This past Saturday night marked the end of “daylight savings,” which meant we had to turn our clocks back an hour, and in the process, gain an hour of sleep on Sunday (score!). Although, subsequently, it also means it will start getting dark by 4:30 in the afternoon (bummer).
Anyways, Lisa and I are huge fans of getting up early(ish) on Sunday so that we can get a head start on “life” and all the fun activities we have in store: namely – laundry and grocery shopping. But, just so we’re clear, “fun activities” can be interpreted in any number ways, because doing laundry is about as fun as knitting a sweater or passing a kidney stone in my book. Nevertheless, it’s stuff that needs to get done, and I’d rather do it early and get it over with than procrastinate and wait until later in the day.
You know, when football is on. And naps need to be taken.
So, I turn over on Sunday morning and look at the clock and it says 7 AM, which is really 6 AM because like an asshat, I forgot to set my clock before I fell asleep.
We’re awake, give each other a high five, and with that we both get out of bed, and decide to strip it and gather up all the laundry and trudge down the street to the coin-operated laundry mat.
We have it down to a science, and it’s really impressive when you think about it. While I still haven’t quite grasped on to the whole concept of separating the colors from the whites, Lisa and I are able to load the machines and are out the door within five minutes. Knowing that the timers are set for 25-30 minutes, we hop in the car and drive to Whole Foods, which is roughly a mile away.
There, we like to buy some of our high(er) commodity items, or stuff that we only have to purchase once a month, or maybe every other week. Things like: chia seeds, cacao nibs, ginger, various spices, soy and/or coconut milk, unsweetened coconut, Larabars (when on sale), or various fruits and vegges that are in season (yet on sale). And, too, Sundays tend to be sampler days, so if I’m lucky there are several platters of free cheese out in the open. #Winning!!!
Once we leave the Whole Foods parking lot, it’s back to the laundry mat to switch the clothes from the washing machines to the dryers. I slowly approach the building, Lisa sniper rolls out of the car, and I wait as she does her thing. We have thirty minutes until the clothes are dry.
……and then it’s off the Trader Joe’s to do the bulk of our weekly grocery shopping.
The doors open at 8 AM, and I think we were there by 8:45.
I won’t bore you with the details, but suffice it to say, we heart Trader Joe’s, and we’re lucky to live in a neighborhood which has one within such a short distance of our apartment.
We head back to the laundry mat, pick up the clothes, and we’re back inside our building by 9:30 AM – laundry AND grocery shopping done. What’s up!?!
I say all of this, because we’ve made it a routine. It’s part of what we do. Laundry aside – seriously, I’d rather drink battery acid – getting the grocery shopping done for the week is important to both of us, and it’s something I feel more people need to try to make a habit of doing.
I mean, if’ the (right) food is there to eat, you’re less likely to be tempted to eat for convenience, or worse, order out.
Of course, you then have to take the time to prepare those foods – which is exactly what we do for the next 2-3 hours once we’re home.
I made some homemade apple-cinnamon protein bars from the Gourmet Nutrition cookbook.
Lisa went for broke and made spaghetti squash, roasted butternut squash, apricot squash soup, delicata squash (I guess someone likes squash), roasted carrots, brussel sprouts, and sweet potatoes, and roasted chicken to last us the week.
She then prepared meals for the week and placed all the containers in the fridge.
In fact, I’m pretty sure we have the most diesel fridge in Boston right now:
So, I ask, what does your fridge look like? Is it full with fresh produce (eggs, yogurt, milk), veggies, fruits, and meat? Yes, there’s some bad stuff in there, too – I just made sure to place it in the back (HA!). Or, is it filled with nothing but processed crap?
I say all of this not to showcase my laundry doer prowess (although, it served as a nice segue)….
…..but rather to demonstrate that food prep is kind of a big deal.
Taking the time to buy and prepare foods a head of time speaks volumes for setting yourself up for success throughout the week.
The inside of one’s fridge says a lot. What does yours say?
Yesterday, in Part I, I started things off with some basic spinal anatomy (nerd alert) and then discussed how imperative it was to hone in on any postural deficiencies or imbalances that may be present in order to teach someone to get into a more neutral (ie: normal) spinal position when training.
Today, I want to delve a little more into the coaching side of things, and offer a few ideas/thoughts/suggestions that you may be able to either use yourself or with your clients and athletes.
Before we begin, however, I just have to get one teeny-tiny thing off my chest. No one has perfect posture – ever. Not even RoboCop.
Although, I have to say, after seeing this picture of myself from this past summer (where I was part of the “Expert Panel” at the Peak Performance Program Design Seminar), I come pretty darn close.
Not to brag or anything, but my posture is straight-up PWNING.
Anyhoo, with regards to perfect posture, one of my biggest pet peeves is when trainers spend an inordinate amount of time in “corrective” mode. And what I mean by this is that they’ll take a client through an assessment, whatever that may be, and then proceed to spend 45 minutes trying to correct the fact that their right big toe doesn’t dorsiflex three degrees.
Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s admirable that there are trainers out there who care THAT much to want to fix everything, and they they’re willing to actually assess people beforehand. But, lets not get too carried away here.
At the end of the day people also need a training effect, and in my experience, I can get much more done from an assessment standpoint getting people out on the floor moving around a bit. Seemingly, things tend to “shake free,” and I can better ascertain one’s overall movement quality when I have him or her out on the floor “doing stuff” than just having them lying down on a table for an hour bored out of their mind.
*steps off soap box*
Okay, with that out of the way , lets get started!
When I’m working with an athlete or even a general population client, I’m a pretty hands-on coach. I call it Play-Doh coaching, and all it basically means is that I’m not hesitant to place my hands on people and poke and prod (sometimes drop kick) to get them into the positions I want them to get into. This is especially true when trying to teach neutral spine to someone.
