I love writing multi-part features because it really affords me more time to dig deep into a topic of interest to both my readers and me. In many ways, it’s a challenge on par with writing a short book, whereas individual blogs tend to be quick bullet points. That said, here were five noteworthy features from 2011 at EricCressey.com:
How to Deadlift: Which Deadlift Variation is Right for You?- Part 1 (Conventional Deadlift) - This kicked off a three-part series on why certain deadlift variations may be more appropriate than others for certain lifters. Be sure to read installments 2 and 3: the Sumo Deadlift and the Trap Bar Deadlift.
Coffee Consumption and Health: The Final Word - Part 1 - As I noted the other day, one of the biggest surprises for me in 2011 was that my readers were psyched to get nutrition content at EricCressey.com, and Brian St. Pierre's guest blog on coffee consumption and health was one such example. Be sure to check out Part 2 as well.
How to Fit Core Stability Exercises into Strength and Conditioning Programs - Part 1 - This two-part feature was published late in the year, but that didn't stop it from receiving enough traffic to rank in the top five at year-end. It was a follow-up to the Functional Stability Training seminar that Mike Reinold and I presented at Cressey Performance in November. Click here for part 2.
Is Dairy Healthy? The Whole Story - Part 1 - This three-part feature was another great guest submission from Brian St. Pierre on a hotly debated topic in the nutrition world. Check out Part 2 and Part 3 as well.
Speaking of features, that wraps up this third installment of the "Best of 2011" series; I'll be back soon with the top videos of 2011.
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With 2011 winding down, I'll be dedicating this week to the best content of the year, based on traffic volume at EricCressey.com. I'll kick it off today with my most popular articles from the past year.
1. My New Favorite Training Shoe - This post received more than 3,000 views more than #2. Apparently, footwear is a topic about which folks were anxious to read, and I gave a detailed review of all the minimalist footwear options I've tried - and folks shared it a ton. Additionally, based on feedback on my Twitter account, a lot of people purchased the New Balance Minimus based on my recommendation and have absolutely loved it.
2. Your Arm Hurts? Thank Your Little League, Fall Ball, and AAU Coaches. - This post received well over 1,000 Facebook "shares" and loads of Tweets, and I'm hopeful that this is indicative of parents, coaches, and players learning about how to approach arm care and throwing programs intelligently. I think it was also popular because it was a good blend of scientific evidence and simple, everyday logic.
3.Tim Collins: Why Everyone Should Be a Kansas City Royals Fan (at least for a day) - This was my favorite post of the year, as it was a chance to celebrate a good friend and long-time Cressey Performance athlete who is everything that is right about Major League Baseball. As a cool little aside, traffic to this article played a large part in having "Tim Collins" trending on Twitter during his MLB debut on Opening Day in March.
4. Weight Training Programs: You Can't Just Keep Adding - It sounds like many of my readers were glad to hear that I was doing some writing on managing training stress. There is a lot of common sense in this one, but sometimes, that's what people need!
5. Strength Training Programs and Squat Technique: To Arch or Not to Arch? - Here's a very misunderstood topic in the area of strength and conditioning technique. You'll be happy to know that I'll be addressing it in great detail in the new Functional Stability Training resource that Mike Reinold and I are releasing soon.
6. Shoulder Hurts? Start Here. - In this piece, I outlined three sure-fire strategies that just about everyone can employ regardless of their shoulder issues.
7. Healthy Food Options: Why You Should Never Take Nutrition Advice from Your Government - One of the biggest surprises for me in 2011 was that my readers absolutely ate up (no pun intended) nutrition content, and summer Cressey Performance intern Tyler Simmons' guest blog perfect example. He shared some great (and controversial) thoughts in this guest blog.
8. Correcting Bad Posture: Are Deadlifts Enough? - People want results, and they want them fast. This post touched on whether or not the deadlift could be an optimal "shortcut" for getting to where you want to be.
9. Why the Gym's Out-of-Business and the Porn Store's Thriving - This was proof that I can write about just about anything. Don't ever expect to see a content drought here at EricCressey.com. The timing for this was really good, as I got the idea to write it right around the time that we released The Fitness Business Blueprint.
