Since this series was so popular this year, I figured I'd try to squeeze in just one more collection of suggestions before the 2012 wraps up. Here are three more coaching cues for your strength and conditioning programs:

"1. Pull the elbows to your hips."

As I discussed a while back in my Cleaning Up Your Chin-up Technique post, you want to be careful about extending the humerus past neutral at the top position of a chin-up. If the elbow moves behind the body In this position, the humeral head can glide forward, irritating the biceps tendon and anterior capsule. Additionally, the thoracic spine becomes excessively kyphotic, and the scapula may anteriorly tilt, closing down the subacromial space and exacerbating impingement on the rotator cuff tendons. Here’s what the bad looks like:

I’ve found that encouraging athlete to pull the elbows to the hips prevents this excessive humeral extension, and it also makes athletes stricter with their technique; they have to get the chest to the bar instead of just reaching with the chin and creating a forward head posture.

Conversely, if you encourage many young athletes to “just get your chin to the bar,” you get some garbage kipping concoction that looks like Quasimodo on the monkey bars with his pants on fire.

"2. Keep the biceps quiet."

Piggybacking on our previous point, just like excessive humeral extension can create anterior (front) shoulder stress, uncontrolled external rotation can be equally problematic, as the humeral head will once again want to glide forward if it isn’t appropriately controlled by a combination of rotator cuff recruitment and scapular stability.

If an athlete feels external rotations in the front of his shoulder even in what appears to be the correct position, he’s performing them without monitoring humeral anterior glide. If this occurs, I’ll have him place his opposite hand on the front of the shoulder to monitor any kind of anterior glide of the humeral head, and encourage him to “keep the biceps quiet.” I’d say that 90% of the time, athletes are good to go once this correction takes place. In the other 10% of cases, we’ll regress the athlete to supine and prone external rotations, as well as manual resistance “holds” at the 90/90 position.

"3. Try to touch your butt to the ceiling."

The yoga push-up is one of my favorite push-up variations. Just like all other push-up variations, it gives our shoulder blades freedom of movement, which is important when you consider that they’re essentially stuck in place during bench press movements.

I especially like the yoga push-up because it doesn’t just combine protraction/retraction, but also involves near-full humeral flexion. By elevating the humerus further, we force athletes to work on getting more scapular upward rotation.

If you tell an athlete, “Push your butt away from the floor,” you get greater recruitment of serratus anterior and upper trapezius to really get that last bit of scapular upward rotation – and, at the same time, get some good thoracic spine extension.

That wraps up this installment of cues.  If you like what you're reading, I'd encourage you to check out the Muscle Imbalances Revealed - Upper series, which features a collection of outstanding webinars from some really bright guys in the industry.  Rick Kaselj, who organized the collaborative effort, has the product on sale at a great discount with a 60-day money-back guarantee.  You can check it out here for yourself.

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This marks the third and final installment of my review of Muscle Imbalances Revealed - Upper Body.  In case you missed the first two parts, be sure to check out Part 1 (Dean Somerset) and Part 2 (Jeff Cubos).  In this third installment, I'll cover the contributions from Tony Gentilcore and Rick Kaselj.  For the record, me combining these two into one installment in no way reflects how I felt about their presentations; I am just getting ready to leave for my anniversary this weekend, and need to cover them both quickly before I head out!

Tony, as many of you know, is a long-time friend of mine and works with me at Cressey Performance - and I've been harassing him for years now to put out a product.  He's a great coach whose ideas and skills deserve to be showcased to a larger audience, and I'm glad that he finally got around to putting his name on something!

That said, it was a little tougher to evaluate Tony because we literally spend so much time together that our brains are very "synced up" - meaning that it'd tough for him to throw something new at me that we haven't already integrated at CP.  That said, some highlights of Tony's presentation:

1. I think he did a good job of distinguishing between how we program both reactively and proactively for upper extremity issues at Cressey Performance.  How one trains someone with symptoms is, in many cases, remarkably different from that same individual would be trained in the absence of those symptoms - even if the same movement impairments are present.  This is a crucial area of understanding for trainers who may want to get more involved on the corrective exercise side of things.

