This is a tricky question and one I’m asked often when discussing how I coach up the deadlift.
We have to be cognizant of balancing what will likely help prevent injury (namely a bicep tendon tear), but also allow for optimal performance and turn you into a deadlifting Terminator.
My approach is pretty simple:
Use a double overhand grip during your warm-up sets until it becomes a limiting factor or you’re unable to maintain your grip during your work sets.
Switch to an alternate (under/over) grip to help keep the bar from rolling out of your hands.
👇👇👇👇👇👇 THIS NEXT ONE IS IMPORTANT 👇👇👇👇👇👇
3. Alternate your alternate grip (left and right facing you or facing away) with every subsequent set.
I’ve personally had zero issues – with regards to injury or developing any “grip imbalances” – utilizing this approach with myself or with my clients.
SIDE NOTE: Yes, person who will inevitably bring up the hook grip. That’s an option too. We get it: You’re better than us.
SIDE NOTE (Part 2): Speaking of the hook grip, check out THIS article on the topic. It contains everything you’ll need to know.
Deceleration Training & Landing For the Everyday Athlete
Everyone pays close attention to how powerful and explosive an athlete can be, and how quickly he or she can speed up and take off. However, everyone ignores the foundational components that precede acceleration and force production, which are deceleration and force absorption.
All athletes, regardless of sport or athletic endeavor, need to develop the skills necessary to slow down, absorb force, and land in an organized manner.
Decelerate & Land on Two Feet
Drop Squat to Stick:
Grabbing a rebound or spiking a volleyball comes easy to most since the task is clear: jump up into the air as high as possible and either gather the basketball or launch the volleyball. But, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone as concerned with their jump height as their jump landing.
Put the squat jumps on pause for a moment and dial in your technique here first.
This is a good place to start if you’re new to deceleration training and landing skills. Here’s a drill that requires much more focus than what you see in the video. The entire emphasis should be on creating as much speed as possible when dropping down to the floor.
Your goal is simple: slow down fast.
Yes, that’s correct. The same way that you’d want to speed up fast during acceleration, you’d also want to slow down fast during deceleration.
Coaching Keys:
Stand with both feet hip-width apart and your hands down by your pockets
Now, reach both hands up high toward the ceiling above you
Raise both heels off the floor, but keep the toes glued down for a moment
Quickly snap down as fast as humanly possible while allowing the toes to leave the floor ever so slightly
Finish in the bottom of a squat with your arms long and behind you
Learn How to Land in a Split Stance
Drop Reverse Lunge to Stick:
The same rules apply here as in the above exercise.
Don’t be fooled though; this variation is much more difficult.
Whether you’re doing split squats in the gym or sprinting in your sport, the split stance is a highly-coveted position to become strong and durable in. Quit doing split squats for one block of training and replace them with these for faster performance results.
On paper, the goal here is pretty simple: reach up and drop down fast into the reverse lunge position. However, performing this deceleration exercise is much harder than just that. The front leg will take most of the load while the back leg works in an assisting manner.
Think: jab that foot back and slightly lean your trunk forward. That’s the key to results here.
Coaching Keys:
Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your hands down by your sides
Reach your fingertips high and up toward the ceiling
Raise both heels up off the floor
Snap down quickly while simultaneously jabbing one foot back behind you
Make sure to finish in the bottom of a reverse lunge with your arms reaching back
Pump The Brakes & Land on One Foot
Drop Squat to 1-Leg Stick:
Watch an athlete in any sport perform a cutting action, a change of direction, or even turn the corner. It’s likely that you’ll see the athlete, at one point or another, land on one foot. Even when athletes land on both feet they tend to favor one side over the other. The point is that all athletes will find value in developing the skills in the weight room necessary to be strong and durable on one foot.
Deceleration training and landing is no different.
Single leg strength starts at the foot and lower leg.
Building legs and feet that are resilient to loading, whether from the speed emphasis in deceleration training or from the weight on the bar, is the pivotal first-step to longevity in the iron game. Drop quickly here and stick your landing on one foot.
You’ll be surprised at how many reps it takes until you get it right.
