It’s a common tactic for fitness professionals, especially during an initial session or assessment, to go out of their way to demonstrate just how dysfunctional someone is.
“Okay, so, after everything we’ve gone through and discussed it seems you have an internally rotated right shoulder, a bit of anterior pelvic tilt, upper back kyphosis, you lack thoracic rotation on your left side, you need to clip your toenails, and one eye is lower than the other.
We’ve got some work to do to fix everything.”
Now, I’m not going to sit here and say I’ve been perfect my entire career and that I never did the same thing.
I did.
And while hindsight is 20/20…I can’t even begin to imagine how much business I lost because I felt it a good idea to showcase to potential clients how much of a walking ball of fail they were on Day #1.
To that end, I do believe there’s a natural growth or maturation (that only comes with experience) of any fitness professional where you begin to understand and appreciate this train of thought.
Of course it’s our job to “audit” movement and to ascertain, to the best of our ability, what will set people up for the most success possible given their goals, injury history, and ability level(s).
But I adamantly feel that one of the worst things you can do as a fitness professional is to highlight dysfunction and to make people feel broken out of the gate.
Take scapular winging for example, where the shoulder blade lacks congruency with the ribcage (I.e., it peels off the rib cage).
Is it actually a dysfunctional thing?
Now, admittedly, the picture above is a little a lot fucked up.
This is TRUE scapular winging, an actual medical diagnosis where the long thoracic nerve is not doing its job innervating the Serratus Anterior.
No amount of Prone Trap Raises or Forearm Wall Slides is going to fix that dumpster fire. It’s going to entail meticulous manual therapy and someone with a keener sense of neurological wizardry to fix it.
However, many people walk around thinking they have “scapular winging” (HINT: pretty much everyone has it to some degree) and that they’re doomed to a laundry list of corrective exercise purgatory.
I have news for you.
Most people’s long thoracic nerve works just fine and most people are NOT in a state of dysfunction.
In fact you can fix scapular winging pretty quickly by adding LOAD and by getting people to TRAIN.
Load helps nudge people into better positioning and training just helps people not want to jump in front of a bus (trust me: corrective exercise purgatory is no fun for anyone).
There are a litany of ways to accomplish this.
In this short video, I outline some of my thoughts and manage to not swear the entire time.
This is a short clip from mine and Dean Somerset’s new series Even More Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint, a brand new product with entirely new content from the version 1 workshop, which is on sale until Sunday for $70 off the regular price, and digs into individualization concepts like this, plus so much more to help you get the best possible plan of action for your clients in order to get them results in the fastest, easiest and safest manner possible.
The most cogent place to start is to (briefly) explain what a hip hinge is. And to that end I often like to steal a train of thought from renowned strength coach and writer, Dan John:
“The Hip Hinge = Maximal hip flexion with minimal knee flexion.”
Well, that was easy.
Now that we know what it is, why do we care?
In my neck of the woods – strength & conditioning – the hip hinge is the precursor (or base) for a lot of what we do to help make people stronger, faster, and more athletic.
Deadlifting = hip hinge.
Jumping = hip hinge.
But in everyday life, too, the hip hinge pops in to make a cameo appearance:
Bending over to pick up your child.
Picking up anything off the ground, really.
Sitting down.
Assuming an athletic position in your recreational basketball league. You know, the same league a bunch of your friends asked you to join because it was going to be fun, but then you went a head and missed those two foul shots to lose the championship game, and now everyone hates you. That league.
Photo Credit: STACK.com
Whether you realize it or not, and whether or not it involves lifting heavy things (or your recycling bin), you likely hip hinge many, many, many times per day.
And you’re likely more than proficient at it.
Some (not all) fitness professionals like to make things more complicated than they have to be. When it comes to the hip hinge, really what we’re after is the ability to dissociate hip movement from lumbar movement.
We want to be able to move from the hips with little (if any) movement from the spine; especially when we’re under significant load.
Some fit pros will assess the hip hinge and if it seems wonky or awry they’ll automatically transform into “corrective exercise” mode where said individual will be put through a hefty 17-week program complete with dowel rods, bands, breathing drills, and maybe a Shaolin monk (in worst case scenarios) to set them straight and to fix things.
Now, I am not here to bemoan corrective exercise or to belittle those who take the time to coach up their clients with hip hinge drills.
I mean, I’ve written several blog posts on the topic HERE and HERE, so I’d be a major asshole if I did that.
But, what I would like today’s post to do is to provide a bit of context and to remind coaches that sometimes all people need is a slight nudge or reminder that “x” is what you want them to do.
Again, with a hip hinge, all I’m after is dissociation of hip movement from lumbar movement. If I can get an individual to create tension – or a “flexion moment” – in the anterior core so that they can’t move through their lower back, then my job is done.
I’ve been a fan of the Landmine going all the way back to the early years of Cressey Sports Performance when we started to implement it into our clients’ and athletes’ programs.
Now, I’m not going to sit here and say the Landmine is the end-all-be-all panacea of fitness and performance. I like it and use it (often), but it’s not like it’s going to cut your 40 time by 0.7 seconds, add 50 lbs. to your deadlift in a week, make it so that your pecs can cut diamonds, or give you the power of invisibility.2
Having said that, there are many reasons why I dig it.
Landmine Training and Why I Think It’s the Shit (Sorry, Non-PG Title Goes Here)
1. User Friendliness
I remember having a conversation with my friend Ben Bruno a few months after he left Boston to start training people out west in LA.
I often say that people in Boston, and in the east coast in general, tend to be a bit grittier. We live in miserable weather 50% of the year, we tend to swear like sailors more often, the weather sucks balls, and too, from a training standpoint, east coast peeps tend to be a bit more “strength” oriented.
Now, this isn’t to say that people on the west coast aren’t strong or are adverse to getting strong. Rather, it’s just to say that when you live in 75-80 degree weather year round you tend to be more concerned with your sustaining a six-pack than a 2-3x bodyweight deadlift.
Ben, to his credit, after having coached at Mike Boyle Strength & Conditioning for several years, wanted to take his strength oriented mindset to LA, but he soon learned that that wasn’t going to fly and that he’d need to re-frame or pivot his approach in order to succeed his new environment.
He’d ask clients to deadlift, lunge, or squat a (regular) barbell and they’d look at him as he’d just said The Godfather III was the best of the Godfathers.
The fuck outta here.
However, Ben soon realized that all he had to do was take the barbell and slide it into a Landmine apparatus and his clients would be like “weeeeeeeeeeeeeee, this is fun.”
Set up a barbell in a squat rack for someone to squat? = Nope.
Set up a barbell in a Landmine for someone to squat? = SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY.
And that’s totally fine.
If the Landmine makes something a little less intimidating and more accessible to the user and it gets him or her more excited to train, then I see no reason why we wouldn’t want to lean into that.
As my friend Kevin Mullins stated recently, “exercises are expressions of movement patters.” In the grand scheme of things who cares how someone squats, deadlifts, lunges, rows, (or whatever). so long as they move and challenge the body to adapt and change?
2. Joint Friendliness
I’ve championed this point of view for a number of years now so I don’t feel I need to belabor it more here. In short, and to paraphrase myself..
“…a lot of people have really shitty overhead mobility.”
As such, oftentimes, overhead pressing may not be the best fit for some people (at least at present time) because they likely don’t have access to the requisite shoulder flexion in order to do so “safely” and without some significant compensations (namely, excessive lumbar extension and forward head posture).
As such, the Landmine Press is a perfect solution because it keeps trainees out of the “danger zone” yet still allows ample opportunity to train the shoulders, albeit in a more joint friendly fashion.
3. It Takes Up Minimal Space
My studio in Boston is 500 sq. feet (so just barely the size of a Jetta).
As such, I have to be very judicious with the equipment I purchase so as not to take up too much space. I don’t know how everyone else feels, but for me open space is GOLD.
The more I have of it the more activities I can do.
I bought two Landmine attachments for my Rogue squat rack because 1) I knew I’d put them to good use and 2) I knew they wouldn’t take up too much space.
Rogue Landmine Attachment = $95
Selectorized Shoulder Press Machine = more than that (and takes up way too much space).
Now, admittedly, I understand you can still McGyver a Landmine set-up without a Landmine using the corner of a wall (which is free), but that can still get a little suspect at times
One option I’m excited to try (it’s on its way) is the Gut Wrench sold by StrongerThanU.com. This makes it so you can set up a Landmine anywhere in your gym – in the corner, in the middle, on the roof – which can open the gateway to pressing, rowing, squatting, and hoisting things anywhere you please.
WU-TANG!
4. He-Man Likes It
True story.
5. Versatility
The Landmine can be used to train every part of the body.
Upper Body (Meadows’ Row)
Lower Body (Offset Shouldering Squat)
Upper & Lower Together (Deep Squat 1-Arm Landmine Press)
Everything
And Whateverthefuck
Moreover, the Landmine can be utilized by newbies, gym rats, athletes, Doug from Accounting, and even wizards. It truly is one of the more versatile pieces of equipment out there.
What’s more, exercises can be performed in a litany of positions:
And, lastly, who says you HAVE to do traditional Olympic style training in order to train and improve power?
That’s That
I am not doing the Landmine justice with this simple 1100-1200 word blog post. That said, I do think I’ve been able to get the point across that it’s a very versatile piece of equipment with an even more versatile range of applications.
For more insights and programming ideas be sure to check out Meghan’s Ultimate Landmine Program. She will blow your freakin mind with what she’s come up with.
