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| I have the normal weekly newsletter posted below, but first a quick announcement: Mike Robertson, Bill Hartman, and I just filmed a new DVD set! Those of you who have enjoyed all of our products individually can now see what happens when the three of us collaborate. For more information, check out today's blog post: A Sneak Peak at the New Project.
The Law of Repetitive Motion: Part 2
In last week's newsletter, I talked about the first three component of the law of repetitive motion: "I" (injury/insult), "N" (number of repetitions), and "F" (the force of each repetition, expressed as a percentage of maximal strength).
This week, I'll discuss the "A" and the "R" of this equation. To begin, amplitude, stated simply, is range of motion. If we spend our entire lives in limited ranges of motion, we run into problems.
Obviously, this refers to those who sit too often and too long - particularly in poor postures. I'm a big believer that the best posture is the one that is constantly changing, so I always encourage people to try to get up and move around every 20-30 minutes whenever possible. If not, I love the idea of simply "shuffling" positions at your computer. Complement this constant fluctuation of posture with some good training to open up the hips and thoracic spine, and strengthen the upper back and glutes, and you'll find that being stuck in a job with a small amplitude is a "manageable" problem.
Amplitude can also refer to only doing certain exercises in the gym, particularly those who exercise through a partial range of motion. It might be people who simply press too often and pull too infrequently, or those who perform a lot of bilateral exercises, but nothing unilateral. We aren't just talking about ranges of motion at the joints; we are also talking about the muscles recruited and type of muscle action - concentric, eccentric, isometric - that takes place.
Lastly, working at a specific task for extended periods of time can be a huge issue for some. Just ask musicians, factory line workers, and even baseball pitchers. These issues can all impose huge asymmetries that must be addressed both directly (soft tissue work, flexibility training) and indirectly (training the contralateral side, or just exposing the individual to a broader excursion of movement outside this specific task).
So, all that in mind, improving amplitude is all about increasing range of motion in one's daily life. Of course, this must be specific range of motion. You wouldn't, for instance, want to increase lumbar spine range of motion in most back pain patients, but you would want to optimize hip and thoracic spine mobility.
Rest, the "R" in our equation, is pretty straight-forward: if a tissue is angry, you need to give it time to settle down. However, just stopping all exercise isn't always the best bet.
Often, it's simply a matter of keeping the stress on the tissue below its capacity for loading. As a great example, a lot of manual therapists with whom I've worked actually like people to go out and lightly load tissues that have just been worked in order to teach the tissue to "deform" properly. For instance, I got a little "Graston Loving" on my biceps a while back, and spent the rest of the day lightly loading the tissues and doing some prolonged stretching sets. It worked like a charm.
Taking it a step further, though, much of the time, it's about redistributing stress. For instance, someone with anterior knee pain may not be able to do a more quad-dominant squat, but instructing that same lifter to sit back into the glutes and hamstrings more can markedly take down the stress on the anterior knee. Sure, it changes the muscular recruitment of the exercise, but the lifter derives great benefit and keeps the loading on the affected tissues below capacity. And, in this particular case, he's strengthening the posterior chain muscles that almost always help to prevent anterior knee pain in the first place.
That wraps up our look at the law of repetitive motion. It's certainly not an exhaustive review, but my hope is that it got you thinking just enough to consider how this law applies to the issues you see on a daily basis, as well as those you want to prevent from ever reaching threshold. For more information, check out the Building the Efficient Athlete DVD Set.
New Blog Content
Random Friday Thoughts
The Who-What-When-Where-Why of Flexibility Training
In the Presence of Greatness
Have a great week!
EC
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| One of the big mistakes many people make in assessing static postures is that they think they can determine that the humerii are internally rotated just from looking at someone from in front, and seeing the tops of their hands (as opposed to the thumb-side, which would be more neutral). So, in these folks' minds, this individual would need to stretch more into external rotation:
In reality, this individual is a professional pitcher and actually has far more external rotation (roughly 130 degrees on his throwing side) than ordinary folks. Stretching him into external rotation could actually cause injury.
So, why are his palms turned backward like that? Well, it's very simple: his scapulae are abducted, or winged. When the scapular stabilizers - particularly the serratus anterior and lower trapezius are weak - the shoulder blades sit further out to the sides. The humerii are in normal, but their "foundation" (the scapulae) have been moved.
For more information on optimal assessment techniques, check out Assess and Correct.
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On top of dropping a 45-pound plate on my (now broken) toe on Thursday night and having a pro baseball player staying at my condo, it was the busiest week ever at Cressey Performance. There is, however, a silver lining to this cloud. I don't need healthy toes to deadlift at my meet next weekend, and you're going to get an even better holiday sale as a result of my high tolerance for pain and propensity for clumsy self-destruction.