Coaching Keys:
Stand with both feet hip-width apart and both hands down by the pockets
Reach your hands up toward the ceiling
Raise both heels off the floor, but keep the toes glued down for a moment
Quickly snap down as fast as possible while allowing the toes to leave the floor slightly
Finish the landing on one foot with both arms behind you
Stick Your Landing Off An Elevated Surface
Depth Drop to Stick:
At some point, performing all of these drills from the floor will become too easy. This is why it’s important to provide some sort of overload stimulus to continue making progress in your deceleration training. Starting from an elevated surface from a box or a bench will do the trick.
The key here is to avoid jumping off the elevated surface, and instead, dropping down as fast as possible. This goes back to the whole notion of slowing down fast. The faster you come down off the box, the more challenging it will be to land in an organized manner. Step up to a box or bench height that will challenge you if your ultimate goal is to build quality deceleration and landing skills.
Coaching Keys:
Stand on a plyo box in the range of 12 to 24 inches
Lead one foot off the box out in front of you
Reach your fingertips up high above you
Drop down off the box and stick the landing on both feet with your arms behind you
Now, Do it On One Foot
Depth Drop to 1-Leg Stick:
Not much different here than the previous exercise aside from the fact that now you’ll be forced to land on one foot. There’s a reason this is the last stop on the train in this series of exercise progressions since it challenges you the most, both from a speed overload and stability standpoint.
The challenge here is to demonstrate body control during landing by sinking into your hips and letting your chest dip forward a bit. Again, your arms play a big role in this drill due to the amount of speed they can create based on how hard and fast you swing them down from the top position.
Ease into this one, but once you master it, let it rip.
Coaching Keys:
Stand on a 12 to 24-inch plyo box
Lead one foot off of the box out in front
Reach both hands up high toward the ceiling above you
Drop off the box and stick the landing on the lead feet with both arms long and by your pockets
Closing
Deceleration training and landing skills are where it all begins in plyometrics. It doesn’t matter if you’re a sport-based athlete or an iron athlete in the weight room, landing skills are important for everyone. Build the brakes before you slam down on the pedal.
About the Author
Matthew Ibrahim serves as Co-Owner, Director of Strength & Conditioning and Internship Coordinator at TD Athletes Edge in Boston, MA.
He is also an Adjunct Professor at Maryville University and Endicott College, in addition to being a Ph.D. student at Rocky Mountain University in the Human and Sport Performance program.
As a public speaker, he has provided presentations at Google Headquarters, Stanford University, and Equinox, in addition to speaking at several NSCA conferences and clinics.
As a writer, his articles have been featured in some of the world’s largest publications, such as Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Men’s Journal, and T-Nation.
I’ve been writing training programs since 2002, and in that time I’d say I’ve written roughly 10,717 of them.1 Not coincidentally that’s also the total number of times I’ve wanted to toss my face into an ax whenever someone waxes poetic on their 1) killer CrossFit workout and/or 2) keto diet.
We get it, you’re better than us.
Suffice it to say…
…I’ve written a lot of programs, I’ve helped many people from all walks of life get results, yet I still need to often remind myself to stop overcomplicating things.
Seriously, It’s Not Long Division
I think it comes with the territory that we often want to “wow” our clients and athletes with complicated looking programs that require an Enigma machine to decipher.
A1. 1-Legged Snatch Grip Deadlifts – from deficit (w/ Intraset Tempo: Reps 1-3 = 3s pause at mid-shin, Reps 4-6 = 3s lowering, Reps 7-9 = blindfolded) A2. Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A and Start
If you’re a fitness professional it’s inevitable you’ll end up mirroring Dug (the dog) from the movie Up. Whenever he sees a squirrel he can’t help himself and becomes distracted.
Similarly, we’re seduced by bright, shiny, and new objects.
Or, in this case…exercises.
I’m no different.
I, too, am an amalgamation of shortcomings that can’t help himself when it comes to cool, zany looking thingamajigs I come across on Instagram.
Recently I was updating a program for a long-standing client of mine. This is someone whom I’ve been writing programs for coming up on four years. Our relationship is at the point where whenever it’s time to write a new program for him I am sometimes flummoxed as to what to do…and I try to get cute.
I feel I have to toss in something new or idiosyncratic.