I thoroughly enjoyed her previous resource, The Ultimate Pull-Up Program, and used it with several of my own clients with great success.
I envy Meghan’s brain. She thinks of stuff I never would have thought of, and this latest program of her’s exploits that to the umpteenth degree.
Check it out HERE (it’s on SALE this week only), and also check out her article below showcasing some not-so-common core exercises utilizing the Landmine.
3 Landmine Core Exercises You May Have Not Seen Before
Landmine training and the countless exercises you can perform are badass, empowering, and extremely beneficial, and can be a key component in your training program. I am a huge fan of landmine training, and have been for a long time.
To be clear, while using a landmine attachment is great, it is not mandatory.
You can rest the barbell against a secure surface like a wall, box/other object, or on a no-slip surface. So really, all that is required to perform landmine exercises is a barbell and perhaps several weight plates.
Here are three landmine core exercises you might not have seen or tried before.
While these landmine exercises absolutely involve the upper body as well, and provide many benefits, these unique variations especially work wonders for improving lumbo-pelvic stability.
#1) Landmine Tall Kneeling Presses + Band Resistance
This exercise strengthens the chest, shoulders, and triceps, improves shoulder and scapular controlled mobility, and lumbo-pelvic stability. This exercise (and many other landmine pressing exercises) can be a great option if you struggle to perform overhead pressing movements.
Coaching Tips:
Set up a barbell so it is lengthwise, and is in line with the center of your body. You may anchor the barbell against a stable surface like a wall, weight plate, or box, or on a no slip surface. You may also use a Landmine attachment.
Loop a resistance band over the top of the barbell, and rest the band underneath your knees. There should be tension in the band for 100% of the movement.
Grab onto the top portion of the barbell. As for your grip, I like to interlock my fingers and place my hands on top of each other as this makes the body more symmetrical.
Get into a tall kneeling stance. Place your knees so they are approximately hip to shoulder width apart, and have a very slight forward lean in your torso. Your head, torso and hips should be in a stacked position.
Before each rep, take a deep breath in (360 degrees of air around your spine), brace your core (360 degree brace around your spine), tuck your ribs towards your hips (close the space in your midsection), and squeeze your glutes.
Now extend your elbows and press the barbell to a range where you are able to maintain proper form, then “row” the barbell back in to your body. In fact, your ability to control the movement of your shoulder blades plays a big role in your ability to perform this exercise. Do not keep your shoulder blades pinned. They are meant to move.
As you bring the barbell back in towards your body, stop just before your elbows touch your sides.
For the duration of the exercise, your head, torso and hips should remain in a stacked position. Do not allow your lower back to hyperextend, ribcage to flare, or your torso, spine or hips to rotate.
Exhale after you have initiated the press and as the barbell is traveling away from your body. Inhale and reset as the barbell is returning towards your body, or pause in the starting position, and inhale/reset there before the next rep. Do what works and feels best for you.
Regression:
Make this exercise easier by using less weight, or by using a band with less resistance.
Progression:
Make this exercise more challenging by using more weight, by using a band with more resistance, or by performing negative reps and taking 3-5 seconds to “row” the barbell back down to the starting position.
#2) Contralateral Bird Dog Hold + Landmine Single Arm Rows
This deceptively challenging exercise strengthens the mid and upper back, improves grip strength, shoulder and scapular controlled mobility (and stability on the planted side), and lumbo-pelvic stability.
This exercise requires a significant amount of lumbo-pelvic stability and is arguably more of a core exercise than an upper body movement. Be conservative when you are selecting your weight, and opt for 25-50% of what you’d use to perform single arm rows.
If you are performing this exercise correctly, aside from the arm that is performing the rowing movement, the rest of your body should remain in a fixed position.
Coaching Tips:
Set up a barbell so it is lengthwise, and is behind your body. You may anchor the barbell against a stable surface like a wall, weight plate, or box, or on a no slip surface. You may also use a Landmine attachment.
Kneel with one leg on a bench, and place the hand that is on the opposite side of your body on the bench. Make sure that your shoulder is directly above your hand. Spread your fingers, and pretend you are suctioning your hand to the bench.
Extend your leg that is on the opposite side of your body as the rowing arm, and so it is parallel to the ground.
Set your body so it is in a straight line from your head to heel, and maintain this position for the duration of the exercise. Make sure that your torso and hips are square to the bench. Also, do not allow your leg to drop, or conversely, lift too high (avoid hyperextending your lower back).
Before each rep, take a deep breath in (360 degrees of air around your spine), brace your core (360 degree brace around your spine), tuck your ribs towards your hips (close the space in your midsection), and squeeze your glutes.
Initiate the movement by using the muscles in your mid and upper back and draw your shoulder blade in towards the spine (retract). Do not initiate the movement with your arm, and do not use excessive momentum.
In the top position, do not allow your elbow to flare out; instead keep it close to your side.
Lower the barbell with control, and make sure you keep your shoulder from collapsing. During the lowering/eccentric component, do not keep your shoulder blade pinned. It is meant to move, and should perform the reverse movement (protraction) as it did during the rowing/concentric component.
Pay attention to your non-working/supporting side. Push away from the bench and protract your shoulder blade (move it away from the spine). Do not mindlessly hang out.
For the duration of the exercise, your head, torso and hips should remain in a stacked position. Do not allow your lower back to hyperextend or round, ribcage to flare, or your torso, spine or hips to rotate. Your torso and hips should remain square to the bench.
Exhale right after you have initiated the rowing movement; you may inhale/”reset” as the barbell is returning to the starting position, or hold your breath for the duration of the rep, exhaling, inhaling, and re-setting between reps. Do what works and feels best for you.
Regression:
Make this exercise easier by using less weight.
Progression:
Make this exercise more challenging by using more weight.
#3) Dead Bug + Single Arm Landmine Presses (Weight Behind)
I am a huge fan of dead bugs, and use many different variations in my training, and in the programs of the many people I work with. This innovative dead bug variation improves lumbo-pelvic stability, and shoulder and scapular controlled mobility.
Coaching Tips:
Set up a barbell so it is lengthwise and behind you, and is in line with your armpit. You may anchor the barbell against a stable surface like a wall, weight plate, or box, or on a no slip surface. You may also use a Landmine attachment.
Lie on the floor. Lift up your legs so they are in a vertical position, straighten your knees, and point your feet towards you (dorsiflex). If you cannot fully extend your knees, or if you are unable to maintain proper form, you can keep your knees bent at a 90 degree angle. Make sure they remain at a 90 degree angle for the duration of the exercise.
Keep your chin tucked and neck in a neutral position, extend your arms so they are above your chest, and tuck your ribs towards your hips (close the space in your midsection).
Pay attention that you are not “cheating” by using the muscles in your neck and/or upper body in place of the muscles of the anterior core.
Before each rep, take a deep breath in (360 degrees of air around your spine). Now steadily exhale through your mouth, contract your anterior core muscles as hard as you can, slowly “row” the barbell down towards the floor and simultaneously lower the leg that is on the same side of the body, and to a range where you are able to maintain proper form. Once you reach your full range, simultaneously press the barbell up and return your leg to the starting position.
You have the option of keeping the non-working arm in a vertical line over the armpit, or you can reach back with your arm as you lower the weight and your leg.
As for the shoulder blade of the side that is performing the pressing movement, do not keep it pinned. It is supposed to move.
For the duration of the exercise, do not allow your lower back to hyperextend, ribcage to flare, torso, spine or hips to rotate, or your hips to leave the floor.
Keep your legs relaxed so they do not dominate.
Make sure that your knee remains in a fixed position and that the movement occurs from your hip.
Regression:
Make this exercise easier by using less weight, by decreasing the range of the leg lowering, or by bending your knees to 90 degrees.
Progression:
Make this exercise more challenging by using more weight, by increasing the range of the leg lowering, or by adding in band or kettlebell resistance (on the hand that is not holding the barbell).
Ultimate Landmine Program
The Landmine has grown to be one of the most versatile pieces of equipment on the gym floor. You can train the entire body and if you’re someone pressed for time, prefers a more minimalist approach to training, or just likes trying new stuff, this resource will be a great fit.
It’s on sale TODAY (6/25) for $67 through Friday, June 29th so you only have a few days to take advantage. If you’re already familiar with Meghan’s work you know this is a no-brainer. If you’re unfamiliar with her work, trust me: you won’t be disappointed.
It’s more like an amuse bouche or bite-sized commentary on a pet peeve of mine: Fitness professionals who place waaaaay too much emphasis on it (often times to the detriment of the client/athlete).
As well as a scenario where we might pay a little closer attention to it.
A more downwardly rotated scapular position (depression).
An “interesting” shade of blue on the walls.
Now, to be clear: I am NOT someone who places a ton of credence on one’s static posture. While we’re getting better of late, I think the industry as a whole has gotten into a bad habit of placing all if its eggs into the posture basket…
…labeling people as dysfunctional the second we see forward head posture or a hair that’s out of place.
I’ve witnessed some coaches reaching for their “corrective exercise” bag of tricks before they’ve even seen the person they’re assessing do anything:
“Okay Mr. Smith, I notice you exhibit a slight kyphosis in your upper back, your right shoulder is a bit internally rotated, and it looks as if your left eyeball is lower than the right.
Weird.
But here’s the deal: You should purchase a 424 pack of training, and maybe, just maybe, after 62 weeks of dedicated corrective training where we dive deep into some transverse fascial line reactive neuromuscular breathing techniques we’ll be able to progress towards looking at a barbell.