10. Lifting Heavy Weights vs. Corrective Exercise: Finding a Balance - I can definitely see how folks found this topic so interesting, as it's a very challenging balance to strike. In fact, it was even a very challenging piece around which to wrap my brain!
This wraps up our top 10 posts of 2011, but I'll be back soon with more "Best of" highlights from 2011. Next up, I'll list my top product reviews of the year.
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As I noted in my post earlier this week, I’m doing the Superhero Workout for a nice little change of pace in my training program – and simply because it’s nice to be able to outsource my training here and there to other qualified fitness professionals.
Yesterday’s strength training program included ten sets of three reps on a wide stance squat, and it was all going smoothly until the seventh set, when I started to get a little tight in my right adductor. It wasn’t too bad, but I’m a firm believer in “better safe than sorry,” so I cut back on the weight by 50 pounds, narrowed my stance, and finished my last three sets with no problem at all.
Sure, I deviated from the program, but I completed the session just fine, and have zero issues in the adductor today. I avoided taking an unnecessary risk that could have become a setback in my training, and as a result, I’ll be continuing with the program as-is today.
It got me to thinking about this question for my readers: what would you have done in this situation? It's a tough - and confusing - decision.
Would you have done what I did? Would you have simply dropped the weight and tried another set with a wide stance? Would you have canned the final sets and reps and moved on to the next strength exercise pairing? Would you have just pushed through it? Or, would you just have taken your ball and gone home altogether?
The answers to these questions – whether they are correct or not – parallel something called cybernetic periodization. I first came across the topic when Mel Siff wrote about it in Supertraining as he referred to programs not always taking “into account the athlete’s subjective perception of the intensity and overall effects of the loading.” Siff went on to say that with cybernetic periodization, “the original preplanned periodisation scheme is regularly modified by subjective and objective feedback obtained from the lifter’s current performance state.”
Traditionally, at least from what I have read, cybernetic periodization has referred almost strictly to load, volume, and training frequency. However, the question I pose today is: why can’t it also refer to exercise selection?
As an example, I’ve switched folks from conventional deadlifts to trap bar deadlifts or sumo deadlifts when they just couldn’t find their groove on the conventional version. And, some people can do feet-elevated push-ups when regular push-ups hurt. Exercise selection absolutely matters as much as any other strength training program variable.
I’m a firm believer that there is always something folks can do in a gym to get better, regardless of their injury or state of mind. Folks may be wildy excited to train, but have physical limitations that need to be taken into account on the fly in the context of exercise selection. To that end, I think it’s important to know what to watch for in this regard if you’re trying to determine whether you should change a day’s training program:
1. Is there a performance drop from previous weeks?2. Do warm-up sets feel heavier than normal?3. Do you find that you’re having a hard time getting warmed-up? 4. Did you get poor sleep quality the night before?5. Do you have unusual tightness, or something you’d term an injury?
These are all questions you can ask yourself on the fly in your strength training program to determine whether you need to change things up. The modification may be an exercise substitution or reduction in volume or intensity. Regardless of the change, it’s extremely rare that the answer is to push through it, as it’s your body’s way of telling you something is wrong – and the correct cybernetic periodization approach is the way to “get things right.”
On a related note, the early-bird special price on the Superhero Workout ends Saturday at midnight. Head HERE for more information.
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I haven't published much strength and conditioning randomness of late, so here goes.
1. Here's a research study that demonstrates relationships among a variety of scheduling and recovery factors and injury rates. The part I found most interesting was that researchers observed that sleeping fewer than six hours the night prior to a competition led to a significant increase in fatigue related injuries.
Additionally, while it wasn't specifically observed in the study, my anecdotal observations are that kids who play 14 games in a weekend are more likely to hate their sports, have too many insignificant trophies, and live in their parents' basement until age 35 because they have a weird sense of entitlement and absolutely no idea how to interact on a social level with anyone who isn't on their AAU teams.