Take the prone plank, for example. Everyone knows what a prone plank is, and everyone does them at some point or another. Thing is, many trainees tend to epically fail when trying to perform it.
That’s intern Kyle you see up there in the picture. I asked him to drop down and get into a plank position that would make me cry. Fantastic job on his end, but truth be told, that’s what many people look like when they perform the exercise. Not pretty! In a perfect world the dowel rod would have three points of contact: the sacrum, the middle of the back, as well as the back of the head.
As you can see, that ain’t happening.
The dowel rod is a great tool because it provides fantastic kinesthetic feedback to the client so that they can “feel” where I want them to be.
Now as a coach, to start, I’d use my hands to “mold” him into the position I’d want. I’d tell him to widen his feet to give him more of a base of support. I’d tap his glutes to get them to fire, as well as his stomach to engage his core more. I’d gently push down on his upper back to get it into the proper position, and then I’d take my hands and place his head where I wanted it to be.
Ideally, it would end up looking something like this:
Much better. Again, the dowel rod is key here because it’s providing all the feedback Kyle needs to feel that he’s in the proper position and to maintain more of a neutral spine.
So, if you’re not quite picking up what I’m putting down, head down to your local Home Depot and purchase a dowel rod.
But what happens if we’re trying to teach something a bit more complicated – like the deadlift? It’s no surprise that I’m a huge fan of deadlifts, as I feel it’s a valuable exercise to learn no matter what one’s goals are.
As such, the dowel rod can be a useful tool in helping to groove proper hip hinge mechanics while simultaneously teaching trainees to pattern the deadlift with a neutral spine.
In much the same way, I’ll have the client place the dowel rod behind their back making sure to maintain three points of contact (sacrum, mid-back, and back of the head). From there, I’ll simply have him or her perform a hip hinge, like so:
Darth Maul re-enactments aside (you’ll have to watch the video to see what I mean. Unfortunately it was cut-off early), if at any point they lose contact with the rod, they know they’re not maintaining a neutral spine. To that end, this is a fantastic drill in of itself, and is something that can be used as part of a general warm-up or even as a filler exercise in between sets.
Taking it a step further, sometimes, and this doesn’t happen often, someone will smoke the dowel rod patterning drill, but when I have them attempt an actual deadlift, they turn right back into Quasimodo. When in the bottom position, they just can’t seem to differentiate between a neutral spine and what they’re back is actually doing.
In this instance I’ll use something as simple as the Cat-Camel drill.
Normally used as a t-spine mobility exercise, I’ve actually used it as a teaching tool to help people understand what it is I want them to do.
Literally I’ll have someone drop down into the quadruped position and have them purposely round their back (like a scared cat). I’ll have them note how that feels and say something along the lines of “feel that? Yeah? Well, stop it.”
Then, I’ll have them arch their back into a more neutral position (camel). Similarly, I’ll have them note how that feels, and tell them that I want them to repeat that same feeling when they set up t0 deadlift. For many, it works like a charm.
For those wondering: sexy tiger is optional.
Lastly, another simple drill that I’ve utilized in the past to help teach someone neutral spine, is to have them place their hands on their knees – kind of like what I basketball player does when he’s tired.
You’ll note that most will automatically maintain perfect spinal alignment. KA-CHING!!! From there, just have them inch down a bit further to grab the bar.
No one said we’re doing long division here, so there’s no need to make it more complicated than it has to be. It’s brutally simple drill, but it works.
And that’s about it. Of course, if you’re a trainer or coach, coaching your ass off is part of the equation. All of this is fine and dandy, but if you’re allowing sloppy form on everything, then it’s a complete waste of time (and you suck at life).
Collectively, between the drills I highlighted in part one, in addition to the drills discussed above, teaching someone how to attain a neutral spine should be within the realm of possibility.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter. And ladies, for the record, Kyle is single. MEOW!
The spine contains over 120 individual muscles, 220 specialized ligaments and over 100 joints.
Cartilage makes up roughly 25% of the spine’s total length.
It can be sub-divided into three main “sections,” the cervical spine (neck), thoracic spine (mid-back), and lumbar spine (lower back).
The lumbar spine consists of five vertebrae (L1-L5), and each one elites roughly 1-2 degrees of total rotation, for a total of 10-13 degrees of total motion. Conversely, the thoracic spine consists of twelve vertebrae (T1-T12) that can elicit 7-9 degrees per segment. Rounding up the numbers, our t-spine accounts for roughly 70 degrees of spinal rotation.
In terms of the lay population: men have roughly 3-5 degrees of anterior pelvic tilt (APT), whereas women generally hang out at around 5-7 degrees of APT.
Sorry to jump straight into hard-core spinal biomechanics talk without buying you dinner first. But there’s a lot of “stuff” going on in our back and this serves as a great primer for today’s topic, which is: how to teach trainees to achieve (and maintain) a neutral spine.
So, what the heck is neutral spine anyways? Well, it’s a bit of a misnomer, because many people believe that a neutral spine means that it’s completely straight, which couldn’t be further from the truth. As alluded to above, the spine has an acceptable range of anterior pelvic tilt; or lordotic curve. Similarly, it also has an acceptable range of kyphosis (or rounding) in the upper back. And, of course, the cervical spine also has a certain degree of lordosis as well.
So, in essence, a more appropriate term might be to say “normal” spine rather than neutral spine, but you get the idea.
Unfortunately due to the fact that we’re a much more sedentary society compared to just a generation ago – it’s not uncommon to hear about people spending 15-18 hours per day sitting in front of a computer – it’s often a challenge for someone to actually attain (let alone maintain) a neutral spinal position. What’s more, it could stem from a multitude of reasons, ranging from either a structural abnormality (scoliosis), a functional abnormality (hyper-lordosis or hyper-kyphosis), or even from a lack of kinesthetic awareness.
