CategoriesStrength Training

Hip Hinge 2.0

In today’s guest post by strength coaches and physical therapists, Sam Spinelli and Jason LePage, they break down the hip hinge from beginner level to more advanced iterations.

Ain’t no party like a hip hinge party.

Enjoy.

Copyright: pressmaster / 123RF Stock Photo

Hip Hinge 2.0

Your hips have a powerhouse of potential for performance. In the realm of athletics hip extension is one of the most vital components for success. Through the progression of strategies to develop incredible hip extension, the start is to learn how to hip hinge. By hip hinging we can develop a potent supply of hip extension strength and movement capacity that will feed into our other exercises (jumps, cleans, snatches, etc.).

 

In a hip hinge we are moving our body through hip flexion and extension, while maintaining our spinal position in a neutral range. In most hip hinge exercises we are minimizing (not eliminating) knee movement, allowing for a focus to be placed on the hips; this is often referred to as a “soft bend” in the knees.

By having this soft knee bend, in contrast to a squat motion, we are going to encourage bending over. Due to this, understanding how to move through the hips and not the low back is vital to long term development.

While the hip hinge holds the opportunity to develop some awe-inspiring power, it is not the most simple movement, and for some people can be a real struggle to just pick up. That is where the following “hacks” come in. These are a collection of some of our top picks for learning the hip hinge motion.

Wall Referenced Hip Hinge

Back to Wall Hip Hinge

Wall Facing Hip Hinge

 

By using the wall we can have an external source of feedback guiding us. When we have our back to the wall, if you aren’t able to do a posterior weight shift and move your hips, you won’t reach the wall.

In contrast, when we face the wall, if you aren’t able to do a posterior weight shift you’ll make contact and not get very far.

Combine the two to get the best of both worlds and own the hinge pattern.

Handcuff Hip Hinge

 

With the weight held behind our back, it gives a reference of where to push into and guide the weight shift. As well, it places our shoulders in a more retracted and depressed position which cues to keep our chest proud through the movement.

Finally, with your arms secured behind your back you can feel if your lower back begins to round during the movement.

Kneeling Band-Assisted Hinge – Video link + Commentary

 

Struggle to move through just the hips and not bend the knees excessively or arch your back?

This variation will be a huge help.

The tall kneeling position temporarily eliminates the ankles which brings the focus to the hips! For this drill, simply try to sit your butt onto your heels. If you are struggling to move at the hips, the band will assist that movement to show you what it feels like to perform a hinge.

Some repetition here will help your body sense what the hinge feels like before moving on to a standing strategy.

Foam Roll Assisted Single Leg Hinge – Video link + Commentary

 

With this hip hinge hack, we transition to a single leg to hone the mechanics for unilateral hinging. In this variation, the foam roller functions as an external cue that allows you to create tension using the entire body as well as increase the stability of the movement allowing you to move slower if needed.

In most people, the foam roller will fit nicely between the foot and hand and is a solid option if you are struggling with a single leg variation of the hinge prior to loading the movement pattern.

Once you’ve begun to hone the hinge pattern, it’s time to start loading it up and building a monstrous posterior chain. Below are some of our top picks for beefing up your training program and solidifying your backside.

Pull Through

Banded Pull-Through

 

Pull-Through Added Band Resistance

 

Transitioning from the hip hinge hacks to loading can be challenging for some people. That is where the pull through can be utilized perfectly.

The pull through is an excellent exercise for novices to begin loading the hip hinge as it helps to give great feedback through the cable/band pulling your hips and weight in the direction we want them to move. As well, due to the direction of pull, their is a greatly reduced amount of loading on the back, making it a very safe exercise to begin with.

For those of you who are more advanced, the pull through can still be a great option for loading the hamstrings and glutes without putting as much stress on the low back/erectors. If you find yourself struggling with having enough load, consider adding in a band for additional loading.

Elevated Deadlift

 

The deadlift is arguably one of the best movements in general – challenging most of the body in one motion, but it is in particular one of the best posterior chain exercises.

It allows for great loading of the hamstrings, glutes, and lumbar extensors while also incorporating much of the upper back musculature to stabilize the spine and shoulders. Most people struggle to effectively pull off the floor and by elevating the bar a few inches we can get into a much better starting position and focus on good mechanics.

