NOTE FROM TG: I’ll be traveling in Europe for the next ten days and figured this would be a nice opportunity to repurpose some old content that may have been missed the first time around.
1) If you didn’t read this the first time I posted it all I have to say is “pfffffft, whatever.”
Understandably, the title of this post suggests some nefarious agenda where my goal is to spend the next few minutes explaining why we’ve had it all wrong the entire time.
“You mean to tell us, Tony, there’s a chance compound movements don’t make people stronger?”
“What’s next: telling us water isn’t wet, the Earth isn’t round, the zombie apocalypse won’t happen?”
Relax. Deep breaths.
Just so people don’t think I’ve lost my marbles or are already tapping away on their keyboard drafting their hate mail before actually reading what I have to say below….the short answer to the title of this post is:
“Yes, I do feel compound (multi-joint) movements – think: deadlift, squat, bench press, rows, overhead midget pressing – make people into beasts, and should lay the foundation for any well-rounded strength training program.”
However, I fear many trainees (and coaches) often fall into the same trap where we’re programmed into thinking compound movements, and onlycompound movements, should be utilized 100% of the time…no exceptions.
A thousand years of no gainz and incessant internet trolling to the person caught using the leg curl machine or, the horror, performs a few sets of tricep kickbacks.
Shut Up
No, really…shut up.
Of COURSE compound movements make you strong(er). If you want to get strong, it only makes sense to perform those movements which will allow you to use the most weight and force the body into a state of adaptation to get strong.
Granted a lot of other things need to fall into place in order for “strong” to happen. Just because you place a barbell on your back and meander up and down doesn’t mean you’re the second coming of Ed Coan.
Technique, frequency of training, addressing weaknesses, technique, and technique consistent progressive overload all need to be taken into consideration.
What’s more, if strength is the goal – particularly with the big 3– compound/multi-joint movements performed in low(er) rep ranges (1-5) is kind of important.
Why?
Cliff Notes Version: Lifting maximal weight has a number of effects:
1. Maximal number of motor units are recruited.
2. Fastest MU’s are activated (high-threshold motor units).
3. The discharge frequency (rate coding) is increased.
4. Activity is synchronous – both inter and intra-muscularly.
5. Potential for future hypertrophy gains (especially when you revert back to a “hypertrophy” specific training phase).
6. While some argue whether or not the research is efficacious – it goes both ways – lifting heavy things helps to increase serum Testosterone levels.
7. Girls will want to hang out with you (<=== it’s science).
But It’s Not All PRs and Butterfly Kisses
While all the above is true, focusing solely on compound movements (and lifting maximal weight all the time) does have its pitfalls.
1). There’s an inherent likelihood of increased wear and tear on the joints over time (Yes, even with “good” technique).
2). Compound movements = produce/accumulate more fatigue (particularly neural fatigue). And if it’s not managed appropriately, one may see a decrease in strength/performance over time.
And finally, something not many people consider:
3). We’re Really Good at Compensating.
You may have noticed that I drilled the idea of “technique” earlier. It’s that important.
As a coach I find many people are unable to express their true fitness/strength level due to faulty joint positions (misalignment, such as excessive lumbar extension/APT), and, honestly, not “earning the right” to increase load.
I.e., they haven’t performed enough reps at “x” weight in order to go up.
To that end, drilling technique – and respecting each individual’s anthropometry – is always going to be of paramount importance.
Due to our ability to compensate well, the likelihood you’re leaving poundages in the tank are very high.
As well, when we start talking accessory movements, I’m always in the camp which takes the approach they should generally be used to address some form of technique flaw or weakness with the main lift in question.
For Example
If someone is struggling with their deadlifts off the floor – meaning, they’re super slow – some viable accessory movements to address this would be:
1). Limiting tap-n-go reps (bouncing off the floor).
2). Deficit pulls (2-3″ elevated) to generate more quadricep recruitment.
3). More squat variations such as Safety Squat Bar squats and front squats (again, to generate more quadricep recruitment).
4). Anderson Squat – performed from a deadstart, emulating one’s deadlift stance.
Note: Notice my hip placement above. When I was pulling conventional style (the video is four years old) this variation of Anderson squat very much mirrored my deadlift stance, which carried over well.
Back To My Point
Oh yeah, my point.
Listen, it’s okay to perform isolation work or more bodybuilding-specific exercises. A more “hybrid” approach – strength and hypertrophy – is going to bode well for most people anyways.
Case in point: my bench press sucks. There are days where I’d rather wash my face with broken glass than bench press.
One of the things my coach – Greg Robins – has been implementing into my programs of late is more isolation work to address muscular issues.
Think about it: expressing strength is (mostly) about generating force. Hoisting big weights helps in this regard. However, a bigger muscle – almost always – is going to produce more force than a smaller one.
Indeed, I’ve been hammering away at my bench press technique – even implementing accessory movements like paused bench presses and Spoto Presses to address my weaknesses.
But guess what? Lately – for the past two blocks of training – I’ve been performing a TON of dumbbell chest flyes. You know, those “wimpy” things guys use to train their chest cleavage.
Funnily enough my bench press has seen it’s best jump in a while since incorporating more isolation type work for the pecs and triceps.
Too, my DL has gone up since tossing in some leg extensions; and I have to assume the chest flyes play a role too…;o)
Read: It’s not only about compound movements. Don’t be so dogmatic.
True, they serve as the staple for any strength-based program…but try not to neglect the importance of choosing the correct accessory work – even if it’s isolation exercises – to compliment your goals.
I’m heading back to Boston after spending the weekend in Houston, TX with Dean Somerset teaching our (Even More) Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint workshop.
Pinch writing for me today is Lana Sova, personal trainer and competitive power lifter2 based out of Boston, MA.
After almost five years in the fitness industry working almost exclusively with women, I can tell you that although all of us are the same gender, we are all built differently.
Woah!
Shocker! I know.
Throughout this time I’ve had hundreds of women deadlifting, squatting, benching, and overhead pressing big numbers. But more importantly, they got slimmer and stronger, and kept these results long term.
But their thing might not be your thing — what worked for them may not be 100% working for you. However, ladies who successfully deadlifted, squatted, and in some cases benched their body weights had these three things in common.
To help you stop wasting your time and start succeeding in strength training, here are three things you must do if you want to get strong AF.
#1. Once Again, Eat More Protein
If you look at bodybuilders, whose job is to get as big — muscularly — as they possibly can, they eat, drink, and breathe protein.
Your goal might not be to become the next Ms. Olympia, but if you want to get stronger so you can pick up your kid off the floor, carry groceries in one trip, install a window A/C all by yourself, or, IDK, tow out your car when it’s jammed between two others somewhere in downtown Boston, your muscles need protein.
PERIOD.
And I’m sure you’ve heard about it, you’ve known about it, but it’s not the knowledge about needing the protein where women go wrong.
It’s their choice of protein source.
For some reason, things like chia seeds, nuts, sunflower seeds, and flax seeds became a staple of “feminine” food. Go to any health-related hippie cafe and you’ll find all of the above (often) included in one smoothie.
Well, I’ll tell you what. Save your money, and go buy yourself a nice piece of steak (or tofu for my vegan friends).
While I don’t dismiss the health properties of seeds, nuts, and the like — there are plenty — when it comes to protein, the amounts are so small that you need a truck load to get the amount of protein needed to trigger muscle synthesis. Which means you’ll eat a ton of fat, which then will have an impact on your physique and THAT’s what’s going to make you look bulky. Not the muscle itself.
So, what do you eat then to hit your protein target, and what’s that target anyway?
For active fitness enthusiasts, the number ranges from 1.8g/kg to 2.2g/kg
But, when you have a life, counting every ounce of protein is time consuming. Instead, try this nutrition habit I teach my clients:
Protein hits the plate first. No matter where you are — home, Mom’s house, restaurant, a buffet — a lean source of protein lands on your plate first, and then you add whatever else your heart desires.
If you’re not sure what’s a lean protein, here are a few examples for you: chicken breast (to which Tony G is allergic — fun fact3) turkey breasts, 93/7 ground beef (or any piece a meat that has less than eight to ten grams of fat), plain Greek yogurt, tvorog, and cottage cheese.
If you eat these with every meal, I can guarantee you will improve your gym performance and very likely get slimmer.
Steady state cardio has its benefits and should be included in your monthly workouts. Cardio is good for your heart, and if you’d like that thing to work for longer than the average lifespan, you need to do cardio.
Where many women go wrong is the amount of cardio.
Seriously— if we were to use all the cardio machines in every gym in America to power the entire country we’d never have a problem with energy.
If you’re coming to strength training as the last resort to finally tone out and maintain the results, you may still have the mentality that you should do as much cardio as you possibly can, a belief that’s hard do deviate from.
