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.
Back injuries can be the worst, and if you’re something you likes to lift heavy things it’s almost inevitable.
Telling someone who’s livelihood is the iron to “just stop lifting” isn’t the right approach (not to mention woefully narrow-minded).
I received my copy of this book earlier this week and it’s really, really good. The way it’s written – Brian telling his story, with Dr. McGill chiming in to add his insights and knowledge – makes it an easy and entertaining read.
If you’re a strength athlete or someone who works with strength athletes, it behooves you to purchase this book.
Selecting the wrong diet is not the problem keeping millions of people overweight and unhappy about it. What we need to be talking about is what a person can do other than go a diet to eliminate their weight problems.
Social Media Shenanigans
Twitter
I thought it was a dumb thing to say before, but now that I’ve got a 20lb mobile baby, telling women not to lift over 3lbs is fucktard dumb.
Back pain can be tricky. First off, anyone who’s ever dealt with it (pretty much everyone) knows it’s no fun. Second, there’s no overwhelming agreement as to what actually causes it. One person says weak glutes, another says tight hip flexors or hamstrings, and yet another may point to a bad hair day (NOTE: read this footnote, it’s a doozy —>).1
Third, if the stock photo I chose below is any indication, back pain can also put a real damper on what can only be described as an Old Spice or Abercrombie & Fitch ad shoot.
In my career as a personal trainer and strength coach I’ve worked with dozens and dozens of athletes and clients battling low back pain. It comes with a territory as a fitness professional. I’ve tried my best to arm myself with the best skill-sets possible (within my scope of practice) to help my clients work through their low back shenanigans. I can assess – not diagnose – and try to come up with the best game plan possible to address things.
And, to be honest, addressing one’s lower back issues can be mind-numbingly simple.
In short:
“Find what movements hurt or exacerbate symptoms, don’t do those movements, and then find movements that allow for a degree of success or pain free training.”
I’d be remiss not to mention Dr. Stuart McGill’s work here. Not only is he one of the world’s Godfathers of spine research, but he’s also one of the world’s best mustache havers.
He’s co-authored hundreds of studies and written several books on the topic of low-back pain – with Ultimate Back Fitness & Performance (now in it’s 6th Edition) and Low Back Disorders being his flagship pieces of work.
Speaking of Ultimate Back Fitness & Performance, look who makes a cameo appearance on pg. 289 in the latest edition:
BOOM
For the Record: TG Life Bucket List
Get to a point in my career where Dr. Stuart McGill not only knows who I am, but emails me out of the blue and asks permission to use a picture of me in his latest book update.
Appear in a Star Wars movie.
Become BFFs with Matt Damon
Own a cat.
I’d have to say, however, that his most “user friendly” book is Back Mechanic. In it, he breaks down his entire method for “fixing” low back pain covering everything from spinal hygiene, assessment, corrective exercise, and strength training.
I’m not going to belabor anything, you can purchase the book and peel back the onion on his protocols (seriously, the assessment portion is gold).
I’ve noticed a trend in recent years, though. Dr. McGill has done so much for the industry and his work is so ingrained in our thoughts as fitness professionals that I feel the whole idea of “avoiding spinal flexion (sometimes at all costs)” has bitten us in the ass.
Yes, avoiding spinal flexion is a thing, especially if someone is symptomatic and flexion intolerant.2. It’s that point, though, “avoiding spinal flexion” that has gotten the best of us for the past decade or so.
We’ve done such an immaculate job at coaching people to know what “spinal neutral is” via prone planks, side planks, and birddogs, and then used strength training to engrain that motor pattern, that (some, not all) people transitioned into more extension-based back pain because they lost their ability to move their spine into (pain free) flexion.
Dr. Ryan DeBell discussed this phenomenon recently where he discussed his own back pain history. He started as flexion intolerant, trained himself into “spinal neutral,” (which is what you should do), started to avoid all flexion like the plague, and after awhile, extension-based movements & positions started to hurt…because he was locked into extension.
As a corollary, I see this quite often myself: someone comes in to see me and both flexion and extension based movements hurt. It’s so frustrating for the person and I can understand why.
My job, then, as the coach is to garner confidence and self-efficacy with my client/athlete and work with him/her on what I know tends to work….find movements that do not hurt and work from there.
Dr. McGill has his own version of the “Big 3,” or his go to exercises when first starting with a low-back person:
The Curl-Up (I.e., not a sit-up)
Side Bridge or Plank
Birddog
Even when we master those movements, which are often very challenging for people when performed right, I’ll stick with them for a couple of months and just up the ante with appropriate progressions. Lets take the birddog for example.
Birddog w/ RNT
The band adds an additional kinesthetic component where increased stiffness or engagement occurs in the anterior core and glutes. Truthfully, it’s not uncommon for me to START with this variation so the person can feel what their limbs are doing in space.
Birddog – Off Bench
I “stole” this one from Dr. Joel Seedman and feel it’s an ingenious progression. Doing the birddog off the bench takes away a component of stability (feet off the floor) and forces people to slow the eff down and learn to control the movement. If they don’t, they fall of the bench. And I laugh.
Your Spine, Move It!
