Categoriescoaching

3 Choices All Coaches Must Make

All I have to say is that this article would have helped me tremendously if I had access to it the week I started my first personal training gig out of college.

Looking back I was such a mess.

Excellent guest post today by NY-based (Capital district) strength coach Mike Sirani.

Copyright: michaeljung / 123RF Stock Photo

3 Choices All Coaches Must Make

As a student or aspiring professional, you’ll often hear that preparation is the key to success. If you put in the hours studying and practicing, you’ll surely reap the rewards later on.

Flash-forward a couple years later: you’ve graduated school and just finished your first session with a personal training client.

Do you still feel like the above statement rings true?

The answer is likely no. Nothing can prepare you for your first time training another human being — not all the anatomy, physiology, chemistry, or Call of Duty you spent hours on in college.

Why’s this the case?

You’re now being asked to combine the science with the art. You can write the perfect program and explain all of the physiological adaptations that will come from it, but what happens when your client steps into the squat rack for their first set and the first five reps look as coordinated as a Charles Barkley golf swing?

 

What you choose to do next will either make you look like a Jedi genius or make you seem confusing and unhelpful. In the above scenario, you have three choices to improve the client’s technique:

  1. Cue the individual and see if it improves their technique
  2. Regress the exercise and see if the movement improves
  3. Use a corrective exercise to break down the movement and help the client get a better grasp on what they should be doing.

Below, we’re going to review these three choices and discuss when it’s best to use each of them, depending on the individual, their personality, and the setting they’re training in.

Choice #1: Cueing

This should always be your first option to correct an exercise as a strength coach or personal trainer.

Anyone can move around and sweat on their own. It’s your job to coach and educate clients on the correct way to do an exercise in order to help them reach their goals faster and stay healthy while doing so.

Good cueing is something that most clients will take note of and appreciate. A great coach will keep these short and sweet and cater to the client’s learning style, whether that’s:

  • Auditory
  • Visual
  • Kinesthetic

Understanding the client’s personality type can also make cueing more effective.

If a client has a Type A personality, they may want more details about the exercise and why you’re making certain corrections. Someone who’s more laid back may simply want to be told a correction and then left alone.

Remember, this is where the science and the art meet. The more people you train, the better intuition you’ll develop as to what amount of cueing is too much vs. too little, whether to give internal or external cues, or if a specific cue works or not.

Choice #2: Regress the Exercise

What happens when you’re cueing and what you’re trying to convey isn’t registering with your client? This can result in a frustrated client, but hopefully you don’t let it get to this point. If you sense it’s heading in this direction, there’s nothing wrong with regressing an exercise.

Regress the back squat to a front squat, or the push-up to an incline push-up.

 

When regressing, it’s important to put the regression into context for the client.

This helps keep their confidence up and set the stage for progressing back to the exercise you originally programmed. Let them know why you’re regressing it, how the regression will improve their technique, and what needs to be done to progress back to the original exercise.

Regressing an exercise is also a strategy that may be utilized more quickly in a group setting when you don’t have the same amount of time to cue someone, like you would in a semi-private or one-on-one setting.

Choice #3: Use a Corrective Exercise

Too often, coaches will skip choices one and two and move right into bringing clients through the gamut of corrective exercises.

If you feel like a client needs a laundry list of correctives, it’s more beneficial to refer them out to a physical therapist or another healthcare professional that can better handle their issues. That way, you can use regressions to ensure the client continues getting a training effect when they’re with you, while the physical therapist helps get them back on track towards progressing specific exercises.

I have found using corrective exercises beneficial in certain scenarios, such as speeding up a client’s motor learning of a specific movement via chunking (breaking bigger movement down into component parts).

Let’s say a client is having a hard time learning the deadlift.

You’re giving excellent cues and have regressed the client from the trap bar to a Kettlebell Deadlift. However, their technique still isn’t pretty. Here, I may break down the movement with two corrective exercises.

One is used to teach the client to extend through their thoracic spine, while the other teaches movement at the hips without movement in the lumbar spine.

Thoracic Extension on Foam Roller

 

Hip Hinge Teaching Tools

 

In Summary

Unfortunately, there’s not one quick fix to improve someone’s technique on any exercise. There are too many variables in play for it to be that simple.

Appreciate the science of a program and spend time in the coaching trenches making choices from the three options above. The more you’re forced to make that choice, the better artistic instinct you’ll develop, and the better you’ll be at quickly making the best choice with a client.

About the Author

Mike Sirani is the Co-Owner of Capital District Sport and Fitness in Round Lake, NY. He’s an experienced strength and conditioning coach and massage therapist who has spent the majority of his career in Boston training professional, collegiate, and high school athletes of various sports, as well as helping general fitness clients of all backgrounds learn to move better and get stronger than ever before. He earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Applied Exercise Science, with a concentration in Sports Performance, from Springfield College and completed a highly sought after six-month internship at Cressey Sports Performance. Mike specializes in teaching athletes and general fitness clients to get the most out of their bodies by enhancing their movement quality and creating exercises programs that allow you to get stronger, faster, and more powerful in a safe and effective manner.

Facebook: Capital District Sport and Fitness

Instagram: @capitaldistrictsportandfitness

Twitter: @CDSFSportandFit

Categoriescoaching Program Design

Programming Considerations: Training Volume

We live in a world of dichotomous abundance.

In literature we see it all the time in the form of heroes (Beowulf) vs. villains (Grendel), good (Gryffindor) vs. bad (Slytherin), or real (Milwaukee) vs. imaginary (Minas Tirith).

We see it all the time in real life too:

  • Democrats vs. Republicans
  • Science vs. People Who Make a Ham Sandwich Look Intelligent
  • Autobots vs. Decepticons

The idea behind dichtomy is to demonstrate or showcase a contrast between two things that are represented as being opposed or entirely different.