Hip Thrust

 

When we talk hip hinge, we are generally referencing movements that have us in an upright posture. However, there are some fantastic exercises that use the hips that are not done being upright. The hip thrust is an incredible strength movement for the glutes and other posterior chain muscles and really helps those who have a need for horizontal force production – such as most field sport athletes.

Landmine 1-Leg SLDL

 

Working the posterior chain on a single leg can put a big focus on hip, knee, and ankle stabilization, while also reducing how much loading is on the lower back and placing more on the legs and hips.

However, many people struggle initially learning the mechanics of the 1 leg SLDL. Utilizing the landmine we are able to take advantage of the arcing motion of the bar and also the increased amount of structural stability to have a slightly easier time learning the motion.

KB Swing

 

The KB swing offers us the ability to ramp up the speed of the movement and incorporate some higher rate of force development. This can be very beneficial for all athletes and incorporated as a primer before heavy work. As well, the KB swing can be a great exercise to use in a conditioning format as it can really get the heart rate going.

About the Authors

Sam Spinelli

Sam Spinelli is cofounder of The Strength Therapist, a company devoted to educating people about strength training for rehab and performance.

Coming from the great white north of Canada, Sam spent 5 years working with high level hockey as a strength and conditioning coach. Currently he has taken up a nomad status in the United States to pursue his doctorate of physical therapy and hang out with really smart people (Like Tony G).

Outside of spending his time reading research papers and drinking coffee, he is a competitive strength athlete in sports such as powerlifting, weightlifting, and strongman.

Website – thestrengththerapist.com

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/thestrengththerapist/

Facebook – https://m.facebook.com/The-Strength-Therapist-200045793768153/

Twitter – https://mobile.twitter.com/Strengthphysio]

Jason LePage

Jason LePage is a Doctor of Physical Therapy student at Quinnipiac University and the founder of PrimePhysioFitness. For the last 4 years, Jason has worked as a personal trainer and group fitness instructor with a passion for promoting fitness and wellness for all ages.  Outside of school and work, Jason loves playing a variety of sports including basketball, tennis, and volleyball and spending time with his family.  If you want to learn more from or connect with Jason:

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Categoriescoaching Exercise Technique Program Design Strength Training

Why Train the Posterior Chain?

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of Zak Gabor, a MA-based physical therapist and strength coach. His alma mater – Ithaca College – also happens to be my alma mater’s – SUNY Cortland – sworn enemy.

But he’s cool…;o)

Enjoy!

Not only can tapping into your posterior chain get you extremely strong, help improve athleticism and give you the butt of your dreams, it can leave you significantly less injury-prone, especially with low back and knee injuries.

Photo Credit: Dr. John Rusin

I am here to discuss how and why posterior chain strength needs to be a priority in training (that is, of course, if you want to decrease your chance of getting injured.)  Training your posterior chain doesn’t guarantee injury prevention but it sets you on the right track for building a strong foundation.

What is the Posterior Chain?

In the strength and conditioning world, the posterior chain consists of the erector spinae, gluteal muscles, hamstrings, and gastroc/soleus complex.

Note from TG: “Posterior Chain” was also the original name of Thor’s hammer.

But it actually wasn’t.

Why is the Posterior Chain So Damn Important?

This is an area that I am extremely passionate about. What can I say, I’m a butt guy, but for good reason.

I truly believe that incorporating posterior chain strengthening into training can save tons of money on healthcare costs for low back and knee injuries, but more importantly, keep you healthy! 

As the PT profession is constantly evolving, my goal is to get clients in the door and teach them ways stay healthier, versus having patients in for rehabilitative purposes.

Lets dive into two of the major joints that are especially vulnerable to injury in the lack of adequate posterior chain strength:

Low Back:

Oh yeah, baby.

Over $80 billion spent each year on low back in healthcare… simply unacceptable. 

To me, if you know how to strengthen your posterior chain, that means you know how to hip hinge (i.e. load the glutes and hamstrings effectively while keeping lumbar spine neutral).  For anyone who knows what a freak I am about preaching this movement pattern, this right here is the primary reason why! 

Am I saying that if you can hip hinge you will never get back pain? No.  I am saying that understanding the hip hinge pattern will give you a much better chance at preventing low back pain.  The simplified reason is two fold:

1) Lifting loads from the ground with a neutral spine= less likely to hurt low back

-Now, now, not trying to be dogmatic, but research don’t lie.