Going back to the assessment for a quick second, it’s not uncommon for me to assess someone and to find that their spine doesn’t move. Whether it’s because of a faulty pattern or they were coached to avoid flexion at all costs (even when asymptomatic) it’s as if their spine is Han Solo frozen in carbonite.
One screen I like to use is a the toe touch drill. When someone bends over to touch their toes there should be a consistent curvature/roundness of the spine. Often, what I’ll see is more of a “V” pattern where they’ll bend over, but instead of seeing a nice curve I’ll see their lower back stay flat throughout the movement; as in zero movement.
This can be just as detrimental as anything else. It may or may not be a root cause of their low-back pain, but I know it’s a red flag I’d like to address.
Segmental Cat-Cow
Below is a drill I’ve been using more and more with my low-back clients. We’re all familiar with the Cat-Cow exercise, where you round and arch your spine moving through a full-ROM.
Cool, great. The human body is great a compensating, and unless you have a keen eye for detail it’s easy to assume that if someone can round and arch their back they’re good to go. But
But are they? Often, if you SLOW PEOPLE DOWN it’ll become abundantly clear that they may move well in certain areas of their spine (thoracic), but not in others (often lumbar).
Coaching them through the movement – point by point, segmentally – is a fantastic way to hammer this point home and to help nudge them to move their spine in a slow and controlled fashion.
Give this one a try with some of your clients. COACH THEM. This drill doesn’t require more than two passes (up and down) per set, for a total of 3-4 sets. Helping them understand that they are allowed to move their spine – assuming it’s pain free – is a sure fire way to set them up for long-term healthy spine success.
I often joke that “lifting weights isn’t supposed to tickle.”
When you’re pushing, pulling, carrying, thrusting, and otherwise hoisting things around for the heck of it…you’re bound to end up with a few bumps and bruises along the way.3
Honestly, I can’t think of the last time my body was 100% devoid of any type of soreness or semi-nefarious “huh, well that doesn’t feel fantastic” sort of vibe.
I’m not referring to pain. Nothing that diminishes my ability to live my day-to-day life. Just, you know, sometimes my first step out of bed or sitting down to drop it like it’s hot isn’t the most enjoyable experience in the world.4
(Anyone who’s performed heavy squats the day prior can commiserate).
A lifetime of playing sports and training will do that to a body.
But that’s the point.
Lifting weights and pushing the body outside it’s comfort zone is what allows us to adapt and come back stronger and more resilient; to take on the world (or the squat rack) and tell it to GFY.
All that said: it still sucks donkey balls when the inevitable happens. We take things too far, go too heavy, or move juuuuust the right way for something wrong to happen.
Arguably, nothing stagnates or deflates progress more in the gym than a jacked up lower back.
Statistics will say that we’ve all been there. Or, alternatively, as fitness professionals, have worked with someone who’s been there.
So I figured today I’d shoot from the hip and fire back some quick-hitting suggestions/insights/alternatives to consider when working with someone dealing with low-back pain.
In No Particular Order
1) Except for this one. This is super important.
I’ll kick things off with the grandiose, off-kilter statement that if something hurts…don’t do it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Y73sPHKxw
Fucking profound, right?
Dr. Stuart McGill will advocate for provocative tests/screens to be performed – slump test, toe touch, McKenzie drills, etc – in order to figure out the root cause or possible source of someone’s back pain.
The stark contrast should be done outside of that window. It’s imperative as a coach, trainer, clinician, wizard, to demonstrate pain-free movement to the client/athlete. The objective should be to mute or pump the brakes on pain and start to mold more of a “movement quality” campaign.
Dr. McGill often refers to this as “spinal hygiene.”
A more “user-friendly” text would be his latest book, Back Mechanic.
3) Back to “spinal hygiene.”
The good Doc refers to this as:
“The daily upkeep of your back. It includes your recovery exercise routine as well as changes to your existing daily motions all day long. Success in removing back pain requires removal of the movement flaws that cause tissue stress.”
This could refer to something as simple and innocuous as teaching someone how to sit in a chair properly, or even how to stand up from a chair.
As counterintuitive as it seems, those who have more flexion-based back pain will feel more comfortable in flexion. Likewise, those with extension-based back pain will feel at home in extension.
It’s weird.
So, often, taking the time to clean up activities and endeavors outside of the gym will be of most benefit.
As the saying goes: “we as trainers/coaches have 1-2 hours to “fix” things, and the client/athlete has 23 hours to mess it up.”
Other things to consider:
Walking. This is an excellent fit for those with low-back pain. It’s just important to make sure they’re not defaulting in forward head posture and a slouched posture. McGill refers to this as the “mall strolling” pattern. One should be more upright and swing the arms from the shoulders (and not the elbows). This provokes more of a “pertubation” to the body helping to build spinal stability.
Grooving more remedial hip-hinge patterns like I discussed in THIS article. Getting someone to dissociate hip movement from lumbar movement is a game-changer..
Pigging back on the above, the hip hinge creeps its way into EVERYDAY things like brushing one’s teeth or bending over to pick something up off the ground (golfer’s lift). Anything that can be done to spare the spine (discs) and make it less sensitive to pain is a win – no matter how trivial the activity.
