In a collaborative effort with CP Coach Greg Robins, here are this week's nutrition and strength and conditioning tips.
1. Be aware of unwanted movement at the shoulder with thoracic mobility drills.
2. Chow down on some brussels sprouts.
Brussels sprouts get a bad rap because - for some reason - they are the scapegoat for some kids hating vegetables. Personally, though, I can think of a lot of vegetables that taste far worse! And, what you might not know is that their harvest season is defined as June-January, so now is the perfect time of year to start crushing them.
It's best to avoid boiling them, as it reduces some of their nutritional value. Fortunately, though, I think baking them makes them taste much better. Just cut off the stem and any loose leaves, then bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit in the oven until they soften up a bit. I like to splash them with balsamic vinegar, and you can even add some parmesan cheese, if that tickles your fancy. Give them a shot!
3. Use these variations to make side-lying clams more effective.
4. If your calves are cramping with sports, fix your back and get your glutes going.
In a recently published study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, a history of lower back pain predicted calf cramping in professional rugby players. In light of this finding, here's a little theory of mine..
a. Most rugby players are in heavily extended postures with huge anterior pelvic tilts and excessive lordosis.
b. Those folks in these postures never effectively use gluteus maximus as a hip extensor.
c. If you can't actually use your hip extensors to extend your hip during sprinting, you'll have to acquire the motion elsewhere - and that likely means extra push-off at the lower extremity: plantarflexion.
d. Your calves are plantarflexors.
So, if you lose your glutes (and anterior core, for that matter), you're going to overuse calves, especially in conditions of fatigue. Yes, it's a theory, but I'd be very curious to see if calf cramping was also predicted by postural assessments at the lumbopelvic region. In the meantime, to be safe, if you're having calf cramps (and even if you aren't), get your glutes turned on and anterior core engaged.
5. Use a plyo box to help out with your self-myofascial release.
As I mentioned in one of my presentations in our new Functional Stability Training of the Lower Body DVD set, when we do soft tissue work, it's good to have a combination of diffuse (foam roller) and focal (lacrosse or baseball) options to get to all the areas we want. Unfortunately, we can't do everything we need to do on the floor, so we'll often use a stretching table to make accessing the "undercarriage" a bit easier.
Sometimes, though, the table has too much "give" to it, and it cancels out the density we get from the medicine ball. A good alternative is to use a plyo box, which is a lot firmer. And, if you want a more focal option than the medicine ball, you can use a softball or baseball.
I am very excited to announce that my new product, Functional Stability Training of the Lower Body, is now available. This collaborative effort from Mike Reinold and me follows up on the first module in our Functional Stability Training system, FST for the Core, which was a big hit. Since then, we've had a lot of inquiries about when the follow-up resources in this series would be available - and today's the day.
FST for the Lower Body is a comprehensive program that combines the way Mike approaches rehabilitation projects with how I approach strength and conditioning programs. We talk about a ton of topics that merge our philosophies.
The resource takes a hard look at the lower extremity and how to most effectively optimize function. By addressing alignment, strength, mobility, and dynamic motor control, you can maximize your rehabilitation and training programs to reach optimal performance.
The lower extremities work in conjunction with the core to provide mobility, strength, and power to the entire body. Any deficits throughout the lower body’s kinetic chain can lead to injury, dysfunction, and a decrease in performance. FST for the Lower Body aims to help formulate rehabilitation and training programs designed to optimize how the lower body functions.
The FST for the Lower Body program can be applied to rehabilitation, injury prevention, and performance enhancement programs.
For the rehabilitation specialist, the information will help you restore functional activities faster. For the fitness and performance specialists, the information will help you achieve new progress with your clients to maximize functional and athletic potential. For the fitness enthusiast, the information will help you gain control of your lower body, maximize functional movement, and reduce wear and tear due to faulty movement patterns.