I feel this is pretty normal behavior and comes with the territory when working with a client/athlete for so long. They’re paying good money to work with us and there’s sometimes I feeling of guilt when we don’t go out of our way to spice things up on the programming front.
We don’t want to come across as too repetitive.
In lieu of this I opted to go with my gut instincts and ended up writing a seemingly “vanilla” program (at least in my eyes) for my client this month.
No tomfoolery or shenanigans.
Wouldn’t you know it…
…at the end of one of our more recent sessions he raved at how awesome the workout was. This was followed by an email the following day raining over me with accolades.
“That session yesterday was really something.”
“Your arms looked jacked BTW.”
Okay, that last one was made up.
Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised if not somewhat vindicated. “Huh,” I thought to myself. “I guess I need to get out of my own way more often and just stop overcomplicating things.”
This is not an indictment on utilizing more advanced or “sexy looking” exercises.
Novelty is fine (every now and again).
However, this recent experience was a stark reminder that most people, most of the time prefer (and even thrive) on simplicity.
I remember a few years back when I was still coaching at Cressey Sports Performance another trainer who was there observing for the day walked up to make casual conversation and to ask a question he wanted my opinion on.
Him: “Hey Tony.”
Me: “Hey, what’s up?
Him:“Oh, not much. Say, I noticed pretty much everyone here only deadlifts using the trap bar.”
Me:“Indeed. We don’t feel the majority of people need to use the straight bar or anything. It’s a risk-reward scenario where we feel the risk isn’t worth any inherent (ego) reward.”
Him:“Huh, but don’t you feel you’re feeding dysfunction or that they’re cheating by using the trap bar only?”
And by that what I mean is that it took every ounce of willpower for my eyeballs not to roll out of their sockets.
Let me address each point separately.
“Do I feel I’m feeding dysfunction?”
Due to improved mechanics with regards to the center of mass (you’re inside the barbell) and axis of rotation (hips closer), the trap-bar deadlift is a safer, more user-friendly variation.
A deadlift is a deadlift is a deadlift.
So long as someone hinges at their hips, maintains a neutral spine, and then proceeds to lift something off the ground from a DEAD stop, I don’t care if it’s a barbell, a trap bar, or a Volkswagon.
My job as a coach is to do the best I can to “match” an exercise to the injury history, ability level, and goal(s) of the individual I’m working with.
Almost always the trap-bar is going to be the best option in terms of not only performance, but safety as well.
“Do you feel they’re cheating?”
Nope.
Unless you’re a competitive powerlifter or weightlifter, you don’t HAVE to use a straight bar. It’s not cheating.
Recently the indelible, delightful, and impressive Meghan Callaway and I collaborated on a series where we each shared four innovative exercises for both the hip flexors and adductors.2
As far as duos go, we rank somewhere in between peanut butter & jelly and Bradley Cooper & Lady Gaga.
Check em out.
You Won’t Believe Your Eyes
#1 Isometric Copenhagen Side Plank + Band Resisted Psoas Marches
This exercise strengthens the adductors and hip flexors, improves lumbo-pelvic stability, and shoulder and scapular stability.
Meghan’s Coaching Tips:
Place a resistance band around your feet.
Fully extend your upper leg, and place your ankle and foot of this side on an elevated surface.
IMPORTANT: If this position bothers your knee/any other part of your body, opt for the bent leg variation (your knee should be bent to 90 degrees, and your knee, lower leg and foot should be on the surface). If you do this, the band will need to be placed above your knees.
Get into a side plank position from your forearm, and set your body so it is in a straight line from your head to foot. Maintain this position for the duration of the exercise.
Your shoulder should be above your elbow.
Now use your adductors and press your body away from the surface and towards the ceiling. Do this for the duration of the exercise.
Perform psoas marches on your other side.
Pay attention to your supporting arm. Push away from the floor and protract your shoulder blade (move it away from the spine and around the ribcage).
Do not allow your lower back to hyperextend, round, or flex laterally, ribcage to flare, torso, spine or hips to rotate, or hips to pike or collapse.
Aside from your moving leg, the rest of your body should remain in a fixed position.
Maintain a 360 degree brace. In terms of breathing, do what works best for you.
Do 8-12 marches per side
#2 Copenhagen Side Plank Tempos
This exercise strengthens the adductors, improves lumbo-pelvic stability, and shoulder and scapular stability.
