CategoriesAssessment Corrective Exercise Program Design

Part I: Correcting the Shoulders

Last week my good friend and author of Day by Day: The Personal Trainer’s Blueprint to Achieving Ultimate Success, Kevin Mullins, wrote an introduction of sorts to the state of “corrective exercise” in the fitness industry.

To summate: Stop it. Just stop. People still need to train in order to get better.1

Today, in Part I, Kevin peels back the onion on the shoulder.

Grab a cup of coffee.

This is good.

Copyright: remains / 123RF Stock Photo

Shoulders, Yo

Excellent strength coach, and outstanding Canadian, Dean Somerset once stated in an internet post, or maybe it was a blog, “there is always a cost of doing business.” He meant it as a point of emphasis when talking about the various effects of training programs and specific exercises. But he also could have extrapolated it outwards to reflect the stresses of our daily lives.

Poor posture while seated for twelve hours is going to have a cost associated with it just as German volume training.

Note From TG: OMG, German Volume Training brings back the worst memories. I don’t know which was worse: getting kicked on the balls or GVT?

For this reason, the fitness industry has made a major shift towards corrective exercises. Once seen as the tools of progressive physical therapists – these mobility, stability, and integrated exercises have become critical elements in training programs for elite athletes, nimble geriatrics, and the average Joe and Jane alike.

The growth of corrective modalities in conventional personal training is a good thing overall. However, as I pointed out in the introduction to this article series – HERE – there exists a very big downside to the obsession with movement perfection and body correction.

There needs to be a better way of correcting people’s movement flaws, overcoming their specific weaknesses, and getting them to a place where they can safely train hard. Far too many coaches are “under-training” their clients because they are investing too much time “correcting” things. At some point we need to get people training hard towards their actual goals.

Using Your Head For Their Shoulders

There may be no part of the body more susceptible to under-training than the shoulders. With multiple skeletal structures, a bunch of muscle attachments, and a relationship with the spine – there are a lot of reasons that someone wouldn’t be “allowed” to train hard with their shoulders.

Training them includes more than the traditional bodybuilding approach too.

The glenohumeral joint is involved in all upper body pushing and pulling motions as well as the specific isolation exercises that are popular in bodybuilding programs (such as lateral raises or chest flyes). The scapula and clavicle are too, but their positioning on the body also impacts movement such as the deadlift and squat.

Because of their high level of integration with every exercise we do, the shoulders are often the most banged up part of a client’s body. Our poor postures and ill-advised training programs aren’t helping us. Often the two compound each other and only worsen any dysfunction that exists.

Hence the need for correctives.

Really though, the shoulder itself is a bit of a miracle joint – with all the muscles that cross it, the fascia, the nerves, blood vessels, and obvious skeletal structures – it is amazing that it functions as well as it does.

But there can be a whole host of issues going on, or there can be just one. And that is what is most challenging about assessing and correcting shoulder dysfunctions.

  • It could be as simple as improving someone’s ability to retract and depress their scapula, such as when someone’s posture isn’t where we’d like it.
  • Or as complex as improving external rotation of the humerus while also stealing more extension from the thoracic spine and stability from the scapula during upward rotation and elevation, such as when a client wants to get better at pull-ups.

No matter how intense the problem is it is important that we as coaches keep our processes simple.

Removing the Restrictions

Yet, simple is not how most coaches approach shoulder health.

In fact, if you were to follow many of the conventional prescriptions that are floated through the industry, then you’d avoid many of the things that produce big results for your clients in favor of small correctives that make small changes. While some clients do need more intervention with these corrective methods – most simply need enough to create an opportunity for more intense training.

If you were to follow many of the guidelines that accompany something as notable as the Functional Movement Screen (the FMS), then many of your clients would not be allowed to press, or pull vertically, or load up abduction or adduction in the frontal or transverse planes until they were able to get a “2” on the shoulder mobility assessment.

While Gray Cook and Lee Burton did an incredible job creating a screening tool that helps coaches discover dysfunction and lack of movement prowess – they also created a system that is preventing a lot of clients from actually getting better.

Note From TG: For anyone interested (I.e., everyone) I wrote about my experience taking the FMS and what I took from it HERE.

The protective measures and governing principles of systems put the fear of God in personal trainers who use them. Many are afraid of loading anything until they see a two on the scoreboard. It is a steady dose of low intensity or no intensity correctives until that day.

Which is where the problem with corrective exercises starts:

Low to no intensity corrective exercises aren’t why clients improve over time. Instead, it is the strengthening exercises that come after these correctives that matter most.

If we are to improve how we utilize corrective exercises in our programs, then we must be willing to accept that what we now know isn’t perfect. We must be willing to entertain the idea that there is a better way of doing business. It is this exact mentality that drives innovation in technology.

It will drive innovation in fitness if we let it.

—-

(It is important to pause here and make a statement – this article is not meant to treat, diagnose, or prescribe methods or modalities for someone who is dealing with diagnosed injury or dysfunction in their shoulders. Traumatic injuries, conditions such as frozen shoulder, cervical kyphosis, and others require a finer touch from qualified medical professionals.)

If Not This, Then What?

Corrective exercises are like the bore that drills tunnels in the side of a mountain. They create the space for the construction to take place, but they aren’t the construction. You wouldn’t want to drive through a tunnel that hasn’t been reinforced with steel supports and millions of pounds of concrete, so why do you think that corrective exercises are enough to create a finished product in fitness?

The mobility and stability exercises that we define as “correctives” simply create the space for more optimal change to take place. They create the opportunity for well-selected strength exercises to change the tissues for the better.

For shoulder health we find that the classic approach of wall-angels, thoracic roll-overs, and cat-cows are simply creating the opening for which exercises like loaded carries, supinated pulldowns, and banded retractions fill with strength and stability. Our goal needs to be to do enough to get to the exercises that stimulate adaptation and create positive change; in the shoulders and in the rest of the client’s body.

Our responsibility as trainers is to help our clients overcome dysfunctions and improve their movement quality – sure. But our job also implies that we help our clients burn calories, build muscle, and come just short of conquering the universe.

Before diving into the actual corrective exercises that will open the gates for us to train with the intensity our client’s want and need, let’s ensure that everyone reading is on the same page on the anatomy and physiology of the shoulder joint.

The Basic Anatomy and Physiology – Skeletal

When looking at the shoulder joint you are presented with three major bones: the clavicle, the scapula, and the humerus.

  • The clavicle (or collarbone) is the most stationary of all of these structures, but its lateral aspect does elevate and depress in reaction to movements of the other bones. The humerus, the upper arm bone, is designed for external and internal rotation within the socket – known as the glenohumeral joint.
  • The humerus can move through flexion, extension, abduction and adduction, and horizontal abduction and adduction by rotating around the glenohumeral joint in each of the three planes (sagittal, frontal, transverse). These movements are aided by the function of the scapula.
  • The scapula (or shoulder blade) is the large bone in the back of the body. It is capable of six motions: elevation, depression, upward rotation, downward rotation, protraction, and retraction. These movements are also correlated to the three planes of motion too – sagittal, frontal, and transverse respectively.

The spine is also involved in shoulder mobility and stability is often left out when looking at function. We will explore this relationship in the next section when we begin looking at how core function can impact shoulder mobility as well as how thoracic extension is necessary for optimal function of the shoulder joint.

The Basic Anatomy and Physiology – Muscular

The human shoulder functions as incredibly as it does because of the incredible number of muscles that are involved. Some control the humerus, others control the scapula, and others control the spine.

Most of these muscles are found in the back.

When looking at the muscles that contract at the shoulder, we must separate the muscles that control the external rotation and internal rotation of the humerus from the muscles that create the six motions of the scapula. While some muscles share functions – it is important to identify its primary action and what it acts upon in order to better understand how the shoulder wants to function.

The four muscles of the rotator cuff are most responsible for the external and internal rotation capacity of the humerus.

  • There is evidence to support that the triceps are involved in external rotation, especially under load (just turn your arm around as far as you can right now, and you’ll feel the lateral head of the triceps contract). Therefore, the triceps join the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and teres minor as external rotators of the humerus.
  • With that claim we can also ascertain that the biceps and pectoralis group are involved to some degree in internal rotation (although there is significantly less IR available at the shoulder joint). The subscapularis is the internal rotator of the cuff.

When examining the muscles that move the scapula, we are simply looking at the muscles of the upper back; the lats, teres major, rhomboids, trapezius, levator scapulae, the serratus and the three external rotators of the cuff. Each of these muscles have specific functions on pieces of paper, but it is imperative as coaches that we realize that most exercises performed in a gym setting involve more than just one of these muscles doing one of these functions.

