Here’s What You Need to Know…

1. Your warm up sets the tone for the rest of the training session. Do you want to break a light sweat while watching Jerry Springer re-runs and walking on the treadmill at 3.5 mph? Or do you want to prepare your body for intense strength training with specific movements and drills? The choice is yours.

2. The key to success in the gym is constant, and consistent, improvement. Even if you’re a seasoned vet in the iron game, your warm up can be modified and optimized to better fit your needs. Variety is key, so don’t get stuck in your ways without at least trying out alternative methods.

3. Get more bang for your buck out of movements that involve multiple joints and muscle groups. Compound movements will allow you to recruit the most amount of fibers without spending hours warming up just to train for an additional 90 minutes. Most people can’t spend 2-3 hours in the gym daily.

4. Each of the three new warm up exercises are visually demonstrated below, along with coaching notes and samples of utilization. Take advantage of them!

Introduction

“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.” While that quote can be very motivating in the right situation, but I have to call bullshit.

In the context of training, how you start is equally as important as how you finish. Some may say that it is even more important. No matter your fitness experience or training goal, the warm up is something that should never be overlooked.

Unfortunately, most people’s warm ups consist of one, or all, of the following:

#1 Arm Swings

or as Joe DeFranco calls them, “Summadeez.” This is probably the most common “warm up” I see in the gym. Flailing your arms around at weird angles and random, unplanned paces of revolution is no way to prepare your body for an intense training session.

Your shoulder health is imperative to a long-lasting lifting career. Don’t disrespect them with warm ups your high school P.E. teacher gave you in the 1990s.

Bro #1: Hey, bro what are you doing from a warm up before we bench?

Bro #2: I’m just gonna do summadeez *carelessly swings his arms in circles to get loose*

Bro #1: Cool, let’s start with 225.

#2 Cardio Machines

Cardio machines are a staple piece of equipment at every gym, for better or worse. I have nothing against cardio machines when used appropriately, but I don’t believe they have a place in a serious lifter’s warm up routine.

The treadmill, elliptical and stationary bike aren’t really preparing your body to lift weights. The treadmill, elliptical and stationary bike are preparing your body for, well, using the treadmill, elliptical and stationary bike. Prepare your body for war with the iron, not light cardio and muted television shows.

 #3 Static Stretching

Although I do think there is a time and place for static stretching, immediately before a heavy lifting session is not the ideal usage. The two typical warm up moves listed above in conjunction with some static stretching is usually the average gym-goer’s recipe. I believe this to be more counterproductive than anything.

What You Should Really Be Doing…

Spend your pre-training time performing strategic self-myofascial release techniques, mobilizing muscles and joints, activating stubborn tissue and dynamically warming up. This will yield much better, and safer, results in the weight room.

I would classify those three mistakes as beginner level bad habits. Trust me, I have no shame in admitting that I’ve committed each of those slip-ups at least once in my life. I’m sure everyone has. After all, fitness is all about constant and consistent improvement. If you’re still commonly using these outdated and ineffective warm up techniques, you must keep reading.

On the other hand, anyone who regularly reads this site has already been well informed on how important a proper warm up is. But there’s still a chance even the most advanced lifters out there aren’t getting the most bang for their buck out of the warm up.

Some of the advanced lifters commit these common errors:

• Warm-up way too long
• Not warming up for long enough
• Warming up too specific
• Not including any specificity in the warm-up
• Warm-up only includes light(er) sets of your training program

In today’s busy world, we need every aspect of our life to be optimized for ultimate efficiency. Twenty four hours a day is never enough, but it’s what we have to work with. In terms of a warm up prior to training, the same principles apply. Most people can’t spend 2-3 hours in the gym, so it’s important to precisely plan and perform the entire training session – which starts as soon as you step foot inside the gym.

The three exercises I’ll introduce can be added to your current warm up to make it a more complete routine. My hope is that one or all of these can also replace a few not-so-necessary warm-up exercises you perform and help you condense your pre-training ritual to maximize training time.

Medicine Ball Squat w/ Reach & Slam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOtxpkdujsM

Coaching Notes:

1. Position a medicine ball on the ground between your feet. Your feet should be in squat stance, about hip-width apart. Toes can be pointed out slightly.
2. Start with a hip hinge, bending towards the ground. Keep the spine and pelvis neutral. Place both palms on the medicine ball. Hold this position for 5-seconds.
3. Next, pull yourself into a deep squat position. Your hands remain on the ball. Force your knees outward by pressing your elbows against the inside of your knees (or thighs). Hold this position for 5-seconds.
4. With one hand remaining on the ball, remove the other hand and reach backwards at a diagonal angle. Follow your hand with your eyes. Hold this position for 5-seconds, then repeat with the other arm.
5. After reaching with both arms, grab the ahold of the ball and begin a concentric squatting motion. With straight arms, bring the ball into an overhead hold as you perform the squat and stand.
6. Slam the ball straight down, this is one rep. Complete 5-10 reps.

*Note: Any time you’re holding a position, you should be diaphragmatically breathing.

This is an adaptation of my good friend, and awesome coach, Johnathon Hill’s 3-part medicine ball squat progression series. He uses it to assist clients in achieving proper squat and hinge positioning. In this case we’re using it as a part of the warm up, really focusing on opening up the hips and thoracic spine mobilization. We’re also getting great action in the ankles and knees, plus a little bit of functional breathing during the held positions.

I always include this in my warm-up on days that I perform any overhead or front-loaded squat patterns. That warm-up may look like this:

1A) SMR with roller and/or lacrosse ball on problem areas

2A) Walking High-Knee Pull Through – 5 per side

2B) C-Skips – 20 yards

2C) Inchworms w/ Yoga Push-Up – 6 reps

2D) Medicine Ball Squat w/ Reach & Slam – 5 reps

*repeat 2A-D for two rounds

3A) Vertical Jumps – 5 reps, 1 minute rest, 5 more reps

Give this exact warm up routine a shot with the obvious inclusion of the Medicine Ball Squat w/ Reach & Slam! Now, onto the next best warm up exercise you aren’t using.

Brickyard Push-Ups

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9LuvwjpSmQ

Coaching Notes:

1. Begin the movement with a deep squat and a forward reach.
2. Slowly shift your bodyweight forward so your already extended arms can come into contact with the ground. It is vital that you remain in complete control of your momentum during this transition to avoid placing harmful shear force on your shoulders.
3. You’re now in a modified quadruped position. From this position, perform a push-up. On the concentric phase of the movement, propel yourself back into the squatted position with your arms still reaching forward.
4. Stand up. This is one rep. Repeat for 8-10 reps.

I was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana – home of one of the most prestigious race tracks in the world, The Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Every July, people travel from all over the world to see one of NASCAR’s top races at the speedway – The Brickyard 400. It’s a long-running tradition now for the Brickyard 400 winner to kiss the “yard of bricks” that covers the start/finish line on the track. This is what that looks like. This is how I named this exercise. You won’t hear me talk about NASCAR again for at least 10 years. Sorry.

https://youtu.be/stj9nRx4zSQ?t=25s

The Brickyard Push-Ups are tough. Much tougher than they appear to be. This is a total body movement that can find its way into any warm-up and serve a great purpose. Here is an example of a GPP warm up including both of the new moves I’ve discussed so far:

1A) SMR with roller and/or lacrosse ball on problem areas

2A) Dr. John Rusin’s Hip Mobility Dynamic Stretching – 1 round

3A) Walking Side Lunge w/ 180-degree rotational step through – 6 per side

3B) Tall Kneeling Stability Ball Overhead Wall Bounce – 30 seconds

3C) Brickyard Push-Ups – 8 reps

3D) Medicine Ball Squat w/ Reach & Slam – 5 reps

*repeat 3A-D for two rounds

3A) Med Ball Slams – 6 reps, 1 minute reps, 6 more reps

There you go, another awesome custom dynamic warm up routine to put in your training arsenal!

Bear Crawl Kickbacks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCG3VawZgeA

Coaching Notes:

1. Begin on all fours, with your hands under your shoulders and your knees below your hips. Without moving anything else, raise your knees 1-2 inches off the ground. Be sure to keep your spine as neutral as possible, avoiding excessive flexion or extension. This is your starting position.
2. To begin the movement, inhale a deep breath into your diaphragm, brace your core and move your left hand and right foot forward 6 inches simultaneously.
3. Exhale as your hand and foot return to the ground at the same time. You’re now in an offset position with one hand and foot slightly in front of the other.
4. Lift your rear leg off the ground by contracting the glute with a dorsiflexion at the ankle and an extended knee. Remain stable with the 3 remaining points of ground contact.
5. Return the leg to the offset position (in step 3), this is one rep. Repeat for 10 reps (steps).

Bear Crawls are incredible. I can’t say enough great things about them. Whether it’s stability, mobility, conditioning or strength enhancement, you can always find a way to use a Bear Crawl or one of its derivatives. With the Bear Crawl Kickbacks, we’re getting full core engagement, challenging our total body stability and forcing action in the ankles, knees and hips.

What differentiates this Bear Crawl is the glute activation from the kickback. A lot of lower back injuries can be traced back to dysfunction of the glutes, pelvis and/or Quadratus Lumborum (and its neighboring muscles).

We don’t want other muscles doing the glutes’ job for them, which is an issue that everyone has run into. The Bear Crawl Kickback activates the glute better than most exercises I’ve tried because of the position you’re in when your kick backwards. Your other knee is flexed, which flexes that hip and helps to flatten the lower back. Now you can focus on actually firing your glute, and not just hyperextending your lower back – which is what happens on most “kickback” movements (Ex: Bird Dogs, Donkey Kicks, Cable Kickbacks, Supermans, etc.).

This is a staple in my warm up, no matter what the session looks like that day. Below is an example of how you can work the Bear Crawl Kickback into your dynamic warm up, along with the previous two exercises I introduced. Notice that all three of these have similar starting positions and movement patterns, which makes for easily transitioning from one to the other – or combining them into one super-move. Again, here’s how to drop this exercise right into a full dynamic warm up!

1A) SMR with roller and/or lacrosse ball on problem areas

2A) High Knee Skips – 12 skips

2B) Walking Side Lunge w/ 180-degree rotational step through – 6 per side

*repeat 2A-B for two rounds

3A) Bear Crawl Kickbacks – 10 steps

3B) Brickyard Push-Ups – 8 reps

3C) Medicine Ball Squat w/ Reach & Slam – 5 reps

*repeat 3A-C for two rounds

4A) Med Ball Slams – 6 reps, 1 minute reps, 6 more reps

4B) Box Jumps – 6 reps

Final Warm Up Words

Take a look at your warm up routine. Do you have one? Do you alter is based on your training session? Are you warming up to train or training to warm up? Evaluate what you have in place currently and consider one or all of these three new exercises as an addition or substitution to that. Implement some minor tweaks and it could make all the difference in your training results!

About The Author

Justin Ochoa is the head personal trainer & gym manager at 1 & Only Fitness (Fishers, Indiana). A NASM-Certified Personal Trainer, Group Training Specialist, Fitness Nutrition Specialist and TRX Level 1 Coach, he works with a wide variety of clients ranging from professional athletes to rehabilitation patients. Besides lifting heavy objects and stuffing his face with reheated chicken breasts, Justin enjoys spending his time with his wife, son and dog.

Keep up with Justin on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

The post The Best Dynamic Warm Up Exercises You Aren’t Doing appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. The human shoulder is capable of performing an incredible range of movement variations. As such, the musculature tarted with shoulder training is complex to say the least.

2. The prioritization of deliberate form and execution in your shoulder training will allow you to optimize the hypertrophic response of individual muscle heads. Simply put, these methods will get you big and strong in record time.

3. The muscles of the shoulder respond well to increased training density, so super and compound sets are valuable tools to up the intensity and blood flow to these often stubborn muscle groups.

Welcome To Shoulder Training 101

Ask and you shall receive! We appreciate the rave reviews on our Maximal Muscle Growth Series and are PUMPED to release Part IV which is focused on optimizing your shoulder training for hypertrophy.

It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about general orthopedic health and well-being, or taking an already great physique to the elite level, a strong shoulder complex is absolutely essential. From preventing and correcting postural issues, to making sure you kill that back double biceps pose on stage, this article will help you turn those puny shoulders into legitimate boulders…with movement and anatomy based SCIENCE, of course!

In terms of complexity, you’d be hard pressed to find a joint that is more intimidating than the shoulder. And shoulder training? Yeah, it can get pretty complicated without a mastery level of movement anatomy and biomechanics.

Flexion, Extension, Abduction, Adduction, Rotation, it all happens here; and in multiple planes of motion. Use the lessons and tips below to make sure you are leaving no stone unturned every time you set foot in the gym. Plus, you can use them to prove your worth as a trainer or coach by truly understanding how the shoulder works (and doesn’t work).

Now before we jump in, I want to lay down a couple key points that I am literally going to drive into your skull in this article. Lets just debunk these myths before you even start asking yourself these questions on shoulder training because you heard it from your bro at the gym:

#1 Cables Are NOT Machines

They’re not going to make you puny and small, and they’re not just for chicks to do glute kickbacks on. Cables are infinitely more effective at creating and maintaining tension in your delts and traps when compared to dumbbells and barbells for most shoulder training movements. Tension translates to growth. Check your ego now and buy into this fact. Your gains depend on it.

#2 Don’t Waste Your Time With Direct Rotator Cuff Work

Direct rotator cuff work is completely unnecessary 99.9% of the time. Unless you are rehabbing an injury with Dr. John, stop wasting your time with countless sets of rotator cuff work and learn to set your scaps and pack your shoulders through ALL movements. This may be the single most important skill to develop if you want to go through hardcore shoulder training workouts and not pulverize your joints in the process.

#3 Strategically Add Novelty To Your Exercises

Old school methods are great, and they work for most muscle groups. However, new school is better in some cases, including shoulder training; so yes, training your shoulders is absolutely in need of a new school flare. Embrace the novelty introduced here and ditch the archaic movements that you keep holding onto, even though you have never felt them actually do anything.

Ok, so keeping those in mind, here we go!

The Deltoid

Ah the delts, perhaps the most misunderstood muscles in the entire fitness industry. “What do you mean bro? Lateral raises, frontal raises, and some presses. Delts are easy!” Well, unfortunately that mindset is a load of bullshit. You’ll understand why by the end of the article.

The deltoids are made up of three heads, you already know this. The anterior, lateral, and posterior heads work in synergy to perform a myriad of actions about the shoulder joint. Posterior delts are up first, because it’s likely you need the most help there; but first, look at the picture above to get your bearings, plus, it lists the different aspects of the deltoid so I won’t have to bore you with that whole routine in this portion, score!

The Posterior Deltoid

The rear delts are best trained by introducing both of its actions into a single movement. That means external rotation and humeral extension.

Ever see the rear delts fly handles on the pec deck machine? Don’t use them. Use the handles that you use for pec flies. “But, but, but…the machine diagram thingy says I should use the rear delt ones…” Too bad, here’s why that approach is not optimal. We want to both extend AND externally rotate the humerus. To do so, your palms need to be facing each other, but not because of what happens at your elbows. Be sure that you don’t confuse supination of the forearm (about the elbow) with external rotation of the humerus (about the shoulder). The former will do nothing in terms of delt activation, while the latter will make you wonder what your shoulders would look like if you had known this 5 years ago.

When using cables, or dumbbells, you want to start each rep with your palms facing each other (think thumbs up). The posterior deltoid is basically doing the exact opposite of your pecs, PLUS that all important external rotation aspect.

Posterior Delt Tip: Set Your Shoulder Blades

If maximum tension in your posterior delts is the goal, you need to be damn sure that local synergists are turned off (locked in place). Pinch your scaps together hard, firing rhomboids and mid traps, and keep them that way throughout your rear delts work. You’ll notice a big difference while training them with this added static retraction.

The Medial Deltoid

These are sadly trained with all kinds of outdated and ass-backwards methods. And by ass-backwards I mean, “hey bro, do you even understand how gravity works?”

Gravity acts downwards, that’s it. You know those guys who bang out countless reps of lateral raises leaning away from something? Yeah, those don’t do what you think they do. Why? Gravity. We need a weight to move VERTICALLY for our muscles to be subjected to tension. So, can you see why a dumbbell lateral raise might not be your best option to maximize tension? For the first half of the movement, the dumbbell is basically moving sideways. If only there was a way to account for this…OH WAIT, THERE IS. Remember when I said cables are your shoulders’ best friends? Well there you go. By manipulating the force vectors associated with the external load, you can increase tension in your target muscle through the ENTIRE range of motion, especially the bottom half of any flexion/abduction around the shoulder joint. Booyah!

Lateral Delt Tip: Lead With Your Elbows

Focus on the distance your elbows travel when isolating lateral delts. They should be the highest point of your arms on lateral raises, upright rows, etc. Your delts affect your humerus, not your forearms, so act like it. When nearing the terminal portion of your ROM for lateral raises, focus on pushing your hands as far out as possible (spread the walls). This cue increases the moment arm with regards to the shoulder joint, thus subjecting the lateral delts to more torque. Torque=Tension. Tension=Growth. Simple stuff, eh?

The Anterior Deltoid

The anterior delts get a whole lot of attention during most varieties of chest presses (unless you read Part III of this series), so I tend to avoid excessive volume when it comes to targeting them, especially with overhead press work. I recommend a few high intensity sets at THE END of your shoulder program, focused at fully shortening and driving blood into the muscle bellies. I like to pick one movement for each of the aforementioned goals. You will see videos for one of my favorite pairings in the sample program below.

Anterior Delt Tip: Work On Your Freaking Mobility!

If you can’t pass the standing wall-slide test for shoulder mobility, you need to get your shit together. Ok you’re right that was a little harsh. Let’s try that again… If you can’t pass the standing wall-slide test for shoulder mobility, you are putting yourself at an elevated risk for chronic shoulder issues while also missing out on a lot of potential for building muscle. Full external rotation of the shoulder girdle, while simultaneously maintaining a neutral spine is tough; especially if you haven’t paid much attention to it in the past.

Master this simple corrective below, and you will be able to reap the benefits of pain-free muscle Overhead pressing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3aK1UOdz-4

By protecting your rotator cuff complex, packing your shoulder, and establishing a firm foundation for force distribution, overhead presses go from an orthopedic surgeon’s main source of income, to an absolutely kick-ass mass builder. Lock and load!

All right, take everything you just learned and put it to the test with the following shoulder routine. Remember to use the cues and focus on the working muscle. SQUEEZE every rep!

1A. Asymetrical Ab/Adduction Band Pull Aparts 3×8

Coaching Notes: Set your scaps and perform a regular band pull apart, trying to touch the walls. Then, abduct one arm, and adduct the other, all while maintaining scapular retraction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH9wXu0Wuqw

1B. Machine Rear Delt Flies 3×20

Coaching Notes: Using the pec fly handles (not the rear delt pegs) set your scaps and activate your posterior delts. Focus on a hard contraction on top, and do not relax your shoulders until after the set is complete.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-d1aRlQ8gk

2A. Lateral Delt Cable Fly to Open 3×12

Coaching Notes: Set cables at just below shoulder height. With criss-cross grip, set your scaps and raise your arms to form a nice wide V, squeezing your delts hard on top. Maintain tension throughout the entire set.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l18Ujl4LWpw

2B. Cable Lateral Raise 3×12 per arm 

Coaching Notes: Leaning slightly out from the pulley system, relax your traps and initiate the movement with your lateral delts. Again, focus on reaching for the walls, while driving the movement with your elbow. Briefly pause each rep on top.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVBacQ0Q3Bw

3A. Anterior Delt Shoulder Bombs 3×10 

Coaching Notes: Set the cable cross at its lowest setting and place a shoulder press bench between the two. Start the movement with your arms elevated at your sides, forming a T. While keeping arms straight, and palms facing forward, touch cables above your head. Repeat, witha 1-2 second hold on top of each rep.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6cq2fey6lI

3B. Dumbbell V-Press 3×8 (no lockout+partial reps)

Coaching Notes: Just like a regular DB press, except you are not going to push them together. For the entire ROM the DBs should be moving away from one another. Go light here, and focus on using the delts, not the upper pecs and triceps. Pulse reps are preferred here to maintain constant but dynamic tension.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASFUc2AiBmI

Now that we’ve covered the deltoid, it’s time to jump into another accessory “shoulder” muscle, which is the trapezius, and more specifically, the upper portion that plays a huge role in shoulder training and muscle development.

The Upper And Middle Trapezius

And before we say see you later for another week, we’re going to talk about the upper fibers of the trapezius. The upper fibers are responsible for scapular elevation (think shrug), and upward scapular rotation (think terminal point of an overhead press). The range of motion is small for these fibers, so hard contractions and maximizing time under tension should be your objectives. None of this five plate per side on a barbell, straps on, bouncing the bar up and down like a spazz bullshit.

Select a weight that allows you to maintain constant tension throughout the entire repetition, and squeeze everything for 3-seconds on top. Remember that ultimately your traps are 1 muscle, and working adjacent fiber orientations (i.e. mid and upper fibers) together is a killer method for maximizing hypertrophy. Check out two of my all-time favorite shrug variations in the program below.

Traps Tip: Occasionally Shrug Up AND Back

By shrugging the weight up and back, you can recruit more fibers in the middle traps. To do so, focus on retracting your shoulder blades, and then shrugging. Free weights aren’t a great option here, so hit the cable variation found below. Stick to the dumbbells and barbells for the strictly vertical shrug work.

1A. Cable Shrug+ Scap Squeeze 4×12 (231 tempo)

Coaching Notes: Stand between and away from narow cable cross setup. Retract scaps and elevate your shoulders as high as possible. Hold for 3 seconds, repeat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFpTwhl4tN8

1B. Behind The Back Shrugs 4×12 (231 tempo)

Coaching Notes: With arms slightly behind the body (you’ll have to step away from the bar) use your traps to pull the bar up, maintaining scapular retraction throughout. Hit a 3 second iso on top and repeat. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0cRkYqBxaU

Well, that’s it for Part IV on shoulder training. Let us know what you think and keep the questions and comments coming! Part V on training the Gunz, AKA the biceps and triceps, will be released next week, in addition to a very exciting announcement, which may or may not include a kick-ass program designed to fine-tune your movement patterns with functional anatomy know-how. Oh how exciting!

About The Author

Ian Padron is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin’s Exercise Science Program and an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer, currently residing in Seattle, WA. Ian’s mission is to revolutionize the health and fitness industry by combining science and education to evoke sustainable change in his clients and readers. He preaches the importance of a holistic approach to training, taking into account the mind AND the body.  Ian also walks the walk as a natural competitive bodybuilder.

Stay current with Ian on his website: Padron Performance    

The post Shoulder Training For Maximum Muscle Growth appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. The IT Band is a commonly problematic area for strength and endurance athletes that causes pain, dysfunction and decreases performance when not addressed properly.

2. This 2-Day IT Band Cure will directly address a few key areas of concern for both mobility and tissue quality, while reteaching movement patterns to lock in that pain-free movement for good.

3. A lack of quality squat mechanics and the ability to execute a pristine foundational squat can cause a number of orthopedic problems for athletes. Here’s a quick fix to clean up even the most brutal squats!

Improving Mobility Won’t Always Improve Tissue Quality

Sometimes your body hurts because you don’t have enough range and you’re jamming the body to its end range trying to achieve something. For those times mobility work is definitely a great option.

But other times the restriction you have may not be because of lack of range. It could be because the muscle itself is all jammed up. Imagine a rubber band with a knot tied in it. If you pull at both ends of the band it will stretch, just like your muscle will with a knot in it. But it won’t necessarily stretch evenly on both sides of the knot.

The 2-Day IT Band Cure

The IT Band is one of those areas that often causes problems – especially in distance athletes, with triathletes having more troubles than straight runners or cyclists – and the cause isn’t always lack of range.

This 2-Day IT Band cure video I made shows how I cured my IT Band issues only two weeks out from an Ironman 70.3 race allowing me to race pain free on the day and achieve a ten-minute PR.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJHbhMNBjxI

Following the RAIL system of my good friend Perry Nickleston I begin with some soft tissue work to help unglue those knots in the muscles. And when it’s IT Band troubles you’ll always find big lumps in the glutes, so get stuck in with a hard ball. The key for the ball in the glutes is not just to stick the ball into the out edge of the hip, but to place that side on stretch, as I do in the video, by placing that foot on the opposite knee. Keep rolling around until you find that spot that is most painful then sit there and let the pressure on the ball, and your breathing, do the work. Take at least ten deep diaphragmatic breaths here making sure to relax as much as possible, no matter how painful.

The reason you need both a passive and active stretch is simple – passive stretching does a great job at reducing tone in the muscle but is awful for strength work. In other words, while passive stretching allows the muscle to relax – perfect if there is a massive knot in it – it’s lousy pre-workout, and can even lead to injury if not followed by activation exercises. The active version of pigeon that follows allows the muscle to work into the new range allowed by the use of the ball in the glutes, as well as the passive pigeon stretch. Making the muscle do some work in the new range helps the body to “own it” and make the newfound range permanent.

Finally, you need to get the body working as a complete unit. Any exercise will work that involves the hips as the primary driver and links the body together, but the single leg deadlift is the best in my opinion.

Utilizing IT Band Function with Quick Fixes For The Squat

One of the biggest issues for people in our gym is their squat. I’m a big advocate of flexibility work, but not with a goal of the splits. My end goal in most cases is to end up with a comfortable deep squat pattern.

One of the drawbacks for people is that our legs get told all day long that they only need to move to a certain point. Our hips get stuck at about ninety degrees. Our inner thighs don’t open all the way out. It’s all because of sitting. Here’s how we address the squat with quick correctives that lead our clients to more training and less dysfunction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TnYcarYUD8

To build a good squat first we’re going to use this squat stretch against the wall. It’s really important that you don’t allow the shin to be at 90 degrees to the knee. If you watch the video you’ll see that the foot is drawn in as close to the butt as possible – we want to maximize both dorsiflexion as well as hip flexion.

Loving This Article? Check Out Andrew and Dr. John on Strength Doc Podcast!

In an ideal setting you’ll be able to get the feet almost to your butt while preventing them from turning out. You’ll be surprised at how much your shins and inner thighs will burn from this. Deal with it. Stretching isn’t all hugs and rainbows. In fact, I think it’s the single most painful thing an adult can do. I advise staying in this position for at least five minutes. You need to resist the temptation to move around much, no matter how painful it gets. Every time you move you need to start the timer again thanks to the safety mechanism built into our stretch reflex.

Next we need to pattern it all. As I said above, static stretching can be awful if placed immediately before strength work with no activation drills in between. This next drill is an excellent drill if you use all the parts. Firstly, grab a thin band and wrap it over a bar. Next, grab a towel and place it just above your knees. The band and the towel help to activate a lot of muscles that you need to squat properly – the abdominals and the abductors.

As you begin to bend down you need to squeeze the towel between your knees. You’ll notice that as you pull on the band your abs will light up. That’s great as they have an important role while squatting and most people’s have gone MIA. The cool thing about squeezing the towel is that the circuit that the abductors are on also contains your obliques, and you need them too for squatting. So don’t just bend over and touch your toes as you miss all that cool extra activation work. Once you’ve done ten reps it’s time to squat.