Tony’s Coaching Tips:
Fully extend your upper leg, and place your ankle and foot of this side on an elevated surface.
IMPORTANT: If this position bothers your knee or any other part of your body, opt for the bent leg variation (your knee should be bent to 90 degrees, and your knee, lower leg and foot should be on the surface). If you do this, the band will need to be placed above your knees versus around your feet.
Assume a side plank position making sure your elbow is directly below your shoulder. From there push away from the floor so that you’re not “hanging out” on your upper traps (and to better support your shoulder blades).
Think about pressing your top foot (the one on the elevated surface) INTO said surface and think about PULLING your lower leg up from the floor via the top leg. Your body should remain in a straight line throughout – no deviating via your lower back or slouching forward with the shoulders and upper back.
The key here is the tempo.
THREE second count up and THREE second count down with EVERY rep.
This is an exercise that can easily be butchered and adding in a strict tempo helps to increase the challenge and to ensure the muscles we want to engage (adductors) actually do the work.
#3 Towel Adductor Slides aka “Thighmaster”
This exercise strengthens the adductors and improves hip controlled mobility.
Meghan’s Coaching Tips:
Kneel on two towels (you may place a pillow on each towel if this is more comfortable). Your head, torso and hips should be in a stacked position.
Now slowly slide your knees apart, and to a range where you are able to maintain proper form (and where it feels comfortable).
Once you hit your end range, really squeeze your inner thighs (adductors), and return your legs to the starting position.
Do not allow your lower back to hyperextend, round, or flex laterally, ribcage to flare, torso, spine or hips to rotate, or weight to shift from knee to knee.
Maintain a 360 degree brace.
In terms of breathing, do what works and feels best for you.
Do 3 sets of 10-15 reps.
#4 Lateral Lunges With Plate Slides
This exercise strengthens the adductors – bilaterally (<– Cue emphatic & dramatic music here).
Tony’s Coaching Tips:
A quick shout out to friend and colleague @vernongriffith4 for this brilliant idea.
Place a light plate on the inside of your LEFT foot, grab a kettlebell or dumbbell in your left hand and step laterally to right making sure to sit BACK into your RIGHT hip. Return to the standing position by “pulling” or gliding the plate with your left foot.
Repeat for 5-8 repetitions per direction.
#5 Prone Band Resisted Psoas Marches With Feet Elevated
This exercise strengthens the hip flexors, improves lumbo-pelvic stability, and shoulder and scapular stability.
Meghan’s Coaching Tips:
Place a resistance band around your feet.
Get into a plank position from your hands and feet, and elevate your feet on a wall or other surface. Your body should be roughly parallel to the floor.
Place your hands so they are well ahead of your shoulders.
While remaining in the plank position, lift one foot off the wall and bring your knee in towards your torso. Return your leg and foot to the starting position with control, and repeat using the other side.
For the duration of the exercise, press your body away from the floor and protract your shoulder blades. Also, press your body backwards against the wall. Otherwise your feet will likely slide down the surface.
For the duration, engage your glute on the side(s) that is in contact with the surface.
Do not allow your lower back to hyperextend, round, or flex laterally, ribcage to flare, torso, spine or hips to rotate, or hips to pike or collapse.
Maintain a 360 degree brace. In terms of breathing, do what works and feels best for you.
Do 3 sets of 6-10 marches per side.
#6 Core Engaged Ludicrous Deadbug
This exercise strengthens many things: your hip flexors, abdominals, glutes, lumbo-pelvic stability, your soul, everything.
Tony’s Coaching Tips:
Loop a band around an immoveable object: pole, squat rack, etc. Place a small mini-band around both feet and situate yourself so that your shoulders are on a bench and your heels are on another bench/box/chair a few feet away with the looped band over your head.
Next, perform a glute bridge, grab the band above your heads with both hands, and pull taught with arms straight until you have max (or ludicrous tension) in your abdominals.
While maintaining the glute bridge (don’t allow your hips to deviate position), press one heel into the bench as you bring one knee towards your chest against the resistance of the band while forcefully exhaling ALL your air.
Do not allow the tension from the band in your hands to diminish.