It is easy to point at the traps and say “oh, they are elevators and contribute to upward rotation.” It is less easy being able to look at a flawed motion and know exactly what is wrong:

For example, many coaches will point at someone having issues with retraction and think “ah, the upper traps are overactive and the teres major/minor need strengthening.” They could be right and probably are in a population of people who sit with rounded thoracic spines and internally rotated shoulders.

Add in forward neck and shrugged shoulders and this “diagnosis” seems spot on.

However, getting just the teres group to fire without activating the infraspinatus or supraspinatus is nearly impossible in a traditional training setting. Getting someone to stay out of their upper traps sounds like a great coaching cue, but that requires getting them to fire the muscles that contribute to scapular depression; the lower traps, pectoralis minor, and latissimus dorsi at the same time – something most clients (or you) can’t do consciously.

In fact, a lot of scapular depression comes from the ability to put the thoracic spine into extension. Doing so involves activation the lowest fibers of the traps, the lats, the upper abdominals, and a whole host of muscles that are so deep and connected to the individual vertebrae that considering them in training is pointless.

When these muscles contract and thoracic extension takes place, you find that the scapula better slide into the depressed position.

The Core Connection

Yet, thoracic control isn’t completely isolated either.

It is very hard to contract the thoracic muscles without some level of core control. In this instance, the core includes the anterior muscles of the core that we know (rectus and transverse abdominals, internal and external obliques, and Psoas Major.

It also includes the muscles of the posterior core: the quadratus lumborum and the erector spinae.

Conscious contraction of these muscles allows for the core to hold tension, which better stabilizes the lumbar spine, which better allows the thoracic spine to go into extension, which better allows the scapula to depress, which better allows the humerus to externally rotate. As you can see, everything is connected, which is why we can’t use such generic correctives to solve complex problems.

A Less Important Factor?

You’ll notice that we haven’t yet mentioned the deltoid – the most known shoulder muscle. For all the attention it gets in bodybuilding circles its function is not as critical to shoulder function as you’d believe. The anterior fibers assist in internal rotation and drive flexion of the arm while the posterior fibers aid in external rotation and initiate horizontal abduction. The lateral fibers function to create abduction of the arm in the frontal plane.

From a corrective standpoint, it is very rarely an issue with the deltoid that proves to be the problem. In fact, it is often the overdevelopment of the deltoids and upper traps and underdevelopment of the rotator cuff muscles that create impingement issues in dedicated lifters. Great corrective exercises keep the deltoids involved and avoid shutting them out.

The Hidden Gem

In recent years we’ve come to learn that the fascia in our bodies is more than just a covering and more than just extra tissue that gets cut through in surgery. It is a living tissue that is involved in our function on a day by day and minute by minute basis.

In fact, research from Michol Dalcourt and the team at the Institute of Motion have proven that the fascia can communicate information across the body faster than any muscle tissue. Its ability to compress and expand is crucial for athletic development.

Unfortunately, many fitness professionals see it as tissue that is addressed with foam rollers, lacrosse balls, and other release methods. This isn’t wrong of course as these implements can do well to increase blood flow, increase hydration of the fascia, and improve mobility of the joint in question. However, we can also train our fascia just as we train our muscles. We must look to incorporate the variety of slings that Thomas Meyer’s discusses in his text Anatomy Trains.

In our solutions section we’ll explore a few ways to do that to improve the function of the shoulders and truly correct any issues that exist.

But first, we must identify a few of the most common problems.

Common Problems

1) Desk Posture (UCS)

The most common problem that a client will present in regard to their shoulder health is the classic “desk posture”. The scapula sits in protraction and elevation while the humerus’ are internally rotated. This posture is held for eight, ten, and twelve hours a day. Over time the pectoralis muscles get tighter, the trapezius muscles lengthen, the muscles of the scapula and glenohumeral joint get weaker, and the client continues to worsen.

The most advanced form of this condition is known as Upper Cross Syndrome (UCS) – a severe condition of immobility that usually involves additional intervention with physical therapists, and sometimes, orthopedic surgeons. This posture often presents forward neck as a well – a dangerous condition of the cervical spine.

The treatment for individuals in this position is to correct their posture and work to move them in better retraction, depression, and external rotation. However, many of the common methods do not provide enough intensity to stimulate muscle growth or strength adaptations in the muscles of the upper back. It is crucial for trainers to invest time in building their clients upper backs and coaching optimal patterns if the corrective interventions are ever going to stick.

2) Poor Scapulohumeral rhythm

For many people the pain they experience in their pressing and pulling motions is a result of a poor pattern being present. Of course, there are others who have legitimate issues such as shoulder impingements, strained muscles of the rotator cuff, or overactive trapezius muscles that make doing certain movements nearly impossible. The rest though, simply need help reworking their patterns and an emphasis on strengthening the muscles that control those patterns.

 

The scapulohumeral rhythm refers to the quality of movement that occurs when we consider the scapula and glenohumeral joints interaction. People with great rhythms typically an exercise pain-free while people who lack control and patterning struggle to accomplish even the most basic tasks.

This topic is quite deep, but in short realize there is a relationship between the position of the humerus and where the scapula “should” be.

For example, in a traditional dumbbell overhead press the scapula should be upwardly rotating and elevating as the humerus adducts towards the midline at the top of the press. Many people will execute their press and have little to no movement out of their scapula, thus causing increased stress on tissues that shouldn’t need to encounter them.

3) Lack of External Rotation

One of the issues many clients face is the inability to rotate their humerus back. This is more than just the presence of too much internal rotation (such as with U.C.S.). The muscles responsible for external rotation of the shoulder are powerful muscles that also engage in the motions of the scapula. Lacking strength in these tissues can cause someone to become more internally rotated, but also makes it incredibly hard to achieve external rotation at the glenohumeral joint.

This matters for more than just mobility.

Popular exercises such as pull-ups require a person to own a certain amount of external rotation in order to execute the motion. So too does the overhead press. Lacking the ability to achieve optimal end range of E.R. makes both movements, and so many others, hard to accomplish.

It is important to understand that the exercises we use to improve external rotation put the humerus in a greater rotation than we would normally encounter in traditional lifting. But, this sort of work is necessary to strengthen and stimulate the muscles that create E.R. and maintain it in an isometric contraction (such as during a overhead press).

4) Weak Core and Poor Thoracic Extension

As stated earlier, the core and spine play a major role in whether the shoulders function optimally. A lot of lifters never develop optimal shoulder health because they create mobility by overextending their lumbar and thoracic spine to compensate. This is especially prevalent in ego lifters performing an overhead press with a massive amount of “layback”.

Lacking the ability to contract the anterior core and stabilize the lumbar spine makes it significantly harder for someone to master true thoracic extension. The ability to lift the ribs and extend the thoracic spine allows for better depression, retraction, and downward rotation of the scapula. These motions are direct opposites of the posture that many fall into as a result of upper cross syndrome or “desk posture”.

Strengthen the abdominal wall and muscles of the T-spine is imperative to optimizing shoulder function. Much like the foundation of a skyscraper must be firm and set underneath the construction, so too does our core and spine for our shoulders.

5) Weak Upper Back and Lack of Awareness

In a lot of cases, especially in individuals who do not regularly engage in an exercise plan, there is simply a lack of proprioception and strength in the muscles that control the scapula and glenohumeral joint. Often, there is nothing “wrong” with this population other than their lack of sensory awareness and force production capabilities.

Clients like this require more exposure to well-coached patterns and a progressively overloaded strength program that allows their muscles to adapt over time. It may be beneficial to use low intensity correctives to prime a specific pattern and create mobility in the joint prior to loading the muscles with traditional methods.

It is critical that we stop seeing all clients as wrecked when they are unable to perform a specific task. For many people, especially with something as obscure as the FMS, it is simply an unfamiliarity with their body and the demand you are placing upon them. Increase their exposure to well-coached exercise instead of trying to fix something that isn’t broken.

New Solutions

As we dive into the specific movements it is important for us to realize that these are just a few examples of great movements that can be used to strengthen and stabilize the shoulder joint. Some of these movements are common and others are painfully boring (in a sense that we aren’t shaking the Earth).

However, simplicity is often the fasted route to success.

A few of these movements are going to be outside the realm of normality for some coaches. Many traditional strength coaches would look at Animal Flow as a weird form of yoga and dancing, but it is that arena that brings the fascia into the fold. Other movements are simply manipulations of variables in the training arena, such as the angled press, that most people aren’t considering.

1) Dual Kneeling Band Pull Apart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rrHNDcVa9s

 

The band pull apart is nothing new.

However, adding in the kneeling position asks us to contract our core and our glutes – two major parts of our foundation. In doing so we can better extend our thoracic spine, which in turn allows for better retraction of the scapula.

2.1) The Full-House (2 Cables/3 Motions)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COSRT7nPTPc

This multi-pattern movement asks for retraction of the scapula, then retraction into downward rotation and depression (with external rotation of the humerus). Lastly, the overhead press asks for elevation, upward rotation, and forces the external rotators to fire hard to prevent the arms from collapsing forward of the line of gravity.