I mean look at any Instagram Fitness Guru and she will without a doubt tell you that you absolutely have to hop on a cardio machine and eat tons of celery to get toned and strong.
But please don’t be fooled — all she’s trying to do is build an army of bunnies. You are not one of them.
And yes, if you are looking to lose weight, cardio will help you burn some calories off. However, if you’d like to get stronger and slimmer, and keep the results, your approach to cardio needs to be a little bit different.
There are two types of cardio training I see women perform often: steady state and High intensity interval training with lots of jump. Both types are usually done for hours with just one goal — burn as many calories as possible.
But when you switch to strength training, cardio training serves a different purpose — to help you to recover from your strength training sessions. The perfect type of cardio training for this is steady state.
Therefore, anything between 20 and 30 minutes of light, steady-state cardio is more than enough for said purpose. And a good rule of thumb is to have at least 24 hours between your strength and cardio sessions.
If you must include HIIT workouts in your program simply because you love it, you can. But be aware that these type of workouts generally do more muscle damage, taking your body longer to recover. So you might have to wait longer than even 24 hours between strength training sessions and HIIT sessions.
#3. Stop Going From One Extreme to Another
So you’ve decided to give strength training a try. You’ve read it’s good for you and it’s something that can help you tone out and get a bit stronger.
And you put on your “I’m a big girl” pants and you step into the strength training area.
You see tons of huge dumbbells, and decide to choose the smallest one — 5 pounds.
With it, you perform about a hundred repetitions of lunges, squats, and tricep extensions and call it a day.
While this is admirable and I’d be the first one to high five you, the thing is, if you’re a normal human being who picks up and carries her kids around, or carries a heavy backpack, or ever, even once in her lifetime, got ready for a party and had to carry a few cases of wine, I can guarantee that all of those things weighed more than five pounds.
If you want your muscles to get strong, you need to give them an appropriate stimulus. One of the most common ways to do so is via resistance — free weights, or a resistance band, or even your body weight.
And often five to ten pounds isn’t enough to reach and trigger that stimulus. It’s simply not challenging enough.
On the other side of things, there are those women who’d like to go all out each and every workout — testing their strength every single day of every single week.
While at the beginning they might see huge jumps in their strength because #beginnersgains, soon they stop seeing increases in their lifts, or even become demotivated.
Why?
Because they haven’t managed their fatigue levels properly. If you workout at 100% capacity all the time, you accumulate fatigue quickly, which then will interfere with your body’s ability to build muscle and get stronger. It’s like if you had to work 24-hour shifts seven days a week. You’d probably be dead by now.
So how heavy should you go?
For my online clients, I like to use a rate of perceived exertion (RPE) scale. The scale ranges from 1 to 10, where anything below 6 is a warm up — pretty light.
But then:
6 = you could do 4-5 more repetitions with this weight
7 = you could do 3-4 more
8 = you could do 2-3 more
9 = you could do 1-2 more
10 = you can do just that one
When you just start with strength training, you need to play with the weights a bit. But a general rule of thumb is to work with weights between 7 to 9 RPE if you’d like to get stronger.
Here’s an example.
A1. Front Squats 4×6 @ RPE 7
A2. Dead Bugs 4×6/side
B1. BB Bent-Over Rows 3×10 @ RPE 8
B2. DB Incline Bench Presses 3×10 @ RPE 8
B3. Cable Face Pulls 3×10 @ RPE 8
C1. Reverse Lunges 4×8 @ RPE 8
C2. Farmer’s Carry 4x 20 yards @ RPE 7-8
As you can see, just going and doing strength training isn’t enough.
In order to get stronger and better at strength training you need to supplement your program with important lifestyle habits — like eating protein, going for a walk instead of dying on the stairmaster, and adjusting your efforts to make your workout truly challenging.
The women I’ve worked with who followed these rules always make the strength goals they set for themselves.
About the Author
Lana Sova is a coach at Shameless Strength Academyand a personal trainer in Boston, MA She empowers women to build and own their strength via powerlifting and strength training.
Few things are more annoying than a nagging (sports) injury.
Okay, I can think of some:
A piece of popcorn lodged between your teeth during a three hour long movie and no floss in sight.
Flat Earthers.
Poodles.
Talking about feelings.
Outside of those things, having (and trying to train around) a nagging injury is the worst. I live in Boston which has a thriving endurance training-centric community. As it happens I’ve seen my fair share of people walking through the doors of CORE suffering from shin splints.
Not in the sense that having shin splints is a shit show. Hey, they happen. Rather, it’s a shit show with regards to how most people (not all) tend to address the issue.
Shin splints (or, for the more hoity-toity in the crowd, Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome) is a common injury found in endurance athletes (namely runners) as well as those who engage in a lot of jumping activities, and is often described as “my fucking shin hurts”“pain or discomfort along the inner edge of the shin bone (tibia).”
As far as the root cause?
It can be left up for debate, but the consensus tends to point towards increased activity that overworks the muscles and soft-tissue surrounding the area of the lower leg leading to swelling and pain.
In short (and more often than not): It comes down to someone doing too much, too soon.
OMG, I Have Shin Splints. Am I Going to Die?
No
Whew, Okay, How Do I Address It?
There are a number of obvious, if not overly simplified approaches that are worthwhile and can get the job done.
Commonly these range from rest (from the problematic activity, not just Netflix and Chilling) to stretching your calf muscles (Gastrocnemius & Soleus) and Achilles tendon to implementing some additional manual therapy in the form of massage, Graston, and/or self-“release” with The Stick or foam roller.
Like I said, these are all fine and dandy….albeit a bit reductionistic in nature; or a quick Band-Aid if you will.
Some other poignant options to consider:
1) Reduce Training Volume
Hey, here’s an idea: If shin splints are often the end-result of overtraining or surpassing one’s ability to recover, why don’t we, you know, latch onto the crazy idea of reduce training volume?
Weird, I know.
But something to consider and not to be trifled with.
2) Strengthen Anterior Musculature of Lower Leg
Namely, this means strengthening the Tibialis Anterior.
A popular exercise prescribed in this case is something like standing upright and “pulling” your toes towards your knees for “x” sets and reps.
Okay, cool.
I prefer something like ACTIVE ankle dorsiflexion vs. a band.
WARNING: Possibly the most boring video on the internet.
Here I’ll have the person pull his or her’s toes towards their chest against a band, but instead of mindlessly performing reps, I’ll have them actively pull against the band for 5-10 seconds for 5-8 repetitions.
It sucks.
3) Follow a Ketogenic Diet
Hahahahahaha. Just kidding.
Jumping into a shark’s mouth would be more worthwhile.
4) Emphasize Deceleration/Landing Tactics
Taking the time to coach people on how to LAND properly and to decelerate their bodyweight can have a huge impact on the reoccurrence of shin splints.
Meaning, when they master a good box jump (for example), and it doesn’t sound like an elephant being suplexed off the top rope of a wrestling mat when they land, the likelihood of shin splints rearing their ugly head is drastically reduced.
NOTE: This would also be an opportune time to address gait and running mechanics too. Not my area of expertise, but worthwhile to mention.6
But Wait, There’s More (The Really Important Stuff)
One of the major “drivers” of shin splints is thought to be over-pronation of the feet. It makes a lot of sense, but I’m often flummoxed as to how archaic the fitness industry can be in addressing this issue.
Orthotics are often seen as the end all-be all fix.
Full Disclosure: I am NOT a doctor and understand there are many people out there who benefit mightily from being prescribed orthotics.
However, for the bulk of people trying to conquer shin splits I do not feel what follows is the most germane approach. A few years ago I remember reading something physical therapist, Bill Hartman, wrote on the topic that really resonated with me and helped to shape my current thoughts on the topic.
Think about what happens when someone (over) pronates:
If we were to reverse engineer the anatomy/biomechanics it would look something like this:
Do More Anterior Core Work & Butt Stuff (Glute Work) —-> Nudge Posterior Pelvic Tilt —-> Femoral External Rotation —-> Tibial External Rotation —-> Supination of Foot.
I explain things a bit more in this quickie video.
To that end, below are a handful of exercises I feel should take more precedent when addressing shin splints.
Hammer anterior core/glute strength and hip stability.
Deadbugs
I think Deadbugs are a vastly underrated exercise, which is a shame because they’re an MVP when it comes to developing anterior core strength and pelvic control.
And while many people will scoff at how “easy” this exercise is, I’d argue that if it’s done RIGHT (as discussed in the video above), they’d have a newfound affinity for it.
Active Foot Squat w/ Band
Passive Foot = Deafaulting into a pronated (flat foot) position.
Active (Tripod) Foot = Maintaining three points of pressure in the heel, pinky toe & big toe.