My job as a strength coach is to figure out the root cause, and fix it. Like a ninja. Here’s how.
Disclaimer: I’m going to skip over the whole structural abnormality business (scoliosis) because it’s a fairly deep topic and something that deserves much more than just one simple blog post. That said, with scoliosis, almost always, it really comes down to managing the issue at hand and trying not to make it worse. Some can handle spinal loading, some can’t. Some need a little more TLC, others don’t. Single leg work will obviously be prioritized, as will core stability. Moreover, we’re most likely going to be aggressive on the manual therapy side of things which is outside of my scope, and why I refer out to people smarter than myself.
Either way, much of what we do is still going to be covered in the pointers below.
Functional Faux Pas
In this category will be those with just plain bad posture – plain and simple. Here, in order to teach neutral spine, it’s imperative to hammer away at the root cause, which for many, will consist of trying to improve either their hyper-kyphotic upper back, hyper-lordotic lower back, or both! In the end: unless you take strides to improve their posture, neutral spine ain’t gonna happen.
Oh, before I continue on, it’s important to note that the spine is going to compensate. Meaning, for those who have significant kyphosis in their upper back, the spine will often compensate by going into more lordosis in the lumbar spine; and vice versa. So, much of the time, by addressing one aspect, you’ll invariably address the other as well. But, just to cover our own basis, lets go over a few drills for each.
Kyphosis – Upper Back
It goes without saying that some aggressive foam rolling is in order. Mike Reinold actually put up a video the other day which demonstrates how to go about doing this, so I’ll defer to him here:
Once you’ve broken up any trigger points or grimy tissue that exists, it’s crucial to mobilize that area in both extension AND rotation.
In terms of drills that promote t-spine extension, I love the Bench T-Spine Extension Mobilization:
Note: you don’t necessarily need the dowel rod in order to do this drill. I just wanted to show off the guns, I suppose (shrugs).
As far as rotational type drills, the possibilities at endless. Some of my favs include:
Those should be a good place to start for many. And, as a corollary, not only will will most see vast improvements in their posture implementing these drills into their repertoire, but they also see marked improvements in scapular kinematics which will pay huge dividends in terms of their ability to perform any overhead pressing without making my eyes bleed. It’s a win-win, really.
Lordosis – Lower Back
While I should have mentioned this above in the upper back section, I’d be remiss not to comment on Janda’s Upper/Lower Cross Syndrome to some capacity.
Cliff Notes Version? You stretch what’s tight; or, more appropriately, what’s stiff or short – in this case the hip flexors for the lower body. Likewise, you also strengthen/activate what’s weak or inhibited – in this case the glutes and anterior core.
While some dedicated stretching and activation work is in order in the hip flexors (stretch) and glutes (strengthen) respectively, I do feel there’s an often vastly overlooked area that many trainees (and coaches) tend to dismiss altogether.
In terms of dealing with a hyper-lordotic back, I like to take the same path as Mike Robertson and use more of a bottoms-up approach, where I try to teach improved pelvic control through diaphragmatic breathing techniques, as well as hammering the external/internal obliques.
It’s true, one of the main roles of the rectus abdominus is to posteriorly tilt the pelvis, but it does so at the expense of pulling the sternum closer to the pelvis, which, as we all know, is a big no-no (most of the time). In that vein, things like crunches and sit-ups are probably the last thing I’d do with a client.
Instead, and this is something we’ve been using more and more with our athletes at Cressey Performance, you can hammer the external/internal obliques (which also posteriorly tilt the pelvis) with reverse crunches.
Again, here, we can still get all the benefits of trying to bring someone back to “neutral,” albeit without all the drawbacks of performing a traditional crunch or sit-up.
In addition to those, we can still utilize many of the exercises I’ve highlighted here in the past.
And even things like Slideboard Bodysaws would be fantastic options (although, this one can be considered fairly advanced)
And that covers at least some of the things we can do from the functional side of things that will help teach someone how to get to a neutral spinal position. I’ll be the first to admit that it’s not an all encompassing list, and it definitely doesn’t cover all the bases, but it definitely gets the ball rolling. Not bad for under 1300 words.
Tomorrow, in part II, I’m going to cover the coachification (made up word) side of things. Or, to put it another way: sometimes it’s not one’s posture that’s the issue, but rather they just have poor kinesthetic awareness (body control) and are unable get into proper position in the first place.
Check back tomorrow. Until then, feel free to comment below and let me know if this was helpful!
I took the day off from CP yesterday, and had a pretty productive day if I do say so myself. I started things off by sleeping in. It was glorious, and something I need to do more often. I then wrote some programs, answered some emails, got a decent training session in, started a new article for Livestrong.com (on benching!), figured out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop (37), contemplated Swiffing the dining room (didn’t happen), helped prepare “fajita night” with Lisa, and then dove into the book I’m currently reading, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. It’s freaking fascinating.
Nevertheless, as is the case most of the time, I’m swamped with things I need to get done before I head to the facility, so you’re stuck with some things to read on your own time. Tomorrow, however, I’ll have some new content for you.
TEASER ALERT: it entails how to coach someone into neutral spinal position. Not only is it fresh content, it’s so clean, too!
This is an on-going series that Nia’s been doing on her site which highlights women in the industry who are well, kind of badass.
Not to slight any of the other women whom Nia has profiled in the past, but this is without question my favorite one of the bunch. I’ve worked with Jen on several projects with Experience Life Magazine (where she currently serves as the senior fitness editor), and have exchanged numerous emails and phone conversations with her as well, so I know first-hand how passionate she is about fitness. She’s legit. And, she’s a FANTASTIC writer.
