Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. When it comes to foam rolling, there are no absolutes no matter what the experts say. When intelligently programmed with goals in mind, foam rolling can be a highly effective tool for improving movement quality, performance and recovery. Just depends if you are using it correctly.

2. Foam rolling in the pre-training routine is only appropriate when notable movement dysfunctions or pain has been identified and properly evaluated. If you are a pain-free functional mover, your time is better spent focusing on mobility drills in the warm up.

3. The post workout window provides the best opportunity to expedite the recovery process by programming strategic foam rolling techniques into the routine to improve local tissues while tapping into the systemic function of the parasympathetic system.

4. A nightly parasympathetic routine including deep diaphragmatic breathing, low level mobility drills and stretching and foam rolling can spark systemic recovery while also improving the global quality of sleep.

The Confusion of When To Foam Roll

When it comes to the daily choice to foam roll or not, many industry experts want to draw a hard line in the sand and preach their methods and beliefs in absolutism onto their highly impressionable following. Lets get one thing straight right off the bat, there is absolutely no room for absolutes, especially in practices as hard to objectify as self-myofascial release techniques.

If you are continuously frustrated and confused about what you should be doing to self-manage your body’s soft tissues, I don’t blame you, it’s hard to decipher this practice as effective, or as a shear and utter waste of time. This day and age in the fitness industry, information pertaining to foam rolling is inconsistent at best, and falsified at worst.

Who’s Right? The Science or The Gurus?

What’s important to understand is that no single peer reviewed research study or individual training guru can make absolute conclusive recommendations on a physical practice. Not one single study, nor one single expert is the conclusive source, period.

The scientific side of foam rolling is hard to reliably quantify. How do you control for every variable and identify true marked change in tissue quality, enhanced movement, perceived pain alleviation and a host of other reported effects of foam rolling’s functional transference and long term results?

To the same point, coaches and therapists who either preach foam rolling to every patient who strolls through their doors, or on the other end of the spectrum bans the foam roller from their facilities all together would be lying if they claimed to never have success on an individual with self-care of the soft-tissues. Will it work for everyone? Simply put, no. But will it work for someone… Yes.

Assess Your Individual Needs, Not The Needs of The Masses

So where does that leave us in terms of whether to prioritize foam rolling or not in a training or therapy program? The simple answer is that it depends on you as an individual study of N=1, and like most things, true success with any practice is usually found somewhere between the two polar opposite ends of the extremes. I like to refer to this as the zone of sanity.

Here’s exactly what you have to know pertaining to when and why to foam roll or practice self-myofascial release techniques to yield maximal benefit from your practice. And hey, I guarantee you’ll avoid wasting time and energy with a method that produces minimal return on investment while maximizing your results in the process.

When To Practice SMR Before Training or Sport

One of the most popular times you will see coaches recommending their clients and athletes get on the foam roller and address soft-tissues is in the pre-training routine. In the window directly before a training bout or sport specific activity or competition, there are only a few reasons ever to devote more than 60 seconds to self-myofascial release techniques.

First, does your athlete have a diagnosed marked movement deficit that has been reliably objectified in a proper evaluation of baseline function? If the answer is yes, then getting the ball rolling in your pre-training routine or dynamic warm up on the foam roller is warranted, and possibly even advantageous to the entire pre-training routine as a whole using a reliable system like my 6-Phase Dynamic Warm Up Sequence.

If you are indeed programming foam rolling into a pre-training routine, you better be using pre and post testing to determine the efficacy of the practice if you want to avoid wasting time better spend on other activities. If no objective change is made, don’t depend on the “feel good” subjective report of your client at this place and time, and don’t mistake that with actual functional transference into sport.

Figure out the linchpin of dysfunction and choose a specific 1-2 foam rolling techniques that will directly target that dysfunction. It’s easy to let foam rolling get out of hand for a client or athlete in pain or with marked movement dysfunctions, so reign in the temptation to over-prescribe self-myofascial release techniques and use your deductive logic and reasoning as a movement specialist instead.

Here’s an example of a traditional soft-tissue based foam rolling technique for the lateral hip:

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

On the flip side, if you are working with an athlete that presents as a functional mover with no big asymmetries of movement deficits, foam rolling in the pre-training routine should be limited t0 30-60 seconds in practice, period. If there are no big movement dysfunctions to work on, spending more time than a minute or so on this practice is an utter waste of time as they are already moving well. Don’t try to fix it if it ain’t broken or dysfunctional, and don’t try to impress yourself and your clients with your deep understanding of pain science, bio-kinematics or muscle physiology.

For functional movers, I have started to gravitate towards prescribing and programming “mobility” drills on top of the foam roller to take advantage of the change in force that you can manipulate with a body placed over a stationary foam roller to get a little direct trigger point work on specific areas while more importantly practicing and perfecting movement skills.

