CategoriesExercise Technique Program Design Strength Training

Weightlifting For Everyone: How Anyone Can (Kinda) Olympic Lift and (Probably) Not Suck at It

Today is my girlfriend’s birthday.  And anyone who knows Lisa knows she looooooooves her birthday – to the point where it shouldn’t even be considered a birthDAY, but a birthWEEK.

In any case we have a jam packed day today – a late breakfast, a tandem workout “date,” and then we’re heading to a fancy schmancy spa for the afternoon.  Holla!  Followed by a decadent dinner of chicken wings and pizza.

Yeah, it’s going to be an awesome day.

Thankfully my good friend, Michael Anderson, who’s written several guest posts on this site before, came through in a pinch and sent along this gem.

Enjoy!

The topic of weightlifting  (when used as one word it references the sport of Olympic Style weightlifting) has become a hot topic lately and is polarizing in many ways.  Some coaches live and die by it and still other coaches won’t touch it with a 7-foot barbell. As usual, the answer lies somewhere comfortably in the middle.

Note from TG:  I wrote a post not too long ago on Why I Don’t Use the Olympic Lifts (<—-maybe you should check it out. It’s not as polarizing as the title makes it seem.  Promise).

With the popularity of CrossFit rising at a rapid rate, the sport of weightlifting has finally become something that the masses are aware of. For many years it has been the “other” iron sport; hidden behind the behemoths of powerlifting, the veiny striations and posing briefs of bodybuilding and the ESPN coverage of strongman. I myself have been training as a weightlifter with Coach Ivan Rojas of Risto Sports since last April and had been “training” (i.e. dicking around) for another six months prior to that.

The polarizing topic for many coaches is not whether or not weightlifting is beneficial for athletes, but whether or not it is beneficial enough to employ in their programming.

Some coaches, like Wil Fleming  have great success with it, while others find it cumbersome to teach and can do a host of other things in the time it would take to make someone proficient in the competition lifts (snatch, clean and jerk).

Note from TG:  speaking of Wil Fleming, for anyone interested in learning more about Olympic lifting I can’t recommend his resource Complete Olympic Lifting enough. While I don’t go out of my way to coach the OLY lifts, I still do own this DVD and think it’s fantastic.

I agree with both sides.

For some populations it’s just not worth teaching them all of the steps to have a decent looking snatch, or the stress that the clean and jerk can put on your wrists. Too, some athletes just shouldn’t have a loaded barbell overhead, and to do so would be irresponsible of the coach.

But that doesn’t mean they can’t benefit from some variations of the classic lifts that are both easy to teach and will produce some of the great benefits that you can get from the full variations. One of the marks of a great athlete is the ability to contract, relax and contract explosively all at the exact right moments; this skill is exactly what weightlifting is all about.

NOTE: these are NOT necessarily weightlifting-specific exercises, but variations that are applicable and beneficial to a certain population.

Also, know your population. If you are working with athletes with particular contraindications then don’t force them into an exercise they shouldn’t be doing. There are no contraindicated exercises, just contraindicated lifters (thanks Tony and Eric!).

Note II: I am not a professional weightlifter, I’m quite aware that my form is not perfect. If you have some constructive criticism please let me know, but don’t just remind me that I am painfully slow.

Power Clean

In terms of weightlifting variations that can help create better athletes, the power clean is at the top of the list. There’s not much that I could say about the power clean that hasn’t been said already (and said better than I’m able to), but it fits this list of variations very well.

You produce power, move big weights, get stronger and then dominate the world.

The biggest limiting factor would be the athlete’s mobility to pull off the floor or their ability to get their elbows around to catch the bar in the correct rack position. If your athlete can’t get down to the bar in a good position, then start them from a hang position or from blocks. If they can’t rack the bar due to mobility restrictions, then take some time and work on it; it’s not a particularly complex position and your athlete would benefit from the mobility required to do it.

(For the most in-depth look possible at this exercise, please refer to THIS post by Wil Fleming.

Snatch Pulls

Let me start by saying that I despise snatch pulls.

With Coach Rojas we finish almost every training session with a few sets of snatch pulls; it’s the dingleberry on the ass of a long, hard workout when all you want to do is shower and eat.

However, they are an exceptionally simple and beneficial exercise and are a staple in the program of nearly every weightlifter on the planet.

The snatch pull is the first half (give or take) of the full snatch and ends at complete triple-extension of the hips, knees and ankles. Complete a big shrug and use your hips to absorb the weight when it comes back down. If your athletes don’t have the mobility to get down to the floor with a snatch-grip, you can pull from blocks or from the hang position.

You can also try adding in a pause at the knees to help reinforce this position. This is a great way to develop a strong hinge pattern that transfers into powerful hip extension. It also does a great job of building the entire posterior chain.

Note: I don’t personally find snatch high pulls  to be a great lift to teach athletes. If you don’t fully understand how it carries over to the classic snatch then it’s too easy to form  deteriorate while they just try and muscle the weight up as high as they can. 

Jerk Behind The Neck

The jerk is the most violent and explosive movement in weightlifting and, arguably, in all of sports.

In competition jerks are done from a front rack position, but for training purposes jerks from behind the neck work because they don’t put nearly as much strain on your wrists and elbows.

The pre-requisite for this exercise is being able to support a loaded barbell overhead without putting yourself at any risk for injury. Assuming that, this exercise is a fantastic way to develop leg drive, uni-/bi-lateral lower body stability and a ton of core stability. You can use either a power-jerk (bi-lateral) or a split-jerk (uni-lateral) to complete the lift, and you can either eccentrically lower the barbell to your shoulders or you can use jerk boxes and just drop it to avoid any eccentric stress at all.

That’s It, Yo

At least one of these three variations should fit into nearly any training program for any athlete. The amount of time it takes to coach them is pretty minimal and the benefits that your athletes will be able to see are significant.

Add them into your program as your first exercise after your warm-up and, generally speaking, do 4-6 sets of 2-3 reps.

Do not use weights that require any sort of grind. The name of the game is power production (aka how fast can you be strong); so make sure the barbells are always moving at top speed.

Add these into your programs for a little while and see what kinds of benefits you can get. Have a great day and go lift some heavy shit!

About the Author

Mike is a Boston area personal trainer and also completed a successful stint interning with Boston University Strength and Conditioning.

Mike is also finishing his degree in Exercise and Health Science at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He loves bacon, beer and his 7 year old pit bull Lexi. You can reach him with any questions, comments or notes of affection at [email protected]. You can also visit his website HERE.

CategoriesProgram Design Strength Training

The Train to Be Awesome Guide

Anyone who’s read my blog for any length time knows that I’m fairly passionate about a number of things.  In no particular order (except for the first one) they consist of:

1.  BACON!
2.  Tiesto.
3.  Zombies.
4.  Watching zombies get pwned.
5.  LIfting heavy things (and more germane to today’s conversation – advocating that women lift heavy things).