Spines ARE resilient, we need to be able to tolerate both flexion and extension. 

Yet, if you are like me, and respect the work of one of the most influential low back researchers (Dr. Stu McGill) then you know that repeated flexion especially under loads; leave the lumbar spine vulnerable to injury.

Therefore, learning how to properly hip hinge and maintain a neutral, stiff, spine throughout the movement can not only prevent injury, but can also get you the butt of your dreams.  Enter strengthening the posterior chain.

2) Strengthening posterior chain = less likely to hurt low back

Simply put, a strong butt (Gluteals) will decrease your risk of low back injuries. 

There is a ton of research out that indicates how important gluteal strengthening is for low back rehab.  Lets simplify this in the pre-hab lens. 

Glute Max is one of, if not the most, powerful muscles in the human body.  Unfortunately, most individual’s glutes are offline thanks to endless hours of sitting.  If we can strengthen the most powerful muscle in the body (which just so happens to neighbor and play intimately with the lumbar spine), wouldn’t it make sense that it would be good protection for the lumbar spine?  Just sayin’

Knee:

The knee gets a little bit more technical, but I will try to keep it simple.

The knee as a joint is extremely vulnerable, to say the least. 

It is literally two bones sitting on top of each other with little to no bony stability…meaning it gains its stability primarily from soft tissue structures both inert (meniscus, ligaments) and contractile (quads, hammies, and a whole lot more). 

Believe it or not, the knee actually has more evidence online than low back for its correlation of posterior chain strength preventing injuries.

A lot of the research is specific to ACL injury prevention, but honestly, mechanics resulting in various knee injuries are often similar to ACL mechanics.

One of the predisposing factors to knee injury is what is known as dynamic valgus (knee collapsing inward) mostly brought on by quad dominance. 

The other major way it can be brought on is by lack of posterior-lateral hip control. 

Most individuals are quad dominant because of sitting all day, turning off the glutes and hammies, and leaving the quads as primary movers.  Here is a photo of one of my favorite examples of a dynamic valgus brought on by quad dominance (i.e. the quads winning the tug of war on the femur and pulling into dynamic valgus:

This is called “RG 3’ing.” Named after NFL Quarterback, Robert Griffin III.

Notice how his knees cave in as he develops power, this is a great example of when even “healthy” people can be predisposed to injury. Don’t RG 3….

How do we combat this? Well, this answer is multi-faceted, but Ill give you a hint… one of the best ways it to strengthen the posterior chain. 

It’s really that simple.

There are TONS of ways to strengthen and target the posterior chain.  As a matter of fact, just peruse Tony’s awesome website, and you will find tons of exercises… as I did when I was just a newbie in the S&C world.

Here are a few of my favorites:

1) Glute-centric: Bridging, every bridge variation….

2) Hamstring-centric: Nordic Hamstring curls (also AWESOME evidence for preventing hamstring strains)

 

Note From TG: This is an older video. So, relax internet trainer who doesn’t even perform this exercise in the first place, but is quick to point out how it’s not perfect technique. Am I bending a little too much from the waist? Yes. Is the music on point? Yes.

Here’s a nice regression:

3) Compound post chain: DEADLIFT, RDL, KB swings

Conclusion

You still need to train your anterior chain too! However, in a world where we’re stuck sitting for hours on end and prone to training our “mirror muscles,” placing more of a premium on the posterior chain is never a bad idea. For many reasons.

Anyone who might be interested in learning more and truly mastering the hip hinge, we will be hosting workshop July 24th at RX strength training in Medford, MA.

Either way, feel free to email me should you have any questions or anything about this you would like to discuss!

