Home Posts tagged "Deadlift" (Page 66)

3 Coaching Cues to Make Your Strength and Conditioning Programs More Effective

When it comes to strength and conditioning programs, I've long been a proponent of the phrase, "It's not just what you do; it's how you do it."

Whenever I visit a commercial gym, I'm reminded of just how badly most people butcher exercise technique.  A lot of people get hurt with exercise, and it isn't necessarily because the exercise is inherently bad, but because their execution of that exercise (or their "intepretation" of it) is grossly flawed. 

To that end, I thought it would be a good idea to kick off a new series about coaching cues we regularly use with our clients and athletes.  Here are three to get the ball rolling:

1. "Make a double chin."

I'm a huge advocate of teaching the packed neck during strength exercises, as a lot of athletes have a tendency to slip into forward head posture the second they get under load.  However, the common cue of "tuck the chin" really doesn't work, as a lot of athletes will simply open the mouth or take the chin to the sternum.  Neither of these patterns are ideal.  Simply telling someone to make a double chin usually fixes the problem instantly, as it's a pattern that is already in their existing schema; they've been making goofy faces every since they were kids.

This is, of course, a cue you might want to avoid if your client does, in fact, have many chins.

2. "Stare at your fists."

Prone bridges are a tremendously valuable anterior core stability exercise, especially for beginners.  Unfortunately - and possibly because they're so common in group exercise settings - the technique gets butchered all the time, as folks make themselves "too long" with their set-up.  When the hands are too far out in front of the body, the challenge improves considerably, and folks often drop into a forward head posture, "buffalo hump" at the thoracic spine, and lumbar hyperextension.  Here's what the poor technique looks like; you'll see that the athlete is simply training in an excessively lordotic posture:

Here's how it looks when it's corrected:

 

3. "Work like a see-saw."

I'm a big fan of single-leg deadlifts, but the truth is that a lot of people struggle to master the hip hinge in unilateral stance.  One of the quick and easy ways to correct this is to tell an athlete to "work like a see-saw."  In other words, imagine the dumbbell in front as being one side of the see-saw, and your foot in the back as the other end.  Since the foot weighs less than the dumbbell, you've got to get it further out on the see-saw to have the same counterbalancing effect.

The same is true in the warm-up period, even if you don't have weights in the hands:

Did you find these tips helpful?  Looking for more coaching cues like these? In the comments section below, let me know what exercise technique gives you trouble and we'll cover it in a future installment!

Sign-up Today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a four-part video series on how to deadlift!

Name
Email
Read more

Strength and Conditioning Stuff You Should Read: 8/13/12

Here's this week's list of recommended strength and conditioning reads:

When to Wear Minimalist Shoes - I thought this was a great post from Dean Somerset on a hot topic these days.  Dean, like me, is a fan of the New Balance Minimus.

As an interesting little aside to this, last week, I had a chance to preview the newest version of the Minimus (due out in December), and they're absolutely awesome.  Cool colors, awesome design, super durability, and great fit. I'm excited to rock them.

The Most Overlooked Continuing Education Opportunity for Fitness Professionals - My experience out at the Area Code Games reminded me of this old post of mine, as I had an opportunity to interact with kids from all over the country on the baseball field.  The athletes and clients you encounter can teach you a ton.

Glutes Gone Wild: Part 2 - Silly name, but good article from Ben Bruno nonetheless.  There are some exercise variations in here that we use quite often at CP.

Sign-up Today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a four-part video series on how to deadlift!

Name
Email
Read more

Quick and Easy Ways to Feel and Move Better: Installment 14

Here's this week's list of quick tips you can put into action to improve your strength and conditioning and nutrition programs, courtesy of CP coach Greg Robins.  This week, Greg focuses on improving your warm-ups.

1. Integrate new movements into your warm-up first.

A solid warm-up should do a few things for you; in a nutshell, it needs to prepare the body for the task at hand. At Cressey Performance, we do this via soft tissue work, mobility drills, and various low level activation exercises. Essentially, we are working on our weak points (from a movement standpoint), so that we can solidify these new ranges with our strength training. Therefore, the warm up itself is a great spot to work on any new movements we want to externally load down the road. As a believer in training efficiency, I would rather see more time spent loading what can be safely loaded, and not spending as much time in the "meat" of the training session working new movements. If you have movement patterns that need practice, do a few sets in the warm up. As an example, CP coach Chris Howard is currently working the steps of the Turkish get-up as part of his warm-up routine before he loads it up. Other options include: frontal plane exercises such as lateral lunge variations, squat variations, and lunge or split squat variations.