2. Tony outlines some of our horizontal pulling and scapular stabilization progressions.  I think the biggest take home is understanding that different people need different progressions.  Some folks with completely imbalanced programs can thrive simply from going to loads more horizontal pulling.  Others may be doing plenty of horizontal pulling, but doing it incorrectly because they lack the appropriate recruitment patterns.  These folks need very targeted scapular stabilization drills to get the ideal "big bang" effect of rowing variations.  The low-level activation drills become the warm-ups to groove the movement patterns, and the horizontal (and vertical) pulling helps to make those patterns part of the bigger picture.

3. Above all else, I feel that the strongest value of Tony's presentation is in the cues.  If you're an up-and-coming coach and need to learn some excellent cues to get your clients/athletes to not just pick up movements, but pick them up optimally, then this is a great purchase for you.

4. Last, but certainly not least, Tony provides some sample programming templates to demonstrate how everything fits together in a comprehensive strength training program.  It's one thing to hear about principles and theories, but another thing altogether to appreciate how they all fit together in a comprehensive strength and conditioning program.  He provides several examples in this regard that'll help you get comfortable with piecing everything together.

Next up was Rick Kaselj, the man responsible for bringing all these minds together.

Here were some of my favorite points from Rick's presentations:

1. People seem to think of clavicle as motionless.  In reality, from 0-90° abduction, you only need 5-10° of clavicular upward rotation.  From 90-180° of abduction, you need 20-25° of clavicular upward rotation.  This clavicular movement can be affected by the muscles that attach directly to it (pectoralis major) or by those that indirectly impact it (muscles attaching to the scapula and/or humerus).

Now, think about where most people with acromioclavicular joint pain wind up with symptoms during abduction: the final 30° - which is known as the painful arc.  Any surprise that the symptoms occur at the point where the most amount of clavicular upward rotation is needed?  Nope.

Keep in mind that poor clavicular positioning can also impact sternoclavicular joint function, too.  Double whammy, if you're "stuck."

2. Rick did a good job of showing the checks and balances that occur within the rotator cuff musculature.  Shirley Sahrmann has pointed it out in her work, but I think it gets overlooked.

The supraspinatus creates a compression force into glenoid fossa.  The subscapularis, teres minor, and infraspinatus produce an inferior directed translation force on the humeral head.  The infraspinatus and teres minor also externally rotate the humeral head in frontal plane so that the greater tubercle doesn’t clog up the subacromial space.

In other words, you get a pull in, down, and into the “right kind of rotation (external rotation increases the subacromial space, whereas internal rotation closes it down).

One point I’d add to strengthen Rick’s case even further is that the subscapularis also has a posterior pull on the humeral head.  Without adequate subscapularis function during internal rotation, the pectoralis major can take over and draw the humeral head forward, causing anterior joint capsule irritation.

3. Rick's last presentation focused on the neck, a complex area to understand for most fitness professionals.  He started off by emphasizing to get neck issues checked out, as they can be very serious.  His presentation then emphasized training strategies to prevent neck pain and work around it if it's present.  Accurately, Rick noted that some of the big players on this front were:

a) breathing - diaphragmatic or overuse of accessory respiratory muscles?

b) posture - forward head posture or neutral spine?

c) tissue quality

d) range of motion (particularly the thoracic spine)

e) strength (particularly the deep neck flexors)

f) scapular stability

g) rotator cuff function

Sometimes, the easiest way to address an issue (or prevent it) is to look at what happens a joint below (or above).  Of course, when you're dealing with neck issues, always refer out to a qualified professional first.

This wraps up my three-part review of Muscle Imbalances Revealed - Upper Body.  As I'm sure you can tell by now, I'm a big fan of this resource and highly suggest you add it to your library.  It's on sale at a great price, so don't delay in picking up a copy if this is up your alley.  With the money-back guarantee Rick's made available, you can't go wrong.