2. Speaking of young athletes, interval training works better for them, too. There's absolutely no reason for a young soccer player to be running miles and miles at a steady-state. Kids need to get strong and learn to run fast before they try to run fast for a long time. Interval training is a nice "bridge" between the two when applied correctly during the off-season period.
3. Here's an excellent study with a biomechanical analysis of the hex/trap bar deadlift technique as compared to the conventional deadlift technique. It backs up a lot of the comments I made last month with my deadlift series from last month, which you can find at the following links:
How to Deadlift: Which Variation is Right for You? - Part 1 (Conventional Deadlift)
How to Deadlift: Which Variation is Right for You? - Part 2 (Sumo Deadlift)How to Deadlift: Which Variation is Right for You? - Part 3 (Trap Bar Deadlift)
4. Here's an interesting article in Radiology Today about the use of MRI in college athletes as a pre-screening tool - and potentially even an aid in optimizing strength and conditioning programs.
Because a lot of the observations on MRI may be "subclinical" (meaning they are findings that occur without the presence of symptoms), there may be merit (albeit at a big cost) to using screens like this as part of an initial (or on the fly) evaluation of an athlete to dictate a training or "prehab" program. For instance, observing a subclinical patellar tendinopathy may mean you do more soft tissue work around the knee and more heavily emphasize glute activation and minimize quad dominant squatting (among other things) to keep that tendon from reaching a symptomatic threshold.
There are, of course, some significant drawbacks. For starters, MRIs are expensive and time consuming, so not everyone could get them. How do you decide who deserves it - especially in the era of Title IX?
Second, you're assuming that strength and conditioning coaches are qualified and capable to organize programs around what's found on a radiology report. Generally speaking, there isn't a ton of individualization in collegiate strength and conditioning because coaches have so many athletes assigned to them and it isn't feasible. It makes me wonder if you could prevent more injuries if you simply hired 3-4 more strength and conditioning coaches for what it would cost you to get an extra radiologist and imaging technician.
Third, and perhaps most importantly, there are a lot of "false positives" on MRI. I've written about this quite in the past and covered it in our Optimal Shoulder Performance DVD set, but you are headed down a very slippery slope when you start treating the image rather than the athlete. In other words, how one moves and feels is far more important than how one's MRI looks. I can guarantee you that the overwhelming majority of my overhead throwing athletes have labral fraying, partial thickness supraspinatus tears, and a host of other "normal" findings for this population. If I immediately contraindicated a ton of exercises in my program because I knew this, I'd likely be setting them back with regressions in their programming when they actually needed progressions.
What are your thoughts on this final issue? If you had the resources, would you MRI every athlete in a college athletic program? How would you pick which region to MRI?
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When we first got him, my wife and I didn't allow him to come upstairs, as we wanted him to gradually adjust to the downstairs of our house and slowly introduce him to more space. Accordingly, to him, upstairs became the "great beyond," a place where unicorns played and milkbones rained down from the heavens. He would try like crazy to get up there when we took our eyes off him.
Then, one weekend in January of 2011, my wife and I were out of town to visit friends in Florida, so one of my minor leaguers and his wife watched Tank and the house. With us gone, he barked and cried at night - so they let him come upstairs to sleep with them in their bed. When we returned home, there was no turning back; he now sleeps in our bed - a change that he's made very clear is for good.
What's more interesting, though, is the fact that he's still infatuated with the upstairs portion of the house. He'll go up and take naps on the bed when my wife and I are downstairs, and if either of us goes upstairs to grab something, he'll race up after us to ensure that he doesn't miss a unicorn sighting or the opportunity to score a treat. Meanwhile, all the cool stuff - food, treats, his toys, cool scents of other people, stuff to chew, things to pee on, space to run around (including the door to the back yard) - are all still downstairs. If I was a dog, upstairs would be pretty boring - and the downstairs would be "where it's at." Puzzling, huh?