I’ve been everything but bashful when it comes to my thoughts and feelings towards the mainstream media and how it placates a negative, seemingly cancer-like stronghold on women and their attitudes towards body image and what’s considered an “ideal” body-type.

In case you missed them (or are new to the site), you can check out a few glowing examples:

The Myth of Female Specific Training

Should You Use Scale Weight as a Measure of Success?  Hint: No

Want to Really Earn Your Cake?  Ladies:  Turn Off Tracy Anderson

Why We Are the Even Weaker Sex

And I’m not that only who champions this same sentiment. There are a plethora of other people who have gone out of their way to debunk (female) training myths, chastise those who feel women don’t belong in a squat rack, and otherwise have rolled their eyes at an industry (society?) who feel women are these delicate rainbows who should resort to “Skinny Bitch” diets and consider a yoga mat heavy lifting.

My good friend, and ambassador to quote-on-quote female training, Nia Shanks, is another “item” I’d add to my list above. There are many reasons why I respect Nia as a friend and as a fitness professional. She’s without question one of the most passionate, non-judgmental, and “real” people I know.

I say “real” not in the context of “wow, she’s a human-being. I can interact with her, and share protein bar recipes and stuff. Awesome!”

No, when I say “real” I mean she’s someone who doesn’t BS people. She knows what works, talks the talk, but more importantly, walks it.

I’m in awe of her for what’s she’s accomplished in helping to empower women that lifting weights is not only okay, but something they should (and can) do.

And it’s not even that. Nia understands that being healthy (and happy) is much more than how much weight someone can lift. While that’s cool and all, Nia will be the first person to tell you that becoming the best version of yourself entails many components, from nutrition to the mind-body connection to Matt Damon movies.

Okay, I added that last one in. But needless to say Nia’s the shit.

Which is why I’m always more than willing to do my part in helping promote her products.  Her latest “project,” The Train to Be Awesome Guide, is no different.

In a world where most books encourage dieting, deprivation, gradually eating less, restriction, working out to total exhaustion, fixing “flaws”, and meeting someone else’s opinion of “ideal”, in her words Nia “wanted to share something that empowers women to eat delicious food, to focus on building themselves up (through physical AND mental strength training) and to realize that they are uniquely awesome.” 

Maybe even more heartfelt is the notion that Nia’s ultimate goal was to “create a guide and program that a mother would be proud to share with her daughter.”

I asked Nia if she’d be willing to jot down a few more

Who’s it for? The Train to Be Awesome Guide is for the woman who wants to become the strongest, most awesome version of herself with simple, no nonsense, strength training and nutrition that enhances her overall life, and doesn’t dominate it.

Basically, it’s for any woman who wants to reach her full potential in the gym and build a great body in a unique way.

What makes it unique? Many things, actually. The Train to Be Awesome Guide is all about building a great body, but without focusing on that goal. I know it’s confusing, but allow me to explain.

For example, the main focus of the accompanying strength training program is to get stronger and improve your performance. Each workout you’ll strive to do a little better than last time. It’s not about getting tired or achieving as much fatigue as possible –

It’s about getting stronger, building yourself up, and becoming even more awesome.

It’s also unique in the fact that you won’t track the typical markers as with most fitness regimens.

It may seem daunting, but you won’t step on a scale or even take measurements. Instead you’ll focus on POSITIVE, performance orienting markers that you’ll track throughout the program.

Specifically, you’ll track your squat (either barbell or goblet), number of push-ups and chin-ups (or inverted rows), and the number of swings you can perform in a set period of time. You’ll also track some subjective markers such as energy levels and how your favorite pair of jeans (or dress) fits.

When THOSE things improve, THEN you’ll also reap the body transforming results you want. But this way, they’re just a wonderful side effect from becoming stronger and more awesome.

There are also some simple, flexible, DIET-FREE, nutrition guidelines.

Finally, the Train to Be Awesome Guide includes a detailed, step-by-step success guide so you know exactly what you need to do to be successful.

What makes it awesome?  It’s awesome because it will show you exactly how to become even MORE awesome.

You’ll do this with the “Train to Be Awesome Philosophy” and the accompanying 16 Week Program that includes demonstration videos for every exercise that you can watch on your smart phone, tablet, or computer.

And, finally, because it’s super simple and practical. You’ll only have to work out 3-4 days per week. The information is simple to implement so you’ll not only achieve results, but you’ll maintain them long-term.

The Train to Be Awesome Guide is on sale NOW through this Friday, October 18th for only $29.  For what it costs to go see an IMAX movie for two on a Friday night, you can get 16-weeks of programming and nutrition guidance that will undoubtedly set you up for LONG-TERM success.

Sounds like a no-brainer in my book.

Are You Ready to Get More Awesomer?

 

CategoriesProduct Review Program Design Strength Training

A Deadlift 3 Times Per Week Program

It’s rare that I post anything on the weekend, but when I do you know it’s kind of a big deal.  Today I’ve got a special guest post from Dave Dellanave, author of the brand spankin new resource (and arguably the best title for a book, like ever) Off the Floor: A Manual for Deadlift Domination.

Admit it. As soon as you read the title of this post you were thinking “No way.” The deadlift is a lift you perform once per week, if that. It’s too taxing on the CNS and there’s just no way your lower back can handle deadlifting that often. Plus, your hands would probably get torn to shreds, and your gym would kick you out for dropping a heavy bar over and over again every time you come in to lift.

Right?

Is everything evil we’ve been told about frequent deadlifting true? People often say the same thing about squatting, and many authors have dispelled and debunked that myth, including our gracious host, Tony.

What I’d like to do here is convince you that if you like deadlifting, it’s more than okay to deadlift more frequently, and you stand to gain tremendously from it. Here are a few reasons I deadlift as often as I do, and I think you should, too:

  • There aren’t many ways to work more muscles than the deadlift. From your hands up to your neck, down your entire back to your calves, and back up the fronts of your legs and your abs, almost every muscle in your body is working during a deadlift. Maybe the only thing it doesn’t develop impressively is your chest. (But who cares about chest muscles when you’ve got a massive back?)
  • Picking up heavy things is an essential life movement. It’s unlikely that a single day goes by that you don’t pick something up. When the time comes to lift something heavy, it’s pretty awesome to not even have to think twice about it because you know it’s a fraction of your deadlift.

  • Having a big deadlift is like having a cheat code for every lift in the gym. I will be the first to tell you I am an embarrassing hack when it comes to the Olympic lifts, the snatch and the clean and jerk. Yet I can snatch over my bodyweight, and I can clean over 275 pounds, simply because I can cheat with my strength. I won’t be competing at the next Olympic Games, to be sure, but it’s not a bad start from next to nothing. My point is, relative to a triple-bodyweight deadlift, most other things in the gym become easier to achieve.
  • Let’s be honest, nothing is more awesome than taking a heavy bar in your hands and standing up with it like all that is man.