Peace, love, and glutes

About the Author

Zak GaborDr. Zachary Gabor, PT, DPT, CSCS, USAW, is a 2015 graduate from Ithaca College where he earned his Doctorate of Physical Therapy.
Prior to that, he earned his Bachelor of Clinical Health Science degree from Ithaca College in 2013. Zak is also a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA), and a Sports Performance Coach through USA Weightlifting (USAW).
Throughout his doctorate program, Zak served as a Teaching Assistant for several physical therapy courses including gross anatomy and musculoskeletal examination and evaluation. He also spent over three years providing personal strength training to clients and athletes.
Zak is passionate about teaching and educating, both of which are very important cornerstones to any patient’s plan of care. In addition, Zak’s clinical experience is rooted in sports-based orthopedic rehabilitation and physical therapy, with an emphasis on strength training and sports performance.
A firm believer in continuing education to better serve the patients, clients and athletes he works with, Zak is dedicated to constantly learning. His future post-gradation coursework will include: manual therapy courses, dry needling certifications, and sports certification specialist designation.
CategoriesExercises You Should Be Doing

Exercises You Should Be Doing: Core Engaged Slideboard Leg Curl

As a a predominantly sports training facility it’s no secret that we place a premium on training the backside of the body at Cressey Sports Performance.

While the “mirror muscles” (chest, biceps, quads, abs) get most of the love, what separates the athletes who get cut from the Varsity team to those who earn scholarships and maybe even play professionally are the ones who, outside of having natural ability, understand that training the backside – hamstrings, glutes, erectors, lats, rhomboids, trapzipidus1, etc – is what allows them to run faster, jump higher, and be more explosive.

Photo Credit: Greatist

Not to mention increases your intelligence by 717% in addition to improving your chances of dating a Victoria Secret model by 312%. Trust me, it’s science.

Even if you’re someone who’s not remotely concerned with developing athleticism and all you care about is aesthetics and not being timid to take your cloths off with the lights on, training the non-mirror muscles can have a profound effect on how you look.

Whether we’re talking about helping to offset the deleterious effects of sitting on all day (posture) or just building a well-rounded physique, training the backside of the body is where it’s at.

To that end exercises like deadlifts, squats, RDLs, hip thrusts, glute-ham raises, pull-throughs, and KB swings get a lot of play at CSP.

Another exercise we like to use is the slideboard leg curl. As opposed to the traditional prone 0r seated (machine) leg curl, this variation trains both (main) functions of the hamstrings – knee flexion/hip extension – simultaneously.

One variation of the slideboard leg curl we’ve been playing with recently is the core engaged leg curl.

Core Engaged Slideboard Leg Curl

Who Did I Steal It From: fellow CSP coaches Greg Robins and Miguel Aragoncillo.

What Does It Do: I’ll admit it comes across as a bit gimmicky, but the band does serve a purpose.  Bilateral arm (shoulder) extension forces trunk flexion, which is just another way of encouraging a little more posterior pelvic tilt.

By engaging the core, we can keep people from defaulting into too much lumbar extension during the exercise. Since we work with a lot of people who are stuck in extension, this is an exercise that fits very well with our population of athletes and clients.

You can perform this both bilaterally (two legs) or unilaterally (one-legged). As you can see (and hear) from the video, the one-legged variation is hard! I did shoot this video AFTER a training session, so cut me some slack….;o)

Both variations are superb and a great way to train the hamstrings and glutes.

Key Coaching Cues: I like to use a controlled eccentric and extend my legs to the point where my butt just baaaaarely touches the floor. Finish with the glutes at the top!

This is a somewhat self-limiting exercise, so if you’re unable to extend your legs out all the way that’s okay. You can use what ROM you do have and build from there. You also have to consider that the exercise may be too aggressive compared to your current ability level.

Shoot for sets of 8-10 reps if performing with two legs; 4-5 per leg if performing one at time.

Let me know what you think!

CategoriesMotivational Strength Training

A Critical Reply to an Uncritical Coach

Today’s post comes from the one and only Bret Contreras.  As he’ll note below, I received an email from a fan of my blog asking me for my opinion on some candid remarks she overheard one of the strength coaches at her university regurgitate to a few other students.

And by using the word regurgitate I’m being really nice.

To say I was shocked at this particular coach’s train of thought would be an understatement, and I had to pinch myself to make sure I didn’t somehow time travel back to 1986.

Which, actually, would be kinda sweet because tv back then was awesome, what with shows like Airwolf, The A-Team, and The Gummi Bears rocking the airwaves.

Nevertheless I was definitely taken for a loop when I read this coach’s comments, and I could think of no one else I’d rather see write an appropriate and thorough response than Bret.

Thankfully he came through with flying colors, and absolutely PWNED the guy.  Enjoy!