Placing a band over the feet is an easy way to provide kinesthetic feedback to the trainee so (s)he can stay more cognizant of their foot position.
I.e., Resist pull of band, supinate, get an arch, and then maintain position throughout set.
Standing KB Swap
Popularized by Dr. Joel Seedman, this is a fantastic drill that provides a ton of value for our training buck. The idea is to GO SLOW and to “own” each transition. If you have to speed up in order to stay balanced that defeats the purpose.
It hammers home the concept of active foot.
It lights up the glutes and surrounding hip musculature.
It will humble the shit out of you.
I like to have trainees perform 3-4 sets of 6-8 reps/side with this drill.
1-Legged RDL KB Swap
This is more or less a progression to the KB Swap above. All the same benefits apply, except now you’re upping the ante in an RDL position (and really challenging hip stability).
Glute Bridge w/ Band Abduction
When it comes to the Glute Bridge I’d encourage everyone to experiment to see where they feel these these the most.
#1 you want to FEEL YOUR GLUTES WORKING.
You’d be amazed how many people come into my studio telling me “yeah, yeah, yeah, I do glute bridges, whatever,” only to find out, after watching them perform a few reps, they don’t even feel them in their glutes.
I’ll often play around with foot position – narrow stance vs. wid(er) stance, heels close to tush vs. heels further away from tush, pants on vs. pants off – to see when and where they feel their glutes the most.
Everyone is different.
But yeah, first and foremost, make sure they actually feel their glutes when they perform this exercise.
Once they master that, if you want to make their glutes feel even juicer, add a band and have them perform a few hip abductions at the top of each rep.
This is a double-whammy on glute activation.
Side Plank Hip Clam
This is one of my favorites, and admittedly a very advanced drill. I think Bret Contreras was the first to popularize this drill first and it’s definitely one that targets the glutes in a way not many exercises can.
I’m currently in the throes of jet-lag sucktitude.
I’ll be back on my writing content horse next week, but I’ve got a treat for you today. TG.com regular contributor, Dr. Nicholas Licameli, is subbing in for me today and he went to TOWN in today’s guest post.
This is one of the most thorough articles I’ve read in a while on the topic with a metric shit ton7 of information with many additional links to help you nerd out a bit more if you so choose.
The squat is a topic that has gotten a great deal of attention among many fitness and medical professionals since mankind first started lifting heavy things against gravity. Since then, much of the conversation has changed (with the advent of civilizations, roads, running water, Instagram.
However much has stayed the same.
I understand this isn’t the first article written about the squat.
Some of the greatest minds in fitness and strength and conditioning have written on the topic, and I encourage you to dive into the multitude of references that I’ve provided.
My goals for this article are to help make your squat look and feel better, improve performance and effectiveness, un-complicate the complicated, and give you the confidence to perform this foundational movement without fear.
Unfortunately, there are those that say to avoid squatting.
As a physical therapist, I have to apologize because much of that flawed thinking stems from misinformed and unqualified professionals in the medical field that are pleasantly ignorant to current practices.
The squat and hip hinge are foundational to basically all movements in and out of the gym.
Whether you’re hitting a PR on the platform or sitting down on the toilet, you are squatting and you better be using proper technique. I’ve treated injuries as a result of poor squatting in both of those previously mentioned instances. Why avoid the squat in the gym if we’re going to do it constantly throughout our day anyway?
I say train it rather than avoid it.
Why not be prepared and do it right?
The squat and hip hinge require total control of the deep abdominals as well as the hips, pelvis, and entire spinal column. We can all agree that teaching proper abdominal bracing, pelvic positioning, and proper lifting mechanics are of utmost importance for the treatment of musculoskeletal injuries including knee, hip, and low back pain. For some reason however, we don’t all agree that squatting is necessary.
Newsflash…when done correctly, THEY’RE THE SAME THING!
As both a doctor of physical therapy and professional natural bodybuilder, it should come as no surprise that in my opinion, people of all ages and from all walks of life should be squatting. This includes the young athlete just starting his/her training career, those recovering from injury, those trying to prevent injury, and even (and especially) the elderly.
No matter if you are an athlete or a great grandparent, we are all essentially “squatting” multiple times throughout our day, so why not train it, strengthen it, and perfect it?
You can release this muscle or stretch that muscle but if patients and clients don’t know how to squat and hip hinge, we are spinning our wheels and wasting valuable time.
How to Squat
While this isn’t a step by step “how to squat” article, here is a quick and dirty rundown of some things to keep in mind.
There is a plethora of information out there about thoracic spines, knees, ankles, spinal positioning, foot placement, etc., and sometimes it can complicate things, make people fearful, and mystify the movement.
Basically, a proper squat and hip hinge starts (obviously) at the hips with the spine in a neutral position (more on this later). After a breath in, tension should be kept throughout the body and throughout the movement. The entire spine, including the neck, mid back, and lower back, should be kept in a relatively stable and neutral position. The feet should remain actively planted on the floor with the weight evenly distributed.
More on all of this to come.
In the beginning of my lifting career, I struggled with finding the “groove” of the squat. This is partially due to improper mental cueing during the movement. Some of my mental cues during the squat were:
“Arch the back hard to avoid spinal flexion.”
“Keep the head and chest up so they remain in line with the horizon.”
“Sit back and push through the heels.”
“Always squat below parallel.”
While there could be worse things, especially considering that, like most beginners, my sources of information were muscle magazines and of course the biggest guy(s) at the gym, I think these cues can be quite misleading and detrimental to squat technique.
Here’s why.
“Arch the Back Hard to Avoid Spinal Flexion.”
Avoid a hard arch in the lower back.
Don’t let the lower back round of course, but rather maintain the natural arch of the lumbar spine.
Hard lumbar extension will crunch down on the delicate structures of the spine, put the glutes in a less than optimal position to stabilize the pelvis, and place the hip in slight flexion before the movement even starts.
Starting in hip flexion will cause the femur to run out of room in the acetabulum for hip flexion when you want it most…at the bottom range of the squat. This could result in femoral acetabular impingement (FAI) and labrum pathology.
Get out of that hard arch and find your neutral.
“Keep the Head and Chest Up So They Remain in Line With the Horizon.”
Keeping the head and chest up isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however if we achieve that position by hyperextending our backs and flaring our ribs forward, it becomes problematic and essentially unstable.
Cueing a slight posterior pelvic tilt prior to un-racking the weight and maintaining that position throughout should do the trick. This will place the spine and ribcage in more of a neutral position.
We maintain the position by taking a breath, contracting the upper back, lats, mid section (as if putting on a tight belt or walking into cold water up to your navel), pelvic floor (as if holding in gas or urine), and even the feet (more on this to come).
Check out my explanation of what it means to “contract your core” right here. Tony does an awesome job of explaining this here, as does John Rusin here. Quinn Henoch and Ryan Brown also hit the point home here. Eric Cressey nails the upper body and lat set up here.
“Sit Back and Push Through the Heels.”
It’s true that we don’t want to push through our toes and allow our heels to rise off the floor, however it is also true that we don’t want to shift our weight so far backward that the toes lose contact with the floor and most of the force goes through our heels.
Yes, we want to descend slightly backward, but the focus should really be on descending down between our hips.
When we say we put an adversary on “his/her heels,” we are saying that we put them in a vulnerable position and on the defense, which will likely lead to a step backward. Why would we want to put ourselves on our own heels while squatting?
A better cue is to have an “active foot,” evenly maintaining 3 points of contact with the floor: base of big toe, base of little toe, and heel. Tony explains this really well here. This foot position will help stabilize the hips and knees, as well.
Mastering the “active foot” takes practice, but once you feel it, there’s no going back.
For everything you (and your children and their children’s children) will ever need to know about squatting, check out this bad boy by Greg Nuckols.
Find Your Squat
Hey fellow millennials!
Remember what our mothers taught us…we are all special, we are all unique, everyone is a winner, Mufasa died of natural causes, and most importantly, we are all different!
When it comes to the squat, this last point is key.
We are all structured differently, which is why there is no particular squat that is perfect for everyone. Things like foot position, stance width, and squat depth will all be impacted by things like the size of our torsos, length of our femurs, and the structure of our hips and pelvis. We need to find the squat variation that best “speaks” to us.
The classic example of this is hip flexion range of motion and lumbar compensatory spinal flexion.
Much has been written about this topic, and to avoid making this more like a Harry Potter book rather than a guest post, I’m going to refer you to some excellent articles down below.
Keep in mind that a range of motion measurement taken while lying on a treatment table DOES NOT always necessarily correlate to what we observe during an actual movement pattern like a squat and vice versa.
That being said, a 2008 study (stolen by me from afantastic articleby Bret Contreras) showed a 60 degree difference in hip flexion range of motion between the least flexible (80 degrees) and most flexible (140 degrees) subjects out of a total of 200 hips.