Lowering your leg back to the bench and repeat the same process of FIVE reps, making sure to exhale ALL your air every rep.
NOTE: You can regress this exercise to be performed on the floor only.
#7) Straight Leg Lifts (Lateral And Medial)
This exercise strengthens the hip flexors, improves hip controlled mobility, and lumbo-pelvic stability. You may use any items you have at home. I’m using some Lysol spray.
Meghan’s Coaching Tips:
Sit on the floor. Your head, torso and hips should be in a stacked position. Fully extend both of your knees, and plantarflex your feet (point them away from you).
While keeping your knees fully extended, ankles in a fixed position, and feet plantarflexed, lift your legs over the objects in a lateral direction, and then back to the starting position.
Do not allow your legs or feet to strike the objects, or for your legs or feet to strike the floor.
Do not allow your lower back to hyperextend or flex laterally, ribcage to flare, torso, spine or hips to rotate, or weight to shift from hip to hip. Some minor spinal flexion is ok.
Maintain a 360 degree brace.
In terms of breathing, do what works and feels best for you.
This exercise strengthens the hip flexors and abdominals and basically “locks” you into place so you can’t cheat with your lower back.
Tony’s Coaching Tips:
To give credit where it’s due: I stole this exercise from friend and colleague @dougivsc. The hip flexors can be both simultaneously tight and weak and endless stretching is NOT the answer. It actually (may) be feeding the symptoms.
Grab a foam roller, a light or average band, and a tennis ball. Wrap the band around a pair of J-hooks in a squat rack so that they match the length of the foam roller from the ground.
Sit down underneath the band with your legs in a V-shape and your torso as upright as possible; place a tennis balls to the side of your ankle.
With the foam roller upright and just in front of you press it UP into the band. Oh shit, that’s a lot of tension!
That’s good – it’ll make it harder for you to cheat.
Maintain tension INTO the band with the foam roller, lift your foot off the floor and “lift off” over the tennis ball alternating over and back for 8-10 reps per direction.
You ever head to the gym, get there, and then all you want to do is leave?
No matter how hard you try you just can’t muster the mojo to get going and preserver through a training session.
I had one of those days yesterday, actually.
I stayed and swallowed a somewhat decent session down, but I definitely veered off my program and just opted to perform some random exercises that filled my training love tank that day.3
In today’s guest post by TG.com regular, Shane McLean, he shares some ideas you can implement when you just need a slight change of pace on any given day.
Years ago, my son was getting a cavity filled. Let’s face it, nobody likes going to the dentist and getting those big needles stuck into your mouth.
It sucks.
My son’s first shot didn’t take, and needed a second one to numb the pain.
Then the water works started. Who can blame him? Those needles are scary.
The dental nurse had no bedside manner plus no clue on how to turn the water works off, so I had to think fast.
“Hey, do you realize your bottom lip is so fat the astronauts in space can see it,” I said.
“What are you talking about, Dad? It’s not fat!”
“Feel it. It’s huge,” I said. He smiled, touched his lip and the crying stopped. Problem solved.
You’re thinking, “What the heck has this got to do with exercise?”
Let me explain.
Sometimes you are sore, tired, or uninspired and the last thing you want to do is knock out sets of deadlifts, squats, and overhead presses. The trick (when feeling meh) is to exercise without realizing it.
Hence, the art of distraction training.
I find the best way to achieve distraction is through game play, plus a little friendly competition because you can have fun while exercising, even if you have goals.
Plug the following drills into your warmup or as a substitute for any exercise you have planned. You’ll be sweating and smiling in no time.
NOTE: These ‘games’ work well in a personal training and group exercise setting too.
1. Balloon Tennis (Not Just a Kid’s Game)
This is a great substitute for planks, pushups, or shoulder work, and it’s simple and easy to play.
Set Up – For your “net” you need three step up risers on either side, a body bar, space, plus a blown-up balloon.
Rules – Imagine a straight line down from the edge of your risers. That is your boundary.
Now you and your partner assume a pushup position with feet wider than hip width apart and set up within arms distance from the net.
“Serve” the balloon over the net and bat it back and forth over the net until
The balloon lands out
The balloon touches the ground
You or your opponent lose the plank position
All the above results in a point.