A Critical Reply to an Uncritical Coach – Bret Contreras

Last month, an avid reader of this blog wrote to Tony requesting expertise. Tony sent it over to me for a good laugh. But I’m always up for a good grilling, so I asked Tony if he’d let me respond. In the past I’ve been disrespectful to those I grill, so I will try my best to remain professional here. The gist is that there’s some strength coach out there (we won’t mention his name) who is simply making a bunch of stuff up. This guy needs to be corrected so his athletes can receive proper training. Below are his comments. In gray is what the reader wrote to Tony, and my responses are in red:

Today I was eavesdropping on a conversation between the head S&C coach and a couple of his practicum students. They were talking about how he teaches the squat to his athletes. The coach said that because so many athletes are stronger in their posterior chain compared to their quads, he strongly discourages his athletes from “sitting back” or having any type of hip hinge movement while squatting to minimize glute and hamstring involvement and target the quads. He said the box squat or squat to a box was a pointless exercise due to the hip hinge requirement and the nearly vertical tibia – he wants his athletes squatting by dropping straight down, staying relatively upright and getting the knees a fair ways beyond the toes. He emphasizes developing quad strength over posterior chain strength in all of his young athletes. Also, he said that prevention of ACL injuries would be enhanced if there was less emphasis on hip hinging and more emphasis on quad strengthening, especially in female athletes. 

I pretty much disagree with everything this coach said. I see this all the time, and it’s worth addressing.

Many coaches formulate their methods based on what they think happens and what seems rational in their minds. They don’t read research or utilize the scientific method, and prefer to rely on intuition. They may still achieve good results, as many avenues lead to success. For example, coaches who simply have their athletes full squat and sprint will see improvements in performance. But due to false assumptions and failure to take advantage of the thousands of available prior scientific studies conducted by hardworking sports scientists and strength coaches, their athletes will fail to achieve maximum results, which is unfortunate. At any rate, here is my retort

1. Athletes are supposed to be stronger in their posterior chains compared to their quads. Gluteus maximus plus hamstrings plus adductor magnus should slightly outperform the quadriceps in terms of total muscle force and extension-torque production. If this is the case with athletes (hip extensor dominance), you should be happy and should not try to change the ratio toward quad-dominance. Strong quads are indeed important in sports, but it’s ideal for the hips to stay stronger than the quads.

2. No squat variation is “pointless.” The box squat is a welcome variation as the vertical tibia increases the hip extension moment and decreases the knee extension moment. In other words, more torque is required out of the hips, and less torque is required out of the knees. This is highly beneficial for lifters ranging from newbies, to those prone to experiencing knee pain or injury, to powerlifters. The full squat with an upright stance is also a good variation, especially for Olympic lifters, but not everyone can handle the forces on the knee joint associated with this variation.

3. Actually, quad-dominance increases the risk of ACL injuries, in addition to increasing the risk of hamstring and low back injuries. And actually, youngsters, females, and beginners typically exhibit quad-dominance due to high daily-activation in the quadriceps with concomitant low daily-activation in the glutes. For this reason, hip extension strength, particularly gluteal strength, should be emphasized with these athletes, along with just about every other athlete too. 

But wait! There’s more. The reader later sent another email to Tony with more “gems”:

He pretty much had a hate-on for the hip hinge. He said that “vertical displacement” is the key in sprinting and jumping, not the horizontal displacement of the hips moving back and forth. Therefore, the hip hinge should not be emphasized and the quads should. He never tells his athletes to “sit back”. He said that if he had an athlete who was knee-dominant, he would not try to strengthen his/her hips “because then they’ll use their hips for everything.” 

Vertical displacement is indeed the key for jumping, but not for sprinting. You do not want to be bouncing up and down excessively when sprinting. The key to sprinting is to produce just enough vertical force to raise the center of mass just enough to cycle the legs back around so they can reproduce horizontal force. Anything greater in terms of vertical force production is wasted energy and will result in slower speeds.

But now I need to address something very alarming.

Nothing we do in the weightroom completely mimics on the field performance.

If resistance training had to exactly mimic sport actions in order to transfer to performance, we would not be able to add resistance, since adding load in any form (bands, vests, sleds, free weights, etc.) immediately changes mechanics.

Squats, RDLs, split squats, hip thrusts, and back extensions would all screw up sprinting and jumping performance. Hell, squats would screw up RDLs and vice-versa, sprints would screw up jumps and vice-versa, etc.