This is not to short-change the importance of someone’s static posture and the information you can glean from it. Of course, if someone walks in with a lengthy injury history and it hurts to blink, then, yeah, it’ll have a bit more weight.
However, we can’t assume that just because a particular person presents with “y” – posturally speaking – that that automatically means “x.” I’ve seen some individuals walk in for their initial assessment with questionable (textbook) posture only to reveal the cleanest health history you’ve ever seen.
Zero injuries. Zero discomfort. Zero fucks to give.
Static posture is nothing more than information.
No one is a walking ball of fail because he or she presents a certain way.
Besides, we also need to respect that “good” or “bad” posture is relative to the load in addition to the task at hand. The latter point is especially cogent to the conversation because as my good friend Alex Kraszewski notes in presentation for The Trainers’ Toolbox:
“Posture/position will govern where motion is available from, as well as who much and where load is distributed. The task will dictate the appropriate range of posture available.”
How I want someone to “look” when attempting a challenging set of deadlifts is quite different compared to someone who’s just sitting there in front of me, sitting.
What’s more,
Anyway, back to the original picture above.
You forgot didn’t you?
Here, this one:
This is a very common theme or resting “presentation” amongst athletes – especially overhead athletes – as well as fitness professionals who 1) stand a lot during the day and 2) lift heavy things for a living.
Again, nothing is cemented as an absolute here, but if an individual walks in complaining of shoulder pain, and you ask him/her to take off their shirt (don’t be creepy about it) and their shoulder blades rest in a more retracted and downwardly rotated position, we can deduce that said individual (may, not always) need to work on more protraction to nudge them back to a more neutral position.
Neutral Scapular Position = Superior/inferior border of the scapulae rests between 2nd-7th thoracic vertebral levels, medial border is ~1-3″ from midline.
Photo Credit: MikeReinold.com
Someone “locked” in a more downwardly rotated position will almost always have a hard time achieving ample scapular UPWARD rotation (protraction is part of this equation), which is kind of a big deal for overall shoulder health & performance.
But don’t assume, you should check.
This is why it’s crucial to include both load AND movement in the initial assessment; sometimes scapular position will clean up on its own with minimal intervention.3
But let’s assume it doesn’t, and the person has been complaining of shoulder ouchies.
What then?
Here are a few drills I like to use and I offer for your consideration:
NOTE: I will say the bigger umbrella theme here is addressing ribcage/thorax position. The position of the shoulder blades are at the mercy of the T-spine.
1. Deadbug w/ Reach
I have a crush on deadbugs and their infinitesimal variations.
They’re a bonafide rockstar when it comes to improving anterior core strength and lumbo-pelvic control (which comes in mighty handedly when you’re working with someone who’s stuck in a more extended position).
Simply “reach” towards the ceiling as you extend your legs towards the floor and perform a FULL exhale with each repetition.
2. Deadbug w/ Loaded Reach
Same as the above, but now we add a smidge of load in the form of a med ball, kettlebell, dumbbell, a basket of He-Man figures, anything.
Sometimes adding a very slight load here can help clients/athletes “feel” the protraction more.
3. Quadruped Band Protraction – off Foam Roller
This is a drill I stole from my good friend and business partner, Dean Somerset.
He’s Canadian.
4. Forearm Wall Slides – off Foam Roller
1. You can blame my buddy Justin Kompf for the verticalness of this video.
Amateur hour.
2. This was/is a staple exercise from my days at Cressey Sports Performance. Start with a foam roller against the wall with your forearms against the foam roller. Protract (push away) from the foam roller and then slide up the wall making sure not to crank into your lower back and flair your rib cage.
Today’s guest post comes courtesy of TG.com regular, Travis Hansen.
It mirrors a sentiment I’ve been championing for a few years now: That we don’t have to start hyperventilating into a paper bag the second we notice asymmetry in our clients/athletes.
It behooves us to maybe lean into it a bit more.
Not always, of course. But certainly more often than we think.
I’m sure there are many who read this article title and immediately wanted to grab their pitchfork.
Hear me out.
There are many times when you actually need to embrace the notion that our body’s natural anatomical design consists of several structural asymmetries perfectly balanced to allow us to perform at a higher level.
Cue dramatic chipmunk here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Y73sPHKxw
Moreover, there are even times when you can implement an imbalanced approach both through a direct exercise, but also through how much volume you incorporate, to help neutralize a dysfunction that currently exists.
And lastly, even in the presence of elastic/power, strength, and even limb length disadvantages, the body routinely seeks a way to remain healthy and perform at a higher level.
Note From TG:If you’re interested, HERE‘s my take on why leaning into asymmetry is likely the right branch to bark up.
Lets take a look at the first element of asymmetry that exists in the human body beginning at the foot.
I don’t think anyone would argue at this point that the various plantar flexors of the foot responsible primarily for propulsion in human movement vastly out-weight and out-perform the smaller and less powerful dorsiflexors of the foot.
Why would this be the case though?
If one group, which primarily lies on the backside of the lower leg, dominates the front side of the foot, wouldn’t there be tearing that would occur on the front eventually regardless of how much of an attempt to balance the leg is achieved?
The shin muscles do indeed tear from (mainly) eccentric overload and weakness but this can be solved.
Regardless, a balance exists at the lower leg just like many other areas, and there is just enough size and strength present in the leg in healthy individuals to allow this imbalance to occur without any problems.
Another example, can be seen at the shoulder.
Consider that your Latissimus Dorsi, teres major, biceps, anterior deltoid, and pecs all have the capacity to drive the shoulder into horizontal adduction and accelerate the arm explosively, while everything on the backside, which isn’t much, is stuck with the job of having to slow this arm action done.
Of course, the posterior muscles will fail to match the strength output of the powerful anterior shoulder group.
However, we’re designed pretty miraculously.
Our shoulder, specifically the posterior cuff, can slow “things” down just enough to bridge the large gap between front and backside and allow us to remain healthy and continue to increase throwing velocity without much issue.
Note From TG: Another way to think of it is that if the body WAS designed symmetrically or if we went out of our way to seek it, that would likely inhibit an athlete’s ability to throw a baseball in the first place. As a thrower throws, particularly at a young age, there’s a bony adaptation that occurs (retroversion) which then allows for an aggressive layback position to throw a baseball faster and faster.
If we tried to “fix” that or if the body was designed to be “equal” we’d have a lot of 72 MPH fastballs out there.
Of course, this isn’t to say there aren’t certain training modalities and manual therapy approaches we can implement to help “offset” this imbalance; there are many.
That being said, from an athletic development standpoint, the late Charles Poliquin even pointed out that elite sprinters carried a much more powerful posterior chain than anterior chain in attempts to sprint faster.
Charles declared a 100% ratio, but whether or not that figure is valid remains unseen.
To support his statement and raw figures aside, the body cannot run faster after initial phases of sprinting since vertical forces stagnate and any further increase in running speed stems from increased hamstring, glute, and horizontal force production.
The Second Layer of Asymmetry
The next example where we can begin to appreciate imbalances deals with a particular approach to program design in those people with “severe” asymmetries.
Take an anterior pelvic tilt for example.
If this message hasn’t been driven into your brain enough already, it’s worth repeating one more time since its still so prevalent:
…and that is utilizing a pre-dominant training ratio hip to quad exercises.
There is naturally a slight lordosis and anterior pelvic tilt that does and should exist in athletic and power-based postures, but excessive imbalance is what becomes problematic. The same scenario can be seen at the shoulder like was previously mentioned, anterior versus posterior core, and in other planes of motion as well.
Along these same lines, you will see training tactics such as RNT, PAILs, and RAILs all seeking to address imbalances by subtly or substantially inducing imbalances.
Alwyn Cosgrove first coined the idea of creating an imbalance to cure an existing one.
For example, if you present with a common lateral weight shift during a squat you can actually add increased poundage towards the side of the shift or set up a resistance band to pull you in that same direction to built an instinctive reflex to get you back towards center.
More importantly, it will create a tactile awareness of the issue that you will have memory of in the future in case that same issue decides to manifest again and you will know precisely how to correct it.
Third Layer of Asymmetry
Lastly, is the issue of seeking to reduce or even eliminate according to some, the effect of having one limb stronger or more powerful than the other.
In the most extreme cases, you can witness the damaging effects of strength discrepancies with common orthopedic evaluations such as the 90 degree isometric lateral raise test.
It’s been stated that if there is a strength imbalance or pain response that results in one arm being over +50 percent stronger than the weaker arm that could be indicative of a full thickness tear to the supraspinatus muscle.
So yes, there does need to be at least some balance or an attempt to balance out joints for an athletic performance standpoint to prevent scenario’s such as this one.
But is it fair to ever think that we could actually fully restore joint strength so that we are equally strong everywhere?
No.
1) For the reasons that were mentioned earlier based on our anatomical design, and 2) you just won’t see it happen.
If you truly test single leg strength with optimal testing selections such as pistol/single leg squats, or Bulgarian drills for strength capacity, or advanced bounding plyometric variations for power, you will witness differences in volume, endurance, and intensity more times than not.
A handful of my coaching colleagues have been posting rad videos recently of their young athletes doing rad things.
On a final note, consider that Usain Bolt has one leg that is inches longer than the other but contributes to key characteristics of sprinting speed, and this notion of imbalance is further perpetuated.
Maybe it’s time we start to look at imbalance differently when necessary and start embracing the notion rather than trying to erroneously fight it, and see what happens.