2. Put a time limit on you warm-up.

A thorough warm-up includes a lot, and each piece is important. That being said, it doesn't (nor should it need to) take more than 15 minutes. As I said before, the warm-up needs to prepare you for the task at hand, and that task includes crushing your training session. In order to make that happen, you want to leave the warm up area sweating, fired up, and ready to train. Too often, I see people allow the warm-up process to morph into a 30-minute affair. Not surprisingly, these are the same people who comment on the tediousness of the process, and the fact that their training sessions seem like two-hour affairs. Focus on what needs to get done, and get it done. Scrap the small talk, and get to work! I can properly do all my self massage and 10-12 warm up exercises in 15 minutes, and so can you. When I finish my shirt is damp, my adrenaline is pumping, and I am ready to do work. You need to do the same. Next time you get into the gym, set a timer and condense your 30-minute marathon of a warm-up into 15 minutes. The difference in training quality will be immediately noticeable, and your distaste for warming up will be a thing of the past.

3. "Floss" your joints during self-massage.

I picked this tip up awhile back from strength coach and physical therapist Kelly Starrett. It has made a huge difference in how my elbows, knees, and shoulders feel after warming up. When rolling out you will often find "knots" or areas that are noticeably more tender than others. Stop on these regions, keep constant pressure on the area, and take the nearest joint through some active ranges of motion while the implement used for massage is still applying pressure. I have found this to be especially helpful with a lacrosse ball placed just above the knee, just above the elbow, and under the shoulder. Other options include simply flexing and extending the knees, elbows, and shoulders while rolling across the IT bands / quadriceps (knee), upper and mid back (shoulders), and upper arms (elbows). Here are a few examples:

4. Mimic the day's big exercise with a lower load variation first.

As a powerlifter, my training sessions always begin with one of the tested lifts: squat, bench, or deadlift. While this may not be the case for the general population or athletes, more times than not they are still beginning with a big compound movement. Instead of diving right in to the lift at hand, consider doing a few light sets of a similar movement that will help ingrain proper technique and give you additional time to orient the body to the day’s main movement pattern. I have found the goblet squat to be a great way to set up for successful squatting. Band resisted good mornings or KB swings are good for the deadlift. Finally, something as easy as a few sets of pushups can help with the bench press.

Each of these options will help raise your core temperature, fire up the CNS, and give you some sensory feed back on how the lift should feel (or will feel) on the given day.

5. Consider using MCTs for pre workout nutrition.

I'll finish this warm-up edition with a suggestion on how to warm up your body from the inside out. Many people tend to fuel their body pre-workout with various supplements (mostly full of garbage), or with carbohydrate-rich concotions. Instead, consider using a healthy source of fat: Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCTs). The benefits are numerous, and especially advantageous for those looking to increase fat oxidation during the workout. This study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, showed that consumption of MCTs as part of a weight loss plan improved overall weight loss. After ingestion of MCTs, the free fatty acid levels are raised, and more available to be used as energy. Supplementing with MCTs pre workout is therefore a terrific option for those on low carbohydrate diets looking for pre-workout energy and increased fat loss. You can get your MCTs in via coconut oil, MCT oil supplements, or even quality coconut milk products. Add in a small amount of BCAAs or whey protein, and caffeine for a boost that will keep you fueled up while aiding you in staying lean.

Sign-up Today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a four-part video series on how to deadlift!

Name
Email
Read more

Injury Nutrition and Supplementation: How to Get Back in the Game Sooner

 Today's guest blog comes from nutrition expert, Brian St. Pierre.

About three weeks ago, I broke part of my tibia while playing in a rugby tournament. Fortunately, my break isn’t too bad (though it is rather rare), as I only broke the bottom portion of the tibia, not the entire bone.

I got tackled on the final play of the game, and while we went on to score, giving us a chance to tie. Unfortunately, we missed the kick, and even more unfortunately, my ankle everted excessively. This eversion caused huge strain on my tibiocalcaneal ligament (the white one in the photo below), which is so damn strong that instead of spraining, it simply broke the bone where it attached to my tibia.

