of a curved/hooked appearance to it. This alteration in can cause pain and limited motion when reaching overhead.
The only way to definitively know if someone has a type II or III acromion is through radiographic imaging. Programming may need to be altered to more horizontal pulling/pushing variations instead of overhead work if someone doesn’t have full overhead mobility due to a type III acromion.
For most people with a type II acromion, physical therapy can help to improve range of motion and decrease the effect of the acromion on shoulder motion and pain. For most people with a type III acromion, more often than not, surgical intervention is what will help.
Capsular Limitations
In the majority of the joints in the body, there is something called a “capsule” surrounding the joint. A capsule is synonymous to a ziploc bag encompassing the joint.
In this capsule, there are “folds” in certain aspects depending on where the arm is positioned. Due to an old injury, surgery, etc., this capsule can become “tight or stiff.” Now, without getting into too much detail about why it is tight/stiff or why there are capsular limitations, the only way to determine if there is capsular limitations, is by a licensed healthcare practitioner, ie. PT, chiropractor, etc.
Typically, older populations may have more capsular limitations OR if someone has had a long standing injury or prior surgery to the shoulder, they may present with decreased ranges of motion because of the capsule.
The only other area that can be attributed to decreased ranges of motion due to the joint capsule itself that affects the shoulder, would be the thoracic spine. Lack of thoracic spine extension and/or rotation can limit shoulder flexion, external rotation, etc.
To test for limited thoracic spine mobility, try Quadruped Passive Thoracic Rotation:
Normally, passive rotation should be 50 degrees in the general population. If it is less than that, that can significantly limit shoulder range of motion.
Soft Tissue Restrictions
Now, this is the more common of all three of the factors that can limit shoulder mobility. Excluding clients who are hyper-mobile, the majority of clients and patients have some form of increased soft tissue tone in one if not more areas of their body.
At the glenohumeral joint, there are a few “big” than can contribute to limited shoulder mobility.
Muscles that can limit shoulder external rotation are:
Pec Minor
Teres Major
Latissimus Dorsi
Subscapularis
Muscles that can limit shoulder internal rotation are:
Infraspinatus
Teres Minor
Now, you’re probably thinking that I just “copied and pasted” most of those muscles from one section to the other. The latissimus dorsi is a huge contributor to limited overhead shoulder mobility due to its attachment on the trunk into abduction and flexion. It can also limit external rotation as it is a shoulder internal rotator.
Pectoralis minor can limit overhead motion because of its attachment on the coracoid process of the scapula and the rib. Decreased pectoralis minor tissue extensibility can cause an anterior tilt of the scapula limiting humeral motion on the glenoid.
Subscapularis can limit overhead motion due to its attachment on anterior side of the scapula and on the humerus. Teres major attaches on the scapula as well as on the humerus and can limit overhead mobility as well.
Infraspinatus and Teres Minor limit internal rotation of the shoulder due to its attachment points on the humerus and scapula.
Typically, one if not more than one of the aforementioned muscles can limit overhead mobility. Instead of performing intense stretches and forcing the glenohumeral joint into motions it just does not have, we need to ASSESS and then ADDRESS any limitations that are present.
Assessment
Active Motion
To assess someone’s active ranges of motion, ask them to move.
Have them perform:
Shoulder Flexion
Shoulder Abduction
Shoulder Medial Rotation
Shoulder Lateral Rotation
“Normal” ranges of motion for general population clients would be:
Shoulder Flexion: 180 degrees OR humerus in line with the client’s ear.
Shoulder Abduction: 180 degrees OR humerus in line with side of body
MRE: 3rd digit finger tip to contralateral inferior angle of scapula
LRF: 3rd digit finger tip to superomedial border of contralateral scapula.
Now that you have assessed someone’s active motion, we need to assess it passively to fully determine if someone has a true mobility limitation.
Passive Motion
Perform the same motions passively into flexion, abduction, MRE, and LRF. Do not force these motions or push through tightness or pain. If you cannot passively bring the client’s arm to the aforementioned areas mentioned in the Active Motion section, then we know the client has a true mobility limitation.
Addressing the Issue
If someone presents with limitations in passive shoulder flexion, abduction, MRE, or LRF, performing some form of Self-Myofascial Release (SMR) can be beneficial.
Then, re-test passive motion to see if there has been an improvement in mobility. If there has, then you know you have worked on the appropriate areas.
If there has NOT been an improvement in mobility, refer out to a manual therapist (PT, sports chiropractor, massage therapist, etc.)
If the mobility has improved, then we want to use appropriate mobility drills to help groove the patterns that were just improved.