That’s quite a large difference, considering exercises like a deep squat require about 120 degrees of hip flexion. Differences in femoral anteversion/retroversion (how much the head of the femur faces forward or backward), acetabular anteversion/retroversion (how much the the hip socket faces forward or backward), and inclination angle of the femoral neck (angle of the neck and shaft) are seen from individual to individual as well as from hip to hip within the same person.
These genetic structural differences all change an individual’s ability to squat.
Thanks Mom and Dad…
Pushing past end range hip flexion in the descent of a squat for the sake of going deep will cause compensations up and down the chain, particularly flexion of the lumbar spine, AKA the dreaded “butt wink” (cue the tire screech and screams).
While some amount of lumbar flexion and “butt wink” is acceptable (we’ll get to that in a minute), too much, too often, in an uncontrolled manner, can be problematic.
So you can see why being married to a certain squat variation can be inappropriate.
If you are an individual that is unable to squat deeply but force yourself to perform deep barbell squats because your lifting partner says so, you’re setting yourself up for injury and a faulty and uncomfortable squat.
When it comes to varying your squat type, be sure to know your goal.
Why are you squatting?
To improve overall strength?
Hypertrophy?
To get a stronger squat?
To impress a member of the opposite sex (spoiler alert, they don’t care)?
To be able to pick up your child without pain?
There are many variations of the squat.
The conventional barbell back squat is just one option and unless you are training for a powerlifting meet, where you will be required to perform the conventional barbell back squat, there is no reason to lock yourself into only one type of squat.
Why not try a goblet squat? Or a sumo squat? Or a front squat? Why not use dumbbells or kettlebells instead of a barbell? If structured correctly, any variation of the squat will improve strength and hypertrophy as well as train the hip hinge and proper bending/lifting mechanics.
What’s the take home? We are all structurally different and it is important to find the squat pattern that works best of us.
Here are some great resources that will help you find the squat pattern that works best for you and your anatomy:
Note From TG: Nicholas is kind to include me amongst such elite company (Note to Self: you owe Nick 1000 Predator handshakes), but mine is easily the least pithy of the bunch.
Neutral Spine…Does It Exist?
Yes and no.
Research has shown that lumbar flexion, particularly at the bottom of a squat (the previously mentioned butt wink), is quite natural in a squatting pattern, particularly at the point in the movement where the hips start to run out of space for further flexion.
I agree with Quinn Henoch that neutral spine is more of a range rather than a set position, so don’t lose sleep over a little spinal flexion.
How much excursion is too much?
You knew the answer before you asked it.
It depends!
That being said, you definitely want to avoid movement at the spine and pelvis as much as possible. A moving base causes leaked energy and therefore less stability and built up tension. This means less force produced, less strength, and less Instagram pictures with a bumper-plate loaded bar on your back.
Don’t Stop Squatting Because You Have Pain Or Feel Restricted
If you experience pain during a squat, SEE A QUALIFIED HEALTHCARE PRACTITIONER.
You want someone that will question the type of squat that hurts, ask when in the range of motion the pain occurs, analyze your squat pattern, ask about weekly volume and load, inquire about recovery and sleep, and do everything in his/her power to keep you squatting.
There are always ways to modify the squat in order to keep training this key movement pattern while training with an injury.
Sharp pain at the bottom of a squat?
Try using a more neutral spine with slight flexion using a goblet squat to free up some space in that acetabulum.
No good?
Try adding a band around the knees during a few warm up sets.
Still no good?
Add a box to squat to at a level just above where the pain is felt.
The point is, you deserve better than a rushed, “Stop squatting for 4 weeks, take these anti-inflammatories, and see me in a month.
Oh, and if that doesn’t work, try foam rolling, cupping, turmeric, an oxygen deprivation mask, and VooDoo floss bands in a bath of apple cider vinegar and creatine.”
Fixing the symptoms with things like medication and surgery without considering the cause is an all too common theme.
These things have their place, of course, however they must be used appropriately. For example, surgery to repair a labrum that was damaged after repetitive impingement due to faulty lumbo-pelvic mechanics would be like fixing ceiling tiles in your living room instead of fixing the leaky roof.
After the surgery, if the individual returns to squatting with the same mechanics that got him/her under the knife in the first place, what good has been accomplished? Doesn’t make sense to repair, install, and paint shiny new ceiling tiles without fixing the roof first. Check out a video I made on this a while back right here.
So What Can We Do To Improve How The Squat Looks And Feels?
This is a tough question, because, as you probably guessed, everyone is different and it depends.
I recommend seeking out a qualified healthcare practitioner that will assess, reassess, and give you the tools to improve your individual squat.
Gone are the days of performing long, drawn out warm ups in the name of injury prevention, mobility, and movement optimization. A warm up should increase your heart rate and mentally and physically prepare you for the specific movements of the day.
The warm up should be active, specific and purposeful, not a cookie cutter series of activities like flailing around on the dirty gym floor or jamming a lacrosse ball into your sciatic nerve in hopes to break up adhesions in your piriformis.
Things like static stretching and foam rolling are passive activities.
In contrast, light cardio, dynamic stretching, loaded eccentrics, and actually getting under the bar and grooving the squat movement with sub-max loads are all active.
Passive activities like foam rolling do have their place, but they should be used appropriately. The benefits of foam rolling are short-lived, so if you’re going to foam roll, I’ve found it best to do it in between warm up sets. Of course, the specific muscles you target will be individual to you, your body, and your squat. For more on this, check out my article and videoas well as this fantastic episode of Mobility Mythsby Quinn Henoch.
Don’t feel obligated to use cardio as the only way to increase heart rate.
A dynamic series/circuit of exercises, combined with specific mobility work using active techniques such as loaded eccentricsand reciprocal inhibition (here and here), followed by some squatting with bodyweight or just the bar, will increase your heart rate just fine, not to mention both physically and mentally prime your system.
You get more bang for your buck.
For more on a proper warm up, including explanations of how to put it all together, check out my current lower body warm up right here as well as a great hip mobility exercisenot in included in my warm up video.
Also, Quinn Henoch (<— can you tell I have a little man-crush on him?) nails it in this episode of Mobility Myths about stretching.
And That’s That
I hope this helps in your journey to finding and perfecting your individual squat.
Remember, there is nothing to fear about the squat and there is no need to overcomplicate this foundational movement. Don’t forget to take advantage of all the resources provided in this article, as they are from some of the greatest minds this field has ever seen. Happy squatting!
Oh, and one more thing…knees drifting over toes is OK.
About the Author
Nicholas M. Licameli
Doctor of Physical Therapy / Pro Natural Bodybuilder
Every single thing he does, Nick believes in giving himself to others in an attempt to make the world a happier, healthier, and more loving place.
He wants to give people the power to change their lives. Bodybuilding and physical therapy serve as ways to carry out that cause. Nick graduated summa cum laude from Ramapo College of New Jersey with his bachelor’s degree in biology, furthered his education by completing his doctoral degree in physical therapy from Rutgers School of Biomedical and Health Sciences (previously the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey) at the age of 24, and has earned professional status in natural bodybuilding.
His knowledge of sport and exercise biomechanics, movement quality, and the practical application of research combined with personal experience in bodybuilding and nutrition allows him to help people in truly unique ways. Love. Passion. Respect. Humility. Never an expert. Always a student. Love your journey.
It’s not lost on me there’s an easy Lord of the Rings reference to be had here, and I’m going to try my best to be professional and abstain and….
Fuck it.
One ring………..to bind them.
Okay, with that out of the way, what do I mean when I say “stacked rings?” and how how can that possibly help your squat?
I had to audit myself a few years ago when it came to coaching the squat. After being introduced to the concepts of PRI (Postural Restoration Institute) and listening to other strong dudes like Chad Wesley Smith speak on the topic, I wondered if cueing people to “arch, hard!,” and to” sit back” were the right things to be saying to the bulk of my athletes/clients when they were getting under the bar?
Very few were competitive powerlifters and even fewer were geared lifers. I.e., none wore squat suits when training (which require an aggressive arch and sitting back to reap the benefits).
To be clear: There are still many very strong dudes (and coaches) who advocate squatting with a hard arch, and that’s their prerogative. The thing to appreciate, however, is that what works and is ideal for a geared lifter won’t necessarily (read: rarely) ever translate well to a non-geared lifter.
If I were to balance the “I want to be brutally strong AND not shit my spine on this next set” teeter-totter, I’d opt for not arching (aggressively).
Like this.
The ribs & diaphragm are pointing in one direction (up) and the hips & pelvic floor are pointing in another (down).
Put simply, this is all sorts of fuckeduppery not a stable position.