Fortunately, I don’t think I have too much of a tough sell to convince you, a reader of Tony’s site, that deadlifting is awesome. So how can you do it more often?

As I mentioned initially, most programs involve deadlifting once per week with very low sets and reps at a high percentage of your max. For good reason, as well, since it is true that unless you’re very, very new to lifting and very weak, you’re not going to be able to deadlift heavy three times per week. At least, not for very long before you run out of steam. To pull off that frequency, you’ll need a little more creativity and variety. Here’s what I suggest:

  • Day 1:  Heavy, low-rep deadlifts. This looks like your typical deadlift programming, with your favorite deadlift variation performed at a high intensity (meaning percentage of max, not turning up the music and getting slapped before you lift) for 1 to 5 reps and a few heavy working sets.

  • Day 2: Grip deadlifts. Picking up anything heavy off the ground is a deadlift. To cut down the absolute amount of weight lifted, make it hard to hold on to. An extra-thick bar or a pinch lifting block is a great way to do that. Since your hands are going to be the limiting factor here, it’s going to be awfully hard to do too much, so feel free to crank up the volume.
  • Day 3: Light technique or speed. This is your chance to amp up the volume because you’ve dialed down the intensity. At a lighter weight you can either do a lot more reps to hone your technique, use as much speed as possible to improve your rate of force development, or both. At first you will require a fair amount of recovery from higher-volume deadlifting, but in a few weeks you’ll be surprised at how little recovery you actually need and how much work you can get in without affecting your heavy days. If you’re on a M-W-F lifting schedule, you’re probably wondering how it would go to lift heavy on Monday after doing a ton of deadlifts on Friday. Again, you’ll be surprised at how little it affects you negatively, and how it can even improve your heavy days.

This is, in a nutshell, is the program I lay out in my book Off The Floor.

Of course, to round out the program you’ll want to fill in any gaps with appropriate accessory exercises, but this should give you a great starting point. If you love deadlifting even half as much as I do, you’ll get your fix as often as you can handle by deadlifting three (or more) times per week.

Sometimes beliefs, even unfounded ones, can be very limiting. I’ve found, through my own experience and helping people improve their own deadlifts, that not only can you get away with deadlifting often but it’ll do exactly what you want it to do: make you stronger, put more muscle on your body, and up your deadlift numbers.

Looking for more insights like these on the deadlift – as well as a great program to help you improve your pull?  Be sure to check out Dave’s new product, Off the Floor: A Manual for Deadlift Domination, which is on sale at a great price until Saturday (Sept. 7th) at midnight. 

I read it one sitting last weekend while snuggling on the couch in a blankie, and literally had to resist the urge to hop in my car to drive to the facility right then and there to go train.  It’s awesome.

If I were you I’d act quickly, because the price increase 50% by midnight tonight.

About the Author

David Dellanave is a lifter, coach, and owner of The Movement Minneapolis in the Twin Cities. He implements biofeedback techniques, teaching his clients, ranging from athletes to general population, to truly understand what their bodies are telling them. He writes articles to make you stronger, look better naked, and definitely deadlift more at http://www.dellanave.com/.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/ddn

Facebook: http://facebook.com/movementminneapolis

 

CategoriesExercise Technique Program Design

Cleaning Up Kettlebell Swing Technique

I don’t consider myself a kettlebell expert, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express once so that has to count for something.

Note from TG:  For those non-American folk who may be reading and have no idea WTF staying at a Holiday Inn Express has to do with anything let alone kettlebell training, maybe watching THIS clip will help.

For those who did get the joke:  Bwahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

In all seriousness, while I’ve never taken the RK or HKC or the Strong First course (it’s on my fitness bucket list though), or climbed Mt. Everest, I like to think that despite those minor short comings, I still know a thing or two when it comes to coaching the kettlebell swing, among other KB related exercises.

And while I’m on the topic, I always find it comical when I hear stories from my clients who travel and they tell me how, at certain gyms they’ve come across, they’re not allowed to use the kettlebells without a trainer’s supervision, as if they run the risk of poking their eye out.

Yet, upon watching said “certified” trainer (99.9% of the time not certified through Dragon Door or Strong First) demonstrate a KB workout, whether it entails swings, get-ups, cleans, or snatches, my client’s have to keep their corneas from perpetually bleeding because the trainer’s technique is just god-awful.

Like Jillian Michael’s god-awful:

All that said, because I don’t want to get all fired up and throw my laptop through the window, today I just want to hit on two often overlooked technique snafus that a lot of people make with their swings.

Number One:  making the mistake of allowing the KB to drop BELOW the knees.

I wrote a blog post on the difference between a squat swing (wrong) and a hip snap swing (right) a while ago (HERE), and I think anyone who’s curious should check that out first before going any further.

Outside of that, I stole the above gem from the one and only Neghar Fonooni, and it’s something that really made a lot of sense to me when I heard it, and high-five to myself, was something I was instinctively coaching already.

Most of us have heard the often quoted cue from Dan John about keeping the KB closer to the body and “attacking the zipper.” This works well, but I still often find that many trainees will allow the KB to drift below the knees which can wreak havoc on the lumbar spine.

This is more of an “eyeball” what-you-see-is-what-you-get observation, but if it’s something you find yourself or your clients doing, it would be a good idea to, you know, stop it.

Number Two:  allowing the KB to “get away.”

This was actually something I snaked from one of my clients who heard it from Dr. Stuart McGill who I think heard it from Han Solo. But I can’t back that up.

When we transition from the hike pass to the actual swing and end up with our arms full extended out in front of us, it’s important not to let the bell itself to “get away” and cause more shear load on the spine.

I always like to tell people they’re going to snap/push their hips through and the arms are just along for the ride.  When their arms are fulling extended, the objective is not to be holding on for dear life, they’re going to “relax” for split second, and pull the KB back down towards the swing portion.

During the “relax” portion, however, they want to be fast (and loose) at the top, but not to the point where the KB is going to jolt their spine (for lack of a better term).

The short video below (just a bit over two minutes) tries to hit on both points.  I hope it helps.  For those celebrating Labor Day Weekend – enjoy!

CategoriesProgram Design

Are We Doing Lunges Wrong? Hint: Maybe

As some of you know I had the luxury of spending the past few days attending Phase II of the Elite Baseball Mentorship hosted at my stomping grounds, Cressey Performance, listening to Eric Cressey, Eric Schoenberg, and Matt Blake discuss, well, training baseball players.

And while training baseball players is our Soup de Jour at Cressey Performance, what many fail to realize is that we train a wide variety of athletes (softball, basketball, football, hockey, boxing, and at one point we even trained a fencer!) as well as general population clients at the facility.