Here is the outline of presentations and lab demonstrations in the program:
Reinold: Training the Hip for FST of the Lower Body
Reinold: Assessing Lower Body Alignment and Movement
Cressey: Preparing the Adductors for Health and Performance
Cressey: Hip Internal Rotation Deficits: Why You Have Them and What to Do About Them
Reinold: Training the Foot and Ankle for FST for the Lower Body
Reinold: Understanding and Implementing Neuromuscular Control Progressions into Your Programs
Reinold: How to Integrate Neuromuscular Control Progressions
Cressey: 15 Things I've Learned About the Deadlift
Cressey: Developing Lower Extremity Strength and Power Outside the Sagittal Plane
This video resource is available as a purely-online product, or you can also order the DVD set, if you'd prefer to have a physical copy for your library. And, this week only, it's on sale for just $79.95, far less than you'd pay for even a half-day fitness or rehabilitation seminar. For more information and to purchase, head here.
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This week's installment of recommended strength and conditioning reading/viewing focuses on "teaser" content from our Functional Stability Training of the Lower Body DVD set, which will be released on Monday. Check out these three videos from Mike Reinold and me.
Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter below so that you'll be among the first notified when it's released.
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When Mike Reinold and I released our product, Functional Stability Training of the Lower Body, we thought it would be a good idea to give folks a few samples of what the products entail. With that in mind, I wanted to give you an excerpt from one of my webinar presentations, "15 Things I've Learned About the Deadlift." Many of you may not have heard of the bilateral deficit, but it's one of the strongest supporting arguments for including single-leg work in a strength training program. This presentation will make you think about applying it differently with deadlift variations, though.
Today, Greg Robins is back with five tips for your nutrition and strength and conditioning programs.
1. Regress TRX fallouts.
At CP, we often use TRX fallouts in our programming. They are a phenomenal choice for training the anterior core in an “anti-extension” fashion. That being said, they can also be quite difficult for many people. The good news is that these bad boys are easily regressed by moving to your knees, rather than the feet. In order to do these seamlessly make sure to adjust the straps so the handles hang to just below your waist, or slightly further for those with longer arms.
2. Do paused deadlifts.
Paused deadlifts are an awesome way to work on proper technique. I’ll be honest with you, though, the first time I saw them my initial reaction was “that can’t be safe!” In fact, I chalked it up as one of those powerlifting staples that would definitely make you brutally strong, but only at a very high risk of injury. In reality, any exercise has a high risk if done incorrectly, and this variation is not something I would advocate just anyone try, or prescribe to their clients/athletes.
That being said, I don’t think it’s inherently dangerous. In fact, I don’t think it’s dangerous at all when executed well. In an effort to correct my own bad habit of coming forward in the deadlift, I decided to give them a shot. I was frustrated because my deadlift had seemingly regressed, and weights that generally felt fast were becoming a grind.
My very first rep sent me way forward and I bailed out and dropped the bar. I was only using about 45% of my 1RM. Reality check; my initial pull from the ground was awful. Through training this variation I was able to re-learn where my weight needed to be upon breaking the bar from the ground, and in about three weeks of using this lift after my regular work sets I was right back to pulling the weight I had before my technique relapsed.
If you have issues staying back in the deadlift, hit a sticking point around mid shin, or just want to do “authenticity” check to your deadlift, I highly recommend these. Here is a video of a set of three from a recent training session.
3. Use a bar pad when incline pressing.
Putting a bar pad on to squat is foolish. If there is a good reason you can’t have steel pressing into your back, then choose a better way to load the exercise. There is, however, a good use for this cylindrical piece of foamy goodness. One would be to pad the hips during barbell supine bridges; that’s old news. Another is to cut out a little range of motion on the bench press, specifically an incline barbell bench press.
Before you call me as soft as the foam pad of which I speak, hear me out. Incline pressing is a great pressing exercise, but there’s one thing I don’t like about it: it tears apart the front of my shoulders. Because the inclined torso position increases range of motion, you won’t find to many people barrel chested enough to pull the lift off, chest to bar, without getting a considerable amount of humeral anterior glide in the shoulder joint. See the picture below:
One way to avoid this is by creating an arch in the back to meet the bar before this becomes a player, in a similar fashion to the flat bench press:
My problem with this is that: 1) the more you arch on an incline press, the less it becomes an “incline press,” and 2) the incline press can be strategically used to supplement the bench press because it removes some of the added help from leg drive and hard arching.