Who’s right?, who’s wrong?, what’s better?, what’s worse?, bacon is delicious, no, fuck that, you’re going to hell…

….it can all spiral into a garbled mess.

Copyright: badmanproduction / 123RF Stock Photo

 

The fitness industry sees no shortage of it either.

All you have to do is spend 17 seconds on Twitter before you want to jump into a shark’s mouth  you witness people on both sides of the fence – low-carb vs. high-carb, CrossFitters vs. powerlifters, back squats vs. no squats – tear each other to shreds.

Both sides are adamant their position is the right position, “how can you not see it?,” and the dichotomous divide seemingly grows larger and larger.

I’m going to skip the mental gymnastics today, and instead focus my attention on something else that’s a liiitle less dramatic and less of a dumpster fire to talk about…

Training volume.

Disclaimer: This will not to be a deep-dive into the nitty-gritty, nerdtastic world of program design and volume. It’s a rabbit hole to say the least. I’m gonna get into some of the particulars, but not too much. Sorry.

My goal is to just offer a few talking points and ideas.

For a nice amuse-bouche on the topic, however, I’d recommend THIS article by Greg Nuckols.

Training Volume, Defined

For all intents and purpose training volume (as it relates to lifting things) can most easily be calculated as such:

Sets x reps x load

The final number can be labelled as total tonnage (or total amount lifted).

For example if someone performs 3 sets of 5 reps with 225 lbs on the bench press it can be broken down as 15 total reps x 225 lbs = 3,375 lbs.

Congratulations. You just benched a Volkswagen you savage.

The idea, then, is to adopt the concept of progressive overload (via performing more sets, reps, load, or any combination) to do more work in subsequent workouts.

Using the same example, lets say it’s a week later (or tomorrow if you’re a man under the age of 40) and you wanted to bench press again. To increase training volume you’d incorporate one of following scenarios:

  • Increase Load: 3 sets of 5 reps @ 230 lbs = 3,450 lbs
  • Increase Reps: 3 sets of 6 reps @ 225 lbs = 4,050 lbs
  • Increase Sets: 4 sets of 5 reps @ 225 lbs = 4,500 lbs
  • Increase All Three: 4 sets of 6 reps @ 230 lbs = 5,520 lbs
  • Increase CrossFit: 24 sets of 17 @ Scaled # = Can’t feel the left side of your face

That’s a very watered down and simplified explanation, but should get the gist across.

In short: Ensure that you’re doing more work by tracking stuff and good things will inevitably happen.

As an umbrella theme, however, it’s important to understand that this approach does have limitations.

We’re humans, not Kryptonians.

There’s an inevitable “tipping point” that’s bound to take place. Adding more and more training volume (a poor periodization scheme in the long run) will eventually have deleterious effects.

I like what Mike Boyle has to say on the matter:

“Periodization might be the most overstudied subject in the training world. Tens of thousands of pages have been written detailing the complexities of microcycles and mesocycles. And this has only served to confuse what should be a fairly simple concept, as articulated by strength & conditioning legend Charles Poliquin in the 1988 article “Variety in Strength Training”: Phases of high volume (accumulation, extensive loading), high intensity (intensification, intensive loading) and unloading should be modulated within the program.“

In other words:

Higher volume, low load periods should be alternated with higher-intensity, lower-volume periods.

[Smoke bomb, smoke bomb, exit stage right]

To give a brief example I’ve always liked fluctuating training volume on a weekly basis, which is something I gravitated towards from my years as a coach at Cressey Sports Performance:

Lets use the deadlift as an example here with the main goal being to improve strength:

A. Deadlift

Week 1: 1×2 @ 83%

Week 2: 1×2 @ 85%

Week 3: 1×2 @ 87%

Week 4: 1×1 @ 90%

B. Deadlift – Speed(ish)

Week 1 (High Volume): 4×3 @ 70%, 1×5 @ 65%

Week 2 (Medium Volume): 3×3@ 70%, 1×5 @ 60%

Week 3 (High Volume): 5×3 @ 70%, 1×5, @ 60%

Week 4: (Low Volume): 3×3 @ 65%

To reiterate: taking into account sets/reps/load and trying to use any permutations you wish to ensure someone is doing more work is never a bad place to start.

It’s training volume 101. And it works.

HOWEVER

I’d encourage you to heed this Tweet from Eric Cressey from a few days ago:

When trainers/coaches place too much emphasis on overall volume and use that as their only metric to measure progress it can be problematic.

It reminds me of something strength coach and physical therapist, Dr. Quinn Henoch, has discussed on numerous occasions. We’re quick to pump the brakes and implement any number of corrective exercises when one of our client’s shoulders starts to hurt.

Okay, not the worst thing in the world. I’m not going to cry afoul if a trainer/coach wants to toss in a bit more soft tissue work on someone’s pecs or lats:

I’ve even heard of instances where people are encouraged to get blood work done; as if finding out they’re allergic to grass-fed acai berries will miraculously cure their lack of scapular upward rotation.

The fuck?

Instead, what Quinn is quick to point out is this: Maybe you need to audit your program and adjust total training volume?

It could be as simple as you’re prescribing too much training volume compared to what someone is able to recover from.

That’s why they’re hurt.

Not because they need more Ipsilateral Birddog Balloon Breathing.

Which begs the question: What are some ways in which to increase overload that doesn’t entail just increasing volume?

Well, two come to mind.

1. Get People Into Better Positions

I’d argue the reason many trainees are unable to make much progress in the gym to begin with is because they’re unable to get into appropriate positions to express their “true” strength.

Take the squat.

I see something like this:

Any asshat coach or trainer can tack on more volume to the above walking (or, rather, squatting) ball of fail.

Physical Therapist Gray Cook would refer to this as “adding fitness on top of dysfunction,” which isn’t doing anyone any favors.

Rather, taking the time to actually coach someone so they’re in a better position to be successful is what’s going to make a difference.

And this will often entail LESS volume (using sub-maximal loads).

A funny thing will happen.

