Home Blog (Page 173)

Posterior Capsule Tightness: Subscapularis Dysfunction

I saw you write somewhere recently that subscapularis dysfunction was generally associated with posterior capsule tightness? Is there a causal relationship?
The subscapularis, infraspinatus, and teres minor work together to depress the humeral head during dynamic shoulder activities. The subscapularis posteriorly pulls the humeral head in the joint (counteracts pectoralis major), while the other two anteriorly pull it (counteract posterior deltoid). So, they're antagonists and synergists at the same time. If subscapularis shuts down, infraspinatus and teres minor fire overtime as depressors - but you don't get subscapularis’ posterior humeral head pull. Tightness kicks in with the posterior capsule, and you can also get anterior humeral glide issues. This is a big no-no in overhead throwing, as they’ll look to the elbow to get range of motion – and that’s when you start to see ulnar collateral ligament ruptures, ulnar nerve compression, etc. Eric Cressey

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The Dead Horse: Front Squats vs Back Squats

What is your opinion of front versus back squat? I question with my football players whether I should be doing back squat with some of my older kids; they all go off to college and do them. Recently I've run into a problem with kids going to the gyms to do back squat because we're not doing them at the school. I struggle between sticking to my guns and continuing to educate the kids on why we do front squat and feeling like If their going to back squat I'd rather have them lifting with me under supervision. Can you offer any guidance on this?
I don't do any full Olympic back squats anymore. All our quad dominant squatting is either front squats or Anderson front squats. When we're looking for more posterior chain emphasis while squatting, I will box squat them. Box squats get crucified by a lot of coaches simply because they don't know how to teach them - or they've watched someone else teach them poorly. I'm an accomplished powerlifter who has been around them long enough to know how to teach them very well, so they're a mainstay in my program. We go regular box squats, box squats with a front squat grip (awesome exercise), and safety squat bar box squats. The concerns with forward lean isn't as bad when you're only squatting to slightly below parallel and not giving the kid wiggle room to good morning the weight up out of the hole. Eric Cressey
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Shoulders: Front Squats or Back Squats

Q: In regards to shoulder injuries, do front squats place less stress on the shoulder than back squats? A: This would depend on the shoulder injury in question. For people with typical impingement problems, the back squat position puts them in the at-risk position (abduction + external rotation). So, for them, the front squat set-up is much better. For people with acromioclavicular (AC) joint problems, the bar position on the front squat will put some really uncomfortable pressure directly on the AC joint. They'll handle back squatting a bit better. So, I guess the answer - as always - is "it depends." Eric Cressey
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Bare Functionality

Q: I am a first year physical therapy student in college, and I have a real passion for strength and conditioning. I have been reading some of your articles and they are great. The reason I am contacting you is to ask a question about having athletes warm up barefoot, as you recommended in your last article. I understand your reason for doing this, but if we are so focused on doing things “functionally,” why barefoot? Most athletes compete in some form of shoe, so shouldn't we have them perform exercises in shoes? I am really into orthopedics, so the foot and ankle joints are really of interest to me. Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. A: Thanks for your email and the kind words. I think the response is that the functional movement craze goes a bit too far in some instances. In this case, the addition of inappropriate footwear has actually created a weakness in the smaller muscles of the foot and lower leg. And, barefoot is as functional as you get, if you consider the way we "should" have evolved. I don't like the idea of altogether ignoring a glaring weakness; we lose a ton of dexterity in our feet as we age. As an aside, most Americans sit on their fat a**es all day, yet we advocate doing as much training as possible standing up because it's more "functional." Acting counterintuitively isn’t always a bad thing. Food for thought! Eric Cressey It's all about efficiency.
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Distance Education: Kinesiology Master’s Degree

What is your opinion of online or distance education masters degrees in human kinetics/kinesiology? Do you know of any good distance education programs? I want to further my education, but I already have a good full time training job and client base that I don't want to leave to do a master’s degree at one of the local universities.
To be honest, I'm not too fond of the online master's degrees in THIS field. Exercise Science really is a hands-on discipline; a large portion of the master's degree should be about experiencing things. When I look back at my time at the University of Connecticut, I'd say that about 90% of what I took away (which was a lot) was experience-based between strength and conditioning and the human performance laboratory – not to mention just interacting with labmates, fellow coaches, and the faculty – while only about 10% was classroom-based. Are you close enough to any universities to go part-time over an extended period of time? You have to look at this as an INVESTMENT, not an expense. With all that said, there are a lot of great coaches out there who don’t have Master’s degrees – but they’ve picked up the slack with tons of reading, building huge networks, and interning under other coaches who have gone before them. So, at the very least, put yourself on academic quarantine as often as possible to get some reading done, and seek out those who are doing what you’d like to do – and doing it well. Eric Cressey Why the general off-season is the "meat and potatoes" of the training year, and how to make the most of it.
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Maki Riddington: Why Nap?