Instead, adding the bar bad to the middle of the bar will effectively cut a good 1.5 inches off the range of motion. This way, we can press a little more safely. It’s nice to not have to think about cutting it short, and focus on pressing the weight, knowing that when the pad touches the chest we have hit an appropriate distance. If you have a “fat” bar this would also be a nice choice to use when you incline press.
4. Remember that mayonnaise can actually be a solid condiment.
Mayo gets a bad rep. Somehow, it has become synonymous with being fat. That might be because, well, it is fat! That’s also why I like it as a condiment. Most condiments are packed with sugar, and if you’re looking to keep the sugar to a minimum, you might be running out of ways to sauce up your grub.
Unfortunately, store bought mayo is generally full of crap. Additionally it’s usually made with less than ideal ingredients. However, with a little searching you can find some brands that keep the ingredients very basic (egg yolks, oil, lemon, vinegar). Alternatively, you can easily find a solid recipe online with a quick search for “real mayonnaise recipe.” I suggest you find one that uses olive oil.
5. Make sure you have the right bench height for hip thrusts.
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Courtesy of Greg Robins, here are this week's five tips to help your strength and conditioning programs out.
1. Try this simple cue to maintain proper leverages with your deadlift technique.
2. Consider coaching a softer knee position in prone bridge variations.
The most important aspect of any prone bridge exercise is control of the spine. Gravity is working down on us, and creating a need to engage the anterior core to keep from over extending. Coaching a stiff, or locked out knee may be o.k. for much of the population. However, in some cases you are better off coaching a knee position that is slightly flexed, to just short of fully extended. More times than not, this slight regression will help trainees to a better feel for using the appropriate muscles, whereas before the hard locked out legs were causing a lot of compensation elsewhere.
3. Utilize "blocks" in your programming.
Block periodization is somewhat of a “buzz” word in the strength training community. It is viewed as a complex system reserved for the advanced training population. In reality, the general concept of block periodization is something that can be easily utilized by all strength training enthusiasts.
By now, you have probably heard that periodization itself isn’t the super cutting-edge concept some make it out to be. In fact it’s more or less just a way to say “organization.” Block periodization refers to organizing your training into specific periods of time. Each period can have a different length, and each should have a different primary focus. So how does this system of organization apply to you, and why is it worth considering?
For starters, organizing things into blocks helps you define a specific goal for a certain period of your training. Additionally, acknowledging different blocks in a training period helps you select appropriate exercises, use movements you might not normally know where to insert, and assign a quantity of work to a given exercise.
Normally, block periodization is synonymous with fancy words like accumulation, transmutation, and realization. For some, understanding these terms is beneficial. For many, it’s not necessary at all. Instead, you can assign whatever focus you want to a given block. However, I would encourage you to embody the theme of moving from “general to specific.”
What you do in the gym will work to either help you, hurt you, or in some cases have no effect whatsoever. Assuming you a have a specific goal in mind, everything you do in the gym should be done in an effort to aid you in achieving your goal. All these things have a different relationship with your progress towards the end goal. Some have a very direct relationship, while others have a more indirect relationship. Each is important, but without planned organization, we tend to focus solely on those with a more direct relationship.
The issue there is that the time spent on an area with a more indirect relationship is still very important. Ignoring them for too long can cause a rapid change in your training out of necessity. Because you ignored these areas, their improvement has now become essential to you moving forward with the more directly related things. Now that this is the case, more time must be spent on improving the indirect things, and the direct things become stagnant at best.
As an example, the most direct correlation to improved sport performance will always be the training of the sport in question. If an athlete spends 90% of his time playing his sport, he has a greater risk of injury due to repetitive overuse of the body in relation the movements of the sport. For every one percent of time he spends on items more indirectly related to his sport performance, the better his odds of avoiding an overuse injury. See Eric’s College Baseball: Is Summer Ball Worth It? article for a real-world example of this.
