1. Roger "It Ain't Over 'Til I Turn in this Power Rangers T-Shirt and Reclaim my Man Card with a Thundercats Shirt" Lawson has his revenge!
Okay, so it was really only good for third place. It was, however, markedly improved from the previous effort, so we'll give him a thumbs-up (but not a high-five, Roger; that's just not how I roll). Thanks for all your hard work this summer!
2. Speaking of thumbs-up, here's a diet that would make it difficult to give that stamp of approval:
The Amputation Diet
Just in case you weren't catching the sarcasm in that post, please don't go and cut your hand off.
3. For those of you looking for a good read, I'd encourage you to check out Born to Run by Christopher McDougall.
Now, before you go and start telling everyone that Cressey's gone off the deep end and is now a distance running zealot, I liked this book because it talked a lot about the merits of barefoot training and how we've been royally screwed by modern shoe companies. If you're a runner who has ever had plantar fasciitis or Achilles tendon issues, you have to give this a read.
I actually listened to the book on tape during my commute to the facility. The unabridged version is about eleven hours long, and is very entertaining.
4. The first pro ball player off-season training session is in the book for Tuesday. A big gold star goes out to Blue Jays Double-A pitcher Tim Collins for officially kicking off the madness that is the life my life from now through the third Monday in March. Tim's season ends on Monday, and he's practically kicking the door down to come back and train.
With attitude like this, and 18 pro guys confirmed (and more still sorting out details), it's shaping up to be a great off-season at CP. I am fired up!
Q: I recently came across an article by Nick Tumminello on tests for dynamic abdominal strength, and the primary focus was sit-ups and reverse crunches. Given your regard for training the core as an anti-rotator/resistor of lumbar hyperextension, do you have any thoughts on these testing protocols?
A: First off, Nick is a brilliant guy with some awesome ideas. For those who aren't familiar with him, check out his website, PerformanceU.net.
Moving on to your question, it is interesting that you would ask about this, as Bill Hartman and I had a good email exchange last week where we were talking about just how "functional" most tests are. And, more specifically, we were calling into question just how much particular assessments carry over to the real world of injury prevention and performance enhancement.
A study from Stanton et al. in 2004 is a great example of the divide between testing proficiency and performance. As I noted in my e-book, The Truth About Unstable Surface Training, researchers found that six weeks of stability ball training improved core stability in young athletes - as it was measured (in a manner consistent with the training itself). In other words, this is like saying that bench press training will make you better at bench pressing. Well, duh! The more important question, though, is whether or not that bench press performance will carry over to athletic performance.
And, this is where the intervention in the Stanton et al. study fell short. While their measure of "core stability" improved, it did not effect favorable changes in running economy or running posture, or modify EMG activity of the abdominal or erector spinae muscles. In other words, it didn't carry over.
A comparable result was seen in a study from Tse et al. in 2005. After eight weeks of stability ball training in collegiate rowers, while "core stability" (as they tested it) improved, the experimental (core training) group showed no performance improvements over those who did ZERO core training during this time. And, researcher tested several measures: "vertical jump, broad jump, shuttle run, 40-m sprint, overhead medicine ball throw, 2,000-m maximal rowing ergometer test."
So, with respect to your question, I think the question is: do those sit-up and reverse crunch progressions matter for an athlete who spends his/her life in the standing position? Wouldn't they have more predictive value with respect to performance in a mixed martial arts population that spends a significant amount of time in the supine position in competitive situations? Interestingly, Nick has extensive experience with mixed martial artists, and that is probably why he's seen such strong predictive value from those tests.
Additionally, these issues are worthy of consideration in an athletic population where fatigue is a big issue. Does an assessment in a rested state necessarily carry over to a situation where movements may change under fatigue? Bill wrote a great blog on this topic HERE.
Food for thought; never take anything at face value. As with almost everything you'll encounter in the world of fitness, the answer is "maybe" or "it depends." You have to know how to assess and program accordingly.
Maximum Strength Feedback
I just got the following feedback on the Maximum Strength program from a trainer who recently completed it:
"Body Weight 202--> 207
Bench 305--> 335
Broad Jump 99" --> 104"
Back Squat 315 --> 355
Deadlift 335 --> 370
Chin Ups 202+60=262 --> 207+90 = 297
I had two big 'uh-huh' moments when going through this program. (You have been preaching these forever, but it did not truly hit me until the third phase of the program)
1) Improving my ankle and hip mobility was the key to improving my squat and deadlift numbers.