Trainees are given a massive piece of humble pie when they’re getting sore from a load that’s 50-75% less than their perceived one-rep max.

2. Change the Center of Mass

Bringing a load closer to the ground makes an exercise easier. A prime example is any single leg variation where DBs are held at the side(s):

 

If I wanted to make this harder and as a result increase overload without necessarily adjusting training volume all I’d have to do is move the DBs to a higher position or maybe revert to something like a Barbell Reverse Lunge w/ Front Squat Grip.

That’s That

Training volume, too, has a very dichotomous vibe to it.

On one end of the spectrum there’s the “do more” mentality (which is a thing, and an important part of strength & conditioning). But on the other end there’s a delicate balance of what amount of volume a particular person can handle as it relates to their ability to recover.

And finally it’s important to have other tricks in your bag other than adding more of it in order to help your clients/athletes get better.

Like I said, I didn’t want to get too far into the weeds on the topic of training volume, but I hope this helped.

Categoriescoaching personal training

The Problems With Over Coaching (And Some Solutions)

A few weeks ago I Tweeted something to the effect of “Don’t be afraid to let your clients figure things out for themselves. Not every rep has to be a pristine vision that makes the Virgin Mary weep tears of joy.”

I gave the example of the knees caving in during a squat. Many coaches see this and they start hyperventilating into a paper bag no matter what.

I keep it real.

There’s a stark difference between the knees caving in TO neutral and caving in to the point where someone falls into excessive valgus.

Anyways, my little rant inspired Baltimore based strength coach (and fellow Lord of the Rings nerd), Erica Suter, to write a guest post.

It’s pretty baller.

Copyright: dolgachov / 123RF Stock Photo

The Problems With Over Coaching (And Some Solutions)

Sit your butt back.

Keep your chest out.

Put your shoulders back.

Engage your lats.

Wait, pretend there are tennis balls under your arm pits.

Squeeze your glutes too.

Breathe.

Don’t smile.

Did you get all of that?

Does this sound like you as a coach? Let’s hope not.

Too many cues have their way of confusing and frustrating our clients. More often than not, they become overwhelming. Worse yet, they become too much information for people to process during a session, let alone, mid-lift.

via GIPHY

Don’t get me wrong: correcting people is a good thing. We wouldn’t be coaches if we didn’t coach. To that end, we have to instruct people so they are executing pristine form and progressing.

However, too much instructing, over-coaching, over-cueing, or saying-shit-just-to-say-shit-and-hear-yourself-talk, is problematic.

Over-coaching is real and it permeates across the fitness industry as one of the biggest issues, besides perfectly staged selfies in yoga pants on a beach:

So why is over-coaching bad?

Problem 1: Too many Cues Confuses People.

Since clients are performing complex movements that excite the nervous system, the last thing they need is someone barking orders at them.

As an example, there’s already so much going on in a client’s mind during the deadlift:

Chest out, butt back, Megan Fox is hot, credit card bill due tomorrow, get kids from school, breathe, shoulders back, if only I could marry Megan Fox.

You see how stimulated their mind is already?

So a coach adding 5-10 things for them to fix is bound to go in one ear and out the other.

Solution: Focus on the most glaring mistakes.

Try and keep it to one to two cues, too.

You may find that one cue is what works the magic for multiple problems. As an example when you see a client with a “rounded back,” this happens because the client fails to engage their lates, sink their hips back, or keep their chest proud.

One magic cue could be “project your chest like Superman” or you can go as far to as to give them tennis balls to actually squeeze under their arm pits so they can adjust their posture.

Or to touch on a more tactile cue (no pun intended), for this pallof drag, the only thing my athlete needed in order to maintain and athletic stance was put a mini band above her knees:

 

Again, sometimes one thing fixes EVERYTHING.

Problem 2: There’s Nothing Worse Than Being Told How Wrong You Are.

And I get it. People fuck up. But over-coaching makes them to feel like failures.

As an example, I had a client unable to back squat. And no matter how many fancy cues, various demonstrations, correctives, and prayers to the squat Gods I threw out there, he couldn’t get it down and told me he felt like a failure because he couldn’t squat.

So instead of saying, “sorry, squats are off limits,” we had to change things up.

Solution: Realize some people need a variation on a basic movement in order to “get it.”

What my client needed to get more depth and hip mobility in his squat was front loading.

So we tried this gem from strength coach Joel Seedman:

 

Not only did it help him better groove the squat position, it also helped him not feel like a failure that is banned from squats forever.

Will he progress to back squats one day? I’d argue never say never.

Problem 3: Over-Coaching Doesn’t Give People Autonomy.

Sure, they hired you to hold their hand, but allowing clients to gain independence helps them gain confidence back in themselves.

People aren’t paying coaches to have a babysitter. They’re paying coaches to get strong, instill confidence back in themselves, and be able to go out into the wild alone at times, namely, do shit themselves.

Solution: It shouldn’t be a surprise that you should allow them to fix it themselves.

This much I know: people’s bodies are awkward.

But.

They’re also capable of amazing feats of strength and movement and exploration. The body plays mysterious tricks on us and surprises us with its abilities.

Oftentimes, I may have an athlete struggling with a movement like the dumbbell snatch on Day One. And saying coaches cues, sprinkling fairy dust on them, and performing wizardry still won’t work.

With that said, I’ll give them one cue, and if it still looks like shit, I’ll leave the facility, go get a burger, go to bed, and come back the next day, and boom….their snatch is flawless.

Again, the body is amazing and people can be capable of fixing themselves after they learn a movement, fuck it up and learn and feel what NOT to do, sleep on it, and come back with good form.

One More Thing: Please don’t toss out too many cues just to say shit. Sometimes, the best coaches are able to sit back, observe, drop one knowledge bomb, and exit stage right.

Let your clients work their magic and trust me when I say keep it simple.

After all, simplicity is the highest form of sophistication.