The same could be said for someone looking to improve a certain fitness category. If you want to squat, bench, and deadlift more – and all you do is these lifts, you, too, will combat the aches and pains associated with the exposure to the same movements over and over. Enter the block organization scheme.
With this concept, we can allot certain periods of time to being either more general, or more specific. In other words, they can be more indirect or direct. When you organize your own training, start incorporating this idea. Everyone’s blocks will be different, and completely dependent upon his or her goals. Here is a simple way to think about it.
Block 1 (4 – 8 weeks)
Most general, or indirect: 60% or more of what you do.
Less general, more direct: 30% or more of what you do.
Most specific or direct: 10% or less of what you do.
Block 2 (3 – 6 weeks)
Most general, or indirect: 20% of what you do.
Less general, more direct: 50% or less of what you do.
Most specific or direct: 30% or more of what you do.
Block 3 (2 – 4 weeks)
Most general, or indirect: 10% or less of what you do.
Less general, more direct: 10% or less of what you do.
Most specific or direct: 80% or more of what you do.
4. Add the band-resisted sled sprint to your arsenal.
Band resisted sled sprints are a great tool for a variety of reasons. Any sled sprint sprint offers the benefit of lower impact, and in this case you have the ability to move the feet very explosively with less ground contact forces than traditional sprinting. Furthermore, the trailing person can alter the resistance to meet the demands of either the training intensity or the output from the sprinter. Lastly, these are a viable option for people coming back from upper extremity issues who may not be able to push a heavier sled.
5. Take advantage of grilling season.
Up North, we have crappy weather, plain and simple. This year, it's been exceptionally awful. Unfortunately, that means our time available to grill is shorter than I would like. While the good weather is upon us, I make it a point to use the easiest food preparation tool short of the microwave as much as possible, and you should, too. Grilling is about as simple as it gets. You can cook meats, veggies, and even starches all in the same place. Plus, clean-up is virtually non existent. If you have been in a food prep rut, get yourself outside and on the grill!
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It's time for another installment of Coaching Cues to Make Your Strength and Conditioning Programs More Effective, and in this round, I'll be focusing specifically on bench press technique. Here are a few of the ones I find myself using most often with our athletes:
1. Push yourself away from the bar.
This is a cue that is especially important when doing sets with multiple reps, as everything after rep 1 can look worse and worse if you can’t repeat your starting position. You see, when you first unrack the weight to bench press, you want the shoulder blades packed underneath you to create a stable upper back “platform” from which you can press. You should aim to keep this platform consistent throughout the set.
Now, imagine two bench press technique scenarios: 1) you thinking about pushing the bar away from you and 2) you thinking about pushing yourself away from the bar. Which one is going to lead to your protracting your shoulder blades at the “finish” position? It’d be the former, for sure. So, think about driving your upper back into the bench by pushing yourself away from the bar. This is a great tag-along point to this previous video from Greg Robins, which discussed how important it is to just ease the bar out over the pins rather than jerking it out over them; you want the lifter to remain tight under the bar, not have to protract to go get it.
This platform discussion actually leads to my next cue…
2. Go up and get the bar.
It drives me bonkers when I see a lifter let the bar free-fall, only to bounce off the sternum and come halfway back up. It’s a toss-up of whether this is worse for the sternum or shoulders, but regardless, it’s a bad move.
Rather than getting dominated by gravity, I prefer to see lifters “go up and get the bar.” In other words, I don’t want them to wait for it to reach their rib cage; I want them to help the process along by actively using the muscles of the upper back to pull the bar down to them. Additionally, they can bring the rib cage up to the bar by getting air in to create some intra-abdominal pressure.
Beyond simply reducing the distance the bar has to travel, this bench press technique will also limit how much the humerus (upper arm) extends past the body. When it extends past the body too much (as with a dip), the head of the humerus glides forward and can irritate the anterior structures of the shoulder. So, this approach allows you to press heavier weights and stay healthier while doing so.
