It’s been a hectic past few weeks of travel and speaking. Two weeks ago I was in Chicago, last weekend Lisa and I were in Toronto presenting our Strong Body-Strong Mind workshop, and this weekend I’m heading to Saratoga Springs, NY to present my Coaching Competency workshop.
Annnnnd, the next few weekends after that I’m pumped because I get to sit down, relax, take a seat, and be a student myself.
John Rusin and Christian Thibaudeau will be in Boston (10/7-8) presenting their Advanced Performance Coaching & Programming Strategies workshop. Then, on the weekend of 10/15 I’ll head out to Springfield, MA for the Clinical Athlete Workshop with Dr. Quinn Henoch of Juggernaut Systems who will be presenting alongside Matthew Ibrahim and Zak Gabor.
The Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint is finally coming to Boston. Not “fake” Boston, either, on the outskirts of the North or South shore, and we end up calling it a Boston workshop.
No, this sumbitch is going to be IN Boston, at AMP Fitness located near Government Center in the heart of the city.
This shindig goes down the weekend of November 11th and will likely be mine and Dean Somerset’s last hoorah presenting this particular workshop.
The early bird rate is currently in effect. Hope to see you there.
I really enjoyed this article by Andy – short, sweet, and to the point. What I also appreciated was that it didn’t make my head hurt with big words and super scientific explanations and mumbo-jumbo.
Not that approach isn’t important (sometimes), but, you know, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
“Scapular winging” can be a bastardized term tossed around by PT’s and personal trainers alike. It is a “thing,” but it’s not as prominent of a “thing” as people think.
I.e., true scapular winging is an actual medial diagnosis (long thoracic nerve, which innervates the Serratus anterior isn’t doing it’s job).
HOWEVER: when scapular winging is a thing (due to muscle weakness, pain, and/or faulty movement), this article explains how you should approach it.
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20 year old me: “dude, I worked out for 2 hours today, it was amazing.”
40 year old me: “dude, 2 hour workouts? Don’t be cray-cray.”
While squatting is considered a standard human movement pattern, and something that everyone does everyday of their lives, there are a million and one things that can go awry when you place a barbell on someone’s back.
In addition there’s no shortage of coaching cues which are tossed around, that it’s no wonder people are often overwhelmed when it comes to honing in on technique.
Get your air!
Spread the floor with your feet!
Keep your chin tucked!
Squeeze your shoulder blades together, find your shelf!
Push your knees out!
Don’t shit out your pancreas!
Sit back!
Pull down on the bar!
Get your hips through at the top!
Did you leave your stove on when you left the house?
One would think they’re solving some advanced algorithm for space travel than simply squatting up and down with a bar.
And so it goes. The fact of the matter is: when it comes to squatting big weight, you have to be LOCKED in with technique or else some bad things can happen.
However, even if squatting a house isn’t your goal, it still doesn’t mean you should have a nonchalant attitude when it comes to technique, because you “may” be causing irreparable harm in the long run.
One cue that we’ve been hammering at the facility as of late is the idea of “owning” rib position.
This is something that manifested itself after watching a video Bill Hartman released a little over a year ago on using a belt and how many powerlifting go about “getting their air.”
To expound a bit more on Bill’s brilliance, after watching that video I started taking more notes on how people squatted and noticed one common pattern amongst the more serious weightlifters. Not so much powerlifters (although they’re not off the hook), but more so those people who were past the “newbie” stage and had a bit of experience underneath their belts.
Many, to no fault of their own (it’s what they’ve read and have been coached to do) were OVER-arching and hinging more through their lower backs rather than their hips.
Arching the back isn’t bad or poor form. But when done excessively, can lead to some nasty things like end-plate fractures, Spondylolisthesis, and a bad hair day.
Just kidding on that last one.
A perfect example of what I’m referring to is a video I received from a new distance coaching client, Sarah.
To the casual eye her squat is pretty legit. She’s sitting back, keeping a more vertical shin angle, hitting decent depth, and using close to 1x bodyweight (for reps!). What, what!
But to the more keen observer, and to steal a line from one of my heros, Optimus Prime, there’s a bit more than meets the eye.
And before someone has a conniption and starts spouting off about how much vertical videos suck, relax. Deal with it.
If you pause the video at the nine second mark you’ll notice that her initial movement is to hinge through the lumbar spine rather than the hips.
Too, you’ll notice how her rib cage flares out simultaneously.
In going back and forth with her via email, Sarah has mentioned to me that her squat numbers have hit a stalemate as of late, and I have a hunch that part of the reason (if not the entire reason) is because she’s losing stability by not bracing and “owning” her rib position.
In essence, and what I pointed out to her, is that we need to work on keeping her rib cage DOWN and learning to brace more.
Taking it a step further, and something I discussed in a previous video on lunging (see below) is the idea of pretending there’s an imaginary line between her nipple line and her belly button. When she goes to un-rack the barbell she needs to ensure an abdominal brace and to make sure the line between her nipple line and belly button doesn’t get longer.
From there it’s just a matter of making some minor adjustments, getting her to groove the hip hinge through the HIPS and not her the lower back, and then it’s smooth sailing.
I find this is an issue that’s more common than people think, and it parlays into a lot of different exercises from deadlifts to lunges to overhead dwarf throwing.
And I have to imagine a few light-bulbs just turned on for a few people reading this post.
You’re welcome, and that will be $19.99.
This won’t apply to everyone, of course, but hopefully it gives some food for thought. Enjoy the weekend!
For many the topic of breathing patterns can be about as exciting as doing your taxes, so I figured I’d push the envelop a bit and use a catchy title to entice people to click on the link.