To atone, I’m going to offer a big discount – to the tune of 30% off – on my Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual. Just click HERE and the discount will automatically be applied at checkout. This discount will be in place through December 12, too.
Talking Shop with Bill Hartman
Bill Hartman is a smart dude. Really smart. A lot of you think I’m a bright guy when it comes to kinesiology, biomechanics, and corrective exercise. Let’s put it this way: Bill is the guy I email or call when I’m stumped. Were it not for his sense of humor, I might actually believe that he’s a robot designed to know everything about the human body. He co-created Inside-Out, a great DVD and manual set that I feel is the best shoulder-health-specific product on the market.
This week, however, Bill is extra special because he provided some kick-butt content for my newsletter when life was crazy. In a sense, he’s like the cheerleader who does your homework, but he’s much smarter, more masculine, and doesn’t wear a skirt (at least not in public).
Here are tips 1-7 from Bill:
1. Making true postural corrections and improvement in mobility is a 24-7 endeavor.
Your daily postures and repetitive activities have a far greater effect on your mobility and posture. The body will adapt to what you do most often. If you spend all day in a chair, your body will adapt to that posture. If you perform activities for extended periods of time in a limited range of joint motion, you body will adapt to that limited range of motion. You can use the same premise to make a correction. For instance, if you’re trying to improve your shoulder girdle posture, practice holding it in better alignment for extended periods of time (up to 20 minutes) to promote actual changes in the length and stiffness of tissues.
2. Static stretching as it is typically performed (1-3 reps of 20-30 seconds or whatever) has a very limited benefit.
This type of stretching functions more on the basis of increasing your tolerance to the stretch, therefore range of motion will improve temporarily. I tend to use it for its acute benefits. For instance, if you’re trying to improve glute max activation, stretch the hip flexors first. Range of motion into hip extension will improve and allow greater glute max activation. As far as long-term, relatively permanent changes in range of motion, tissues need to adapt (see number 1) and the nervous system needs to be involved in the changes. This makes strength training a great way to improve range of motion. Emphasize getting strong at the end range of motion with a muscle in the stretched position. Examples would be performing ISO holds at the bottom of a Bulgarian split squat, push-up, RDL, or pullover at the end of your workouts.
3. Exercise tempo matters
Bar speed will affect what type of training effect will result from training. A very fast tempo will increase contribution of the spring-like effect from a tendon much like plyometrics. Slower training tempos will reduce this effect and promote more muscular adaptations. Determining where you lack function, either in the elastic component of the tendon or more of the muscular contributions, will allow you to target training to significant improvements in performance in a very short time.
4. When in doubt, simplify your programming
Most trainees who are training diligently, attending to nutritional issues adequately, but lack progress are typically training at least one level of complexity (or more) above where they should. Reduce either the frequency, the training volume, or the complexity of the periodization scheme or all of the above. Look back in your training journal (you DO have one right?) to where you made your best progress. Start there for clues on how you should progress. Then read #5.
5. Your body can’t differentiate between stressors
Most periodization programs work for a very limited group of people. Any programming recommendations based on professional or Olympic athletes rarely works for the real-world population. Those athletes lived in controlled environments where outside stressors were limited or didn’t exist. We live in a world where we are frequently sleep deprived, have money issues, family and relationship issues. All these stressors are cumulative in respect to how your body reacts to them. Training is also a stressor and is most often the only one we can control. When you feel good, go for the extra weight or reps. When you’re not feeling your best, back it off.
6. Warm-up first before you decide you’re going to have a bad workout
The daily grind can wear on you and many times you don’t feel like training. Your attitude will affect the outcome of you workout. Many times the simple activation of your nervous system with a dynamic warm-up and few warm-up sets will reset your attitude. Warm-up before you allow your brain to get in the way of what may be the best workout of your life.
7. Develop a group of “Go-to” people
It was a bitter pill to swallow, but I’ve learned that I can’t learn everything. There are always others who specialize in certain area of life or training or whatever who have a deeper understanding of certain things. Make friends with them. Take advantage of their specialized knowledge. Share what you know and learn what they know.
About Bill Bill Hartman is a physical therapist and strength and conditioning coach in the Indianapolis area. Bill is the co-creator of Inside-Out: The Ultimate Upper-Body Warm-up and a contributing author to Men's Health Magazine. He is also the creator of Your Golf Fitness Coach's Video Library, available at www.yourgolffitnesscoach.com. You can contact Bill directly via www.billhartman.net.