I’ll repeat this point because it’s important… If you are managing a functional mover, your best bet it to program mobility work on top of a stationary foam roller instead of direct soft-tissue work for best results, period. Here’s another example of mobility on top of the foam roller for that same lateral hip group:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQetghg3kvc

Properly evaluating and identifying clients and athletes that fall into either or these two categories, functional or dysfunctional, is paramount to having success with the practice of soft-tissue work in the pre-training routine. But from my professional experience, I have seen far more athletes overdoing the practice of foam rolling in the pre-training routine that don’t need it than dysfunctional athletes under utilizing this practice. Keep that in mind as we move on, as the placebo effect of foam rolling is real, and can be one of the most common time wasters in fitness.

Utilizing The Post Workout Window To Expedite Recovery

Often times people forget that foam rolling is a highly effective and efficient means for enhancing recovery after training bouts. All the key mechanisms that foam rolling and other self-myofascial release techniques tap into work perfectly to target regeneration at both a local tissue and systemic level.

One problem that is quite common in the fitness and athletic performance populations is the lack of utilization of the post workout window to expedite recovery. As soon as the final rep is completed, most high tail it out of the gym and are in a hurry to go sit on their ass the rest of the day at their desk or couch counting down the hours until their next meal. By slowing your clients down and programming regenerative techniques into a 5-15 minute post workout window, including foam rolling and self-myofascial release techniques, we can simply spark the recovery process for effectively.

For the most part, the activities of training and sport are highly driven by the sympathetic nervous system. That means that training hard will increase your heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate and neural involvement in the activities to perform and function to the best of your abilities. After driving up the sympathetic response for a period of time in training, is becomes highly advantageous from a recovery standpoint to bring back down the sympathetic response and tap into the opposite side of the nervous system, the parasympathetic.

In a simple yet effective program in the post workout window, drills that focus on breathing quality and rhythm, addressing soft tissue with stretching and self-myofascial release techniques, and even lower level mobility drills can quickly tap into the parasympathetic nervous system and reverse the neurological training effect that tends to take a long time to shut down fully after a heavy training bout for most people who run out the door and are on the go the rest of the day.

Here is one of my favorite hybrid foam rolling mobility drills that work extremely well in the post workout window to expedite recovery while also incorporating deep breathing techniques:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaQt3GPTPmg

While this isn’t ideal for many people as devoting as much time to actual training is sometimes more ideal from a fat loss, muscle building and conditioning standpoint, there is a way around it. While I preach programming a parasympathetic routine directly after intense training bouts, I also make sure that I educate my patients and clients on the importance of a nightly maintenance routine centered around foam rolling and soft-tissue work. Results are found with consistency, and if you’ve ever trained a human being in your life, you know that educating your clientele on things they can do away from the gym and your direct supervision is where the gains are really cultivated.

The Parasympathetic Foam Rolling Routine

By now it is clear that foam rolling has some pretty awesome benefits in terms of sparking the recovery process. These include the alleviation of pain, especially muscular pain and delayed onset muscle soreness, localizing blood flow to tissues being targeted and providing a “feel good” effect to many. Sure, reduction in DOMS is great, but what I find very compelling is the utilization of the “feel good” effect for tapping into the parasympathetic nervous system and being able to translate local foam rolling of tissues into targeted muscle recovery, but more importantly a systemic rest and relaxation response.

By spending time each night on the foam roller after daily workouts and activities have concluded, we can aid the recovery process and also help transition into a restful sleeping state. How exactly do we do this?

Prioritizing the inclusion of large areas of musculature such as the quads, glutes, hamstrings, pectoralis group and lats will not only yield local recovery to those tissues, but will also have a better chance at sparking a systemic recovery effect due to the proximity of these muscles to the skin, as compared to deeper and smaller muscles of the body. While the mechanism of why foam rolling reduces tone of tissues is largely unclear, the fact of the matter is that the “feel good” effect from targeting these large superficial tissues is simply the body moving into a parasympathetic state.

Spending a few minutes on each of the major movers mentioned above while focusing on deep diaphragmatic breathing strategies is one of the single most effective recovery strategies that I have used that is self-directed and internally driven. This practice, when paired with low level mobility drills and oscillatory stretching sets the body and mind up for success in maintaining a restful state and transitioning into the sleep cycle.

This is a powerful recovery mechanism that when nutrition and training are on point, can have the ability to allow athletes to train at higher intensities, frequencies and levels of performance. And guess what, it’s free. All you have to do is put down the phone and shut off the TV before bed and spend 10-15 minutes with only your body, breath and mind. Think you can do that? If not, you’re not as serious about your training and performance as you think you are.