About the Author

Erica Suter is a certified strength and conditioning coach, soccer trainer, and fitness blogger who has worked with athletes and non-athletes for over 5 years. She is currently a strength coach at JDyer Strength and Conditioning, and also runs her own technical soccer training business in Baltimore, MD.
Her interests include writing, snowboarding, and reciting Lord of the Rings quotes to her athletes and clients.
CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work

Stuff To Read While You’re Pretending To Work: 3/2/18

It’s Friday.

You know how we do.

Copyright: gregorylee / 123RF Stock Photo

BUT FIRST…(SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS, STUFF I’VE WRITTEN, & OTHER TIDBITS CURATED TO SHOWCASE HOW IMPORTANT I AM)

1) Coaching Competency – Sterling, VA

Excited to head back to the DC area and present at Beyond Strength Performance NOVA in Sterling, VA.

Assessment, program design, exercise technique, how to make killer LOLCat memes. It’ll all be covered.

More details in the link above.

2) The Fitness Summit

I’m excited to be heading back to KC this year for The Fitness Summit. It’s always been one of my favorite fitness events of the year.

This year is a first, however.

Dean Somerset and I have been invited to do a Pre-Conference to get the festivities started that weekend.

We’ll be taking deep dive into squat and deadlift technique: discussing ankle, foot, hip and upper extremity considerations in conjunction with regressions/progressions, programming, and breaking down technique flaws.

It’ll be a four-hour glimpse into how we coach.

There’s currently a FLASH sale of $10 off for the Pre-Conference ($90), and then you get to listen to the likes of Bret Contreras, Alan Aragon, Mark Fisher, Susan Kleiner, Greg Nuckols, and many others for the next two days after that.

And there’s some sick BBQ.

You won’t want to miss it.

3) Spurling Spring Seminar

I’m excited to announce that both myself and my wife, Dr. Lisa Lewis, will be presenting at the inaugural Spurling Spring Seminar at Spurling Fitness in Kennebunk, ME in a few months.

If you live in New England and you’re a fitness professional you won’t want to miss it. Early bird special is currently in effect.

Stuff To Read While You’re Pretending To Work

Sleep: Start Taking It Seriously – Jarrod Dyke

Here’s my thought: Almost always, the reason why most people fail to see consistent progress in the gym is because their sleep habits are piss poor.

It’s not because you’re not taking enough creatine laced with Raspberry Ketones dipped in Unicorn tears. Nor is it because you’re not adding chains to your squats.

The reason why you’re “stuck” is because you need to go to freaking bed.

Low Fat vs. Low Carb? Major Study Concludes: It Doesn’t Matter For Weight Loss – Examine.com

Sha-ZAM.

Low-carb zealots may want to sit down wipe their tears with a bread stick.

Strapped For Time? Your Body Is a Barbell – Todd Bumgardner

The picture of Ron Burgandy will make sense. Promise.

I have a lot of clients who travel for work and don’t always have access to a barbell. This article will now be shared with all of them

Excellent stuff from Todd.

Social Media Shenanigans

Twitter

Instagram

CategoriesExercises You Should Be Doing

Exercises You Should Be Doing: Transverse Landmine Snatch

All I have to say is that today’s Exercise You Should Be Doing will make you make this face.

It’s that cool.

Copyright: bowie15 / 123RF Stock Photo

 

Or, I don’t know, if that doesn’t do the trick, what if I told you I’m not wearing a shirt as I write this post, maybe that would help?1

Anyways, today’s exercise I want to share is pretty neato.

Transverse Landmine Snatch

Here’s one of my athletes, Rishi, who’s part of the USA Men’s Field Hockey Program, performing it during last night’s training session.

Who Did I Steal It From? – Stanford University Strength & Conditioning coach Cory Schlesinger.

HERE’s his Instagram page. You should follow him.

What Does It Do? – In short, it’s an excellent introductory drill that trains explosiveness and power; albeit in multiple planes AND in a manner that’s very joint friendly and relatively easy to learn.

I’ve never been shy or reluctant to admit I’m a coach who’s not in any way, shape, or form competent in the OLY lifts.

When I was at Cressey Sports Performance we never prioritized them with our athletes – instead leaning very much on things like medicine ball throws, KB swings, bounding, and sprinting – and even now, at CORE, I still don’t prioritize them.

This is not to insinuate I feel the OLY lifts aren’t wonderful or that they don’t work. To speak candidly I’m at a point in my coaching career where I know what I’m good at and if someone I’m working with really wanted to learn them (or I felt they could benefit from learning them) I have many colleagues in the area I can refer to.

NOTE: If you’re interested you can read more about why I don’t use the OLY lifts HERE.

What I like most about using the landmine in this instance is that it kinda-sorta keeps things predictable; I.e., the barbell will more or less stay in the same path each and every repetition.

This makes the learning curve infinitely shorter.

What I also like about this variation is that it combines a lot of “good” things into one movement: Hip hinge, split stance, rotary stability, transverse (multi-planar) motion, and fake “overhead” pressing.2

The latter makes this an excellent exercise for those who play sports with a heavy overhead component (baseball, basketball, swimming) or for those who may lack the requisite mobility to go completely overhead.

Key Coaching Cues: This isn’t something a lot of people can perform on Day 1. Sure, you’ll get some athletes/clients who will be able to pick it up quickly, but typically I’ll first need to take the time to coach someone through a proper hip hinge, progressing them from a deadlift to a KB swing, KB/DB clean, and also pepper in a fair amount of anti-rotation movements (carries, for example) alongside landmine pressing variations.

In short: it’s important to master the “parts” of the movement before you train the whole enchilada.

Only then will the movement make sense or “click” with someone.