About The Author

A lifelong athlete and coach, Andrew Read has seen it, then tried it, and then tested it. He has trained hundreds of athletes and clients up to Olympic and World Championship levels. He has tested his theories on himself. He is both a black belt and an Ironman and has been honing the craft of training for over twenty years.

Having trained alongside industry leaders in everything from Taekwondo to Brazilian jiu jitsu to boxing, as well as kettlebells, running, triathlon, and weightlifting, Andrew has a wealth of experience to draw from. He is not tied to a single tool or method, but has an extensive tool box from which he can choose the right solution for each athlete.

His training methods are blue collar and basic. There are no attempts to hack performance. Just age-old methods crafted to guarantee improved performance. He has worked hard to meld the training of mind and body together through his three simple rules on training – turn up, don’t complain, never quit.

Andrew has recently published a book called “Run Strong” is available now!

The post The 2-Day IT Band Cure appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

The Barbell Deadlift Isn’t For Everyone…

I’m going to just say it, so here it goes… The barbell deadlift is NOT for everyone, period. Due to a number of factors that play a roll in ones overall ability to execute this king of all hip hinges with requisite form and technique, most people simply fail to get any training effect from this movement while also staying safe and healthy in the process.

When you force feed any movement, especially one that that depends on proper hip hinge mechanics to spare brutal shear forces through the lumbar spine, you are NOT training the targeted muscle groups or movements any longer, you’re just stressing out the non-contractile tissues like the ligaments, joints, capsules, intervertebral discs etc. That list could go on and on. The last thing you are training is your musculature, so why the hell are you force feeding the movement in the first place?

Though the Trap Bar Deadlift is viewed as a regression off the barbell deadlift in the minds of many, I prefer it for many athletes and lifters due to the SHEAR fact that they can execute the lift with better form, better musculature targeting, and in a far better position to take unwanted stress off the spinal column. At the end of the day who really gives a shit what weight implement you are using as long as you are training and loading up a foundational movement pattern?

Are You Proficient Enough To Deadlift Safely?

The other great thing that happens when form is simplified is that lifters can focus on pushing their physical limits, whether it be max load or max effort, and not have to worry about form breakdown or paying the price with an injury that will derail their training and fitness for extended periods of time. If we can mitigate risk in a movement while receiving the same amount of benefit in terms of physical response to an exercise, that will lead to more notable short and long term results.

Back To Pain-Free Training: Dr.John’s 12-Week Functional Hypertrophy Training Program

If you aren’t quite sure what that means, here’s a good way to assess how proficient you are at a given movement… Are you able to go balls to the wall near absolute muscular failure without form breakdown and putting yourself in vulnerable positions for injuries? Sure every movement will eventually breakdown, but the average person has no idea what true mechanical failure at 100% effort really feels like unless you are an Olympic level athlete who has touched this training pyramid a few times over the course of a career.

People rag on machine training all the time, but you know what? At least machine training can keep novice and inexperienced fitness fanatics from placing themselves into a position that will end up causing more damage than good. I’m not comparing the Trap Bar Deadlift to machine training, lets be clear on that. The key point is we need to find movements that allow us to train at a higher capacity and level of trainability without the repercussions of joint stress and injury.

Here’s How To Start Trap Bar Deadlifting

The first type of Trap Bar Deadlift that people should start with the ensure proper core position and hip hinge pattern is the dead stop deadlift. In this variation you take the weight off the floor and set it back down between each rep to reset your core and make damn sure that your spine remains in neutral alignment and your bracing is on point. Check out the video below:

One common problem with the Trap Bar Deadlift is the inability to load up the movement due to the limitations in bar size. This isn't usually a big deal for most, but once you get a few plates deep on each side, it's hard to keep clips on, which is why many lifters have plates falling off the sides during lifts that contact the floor like the deadlift. A quick and easy fix without purchasing a monster trap bar is to band the plates together with a pro mini band on either side. This will allow you to get at least one more plate on each side of the bar while making damn sure you aren't losing iron falling off the bar mid set! Check out this setup and put it to good use! #strengthdoc #deadlift #trapbardeadlift #plates #bands #docswholift #physicaltherapy #physioswholift #strength #bodybuilding #hiphinge #lifting #hypertrophy #setupfix #smarttraining #trainheavy #trapbar #testosteronenation #mountaindog #drjohnrusin #drjohnrusinphysicaltherapy

A video posted by Dr. John Rusin (@drjohnrusin) on Feb 10, 2016 at 9:29am PST

If you feel comfortable enough to progress the Trap Bar Deadlift from the dead stop variation, we can start adding a bit more speed to the movement with a “touch and go” version that allows you to speed up the eccentric lowering portion of this lift and make contact with the ground and explode the weight back up. It goes without saying that the same spinal and core alignment requisite is still a must here! And as you can see, this variation can be pushed to the limits in a safe and effective manor. Check out this variation as well:

Want to burn the bird after your gluttonous Thanksgiving meal? Prioritize big compound movements like the Squat and Deadlift into today's training session. Make sure to keep the loads heavy, volumes high, and rest periods to a minimum. The Strength Doc family went with a pretty epic back day today with the last movement of Trap Bar Deadlift with an escalating pyramid plus a painful final drop set from the top end weight. Last set was 35 reps including all the drops and left me on the floor! Ready to get back to some real training Monday? Check out my brand new 12-week muscle gain and fat loss program that is discounted this weekend only to $69 for the holiday. Custom training, videos, coaching notes and nutrition for fractions of the cost of my 1-1 coaching. Now everyone can afford to train with the Strength Doc! http://drjohnrusin.com/12-week-program #strengthdoc #thanksgiving #deadlift #backday #training #fatloss #hypertrophy #bodybuilding #physicaltherapy #physioswholift #painfreetraining #strength #testosteronenation #nutrition #musclegain #physicaltherapy #blackfriday

A video posted by Dr. John Rusin (@drjohnrusin) on Nov 27, 2015 at 6:36am PST

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is an internationally recognized coach, physical therapist, speaker, and writer, whose published over 200 articles in some of the most widely regarded media outlets in the industry like Testosterone Nation, Mountain Dog Diet, Breaking Muscle, and Muscle and Strength, to name a few.

Along with an impressive laundry list of publications, Dr. John works with some of the world’s most elite athletes, including Gold Medalist Olympians, NFL All-Pro Quarterbacks, MLB All-Star Pitchers, Professional Bodybuilders and World Class IronMan Triathletes.

He takes pride in offering uniquely customized programming to clients of all walks of life in the exact same detail and passion as the Pros! Dr. John’s 12-Week Bodybuilding Program is now available to you.

The post Deadlifting Tip: Stop Force Feeding The Barbell Deadlift appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. There must be a differentiation made between mobility restrictions and just downright poor movement capacity. Treating both deficits as the same usually results in no results at all, especially when dealing with ankle mobility restrictions and cranky knees.

2. Want to eliminate cranky knees? Improving your knee health goes hand in hand with improving the way you move, especially when it comes to the squat pattern and Olympic lifts.

3. If your squat and power lifts are stagnated and are starting to cause pain, you better assess your ankle mobility and function. And of course, preventative work for ankle mobility is pivotal to long term development and progress.

4. They say the elbows is slave to the shoulder joint, so if you’re having elbow aches, pains and soreness, here’s a way to kill two birds with one stone by improving your shoulder and elbow health simultaneously.

Why Your Movement Depends On Your Mobility

It’s no surprise by now that specific mobility prep work is a MUST in any training program.

However, the one caveat to this is athletes in the Powerlifting and Olympic Weightlifting communities can get stumped on how to troubleshoot when selecting and prioritizing their drills based on their individual issues and limitations.

Performing a drill just for the sake of doing it isn’t going to increase your squat, bench or deadlift, and definitely isn’t going to give you a better catch position in your O-lifts.

However, what will definitely help is constant maintenance and execution in specific areas of need for your lifts via mobility drills.

How To Assess & Eliminate Cranky Knees

Raise your hand if you’ve never had knee problems in your training? Said no one. Ever!

With that in mind, it all comes down to how you attack this major issue we see across the board in lifters of all ages and skill levels.

We need to understand one major point here: the knee represents two joints, not a single joint as many confusingly believe. These joints are the:

1. Tibiofemoral – The articulation between the tibia and the femur.

2. Patellofemoral – The articulation between the patella and the femur.

Here’s the problem: everyone treats knee issues the same exact way even though the origins of the pain and dysfunction may be polar opposite in nature.

Would you dress up for a wedding event the same way you dress up to hit the gym? Didn’t think so. Why would you treat two separate joints the same?

Sure, there is definitely some overlap here, but in the end, each joint within the knee needs to be addressed separately. In the end though, if both joints are becoming issues, you can cohesively attack both hand-in-hand. However, this isn’t always the case.

All it comes down to now is figuring out which area needs the direct attention, and then you can begin to execute your attack.

The most prominent movements that exacerbate pain and dysfunction at the knee are the squat, bench press and Olympic style lifts such as the Power Clean, Snatch and Clean & Jerk. Here’s how to fix them!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJtsVquFuBs

How To Put An End To Ankle Mobility Limitations 

Having trouble getting depth in the bottom of your squat? Are you having constant issues with your receiving position in your Olympic lifts?

If your hips are in check with a full range of adequate mobility and your trunk is stable enough to handle the load via spinal stabilization strategies and proper breathing mechanics, then what’s left to look for?

Ankle mobility and range of motion, of course!

Also, it’s important to understand your tibial internal rotation as it relates to ankle function in lifting. Without an adequate amount of tibial internal rotation, you’ll find it challenging to hit a deep squat in addition to your feet spinning out to the sides.

Check Out Matthew Ibrahim with Dr. John Rusin on Strength Doc Podcast Episode 017!

Most Olympic lifters utilize Olympic lifting shoes. I have no issues here, especially when athletes become more advanced in competition. Even for novice and intermediate athletes both in Powerlifting and in Olympic style lifting, Olympic shoes can definitely serve their purpose.

In the end though, wouldn’t you feel more confident putting a valiant effort toward attacking the issue first versus just masking the issue without any efforts?

This one really could be argued both ways, but for sake of the athlete who is looking to attack their ankle mobility limitation first, albeit with or without Olympic lifting shoes, there’s a way to go about it.

Movements which commonly become dysfunctional with ankle issues are the squat and Olympic style lifts. Here’s how to address your ankle mobility issues to get the most out of your training and to prevent injuries:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlyXOOTT-4o

How To Solve Wrist & Forearm Problems

Show me a Powerlifter or Olympic lifter that never had any issues with nagging wrists or flared up forearms. It just doesn’t exist.

The demands on athletes in both lifting styles within their respective lifts puts constant tension and work on the wrists and forearms. (Notice how all major lifts are labeled below for the areas we see this issue the most.)

It’s quite normal to feel fatigue and general soreness in your forearms after being gassed from your training. Addressing this area consistently becomes even more important.

A supple range of motion in wrist extension is necessary in addition to wrist stability and an adequate amount of tissue length. This places an even greater importance on constant maintenance and specific mobility prep work.

Movements we see this issue the most in are the bench press, squat, deadlift and Olympic lifts. Here’s how to fix it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I79hgBGrnJQ

About The Author

The post Eliminate Cranky Knees & Ankle Mobility Restrictions appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. Finally, arm training! The arms consist of small muscle groups; learning how your body responds to changes in training volume, intensity, and frequency is a sure fire bet to accelerate your arm growth without going totally overboard.

2. Spending time at the extremes of your muscle’s ROM. As #1 mentions, the arm muscles are small, so not a whole lot of movement in terms of point A to point B will occur. An effective method to stimulate growth is to spend time producing force in the fully lengthened and fully shortened positions.

3. When it comes to arm training, the plan is pretty damn simple. The actions are straightforward, and emphasis on form is paramount. Learn to ask why you are performing a specific movement a certain way first! If you can’t answer that question with anything other than “uhhh…well this FLEX magazine arm workout told me to” ditch the movement. You can do better.

4. You don’t need 50 different arm training exercises. Pick a handful of movements that feel good for YOU, and perfect them. Don’t give in to the false desire to diversify your exercise selection. Vary set/rep/tempo schemes, but if a certain movement always provides a killer pump…KEEP DOING IT!

Introduction to Arm Training GAINZ

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…Arm Training! I’m stoked about all the killer reviews on this series and am grateful for the kind words and feedback. Building muscle is what I do, and it means a lot to be able to share that passion via Dr. John’s site. We’ve had fun teaching our badass readers about what we feel is the only way to train, and that’s with science.

With that being said, long before I knew about origins and insertions, the sagittal and transverse planes, and Golgi Tendon Organs, I trained with reckless abandon for a very specific reason. I needed bigger arms. Over the years, I’ve gotten older and wiser (I think), but there will always be that bicep crazed 17 year old in me somewhere. Now if you all are anything like me, which I know you are, I don’t think it’s out of line to assume that each and every one of you would jump on the opportunity to add some size to your arms.

Grow Your Guns Faster Than Ever With This 12-Week Bodybuilding Program

I’m not going to be that guy and promise that you pack on “slabs of muscle” or “an inch on your arms in 1 month” because the results are ultimately up to you. Dr. John and I can only give you the tools. However, I will tell you this; I’ve been training hard for about 6 years now (intelligently for about 3). Still, I am making progress by implementing the very techniques that I have taught in this series. For example, one of my goals for 2016 was to put an inch on my arms. I sat down with a training buddy, made a plan to increase the frequency and decrease the volume of my arm training, and have accomplished that goal is less than 2 months’ time. This stuff works if you truly understand and apply it, I’m living proof.

Ok, here are the arm training goods you’ve been so patiently waiting for…

The Biceps

Although this section is titled biceps, we are going to talk about ALL of the main elbow flexors, since they are all responsible for the ultimate size of your arms. The biceps get all the love, and consist of 2 heads, long and short. The long head starts on the glenoid labrum, while the short head originates on the coracoid process of the scapula. Both heads converge to insert on the radial tuberosity and bicipital aponeurosis (fancy name for fibrous sheath). These muscles flex the shoulder AND the forearm, and supinate the forearm. With that being said, here are my top pointers for training the biceps.

#1 Curl In One Plane

Rotating your humerus doesn’t do shit in terms of preferential activation of your long/short heads. They don’t function to rotate the humerus, so ditch the narrow and wide grip crap. Shoulder width grip will do just fine, thank you.

#2 Don’t Pin Your Elbows When Working Your Biceps

WHAT?!?! Yes, you heard me. Ok, now before you dismiss me as an idiot, let’s be rational and think about what our biceps do…they flex the forearm, supinate the forearm, AND FLEX THE HUMERUS. So, if you pin your elbows to your sides, you are inhibiting one of the functions of your biceps. Uh-oh. Just don’t confuse a slight forward arc of the elbow with a severe spastic episode of horsing dumbbells around. Also, this is bicep specific, not the other flexor we are about to cover.

#3 SQUEEEEEZE

If you haven’t felt like your biceps are about to A) tear of the bone or B) explode with blood flow, you haven’t trained them properly. Neither of these end points require heavy weight either. Tempo work and isometric holds on top of curling movements are the bees knees in terms of racking up mechanical and metabolic stress while training your biceps.

The brachialis is the next muscle up; it originates on the front of the humerus (about mid-point) and inserts to the coronoid process of the ulna. This muscle flexes the forearm, that’s it. In my opinion, this muscle is home to a lot of untouched potential in most trainees. Here are my favorite tips for unlocking those gains.

#4 Neutral or Reverse Grip All the Things… Sometimes

The brachialis is the prime mover of the elbow joint when the forearm is pronated, so reverse curls and hammer curls with a shoulder width grip are great options for brachialis specific work. If you don’t currently devote 1/3 of your curl variations to neutral/reverse grip work, do it. Thank me later.

#5 Tempo Work Is Your Best Friend

I picked up a tip from Charles Poliquin a couple years back about performing reverse curl work with a 6 second negative. My forearms AND brachialis have responded more than favorably. This makes sense, given the fact that those muscles are predominantly slow twitch.

Ok, now you learned some cool stuff, time to put it to the test.

Arm Training Bicep/Brachialis Routine

*Note that there is little to no rest between exercises in these giant sets

1A. Cable Cambered Bar Curls 3×12 (2 sec. on top)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNfSMyAgUN0

1B. Single Arm Cable High Curls 3×12 (2 sec. on top)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGL3pNVcI2s

1C. Barbell Reverse Curls 3×8 (301tempo)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj8Z5Jtudqw

2. Band Hammer Curls 3 x Failure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6vE_sveyGw

The Triceps

Your biceps get all the glory but your triceps make up 2/3 of the mass of your arm. To me, that means a lot of untapped potential for growth. As their name implies, the triceps are composed of three heads. The long head originates from the infraglenoid tubercle of the scapula and inserts on the olecranon of the ulna (elbow). This head functions primarily to extend the shoulder NOT extend the elbow. Its secondary action is to extend the elbow. The lateral head of the triceps originates on the back of the humerus, laterally to the spiral groove, while the medial head originates medial and distal to the spiral groove. Both insert to the olecranon, just like the long head and act only to extend the elbow. Hopefully that clears a few things up right off the bat. Here are my top tips to keep in mind next time you hit those horse shoes!

#1 Hit The Long Head the Right Way

This thing is a beast, it is the biggest of the three heads, but doesn’t do what a lot of people think it does. When performing pressdowns of any variety, get your elbows BEHIND your body to introduce humeral extension. Now you’re cookin’ with gas. Overhead work also shines, as the shoulder must be manipulate into full flexion, which in turn fully lengthens the long head. Remember when I said it was a good idea to spend time at the extremes of your ROM? Good.

#2 Train for the Pump

Your triceps get plenty of indirect work from pressing varieties. Take the syngergists out the equation on tricep day and focus on elbow and shoulder extension. Heavy close grip bench press and dips do not give you the same opportunity to truly isolate the fibers of the triceps. In place of these traditional compound tricep movements, tri (see what I did there?) these killer movements below!

Arm Training Triceps Routine

*Note the compound set below is really a mechanical drop set!

1A. Angled Dumbbell Compound Skull Crusher 3 x Failure

1B. Straight Arm Dumbbell Pullover 3 x Failure

1C. Close Grip DB Tricep Press 3 x Failure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkBMcnXIkh4

2. Cambered Bar 45% Overhead Tricep Extensions 4×15 (2 sec. on top)

*Note – Check out the second movement of this superset video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXHeZbucy1E

A Jacked Up Good-Bye…For Now!

You know what they say, all good things must come to an end. And honestly, what better place to end up than with arm training! Hopefully you’ve racked up equal parts knowledge and lactic acid over the past 5 weeks of this series. Thanks again for tuning in and making the Maximal Muscle articles so successful. Stay tuned for some potential spin-offs designed to keep the momentum you’ve picked up with this series going!

About The Author

Ian Padron is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin’s Exercise Science Program and an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer, currently residing in Seattle, WA. Ian’s mission is to revolutionize the health and fitness industry by combining science and education to evoke sustainable change in his clients and readers. He preaches the importance of a holistic approach to training, taking into account the mind AND the body.  Ian also walks the walk as a natural competitive bodybuilder and loves arm training.

Stay current with Ian on his website: Padron Performance    

The post Arm Training For Maximal Muscle Growth appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. It is estimated that over 200,000 ACL injuries occur in the United States every year. Despite approximately 90% of people opting for ACL reconstruction surgery, significant risk for re-injury after repair remains.

2. Despite the current trends in the physical therapy and rehabilitation communities, squatting BELOW 90⁰ while monitoring closed chain knee flexion provides the most advantageous environment for reimplementing gross motor patterns.

3. The low-bar squat represents a safe and effective exercise to incorporate into ACL rehabilitation, even in the early stages of healing of a post-operative ACL reconstruction.

4. Traditional exercises like the supported physio-ball wall squat just don’t provide enough training stimulus in the rehab process to protect against re-injury. Providing a controlled environment for reimplementing load in addition to proprioceptive challenges is the future of ACL rehabilitation.

5. Simply put, the biomechanics of the low-bar squat encourage maximal strength development with little risk to the ACL. This evidence is more than enough to change the way we rehab ACL reconstruction as a community of rehab specialists. Compound loaded movements will always prevail!

Staggering ACL Injury Rates

It is estimated that over 200,000 ACL injuries occur in the United States every year. Despite approximately 90% of people opting for ACL reconstruction surgery, significant risk for re-injury after repair remains. In fact, research has shown that subjects who undergo ACL reconstruction are still 15 times more likely to sustain an ACL injury in the following year and six times more likely in two years than those with no history of ACL injury (1-2).

Current criteria to return-to-sport after an ACL reconstruction usually involve a battery of testing including, but not limited to, isokinetic strength testing, jump evaluation, and knee arthrometer testing. Typically, strength criteria includes achieving less than 10% deficit in strength of the quadriceps and hamstrings on isokinetic testing at 180⁰/s and 300⁰/s (3). While this may be a great method to compare isolated muscle strength to the non-affected leg, I question its transfer to safety and performance on the field where isolated muscle contractions rarely occur.

The physical therapy community as a whole has done a tremendous job at implementing plyometric training into ACL reconstruction rehabilitation. Clinicians now routinely teach proper jumping mechanics and have made great progress in reducing the risk of ACL injury, but with re-injury rates as high as they are, are we, as a profession, still missing a major piece of the puzzle?

Barbells In The Clinic

Barbell training represents one of the most effective methods to increase strength and muscle mass, two key components to athletic performance. While barbells are often utilized in the gym and athletic training settings, their use in sports physical therapy is not standard. Exercises such as the squat and deadlift often are erroneously labeled by some as dangerous, stating “Squats will hurt your knees,” or “Deadlifts will hurt your back”.

Current dogma also suggests that squats should not be performed at knee flexion angles greater than 90⁰. The combination of fear of injuring patients and lack of knowledge on the biomechanics of a proper full ROM barbell squat often leaves this vital exercise in the dust, when, in reality, it may be EXACTLY what we need.

First, Some Anatomy and Kinesiology

The ACL, in conjunction with the hamstrings, resists anterior tibial translation on the femur

The primary role of the ACL is to resist anterior tibial translation at the knee, especially at low flexion angles (4). Additionally, maximal anterior shear forces during the squat occur at the first 60⁰ of knee flexion, with peak ACL forces occurring at 15-30⁰. The forces on the ACL appear to actually decrease at higher flexion angles. As one descends into the squat, increased hamstrings activation exert a posterior force on the tibia assisting the ACL in reducing anterior translation. Also, anterior tibial translation further decreases in the deep squat due to the soft tissue approximation between the distal hamstrings and proximal calf.

When squats are performed in the clinic, however, they typically are associated with the caveat to avoid going past 90⁰ knee flexion. This reasoning is based on an observed increase in patellofemoral compressive forces at deep flexion angles in some studies (5); however, it may be flawed for a few reasons.

First, in closed-chain knee flexion greater than 90⁰, the wrapping effect occurs (6). In this phenomenon, the additional contact between the quadriceps tendon and the intercondylar notch actually enhances load distribution at the knee leading to an overall decline of retropatellar and compressive forces. Additionally, the highest dynamic peak forces occur at the transition phase of the squat. Therefore, it would be ill-advised to perform a squat to only 90⁰, as this reversal of eccentric to concentric movement would occur where the highest patellofemoral compressive forces are observed (6).

Another aspect to consider is the amount of external resistance needed during the partial vs. deep squat. Compared to deep squats, quarter and half squats require higher weights to stimulate a training effect. In fact, gym students are capable of moving about four times the weight of a deep back squat on a quarter squat (6). This phenomenon is something that, unfortunately, happens far too often.

High school and even college strength and conditioning programs are plagued with partial ROM barbell squats. Sixteen year old kids are performing quarter squats for sets of 10 with 315 lbs. when, in essence, they may not even be able to complete a single rep with 135 to proper depth. Perform a squat with a load that is too heavy within a ROM where maximal shear forces occur at the knee, and you are creating a recipe for disaster. In fact, a load of 1-2x bodyweight in a deep squat only produces a force equal to 28% the overall tensile strength of the ACL, whereas that same load in a half squat produces between 33-42%! (6). Overall, squatting deeper than 90⁰ is safer on the knee and less stress on the ACL.

A Note on Plyometrics

The phases of jumping and landing in plyometric based activity.

Plyometrics represent a major component in ACL reconstruction rehabilitation, and rightfully so. Provided most ACL injuries are non-contact in nature, it is imperative that the athlete knows how to correctly jump. In the later stages, plyometrics are performed as intense as the single-leg triple hop. Research tells us that a bodyweight double-leg jump to 70⁰ results in similar forces on the knee to a half squat with 175 lbs (6).

RELATED ARTICLE: Is Plyometric Training Causing Knee Injuries?

It amazes me that patients are repeatedly jumping with maximal effort on one leg, but there is still hesitancy to implement heavy strength training. What’s ACTUALLY more likely to cause injury to the reconstructed ACL? Instead of constantly focusing on creating exercises that mimic the exact motions on the field, we need to put more emphasis on exercises that are the best at creating strength, and barbell training will always be at the top of the list. 

The Low-Bar Squat

Notice the increased forward migration of the knees in the high-bar squat (left). The low-bar squat (right) is more posterior chain dominant and reduces anterior migration of the knees.

Now that we know squatting below 90⁰ is preferred in post ACL reconstruction rehabilitation, what variation would be most beneficial? Regarding the back squat, there are two common variations that come to mind. The high-bar back squat represents one variation and is typically seen in the weightlifting, CrossFit, and the average weekend warrior community. With the high-bar back squat, the bar rests firmly on a muscular shelf created by the upper trapezius. In order to keep the bar centered over the midfoot during the descent, this will require a more upright torso, and increased knee flexion and ankle dorsiflexion ROM. Due to the more upright torso, this variation tends to create a higher demand on the quads and less demand on the posterior chain. Additionally, because of the increased knee flexion and forward migration of the knee, the high-bar squat has been shown to increase both patellofemoral and ACL stresses (4).

The low-bar squat represents another variation, typically seen in powerlifters. In the low-bar squat, the bar rests lower on the back, on the rear deltoids. This requires more forward trunk lean in order to keep the bar centered over the midfoot during the descent. The low-bar squat requires less knee flexion and ankle dorsiflexion but more hip flexion than the high bar squat. Due to these biomechanical properties, the low-bar position effectively reduces patellofemoral compressive forces and ACL stress due to greater hamstrings activity and less forward migration of the knees (4).

Notice the increased forward migration of the knees in the high-bar squat (left) in the image above. The low-bar squat (right) is more posterior chain dominant and reduces anterior migration of the knees.

Although quad strengthening is vital for ACL reconstruction rehabilitation, so is protecting the knee joint. While the high-bar squat may preferentially target the quads, due to the increased hamstrings activity and reduced forward migration of the knees, the low-bar squat represents a safe and effective exercise to incorporate into ACL rehabilitation. In fact, one source even recommends that exercises done in the standing position with the knees flexed and trunk anteriorly flexed can be performed safely even in the early stages after ACL reconstruction (7)! Due to only minimum anterior shear forces generated during the squat, it can represent a safe and effective rehab exercise to perform for those who wish to minimize tensile loading of the ACL (8).

Typical Strength Exercises in ACL Rehabilitation

The stability ball wall squat represents an inferior exercise choice for ACL reconstruction rehabilitation.