4) Synchronous Movement
Learning to “lock” the ribcage to the pelvis is another key element to managing back pain. The abdominal brace is of relevance here. Basically the entire core musculature – not just any one muscle (ahem, transverse abdominus (drawing in method) – needs to work in concert and fire synchronously to spare the spine and offer more spinal stability.
One drill in particular that hammers the point home is the Wall Plank Rotation.
Here an abdominal brace is adopted and the objective is to “rotate” the entire body as one unit, locking the ribcage to the pelvis. Many will inevitably rotate through their lumbar spine and then the upper torso will follow suite.
5) Neutral Spine – Always (But Not Really)
The spine IS meant to move.
Neutral spine is paramount, but it benefits trainees to tinker with end-ranges of motions (in both flexion and extension) if for nothing else to “teach” the body to know how to get out of those compromising positions – especially when under load.
During our workshops together, Dean Somerset will often demonstrate to the trainees how squatting into deeper hip flexion (unloaded, and to the point where butt wink happens) can be of benefit to some people. The notion of learning where a precarious position is (and how to get out of it) is valuable.
I’ll use the simple Cat-Camel drill to teach people that it’s okay to allow the spine move.
Also of Note: I’d argue we’ve been so programmed into thinking that all spinal flexion is bad and that a baby seal dies every time we do it, that it’s caused a phenomenon referred to as reverse posturing.
The idea that more and more people are now “stuck” in extension, and thus at the mercy of a whole spectrum of other back issues (spondy, etc).
Suffice it to say: we can’t discount Rule #1…helping to build improved spinal endurance/stability.
Plain ol’ vanilla planks come into the picture here.
This:
Not This:
This:
Keeping people honest and accountable on proper position (not “hanging” on passive restraints and dipping into excessive lumbar extension) is kinda of important.
Rule of thumb is to be able to hold a prone plank 120s, side plank (per side) for 90s. McGill will note it’s a RED FLAG if there’s a huge discrepancy between right/left sides.
I prefer more of an RKC style once someone is ready. This helps to build more bodily tension, to the point where everything – quads, abs, glutes, eye lids, everything – are firing. Ten seconds is torture when done right.
However, we can always graduate to less vomit in my mouthish exercises. As much as planks are baller and part of the equation to helping solve someone’s back pain, they’re about as exciting as watching a NASCAR race.
6) A few favs include:
Elbow Touches
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUgz2U65KPc
Progressing lower and lower towards the ground.
Farmer Carries – all of them
Offset Loaded Exercises
I love offset loaded exercises for a variety of reasons. But most germane to this conversation is the fact that there’s a heavy rotary stability component when performing them.
Getting people moving and performing more traditional strength & conditioning drills – assuming they’re pain free and of high movement quality – will help to get them out of “patient mode,” and more excited to stick to the plan.
7) A Few Other Ideas to Consider
Don’t be an a-hole and marry yourself to the idea that everyone HAS to deadlift from the floor and that everyone HAS to pull conventionally.
Sometimes we have to set our egos aside and do what’s best for the client/athlete and what’s the best fit for them. I think the trap bar deadlift is a wonderful tool for people with a history of low back pain.
To steal a quote from Dr. John Rusin:
“Without sending you back to Physics 101, the forward position of the barbell causes a less than optimal moment arm to stabilize the core position in neutral while moving some serious loads off the floor.
During the traditional deadlift, the center of mass (barbell) falls in front of your body, therefore causing the axis of rotation of the movement to be farther away from the load itself. This all translates into increased shearing forces at the joints of the lumbar spine, putting all the structures, including intervertebral discs and ligaments at increased risk of injury with faulty mechanics of movement.”
The trap bar deadlift results in a better torso position for most people and less shear load in the spine. For anyone with a history of low back pain this is a no-brainer.
Use an incline bench rather than a flat bench when programming pressing movements. It’s just an easier scenario for most people and less “wonky” of a position to get in and out of.
Too, program more standing exercise variations – standing 1-arm cable rows, pull-throughs, landmine presses, Sparta kicks to the chest.
Q:I have been lifting weights now for about 3.5 months and have been happy with my results. However, I have been feeling a little tired during my last few workouts. I believe that it is because I am lifting heavier weights than when I started.
I workout in my home and workout early in the morning, usually at 5am.
I think my problem is that I am working out on an empty stomach since I literally roll out of bed, take my pre-workout and go at it. I started taking casein before I go to bed and it seems to work a little. Unfortunately, this is the only time in the day I can fit in my workouts, so moving workout time is impossible. All I have been able to find is that I may need to add a pre-workout meal. Do you have any suggestions?
A: Whether it’s due to family obligations, work, school, or because some of us stay up late fighting crime (or more realistically, playing video games), sometimes the only way we can squeeze in a workout is if we do so early in the morning.
While that’s fine, and there are plenty of people who do very well with that sort of schedule, there are some things to consider/address.
1. Spine Stiffness
Rolling out of bed at 5AM and immediately turning into some exercise Nazi – busting out sit-ups, push-ups, heavy squats, kettlebell swings, and the like – while admirable, probably isn’t ideal.
Can you at least brush your teeth and get the “eye boogers” out first?
The key word here is immediately.