3. Get the feet out wider.
If there is something out there that would drive me bonkers me more than people who kick their feet around while bench pressing, I haven’t discovered it yet. There’s no place for antsy feet in good bench press technique, as it’s a sign that you aren’t putting any force into the ground and definitely don’t have sufficient core stability to press heavy weights.
While some folks would cue these individuals to pull the feet up under the body and create a big arch of the lower back, I don’t think that’s necessary in the general population (although many powerlifters utilize this approach with great success). Instead, I’ll just tell folks to get the feet out wider. It’s much more difficult to dance around with your feet when you’re in a more abducted position, as it’s likely closer to the end of the lifter’s range of motion in the frontal or transverse plane than the narrower stance width would be.
Just getting your feet a bit wider should help you to improve leg drive, transfer force up to the bar, and avoid looking like a tap-dancing schmuck under the bar.
Give these three tips a shot during your next bench press session and I'm sure you'll feel a lot stronger and safer under the bar.
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I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. I've been traveling, so apologies for the delayed publication on this one! Here's this week's list of recommended strength and conditioning reading:
What's the Best Diet? - Here's a great piece from the good folks at Precision Nutrition that'll make you think twice about whether there is one perfect diet for you.
The Effect of Reactive Neuromuscular Training in Pitchers - This was an excellent guest post from former CP intern Sam Sturgis on Mike Reinold's blogs. We know rhythmic stabilizations are valuable, but this piece sheds more light on how they are best utilized. Sign-up Today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a four-part video series on how to deadlift!
This week's exercise of the week is a great fit for everyday lifters and baseball players alike, as it builds rotator cuff strength without any equipment.
If you're looking for more cutting-edge arm care strategies, be sure to check out Sturdy Shoulder Solutions!
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Today's guest post comes from Dean Somerset. In reviewing his outstanding resource, The Complete Shoulder and Hip Blueprint (which is currently on sale for $100 off), I loved the section Dean devoted to pelvic structure as it relates to our ability to handle heavy weight training. I asked if he'd be willing to expand on the topic in a guest post, and he kindly agreed. I really enjoy Dean's work and think you will, too. - EC
I love the deadlift, but it doesn’t love me back all that much. I can pull about 455 on a good day at a body weight of 230, but I haven’t tested a max pull in a few months. I just finished training for a kettlebell course, so it would be interesting to see if it’s gone up at all without specific deadlift training but more accelerative training, but that’s neither here nor there, nor is it relevant to today’s post. It’s just a cool thought.
One reason why I am at the mercy of the deadlift is a previous injury to my right sacroiliac (SI) joint. This causes the arch structure of the pelvis to be compromised, and limits my ability to withstand the shear forces of a heavy deadlift.
Arch structures are an integral feature of a lot of architectural structures, and for good reason. They help to disburse compressive loads across a span towards abutments on either side of the span. Think of ancient Roman aqueducts, bridges, or even more contemporary structures such as the arch in St Louis.
The ability to withstand compressive forces and maintain a powerful structure is so impressive in an arch structure that many ancient arches were constructed without the use of mortar between the joints of the stones. This compressive resistance is of massive importance not only in buildings, but in our own anatomy.
The pelvis is essentially an amazing structure that’s a composite of a single bone made of dozens of noticeable arch structures that integrate between the left and right sides, using the sacrum as the keystone.
As the pelvis and its arches form a span between the two abutments of the legs, it allows for a tremendous amount of compressive force to be relatively easily dispersed across it with relative ease.
The downside to an SI joint injury comes when in the bottom position of the deadlift, or any forward flexed position for that matter, as the arch structure runs directly across the back of the SI joint and it is required to be completely and perfectly integrated, much like the keystone in an arched doorway. If not, the structure comes down.