 

The worst part is that 1 in 6 of these breaks require surgery. I am young, fit and healthy, so I am hopefully not the “1,” but I still felt it was in my best interest to do everything I could to decrease the surgery odds.

Injuries are a part of the game; whether that game is rugby, baseball or just being a recreational exerciser – they can happen to all of us. While prevention is always the goal, once injury occurs, what can we do about it? A lot, actually.

You see, the body has a very organized recovery process. First is the coagulation phase which lasts 1-2 days. An inflammation phase follows, lasting up to 5 days post –injury. Third is the migration phase, which lasts from day 4 to 21 days post injury. Finally, the remodeling phase lasts from day 5 up to 2 years post injury.

With this in mind, we can use appropriate nutrition and supplement choices to improve the recovery process. The goal with an injury is to manage inflammation by controlling swelling and pain, and to assist with the remodeling phase to stimulate tissue growth (in my case, bone).

The trick is to not completely eliminate inflammation, as some is necessary for proper recovery, but too much can increase tissue damage and lengthen the recovery time. Here are some strategies for modulating inflammation:

1. Eating appropriate fat-dense foods.

Focusing consumption on plenty of extra virgin olive oil, various nuts, avocados, ground flax, chia seeds and wild fatty fish or fish oil. Fish oil is a must here, with a good goal being 3-9g of total fish oil per day.

In this same vein, it is even more important to minimize inflammatory promoters such as industrial vegetable oils – corn, cottonseed, safflower, soybean, sunflower, etc and especially trans fats.

2. Including specific foods and supplements.

Curcumin at 1-2g/day.
Garlic
Bromelain 500-1000mg/day or 1 cup pineapple/day

3. Using NSAIDs appropriately.

NSAIDs do help with managing inflammation, but they also can hinder appropriate healing, in addition to many other possible side effects such as GI distress, bleeding, etc. They are best reserved for the inflammation phase of recovery only.

In addition to managing inflammation, it is also important to note that injuries increase our resting metabolic rates by 15-50%. In my case it is probably closer to 15, in the case of severe burns covering large amounts of the body, then it approaches 50%. As such, we need to consider the extent of the injury when we decide how to plan out nutrition to optimize tissue repair.

While overall calories needs will be higher than your needs if you were not injured, they are not as high as your needs are if you are healthy and training hard. In my case I was still able to lift 4x/wk with some modifications, but I was no longer able to walk the dog everyday for two miles, and my overall movement decreased, so my intake reflected that.

In addition, having some vitamin or mineral deficiencies can also inhibit healing and recovery. These deficiencies include vitamins A, Bs, C, and D, as well as copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, zinc and calcium.

Additionally, some micronutrients may actually speed healing (though some are more specific to wounds than bone): vitamins A and C, copper and zinc are examples.

With all of that in mind, what did I actually do with my nutrition and supplementation to ensure a good recovery?

I actually increased my already substantial fruit and vegetable intake to help ensure adequate vitamin and mineral status, as well as providing anti-inflammatory phytonutrients and compounds.

I will also note that I have been experimenting with a BSP version of intermittent fasting (meaning I am not a slave to it, I do it on days when it fits my schedule, and don’t do it on days when it doesn’t, and I don’t worry if I only fast for 14 hours instead of 16 either).

Wake @ 5:30am – 12oz black coffee

7:00am – 12oz black coffee

7:30-8:30am – train

10:00am – Breakfast
• 5 whole pasture-raised eggs in 1 tsp grass-fed ghee
• ½ cup mixed peppers and onions
• large handful organic spinach
• salt and pepper to taste
• ½ cup old fashioned oats cooked with a little unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 banana, sliced
• 1 tbsp organic milled flax
• cinnamon to taste
• 1 smoothie made of 2oz POM, 1 cup organic whole yogurt, ½ scoop vanilla protein, 5g creatine, bunch of blueberries and strawberries

2:00pm – Lunch
• 1 Ezekiel wrap
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil pesto
• large handful or two of organic spinach
• 1 chicken breast
• ½ 100cal pack wholly guacamole
• 12 baby carrots with other half of guac
• 1 organic apple
• (when uninjured I have another cup of yogurt, another half scoop of protein, a few slivered almonds, and some chopped strawberries here, but I intentionally dropped this knowing my needs were less)