Ever notice how much it sucks to try to bend over and put your socks on first thing in the morning compared to later in the day?
Dr. Stuart McGill has done a ton of research on spine mechanics and he’s noted that the spine is very “stiff” first thing in the morning.
Namely, because we’ve just spent the past 6-9 hours sleeping on our backs, our spine decompresses, collects water, which in turn increases annular tension within the discs themselves.
With this in mind, it’s generally not a good idea to begin exercising soon after hitting the snooze button for the seventh time. Ideally, once out of bed, you’d want to hold for about 30 minutes before you begin to exercise. More specifically, though, this pertains to exercise which will require a lot of bending over, rotating, or nunchucks.
Going for a walk or light jog = no biggie.
Lifting heavy stuff = hold off 30 minutes.
I see one of two options happening:
1. Get up 30 minutes earlier and just chill out. Stand-up, read the paper, drink a protein shake (more on this in a bit), watch a few LOLCat videos, I don’t care. Just don’t hop out of bed and immediately walk over and start busting out some deadlifts. Wait 30 minutes.
2. If time is a factor, getting up even earlier sounds as enticing as watching an episode of Dancing With the Stars, and you don’t have the luxury of waiting, you can still start training early, but save the “heavy” stuff for later in the workout after you’re warmed-up and have been moving for a bit.
It may look something like this.
Full foam rolling and dynamic warm-up
Note: try to keep most of the warm-up to standing options only.
D1. Rotator Cuff
D2. Additional Core Work
D3. Take a shower, stinky.
2. Should You “Break” the Fast?
Didja see what I just did there?
Some people can eat a ginormous meal right before training and feel fine. Others will just look at a bowl of oats and hightail it to the bathroom after their first set. It’s purely individual.
Here it will take a bit of experimenting on your part to see what works for you.
The while casein vs. whey protein thing is overplayed. It’s generally accepted that casein, since it’s slower to absorb, is a better protein to ingest to help preserve or “protect” muscle mass. Conversely, whey protein, since it’s absorbed quickly, is best to take immediately after a training session to help jump-start the muscle repair process.
While not a wrong train of thought, it’s definitely sensationalized. Yes, casein is absorbed slower compared to whey. But the last time I checked, and I believe smarter people than myself such as Alan Aragon and Mike Roussell have confirmed this, we’re talking minutes, not hours.
In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter that much, if at all.
One thing that I’m adamant about, however, it telling people NOT to train on an empty stomach. While intuition – and a lot of faulty information, logic, and magical fairies making things up on the internet – says that training on an empty stomach will help one burn more fat, I have some news for you.
Your body is a lot smarter than you.
Even if you eat carbs before a workout, substrate utilization (ie: what the body burns) during exercise doesn’t really matter. At the end of the day it’s about what the body is doing AFTER and IN-BETWEEN training sessions.
If you train on an empty stomach you have no “gas in the gas tank” and you’re essentially exercising on fumes. Sure, you may burn a greater percentage of fat (as preferential fuel source, depending on degree of exercise intensity), but the TOTAL calories being burned as a whole – because you’re energy levels are in the crapper – is so insignificant, that it won’t matter anyways.
To that end, I much prefer to see people train with something in their stomach if for nothing else to give them a little boost during their workout.
It’s NOT about substrate utilization! It’s about fueling your workout!
What you can eat, however, is the million dollar question. Some people do well with a simple protein shake and maybe a small piece of fruit beforehand. Others do well with a small bowl of oatmeal or cereal. Hell, you can have last night’s leftover pork chop for all I care.
As it happens I don’t get a ton of hate mail or “troll” activity that’s directed my way. Part of that is because I generally – not always – steer clear of controversial topics (CrossFit, intermittent fasting, Jacob vs. Edward) that somehow always gets people’s panties all up in a bunch.
On the other side of the coin, I like to think I go out of my way to provide top-notch content with a little lightheartedness that doesn’t come across as me being an uppity know-it-all snob. And even if I do take a strong stance on something, I’m always willing to keep an open mind and respect other’s opinions on the matter.
That said, on the off-chance that I do get someone going out of their way to be a big meanie head and write me a scathing email or comment, I’ve learned to politely say “thank you,” or ignore them altogether and move on with my life. It’s just not worth getting into a war of words with some people.
It was a hard pill to swallow when I first started writing. I took any negative feedback I received as a direct blow against my character, and I’d be lying if I sat here and said that it didn’t sometimes affect my mood. I wouldn’t cower in the corner in the fetal position sucking my thumb or anything, but there were times back in the day where I’d be thiiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to turning on a Julia Roberts’ movie and crushing a pint of Ben & Jerry’s.
When you think about it though, anytime you open yourself up to the masses and decide to write in an open forum, whether it be blogging, articles, or any form of media, you’re going to expose yourself to criticism. It’s the nature of the beast, for better or worse.
Throughout the years I’ve learned to pick my battles. Sometimes I deserved to be called out and I was always appreciative (although maybe not right at that moment) in the long-run, because part of why I’m in this industry and why I write is to learn and help people. I’m not that much of a conceited person where I can’t say “my bad, I’m wrong” and move on.