Make sure to keep scapulae retracted by using wall or door jam.
Once scapulae is fixed, gently bring arm across body.
Hold 5-8 seconds pre-training or 30 seconds post-training.
By fixating scapulae, it will provide a more focused stretch to the posterior aspect of the shoulder.
Latissimus Dorsi Stretch
Key Points:
Use opposite side hand to fix scapulae to rib cage.
Once scapulae is fixed, hold onto a stationary object and sit back.
Gentle stretch should be felt in the lat.
By fixating the scapulae to the rib cage using the opposite hand, it provides a truer stretch to the lat vs tractioning the glenohumeral joint.
Motor Control
Once there has been an improvement in mobility, we want to make sure that the brain and the body knows how to access that “new” mobility. We need to make sure to re-pattern the proper movement patterns to avoid falling back into an poor compensations.
For shoulder re-patterning, various movements that help to promote proper movement patterns such as:
Forearm Wall Slides
Back to Wall Shoulder Flexion
Quadruped Assisted Reach, Roll, and Lift
Now that we have improved the mobility by addressing increased soft tissue tone, re-patterned those movement patterns, now we want to incorporate them all together.
Movements such as:
Turkish Get-Up
Kettlebell Bottoms Up Baby Get-Up
There you have it! Instead of mindlessly stretching your shoulder, address any potential limitations and get back to training effectively!
About the Author
Andrew Millett is a Metro-West (Boston) based physical therapist
NOTE: the term “Porcelain Post” was invented by Brian Patrick Murphy and Pete Dupuis. Without getting into the specifics, it describes a post that can be read in the same time it takes you to go #2.
Huh, I guess that was more specific than I thought.
I received a pretty cool email this morning from a college athlete of mine (Division I baseball) whom I worked with this past summer.
To give a little back story he had trained with me at Cressey Sports Performance a few years ago when he was in high-school, and had reached out to me this past May after completing his Junior season at school.
He walked into CORE and after going through the particulars – a thorough assessment, discussing his season, what he felt he needed to work on, his nagging back pain, his favorite GI Joe character, you know, the important stuff – he had this to say:
“The time I felt best was when you were writing my programs.”
With my chest sticking out a little further we broke things down and came up with a game plan for the summer, particularly with regards to how we were going to tackle his chronic back issue that had been hampering him for a few seasons:
As with any baseball player (and pretty much every athlete in the history of ever) we were going to hammer anterior core strength/stability to encourage more posterior pelvic tilt and implement drills to learn to dissociate hip movement from lumbar movement. Read: a metric SHIT-ton of deadbugs and birddogs. Not sexy, but whatever.
Work on regaining appropriate scapular upward rotation via actual scapular movement and not extending through lower back or shrugging.
Learn to control rib-position (limit rib flair and thus excessive extension) via positional breathing drills. There’s a lot of magic that happens when you teach someone the importance of a full exhale.
Also, teaching the importance of the reach and allowing the shoulder blades to move around the ribcage (again this whole extension thing rears its ugly head).
And, last but not least…still lift heavy things. Albeit doing my job as the coach to “pump the brakes” when needed and not fall into the trap of “lifting heavy at all costs because that’s what athletes do.” Truth be told: this mentality is probably why this athlete kept getting hurt in the first place.
To this last point (not lifting “heavy”), I wanted to showcase that it was more about the QUALITY of the movement and taking the time to 1) do stuff right and 2) understand how building a wider base (via more volume with SUB-MAXIMAL loads) will help with reaching a higher (strength) peak.8
Now, most guys at this point would roll their eyes and think I was going soft. However, this athlete was on board and willing to trust the process. So went to work for three months.
I received this email this morning:
“How’s it going? I wanted to tell you that yesterday we had our first testing day and I got 515 on a one rep max for trap bar deadlift! The best part is my back felt good after!”
He nailed a 515 lb deadlift despite having never gone above 405 all summer (on the last week we trained together).9
We still got after it all summer. He had his fair share of squatting (2 KB Front Squats), single leg work, carries, glute bridges, rows, Pallof presses, push-ups, and me making fun of him for having never watched The Usual Suspects. That’s sacrilege if you ask me.
However, the vast majority of his “strength” work was done in the 60-80% range and we were meticulous with making sure that every rep was pain free and that technique was solid.
I’d make the case that because we addressed alignment and stability issues along with movement quality, and got him into a better position, that he was then able to express his “true” strength more effectively when the time came.
2nd edition. He thinks foam rolling can help combat muscle creep.
