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| 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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| 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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| 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:
1. As counterintuitive as it may seem, flexion-intolerant individuals (e.g. disc herniations) will sit in positions of flexion, and extension-intolerant patients (e.g. spondylolisthesis) will sit in positions of extension. It might give them temporary relief, but it’s really just making the problem worse in the long run. We become intolerant to certain lumbar spine postures not only because we’re in them so much (e.g., cyclist or secretary in long-term lumbar flexion), but also because we’re forced into this posture due to a lack of hip mobility or lumbar spine stability.
2. It’s absolutely comical that the American Medical Association still uses loss of spinal range of motion as the classification scheme of lower back dysfunction. There isn’t a single study out there that shows the lumbar spine range of motion is correlated with having a healthy back; in fact, the opposite is true! Those with better stability (super-stiffness, as Dr. McGill calls it) and optimal hip mobility are much better off.
3. Lower back health is highly correlated with endurance, while those with stronger and more powerful lower backs are more commonly injured. The secret is to have power at the hips – something you’ll see in world-class lifters.
4. There is really no support for bilateral stretching of the hamstrings to prevent and treat lower back pain. In most cases, the tightness people feel in their hamstrings is a neural tightness – not a purely soft-tissue phenomenon. Dr. McGill believes that the only time the hamstrings should be stretched is with an asymmetry. This is something I’ve been practicing for close to a year now with outstanding results; the tighter my hamstrings have gotten, the stronger and faster I’ve become. The secret is to build dynamic flexibility that allows us to make use of the powerful spring effect the hamstrings offer; static stretching – especially prior to movement – impairs this spring.
5. Next time you see an advanced powerlifter or Olympic lifter, check out the development of his erectors. You’ll notice that the meat is in the upper lumbar and thoracic regions – not the “true” lower back. Why? They subconsciously know to avoid motion in those segments most predisposed to injury, and the extra meat a bit higher up works to buttress the shearing stress that may come from any flexion that might occur higher up. Novice lifters, on the other hand, tend to get flexion at those segments – L5-S1, L4-L5, L3-L4, L2-L3 – at which you want to avoid flexion at all costs. Our body is great at adapting to protect itself - especially as we become better athletes and can impose that much more loading on our bodies.
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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| Got to any gym, and you’ll see loads of people doing cardio at varying intensities, with different machines, listening to different music, and wearing different exercise sneakers. While they each appear unique, the reality is that they’re all stuck in linear movements that always have them moving forward. Take any of these people off their precious ellipticals, treadmills, and recumbent bikes, and you’ll find that they lack frontal and transverse plane stability and carry their weight anteriorly. The solution is pretty simple; get them moving in different ways!
The first step is to include some single-leg work in all exercise programming. This does NOT include unilateral leg presses and Smith machine lunges; you should actually be doing some of the stabilization work!
Second, make sure that you’re training movements that require full hip flexion (knees get above 90 degrees) and hip extension (glutes fire to complete hip extension). Sprinting meets these guidelines very easy, but cardio equipment that limits range of motion will always fall short. I’m not saying that they don’t have their place; I’m just saying that I’d rather have people outside doing sprints and multi-directional work instead.
Third, and most importantly incorporate more backwards and lateral movement in your energy systems work. Here’s an example that I used with an online consulting client of mine recently:
Dynamic Flexibility Warm-up
The following should be performed in circuit fashion with the designated rest intervals from below incorporated between each drill.
A1) High Knee Run: 20 yards
A2) Butt Kicks: 20 yards
A3) Backpedal: 20 yards
A4) Carioca: 20 yards to the right
A5) Carioca: 20 yards to the left
A6) Side Shuffle: 20 yards to the right
A7) Side Shuffle: 20 yards to the left
A8) Backpedal: 20 yards
A9) Scap Push-up: 15 reps
A10) Sprint: 50 yards
Week 1: 3 times through, Rest interval: 15s between drills, two minutes between sets
Week 2: 3 times through, Rest interval: 10s between drills, two minutes between sets
Week 3: 4 times through, Rest interval: 10s between drills, two minutes between sets
Week 4: 2 times through, Rest interval: 5s between drills, two minutes between sets
Eric Cressey
Improved Posture is Not Only Good for your Health, but also good for your Performance. |
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Q: I've been getting a bit of pain in the front of my hips when squatting. I'm not sure whether it's the hips flexors or something else. Squats with a stance around shoulder width are fine, as are any hip flexor exercises that work my legs in line with my body.