And then you just have those people who have nothing better to do with their lives than to be a big, fat meanie-head. Like I said, normally I ignore stuff like this and use it as a good laugh, but for some reason I felt this particular person, based off his holier than thou tone alone, deserved a little taste of his own medicine.
I think most of you reading will agree.
Here’s the email that was sent my way in its entirety – with a few words/lines highlighted on my end.
Why are you stating that an upper rounded back in a deadlift is incorrect. Please explain the shear you speak of.
So I guess Konstantin Konstantinov must be a shitty deadlifter eh? The fact is it depends on body composition and the weight being pulled.
It would be nice if you trainer, no back and no trap, types get your shit correct before you put this crap on the web.
RD
+500lb deadlifter
So, essentially, what this guy was saying was that:
1. He read ONE blog post of mine (I don’t know which one) and decided that that encompassed my entire thought process on everything deadlifting. And….
2. Because he watched a Russian deadlift once, on the internet, that that somehow makes him an authority. And….
3. He’s a +500 lb deadlifter (allegedly), so he obviously knows what he’s talking about.
For starters, one blog post doesn’t define me and my thoughts.
Secondly, here’s a picture of some random dude juggling some chainsaws. Man that is nifty! I could probably do that! In fact, I know I could do that because I saw it on the internet.
Thirdly, isn’t it funny how everyone somehow deadlifts over 500 lbs???? Uncanny.
Anyways, here was my initial response to him (with more to follow afterwards):
Riiiiigggggghhhhhhttttt.
Well, if you actually read more of my stuff, you’ll understand that I’ve also said that when someone is lifting heavier loads it isn’t always going to be pretty.
And as a coach and trainer I’m certainly not going to teach someone to deadlift with a rounded back. It’s just not worth the risk. If or when they get to the level of Konstantinov then they’ll get a little more leeway..
Thanks for setting me straight, though, I really appreciate it.
+570 lb deadlifter (ie: more than you).
I’m sorry. I just couldn’t resist closing off my response with that last line. Childish, I know – but sooooooooo worth it.
So lets break this down in a more conducive, less confrontational way.
His main beef with me was stressing how I’m not a fan of people deadlifting with a rounded upper back. Specifically he asked if I could explain this whole “shear” phenomena, as if I was pulling a random word out of my ass.
Let me clarify a bit before I proceed.
For starters, as the co-owner of a gym (and as such: having the luxury of paying liability insurance), part of, if not the most crucial component of my job is to keep people from getting hurt.
Think about how much responsibility we accept when a parent drops off their 14 year old kid to train with us. How do you think it bodes for business if we have kids injuring themselves left and right because we don’t take the time to teach them how to lift correctly (but more on that in a bit)?
As someone on my Facebook page so succinctly noted, “it must be nice to Monday morning quarterback from a far. If they did have their butt on the line everytime an athlete picked up a bar, this junk would be the last thing you would be arguing about.”
More to the point, if we were to look at the biomechanics of the lumbar spine (or read anything Dr. Stuart McGill has written in the past 15+ years: HERE and HEREwould be a nice start), we’d understand that the spine can handle compressive loading fairly well (assuming it’s not loaded and someone is living flexion), but it’s shear loading that many fail to pay attention to.
What is shear loading?
When the (lumbar) spinal muscles – namely the erector spinae, longissimus, iliocostalis, etc – are doing their job when lifting heavy things off the floor, they’re mainly counteracting perpendicular forces to the axis of the spine which attempt to slide the components away from their normal axis.
As my boy Dean Somerset noted, “McGill showed elite powerlifters could get their spines to within a few degrees of full flexion and maintain that position through the pull, whereas amateurs or intermediates would go beyond full flexion without control and wind up exposing their discs to stupid forces and injury, so teaching a rounded back to a beginner is completely different than allowing an experienced puller to creep into flexion during their max lifts.
It also doesn’t talk about how when the experienced lifters are training with less than max weight they get closer to neutral and work on maintaining and grooving that pattern while staying away from flexion.”
For the visual learners out there, it goes a little something like this:
Now, to be fair: guys like Konstantin Konstantinov have a TON more leeway because he’s trained his body to stay out of danger when the shit hits the fan. He’s the elite of the elite. Using him as an argument as to why lifting with a rounded back is advantageous is borderline the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Excuse me while I go throw myself in front of a mack truck.
Moreover, it’s important to note that as a coach I’m ALWAYS going refrain from teaching the deadlift with a rounded back because it’s just common sense. It’s important to engrain the proper motor pattern, and CEMENT that pattern with smart, properly progressed strength training so that if or when they do start lifting heavier loads, they’ll be better prepared to not crumble like a deck of cards.
That and so their max pulls don’t end up looking like this walking ball of fail:
So that’s my more “polite” response. Agree? Disagree? Want to give me an internet high-five? Please share below.
There’s no debating the fact that planks (and all their infinite variations) have a place at the “big boy” table in terms of exercises which 1. offer a horde of benefits, and 2. are wildly popular in the fitness community.
Personally I have a love/hate relationship with them.
I love them because, well, it’s hard not to appreciate/respect the long-standing work of guys like Dr. Stuart McGill, Dr. Craig, Liebenson, and a slew of others who are way smarter than me who have routinely shown that building and improving upon spinal endurance is a key factor in addressing low-back pain.