2) Increasing my pulling power was the key to improving my bench press.
As a trainer, I had too much pride to ever follow anyone else's program. I am glad I finally decided to check my ego and follow your program."
Pick up your copy of Maximum StrengthHERE.
New Blog ContentIt's the Most Wonderful Time of the YearStatic Posture Assessment Mistakes: Part 2Pitchers vs. Quarterbacks vs. SwimmersRandom Friday Thoughts
All the Best,
EC
With today being Friday the 13th, I figured we'd roll with that theme for today. As you probably know, Friday the 13th is - according to superstition - a day of bad or good luck. Honestly, I didn't know that good luck was a feasible outcome until I just Googled it, but apparently it is, and I'm just a stupid pessimist without even knowing it. So, in hopes of turning my day around, I'm going to post this video and make all the villagers rejoice because they know they're smarter than this girl:
2. Did you know that there is actually a term - paraskavedekatriaphobia - forthe fear of Friday the 13th? Apparently, this problem is a more specialized form of triskaidekaphobia, which is just fear of the number 13. Fortunately, though, these phobias aren't nearly as bad as:
a. Logophobia - fear of words (reading this blog would really suck for those folks, huh?)
b.Electrophobia - fear of electricity (turning on the computer would must have been terrible, but missing out on my electric sense of humor must have been the worst!)
c.Arithmophobibia - fear of numbers (you'll be happy to note that I'm using a, b, c, and d instead of a numerical listing scheme because I am sensitive to your concerns)
d.Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia - fear of long words (coincidentally, they gave this guy a syndrome with 36 letters)
A few other honorable mentions to to levophobia (fear of objects to the left of the body), geniophobia (fear of chins), chronomentrophobia (fear of clocks), and Gentilcorophobia (fear of painfully bad techno music).
3. Yesterday, I gave a guest lecture/hands-on session for an exercise science class at UMASS-Boston. I've done this several semesters in a row, and this semester's topic was "Core Stability and Mobility." While I think that folks like me who have been in the trenches for a while and attend a lot of seminars need another presentation on core stability like I need a whole in the head, it was cool to speak about the topic to a younger audience that didn't have as much experience under their belts. One book I encouraged all of them to pick up was Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance by Stuart McGill.
4. Along those lines, one movement I find us using around the facility quite a bit is the split-stance cable lift:
5. Mike Robertson's just begun doing a podcast component in his newsletters, and it allows him to cover more material than he would with writing along. Check out the first installment HERE; I think you'll like it.
6. About two years ago, I was featured on the front page of the Boston Globe in a picture with Steph Holland-Brodney, CP's most tenured client, as she prepared for the Boston Marathon. Almost immediately, I was thrown into a world of international fame as "the dude with the hard nipple" - and I added to the already-insane media frenzy by authoring a literary masterpiece known as The School of Hard Nipples. For weeks, I couldn't even go grocery shopping without being swarmped by paparazzi and adoring fans who couldn't wait to catch a glimpse of the nipple that had changed so many lives.
Fortunately, Boston won the World Series in 2007 about six months later, and it was about the same time that "The Departed" came out to put Boston in the spotlight. So, thanks to the Red Sox and Marky Mark, some of the pressure was lifted - and I managed to move forward.
As I learned this week, though, the stardom hasn't died down altogether. You see, when I check my website stats, I can find out what people most frequently type in with search engines when they ultimately come to EricCressey.com. And, would you believe that I average about 3.5 "hard nipples" searches per day? In other words, random people are typing "hard nipples" into Google, and in many cases, they're winding up at EricCressey.com instead of many of the millions of adult entertainment sites out there.
Cressey Performance was lucky to have Kevin Neeld around the facility last summer, and all our coaches were much better off thanks to this experience. Kevin always makes some great points and is never afraid to question the norm - and do a ton of research. Kevin's specialty is hockey, and he recently introduced an Off-Ice Performance Training E-Manual for hockey players and coaches that is absolutely fantastic. I was fortunate enough to get an advanced copy, and it was so good that I couldn't wait to get an interview with him up here at EricCressey.com. So, without further ado, here it is.
EC: I'll be the first to admit that if I see another seminar presentation or article on "core training," I'm going to lose my lunch. Interestingly, though (and to be blunt), yours in this product doesn't suck. In other words, there is a lot to be learned both specific to hockey and in a general sense. Can you explain for my readers in a bit of detail?