In case you couldn't tell from the title of this piece, there is a strength and conditioning parallel to this story. A lot of lifters start with the basics (the downstairs) and make great progress - only to abandon the "staple" strength exercises in favor of something new, unproven, and gimmicky (the upstairs). Then, even when they realize that the flavor-of-the-week stuff isn't all that it's cracked up to be, they don't go back to what worked in the first place. Why? They've convinced themselves that novelty is more important than efficacy, and that it's easier to do the fun new stuff than it is to get good with the basics. It's the kind of logic that makes me wonder if a lot of people eat paint chips.
The question, of course, becomes "How can we 'sell' the basics to a beginner who appreciates variety and novelty?" My response would simply be that variety and novelty can be synonymous with progression. I'll give you an example.
On the first day at Cressey Sports Performance, just about every new client learns the trap bar deadlift (assuming no injury that would contraindicate the exercise). As I outlined previously, it's an entry-level teaching progression that best allows lifters to grasp the concepts of hip hinging, vertical shin, neutral spine, and optimal hip extension patterning in spite of their mobility restrictions. It's the basic arithmetic before we get to calculus.
Once they've sufficiently learned the lift and progressed in the weight they've lifted, we can transition them to other deadlift variations, including sumo deadlifts, rack pulls, and trap bar with chains. Then, eventually, they may graduate to conventional and snatch grip deadlift technique. This set of progressions and regressions are combined with other strength training program variables - sets and reps, training frequency, exercise pairings, and the like - to give them the novelty they need - but without compromising the training effect.
I've seen football strength coaches who use the squat, bench press, and clean as their primary lifts for years on end. Do kids get stronger? Absolutely. Do they get bored as hell and absolutely disinterested in their less-than-optimal training programs? Absolutely. And, do they miss out on the rich proprioceptive environment that all young athletes should have? Absolutely.
So, there is a balance that must be discovered. On one hand, you need to stick to the basics so as to not compromise the training effect. On the other hand, you need to implement variety so as to not bore folks to death. The solution is to use variations of the basics.
To that end, at CSP, we change the strength training program every four weeks to modify exercise selection, regardless of a trainee's age and experience level. In our eyes, it provides the best balance of the basics and the novelty to keep folks motivated and progressing in their strength and conditioning programs.
Today marks the third and final installment of this series on which deadlift variation is right for you. Part 1 focused on the Conventional Deadlift, while Part 2 covered the Sumo Deadlift. Today, we'll talk about another fantastic option: the Trap (or Hex) Bar Deadlift.
At Cressey Performance, we use the trap bar for all our initial deadlift technique instruction with new clients, as it tends to be a very safe option for just about everyone.
Because the handles are to the sides (instead of in front) of the lifter, it doesn't take as much hip and ankle mobility to get down to the bar. Most trap bars also come with two handle settings - one of which is a little bit higher so that those with limited mobility can still get down to deadlift with a neutral spine. So, it saves you the time and annoyance of having to put the plates on top of some sort of riser to elevate the bar.
Additionally, because the lifter is positioned "inside" the bar, the load is horizontally closer to with his center of gravity (COG), whereas the resistance is usually more anterior to that COG on a conventional or sumo deadlift. Note the white line in this photo that depicts the position of the load relative to the hip - and imagine how it would be a few inches further to the left in a conventional or sumo deadlift.
As a result, there is less shear stress on the spine and presumably more compressive stress. Our spines generally handle compression much better than shear, so this simple repositioning of the resistance closer to the axis of rotation (hips) can dramatically improve "comfort" during deadlifts in those with a history of back pain (or those who are looking to avoid it). You'll often see lifters who try to go right back to conventional deadlifting after lower back pain and wind up with recurring symptoms. They'd be much better of transitioning with some trap bar deadlifts to "test the waters."
The only problems I see with trap bar deadlifts are pretty subtle ones - and both have to do with the fact that the bar really never comes in contact with the legs on the way up or down. As a result, there is a tendency is novice lifters to try to squat the weight up and down - and this is not what should be taking place; it's a deadlift - which means "hips forward, hips back." This first common problem can be quickly corrected by simply teaching the movement correctly with a good hip hinge.