This sort of movement is incredible for grooving the scapulohumeral rhythm, improving upper back strength, and increasing external rotation of the humerus. It is quite the challenge and needs to be done extra light. Five pounds was the resistance in the videos.

2.2) Second View

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt8ex9TL8GQ

 

3) External Rotated T, Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Juj1iYiJFE

 

A simple variation of traditional T and Y – this a movement that can be used to improve retraction of the scapula while strengthening the external rotators. It forces the trainee to own their humeral position and originate movement from the glenohumeral joint while remaining set onto stable scapula.

This exercise also promotes additional thoracic extension.

4) Angled Press

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVPsVXWXds0

 

Far too many people contraindicate the overhead push pattern when someone is dealing with shoulder dysfunction. If we were to listen to the FMS, no one who can’t get a two on the shoulder mobility exam should ever press overhead. Yet, tons of people can press pain-free without getting a two.

This exercise helps bridge the gap between overhead pressing and not. The slight angle (about 15 degrees) allows you to load up the deltoids a bit without creating a perfect opposition to gravity. The neutral grip, forward elbow, and emphasis on tempo allows us to focus on scapulohumeral rhythm. Use this as a primary exercise after preparing clients for their workouts. This will correct a lot of flaws so long as the movement remains pain free.

5) Supinated Pulldowns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbIy3pH0nlo

 

At first glance this looks like a standard, boring pulldown.

Yet, it is the dramatic emphasis on depression and elevation of the scapula that makes this one stand out. Far too many folks get on the pulldown and just start yanking on the bar to get their set done. The motion becomes about completion instead of optimization.

The supinated hand grip helps keep the humerus in a slightly more externally rotated position while also prevented much of the internal rotation that happens with heavy pronated pulldowns. The focus here is to emphasize absolute end ranges. Feel the scapula elevate while maintaining control and then drive them downwards into full depression at the bottom.

6) Simple Animal Flow (Beast Hold to Scorpion to Alternating Crab Reaches)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x27wT-nxUkg

 

A lot of you will look at this and wonder – why in the heck am I going to do all that flailing? Yet, animal flow is an incredible discipline that emphasizes loading of a lot of our passive structures – the fascia, the connective tissue, the skeletal system. Strengthening these things is imperative to the absolute realization of healthy shoulders. Specifically, the external rotation of the humerus in set crab position is a great tool to have in your arsenal.

7) BONUS: New Way to do Chest Flyes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcRTVz4aWOE

 

Lastly, I want to share the new best way for you to execute chest flyes.

See, the chest flye is one of the most favorite exercises in bodybuilding culture. It causes a tremendous stretch of the pec fibers and can help the person doing them build the muscle they crave. Yet, there is a ridiculous amount of sheering force placed upon the shoulder joint when the dumbbells reach the bottom of a traditional flye.

So, instead of using dumbbells and pissing off your shoulders – integrate this band only variation. The key is to press out into the band for the entirety of the movement, thus keeping a high level of tension on the working muscles without stressing the shoulder joint against gravity. As you fatigue shorten the range and focus on the squeeze.

Putting It All Together

You can correct someone’s shoulders and move their fitness forward at the same time. Your job as a fitness professional is to drive your clients towards the results they want and the results they didn’t know they need. You can still use low intensity correctives in your programs, of course, but it is imperative to go forward understanding that they are simply a very small piece of a much larger puzzle. Your client, if they are to improve, must begin strengthening the muscles by training the appropriate patterns that address shoulder health.

Next: The Lower Back and Pelvis

In the next article we’ll explore the lumbar spine, pelvis, and anterior core and how we can better correct chronic low-level back pain, coach better hinge patterns, and improve our client’s ability to move with confidence.

CategoriesProgram Design Rehab/Prehab Strength Training

Using Fillers In Your Programs: Squats

Last week I wrote about “fillers,” what they are, why I’m a big fan of them, and how I include them into my programs on deadlift day(s).

You can catch up HERE if you happened to miss it.

The post seemed to resonate with people so I decided to expand the concept to include how I go about utilizing fillers with other common exercises.

Today: squatsssssss.

Copyright: spotpoint74 / 123RF Stock Photo

Filler’up

The beauty of fillers is that, much like tv shows based in the city of Chicago – Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, Chicago Justice, Chicago Sanitation, Chicago Teacher’s Union2 –  there’s an endless array to pick and choose from.

What follows isn’t close to an exhaustive list.

What’s more, fillers can serve as a splendid opportunity to individualize someone’s program to hone in their unique injury history or their unique mobility/stability deficits.

QUICK ASIDE: When it comes to writing training programs for people, there are more similarities across the board than there are differences.

Far too often I find coaches/trainers making things more complicated than they have to be. Mike Boyle spoke to this not too long ago on social media:

  • Squat
  • Hinge
  • Carry
  • Push
  • Pull
  • Single Leg
  • Core

Training programs, more often than not, revolve around these movement patterns, and the individualization generally comes down to what iteration of said movement pattern best fits the goal(s), injury history, and ability level of the athlete/client.

More to the point, instead of focusing on the facade of “sport specific training,” the better moniker should be centered on “people specific training.”

But that’s a hefty conversation for another time.

In the end, like I said, fillers are an ideal way to provide some semblance of customization into a program.

Fillers For Squats

Much like the deadlift, there are many moving parts to a squat which the body requires access to.

Starting from the bottom-up:

  • Ankle Dorsiflexion
  • Hip Flexion, in addition to Hip Internal Rotation
  • T-Spine Extension
  • Shoulder Mobility (specifically glenohumeral external rotation with regards to back squats)
  • Core stability, lumbo-pelvic control
  • Expecto Patronum spell3

Here are a handful of fillers for your consideration:

1) Hip Flexor Mobilization with IR/ER

 

The plain ol’ vanilla Wall Hip Flexor Mobilization is still one of my all-time favorite fillers, but this variation, which I stole from my boy Dean Somerset, adds another level to it.

Squatting requires hip flexion, and deep(er) hip flexion also requires hip internal rotation. Adding this in between sets of squats will make your hips feel nice-n-juicy.

The key, though, is to actually get motion from the HIP and not just crank through your lumbar spine. I like to put my hand on my ASIS and then “drive” that towards and away from my opposite (up) knee. In short, I think about opening and closing my pelvis.

There isn’t a ton of range of motion with this drill, but serves as a nice way to “unglue” the hips.

5 reps per direction/side is money.

2) Seated 90/90 Hip Switch (Progressions)

 

What I like most about this drill is that it hits both hip INTERNAL and EXTERNAL rotation simultaneously. The objective is to keep your chest up as best you can, along with your feet staying cemented to the floor.

1st Progression = Supported (hands)

2nd Progression = Unsupported (no hands)

3rd Progression = Adding in additional  end-range Hip IR on the trail leg (be sure not to crank through your QL).

4th Progression = I don’t know, blindfolded? A new Bird Box challenge?

Shoot for 5-8 repetition per side (depending on which progression you’re doing). Hands Supported = high(er) reps. End Range Hip IR = you’ll hate life.

3) Side Lying Open Book

 

This one is pretty self-explanatory, and a great drill to help open up the chest and work on mid-back mobility.

Lie on the floor with a foam roller (or yoga block) underneath your top knee to prevent you from falling into excessive lumbar rotation. With your hips & shoulders starting stacked, “open” your top side by following your hand with your eyes.

BE SURE YOU’RE BELLY BUTTON DOESN’T GO ALONG FOR THE RIDE (it should stay put).

5 reps/side.

4) Pec Stretch with End Range Lift Off

 

This one comes courtesy of the Prehab Guys.

Unlike the Front Squat the Back Squat requires much more shoulder mobility; particularly humeral abduction and external rotation.

This is a nifty drill to help with both (along with helping to improve the ability to posteriorly tilt the scapulae).

3-4 reps/side should do the trick.

CategoriesProgram Design Rehab/Prehab speed training

Using Fillers In Your Programs: Deadlifts

I had a gentleman come in for an assessment recently who, upon arriving, provided me with a laundry list of injuries and maladies that have hampered his ability to workout for quite some time.

The list he handed over would have prompted fist bumps from Tolstoy or Tolkien from its grandiosity in description and length.

Some were legitimate – an old athletic injury to his shoulder, along with some nagging low back pain.

Some were, shall we say, a bit of overkill – “my left Sternocleidomastoid gets a bit tweaky whenever I rotate my head more than 17.22 degrees. It’s even more profound when the Dew Point dips below a certain level. Or if I wear red on Thursday.”