6:00pm – Dinner
• 3 cups organic mixed greens
• 4 baby carrots
• ½ cucumber
• ¼ cup black beans
• ½ cup brown and wild rice
• a few croutons
• 2 tbsp expeller pressed canola oil ranch dressing
• 10oz grass-fed lean sirloin
• 1 glass wine or 1 Coors Light
• 3 squares Green & Black’s Organic 85% Cacao chocolate (1/4 serving)
• 1 serving mixed dried fruit

Supplements:
• Innate Response One Daily 2x/d
• 1g Curcumin 2x/d
• 500mg Vitamin C 2x/d
• 2000IU Vitamin D on weekdays
• 3g fish oil 2x/d (total of 3.6g EPA and DHA)
• 1 probiotic daily
• 3 ZMA 4x/wk

In advance, I’ll answer some of the questions I know will come up.:

1. I am only taking vitamin D on weekdays because I get plenty of sun on the weekends, and in fact I was only taking it a few days a week prior to the injury since I was walking the dog each afternoon and it has been a gorgeous summer.

2. I am taking the vitamin C merely because we had some kicking around the house; they were about to expire and I figured it wouldn’t hurt.

3. I don’t normally take ZMA, but I figured I would get a bottle for the extra zinc and magnesium, just for the next 5-6 weeks or until it runs out. I only take it on the nights before I train, as I tend to feel groggy if I take it every night.

4. I will only take the supplements in these amounts for four weeks. After that it returns to multi just once, 500mg curcumin, and 2g fish oil (1.2g EPA/DHA).

5. I will also not that I did take 800mg of ibuprofen 2x/d starting on day 3 of recovery, after the coagulation phase, and then only took for three more days, or until the inflammation phase was complete.

Conclusion

Don’t let an injury come between you and your health and fitness goals. As Eric has written, you can always train around an injury, and there are steps you can take to provide your body with the materials it needs to heal as rapidly and completely as possible.

Have you employed any nutritional or supplementation strategies to assist your recovery from an injury in the past? I’d love to hear your experiences in the comments section below.

About the Author

Brian St. Pierre is a Certified Sports Nutritionist (CISSN) and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS). He received his degree in Food Science and Human Nutrition with a focus in Human Nutrition and Dietetics from the University of Maine, and he is currently pursuing his Master's degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics from the same institution. He was the Nutritionist and a Strength and Conditioning Coach at Cressey Performance in Hudson, MA for three years, and is now a coach with Precision Nutrition. Brian authored the Show and Go Nutrition Guide, the accompanying nutrition manual to Eric Cressey’s Show and Go Training System.

With his passion for seeing his clients succeed, Brian is able to use his knowledge, experience, and energy to create highly effective training and nutrition programs for clients of any age and background. For more information, check out his website.

Sign-up Today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a four-part video series on how to deadlift!

Name
Email
Read more

The Essentials of Nutrition Coaching

Dr. John Berardi has been one of the greatest influences in my career.  He has been a friend for about a decade now, and in that time, he's had a positive impact on the way that I've written, presented, and structured my online and in-person businesses.  In addition to being an accomplished researcher, writer, and pioneer in the world of nutrition coaching, Dr. Berardi wrote the forward to my first book with a publisher, and has been generous with his time whenever I've had a question for him.  In short, I think the "good doctor" is everything that's right about our industry today.

To that end, I'd encourage you to check out some of his stuff for yourself today, as he's introducing a new free course called The Essentials of Nutrition Coaching.  It's an outstanding resource that will teach you:

--> How to include nutrition in a training, coaching or therapeutic environment

--> How to quickly and accurately assess the nutritional needs of a new client

--> How to devise a nutrition plan based on that assessment

--> What stats to measure and how exactly to measure them

--> How to optimize a nutrition plan based on those stats

We've utilized Dr. Berardi's teachings extensively for our nutrition consultations at Cressey Performance with great results, and I'd encourage you to go through this course yourself to learn how you can benefit from these great ideas as well.  Check it out for yourself; you won't regret it:

 

Sign-up Today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a four-part video series on how to deadlift!

Name
Email
Read more

Quick and Easy Ways to Feel and Move Better: Installment 13

Compliments of Cressey Performance coach Greg Robins, here is this week's list of quick and easy ways to feel and move better.