It's only when I squat with a slightly wider stance or do overhead squats that my hips are bothered. It's only when I do leg raises with my legs apart, making a “Y” shape with my body, that I really feel the irritated muscle working. Although these do seem to help it rather than cause it pain.
Do you have any idea what this could be? Or, tips on how to strengthen the area to avoid it? Thanks for any insight you can offer.
A: Femoral anterior glide syndrome is a classic problem in people with poor lumbo-pelvic function (overactive hamstrings and lumbar erectors coupled with weak glutes). The hamstrings don’t exert any direct control over the femur during hip extension; their distal attachments are all below the knee. So, as you extend the hip, there is no direct control over the head of the femur, and it can slide forward, irritating the anterior joint capsule. This will give a feeling of tightness and irritation, but stretching the area will actually irritate it even more.
The secret is to eliminate problematic exercises for the short-term, and in the meantime, focus on glute activation drills. The gluteus maximus exerts a posterior pull on the femoral head during hip extension, so if it’s firing to counteract that anterior glide caused by the humerus, you’re golden. We outline several excellent drills in our Magnificent Mobility DVD; when handled correctly, you should see almost complete reduction of symptoms within a week.
Lastly, make sure that you're popping your hips through and CONSCIOUSLY activating your butt on all squats, deadlifts, good mornings, pull-throughs, etc. Incorporate some single-leg work as well. For now, though, keep your stance in for a few weeks, stay away from box squatting, and get some foam rolling done on your adductors, quads, hip flexors, ITB/TFL, and piriformis.
Eric Cressey
Click here to purchase the most comprehensive shoulder resource available today: Optimal Shoulder Performance - From Rehabilitation to High Performance. |
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| Q: What’s your take on frequency of static stretching? Is it "the more, the better"? More or less, how many days per week would be a good idea?
A: In a nutshell...
1) I'm not as huge an advocate of stretching as I used to be, but I still think people need to do it – especially those who sit at computers all day.
2) Activation work and dynamic flexibility drills are ten times as valuable as static stretching. I’d rather do 6-8 mobilizations than a 12-15 second static stretch.
3) More people need to pay attention to soft-tissue work. Many times, muscles will just feel tight because they’re so knotted up. It's not just about soft tissue length anymore; it's about quality, too. You can check out my article The Joint Health Checklist for details.
4) My clients do 2-3 static stretches pre-training at the very most (only chronically overactive muscles), and the rest are at other times of the day. We’ll include some static stretching of non-working musculature during training in between sets just to improve training economy.
5) Stretching daily has helped a lot of my clients improve faster, but I think that they've come along almost just as well with pure activation and mobilization work (we do both).
Eric Cressey
Step-By-Step What It Takes to Become a Superior Athlete |
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Q: Why is it that when I go on an inversion table – whether it’s totally upside-down hanging by the ankles or just partially upside-down, my lower back actually hurts as it stretches? I don't know whether it’s stretching or whether the total area is just relaxed from the gravity and daily crunch on the spine.
Any ideas? I can't stay on it long enough to benefit.
A: Inversion tables aren't a universal treatment approach for lower back injuries. They might work well with disc issues, but if you have another underlying pathology, there's a chance that this position will actually give you problems. For example, I've seen people with SI joint problems who can't hang from a chin-up bar without pain. You need to get a concrete diagnosis upon which to base treatment modalities - not just pick and choose what you think might work.