While not the sexiest topic to write about, Dean does an amazing job of relaying some quality content in a way that’s not only informative, but entertaining to boot.
Note: the link above links to part II of the post – I HIGHLY suggest you click on part I which is linked to in the first sentence.
Here, Brian does an excellent job at helping people step away from the stupid and understand that carbohydrates aren’t necessarily as evil as everyone makes them out to be. As he notes, lumping potatoes in the same category as soda is a bit shortsighted at best. Potato chips and French fries, sure. But potatoes themselves? Heresy!
Sometimes, even coaches need to get coached. This is an awesome summary of Steve and Kelsey’s trip that they made up to Boston for their honeymoon last week. Thanks for the kind words you two!
Note from TG: Some of you might remember a post I wrote not too long – HERE – where I went on a tirade about how a chain in NYC apparently was banning squat racks in their gym. After writing the piece – and punching a wall or two – I was glad to see that there were plenty of people out there who agreed with me, and were just as dumbfounded by something so absurd.
The thing about blog posts, though, is that they’re limited. In reality, their real purpose is to provide a brief, albeit current, snippet (or picture) on any particular topic, idea, or concept that’s rolling around in my brain at that moment in time.
Not surprisingly, I had more to say on the topic, and today’s post links to my current article that just went live on t-nation.com today. It has the same title (what can I say: it’s a killer title), but delves a little deeper, as well as discusses some of the squatting variations we incorporate at Cressey Performance.
1. <====== I figured I’d start the week off with a bang and share a picture that someone posted on my Facebook page over the weekend. They thought that I’d get a kick out of it, and well, they assumed correctly.
2. As I write this post, CP is currently without power, and subsequently, heat. We had our first snow storm here in Boston on Saturday night, and apparently roughly 500,000 people throughout the state are without power. It’s about 50 degrees in there right now, but it’s nothing a pair of sweatpants and a skully can’t fix.
It reminds me of when I used to train at South Side Barbell back in the day in Stratford, CT. Once winter hit, they only thing they’d use to heat the place were a few space heaters…..and some hand warmers, if we were lucky. I’m not kidding that there would be times where I’d take off my hat in the middle of a training session, and you’d literally see steam coming off my head. It was awesome.
Regardless, there’s an important lesson to learn here: when all is said and done, this just goes to show why barbells are superior to a treadmill any day of the week. ALWAYS. No lights or heat? No problem. We’re still going to lift heavy things off the floor. Well, at least I am.
Note to any CP clients who are reading this (as of 9:30 AM): CP is closed until the lights and heat are back on. As badass as it would be to train in the cold, the risk of pulled hamstrings is kind of bad for business. Please check in on CP’s fan page on Facebook for updates.
3. As many are aware, last week I held a little promotion where I was giving away some free stuff for those who participated in Eric Cressey’s sale event with Show and Go. Here are the winners:
FREE individualized programming for a month: Juliet Gotthardt
FREE copy of Muscle Imbalances Revealed – Upper Body – Christian Oleson
FREE autographed 5×7 picture of moi: Eva Mendes
If the three of you could email me at your earliest convenience to claim your prizes that would be helpful.
4. Most of you may remember the story of Steve and Kelsey from last March, when Steve actually proposed to Kelsey on this blog, and as a result, pretty much made it so that the rest of us would really (and I mean REALLY) have to step up our game if or when the time came to propose to our significant others.
Note to Self: I can’t even use my own blog to propose, now. Thanks Steve. Jerk……..;o)
In any case, Steve and Kelsey finally tied the knot a few weekends ago, and spent all of last week up here in Boston hanging out at Cressey Performance. Yes, you read that correctly, they spent their honeymoon at CP.
As strength coaches themselves, they figured they’d rather spend their honeymoon squatting, push-pressing, throwing chalk in the air, and talking shop rather than chillax on a warm, sandy beach drinking Pina coladas somewhere. You know how the saying goes: different strokes for different folks, and needless to say, I was honored that they would choose to do something like that.
Now, I’ve met dozens and dozens and dozens of people at the facility in the past few years who, for their own reasons, make the trek to CP to see what we’re all about. At times, meeting complete strangers can sorta be like a high-school dance where there’s just all sorts of awkwardness going on.
You don’t know whether to shake hands, fist-bump, or hug; and inevitably the conversation turns to the weather. Never a good scenario.
Conversely, at other times, meeting people can be almost as if you’ve been BFFs forever, which was exactly what happened with Steve and Kelsey. They spent the entire week training at CP – getting AFTER IT mind you – and both Lisa and I had the opportunity to meet them out for dinner one night last week as well.
I just wanted to say congrats, again, to both of them. It was awesome meeting you both, and I wish you all the love, memories, and future deadlift PRs the world has to offer!
5. Amusing CrossFit video of the week. You’re welcome.
6. I have a short list of things that I love in this world. Family is right up there, of course. As is my girlfriend. I’ll also throw in things like old 90210 re-runs, Spike, people who use exact change, and goat cheese into the mix.
But I also LOVE girls who lift heavy things, which is why you should check out Girls Gone Strong.
Seriously, do it. I dare you.
7. Lastly, I like Halloween about as much as I like getting kicked in the balls. I’ve never bought into the whole “lets get dressed up” mentality.
As it happened, though, one of Lisa’s good friends hosted a costume party over the weekend that served as a fund-raiser for her charity work with Therapists Without Borders, which is an organization that matches professional therapists with under served communities throughout the world. Since it was for a really great cause, I decided to swallow my reservations and dressed up as none other than MR. CLEAN. Giving credit where credit is due, Lisa came up with the idea, which ended up being downright brilliant when you think about it.