Two staple exercises commonly utilized in ACL reconstruction rehabilitation that come to mind are the leg press and stability ball wall squat. The leg press may represent a great tool in the early stages of rehabilitation when the patient is physically too weak to perform a bodyweight squat. It represents a good stepping stone to squatting, but once an athlete can properly perform a bodyweight squat, the benefits of squatting far outweigh those of leg pressing. In fact, it has been shown that squatting increases both the squat jump and countermovement jump whereas the leg press does not improve these parameters at all (9). It would instead be optimal, in a field where you have limited time with your patients, to dedicate more focus working on the squat instead of the leg press. If performance is the goal, (usually the case in athletic development) the squat should be preferred because it yields better transfer effects.

Another typical exercise used in the clinic is the stability ball wall squat. During this exercise, the patient places his/her back against an exercise ball that is placed against the wall. This mimics a hack squat or a squat done on the Smith Machine with the feet placed significantly forward. The patient is instructed to squat down to 90⁰ and complete 3 sets of 10. Many aspects of this variation are not ideal. First, due to the vertical trunk and lack of anterior pelvic tilt, very little hamstrings are involved, making this a primarily quad dominant exercise and increasing the load on the ACL. Second, this variation of the squat is usually performed to 90⁰ of knee flexion. Despite little to no forward migration of the knee in this variation, allowing the turning point to occur where retropatellar forces are the greatest simply cannot be advised.

Additionally, it is very difficult to sufficiently load this exercise. Dumbbells can be held in the hands, but eventually it can become an awkward movement if the dumbbells become too heavy. Finally, with this variation, the patient is reliant upon leaning on a ball for stability. As a result, he/she does not learn how to effectively move his/her body through space, a vital skill to any sport.

Back To The Basics

Foundational squat patterns using the barbell back squat.

Let’s, for a moment, revisit the isokinetic testing I mentioned in the beginning of the article. Again, we usually aim for recovery within a 10% deficit in strength compared to the un-involved side to return to sport, but I’d like propose a scenario of two patients.

Both Patient A and Patient B have a 5% deficit in isokinetic strength compared to their uninvolved side, and they each pass the jumping and knee stability tests with flying colors. On paper, the are both EQUALLY prepared to return to sport right? However, there is one key difference. Patient A can squat 315 lbs. for a set of 5 with pristine form; Patient B can barely squat 185 lbs. for a set of 5 without some form of maladaptive compensation. Both of these patients score the SAME on isokinetic strength testing under the criteria of percentage of strength of the uninvolved side. The problem with using a side-to-side comparison is that it tells you NOTHING about how the patient moves or his/her absolute strength of the entire lower body as a whole. How is it that isokinetic testing is currently the only strength requirement to return to sport? I have a hunch that Patient A will have an easier time returning to his/her sport than Patient B.

Barbell training is a very simple concept. Progressively loading basic human movement patterns is THE single most effective way to build strength and power that will transfer over to all athletic endeavors. The biomechanics of the low-bar squat encourage maximal strength development with little risk to the ACL. The physical therapy profession has made major progress in incorporating plyometric training and instructing proper jumping mechanics in ACL reconstruction rehabilitation, but are we still missing something? Incorporating a multi-joint strength exercise as simple, yet as effective as the low-bar back squat may be exactly what we need.

About The Author

Michael Mash, CSCS, FMSC is a physical therapy student and strength coach located in Pittsburgh, PA. He started his company, Barbell Rehab and Performance, with the mission to bridge the gap between physical therapy and strength & conditioning. His vision includes implementing the barbell lifts into clinical practice to both increase athletic performance and quality of life for all ages. Michael currently operates and can be contacted through his website, BarbellRehabandPerformance.com

References

1. Paterno MV, Rauh MJ, Schmitt LC, Ford KR, Hewett TE. Incidence of contralateral and ipsilateral anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury after primary ACL reconstruction and return to sport. Clin J Sport Med. 2012;22(2):116-21.
2. Paterno MV, Rauh MJ, Schmitt LC, Ford KR, Hewett TE. Incidence of Second ACL Injuries 2 Years After Primary ACL Reconstruction and Return to Sport. Am J Sports Med. 2014;42(7):1567-73.
3. Barber-Westin SD, Noyes FR. Factors used to determine return to unrestricted sports activities after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Arthroscopy. 2011;27(12):1697-705.
4. Schoenfeld BJ. Squatting kinematics and kinetics and their application to exercise performance. J Strength Cond Res. 2010;24(12):3497-506.
5. Huberti HH, Hayes WC. Patellofemoral contact pressures. The influence of q-angle and tendofemoral contact. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1984;66(5):715-24.
6. Hartmann H, Wirth K, Klusemann M. Analysis of the load on the knee joint and vertebral column with changes in squatting depth and weight load. Sports Med. 2013;43(10):993-1008.
7. Noyes FR. Knee Disorders, Surgery, Rehabilitation, Clinical Outcomes. Saunders; 2009
8. Escamilla RF. Knee biomechanics of the dynamic squat exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2001;33(1):127-41.
9. Wirth K, Hartmann H, Sander A, Mickel C, Szilvas E, Keiner M. The impact of back squat and leg-press exercises on maximal strength and speed-strength parameters. J Strength Cond Res. 2015

The post The Role of Low-Bar Squats in ACL Reconstruction Rehab appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. Foam rolling before activity isn’t lengthening your muscles, nor increasing ranges of motion. It is, however, wasting your time, energy and focus that should be devoted to your training, while possibly predisposing you to injury.

2. The interconnections between body segments and tissues such as musculature and fascia is evident, but improving this so called “kinetic chain” by using the foam roller on specific tissues before training has limited carryover into actual mobility and functional improvements.

3. People gravitate towards overly detailed pre-training self-myofascial release techniques due largely to the “feel good” effect of the practice, not the actual results. This is a nice way of saying that all the time spent on the roller is not producing any notable long term results, period.

4. Just because you’re using a foam roller doesn’t mean the technique is soft-tissue targeting foam rolling. Some of the most chronically dysfunctional and painful regions of the body can be corrected using the foam roller, but it doesn’t work like you think it does.

5. Here’s how to properly execute foundational thoracic spine corrective exercises using the foam roller to improve your mobility and functionality with detailed video tutorials and coaching notes.

The Bane of Your Foam Rolling Existence

While I view the foam roller as one of the biggest wastes of time and energy in a performance or therapy based training program, that damn piece of circular foam does have it’s merit when it comes to certain regions of the body, as much as it pains me to admit it.

Before we move forward, lets get one thing crystal clear. There is absolutely no need to foam roll every acute structure of your body for extended periods of time before jumping into the squat rack or hitting the pavement for a run, period! If you find yourself gravitating towards the roller pre-training and are spending more than five minutes at a time “crushing” your soft tissue, it’s time to prioritize and evolve your confusing and borderline obsessive soft tissue practice.

In the pre-training routine, soft-tissue work plays a very basic and minimal role in the overall enhancement of performance. If a tissue or movement has been assessed and deemed dysfunctional as it relates to the movements that are planned for a training or sport session that proceeds the warm-up, then yes, address this specific pattern with soft tissue work if it helps you to self justify “injury prevention” or movement benefit.

But after a decade in the field and assessing thousands of athletes, I can tell you that the functionality and mobility benefits you think you are receiving from prioritizing rolling before training are minimal at best. At worst, you are taking time, energy and focus away from your training session. So are you ready to throw out your foam roller and ban it from the warm-up process all together? I hope not, and here’s why.

Why Enhancing The Kinetic Chain Is Kinda BS

Ten years ago, people didn’t even know what a foam roller was, let alone how to properly use the damn thing. Now you’ll be hard pressed to see any big box commercial gym or specialty training facility not have these soft-tissue tools front and center when walking through the doors. Why has there been such an emphasis placed on these trivial tools? Largely due to the feel good effect and the fact that any manual soft tissue modalities has the ability to dupe the neuromuscular system into thinking movements, patterns and issues have somehow been functionally improved.

Yes, the body is an interconnected and highly kinetic based system of chains that all have interplay to some extent with even the most basic of movements, but thinking that fixing a single link in that chain without addressing any other aspects of movement is just absurd. If it were as easy as identifying the single structure that is the “broken link” and hitting it with some external modality, our rehabilitation and movement based medical model would be far more successful for returning patients back to activity and limiting the rates of re-injury than is currently being seen.

Think of it this way. If you alter the kinetic chain and “fix” the tone, length or whatever you want to think you are doing to your soft tissues by addressing them with self-myofascial release techniques, the entire chain alters, not just that segment you manipulated. With the shift in the specific movement chain along with the adjacent and overlying chains involved with the structure being addressed, your body goes into a reactionary shit storm of new compensations. As the faulty theory goes, the body should just return back to neutral, but lets be honest, this very rarely happens, and when it does it is anything but predictable or controllable.

This is where the real deep thinking coaches, athletes and practitioners get trapped in the soft-tissue rabbit hole, especially when targeting the enhancement of movement before training. The theoretical model only goes so far, and predicting alterations in highly complex movement chains is a never ending process. Next thing you know, you are foam rolling your entire body before every physical activity. Don’t laugh, because I see even some of the most intelligent coaches and practitioners lead themselves down this exact path to confusion.

So how do we get out of this endless chasing of your own tail while flailing around on the foam roller? By targeting patterns instead of tissues. More specifically, targeting the patterns that negatively effect a majority of the population due to chronic natured postures.

Addressing Movements vs. Addressing Specific Tissues

Taking specific structures out of our thought processes, as hard as that is for some of you brainiacs to do, is the first step towards actually seeing notable benefit from your “soft-tissue” practice before training or sport in order to improve movements and positions.

The best example of this system showing marked results is addressing the mobility and dynamic stability of the thoracic spine in the pre-training routine. Are we rolling out the soft tissues of the mid to upper back during the traditional thoracic spine foam rolling technique? Maybe, maybe not. But I can say with confidence that the primary mechanism of benefit for rolling through that area is not due to the tone reduction of the local tissues under the roller, but instead the extension movement created through the segments of the spine coming into contact with the apex of the curve of the roller itself.

RELATED ARTICLE: Treat Shoulder Pain with Thoracic Spine Mobility

It’s important to understand that just because you are utilizing the foam roller as a tool doesn’t necessarily mean that you are addressing soft-tissues. The foam roller can be a powerful manipulator of position in the spine, pelvis and extremities due to the acute force angle it has the ability to create. So do I view the thoracic spine foam rolling technique as a self-myofascial release technique? No. I view it as a corrective exercise that addresses the mobilization of the thoracic spine.

When we move into a new range of motion in thoracic spine extension for example, that range is opened up to the central and peripheral nervous system to utilize that range during global movement patterning or under loading. We aren’t breaking down scar tissue or fooling your muscles into relaxing permanently, we are simply opening up the door for the brain and nervous system to improve its innate control of the movement capacity of the body.

RELATED ARTICLE: Enhance Thoracic Spine Mobility with the Hybrid T-Spine Rotation

As we’ve been touching upon the thoracic spine throughout this article, I have added in two video based tutorials for you to properly address your thoracic spine mobility using the foam roller as a corrective exercise tool, not necessarily a soft-tissue based tool. Go through the basic thoracic spine foam rolling technique and master your form and execution. From there, if you want to get a little more diversified in the way you address your thoracic spine mobility, I have added a second video tutorial for my go-to 3-Way Thoracic Spine Extension Sequence.

Basic Thoracic Spine Foam Rolling Technique

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsceM9BdYxI

Coaching Notes

• Position your hips at 45 degrees and knees at 90 degrees with symmetry side to side
• Position the foam roller under a specific segment of the thoracic spine you want to target
• Maintain full spinal alignment including neutral neck position with activation throughout
• Reinforce your cervical spine rotation by gently supporting your neck with your hands
• Once you have set your starting position, elevate your glutes off the floor slightly
• Start oscillating in an up to down position on the roller, only a few inches or range at most
• Allow yourself to control relaxation into slight extension of the spine while rolling
• Target each specific segment for 30-60 seconds while prioritizing 2-3 segments per session

Proper Programming

• This basic thoracic spine mobilization corrective exercise can be prioritized at any point throughout the day, especially to break up long bouts of forward flexed postures such as desk or computer based work. A minimum execution of three sessions a day in the morning, noon and night for long term benefits are recommended.

3-Way Thoracic Spine Extension Sequence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pCxlk0tO_k

Many of the same body positioning cues from the basic approach above apply for each of the three advanced thoracic spine foam rolling variations that we will go through in the more advanced 3-Way Thoracic Spine Extension Sequence. Again, be sure to keep perfect symmetry at the hips and knees with a neutral and active spinal and core position. Below I will go through each of the three movements in this sequence in a little more detail to ensure proper execution.

#1 Arms Extended T-Spine Foam Rolling Coaching Notes

• Reach your arms directly overhead with your palms positioned up
• Relax your arms and let them aid you in adding force into the thoracic spine on the roller
• Maintain proper neck alignment with active control
• Start oscillating up and down on the roller while targeting specific segments
• Allow the roller to move under your spine in passes of 2-4 inches at a time
• Spend 30-45 seconds in this position, then move into the arm hug variation

#2 Forward Arm Hug T-Spine Foam Rolling Coaching Notes

• Take your arms and wrap them around the front of your body
• Your elbows should be positioned on top of each other with your hands grabbing and pulling your shoulder blades forward and upward on the back of your thoracic cage
• Place the roller on a targeted thoracic spine segment
• Slightly flex your thoracic spine by controlling your core and pelvis into slight flexion
• You can also use your head and neck to come into flexion to achieve this position
• Oscillate very small degrees, anywhere from a static pressure to one inch of up and down movement
• Spend 30-45 seconds in this position and target the most problematic segments
• Move into the stationary thoracic spine extension on foam roller

#3 Stationary Thoracic Spine Extension on Foam Roller Coaching Notes

• Bring your legs into full extension at the knees and hips and place legs flat on the ground
• Position the foam roller under targeted segment
• Your hands and arms with move from a starting position down at the sides to an overhead position as the thoracic spine active extension is done over the foam roller
• Control your core position and actively extend the thoracic spine, head and neck over the roller
• Incorporate deep diaphragmatic breathing techniques to accentuate the extension based mobilization
• As you reach back with your arms, extending your thoracic spine, head and neck, fully exhale and force air out of your lungs.
• Hold the extended position for 1-2 seconds to creep into the new extended based position
• Practice this technique for 10-15 breaths or reps

Proper Programming

• After mastering the foundational movement of the basic thoracic spine foam rolling technique, you can start to supplement in the 3-Way T-Spine mobilizations before training sessions or sport specific activity. While the benefits of the 3-Way far outperform the basic thoracic spine extension on foam roller movement, the foundational skill must be maintained, so ensure that you are placing the basic movement into your routine at least once a day even with the inclusion of the 3-Way once you graduate up to the advanced sequence.

*For more foam rolling tips, make sure to subscribe to Dr. John Rusin’s YouTube Channel!

About The Author

The post Why Foam Rolling Doesn’t Do What You Think It Does appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. Every body is shaped a little bit different and can be classified into one of three somatotypes. Ectomorphs tend to be skinny with little body fat or muscle while endomorphs tend to gain both fat and muscle easily. Mesomorphs have a naturally lean, muscular and athletic build.

2. You won’t gain muscle if you don’t have a strong enough reason to change from your skinny self. Find your “why” and unlock the door to gains.

3. To gain weight, you’ve got to take in more energy than you burn off, but you’ve got to make sure you get your nutrients from the right sources. Be sure to consume the right combination of protein, fat and carbohydrate.

4. Your execution of a program, your nutrition and your lifestyle are the most important factors for making gains. In terms of programming, if you’re a skinny guy trying to pack on size, ditch the endless sets of bicep curls and focusing on getting strong in the big compound lifts like the back squat, bench press, deadlift and military press.

5. Figure out why you actually want to change, keep a food journal of what you’re currently eating, tweak one thing at a time with your diet and keep a training journal. Then, focus on getting strong on a program with a heavy diet of compound exercises.

Introduction For “Hard Gainers”

The skinny struggle is real.

In every weight room across America, you’ll see guys who have been coming to the gym day-in and day-out and still look like the same wiry-framed individuals they were a year earlier.

They read all the muscle magazines and take every mass gain supplement known to man yet can’t buy a pound of muscle.

On the other hand, you’ve got dudes who can simply touch a weight and grow. Heck, they can even miss a couple of weeks here and there and still get yoked.

Not fair, right? Then again, life’s not fair.

If you’re scrawny, you can easily put on size. You’ve just got to work a little harder than others.

Let’s discuss common pitfalls with your current training and nutrition (yes, I said nutrition) regimen and what changes you need to make to get that muscular frame you’ve always craved.

What’s Your Body Type?

Everyone’s a little different. Some of us listen to rap music, while others like nothing but country. Some prefer to hit the gym after a hard week of work, while others may want to curl up on the couch in their pajamas and watch re-runs of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (hey, no judgment).

Just like we all have our own individual interests, we each have different body structures.

In the 1940s, American psychologist William Sheldon popularized the term “somatotype” to categorize the shape of a human physique. He described three kinds of somatotypes – ectomorphs, mesomorphs and endomorphs (Carter and Heath, 1990).

Those with an ectomorphic build tend to be lean with little body fat and little muscle. Endomorphs are “big-boned” per se, as they tend to have lots of fat and muscle and gain weight easily.

Mesomorphs have a lean, muscular and athletic build and can both gain and lose weight with relative ease.

Now, Sheldon actually associated one’s body type with certain personality traits, although these assertions raised much debate.

He claimed ectomorphs tend to be self-conscious, private, introverted and socially anxious. Sheldon said endomorphs are tolerant, relaxed, fun-loving and have an affection for food, while mesomorphs are assertive, courageous and risk-takers.

Again, many of these claims are generalizations, but there’s definitely some truth to these.

Think about it – when’s the last time you saw a group of strong, muscular guys playing Dungeons and Dragons?

Probably never.

So ectomorphs may struggle to build muscle not only because of their body type, but also because of their personality.

Based on Sheldon’s claims, ectomorphs could lack the confidence needed to sustain a muscle-building routine because of low self-esteem.

A double whammy.

Still, there’s hope. As an ectomorph, you can certainly put on size.

We’re going to get a little sentimental for a minute, but it’s going to help. Before you make a change, you’ve first got find your “why.”

The Secret To Gains – Finding Your “Why”

Many people don’t like change. There’s a reason we go to the same grocery store, hang out with the same people and wear the same type of clothes.

Research actually supports the fact people don’t like to deviate from the norm. In a 2010 study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, the longer something is thought to exist, the more value people place on it (Eidelman et. al, 2010)

In the first part of the study, those at a university chose an existing requirement over an alternate choice for a course when they were told it had been around for 100 years instead of 10. In the second part of the study, participants who were told acupuncture had been around for 2,000 years thought of it more favorably than those who were told it had existed for 250 years.

Because something had been around longer, people assumed it was better. But longevity doesn’t always mean something is of higher quality.

Just because you’ve eaten cereal for breakfast every day for the last 15 years doesn’t mean that’s the best type of food to have first thing in the morning.

Change is hard, so in order to change, you’ve got to find your “why.” You have to have a strong emotional reason to adjust your lifestyle.

Think about it. You’re not really building muscle just to build muscle. What do you stand to gain from adding 15 or 20 pounds of muscle?

Will having more muscle mass give you greater confidence? What will you be able to do with more confidence?

Will you finally be able to go for that job you’ve always wanted? Will you finally be able to ask out that girl you never thought you could have?

Whatever your reason for wanting to change, you’ve got to remind yourself of it often. Post sticky notes on your bathroom mirror, refrigerator and dashboard in your car. Once you find a strong enough motivating factor, you’ll change.

The First Law of Thermodynamics (Why You’re NOT Gaining Weight)

Alright, enough of the emotional stuff.

So we’ve established it may be harder for you to add muscle than average person. Still, you can pack on plenty of size if you actually focus on what you’re doing outside the gym.

That’s right – you can follow the perfect training program to a “T” and have nothing to show for your hard work if you don’t take in enough calories or burn off too much energy via other methods of exercise.

To gain weight, you’ve got to be in a positive energy balance (take in more energy than you burn off) and to lose weight, you’ve got to be in a negative energy balance (burn off more energy than you take in).

Now, it’s a little more complex than that.

If you follow the “see-food” diet and shovel in everything in sight, you will gain weight – just not the kind of weight you want.

You’ve got to eat the right foods in the right amounts at the right times to optimize muscle growth and weight gain.

According to the National Strength and Conditioning Association, your caloric intake should be about 10 to 15 percent above maintenance to gain strictly muscle weight (Campbell and Spano, 2011). Excess calories will get stored as fat.

While you’ve got to eat enough, you also need to make sure you don’t exercise too much.

Going for a long run or playing pick-up basketball for hours on end during your off days will get you nowhere. If you need to take in more energy than you expend, you better tone it down on the cardio.

So What Types of Foods Should You Eat?

You’ve got to make sure you’re eating the right foods. Shoveling candy, chips and ice cream down your throat will put on mass, but mostly the wrong kind.

Sometimes, though, it’s OK for a leaner guy like you to have some “cheat” foods.

If you’re traveling all day and don’t have access to “health” foods, you would be better off stopping at Burger King and McDonald’s than not eating for 10 hours.

Here are a couple of things you should know about your body type. As an ectomorph, you have a fast metabolic rate, high carbohydrate tolerance and high sympathetic nerve activity (Berardi et. al, 2015).

Ever heard of non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT)? Things like tapping your foot on the ground and walking around do actually contribute to your daily energy expenditure. Skinny guys tend to fidget more than the average person.

So being active all the time can actually work against you.

Also, you’ve got to use carbs to your advantage since you tolerate them well.

Since the majority of the population is interested in weight loss, you’ll hear lots of recommendations for “low-carb” diets. In these cases, we frown upon consuming foods like rice, bread and potatoes in large quantities.

And that’s fine – if you’re overweight.

As a guy who struggles mightily to pack on size, you need carbohydrates – and lots of them.

So why do carbs help you build muscle?

Glucose, the end product of carbohydrate metabolism, is your body’s preferred source of fuel. Because strength training consists of lots of high-intensity work over a relatively short period of time, you’re going to need energy fast, so increasing muscle glycogen stores is crucial.

Carbohydrates are especially important around a workout because carbohydrate consumption greatly increases the secretion of the anabolic hormone insulin, which promotes protein synthesis, decreases protein breakdown, stimulates glucose uptake and enhances glycogen storage (Campbell and Spano, 2011).

So yeah, carbs are kind of important.

For this reason, Precision Nutrition recommends those with an ectomorphic build consume 55 percent of their calories from carbohydrate, 25 percent from protein and 20 percent from fat (Berardi et. al, 2015).

More than half your calories should be coming from carbs.

While your body prefers to burn carbohydrate for energy from either muscle glycogen or blood glucose, you still need some dietary fat (Kleiner and Greenwood-Robinson, 2014). Fat is important in the production of testosterone and assists your body in the repair process post-exercise.

Testosterone? Recovery? Those are pretty important words. If you want to see some serious gains, dude, you better eat your fat. Add things avocados, nuts, nut butters and coconut oil to your diet.

And finally, let’s address the most talked about muscle-building macronutrient of all-time – protein.

Just about any serious lifter will have a protein shake readily available after a workout, and for good reason. Your body needs protein to grow and repair damaged cells and tissue. Because your cells are constantly breaking down and regenerating, your body needs to grab amino acids from its free amino acid pool. While your body makes some amino acids on its own (nonessential amino acids), you need to get eight essential amino acids from your diet. If your body doesn’t have enough amino acids stored, it will break down protein stores in the muscles to get what it needs (Baechle and Earle, 2008).

Not good.

So eat your protein, bro. And get it from numerous sources – not just your precious whey protein powder.

Foods like eggs, lean ground beef, chicken and fish are all great sources. Just make sure you get enough. Two eggs for breakfast and a tiny cup of yogurt for lunch isn’t going to cut it.

What Types of Workouts Should You Do?

Type in “workout to build muscle” on Google, and you’ll get more than three million results.

With so much information out there, you’re no doubt confused.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret – the program itself isn’t the most important part. Do you think Ronnie Coleman, Jay Cutler and Phil Heath all followed the exact same training routines to get to the top of the bodybuilding world?

Absolutely not.

You can get great results from tons of different programs. The most important factors are your execution of the program, your nutrition and your lifestyle.

Pick a program, and stick to it.

Whatever workout you do, you need to follow the basic rules of strength training.

First, you’ve got to practice the principle of progressive overload. In layman’s terms, you’ve got to focus on adding weight to the bar each time you lift.

Do a little bit more every time. Keep a training journal so you remember how much weight you lifted last time.

You’re not going to get jacked benching 135 pounds the rest of your life. While you may notice bodybuilders performing lots of reps and using intensifiers like drops sets, you need to realize those bodybuilders spent their initial years in the weight room getting strong.

At the beginning of his career, Arnold Schwarzenegger followed Reg Park’s 5×5 strength training program, focusing on getting strong in compound lifts like the back squat, bench press, deadlift and military press.

So if you’re a skinny dude trying to pack on some size, don’t you dare head for the dumbbell rack to do biceps curls before you’ve gotten your big, compound lifts out of the way.

Trust me, you’re not attracting any ladies heaving around 50-pound dumbbells like you’re having convulsions.

Similarly, you’ve got to follow the SAID (specific adaptation to imposed demand) principle. Your body will adapt to a certain type of stressor to get better at withstanding that same stressor in the future.

If you train with light weights and high reps, you’re going to improve your muscular endurance. If you want to build muscle, you’ve got to train at least moderately heavy and place lots of tension on your muscles.

So man up and start training with some intensity. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. When your muscles start to burn, push through it.

Giving a better effort than than last time is the best way to see those gains, dude!

Ectomorph Training and Nutrition Program

So you want a program that will help you both build muscle and gain weight?

Here are four simple steps you need to take to get started:

1. Figure out why you actually want to change. What would adding more muscle do for you? Would it make you more confident? If having more muscle won’t make your life better, you won’t change.
2. Keep a food journal of what you’re currently eating. To gain weight, you’ve got to be consistent with your diet. As we talked about before – no more starving yourself for an entire day just because you don’t have access to “health” foods. Use an app like MyFitnessPal to make it easy.
3. Try to tweak one thing at a time with your diet. If you change everything at once, you’re setting yourself up for failure and you’re going to end up overwhelmed and back to where you started. Once you’ve been able to continue with a habit every day for at least a week or two, add in something else.
4. Get a training journal and follow the training program below. Don’t tweak anything with this program and stick to it for a while. One of the biggest mistakes skinny guys make is constantly changing their programs based on something they read somewhere else. The only way to know if what you’re doing works is to stick with it for a long period of time. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither were the top physiques out there.

Before we even talk about the program, let’s address your nutrition. Remember, no amount of training you do matters if your nutrition isn’t on point.

Here are two nutritional habits to follow that will add noticeable size to your frame. You can add more once you’ve done these. Pick one to follow each week and don’t add another habit until you’ve proven you can complete the initial habit consistently for at least a week.

1. Eat a big breakfast every day. Choose four to eight ounces of a lean protein source like eggs, ground beef or chicken and combine it with a starchy carbohydrate source like oats, rice and potatoes and a vegetable. Skipping breakfast or eating a light breakfast will do you no good if you want to pack on lots of size.
2. Add two protein shakes per day. Now, we’re not just talking about a shake with whey protein only. Add a handful of berries, two tablespoons of peanut butter, a handful of lettuce or spinach and a serving of coconut oil. That will add some serious calories!