However, we have tons of research showing improved performance and transfer of training from resistance training to sporting actions, from plyometrics to resistance training, and so on and so forth. There is a synergistic effect with the various types of hip extension exercises, and an athlete should be strong in all leg and hip muscles through a full range of motion. This requires multiple exercises.  

Of course you don’t want athletes sitting back excessively when they jump, but they can differentiate RDL’s and box squats from jumping performance as they are separate motor qualities.

RDLs and box squats don’t automatically cause athletes to sit back too much when they jump, Oly squats and split squats don’t automatically cause athletes to stay too upright when they jump, and hip thrusts don’t automatically cause athletes to want to lie down on their backs in the middle of a game (note the heavy sarcasm).

As long as there exists a balance in programming, athletic form remains intact. In the weightroom, we strengthen muscles and movement patterns, and the athletes are able to blend the newfound neuromuscular improvements into their jumping and sprinting motor programs. 

Last, research shows that the knee extension torque does not increase nearly as much as hip extension torque when transitioning from running to maximal sprinting, submaximal jumping to maximal jumping, and submaximal squats, lunges, and deadlifts to maximal squats, lunges and deadlifts. This is very important as it suggests that continual improvements are reliant upon strengthening the hips!

He thinks “glute activation” is complete BS because there’s no way to “prove” that it works (even using EMG). He said that the simple, low-load, isolated movements that are used to activate the glutes have no transfer to multi-joint movements like the squat or to the performance of the actual sport. I don’t think he believes that the glutes need to be activated in the first place.

There are many ways to show that glute activation works. We can obtain clues by examining the EMG activation, but at the end of the day we need training studies showing significant results. Glute activation is in its infancy in terms of the literature. However, in just the past couple of years, several important studies have emerged: 

  1. One showing actual EMG profiles of strongmen performing various strongman exercises. The better performers clearly used their glutes more so than the poorer performers.
  2. One showing increased glute activation with simultaneous decreased hamstring activation during hip extension exercise
  3. One showing increased hip extension strength, decreased hamstring activation during the support phase in running, and cured hamstring cramping in a triathlete
  4. And one showing significantly improved power production during a vertical jump compared to controls and a whole-body vibration warm-up

Considering that many well-respected coaches and rehabilitation specialists such as Tony Gentilcore, Eric Cressey, Mark Verstegen, Michael Boyle, Pavel Tsatsouline, and Stuart McGill have seen good results with glute activation drills, it’s definitely worthy of incorporation until more research emerges. It’s worth mentioning that I am a huge fan of glute activation and believe that research will eventually show its value. 

He thinks bracing the core (or whatever you want to call it) is stupid. He said “when would you ever do that when you’re playing your sport? You don’t have time to consciously think about activating your core.” He said that the core had much, much greater activation during the performance of big compound lifts.

I agree with the coach in this situation, aside from when an athlete is about to collide or be struck in the midsection. Sports are markedly different from resistance exercises, both in terms of timing and muscle activation requirements. When you put a heavy bar on your back or in your hands, you place considerably more bending torque on the spine, which requires a much greater amount of spinal stiffening compared to ballistic bodyweight movements.

He doesn’t really like single-leg training, but especially hates the single-leg squat because it “produces too much compensation.” He thinks that training the single-leg squat will only make the athlete better at single-leg squats and won’t transfer to the sport. I have seen him use split squats with his athletes, though.

I’m not sure what he means by “compensation,” but I suspect he’s referring to the oft-seen lumbar flexion and posterior pelvic tilt exhibited in the bottom range of motion during a pistol squat.

It’s worth mentioning that single leg box squats provide a solution for this issue. But the notion that they don’t transfer to performance is absurd.

Take a novice lifter who struggles with a bodyweight squat. Over the course of 12 weeks, utilize progressive overload and get him able to perform five full range pistol squats. Guess what? His barbell squat and vertical jump will have improved along with his pistol squat.

Sure you can argue that the pistol squat isn’t the safest or best way to load the lower body, but it definitely transfers to sport. Everything challenging compound lower body movement does, and the transfer is more pronounced with less experienced lifters.

That’s all for today! Hopefully sports science spreads and coaches are forced to step up their game or be replaced by those who have an appreciation for the scientific method and the literature. 