For those interested in the cause, HERE is Katie’s (Lisa’s friend) donation page which serves as her home-base for the funds she’s trying to raise for her trip to Kenya in January. I know money is tight nowadays, and I understand that you don’t know Katie (you should, though, she’s pretty much the most kind, generous, caring, and just downright beautiful human being I know) from a hole in the wall, but I’d be immensely appreciative to anyone who clicked on the link and maybe donated a few dollars if she or he chooses to do so.
And that’s it for today. Sorry for any grammatical errors, I was kind of in a rush this morning.
For most of the week, I, along with many other coaches who’s blogs and websites you probably frequent have been going on and on and on about how Show and Go is on sale this week. By now it probably sounds like this:
Blah blah blah Eric Cressey is the awesome blah blah blah Show and Go 4 Life blabbidy blah O’Doyle Rules!!! blibbidy bloo.
I get it, and I’m sorry. But the truth of the matter is, you’d be a fool not to take advantage of such an awesome offer. And, even more to the point, I’d like to think that I’ve established enough of a rapport with my readership that you know I’m not just blowing sunshine up your bum. I know a good program/product when I see it (nightlights, anyone?), and I’d like to think that anything I’ve gone out of my way to promote or even talk about on this blog is something that I know will help out a lot of people.
To that end, because I’m about five minutes away from training (and at the expense of sounding like a broken record), here are some quick bullet points on why you should purchase Show and Go.
1. It’s Eric Freakin Cressey.
This isn’t some globo-gym, new-haircut, curling-in-the-squat-rack, personal trainer here. I mean, Eric has his name on a t-shirt for crying out loud, so he obviously knows what he’s talking about.
Seriously, though, Eric places a lot of time and effort into his programs, and I’ve seen firsthand just how many people have succeeded following his guidance.
Of course, as is the case with ANY program, you get out what you put in. But I assure you, if you followShow and Go to a “t”, and put every ounce of effort you have into it, you’ll be rewarded handsomely.
2. Accountability
There’s just something about someone else telling you what to do that will hold you more accountable. When it’s written for you, you’re more apt to actually do it.
In the past, I’ve written about how many trainees tend to flip flip back and forth between programs and then wonder why their bench press is the same now as it was two years ago. Even worse still, many will just meander around the weight room with no rhyme or reason, doing a few reps of this, and a couple sets of that. It’s training ADD at its worst – there’s no sense of purpose behind their training. Show and Go definitely holds people to a higher standard.
3. Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone
People tend to do what they’re good at and what’s easy, which is why many tend to tread water when it comes to actually making any significant progress with their training. Show and Go challenges people to step outside their comfort zone, which is something I feel is the “x-factor” of why many people never improve on anything.
4. You Get to Lift Heavy Things
And as such, make others watching destroy the back of their pants. What’s cooler than that?
5. You Will Be More Awesomer At the End Than At the Beginning
Whether your goal is to increase your bench press, not have the movement quality of the Tin Man, or just achieving general badassery, Show and Go is the real deal.
And I’m Done (for real this time)
And yes, my offer still stands. Anyone who purchases Show and Go (link below), and sends their receipt to my email address ([email protected]), will be entered into a drawing for either a free copy of Muscle Imbalances Revealed – Upper Body or one month of individualized programming from some guy named Gentilcore.
So, um, yeah, that’s about it. I’ve made my case, so now it’s up to you. Again, you have until midnight tonight (10/28) to take advantage of the 50% off sale………..LAST CHANCE
I received an e-mail from one of the staff at Men’s Health yesterday asking about grip strength, and thought my response would make for a good blog post today. Well, my response was actually a little shorter, but since it got my brain juices flowing, I’m rolling with it:
Grip strength – something most people don’t normally train. Do you have an exercise you can recommend to our readers to improve/increase grip strength? As well as some thoughts on why increasing grip strength is beneficial?
First off, lets start with the benefits of developing a solid grip. The obvious benefit would be an increase in loads one can handle. Grip strength is oftentimes the “limiting factor” with many trainees – particularly with regards to things like deadlifts and chin-ups, for example – so it stands to reason that if one takes the strides to better develop it, the heavier loads (s)he’ll be able to use in the gym.
As such, this can lead to cool things happening like increased muscle mass, more calories burned during any given training session, and even an improvement in fat loss. Although, to keep things a bit more “on point,” I’m more inclined to stick with the whole “increase in muscle mass thing,” since that’s what most trainees gravitate towards anyways.
Additionally, an improved grip can also pay huge dividends with shoulder health, believe it or not. Through a process called irradiation, when someone is told to grab a dumbbell (or barbell) with a death grip, it sends a signal to the rotator cuff to “fire” and “pack” itself, which provides more stability to the joint.
Try this: hold your arm out in front of your body and just LIGHTLY close your hand so that it makes a fist. No big deal, right? Conversely, do the same thing, but this time when you make a fist, crush it! You should notice your rotator cuff fire as well as a subtle “packing” in the shoulder. Trust me, it happened.
Not coincidentally, one of the best cues I use as a coach to help people with shoulder pain is to tell them to grip the bar harder. Works like a charm every time.
Moreover, as a corollary – and this is just me speaking in dude talk – an improved grip is an awesome way to “send a message” to other dudes to step off when it comes to making a pass at your girlfriend. A few years ago my ex who had someone from upper management make a pass at her. He was shady about it (married, and knew she had a boyfriend), and he sent a few text messages to her asking if she wanted to meet up after work sometime for dinner. She told me all about it, and we both had a laugh. Secretly, though, I wanted to scissor kick the guy in the forehead.