Putting It All Together To Perfect Your Foam Rolling Practice

Now that the foundation is laid out as to when, how and why we would incorporate foam rolling and other self-myofascial release techniques into your training and daily routines, lets review the various options just to ensure that the path to effective and efficient soft-tissue work is blatantly clear so you can avoid wasting time flopping around on the foam roller.

#1 Pre-Training Routine

If you are a dysfunctional mover, get screened, evaluated or diagnosed by a movement professional or do some homework on your own, then determine the 1-2 self-myofascial release techniques you will key in on in the pre-training routine. Objectify your practice with pre and post testing.

If you are a functional mover with no big movement deficits, prioritize mobility drills incorporating the foam roller as a catch all self-myofascial release trigger point technique plus controlled mobility. Only devote 30-60 seconds in this phase of your dynamic warm up as your priorities lie elsewhere in the performance spectrum.

#2 Post Training Routine

Devote 5-15 minutes bringing down your sympathetic system by prioritizing deep diaphragmatic breathing techniques while targeting large tissues that were active in the days training session with foam rolling and oscillatory based stretching. This session is targeting recovery, so focus your mental energies on slowing down your movement, breath and mental train of thought as opposed to pushing through hard painful reps of forced movements or torturous soft-tissue work.

#3 Nightly Parasympathetic Routine

After your daily activities and training have concluded for the day, spend 10-15 minutes working on your breath, soft-tissues and mental train of thought to prepare your body for a restful night’s sleep. Low level mobility drills, stretching and foam rolling should be included in your soft-tissue practice. If you are serious about your training and recovery, this will become a mandatory nightly routine.

Foam Rolling’s Final Verdict… It Depends On YOU!

There you have it guys! No more excuses to be confused as to what you should be doing and when you should be doing it when it comes to the foam roller and other soft-tissue techniques. Spend the time and figure out what’s going to benefit you and your body the most, and please, I’m begging you… Stop it with the 45 minute full body foam rolling sessions!

Did You Know That A Full Detailed Regeneration Program, Including Foam Rolling, Hands-On SMR & Mobility Drills, Is Included In Dr. John’s 12-Week FHT Program? Just Another  Reason To Start Today with FHT!

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 Stop Mindlessly Foam Rolling Like A Jackass appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. If you want to stay injury free while lifting heavy ass weights for the long run, you better learn how to properly brace and stabilize your shoulder, core and hips and build tension. Some people can be coached into good stable positions, while other struggle forever.

2. Stop thinking the “squeeze the armpits” cue during the deadlift is going to work for everyone. I’ve seen this cue fall apart many times, and end up putting athletes into brutal forced spinal flexed positions that will eventually lead to injuries.

3. The straight arm pulldown and it’s many variations is the perfect activation drill to teach athletes how to achieve and maintain proper tension through the shoulders, core and pelvis, and really acts as a catch all stability primer before big compound movements like the deadlift.

4. No matter what your goal, equipment limitations or training level, I have you covered with the perfect straight arm pulldown variation to translate into bigger, stronger, and more stable deads. All you have to do is place this movement in before your big compounds movements and reap the benefits.

Lifting Heavy Ass Weights Safely Is All About Activation

When it comes to pulling heavy weights from the floor while maintaining a rigid pillar position throughout the lift, nothing may be more important than staying tight through the lats. While targeting the lats may seem like a very narrow and simplistic point of focus, the best methods that improve performance while mitigating the risk of injuries are indeed simple that have a synergistic effect throughout the rest of the body. Now that’s the kind of catch all activation I look for as a coach every damn time.

While we’ve all been coached to “squeeze your armpits” during loaded hip hinging movement patterns to stabilize the shoulder girdle and thoracic spine/cage, I have seen this coaching cue fall apart many times in even elite performance athletes which ends up translating into some pretty piss poor dynamic postures which rip the athlete into a continuous flexed spinal position throughout the concentric phase of the lift. While spinal flexion isn’t the demon that we once thought it to be, any time the spine is forced into a flexed position from poor bracing and stabilization, this is a recipe for an injury. And anyone who has coached enough athletes will agree with that statement.

While it’s clear that the armpit cue doesn’t work for everyone, what is the next step in the movement remediation for achieving and maintaining a strong canister position at the shoulder, core, pelvis and hips during loaded movements?  If you are struggling with volitionally staying tight during big compound movements, it’s time to target the lats with direct activation work. But why the lats with so many other key players in spinal and pillar stability?

The Importance Of The Lats For Global Stability

The lats are the broadest muscles in the body that have distal insertion points into the posterior rig cage, thoracic and lumbar spine, and multiple dense sheaths of fascia that span the lower back, gluteal region, hips and pelvis. Simply put, the lats are the active cornerstone of posterior lumbo-pelvic stability.