The second concern would be those in significant posterior pelvic tilt who have lost the lordotic curve of the lumbar spine. When one gets to lockout on a conventional or sumo deadlift, we cue them to activate the glutes and "hump the bar" to complete the movement. In those with posterior pelvic tilt, that same movement to finish hip extension without the presence of a bar to stop them will often lead to them going into full posterior pelvic tilt and lumbar flexion under load in the upright position. In other words, the hips come through too far. This is another problem that can be easily fixed with cueing on when the hip extension should end, and what the upright position should look and feel like.
A lot of those reading this piece may not have access to a trap bar for performing this strength exercise, but to be honest, I can say without wavering that for most people, it's well worth purchasing. You can pick one up HERE through Perform Better for just $144.95 plus shipping. And, this bar is actually surprising versatile addition to a strength and conditioning program relative to what people think; you can do deadlifts with it, but also farmer's walks, overhead presses, and (if it's your thing) shrugs.
To see how all the deadlift variations fit into a comprehensive strength and conditioning program, check out The High Performance Handbook.
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In the first installment of this series, I talked about the conventional deadlift and how it's the most advanced progression in the "deadlift spectrum" for most folks. Today, our focus will be another great strength exercise: the sumo deadlift.
I like the sumo deadlift quite a bit for those who aren't quite mobile enough to get all the way down to the bar for conventional deadlifts from the floor. It's also grown in popularity among powerlifters over the years because it shortens the distance the bar has to travel and also (as a general rule of thumb) allows lifters to get more out of their deadlift (or squat) suits when pulling. I find that it's particularly common among the guys who are built to squat and bench press because of shorter arms and legs but longer torsos because they don't have to get down so low (via hip flexion and dorsiflexion) to grasp the bar.
By bringing the feet a bit wider (abducting the hips) and turning the toes out a bit (externally rotating the hips), a lot of folks can get to "depth" much easier and ensure that they can pull with a neutral spine. This is probably one reason why those with more retroverted hips inevitably resort to sumo deadlifts after failing miserably with trying to pull conventional-style; they're just more comfortable with the hips externally rotated a bit. So, if you're someone who always walks with the toes pointed out, there's a good chance that sumo deadlifts are going to be safer for you than conventional pulling.
That said, when discussing sumo deadlifts, I have just two concerns.
First, I think that they need to be cycled in and out of one's strength and conditioning program relatively frequently, especially if you use an ultra-wide stance. Deadlifting sumo-style for more than eight weeks straight is a recipe for hip irritation - especially if you're someone who is doing a fair amount of squatting in the same strength training programs. It's one reason why I prefer a more "moderate" stance width for sumo deadlifts.
Second, the biggest sumo deadlift technique mistake I see is lifters trying to squat the weight up and down. When the hips start too low - and then the hips and knees extend at the same rate - the knees aren't extended enough when the bar gets to them. The only way that the bar can continue its upward path is to either go around the shins (which is accomplished by rounding the back to move the bar away from the body) or get dragged along the shins. If your back hurts or you have blood all over the bar and scabs on your shins, you're probably doing something wrong.
If conventional-style is the most advanced variation of the deadlift out there, sumo deadlifts are likely the first "regression" down, as they allow you to perform the exercise with less hip and ankle mobility, and they also ensure that the bar is starting a bit closer to the primary axis of rotation (the hips), as the femur is flexed and abducted and not just flexed.
Our next installment - the trap bar deadlift - will wrap this series up. In the meantime, in case you missed it, enter your name and email below to receive a free 9-minute deadlift technique video.
It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of the deadlift.
It’s a great strength exercise for the posterior chain with excellent carryover to real life – whether we’re talking about athletics or picking up bags of groceries.
It’s among the best muscle mass builders of all time because it involves a ton of muscle in the posterior chain, upper back, and forearms.
It’s a tremendous corrective exercise; I’m not sure that I have an exercise I like more for correcting bad posture, as this one movement can provide the stiffness needed to minimize anterior pelvic tilt and thoracic kyphosis.