Having the ability to buttress shear loads and maintain a “neutral” spine both from an anterior/posterior perspective (prone planks) as well as laterally (side planks) goes a long ways in demonstrating one’s ability to control the lumbo-pelvic-hip area.
While I don’t have the exact numbers in front of me, Dr. McGill has noted that one should be able to hold a perfect prone plank position for roughly 90-120s, and a side plank for roughly 60s (on both sides).
If one is unable to do so, compensates in any way, or there is a major asymmetry between left and right sides on the side plank, it’s cause for a red flag and more than likely will result in a dolphin gets punched in the face.
In short, planks (or to be more precise: the ability to perform them correctly) can be a valuable assessment tool.
Which brings me to why I also hate them.
Walk into any gym, anywhere, at any time, and you’ll undoubtedly see people planking away. And, more often than not they look god awful.
There’s this….
And this….
And this, which is actually kinda cool….
Worse is that some people will brag – like it’s a badge of honor – that they can “plank” for five minutes. Well la-de-freakin-do. Unless you’re training for some World Planking Championship, who cares????
And that’s not even the worse offense. I’ll give a free pass to the general fitness population because they don’t know any better. But what really grinds my gears is when I see personal trainers having their clients perform planks for minutes on end, and it looks like the first two pictures from above.
What purpose does that serve? And more to the point: how is it you’re letting your client get away with such atrocious technique???????
AHHHHHHHHHHHH.
Okay, deep breaths Tony. Everything will be okay.
Just so we’re on the same page: I am NOT saying that planks are a waste of time. Like I said there’s definitely a ton of efficacy for their inclusion in a well-designed training program. But I’m also in the camp that believes there’s a rate of diminishing returns after a certain point.
If you’re working with a banged up client with a history of low back pain that’s one thing; but if you’re working with a “healthy” client with no contraindications or symptoms then I’d rather make planks more challenging rather than go for longer periods of time.
Which brings us to today’s exercise you should be doing.
Prone Plank Push-Pull
Who Did I Steal It From: fellow strength coach and Cortland State alum, Justin Kompf.
What Does It Do: it definitely brings a new flavor into the mix on two fronts.
1. By taking one arm off the floor, you’re taking away a base of support which inherently makes the exercise more challenging.
2. It also adds a dynamic component where the trainee has to RESIST me with the push component, and then pull AGAINST my resistance with the pulling part.
All this while still maintaining a “neutral” spine and not allowing the torso to compensate in any way.
Key Coaching Cues: All the same rules apply, and this means making sure your technique is spot on. Meaning, there should be absolutely no compensating in the lumbar region (dipping or hiking), no forward head posture, and the glutes should be firing along with a significant abdominal brace throughout the duration of the set.
Additionally, I like to yell out the cues during the set: Push!, Pull!, Push!, Pull!, your sister’s hot!, Push!, Pull!, Push!, Pull!, so on and so forth.
Shoot for 6-8 reps on one side, switch, and repeat the same process on the other.
And that’s about it. Give it a try today and let me know what you think!
Back pain is a bitch. There’s really no other way to describe it. It’s been said that 80% of Americans will experience it at one point or another, which, when you run the numbers, is like four out of five people. Yep, that’s what I like to call math.
Needless to say, back pain bites the big one and it’s easily the #1 cause for things like days missed from work, training days lost, not to mention the burden it places on health care costs.
The mechanisms for back pain are many, but can really be categorized into two camps:
1. One, massive, blunt force trauma: car accident, falling off a ladder, getting Terry Tated in your office for not refilling the coffee pot.
2. Repeated, low-grade, aberrant motor patterns which inevitably lead to something bad happening. Sitting at a desk all day comes to mind. In addition, we all know of someone who either bent over to tie his or her shoe or simply to pick up a pencil who ended up blowing out their back. The body is going to use the path of least resistance to get the job done, and unfortunately, because most people have the movement quality of a ham sandwich (poor hip mobility, poor t-spine mobility, etc), the lumbar spine, literally, gets eaten up.
While it’s a bit overkill, our spines can be thought of as a credit card. Bend it back and forth enough times, and eventually, it will break.
As a coach who works with elite athletes as well as people in the general population, I’ve seen my fair share of back issues, and I wholeheartedly feel that a structured strength training regimen geared towards improving movement quality, addressing any postural imbalances/dysfunctions, as well as “cementing” proper motor patterns is one of the best defenses in preventing low back pain in the first place.
Coaching someone how to achieve and maintain a neutral spine (something I wrote about HERE and HERE) would be high on the priority list.
Coaching someone how to properly perform a hip hinge or helping them clean up their squat pattern – utilizing the appropriate progressions (and regressions) – would also be kind of important.
And, of course, we can’t neglect staples like encouraging spinal endurance (planks), as well as placing a premium on proper lumbo-pelvic-hip control (core stability exercises like chops/lifts, Pallof Presses, and the like).
All of these things are great, and certainly will set people up for success, but there are many (MANY) less obvious components that often get over-looked.
Stealing an analogy from the great Dr. McGill – it’s the hammer and thumb paradox. Lightly tap your thumb with a hammer and not much will happen. No big deal, right? After a few thousand taps, however, you’ll be singing a different story.