1. Get on the same page with other coaches in your facility.

In the past six years, I have split the vast majority of my coaching among three different facilities. Therefore, I can speak with certainty on the how important it is to have universal coaching cues. Every coach has a unique coaching style that gives clients and athletes a new perspective; this style should be nurtured and not destroyed. However, putting universal coaching cues in place doesn't have to come at the expense of their "style." If you are the owner of a facility, make sure to outline some general cues for the staff to use. It will also help to get coaches working together on "tougher" cases where the first set of cues may not elicit the desired response. This extra collaboration will help you teach more efficiently, and you'll have fewer confused athletes and clients: both good things!

2. Stop blaming the program.

I see it all the time, and apparently it's human nature? Instead of looking at the reasons one might be letting oneself down, it's easier to instantly look to find errors in their "program." The truth is that nobody has any business scrutinizing anything but themselves until they are doing these things CONSISTENTLY: showing up, sleeping enough, eating appropriately, and putting in sufficient effort. If you do all four of those day in and day out, then we're off to a good start. However, it's still not the program's fault. As examples, here are two other common reasons you aren't allowing your strength and conditioning program to work for you. One, you miss reps and get too impatient choosing weights. If you continue to miss lifts, you'll continue to make no progress. Two, you take too long to train. Don't blame the workouts for not helping you lose body fat. They hardly become workouts when you take two hours to mosey through them.

Make the little things a habit, check your ego, train with a purpose, and good things will happen. It's not the program's fault!

3. Consider skipping breakfast...seriously!

Breakfast has been revered for years as the most important meal of the day. After all, in order to get the day started off right, you need to get breakfast, right?  However, what if getting breakfast "right" meant not eating breakfast at all?

If we look to some of today's most popular nutrition schemes, we can find a few similarities. For example, intermittent fasting (IF) and carb back loading disciples both pass on the morning chow. Furthermore, the idea of consuming carbohydrates in the morning is slowly becoming a thing of the past. The research is pretty interesting, and so are the results and conclusions of these nutritional gurus.

The basic premise is that upon waking our hormone levels are raised in such a manner that we are in a near ideal state to use fat for energy. Consuming food, and especially the typical morning carbohydrate varieties, will actually alter the hormone levels and put us in a far less ideal scenario to promote fat loss, and muscle building throughout the day.

After reviewing the work of John Kiefer and the various sources on IF, I began waiting on breakfast until a few hours after waking. Even then, I limit my calories substantially until mid afternoon, with the bulk of them coming in the evening. It may seem backwards from the typical beliefs, but I have seen great improvements in energy, body composition, and strength gains. What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear them!

4. Match your set-up to your body for bigger lifts.

Here is one you can apply right away. In the past I would choose my stance and hand-widths based on what I saw other successful people doing. A lot of the big squatters were wide, so I would put my feet nice and wide.

Then, I started to video more of my training. I looked at how my body reacted to the loads, especially lifts up over 90%. What I realized was that certain reactions from my body weren't so much a result of the weight being too heavy, or a lack of cueing, but the way I set up.

I decided to work with how I was built. My back was wide, so I moved my hands out on the bench press, and my feet to match; the bench numbers took off. My hips are pretty narrow, so I moved my squat stance in; it helped me to stay in better control, and I began to handle heavier weights much more confidently. Luckily for me, my deadlift stance was already narrow, but that would explain why for years it was the only respectable lift I had.

When you set up, take how you're built into account, rather than relying on just what you have seen work for others. As a coach, do the same with your athletes and clients. Look at how they are put together and choose stances, and even exercise choices, that make sense for their body.  Several years ago, Eric and Mike Robertson had a multi-part series that touched on this: Overcoming Lousy Leverages Part 1 and Part 2.  I'd encourage you to check them out.

5. Stop using weighted bats and donuts to warm up.

To touch upon something more baseball specific, a recent study performed in Kanoya, Japan at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports, found that performing a warm up with a weighted bat had adverse effects acutely on timing for hitters. This is something that has shown to be true a few times, and it makes perfect sense.

In a similar fashion to other sport specific overloaded exercises, it can be detrimental to add weight to a movement too specific to the actual sport movement. For example, overloading sprint mechanics too heavily (via sleds, or resistance bands) has been shown to negatively affect the sprint mechanics of athletes.

Instead, consider using your time in the on deck circle more intelligently. Study the pitcher's mechanics to help time your approach. Additionally, try and locate his release point so that you can get eyes on the ball earlier come your at bat. For strength coaches, let this be another example of how overloading the mechanics of an actual sport skill can ruin the mechanics at game speed.