Copyright: spotpoint74 / 123RF Stock Photo

The Power of Fillers

Okay, that last part did NOT happen. Rather, it was meant as an allegory of sorts, an attempt to showcase how some people can often fall into a trap of believing they’re broken and that the only way to “fix” themselves is to put under a microscope every tweak, niggle, and bump that rears its ugly head.

To be clear: It’s NOT my bag to discount people’s past or current injury history. I respect and take into account everything (injury history, goals, ability level, favorite Transformer4) and use that information to ascertain what will be the best, safest and  most efficient path to dieselfication possible.

That said, I often have to play “bad cop” and help people come to an understanding.

That they’re not broken, that they can train, and that they don’t have to spend 30 minutes foam rolling and activating their Superficial Dorsal Fascial Line.

The drawn-out, overly complicated warm-up is my worst nightmare as a coach.

Actually, back up.

Kipping pull-ups are my worst nightmare. With a close second being anytime someone asks me about keto. Oh, and mushrooms.5

Sometimes when I start working with a new client – especially one coming in with an extensive injury history – they’re often riddled with fear and trepidation with regards to training. They’ve been stymied by an endless array of setbacks (and overly cautious physical therapists6) and are reluctant to push past the “corrective exercise” rabbit hole.

Their warm-up often takes longer than it takes to complete the Boston Marathon, to the point where every inch of their body is meticulously foam rolled and every muscle is painstakingly activated.

Yes, it’s important to activate “stuff.”

In fact, I’m often flummoxed some people still don’t understand the importance of taking themselves through a proper warm-up.  Getting the body and nervous system primed for physical activity is kind of a big deal, and I won’t belabor the point here.

You should be doing it.

Don’t get me wrong: the warm-up is a splendid opportunity to individualize someone’s program and to have him or her dedicate some additional TLC to areas of the body that need it.

To that end, however, I do feel – at times – people baby themselves to the extent the warm-up becomes the workout.

This is where I find a lot of value in fillers and implementing them into my programs.

I love it, I love it, I LOVE it.

via GIPHY

The idea is to address common “problem areas” by tossing in some low-grade activation/mobility drills during one’s rest intervals…as part of their training program.

The key point here is LOW-GRADE.

Filler exercises can be anything from glute activation and scapular upward rotation drills to, I don’t know, a particular stretch (hip flexors?) or naming all the members of Wu-Tang Clan. The premise is that they’re low-grade, low-demand, easy, and address something that won’t sacrifice performance on subsequent sets of iron work.

Performing 400m sprints or Tabata anything does not constitute as a filler, and defeats the point. We’re trying to turn stuff on and/or address common mobility/stability issues, not challenge Jason Bourne to a street fight.

via GIPHY

All that said I wanted to share some insights on how I implement fillers into the programs I write, and in particular which ones I like to pair with certain exercises.

First up, deadlifts of course…;o)

Filler For Deadlifts

There are a lot of moving parts to the deadlift and to perform it in a safe manner requires “access” to a number of things:

  • Ample T-Spine extension
  • Ample hip flexion
  • Depending on the variation (I.e., sumo style) requisite adductor length
  • Scapular posterior tilt (hard to do if someone’s in excessive upper back kyphosis).
  • Lumbo-pelvic control/stability
  • The cheat code for unlimited lives in Contra (very important)7

If none of these things are in play or even minimally addressed many lifters are going to have a hard time staying healthy in the long run.

Alright, enough of my jibber-jabber. Lets get to the drills.

1) Split Stance Adductor Mobilization

 

Now, admittedly, if there was a Wikipedia page for “ordinary and unremarkable exercises,” this one would be right at the top. However, this has always been a staple filler exercise for me and one that I don’t forsee taking out of the rotation anytime soon.

What I like most about this exercise is that it targets the adductors in both hip flexion and extension. The key, though, is attention to detail with regards to anterior core engagement.

A common mistake I see people make is “falling” into their lower back when they walk their hands forward; it’s important to avoid this. Too, another common mistake is allowing the lower back to round as they sit back. The main objective should be to maintain as “neutral” of a spine as possible throughout the entirety of the set.

One other teeny-tiny thing to consider is scapular position. This drill can also be a nice opportunity to work on a bit of Serratus activation by actively “pushing” into the floor so that there’s a bit of protraction and the scapulae “set” or adhere to the ribcage.

Aim for 5-8 repetitions/leg during rest periods.

2) Monster Walks

 

All I can say about this exercise is that when it’s done properly it’s Glute O’clock.

In the video above I’m using Nick Tumminello’s NT Loop which I have found work really well for this drill.

FYI: I receive zero kickback from Nick – maybe a tickle fight? Fingers crossed – in recommending his band.

The idea here is to lock the ribs down and to keep the hips level so they’re not teeter-tottering back and forth during the set. Walk it back using the hips/glutes until the band is fully stretched and then control the return (again, making every effort not to let the hips teeter-totter).

I prefer to use anywhere from 5-8 repetitions here.

3) Bench T-Spine Mobilization

 

This is a money filler for those people stuck in flexion hell all day, in addition to those who have chronically tight/short lats.

Some key things to note:

  • Holding onto a stick (or anything similar) helps prevent the glenohumeral joint from going into internal rotation.
  • As you sit back towards your ankles, try to maintain a neutral back position throughout (keep those abs on, actively “pull” yourself back).
  • Perform a pseudo bicep curl at the bottom to help nudge you into a bit more thoracic extension.
  • Be careful not to induce excessive thoracic extension here. It’s easy to think the more ROM here the better, but that’s not necessarily the case.

4) Brettzel Mobilization w/ Exhale

 

Stolen straight from Gray Cook and Brett Jones this is easily one of my favorite fillers OVERALL, and not just for deadlifts. We’re locking down the lumbar spine by holding the bottom knee down (you can also place a foam roller here if you’re unable to get this low) in addition to adding a nice hip flexor stretch on the opposite side.

The goal, then, is to take in an inhale through nose and EXHALE (out the mouth) as you rotate and drive your top shoulder towards the floor.

Indeed, this is a fantastic drill to work on more thoracic extension, but again, be judicious with ROM here. More is not better. All I’ll say here is stay cognizant of your belly button (innie or outtie?) and where it’s pointing. As you extend back it should not point towards the ceiling. Instead, it should stay relatively motionless and pointing towards the wall your chest is facing.

As you exhale with each subsequent rep, you should notice you’re getting closer and closer to the floor.

3-5 repetitions per side should suffice.

And That’s That

There are a plethora of options here, but all I wanted to do was highlight a handful of my favorites. Choose ONE drill to perform during your rest periods. Also, depending on the total number of sets you have on the menu you could also alternate between 2-3 drills.

There’s no golden rule.

Hope this helped and gave you a few ideas to work with.

Categoriespersonal training Program Design Strength Training

Glute Training For Athletes

If you’re a personal trainer or strength coach you likely work with clients and athletes who 1) have glutes8 and 2) are looking to up their glute game.

Today’s guest post by strength coach, Menachem Brodie, goes a bit further down the rabbit hole than just giving you a bunch of glute-centric exercises to consider. There are a plethora of factors to consider when trying to ascertain what exercise will be the best fit for any one individual’s derriere.

What’s more, simpler is often better…;o)

Copyright: dolgachov / 123RF Stock Photo

Glute Training For Athletes

What is it about glutes that has made them the “back to the future” of strength and performance training?

Was it Bret Contreras creating the Barbell Hip Thrust and spreading the Gospel of Glutes?


Was it the invention of Yoga Pants?

Or maybe it was Mike Jureller going on his “International Tour of CrossFit gyms” that made them popular… The world may never know.

What is undisputed, is that glutes (and mid & lower traps) are signs that someone is an athlete, or at least training like an athlete.

Today we’ll grab our Glute Dolorean’s and head back to the past, to help us understand why glutes are so important, why squats are not enough, and what you need to consider when programming glutes for your athletes and clients.

The glutes, all three of them: Glute medius, Glute minimus, and Glute maximus, need to be developed in proper proportion to allow the hip joint to sit more properly. As the glutes lose strength they tend, like every muscle, to lose their optimal resting length.

This in turn affects performance, and in the case of the hip joint, can lead to the head of the femur sitting at a poor angle in the acetabulum, which as I found out, over time can lend to bone growth in paces we don’t want it, leading to impingement, or other mechanical issues.

One such issue that can arise, is what has been called “gluteal amnesia,” which simply put is the glutes losing the ability to execute hip extension, leaving the hamstrings to do all the work and can cause the head of the femur to clunk around in the acetabulum like a drunkard in a demolition derby.

Putting Down a Great Base

In order for us to have the best chance of fully expressing our athleticism, we have to have a solid base.

via GIPHY

Now while (especially) the average client, cyclists, and triathletes tend to think of “core” as being the base, this is not the full truth.