KN: Sure thing. In my experience, the reason core training is so poorly practiced is because people don't understand what muscles are involved in the core and what their collective function is. Beyond the rectus abdominis ("6-pack" muscles) and the external and internal obliques, the core encompasses over a dozen other muscles that attach to the hips, rib cage, and spine. Collectively, these muscles serves a few major, inter-related functions: 1) Control movement of the hips; 2) provide a stable base for leg and arm movement; and 3) create stiffness for efficient force transfer between the upper and lower body.
My approach to core training is pretty straight forward: 1) Teach athletes awareness-what core stability is and feels like; 2) Train for core stability; 3) Progress to dynamic stability (stability challenged by internal or external forces); 4) Progress to training core stiffness and force transfer; 5) Combine force transfer and dynamic stability into one exercise.
The progressions are explained in more detail in the course, but to give you an idea of what that looks like:
1) Abdominal draw-ins (for awareness, NOT transversus abdominis isolation...which is a stupid concept), and simply having the athlete put their hands over their stomach, fill their belly up with air, squeeze their core and continue to breathe.
2) Planks and bridges
3) Planks and bridges with partner perturbations
4) Medicine ball throws, tosses, and slams
5) Combined med ball exercises with holds in various positions challenged by a partner perturbation
I hope that all makes sense. The course doesn't go into full detail on medicine ball exercises because I really wanted to make the exercises and progressions realistic for a team setting, and typically there isn't a lot of equipment available.
EC: Along these same lines, what are the specific injury issues that you prioritize in this e-manual?
KN: Hockey players are plagued by hip and lower abdominal injuries. What's scary is that the true causes and predisposing risk factors to these injuries are only starting to be explored in the research community. Usually, creating an appropriate balance within and between the hip and core musculature can prevent these injuries. For example, if you have a strength imbalance between the muscles on the outside and inside of your hip, your risk of adductor (commonly referred to as the "groin") strain increases. If you have a strength imbalance between your adductors and your anterior abdominal musculature, your risk of lower abdominal injury increases. As with most injuries, the key is creating a balance.
As a quick note, creating balance often means utilizing unbalanced training. Your readers may know this already since you talk about the same things with your baseball guys. Hockey players take several dozens shots every week. These shots usually involve forceful rotation in the same direction. The best way to create balance would be to use an unbalanced training program with more rotation or anti-rotation exercises in the direction OPPOSITE to that in which they shoot. This is where sport-specific training really threw people off. Training "sport-specific" patterns again and again off the ice is likely to increase injury risk, not performance.
Getting back to hip and lower abdominal injuries...Typically these injuries are a result of under-preparation or overuse, both of which can be addressed with similar training methods. I first implemented some of the dynamic warm-up and core training exercises outlined in the course with the University of Delaware Men's Ice Hockey Team in 2006. We had ZERO pre-season hip flexor or "groin" injuries. Not a single player missed a single practice or game. I've refined a lot of things since then, but a lot of the concepts are still the same. Warm-up appropriately by improving range of motion around the right joints and activating the right muscles, and train the core for its true function, and you'll likely avoid these injuries.
EC: Hockey players, like all athletes, have loads of competing demands - from on-ice technical work, to energy systems training, to resistance training, to flexibility training. This manual does a great job of integrating all these features. Where do you feel that most people make the biggest mistakes in this regard?
KN: It really depends on the team, but the three things that seem to come up most often are:
1) The training of most youth programs involves a couple laps around the rink, a long stretch, maybe some jumping, push-ups and sit-ups. These programs leave out a lot of important forms of training (e.g. dynamic flexibility, core stability, reactive agility, acceleration/deceleration, etc.).
2) Conditioning is still horribly misunderstood. The idea that hockey players need to train for a well-developed "aerobic system" by going for long runs is pretty ridiculous. We're talking about a sport that typically involves 30-45 second shifts, followed by several minutes of rest. Within each shift, there are typically a few bouts of 3-5 second all out efforts, followed by periods of gliding, and usually a stoppage or two. This breaks down into something like 20 seconds of high intensity effort every five minutes. Repeated 20-minute jogs around the rink will make you well-conditioned for the wrong sport.
3) The largest problem I see in team settings is a complete disregard for the QUALITY of movement. Hockey players and coaches are very driven, which usually means they want more, not better. The first thing I do when working with a new team is sit them all down and tell them that focus will be placed on quality of movement before intensity or quantity of movement. Moving the wrong way, at a high intensity or volume, will only make bad patterns worse. I made a strong effort in the course to emphasize proper movement and technique and provide simple coaching cues so that people without a background in sport biomechanics can still move the right way.