About the Author
Travis Hansen has been involved in the field of Human Performance Enhancement for nearly a decade. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Fitness and Wellness, and holds 3 different training certifications from the ISSA, NASM, and NCSF.
He was the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Reno Bighorns of the NBADL for their 2010 season, and he is currently the Director of The Reno Speed School inside the South Reno Athletic Club.
He has worked with hundreds of athletes from almost all sports, ranging from the youth to professional ranks. He is the author of the hot selling “Speed Encyclopedia,” and he is also the leading authority on speed development for the International Sports Sciences Association.
Today’s guest post comes courtesy of trainer, writer, and guy I hate because he is waaaaaaay too good looking, Michael Gregory.
Michael wrote an excellent post on nutrient timing for my site last year which you can check out HERE. He’s back again discussing an important topic: “reframing” injury and how to use (more) training to aid recovery.
Warning: Avengers: End Game spoilers ahead.
But come on: It’s been three weeks for crying out loud. If you haven’t seen it by now it’s your fault.
Let’s talk about acute injuries in your clients: those accidents that leave a scar in the shape of a teddy bear.
“Oh! What a cute injury!”
Allow me to elaborate, for those of you who aren’t a fan of Dad jokes.
If you hurt yourself, the best recovery plan you can follow includes continuing to train and actually treating the injury as if it is less egregious than it may actually be.
I’m not suggesting that you act as if nothing happened, but I am suggesting that you only adjust your training as much as you have to in order to work around the pain.
As a coach, you aren’t a doctor, so don’t act like one. You are, however, in the chain of recovery, and may be the only fitness professional around when an injury first occurs.
Know your role Snoop Lion
How you react matters to your client more than you realize.
The Assumption Is You Know What You’re Doing
You’re a shit hot programmer that doesn’t plan anything your client isn’t ready for because you follow the principle of progressive overload.
One-rep maxes are not a spontaneous event that you perform when the sunset is a particularly auspicious color. They are planned for and prepared for, for weeks or even months in advance.
Because you program smartly, you know that any injury a client sustains under your care isn’t going to be a career ender.
It’s simply a kiss from the weightlifting gods that initiates them into the barbell illuminati.
If you train hard you will have battle wounds. That being the case, it’s time you learn how to get your clients past their injuries in the most economical way possible.
The Biopsychosocial Model of Pain for Acute Injuries
This entire process is about facilitating the best environment for healing. That means not freaking out and quitting, but rather, changing training only as much as is needed.
Step 1: Reassure AKA “Don’t freak out.”
Even if someone’s eye is hanging out of their skull, the best thing you can do is keep your cool. The power of positive thought is a hot topic these days.
Even if those stories are only 10% accurate the power of the placebo effect is a wildy useful tool to have on your side. Keeping your cool and addressing unhelpful thoughts and fears are the first things you can to do to help your clients harness the effects of the placebo.
This is the psychosocial aspect of the model. It is the most important to get right the first time. Poisonous thoughts are really hard to uproot once they’ve been planted.
This whole step is the opposite of what my Junior Varsity football coach did to me and my relationship with the 2-plate bench press.
He told me I’d never be able to bench 225 with my long-ass arms unless I weighed 300+ pounds and the gravitational pull of the moon was twice its normal strength.
(Brief aside: Of course, the world’s weather and tidal patterns would be thrown into absolute chaos if all of a sudden the moon was twice as strong. So the joke’s on Coach J, because we’d all be dead before I could even make it to the gym. Try to remain calm after that sick burn.)
Regardless, I struggled for years with that negative reinforcement (nocebo effect) in my head. I could rep out 205 for sets of 5 but as soon as that second plate went on the bar “it was too heavy.”
Step 2: Assess the Situation
Like a good cub scout that just stumbled onto the remains of a deer that had been hit by a car, you’ve got to get your bearings.
Should you help it?
Put it out of its misery?
Add it to your Instagram story?
He already knows he messed up. Overreacting isn’t going to help the situation.
Start by asking the trainee what they were attempting and what they felt.
Remember, poker face: don’t let ‘em see you wince.
This is the first two “O’s” of the OODA loop, something that fighter pilots and military tacticians love to reference. Observe and Orient to the situation. (DA is Decide and Act, but you have to orient first).
No need to jump to any reactions here or start calling people lower life forms.
Be a professional.
Step 3: Move Forward by Reintroducing Movement in a Non-Threatening Context
Your special snowflake of a client is down, but not melted. You can still fix this and get them back to lifting heavy and kicking in doors faster than you can say “rubber baby buggy bumpers”.
Arnold said it first.
Your goal is to work your way backwards from the exercise that caused the injury in as short a distance as possible.
Start by asking these questions:
1st Question: Load. Is there a weight you can use that does not hurt?
If you can just reduce the weight of the exercise and the client no longer feels pain or discomfort then… do that.
If your client felt a “tweak” (technical term) in their mid-back while deadlifting, deadlift day isn’t over. Just take some weight off the bar. If it still hurts with 135, use the bar.
If it still hurts with the bar, use a PVC pipe.
The goal here is to show your client that the movement isn’t inherently dangerous at all weights.
2nd Question: Range of Motion. Where does it hurt?
If your client is still in pain conducting the movement with only their bodyweight, the next thing to adjust is range of motion.
In deadlifting, for example, if their pain is in the first two inches off the floor, elevate the bar until you are out of the danger zone.
No, this isn’t perfect form, for you deadlift sticklers out there, but your client isn’t going to be doing deadlifts from the rack or with the high handles on the trap bar forever. Pretty much as soon as you adjust the range of motion of a movement you should be planning for a progression to get the trainee back to the full movement.
If you haven’t seen it, consider this your warning.
Secondly, who the fudge decided what “full range of motion” is for any given exercise?
If your client isn’t a competitive lifter, it doesn’t actually matter.
I promise you won’t cause a rift in the space-time continuum resulting in an alternate timeline where Thanos succeeds in destroying half of all life in the universe and it stays that way. (Okay, that’s not really a spoiler so much as conjecture. Hey, spoiler warnings entice the reader to finish the article).
3rd Question (well, statement): Exercise Selection. If decreasing the weight and range of motion still results in pain, work your way backwards down the line of exercise specificity.
Only now should you be thinking about changing up the exercise entirely. This is assuming that you chose the initial exercise because it is the one which most completely trains you client to achieve their specified goal. If you just chose the exercise because it makes the vein in your biceps pop when you apply the Clarendon filter on Instagram I ask you the following question. How did you get this far in this article?
As an example, let’s say you were doing conventional deadlifts with your client. In my mind, the regression looks something like this:
Conventional deadlift
Snatch grip deadlift
Sumo deadlift
Straight leg deadlift
Romanian deadlift
Trap bar deadlifts
Rack pulls
Dumbbell deadlift variations
Single-leg DB deadlift variations
Single-arm DB deadlift variations
Single-arm single-leg DB deadlift variations
Good mornings
Cable pull-throughs
Hip thrusts
Okay, I digressed quite far there, but I think you get the point.
There are lots of exercises you can try with your client to teach them that they are not only not broken, but in fact still strong even with pain.
There is no excuse for the countless number of trainees doing leg presses and camping out on the stationary bike in the name of recovery.
Training is recovery.
It’s All Really Just Reassurance
This entire process of managing acute injuries is really just reassuring people that they aren’t fragile.
Some of our fellow humans, some of them your clients, have spent their entire lives avoiding pain at all costs. As a result, they’ve never had to learn how to overcome true adversity. By teaching this process to your clients, you are giving them the gift of self-reliance.
Resiliency is something most trainees are looking to build, mostly in the context of making their muscles more resilient. As far as I’m concerned, tenacity, fortitude, resilience, and mental toughness are all muscles. Each and every one of those is embedded in this process, and they are all made stronger every time someone learns to overcome something you or the barbell throws their way in the weightroom.
Does that tempt you to injure your clients on purpose now so that you can teach them about mental toughness?
Don’t do it.
But do be prepared to react calmly and with precision when accidents happen.
About the Author
Michael is a USMC veteran, strength coach, amateur surfer, and semi-professional mushroom connoisseur. As an intelligence officer and MCMAP instructor Michael spent the majority of his military career in the Pacific theater of operations.
He now lives in Bali where he writes, trains, and has had multiple near-death experiences in surf that is much too heavy for him.
Today’s guest post comes courtesy of TG.com regular contributor, Travis Hansen.
He shares his approach to core training as well as numerous exercises he uses with his own athlete/clients. I’m willing to bet there’s a number you’ve never seen or tried before.
In the world of core training, there is a vast array of option to choose from and it can be overwhelming perhaps at times to decipher which options are more appropriate for you and your specific training goals.
What’s more, is that there are six sub-categories that absolutely need to be incorporated into your training regime so that you satisfy complete development of your core and all of its specific parts.
Here are the six categories for you:
#1- Prehab/Rehab based drills
#2- Anterior core drills
#3- Lateral/rotational core drills
#4- Posterior chains drills
#5- Explosive core work
#6- Core endurance work
1. Prehab/Rehab
Anytime there is a major weakness in the core there will be both a reduction in the recruitment of specific muscles in the core on outward to the rest of the body.
For example, it has been found that the TVA (Transverse Abdominis) muscle is suppose to be one of the first muscles to fire in the human body upon any movement initiated. This function is concrete enough to warrant a very valuable term/training principle that has been coined its honor.
The term “proximal to distal sequencing” has been adopted by many practitioners in the field on a regular basis, and helps explain how muscles activate inside at our core and then outward to the limbs sequentially. It’s also pretty well understood at this point that individuals with lower back pain tend to present with a timing delay of the TVA muscle which can prose several subsequent problems for you.