Being the non-jealous type, I just let it slide and trusted that she would take care of it – and she did. Well, eventually, Christmas time approached which meant company Christmas party! As luck would have it, Douchebag McDouchington was in attendance, and being that he was a superior of hers, he was introduced to me. I smiled, said hello, and as he reached out to grab my hand, I simply CRUSHED his. I think he got the message.
With some of the benefits out of the way, lets discuss a few exercises that can be utilized to train grip strength
1. Honestly, refraining from using wrist straps would be my #1 choice.
Sure, there’s a time and place to use them, but more often than not guys rely waaaaaaaay too much on wrist straps when they train – to the point where they use them for everything!! Bicep curls, lat pulldowns, DB rows, you name it, straps are being used. I’m surprised more don’t use them just to grab a glass of water in between sets.
That said, just making a concerted effort to use dumbbells and barbells WITHOUT straps would be a step in the right direction.
2. Get a pair of Fat Gripz.
Making barbells and dumbbells inherently harder to grab would be another way to train grip strength. At Cressey Performance, we utilize Fat Gripz quite a bit, and have found them to be a very useful tool in the toolbox, as we can add them to things like chin-ups, DB presses, DB rows, and, as former CP intern Dave Rak showed, Spike shots as well.
3. Farmer Carries!
I did a coaching call for Muscle Imbalances Revealed the other night and went on a rant about how much I freakin LOVE farmer carries. As far as bang-for-your-training-buck-instantly-increase-your-badass-factor-by-at least-15 points-exercises are concerned, farmer carries are where it’s at. With regards to grip strength, however, all you’re going to do is grab a pair of the heaviest sumbitches (translation: DBs) you can handle. Hold them at your sides (as if you’re holding a suitcase), and then go for a walk – making sure to keep your chest out and shoulder back. No leaning!
The objective here is to stay as upright as possible. I’d say a decent distance would be anywhere from 50-75 yds (most will have to walk back and forth, obviously).
Perform 2-4 sets of 50-75 yds, or until you hate life. Whichever comes first.
4. Hex Holds
Another exercise I like to use – albeit it’s not quite as baller as farmer caries – are DB Hex Holds.
Here, all you’re going to do is grab a 15-40 lb DB (anything heavier would mean you have Andre the Giant hands, you freak!) and simply hold for time using ONLY your fingertips. As far as how long to hold – I don’t really have a set criteria. Anywhere from 30 seconds to OMGICANTFEELTHELEFTSIDEOFMYFACE should suffice.
Unfortunately doing this exercise is contingent on whether or not the gym you train at actually has “hex” dumbbells available. If not, sucks to be you!
5. When All Else Fails, Just Read Anything By Diesel Crew
Jim “Smitty” Smith and the guys at Diesel Crew know a thing or two about grip strength, so I’ll just defer to them when it comes to this topic.
And there you have it. Nothing extraordinary or life-changing to say the least, but I hope this post provides some insight and ideas as to how you can improve your grip strength!
If you have anything to add, by all means, share below in the comments section.
Just a Reminder
Show and Go is still on sale until midnight tomorrow (10/28) for 50% off the regular price. Eric has informed me that he’s included another sweet bonus for those who go a head and purchase it today – titled Warm-Ups 2011, which gives everyone an inside look at some of the (current) warm-up drills we utilize at Cressey Performance.
What’s more, don’t forget that I’m still holding a drawing for some free swag as well. Again, for those who click HERE and purchase Show and Go (and send me the receipt: [email protected]), I’ll enter your name either for a free copy of Muscle Imbalances Revealed – Upper Body OR a free month of individualized programming from yours truly.
You know how all the major movie studios wait until the end of the year to release their “passion” projects, or those films they deem will do well when it comes to awards season? Well, it seems as though this is THE week for fitness products to be released. Fittingly, my good friend, Kevin Neeld, just released his own manual, Ultimate Hockey Training, and I asked if he’d take a few moments to answer a few questions on it.
Now, admittedly, I don’t train a lot of hockey players; nor do a watch hockey (sorry Kevin). But, I did attend a Mercyhurst College women’s hockey game back in the day, so that should count for something! I had a crush on one of the players, and she never really knew I existed other than the fact that I said hi to her once.
That notwithstanding, Kevin is one of the brightest guys I know, and he’s gone out of his way to provide a HUGELY insightful resource for anyone who, regardless of whether or not they train hockey players, is involved with training athletes and increasing the degree of their badassery.
With that, enjoy the interview!
TG: Kevin, here’s the part where you tell us a little about yourself – school, training career, whether or not you like walks on the beach? Tell my readers a little about yourself – and if you could include how 2-legit-2-quit it was when you interned at Cressey Performance (back in the summer of 2008) that would be awesome .
KN: My introduction to the training world started because of my passion for the game of hockey. As a player, I was always told that I was as skilled as anyone, but that I was too fat, slow, and generally unathletic to compete at a high level. That wasn’t exactly what they said, but that’s what they meant. When I was 14, I was fortunate to be “given a chance” by a coach that was ahead of his time on the training side of things. I completely overhauled my athleticism in an off-season and knew then that I wanted to make a career out of helping other hockey players to do the same.
Since then, I moved on to do my undergrad work at the University of Delaware, where through one of my internships I first came across Mike Boyle’s work. I moved on to study Exercise Neuroscience at UMass Amherst (a Top 5 ranked kinesiology program at the time). To be honest, as much as I learned in my 6 years of college, I learned infinitely more through my internships and outside reading. Over the last 5 years I’ve read dozens of books on everything from manual therapy techniques to neuromechanics, and have read through a stack of research articles about as tall as I am. The key for me was listening to what my mentors suggested as quality information and really diving in to that material.