We’re placing a ton of shear load on the spine.
What’s more, this will invariably force the lifter to initiate the movement by sitting back (rather than down, you know, like a squat). As a result, often, the chest will fall forward, and the cue we default towads is “arch, arch, arch, chest up, chest up, chest up, you crap you’re going to fall on your face, too late.”
This only feeds instability.
A better approach, I believe (again, for non-geared lifters) is to tone down the arch and adopt what’s been referred to as the “canister” position or to “stack the rings.”
Giving credit where it’s due, the first person I ever heard use this phrase was Dr. Evan Osar. A simple analogy he used was to think of your pelvis as one ring and your rib cage as a bunch of other rings.
We want all those rings to be stacked.
This will nudge us into a more stable, joint-friendly environment
Now, a minor glitch in this way of thinking is that some people think this infers going into posterior pelvic tilt, where we flatten out the lumbar spine.
This is not what’s happening. As you can see in the picture above, my hips are still behind the bar (still very important) but there’s less of an aggressive arch. Telling people to posteriorly tilt their pelvis towards spine neutral is different than telling them to flatten out their spine.
From there it’s a matter of owning the canister position and to squat down rather than back.
Maybe this quick 3-minute video will help:
Want More Tips Like This?
Yeah, I thought so.
My friends Dr. Sarah Duvall, Kellie Hart, and Meghan Callaway released a stellar product this week – Glutes, Core, and Pelvic Floor Online System – and it hammers home points like the one above. It’s often necessary to break down movement(s) into their respective parts to make certain we’re getting motion from the right areas and that we’re using/engaging the areas we want to use/engage to perform exercises well.
GCPF is a 12-week online course that will teach you how to assess movement and how to implement the correct drills and exercises to help you (or your clients) get stronger and to move better.
TODAY (6/29) is the last day to get it at it’s FULL sale price. You can still get it at a discount until Monday (7/2), however today is your last chance to get it at $200 OFF.
It’s a great resource and one I feel will help a lot of people.
“Face pulls? Really, Tony? That’s what you’re going to write about today? What’s next: Talking about the Kreb’s Cycle? Discussing all the uses of Osmium? Breaking down who will win this season of The Bachelorette?”8
I get it. Face pulls aren’t the most exciting exercise in the universe, but I’ve never been someone who feels exercise has to be entertaining.
I want to help get people results and I want people to stay healthy.
Face Pulls have been an exercise I’ve utilized in my programming – both personally and with clients – for as long as I can remember. I try not to play favorites but I can’t think of an instance where I haven’t sprinkled them into a program in some way, form, or fashion.
They’re one of the most user-friendly and effective exercises to strengthen the upper back, posterior cuff, and help keep the shoulders healthy.
Now that’s sexy.
In fact, if I were to rank their sexiness in the pantheon of sexy things it would look like this:
1. Sade singing pretty much anything.
2. Tom Selleck’s mustache.
3. Face Pulls.
4 – 13,908,743. Anything my wife wears, says, or does.
Hyperbole aside – is it too late to add my pecs onto that list? – there are few things to consider when it comes to common mistakes people make with the exercise and execution in general.
1. Face Pull Fix – General Set Up
It’s not inherently wrong to do so, but I’m not a huge fan of people utilizing a pronated (overhand) grip with this exercise.
It locks people into a more internally rotated position in the glenohumeral joint as well as narrows the acromion space, which can predispose people who are vulnerable to impingement syndrome.
Instead I like this approach:
2. Face Pull Fix – Too Much Low Back Movement
Another common mistake some make with the execution of this exercise is using a squared stance.
Again, it’s not inherently wrong, but a squared stance provides an opportunity for some people to crank through their lumbar spine and promote more of a rib flare.
The fix is to
Adopt a staggered stance
Revert to a tall or half-kneeling position.
Both options help omit extraneous movement from the lower back.
NOTE: Excessive forward head posture is common too and can be fixed by telling people to 1) stop doing that, 2) telling them to make a “double chin,” or 3) place a tennis ball underneath the chin.
3. Face Pull Fix – Adjusting to the Lifter
There’s never a one-size fits all approach to any exercise. As coaches and trainers it’s important to do our due diligence and adjust/temper any given exercise to fit the needs, goals, and ability level of our clients.
With the Face Pull I’ll usually set it up so the vector of pulling is in more of a top-to-down fashion.
Meaning: most often the goal is to nudge people into more scapular retraction and depression.
However, in some cases it can be challenging for some lifters – due to a litany of scenarios: pattern overload (too much bench pressing), sitting in front of a computer for half their life – to get into proper position to perform the exercise well.
Some may present with more anteriorly tilted scapulae and/or over-active upper traps and the exercise has to be adjusted.
4. Face Pull Fix – Scapular Motion
We want bone-on-bone congruency between the shoulder blades and rib cage throughout.
In other words: I want to see the scapulae move around the ribcage during this exercise.
Many retract/depress the shoulder blades when they bring the attachment towards their face, and then make the mistake of keeping the shoulder blades there when extending their arms.
To repeat: the shoulder blades should move around the ribcage.
I like to tell trainees they should feel a slight/subtle “stretch” when extending their arms out in front.
Face Pull Variety
For those who do like to keep things interesting, here are two Face Pull variations you may like.
It looks all inane, simple, and easy and stuff…but this one is a lot more challenging than it looks.
This will fire up everything on the backside of the shoulders and is superb at improving strength of the upper back and posterior cuff.
Face Pull w/ Band Abduction
I stole this one off Dr. John Rusin
and started experimenting with it recently. This is another variation that will really fire up the posterior cuff and strengthen the entire upper back.
Programming Tidbits
I try to include one form of rowing variation in just about every training session – yes, even on lower body days – with the bulk of my clients/athletes.
Face pulls, and rowing in general, are one of those things most people can’t perform enough of. To wrap things all in a nice little bow, I’m all about the “feel” of this exercise and am not entirely concerned with going very heavy.
To that end, I do prefer high(er) reps with Face Pulls and will often opt for 3-4 sets of 10-2o repetitions 2-4x per week. I tend to stick with using them as a stand alone exercise towards the end of a training session, but am also a big fan of pairing them with squats/deadlifts/bench press and performing them with EVERY set (even warm-ups).
It serves as a great way to ramp up rowing volume, but because they’re a relatively low-grade, non-aggressive exercise, they won’t compromise performance of subsequent sets of the big 3.
A few weeks ago I presented at the Spurling Spring Seminar up in Kennebunk, Maine. The first presenter of the day, Portland based physical therapist Noah Harrison, blew me away with his talk on muscular tension.
Honestly, the only way his presentation could have been better is if he somehow included a pair of nunchucks.
Or a t-shirt cannon.
His message resonated with me and after he spoke I asked if he’d be interested in summarizing his thoughts in an article for my site. He was more than happy to oblige.
There are two aspects to what dictates the strength of a muscle; how big it is and how hard it can contract at any given moment, with any given movement. Keeping that in mind there are then two ways you can train a muscle to become stronger:
Make it bigger and give it more leverage.
Teach it to contract harder by creating more tension.
While hypertrophy obviously has its use, there are times our goal is simply to increase strength without having to buy a new wardrobe, or jump a weight class. There are also times we have a little more strength in our muscles as they already are, and it is simply a matter of getting them to work fully in the moment.
This article is about ways in which you can train your muscles to fire a little (or a lot) harder, instantaneously, and apply it to nearly any exercise you are performing.
Yes, you can practice tensing your muscles like a body builder during “X” movement, and if an EMG was attached to your area of focus it would read a spike.
The problem with consciously focusing on flexing your muscles during a movement is that this does produce increased tension locally where you are focusing, but often times at the expense of your performance. Quite often tensioning your muscles consciously while moving will result in you simply working harder, moving slower, and experiencing premature fatigue (1).
So how do you get your muscles to pump out more power without destroying your performance?
Simple: you will not do it consciously.
Instead you will do it reflexively. You will use the reflexive reactions you already have.
What I will map out are three body areas/actions that you can focus on with any given activity, and depending on what you do with these areas/actions will either elicit a reflexive increase or decrease in body wide muscular tension.
Again, this article will solely focus on increasing muscular tension.
The three areas/actions are:
What you do with your breath.
What you do with your hands.
What you do with your face.
Now there is no better place to begin talking about changing bodily tension than talking about…
What You Do With Your Breath
The general rule is that if you want to increase muscular tension then either hold your breath or forcefully exhale.
The latter, a forceful exhale, is preferred.
Why?
First, let’s look at what is happening with both these situations.
In one case you hold your breath and barrel down (a valsalva maneuver) and in the other you forcefully exhale through resistance. In both situations you are jacking up your intra-abdominal pressure (IAP), which is necessary to keep your trunk stiff and give your limbs leverage with anything difficult.