We’ll be back with tips 8-15 from Bill later this week.
All the Best,
EC |
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| Evolution is defined as "a process in which something passes by degrees to a more advanced or mature stage." Think back to prehistoric times and try to envision your ancestors. You probably have an image conjured up of a Neanderthal wearing a loincloth, grunting at females, killing his own food, and hunching over a fire to stay warm. His DNA endured century after century, guaranteeing that you're equally hardcore, right?
Then again, you wear boxer briefs, utter cheesy pickup lines at every woman you see, hunt for your food at the local Stop 'N Shop, and hunch over a computer all day. In other words, the only trait you share with this prehistoric badass is your pathetic S-shaped posture: rounded shoulders, forward head posture, exaggerated kyphosis, anterior pelvic tilt, excessive lordosis, internally rotated femurs, and externally rotated, flat feet.
Well, it's time to once and for all dissociate yourself from the Neanderthals by correcting these structural problems. We're here to help you do just that. This four-part series will outline the most common postural distortions and provide a comprehensive program to correct them.
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Eric Cressey |
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| Anyone who spends time on a cycle needs to prioritize frontal plane stability (lunge variations), length of the hip flexors and quads (pull-back butt-kicks), and glute activation (supine bridges). These are really just the tip of the iceberg, though. You would also want to work on thoracic extension ROM (check out the Inside-Out DVD/Manual).
Eric Cressey |
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| I received this email from an online consulting client of mine (a marathon runner). He had been experiencing some unexplained glute pain last month, so we modified the training program considerably to work to correct it. Just yesterday, I received this email from him:
Funny story. So, like I had mentioned last month, my right glute was killing me. I could tell it just wasn't firing properly, and the pain was fairly intense, radiating down my leg. Continued hurting all this month, which surprised me, because more mobility stuff and rolling usually solves those types of problems. I figured that maybe all the travel of last month had just really screwed me up. But then, a few days ago, I realized that I had started carrying a wallet in my back right pocket, which I haven't done in years. Stopped carrying/sitting on wallet, pain almost completely gone in like three days.
Important things to learn from this?
1. Asymmetry is the single-most common cause of injury in sports, in the eyes of some really smart dudes in this "biz."
2. Remember the 23:1 rule. You can have a perfect hour in the gym each day, but that still leaves you 23 hours to screw it up at home and work!
3. Clean out your damn wallet and carry it in your front pocket!
The 23/1 Rule Applies To Your Athletic Efficiency. Click Here and Get Started.
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| 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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| It's been a while since Part IV so those of you following this program are probably chomping at the bit for the conclusion. Chomp no more, because this is it!
The program contained in this article is designed to reintroduce more of the traditional exercises that you've grown to love while still maintaining the emphasis on postural corrections through appropriate prioritization and volume manipulation. Essentially, it's one step closer to the balanced training programs you should seek to create. Remember, we shifted the balance in the opposite direction to start to take care of the problems created by lack of balance in previous programs.
This program will last three weeks (and is meant to follow the first program outlined in part IV), after which you'll want to have a back-off week consisting of markedly lower volume. Oh, and even if you're not following the entire "Neanderthal No More" program, you'll still learn some new exercises you've probably tried before.
Here are the goods:
Continue Reading... |
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| After reading Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3, you've probably come to grips with the fact that you have a greater resemblance to Cro-Magnon man than you previously thought. Now, what are you going to do about it?
The program outlined below is designed to keep your current strength levels intact while correcting the muscle imbalances holding back your strength and physique. We have two primary goals:
1) Hit the global muscles hard and heavy with a four-day per week program.
2) Hit the local muscles daily (or at the very least on off days) to take advantage of the motor learning effects produced by frequent, low-intensity training.
What are "global" and "local" muscles? Local muscles (also known as the deep muscular system) are extremely important when we're discussing posture improvements. The primary roles of the deep muscular system are motor control, segmental stabilization, and fine-tuning of movements.
On the flip side, you have the global (or superficial) muscle system. The primary role of the superficial muscle system is to produce movement, power, and torque. As a general rule, when you have significant postural issues, your global or superficial system is overactive and the deeper system is inhibited or weak.
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| After covering all the "what's" and "how's" of the most common postural problems in Part I, we focused on some self-assessment tools in Part II. Those self-assessments are certainly valuable tools, but they can sometimes be too subjective if you aren't accustomed to assessing these problems. With that in mind, use the results of those tests in conjunction with the cases studies featured in this article to really get an idea of how significant your problems are and how to correct them.
Continue Reading... |
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