The base involves the Axial Skeleton (Spine & rib cage) + the Pelvis. This is of critical importance, as failure to stabilize these two together can sap power and strength. There are of course sports that are exceptions to this, such as rowing, but it’s this author’s opinion that this is why we tend to see disc injuries in that population.

Butt, developing your glutes REQUIRES that you have a stable and strong midsection: the rectus abdominus, internal and external obliques, the pelvic floor, and quadratus lumborum all work together to stabilize the pelvis from the top & middle. I won’t go into these items in this post, but you can read more and learn a few exercises to help address your midsection in this great post from Sarah Duvall, DPT.

You should also read Tony’s piece “Stack the rings for better Squat Performance” , and check out his friends’ Dr. Sarah Duvall, Kellie Hart, and Meghan Callaway’s stellar product Glutes, Core, and Pelvic Floor Online System.

Note From TG: It’s stellar!

It’s often necessary to break down movement(s) into their respective parts to make certain we’re getting motion from the right areas and that we’re using/engaging the areas we want to use/engage to perform exercises well, which is what we’ll dial in on next.

Cycling and Sitting: The Bane of Gluteal Existence

When glutes are strong and full and the diaphragm, ribs, and pelvic floor all move properly for breathing, EVERYTHING works better: Squats are more full range, your back feels like a titanium beam, and jumping and sprinting tend to be out of this world (for a 6th grader).

Butt (<– haha, I see what you’re doing there Menachem) when one starts spending more time in a seated position where the glutes are partially stretched, but not used, and the diaphragm is out of alignment with the pelvic floor, these muscles tend to lose some of their abilities, as they are essentially being told to shut off in those static positions: We don’t need them to work because we are slouching and hanging off the ligaments/connective tissues instead.

Cyclists and triathletes also suffer this problem due to the inherent position of their sport.

You lose power potential in a muscle that cannot stretch, or is in a stretched position for so long. This is an issue many cyclists, triathletes AND our clients/ athletes face, due to the long periods of time that we spend sitting with our glutes in an elongated position, and “the rings” (pelvic floor + diaphragm) out of alignment.

Glutes Are a Keystone to Performance Oft Neglected

While the running joke is that “I got glutes cuz I squat a lot,” Squats actually are NOT enough to fully and properly develop the glutes. There is far more that goes into developing glutes than being able to perform the 30+ something squat variations.

I know what you’re thinking:

But this is important, as it relates to an oft-missed portion to training the glutes: PELVIC CONTROL.

Pelvic stabilization and control is extremely important if we are to get true hip extension, and not extension from places not intended to work “like that”, such as the lumbar spine.

If I had a dollar for every time I saw a trainer or coach working on “Hip extension” with a client/ athlete who was getting movement from the lumbar spine, I’d be a very rich person.

In order for us to build up the glutes properly, we have to begin by thinking about giving stabilization to the pelvis through teaching the hamstrings, internal obliques, the deep hip rotators (pelvic floor), rectus & transverse abdominus, and Quadratus lumborum to all fire in good sequence and with great strength.

This is a challenge for many, as we tend to perform our front planks by hanging off the hip flexors, we work our hamstrings by laying down on the machine, and often don’t include many anti-rotation exercises (although, you ARE reading Tony’s blog, so you’re officially “one of the smart ones” who does in fact train rotary stability).

Getting to Work

Glute work isn’t simply throwing a few exercises into your dynamic warmup and main routine, there is much more that needs to be done to maximize your athletes results.

We MUST think about the different positions the athlete will be required to perform in their sport:

  • Do they include deceleration and change of direction?
  • Is it a fixed motion similar to cycling or rowing, or is their sport more dynamic, such as basketball and rugby?
  • Is the athlete in anterior pelvic tilt for their sport, such as hockey, bowling, or cycling?

Each of these questions must be answered, as they help us understand the joint positioning of the hip….and as we all know:

JOINT POSITION DICTATES MUSCLE FUNCTION

If we’re actually to train the athlete and their glutes to perform in their sport, we MUST know how the muscles will be asked to work in the “real world”-  that of dynamic movement and uncertainty required by their sport.

This is one of the things many of us forget as we write programming: What positions are the joints going to be in, and due to these changes in joint position, how will the muscles ACTUALLY be responding/used for movement?

  • Stabilizer?
  • Prime mover?
  • Prime mover through full range of motion?

Next we need to answer:

What kind of lever arm should you use for the athlete when training the glutes?

Weighted at the lower leg? (Reverse Hypers)
Weighted at the shoulders? (Barbell good mornings)
Weighted at the hip? (Barbell Hip Thrust)

 

Weighted long fulcrum? (Deadlifts)

Weighted medium fulcrum? (Sumo Deadlifts)

Resistance bands at the knees?
Resistance bands at the shins?
Resistance bands at the feet?

Resistance band at the crotch? (Band Pull throughs)

 

Bodyweight weight-bearing? (Hip lifts)
Bodyweight non-weight-bearing? (Side lying straight leg lifts)

The answer to this can and should vary throughout the training year, but there should always be one or two lever arms which are staples to that athletes program, to help combat the movement deficiencies that their specific sport, AND POSITION in that sport, entail.

After all, you wouldn’t train a pitcher as you would train a shortstop.

Programming Glutes for Your Clients & Athletes

Every single warmup we do here at Human Vortex Training starts with some form of the hip series, depending on the athletes ability to recruit the glutes & stabilize their midsection. This doesn’t mean that these exercises are the only warmup, that would be poor planning. Rather, we should be looking to include at least 1-2 of these moves in our dynamic warm up to help the athlete/client connect with, and utilize their glutes.

Here are the foundational warm-up exercises which I’ve used a mix of over the years:

1) Side Lying Straight Leg Lift

1 @ 8-15 each

 

2) Hip Lifts

1 @ 15-30

 

3) Clamshell Variation

Side Lying Clamshells (beginners)

1 @ 8-15 each

 

Side Lying Half Clamshells (intermediate/advanced)

1 @ 8-15 each

 

4) Side Lying Straight Leg Adduction

1 @ 8-15 ea

5) Birddog Variation or Regression

1 @ 5-8 each

PLEASE Don’t butcher the Birddog exercise! Our affable, giant-triceped host, Tony Gentilcore, has a great video about this and how to better teach it here:

 

6) Single Leg Hips Lift

1 @ 8-15 each

 

7) Banded Lateral Walks

 

8) Banded Monster Walks Forward/ Backward

 

Along with 2-4 of the above exercises, we would get 1-2 breathing exercises, and 2-4 other dynamic warm-up exercises to prepare for that specific days session.

Burnout Session at the End of Your Lift for Glutes? No Problem!

At the end of a session is a great place to add in some more sport-related fatigued state specific glute training. These are usually done bodyweight only, as we’re looking to help improve the athletes resilience and strength-endurance in sport-specific positions, although it’s best to find what works for YOUR athlete….Some respond better, or actually need weighted or resisted variations.

Use your best judgement to find what’s best for your athlete at that time.

1) Back on Bench Single Leg Hip lifts (Rotary Stability)  (Sprinters, Track and Field, Triathletes)

 

2) 45 Degree, Duck footed Glute Back Extensions  (Cyclists, Triathletes, Hockey)

 

3) Frog Hip Lifts (Weighted or Unweighted)  (BJJ, Hockey)

 

But It’s Not All Strengthening

As we all know, simply making a muscle stronger and better able to work in chorus with other muscles, doesn’t make it a rock star. We still need to ensure it’s able to work through it’s full intended range of motion, as well as to rest at its ideal resting length.

For this, we can do a few different exercises:

1) Brettzel

 

2) Half-Pigeon Stretch

3) Dynamic LAX Ball Glute Release with Mid-Trap Activation

 

I like all of these as they also help the athlete learn where the rest of his or her body is & what it’s doing as they get into the proper positions… a big win for Proprioception!

Give these a shot, and let the glute gains begin!

About the Author

Menachem Brodie, NSCA-CSCS, PCES, is a leading Strength Coach for Cyclists & Triathletes. In the health, fitness, & wellness fields for nearly 20 years, he has worked with professional & amature atheltes from around the world. He has authored 2 courses: Strength Training for Cycling Success and Strength Training for Triathlon Success, and has presented internationally on Strength Training for Endurance Athletes, including at the 2018 USA Cycling Coaching Summit.

www.HumanVortexTraining.com

CategoriesCorrective Exercise Program Design

Adding CARs to Your Warm Up

My almost two-year old is obsessed with cars.

The vroom vroom kind.

We live on a busy street here in Boston so it’s more of less toddler catnip for him. It’s impossible to go for a walk and he not be transfixed with every Hyundai and Honda that whizzes by. Likewise, every book we read together he points out every car,

Car, daddy. Car, car, car, car.9

I’m obsessed CARs too. By contrast, though, I’m referring to Controlled Articular Rotations.