Core strength is pressure production, and if you want to be strong, you need to be able to make a lot of it.
However the valsalva maneuver (VM) has a few significant draw backs. The most notable is that you really cannot do many repetitions this way. One rep, maybe, but once you get to two or three repetitions deep into an exercise you will need to breathe.
The second drawback is that a VM is associated with some negative cardiovascular effects, including a sharp increase in your heart rate, blood pressure, as well as an increased risk of cerebral hemorrhage (2). Again, if it doesn’t kill you, holding your breath is going to gas you quicker than necessary.
The third problem is that a VM is associated with an increased risk of incontinence in certain populations (3, 4), which is not desirable if you or your client is trying to be active. Nobody, regardless of what Adam Sandler says, likes to pee themselves, and especially in the middle of a fierce effort.
Performing a forced exhalation (FE) has none of these issues, and has been shown to be as equally effective at spiking your IAP as a VM (2).
Additionally, a forced exhalation has been shown to increase the activation of your abdominal wall (5), is as effective at stiffening the trunk as bracing your abdominals (6), and even result in an instantaneous increase the strength of your grip and several large muscle groups throughout the body (2, 7).
We all know that a tight midsection is necessary to keep the body from crumbling during a strenuous task, but the take home from this should be to focus less on bracing your abdomen consciously.
Just forcefully exhale with the movement, and the abs will kick in automatically.
You have to breathe anyway; you may as well make it work in your favor. The general rule is to exhale with effort, and ingrain it with the movement you are performing.
How do you ingrain it? Every movement has a sticking point, you simply exhale through it.
See the video below for a demonstration of how to ingrain this into any exercise.
What You Do With Your Hands
This one is pretty simple.
If you want to increase body wide muscular tension, maximally tense your hands, preferably in a fist. If you are holding something, grip it hard (very hard). As a result, the rest of your body will “grip” harder as well.
In matters of strength, this is very convenient, because very often we are gripping something and either trying to move it (A barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell, etc) or ourselves around it (a pull up or dip bar). Simply aim your attention on what you are already doing.
How or why does this work? It probably comes down to both the law of irradiation, and how your cerebral cortex is organized.
Irradiation is a principle stating that the activity of a group of muscles will have a ripple effect on its neighboring parts (8). Meaning as you clench your hand harder, not only does your forearm tighten up, but your whole arm and shoulder does as well.
Grip even harder and your whole torso will become engaged. If you are not already trying this I encourage you to begin.
This has actually been measured, as research has shown that the harder you grip your hands, the harder your rotator cuff fires (9, 10). This is convenient, because if you are gripping a hold of something you would really like your shoulder to grab a hold of your body as well. Not only does gripping effect your shoulder, but your body as a whole; postural stiffness will increase the harder you grasp an obect (11). The utility of these reflexive responses with any pressing movement should go without saying.
So that is one factor, how about the second; your brain?
Well what is known is that there is a very large sensory and motor representation of both your hands and your face in the brain. Google “Homunculus Man” and you will see a model representation of this. It is a distorted image demonstrating the density of neurons in our cerebral cortex as it relates to sensing and moving our bodies in our environments.
You can think about this as that your brain both perceives and interacts with the world primarily via your face and hands, so whatever you do at these places will reverberate throughout your body.
If your hands are relaxed, your body will be as well. If your hands are tensed, then your brain will take you seriously and give you more juice. And in matters of strength, we all want juice.
So now we come to our third and final place to consider…
What You Do With Your Face
You may have a hard time believing your face matters so much in terms of strength, but it is true.
Do not forget that strange little homunculus man. Remember; your brain thinks the vast majority of you is face and hands. What you do in these places will resonate through your body.
What you do with you face can be further broken down into three factors;
Your eyes.
Your jaw.
Your facial expression as a whole.
Eyes
What you do at your eyes can be thought of as more steering your bodily tension than necessarily jacking it up or down.
It is well established that the body follows wherever the eyes gaze (12).
This means that if you look to the left, you will have a reflexive weight shift to the left, and the same goes for looking to the right, up or down. Although gymnasts, power lifters and weight lifters will use this often to their advantage to drive extension or flexion with a movement, the vast majority of us should stick to simply looking relatively forward with whatever movement we are performing.
So, for maximal tension; fix your eyes when doing something hard, and do not let them wander.
Jaw
Just as the tension in our hands seems to reverberate through our bodies, what we do at our jaws does as well.
No different than our hands, the amount of tension that we hold at our jaw has the ability to increase reflexive activity as distant as our forearms and calves (13, 14).
Yes you read that correctly; clench your jaw and your forearms and calves will fire harder. In fact, clenching your jaw has been shown to improve your athletic performance across varying endeavors, including a back squat and vertical jump (15, 16).
I would advise caution with this (and for some a mouthpiece), as some people have trouble relaxing their jaws then necessary engaging it. Other people may not have a fully congruent bite, and heavily clenching may cause more of a problem than a help.
Simply focus on setting your jaw and keeping your teeth touching firmly when you need more muscular effort.
Facial Expression
Think about it: setting your eyes and jaw is pretty much a game face now isn’t it?
Besides focusing on where your eyes look and keeping your mouth shut, it is common sense to be serious during a heavy or difficult lift.
Laughing is completely out, as it has been established that there exists a body-wide inhibition of muscular tension for up to 45 minutes after a bout of laughter (17, 18).
So, save the jokes for after the work is done.
Putting It All Together
Here it is; the meat and potatoes of it all.
If you want to increase body wide muscular tension, then simply:
Exhale with resistance.
Clench your fists.
Fix your eyes.
Set your jaw and be serious.
This comes down to learning to place your mental effort on these choice few factors with whatever challenging movement you are performing.
By doing this you set yourself up for the best chance at eliciting the highest potential your muscles and body as a whole has in that given movement, on that given day.
Integrate this into your training, and you will likely find that you become stronger not simply because your muscles have grown, but because they have learned to work together, better.
Enjoy!
[List of references below]
About the Author
Noah is a Physical Therapist and Strength Coach based out of Portland, Maine.
He is the owner of Portland Integrative Physical Therapy, through which he provides one-on-one musculoskeletal rehabilitation with a holistic, full body approach.
Noah has extensive training in a variety of rehabilitative approaches, and combines this with progressive strength training in order to build and restore strong and capable individuals.
Makaruk, H, Porter, JM “Focus of Attention for Strength and Conditioning Training” Strength and Conditioning Journal Feb 2014, 36:1 16-22
Ikeda, ER, et al “The Valsalva Maneuver Revisted: the Influence of Voluntary Breathing on Isometric Muscle Strength” J Strength Cond Res 2009 Jan: 23(1): 127-132
Nitti VW, et al “Correlation of Valsalva leak point pressure with subjective degree of stress urinary incontinence in women” J Urol 1996 Jan; 155(1): 281-5
Peschers UM, et al “Difference between cough and Valsalva leak-point in stress incontinent women” Neurourol Urodyn 2000; 19(6): 677-81
Ishida et al “Maximum expiration activates the abdominal muscles during side bridge exercises” J Back Musculoskeletal Rehabil. 2015; 27(4): 481-4
Ishida et al “Comparison between the effectiveness of expiration and abdominal bracing maneuvers in maintaining spinal stability following sudden trunk loading” J Electromyogr Kinesiol 2016 Feb; 26: 125-9
Li S, et al “Forced ventilation increases variability of isometric finger forces” Neurosci Lett 2007 Feb 2; 412(3): 243-7
Gontijo LB, et al “Evaluation of Strength and Irradiated Movement Pattern Resulting from Trunk Motions of the Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation” Rehabilitation Research and Practice Volume 2012, 6 pages
Sporrong H, et al “Influences of handgrip on shoulder muscle activity” Eur J Appl Occup Physiol 1995; 71(6): 485-92
Sporrong H, et al “Hand grip increases shoulder muscle activity, an EMG analysis with static hand contractions in nine subjects” Acta Orthop Scand 1996 Oct: 67(5): 485-90
Ustinova KI, et al “Postural stabilization by gripping a stick with different force levels” Gait & Posture 2013 May: 38(1): 97-103
Ivanenko YP, et al “Effect of gaze on postural responses to neck proprioceptive and vestibular stimulation in humans” Journal of Physiology 1999; 519(1): 301-314
Takashi T, et al “Modulation of H reflexes in the forearm during voluntary teeth clenching in humans” European Journal of Applied Physiology 2003 Nov; 90(5-6): 651-3
Miyahara T, et al “Modulation of human soleus H reflex in association of voluntary clenching of the teeth” J Neurophysiol 1996 Sep; 76(3): 2033-41
Ebben, WP, et al “Jaw clenching results in concurrent activation potentiation during the countermovement jump” J Strength Cond Res 2008 Nov; 22(6): 1850-4
Ebben WP, et al “Kinetic analysis of concurrent activation potentiation during back squats and jump squats” J Strength Cond Res 2010 Jun; 24(6): 1515-9
Paskind, J “Effects of laughter on muscle tone” Arch Neurol Psychiatry 1932; 28: 623-8
Overeem S, et al “Is motor inhibition during laughter due to emotional or respiratory influences?” Psychophysiology 2004; 41: 254-8
There are no “hacks” to getting strong. I’m a firm believer you get out of it what you put in.