As a result, it becomes important that these individuals and even you partake in regular core training to either help remedy a current back issue, or prevent one from emerging in the future. And with 80% plus American who report back pain this issue becomes very urgent.
So in the context of prehab/rehab drills, here is a short list of drills you can include in your program if you aren’t already:
#1- Deadbugs
#2- Plank Progressions<— click to check out some plank progressions that don’t make my corneas bleed.
#3- Quadruped Progressions
2. Anterior Core
The next category on the list involves the development of the anterior core region or everything attached proximally from the lower sternum down all the way to the pubic symphysis. The TVA, Rectus Abdominis, and the external obliques are notable muscles within this sub-system of our anatomy.
This is system is your power pump per se as well, when it comes to core development.
Of course all systems are relevant in locomotion and none should be discounted, however, your individual power potential truly lies in this region along with the posterior chain, since they “co-contract” against one another in the sagittal plane.
If you don’t’ believe this then just witness performances across multiples exercises that are directionally linear dominant in nature versus those that are classified as lateral or rotational based: Squat, Deadlifts, Bench Presses, Jumps, and sprints are going to absolutely trump any shuffle, carioca, hip turn/crossover step, or lateral raise so on and so forth.
There are a few exceptions just like with everything, but overall our species was designed to express more strength and power in an up and down, front to back manner.
Here is a short list of anterior core drills for you:
#1- Reverse Crunches
#2- Stick Crunches
#3- Hanging leg raise progressions
#4- V-ups
#5- Rollouts
3. Lateral/Rotational Drills
The next category carries distinctions, but due to a natural lack of available variation with lateral based core drills, it’s much easier to just merge the two types together into one category.
If you play any sport, whether it be recreationally or what have you, you will need to incorporate lateral/rotational based core exercises into your program. Movements such as throwing, swinging, change of direction, etc. heavily rely on this region of our core anatomy.
Moreover, some of the fibers in the anterior core muscles will possess specific lines of pull that are geared towards rotation, such as the Rectus Abdominis muscle.
That means that by doubling up training to this muscle group and others, you are effectively covering all portions of the fibers within that muscle group and making them more sensitive to contracting in the process.
Some of examples of lateral/rotational based drills are as follow:
#1- Side plank variations
#2- Pallof presses
#3- Russian Twists
#4- Chops and Lifts
#5- Renegade Rows
4. Posterior Chain
The posterior chain has been discussed ad nauseum before just about everywhere on the internet, and it was alluded too briefly earlier, so we wont spend too much time on this one.
The “Deep Longitudinal Sub-System” is the more geeky and technical term for your posterior chain and if you analyze all of the target muscles you will see that it composes a vast majority of gross muscles or more than any other system which implies its extreme value in human movement and the core specifically.
The system begins at the heel then moves up through the shins, continuing up through the hamstrings and glutes, then across the thoracolumbar fascia and then the lumbar erectors, respectively. And if you haven’t heard it enough already, then its worth repeating, that if you aren’t absolutely crushing your posterior chain in the gym your are leaving a lot of strength and power skill in reserve.
Here are some common drills for this type of core training:
#1- Bent Knee Hip Extension Work (glute bridge, slideboard leg curls, stability ball leg curls, GHR’s)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE3BygMmgzo
#2- Straight Knee Hip Extension Work (Swings, Deadlift variations, pull-through variations, sled sprints)
#3- Lateral/Rotational Hip Work (Jane Fonda’s/hip abductions, clamshells, and bandwalks)
5. Core Power
Core power is next on the list.
As an industry, there would to be more of a focus on promoting power in the lower and upper body regions, with less focus on the middle of the body. Then again, the core is implicated in many of the popular power training methods, like medicine ball throws, jump squats, and swings to name a few.
Truth is it doesn’t matter if you are an athlete who has to change directions frequently, or you’re a lifter or gym junkie whose trying to maximize your strength and power potential or raise your RFD (Rate of Fore Development) to the next level, you have to build high levels of reactivity in your core to initiate, anchor, and even match upper and lower body efforts. Once again you are only as strong as your weakest link.
Here are some core power training exercises:
#1-Standing medicine ball throws
#2- Medicine pullover throws
#3- V-up throws
#4- Rope plank swings
6. Core Endurance
And the final category of exercises is the more slow and higher volume-based approach.
Before we continue though, please understand that considerable research has shown that every possible motion of the lumbar spine is linked to some type of injury.
And if this were the case then we should all act like rigid hot dogs right?
Not a chance.
So what gives?
Well, like most things related to training: injury history, structural variances, program design, age, genetics, nutrition, work capacity, and much more will dictate future outcomes.
Dr. Stuart McGill is one of the best in the world when it comes to spine biomechanics, and he postulated at one time that the spine has an eventual limit to how many times it can bend and extend in a lifetime. Everyone took this information and ran with it. He also understands and appreciates that the rigorous daily demands of an athlete require us to potentially exceed or really challenge thresholds of the spine, so we need to prepare the highly delicate and vulnerable region as best we can.
And it’s inevitable that less than ideal postures and patterns will be produced in training, but managing these potentially threatening scenario’s is the end goal. Also consider that even if someone were to stress the core and spine heavily in their youth, intense activity will eventually decline since this type of activity is inversely related to aging.
As such, it will probably all balance itself out in the end and we shouldn’t worry too much if your training is in order.
With that being said, it’s imperative that you build the work capacity/endurance of your core just like all other muscle groups.
In one study, a timed superman or back extension test that was performed isometrically was useful in treating patients with non-specific lower back pain.
This would make obvious sense since discs have been shown to slightly slip as fatigue emerges in the core.
Endurance training of the local core musculature satisfies this TUT (Time Under Tension) specificity and when progressed properly, may help center the disc more and surrounding structures right where we want them.
Moreover, the core is comprised of a lot of slow twitch muscle fiber which have a tendency to respond better more with longer sets and TUT according to Henneman’s Size Principle.
Last but not least, witness all of the athletes throughout history who regularly performed thousands of crunches over the course of a training cycle with no back issues and stellar performances. How do you explain that one? Maybe there would be a slight link to back health or a lack there of in these instances, but more than likely it’s probably satisfying a psychological compulsion which drives other forces and is important.
Now that you have a compete infrastructure of core training you can effectively design your core training program so that it suits your individual needs and preferences. Just make sure to include all elements of the program. The core is synergistic in nature just like the rest of the body, where one part will fail to match the strength of all the components combined.
Programming Suggestions
I wanted you to go away with some rough parameters on how to program for the various options of core training.
Some methods can be performed in higher quantities and frequencies than others. Again, this is just a general scheme that applies to a majority of clients:
Frequency/Sets/Reps/Rest/Int/Tempo (E-I-C)
#1-Prehab/Rehab based drills 3-5x 4-5 12-24 0-30 sec Mod. 3-1-1
It’s been a bit, but Part III of Kevin Mullins’ “Corrective Exercise” series is finally here.
I’d sorta mirrors the anticipation everyone had for the Game of Thrones season premiere this past week, except not even close.
Sorry Kev: dragons will always reign supreme over ankle dorsiflexion…;o)
NOTE: Stressing the word “finally” above had nothing to do with Kevin actually writing the article (which he submitted weeks ago), but everything to do with ME and my nincompoopness in actually publishing it.
You are a fitness professional who wants to train people – AKA provide them with enough of a fitness stimulus to generate the results they’ve paid you for. You also want to help them overcome pain and dysfunction in their body.
Thankfully, this series of blogs have got you covered and smothered like Waffle House hash browns.
Which brings us to the final piece of the puzzle – corrective exercises for the knee and ankle.
Many people who would consider personal training deal with some level of knee or ankle problems. In fact, it could be argued that everyone walking around this beautiful Earth has dealt with knee or ankle pain/dysfunction at some point in their lives.
(Tony raises hand. I spent the better part of two years in the early 2000’s working around a cranky left knee.)
A proper discussion of these two joints, one mobile and one stable, would not be complete without a discussion about the role of the hips and feet in the function and performance of the knee and ankle. Our feet are our first and only contact with the ground during much of our lives. Any disruption of their optimal function is going to send dysfunction up the kinetic chain into the ankles and knees.
Just the same, the hip, and its multitude of muscle attachments, functions, and movement possibilities can have a dramatic impact on knee function. Tight hip flexors or imbalanced anterior/posterior chain development can change how the patella tracks over the feet – a recipe for pain or less than desirable movement outcomes. As a proud fitness professional, you should be capable of assessing, correcting, and training clients past many of the common problems that might land on your doorstep.
In this post we’ll explore the anatomy and physiology at play when knees and ankles are the weakness in someone’s kinesiology. We’ll discuss the interplay between the hip-knee-ankle-foot. Then, like the other articles, we’ll discuss five specific issues that most trainers encounter and show off a few new exercises that you can use today.
And then we’ll tie a fancy bow on this corrective series, gather all our jackets and move towards the exits. I hope you’ve found a friend
Basic Knee and Ankle Anatomy – Skeletal
(nerds only)
When looking at the knee joint, we are only considering four specific skeletal structures:
The Femur – the longest bone in the human body is also our primary weight bearing skeletal structure. The femur’s entire function occurs at the hip. It can move through flexion and extension, abduction and adduction, external rotation and internal rotation, and circumduction.
The Tibia and Fibula – load bearing bones of the lower leg. Their design allows for weight transfer in gait and for optimal loading of the lower body during any exercise that creates knee flexion or extension.