All this said, there may be merit to adjusting bat load in terms of chronic adaptations; just don't do it right before you step up to the plate.

Sign-up Today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a four-part video series on how to deadlift!

Name
Email
Read more

Why Baseball Players Shouldn’t Olympic Lift

I've been very outspoken in the past about how I am completely against the inclusion of Olympic lifts in baseball strength and conditioning programs because of injury risk and the fact that I don't believe the carryover in power development is as good as many folks think.  I've taken a lot of heat for it, too, as it's essentially blasphemy for a strength and conditioning coach to not think the Olympic lifts are a "Holy Grail" of performance enhancement.

Truth be told, I think there is merit to the Olympic lifts for a lot of athletes and general fitness folks.  However, baseball players aren't like most athletes or general fitness folks.  They have far more joint laxity, and it's a key trait that helps to make them successful in their sport.  While I hate to ever bring additional attention to an extremely unfortunately event, a weightlifting injury that occurs in this year's Olympics reminded me of just one reason why I don't include the Olympic lifts with our throwers.  Please keep in mind that while this isn't the most "gruesome" lifting injury video you'll see, some folks might find it disturbing (if you want to see the more gruesome "after" photo, read this article).  If you're one of those folks, don't push play (Cliff's notes: he dislocates his elbow).

Now, without knowing for sure what the official diagnosis is, an elbow dislocation could mean two things.  First, it could have been elbow hyperextension; I doubt that's the case, as the elbow appears to be slightly flexed when it "buckles."  Second - and more likely - we're talking about a valgus stress injury; not the joint angle below, which is approximately 20-30 degrees of elbow flexion:

You know what's remarkably coincidental about that elbow flexion angle?  It's where you do a valgus stress test to assess the integrity of the ulnar collateral ligament.

I don't know for sure if Sa Jae-hyouk is going to have a Tommy John surgery, but I can't say that I would be surprised if it does occur.  And, he certainly wouldn't be the first Olympic lifter to have one.

Now, I want to bring up a few important items.

1. I think this essentially kills the "they're safe for baseball players if it's in good form" argument that some folks throw out there.  For those who might not know, this was a gold medalist in Beijing in 2008, and he was expected to medal at this year's Olympics, too.  I suspect he knows a few things about proper Olympic lifting technique.

2. According to research from Bigliani et al, 61% of pitchers and 47% of position players at the professional levels had sulcus signs (measure of instability) in their throwing shoulders.  And, 89% of the pitchers and 100% of the position players ALSO had it in their non-throwing shoulders, meaning that this is the way that they were born, not just something they acquired from throwing. I've never met an accomplished male Olympic lifter with a sulcus sign, though, which tells me that laxity is virtually non-existent in this athletic population, particularly in comparison with baseball players.  We need to fit the exercises to the athlete, not the athlete to the exercises.  

3. The obvious next question for most folks is "what about cleans and high pulls?" With cleans, the wrist and elbow stresses are even more problematic than with snatches, and there is also the issue of direct trauma to the acromioclavicular joint on the catch phase.  Plus, when folks hang clean, the distraction forces on the lowering component of the lift (assuming no drop) can be a big issue in "loose" shoulders and elbows.  High pulls are a bit better, but all of the aggressive shrugging under load with minimal scapular upward rotation can really interfere with the improvements to scapular stability that we're trying to make with our overhead throwing athletes.

4. For those curious about what I meant with respect to the power carryover from linear modalities (like Olympic lifts) not being great to rotational sports, check out this recently published research study from Lehman et al. You'll see that it backs up what I'd proposed from my anecdotal experience back in 2010; that is, power development is very plane specific.  Get to doing your med ball work!

This is one case where the injury prevention battle isn't just about adding the right exercises; it's about taking some away, too.  

With all that said, I hope you'll join me in keeping Sa Jae-hyouk in your thoughts and send him good vibes for a speedy recovery and quick return to competition.

Sign-up Today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a four-part video series on how to deadlift!

Name
Email
Read more

Strength and Conditioning Stuff You Should Read: 8/1/12

Here's this week's list of recommended strength and conditioning reading:

Four Must-Try Mobility Drills - In case you haven't already seen this, it's a article I had published at Arnold Schwartzenegger's website yesterday, including a lengthy video.

"He's a Big, Strong Kid" - With the $100 off sale of the IYCA High School Strength and Conditioning Coach Certification this week, it seemed like a good time to "reincarnate" this popular one from the archives at EricCressey.com.