In terms of training, skinny guys respond really well to heavy weights.

Just ask the terminator.

In The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding, Arnold Schwarzenegger recommends ectomorphs use plenty of power moves with heavy weight and low reps in the six-to-eight-rep range (Schwarzenegger and Dobbins, 1999).

Seeing as Arnold is a seven-time winner of the Mr. Olympia award, you should probably listen to him.

Get really good at the “Big 3” exercises – the back squat, the bench press and deadlift.

Sure, you may be using them in your program right now, but are you doing them right? If you’re not growing, chances are you’re not.

Perform five sets of eight reps for each of these exercises three times a week. Use two warm-up sets to ramp up to your three working sets at the same weight. Start with a light weight you can hit easily and add five pounds to the bar each time. For many, your starting point may be just the 45-pound barbell.

It’s progressive overload 101, which is the best way for beginning lifters to see progress.

If you need to add in a couple of isolation exercises like biceps curls or calf raises at the end, fine. But don’t do them before you get your compound lifts out of the way.

Let’s go through the set-up and execution of each of the “big three.” Using improper form is one of the biggest things holding skinny guys back from getting strong.

Back Squat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlam5pWmNk0

Key Coaching Cues For The Back Squat:

1. Grab the bar and grip it tight, thinking about pulling the bar apart
2. Take no more than two or three steps back
3. Set your feet so your toes are pointed slightly out
4. Take a breath in
5. Push your knees over your toes as you descend
6. Descend until just before your back starts to round
7. Extend your hips at the top of the lift
8. Exhale

Bench Press

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e0lFsmY_Js

Key Coaching Cues for The Bench Press:

1. Lie on the bench with your eyes directly underneath the bar
2. Grab the bar and grip it tight, thinking about pulling the bar apart
3. Set your feet underneath your knees
4. Arch your upper back, thinking about putting your shoulder blades in your back pockets
5. Un-rack the bar without your shoulders coming up
6. Take a breath in
7. Pull the bar down to your sternum
8. Lock your arms out at the bar of the lift
9. Exhale

Deadlift

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFoSxaWiSYM

Key Coaching Cues For The Deadlift:

1. Set your feet shoulder-width apart and keep your shins an inch away from the bar
2. Grab the bar with your hands just outside your hips
3. Push your chest up
4. Move your knees forward until they touch the bar
5. Take a breath in
6. Pull the bar off the floor and finish by extending your hips
7. Exhale

About The Author

Luke Briggs is a strength coach, fitness addict and former full-time print journalist. Luke is a certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association and a Level 1 coach through Precision Nutrition. He also holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin’s prestigious school of journalism. A former skinny guy himself, Luke’s vision is to help leaner guys all over the world push past their genetics and build the muscular frames they’ve always wanted. You can check out his free blog and services at LukeBriggsFitness.com

References

Baechle, Thomas R., and Roger W. Earle. “Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning.” Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2008. Print.

Berardi, John, and Ryan Andrews. The Essentials of Sport and Exercise Nutrition. Second ed. N.p.: Precision Nutrition, 2015. Print.

Campbell, Bill I., and Marie A. Spano. “NSCA’s Guide to Sport and Exercise Nutrition.” Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2011. Print.

Carter, J.E. Lindsay, and Barbara Honeyman Heath. “Somatotyping: Development and Applications.” New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Print.

Eidelman, Scott, Jennifer Pattershall and Christian S. Crandall. “Longer is better.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Nov. 2010. Web. 23 Feb 2016.

Kleiner, Susan, and Maggie Greenwood-Robinson. “Power Eating.” Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2014. Print.

Schwarzenegger, Arnold, and Bill Dobbins. “The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding.” New York, NY; Fireside, 1999. Print.

The post The Simple Solution For Skinny Hard Gainers appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. Ladies, peeing during workouts or physical activity is not normal, and shouldn’t just be brushed off as a part of life. There’s a way to fix it.

2. Developing strong pelvic floor control and function involves more than just practicing your kegel exercises every day! This is an old school thought that needs to die, especially if you want to stop peeing during workouts!

3. Incorporating your diaphragm and breathing patterns with challenging positions such as front planks, side planks, squats and core rotation are the staples of any athlete’s urinary incontinence corrective program.

4. There’s no shame in correcting your pelvic floor function and changing the way you move, workout and live. The only shame is letting this dysfunction continue and get worse over time. Lets make the change!

Even A Little Peeing During Workouts Isn’t Acceptable!

Being a Physical Therapist somehow hardwires clam shell exercises and glute bridges into our professional DNA when it comes to women’s health and pelvic dysfunction. By all means, if you can’t do a single leg bridge, you have some strength and stability issues — but to truly work the pelvic floor, you must get functional and a bit creative! But before we move on, remember, the cure for pee pants during workouts isn’t  all about the kegels as you’ve been told. It’s a little more complicated than that.

A strong pelvic floor is not only essential for women wanting to lift heavy, but for all women who want to enjoy life! While it’s awesome that the Crossfit world is bringing awareness to pelvic floor issues, simply saying it’s okay and bragging about peeing during double-unders is not a solution. It’s a crime, and it’s doing women everywhere a disservice. It’s not normal to pee yourself, EVEN JUST A LITTLE. The pelvic floor should be strong and stable like the rest of your body. Women are giving up on what they love because of their weak pelvic floors and the healthcare professionals in their lives are telling them to do more kegels.  That course of treatment is outdated and ineffective, and here’s why.

The Problem With Urinary Incontinence Treatment

Western medicine is great at honing in on an area of treatment, but as we’ve learned with the knee, standard treatment protocol nowadays is to look at the foot and hip first, because it’s rarely the knee itself that’s the cause of the problem. The integration of comprehensive kinetic chain treatment for the knee took 10 years or more to hit mainstream PT.  Let’s do it faster with the pelvic floor.  For years, kegels were thought to be the first and ONLY line of defense for pelvic floor issues. Not only is that simply not true but it’s flat out wrong. Unfortunately, the message to women is still to do your kegels, and if you aren’t getting better then you aren’t doing enough kegels, making women feel horrible about themselves. Let’s beat a dead horse a little more because that works. Yelling at your patient for not doing enough quad sets for their knee pain just seems ridiculous. So, let’s take the time to look at the kinetic chain and be rock stars with treatment!

In order to lift heavy weights, accomplish dynamic movements, and excel in extreme sports with a strong pelvic floor, we need to be integrative. The pelvic floor is not a stand-alone muscle; it interacts with the muscles above and below it to create optimal functioning. That’s why kegels alone often do not work for people, no matter how diligently they do them: they’re only targeting one piece of a much larger puzzle. Now, just because I’m saying kegels should not be your only line of defense for pelvic floor weakness doesn’t mean you should throw out the baby with the bathwater.

What About The Kegel Exercise?

The occasional kegel exercise can be beneficial, but you need to be sure you’re doing it correctly. The common description is to stop the flow of urine, but a more accurate description is trying to draw in a tampon. Graphic, I know, but very accurate. As you lift or draw up your pelvic floor, you should also feel the lower part of your abdominal wall lifting or tightening too. These two are impossible to separate, hence why trunk alignment is so important for pelvic floor function.

The second half, and probably the most important part of doing a kegel, is relaxing or fully lengthening the pelvic floor muscles. All muscles require lengthening before they can fully contract, and when someone is weak they tend to hang on for dear life, which in the long run makes them weaker. This happens to the pelvic floor by constantly holding a low level of tone making it impossible to get a full contraction. This is why deep squatting it so awesome: it gets length to the pelvic floor without taking much effort.

But again, kegels are only part of the battle. Let’s get integrative and see what we are missing when it comes to the pelvic floor, starting with the diaphragm. Here are the three most effective methods to cure your workout pees, and exercises to strengthen your pelvic floor for good!

#1 Develop Your Diaphragm

The diaphragm is the top to your core, making it a formidable ally in your quest for stability and strength. Proper diaphragm function turns on your pelvic floor. If the diaphragm does not function correctly, the pelvic floor won’t either. They work together like a piston system.

A great diaphragm starts with a great inhale. When you lift heavy stuff, you develop strong paraspinal (back) muscles out of necessity to protect your spine. If your paraspinals become a little too hyper-vigilant, they will not relax to allow proper diaphragm expansion. Therefore, we need to shut down your paraspinals (don’t worry, they will kick back in when you pick up that heavy barbell and eventually learn to have a little more balance with the diaphragm).

A plank with relaxed hips, while focusing on breathing is a challenging exercise for the diaphragm. I love this exercise because you get increased core strength and the ability to focus on your pelvic floor, all while training your diaphragm.

The Front Plank

Front Plank Coaching Cues:

• Start on your hands and knees, and then lift your knees so you end up in a push up position with relaxed legs.
• Tuck your chin – keep your head up and in-line with your body.
• Relax your quads and hip flexors (you need strong scapula for this).
• Keep your shoulders away from your ears and your weight forward over your hands. Do not push backwards.
• Elbows pointed toward your toes.
• Tuck your butt slightly from your core, not your glutes (basically making sure your lower abs are working).
• Do not let your lower back drop down when you blow into the balloon.
• Do not let your head drop down when you blow into the balloon.
• Focus on drawing in (contracting) your pelvic floor muscles as you exhale and relaxing out on the inhale.
• If this is too hard, drop down to your hands and knees and start there.
• Don’t do this exercise if you suffer from diastasis recti

Paraspinals still tight? Try this exercise to loosen things up and get you ready for glute activation. This PRI squat really promotes diaphragm expansion and pelvic floor response. Be sure to breathe in the same way as detailed above: Inhale: pelvic floor relaxes Exhale: pelvic floor draws up

The Full PRI Squat

https://youtu.be/_QgxKK-CYu8

Full PRI Squat Coaching Cues:

• Hold onto something stable, so your arms can relax straight
• Squat down, resting into your hips as much as possible
• Balance your weight between the balls of your feet and heels
• Rest your head on your knees if you can
• Take a deep breath in, feeling the stretch across your midback
• Fully relax on the exhale
• Try to feel your pelvic floor respond to your diaphragm
• Inhale- pelvic floor relaxes down
• Exhale- pelvic floor naturally recoils up
• It may be difficult to get in air at first, this is normal, it just means you are tight. Keep going, it will get easier!

I want your pelvic floor to be automatic in response to your breathing so you never have to think about it again, but in some people the timing is off and needs work. For those people, their pelvic floor goes down when they exhale instead of up. Often, this person has resorted to bearing down pressure on an exhale or valsalva (holding your breath) when lifting to eke out every last bit of intra-abdominal pressure they could (lifting or pooping this way are both bad). Let’s consider this another form of compensation, and it’s not healthy for your pelvic floor. I’ve seen numerous patients with hemorrhoids and hernias who put tremendous pressure down on their pelvic floor without a pelvic floor counter response. But don’t worry, you can retrain this just like any other muscle memory developed in the body. If you do enough simple exercises thinking about your pelvic floor engaging up when you create intra-abdominal pressure, you can rewire the pelvic floor response to become automatic. Try this on your warm up sets with some planks and body weight squats.

Doing a few side planks is never a bad idea either! Heck, if you want to have some fun, try blowing up a balloon and timing your pelvic floor on the exhale. The balloon will create significant intra-abdominal pressure and challenge your pelvic floor to respond. I guarantee you have never done a harder side plank!

The Side Plank

https://youtu.be/HkFg_ngva5Y

Side Plank Coaching Cues:

• Try this barefoot, preferably.
• Start standing close to a bar with your feet roughly hip width apart. I don’t want them too wide or too turned out, but a little is fine. Whatever is comfortable for your hips.
• Spread your toes and engage your arch – Weight balanced – Keep your big toe down
• Tuck your chin
• Try and keep your body as upright as possible as you sit down into your glutes
• Hold a neutral spine. Do not increase or decrease your lumbar curve as you go down.
• If you lack ankle dorsiflexion, place a small book under your heels to compensate.

#2 Lengthen Your Glutes

Being told you have a tight ass is not the compliment it used to be, especially when it pertains to pelvic floor dysfunction.

Let’s bring the diaphragm and glutes together with the pelvic floor to give you a more in-depth look at the kinetic chain. A dysfunctional diaphragm, glute weakness and lack of hip rotational strength all contribute to shutting down your pelvic floor. Your pelvic floor muscles run from your coccyx to your pubic bone, providing stability for your pelvis and SI Joints, as well as holding up your internal organs. So it’s a very bad idea to let them to take a break for more reasons than just incontinence.

The glutes help to control the pelvic floor. Strong glutes = strong pelvic floor.

Two types of glute inactivity that decrease pelvic floor strength and response time:

1. Too much anterior pelvic tilt (hanging forward) = slow/inadequate response pelvic floor, especially on heavy lifts. I think it’s the hanging, just makes things lazy.
2. Too much posterior pelvic tilt (clenching) = decreased ability to get a full contraction of the pelvic floor = decreased strength

This doesn’t have to happen on both sides simultaneously. I’ve seen patients that think they have a strong pelvic floor, but only one side of their pelvic floor is truly contracting, while the other side is taking a mini vacation. These patients usually have accompanying hip or SI joint pain.

Hanging Into An Anterior Tilt: Post pregnancy body. I hear the flat butt complaint more than once a day, mostly from women. Pregnancy shuts down your diaphragm and flares your ribs, sending you into an anterior tilt and causing your glutes to lose their advantageous angle to work. Take away glute activation for everyday tasks and it doesn’t matter how many times you hit the squat rack at the gym; you are one step closer to flat butt syndrome.

Posterior Pelvic Tilt: There are many ways to shut down your diaphragm and kill your glutes besides being a postpartum woman. If you have you seen a guy hunch over a computer with forward head posture and rounded shoulders for hours a day then you know what I mean. That guy has no butt either; it’s literally a straight line down from his flat lumbar spine to his heels. But don’t worry, he’s getting up from his desk once every 3 hours and doing a corner stretch (like that’s going to cover it).

Clenching the glutes is a strength killer. When you clench your glutes, you keep them in a shorted position creating a tight weak butt (you may have plenty of passive length but lack eccentric controlled length). Muscles like to lengthen AND contract to get stronger, not just contract. In other words, by clenching, you are making your glutes tighter and weaker. The glutes affect the pelvic floor. Chronic clenchers generally have weak pelvic floors that do not want to activate as quickly or intensely as they should. So basically the glute clenching tells the pelvic floor it can take a break, and to throw in one more level, glute clenchers generally lose hip rotational ability as well. You can also clench on just one side. Generally my patients will describe this as their “weak hip”. Clenching, increased pronation (collapsing of the arch) and piriformis (butt) pain go hand in hand.

My favorite way to lengthen the glutes for both an anterior tilt and posterior tilt is a really deep squat. In both cases you focus on the movement coming from the glutes not the low back.

Start by holding on so you can really sit into your glutes, then progress to a front squat. As you acquire more eccentric control to your glutes you will be able to sit further and further without having to hold on.

Squat with Pelvic Floor Timing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arOmS-rbJ18

Squat With Pelvic Floor Timing Coaching Cues:

• Try this barefoot, preferably.
• Start standing close to a bar with your feet roughly hip width apart. I don’t want them too wide or too turned out, but a little is fine. Whatever is comfortable for your hips.
• Spread your toes and engage your arch – Weight balanced – Keep your big toe down
• Tuck your chin
• Try and keep your body as upright as possible as you sit down into your glutes
• Hold a neutral spine. Do not increase or decrease your lumbar curve as you go down.
• If you lack ankle dorsiflexion, place a small book under your heels to compensate.

Not only will you get a stronger, more responsive pelvic floor, you will also develop great glutes in the process. No more flat butts! Amen.

#3 Train the Pelvic Floor for Action

The adductors and hip rotational muscles have a direct line of activation to the pelvic floor. The problem is, too many people train in the frontal plane (think front lunges) and sagittal plane (think side lunges) but not the transverse plane (think rotation).  And if they do, their focus is often on the concentric (contracting or shortening) portion of the work, neglecting eccentric (lengthening) effort.

My favorite exercise for training eccentric hip rotation is a lunge with rotation.

Hip Rotation for the Pelvic Floor

https://youtu.be/9xtpiTn-Y54

Hip Rotation Coaching Cues:

• Grab the handle of the band with your outside hand, and then place your inside hand on top (recruits posterior chain of right shoulder).
• Step away to create tension.
• Tall posture. Chin tucked.
• Start down in a lunge position with your arms straight in front, like you are doing a Pilloff Press.
• As you come out of the lunge, rotate through your hips to the left.
• Your knees should stay straight ahead. This is not a pivot on your feet.
• Your trunk should stay locked in with your pelvis. No rotation is happening from the lumbar spine.
• Focus on the rotation coming from your hips.

This lunge focuses on the rotation of the femur in the socket and eccentric control as you unwind out of the lunge. Guaranteed to make your adductors and glutes sore! Plus, it will stabilize your SI Joint as well as turn on your pelvic floor.

Put An End To Pee Pants With Pelvic Floor Control

Our body is a wonderful integrated system and how one part plays off another is absolutely fascinating. In Matt Damon’s new movie, The Martian, I love it when he says “I’ve got to science the shit out of it”. That’s how we need to be looking at treatment of the pelvic floor, and frankly how we need to address every weakness in the body. Nothing is ever as simple as quad sets or kegels, so let’s stop being lazy and pretending it is.

Start asking every single client or patient, “do you feel like you need to go pee before we do box jumps or do you ever need to rush to make it to the bathroom on time?” They may think what they are experiencing is normal, but you might just discover a pelvic floor weakness that they never would have sought out help for, and can then subsequently CHANGE THEIR LIFE. Because unlike having a flat butt, you can’t “see” if their pelvic floor is working and strong. You have to get a bit personal and ask. If we all get a bit personal, it will become normal and the pelvic floor will be just like any other set of muscles in the body and readily incorporated into general PT treatment and training programs. Not only can pelvic floor training be successful, it can be but fun — and it’s a whole lot more than kegels, bridges and clams! Lets stop the peeing during workouts once and for all! Ladies, who’s with me?!

About The Author

Dr. Sarah E. Duvall, PT, DPT, CPT, CNC

Sarah Ellis Duvall, Physical Therapist and Personal Trainer, has spent the last 15 years utilizing her unique approach to create strength and cure injuries. She is passionate about women’s health and helps women in their quest to become strong and feel great. When she is not hanging off the side of a mountain or spending time with her family, Sarah enjoys writing and presenting at www.CoreExerciseSolutions.com and figuring out how her patients can continue to pursue their dreams and lead a strong, adventurous life. To learn more about her programs, including her Hip, Core and Pelvic Floor Series, visit her website.

References

Boyle KL, et al. The value of blowing up a balloon. N Am J Sports Phys Ther. 2010 Sep;5(3):179-88.

Hsiu-Chuan Hung. et al. An alternative intervention for urinary incontinence: Retraining diaphragmatic, deep abdominal and pelvic floor muscle coordinated function. Man Ther. 2010 Jun; 15(3):273-9.

Park H, Han D. The effect of the correlation between the contraction of the pelvic floor muscles and diaphragmatic motion during breathing. J Phys Ther Sci. 2015 Jul;27(7)

Talasz H. et al. Proof of concept: differential effects of Valsalva and straining maneuvers on the pelvic floor. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2012 Oct;164(2):227-33.

Peeing During Workouts Summary

The post Peeing During Workouts is NOT Normal and It’s NOT OK! appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Want To End Your Training Week Strong? Do THIS!

Sure, we all want to add a little pain free volume on top of a heavy and challenging training week, am I right? But many times, we end up broken down after pushing too much volume and intensity with little to no results to show for it. One of the most effective and efficient ways to build pain free volume into your routine is by the strategic programming of a giant set into your end of the week workouts. This method works especially well when used as workout finishers to test your mental and physical fortitude, but also tap into some metabolic stress in lagging muscle groups that is most commonly lacking from many training programs.

Here’s the exact blueprint of one of my favorite pain free shoulder finisher giant sets that will light a torch to all three aspects of the deltoid muscle while also incorporating the chest and the rhomboids and lats for the pump of your life. Lets be honest, who doesn’t need a little extra attention on the old shoulders!? Are you ready to jump into one of the most challenging shoulder giant sets of your life?

RELATED ARTICLE: Lower Body Finisher Superset For Hypertrophy

Before we get into the exact details of this giant set, you can enjoy watching a full and uncut set of this notoriously brutal pain free shoulder finisher that I completed a few weeks ago. Man, this was one of the first rounds, and those five pound dumbbells felt like 50’s by the time I got to that last movement. Enjoy as you bask in my sorrow and burn, but before you forget…remember, you’re up next!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vw3b5_cS0Q

The Exercises and Prescription

3A. Cable Reverse Fly 2×12@15

3B. Dumbbell Hex Press 2×10@15

3C. Seated Dumbbell 6-Way 2×10@15

Giant Set Coaching Notes

We are saving the accessory shoulder work for last in this training day when you’re most likely ready to call it a day. So be sure to train hard and train heavy before you implement this giant set, but that should go without saying!

These are quick in and out, and only two working sets of shoulder dominant movements to finish off your upper body training with a bang. Are you tough enough to endure the metabolic burn of this finisher? Here’s how to do it, breaking down each of the three movements individually for your movement comprehension. The brutal beauty is in the acute movement execution details so pay attention!

Cable Reverse Fly

Starting with the dual cable rack set at about shoulder height, the first movement will be the Cable Reverse Fly to target again the posterior deltoids along with the scapular retractors like the rhomboids. Execute these pulls in a slow and controlled fashion, as we want to hit the shoulders with tension and metabolic fatigue. For most cable setups, you will have to go one arm over the other, so make sure to switch which arm is positioned on top for all your sets.

Dumbbell Hex Press

As we just targeted posterior shoulder tension, we are going to flip the movement and go into building a huge amount of tension in the anterior shoulders and chest with the Dumbbell Hex Press. This movement is more dependent on internal tension development, meaning you won’t have to load up super heavy to “feel” the tension. So determine a load that will allow you to contract hard. Tension at the top of the movement for a half of a second, and let the dumbbells down slow pressing them together throughout. These should light up your anterior delts and upper chest.

6-Way Shoulder Raise

The last movement in the giant set is a global shoulder movement, the 6-Way. Moving through many planes of motion on this movement, your shoulders will fatigue quickly, especially at 10 reps. Go extremely light to ensure you complete all your reps. Remember, we are targeting metabolic stress here not trying to set PR’s on shoulder specific work. For many, you will have to start with just bodyweight, especially this late in the training day. Execute these with smooth transitions between movements and control your core and shoulder position throughout.

Programming Considerations

This giant set finisher is the perfect way to end a tough week of training. By challenging smaller muscle groups that are most often lacking in the general population that is sedentary during the day chained to desks for hours on end, we blast what needs the extra attention in record time.

So if you are training on body part splits, place this giant set as the last set of movements on your chest or back emphasis days. Or for all you overly functional athletes out there, implementing this challenge set at the end of any big compound movement day incorporating total body or upper body targeted movement works extremely well.

If you love this type of programming with the pairing of specific movements together in an intlligently designed and results driven format, you will love my FHT. Want to take your training to the next level with custom developed and intelligently designed workouts that produce all the results with none of the aches and pains? Join the hundreds of FHT Members that have been revolutionizing the way they look, feel and function with Dr. John’s 12-Week FHT Program!

The Functional Hypertrophy Training Program includes multiple methods of strategic movement pairing to tap into muscle growth, metabolic stress, fat-loss, and of course, post activation potentiation techniques to generate every drop of performance out of your big movements. You ready? Click the image below to check out the testimonials, success stories and of course more details and program features!

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is an internationally recognized coach, physical therapist, speaker, and writer, whose published over 200 articles in some of the most widely regarded media outlets in the industry like Men’s Fitness, Testosterone Nation, Mountain Dog Diet, Bodybuilding.com, and Muscle and Strength, to name a few.

Along with an impressive laundry list of publications, Dr. John works with some of the world’s most elite athletes, including Gold Medalist Olympians, NFL All-Pro Quarterbacks, MLB All-Star Pitchers, Professional Bodybuilders and World Class IronMan Triathletes.

He takes pride in offering uniquely customized programming to clients of all walks of life in the exact same detail and passion as the Pros! Dr. John’s 12-Week Functional Hypertrophy Training Program is now available to you.

RELATED ARTICLE: Lower Body Finisher Superset For Hypertrophy

The post Pain Free Shoulder Finisher Giant Set appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

The Future of Advanced Physical Therapy

With the continuum of advancements in the field of physical therapy, rehabilitation and athletic performance, it’s truly amazing how some of the most innovative methods in the field are expediting recovery, preventing injuries and improving physical performance better than ever before.

I am proud to bring together a prestigious group of the top sports performance physical therapists from across North America to share their most innovative and effective rehab methods that are creating dynamic results for their clients and patients in record time. Here are the best physical therapy methods in the physical therapy industry today, and how to use these methods to expedite recovery and improve performance.

Functional Dry Needling

https://youtu.be/Xfn0UPNvjvE

“Improving ankle mobility with dry needling – The list of sports where adequate ankle mobility is extensive.  A treatment technique that I’ve found to be effective in treating many cases of limited ankle mobility, especially due to limitations in soft tissue/neural tone, is dry needling.  I start by assessing an athletes ability to bring their knee to the wall while keeping their heel on the ground.  I then dry needle their calf muscles (gastrocnemius, soleus, and tibialis anterior) and then retest.  This normally increases the ankle flexibility by 20-30% which is then reinforced with a mobility exercise for the athlete to perform as part of their pre game/practice warmup.”

Jason Shane, MPT, CPT

Owner of Shane Physiotherapy in Vancouver, British Columbia

Preventative Strength Training For The Masters Population

https://youtu.be/84YdIpceb8U

“I’m a firm believer that we don’t LOAD our clients over 65 enough, she taught persons in the 60s, 70s, 80s how to squat, do burpees, work into higher intensities and saw the amazing results! Its a lot easier for your grandmother to get up from a fall if she does burpees – or maybe she just won’t have that fall in the first place! This prompted me to start my PhD in 2015 where I will be comparing different strength protocols in older adults. While in the gym, I also run a “Boomers” program that focuses on prevention and maintaining function into our “Boomer” years. I am proud to announce that I will be starting my own facility in June of this year based off this exact idea.”

Christina Nowak MScPT, CSCS, PhD(c)

Owner of STAVE Off Fitness in Kingston, Ontario

RELATED ARTICLE: “The Masters Athlete“

Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (IASTM)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_ZLnUYrHeE

“IASTM is one of my first manual treatments of choice. Why is that? It has less contraindications than joint mobilization/manipulation. Also, many times when recovering from surgery or injury, directly treating the area is contraindicated, or too sensitive to work on directly. You can treat adjacent areas and affect the rest of the chain. In addition, you can still have direct effects to the area under most threat without causing any “danger” signals to the CNS. Finally, you effect a larger portion of the homuculus with IASTM. Skin is the largest organ in the body with many mechanoreceptors located in the underlying fascia. With only a few short days of immobilization or pain, the virtual representation of the body part in the brain, or the homuculus appears smudged or blurred under fMRIs. A major tenet of Modern Manual Therapy seminars – IASTM could have a plausible “neurosculpting” effect on the smudged area through light and novel skin stimulation. This is more likely than breaking up fascial adhesions or scar tissue, since it thousands of pounds of force to stretch only 1% – unlikely under any manual techniques. Lastly, it’s effective and saves your hands. Don’t believe me? Here are some studies here, here, here and A quick review on What IASTM is, is not, and what it may be. Like ALL other treatments, IASTM is an input, is transient and needs to be reinforced with education and exercise to have lasting effects. Check out EDGE Mobility System here! Coupon code strengthdoc10 gets you 10% off of everything!”