And they’re something I’ve been including into more and more of my warm-ups of late.

Copyright: lzflzf / 123RF Stock Photo

Adding CARs to Your Warm-Up

The concept of Controlled Articular Rotations is nothing new to the industry. Coaches like Pavel Tsatsouline have been singing their praises for decades.

However, there’s been a bit of a renaissance and cacophony of interest within the industry of late due in no small part to Andreo Spina and his Functional Range Conditioning (FRC) courses.

Full Disclosure: I have not taken any of the courses myself, and my only immersion with the concepts are through various colleagues of mine – Dean Somerset, Frank Duffy, Matt Crush, to name a few –  who have taken the courses or who have been certified.

FRC is a system of joint health and mobility, and CARs are just one branch underneath the FRC umbrella. Or maybe I should use tree in this analogy?

Anyway, whatever, you get the idea.

CARs are active, rotational movements that explore the outer limits of articular (joint) motion. To steal a frame of thought from Long Island based strength coach Chris Cooper:

“Stretching and other mobility drills are great, but if you can’t control your body in that new range, then what’s the point.

Explore how your body moves, and then push its limits.”

Too, another component of CARs that’s important to respect is the idea of irradiation, which is just a fancy schmancy way of saying “tension.”

When CARs are done well they incorporate an immense amount of tension in  the body so nothing else moves (spine, pelvis, etc) so you can capture as much range of motion possible in that one particular joint.

To borrow another scientific word, they fucking suck donkey balls when done correctly.

Here two of my current “go to’s” when it comes to how I’ve implemented CARs into my programs:

Scapular CAR

 

This is a fantastic option on upper body days before any heavy bench pressing. Moreover, in terms of overall shoulder health these are stellar. Many trainees have gotten into the unfortunate habit of “locking” their shoulder blades in place (most germane to the conversation: scapular downward rotation syndrome) and this drill is a great way to “unglue” everything.

Key Points to Consider

  • This is NOT a passive position. Glutes on, abs on, make a fist with non-working side.
  • Place side you’re working in scapular plane
  • Pretend as if there’s a glass of water on your arm you don’t want to spill.
  • Protract, shrug (elevate), retract, depress shoulder blade in a deliberate manner.
  • My cat is such a diva.

Seated 90/90 Hip Switches

I like this drill a lot because it trains both hip internal and external rotation simultaneously.

NOTE: After I posted this my boy Frank Duffy chimed in to say this:

“From a hardo FRC standpoint 90/90 transitions aren’t CARs because they’re focusing just on the IR/ER component of the hips in flexion whereas CARs address all the joint motions. What’s demonstrated is technically considered an Isometric Movement Path (IsoMP).”

Note to Frank: Don’t ever embarrass me on my blog again.10

This is also a good choice to get the hips nice a juicy before a squat or deadlift session. I prefer to start people ground-based (sitting) with hip CARs before I implement quadruped and then standing variations.

 

Key Points to Consider

  • My bad for the blatant crotch shot.
  • Make a fist with both hands – squeeze coal into diamonds.
  • Both feet must stay in contact with the floor at all times.
  • Try your best to stay as upright as possible.
  • If you need to regress, place hands on floor behind you.

The Warm-Up Blueprint For Lifting

Looking for some more ideas to spruce up your warm-up?

Listen, we all go through the motions when it comes to warming-up. I find most people fall into two camps:

  1. Team “nope, I’d rather walk over broken glass.”
  2. Team “the workout is the warm-up.”

You’re either someone who doesn’t do a warm-up (and likely always has achy joints and sub-par lifts), or someone who does warm-up, but then takes 45 minutes to go through a laundry list of “correctives” (and likely has achy joints and sub-par lifts).

I was recently given a copy Jack Hanrahan’s The Warm-Up Blueprint For Lifting and found it very useful.

It shows you how to design your own customized warm-up using the concepts I discussed above and then some. It takes you through soft tissue release, dynamic stretching, CARs, and targeted muscle activation techniques to better prepare you for squatting, deadlifting, bench pressing, and overhead pressing.

What’s more it’s all done with a British accent.

Jack could read The Silmarillion or, I don’t know, the Wikipedia page for the Kreb’s Cycle and I’d pay to listen to it.

The best part is that this is a home study course. So you can go at your own pace.

Be sure to check it out HERE.

CategoriesProgram Design

The Forgotten Component of Progressing in the Weight Room

It’s popular nowadays for people to brag about how hard their workouts are.

And I don’t mean “hard” as in “man, I’d rather jump into a shark’s mouth than do that squat session again” hard.

No, for whatever reason, it’s become more important to one-up each other, to champion shenanigans over actual progress in the gym:

Person #1: “I could barely walk to my car after my workout today.”

Person #2: “Pfftt, whatever. I threw up today during my workout. It was awesome.”

Person #3: “Oh yeah, well, after my workout I couldn’t feel the right side of my face.”

Progress, it seems, has more to do with how close to a medical emergency someone can get than it is actually seeing tangible improvements in their lifts.

Copyright: fxquadro / 123RF Stock Photo

The Forgotten Component of Progress

To be fair…

My hoity toity introduction wasn’t meant to imply I’m against trainees pushing the envelop in their training. I’ve often said, somewhat facetiously, that lifting weights isn’t supposed to tickle.

I love when people work hard in the gym.

But there’s a stark contrast between someone working hard during a workout and them going out of their way to routinely surpass their ability to recover from said workout.

In a very much watered down explanation, “progress” can be applied, measured, or attributed to the following factors:

  • Doing more sets/reps of a particular exercise.
  • Adding more load to a particular exercise.
  • Manipulating rest periods and/or tempo of a particular exercise.
  • Changing “mode” of an exercise (I.e., switching from Trap Bar Deadlift to Conventional)
  • Adding physics into the equation (I.e, moving center of mass further up and away from base of support. I.e., switching from Dumbbell Reverse Lunges to Barbell Reverse Lunges).
  • Can your pecs cut diamonds?11

In Short: Are you making a concerted effort to “do more work?” What’s more, are you able to do so over the course of weeks, months, years?

Your ability to progress long-term is directly correlated with how well you’re able to recover from your workouts (via purposeful fluctuations in training volume, as well as ensuring ample sleep, calories, and hydration). It has nothing to do with one’s prowess at regurgitating their Quinoa & Kale power salad from a few hours ago.

But I’ll get off my high-horse and get to the point.

“Feel” Matters

Last year I started working with another local coach here in Boston. She’s co-owner of a KB-centric gym and  Strong First certified, but she wanted to hire me to help her get more proficient with the barbell lifts (specifically the deadlift) as well as help her prepare for the Strong First barbell course.

Jessica was already pretty freakin strong when she started.

When we tested her deadlift she hit 300 lbs; a number many guys would love to hit.

However, it didn’t “feel” or look easy.

She had a few technical glitches I wanted to iron out.

We had ten weeks. During that time my only goal was to clean up her technique in an effort to make 300 lbs feel easier.

I knew that if we worked on cementing her technique, making each repetition look (and feel) pristine, and getting her into better positions to be able to express her (true) strength…we’d likely see an improvement when she re-tested her 1 rep-max at the conclusion of the certification course.

Conventional wisdom would dictate that in order to get her to lift more weight we’d have to focus on progressive overload – more sets, more reps, heavier load, did she destroy the back of her pants, etc.

That’s not the route I took.

Over the course of ten weeks we never touched a weight above 265 lbs.

35 lbs under her best lift.

Instead, like I said, we focused on improving position(s) and making sure we trained with loads that allowed her to marinate in impeccable and FAF reps.12.

Fast Forward Ten Weeks

Before she left for her certification weekend we re-tested 300 lbs.

Few things have made me cry – saying my vows to my wife during our wedding, holding my son for the first time, watching Rose let go of Jack at the end of Titanic, flipping my omelet and not breaking it.

Okay, I cry all the time.

Jessica’s deadlift brought a tear to my eye it looked so good.

What was originally a 19 on the Rate of Perceived Exertion scale, looked (and felt) like a 7/8 by the time ten weeks were over.

What’s more, she ended up hitting a PR of 35o lbs that weekend.

*drops the mic.

Progress = Feel, Too

Far too often trainees are quick to add more weight to the bar, or use the concept of more (more sets, reps, load, etc) as the sole metric to gauge progress.

All are important of course, and everyone should remain cognizant of them.

However, don’t be so quick to underestimate the value of staying put and getting more acquainted with a specific weight. If five reps of a certain weight is challenging, even if you can complete five reps, stay there.

Stay there until it feels less effortful. Many people are too quick to add weight at the expense of actually owning it. More to the point, I much prefer someone leave a session feeling refreshed and that they could do more rather than shit their spleen and miss reps on a routine basis.

What good is that going to do?

Easy training is good training.