The Eric Cressey Blog welcomes a guest entry by Maki Riddington: Even though we spend a third of our lives sleeping, scientists are still trying to learn exactly why people need sleep. In animal studies it has been shown that sleep is necessary for survival. For example, while rats normally live for two to three years, those deprived of REM sleep survive only about 5 weeks on average, and rats deprived of all sleep stages live only about 3 weeks. In humans, those who had been deprived of just one night’s sleep were shown to have a reduction in mental exertion. In real life situations, the consequences of being sleep-deprived are grave. Some speculation has linked sleep-deprivation to certain international disasters such as the Exxon Valdez oil-spill, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and the Challenger shuttle explosion. Taking this into the gym can mean that the ability to concentrate and focus can become compromised which means less of an effort and intensity in the workout (9). Hopefully it’s not leg day. Athletes who suffer from sleep-deprivation have been shown to see a decrease in cardiovascular performance (10), that is, their time to exhaustion is quicker. Sleep-deprivation in studies has been shown to occur around 30-72 hours. For an athlete who has a full course-load, studies, mid terms, and trains, sleep-deprivation can accumulate very rapidly. Another study looked at cortisol and performance levels after staying up for an 8-hour period overnight. Performance declined and cortisol levels increased. For someone looking to pack on muscle and increase strength, this is bad news since the main focus is to minimize cortisol release since it is a catabolic hormone (11). From a fat loss perspective, sleep deprivation can impair fat loss through a decrease in levels of the satiety hormone leptin, and increases in the hunger hormone ghrelin. According to Dr. Van Cauter a professor of medicine at the university of Chicago, “One of the first consequences of sleeplessness is appetite dysregulation.” “Essentially, the accelerator for hunger [ghrelin] is pushed and the brake for satiety [leptin] is released.” “The leptin levels are screaming ‘More food! More food!’” What this means is that the hormone leptin is responsible for telling the body when it is full. However, with decreased production of this hormone, the body will crave calories (especially in the form of carbs) even though its requirements have been met. For someone trying to diet, good luck! Voluntarily sleeping less than 6 hours per night has been associated with an increased incidence of impaired glucose tolerance, according to a cohort analysis of the Sleep Heart Health Study (SHHS) reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine. (12) This may mean that a chronic lack of sleep can impair glucose tolerance, which can make body recomposition a difficult task. Most people have a hard enough time trying to regulate their carbohydrates and time them so that the body metabolizes them efficiently. So, if you’re getting the required 8 hours of sleep, are you ok? Well, if this sleep is broken up, then its value decreases as the sleep cycle is interrupted. Deep sleep appears to be connected with the release of growth hormones in young adults. Many of the body's cells also show increased production and reduced breakdown of proteins during deep sleep. Since proteins are the building blocks needed for cell growth and for repairing bodily stress (muscle damage from strength training), uninterrupted deep sleep plays an important role in recovery and regeneration of the body. Finally, adequate sleep and a properly functioning immune system are closely related. Sleep-deprivation compromises the immune system by altering the blood levels of specialized immune cells and important proteins called cytokines. These chemical messengers instruct other immune cells to go into action. As a result of being compromised, greater than normal chances of infections are likely to occur. And we all know that being sick can be a big setback both in and out of the gym. Maki Riddington
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Talking Shop: Nick Grantham Part 2

EC: Speaking of sinking ships, where are most athletes missing the boat? What common mistakes do you see all the time?
NG: Don’t get me started or we will be here all day! I will try to keep it brief and give you my top three: 1. Lack of consistency – So many people want a quick fix and want to see results yesterday. Newsflash: it takes time. I’m sure we are all familiar with the general rule of 10,000 hours of correct, progressive and adaptive training to be a successful athlete at the elite level. Okay, so some of you may argue that not everyone will be operating at an elite level, but the general rule still applies; you need to do your time before you can expect to get some payback. There are no shortcuts and one of my favorite quotes is “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” Think about it! 2. Being too clever - People trying to be too clever and thinking that innovation should always mean advances in technology or the like. Sometimes, innovation can be adopting a very simple approach. I was recently listening to Vern Gambetta speak and he summed it up with this quote: “Everyone is looking for the 2% that is going to make a difference – but what about the other 98%?” All too often, we worry about the small things when we don’t even have the basics under control. You have no right to be doing the clever stuff until your have the 98% covered – and don’t forget it has to be done consistently. I think your Magnificent Mobility DVD is a great example of taking care of the 98%. Please don’t be offended, but what you deliver is a simple-to-use resource. The content is proven, it’s not fancy, it’s not clever, and you don’t need the latest piece of kit to perform the drills. It takes care of the basics – that’s what will boost performance. 3. Poor Recovery – It’s all about training and what takes place during the 1-2 hour training session. The majority of people neglect what happens during the other 22 hours! You don’t improve from training; you improve by recovering from training. This is an area that I’ve been looking at for the past 18 months and I guarantee that if you take care of the fundamental rules of recovery you will see your performances in the gym and in your sport go through the roof. I’ve recently pulled together a heap of recovery information into a single training manual and I’ve put together the “recovery pyramid” that guides you through the myriad of different recovery strategies available. For more details, check out www.recoveryregeneration.com.
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Shoulder Problems: Check your Hip and Ankle