Eric Cressey
10 Minutes to Better Health, Flexibility, and Performance |
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Q: Eric, I have a question about your Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual. Knowing who wrote this manual, I know that it's going to be a great product! I realize that this would be geared more towards the high performance athlete, but could the "Weekend Warrior" realistically utilize this manual?
A: Good question - and I've actually received the same inquiry from a few people now.
Here's my (admittedly-biased) take on things:
If you've read stuff from Mike Robertson, Alwyn Cosgrove, Kelly Baggett, and me (among a few others), I hope one message you've taken away from the articles is that the ordinary weekend warrior would be a lot better off if he'd train more like an athlete. The strength work athletes do helps you move bigger weights and build more muscle while burning more calories to stay lean. The movement training keeps you functional and helps you with energy system work to keep your body composition in check. The mobility work keeps you healthy and functional so that you can stand up to all the challenges in your training programs without getting injured.
This manual shows you how all those pieces fit together at different times of year, and it also provides a lot of "stuff you just ought to know" if you train. Another cool thing is that you'll actually start to watch sports on TV in a different light; you'll begin to pick up on the little things that make each athlete unique.
And, if all that isn't enough, you've got 30 weeks of sample programming to keep things interesting! Again, great question!
Eric Cressey |
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| Nick Grantham:
I like to develop what we call 'bulletproof' athletes - men and women that can take to the field and cope with what the sport and their opponents throws at them. What would be your main tips for making a 'bullet proof' athlete - what areas should we focus our attention on and what exercises could we use?
Eric Cressey:
1. Adequate hip mobility.
2. Stability of the lumbar spine, scapulae, and glenohumeral joint.
3. Posterior chain strength and normal firing patterns
4. Loads of posterior chain strength.
5. More pulling (deadlifts, rows, and pull-ups) than pushing (squats, benches, and overhead pressing)
6. Greater attention to single-leg movements
7. Prioritization of soft-tissue work in the form of foam rolling, ART, and massage
8. Attitude (being afraid when you’re under a bar is a recipe for injury)
9. Adequate deloading periods
10. Attention to daily posture (you have 1-2 hours per day to train, and 22-23 to screw it up in your daily life)
Eric Cressey |
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Honestly, the word “core” has become so hackneyed that it makes me kind of ashamed that our profession. I mean, let’s face it: “Core” can essentially be translated as “The rectus abdominus, lumbar erectors, obliques, and all those other muscles between the knees and shoulders that I’m either too lazy or misinformed to list.”
Everything is related; our bodies are great at compensating. As such, it’s imperative that the approach one takes to “core” training be based on addressing where the problems exist. The most common lower back problems we see are related to extension-rotation syndrome. We most often get hyperextension at the lumbar spine because our gluteus maximus doesn’t fire to complete hip extension and posteriorly tilt the pelvis; we have to find range of motion wherever we can get it. Having tight hip flexors and lumbar erectors exaggerates anterior pelvic tilt, so this hyperextension is maintained throughout the day to keep the body upright in spite of the faulty pelvic alignment.
The rotation component simply comes along when you throw unilateral dominance into the equation. It might be a baseball pitcher always throwing in one direction, or an office worker always turning to answer the phone on one side. Lumbar rotation is not a movement for which you want any extra range of motion, and the related hip hiking isn’t much fun to deal with, either.
The solution is to get the glutes firing and learn to stabilize the lumbar spine while enhancing mobility at the hips, thoracic spine, and scapulae. You just have to get the range of motion at the right places.
Unfortunately, thinking this stuff out isn’t high on some people’s priority list. It’s “sexier” to tell a client to do some weighted sit-ups, Russian twists, and enough yoga to make the hip flexors want to explode. I’m not going to recommend sit-ups to anyone, and if an athlete is going to do something advanced, he’s going to have shown me that he’s prepared for it by successfully completing a progression to that point. You can get away with faulty movement patterns in the real world, but when you put a faulty movement pattern under load in a resistance training context, everything is magnified.
Eric Cressey
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