Once there, though:

  1. The move should start with the plate “hovering” a few inches above the ground, with the inside leg (leg closest to the bar) staggered.
  2. It’s important not to “lose” the shoulders; upper back stiffness is crucial.
  3. They’ll then clean the barbell, rotate, and “catch” it in an extended squared-stance position. Like I said above it’s one of those exercises that’s best broken down into its parts. Once the novelty of those have been addressed it makes the actual exercise a bit easier to handle.
  4. I tend to stick in the 3-5 reps/side range and take into account I want this to be explosive. For most people loading 25-45 lbs on the bar will be more than enough.
CategoriesUncategorized

Appearance On The Movement Fix Podcast

I’m always honored to be invited onto someone’s podcast. It’s an even higher honor when I’m asked to come back onto a show I’ve appeared on before.

HERE’s the link to my most recent appearance on The Movement Fix Podcast.

If you’re bored and want a little more backstory about my man crush on Ryan DeBell keep reading below.

Copyright: dr911 / 123RF Stock Photo

The Movement Fix Podcast

When most guys talk about their man-crushes they’re quick to gravitate towards movie stars like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson or professional athletes like Cam Newton.

I can’t say I disagree with those picks. Both are really good at what they do and both are really good looking.3

I have some fitness-industry man crushes too. Plenty of them, actually. One of my most current crushes belongs to Ryan DeBell of The Movement Fix.

  • He’s smart (earned a doctorate in Chiropractic).
  • He’s successful (has built several business, released several successful products/resources, and travels the world speaking to fitness professionals).
  • And he fucking crushes wearing a bowtie.

I mean, who can get away with that and not get punched in the face within 0.7 seconds?

Ryan. That’s who.

I’ve been a big fan of his work and the information he provides for awhile now and I HIGHLY recommend heading to his site to check it out.

Anyways, I’ve appeared on his show before and we’ve actually made several attempts to meet up in person the few times he’s been to Boston to present. Alas, it was always a case of bad timing and nothing ever transpired.

A few weeks ago, however, he reached and said he was going to be in town again and that we should hang out, get a lift in, and maybe record a live podcast.

This was me:

via GIPHY

Long story short, we met up.

I didn’t make it nearly as awkward as all of this probably makes it seem like it should have been.

After a quick bro-session at the gym we headed to a local Starbucks to record an episode of his podcast. We discussed what it’s like running a business, training gen pop clients, how to grow a blog and brand, and how I was able to juggle being a new Dad last year.

I had a blast recording it, and I hope you give it a listen.

—> Tony Hearts Ryan<—

CategoriesAssessment Rehab/Prehab

Neck Pain and Headaches: The Link and How To Find Relief

Whenever one of my clients or athletes walks in and starts to say something to the effect of “hey, my neck is really bothering me…..”

….I immediately put my fingers in my ears and start yelling “lalalalalala, I can’t hear you.”

Okay, kidding.

Neck stuff can be tricky if not terrifying, and I know my limitations as a strength coach. 90% of the time I refer out to clinicians more qualified in this department, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some “first step” actions I can take to hopefully help and provide some relief.

In today’s guest post by Dr. Michael Infantino he provides some insights that are well within many strength coaches/personal trainer’s scope of practice.

Copyright: remains / 123RF Stock Photo

Neck Pain and Headaches: The Link and How To Find Relief

Today I want to help you figure out if your neck is the source of your headache and how to treat it. Headaches, similar to many other diagnoses, can lead you down a rabbit hole of confusion.

So many subtypes of headaches exist that it becomes overwhelming to actually go about treating them. Luckily, the link between your neck and headaches is becoming more recognized.

I regularly see patients who are referred for suspected cervicogenic headache. Cervicogenic headaches imply that the neck is the cause of your headache.

This can be tricky because most headaches will actually result in some type of neck tension. This isn’t to say that treating the neck in these scenarios is a waste of time. It may resolve neck pain.

It just isn’t the answer to resolving your headaches.

Assuming that your headaches are cervicogenic in nature, what is the next step? Treating your neck pain is only one piece of the puzzle. We need to get to the route of the problem. Blaming your headaches solely on your neck is somewhat naïve. You need to consider how your lifestyle may have resulted in your neck pain and headaches.

Remember, everything affects everything. When our neck hurts we start wondering what ligament, muscle, nerve, disc or bone may be injured. Often times neglecting the actual cause of neck pain.

Injury and inflammatory processes local to the neck can occur for a multitude of reasons. It is not always secondary to trauma. Most of us start wondering if we slept in a bad position the night before or think back to a neck injury we sustained twenty years ago.

“That must be the problem! I used to play way to hard in pee-wee football [#glorydays].”

Instead, we need to consider the BIG 3. Sleep, nutrition and exercise. Ask yourself these questions.

How has my sleep been?

How about nutrition?

Have I been neglecting exercise or neglecting recovery?

Most problems start with sleep, nutrition and exercise. If you are missing the mark in any one area expect problems. Missing the mark in multiple areas? Now we have BIG problems.

How To Diagnose Cervicogenic Headaches?

Here’s your sign…

  1. Headache triggered by sustained postures.
  2. Neck pain that triggers a headache.
  3. Neck pain and headaches that are located on one side.
  4. Less than 30 degrees of upper cervical range of motion.

It is more common for cervicogenic headaches to be located on one side of the head, but not always. In some cases, people will sustain a whiplash injury or concussion. Headaches associated with these injuries are often multifactorial. However, we have often seen improvements by treating each suspected cause.

Treating your neck in these situations tends to do wonders.

Considerations For All

Posture… blah, blah, blah. I know we hear about it all the time.

You need to be cognizant of your posture.

This doesn’t mean that you need to sit at attention all day.

My biggest pet peeve is hearing that an “ergonomic specialist” told you that you needed to sit like a statue… all day. “Tall, chin tucked, flat back, shoulder blades pinched…” You’re kidding right?

As always, “poor posture” is not necessarily the culprit when it comes to pain.

Staying in one position for too long is the problem.

This doesn’t mean you have free reign to sit like the Hunch Back of Notre Dame. Studies have shown that a forward head position can increase the frequency of headaches (C Fernández-de-las-Peñas, 2006).