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This marks Part 2 of my write-up on Muscle Imbalances Revealed - Upper Body, a product that really impressed me.  In my first post, I highlighted some of Dean Somerset's great contributions to the project, and today, I thought I'd bring to light seven more great corrective exercise lessons from another excellent presenter on this resource.

Dr. Jeff Cubos is an Alberta-based chiropractor with an outstanding skill set that not only encompasses his clinical work, but also an excellent ability to relate how what he does in the clinic applies to those in the strength and conditioning field.  This "dual proficiency" was readily apparent in his presentations, too.

Here were a few highlights:

1. From an alignment standpoint, you can envision the core like a house - where the diaphragm is the ceiling, and the pelvic floor is the floor.  Just like with the house, too, the ceiling and floor should be parallel.  Having an anterior pelvic tilt and rib flair dramatically alters this:

2. Good training to address this issue isn't just about stretching hip flexors and activating glutes, though; it's about retraining breathing, "owning" one's breathing in various positions, and progressing that respiratory function (and, in turn, rib positioning) into more comprehensive strength exercises.

3. Jeff does the best job I've seen of discussing breathing drill progression - and how to sync them up with progressive strength training programs.  Just as importantly, though, he does a great job discussing the role of the diaphragm, utilizing an excellent video to show exactly how it works (as you watch it, be sure to check out how the right diaphragm attachment point is more prominent on the spine).  I've mentioned many times in the past in the blog about how we utilize breathing drills, and folks always want to know what they are.  Unfortunately, you can't really just describe a breathing drill; you need to show it and add specific cues.  Jeff does exactly that.  Here's a good excerpt on the assessment side of things, too:

4.  Dr. Cubos also discusses bits and pieces of both the Dynamic Neuromuscular Stability (DNS) and Postural Restoration Institute (PRI) philosophies.  Having been to seminars for both disciplines, I can tell you that Jeff does a great job of presenting this valuable, but sometimes confusing information in as user-friendly a format as one possibly can.  It's a cursory overview, but enough to give you an introduction to these philosophies to find out if they're right for you.

5. Even if you aren't planning to delve deeply into these disciplines, Jeff covers a few specific cues that you can apply to breathing correctly on every exercise you do - especially if you (or your clients) are stuck in anterior pelvic tilt, lordosis, and an elevated ribs posture.  For instance, Jeff uses the cue of performing a few diaphragmatic breaths at the point of greatest tension in a movement; this will enable an athlete to "own" that position more quickly.  He uses the example of holding for a count of "one-one-thousand" at the top position of the quadruped extension-rotation:

6. I've got to great lengths in several previous blog posts to distinguish between tendinitis (inflammatory) and tendinosis (degenerative) - and Dr. Cubos did a good job of reaffirming things on that front (tendinosis is much more common than tendinitis).  However, he took it even further with some excellent information on the "continuum" of tendinopathies.  I've spoken about how we're all waiting to reach "threshold" (presentation of symptoms), but haven't paid a lot of attention to sub-clinical tendinopathies.  Here's how Jeff portrayed the continuum:

Reactive Tendinopathy - This is acute overload (too much, too soon).  Soft tissue treatments are beneficial, but not locally to the tissue in question.  An example that immediately comes to my mind is a supraspinatus tendinosis; manual therapy to the pec minor, posterior rotator cuff, etc. would be very helpful, but working directly on the supraspinatus could exacerbate the problem significantly.

Tendon Dysrepair - Dr. Cubos referred to this as "a failed attempt at healing, and a disorganization of the connective tissue matrix."  Immediately, I thought of someone with chronically crank hamstrings following a previous strain.  Direct soft tissue work has much more immediate and profound benefits.

Degenerative Tendinopathy - This is the obnoxious, long-term tendinosis we've come to know - whether it's an Achilles tendon or common extensor tendon (Tennis Elbow).  Here we have cell death, disorganization of the connective tissues, and less collagen.  Unfortunately, full resolution isn't that common - but most people can respond over time to the right kind of rehabilitation programs.