The Patella – a bone unlike most others in the body, the patella is interwoven with the tendons that cross the knee joint and serves as a cover for those tendons. The structure of the patella also improves the mechanical efficiency of these tendons.
The ankle joint is a bit more complex though. We must consider the bones of the foot to some degree.
The Tibia – The load bearing bone from earlier is also a major contributor to ankle function. The medial malleolus, a bony growth on the inside of your ankle is located on the tibia. At the ankle, the medial malleolus plays a role in ankle eversion and inversion.
The Fibula – Like the tibia, the fibula is a load bearing bone that also functions during ankle eversion and inversion. It’s bony process, the lateral malleolus, is located on the outside of the ankle.
The Talus – a unique bone in a variety of ways, the talus serves as the base for the tibia and fibula to plant upon. Both dorsiflexion and plantar flexion involve the talus changing position in relation to the rest of the foot. The talus also plays a role in eversion and inversion.
The Calcaneus – connected to the talus via the subtalar joint – the calcaneus functions as a base of support for the structures above it. It hosts insertion points for a variety of muscles and tendons – most notably the Achilles tendon. It is the largest bone of the foot.
(Foot) Metatarsal – critical bone structures that connect the toes (phalanges) to the larger structures of the foot. The metatarsals are critical for weight transfer and distribution and while they don’t move like other bones in the body – their ability to adjust to pressure is critical for elite performance.
(Foot) Phalanges – the toes are the final element of this puzzle. Understanding that the toes can and should flex and extend as a result of ground force reaction or conscious neural action is critical to optimizing the foot’s function. While there may never be a “toe day” – we need to train the function of the phalanges to ensure their relationship with the other foot bones, the ankle joint, and even the knee and hip, are optimal.
Basic Anatomy of the Knee and Ankle – Muscular
It is important to discern the muscles that act on the knee and the ones that act on the hip.
Sure, both are in the thigh and run the length of the femur. However, since the knee joint is designed for flexion and extension – we are only considering the muscles that do just that. With that said, realize that the muscles that do function at the hip must do so properly. Otherwise, the knee joint will act to compensate for dysfunction at the hip and that will cause a host of problems too.
The following addresses strict flexion and extension of the knee joint.
The primary flexors of the knee are:
The muscles of the hamstrings (biceps femoris, semitendinosus, semimembranosus)
The gastrocnemius, popliteus, gracilis, and sartorius are synergistic muscles
The primary extensors of the knee are:
The muscles of the quadriceps (rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus intermedius, vastus medialis)
Now, when looking at the ankle we find simplicity and complexity at the same time. On one hand, there are a bunch of muscles that control the toes and ankle joint that aren’t needed in the typical fitness professional’s vocabulary. Simply put, most trainers don’t need to know the minor details of how the fibularis brevis functions, or where the insertion point of the flexor hallucis longus is.
But they need to know they exist.
(Although, more knowledge is never bad and anyone with an interest in self-myofascial release therapy should understand the interplay between these lesser known tissues).
We do need to know that ankle and foot function relies on many more players than just the prime movers. We do need to understand that dysfunction at the ankle could be a myriad of things and not just a blanket statement about someone’s gastrocnemius.
So, we will address the for major movements of the ankle and point out the muscles for each.
** Take note of just how many more plantar flexors there are compared to dorsi flexors. This could explain why we are so strong with our “calf-raise” exercises and why we typically can access a greater range of plantar flexion under control than we could with dorsi flexion. **
Primary Movers of Eversion
Fibularis and extensor digitorum longus
Primary Movers of Inversion
Tibialis anterior and posterior
When looking at this from a slightly higher viewpoint – we see that we have significantly more muscularity driving both flexions of our ankle joint. The lack of muscularity controlling eversion and inversion explains why we don’t load up on an exercise that challenges that motion. Moreover, it probably explains why “rolling” an ankle can be so devastating – we have so little musculature to control that motion.
Going a little broader, we see that muscles of the lower leg have multiple functions. The tibialis anterior dorsi flexes and inverts the foot while the tibialis posterior contributes to plantar flexion and inversion. The extensor digitorum longus everts the foot while contributing to dorsi flexion. These functions are not accidental – they are essential evolutions and developments of our anatomy to meet the demands of our life.
If we are to succeed in our experience as human beings, then we must be able to communicate with the ground effectively. Thus, the muscles that control our foot, ankle, and knee become our first point of contact with outside world.
Understanding their function, their interplay, and their contribution to elite performance is critical to maximizing the impact you’ll have on your clients and your purpose as a coach.
Basic Movement Physiology
The function of the knee and ankle are highly dependent upon the task we are trying to perform and whether the hips are involved.
For example, the knee will flex and extend during traditional deadlift, but not at the same degree that they would during a front squat. The same logic also applies to the amount of dorsiflexion needed from the ankles to meet that demand.
A different example points to our running stride.
The gait pattern that most elite distance runners take involve very minimal action at the ankles and toes. This sort of “hammer-foot” stride is highly efficient and puts the emphasis on the hips and knees to generate all forward locomotion. Sprinters, however, require maximum action from all the joints of the foot and ankle in order to increase velocity and compete successfully.
Thus, understanding physiology of these structures requires an understanding that optimal function is dependent upon the demands of the task.
Still though, a few notable things exist:
1. When the ankle is in full eversion or inversion – there can be an issue with one’s ability to flex and extend the knee. This is because of the change in position of the inferior aspects of the tibia and fibula creating an up-chain manipulation in their superior aspects (which form the knee joint). It is minor in most but could explain why individuals who live in eversion or inversion find discomfort in their knees.
2. Triple-Flexion (hip, knee, and dorsi-flexion) is the most loaded position of the body because of the major muscles that have created force (tension). In most populations, the greatest power will come from individuals in this position. The stacking of joints lowers the center-of-mass and improves the ability to generate tension.
3. Triple-Extension (hip, knee, and plantar-flexion) is the “tallest” the structures of the lower body will get. The process of going from triple-flexion to triple-extension typically generates the greatest joint velocities.
4. The running stride requires a rhythm between hip-knee-ankle-toe action. Upon foot strike, the toes should flex, which drive the ankle joint into plantar-flexion, assist in driving knee extension, and hip extension. The cycling leg does the exact opposite as it returns to the pre-strike position.
The Major Issues
The knee and ankle joints can be seriously injured during sports and accidents in life. None of the issues discussed below involve torn ligaments, broken bones, or even severe tendonitis. The conditions listed are ones that routinely plague clients who are either inactive or too active with poor function.
In fact, many of the issues of the knee come from overuse of the joint without proper interaction with the hip and ankle. Runners and lifters alike may experience knee pain when their form is off. Likewise, many untrained or detrained individuals deal with knee and ankle dysfunction as a result of their sedentary lifestyles.
And don’t forget about footwear.
There is a cost and benefit to each type of footwear that you and your clients are wearing.
Dress Shoes and Boots – great for making a suit look dapper, or kicking tail on a job site, but atrocious for allowing mobility in the foot. Basically, you feel like you are walking inside of bricks.
High heels – an entire day spent into plantar flexion is not good for anyone. Spending additional time walking in them can hurt the wearer’s ability to distribute their weight once they are out of the heels. Great calves though.
Flip Flops – If you are wearing these, then you are probably at the beach. Sweet. However, that sliding and gliding motion that you are using to keep them on is wreaking havoc on your ankle function while also driving too much knee extension.
O-Lifting Shoes – Having your heels elevated when driving your heavy squats or cleans is awesome – can you say performance? However, if you spend most of your day in these shoes than you can bet your bottom that you’ll begin to lose optimal ankle function since you aren’t feeling the ground.
With all of that said, let’s focus on the five most common things you’ll see in your clients and discuss exactly what is going on.
Lack of Dorsi-Flexion
A lot of people struggle to dorsi flex their ankle in response to loading. In fact, a lot of great coaches, including Tony, have pointed out the importance of adequate dorsi flexion for someone to succeed in a squat pattern.
High quality athletes and desk jockeys can both suffer from this issue. It isn’t simply limited to an inactive or undertrained population. It must be dealt with though if someone is going to optimize the function of their hip-knee-ankle and drive greater results in their programs.
Strengthening the muscles that drive dorsi-flexion while also “stretching” the ankle into these positions with bands or straps is usually the best intervention. We aim to increase mobility, improve strength and stability, and begin providing context and practice with traditional strength training movements such as the squat or lunge.
Runner’s Knee (Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome)
A sort of unofficial name, runner’s knee refers to the over-development of the quadriceps (knee extensors) while also keeping the hamstrings (knee flexors) and glutes underdeveloped. In addition, tightness and exhaustion of the plantar flexors can lead to instability and pain at the knee joint.
In fact, there is some evidence out there that shows that some runners experience a mild shift of their patella in space. Only a few millimeters – this shift can cause significant pain and contribute to the official name of the condition (patellofemoral pain syndrome).
The training for individuals presenting this issue is quite simple:
Release and relax the muscles that plantar flex the ankle and extend the knee.
Strengthen and tighten the muscles that dorsi flex the ankle and flex the knee.
Train the glutes to improve hip drive in the running stride
Traditional strength training and myofascial release typically take care of the problem, although a cessation of running in the short term is almost always a good idea.
Knee Valgus
One of the most misunderstood dysfunctions of “the knee” is a hip issue. Many trainers can coach “knees out” until they’re blue in the face and still get no change in the performance of their client.