First to 5 points wins. You’ll be surprised at how much this drives up your heart rate.
2. Reaction Ball Squash
This is a great drill to get you moving in all directions quickly while improving your hand to eye coordination. Play this on the squash or racquetball court. Think of it as squash without a racquet.
Set Up – The server serves from inside the service box while the receiver stands anywhere within his or her service half.
Rules – Once the ball has been thrown against the far wall and bounces once, it is fair game. If the ball is dropped, missed, or has bounced twice this results in:
If the server wins, he wins the point and the right to serve again.
If the receiver catches the ball, he wins the right to serve.
Only the server wins a point.
The first person to 10 points wins.
3. Core War
This is a fantastic drill that I “stole” from PTA Global. Core war works on the anterior, posterior, and lateral core while challenging balance. This drill will improve hand-to-eye coordination and quickness.
Set up– Face each other with 1-2-foot distance between each other. Place your hands to shoulder height, elbow bent and palms facing towards your opponent.
Rules– Each person is trying to slap the others hand while avoiding being slapped. You can do this for time for warm up purposes PLUS each partner can keep score. First to 5, 10 or 15 slaps wins.
To make things interesting, the winner can decide a “punishment” for the loser.
4. Stability Ball Wrestle
I know some fitness professionals debate the use of stability balls and Bosu balls in a gym environment. Even some have taken their anger to extreme levels.
Note From TG: It was a dark time in my life.
However, I see them as another tool in the toolbox.
Stability ball wrestle can be used in place of single leg or balance exercises. You’ll be too busy trying to knock each other off balance you’ll never realize (and workout partner) you are training your ankle stability, mobility, and balance.
Set Up – Standing in front of the stability ball put your right foot on top of the ball making sure your right knee is bent 90 degrees. Your partner who is directly across from you on the other side puts their left foot on the same ball, right beside your foot. Your other foot is flat on the ground, This is your stabilizing leg.
Rules – You are both trying to knock your opponent’s foot off the stability ball by rolling the ball aggressively with the foot on the ball. There is no kicking, just pushing the ball any way possible to knock your opponent’s foot off the ball. Person whose foot stays on the ball wins the point.
This can be done as a timed warmup, for 30 seconds on each foot. Or turn this into a friendly competition. Every time some loses his balance it results in a point for the opponent.
First to 5 or 10 points wins.
5. The Boxer
Use this in place of any chest or shoulder exercise. This drill will work on power, muscular endurance, and hand-to-eye coordination. Think of it as a fun band chest press.
Set Up – Use a resistance band with handles looped around a solid anchor point and bring hands to shoulder level with the resistance band under and not over your arms. Your partner puts his or her hands up, open palms facing forward and away from their face.
Rules – You hit the open palm (with a clenched fist), one hand at a time. Your partner can change his hand position up, down, or left and right to increase the challenge.
You can do this for time and record the amount of hits or use it as an upper body finisher, using a timed interval of your choice.
Wrapping Up
These five games can be integrated into any training session to turn the tedious part of your workout into something fun that can help improve your performance too. Let’s put some fun back into exercise.
About The Author
Shane “Balance Guy” McLean, is an A.C.E Certified Personal Trainer working deep in the heart of Louisiana with the gators.
I often tell people that what “connects” you to the barbell during the deadlift isn’t your hands.
Rather, it’s your lats.
Having the ability to engage them and firing on all cylinders during the set-up and execution has profound ramifications on deadlift technique and performance.
The thing is: For some trainees, asking him or her to “turn on your lats” is akin to understanding Klingon or, I don’t know, being able to perform long division.
In the most rudimentary sense the deadlift can best be described as an action where one bends over at the waist, wraps his or her’s hands around a barbell, and then “pulls” said barbell off the ground until they’re standing fully upright with their knees and hips locked.
Of course, there are a few important nuances with regards to back position to consider.
For brevity’s sake you can think of the setup as shoulders above the chest, and chest above the hips.
This.
Not This
Ya Heard
Anyway, you want to think about putting force into ground and pushing away, rather than just pulling the bar off the floor.
In my experience whenever I see someone’s back rounding or I see their hips come up a bit too early I find they’re not placing any emphasis on the PUSH (and using their quads to help with leg drive).