Dr. Erson Religioso, PT, DPT, FAAOMPT

Owner of The EDGE Mobility System in Buffalo, New York

The Emergence of Pelvic Floor Postural Reeducation 

https://youtu.be/Fe9MFAPkK-Y

“As a Sports Medicine Physical Therapist that thrives on connecting the entire kinetic chain to truly fix an injury, I treated chronic pain for over 10 years in my out-of-pocket pay practice, where most of my patients had already been to 3 or 4 other practitioners, and the traditional routes of treatment didn’t work. This gave me an outside-the-box approach to treatment. Utilizing knowledge of the body and becoming a mom myself, I turned my focus to women’s health and the pelvic floor. My approach to treating the pelvic floor through the kinetic chain is not only fun, it also produces dramatic results. Alignment and strength of the diaphragm, spine, core, hips and feet are crucial to building a strong foundation for dynamic pelvic floor strength.”

Dr. Sarah Ellis Duvall, PT, DPT, CPT, CNC

Owner of Core Exercise Solutions in Boston, Massachusetts

RELATED ARTICLE: “Peeing During Workouts Is NOT Normal!”

Cupping For Treatment of Soft Tissues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1OwH3JYtMk

“Cupping is a different soft tissue modality that provides a mechanical sensation to the body which can have a very profound impact to help modulate pain and improve movement. When you think of most soft tissue applications such as IASTM or Active Release, both utilize variations of a compressive force. Cupping on the other hand provides distraction or decompression to the superficial layers of tissue. This helps promote blood flow and neurodynamic mobility to reduce sensitivity of movement. When you combine the mechanical decompression of the cupping tool with movement, it creates a skin rolling effect. The mechanical stimulation of movement plus tissue distraction creates a very sensory rich environment that the nervous system can respond favorably towards.”

Dr. Greg Schaible, PT, DPT, CSCS

Owner of On Track Physical Therapy and Performance in Ann Arbor, Michigan

RELATED ARTICLE: “It Plyometric Training Causing Knee Injuries?”

The Use of Digital Marketing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFig5PP0XxQ

“We uniquely utilizing digital marketing to reach right at people, at the right time, for the right purpose; using emotional selling and customer centered language to create interesting content that engages, resonates, and connects. Our view is that content is king, marketing is queen, and consistency is key. Consistency is what brings a brand image into focus. Without consistency, brands tend to visualize themselves with a certain identity while customers perceive them with an alternate appearance. Marketing embodies the channels, promotions, placements, and pricing which ultimately leads to product. Product can be content, service, or a physical product. The digital marketing take on product development is that it must communicate a story and a reason. The focal point is “Why?” Why is a product, service, or company in existence? How is it going to do the job, make gains, and kill pains for the customer? What about it, is truly unique? UpDoc Media uniquely practices Physical Therapy by answering these questions with clinical precision, benefiting other PTs and PT businesses for mutual growth and accelerated success.”

Dr. Gene Shirokobrod and Dr. Ben Fung

Co-Owners of UpDoc Media in The Interwebz

Blood Flow Restriction Training

https://youtu.be/DhhD5bKfSrI

“Blood flow restriction training (BFR) is a specialized form of low intensity resistance training that has demonstrated superior results in muscle growth when compared to traditional methods of low intensity training. Benefits of BFR include increased muscle size, muscle strength, improved bone density, and increases in cardiovascular function. Additionally little to no recovery time is required when performing BFR making it an excellent tool to stimulate growth and rehabilitation.”

Dr. Mario Novo, PT, DPT

Owner of The Lifters Clinic in Nashville, Tennessee

Unconventional Training Methods For Rehabilitation

http://youtu.be/kT7OlmvbKds

“Unconventional Training is a training method which utilizes multiple tools of historical origin. Tools like the Sandbag, 2X4, Indian Clubs, Kettlebells and Steel Maces, just to name a few, are challenging the industry norm when it comes to rehabilitation and training programs. These tools are nothing new; in fact, many of them have been around for thousands of years. It has just been in recent time that we have largely forgotten about their unique properties and devastating effectiveness for enhancing movement and performance. These unconventional tools provide quality load and neurological adaption for movement pattern corrections, rehabilitation and many training programs. Unconventional training allows the body to get into particular positions with safer leverage points providing an awesome tool to assist in correcting faulty movement patterns and building explosive strength. One of the greatest things about Unconventional Training is it’s diversity and myriad of exercise and movement options. Implementing these tools into your training and rehab can be quick, easy, and effective!”

Dr. James Spencer, DC, ATC, FIAMA, FMS, SFMA, ART, FDN, YBT, PRI, CFSC

Sports Performance Chiropractor at Dr. James Spencer, LLC in Vero Bach, Florida

RELATED ARTICLE: “Unconventional Tools For Corrective Exercise and Rehab”

Rhythmic and Reactionary Dynamic Stability, Strength and Stabilization

http://youtu.be/DdIQXI10hng

“I work with a large population of aesthetic based sports (gymnastics, ballet, etc) that requires excessive mobility ranges. Often times the athlete has great control and strength at mid range, but significantly lacks that paralleled strength or control at end range. End range is where they typically have issues related to instability or passive tissue overload, so we need to prepare them for it. To safely return the athlete back to their sport and optimize their performance, they must work strength and dynamic stability at end range. By learning these principles from other practitioners, I adopted using manual techniques for end range strength and rhythmic stabilization drills based on the athletes sporting requirements.”

Dr. David Tilley, PT, DPT

Owner of SHIFT Movement Science in Boston, Massachusetts

The Emergence of Strength Training For Injury Prevention

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKNWgE8xbfQ

“While corrective exercises may have their place in physical therapy, we must not downplay the importance of heavy strength training. In order to effectively bridge the gap from rehab to performance, we MUST strive to incorporate more barbell lifts into clinical practice. The problem is, it may not always be feasible to initiate the traditional variations early on. Take the military press for example. In order to perform this exercise, one must possess both adequate shoulder/scapular ROM and thoracic extension. While it may be a great option for those in the later stages of rehabilitation, it could exacerbate issues in the early stages. Implementing an exercise such as the single-arm landmine press can effectively train upward rotation while avoiding potentially painful end-range shoulder flexion. Incorporate barbells in a safe and intelligent manner to effectively bridge the gap from rehab to performance! “

Michael Mash, SPT, CSCS, FMSC

Owner of Barbell Rehab and Performance in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania

RELATED ARTICLE: “The Role of Low-Bar Squat in Post Operative ACL Rehab”

The Improvement of Gross Foundational Movement Patterns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S6uYzXoFnw&feature=youtu.be

“So that might be an over-exaggeration but the rehab world is moving away from the stretch, smash, and crush mentality when it comes to improving mobility. Instead, we utilize loading to improve mobility. Eccentric focused exercises can profoundly impact performance and isometric holds focusing on maintaining proper alignment can help athletes “own” those difficult positions. The rehab world is also moving towards a more in-depth analysis of WHY certain muscles are tight! Previously we diagnosed tightness in the hamstrings, psoas, and piriformis muscles and simply told people to stretch those muscles. Now we realize that the tension in these muscles can be the result of the body not having proper stability in a region and that muscle tightening as a means of controlling motion. So instead of rolling and stretching these muscles, we are improving their strength and stability.”

Dr. Zachary Long, PT, DPT, CertDN, NASM-PES, BFR

Owner of The Barbell Physio in Charlotte, North Carolina

RELATED ARTICLE: “The Truth About Squat Depth, Injury Rates and The Knees Out Cue”

Prioritizing Strength Training For Rehabilitation and Prevention

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9Ulbc0TewE

“A really important trend with physical therapists recently is a shift in focus from very specific strength training to more general strength training for the purposes of optimal rehabilitation and prevention. We have traditionally focused our exercise selection and loading parameters around either basic therapeutic principles dating back to the early-mid 1900’s (ie. 3×10) or around a very advanced sport-specific model of skill or sport mimicry (I’m avoiding the ‘f’ word here). We are now recognizing that the former is insufficient loading beyond the early phases of rehabilitation and that the latter is just too specific for transfer to anything beyond the specific exercise itself. While each of these types of training still have a place at various phases of the rehabilitation process (and for different purposes), I’m extremely happy to see that therapists are embracing whole body strength training as a method of improving clients’ function over the long term.”

Scotty Butcher, PhD, BScPT, ACSM-RCEP

Associate Professor in the School of Physical Therapy at University of Saskatchewan

Systemized Pre-Training Dynamic Warm Up Protocols

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-4x091tEoU

“In the field of sports performance and physical therapy, we have made some huge advancements in the way we diagnose and remediate both movement dysfunction and pain. But methods like self-myofascial release techniques, dynamic based stretching, activation drills, corrective exercise and gross movement pattern development are only as strong as their execution and weakest link when programed individually. The future of gold standard physical therapy practice will have a huge amount of overlap with physical preparation in sports performance through the dynamic warm up sequence. Having a systemized plan that allows synergy between all the best methods that are used to address soft tissue, mobility and motor pattern remediation will allow physical therapists, strength coaches and personal trainers the ability to expedite their “corrective” time in training and therapeutic exercise, allowing a greater amount of time and energy to be devoted to intelligently designed strength and movement based training. Though every pre-training sequence will be specific to the individual client, the way in which we build these programs under the systems umbrella will minimize ineffective movement programming, and maximize the effects of all movements working together as a unit to prepare a client for performance and injury prevention. I have been working on perfecting this system for close to two years, and it will continue to be on the forefront of my focus until the system is released for the public! In the meantime, I will continue to speak on this topic throughout North America in 2016 on this exact topic.”

Dr. John Rusin, PT, DPT, CSCS, ART, FMS1-2, YBT, SFMA, FDN1

Owner of Dr. John Rusin Physical Therapy in Madison, Wisconsin

RELATED ARTICLE: “Why Foam Rolling Doesn’t Do What You Think It Does”

The post The Best Physical Therapy Methods and Techniques appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. Much like training is to the body, imagery is to the mind. Combining the two can create incredible results, as long you take into account several key aspects including being realistic, controlling your thought processes and being consistent with your mental practice.

2. Everyone uses self-talk, no matter if they think they do or not, so make it work for you by doing it right. Speak to yourself in the affirmative, be high energy and use personal key words that deeply mean something to you.

3. If all else fails to prepare you for an epic workout, using strategic breathing techniques along with power movements to prime the central nervous system are highly effective techniques. And when combined with imagery and positive self talk, you’ll be unstoppable.

4. The next time you feel like throwing in the towel and dogging it through a workout, remember these tools, and give yourself the mental edge to persevere and make gains.

Boost Mental Workout Intensity

We’ve all been there. After taking your pre workout, you walk, no check that, charge into the gym feeling like you’ve got a massive pump even though you have yet to touch a weight. The weights feel like they’re filled with helium, you’re smashing PRs easily, adding on monster drop sets just because you can and they feel good.

You walk out of the gym feeling massive, energized and in a mental zone. THAT was the workout you’ve been waiting for.

Those workouts only come around every so often though, but what if there was a way to bring your everyday workout up to your peak intensity? Simply put, how can you stop wasting your time and efforts in the gym even when you don’t physically, emotionally or mentally feel like pushing yourself and training hard?

You’re in luck, because here are the three most effective mental techniques of elite athletes that you can use to dominate your next training session… If you’re mentally strong enough, that is.

#1 Imagery

This is the most powerful technique at your disposal. More powerful than your pre-workout concoction or fancy fitness gadgets, imagery can help take you from good to great in almost any physical pursuit. When John McCain was a POW in Vietnam, he reportedly played 18 holes of golf at his favorite course in the US mentally twice a day. When he was released, he was able to shoot four shots under his previous best, despite being imprisoned for five and a half years. That’s impressive, but I guess that same strategy hasn’t helped in presidential elections.

If imagery is so powerful, why isn’t it more mainstreamed? There’s a reason that not everyone uses imagery to take themselves to the next level. It’s HARD and takes time and patience to master over time.

Much like training is to the body, imagery is to the mind. Combining the two can create incredible results, as long you take into account several key aspects.

Be Realistic

The best imagery is the most realistic. So if you’re going to visualize yourself squatting 405, go through your pre squat routine, putting on the plates, tightening your belt, smelling the rubber from the weights, and walking the weight out, before you even get to the actual lift.

If your current squat max is 315, also don’t visualize yourself squatting 900lbs. To get the benefit out of this technique, you need to recreate the events in your mind exactly how they’ll happen in real life. The same for sports, if you’re playing high school basketball, visualizing playing in the NBA playoffs isn’t going to have the impact you want.

Go Slow and Control Your Thoughts

At the beginning, it’s important to go slowly through your visualization technique. Although it sounds simple, many times insecurities will play out in your imagery, such as getting pinned underneath the weight, a false start off the blocks at a track meet, missing an important layup.

When going slow, it’s easier to rewind this mental imagery and play it back until you have it perfect. When visualizing something like a deadlift or a squat, make sure that your form is in check and everything is as tight as you would want it to be when actually doing the lift.

Maintain Consistency with Your Practice

It wouldn’t be effective to only lift weights once per week, and it’s not ideal to only use imagery techniques now and then. However, it can often be daunting to dedicate an hour to sitting down and visualizing.

The solution to this is to use the 30-60 seconds between each set to visualize your next, final, or PR set, depending on your goals. Additionally, if you find that bench is a strong point, but you’ve been struggling with your deadlifts, arm development, or losing the last bit of fat around your waist, use the breaks between your chest day to visualize resolving the problem area.

Imagery should be used 3-4 times per week for best results. And honestly, there isn’t really any such thing as overdoing it. Mastery takes time, so put in the work.

#2 Self Talk

By now, it’s fairly well known that the words you speak directly relate to how you see the world and yourself. So when you say “I can’t do it”, “I’m not strong enough”, or “that’s impossible”, your brain is inclined to agree with you whether you like it or not.

But what you might not know is that the brain is notoriously bad at hearing negatives, like don’t, not, and no. That explains why when told “Don’t think of a pink elephant” we can’t help but picture the very same thing.

So saying “don’t screw up” or “don’t round your back” is akin to telling your brain that you want to focus on the very things you are trying to avoid.

Everyone uses self-talk, no matter if they think they do or not, so make it work for you by doing it right. Here are some key tips to set your self talk straight and reap the benefits of your practice.

Speak in the Affirmative

Always phrase things toward what you want to accomplish, and not what you want to avoid. Substitute “finish strong” for “don’t give up”, and “spread the floor with your feet” for “don’t let your knees fall in”.

You wouldn’t put up with anyone talking shit to you in the gym, so why do you accept it coming out of your own mouth, or even worse, your own brain? My clients are firmly discouraged from using negative language or speaking ill of themselves, because they’re awesome, and you are too.

High Energy

When you’re grinding away at weights that feel heavier than normal, psyche yourself up by using high energy self-talk. If you can’t think of anything off the top of your head, just remember any football game you’ve ever been too and what words they flashed across the jumbotron. “Close it out!” “Let’s Go!” “Keep Pushing!”

All of these will psyche you up and help you get into the training mindset as you close out a tough workout or finish a game.

Use Personal Key Words

Everyone has a few words that can really serve to help them come back to the zone. Whether it’s something a coach said that stuck with you, lyrics from a song, or a CT Fletcher quote, try to make a list of two or three before you need them.

One that always got me riled up was “Here comes the Boom!” from the POD song of the same name. Did I just date myself? Maybe a little.

#3 Physical Arousal

This technique adds in a physical element to some of the mental ones discussed above. To make these doubly effective, combine these physical elements with positive self-talk.

Intense Breathing

Slow and steady breathing can calm you down and bring someone back from the edge of a panic attack. But right before I do a 20 rep front squat death set, it’s clear that I don’t want to be calm.

During times like these, do the opposite. Take a deep breath into your lower lungs, trying to expand your stomach as much as possible. Then exhale forcefully. Repeat three times.

Power Movements

If you want to jack yourself up and turn your central nervous system into fight or flight mode, well hopefully just fight mode, do a few power movements.

Slap your thighs, drive your fist into your empty hand, drop down and do three clapping pushups, or do a few tuck jumps as high as you can. This will wake up your sympathetic nervous system and prepare your body and brain for whatever lies ahead.

Here’s To No More Sluggish Workouts

Just because you drag yourself into the gym after a tough day at work doesn’t mean you need to throw in the towel on the workout. As you warm up, visualize the exercises you’re about to do, and see yourself squeezing the muscles hard and getting stronger as the workout progresses.

Turn on some rowdy music, and remind yourself that you’re a wolf, not a sheep, and you’re capable of anything. Amp yourself up with some intense breathing and power movements before jumping into your main exercise for the day, and don’t forget that your brain believes what you say out loud, so only speak to yourself and others in a positive uplifting way.

If you find these techniques to be helpful on the day when you’re feeling just so-so, you’ll be amazed at what a difference they can make on a day you’re feeling unstoppable.

Remember, true strength isn’t just physical. Make the brain your servant, and realize your potential.

About The Author

Nate Palmer has an old-school, strength-first philosophy that he applies to himself and his clients, and he believes that getting stronger, both mental and physical, will cause a trickle-down effect into the rest of your life that will provide unbelievable benefits. Nate is a husband, coach, writer, and adventurer, and spends his time coaching clients online, jumping off of high things, and writing on his blog, N8 Training Systems.

Nate is an internationally recognized coach, speaker, and writer, whose work has been popularized in media outlets such as Testosterone Nation, Breaking Muscle, STACK Media, and The Personal Trainer Development Center, just to name a few.

 Nate is the owner of N8 Training Systems, an online fitness platform geared toward synergizing the best of evidence based training principles and behavior science, to create results for life.

The post 3 Ways To Tap Into Your Mental Muscle appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. The practice of Dry Needling has been around for decades and continues to improve Neuro-Musculo-Skeletal function. As these techniques, methods improve, so do the practitioners skill set, making this treatment strategy one of the most effective in the world of rehabilitation.

2. The advancements in dry needling has lead to a number of different models and methods including the myofascial trigger point model, the radiculopathy model and the spinal segmental sensitization model, all which are used to treat the presence of pain or dysfunction.

3. The primary goal of Dry Needling is to desensitize supersensitive structures, to restore motion and function and to possibly induce a healing response to the tissue. For seasoned practitioners, Dry Needling is extremely beneficial for quick and tangible results on top of other movement remediations.

4. Dry Needling is completely different from Acupuncture. Dry Needling is technique to treat the neuromusculoskeletal systems based on pain patterns, muscular dysfunction, and other orthopedic signs and symptoms which depends upon physical examination and assessment to guide the treatment. Acupuncture is a technique for balancing the Flow of Energy or Life Force, known as Qi or Chi, believed to flow through meridians, pathways, in your body.

5. If you are skeptical of Dry Needling, there is indeed a reason why world class athletes from around the globe are being treated for pain and dysfunction using this technique. And as the physical therapy and chiropractic scopes of practice continue to widely accept this practice, we will continue to see marked improvements in practice and possibly the emergence of Dry Needling as a gold standard soft tissue and neuromuscular technique.

The History and Foundation of Dry Needling

The history of Dry Needling (DN) dates back to the 1940’s with Dr. Janet Travell. She identified the muscular trigger points and referral patterns that were elicited with the “wet needling.” Later, she discovered that “Dry Needling” offered the same results. This was groundbreaking work and hence she created the name “Dry Needling.” She and Dr. David Simon carefully identified most of the trigger points located in the human body. Thus, the first generation of modern Dry Needling was established (1).

“Wet Needling” is when a substance (supplement or medication) is introduced to the body via a hypodermic needle. “Dry Needling” involves a physical assessment and is an intervention for neuromusculoskeletal conditions as developed and described by Janet Travell MD, David Simons MD, Dr. C. Chan Gunn and others. It uses small monofilament needles to reactive trigger points and “loosen” shortened muscles. This treatment likely affects the immune, inflammatory, biomechanics, vascular and neurological systems (2).

The APTA (American Physical Therapy Association) states Dry Needling is a skilled intervention that uses a thin filiform needle to penetrate the skin and stimulate underlying myofascial trigger points, muscular, and connective tissues for the management of neuromusculoskeletal pain and movement impairments. Dry Needling is a technique used to treat dysfunctions in skeletal muscle, fascia, and connective tissue, and, diminish persistent peripheral nociceptive input, and reduce or restore impairments of body structure and function leading to improved activity and participation (3).

Dry Needling has had several names that Clinicians seem to utilize: TDN (Trigger Point Dry Needling), IMS (Intramuscular Stimulation), IMT (Intramuscular Manual Therapy), FDN (Functional Dry Needling) and several others.

In the United States, Physical Therapists, Chiropractors, Osteopaths, Medical Doctors, Naturopaths and Acupuncturists are utilizing Dry Needling.

Depending on the State you live in and your professional degree of choice, you may be able to practice Dry Needling and/or Acupuncture. Check out your State’s Scope of Practice for PT’s: Scope of Practice. Check out your State’s Scope of Practice for Chiro’s: Scope of Practice.

Popular Dry Needling Theories

 MTP Model (Myofascial Trigger Point): Dry Needling is used primarily in the treatment of myosfascial trigger points (MTrPs) defined as “hyperirritable spots in skeletal muscle associated with hypersensitive palpable nodules in a taut band.” While Dr. Janet Travell is generally credited for bringing MTrPs to the attention of health care providers, MTrPs have been described and rediscovered for several centuries by various clinicians and researchers (4).

Radiculopathy Model: Dr. Chan Gunn developed his Radiculopathy model based off Cannon’s Law of Denervation Supersensitivity and coined the term “intramuscular stimulation.” This model is a developed system for the diagnosis and treatment of myofascial pain syndrome (2).

Spinal Segmental Sensitization Model: Dr. Andrew Fischer created a Model, which utilizes the works of Travell and Simons’ Trigger Point Model, and Gunn’s Radiculopathy Model. According to Fischer, the most effective methods for relief of musculoskeletal pain include pre injections blocks, needle and infiltration of tender spots and trigger points, somatic blocks, spray and stretch methods and relaxation exercises (5).

Benefits of Dry Needling

Dry Needling is becoming a popular modality in medical practices, as musculoskeletal complaints are one of the most reported conditions to seek medical attention.

Musculoskeletal diseases affect more than one out of every two persons in the United States age 18 and over, and nearly three out of four age 65 and over. Trauma, back pain, and arthritis are the three most common musculoskeletal conditions reported, and for which health care visits to physicians’ offices, emergency departments, and hospitals occur each year. (6) This increase in occurrence of musculoskeletal pain is causing people to search for good manual therapists with a plethora of modalities, including Dry Needling, to fix their pain quickly.

According to Kinetacore, the primary goal of Dry Needling is to desensitize supersensitive structures, to restore motion and function and to possibly induce a healing response to the tissue. This goal of treatment will allow you to treat and help a broad spectrum of patients from Chronic Pain Syndrome to MS (Multiple Sclerosis) to Sprain/Strain Injuries (The list could go on).

A Dry Needling Therapist can “feel” with the needle and utilize it as a diagnostic instrument. Dry Needling is often extremely helpful as tight muscles, contractures and trigger points are invisible to X-rays, MRI, CT’s. Contractures deep in the muscles can be felt with the needle via feedback on the quality of the tissues that it is penetrating. I utilize Dry Needling as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool similar to the Graston Technique. From a manual therapist standpoint, it is amazing what you can “feel” in the tissue when you have a needle extending through the deep layers of muscle and fascia. When I penetrate through chronic and fibrotic tissue, it feels very “gooey” to me. It feels very similar to some old school Silly Putty. I can tell that this is an area of muscle amnesia that needs to be woken up, stimulated and re-educated.

Difference Between Dry Needling and Acupuncture

Dry Needling is technique to treat the neuromusculoskeletal systems based on pain patterns, muscular dysfunction, and other orthopedic signs and symptoms. Dry Needling depends upon physical examination and assessment to guide the treatment; moreover, this allows you to test and re-test after a Dry Needling treatment has been performed. It gives you the opportunity to show tangible changes pre and post treatment. This allows for good objective information to show the patient or client their improvements in a quick fashion.

Traditional Chinese Medicine explains Acupuncture as a technique for balancing the Flow of Energy or Life Force, known as Qi or Chi, believed to flow through meridians, pathways, in your body. By inserting needles into specific points along these meridians, Acupuncture Practitioners believe that your Energy Flow will re-balance (7). Based off my knowledge of Acupuncture, this is a very brief explanation of what Acupuncture really is.

A monofilament needle is the only thing that is related in TCM Acupuncture and Dry Needling. There are similarities but very significant differences between TCM style of Acupuncture and Dry Needling. Acupuncture follows rules and beliefs, which have been established since early times. Whereas Dry Needling does not follow the Acupuncture philosophy. Most if not all of the TCM is based on pre-scientific ideas whereas, Dry Needling is totally based on modern scientific, neurophysiology and anatomy. Dry Needling provides pain relief and is based on recent understanding of pain science, there is much less mystique surrounding Dry Needling concern pain abatement by the scientific community. TCM Acupuncture can rest a vast range of tomato viscera illnesses as well as being effective in pain relief (8).

Athletes Want More Than Pain Relief

We know that Dry Needling acts locally, segmentally and systemically on the body. For Example, when a Needle is introduced to the human body, local reactions occur at the point of penetration. The body reacts in such a way that it releases cytokines, substance P and CGRP (Calcitonin Gene Related Peptide). Where the needle penetrates the skin, the body releases CGRP, which causes a cascade of reactions resulting in vasodilation, increased blood vessel formation, and increased tissue repair. In addition, the body will react in such a way that segmentally, at the spinal level, an Enkephalin release will occur resulting in a local pain response. Moreover, a Beta Endorphin release from the brain creating an analgesic affect will result in an overall systemic response. Performance and Injury Prevention is all about Recovery!

One of Many Clinical Success Stories

I had an athlete who came in with complaints of lateral knee pain with Multi-Segmental Flexion and Squatting. He was unable to touch his toes with Multi-Segmental Flexion and unable to break parallel in his Squat Pattern when I assessed him with the Selective Functional Movement Assessment (SFMA). Based off the Patient’s SFMA, biomechanical evaluation, signs, symptoms and palpable trigger points, I decided to Dry Needle his Glutes, Quads and Calf, specifically gluteus medius, gluteus minimus, vastus lateralis, rectus femoris and gastrocnemius.

Videos of Functional Dry Needling

In this video, you will see a “twitch response” in the quad muscle. The “twitch response” is an involuntary contraction caused by pistoning, moving the needle up and down, in to his quad trigger points.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZVTKcWIBmM

In this video, you will see a “twitch response” in the calf muscle. The “twitch response” in this video is elicited via a Pointer Plus Excell II (0-16Hz). This has a similar response to the pistoning “twitch response”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MAE_XyvELY

The Local Twitch Response (LTR) is an involuntary spinal reflex contraction of muscle fibers within a taut band during needling. Research shows that biochemical changes occur after a LTR, which correlate with a clinically observed decrease in pain and tenderness after MTP release by Dry Needling (9).