It’s hard, and it takes a lot of hard work; oftentimes over the course of several years.
That said, below are a few “quick” tips that can help expedite the process. Admittedly there’s nothing profound or elaborate included, but I felt it important to suggest things that are easily accessible to the bulk of people who read this site.
Hope they resonate and help.5 Quick Tips to Increase Strength
1. WARNING: Captain Obvious suggestion of the day: Creatine
It still dumbfounds me to think there are people out there who train on a consistent basis, yet are still not taking creatine (and yes, this includes you as well ladies). It’s the most researched supplement in human history and it’s efficacy has been proven time and time again.
*It’s safe
*It works
*It’s NOT steroids
Just take five grams of creatine monohydrate (no need to buy the expensive brands that are laced with rocket fuel) per day and that’s that.
ADDENDUM: This is a suggestion. Not mandatory. The first step to addressing lack of progress is to audit your program and nutrition. If those two factors aren’t getting the job done, no one supplement is going to be the panacea.
That said, you still need to go train like a savage. Taking creatine alone isn’t going to mount to much.
2. Deadlift Barefoot
Everyone who trains with me here in Boston is told to take their shoes off when (s)he deadlifts.
To quote a new client I started with the other night
“Why?”
BECAUSE I SAID SO. HOW DARE YOU QUESTION ME. KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!!
Just kidding.
Well for starters, by taking your shoes off you’re now 1-2 inches closer to the ground, which is 1-2 inches less distance the bar has to travel.
Secondly, and more germane to the point, by taking your shoes off you’re now able to push through your heels. As a result, you’ll recruit more of your glutes and hamstrings to help out.
It’s not uncommon for some people to see a significant increase in how much weight they can pull off the ground from a little more posterior chain recruitment.
Thirdly, people will automatically think you’re badass cause you’re training with no shoes on. Of course, this is contingent on whether or not your feet smell like you’ve been walking through a sewer all day.
In that case, it’s your call.
3. Glute Activation
If your glutes aren’t able to fire full throttle, the hamstrings and lower back have to do more work than they’re accustomed to doing.
So from that standpoint paying more attention to glute activation can have positive repercussions for those suffering through chronic low-back pain.
However, people often forget the badonkadonks are not only the body’s dominant hip extensor which play a key role in athletics and strength, but are also a fairly large muscle that’s aesthetically pleasing to look at (cue obligatory fitness Insta-celebrity pic here).
Don’t worry, I got you too ladies:
By “turning on” the glutes with some simple activation techniques beforehand, you will undoubtedly be able to handle more weight when you squat and/or deadlift.
To that end, while I don’t have any PubMed research articles to back this up, more weight=more strength=more people want to see you naked.
Here are some of my favorites:
Up 2, Down 1
I like this variation because it allows for more eccentric overload on the lowering leg. Obviously one will need to master the two-legged variation first, but this is a nice progression to consider.
Band Resisted 1-Legged Hip Thrust
This is an ingenious variation I stole from Dean Somerset. If you’re looking to progress you’re 1-Legged Hip Thrust and having a hard time figuring out a way to do so, give this a try.
Creepy McCreepypants Frog Pumps
Popularized by none other than Bret Contreras, Frog Pumps are another fantastic exercise that aid in getting the glutes nice and juicy.
Thing is, they’re awkward as fuck to perform in public.
So, there’s only one way, and one way only, to perform them….
…..by copying Bret and Dr. John Rusin’s lead and making direct, intense eye contact with someone and making things creepy AF.9.
Reps can range anywhere from 15 to infinity.
4. Stop Testing Strength and Build It
I’m not the first to say this.
Many other coaches stronger than I – Chad Wesley Smith, Greg Robins, Julia Ladewski, Pavel, to name a few – have reverberated this quote on repeat throughout the years.
Far too often trainees head to the gym week in and week out and “test” their lifts rather than actually build them.
Now, mind you, lifting heavy things (90% + of 1 rep-max) is a non-negotiable factor to getting strong. However, as I noted in THIS blog post sub-maximal training (I.e., predominately using loads in the 65-85% range) is much UNDER-valued component to strength training.
In other words: loads in those ranges help one to BUILD strength.
Moreover, utilizing more sub-maximal training – while having an obvious muscle building effect (bigger muscles often equate to more force output) – also allows trainees to hone their technique and to get into (and maintain) proper positions to exhibit their strength more effectively.
5. Use Novelty Sparingly
Unlike coaches Dan John or Mike Boyle, I don’t find myself to be a very quotable person.
However, I am proud of this one:
“Look, I’m not bashing exercise variety. Variety has a time and place. However, the greatest gap in most people’s training isn’t lack of novelty, but rather lack of mastery.”
Many trainees have what I like to call “Squirrel Syndrome” when it comes to working out.
They start doing an exercise (or in most cases start an exercise program) and before they’ve put down the dumbbell on their first set they’re distracted by a new “squirrel.”
In this case the squirrel is an entirely new exercise program or a bright, shiny, new exercise.
– “Jumping Jack BOSU Bicep Curls?”
– “Sweet Christmas, I need that in my life.”
Want to get stronger?
Stop hopping exercise to exercise or program to program. It’s almost impossible to see steady progress if you’re heavy-handed on the novelty.
I like Jim Wendler’s approach to programming for strength:
“The boring shit works.”
Observe anyone who’s strong or has a physique you admire and almost always they’re doing very vanilla things in the weight room.
Contrarily, watch most other asshats who cry afoul about hitting their genetic ceiling10(or something equally as lame):
Now, before people reach for their pitch forks, or, I don’t know, call their local IPF director to blacklist me, let me be clear: this is not an attempt or diatribe to dissuade anyone from back squatting.
I like back squats.
Back squats are awesome.
I still have my clients back squat (and perform the exercise myself, even though the video below is of me using a Safety Squat Bar).
The irony here is that I used to hate front squats. Almost as much as I hated Jillian Michaels’ kettlebell swing tutorials.
On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being a tickle fight with Gizmo from Gremlins and 10 being feeling like you’re getting choked out by Chuck Liddell) front squats were around an 8 for me.
Whenever I did them they always felt, well, unpleasant.
They didn’t hurt or cause physical pain or anything. They just, you know, sucked a bunch of donkey balls whenever I did them.
So I didn’t.
Then I had an epiphany of sorts:
I noticed that once I hit 40 back squats weren’t feeling all that spectacular. I found my hips and low back weren’t tolerating the consistent loading and it took longer to recover.11
I had always been slow off the floor with my deadlifts and wondered if it was due to lack of quad strength (pushing away from the floor)? After listening to Chad Wesley Smith pontificate on the topic and mention how much of a fan he was of front squats to help with this issue, I was sold.
I needed to stop being such a pussy.
So I made a concerted effort to prioritize front squats in my training.
And wouldn’t ya know…
I started getting better at them. They sucked a little less. And some good things happened.
2. Fast Forward a Few More Months…I Finally Hit a 600 lb Deadlift
But, Tony, Why Should I Front Squat? It’s Not All About You. Gosh.
1. They’ll Likely Feel Better
Again, I want to remind anyone who’s contemplating throwing their face into their keyboard at the mere hint of me suggesting people not back squat….
…….that’s not what I’m saying.
We’re on the same team.
However, there’s likely a fair number of you reading who have had a rocky time with back squats. Or maybe you have a client who’s lived through a maelstrom of on-again/off-again relationships with them?
Hey, it happens…and there’s nothing wrong with it.
Back squats aren’t bad, and front squats aren’t some end-all-be-all panacea.
In fact, front and back squats are more similar than they are different – both require massive amounts of strength/stability in the hips and core, as well as requisite “access” to hip flexion, knee extension, and ankle dorsiflexion – so I really see little need to get all territorial about which one is better.
In the end, as far as which is better, it depends. It depends on someone’s goals, preferences, anthropometry and injury history.
I will say this: Unless you’re a competitive powerlifter (or just solely interested in lifting as much weight as possible), no one has to back squat.12
It’s my opinion, though, that for most people, most of the time, given most goals (and taking into account the cost-benefit of exercise selection) front squats will likely be the best option and better fit.