While the crux of the information covered over the weekend pertained to baseball players and the intricacies involved with managing their care and programming, a fair percentage of it spilled over into the meathead/general population crowd as well.

As is the case every time I attend a seminar or workshop there’s always a nugget or two of information that blows me away and makes me wonder “why am I such a moron?”

One such instance involved a comment that Eric Schoenberg made regarding lunges and how we (as an industry) coach them.  In a nutshell he questioned the audience (us) as to why we don’t include more of a hip hinge pattern when we introduce it and coach the lunge?

Ask any strength coach how he or she generally “patterns” the squat, deadlift, kettblebell swing, or any number of other foundational movements, and almost always they’ll say everything revolves around the hip hinge.

Why, then, when we coach the lunge, as Eric noted, do we gravitate towards more of an upright torso (which in turn results in more of a “gross” extension based pattern)?

“Huh,” I thought. “That’s interesting.”

But to be more specific, for visual reference, the video below best depicts my reaction the second Eric made this point.

To give more of a play-by-play description:  I’m Triple H, and Eric’s comment is John Cena straight-up power slapping me in the grill.

It……was……awesome.  And helped to turn on a light bulb in my head.

And, the whole shebang makes perfect sense when you think about it.

Coaching the lunge with an upright torso isn’t inherently wrong; it just might not be the most ideal way to go about things for some people.

Especially with regards to baseball players and more of the meathead/athletic crowd (who live more of their lives in “gross” extension anyways).

Think about it:  those in extension tend to have excessive anterior pelvic tilt, which in turn leads to more femoral internal rotation, which in turn leads to more tibial internal rotation, which then, as we all know, is the real cause of global warming.

But in all seriousness, someone may exhibit faulty hip mechanics, we then coach them to perform a lunge pattern in a way that feeds into said faulty hip mechanics, and then we bark at said athlete or client when his or her’s knee caves in when they lunge.

What’s more, coaching the lunge with a more upright posture only feeds into the extension pattern which doesn’t do their lumbar spine (and more specifically their facet joints) any favors.

And, to add insult to injury, if someone is purposely programmed to think that staying upright is ideal (which isn’t always the case for some), the DBs are going to serve as a counterbalance to keep them in extension.

Instead, what’s wrong with cueing more of a hip hinge and slight forward lean to save their back and to help offset a poor pattern?

One simple cue would be: don’t think of shoulders over the hips, but rather shoulders over the knees.

Thoughts?

This is something that completely flew over my head up until this past weekend, and is something I plan to fix sooner rather than later.

Sadly, I can’t fix the epic fail of having Taylor Swift playing in the background in the above videos.

CategoriesProgram Design Strength Training

Athleticism and Strength Training: Can the Two Mix?

Q: First off thanks for all the great content you share through your blog and for the amusing writing style you have, it´s always nice to be able to laugh and smile a bit while you learn a thing or two.

I just have a question regarding athleticism and strength training. I know you guys have some pretty strong guys and girls in your facility and I know you guys use a lot of big heavy compound lifts. But how do you guys secure that the athletes still have a great movement capacity while they perform on the field and not end up as “meat heads” with no movement capacity and lack of athleticism?

Do you have some specific part of the strength training with more focus regarding this or is there any specific exercises that works better? Like 1-leg exercises or plyometric training or anything else?

I´m a soccer player myself and a newly educated strength coach and I’ve been asked to have some “on-pitch-strength training” where the coaches as one of the goals asked for better athleticism in the players. I know we´re not gonna be able to do “heavy” stuff since we mostly will be working with our own bodies but do you recommend anything to think about when programming this for keeping athleticism high?

I should start everything off by saying thank you for the kind words.  I know there are times where I don’t take myself too seriously with my writing style (poop), but I do try to consistently provide quality content in an entertaining fashion so it’s nice to know I’m hitting the mark all the over in Sweden!

To answer your question I think we first need to clarify what the main goal or objective of a strength and conditioning program is.  As far as athleticism and movement capacity goes, nothing (nada, zilch, zero) we do in the weight room is going to emulate or match what actually takes places on the court, field, or Quidditch pitch.

10 points to me for a Harry Potter reference!

Which is why doing stuff like this is borderline asinine:

To get better at pitching, you need to pitch.  To get better at kicking a soccer ball, you need to kick a soccer ball.  To get better at skating, you need to skate. To get better at supflexing, you need to become an honorary member of the British Bulldogs.

This isn’t to say that everything we do in the weight room is moot and doesn’t have any carryover towards on-the-field performance. That’s just looney talk. Instead, all I’m trying to convey is that the main goals of a well-designed strength and conditioning program is to address weaknesses, imbalances, improve force production, reduce wear and tear on the body, and to help prevent injuries (among other things).

That said, it’s important that we get our athletes strong – as I always say:  you can’t have qualities like power, agility (being able to absorb force and change direction quickly), endurance, strength endurance, and what have you without first having a base of strength to “pull” them from in the first place – but we’re also cognizant that we don’t want to turn them into slow lunks with the movement capacity of the Tin Man.

Which is why I feel we do a bang up job of addressing this on a few fronts:

1.  Every session starts with addressing tissue quality.  Everyone from our Major League guys all the way down to high-school makes sweet, sweet love to their foam roller prior to each training session.

2.  From there, while we do have a “canned” dynamic warm-up that we post up on a dry erase board which changes every 1-2 weeks, it’s also not uncommon we write individualized warm-ups for certain athletes or clients who may need a bit more TLC.

This is an excellent way to prioritize and address specific areas that people may need to improve on whether it’s more glute activation, addressing t-spine mobility, or in the context of many of our baseball guys, hammering a bit more upper trap work to improve scapular upward rotation.

3. Next comes movement training or med ball work.  The way things are designed during the summer months, our guys typically lift weights four times per week in addition to having two “movement” days, for a total of six training days per week.

However, sometimes we need to congest things into four days depending on summer ball schedules.  Taking that into consideration a training week may look something like this:

Monday:  Movement Training/Sprint Work, Lower Body

Tuesday:  Med Ball Work, Upper Body

Thursday: Movement Training/Sprint Work, Lower Body

Saturday: Med Ball Work, Upper Body

The movement training is nothing extensive, but we’ll typically include one linear based drill like a 30-yd build up and one lateral based drill like a heiden

We CRUSH med ball training.  With our baseball guys there is an obvious sense of “specificity” that attaches itself and bodes well as far as carry over onto the field.  But even with our general population clientele, we find there’s a ton of efficacy for their use as they’re a great way to train power and explosiveness, not to mention the metabolic carryover they bring to the table.

Between the warm-up, movement training or med ball work, a good 30 minutes or so have passed in the training session and now it’s time to lift heavy stuff.