When we're discussing functional anatomy, one thing that a ton of people overlook is the effect of fascia on how we move. Anatomy charts are always nice and neat for us, but anyone who has ever taken gross anatomy or watched a surgery will tell you that there is fascia EVERYWHERE. This connective tissue both facilitates and restricts movement, and as is the case with muscles, fascial restrictions (adhesions) can negatively affect how we perform. A common example of this phenomenon that might surprise you involves the spiral line, a fascial "train" Thomas Myers brought to light in his fantastic book, Anatomy Trains. Essentially, the spiral line links one shoulder girdle to the opposite leg. If you have restrictions in the spiral line, both "ends" of the train will be negatively affected. This is one reason why I almost always see poor flexibility in the opposite ankle and hip in anyone who has a shoulder problem that involves tightness of some sort in the shoulder girdle. Additionally, we know that via the "serape effect," the latissimus dorsi works intimately with the opposite gluteus maximus during the sprinting motion. The only way that this "link" is possibly is through the thoracolumbar fascia, a dense section of connective tissue that helps to transfer force. So what are the take-home points? 1. Don't overlook the importance of soft-tissue work! It's tough to stretch fascia, but modalities like foam rolling, massage, and ART can make a huge difference. 2. Injuries never occur in isolation; as the shoulder-hip-ankle connection verifies, we need to look at the body as a whole. 3. If you spot poor shoulder mobility on one side, as part of your corrective exercise approach, incorporate plenty of mobility exercises and soft-tissue work for the opposite ankle and hip. Eric Cressey
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Talking Shop: Nick Grantham

What are ten things our readers can do RIGHT NOW to become leaner, stronger, faster, and more muscular? 1. Set goals – SMART goals so that you know where the journey is going to take you and how you are going to get to your destination. 2. Keep a training diary – You need to track your progress. 3. Train consistently – Set a plan and stick to it. It’s all too easy to say, “Hey, I’ll train today.” If you don’t schedule a time to train, chances are you will get to the end of the day and you will have missed your session. 4. Recover well – You’ll understand why when you read the rest of the interview! 5. Concentrate on the 98% - I’ll explain this one later on. 6. Include conditioning work (prehab/remedial/injury prevention….call it what you like….my choice is conditioning) in your training session. Superset between the main lifts – that way the work gets done and you will be on the way to becoming “bulletproof.” 7. Replace steady-state running with high intensity intervals – Come on, do I really need to explain this one? Intervals will give you more bang for your buck than slow steady-state running. 8. Don’t get hung up on TVA recruitment – Isolating a muscle will not necessarily transfer to improved core strength during athletic movements. Train how you are going to perform; make sure you hit all of the major muscle groups (rectus abdominus, obliques, erector spinae, etc.). 9. Learn to handle your bodyweight – I’ve worked with elite gymnasts – these guys are super strong. I don’t really care what your bench is if you can’t even handle your own bodyweight with good form. Don’t neglect the basics. 10. Whole body hypertrophy programmes – I’m with Alwyn Cosgrove on this one. Why go for split routines when you can get a greater training effect from a whole body hypertrophy routine? Nick Grantham
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20 Things from Dr. McGill (2 of 4)

I’ve seen Dr. McGill in seminar before, and by my own admission, I’ve always been more of a “listen and watch” guy than a note-taker. However, that’s not to say that I didn’t hear a lot of great points that went right to my notepad. Here were some highlights along with (in some cases) my commentaries on their applicability to what we do: 6. Shear forces are far more of a concern than compressive forces; our spines actually handle compressive forces really well. You can’t buttress shear effectively in flexion, so it’s important to avoid it – especially at the most commonly injured lumbar spine segments – at all costs. The spine doesn’t buckle until 12,000-15,000N of pressure are applied in compression, but as little as 1,800-2,8000N in shear will get the job done. 7. The rectus abdominus is not about trunk flexion; it’s an anti-rotator that is responsible for transferring hoop stresses. If it was about trunk flexion, it wouldn’t have the lateral tendinous inscriptions; we’d have hamstrings there instead! 8. Don’t just train the glutes in hip extension; really pay attention to their role as external rotators. Once you’ve mastered linear movements (e.g. supine bridges), you need to get into single-leg and emphasis movements like bowler squats and lunges with reaches to various positions. These are great inclusions in the warm-up. 9. Contrary to popular belief, the vertebral bodies – and not the discs – are the shock absorbers of the spine. Amazingly, the elasticity we see is actually in the bone; blood is responsible for pressurizing the bone. 10. End-plate fractures are the most common injury with compression; they almost always are accompanied by a “pop” sound. Eric Cressey P.S. As an interesting aside to all of this, Dr. McGill and I actually spoke at length about the importance of hip mobility – something that obviously is closely related to all twenty of these points. If you lack mobility at the hips, you’re forced to go to the lumbar spine to get it, and that is a serious limitation to building stability. On several occasions, Dr. McGill alluded to Mike Robertson and my Magnificent Mobility DVD, so if you’re looking to protect your back, improve performance, and feel better than you ever thought possible, check it out..
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