Videos of Pre-Post Changes after a Dry Needling Treatment

Here are some pre-treatment videos taken from a multi-segmentation flexion pattern of a patient. There is both a front and side view to check out the toe touch depth along with the curvature of the spine in addition to the pelvic tilt.

Pre-Treatment Front View

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOQx9KLUqzE

Pre-Treatment Side View

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e57z9jbCmq0

And after only a Dry Needling treatment session, this is the post-treatment multi-segmental flexion pattern from both the side and the front.

Post-Treatment Front View

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RTiwpmopKc

Post-Treatment Side View

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adFtfIJhoEs

Now by no means in the video is his MSF perfect; however, I do want you to notice the increase in his posterior weight shift, spinal flexion and his increase in confidence while moving through this movement pattern. In addition, he had a pain free Squat and Multi-Segmental Flexion movement pattern.

Innovative Thoughts and Technique

My formal training in Dry Needling is through Kinetacore. In addition, I’m a Fellow of the International Academy of Medical Acupuncture. My particular gravitation to this modality, Dry Needling, is the incredible impact that it has neurophysiologically, biomechanically and systemically on the body. It expedites the healing process and repair of tissue while decreasing pain and increasing range of motion; this response allows athletes and clients to return back to their sport or activity much quicker. Dry Needling would be my “Reset” in Gray Cook’s theory of Rest, Reinforce, Reload.

One concern that I have seen with Dry Needling, and I will allude to Sue Falsone’s interview a while back on SportsRehabExpert, is the incredible amount of increased range of motion that Dry Needling can introduce to a particular joint or movement pattern. This particular response will alter biomechanics and proprioception which may increase your chance of injury if this range of motion is foreign to the brain or tissue; therefore, you want to make sure that you are following up a Dry Needling session with some sort of rehabilitation exercise, corrective exercise or training session that will improve the dysfunction of a particular movement pattern.

As Clinicians, we need to respect that both modalities, Dry Needling and Acupuncture, are providing results for patients all over. At the end of the day, my goal is to help my clients or patients and improve their quality of life with this modality. I’m still learning and appreciate all the knowledge that I have acquired thus far from my Acupuncture and Dry Needling education. I plan on furthering my knowledge and Dry Needling Education with Kinetacore, Janet Travell’s Myopain Seminars and Dr. Ma’s Systemic Dry Needling. My advice…. Never stop learning and continue to explore new modalities to help your patients, clients and athletes.

About The Author

Dr. James Spencer – I am a Sports Performance Chiropractor, a Certified Athletic Trainer, and a Fellow of the International Academy of Medical Acupuncture. I am originally from Sarasota, Florida but work in South Florida. Each individual encounter or training session allows me to positively impact my client, and for that, I am excited to be able to share my passion with others. My physical background includes kettlebells, indian clubs, steel clubs, maces, juggling, skateboarding, surfing, wakeskating, paddleboarding, slacklining, climbing trees and enjoying life in South Florida. I have written multiple guest blogs for John Rusin Fitness Systems. My formal training is in: Active Release Techniques (ART) Graston Technique, Kinetacore Functional Dry Needling, SpiderTech Kinesiology Tape, RockTape Fascial Movement Taping (FMT), Postural Restoration Institute (PRI), Y-Balance Test (YBT), Functional Movement Screen (FMS), Selective Functional Movement Assessment (SFMA), Mike Boyle’s Certified Functional Strength Coach (CFSC)and the Onnit Academy of Unconventional Training.

Follow Dr. Spencer on Instragram

Additional Dry Needling Resources

Patient Education

Dry Needling for Chronic Ankle Instability

Dry Needling for Acute Neck Pain

Dry Needling for Chronic Low Back Pain

Dry Needling Success Story Podcast

References

1. http://integrativedryneedling.com/resources/history-integrative-dry-needling/

2. Zylstra E., Kinetacore Functional Dry Needling: Level 1, Applications for Management of Movement Impairments, Pain and Sports Injuries. Pg 9&12.

3. http://www.aaompt.org/documentspdf

4. http://www.restoresportsmassage.co.uk/trigger%20points%20research%20review.pdf

5. Dommerholt, J. Dry Needling in Orthopedic Physical Therapy Practice. In, Orthopedic Practice, 2004;Vol.16 (3) 15-20.

6. http://www.boneandjointburden.org

7. http://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/acupuncture/basics/definition/prc-20020778

8. http://www.iama.edu/Articles/DryNeedling.htm

9. Shah JP, Gilliams EA. Uncovering the Biochemical Milieu of Myofascial Trigger points using In Vivo Microdialysis: an Application of Muscle Pain Concepts to Myofascial Pain Syndrome. J Bodyw Mov Ther. Oct 2008;12(4):371-384

The post Dry Needling Is The Next Big Thing In Physical Therapy appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

This week I am stoked to have coach Eric Bach featured on JRx with his latest work focusing on power development and programming. Eric is my go to expert in the field of athletic performance and training, so I am excited that you will all have the chance to learn from him directly!

It’s no secret that the Olympic Lifts are absent from the majority of my programming, including my popular Functional Hypertrophy Training and newly launched Muscle Prescription. But that doesn’t mean that I and other coaches who don’t prioritize the O-lifts discount power development! It’s actually quite the contrary.

Olympic lifts are just one way to generate power through training, and Eric is here to talk about all the rest of the best training methods that will have you honing your athleticism and power without the bumper plates, while still staying jacked and functional in the process. You ready? Here we go!

Power Training Minus The Olympic Lifts?

5:00 pm.

Finally, it’s time to train.

You’re at your new gym, going through your dynamic warm-up, then starting with a 1-2 light sets of high pulls and cleans. Your first set goes without a hitch—powerful hip extension, scoop, catch, squat, and repeat.

Then, you feel it: The staring eyes of disapproval, cutting through you like a hot knife.

Not five seconds later, you turn and see the manager strutting over, clipboard in hand, ready to lay down the law.

“ I’m sorry, but we don’t allow Olympic lifts in here.”

You swallow your pride, nod in somber approval, and un-rack your weights. Where do you go from here? Without performing Olympic lifts, you routine is completely thrown out of whack.

We’re In a Sad State

In the last few years,  CrossFit has done much to mainstream  the Olympic lifts. And former college athletes have always wanted to continue Oly lifttng after their playing days are over.  But many commercial gyms  continue to push back. Many still prohibit Olympic lifts.

What to do? The obvious strategy would be to switch facilities. But tracking down an Oly friendly gym can be a pain.

Check Out Dr. John Rusin’s Conversation with Eric Bach on Strength Doc Podcast!

Building explosiveness and power is important, even vital to your long-term progress in training. Benefits range from improved muscle fiber recruitment to developing better syncronization and timing of movement patterns. I’d venture to say everyone physically able to do so will benefit from adding explosive movement into their training.

Reap the Benefits Olympic Lifts Without a Full Set of Bumpers

In this article, I’ll show you the best non-Olympic lifting, power building methods. Couple the convenience of these exercises with an accelerated learning curve, and these might just become mainstays in your high-performance training program.

Why Power Is So Damn Important

Power is your ability to generate strength fast.  Improving your power improves your ability to use the strength you’ve already built.

In the short term, training for power activates high-threshold motor units to fire on all cylinders and recruit more muscle during your training. This results in  more efficient training sessions for greater gains in strength, muscle, and performance.

In the long-term, you’ll improve neuromuscular efficiency through improved intermuscular and intramuscular coordination.

Intermuscular coordination is the coordinated firing of a movement, or muscles in your body to produce a movement. Think of a movement like sprinting, squatting, or jumping—they’re all predicated on a form of explosive hip extension.

By training the same movement pattern in a couple of ways (explosive, heavy) you’re improving the coordination between the muscles used to produce movement. Better intermuscular coordination results in better movement quality.

Intramuscular coordination, the coordination of individual fibers in your muscles, is composed of three factors:

Rate Coding: Firing rate, the ability to generate force faster.

Recruitment: Greater muscle unit recruitment means you’ll recruit more muscle fibers to produce movement.

Synchronization: Improving synchronization of muscle units improves fluidity, and helps motor units fire together.

Over time, improved intramuscular coordination improves the ability of each individual muscle to recruit more muscle fires to contract faster, together. Coupled with improved intermuscular coordination, you’ll be prepared smash heavier weights, generate strength faster in sports, and improve your athleticism.

Discovering How to Generate Power

The force-velocity curve provides a visual sample of the performance-training continuum. Basically, it shows you that rep speed and power output fluctuates based on exercise speed and intensity in the form of resistance.

These could include:

• Propelling your body through space, like sprinting down the field or jumping out from behind a corner to scare your co-workers.

Throwing a ball

• Engaging in a dinner table fight for the last piece of steak (Guilty as charged).

• Applying force against a large resistance, such as blocking an opponent or hoisting a heavy squat

The graph above shows  an inverse relationship between load and velocity. The heavier the weight, the slower the velocity. On the flip side: the lighter the resistance, the faster the velocity.

These qualities make up opposite sides of the spectrum, with speed-strength, strength-speed, and power making up the middle of the curve.

Taken a Step Further… Power is a Parabolic Relationship.

This means that while power is maximized in the middle, high resistance, low speed exercises like a heavy squat and  explosive, low resistance exercises like a squat jump have lower power outputs.

Can’t I Just Get Stronger?

A base of max strength is imperative to developing power. Unfortunately, most lifters and coaches chase strength, to the exclusion of all else.  They neglect lighter, more explosive movement completely.

Maximum strength is important. But , it’s not the whole story. If you’ve been training for a few years, you should have enough maximum strength.  You will benefit from explosive, lighter exercises to bridge the strength-speed gap.

Non-Olympic Methods to Improving Power

#1 Dynamic Effort Compound Lifts

This method is based on Russian texts and the works of Vladimir Zatsiorsky and popularized by Louis Simmons of Westside Barbell club. The theory is based on lifting submaximal loads with maximum explosive intent. Basically, it’s lifting lighter loads as fast as possible.

DE training uses loads of 40-65% 1-RM lifted with maximum explosive intent—sweet spot for power development in most literature.

This has two huge benefits:

1. Compound lifts like the squat and deadlift are less complex than the Olympic lifts, and aren’t as prone to technical breakdown.
2. Compound likes the squat and deadlift are easier to learn, making them a viable substitute if you don have time to refine your Olympic lifting technique.

So, rather than Olympic lifting variations, load up squats, deadlifts, and presses with lighter loads and lift with maximum explosive intent. You can generate high power outputs to improve explosive power.

#2 Lift Weights with Maximum Concentric Speed

When training for power, maximum explosive intent is everything.

Read that again:.

When training for power, maximum explosive intent is everything.

Lifting with maximum concentric speed is absolutely paramount to getting more explosive and power. Beyond better muscle fiber recruitment, mentally honing in on each rep improves focus and often, technique during your lifts.

Make it your focus to lift each rep like it’s your max, without sacrificing technique or eccentric control.

#3 Lightly Loaded Jumps, and Throws

Explosive Speed and Speed-Strength work is further down on the force velocity curve and uses light resistance movements with maximum speed.

The best examples of speed-strength and explosive speed exercises are lightly loaded exercises like medicine ball throws or dumbbell squat jumps.

Dumbbell Squat Jump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHBld87hV5E

Coaching Notes: In the case of the dumbbell squat jump, use lightly loaded dumbbells (<10% bodyweight) and perform a squat jump. Start tall with the feet shoulder width apart. Then, holding the dumbbells at your sides, drop your hips into a quarter/half squat position. Rapidly reverse the motion, jumping and fully extending through the hip, knee and ankle. Land flatfooted with your head and chest up, in a squat position. Try 2-3 sets of 3-5 reps after your dynamic warm-up, best on lower body days.

Overhead Slam

https://youtu.be/YeguWbNhLfg

Coaching Notes: The overhead slam is an explosive throwing movement to build a trunk resilient to explosive forces in sport and potentiating the nervous system during training. Use a non-bouncy ball unless you want new dental work, and perform three sets of three to five reps with 60 seconds rest between sets.

Broad Jumps

Coaching Notes: Broad jumps are a great exercise for developing lower body power and athleticism. Load up with the feet shoulder width apart. Then, simultaneously swing the arms down while dropping the hips. Rapidly swing the arms forward and jump up and out, landing in an athletic position. Do three sets of 3-5 reps with 90 seconds rest between sets.

Bodyweight Squat Jump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na1zGJvnXYQ

Coaching Notes: Start tall with the feet shoulder width apart. Then, swing the arms down while dropping the hips into a quarter/half squat position.

Swing the arms forward and overhead, jumping and extending through the hip, knee, ankle, trunk, and shoulder. Land flat-footed with your head and chest up, in a squat position.

Sprinting

Coaching Notes: Like lifting, sprinting requires high impact muscular contractions that potentiate the nervous system for better neural recruitment and stimulate the release of anabolic hormones. Like all power exercises, full recovery is important for maximum gains in performance.

Use the following recommendations as a starting point.

Treadmill: 5 x6-10 seconds on moderate speed with an incline, 50-second/full recovery.

On ground: 5×10-30 yards, 90+ seconds recovery. Limit top-end speed to 85-90 percent of top speed to limit injuries until work capacity and technique improve.

Wrap Up

All exercises and techniques are a tool—the Olympic lifts included.

The reason a tool works, powerful hip extension and intermuscular/intramuscular coordination, in this case, is the real goal.

Move explosively, lift lighter and faster, and always use maximum explosive

intent to improve your physique and your performance.

Power Up Your Training Today

Looking to Amplify Your Power and build a true high-powered, athletic body? Then the Power Primer 2.0 is calling your name.

Using the Power Primer 2.0 methods I touched on  this article and discuss further in Power Primer 2.0.   you’ll be equipped  three  12-week Programs to:

• Increase training frequency and nervous system efficiency for strength.
• Build more muscle due to greater training frequency and muscle fiber recruitment
• Improve your athleticism functional ability for the long-term haul
• Improve performance and maximize muscle retention while shredding body fat.

And for this week only, you can get all 3 training programs, my diet customization guide, and exclusive exercise library video guide at 50% off. You’ll get 36 weeks of training, your customizable diet guide, and video training guide for less than a jug of your favorite protein powder! It’s time to build the total package.

Check out more about my Power Primer 2.0 and revolutionize your training – click on image below!

About The Author

I’m Eric Bach, a Denver based strength coach and fitness author who owns and operates Bach Performance. I’m a passionate ex-athlete turned performance coach to athletes, ex-athletes, and busy professionals everywhere. I’ve had roles ranging from collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coach, to helping high school athletes get full athletic scholarships, and training athletes for the NFL Combine and Pro Days. Through my writing on performance and body composition training I’ve been featured in numerous publications from CNN, Huffington Post, T-Nation, thePTDC, and bodybuilding.com to the American Council on Exercise and published research. I have my Bachelors of Science degree, emphasizing in sports performance training, am a certified Strength and Conditioning Coach with the NSCA (CSCS). I am also a Precision Nutrition Certified Coach. I combine my experiences as an athlete and coach to provide you with the most well-rounded information to improve your performance, your body, and your life. Check out my latest program, The Power Primer 2.0 !

The post Improving Power Without the Olympic Lifts appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

The Slippery Slope of Pre Training Physical Preparation

Do you warm up before your training sessions? By now, the answer is probably yes since the industry has force-fed you the idea of the dynamic warm up being the most pivotal aspect of training and fitness. But the more important question is how are those movements and exercises that you religiously perform before every session helping you move closer towards your goals? and are they aiding in producing optimal results in whatever your goals may be?

Even with the mainstream popularity of the dynamic warm up in the fitness and athletic performance industries over the course of the past decade, there are still many questions when it comes to the strategic results driven programming and executing a means of general physical preparation for training sessions.

While it’s clearn that implementing a dynamic warm up routine into your program can be a highly effective way to improve performance, decrease risk of injury and mentally prepare for the session ahead, it’s pretty easy to get carried away with placing too great of an emphasis on soft-tissue work, activation drills and corrective exercises that can literally lead you down an endless rabbit hole of fluff.

If you find yourself spending more time warming up than actually training, listen up.   Majoring in the minors in your training program is a perfect way to produce sub par results, even if you are spending hour on end each week “in the gym” training.

An intelligently designed and sequenced warm up routine absolutely holds merit, but here’s why simplifying your pre-workout routine to the bare minimum will exponentiate your performance and injury prevention results and save you a hell of a lot of time in the process. Time to strategically trim the fat off your long and tedious warm up routine with surgical precision using clinical precision in your pre-training exercise programming.

The Dynamic Warm Up Turning Point

As a sports performance physical therapist who specializes in getting the very most out of my clients and athletes programming from an athletic performance, body composition and functional orthopedic standpoint, the warm up is pivotal.  I’ve seen some amazing things from physio-esque warm up strategies and programming throughout the years, some good, some bad and some just an utter waste of time with no notable return on investment.

Coaches, listen up. Being known as the corrective exercise and functional movement guy is awesome if it works, don’t get me wrong. But if your clients are already moving well with no glaring dysfunctions or pain, is there really a need for all the trivial programming on top of a traditional strength and conditioning routine? Did you enhance an already functional movers functional capacity, or are you just trying to be the smartest guy in the room with deep theory based strategies that add nothing to the performance pyamid? I used to think corrective exercises and more concentrated and isolated movement remediation had its place in the warm up sequence for functional movers. But recently, here’s what changed my viewpoint on the subject.

My own pre-training routine was getting a little out of hand about two years ago. I have a little expertise in this niche in the industry, so it just made sense to use what I knew to program my own dynamic warm up routine before every big lifting day in my programming.

Long story short, I was spending nearly 25 minutes warming up before every session, and an additional 10 minutes in an active cool-down at the tail end of my training days. Hell, my thought was I have studied these techniques for decades, so why not practice them and keep them in my movement arsenal, right?

Simply put, enough was enough. For someone who makes a living programming training and regeneration strategies for clients all over the world including Gold Medal Olympians and NFL and MLB All-Stars, I’d let my own curiosity get the best of me in my own programming, tacking on a half hour to every single training day. At the end of the week, I was spending an additional four hours warming up and cooling down. But what was I really getting out of that time in terms of optimizing my physical performance or staying healthier through my training?

Lets get this straight. There is a time for professional development and practicing what you preach, but when your goals revolve around training, one must separate self study and mastery with a goal oriented physical practice such as training.

For someone with no notable previous history of injuries, no major dysfunctions and great requisite movement capacity, the entire pre training practice had just become absurd, and I was in need for a big change to simplify the warm up process while still reaping all the benefits of being perfectly prepped for performance. The breaking point was asking myself this question, “Was that four hours of concentrated movement preparation a week enhancing my performance, aesthetics, functional of recreational results, or did it just become a daily movement ritual with no underlying purpose or progression?” Well, since you’re reading this article I think you know that answer.

The No Warm Up Experiment

I had just about enough with the fluff. As you well know, time is one of the most precious commodities in life, and aimlessly pissing away multiple hours a week without anything to show for it was unforgivable. But how does one determine what is working and what is wasting time in terms of exercises in a dynamic warm up? Making conclusive determinations about a movement or exercise isn’t that simple, is it?

I decided to go back to my scientific roots and set a baseline for myself. Any time you carry out an experiment of N=1 with you as the lone subject, that’s perfect in my mind. In reality, you and your body are the only statistics that matter no matter what the most recent shiny research study may show. But if you decide to test and retest your findings based on your own experiences, setting a baseline to assess from is the first step.

Warm Up Intelligently on Dr. John’s 12-Week Functional Hypertrophy Training Program

It is of the utmost importance to determine a control group for your studies to compare to the variable that is being manipulated; in this case the dynamic warm up and it’s many components. This made perfect sense to me, it was time to literally do what every coach and therapist passionately preaches NOT to do – to ditch the dynamic warm up altogether, and determine my own functional and performance baseline.

My Surprising Results From Not Warming Up

After literally bringing my warm up and cool down time back down to ground zero, it was amazing what transpired with my own body and the results from my hard earned sweat dollars training every day. After four weeks or literally walking through the doors of the gym and starting right in on my strength program with nothing more than a few steps of “warm up” from the door to the power rack, my mobility, body composition, general level of recovery and freshness had never been better.

How the hell could this possibly be? Was the decade I spend in academia mastering movement anatomy, biomechanics and strategies for correction and optimization of function a waste of time and tuition dollars? Not quite, and here’s why.

Maybe All We Need Is Lifting

It’s important to first reiterate that I do not have any glaring physical issues that need increased focus, movement remediation and reinforcement. I simply was moving at a pain-free symmetrical and functional level before I re-calibrated my warm up baseline, and continued to move just as well while properly executing my big compound movements and smaller isolation moves with goals of improving my muscle mass and body fat composition while maintaining my function. This really opened up my eyes to something that my good friend and fellow coach, Charles Staley, had been saying for years, “Maybe all your need is lifting.”

Hitting the gym every day and knowing that you were not going to do any soft-tissue work, activation drills or mobility movements before or after training sessions put all the concentrated focus on the movement session itself. If you know for a fact that the only physical activity you have each day is traditionalist strength and conditioning work, you are going to make damn sure that your range of motions, tempos, strategic positioning and overall synergistic feel of movements need to be as close to perfect as possible. Simply put, you are going to make every single rep count, because it’s the only movement stimuli you’ll have in order to maintain and optimize your functional capacity.

Foam Rolling, Stretching and Corrective Exercise on The Strength Doc Podcast 

Executing your current programming to the apex of your abilities will do amazing things to your results. Going through the motions not only in the warm up, but in the training session itself is quite easy. And yes, many of you know exactly what I’m talking about. Guess what? Every time you lose your focused intent on executing a movement, you have limited the transference of that skill into sport of your daily life. Less emphasis on execution means limited results and increased risk of injury. The attention needs to be in the details.

People who have never trained with laser focus may perceive all movement to be the same, and just another way to get sweaty. But turning up the mental challenge of training was a game changer for me. I made it a game for myself every single rep, how perfect can I execute this movement? And to say that mindset worked would be a huge understatement.

The No Warm Up Results

I attributed my enhancement in body composition to my increased focus on my big strength movements in the beginnings of my training days, allowing me to mentally and physically push to a higher intensity set to set. All of the sudden, I was going in absolutely fresh into my most important lifts, and was able to push balls to the wall repeatedly with little neural or mechanical fatigue that I was causing myself in my prolonged warm up routines.

Doing something over and over to attain a goal, but in actuality working yourself further away from that goal is called shooting yourself in the damn foot, and that’s essentially what I’d been doing for years. Just think; you may be unknowingly doing that same thing. If it can happen to me it can happen to anyone.

Once a lifter or athlete gets out of the novice stage of training and into the intermediate and advanced stages of a fitness and movement mastery, a major plateau breaker is found in the mental mind-muscle connection and the ability to push loads, reps and sets to the brink of absolute physical failure. That sounds pretty intense, I know. But when focusing on the major components of a training session, the focus and execution as close to your physical limits as possible is what will produce wanted physical adaptations in a more efficient manor.

Are Prolonged Warm Ups Predisposing You To Injury?

Now before you all jump onto my Facebook page to write me some nasty notes pertaining to my blasphemous claims, give this idea a fair shake. Through dropping down to my baseline of warm up and cool-down in my own training programming, I felt better from a joint, soft-tissue and neurological fatigue standpoint. This may go against everything that you thought you knew and love to teach and program yourself, but I am reporting my own self-case study here.

With many warm up routines, they are done with such high frequencies that the once novel techniques and movements have a decline in execution over time. After any movement strategy is somewhat mastered, there is no progression or way to overload these sequences. And many times, the movements that were at one point useful when executed at a mastery level become just another butchered half assed way to waste training time.

Majorities of people hit autopilot and just go through the motions. This is when a warm up routine can become dangerously close to a movement ritual with no rhyme or reason except for this is the routine that one has always used and had decent success with. But as we covered, you need to set a control and baseline to compare and contrast what is actually producing results. Remember that pre-post testing thing we talked about before? Yeah, it’s still important.

Sure, a warm up routine can look the same to the non-detailed eye whether it is completed this year or next, but what I’ve seen over the years with corrective movements, soft-tissue work and activation drills is they are highly dependent on internal tensions, synergistic stabilization and activation patterns and a high amount of focus and mental acuity to continue to produce the desired result.

Just as if you run every day, your body will get more efficient and thus reduce the caloric expenditure and benefit of cardiorespiratory health and capacity, the same can be said for warm up drills. As you do more of the same drill, your body adapts to that drill and without an increase in internal execution factors, your body becomes less adaptive to the same moves over time.

This is the same reason any new exercise is always perceived to be harder from your sympathetic nervous system response. Want to kick your own ass and justify any movement, do something new and novel, and compare it to what you’ve been doing.

So We Shouldn’t Warm Up Anymore?

This little self-study was just that, an experiment. No movement professional in their right mind would direct their patients and clients to avoid dynamic warm up routines for the long run, and justifiably so. The point of recalibrating my system was to determine the truly vital few classes of movements that produced notable results for my performance and prevention of injury overtime.

Slowly, I started implementing back in strategic strategies into my pre-training routine, and evaluating these techniques one at a time to gain insight into the objective successes I was having with each movement. This process continued for the last two years, and has lead to my new 6-Phase Pre-Training Sequence that I am quite proud of. And just like that, one single self-experiment has transformed itself into one of the most promising dynamic warm up sequences I have ever used.

So before you fall into your old habits in your pre-training routine, step back and assess the efficacy and efficiency of your practice. If you’re like me, you’ll save yourself a lot of time and energy in the strategic simplification process, and hell, even reap the benefits of better training sessions as a whole.

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is an internationally recognized coach, physical therapist, speaker, and writer, whose published over 200 articles in some of the most widely regarded media outlets in the industry like Men’s Fitness, Testosterone Nation, Mountain Dog Diet, Bodybuilding.com, and Muscle and Strength, to name a few.

Along with an impressive laundry list of publications, Dr. John works with some of the world’s most elite athletes, including Gold Medalist Olympians, NFL All-Pro Quarterbacks, MLB All-Star Pitchers, Professional Bodybuilders and World Class IronMan Triathletes.

He takes pride in offering uniquely customized programming to clients of all walks of life in the exact same detail and passion as the Pros! Dr. John’s 12-Week Functional Hypertrophy Training Program is now available to you.

The post Is Your Fluffy Warm Up Wasting Your Time? appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

What is the number one focus for a strength coach or sports performance physical therapist working with athletes and clients with the goal of reimplementing training and sport? If you answered “get them back on the field as quickly as possible,” you may be feeding into the systemic problem that we are facing as an industry, the epidemic of re-injury rates across the board in youth, amateur and professional sports and fitness.

This week we have strength and conditioning coach Chris Cooper featured on DrJohnRusin.com with his innovative and spot on view of the bridging process between rehabilitation and performance to prevent re-injury. Co-management and synergy between the sistering healthcare professions is a must if we want to start making a dent in this process, and keeping our clients healthy for the long run. It’s not about the short term, it’s all about longevity of function, health and wellbeing.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

 1. Incomplete rehabilitation in athletes and the general fitness population has lead to an re-injury epidemic of massive proportion. Is your goal as a coach or practitioner to get your clients back to sport as quickly as possible, or to prevent re-injury from occurring?

2. The gray area of bridge time between rehabilitation and performance training is the most advantageous time to optimally complete the total rehabilitation process to prevent re-injury. Yes, strength coaches and personal trainers ARE finishing off the rehab process.