4.  Again, to reiterate, the point of strength training isn’t necessarily to emulate movements in the respective sport(s) that one is participating in.  Rather it’s really to address weaknesses, help improve force production (make someone’s glass bigger), and to reduce wear and tear on the body.

The whole “meathead” comment is a bit of a misnomer.  I mean sure, we have all our athletes squat, deadlift, row, bench press (not our baseball guys), push the Prowler, perform heavy single leg work, or any number of things you can conjure up.

The key is that we coach our athletes well on the execution of said lifts, and we always place a premium on a (safe) ROM for each athlete.

You won’t see a lot of 1/4 squats or 3-board presses performed under our watch.

Not every athlete is meant to squat ass-to-grass, nor is every athlete meant to perform a conventional deadlift on day one – and any coach who takes that mentality is a douche – but you can bet that we’re always going to coach our athletes to perform their lifts with a safe ROM with the goal of improving over time.

Taking injury and deficits out of the equation, we’ve had countless athletes put on significant muscle mass during the off-season and still be able to maintain ALL their flexibility and movement quality.

5.  And on a final note, especially as it relates to youth athletes, one of the best things we can advocate for them is to play a wide variety of sports throughout the year.  Specializing too early can lead to a plethora of overuse injuries, as well as “burn” them out and make then hate life.

Pushing a young athlete – and one that’s developmentally behind the curve at that – to play a sport year round is one of the worst things that can be done.

We’re always encouraging our athletes to play different sports throughout the year, and it’s not until they reach 16 or so that we begin to entertain the notion of specializing.

So to make a long-winded answer short: yes, I believe it is possible to maintain (and even improve) athleticism and movement quality in the weight room.  You just have to put a little thought into it and understand that it’s a lot of things working in concert to get the job done.

CategoriesCorrective Exercise Exercise Technique Program Design

So Your Shoulder Hurts……

I’d say that at least once a week I open up my email and start reading something that sounds like this, “Hi Tony, this is (enter name of Victoria Secret model here). I was checking out your website and……..”

Just kidding – that’ll never happen.  But fingers crossed that it does someday.

Back in reality what typically happens is a receive an email that starts, “Hey man, so, uh, I have this shoulder thingie going on…………………”

And almost immediately the Darth Vader theme music starts echoing in my head.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m always honored when someone goes out of their way to reach out to me and ask for advice.  And, I’m always more than happy to respond.  It’s just sometimes I feel like I’m a broken record repeating myself over and over and over again.

Now shoulder injuries can be tricky, as no two shoulders are the same.  There’s a lot of “stuff” happening, which shouldn’t come as surprise given the shoulder actually consists of four joints (glenohumeral, scapulothoracic, acromioclavicular, sternoclavicular), as well as consists of 17 muscular attachments alone. This piece slides into that piece. This part rotates. BAM – it’s like it’s own little Transformer!

On top of all that, because the shoulder is such an intricate joint it lends itself open to injury fairly easily.  We have AC joint separations, labrum tears, SLAP tears, external (primary and secondary) and internal impingement, and a whole host of other words that end in ‘itis or “WTF my shoulder hurts!”

All that said, however, I’d say that 90% of the time when someone reaches out to me (or Eric for that matter) asking why their shoulder is flipping them the bird,  it usually comes down to a handful of common denominators. While the following shouldn’t be taken as the end all-be all list, I feel it does cover most people’s bases.

Lets get to it!

1. Programming Balance?

There’s a popular theme that a lot of coaches and trainers like to live and die by called programming balance.  Meaning, any well structured program should have a balanced approached between movement patterns.  Specific to the conversation at hand, with regards to upper body training, it’s often recognized that for every pushing exercise one performs (bench press), he or she should also perform one pulling exercise (seated row, etc).

This actually isn’t a bad advice.  The thing is:  We all know that Mondays are reserved for bench pressing.  So are Wednesdays, Fridays, and every other day that’s a prime number.

Basically, guys like to bench press.

As a result many develop muscular imbalances – short/stiff pecs, weak/inhibited upper back – which leads to protracted and internally rotated shoulders.

If we’re lucky, we may see a set or two of rows in there for good measure, but it’s safe to assume that for many, their pressing to pulling ration is skewed.

Program balance isn’t going to work for these people.  Using a 1:1 ratio ain’t gonna cut it.  In this sense we need to use an UNBALANCED APPROACH.

Which is why I’m not adverse to recommending that most people revert to a 2:1 or even 3:1 (pull:push) ratio to help offset their gross muscular imbalance and help their shoulder feel better.

To that end I typically let these guys know that their world won’t end if they don’t bench press for a few weeks, and that it would be in their best interests to implement more horizontal rowing into the mix.

2.  And Don’t Forget Push-Ups!

I’d say that 95% of the time any shoulder issue comes dow to it being a scapular issue.  One of the main reasons why I’d prefer guys nix the bench pressing for the time being is because it’s an open chained movement.

Speaking english, what this means is that the hands are able to move freely, but the scapulae are pinned against a bench.  Like, they can’t move.  At all. They’re “glued” in place, which doesn’t bode well for shoulder health.

Moreover, holding a barbell locks us into a pronated grip which leads to more internal rotation of the humerus, which closes off the subacromial space

On an aside: using DBs with a neutral (palms face one another) grip would be a more shoulder friendly option, as we can encourage a bit more external rotation and open up the subacromial space a bit more.

Push-ups on the other hand are a CLOSED-CHAIN exercise, where the hands don’t move and the scapulae have a bit more breathing room. This is a HUGE advantage, and something I feel many trainees dismiss because they deem push-ups too wimpy.

Of course push-up technique is going to enter the conversation as a huge reason why a lot of people’s shoulders hurt is because they have no idea how to perform one correctly.

For a primer I’d encourage everyone to check out THIS post.

3. Scaps, Scaps, and more Scaps

As I noted above, much of the time when someone’s shoulder hurts it can pinpointed to the scapulae.  The most cliched – albeit easiest – explanation to use here would be the shooting a cannon from a canoe analogy.

When everything is hunky-dory, the scapulae are hugged tight against our rib cage and our force couples are “balanced” and everything is in ideal alignment to allow things to run smoothly.  In other words our downward rotators (levator, rhomboids, pecs, and lats) and upward rotators (upper and lower traps, serratus anterior) are doing their jobs and everyone is happy.

Unfortunately, due to societal demands, lack of physical activity, and global warming (we can blame everything on that, right), most tend to be woefully weak in their upward rotators (especially lower traps and SA) and dominant in their downward rotators – leaving the scapulae abducted and anteriorly tilted.

Or……UNSTABLE!

Placing a premium on drills that target the lower traps and serratus anterior while stretching or addressing tissue quality  on the levator, pecs, and lats will go a long ways in helping the shoulder feel a ton better.