7. Last, but certainly not least, Jeff introduces his audience to several common soft tissue treatment approaches, including Active Release Technique, Fascial Manipulation, Functional Range Release, and the various modalities of Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization.  In describing each, he outlines why some may be better for others in certain instances, as well as the differences between approaches.  I think this is a "must-watch" for trainers to understand the skills of the manual therapists to whom they refer, and also up-and-coming rehabilitation specialists to decide which approaches they'll utilize in their professional careers.

All in all, Dr. Cubos was another new name (for me, at least) that I was glad to come across - and I'll definitely be following him more moving forward.  And, in addition to Cubos and Somerset's contributions, there are a host of other great professionals who have contributed to the entire Muscle Imbalances Revealed - Upper series, which is currently on sale with a 60-day money back guarantee, too, so check it out here.

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Last summer, Rick Kaselj sent me the eight webinars from his new collaborative product, Muscle Imbalances Revealed - Upper Body, to review.  I was really excited to check them out, as I'd enjoyed the initial version of the Muscle Imbalanced Revealed (MIR) series.

Unfortunately, my enthusiasm to watch it was overtaken by a crazy busy summer schedule and I only got around to looking it over a few months later.  I regretted that it took me so long, as I really enjoyed what I viewed.  That said, I thought I'd use today's piece to comment on my favorite take-homes from one presenter, Dean Somerset, who I thought did an exceptional job.  Be sure to read through to the end, as Rick has a great discount on the entire Muscle Imbalances Revealed series in play this week.

Anyway, Dean's presentation was a pleasant surprise for me in the initial Muscle Imbalances Revealed collection, as I had not been familiar with his work prior to the product.  As it turned out, he did a great job of delving into the fascial system, which is no easy task, considering that even the foremost experts on "fascial fitness" recognize that we still have a tremendous amount to learn in this regard.

His presentations this time around didn't deviate from that initial trend, either; I really enjoyed them for a number of reasons; here are my top seven:

1. Dean did the best job of outlining a clear rationale for foam rolling that I've seen in the industry thus far - and did so in a very layman-friendly format.  In highlighting the role of Ruffini endings - which are slow adapting, low threshold mechanoreceptors that respond to direct pressure (like foam rolling) - Dean showed that they can decrease tone of tissues in the presence of stretch and inhibit sympathetic nervous system activity.

2. Another way he made his point was with a great analogy.  Much like we have fast-twitch and slow-switch muscles, we have receptors that may act in similar ways.  On one hand, we have "fast twitch" receptors like golgi tendon organs and muscle spindles that function with the musculotendinous units.  On the other hand, we have "slow twitch" receptors like Ruffini endings and Pacini fibers that exist in the fascial tissues.  Because the muscules, tendons, ligaments, and fascial tissues are really all continuous with each other, there exists a great amount of interaction between these slow and fast twitch receptors - much like the interaction of different muscle fiber types.  They are all responsive - in both positive and negative directions - to chronic training stimuli - and sitting on your arse in front of a computer screen for years on-end.

3. Dean noted that fascia carries an electrical charge that is never off; it’s just "on" at different levels.  Certainly, it's far more "on" with exercise than at rest - and it's the reason that contractions can last for hours post-exercise.  If you have an individual who isn't able to tone down (pun intended) that contraction in the post-exercise period, you're likely dealing with someone who'll have chronic movement impairments.  If this electrical charge is always present, it can ultimately alter movement to the point that joint structure can actually change (think of the reactive changes in an acromion process, as an example).  Appropriate training enables one to get the benefits of exercise without creating negative long-term adaptation in this regard.

4. What is appropriate training for fascial fitness, though?  Dean cites the same seven components to an appropriate program that I outlined here, but he does so with a very valuable qualifications: adequate hydration status is absolutely crucial to making the most of any training status.  Repeated stretch bouts during the warm-up period allows for more water content for the fascia; each successive stretch improves hydration to allows for better elasticity and tensile strength, which in turn provides better joint stability and force production.