For those reading who, while respecting anecdotal examples, are more keen on evidence-based data, I’d point you towards the renowned Gullet, et al study – A Biomechanical Comparison of Back and Front Squats in Healthy Training Individuals – which compared EMG activity between the two variations.
Are they dramatically different? Nope.
This study compared 70% of 1-rep max of the back squat to 70% of 1-rep max of the front squat and showed that EMG activity on the quadriceps, hamstrings, erectors, even the eye lids were overall the same.13
Biomechanically speaking most people can back squat more than they can front squat, so 70% of back squat was heavier than 70% of front squat in the study.
However, as Dr. Mitch Babcock pointed out in a recent video of his I watched:
“If someone has a compressive type problem (knees achy, maybe their spine feels like linguini)…we can get equal EMG activation with less load by utilizing front squats”
Some trainees may think their world is going to end and that they’ll lose strength in their back squat, but hopefully you can see the value in leveraging the above information.
We can still elicit a high training effect on the legs with front squats.
2. Front Squat = Deeper Squat
There’s a massive caveat here.
A deep squat isn’t always better nor is it something that should be the end-goal of every individual.
Please read THIS post for a little more detail on the topic.
That being said, because of the bar placement (anterior on the shoulders) and because one is able to maintain a more upright torso during its execution, most people will be able to achieve a much deeper depth with a front squat.
Why is this good?
1. The internet trolls won’t judge you as much.
2. A deeper squat = more glute max recruitment.
I like to use this tidbit of info with many of my female clients who are a little more badonkadonk obsessed compared to their male counterparts.
Thanks in no small part to Bret Contreras and his popularization of the hip thrust, many women (guys too) have been placing more emphasis on their derriere in recent years.
That being said, there has been a trend of late where many women perform only hip thrust (as well as a cornucopia of band exercises – band hip abductions, kickbacks, side raises, lateral stepping, etc) to target their glutes.
[My good friend Lee Boyce noticed this trend too and wrote about it HERE.]
If you want glutes perform your hip thrusts and the litany of other exercises that target that area. However you still need to build them with some good ol’ fashioned strength training.
Front squats can help immensely in this department.
3. Better Posture
I saved the boring one for last.
Come on, if I started with posture this would have happened:
This will be short.
Front squats nudge people into more thoracic extension which is going to be a game changer in terms of helping to improve posture.
As you descend closer to the ground you have to “fight” to keep from folding over. In many ways the proper execution of the exercise itself is self-coaching.
If you don’t maintain thoracic extension the barbell rolls off your shoulders.
At this point it’s common knowledge that the “experts” online have hijacked the attention of the public.
While conflicting and generally poor fitness advice has flooded the internet to confuse the public, one area that even sound coaches and trainers talk out of both sides of their mouths is the relationship between training and sleep.
On many occasions, I have heard live coaches (myself included) or coaches I follow online give the “wake up earlier to get the work done” speech and then five minutes later hit the same person with the “well you aren’t getting enough sleep” speech to explain lack of progress, chronic fatigue, or generally feeling like shit at the gym and beyond.
Most people can’t do both.
If a coach spews this advice at a parent of an infant or toddler or an accountant trying to meet a deadline during the peak of tax season, you can bet it’s going to fall on deaf ears.
Getting nine hours of uninterrupted sleep and getting up at 5am to get a workout in is about as likely as Tracy Anderson entering a powerlifting meet, it isn’t happening, and even if it does, that training session won’t be pretty.
Sleep is important, getting the work done is important. It takes balance. The best program ever written is a total waste of time if you can’t recover from it.
As usual, the answer is in the grey area. If you aren’t getting enough sleep, training needs to be scaled back in terms of volume, intensity, or frequency. If you are especially sleep deprived, dialing back two of those three variables may be necessary to optimize your results until you are able to get more shut-eye.
Even if you are getting the required nutrition to support your frequent and intense bouts of training, you WILL be stuck in neutral if you aren’t getting sufficient sleep.
The Importance of Sleep
We know that as Americans, we simply don’t sleep enough. In fact, according to a Gallup poll from a few years back, 40% of Americans are sleeping less than 7 hours per night.
While busy lifestyles, work schedules, and raising kids contribute to this lack of ZZZs, two underrated factors may be:
The brilliant Netflix feature that rolls the end of an episode directly into the next one in 5 seconds.
The graphics, sound, and online capabilities of the Call of Duty franchise has gotten totally insane.
Regardless of the root of the issue, this lack of sleep will wreak havoc on your production in the gym especially if your training sessions are frequent and intense.
Sleep deprivation will not only sap energy from your lifts, it will negatively impact you on a hormonal level by decreasing the release of testosterone (1) and increasing cortisol (2), an especially nasty combo when trying to gain strength, muscle mass, or lose body fat and even worse for males interested in having sex past the age of 35.
Furthermore, if you add quality sleep, you’ll have a much better chance at performing optimally in the gym (3). We know we need more sleep, but how?
How Do We Sleep for More Muscle?
A general rule of thumb is getting 7-9 hours of sleep per night to recover from training and support your effort in the weight room.
It’s important to note, however, that not everyone is going to be able to follow that advice 100% of the time.
Sometimes you are simply in a period of life (new baby, starting a new business, etc.) that doesn’t lend itself to a lot of sleep. While training is still encouraged under these circumstances, going balls to the wall with exercise is going to end up wasting time, effort, or causing injury.
Want a more restful night of sleep? Try implementing a couple of these tips to take advantage of all the benefits a great night of rest can provide.
1. Go to Bed Earlier
Common sense? Absolutely.
It’s also the easiest tip to implement and will yield the best results. I bet if there were some snazzy Instagram videos of shredded guys and girls going to bed at 9:30 on a Friday night, it would be a more popular thing to do.
2. Put Down the Screens an Hour or Two Before Bed Time (but after you finish this article).
This includes TVs, phones, laptops, iPads, and video games. The blue light from these popular devices is used to keep us alert and engaged. Helpful when writing a thesis, not so much when scrolling social media directly prior to bed. Blue light at night will completely disrupt the human body’s natural circadian rhythm hampering our ability to get a good night’s sleep. Put devices down a few hours before bed (out of arms reach), dim the lights, and read an actual paper book or magazine. Yeah, those still exist.
3. Stay Away From Caffeine in the Afternoon
Caffeine is glorious.
Its awakening effect has helped mankind move mountains, part seas, and beat deadlines. If it’s ingested too late however, it may affect sleep. Caffeine can stay in our system for up to 6 hours(4) so nix the 3pm cup of coffee used to finish strong at work.
Be careful of sneaky caffeinated items such as chocolate, soda (diet or regular), and even decaf coffee.
4. Avoid Alcohol
While this tip won’t win me a popularity contest, it simply must be stated. That glass or four of wine in the evening may help you cope with the shitty day you had and help you fall asleep faster (read: pass out), but it isn’t doing anything for your quality of sleep .(5)
With alcohol on board, it’s a good bet that the later stages of sleep most crucial for recovery from tough training will be disrupted. As usual, alcohol and progress in the gym simply don’t mix, use sparingly.
5. Your Bed is For Humans
Maybe it’s cold-hearted but the cats and dogs need to get kicked out of your bed.
How many times have you been woken up by your pet?
Think about it this way, every single time they move or nudge you, waking you up, you’re starting at square one of the sleep cycle. How are you going to reach the restorative stages of sleep if every 20 minutes Fido shoves his ass in your face?
If that doesn’t get you to train your pet to sleep in their own designated bed, ask yourself this question: would you let your spouse walk around outside all day on their bare feet and then climb into your clean bed with no bath or shower?
Doubtful!
About the Author
Tim is an exercise science graduate and CSCS who has been training in Baltimore MD for over 14 years. While his specialty is body composition, he has extensive experience working with clients from young athletes to cardiac rehabilitation patients. Tim has been published in a variety of fitness publications and writes for his blog when he isn’t helping clients in person.
Being a former fat boy, Tim developed a deep seeded passion for training and nutrition in his teenage years after a major body transformation. This passion is what drives him to seek the best results for his clients and readers. Tim combines a knowledge base earned from years of practice in the field, research, and time spent under the bar with practical advice to get his clients to the next level.
You can find Tim on Instagram (HERE) or his blog (HERE).
On the other side of things, there are those women who’d like to go all out each and every workout — testing their strength every single day of every single week.
Nicholas M. Licameli
Noah is a Physical Therapist and Strength Coach based out of Portland, Maine.
Tim is an exercise science graduate and CSCS who has been training in Baltimore MD for over 14 years. While his specialty is body composition, he has extensive experience working with clients from young athletes to cardiac rehabilitation patients. Tim has been published in a variety of fitness publications and writes for his blog when he isn’t helping clients in person.