We often overlook the fact that our posture can have a huge impact on how we feel. Picture someone that is sad or depressed. What does their posture look like? Now think of someone confident and enthusiastic. What does their posture look like? How you position yourself can really play into how you feel physically and emotionally.

Tip: Change position every twenty minutes. Taking a walk can do wonders. Drinking a lot of water can force bathroom breaks. If you are stuck in a car shift positions often. Add some neck motions, some back arches, etc.

Be creative… and safe.

Flexibility

With a forward head posture normally comes tense muscles. Doing a quick scan to see which neck motions and shoulder motions feel more limited can make a huge difference.

Multiple studies have found a correlation between cervicogenic headaches and tightness of the sternocleidomastoid, upper trapezius, scalenes, levator scapulae, suboccipitals, and pectoral muscles (Page, 2011).

The picture below keeps things relatively simple.

Stretch the tight muscles and strengthen the weak ones. We will give more guidance on this in the next section.

Strength

Strengthening the neck has shown to improve neck pain and cervicogenic headaches.

Pain, poor posture and trigger points can alter the strength, endurance, timing and proprioception of the muscles around your neck.

Once you address trigger points and flexibility, restoring strength and endurance around the neck can happen relatively quickly.

The more research we have, the less specific it seems we need to be with these exercises (Ask, 2009; Jull, 2009; Gross, 2009; Van Ettekoven, 2006). Studies have shown that specific neck and upper body strengthening can be just as effective as general strengthening (Anderson, 2011).

Some medical providers will argue for the use of “deep cervical strengthening” using a biofeedback cuff.

A what!?

This is basically a rigged up blood pressure cuff. I love using this with patients because it teaches them how to realign their neck without using a lot of big muscles. If you do not have a blood pressure cuff have no fear. Gently performing chin tucks while attempting to avoid large muscle contractions will do.

[Watch the Neck Pain and Cervicogenic Headache Strength video below for more details on chin tucks].

Breathing

Telling someone they need to breath a specific way comes with some challenges.

We don’t always know why they have adopted an upper chest breathing strategy. It could be postural or even developmental. Some of us adopt certain postures because of work requirements or cultural norms. Other times it could be related to how we breathe; mouth vs. nose breathing.

Studies show that mouth breathers more commonly present with forward head posture.

It seems that a forward head position helps increase respiratory strength by using neck and chest musculature (Okuro, 2011; Int J Neiva PD, 2009).

So a forward head position is good?

No, this is a compensation that leads to increased tension and trigger points.

The emphasis placed on diaphragmatic breathing has been great over the past few years. We also need to make sure people are learning how to perform nose breathing. Besides helping improve oxygenation and preventing forward head posture, it has many other wonderful benefits. Since this is not the main topic of today I digress.

 

How To Test & Treat Yourself

The goal here is to keep things QUICK and DIRTY.

We will go through (1) motion and (2) strength testing.

Do you need to do all of these tests?

Absolutely not.

The benefit of testing and retesting is to see if you are actually making change. If your motion and strength improve after a couple weeks without resolution of headaches we need to go back to the drawing board. Consider seeing a skilled medical provider.

If you are short on time just go right to the “Ouch Test.” This is when you roll some inanimate object on your neck in an effort to identify trigger points. With a smile on your face of course.

Motion and Tissue Quality Testing:

 

1. Flexion/Rotation Test

The goal here is to see if your upper cervical rotation is limited in one direction. Cervicogenic headaches are usually attributed to dysfunction at the upper three cervical levels.

Flex your neck and rotate your head in an attempt to identify a “tighter side.” Keep in mind that what you feel isn’t always real. Give it a shot and consider using a friend to assist or a video camera to identify the direction you are limited in.

If you can’t get your chin to touch your chest we already know your neck needs some work.

2. Rotation/Flexion Test

If you had trouble getting your chin to your chest this test will help you identify if one side is tighter. This time you are rotating and then attempting to touch your chin to your collarbone.

This lets us know if upper cervical flexion is more limited on one side than the other. If you are limited, the assumption is that the opposite side cervical musculature is limiting you. To measure, see how many fingers can fit between your chin and collar bone.

Having objective measures will help you see if you made progress after treatment.

3. Follow The Map

Sometimes a roadmap is helpful for identifying the muscles that may be contributing to your pain and headaches. Being familiar with muscle referral patterns can help remove a little anxiety related to your pain. It helps prevent you from always thinking the worst when pain sets in. With a road map it is easier to get to your destination.

4. The “Ouch” Test

This is a more simple way of identifying which muscles may be triggering your headaches. Use your fingers, a roller stick, Thera-cane, lacrosse ball or whatever to identify tender regions around the upper neck and shoulders.

If a spot actually recreates your headache, you struck GOLD.

If you identify a tender region that does not recreate your headache, it would not hurt to treat it anyway.

5. Strength Testing

 

Chin Tuck and Lift Test

  1. Lying flat on the ground or in bed, place on hand underneath your head.
  2. First perform a small chin tuck and then remove your hand from behind your head without changing position.
  3. Men should be able to maintain this position for at least 40 seconds with minimal shaking local to the head and neck.
  4. Women should be able to maintain this position for at least 30 seconds with minimal shaking local to the head and neck (Domenech et. al, 2012).

Treatment. Let’s Get To Work.

1. Soft Tissue and Joint Treatment

Our goal here is to restore motion to the upper cervical region and resolve any trigger points.

 

2. Strength Treatment

We believe in being better than the average.

Your goal is to be able to hold the chin tuck and lift position for 1 minute, in a curl up position. We work on short duration holds with repetitions to help avoid excessive soreness.

Please do not be a hero and do long duration holds each time you exercise.

This recommendation is not for your general strength routine, only for this rehabilitation plan.

Goal: 1 minute hold in curl up position.

Retest: At the end of each week.