That’s progression too.

CategoriesExercise Technique Program Design

Deadbugs Are Gucci. However, Pump the Brakes a Little and Try These Regressions First

First off: Yeah, that’s right I just put the slang version of “Gucci” into the title of a blog post about deadbugs.

Second: I promise I won’t ever do that again

Third: I’ve been swamped with travel the past few weeks (and the subsequent catching up on emails, programs, projects, and life shit-show) and I apologize for my lack of writing prowess. Thankfully I’ve had a handful of regular contributors to the site help to pick up the slack in my absence.

Thanks to Boston based coach, Lana Sova, for today’s contribution.

Fourth: Maybe I should have used “lit?” No? Okay, I’ll GFM.

Copyright: ammentorp / 123RF Stock Photo

5 Deadbug Regressions You Need To Try

When it comes to core training, people often fight over which exercises are the best, but that’s kind of like arguing whether Cardi B or Nicki Minaj is a better rapper.

In my opinion (which no one really asked for, but Imma say it anyways because #internet) there is space for both, much like there is a time and a place for different core strengthening exercises.

When people ask me which is the best core strengthener, I give the most boring answer — it depends.

There are many things I take into consideration when I include core strengthening exercises in a client’s program.

Things like goals, training levels, level of lumbo-pelvic control, and mind-body awareness all matter.

Much like the aging process, things are never the same with core training — what could be the best core exercises for a client today will not be the same a year or two from now because they’ve gotten stronger and advanced their skills.

Which leads me to today’s article.

For some reason, when it comes to core training, we go from zero to a hundred in no time. And by “we,” I mean personal trainers. I get it, often we’re tempted to impress clients and show them what we’ve got under our sleeves.

 

And, often, our clients swear by the fact that they are so advanced they can hold a plank for ten minutes while multitasking and doing 20 other things.

Cue *major eye roll*.

While it’s a good thing to keep your clients happy and help them fall in love with training and working out, there is also a thing called common sense, not to mention the art of giving a client not only what she wants, but also what she needs.

Enter Deadbugs

The deadbug exercise is my all time favorite core strengthening exercise.

When done correctly, it’s one of those exercises that looks easy, but isn’t when you do it yourself.

Progressions to this exercise are diverse and can be lots of fun. And while progressions are great and we do need them to help a client succeed, we also need not forget about regressions.

Deadbugs are one of the exercises where attention to the details matter. It’s easy to spot bad form on a deadbug when you see a client arch her back from the get go. But it’s much more challenging to notice incorrect form when things are not so obvious.

For example, ideally we want a client show us that she can maintain a canister position while performing a deadbug. What’s a canister position? If you live under a rock and never heard Tony speak about this concept, here’s a video for you.

 

But often, clients will cheat.

Like when I see clients bring their knees closer to their chest to help them with a posterior pelvic tilt.

Or maybe the second they begin to extend their leg out, they lose any core tension; to help them reach the floor, they’ll shift into an anterior pelvic tilt.

It’s our job as coaches to help a client succeed with this exercise without cheating, because the key to their success is doing exercises with correct form.

Happy client AND successful client = Happy coach.

Here are FIVE of my favorite deadbug regressions.

1) Deadbug ISO Hold with a Dowel

 

Deadbugs are a core stability exercise. This is where I often introduce the concept of an open or closed canister in relationship to the hips and rib cage.

Pssst: (Watch the video earlier in the post.)

Before we start moving the legs and arms and begin to resist any movement in the hip region, it would be a good idea to learn to own the closed canister.

The reason I love this exercise is it helps the client learn how to keep tension in the whole body while also feeling the abdominals working. Adding a dowel to the equation, with the client holding it above her chest while keeping her legs up in a tabletop position, helps her to learn what it means to activate her lats, which can translate to more advanced exercises like bench pressing or deadlifting later on.

I often use the cue ‘’Try to bend the dowel with your pinkies.” Go ahead and give it a try. This should fire up your lats like crazy.

2) Core-Engaged Deadbug ISO Hold with Band

 

Much like the previous exercise, this variation teaches the client to keep the closed canister position while keeping the tension in the entire body. However, she’ll hold a resistance band above her chest, which acts as a multiplier in creating the tension in the upper body.

3) Core-Engaged Deadbug March

 

This is an exercises I stole from Florida-based coach William Richards in one of his guest post for Tony on this site.

Note From TG: You can check that post out HERE.

This is the exercises where, once your client learns how to control the canister position and knows how to create tension in the whole body, she can start moving her legs and making the exercise so much more advanced.

4) Deadbug w/ KB Overhead Hold

 

This exercise can teach your client how to maintain the canister position with her hands above her head. I like to use this exercise to build up the context for future exercises such as overhead presses.

5) Deadbug with a Pallof Press

 

This is probably more advanced than the previous exercises; nonetheless it’s still a great regression before you dive head first into all the glorious deadbug variations and completely destroy your client’s core.

It’s great to show your clients advanced movements and spice things up here and there. But before you do so, make sure your client is competent with the exercises and can perform them well. This will help your client show up at the gym more willingly and ultimately reach her goals.

About the Author

Lana Sova is a powerlifter and an in-person and online strength coach in Boston, MA. She helps women to change the way they look by making them strong.
Check out her website at Shameless Strength Academy.
CategoriesProgram Design Strength Training

What Being An Army Ranger Taught Me About Getting Strong Using Only Bodyweight Exercises

SPOILER ALERT: I didn’t write this article.

The closest I’ve ever been to calling myself a “ranger” was when I used to watch Walker, Texas Ranger growing up and pretend to roundhouse kick unsuspecting (and imaginary) bad guys in the face.

Oh, and there was that one time I dressed up as the Green Power Ranger for Halloween.13

I am not, nor have I ever been, an Army Ranger.

I did stay up past midnight the other night, though. That’s kinda badass.

A big “thank you” to ACTUAL Army Ranger, Tom Coffey, for pinch-writing for me today as I make my way to Los Angeles this weekend to present.

Enjoy!

Copyright: supernam / 123RF Stock Photo

 

Fate whispered to the warrior ‘you cannot withstand this storm.’ The warrior whispered back, ‘I am the storm.’

For thousands of years, before comfortable fitness centers dotted every corner, the world’s greatest warriors relied on a steady dose of bodyweight exercises—from building high levels of superhuman strength, to increasing cardiovascular conditioning, and even developing mental toughness bodyweight exercises accomplished it all.

In the rest of this article I want to briefly share with you what my experience as an Army Ranger taught me about getting strong, using only my body.

Life as an Army Ranger

The life of an Army Ranger is quite busy.

Between endless training and extended “business trips” to lands far away there is often more to do than hours in the day. Yet the job requires a certain level of what we’ll call “real world strength.”

Let me give you an example of what I mean: I weighed about 250 pounds in full military gear (+80 pounds above my bodyweight). Do you think you could also throw on 80 pounds of your own gear, pick me up, throw me over your shoulder, and sprint full out for 100 or 200 yards?

That’s what I’m referring to when I say real world strength.

But, no matter what elite military unit you’re talking about there is always a high premium placed on being functionally strong. Admittedly, as much as possible my Ranger buddies and I tried to workout in an actual gym. However, life liked to throw us curve balls and often times we were in situations with no iron around at all.

But not having access to a gym simply wasn’t an excuse to not workout and get weak. So, how did my Ranger buddies and I keep getting stronger when we didn’t always have access to a gym?

The answer: using the best only gym we had available—our body.

Are Bodyweight Exercises Better for Building Strength Than Barbell Exercises?

Ok, before we dive headfirst into this rabbit hole I know someone is going to ask if bodyweight exercises are better for building strength than barbell exercises.

The word “strength” can mean a lot of different things. And, depending on who you ask you’ll likely get a lot of different answers.

Listen, if you want to get strong AF there’s no arguing that picking heavy shit up and hoisting it over your head is the way to go. Unless you’re humongous, green, and your name is Hulk, you very likely won’t be joining the 1,500 pound club by using bodyweight exercises.While you probably definitely won’t build world class powerlifting strength with bodyweight exercise, they do offer tremendous value in building real world strength.

Bodyweight exercises strengthen the body and allow you to express that strength in ways which the barbell can’t.

They can humble even the most experienced of lifters.

I’ve seen, with my own two ocular receptors, guys who can easily squat four wheels crumble like dust when attempting a simple pistol squat (one legged squat).WTF?

How is that even possible?

Ok dude I get it, but how do you build strength using only your bodyweight?

I’m glad you asked.

And, I’m making the assumption here that you’re stranded on a desert island with no gym equipment in sight. This is only to hammer home the point that you literally need zero equipment to make this stuff work.

Obviously, if you start adding gym equipment back in the mix your strength building options skyrocket.

But, that’s easy.