Another option is to think about “pushing the ground away from you.” This subtle reframing has made a profound difference with many of the lifters I’ve worked with.
I was going to run with the title “3 Unconventional Shoulder Health Exercises (That Aren’t Band External Rotations)” but I didn’t want to come across as a pompous a-hole.
😉
Alternatively, I was considering “3 Unconventional Shoulder Health Exercises (That Aren’t Band External Rotations) and STOP DOING KIPPING PULL-UPS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.”
Just so we’re on the same page: I am NOT against external rotation drills (band, side lying, whatever else you can come up with here).
On the contrary I use them often when working with clients who exhibit shoulder discomfort or have a lengthy history of shoulder pain – specifically with the rotator cuff.
Many EMG studies have shown that when it comes to activation…
…Side Lying External Rotations are the Don Corleone of rotator cuff exercises.
They’re wonderful and are a home-run for most people, most of the time (when done correctly). They’re also, you know, about as exciting as watching another parent’s kid’s Clarinet recital.
No one gets excited to head to the gym to perform Side Lying External Rotations. You can make them more palatable, of course:
But even still…
…ZZZzzzzzz.
I’m a firm believer that training, especially rehab, should look (and feel) like training. So today I wanted to pass along a few drills I think you should add to your repertoire.
1. Seated Reach & Row
I got this one from strength coach (and person who makes me feel like an old curmudgeon), Conor Harris.
I’m starting to fall into the camp that addressing Serratus weakness is the answer to everything:
Shoulder pain?
Neck pain?
Back pain?
Lawnmower won’t start?
More Serratus work my friend!
Reaching (or protraction) is a bonafide way to target the Serratus anterior and improve shoulder health. Likewise, working on ribcage expansion is also part of the equation.
The ribcage is shaped in a convex manner.
The scapulae (shoulder blade) is concave, or rounded, in nature. The ability for the two to play nicely together is an often overlooked mechanism of what I like to call “my shoulder fucking hurts syndrome.”
A stiff ribcage can lead to one of two things:
Lack of rotation.
Inability to expand during inhalation.
BONUS: Also less likely to win an arm-wrestling match vs. a Lumberjack. Trust me.
By combining a reach with an alternating row (and then adding a pause to INHALE in order to induce posterior expansion of the ribcage) we can sorta “unglue” it, which can have profound implications (in a good way) to shoulder health; namely, the scapulae have an increased ability to move.
I think we’ve been programmed to think that shoulder health begins and ends with rotator cuff. I’d make the case that the more germane approach – or attack point – is to address scapular function via the ribcage.
If the ribcage can’t move, neither can your shoulder blades.
2. Elbows Up Banded Press
Pigging back off my Serratus obsession above (<– totally not creepy),6here’s a splendid drill I stole from my friend (and person I hate because he’s way stronger than me), Dr. Jonathan Mike.
Too, what I dig about this exercise is that it very much has a meathead vibe to it.
OMG – the pump you feel after performing a set of these is insane.
After a killer upper-body session, instead of Band External Rotation drills, do this for 2-3 sets of 10-20 reps.
3. 1-Arm Band Upper Cut
This is a drill I’ll often pair with things like squats or deadlifts. Both entail “setting” the shoulder blades in place in a more downwardly rotated (or depressed) position.
This is ideal for lifting heavy things – and for keeping the joint “safe” – but as I alluded to above, not for overall shoulder health.
The scapulae are meant to move in a myriad of ways up, down, and around the ribcage.
The Banded Upper Cut not only targets the Serratus (reaching), but also the upper traps which aid with scapular UPWARD rotation.
The key is to make the movement one seamless movement by thinking about directing everything through the pinky finger. I like to tell clients to think about pointing their pinky out in front of them…
…then UP towards the ceiling.
This ensures the shoulder blades moves around (and up) the ribcage. It feels great.
Want more similar ideas (and then some)?