1-Arm Prone Trap Raise

Forearm Wall Slide w/ Lift Off

Shoulder W’s

Hand Switches w/ Push-Up

Actually Doing Your Rows Correctly

Pec Release w/ Ball

4.  Learning to Breath Correctly

While I’ve always felt this was important, I generally steered clear of it because I felt there were more pressing (HA!  Pun intended) issues that people should work on – technique, program modifications, soft tissue quality, etc.

But when we consider that everyone takes roughly 20,000 breaths per day, incorrectly, firing our accessory breathing muscles (upper traps, scalenes, levator) and completely neglecting the diaphragm – it’s no wonder we have an epidemic of pissed off shoulders!

I won’t go into too much detail here, other than to say to check out THIS post on breathing patterns I wrote last year as well as check out Mike Robertson’s much more detailed post HERE.

5.  Watch Predator

This really has nothing to do with shoulders, but it’s a crime if you haven’t watched this movie.  I’m pretty sure watching the Predator Handshake on repeat increases T-levels by 286% instantly.  Subsequently your shoulder will feel better!

6.  Hammer T-Spine Mobility

I don’t think I need to belabor this point.  If you’re rocking a Neanderthal posture, chances are your shoulder hates you.  This ties in hand-in-hand with the section on scapular stability above.  When we’re stuck in a overly rounded/kyphotic posture, the scapulae are going to be abducted and anteriorly tilted.  Tossing in some daily t-spine mobility drills will work wonders on how your shoulder feels.

Some of my favorites include:

Quadruped Extension-Rotation

Side Lying Windmill

Yoga Push-Up Complex

Also, because I’m sick of typing now, I’d HIGHLY encourage you to check our Dean Somerset’s 3-part series on All Things Thoracic Spine HERE.

That’s That

And that’s that.  Seriously, stop benching.

CategoriesProgram Design

Program Design Tips for Upcoming Trainers

A few weeks ago a handful of guys from my alma mater – SUNY Cortland – made the five hour trip from central NY to Boston to come visit Cressey Performance for an afternoon and check out the facility in the flesh.

After giving them the quick tour, explaining the general flow of things (everything from client intake to how a typical training sessions runs), and exchanging some pleasantries, inside jokes, and advice on where they should go eat later on in the city, I was asked a simple yet profound question:

Why are you so intelligent, witty, and good looking? What’s some advice you’d give to upcoming trainers when it comes to writing effective programs?

Much of my thought process revolves around something Mike Boyle touched on a few years ago when he said program design as akin to cooking.

Ask anyone what their philosophy or “foundation” entails and many will inevitably say they use a little of Cressey’s stuff, some of Robertson’s, a little of Gray Cook, maybe a dash of Contreras, and a sprinkle or two of Nia Shanks to taste.

They’re all over the place.

But that’s okay, to an extent. I’ll always advocate for someone to broaden their horizons and to learn from as many people and resources as possible. We just need to understand that some people can really cook, while others need to follow a recipe.

In other words:  some people write cookbooks, while others are better at following cookbooks.

Everything in a recipe has a purpose, much like program design.  For most (if not all) beginner/novice level trainers and coaches you should view yourself as a run-of-the-mill cook.  Your job is to follow the recipe and stick to it no matter what. The last thing you should be doing is combining recipes and failing to understand that “whats” and “whys” and general rationale of any one system or approach.

The intermediate level coaches and trainers (2+ years) can be considered the sous chef.  They’ve developed the ability to alter the recipe without spoiling it or sending someone to the emergency room. In a way the ingredients can be altered without disturbing the general plan.

They’ve earned the right (not to mention obtained the confidence) to tweak things towards their personal preference.

And then there’s the Bobby Flays, Wolfgang Pucks, and master chefs (5+ years) of the world who have been doing what they do for so long that they pretty much have free reign to add as much garlic as they want to any recipe……and it will be delicious all the same.

It’s okay if they break the rules because they understand the rules.

To that end, digging a little deeper, here’s the advice that I gave them:

1.  Don’t make it more complicated than it has to be.

If you look at the bulk of programs that we write at CP, none of them are all that elaborate.  Watch our athletes and clients train and you’re bound to see everyone doing some form of squat variation, deadlift variation, single leg pattern, push-up, row, core work, and/or some dedicated “arm care” work.

Walk into any gym and you’re going to see the same things.  The thing that differentiates us, however, is that we place a high-standard on the execution of those said movements.

Meaning:  we coach the hell out of everything.

You don’t need to write elaborate, complicated programs that require a PhD from MIT to translate.  But you do need to actually COACH your clients and make sure they master the basics.

Even something s simple as ensuring they can hip hinge correctly will make things infinitely easier down the road when you do start incorporating more “fun” stuff like box squats or goodmornings or overhead dwarf throwing,

2.  You should be able to explain or have a rationale for everything you write.

Why 5×5 and not 3×10?  Why are you using a trap bar deadlift as opposed to a sumo? Why use a reverse lunge rather than a walking lunge? Why have one person doing standard planks while another one is performing Pallof Presses?  Why are you not wearing any pants?

Unfortunately many trainers and coaches take a very haphazard approach to program design and it’s more like they blindfolded themselves and started throwing darts at a dart board.

You should be able to explain every piece of a program and why you’re including that for that particular person.

3.  Have a contingency plan as far as regressions and progressions are concerned.

By that same token, unless your name is Gandalf or Professor Dumbledore you can’t expect to be 100% correct, 100% of the time.

Stuff happens. People get called into work to work overtime  They pull a hamstring during their slow-pitch softball game.  Kids get sick.  They pulled an all nighter studying for an exam. Maybe they hurt their lower back getting up out of their chair.  Maybe they ate too much at Chipotle and have a massive case of, well, lets not go there.

Whatever the case may be, sometimes you need a contingency plan and you have to opt for plan B.

Using myself as an example, sometimes I miss the mark and overreach on one’s abilities.  I’ll program front squats into their program and it’s just awful.  Even with a little tinkering, if I still feel it’s not up to snuff I’m perfectly content with regressing an exercise – to say, a goblet squat – and going from there.

Either way I’m still working the pattern and attaining a training effect.

Conversely, it can go in the opposite direction too.  Sometimes I’ll underestimate someone’s ability and will need to progress an exercise and make it more challenging.

Whatever the case may be, sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. But it’s important that you’re prepared enough for when that actually happens.

Nothing spells “unprepared or I’m completely clueless” than standing there scratching your head.

And that’s about it. Nothing profound or revolutionary, but that’s essentially what I relayed back to this particular group. Have any of your own thoughts?  I’d love to hear them below.

CategoriesExercise Technique Program Design

Med Ball Training Do’s and Don’ts

Today’s guest post comes to you from Michael Anderson, Boston based strength coach and personal trainer.  Mike has contributed a handful of posts on this site, and this one is yet another fantastic piece.

Enjoy!