Now, I have some theories as to how you could use genetics to your advantage to lift heavy weights, as well as some observations about our mutual good friend Eric here as to why that bugger can pull so much weight, training, diet, and focus aside (hey, we all know he’s a cyborg, but there’s some advantages that a solid work ethic can’t provide everyone). A lot of it depends on how much compressive stress your pelvis can manage.
First, there are four different types of pelvis when looking at the width, breadth and angulations of the sit bones (technically known as the ischial tuberosities). This is important because the wider and shorter the arches, the less likely they can sustain during crazy heavy loadings. The best hips for heavy vertical loading are narrow and deep.
The Android and Anthropoid hip positions are the most favorable for pulling a sick deadlift off the floor, whereas the wider and shallower gynecoid and platypelloid hips would most likely result in an epic fail and probably injury.
It should come as no surprise to anyone who reads EricCressey.com that there are different types of pelvises (pelvii?). He’s mentioned a lot that there are different types of acromions in the shoulder and that specific angulations would affect rotator cuff function and risk of shoulder impingement. Everyone has different joints and bones, and it’s the combination of these that allows for some of us to do specific things that others can’t. For instance, I can get my hips way wider and longer in the sagittal and frontal plane than most people can, which means mobility isn’t a problem, regardless of what amount of stretching I do.
As a result of my pelvic angles, I’ve got that on lock down. Conversely, loading through a hip flexed sagittal plane loading means I have to brace like no ones business and use some of my active tissues as passive restraints instead of as drivers for the weight. The form closure of the joint is less effective with a wider pelvis than in a narrower one, and the form closure has to work harder, meaning the amount of weight I can pull is less than optimal, and the amount of weight Eric can pull makes grown men weep and kick walls in frustration.
However, it also means he has some minor issues getting unrestricted mobility outside of the sagittal plane. This video shows a very subtle restriction to femoral external rotation during abduction. Check out the kneecap of the extended leg.
Here’s another view of the same leg, but with a similar movement.
Hey, I’ve got a ton of my own movement restrictions, just like everyone else. Check this action out:
That was terrible! But did you see my earlier Cossack squat? Like a boss.
Eric owns sagittal plane, potentially due to a stacked pelvis that’s designed to bear weight like no ones business. However, in nature you typically don’t see the combination of excellent characteristics. In many cases the yin of mobility is in sharp contrast to the yang of max strength. For liner force production, the guy’s one of the best in the world hands down.
I can hit up lateral mobility like a champ, but sagittal force production is an issue.
So how would you assess each of us to develop a program that would help each of us, given our unique capabilities and hindrances? Would you focus on working towards building up the weakness in an isolative manner (as many corrective strategies employ) or would you look to hit up more of an all-encompassing manner, where we could still use our strengths to our advantage and make progress, without feeling like minor restrictions were a big issue?
I’d rather train like a beast than do stuff that may or may not provide much benefit based on my hip positioning and the arch structure of my specific anatomy any day of the week, so having a big tool box to draw from can make or break a program that gets both of us excited to train and fist pump like champs, which means we’re both going to be more likely to see it through to the end and get some sick gains.
The simple difference could be having me do way more loaded carries to use loading without exposing my spine to as much shear forces, as well as sagittal plane stabilization exercises like front planks and anti-extension presses. For Eric, it may mean using a lot more lower load hip rotational movements that still challenge the core, such as low crawl patterns a la Ido Portal.
Follow this up with stupid amounts of loading through sagittal plane dominant movements and he’d be a champ fo’ sho’.
At the end of the day, programming for the individual is most effective when you balance the “yin and yang” of their strengths and weaknesses, but understand the structural benefits the individual may have available to them, as well as the restrictions. Having a broad hip structure versus a narrower structure can be the difference between someone who loves deadlifts versus someone who wants to hit up rotational drills all day long. Having the tools to assess and develop an awesome program for them can be the difference between being a good trainer and a great trainer.
Looking for more great information like this? Check out Dean and Ton Gentilcore's product, The Complete Shoulder and Hip Blueprint. It's on sale through Wednesday for $100 off, and includes tons of fantastic information.
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