These benefits, of course, are contingent on the fact that one can perform the deadlift correctly to make it safe. And, sadly, the frequency of what I’d consider “safe” deadlifts has diminished greatly as our generation has spent more and more time a) at computers, b) in high-top sneakers with big heel lifts, and c) watering down beginner fitness programs so much that people aren’t taught to deadlift (or do any valuable, compound exercises) when starting a strength training program.
To me, there are two ways to make things “safe.” The first is to teach correct deadlift technique, which I already did with a 9-minute video that is free to anyone who subscribes to my newsletter (if you missed it, you can just opt-in to view it HERE). This video troubleshoots three common variations of the deadlift: conventional, sumo, and trap bar.
The second is to educate lifters on which deadlift versions are the safest versions for different individuals with different injury histories and movement inefficiencies. That’s the focus of today’s piece. We’ll start with the conventional deadlift.
While this version of the deadlift is undoubtedly the “one that started it all,” it’s also the most technically advanced and potentially dangerous of the bunch. Shear stress on the spine is going to be higher on the conventional deadlift than any other variation because the bar is further away from the center of gravity than in any other variation. Additionally, in order to get down to the bar and maintain one’s center of gravity in the right position while maintaining a neutral spine, you’ve got to have excellent ankle, hip, and thoracic spine mobility. Have a look at the video below, and take note of the position of the ankles, hips, and thoracic spine:
You’ll notice that the ankles are slightly dorsiflexed (knees out over toes). If you are crazy restricted in your ankles and can’t sufficiently dorsiflex, two problems arise:
1. You can’t create a “space” to which the bar can be pulled back toward (a lot of the best deadlifters pull the bar back to the shin before breaking the bar from the floor). You can observe this space by drawing a line straight down from the front of the knee to the floor at the 2-second mark of the above video:
2. Those who can’t dorsiflex almost always have hypertonic plantarflexors (calves). These individuals always struggle with proper hip-hinging technique, as they substitute lumbar flexion for hip flexion in order to “counterbalance” things so that they don’t tip over.
You’ll also notice that the hips are flexed to about 90 degrees in my example. I have long arms and legs and a short torso, so I have a bit less hip flexion than someone with shorter arms would need. They would utilize more hip flexion (and potentially dorsiflexion) to be able to get down and grab the bar.
Regardless of one’s body type, you need to be able to sufficiently flex the hips. You’d be amazed at how many people really can’t even flex the hips to 90 degrees without some significant compensation patterns. Instead, they just go to the path of least resistance: lumbar flexion (lower back rounding).
Moving on to the thoracic spine, think about what your body wants to do when the ankles and hips are both flexed: go into the fetal position. The only problem is that the fetal position isn’t exactly optimal for lifting heavy stuff, where we want to maintain a neutral spine. Optimal thoracic spine mobility – particularly into extension – brings our center of gravity back within our base of support and helps ensure that we don’t lose the neutral lumbar spine as soon as external loading (the lift) is introduced.
As you can see, having mobility in these three key areas is essential in order to ensure that the conventional deadlift is both a safe and effective strength exercise in your program. The problem is that in today’s society, not many people have it. So, what do we do with those who simply can’t deadlift effectively from the floor?
We’ve got two options:
1. We can simply elevate the bar slightly (or do rack pulls) to teach proper hip hinging technique in the conventional stance – and train the movement within the limitations of their ankle, hip, and thoracic spine (upper back) mobility.
2. We can simply opt to go with a different deadlift variation. This is something that, for some reason, most previously injured lifters can’t seem to grasp. They have near-debilitating low back injuries that finally become asymptomatic, and they decide to go right back to conventional deadlifts with “light weights.” They still have the same movement impairments and flawed technique, so they build their strength back up, ingraining more and more dysfunction along the way. They’d be better off doing other things – including trap bar and sumo deadlifts – for quite some time before returning to the conventional deadlift.
And, on that note, we’ll examine those two other deadlift variations in parts 2 and 3 of this series. Stay tuned!
To see how all the deadlift variations fit into a comprehensive strength and conditioning program, check out The High Performance Handbook.