The medicine ball is often seen as an archaic tool because they’ve been around for so long. Sand filled balls were used as training tools for wrestlers 3000 years ago in Persia and Greece. Savages who were preparing to do hand to hand battle were using these, and now they’ve been relegated to this; being used by dorky personal trainers to load their weak clients in a crappy exercise.

<=== Ahhhhhhh, My eyes. MY EYES!!!!!!!

Frankly, this is B to the S. This makes me as mad as seeing people using kettlebells instead of dumbbells for regular exercises like biceps curls or triceps extensions. The 18-pound kettlebell you’re curling with shouldn’t even be considered a real kettlebell! But I digress; that’s a topic for a different day.

Medicine balls can, and should, be used to make you explosive as hell. Notice that I used the word “explosive” and not “strong”. Medicine balls should be used in a forceful fashion; save the nice controlled tempo for barbells and dumbbells.

Note from TG:  although, to be fair (and I think Mike will agree), I’ll always encourage people to be “explosive” with their DB and BB exercises as well – particularly on the concentric or overcoming portion of the lift.

It’s just that with med ball training, the objective – ALWAYS – is to be explosive and to help develop power.

These things are strong (or should be). They are made to be tough, rugged and to take a beating. Unless you’re a medicine ball that is unlucky enough to be destined for Cressey Performance.

Note from TG (again): There’s no question that we absolutely crush med ball at Cressey Performance.  We used to use First Place med balls exclusively (pictured above), and had great success with them, but at some point they changed rubber manufacturers and their durability went down the tubes.

What once took a few weeks (if not months) to eventually break, turned into days…..sometime hours.

Now we use DynaMax med balls and love them.

Here are some of the most common medicine ball mistakes that I have seen during my time in both commercial gyms and strength facilities:

Not throwing the damned ball.

More often than not, when I see someone doing a medicine ball drill, they are simply completing the exercise in a fashion that could most aptly be described as “flaccid”.

Moving a MB with a submaximal force does nothing besides make you look like a turd. When you step up to do a drill, you should be prepared to produce the maximal amount of force that you can for the given exercise. This is not the time to be gentle: act like you are trying to kill something with the ball. Anything less and you won’t be getting the right training effect.

Hey there!  It’s me again, TG: Two great cues we like to use at CP when people are quote on quote “being turds” while throwing the med ball are:

1.  “It’s a ball, not an egg – THROW IT!”

2.  “Try to break the ball.  If you do, here’s a $20 bill with your name written all over it.”  Note:  you should actually have a $20 bill….;o)

Here is an example of how different they will look: one is powerful and awesome. One is lazy and foolish.

Using a ball that is too heavy.

A ball that is too heavy is going to limit the amount of velocity (v=d/t…check me out with the equation!) that you can produce.

The name of the game when throwing a medicine ball is to move it as quickly as violently as possible. Yes, you can argue, that throwing a heavier ball will result in the produce of more force (f=m*a).  This is true in theory, but not in practice.

Using a heavy ball will simply make you move slowly, and you want to move fast. If it doesn’t look fast, it’s not fast. Mike Boyle used to tell people to “make it look athletic”. Clumsily throwing a ball thats too heavy certainly doesn’t look athletic.

Using the bounce

This is a personal preference, to be honest. I find that it’s analogous to jumping back down after completing a box jump. I want each rep to be a separate entity so that you are only concerned about being able to produce as much force as possible for each rep.

Using the bounce of the ball allows you to move faster through the exercise, but not produce more force. While there is nothing wrong with the other way, I simply think too many people rely on it. There may be instances when you want your athletes to learn to quickly receive the ball and return it forcefully, but it’s a more advanced variation that has a more limited application.

Using them to mimic sporting movements

This is one that falls on the coach specifically. If any coach or trainer starts telling you, as an athlete, that they will be utilizing medicine balls/loaded balls to strengthen your sporting motion, tell them to sit on a blender. Throwing or shooting a weighted ball will do nothing but murder your mechanics and probably inflict some serious injury to your joints. A baseball weighs 5 oz and a basketball weighs 20 oz, performing your mechanics with a ball that is twice the weight will simply butcher anything you go do on the court afterwards.

Note from TG:  We do implement SOME weighted ball drills with SOME of our pitchers – typically at the end of their throwing session at a distance of 10 or so feet into the matting. But as a whole, they encompass a fraction (10-15 throws total) of their total throwing volume.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=JQWyRk0n1MM

Thanks for reading today! I hope you enjoyed it, and if you get a chance please go check this out (http://operationrun365.blogspot.com/) and help a great cause. Have a great day and go lift something heavy!

CategoriesCorrective Exercise Program Design

The Sway Back Equation

I know what you’re thinking:  This is either the title of an archived Robert Ludlum novel or the name of an old-school hip-hop album.

Both are wrong – but wouldn’t it be awesome if either of the two were true?

As someone who’s read every Ludlum novel, I’d kill to have access to another one of his masterpieces. While there are a few authors today who write really good espionage fiction, in my opinion Ludlum is the Godfather and everyone else is just Fredo Corleone.

And as far as hip-hop is concerned, lets be honest: today’s hip-hop pales in comparison to what I grew up with in the late 80s through the 90s.  I distinctly remember the first time I listened to Wu-Tang Clan’s Enter the 36 Chambers and thinking to myself, “Holy fuck balls. This is amazing.”

Likewise, I can’t even begin to tell you how many times – much to my mom’s chagrin – I listened to A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory.  Since that was a more PG-rated album, I literally played it everywhere.

I blared it in my bedroom, outside while playing wiffleball, and even, sometimes, when she allowed it, in the family caravan.

Momma Gentilcore used to head bop to a little Scenario back in the day!

Here we go, yo!  Here we go, yo!  So what so what so what’s the scenario.

I literally wore that tape out playing it so much.

But alas, like I said, neither of the above is the topic at hand in today’s post.  Instead what I want to dive into is a little discussion on posture.

More specifically swayback posture.

But we’ll need to give a little anatomy lesson first

When looking at one’s posture, the first thing I typically look at is their pelvic positioning.  The pelvis will tell you a lot as far as what’s going on up and down the kinetic chain.  In a way, much of the postural imbalances, dysfunctions, and asymmetries that we see on a daily basis have their impetus at the pelvis.

Keeping things (very) watered down and simple, you generally have three presentations:

1.  Those who are in some semblance of (excessive) anterior pelvic tilt:  typically indicative of stiff/short hip flexors, weak anterior core musculature, short/stiff erector spinae, and weak/inhibited glutes and hamstrings.

You’ll see this present quite often in the athletic population:

2.  By contrast, another common presentation are those people who are in (excessive) posterior pelvic tilt, which is typically indicative of the polar opposite of the above:  hip flexors are lengthened, anterior core musculature is shortened (due to sitting in flexion too much), erector spinae are lengthened, and the hamstrings are short/stiff.