As you know, in the Summer of 2008 I did an internship with you guys at Cressey Performance. At the time, I had planned to go back to Delaware to teach my own power skating and puck handling clinics all Summer. Instead I decided to pay my way through a Functional Anatomy class that was part of BU’s DPT program and spend the remainder of my time with you guys. To this day, that was the smartest career decision I’ve ever made. Not only did I learn a lot that Summer, but you, Eric, and Brian are still great resources for me now.
I learned a lot of that “functional anatomy” stuff from Eric, but it was you, Tony, that taught me that it’s not worth lifting weights, if you can’t do it to techno music. You’d be proud to know that we now have “Techno Tuesday” at Endeavor…which has pretty much become “Techno Weekdays”.
TG: Duuuuuuuuude. You have no idea how happy that makes me! Since then, you’ve gone on to a successful career, being featured in the likes of t-nation.com, elitefts.com, and I even saw one of your articles featured on the homepage of Yahoo not too long ago. Congrats!
(And lest we forget that you just released a pretty kick-ass training manual: Ultimate Hockey Training).
Even more impressive, is that you’ve gone on to specialize in a niche market (hockey) and help run one of the premiere hockey training facilities in the country (Endeavor Sports Performance, located in Sewell, NJ) – how’s that working out? What prompted you to focus on hockey?
KN: Thanks man. Being featured on well-respected sites is flattering, but I’m more proud of what we’ve been doing at Endeavor than anything else. There are a lot of people that write well that don’t actually train anyone. That will never go away; it is what it is. But we’ve really created something special with our training programs at Endeavor. We follow a similar model as CP, but instead of having a primarily baseball market, ours is hockey.
In the last few years, we’ve helped a few dozen kids move on to compete at the D1 Prep, Junior A (EJHL, USHL, OHL, BCHL), and professional levels (CHL, IHL, ECHL, AHL, NHL). This is probably commonplace in Boston, or in certain areas of Michigan or Minnesota, but our facility is in South Jersey, which is far from regarded as a hockey hotbed, and almost all of our players are local.
I’m not one to take credit for their accomplishments. We’ve had a handful of kids that were on that path before they came to us, but the kids I’m especially proud of were the ones that were deemed D3 material that caught the eyes of D1 scouts and eventually committed D1 because of how prepared they were at the beginning of their season and the kids that were “too small”, but dominated anyway because of their speed and strength. These are the cases that I can hang my hat on and realize that what we’re doing is really working.
On a personal level, my passion for this field grew out of wanting to help hockey players fulfill their potential. A lot of my background is in on-ice skill development. As my career continues to progress, I’ve moved deeper into the athletic development/training side of things and further from on-ice work. While I’ve developed an appreciation for training athletes in all sports, and genuinely enjoy taking part of the process of their development, nothing lights my lamp more than training hockey players.
TG: I can definitely relate there. As a former collegiate baseball player, I LOVE the fact that my job entails showing kids what NOT to do with their training. To that end, I have to assume, much like what we come across with the baseball players we train at CP, hockey has its fair share of overuse injuries, weaknesses, and “red flags” that permeate the sport. Can you elaborate on what you typically come across with your athletes?
KN: Yea, you could say that. Hockey is as bad as any sport in pushing year-round participation and early specialization. Hip flexor and adductor strains are not only common, but they’re accepted as part of the sport. It’s insane. Our players from last off-season have started to trickle back in and so far not a single one had any adductor or hip flexor problem that caused them to miss time. Not one. And that’s despite the fact that these players left late August or early September to go play for their teams and haven’t done much training since. It’s amazing how effective a few simple strategies can be in preventing these injuries.
The problem with these injuries is that players still operate under the old paradigm that more hip flexor/adductor flexibility is always better and if something gets hurt it’s because it wasn’t flexible enough. In dealing with players with these injuries, I’ve found that the overwhelming majority of them are excessively flexible in the injured structure.
I’ve found that about 3 weeks of focused stretching for the antagonist and strengthening the injured tissue results in a complete cessation of symptoms with no reoccurrence. I think the message needs to permeate that flexibility isn’t inherently good; it must be put within the context of structural balance in terms of antagonistic levels of stiffness and strength. Unfortunately, the predispositions to these injuries are what leads to more severe problems like hip labral tears and sports hernias further down the line. At the risk of being overly simplistic, maintaining soft-tissue quality and structural balance, and recognizing bony ROM limitations is key to reducing the occurrence of these injuries, and in restoring health when a player starts to venture down this path.
The other big thing is that almost every hockey player has an overly kyphotic thoracic posture. Glenohumeral dislocations and acromioclavicular separations are common in hockey. While traumatic contact-driven injuries are somewhat unpreventable, players need to understand that an overly kyphotic posture is going to cause scapular abduction, which is going to position the glenohumeral joint anterior to the midaxillary line.
In other words, the shoulder will be positioned more in front of the torso then directly on the side of it. When a player gets hit from the side, the force is now driven either through the anterior glenohumeral ligaments and/or the AC joint and a subluxation occurs at the weakest link. I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but postural restoration isn’t a foo-foo training goal; it can have severe implications for force generation, transfer, and absorption.
TG: Here, here!! I couldn’t have said it better myself. We deal with PLENTY of sacred cows in the baseball world (namely, distance running and those archaic band exercises pitchers like to do), so I can definitely commiserate with you there.
Lets discuss a little program design shenanigans. When assessing a new athlete, what are some things you’re looking at? Are there any exercises in particular that you try avoid with your hockey athletes?
KN: We spend a lot of time looking at the hips. I’ll assess:
Hip internal and external rotation in a hips flexed and hips extended position (to help dissociate capsular restrictions)
Femoral ante/retro torsion using Craig’s test
Hip extension ROM using a modified Thomas Test
Hip adduction ROM using the Postural Restoration Institute’s Adduction Drop Test
Hip flexion ROM using a quadruped rocking test
Hip flexion ROM using the active straight leg raise
Collectively, the results of these tests paint a pretty clear picture of the player’s hips and what limitations are bony and what can be modified. We’ll also take a look at thoracic rotation to see if there is a severe imbalance one way or another.