First, knee valgus refers to the inability of the hip abductors and external rotators to fire appropriately, thus causing a collapse once tension reaches a certain threshold (such as the bottom of a squat).
Image Credit: prehabguys.com
Now, sometimes this only requires good coaching as the client or athlete simply doesn’t know they are doing it or that isn’t ideal that they are doing it.
We must be wise though. Coaching knees out could be driving excess ankle inversion, which changes the relationship of the tibia/fibula with the knee and could lead to torque being experienced in the knee joint as the body seeks to overcorrect the inversion. This isn’t a common worry – but it is possible.
The training cure though will involve strengthening the abductors and adductors of the hip to improve knee tracking in a variety of exercises. It is important to keep in mind that overtraining the abductors can lead to other problems that only arise when the adductors are forgotten about.
There could also be something going on at the ankle too…
Inappropriate Eversion and Inversion
This one sounds a little silly, doesn’t it?
Inappropriate sounds like someone left their pants at home.
But it points out a deficiency that a lot of people have. Whether it be from a lack of coaching and training, or the development of patterns by accident through sport and training – many people lack the right ankle position to complete the task they are attempting.
Think of that client that can’t stop squatting without eversion. Every repetition pushes them into their toes and insole (often leading to valgus). It could be coaching (or a lack thereof), it could be muscle weakness, or it could be a neural disconnect between their brain and their ankles (they don’t know they are doing it).
Just the same, there are people who can’t seem to run on their big toe. They’ll stride flat footed, especially on the outside of their heels, and wonder why they aren’t getting any better at running. These people have not unlocked enough plantar flexion or awareness of their inversion.
It is exceptionally common to see in long distance runners.
Having the wrong ankle position is coachable and trainable. You must relax what is overused and overworked and strengthen what is left behind. There will be specific protocol for whatever you are seeing. Simply look back at the muscular anatomy and select exercises and interventions that are appropriate.
Disconnect of Hips from Knee/Ankle Function
The final issue that people have with their knees and ankles is that they have no idea they have a pelvis. It is as if they believe their lumbar spine connects to the back of their legs…
No really, you probably have a client or twelve who seem to have no idea how to flex and extend the hips. As a result, everything hurts their knees and ankles. Squatting hurts, running leaves them achy, and they absolutely despise lunges.
They aren’t broken thankfully.
They just need to discover their glutes.
They need to learn how to flex and extend the hip with a lot of exercises that leave the knees out of it. So, deadlifts, hip thrust, banded abductions, Copenhagen side planks, and some anterior core work will do wonders to wake up their hips, stabilize their core, and allow them to excel and knee-dominant and gait patterns. Want to learn more about this? Check out my last installment on the hips.
The Exercises
1. Bulgarian Split Squat to Ankle Glide
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WO3-DQenTI
Your goal with this bodyweight exercise is to create a crossover effect between knee flexion and dorsi flexion. By working with the single leg variation – you’ll enhance your clients focus on one specific ankle while simultaneously exposing them to pause reps for the single leg squat variation. You can train them and correct them at the same time.
2. Banded Dorsi to Heel Raise
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrMjjZKkQ8Y
Great for runners and athletes, but effective for everyone, this ankle exercise only requires a band and a seat.
The goal here is to maximize both dorsi flexion and plantar flexion in the same movement cycle. This sort of training allows for you keep the muscles that control both actions in relative balance. This is not unlike being on a calf raise machine and allowing your heels to dip below the step.
3. Barbell Hip Thrust w/ Banded Abduction
One day I want to call Bret Contreras and thank him for his research on the glutes. (Although this video is of Ben Bruno – a stud coach in LA who does NOT like burpees). Discovering that the hip thrust provides more activity of the glute muscles than other exercises is critical for the development of aesthetic and athletic glutes.
Adding in the abduction component at the top is a sure-fire way to ensure your “knees-out” coaching cue for valgus hits home. The band ensures they move from the hip joint instead of just torqueing at the knees. Add in the isometric hold of the glutes and you’ll be sure to work the hip component of knee stability.
4. Duck Walks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beIn56rJGmU
This is an absolute torture device. Duck Walks, loaded or unloaded, drive the body into that triple-flexion position we discussed earlier in the blog. This coiled position strengthens the posterior chain and improves dorsi-flexion by keeping our feet in a set position.
A highly integrated exercise – the duck walk can be used for neural prep or as a burn out after your primary work is done. Sure, its goofy and it doesn’t “seem” like it is going to do your body any favors, but try it and feel how your systems work together to hold isometric tension.
5. Reverse Nordic Curl to Nordic Curl Superset
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-WpX-dnBuY
We want the quadriceps and hamstrings to be in relative balance for optimal knee function. Depending on our choice of sports or training – one may overpower the other a little. That discrepancy though shouldn’t be a chasm.
Hitting both versions of the Nordic curl in a single superset provides an opportunity to train the muscles in a unique way using only bodyweight.
BONUS: Sprinting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YqQum4emVw
The act of sprinting is one of the most athletic things the human body can do. The whole body must get in on the act if we are to excel.
Specifically, for the knee and ankle, sprinting helps drive a low-level of eversion while demanding quality cycles through plantar flexion and (mild) dorsi flexion and knee flexion and extension. Add in the function at the hip and we’ve found the perfect lower body exercise for improving someone’s function and interplay between these regions.
Obviously, not every client could sprint or should sprint. Be wise with your prescriptions and coach who you are with, not who you wish they were.
Finding the Exit
So, once again we conclude that we can intervene in our client’s discomfort and dysfunction with exercises that not only correct issues, balance muscles, and improve coordination, but also drive a fitness stimulus.
The knee and ankle are interesting joints in a sense that they have less muscle mass around them than the hips and shoulders. But that doesn’t make them any less important. In fact, their proximity to the ground – a constant in our lives – makes them more important than most trainers think. Everything that is dysfunctional at the foot, ankle, and knee will run up the chain into the hips and spine and even the shoulders.
Help your clients discover their foot stability, ankle mobility, and knee stability and you’ll help them discover a better body – both in performance and in aesthetics.
Thank You
Thank you for your time.
Thank you to Tony for allowing me to share my ideas on his website – a treasured space on the internet.
Whether you visit him for his pop culture references, his biceps veins, or his absurd level of knowledge about the body – you’ve made a great choice.
I truly hope you have learned something from this series and enjoy my writing style. I poured a lot into this, and into my book, Day by Day. I hope I can download everything I have learned (good and bad) from me to you every chance I get.
Like I say to my clients, “let’s get just a little bit better every day.”
Check Out Kevin’s Shit
You can read more of Kevin’s stuff at his website HERE.
Today’s guest post comes courtesy of strength and conditioning coach Kevin Finn.
It’s a doozy with tons of information related to how to add slabs of muscle to your frame in the most time efficient and scientifically backed way possible.
So, pretty much everyone will be interested in reading it.
Step One: Optimize Your Training Split and Rep Ranges for Volume Accrual
First off, if you’re still doing a “bro split” and hitting your muscles once per week, you need to “get woke” as the kids say these days. It’s time to get out of the 90s and get that frequency up. Besides optimizing muscle protein synthesis rates over the course of the week, higher training frequencies allow you to accumulate more quality volume—both throughout the week and on a per session basis.
This is one of the reasons higher training frequencies are so beneficial. By upping your training frequency, you can still hit 10+ weekly sets per muscle while sidestepping that potential “per session cap” on volume.
With this in mind, utilize a split that allows you to hit each muscle a minimum of twice per week, and consider even higher frequencies for the upper body or for smaller muscle groups that recover well (calves, shoulders, arms).
Now that you’ve got your training frequency sorted out, you need to consider your rep ranges.
As you attempt to push volume, an issue that will invariably crop up is time. As much as I’d love to stay in the gym for 2+ hours, as a working dad, it’s simply not going to happen.
Some days I’m lucky to get an hour.
So, if time is going to be an issue, you should strongly consider ditching most of your lower rep strength work. In fact, if you’re trying to build muscle as your number one goal, you don’t have any business doing much work below the 5 rep range.
What? Blasphemy you say?
Well, there’s a couple facts to keep in mind when it comes to rep ranges:
1) Utilizing higher rep ranges is a much more time efficient way to accumulate volume: Higher reps allow you to perform more total volume as they require shorter rest periods, less warm-up, and they don’t beat your joints up like heavy loading does.
If the goal is to build muscle and you’re seeking to push volume, stick to moderate and higher rep ranges. Keep the bulk of your training based around 6-15 reps, and don’t be afraid to play around with reps as high as 15-30 on some of your accessories.
As long as you come sufficiently close to failure, you’ll build just as much muscle and you’ll be able to accumulate a lot more volume in less time.
One more time-saving tip:
If you’re still having issues fitting in the amount of volume you need to progress, I suggest following a split that will allow for the pairing of antagonist muscle groups so you can perform antagonist paired sets (APS). By performing APS, you get the time saving benefits of supersetting without tanking your performance.
Here’s how they work:
Take two exercises that work opposing muscle groups—like a shoulder press and a pulldown.
Perform one set of shoulder presses, rest about a minute or so, and then do a set of pulldowns. Rest for another minute and then repeat until you’ve completed all your sets for both exercises.
If you typically rest 2-3 minutes between sets, this will save you quite a bit of time, since you will be utilizing a portion of your rest periods to perform another exercise.
And, unlike with supersets, your performance won’t suffer due to excessive fatigue; in fact, there’s even some research that suggests performance may be enhanced.