3. Implementing corrective and physical therapy guided exercises in the dynamic warm up routine or training program itself in the form of supersets is a highly effective way to bridge the gap between performance and therapy.

4. Tapping into the mental side of training and performance will allow athletes to gain the last few steps of a total rehabilitation process in the gym, that if overlooked, can play a key role in re-injury.

5. Like Mike Boyle says, “Injury Prevention is just good training,” which is the dual role of the rehab practitioner and coach working together to prevent re-injury.

Bridging Rehab Into Strength and Conditioning

As athletes, it’s important to be functioning as the highly skilled machines you have trained to become. No one wants to be caught up in rehab purgatory, or even worse be stuck in a re-injury scenario. The goal is to rebuild the body back to where it was before injury, without the risk of re-injury even being a thought in the back of the mind. Avoiding at all cost that cycle of an injury leading to rehab, the rehab being incomplete with early re-integration of competition, training and daily activities, and ultimately a re-injury.

“Injury prevention is just good training.” -Mike Boyle

There is an ever growing movement within the fitness industry in which a blend between rehabilitation with prevention work is fusing with strength training and performance. This has given birth to a protocol that not only works to prevent injury and re-injury, but to also build a bridge between what’s typically seen in a rehab setting and what happens on the gym floor. This is the future of fitness and sports performance, that’s if the bridge process is handled in the proper way.

A Little Disclaimer For Athletes and Coaches

If you have suffered an injury, it is your priority to seek medical treatment by a licensed practitioner. This article is in no way medical advice for you to use in lieu of professional counsel. After you have been cleared for training, seeking the proper trainer and/or coach that has experience with post-rehab clientele is a necessity. Now with that said, lets get to it!

The Road To Complete Recovery and Limiting Re-Injury

Whether you have sprained, strained, pulled, torn, broken, etc. your body is going to need a few things regardless.

• Rest
• Time
• Manual manipulation of soft tissue
• Exercise

This is the typical course of action. Once you have sought medical help and been diagnosed, it’s time to go to work. For most part, that is going to start with physical therapy. Physical therapy is where the frame work or the base of your strength is going to be built. Remember, a bigger base or foundation means a more solid structure resulting in the best results.

What happens once you have been released from PT? Physical therapy is about restoring function through building strength and developing confidence in the once injured area. However, there’s a big difference between having functional capacity to do things and be symptom free and having the requisite strength to perform like you did pre-injury. Imagine if you had rolled your ankle.

Once PT was over, you probably will not possess the strength or mentality to go back to cutting on it. That is going to take time and along with that, proper strength training.

Minding The Gap Between Rehab and Performance

There used to be a chasm between the PT field and the strength & performance training world. Progressively though, that void is slowly closing as more PT’s crossover into the world of strength & conditioning. Working in isolation on injured areas no longer makes the cut. Treating systemically and re-grooving movement patterns is the new norm to break through that aforementioned cycle of rehab purgatory. Every athlete (and we’re all athletes to some degree) has performance goals and eventually wants to get back to that previous level of athleticism and back doing what they were before various injuries.

Returning from injury isn’t and shouldn’t be a quick process. It’s not going to be one of those “beach ready in six weeks,” kind of programs. It’s far better to train smarter so you can continue training harder. Progressing from rehab to strength starts with taking what was developed in PT, and building on it daily. Improving on that functionality and adding strength behind it can ensure long term success. It may involve regressing, substituting, and/or even just slowing down movements until we own them.

The All Important Transition Phase

Once you’ve gotten the “all clear” from physical therapy, you want to keep the rehab exercises, but within the confines of a strength program. This will ensure that you stay on top of the PT’s program, but it’ll also allow you to progress it.

Programming your workouts after injury can be a tricky thing to do. On the one hand you want to get better, to continue the healing process, but you also want to integrate your previous exercises. Two possible solutions to your problem, programming rehabilitation type movements into supersets during the training session itself, or implementing these strategies into the warm up.

The most ideal way is to superset rehab exercises with your main exercises pending those are restriction free. With injury often comes movement restrictions which requires attention via SMR, activations, and maybe stretching.

Example:

1A Primary Exercise                                                                                                                                      

1B Rehab Drill #1                                                                                                                                               

2A Secondary                                                                                                                                                

2B Rehab Drill #2

The warm up is a great place to implement rehab exercises once your body is healed. This will be your precautionary warm-up to go along with anything else you do in your warmup. Say for a rotator cuff injury, you may add in internal/external rotation or other shoulder exercises that were prescribed from the therapist for continued homework.

The last thing you want to do is end up devoting an entire half hour or longer just to your rehab exercises. That’s not the point of going from rehab to strength. Limiting the time spent on rehab and devote more time towards strength is one of the main aspects to focus on.

During our Rehab to Strength program we want to be able to test, regress, or progress through several key skills. Lets go over these skills one by one:

Mobility

Re-establishing and more importantly maintaining functional range of movement is the first key piece on your path from rehab to strength. Included in this would be SMR, stretches and range of motion exercises. Movements that will restore your ability to move within the ranges you need for your sport and training.

Static Stability

Static Stability and the next bullet point go hand in hand in terms of regaining proprioception and awareness. You want to stress the area in need of rehab through challenging other joints to move all while the affected area stays static. A great example would be single leg stance on the floor to an airex pad, to catching a ball in single leg stance. You end up using the core and hips while trying to maintain a neutral ankle.

Dynamic Stability

Once again, it’s about regaining proprioception. But in this case its moving the affected joint while keeping control of the movement.

Re-Grooving Movement

Part of rehabbing injuries is learning how to move again and correctly. In the case of low back pain, McGill says re-grooving patterns, namely the squat is important to get out of movements of pain. You want to focus on functionality here. In the case of an upper body injury, its regaining the rhythm of the shoulder and scapula.

Strength

Now we’re where we want to be. All the way back to strength training. This is where we can start to load those movements we’ve re-grooved in the last phase or skill. You may want to go all out right away, but start slow and avoid overloading your body. Initially focus on high volume hypertrophy work before progressing into max strength.

Power

Explosive strength may be the last element that fully proves that you’re back. Think something along the lines of box jumps or other plyometric exercises for lower body injuries.

Performance

Getting back on the field, court, ice, or even just life. Eventually we need to perform the way we used to. This is really the final step. Once you feel you have mastery of this, you’re really back from your injury.

Objectifying Gains with a Test and Re-Test Protocol

One thing to note is that you’ll want to follow this protocol, “Test, Assess & Retest.” Figuring out what movements and exercises work and don’t work is going to be vital in not suffering a setback. Avoid movements that create pain, and if necessary, regress a step in order to progress your programming.

If you’re looking for a great “catch-all” assessment, look no further than the overhead squat. From this one drill, it’s possible to learn a lot about your movement ability and quality. Two other go to assessments are standing one leg and getting up and down from the floor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc9t6NeAV20

Common Sites of Injury and Dysfunction

From a programming standpoint, you want exercises that target the muscles/joints you are rehabbing. However, you may also want to add some prehab drills to the other side if you’re working on a unilateral injury. Below are common areas that get injured, whether it’s through a trauma, or just wear and tear. From the ground up:

The Foot and Ankle

Sprained ankles the most common injury, therefore it’s important to continue with stability exercises like single leg movements or just balancing on one leg. Give unloaded split squats, step-ups, and single leg deadlifts a go as well. Add in dorsi/plantar flexion for mobility and strength using bands, as well as inversion/eversion depending on the injury.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cHxVliUQXU&feature=youtu.be

The Knee

Ligament and meniscus injuries are the most common things to be rehabbed. Continuing isolation exercises like TKE and leg lifts for the quads to regain extension is important, but also rebuilding strength in the hamstrings is equally important. Re-grooving how to squat is also essential in avoiding a re-injury or pain. Single leg exercises like split squats and step ups are great ways to build stability and strength as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IoKwKNwHf8&feature=youtu.be

The Hip Complex

Labral tears and joint replacement are the most common injuries that need to be worked with so along with the single leg exercises above, it’s important to strengthen the hips with exercises like clamshells and band walks, but also hip thrusts, deadlifts and squats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyiJYUwkoZs&feature=youtu.be

The Shoulder Complex

Rotator cuff injuries and dislocations are usually the injuries that send you to a physical therapist. While you may have been treated for one of those aforementioned injuries, it’s also important to take a look at what may have caused it in the first place. Dislocations are traumas, but rotator cuff injuries are usually wear and tear. Shoulder stability exercises are a like kettlebell bottoms up presses or holds can help rehab such an injury. Landmine Presses are a great way to reintroduce pressing without having to go directly overhead. Lastly, it’s important to incorporate mobility drills so the shoulder works optimally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiiURxYSblA&feature=youtu.be

The Low Back

Typically disc herniations are what you would see in back injuries, however it’s worth noting that it’s possible to have pain without any structural damage. Dr. McGill contributes back pain to a weak It’s all about mastering core control and stability when overcoming back injuries. Exercises that focus on the glutes and core like deadbugs, glute bridges, hip thrusts and side planks are amazing. Progress to RKC planks, suitcase carries, and Sorenson Planks to take your gains up a notch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY7lJjx0nS0&feature=youtu.be

With most of these injuries that develop over time, there is likely a breakdown in the chain of movement. Meaning it could be that you are performing that movement with sub optimal technique or perhaps a main muscle is not firing or an opposing muscle firing too much or in some cases, both. However, the goal is the same; to make the movements more efficient, more stable, and stronger.

When programming your strength based exercises, be aware that your body acts as a whole. So one area is certainly going to affect joints above and below. By going through what was listed in the transition phase, you’ll ensure that you’ll be back to your “normal” in no time.

It’s All Mental

The last thing that you are going to have to deal with, and it often goes overlooked is the mental aspect of returning from injury, especially when it is sport related. Making hard cuts off an injured ankle is going to have you hesitate a split second. Yet, in competition, those split seconds are huge. If you’re mindful of your programming, are still doing your prehab homework, and take proper precautions, you’ll be a rock star in life, on the court, or on the field. Years to come athletes will still deal with the mental aspect, unconsciously guarding and favoring their injury long after it has physically healed.

Sometimes injuries force you to slow down and concentrate on things you may have taken for granted before. Building proper tension or doing homework. In the end you’ll come out stronger and better for it by dialing back, and building back from nothing.

Takeaway Points

In order to be confident that injuries do not become problematic, it is important to take the rehab exercises and implement them as “prehab” exercises to maintain injury free status and prevent re-injury. This starts with a solid warmup that includes some of the PT driven exercises like a TKE for the knee or internal/external rotation drills for the shoulder. This may also be something to consider even if you’re not coming off an injury. You don’t think you have a problem, till you do.

Like Mike Boyle said, injuries can largely be avoided with good programming. Listen to your body and protect it from an injury long before signs begin presenting, your performance is affected, or you suffer the injury.

About The Author

Chris Cooper, NSCA-CPT, LMT is a personal trainer with 10 years of experience in the fitness profession. He is co-owner of Active Movement & Performance, a training facility on Long Island. In addition to being a trainer, he is also a New York State Licensed Massage Therapist, which has allowed him to blend the two worlds to not only get his clients stronger and in better shape, but to also fix dysfunctions to make them better movers overall. His firm belief in education is manifest as an educator for Fitness Education Institute, presenting at their yearly convention.  He is an expert contributor to Watchfit.com and his work has been featured on Movement Resilience, Men’s Health, TonyGentilcore.com & Stack.com.

Website — AMP Training

Facebook — AMP Training

Instagram — @amptraining

Twitter — @chriscoopercpt

The post Preventing Re-Injury with Integrated Rehab & Training appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. Even some of the fittest women struggle to increase their pull up strength enough to string a few reps together and get a training effect. But the problem isn’t the way they train the pull-up, it’s the way they train everything else.

2. When it comes to a lack of pull-up strength, there are many common faults, but when it comes down to it, the entire body including the anterior core, lower body, upper body and shoulders all need to be involved and trained to improve the pull-up.

3. Just doing band assisted pull-ups or the cheater machine will not help you progress to real pull-ups, ladies. And no, kipping like a CrossFitter doesn’t constitute a “real” pull-up.

4. Here’s how to implement a complete full body remediation of strength, stability and performance for the pull up that will have you repping out on the bar while reaping the benefits of getting functionally jacked in the process.

Introduction

The pull-up is one of the most superior exercises you can do for your upper body. This versatile bodyweight exercise will help you develop a statuesque and defined upper body, and will improve your ability to burn body fat. In terms of performance, it will dramatically improve your strength and ability to perform all exercises in the gym, and will enhance your overall athleticism and sports specific abilities. Best of all, the pull-up is extremely convenient as it requires very little equipment, so you can perform this great exercise at the gym, in the convenience of your home, and even outdoors.

Unfortunately, many people, particularly females, struggle to perform pull-ups. The good news is that the issue does not stem from the fact that the exercise is too advanced, the problem is how you are training for it. I don’t hesitate to say that if you follow a fundamentally sound training program, and if you are healthy, you should be able to perform at least a few proper pull-ups, if not many more.

In this article, I will describe some of the common problems that prevent people from being able to perform pull-ups, I will talk about how to address and correct these problems, and I will list some more advanced progressions of pull-ups.

Muscles That Pull-Ups Target

The pull-up is such a bang for your buck exercise as it targets many different muscle groups. While the latissimus dorsi, the largest and most powerful muscle of the back is the primary muscle that is targeted, the pull-up also works the trapezius, rhomboid, deltoid, biceps, triceps, serratus, and core muscles. In other words, it essentially hits the majority of muscles in the upper body and core.

How To Execute The Perfect Pull-Up

When it comes to executing a sound technical pull-up, there are many moving parts to this compound movement. Lets break these aspects of the pull-up down one by one:

Step 1: Grip

Either opt for a grip where your hands are approximately shoulder width apart and are facing away from you (pronated grip), or use a narrower neutral grip where your palms are facing one another.

Step 2: Breathing & Core

Before you initiate the pull, take a deep breath in (360° of air around your spine), brace your core, gently tuck your ribs towards the pelvis so your body is in a slight hollow body position, and squeeze your glutes. This will provide the much needed stability around your spine and pelvis so you will generate significantly more strength with your upper body, and it will make the exercise feel significantly easier. I will exhale as my chin approaches the bar, and will inhale as I begin to descend. Right before I return to the starting position, I will re-engage my core/glutes so I am ready to initiate the next pull.

Step 3: Path

Your body should travel in a straight line to the bar. This will create the shortest possible distance between your body and the bar, minimizing the use of compensation and provocative positions at the shoulders for pain and injury. Just think of this as the polar opposite of a “kipping” pull up that has a curved path up and down from the bar.

Step 4: Ascending (Concentric) Portion

Pack your shoulders, and initiate the pull-up by depressing and retracting your shoulder blades. Keep your elbows at approximately a 45• position (similar to an overhead press) and do not allow them to flare. Pull yourself up by leading with your chest and pulling your elbows down to the floor. Make sure that your chin passes the bar, but do not strain your neck and reach with your chin. Keep your head and neck in a neutral position the entire time.

Step 5: Descending (Eccentric) Portion

Lower yourself down until your arms are fully extended. Skimping out on range will shortchange your results, and partial range reps do not count! It is extremely important that you lower yourself down with control and do not fall or drop into the starting position, and you want to keep your shoulders stable by making sure that they remain packed. Failing to do so will make your shoulders and elbows susceptible to injury.

Step 6: Alignment

It is very important that you maintain proper alignment the entire time. Keep your head, neck, and lower back in a neutral position. Keep your ribs down and do not allow them to flare, and do not allow your pelvis or torso to rotate. Your body should be in a straight line from your head to knees (or feet if you keep your legs extended).

Step 7: Legs

You can either bend your knees, or keep your legs straight. It is important that you engage your glutes and muscles in your legs as a rigid body will be much easier to pull up than a body that is limp and unstable.

10 Key Issues That Prevent People From Performing Sound Pull-Ups

Now that we know what a properly executed pull-up should look and feel like, lets review a few common mistakes and pitfalls I see in people who struggle with this movement:

#1 Inability To Keep The Body From Swinging

Ideally, when you perform a pull-up, your body should travel in a straight path to the bar. Just like the bar path during a deadlift, the shorter the distance you have to move your body, the easier the exercise will be to perform. When many people perform the pull-up, because they think the exercise is purely for the arms, they do not engage their scapular stabilizers, core, or glutes, and this causes their body to swing forward and ahead of the bar. Now instead of having to pull the body in a shorter vertical line, they have to pull their body in both a horizontal and then vertical plane, which will essentially double the amount of work. End result is compromised results.

#2 Not Using Full Range of Motion

Skimping on your range and not fully extending your arms will cheat you out of being able to perform proper pull-ups. Unless you fully extend your arms, the rep is no good…period!!

#3 Using Momentum aka Kipping

While CrossFit encourages momentum as it allows you to perform more reps, a proper pull-up starts from a dead hang position. While kipping definitely makes the pull-up easier (and in my opinion it is actually just cheating) it places the shoulders and other joints under significantly more stress. If you are ever going to perform kipping pull-ups, make sure that you are able to perform proper (strict) pull-ups first and have developed the requisite levels of strength, stability and mobility as this will reduce your risk of injuring yourself. Unless you do CrossFit, skip the kipping, and stick to dead hang pull-ups.

#4 Weak Large Muscle Groups In The Upper Body

While this is fairly straightforward, if your upper body is weak, it will be next to impossible to pull your body in a vertical plane. Women seem more vulnerable to suffering from upper body weakness, in part because many fixate on training their legs and neglect the ever important musculature in the upper body.

#5 Inability To Control The Shoulder Blades

The scapula stabilizers are a crucial link between the arms and the rest of the body. The scapula stabilizers provide the scapula with stability and mobility as it moves synchronously with the arm, and prevents the scapulae from winging out. Many people, including those who are extremely strong, suffer from weak scapula stabilizers. This will absolutely limit their ability to perform pull-ups safely and effectively.

#6 Disengaging During the Eccentric Phase or Bottom of Movement

When many people perform pull-ups, rather than lowering themselves down in a controlled manner, they allow their bodies to violently drop. While this is obviously detrimental to the health of the body, it will also impede their results as it essentially eliminates the eccentric component of the exercise. In order to perform this exercise safely and effectively, the muscles of the mid to upper back, including the scapula stabilizers, and shoulders, need to remain engaged at all times so the shoulders remain pinned. A common sign that someone has disengaged their muscles (usually in their back) is that their neck will disappear into their body.

#7 Under-Engaging The Back and Overusing The Arms

When many people perform pull-ups, they initiate the movement by pulling with their arms, rather than depressing and retracting their shoulder blades. This will decrease their ability to perform the exercise to their full potential, and it will make them susceptible to chronic biceps and forearm tightness, and potentially strains.

#8 Weak Core and Glutes

The core and glutes are what links the upper and lower body, and a stable core/glutes allow you to generate the power that is needed to perform pull-ups. Many people struggle to perform pull-ups, not because their upper body is weak, but because their core/glutes do not provide their body with the stability it needs to execute the movement properly. Imagine trying to pull a 125-225 lb floppy sand bag. Having weak core muscles and glutes turns your body into just that!

#9 Reliance On The Assisted Pull-up Machine or Band Assisted Pull-ups

If you have set the goal of being able to perform pull-ups, stop using the assisted pull-up machine and performing band assisted pull-ups. I’ve watched numerous people slave away on this overrated machine, or use bands, and years later, they’re still not able to do single pull-up. This is not necessarily a reflection of their fitness level, but rather an example of ineffective training methods. With the assisted pull-up machine, zero core stability and glute strength is required, it provides too much assistance, and you are never truly forced to support your body in a dead hang position.

As for band assisted pull-ups, while you are required to use your core and glutes to some extent, and while I would opt for these over the assisted pull-up machine, the band provides assistance at all the wrong times. It provides a huge boost at the bottom of the movement and this is when you need to be able to pull yourself up from a dead stop. The end result is that you will not improve your strength from this position, and will never be able to perform a pull-up without assistance.

If you have no aspiration to perform unassisted pull-ups, both options are fine, and from a physique standpoint, they can be used to add additional volume into a solid training program that already contains unassisted pull-ups, but they offer very little in terms of helping you progress to being able to do proper pull-ups. I do not include them in my training program, and rarely use them when I am training others.

Avoiding performing bodyweight ‘’pulling’’ exercises and spending the bulk of your time on machines – When it comes to being able to do pull-ups, being able to lift a lot of weight on a machine will offer little benefit. This also applies to exercises with free-weights. While many exercises with free-weights and some machine based exercises can be very beneficial to you strength-wise and aesthetically, they will do little good when it comes to enhancing your ability to pull your bodyweight in a vertical plane.

#10 Carrying Excess Body Fat

Pull-ups are already challenging enough for most people to perform. Now imagine performing them with an extra 5-100+ lbs of weight strapped to your body. Guess what, carrying excess body fat is no different. The less body fat you have, the easier it will be to perform pull-ups. This is especially true for females as many tend to carry their excess body fat in their hips and legs.

How To Progress Your Pull-Ups

Now that we have the common mistakes covered, lets go through some detailed coaching progressions so you can transform your pull-ups from flawed to fabulous!

When it comes to all of the exercises below, the key points for stabilizing the body and maintaining proper alignment apply (breathing, bracing, glutes) so I won’t repeat myself.

Phase 1: 4-8 weeks

To acquire the ability to perform pull-ups, start out performing various isometric holds, and pulling your bodyweight, but with some modifications. During this phase, you will also work on improving your grip strength, strengthening your scapula stabilizers, core, and glutes.

Basic Hangs

https://youtu.be/IpOYAcSCDYc

Many people are not able to support their bodyweight in a hanging position. Until you’re able to acquire this basic skill, you will not be able to perform any variation of a pull-up.

Coaching Notes:

Set your grip so your hands are pronated and approximately shoulder width apart. Depress and retract your shoulder blades, pin your shoulders, engage the muscles in your core/glutes, and hang. Once you are able to hang for 30 to 60 seconds, you can make this more challenging by hanging two sturdy towels on the bar and performing hangs while holding on to these, or you can perform basic hangs using extra weight as resistance.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3-5 reps of 30-60 second holds and perform these 3-5 days per week

Concentric Hangs

https://youtu.be/4lv0vtY9S4U

This exercise will help improve your arm strength, grip strength, and core stability.

Coaching Notes:

If you are able to do an unassisted pull-up, pull yourself to the top position so your chin is above the bar. If you are not able to, you can jump up, or stand on a chair or the safety racks so your chin is above the bar. Grab on to the bar,depress and retract your scapula, pin your shoulders, and engage the muscles in your core/glutes, and hold your body so it is in the top position of the pull-up.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3-5 sets of 10-60 second holds and perform these 3-5 days per week.

Inverted Pull-Ups On Fixed Bar, TRX, or Rings

https://youtu.be/y1WgPzicm40

Coaching Notes:

You can perform modified/inverted pull-ups on a fixed barbell, a TRX, or rings. Focus on depressing and retracting your shoulder blades, pinning your shoulders, and engaging the core/glutes. As you become more proficient, you can progress by lowering the bar so you are pulling more of your body weight, and if you are on the TRX/rings, you can move your feet forward so your body is more parallel to the ground. Eventually, you can prop your feet up on a bench so you’re performing decline modified pull-ups or chin-ups. This will help you make the transition to regular pull-ups as you are using similar muscle groups, are performing similar movements, and have to maintain proper alignment.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 8-12 reps perform these 3-5 days per week.

Wall Slides with Foam Roller and Band

https://youtu.be/999uVxrCmRE

Coaching Notes:

Stand approximately 3-6 inches away from a wall and place the foam roller so it is chest height. Place a resistance band around both arms so it is just below your hands. Keep your forearms parallel the entire time, maintain tension in the band, keep your shoulder blades depressed and retracted, and slide your arms up the wall as high as possible without shrugging your shoulders as this will cause the upper traps to take over, and return to the starting position. When the scapula stabilizers and serratus disengage, it’s common for the elbows to flare out. It’s easy to disengage the anterior core when the arms are lifting. This will cause your ribs to flare, and lower back to hyperextend. Keep your arms and shoulders as ”soft” as possible. This exercise is not for the biceps, triceps, or delts. As you get stronger, your range of motion should increase.

This exercise is so much tougher than it looks! It will absolutely help improve your posture, and will have a positive carryover to many other exercises. You can make this exercise more challenging by using a thicker resistance band.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 10-15 reps and perform these 3-5 days per week.

Hollow Body Holds

https://youtu.be/iDx4GC07be4

Coaching Notes:

This extremely effective core stability exercise reinforces the rib tuck that is required to perform the pull-up. Start by extending your legs straight up in the air, then gently tucking your ribs towards the hips. While maintaining this hollow body position, simultaneously reach back with your arms, and slowly drop your legs toward the floor and hold. Your back should NOT arch, yet should not be forcefully pressed into the ground. Your arms and legs should be relaxed so the anterior core is doing all of the work. You should NOT feel your legs or low back, just the anterior core.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 15-30 second holds and perform these 3 days per week. You can make this more challenging by dropping your legs closer to the floor, and/or holding a weight in your hands as this makes the rib tuck even more challenging.

Glute Bridges or Hip Thrusts

https://youtu.be/ZYAsI4D7yDc

Coaching Notes:

Lie on your back, bend your knees, and set your shins so they are vertical. Squeeze your glutes and pick your hips off the floor. Pause at the top, return to the starting position and repeat. Make sure that you pick up your hips by squeezing your glutes and not by hyperextending your spine. You can make this exercise more challenging by placing a resistance band above your knees, and/or using a barbell for extra resistance.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets to burnout and perform these 3 days per week.

Phase 2: 4-8 weeks

Once you have spent some time working on being able to support your body weight, and pulling your bodyweight in a diagonal plane, you can focus on the eccentric (lowering) and concentric (lifting) component.

Eccentric/Negative Pull-Ups

https://youtu.be/b6P8VaeeCyM

Coaching Notes:

Either jump up (or pull yourself up if you are able to), and slowly lower yourself down in 3-10 seconds.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 5-10 reps and perform these 3 days per week. If you are able to perform unassisted pull-ups, do as many as you can, and once your form fails, do the rest with just the eccentric component.

Concentric Pull-Ups

https://youtu.be/-C-TpNh0qmM

Coaching Notes:

If you are not able to perform unassisted pull-ups, jump up and pull yourself the rest of the way up. Lower yourself down using regular speed, or even negative speed.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 8-12 reps and perform these 3 days per week. If you are able to perform unassisted pull-ups, do as many as you can, and once your form fails, do the rest with just the concentric component.

Scapular Pull-Ups

https://youtu.be/pt21ZafVn_E

This variation of pull-up strengthens the ever important yet often neglected scapular stabilizer muscles, the muscles that are supposed to initiate the movement of the pull-up. It also helps develop grip strength.

Coaching Notes:

Set your grip so it is approximately shoulder width apart, and use a pronated grip. Keep your elbows fully extended (important that they aren’t hyperextended). Without bending your elbows, perform a reverse shrugging movement by depressing and retracting your shoulder blades, and lift your body a few inches. Pause for a second at the top position, and lower yourself in a controlled manner to the starting position where you will reset and repeat.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 8-15 reps and perform these 3 days per week.