CategoriesUncategorized

Exercises You Should Be Doing: Zercher Goodmornings

Normally with this segment I gravitate towards exercises that fall under one of the three categories:

1.  Those exercises I see most people perform poorly (seated rows, push-up variations, single leg variations, etc).

2.  Those that are new to me, and thus, new to the reader, but can be performed by most everyone without running the risk of poking their eye out (band overhead shrugs, innovative pallof press variations, etc).

3. Those that, you know, activate or mobilize “stuff.”  As an example, HERE.

Today, however, we’re going to kick it up a notch or two (or ten thousand) and enter beast mode territory.  Because, well, why not?

I heart goodmornings.  But I also understand that they’re a fairly advanced exercise (okay, uber advanced exercise) that I feel only those with a solid 1-2 years of “real” strength training should utilize.

With that said, here’s some criteria before moving on:

  • As noted above:  it’s preferred that one has at least 1-2 years of solid training experience under his or her belt before attempting this exercise.
  • This isn’t an exercise that I’m just going to haphazardly throw into the mix unless I feel completely confident that someone knows what they’re doing.
  • You must have a SOLID foundation of squatting and deadlifting technique.  If at any point someone makes the this face (——>) while you’re performing either of the two, you definitely should not be performing goodmornings.
  • Why?  It’s pretty well known that the spine can handle compressive loading like a G6, and as such, we can sometimes get away with less than stellar technique. When it comes to shear loading, though, the water gets a little murkier and having a client perform goodmornings (which is shear loading central) when they’re not prepared for it, is a recipe for disaster.

Still, I do find that goodmornings are an excellent strength training exercise that, when performed correctly, has it’s advantages.

For starters, it’s an awesome movement that hammers the posterior chain and serves as a key accessory movement to the deadlift (which is probably why I like them so much).

Secondly, and pigging back on the point above, due to the anterior bar placement and subsequent control of shear loading, it forces people to get into more t-spine extension.

Note: This is, of course, assuming that they’re able to do it in the first place. If one has questionable t-spine mobility (particularly in extension), I’d probably pass on this exercise and opt for safer, more manageable alternatives.

And lastly, speaking from a personal perspective, goodmornings serve as an  “indicator movement,” which helps me better gauge my progress with the deadlift (and squat for that matter).  Because the goodmorning so closely strengthens the same muscle groups, whenever I see improvements in its performance, I can almost guarantee my deadlift and squat numbers improve as well.

There is a caveat.  Outside of someone’s preparedness to do them, goodmornings can be problematic for those with a history of cranky shoulders.  Due to the bar placement, which places the shoulders in the “at risk” position for impingement (abduction and external rotation), unless one has access to specialty bars such as a Giant Cambered Bar or Safety Squat Bar, traditional goodmornings probably are not the best option.

…which is where Zerchers come in.

Key Coaching Cues:  set the bar at or around chest height so that it’s easier to place it in the crook of your elbows.  It’s going to take some experimentation, and yes it’s about as comfortable as washing your face with broken glass, but deal with it.  Worse case, if you find it’s excruciating, you CAN place a towel between the bar and your elbows.  Don’t worry, I won’t judge.

“Hug” the bar close to your chest and keep the chin tucked throughout the set. Un-rack the weight, take two steps back and get your air.  I like to tell people to make themselves look fat and fill their belly with air – doing so increases intra-abdominal pressure and improves spinal stability.

Too, you need to make sure to arch like a bastard – particularly when pushing your hips back.  When doing so, you feel a significant “stretch” in the hamstrings.

If you can visualize it:  the bottom position of the goodmorning (in terms of feet/hip/back placement) should be about the same as your starting position for the deadlift.  The back should not be rounded in any way.

From there, you’ll reverse the direction making sure to finish “tall.”  Both your hips and knees should lock out and you should squeeze your glutes hard at the top.

I prefer not to go crazy with the reps here, and tend to keep these in the 4-6 rep range. Since it’s such a technique heavy movement, and requires Jedi-like precision, using high(er) rep schemes which induce more fatigue isn’t wise.

Like I said, this is a little bit of a break from the norm in terms of exercises I normally cover in this series, but if you’re looking to kick it up a notch and add a certain level of badassesery to your training, these may fit the bill.

Let me know what you think!