APS work best with movements that don’t inflict a lot of systemic fatigue, so don’t try these with squats or deadlifts.
Key Takeaways:
Use higher training frequencies (2-4 times per week) to facilitate higher training volumes and increase the average quality of your per session volume.
Do the majority of your work in the 6-30 rep range as this is the most efficient way to accumulate volume and is less likely to leave you beat up and burnt out.
If time becomes an issue limiting your total volume, consider using protocols such as APS to get in extra volume without tanking performance.
Step Two: Be Flexible with Exercise Selection
Listen, if it takes you 40 minutes of warm-up, mobility work, and movement prep in order to get to your first working set of squats, we need to talk…
And if deadlifts tire you out so much you need 5-10 minutes between sets to recover, perhaps you need to consider a different approach…
Because the truth is, unless you’re a powerlifter, there’s no need to stay married to the big three, especially if hypertrophy is your main goal.
I love squats and deadlifts as much as the next guy, but these movements tend to be uniquely time-intensive and fatiguing. If you’re not careful, they can “crowd out” other movements that may give you more bang for your buck in terms of volume. Furthermore, some of us are simply not well-suited to these specific exercises and would do better with other movements.
Maybe hitting some heavy leg presses first and following that with some front squats and Romanian deadlifts would allow you to accumulate a lot more volume in a lot less time while still maintaining those same basic movement patterns?
Key Takeaways:
Unless you’re a powerlifter, there’s no reason to stay married to the big 3.
Do a “cost benefit analysis” on movements that cause a lot of fatigue or eat up a lot of your training time.
When attempting to maximize volume and recovery, the key is to come close enough to failure to maximize muscle fiber recruitment and adaptations without actually hitting failure—all while maintaining good form.
In general, the higher the intensity (in terms of percentage 1RM), the farther you can be from failure while still maximizing muscle fiber recruitment. Conversely, the lower the intensity, the closer you must come to failure.
Here’s a general rule of thumb I like to follow regarding average RPE ratings:
<10 reps = RPE 6-8
10-15 reps = RPE 7-9
15-30+ reps = RPE 8-10
There will always be exceptions to the above of course, but this will get you in the right ballpark.
Key Takeaways:
You don’t have to train to complete failure to achieve full muscle fiber recruitment.
For lower rep sets you can leave quite a few reps left “in the tank” and still maximally recruit muscle fibers.
For higher rep sets, you should come a little closer to failure.
In managing your “per set fatigue” by avoiding failure, you will be able to perform more total volume in that session and throughout the week.
Step Four: Mitigate Muscle Damage
I came up as a young lifter thinking the goal of training was to tear down your muscles so they are rebuilt bigger and stronger than before (no pain, no gainz). This lead me to pursue protocols that focused disproportionately on muscle damage. I’d take pride in my levels of soreness and relish the pain–never mind the fact that my recovery and performance were compromised for the rest of the week and I was hobbling around like an old man…
As more research comes out, it seems of the three proposed mechanisms for muscle growth (mechanical tension, metabolic stress, and muscle damage), muscle damage is likely the least important factor.
So the key is to allow for some muscle damage as a natural consequence of training hard and progressing, but not so much that your total weekly volume is compromised by impaired recovery and/or performance.
How do we do that?
One way is by taking advantage of the repeated bout effect.
The repeated bout effect is the phenomenon by which a single session, or bout, of a given exercise protects against muscle damage from future bouts. Put more simply, the more you perform an exercise, the more resistant to damage (and adaptation) the muscle becomes.
This is often viewed as a bad thing; after all, if the muscle becomes resistant to adaptation, doesn’t that make it harder to progress?
That may be true, but there’s another way to look at it…
Becoming more resistant to damage means your muscle are able to perform more volume with less damage per session. This is key because it can allow us to incrementally increase training volume to levels high enough to maximize hypertrophy while protecting against excessive muscle damage that will impair recovery and progress. One way I like to take advantage of this is by incorporating “intro weeks” into my training cycles.
When you first start a new training cycle, you’ve most likely changed quite a few variables—reps, progression schemes, exercises, etc.—and these changes will temporarily result in higher levels of muscle damage due to the novel stimuli.
By starting off with an intro week with slightly lower volume and intensity, you’ll still get a strong training effect and the easy dose of volume will inoculate you against the higher volumes and intensities coming down the line.
How low one should keep the training volume and intensity during an intro week will vary based on the individual, but I like to put the intro week somewhere in between a deload and an average “meat and potatoes” week of training. Think of it like a bridge between the two.
Another thing to consider in regard to mitigating muscle damage is exercise selection.
If deficit, stiff-legged deadlifts consistently leave you so sore you’re crippled for a week, you’re not doing yourself any favors by maxing out on them on the regular. Sure it feels like you’ve accomplished something (gotta sacrifice to win, brother), but it’s a short-sighted approach.
Don’t get me wrong, being sore is not a bad thing per se. And I think it’s good to include a few movements that load a muscle in a stretched position—especially if hypertrophy is the goal, but you need to do a cost-benefit analysis with these types of movements.
You may not need to give them up entirely, but tweaking the volume, rep range, and proximity to failure can help attenuate some of the excessive damage while still allowing for the positive aspects of the movement.
Key Takeaways:
Excessive muscle damage should not be the goal of training and may even negatively impact gains.
Take advantage of the repeated bout effect’s ability to protect against muscle damage by using intro weeks and gradually increasing volume and intensity as the mesocycle progresses.
Consider modifying the loading and progression schemes for particularly damaging exercises if excessive soreness is impairing recovery.
Step Five: Include Overreaching Weeks and Deloads
Just as you are most sensitive to volume at the beginning of a mesocycle, you are most resistant to volume toward the end. Thus, the natural counterpart to an intro-week at the beginning of your mesocycle, is an overreaching week to close it out.
An overreaching week is a week where you intentionally push volume a little higher than normal in an effort to maximize potential progress. When done in an intelligent manner, this can be an extremely productive and fun week of training. During this week you can go for slightly more damaging protocols, push a bit closer to failure, and/or up the volume to a level higher than you could normally sustain.
Immediately following an overreaching week, you should perform a deload week. The two go hand-in-hand.
A deload is more than just a preventative measure to protect against injury, it’s the second half of a “one-two punch” that allows you to expose your muscles to higher levels of volume by providing a window for recovery.
During a deload, you should reduce volume and both intensity of load and intensity of effort to allow for active recovery to occur. Without the recovery period, you would not be able to peak volume as high and your muscles would not have been exposed to those superlative levels of stress.
The higher the peaks, the lower the valleys.
Overreaching strategies:
While I consider deloads a mandatory part of a good training program, overreaching weeks are more of an optional piece. For some lifters (particularly those who tend to run themselves into the ground), any small benefits that may arise from the overreach could easily be outweighed by the increased risk of injury or burnout.
Thus, it’s important to remember an overreach is not an excuse to get sloppy with form or drastically change things up.
If hypertrophy is the main goal, you are primarily just looking to get some extra volume in and perhaps vary the training stimulus a bit. One method of doing this is to add a drop set or two to your last movement for a muscle group in a given session.
Thus, drop sets can add a nice little punch of volume without making your workout significantly longer, and we’re not so concerned with the fatigue because the deload in the following week will ensure recovery is adequate.
Key Takeaways:
Pushing a bit harder towards the end of a mesocycle can be a valuable strategy to potentially eke out some additional progress.
You must pair an overreach with a deload to allow the higher levels of fatigue to dissipate and any potential supercompensation to occur.
Regardless of whether you utilize overreaching strategies, regular deloads should be incorporated in your training.
Drop sets can be a very time efficient way to add some quality volume during an overreach.
Parting Thoughts and a Word to the Wise
You’ll note I didn’t include a sample training program with this article. This was intentional. I’ve instead chosen to outline some “broad strokes” concepts so that you can use these principles to improve on your programming now and for years to come.
By following the steps outlined above, you may find you now have the potential to double your training volume.
But just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
Let’s say you’ve been doing around 10-12 sets per muscle group, per week on average. You’re training hard, eating well, and feel well-recovered between sessions, but you’ve hit a plateau. It’s very likely that you’ll benefit from bumping up your training volume. It’s the most logical next step. By using the strategies outlined above, you may find you are now able to fit in 20 quality sets per week.
Don’t jump straight to 20.
Just as you should progress incrementally when adding weight to the bar, you should view volume in the same way. So rather than doubling your volume right off the bat, simply add about 10% or so and see how you fare.
Did you progress? Was recovery okay?
If so, run it again. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Milk as much progress as you can out of your current level of volume, but keep an eye towards progressively and incrementally adding volume—both to test your limits and to keep those adaptations rolling. Your ideal volume is a moving target, but if you are paying attention to your training, tracking variables, and keeping your eyes on the prize, it’s a target you should be able to hit fairly consistently.
It doesn’t have to be a bullseye.
About the Author
Kevin Finn is a strength and conditioning specialist, online trainer, and the owner and creator of FitnessWalkthrough.com.
As a coach with a master’s degree in education, he specializes in breaking down complex information and arming people with the knowledge and tools necessary to transform their physiques and take their performance to the next level.
He has created some of the most comprehensive guides available online for skinny guys and girls who struggle to build muscle. Visit http://fitnesswalkthrough.com/get-jacked.html to get a free copy and learn more.
Michael is a USMC veteran, strength coach, amateur surfer, and semi-professional mushroom connoisseur. As an intelligence officer and MCMAP instructor Michael spent the majority of his military career in the Pacific theater of operations.