Keeping this theme in mind, lets take the birddog exercise. Simple exercise, that many fitness professionals use with their clients to help improve dissociation of the lumber spine from the hips, and to teach co-contraction of the anterior core and erectors with little to no spinal loading.
Simple exercise, for sure, but not quite so simple in it’s execution. If you glance at the picture to the left, you’ll notice the concave shape of the back and see that she’s just hanging on her lumbar spine. Not exactly ideal execution.
If this were someone suffering from low back pain, would this alleviate their symptoms or make them worse? My guess would be the latter.
Taking it a step further, have you ever watched people foam roll? There’s no questioning it’s efficacy towards helping to improve tissue quality, and we have every one of our clients do it prior to their training session.
The thing to consider, though, is that when you’re dealing with someone with a history of low back pain – whether they’re currently symptomatic or not – you need to stay on top of them so that they’re not making the same mistake as above and hanging on their lumbar spine; essentially living in a constant state of extension.
Rather, what should happen is that they “brace” their core and maintain more of a neutral spinal position as they roll around (reference the fine looking gentleman to the right).
It’s borderline OCD, I know……..but I can’t stress enough how important it is to make the small things matter.
Take away the hammer.
Using an example that’s a bit more exciting, lets take the overhead press and break that down. Now, I have nothing against the overhead press – far from it. But when you actually watch a vast majority of people perform it, don’t be surprised if your eyes start bleeding. With a keen eye, what you’ll almost always witness is someone substituting excessive lumbar extension for shoulder flexion. But damn, it can look gooooooooooood at times.
When this happens, it’s usually beneficial to regress the exercise a bit and take some of the joints out of the equation, ALA the Gray Cook approach.
In the half kneeling position, I’m essentially taking my lower half out of the equation where I can now focus on pressing the weight over my head WITHOUT compensating with the lumber spine. The key here is to “dig” the rear toes into the ground and to squeeze the glute of the trailing leg, hard! As I press, I’m thinking “elbow to ear.”
Moving to a standing position, strength coach Dave Rak (he’s single, ladies) demonstrates a variation he showed me with one hip flexed:
Here, we’re still able to “lock” the lumbar spine in place and alleviate as much body english as possible. What’s more, there’s an awesome glute activation component in the trailing leg. Yes, I understand you won’t be able to use as much weight, but that’s not the point (yet). Once we can perfect the movement pattern, and take some of the burden off the lumbar spine, then we can load it and satiate our inner meathead.
Belly Breathing – The Right Way
One last point to consider, and this is something that I never even thought of until Bill Hartman pulled a Bill Hartman and made me realize how stupid I am, is the idea of belly breathing into the belt.
As Bill demonstrates in this video, that’s not necessarily correct:
And there you have it: just a few more things to consider when discussing the topic of low back pain. Sometimes it’s not the quite so obvious things that are causing the issue(s).
Have your own ideas to share? I’d love to hear them below.
In the words of the great 50-Cent: Go, go, go, go, go, go.
……Go shawty, it’s your birthday
We gonna party like it’s your birthday
We gon’ sip Bacardi like it’s your birthday
In case you weren’t picking up on my vibe, today’s my birthday, soooooooo, I automatically get a mulligan for taking so long to get this post up today.
I took a personal day off from CP, and as a result I slept in, made a ginormous omelet, opened up my presents, answered some emails, wrote a few programs, dropped Lisa off at work, helped a little old lady cross the street, read scripture to a bunch of orphans, fought crime, and now I’m sitting here writing at a local coffee shop chillaxing.
I’ll hang out here for a while, and then head back to pick Lisa up whereupon she’s treating me to an all-you-can-eat-meat-buffet-extravaganza.
Life is good.
I contemplated not writing a post today, but thought better of it since I took most of last week off due to Thanksgiving/marathon football watching. And, even more importantly, I didn’t want to leave my loyal readers feeling shafted that I haven’t been a blog writing ninja lately.
I don’t know if it’s something in the water or what, but lately I’ve been receiving a lot of inquiries about my thoughts on weight belts. Namely, whether or not I feel there’s any efficacy for their use, and if so, when?
As is the case with any question pertaining to fitness, the answer is:
It Depends
For most, here’s where I see a belt’s use coming to fruition:
1. They have observed others wearing them and have come to the conclusion that it will be a good idea for them to do so as well.
2. Their back has an ouchie, and they believe that a weight belt with help alleviate the problem.
3. They think it will make them invincible and chicks will want to hang out with them.
Attacking the first argument (everyone uses them, so I should too) – this is where I feel most trainees miss the boat entirely, and where I feel most need a little dose of tough love.
Sure, there’s a lot of research proving the usefulness of weight belts in increasing intra-abdominal pressure, as well as improving performance: go to Pubmed and do a search, or better yet, go to page 174 of McGill’s Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance, where he uses an entire chapter discussing this topic.
Here’s the rub, though. I feel many trainees tend to get carried away and tend to rely on a weight belt as crutch. Looking at the anatomy, you’ll realize that your body has it’s own natural weight belt already in place.
Anteriorly: rectus abdomimus (or your abz, in bro-science talk).