From an exercise selection standpoint, we place a high priority on horizontal/rotational power as the off-season progresses. We’ll use med ball shotput and scoop progressions from a side-standing and front-standing position to help groove and improve proper mechanics and power in these positions.
Early in the off-season we build in a disproportionate amount of rotational work in the athlete’s non-shooting direction. In exercises like belly presses, chops, and lifts, they’ll do 1 set in their shooting direction and 3 sets in their non-shooting side. The goal is to help restore balance in these patterns, both from a neural and structural standpoint, following a long-season of thousands of single-sided rotations.
Note from TG: EXACTLY!!! We do much of the same with our baseball guys, as to better offset any “predictive” imbalances that accumulate over a loooooooong season.
And, because I love hate mail, I’ll mention that we also use a primarily single-leg lower body training system.
We still include double-leg exercises like back squats, front squats, trap bar deadlifts, stiff-legged deadlifts, slideboard hamstring curls, cable pullthroughs, etc., but our lower body training model is an “inverted” version of the norm.
In other words, most people use exercises like squats and deadlifts as the “main” exercise and then use single leg squat and deadlift variations and lunges as “assistance” work. In our model, the single-leg exercises are primary; the bilateral exercises are secondary (or tertiary).
TG: Okay, lets get to the meat and potatoes. Tell us a little about Ultimate Hockey Training – I’ve been working my way through it, and to say you’ve covered all your bases would be an understatement! What distinguishes this from any other similar product out there?
KN: Thanks Tony. Ultimate Hockey Training basically outlines my entire hockey training system. It includes age-specific guidelines, an excessive presentation of our linear and parallel exercise progressions, year-round program design strategies, and injury prevention considerations. My goal was to lay it all out, but pick topics and use language that would be of interest to the whole spectrum of the hockey development community, from players, parents, and coaches, to those that train or rehab hockey players for a living.
Many of the hockey training resources out there today are either severely out-dated, overly theoretical, really watered down to appeal to young players, or just complete garbage. That’s not to say they’re all bad; I support what Maria Mountain and Kim McCullough, and a couple others have done. I think what allows UHT to appeal to such a wide audience is that I’ve included theoretical and research-driven discussions on all the topics for the training and sports medicine professional, but included a ton of sample routines and progressions for those without the academic background.
Ultimate Hockey Training isn’t a generic/canned training program; it’s a system. In other words, it’s not designed to help a player (or to help a coach help a player) improve for 8-weeks; it’s designed to help them improve for their entire career, however long that may be and wherever that may end. Hockey is one of the most rapidly growing sports in the U.S., but preparatory training is still poorly understood on a wide scale. Hopefully this will help provide those that want the information most with a framework from which to start building programs that actually work.
Awesome stuff Kevin! For those interested in checking out the manual, and for more information, click below:
Oh yes ladies and gents, you read that correctly: Eric Cressey’s best selling product, Show and Go: High Performance Training To Look, Feel, and Move Betteris on sale from now until midnight Friday, October 28, for 50% off the original price. For those mathematically challenged, that’s half off. If you don’t believe me, just click HERE.
See, I told you.
Now, for some, you may be wondering to yourself “why?” Well, why not? Why is the sky blue? Why is water wet? Why do people listen to Coldplay? Okay, that’s actually a really good question. But, outside of that, don’t ask questions, just go with it!
Eric will tell you it’s because the World Series is kicking into high-gear, and he just wants to tell people how much he appreciates their support and readership. Both are undoubtedly great reasons. I say it’s because my 35th birthday is right around the corner (ahem, November 30th), and he’s just jealous that I have less hair than he does.
Okay, that’s wishful thinking on my part. In actuality, and this is something that he and I have discussed on numerous occasions, Show and Go is about as close as you can get to experiencing Cressey Performance without actually setting foot inside the facility itself. In short, if you can’t train at a gym with some attitude, you can at least bring the attitude to your gym!
More to the point, though, is the fact that, as someone who’s been BFF with EC for quite some time (not to mention we’re business partners), I know how much time and effort he puts into writing his programs. All told, he spent roughly a full year tweaking the entire program before he actually released it the first time through.
And, speaking frankly, the bulk of programs you’ll find on the internet are utter garbage. In a time where any joker with a laptop and digital camera can claim himself to be a world renown coach, and as such, a program writing ninja, talk is cheap. How many of those same gurus actually train ANYONE in person – let alone upwards of 70+ professional athletes during one off-season?
Trust me: I’ve seen my fair share of these so-called “programs,” and to say that a ham sandwich could come up with something better would be an understatement.
Moreover, almost unequivocally, I can say that I have yet to hear about anyone NOT making drastic improvements in their strength, athletic performance, movement quality, and/or physique completing Show and Go in its entirety. Literally, Eric has hundreds (if not thousands) of emails and testimonials to back it up. How many of the aforementioned internet gurus can claim that?
Summing up, Eric has some pretty sweet bonuses in store for those who act quickly (namely, a free LIVE Q and A for those who purchase within the first 24 hours), so be sure to take advantage as soon as you can.
To help sweeten the deal, however, I’m going to toss in some incentive too.
For starters you need to purchase Show and Go HERE.
Secondly, email your receipt to [email protected], and I’ll enter you into a drawing to win one of the following:
A copy of Muscle Imbalances Revealed – Upper Body ($147 value)
A 5×7 autographed picture of me (Priceless). Shirtless option (even more priceless).