EC: A large percentage of the folks reading this resource are going to be high school athletes and coaches - many of whom play multiple sports. What pieces of advice do you have for these folks? How can they make the most of this training when they've got other sports on top of the competing demands we discussed above?
KN: My advice: Keep playing multiple sports. Early specialization (only playing hockey from a young age) will have detrimental effects on your development and movement quality as you get older. Typically these are the players that dominate when they're 12-14, then drop off the map or are plagued by injuries at 20.
To get to the heart of your question, good training is good training. The course outlines quality training in the context of hockey, but the principles are mostly the same for all sports. A strong, functional core will improve performance in all sports. Training to improve acceleration, and your ability to rapidly decelerate and change direction explosively will improve performance in all sports. I use many of the same dynamic warm-up progressions for hockey players as I do for athletes in all other sports (rowing, soccer, football, basketball, lacrosse, etc.). All team-sport athletes need to be mobile, stable, strong, explosive, and quick. I honestly can't think of a sport that wouldn't benefit from the training outlined in the course, which details how to alter the intensity and volume of your training in preparation for more important games (which becomes an increasingly important concept for athletes playing multiple sports at the same time).
EC: Thanks for taking the time, Kevin. Great points - and definitely a great resource, too.
For more information on Kevin's Off-Ice Performance Training Course, head over to HockeyTrainingU.com.
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Earlier this week, we had a gentleman stop by our facility to observe Tony, Brian, and I in action. He is new to the industry - less than one year under his belt, in fact - but has a solid roster of clients of all ages and ability levels. I give the guy a ton of credit for coming all the way to MA from across the country to get better at what he does; I wish more people were passionate enough about helping their clients to do so.
Anyway, while he had quite a few questions, he asked me flat-out what I think the most important thing to do is for an up-and-coming personal trainer or strength and conditioning coach. My answer was simple: learn functional anatomy. Very simply, everything you do with a client or athlete comes down to understanding how their body is built. And, if you know how the body is built (statically), you can start to understand how it functions (or malfunctions) dynamically. This is a skip that, in my opinion, far too many trainers and coaches overlook. It may be boring to memorize all this stuff, but it's incredibly important.
I mean, honestly, have you ever met a mechanic who didn't know what a radiator did or where it was located? A car's anatomy is probably just as expansive as the human body, but you don't see mechanics fixing car troubles before they learn where all the parts are - or what they're supposed to do. Sadly, I think that if I asked every trainer on the planet what a coracobrachialis was, only half could even tell me where it's located, and even fewer would be able to relate its functions.
At risk of sounding overconfident, this is one reason why I'm so proud of our Building the Efficient Athlete DVD Set. In my experience, there isn't a single product out there that delves into functional anatomy in as detailed a fashion as Mike Robertson and I do, and there certainly isn't anything that relates that anatomy to what you see when your clients and athletes perform exercises, encounter injuries, or struggle to grasp some new technique.
Here's a little sample of what you can find on the first two (of eight) DVDs in the set:
DVD #1: Introduction
Why learn functional anatomy?
What resources do the BEST use to improve their skills?
What resources will absolutely make you regress as a trainer, coach or athlete, and how do you avoid them?
How will improved posture not only keep you healthy, but also improve your performance?
How can you use the Law of Repetitive Motion to rapidly elicit changes in posture?
DVD #2: Lower Body, Core and Upper Body Functional Anatomy
Are the hip flexors tight? If so, which one(s)? We show you specific tests to figure out exactly which areas are short or stiff.
Why are well functioning glutes an absolute necessity if optimal performance is your goal? How can they help us to avoid hamstring pulls, groin strains, and lower back pain!
How is it that we've misunderstood the role of various core muscles for so long? And, how can we modify our training to "undo" the damage that's been done?
How can the pectoralis major and subscapularis be both antagonists and synergists, and what are the implications on health and performance?
Have we been missing the boat on how we view rhomboids?
Why doesn't anyone think about pectoralis minor?
Again, this is just the tip of the iceberg. There is a whole lot more on the other six DVDs, including live static and dynamic assessments, programming strategies, and loads of troubleshooting for common resistance training exercises.
For more information, check out Building the Efficient Athlete.