Ab Wheel Rollouts

https://youtu.be/z-hlx5tMtmU

Coaching Notes:

When most people perform this exercise, they allow their back to hyperextend and allow their body to go into a severe anterior pelvic tilt. The body should remain in a slight hollow body position the entire time, and this is accomplished by bracing the core, tucking the ribs, and squeezing the glutes. Reset before each rep.

The most basic form of the ab wheel rollout is from the knees, and you can make it more advanced by performing the exercise from the feet.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 8-15 reps and perform these 2-3 days per week.

Single Leg Deficit Hip Thrusts

https://youtu.be/5XPKWUure2Y

Coaching Notes:

Set yourself up so your mid-upper back/rear delts are on one bench or box, and your foot is on another bench or box. Make sure that the boxes are close enough so your knee is kept at approximately a 90° angle. Drop your hips down as low as you can, drive through the back of the foot that is on the forward step, squeeze your glutes, and pick your hips up so your body is level. Hold for a count at the top of the lift, reset, and repeat. Make sure that you engage the glute of the nonworking leg as well. Failing to do so will allow your nonworking hip to drop faster, and will cause your pelvis to rotate. Once you are comfortable performing this, you can add weight.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 8-12 reps per side and perform these 2-3 days per week.

Phase 3: 8-16 weeks

Now that you have acquired the requisite skills, it’s time to perfect your ability to perform unassisted dead hang pull-ups. And yes, we’ll start to implement them right into training as stand alone exercises and sprinkled into some novel sets as well.

The video below is a pull-up and push-ups conditioning superset that I performed.

Pull-Up

https://youtu.be/Nm47kxpEDwI

Coaching Notes:

See description above that talks about how to execute the perfect pull-up.

Exercise Prescription:

Build up to doing 3-5 sets of 8-12+ reps, and perform these 3 days per week. Obviously when you’re starting out, you will not be able to perform this number of reps in a row. Aim to add an additional rep per set every 1-2 weeks. Perform as many reps as you can, and when your form fails, do the remaining reps while just focussing on either the concentric and/or eccentric component, or inverted pull-ups. Eventually, the goal is that you will be able to perform the full number of reps unbroken. You can do regular pull-ups the entire time, or you can use a neutral grip.

Phase 4: Pull-Up Progressions

Now that you have mastered the ability to perform the pull-up, here are some more advanced variations that you can do:

Towel Pull-Ups

https://youtu.be/AyuPbjAKpYE

Coaching Notes:

This type of pull-up will really test and develop your grip strength. You can either hang two sturdy towels over the pull-up bar and perform regular grip pull-ups, or you can use one towel and perform neutral grip pull-ups. Because the towels are somewhat unstable, you will need to engage your core, glutes, and scapular stabilizers even more than during regular pull-ups.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 8-15+ reps and perform these 1-2 days per week.

Narrow Grip Pull-Ups

https://youtu.be/AyuPbjAKpYE

This type of pull-up will really develop your grip and forearm strength.

Coaching Notes:

Set yourself up as you would during a regular pull up, but position your hands so they are completely together.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 8-15+ reps and perform these 1 day per week.

Weighted Pull-Ups

https://youtu.be/cvd1LmrizFU

Do not perform this type of pull-up unless you are able to perform at least 10 regular pull-ups in a row. Many people attempt to do weighted pull-ups to boost their ego, but lack the strength and stability to perform the exercise safely and effectively.

Coaching Notes:

While you can hold the weight between your knees or feet, I prefer to use a weight belt, and anchor the weight plate to a chain. In my video, I am holding the dumbbell between my feet, only because I didn’t have access to a belt that fit. When the weight is held between the feet, it demands significantly more core strength.

Due to the additional weight, when many people perform this type of pull-up, it is very common to observe a severely hyperextended spine. In order to perform this pull-up safely and effectively, it’s absolutely crucial that you brace your core, keep your ribs from flaring, and squeeze your glutes as this will provide your pelvis and spine with the stability that it needs to perform the exercise safely and effectively.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 6-10+ reps and perform these 1 day per week.

Single Arm Pull-Ups

https://youtu.be/wNlYw5GZfpQ

While this type of pull-up is very flashy, it demands a tremendous amount of upper body and core strength, and stability.

Coaching Notes:

Use a neutral grip and grab the bar with one hand. Hold on to your wrist with the opposite hand. This will give you a small amount of assistance, and will stabilize your arm. Perform the pull-up the same way you would with two arms. Because you are only holding on with one hand, you will need to engage your core, glutes, and stabilizer muscles in your upper body that much more or else you will find that your body will swing from side to side.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 6-10+ reps per arm and perform these 1 day per week.

Advanced Calisthenics Climbing Pull-Up

https://youtu.be/VAetyPRK4dk

This is my favourite pull up to perform, and is a great example of an advance callisthenics exercise. While it is flashy, it demands a tremendous amount of upper body and core strength and stability.

Coaching Notes:

While you can use a regular grip, I prefer to use a neutral grip. Initiate the pull with your one arm and the muscles on that side of your upper body, and simultaneously drive up with the leg on the same size. Now repeat with the arm and muscles on your other side of your upper body, and drive up with your opposite leg. Repeat until your chest reaches the level of the bar. Once you are at the top, engage the muscles in your back, arms, and brace your core, now pull yourself back and forth laterally, while performing a jogging motion with your legs. Once you’ve performed between 5 to 10 reps in each direction, return to the bottom position by performing the opposite movement as you did on the way up. The descent really focusses on the eccentric component. Throughout the entire rep, it’s absolutely crucial that you keep your core muscles engaged and rib cage down. Aim to look as graceful as possible.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 1-5 reps (10 lateral movements per side) and perform this 1-2 days per week.

Bonus Exercises…!

If that wasn’t enough, here are some ultra novel progressions for all your pull-up fanatics.

Pull-Up/Skin The Cat Combo On The Rings

This gymnastics exercise is fun to perform, and is extremely effective. It also tests the mobility, stability and strength of the shoulders.

https://youtu.be/VIr293r-EOY

Coaching Notes: Refer to video tutorial above.

Exercise Prescription:  Do 3 sets of 4-10+ reps and perform these every 1-2 weeks.

Pull-Up To Pullover Combo

This gymnastics exercise is fun to perform, and is extremely effective. It also targets the triceps.

https://youtu.be/nK7_0BGAyrU

Coaching Notes: Refer to video above

Exercise Prescription: Do 3 sets of 4-10+ reps and perform these every 1-2 weeks.

Legless Rope Climbs

These three rope climb variations will dramatically improve your upper body and grip strength.

https://youtu.be/cb9_Y2-ktmY

https://youtu.be/UOcfNnc2X5M

https://youtu.be/IprXw1hFR1w

Coaching Notes:

Make sure that you keep your core and glutes engaged the entire time as a rigid body will be much easier to pull.

Exercise Prescription:

Pick one of the variations, and do 1 set of 1 reps and perform these every week.

Final Thoughts On The Pull-Up

Now that I have systematically provided you with what it takes to being able to perform the pull-up, it’s time to get the ball rolling. Stop doubting your abilities as you are more than capable of performing this extremely beneficial and empowering exercise. Master the pull-up and its many variations, and you will take your upper body strength, athleticism, and aesthetics to another level.

About The Author

Meghan Callaway is a prominent personal trainer in Western Canada with over 12 years of training experience coaching in the trenches.  Growing up as a multi-sport athlete competing in soccer, ice hockey and baseball, Meghan took her athletic prowess to the University of British Columbia and completed her degree in Human Kinetics.

Meghan currently works with an impressively wide array of clients, ranging from the elite athlete to post-physical therapy rehabilitation and strength training and many average fitness client looking to feel and function better everywhere between.  She teaches and coaches every one of her clients with the goal of helping them perform, feel and look their very best by laying down a properly aligned foundation for every client.

With a unquenchable thirst for learning about the human body and movement, Meghan spends her time broadening her knowledge base as a trainer and coach, and truly practices what she preaches in her own fitness and life.

Learn more about Meghan on her:  Website     Facebook      Instagram    Twitter     YouTube

The post The Complete Female Pull-Up Makeover appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. The kneeling push up is NOT a safe and effective way to train the push up, period. By using this variation, you’ll not only make little to no progress in upper body strength, but may even get hurt in the process.

2. The kneeling push up alters the tension and connection of the full body kinetic chain, placing brutal stresses through the lower back, pelvis and anterior shoulders, and predisposing pain and injury in the process.

3. Faking a push up is one thing with poor spinal alignment, but continuing to place your body into injurious positions for the sake of adding reps to your totals is not an acceptable way to progress strength and functionality.

4. The quick fix to bulletproofing your body and making notable progress in strength, body composition and functionality, is by intelligently using and progressing the hand elevated push up. This variation will yield results, without dealing with the aches, pains and poor positions associated with the kneeling push up.

Time To Stop The Kneeling Push Up, Ladies!

The push up is one of the most important foundational movement patterns known to man, but many women, and truthfully men as well, struggle to progress and perfect this traditional exercise. You’ll be hard pressed to walk into any commercial gym or CrossFit box and not see the push up being absolutely butchered to the point of orthopedic concern.

When it comes to training and perfecting this horizontal push pattern, the addition of more and more poorly executed reps with shitty spinal and pelvic positions seem to take president over quality movement patterns that involve the tension and recruitment of muscles, movement chains and anatomical segments throughout the entire body.

While cheating push ups are ineffective at best, and injurious at worst, there’s also another side to this dysfunctional push up story that doesn’t involve being a ego driven meathead. For women that struggle to even compensate their way through a single traditional push up on level ground, the most common popular “regression” tends to be dropping down on the knees and starting to crank out kneeling push ups to make the exercise easier, while having the ability to string a higher number of reps together. Ladies, I commend you on the use of regressions if a limitation is obviously identified, but lets be clear… There are intelligent regressions and poorly thought out regressions. Sadly, the kneeling push up may be just as counterproductive as the ‘hump the floor’ push up you are trying to avoid.

Get Off Your Knees… And Push Up Properly!

The examples above of poorly executed traditional push ups and kneeling push ups are simply not an acceptable way to strengthen the push up pattern, and may even lead to pain and injuries to the spine, hips and shoulders down the road. When it comes to perfecting the push up, an emphasis must first be placed on proper full body alignment and tension through the pillar (hips/core/shoulders), then progressed from a dynamic standpoint with the pushing movement. That is, if you want to stay healthy and actually get stronger via your training instead of setting yourself up for a long and tedious bout of traditional physical therapy.

Here’s why we need to start ditching those ugly kneeling push ups and implementing the hands elevated push up instead in order to build foundational movement patterns at the hips, core and shoulders that transfer into strength, power and function, not lower back and shoulder pain.

Check out the video tutorial below that reviews the problem with the kneeling push up, and the correct way to start teaching the foundational hands elevated push up variation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjDA0D-T6IU

What Constitutes Poor Form And Why Is It Such a Big Deal?

Sure, cheating your way through a max set of 25 reps as a finisher, or breaking the century mark in reps on your knees during a Les Mills class, may stroke your ego a bit, but is it really worth it? The quick answer is no, but here are the four most blatantly clear disadvantages to continuing to push up with poor form, instead of biting the functional bullet and strengthening the movement pattern properly over time.

#1 Poor Spinal Alignment & Bracing

Dropping down to the knees may fool you into thinking you are in a better position to put in some sweaty work from, but in actuality you are likely throwing your lumbar spine into a hyperextended position and causing heavy anterior tilting at the pelvis.

While this position is awesome for Instagram booty shots, what this really does is disintegrates the rock solid pillar position that should be a requisite of any plank or push up variation before any movement is added to the setup. By essentially fulcruming at a lower lumbar segment, the pelvis is forced to rotate forward. While this is a rather shitty functional position to be maintaining, it gets worse as you go to press up with your upper body.

As this compensated lower spinal and pelvic position is quite shoddy by itself, the addition of a horizontal pushing force through the hands, arms and shoulders during the kneeling push up forces the thoracic cage to flare up, causing an even greater amount of extension at the lower spine. Making a bad position worse and continuing to crank reps in this range is usually not the best idea if you like walking, or any other normal activity of daily living. This is called the vicious circle of movement dysfunction and impairment, and most of you won’t even realize it’s happening until it’s too late.

#2 Increased Stress on the Anterior Shoulder

As we lose a neutral position at the hips and core, compensation patterns tend to kick in in order to keep the reps coming on cadence with the Justin Bieber song that’s playing during your muscle pump class every Tuesday and Thursday night.

Since the reason for regressing yourself down to a kneeling push up obviously stemmed from the inability to execute a traditional push up, there was obviously something faulty with either your positioning, bracing, or upper body strength in general.

But for most people who cannot execute a single push up, I’ve seen a majority of people’s “strength” get blamed, when in actuality it is poor alignment at the core and hips, and even worse, bracing and tensional capabilities throughout the pillar that does not allow strength to be displayed. This is something that should be evaluated and tested for, especially if pain is present.

Without the ability to utilize the upper body strength that you do have, even a kneeling push up becomes more stressful on the shoulder joints when compared to a properly positioned and braced push up pattern. As overextension happens at the lower back, the compensation usually throws people forward, causing elevation, internal rotation and protraction at the shoulder blade during the push up. Not only is this the polar opposite position one wants to be maintaining during a push up pattern for optimal strength vectors, but also if you want to protect the shoulders from chronic and traumatic injuries.

#3 Poor Functional Carryover to Strength

I’d argue that the single most important “skill” that an athlete, fitness fanatic or living, breathing, human being should be able to display in order to move through life without putting their orthopedic health behind the eight ball, is the ability to create tension through the pillar and brace properly during movements of all kinds.

That’s the reason why spinal, shoulder and pelvic alignment is the first thing that is reviewed with every single client that walks through my door, no matter if they have goals of performance or rehabilitation.

The ability to brace properly using optimal positions through the pillar, and even incorporating a breathing component, will allow people to function freely no matter what the activity. If the positioning and bracing strategy is absent, due to alignment issues at the knees and hips because of being in a kneeling position in a push up, there is little chance that the pillar can synergistically work as a unit to maintain tension and alignment, while also acting as a means of force transference into the extremities.

Poor positioning and bracing carries over and leads to poor strength, hypertrophy, functional and aesthetics goals, plain and simple. So that being said, if you are doing kneeling push ups with the goal of chiseling out your arms, you’re better off doing nothing instead and saving your back and shoulders in the process.

#4 Limited Upper Body Targeted Training Effect

Like I mentioned in the previous point, with no core stability or recruitment of tension, the last thing that is going to be trained is the pressing motion off the floor. As segments lose stability and deviate away from neutral, compensation patterns sneak in and tend to mitigate the force of any movement, taking the force away from the targeted movement at hand.

A simple example of this is, as you push up with flexed hips, knees bent and a hyper lordodic lumbar position, the “horizontal” pressing turns into a pseudo push back instead of being locked into the plane of motion that should directly target the pecs, triceps and other key players. This press back causes shoulder flexion to happen instead of a locked in horizontal press. Think of pressing from a plank position to a downward dog in yoga and you can picture the movement I’m speaking to.

The strength and force curves are simply altered, and leakage of tension and torque through the upper body and shoulders causes less emphasis to be placed on the muscular recruitment requisite of the motion, and more on compensation at the spine, hips and lower body. This is the reason brittle and frail yogis can seemingly press up forever. It’s all compensation.

Here’s another video that looks deeper into the poor positions of lumbar spine, hips, pelvis and shoulders from the kneeling push up compensation patterns below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz9wR5jHK1Y

Strengthen The Movement Pattern with Hands Elevated Push Ups

With so much that can go wrong with the kneeling push up, it’s pretty awesome that so many problems can be avoided by using one simple variation. This variation will yield strength development and bulletproof your back and shoulders, while progressively improving a foundational movement pattern that will translate into other lifts and exercises along with daily life.

Enter the hands elevated push up, the superior “regression” off the traditional level ground push up. By providing all the benefits of the foundational push up pattern that we know and love, we are able to simply shift the force plane and use physics to our advantage to deload this movement.

Take a look at the video tutorial below to master your perfect setup for the hands elevated push up and start making gains without all the pains:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RVWINzBFAU

Progression of The Hands Elevated Push Up

By using the hands elevated push up variation, you will start to see some marked improvement not only in your execution and injury prevention, but also in your strength and aesthetics. It’s quite common for my clients to start off focusing on the hands elevated push up as their key indicator lift for upper body horizontal pushing, and progress the height of the box all the way down to level ground once again like bosses.

It’s important to remember that the push up is indeed a loaded movement, meaning that rep ranges that focus on strength, hypertrophy and muscular endurance are absolutely still pertinent to making notable progress. Just because the push up starts out as a bodyweight movement doesn’t mean we can’t eventually progress it to be loaded. First thing first though, making sure you can knock out bodyweight reps on level ground with pristine form.

Here’s how to perfectly execute the foundational push up movement pattern:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFAzMbsgeow

Once you get yourself back down to hands on the ground, without kneeling of course, here are some rep ranges you want to think about progressing through based on your goals for this pushing movement. Before you start to add external loads with a weighted vest or plate on your back, ensure that you can rock out 10 perfect reps.

At that point, feel free to work into your “strength” set/rep schemes that are practiced between 3-8 repetitions. Hell, even use banded accommodating resistance for overloading the push up pattern like we do in FHT to make some gainz! Make sure that you are damn near failure on the last rep on these to make overloading the movement pattern effective and reproducible.

Once you have your hands back on the ground, remember, there is no shame in elevating the hands back up to hit some higher rep sets in the hypertrophy and muscular endurance set/rep schemes. For instance, if you can only complete 10 good push ups on level ground and want to hit a set of push ups to challenge your muscular endurance, elevating your hands and hitting failure near rep 15 would be perfect!

This just goes to show that yes, we want to focus on hands elevated push ups to eventually progress to the strict off the floor push up, but once you are there, don’t forget what got you there and use the knowledge to your training advantage. Enjoy the gains everyone, this is going to be a game changer for many of you who have been struggling with push ups on your knees for far too long!

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is an internationally recognized coach, physical therapist, speaker, and writer, whose published over 200 articles in some of the most widely regarded media outlets in the industry like Men’s Fitness, Testosterone Nation, Mountain Dog Diet, Bodybuilding.com, and Muscle and Strength, to name a few.

Along with an impressive laundry list of publications, Dr. John works with some of the world’s most elite athletes, including Gold Medalist Olympians, NFL All-Pro Quarterbacks, MLB All-Star Pitchers, Professional Bodybuilders and World Class IronMan Triathletes.

He takes pride in offering uniquely customized programming to clients of all walks of life in the exact same detail and passion as the Pros! Dr. John’s 12-Week Functional Hypertrophy Training Program is now available to you.

The post Dispelling The Dysfunctional Kneeling Push Up appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Why do people automatically assume that endless amounts of static stretching and foam rolling will provide them with transferable benefits in the gym, sport and their daily lives? The stretching myths need to be dispelled, especially as it pertains to the most commonly stretched area of the body, the hip.

From attempting to get out of lower back pain to targeting more and more hip mobility to improve squatting and other functional movements, people gravitate towards stretching, but is it really doing them any good?

We have Dr. Zach Long here on DrJohnRusin.com because he wants to put a stop to static stretching of the hips, and rightfully so! He has a better way to improve positions and alleviate pain, and it doesn’t involve sticking lacrosse balls in your butt or holding painful static stretches for minutes at a time. Enjoy.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. Many people use foam rolling and static stretching to alleviate tight muscles, but the fact of the matter is that these practices make little to no useable change to the the muscles or movements they control in the short and long term.

2. If you really want to improve your “hip mobility” you better look outside the hip and start targeting stability of the pelvis and spine instead of adding endless mobility to one of the most mobile joints in the body.

3. When it comes to alleviating lower back pain and hip dysfunction, gaining and maintaining pelvic alignment in the neutral zone is pivotal. And guess what, it will improve your strength performances as well.

4. Dynamic stability is the new mobility, so here’s the most effective program that will open up your hips without ever holding a static stretch ever again.

Stupid Static Stretching

The fitness world has come a long way in our understanding of the importance of mobility work and the impact it has on athletic performance and training. It’s safe to say that “mobility” exercises and tools like the foam roller are becoming commonplace in gyms, CrossFit boxes, and on the playing field worldwide.

Unfortunately, most athletes performing these mobility drills have yet to figure out that much of their mobility work does not actually result in real performance gains!

Sadly, their mobility work does not address the true root of their problems and their constant stretching, foam rolling, and joint band distractions get them nowhere. The hips are the greatest example of this problem, with athletes everywhere wasting hours on  useless mobility work! Let’s stop wasting time and start seeing objective results from corrective exercise and training, you know, the kind that shows up in PRs instead of in fluffy feel good effects.

It’s time to quit the static stretching of the hips and start refocusing your “mobility” work on more effective exercises and techniques that will not only improve your mobility, but your athletic performance as well! And did I mention that we can achieve this in a fraction of the time? Yeah, better listen up.

Where Hip Mobility Exercises Have Gone Wrong

Because of the inherent stability of the hip joint provided by the ball-and-socket, many athletes and coaches spend far too much time trying to improve hip mobility by performing stretching and soft tissue work. Months of intense stretching techniques provide little actual change in available motion and only serve to waste time and create pain in the athletes.

Instead, small stability changes at the pelvis can provide drastically fast improvements in performance. Contraction of the muscles around the pelvis can result in changes in pelvic positioning and thus available hip range of motion. For example, a posterior tilt of the pelvis will put the hips in a position advantageous to improve hip flexion mobility, while an anterior pelvic tilt will result in increased hip extension. It’s important to remember that it’s not all about the hips.

The hamstrings are the perfect example of the effects pelvic positioning can have on mobility. I’ve yet to meet an athlete who doesn’t claim to have “tight hamstrings”. Even the elite gymnasts, dancers, runners, and yogis believe that their hamstrings should be further stretched in order to maintain and enhance mobility.

In an anteriorly rotated pelvis, the hamstrings will have increased tension placed on them, thus resulting in a perceived decrease in flexibility. More often than not, simple core stabilization movements will provide immediate improvement in their perceived tightness or chronic hamstring muscle strains.

To test this directly, have athletes perform a straight leg raise while lying on their back. Quite often, simply cueing the athlete to “push your rib cage down” or “flatten your lower back into the floor” will result in a posterior pelvic tilt that instantly improves “hamstring mobility” and decreases the perception of hamstring tightness and muscle strain.

This simple repositioning of the pelvis can provide more gains almost instantly than months of static stretching, manual therapy, and self-myofascial work combined. This effect can also be seen when working to improve hip extension, rotation, and functional patterns such as the squat.

The Hip Mobility Solution 

The self-sufficient solutions to hip mobility deficits are simple. Perform movements that challenge the available active hip range of motion, while engaging the core to stabilize the pelvis. As the athlete learns to better control the core and pelvis, mobility will drastically improve and be transferable into function.

Hip “mobility” work done this way will have two effects.

First, it will reposition the pelvis to a more neutral position, allowing for improved mobility within the hip socket.

Secondly, it will serve as a “reset” to muscle tone around the hips. Often times, the body realizes it does not have the needed stability around a joint due to muscle weakness. The body’s response is to increase the tone in a muscle to provide some false-stabilization. The hip flexors (like the hamstrings) are another muscle group that often feels tight in athletes but when proper core stabilization movements are performed, this increased muscle tone instantly vanishes and mobility problems are gone!

Your New Hip Mobility Regimen

The following exercises should be a strong component of any athlete’s hip mobility work, as they will produce faster results than the typically prescribed foam rolling and stretching routines. Lets break these down one by one with a video and my notes on what makes each movement so powerful:

The Reverse Active Straight Leg Raise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAvvyU6n6-k

Coaching Notes: The Reverse Active Straight Leg Raise is an excellent movement to improve hip flexion and active hamstring mobility. The athlete begins lying on his or her back with both legs vertical and knees straight. One leg is kept in this vertical position (this can be done by using a stretch strap or not using one to increase the challenge) while the other leg is slowly lowered to the floor. The key point of performance is that the lower back remains flat on the ground, ensuring that the core is actively engaged to stabilize the spine and pelvis.

Single Leg Hip Lift

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g2-_CUzjeE

Coaching Notes: Up next for those with hip flexor tightness, the Single Leg Hip Lift and Psoas March variations can be incredible exercises. To perform the Single Leg Hip Lift, the athlete lies on their back with one foot flat on the floor and that knee bent to approximately 90 degrees. The other leg is pulled towards the chest and held in the athlete’s arms. Next, the athlete lifts his or her hips up as high as possible without arching their lumbar spine. The athlete should consciously focus on activating his or her glutes throughout the entire movement.

The Psoas March

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhmkkGCH2h4

Coaching Notes: The Psoas March is an amazing exercise for quickly eliminating hip flexor tightness as it retrains the psoas’ role in spinal stability. The athlete lies supine with a resistance band around both feet. While focusing on maintaining a neutral spine, the athlete lifts one knee towards his or her chest, stopping at ~90 degrees of hip flexion, and then returns to supine. This is then repeated on the opposite leg.

The Goblet Squat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9OyjcAE8b8

The Goblet Squat may be the most powerful mobility exercise specific to the squat. By holding a weight in front of the body, the athlete is able to better sit back into the squat, maintain a neutral spine and pelvis, and reach better squat depths. When performing Goblet Squats to work hip mobility, we suggest performing a slow negative and pausing for several seconds in the bottom of the squat.

90/90 Breathing with Hip Internal Rotation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXZMHs7Jmb8

Coaching Notes: The 90/90 Breathing with Hip Internal Rotation is another fantastic drill for quickly changing hip mobility. This has repeatedly helped improve rock-bottom squat depth and decreased hip pinching in the elite Olympic weightlifters and CrossFit athletes that I work with.

Start with the athlete lying on his or her back, their feet up on a wall and their hips and knees bent to ninety degrees. After raising the hips slightly off the ground, they inhale through their nose, focusing on filling their stomach with air before allowing the check to rise. As they exhale, the rib cage is pushed down. This movement puts the spine in a neutral position and the pelvis slightly posteriorly rotated. After several breaths, the athlete then lifts one leg off the wall and repeatedly internally rotates it while continuing the breath cycles.

The Anti-Stretch Hip Mobility Program

For an athlete looking to optimize hip mobility and performance, I highly recommend that they do each of the above exercises three to four times weekly, usually as part of their warm up. And hell, if more attention is needed to improve these positions, work this exact program into a cool down after a workout or a stand alone session later on that day.

1. 90/90 Breathing with Hip Internal Rotation
   • 5 breaths followed by 20 internal rotations per side
2. Reverse Active Straight Leg Raise
   • 2 sets to moderate fatigue each leg
3. Single Leg Hip Lifts
   • 2 sets to moderate fatigue
4. Psoas March
   • 2 sets to moderate fatigue
5. Goblet squats
   • 2 sets of 10 reps with 5 second negative and three second pause in the bottom

Alright guys, there you have it! A full “hip mobility” program that is geared towards improving your motor control, stability and of course your movement abilities as a whole, without the need to stretch out that always tight piriformis!!

About The Author

Dr. Zach Long is a physical therapist and CrossFit coach located in Charlotte, NC. He specializes in improving athletic performance and injury rehab of athletes from Olympians to weekend warriors. Zach currently runs and can be contacted through his website, TheBarbellPhysio.com. His recently released “BulletProof Mobility” is designed for the fitness athlete wanting to improve performance, mobility, and get warmed up in the quickest and most efficient way possible.

The post The End of Static Stretching to Improve Hip Mobility appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.