And, it worked! I win!!
Don’t worry. Despite the risque title, the topic below is completely PG.
So, now that you’re here and I have your attention, lets watch this video by the Miami Dolphin cheerleaders:
Okay, so, um, yeah……breathing patterns. It’s a topic that’s gained a lot of momentum (in the mainstream fitness media anyways) in the past year or so, due in no small part to the brilliant life-long work of Dr. Pavel Kolar and the “way smarter than the rest of us” team at The Prague School.
Taken right from their homepage:
The nervous system establishes programs that control human locomotion, which is comprised of posture and movement. This ‘motor control’ is largely established during the first critical years of life. Therefore, the “Prague School” emphasizes neurodevelopmental aspects of motor control in order to assess and restore dysfunction of the locomotor system and associated syndromes.
It’s some deep and innovative stuff for sure, and it’s something that I myself have only just scratched the surface of.
Thankfully there are other fitness professionals out there like Bill Hartman, Charlie Weingroff, Jim Laird, and Dr. Jeff Cubos (to name a few), who have are doing a wonderful job of spreading the knowledge, “dumbing” it down, and exposing people to the why’s/what’s/and how’s of assessing and fixing breathing patterns.
As it happens, one of the major themes that resonated this past weekend at the Spinal Health and Core Training Seminar (of which I was a part of) was the concept of breathing patterns and how there’s a significant interplay between aberrant patterns and how they effect not only performance but everything from posture to dealing with chronic back pain, neck pain, shoulder, or lower extremity issues as well.
As it happens, one of the major themes that resonated this past weekend at the Spinal Health and Core Training Seminar (of which I was a part of) was the concept of breathing patterns and how there’s a significant interplay between aberrant patterns and how they effect not only performance, but everything from posture to dealing with chronic back pain, neck pain, shoulder, or lower extremity issues as well.
In my talk, titled Spine and Core Training: From Assessment to Badass, I dove into some of the general “drills” we’ve been implementing at Cressey Performance to help teach people more appropriate breathing patterns.
You see, most people tend to be chest breathers and completely leave their diaphragm and the other “inner” core muscles out to dry.
It’s kind of like the playground when we were kids: one group of muscles bullies the other, says their dad can kick the other dad’s ass any day of the week, someone gets called a big, fat, poop face, punches get thrown, the moms then get involved, and everything becomes one massive ball of breathing dysfunction.
The key, then, is to get everyone to play nice, and work synergistcally. Ideally, we’d like to see the smaller, inner core muscles – diaphragm, mulitifidi, etc – to work properly, so that the larger, more global muscles can do their job as well and not have to work overtime.
To do so we need to take more of a 360 degree approach to breathing. Meaning, instead of solely focusing on the anterior core (pushing the belly out: which still isn’t a bad place to start for most people), we need to take into consideration the lateral and posterior components as well.
Before we can do that, however, we need to actually learn how to breath into our bellies.
To start, here are some simple drills you can use:
1. 3-Month Pose
This is a drill I snaked from Mike Robertson, and the idea is to lie supine and focus on breathing into the belly and NOT allowing the rib cage to flair out too much. You’ll notice how I keep my fingers at my sides to ensure that I’m not only pushing my belly out, but also expanding the sides (and back, into the floor) as well. Be sure to inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth.
Of note: a regression would be to start with the feet on the ground, and then once that’s mastered, elevate the feet in the air.
2. Prone/Alligator Breathing
Lying prone on your stomach, the objective here (again) is to breath into the belly and try to get the lower back to rise. Make sure to inhale through the nose, push the belly into the ground, and exhale through the mouth.
For many, those two drills alone will be a fantastic starting point.
Now, for years (YEARS I tell you!) I’ve always been engrained to “push the belly out” or to “make myself fat” when getting ready to lift big weights – particularly when wearing a weight belt. Bill Hartman had a fantastic post on this very topic not too long ago, and he noted that when people push out they do so at the expense of going into excessive anterior pelvic tilt which can be a lower back killer.
Below is a longer video where I go into a bit more detail on how we can go about re-grooving these patterns using a weight belt (correctly) and/or regular ole tennis balls (which was an ingenious idea that Jeff Cubos brought up this past weekend). Moreover, it isn’t JUST about anterior expansion. Rather we want to start grooving more of a 360 degree expansion to help increase stability.
A Few Things to Note:
1. Yes, I’m wearing a gray t-shirt with gray sweat pants. Whatever. I’m bringing gray on gray back, baby. Recognize!
2. Clearly this is something that Rob – my demonstrator – can work on. Not to throw Rob under the bus or anything (although I kinda am…..sorry Rob), but this would be a fantastic drill for him to utilize more frequently. If for nothing else to give his body the kinesthetic feedback it needs to learn how to breath properly. Ie: through his belly and NOT his chest.
I purposely chose him for the video because it allowed me to demonstrate how most people look when you tell them to take a deep breath. With a little practice, I think he’ll be able to get it down.
3. As far as when and where to implement these drills. I’ve been doing more of them at the start of a training session, as part of an extended warm-up. I may lie down for a good 2-5 minutes and just focus on my breathing. Hell, maybe pop in a little Norah Jones and just chillax.
It’s a bit “voo-doo’ish,” but it works, and I’m willing to bet if you take the time to implement these drills into your repertoire, you’ll feel a marked difference in how you feel. Try them out today, and let me know what you think!
UPDATE: for those interested, HERE is the video done by Bill Hartman I referenced above (where he discusses belly breathing and APT). As you’ll undoubtedly realize – if you watch it – Bill is kinda smart.