5. I like guys who solve problems.  I love using spiderman variations in our warm-ups, as they are great hip mobility drills.  Unfortunately, though, they don't always look so hot when you have someone with poor thoracic mobility trying to get their elbow down to the inside of their thighs.  Many folks will wind up rounding over - which is certainly not ideal.  Imagine Quasimodo doing this drill and you'll get what I mean.

Dean's solution - which provided me with a "why didn't I think of that?" moment - was to bring the thigh up to the torso.  In other words, do the forward lunge component onto a 12-inch plyo box so that folks can get the hip mobility benefits without compromising thoracic positioning.  Sweet.

6. I thought Dean did an excellent job of highlighting that it can take years to improve fascial fitness substantially.  Super-immobile individuals usually take years and years of either sedentary lifestyles or terrible training habits to get to that point, and unless they're ready to dramatically overhaul their mindsets and daily habits, it can be like swimming upstream when correcting bad posture.  Be consistent when addressing these limitations, but also be patient.

7. I love the fact that he commented on all the normal roles of the core - force transfer, resisting movement, returning from a position outside of neutral - but also highlighted that optimal core function is essential for optimal respiratory function.  Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that we use a lot of specific breathing drills, so I was glad to see a bright dude in the industry backing me up on this one!

This is really just the tip of the iceberg with respect to not only Dean's two presentations, but the entire Muscle Imbalances Revealed - Upper Body package, which also includes webinars from Rick Kaselj, Jeff Cubos, and my business partner, Tony Gentilcore.   I'll highlight a few more of my favorite takeaways in my next post, but in the meantime, I'd strongly encourage you to check this great resource out for yourself.

To sweeten the deal, Rick has put the entire Muscle Imbalances Revealed product on sale for $210 off the normal price through tomorrow (Friday) at midnight.  It's a fantastic deal on a product that I highly recommend - and one that comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee, plus several cool bonus features (including two interviews Rick did with me).  Click here to check it out.

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On a related note, congratulations to Tony on the release of his first product, Muscle Imbalances Revealed - Upper Body.  He contributed two webinars to what looks to be a great collaborative product.  Show our boy some love and check it out.

That wraps it up for the best of 2010 product reviews; hopefully you can reward yourself with some late holiday shopping by picking up one or more of these items; you won't regret it.  I'll be back tomorrow with the best videos of 2010.

For this reason, whenever anyone ever says that an external rotation drill causes shoulder pain (particularly the front), the first thing I do is reposition their scapula into posterior tilt and retraction.  In almost all cases, this will eliminate their shoulder pain instantly and they'll start to feel rotator cuff exercises in the posterior shoulder musculature (where they should).  This is also one reason why many people will instantly go from painful shoulder movement to pain-free movement just by having soft tissue treatments on the pec minor; by getting some length in this muscle, the scapula can posteriorly tilt, which not only gives the rotator cuff tendons room to "breath" (less shoulder impingement), but also puts them in a more mechanically advantageous position to stabilize the humeral head (via the length-tension relationship).

Speaking of Tank, thanks to several minor league baseball players at Cressey Performance who have too much time on their hands, you can now follow him on Twitter - and I must say that these tweets have been very entertaining thus far.  Check him out at http://www.Twitter.com/TankNasty.

It just goes to show how awesome he is that he can make 50 Cent look like a JV player just by showing up....no bling or flat-billed cap needed to be a real high roller.

5. Tony's out of town for a lovely romantic weekend with his significant other.  He's planning to serenade her, so we did a little trial run at Cressey Performance the other night.  I think he did pretty well:

Hey, it beats techno, right?

6. One of my goals for the rest of 2010 is to really kick up the video content here at EricCressey.com.  To that end, I am tentatively planning a video series for the blog that is all about exercise technique and how we teach certain lifts.  I'm looking for ideas: what drills/exercises/lifts have been a struggle for you to learn?  Please post some suggestions as comments below and you might see it in this blog in the next few months with a ton of detail.  Thanks in advance for your ideas!