Protocol [See strength video above for demonstrations]:

Phase 1: Chin Tuck and Lift. 5 second holds for 10 repetitions. (5x/week)

When you can perform this with ease and no pain move on.

Phase 2: Chin Tuck and Lift. 10 second holds for 10 repetitions. (5x/week)

When you can perform this with ease and no pain move on.

Phase 3: Curl up + Chin Tuck and Lift. 5 second holds for 10 repetitions. (5x/week)

When you can perform this with ease and no pain move on.

Phase 4: Curl Up + Chin Tuck and Lift. 10 second holds for 10 repetitions. (5x/week)

Headache Diary: Become A Good Detective.         

Using a headache diary is a great way to identify the source of your headache.

If you want to be a good detective you need to take some notes. Noting the time of day, triggers (specific activity, specific movement you made, foods you ate, your mood, etc.), symptoms that preceded your headache, medications used and how you found relief.

Achieving 1% gains in various regions of your life, on a daily basis, is a surefire way to resolve most health issues.

Overview

The link between cervical dysfunction and headaches is often overlooked.

Basic maintenance that includes soft tissue work, strength, awareness of posture and proper breathing could be the fix you need. The medical community as a whole has been getting better at addressing the cause of headaches rather than covering them up with medication. Putting a spot light on the fundamental components of health should always be the answer.

Getting sleep, nutrition and exercise right is often the answer to most disease and illness. This will make your life much simpler, not to mention how much better you will feel.

Interested in a FREE home exercise plan. Click here to get started today!

About the Author

Dr. Michael Infantino is a physical therapist. He works with active military members in the DMV region. You can find more articles by Michael at RehabRenegade.com.

 

CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work

Stuff To Read While You’re Pretending To Work: 2/23/18

It’s Friday.

You know how we do.

Copyright: epokrovsky / 123RF Stock Photo

BUT FIRST…(SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS, STUFF I’VE WRITTEN, & OTHER TIDBITS CURATED TO SHOWCASE HOW IMPORTANT I AM)

1) Coaching Competency – Sterling, VA

Excited to head back to the DC area and present at Beyond Strength Performance NOVA in Sterling, VA.

Assessment, program design, exercise technique, how to make killer LOLCat memes. It’ll all be covered. More details in the link above.

2) The Fitness Summit

I had to take a break from The Fitness Summit last year for two reasons:

1. Whenever I go I always eat way too many cookies.[Props to Dave & Nick Bromberg’s mom.[/efn_note]

2. But mostly because I succeeded in making a baby and my wife would have tossed me so much shade if I was all like “Hey Babe, going to KC for three days. Toodles.”

Well this year I’m back and excited to take part in a Fitness Summit first. Dean Somerset and I will be putting on a Pre-Conference day where we’ll spend a few hours test driving some new material as a follow-up to our Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint.

Tentatively titled The More Completer Hip & Shoulder Blueprint.

We’ll be taking deep dive into squat and deadlift technique: discussing ankle, foot, hip and upper extremity considerations in conjunction with regressions/progressions and programming. Whether you’re a coach or just someone who likes to lift heavy things you’ll undoubtedly learn something.

And if not, cool, you still get to hang out with us for a few hours.

Registration is now open for returning and new attendees.

3) Spurling Spring Seminar

I’m excited to announce that both myself and my wife, Dr. Lisa Lewis, will be presenting at the inaugural Spurling Spring Seminar at Spurling Fitness in Kennebunk, ME in a few months.

If you live in New England and you’re a fitness professional you won’t want to miss it. Early bird special is currently in effect.

Stuff To Read While You’re Pretending To Work

Symmetry Doesn’t Even Matter, and Probably Causes More Problems Than It Solves – Dean Somerset

Whenever Dean and I present together one of the major messages we try to smack people across the face with is the idea of symmetry and how we need to stop obsessing over it.

In this post Dean explains why.

Joe Dowdell Got Screwed Out of Building the Gym of His Dreams. Here’s How He Recovered – Lou Schuler

Joe Dowdell spent 20+ years building a fitness industry staple in NYC…Peak Performance  (or Peak to those in the know).

It was THE spot for quality training, continuing education, and watching beautiful people sweat.

Joe had plans for something bigger and sexier. All was going well, until it wasn’t.

Fixing Dave Tate: Movement Screening – Elitefts.com

This was really neat to watch John Rusin take Dave Tate through a movement screen. The video spliced in at the 13:00 mark made me laugh hysterically.

Social Media Shenanigans

Twitter

Instagram

Categoriescoaching Strength Training

A Subtle Reminder That Lifting Weights Is Supposed To “Stress” the Body

NOTE: This post is a bit of a face-lift from a similar post I wrote last year. 

I’ve noticed a growing trend in recent months in the fitness community and it’s something that’s been grinding my gears.4

It seems it’s become trendy or a “thing” for some (not all) people to bash certain exercises – specifically, from a more general standpoint, lifting appreciable weight – due to the stress it can cause. I’ve been noticing this trend a lot in the comments section of this site and in the comment sections of other training forums I frequent. It’s certainly not at pandemic levels or anything, but it’s happening enough where I felt compelled to get a little ranty today.

Copyright: vadymvdrobot / 123RF Stock Photo

“Don’t do this exercise because it’ll stress your knees.”

“It’s probably best to avoid lifting heavy weights because it’ll stress your joints and back.”

“You shouldn’t do “x” or “y” because it’ll cause too much stress.”

Blah, blah. blabbidy, blah, blah.

Now, let me preface everything by saying I understand it’s not everyone’s goal to get strong(er), hoist barbells and dumbbells every which way, and/or, I don’t know, make people clench their sphincters when they watch you bench press.

It’s not everyone’s bag, and that’s cool.

Likewise, any conversation of this magnitude should come with the assumption that whatever exercise or modality we’re referring to – squats, overhead pressing, juggling chainsaws – is, in fact, an appropriate fit for someone based off their goals, ability level, taking into account their current/past injury history, and individual anthropometry.