Everything You Need to Know about the Hip Thrust - This is a thorough blog post from Bret Contreras on "everything hip thrust."  Bret's devoted his career to glutes and pioneered this exercise, so you could say that he's an authority on the matter.

Sign-up Today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a four-part video series on how to deadlift!

Name
Email
Read more

Get $100 Off the IYCA High School Strength and Conditioning Coach Certification

A lot of people know me as the guy whose products and articles have helped strength training enthusiasts prevent and correct movement inefficiencies that ultimately lead to injuries.

Others know me because we train about four dozen professional baseball players each winter.

The truth, though, is that the majority of our clientele at Cressey Performance is high school athletes.  Each year, we have dozens of athletes go on to play college sports, as well as kids who are selected in the Major League Baseball draft.

For every kid who gets drafted into professional baseball or commits to play a college sport, we have 2-3 young athletes who train with us simply to build confidence, stay healthy while they play their sports, and foster fitness habits that will hopefully carry over to the rest of their lives. I take that job extremely seriously not only because I genuinely care about each teenage and enjoy my job, but because it is a huge deal for parents to trust me with part of their kids’ physical and mental well-being during a crucial developmental time in an adolescent’s life.

This is one reason why I was so excited to be a contributor to the International Youth Conditioning Association (IYCA) High School Strength Coach Certification.  This resource, which includes a textbook and DVD set, covers topics such as:

Strength Training Technique, Functionality and Programming
Speed and Agility Mechanics or Sport Specificity
Mobility: Isolate and Integrate
Coaching the High School Athlete
Administration for the High School Strength Coach
Sample Programming for football, baseball, and basketball
 

And, I'm happy to announce that the certification is on sale for $100 off from now through this Sunday, August 5, at midnight EST.  Be sure to check out this comprehensive resource at a great price HERE.

 Sign-up Today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a four-part video series on how to deadlift!

Name
Email
Read more

Monday Musings: Foot/Ankle Injuries and Physical Therapy

It's been white some time since I typed up a “Random Thoughts” post, so I thought I'd bring it back for today. I've usually got a few dozen things rattling around my brain at all times, so if I can dump one of them here, hopefully I'll replace it with something noteworthy. Today’s question is somewhat “Andy Rooney-esque.”

Have you ever noticed that doctors are less likely to prescribe physical therapy for foot and ankle issues than any other problem? I might be skewed by my perspective in this part of the country, but I doubt it, as Boston has a great medical reputation. “Just walk on it” is the advice I often hear folks say they've gotten. Would you do that for a hip or knee replacement?  As I discuss in my e-book, The Truth About Unstable Surface Training, following inversion ankle sprains, a lot of folks wind up with functional ankle instability due to a proprioceptive deficit of the peroneals; this muscle group just doesn’t turn on quickly enough to prevent “re-sprains” from occurring.


Additionally, some individuals present with some considerable “anterior jamming” that can’t be addressed by classic ankle mobilizations, and these individuals can benefit greatly from good manual therapy and joint manipulation by a qualified professional.  Lastly, breaking a big toe can be a big deal; it's dangerous to assume that it'll just magically heal perfectly if someone walks on it for months - and it can be problematic to brace a foot in an immobile position for an extended period of time and wind up with stiffness or compensation patterns.

Along those lines, though, maybe they just aren't prescribing physical therapy for these issues because there aren't specialized physical therapists. I know of a lot of wrist/hand physical therapists, but no true foot/ankle specialists on the PT side of things. Sure, there are PTs who do foot/ankle as part of their normal practice (and some who do it very well), but you'd think that the weight-bearing joints that connect us to the ground would receive even more specific attention than wrist/hand issues. Perhaps this lack of specialization has emerged because the foot and ankle are so complex and misunderstood; it could be a good "niche" for some of you up-and-coming physical therapists to pursue.


 

Again, these are just some Monday musings off the top of my head. To the general fitness folks out there, push hard to get physical therapy after a foot/ankle issue. To the rehabilitation specialists and strength and conditioning professions out there, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section.

Sign-up Today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a four-part video series on how to deadlift!

Name
Email
Read more
Page 1 64 65 66 67 68 84
LEARN HOW TO DEADLIFT
  • Avoid the most common deadlifting mistakes
  • 9 - minute instructional video
  • 3 part follow up series