Laterally: internal & external obliques
Posteriorly: erector spinae, multifidus (segmental stability), longissimus, iliocostalis, and we can even throw the lats into the mix here.
And, digging a little deeper, we can’t neglect the roles of the transverse abdominus, diaphragm, and pelvic floor with regards to core function (with both stability AND performance).
Assuming one is perfectly healthy, and doesn’t have a history of back issues, one could argue there’s no immediate use for a weight belt, and that our body does a pretty darn good job on its own!
Note: this is taking into consideration that, despite many people being asymptomatic, MRI’s have shown 52% of people walking around have a bulge at one level; 38% have bulges at TWO levels. In short, just because you’re pain free, doesn’t mean you’re entirely in the clear.
But that’s a discussion for another day.
Stealing a section from an article I read by Dave Kirschen on this same topic:
I tend to think of a belt as a performance enhancer rather than protection. If you are lifting correctly, your midsection should be strong enough to support itself through the vast majority of tasks you put it through. You may be limited in how much weight you can lift, but you are not in any significant danger of injury without it. The belt really comes into play when you need the extra support to get after heavy weights.
I couldn’t agree more.
Outside of some heavy, I’m going to shit my spine lifting (we’re talking in the range of 90% + of one’s 1RM), weight belts, in my opinion, are less than optimal.
As mentioned above, belts do help to improve intra-abdominal pressure, as well as prevent buckling of the spine with heavier loads, but it’s just gotten to the point where dudes (and girls, too – you’re not off the hook!) wear belts for just about everything: bicep curls, lat pulldowns, lunges, changing a light bulb, taking the garbage out, you name it.
It’s gotten out of hand.
Attacking the second point (your back has an ouchie, and a belt will help alleviate the problem) – again, I feel this is placing a band-aid over the real issue. Many trainees use weight belts as a crutch and fail to address the actual dysfunctions and imbalances they have. In a way, by wearing a belt incessantly, they’re “shutting off” the surrounding musculature in terms of doing what they’re designed to do – protecting and stabilizing the spine.
This is actually a tough one to tackle, because there are obviously circumstances where a weight belt is advantageous and warranted.
As a general rule, however, most trainees would be better off taking a step back and addressing the issues at hand (unable to find, or even maintain, a neutral spine, having the t-spine mobility of the Tin Man, and hips that are stiffer than a 2×4, to name a few), rather than relying on a weight belt for everything.
And lastly, undressing the third point (they’ll feel invincible) – I’m not going to lie, there IS a sense of “comfort” and peace of mind that comes from wearing a belt; but again, unless you’re using loads upwards of 90% of your 1RM, you’re better off keeping the belt in your gym bag.
Which presents another question:
What Kind of Belt Should You Get?
Not all belts are created equal. At the expense of sounding like a broken record, a weight belt is mostly designed to help one increase intra-abdominal pressure, which in turn, stabilizes the ENTIRE mid-section. Belts that you can purchase at your local Wal-Mart that are skinny in the front and wide in the back are worthless, because they do a piss poor job at providing enough support for the entire system.
Remember that one time you decided to buy your cottage cheese from the dollar store because, well, it was a dollar? How did that work out? It probably tasted like sour butt crack, right? You get what you pay for. And purchasing a top-notch weight belt is no different.
I’d recommend heading over to elitefts.com and perusing their weight belt section. They’re not cheap, but they’re legit, and will last F.O.R.E.V.E.R.
UPDATE (March 2017): The peeps over at BarBend.com have done everyone a solid and started reviewing every weightbelt they can get their hands on. By the end of this year their goal is to have 40 or so of the top brands reviewed. You can check the list HERE.
Keeping that in mind, I’d be remiss if I didn’t take at least a few moments to discuss how to use a belt properly.
1. Seriously, don’t wear one for every exercise! Squats and deadlifts would be the staples. Others on the list would include goodmornings, HAS (Heavy As Shit) farmer carries, and competition bench presses. I’m sure I could think of more, but whatever. The point is if you’re wearing a weight belt to perform tricep kickbacks, you’re tool.
I’d recommend going belt-less for all of your warm-up and build-up sets. From there, once you reach roughly 90% of your 1RM, strap that baby on and dominate!
2. Mistakenly, many trainees tend to latch their belt on as tight as possible – to the point where they’re cutting off circulation. Again, the belt is there to help, but you also need to do some of the work. Instead, leave some wiggle room and latch the belt a little looser than usual. This way you’re forced to PUSH OUT against the belt and get more kinesthetic feedback. Additionally, as a result, you’re teaching yourself to increase intra-abdominal pressure without relying too heavily on the belt.
3. And that’s about it. This ain’t rocket science, yo.
I’m sure I’m missing some points, and I could expound on a few things in more detail, but I think you get the gist. At the end of the day, I can just defer to Dr. McGill on the matter:
If one must lift a few more pounds, wear a belt. If one wants to groove motor patterns to train for other athletic tasks that demand a stable torso, it is probably better not to wear a belt.
What are YOUR thoughts? Agree? Disagree? Don’t care? Sound off below.
properly, or even how to stand up from a chair.
position as they roll around (reference the fine looking gentleman to the right).