If you learn how to manipulate your body for strength building purposes you become bulletproof. You can literally get strong from anywhere in the world.

Pretty cool, right?

Anyway, below are four ways you can turn lowly bodyweight exercises into serious strength builders.

Did someone order a serving of humble pie?

NOTE: I chose to demonstrate each of these ideas using the pushup. However, you can apply these principles to any number of bodyweight exercises.

1) Remove a Limb (Or Two)

Removing a limb (or two) creates a very unstable environment. Instability causes your muscles to tense harder, and tension is good for building strength. That’s just good science.

Also Useful For:

– Pistol squats
– Single leg hip bridges
– BW romanian deadlifts
– Free standing handstand pushups…if you dare.

NOTE FROM TG: For those watching Tom perform a 1-arm, 1-leg pushup and thinking to themselves “that’s a whole lotta nope,” I’d encourage you to check out THIS article by Nick Tumminello on how to progress towards it.

2) Remove a Limb, Slow Down the Rep, and Add Pauses

Speaking of tension, another great way to increase it is by slowing down your repetitions. This is also known as time under tension (TUT). Pausing at certain points in the rep ensures that you kill all momentum.

Again, this makes the exercise much harder because you have to be stay tense and in control through the entire rep.

There is an inherent difference between taking 30 seconds to perform 1 pushup vs. cranking out 30 pushups. Try a 30 second (or 60 second) pushup and you’ll see what I mean.

 

Also Useful For:

– Frog holds
– Human flag hold
– Single arm/leg planks

Be Explosive

To be explosive you must be powerful. And power is more or less strength expressed over a very short time. Paradoxically, you must first be strong before you can be powerful. Explosive bodyweight exercises are great for training you to express the strength you’ve built.

 

Also Useful For:

– Jump squats
– Jump lunges
– Muscle ups

4) The Kitchen Sink Approach

Have you ever opened the drawers under your sink only to find soap bottles, cleaners, yellow gloves, old sponges, bleach bottles, leaky pipes…etc.

I mean, it’s chaos.

The kitchen sink approach is our version of controlled chaos by combining many different strength building elements together. In the video below the spiderman pushup involves using slow reps, removing a limb, dynamic movement, abdominal bracing, and re-distributing weight.

Pro Tip: Make sure that if you’re doing Spiderman pushups in a field with fire ant hills that you don’t unknowingly place your hand directly on top of one. I did this once, and can safely say I’d rather get stabbed by a Nazgul (like twice) than ever do that again.

Desert Island Strength Building Workouts

Ok, now you know how to use bodyweight exercises for strength building. So, my challenge to you is try it.

Below are examples of two ways you can spin basic bodyweight exercises into tough little workouts. And the best part, you can literally do these anywhere, anytime—no equipment needed.

Sample Routine 1- “Destroyer of Legs and Core”

(1)

Three rounds of:

5 pistol squats, per leg →  Pause for 1 second at the bottom of every rep
8 single leg hip bridges, per leg → After the 8th rep hold the top of the bridge for 8 seconds (ouchy)

(2)

Five rounds of:

15 air squats
20 walking lunges steps
8 jump squats
8 jump lunges

(3)

Three rounds of:

20 second plank w/ left arm lifted
20 second plank w/ right arm lifted
30 second hollow hold

Sample routine 2- “Pushups Seem Harder Today”

(1)

Three rounds of:

3 explosive pushups→ focus on being fast off the ground

(2)

Three rounds of:

2 single arm/single leg pushups, per side

(3)

Four rounds of:

1 thirty second pushup w/ a leg lifted → take 10 seconds to lower, pause above the ground for 10 seconds, take 10 seconds to raise

*On sets 1 & 3 keep your left leg off the ground
*On sets 2 & 4 keep your right leg off the ground

Final Thoughts

Building strength is certainly a noble and worthy pursuit of one’s time. Yes, you’ll make the fastest gains when you have access to all the bells and whistles of a fully equipped gym.

However, when life throws you the inevitable curveball and you don’t have access to the iron, it’s an invaluable skill to be able to bust out a strength workout anywhere, anytime.

I appreciate your time, and I hope you enjoyed the read.

About the Author

Tom Coffey is a former Army Ranger, certified nutrition coach, and currently pursuing a master’s degree in Exercise Science.

Due to his last name, he is on a lifelong quest to brew the absolute “perfect” cup of coffee. You can follow Tom’s quest for coffee brewing perfection, or just read more of his other work, over at his blog: https://tomcoffeyfitness.com 

 

 

CategoriesAssessment Program Design

The Inundation of Corrective Exercise In Strength and Conditioning Makes Me Want to Throw My Face Into a Brick Wall

Just to help calm the waters: I am not anti “corrective exercise.”

And I am not really going to throw my face into a brick wall.

I respect and can appreciate that, sometimes, our jobs as fitness professionals require us to pump the brakes and to venture down the corrective exercise rabbit hole.

Some people require a bit more TLC with regards to improved movement, motor control, and/or, and I’m paraphrasing here…”just learning to turn shit on.”

Some people will require a laundry list of additional mobility work, stretching, or positional breathing drills to point them in the right direction and to help them feel better.

What I am against, though, and what drives me bonkers, is when coaches and personal trainers go out of their way to:

1) Overstep their scope of practice and end up performing really shitty physical therapy with their clients and athletes.15

OR

2) Highlight every minor “dysfunction” with a client/athlete – excessive anterior pelvic tilt, kyphotic posture, left eye is lower than the right (you freak) – making him or her feel as if they’re walking ball of fail.

Copyright: alexytrener / 123RF Stock Photo

Training Is Corrective

Here’s another gleaming example of how TRAINING is corrective and how, if we do our jobs as coaches, we can often accomplish a lot sans the brick wall.

My client, Emily, who’s a trainer herself, has been dealing with some left shoulder issues. I had her come in the other night to see if I could offer some insights and to listen to some sick EDM beats.

The latter has nothing to do with anything, but whatever….give THIS a listen.

Emily showed up and I took the picture below. It shows something clearly awry and that some sort of shoulder clusterfuckey was at play; namely lack of shoulder flexion on the left side.

What was the culprit?


It could have been a few things:

  • Capsular issue
  • Lack of scapular rotation (namely upward rotation).
  • Soft tissue restriction.
  • Lack of lumbo-pelvic control.
  • It was a Wednesday.
  • I don’t know.

What I do know is that I had to respect my lane and understand it wasn’t my job as a strength & conditioning coach to diagnose anything.

I could, however, assess her general movement capacity, use my knowledge of anatomy, and perform a little trial and error to see if I could improve things.

What follows is more or less a brain dump and an attempt to explain my thought process as I worked with Emily for the next hour.

I’m not gonna say that what ended up happening was on par with some Matrix level shit, but I will say I basically know Kung-Fu.

via GIPHY

I Know Kung-Fu

To start I thought to myself:

“What actions have to happen at the scapulae in order to get the arms overhead?”

– Upward rotation
– Protraction
– Posterior tilt

Emily wasn’t getting much upward rotation on that left side. When I asked her to bring her arms overhead it was as if her left arm hit a massive speed bump and came to an abrupt stop. She could push through it, but not without pain.

So I had to think about what muscles help with that action (upward rotation)?

– Upper and lower traps
– Serratus

 

Too, I noticed she also had a more depressed shoulder girdle as a whole; her clavicular angle was more horizontal rather than having a slight upward grade.

HERE‘s Eric Cressey discussing this in a little more detail.

I surmised her UPPER traps needed some attention.

The upper traps often get a bad rap and are avoided like a Coldplay concert. In certain populations (think: desk workers) and instances, the upper traps are OVERactive and can play a role in increased shoulder elevation as well as superior migration of the humeral head, and hence an increased risk for shoulder impingement.

In this scenario, it behooves us to not go out of our way to increase upper trap activation.

However, we often forget the upper traps are a major player in UPWARD ROTATION, not to mention help with scapular elevation…both of which, in my eyes, Emily could have used some more of.I didn’t get over corrective with Emily and start having her perform some voodoo like tapping her pinky finger three times while flossing her teeth with a strain of hair from a Hippogriff.

I didn’t have her perform a laundry list of “correctives” that, for all intents and purposes, would have likely made her feel like a patient and bore her to tears.

Nope, I had her TRAIN and just modified a few things.

We did:

1. Landmine Presses with a Shrug/Reach

 

2. Face Pulls in an upwardly rotated position (so the upper traps were more engaged)

 

3. And, instead of performing movements that would pull her into more shoulder depression and downward rotation (deadlifts, farmer carries, etc) we opted for Landmine Squats, Zercher RDLs, and Hip Thrusts.

 

In short: We turned shit on (upper traps) and trained movements that (likely) wouldn’t feed into the root causes of her symptoms.

Here’s the picture I took at the end of her session:

I’m Gandalf.