The Complete Trainers’ Toolbox
TODAY through this Sunday (7/5) The Complete Trainers’ Toolbox is on SALE at $100 off the regular price. Included here is my 60+ minute webinar on How to Improve Overhead Mobility, but you also get 16+ more hours of content from the likes of:
Dean Somerset
Dr. Lisa Lewis
Dr. Sam Spinelli
Meghan Callaway
Dr. Sarah Duvall
Alex Kraszewski
Kellie Davis
Luke Worthington
If you’re a fitness professional you’d be hard pressed to find another resource that covers such a wide variety of topics pertinent to the industry. Everything from program design and pelvic floor considerations to assessment and psychological skills is included.
And then some.
There’s even an option to split your payments into four monthly installments (and you earn CEUs). And we’ll become BFFs.
There’s really no downside here.
Go HERE for more information. And remember: you only have through this weekend to take advantage.
There’s more to building strong, powerful legs than just traditional barbell squats and deadlifts.
Note From TG (cue Southern Belle drawl):I do say kind sir, I have never heard such blasphemous shenanigans uttered in all my life. I feel a bit of faint coming on.
Someone.
Catch me.
CATCH ME!
While those movements certainly have their place, you know by now not to skimp on single leg work.
Single leg exercises are going to help you work out imbalances between sides, improve coordination, balance, stability, and athleticism, while helping to make you more resistant to injury.
Single leg work can be divided into two categories:
Supported – As in a lunge or rear foot elevated split squat
Unsupported – As in a single leg deadlift or skater squat
Both categories are sagittal plane dominant, meaning the body moves from front to back.
But when you do unsupported single leg exercises, the need to resist motion in the frontal and transverse plane increases significantly. You need to call in your adductors, glute medius, minimus, the intrinsic muscles of the foot, and your core musculature, to a larger degree.
The best single leg exercise is the skater squat.
Why?
Because just like with every other exercise in the world, progressive overload is the name of the game. Of all the unsupported single leg exercises, skater squats allow the greatest range of motion and the most loading potential.
Not quite a single leg squat and not quite a single leg deadlift, skater squats are the ultimate hybrid. They build lower body strength and add size to your quads and glutes, without beating up your back, hips, or knees.
The only problem with them is most people don’t want to do skater squats because:
They take a little bit to get the hang of the technique, and
They are really hard and humbling.
Here’s How to Master Them
1. Use a Counterbalance
Use 2.5 or 5 pound weights in your hands as a counterbalance, and squeeze a tennis ball between your hamstring and calf on the non working leg. This will help keep the back leg in a better, tighter, position and keep you from turning it into a reverse lunge.
2. The Rest
Reach with your hands slightly across an imaginary line coming out of your middle toe of the working leg and towards the wall in front of you as you lower your back knee down to a pad without letting your back foot touch the ground.
Then, use your hands like ski poles and drive them down as you push through your front foot to return to the starting position.
Start by stacking a few airex pads for your back knee and lower them as you get stronger to increase the range of motion.
I mentioned before that they have the greatest overload potential. After you start knocking out 8+ skaters to the floor, you need to continue upping the ante to keep building muscle and strength.
Here Are 5 ways to Take Them to the Next Level
1. Torso Weighted
Use a vest or chains to increase the load.
2. Front Loaded
Using a sandbag or weight plate increases the core challenge and emphasis the quads more.
3. Angled
Full disclosure: I picked this up from performance coach Vernon Griffith. The angled loading places more stress on the muscles involved with stabilizing you in the frontal plane: your adductor and glute complexes, QL, and obliques.
4. From a Deficit
Elevate the working leg on a 45 pound plate or two to increase the range of motion.
5. Eccentric Emphasis
Use anywhere from a 3-8 second lowering phase to increase the time under tension.
Whichever variation you’re using, try these for 2-4 sets of 5-8 as either your main lower body exercise or after your heavier bilateral exercises to balance out the spinal loading.
About the Author
Scott Hansen is a Bostonian transplanted in Southern California, a strength/fitness/wrestling coach, educator, sub par surfer, and die hard New England sports fan.
He works with adult athletes, as well as an assistance wrestling coach and strength and conditioning coach for La Costa Canyon high school wrestling in Carlsbad, CA.
Matthew Ibrahim serves as Co-Owner, Director of Strength & Conditioning and Internship Coordinator at TD Athletes Edge in Boston, MA.
Scott Hansen is a Bostonian transplanted in Southern California, a strength/fitness/wrestling coach, educator, sub par surfer, and die hard New England sports fan.
