This Saturday, Chad Waterbury will deliver his Advanced Training Workshop at Cressey Performance.  And, since I hadn’t caught up with him here for quite some time, I thought it’d be a good time to bring him back for an interview. Check it out. -EC

EC: Welcome back to EricCressey.com! It’s been a while since we last touched base, so we ought to get up to speed on what you’ve been doing. To start, what would you say is the biggest change you’ve made compared to when you started training?

CW: The most significant change I’ve made is the way I assess clients. In the early days I would do some basic range of motion tests and ask a client which joints felt stiff or painful. Then I would do a combination of soft tissue work and PNF stretches to correct the issues. It helped clients move better and have less pain for the workout that followed, but those were usually just temporary changes. The next workout the client would often complain of the same problems.

Take the IT band, for example, since it’s usually stiff and painful to the touch on many athletes. I used to have my clients foam roll the IT band before training to release the tension. It hurts like hell to foam roll a super stiff IT band, and it’s easy to associate the pain of foam rolling with a gain in tissue quality. But that’s rarely the solution. In most cases, the IT band would be right back where it started the following day.

So a few years ago I started studying more progressive corrective approaches, namely the Postural Restoration Institute (PRI) and Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization (DNS). What I learned from those two approaches is how imperative it is to identify and correct the position of the ribcage and pelvis.

In my early training years I would look for muscles that were tight or painful and find a way to eliminate the tension through stretching or foam rolling. But I learned that instead of figuring out how to release a tight muscle it’s much more valuable to ask yourself: Why is the muscle tight?

When you learn to ask the right questions you put yourself much closer to the solution.

EC: I agree.  Learning and integrating PRI into our system has been a huge game changer, and you’ll definitely see aspects of DNS in our training programs, too. Where are you seeing it have the most dramatic impact?

CW: Three areas that often have excessive tension are the psoas, TFL and IT band. Now, you can stretch and foam roll and it might help temporarily. But in many cases the psoas is excessively stiff because the diaphragm and ribcage aren’t sitting properly. For the TFL and IT band, those problems are usually related to a rotated pelvis and poor glute activation. When you correct those issues, and sometimes it only takes five minutes, the excess tension disappears immediately. Now you’re working on the source of the problem.

Or take shoulder pain as another example since that’s one area you specialize in. I think we have learned how crucial proper positioning of the ribcage and diaphragm are for optimal shoulder mechanics.

And the coolest part is that it’s not difficult to learn how to reposition the ribcage or pelvis, once you know what you’re looking for.

EC: I read your blog post where you describe some of the things you learned at the Movement Performance Institute. Care to elaborate on that?

CW: I think it’s the duty of a trainer or therapist to make an effort to learn from others. The key is to seek out experts that have had considerable success in a specific area and do your best to learn from them. That’s what I try to do.

I had heard some terrific things about the research from Chris Powers, Ph.D., at his Movement Performance Institute in west Los Angeles. So I met with him last fall and he let me spend five months under his tutelage where I drastically increased my training IQ, especially when it comes to the biomechanics of running and glute development.

Dr. Powers wears many hats. He’s a professor at the University of Southern California (USC), a physical therapist, and one of the world’s best researchers on knee rehab, especially ACL injuries. He was one of the first researchers to demonstrate that patients who have knee pain probably have weakness in the hips and core.

What’s also great about Dr. Powers is that he has a background in powerlifting. He isn’t a guy who wants you to spend the rest of your training days doing band exercises. His goal is to get you back to lifting hard and heavy. That was one of the things about him that impressed me most, and why I wanted to learn from him.

Now my approach to glute training, and how I implement it to increase performance, is at a much higher level. I learned why many of the glute exercises out there are doing very little to reduce knee pain or increase athleticism. The glute max, in particular, is a tri-planar muscle group so you must train it with that fact in mind.

EC: It sounds like you’ve shifted more toward the physical therapy end of the spectrum, as opposed to traditional performance training?

CW: When it comes to building explosive strength the key is to figure out where an athlete is weak or compensating. Once you correct those issues, explosiveness will increase tremendously. It doesn’t matter if you’re a powerlifting coach, an athletic trainer or a physical therapist, the goal is always the same: find where the athlete is weak and fix it. In other words, if you want to be a guy who builds explosive strength you must be proficient at identifying and correcting the factors that affect it.

I’m learning how important those factors are thanks to my time working with incredible doctors like Chris Powers, Stu McGill and Craig Liebenson. I’ve become passionate about the clinical side of athletic development. That’s why I’m heading to USC in the fall to start their doctor of physical therapy program.

EC: How do you typically assess clients?

CW: Everything starts with the ribcage and pelvis. The reason is because those two areas have such far-reaching effects. The feet are also important to assess. Most people shouldn’t train barefoot because they have excessive pronation that, in turn, can cause knee valgus. And if there’s one thing you need to stay away from, it’s knee valgus. You only need to read the research by Chris Powers, PhD, and Tim Hewett, PhD, for proof.

What I do next depends on the type of client I have. If it’s an athlete, I’ll test the vertical jump, deadlift and 5-10-5, for starters. Those are three key indicators when improvements in explosive strength and agility are the goal.

However, as I said in the beginning, the assessment is the most crucial part of any training program because it will identify where you need to focus your time and energy. My goal is to use the fewest corrective exercises possible. And, sometimes the best corrective is to just use better form while lifting.

EC: Great stuff, Chad. Thanks for the interview!

For those interested in this weekend’s workshop, we still have a few spaces open. You can register HERE.

And, if you can’t make the workshop, you can still visit Chad’s site at www.ChadWaterbury.com.