All told the lumbar spine tends to be flattened, which can lead to an increased incidence of disc herniations.

Not surprisingly this is most common those who sit in front of a computer for large portions of the day.

Again these are just gross generalizations and I understand that more can make it’s way onto the canvas when looking at compensation patterns (and their root causes).

With all this information in our back pocket, we can then set out to write an appropriate training program that will address the underlying issues.

Speaking in generalities it may look something like this:

For those in anterior pelvic tilt:  we want to emphasize protocols which will encourage a bit more posterior pelvic tilt and help get the pelvis back to a more neutral position.

1. Lots of glute activation drills and strengthening.  While your garden variety glute bridges are fantastic option, one variation I really like is the Posterior Pelvic Hip Thrust highlighted here by Bret Contreras:

 

2. Emphasizing more posterior chain work – deadlifts, pull-throughs, GHRs, squats, etc (but making sure to cue a brace rather than an excessive arch).

Cueing is key here. Tossing in deadlifts (RDLs) and squats and then cueing someone to arch (and thus falling into more APT) defeats the purpose and just feeds into the overriding problem.

It’s important to teach someone to brace – and maintain as much of a “neutral” spine as possible – rather than arch.  Mike Robertson does an awesome job of being Mike Robertson (dropping knowledge bombs left and right) and explaining the rationale HERE.

3.  Dedicated (long-duration) stretching for the hip flexors.  30s second stretches aren’t going to cut it here, as all that does is increase one’s tolerance to a stretch and does nothing to increase the number of sarcomeres (which is what’s needed to lengthen a muscle).

Maybe some dedicated stretching for the erectors – although I’m not a massive fan of this.

DO NOT stretch the hamstrings.

Think about why:  if someone is walking around in APT all day long, the hamstrings are already lengthened, and the only reason why they “feel tight” is because they’re firing like crazy.  Stretching them will only make matters worse.

Of course, this needs to be taken on a case-by-case basis as some will inevitably have “tight” hamstrings. But most of the time is a pelvic issue, not a hamstring issue.

4. Placing a premium on addressing tissue quality – especially in the hip flexors, external rotators, etc.

5.  Lots and lots and lots of anterior core work (but not crunches or sit-ups. At this point, I don’t feel I need to go out of my way to explain why).

 

For those in posterior pelvic tilt: we want to emphasize protocols which will encourage a bit more anterior pelvic tilt and help get the pelvis back to a more neutral position.

In short, those in PPT need to strengthen the hell out of APT.

1.  Honestly I’m still going to hammer posterior chain work here (glutes and hamstrings) because most people are woefully weak there anyways.

I want all of my male clients to be able to deadlift a mack truck (female clients too, for that matter), and I want all my female clients to actually have a pair of glutes that they can be proud of and rock their “sexy” jeans (and, if that’s your bag, you too fellas. I don’t judge).

Much of the difference is how I go about coaching and cueing everything, as I’ll need to make sure that they don’t compensate and excessively posterior tilt when deadlifting or squatting – especially when going into hip extension.

2. I won’t include much (if any) dedicated anterior core work here as the rectus abdominus (which aids in posterior tilt) is short and stiff already.

Instead, I’ll focus mainly on STABILITY based exercises and emphasize length (staying tall) on things like Pallof Presses, chops/lifts etc.

In addition we’ll also probably rock out with some planks.

Watch most people do a plank and they’ll inevitably curl up/round their back which just plays into the dysfunctional pattern.  Instead, try to coach/cue your spine to get as long as possible – without exhibiting a forward head posture and allowing the lumbar spine to “dip.”

Ideally it will look something like this:

Along those same lines we can consider the RKC Plank, which is a bastard in of itself.  Again, stealing from Bret, here’s the nuts and bolts:

 

3. As far as any dedicated stretching is concerned, I’ll hammer the hamstrings, but in all likelihood will defer to more multi-planar mobilizations, or what’s also referred to as 3D stretching.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg on both fronts, but hopefully helps people understand the big picture.

The red headed step-child of posture: the sway back

Sway back is rarely discussed in fitness circles probably because it’s seemingly so rare.  But it IS becoming more prominent and it’s something that was brought to light while watching Mike Robertson’s Bulletproof Back and Knee Seminar recently.

FYI:  It’s a fantastic resource, and I’d highly recommend it to any fitness professional reading.

As noted by Mike, sway back is simply a posterior pelvic tilt albeit with the hips pushed forward.

While a bit rarer in the general population, one demographic where it’s becoming more and more prevalent is….drum roll please……

Vikings?  No

Boy Bands?  Not quite.

Bomb sniffing dolphins?  Nice try, but no.

In actuality, it’s PERSONAL trainers and coaches.

As a coach and trainer myself I can commiserate.  I spend roughly 6-8 hours of my day standing – in extension – coaching people. And while I don’t rock a sway back posture I do possess some APT sumthin fierce.

To their credit many have recognized that APT is an issue, and have done a remarkable job at trying to alleviate it.

To that end, many have been placing a premium on cleaning up glute and hamstring issues by strengthening them, only to disregard and neglect the other crucial component of the equation…….

External obliques!

Tossing a little more anatomy into the fire, the external obliques have a few important functions:

1. Trunk flexion (bilateral).

2. Trunk rotation (unilateral, alongside opposite internal oblique).

3. Posterior pelvic tilt without a pull on the rib cage!  Meaning, unlike the rectus abdominus – with prominent attachment points on the rib cage – the external obliques also posteriorly tilt the pelvis sans all the postural ramifications.

So, for those in a sway back, placing more of an emphasis on the external obliques can be of great benefit.  You still have to be somewhat careful here, though, because you don’t want to promote too much PPT.

My first choice would be reverse crunches, but you may need to use these on a case-by-case basis depending on how much PPT someone is in:

Not far behind would be Offset Farmer Carries.

I love offset (1-Arm) farmer carries because they absolutely destroy the obliques as you have to fight to stay as upright as possible throughout the duration of the set.

The first progression would be your standard suitcase carry where you hold a DB or KB at your side:

 

There should be NO compensating in any form. No tilting, rotating, leaning, NOTHING.

From there, I’d progress to RACKED carries:

 

And then the grand daddy of them all would be overhead or WAITER carries:

 

I should also add that with all these variations the goal is to keep the rib cage locked down and to wear the coolest t-shirt ever (like the one in the videos).

Just sayin.

Tall kneeling Variations

I’ll also add tall kneeling variations onto this list too.  Whether we’re referring to chops, lifts, Pallof Presses, or the plethora of landmine exercises out there, these are all excellent ways to target the external obliques and to help alleviate the sway back posture.

And That’s That

WHEW my brain hurts – I said a lot there. Hopefully within all my rambling I made some sense and was able to shed some light on some simple (albeit not all encompassing) ways to fix/address the sway back posture.

If not, my bad…..;o)