Moreover, we can make the case for any exercise having an inherent risk, if not tinkering on the edge of dangerous, if it over-steps someone’s ability level, is performed incorrectly, and/or is done with too much volume.

  • A newbie performing conventional deadlifts on Day #1 probably won’t be a good fit.
  • A heavy back squat performed with an excessively rounded back = stop blaming the exercise and fix your technique, Sherlock.
  • Even if someone has immaculate dynamic control of their rotator cuff, spends time addressing soft-tissue quality, and also stays on top of their ability to upwardly rotate their scapulae, even if they do all of that (which is saying a lot), the acromion space will always narrow when you overhead press. Doing too much of it (volume) can still cause shoulder issues.5

That said, it’s not lost on me there’s a heavy bias on my end given I’m a strength coach. I like getting people strong. It’s what I do and it’s what I’m about.

Well, that, and crushing ice-cream.

And still trying to figure out why Carrie broke up with Aidan in Season 4 of Sex and the City.6

I have rarely found anything negative that results from getting someone stronger; whether we’re referring to helping an athlete perform better in his or her’s respective sport, helping a grandmother be able to carry her own groceries, or helping anyone be less fragile.

Everyday life is filled with trials, tribulations, tripping over Legos on the carpet, and general levels of shitstormery. What harm can come from getting stronger and to be better equipped and prepared for it?

Yet, time and time again I witness people’s backlash towards strength training – or any sense of straining – by using the excuse “it’s too much risk at stressing the body.”

Ummmmmm.

The point of exercise, and more specifically, lifting weights, is to stress the body.

Strain, effort, and yes, even some level of discomfort is warranted, nay, needed, in order to make the body more resilient and ready for sport AND life.

I’m not making this stuff up either.

There are laws (meaning, proven, undeniable facts backed by science) to back me up:

BOOM

Wolff’s Law – States that bone in a healthy person or animal will adapt to the loads under which it is placed.

As a corollary to Wolff’s Law there’s also the term known as Minimal Essential Strain (MES) which also states there’s a threshold (strain) that must be reached and repeated often enough to signal to the osteoblasts to travel to the area of strain and lay down collagen to increase the strength of the bone.

Davis’s Law – Describes how soft tissue models along imposed demands.

I-Just-Threw-My-Face-Into-a-Brick-Wall-Because-I-Became-Dumber-For-Having-Listened-To-What-You-Just-Said Law – Describes the spontaneous reaction that results when someone says something stupid.7

We can’t always live in a bubble or “safe space” filled with non-threatening exercise, pink dumbbells, and Adele radio playing on Pandora.

It behooves us to teeter with end-ranges of motion and to sometimes tinker with someone’s ability to just do more.

Lets take the squat.

A common argument against it – again, for some, not everyone – is that it should be avoided because it stresses the knees.

Well, when done incorrectly I’d agree.

There’s much that can go awry with the squat.

However, some trainers/coaches take it to delicate flower levels that I can’t begin to comprehend. To the point where, if there’s any deviation from perfect, they’ll start hyperventilating into a paper bag and shut the set down faster than you can say “When’s Season 3 of Stranger Things coming out?”

Sometimes you have to let people figure things out for themselves and stop over-coaching.

The knees caving in isn’t always bad.

“Caving” to neutral is a lot different than actually falling into knee valgus.

Don’t be so quick to pump the brakes on people.

Hell, the point of someone going to physical therapy is to do something physical. Those therapists who tend to get the best and most efficient results tend to be those that include strength & conditioning to compliment the clinical side of the equation.

If you’ve done your job as a coach and properly progressed your clients/athletes it’s okay to allow them to deviate from perfect. It’ll help them in the long run.

I’d make the case it’s beneficial to allow people to experience compromising positions anyways. That way they’ll know how to get out of them if or when they happen again (and they will).

It’s imperative to make the body do more work in order to adapt and make progress. To steal a quote from Nick Tumminello:

“It’s all about creating STRESS (to stimulate adaption) W/O DISTRESS (that exceeds one’s tolerance and causes injury).”

We need to challenge the body.

We need to stress it.

Categoriescontinuing education

Just Announced: Coaching Competency Workshop in DC Area

I’m excited to announce I’ll be in the DC area Saturday, April 21, 2018 to teach my Coaching Competency Workshop.

Copyright: tzido / 123RF Stock Photo

 

I can’t tango, I have zero nunchuck skills, and I haven’t the faintest idea how to make a flambeau dessert.

However, I do  know how to coach people in the weight room. And I know how to coach coaches on how to be better coaches.

See…here’s a picture of me coaching:

Coaching Competency Workshop

This will be an immersive and interactive day where I peel back the onion as it relates to my approach to the following topics:

  • Assessment – upper and lower extemity
  • Program Design
  • Exercise Technique
  • Making Killer LOLCat Memes

When: Saturday, April 21, 2018

Where: Beyond Strength Performance (Chris Merritt & Todd Bumgardner’s joint) located in Sterling, VA.

Time: 11:30 am – 6:30 pm

Cost: $99 (Early Bird), $129 (After 3/25).

  • 0.7 CEUs will be offered via the NSCA

Itinerary

11 am: Registration

11:30 am: Welcome and Review of the Day

11:45 am: Roles of a Coach, Characteristics of “Good” and “Bad” Coach, Personal Coaching Philosophy

1:00 pm: Upper Extremity Assessment – Shoulder. Discuss anatomy, common screens used to ascertain shoulder health/performance.

2:00 pm: Hands-on Upper Extremity Correctives – shoulder friendly strength training.

3:30 pm:  Lower Extremity Assessment – Hips. Discuss anatomy, common screens used to ascertain hip health/performance, hands-on correctives.

5:00 pm:  Hip Hinge, Squat, Program Design.

6:30 pm: Wrap-up, CEUs, Go get a burger.

Register

You can go HERE to sign-up and register.8