1. It's come to my attention that over 54 million people have come to recognize this young YouTube guitar dude as a total bada**, so it seemed only fitting that he be today's music selection:
Had I not won the Nobel Prize at age 12 and hopped up Mt. Everest on one leg at 16, I might be wondering what the heck I was doing with my life at age 27 after watching that. But, let's move on to the good stuff.
2. It wouldn't be a week in my apartment if my girlfriend didn't watch "The Biggest Loser" with me in the room contemplating ripping my hair out. I got a kick out of it this week when they had a 30" plyo box in the center of the gym. I don't know of many 400-pound folks with vertical jumps that good, but apparently, it does make a great platform on which you can set your bottle of water. Now that's training economy.
3. If you thought the kettlebell trend was getting out of hands, just have a look at this:
Bench Pressing Dwarves: I Kid You Not
As long as they don't call me "comrade," I'm cool with it. Success is all about adherence, so if it takes the weight and attitude of a feisty human exercise prop giving you hell on every rep to get the job done - and that person doesn't mind - so be it.
4. We do a lot of anti-extension work with our athletes. While these progressions start with basic prone bridging, you can progress them to overhead medicine ball throwing variations and (my personal favorite) ab wheel variations. We'll do isometric holds, regular reps, and - as seen below - band-resisted ab wheel rollouts.
This is just one of over a dozen innovative, effective exercises Jim Smith introduces in his Combat Core resource; it's definitely worth checking out.
5. It's come to my attention that a tiny portion of my readers get all huffy when I don't post references for my blogs. While I could go to the trouble of posting references in all of them, the truth is that it clutters things up and takes away the informal tone of this blog. And, frankly, I often write these in my boxer shorts and unshowered, with a raging case of bedhead and some kind of angry, belligerent, "my mother didn't love me" music in the background. It's not exactly academia.
Suffice it to say that I can provide references for most of this stuff, and if I can't, I can sure tell you about a ton of bright professionals who have seen awesome anecdotal evidence - as the research world is typically years behind the smartest people who are in the trenches. If that's not good enough, oh well.
And on that note, I need to get back to the trenches. Have a great weekend!
Q: Hey Eric, let me start off by saying what a great job you've done with Maximum Strength. It is a wonderful book that I've enjoyed reading and am looking forward to starting in a few weeks. I have a question regarding the book, though. For certain exercises, like the DB Bulgarian Split Squat, DB Lunge, and DB Step-up, can I use a barbell across my back instead of dumbbells, as I find that variations harder and more challenging on my core and balance?
A: These drills feel harder on your "core and balance" because you've moved your center of mass further up and away from the base of support. It's one way to make an exercise harder.
I'd prefer, though, that when starting the program, you simply load the dumbbell version more in the "lower center of mass" position. The barbell stuff would come later on. There are several key benefits to holding dumbbells early on in a training program, including strengthening of important postural muscles as well as those involved in gripping.
I don't watch a ton of TV, but when I do, it's almost always sports - be it football, baseball, basketball, or just regular ol' Sportscenter. Likewise, when I'm at working, I'm constantly coaching athletes from a variety of sports on everything from weight-training, to flexibility, to sprint mechanics, to medicine ball throwing techniques.
Everywhere you look, you'll see destabilizing torques. Maybe it's a running back trying to fend off a tackler; his feet are fixed while the destabilizing torque (the force applied to his body by that tackler) occurs further up the kinetic chain.
Or, maybe it's an athlete doing a suitcase deadlift. The load in his hand is a destabilizing torque that attempts to shift him into lateral flexion as contralateral core musculature fires to keep him erect. Again, the feet are on stable ground.
You're probably getting my point by now. Our lower extremities operate in predominantly closed-chain motion on stable surfaces in the real world - and the destabilizing torques we encounter further up the kinetic chain are truly functional instability training.
Conversely, when was the last time you saw the ground move on a fixed athlete? Perhaps the earthquake during the San Francisco-Oakland World Series in 1989? It's a long shot at best.
With that in mind, why are we universally accepting unstable surface training in the lower extremity? We know it has merit in the rehabilitation of functional ankle instability, but to assume that benefits would also be conferred on a healthy population is a dangerous. That's where we came in with my research back in 2005 - and it's why I've got a great frame of reference for writing a book that discusses true core stability training and the appropriate and inappropriate applications of unstable surface training. At risk of sounding overconfident, if you coach or rehabilitation athletes or regular fitness enthusiasts, The Truth About Unstable Surface Training is an important read for you.