What makes the lats even more intriguing from a stability standpoint is their attachment into the medial aspect of the upper humerus, making the lats the prime extensor of the upper arm and true shoulder joint, while also playing a key roll in internal rotation. Anytime a muscle courses over multiple joints, it’s action for stability of the joints it encompasses is exponentiated. So in this case, the lats integrate the shoulder, thoracic cage, pelvis and hips together as a functioning unit. To take it a step further, due to the size and anatomical location of this set of muscles, the lats strength and capabilities to volitionally activate make actively tapping into them a requisite to stabilize the entire pillar, especially with loaded movement.

So if you are having trouble tapping into your mind muscle connection naturally by squeezing your armpits, it would be smart to take the next step and place the lats in the perfect position to be directly activated before big compound movements like the deadlift. And the single best way to activate the lats is through straight arm pulldown variations that allow the lats to move the upper arm into extension and internal rotation at the proximal origination point while maintaining a rigid isometric position distally at the broad insertions. But like with most movements, benefits and results are derived from perfect execution and programming strategies, so lets review the perfect straight arm pulldown for results driven practice and programming.

The Straight Arm Lat Pulldown

While the name of the movement really gives away the focus point, it’s worth detailing the importance of the proper execution of the straight arm pulldown. Here are the pivotal keys to perfecting your form and technique to maximize the tension and muscular recruitment through the isolated lat group, but also to increase it’s transference into your big compound lifts for the day. These points will stand true for all variations of the straight arm pulldown, and are requisites to mastering this movement and getting the most out of the lat activation:

1. Maintain a locked out straight elbow position throughout the concentric, eccentric and flexing phase of the movement. This will ensure the the triceps group does not aid in the extension of the elbow and shoulder joint, which would ultimately reduce the direct isolation of the lats.
2. Position the shoulders in a neutrally centrated position. This position should not allow for compensatory movement of the shoulders such as elevation, protraction or hyper internal rotation.
3. Ensure that the anterior core including the multi-layer abdominal wall is actively bracing throughout the entire movement, as the eccentric portion of the straight arm pulldown will challenge the anti-extension moment of the core and spine.
4. Execute each rep with slow and deliberate concentric and eccentric contractions to minimize the compensation patterns taking over at the shoulder, core or hips.
5. Control your maximal allowable range of motion that also maintains proper shoulder and spinal position throughout. Again, we are working hard to avoid losing tension at the lats that is common when compensation patterns kick in.
6. Finally, it is imperative that you tap into your mind muscle connection and flex as hard as you possibly can at the bottom of every rep. This will maximize the tension and activation through the lats while they are in the perfect position to fire (internally rotated and extended at the shoulder). I consider the straight arm pulldown and it’s many variations an internally tension driven movement, meaning the emphasis should be placed on your flexing as opposed to adding more external load.

Now that we have covered the basics of the straight arm pulldown, it’s time to feature some of the options when choosing the perfect variation of the straight arm pulldown for your needs, equipment limitations, and current level of performance and training abilities. The following four straight arm pulldown variations are ordered from most simple to most advanced, so if you are new to this movement, start simple and work your way up the chain to chose the variation that is right for you, and actually produces results in your big lifts.

Banded Straight Arm Lat Pulldown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA5EYMMrxH8

The most basic of the straight arm pulldown variations is the standing banded pulldown. This variation allows for a great “feel” due to the accommodating banded resistance that places more resistance on the hard flexed portion of the movement and lets up on resistance towards the top stretched position. This variation is also very equipment friendly, as the instant implementation into a program is as easy as picking up a pro-mini band and attaching it to a pull up bar and getting to work. This is the reason why I chose to use the banded straight arm pulldown variation in my FHT Program.

Since the band is essentially used as a learning tool to teach you how to isolate and fire the lats, you can get away with using the same resistance band for an extended period of time. Remember, this is an activation drill, not necessarily a strength movement that you want to continuously load up in a periodized fashion. If you do outgrow the banded straight arm pulldown variation, you can either invest in a thicker band, or move onto the cable straight arm pulldown variation below.

Cable Straight Arm Pulldown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n5t_HPRHSA

The cable straight arm pulldown is going to have the same basic feel and function as it’s banded counterpart above, but with the added advantage of being able to objectively load up using the cable rack. Utilizing the same standing position, it’s imperative that the core stays strong, especially in the eccentric phase of the movement where your arms come up overhead into a stretch between each rep.

If you are moving from the band to the cable rack and progressing the straight arm pulldown, remember that the cable system does not account for accommodating resistance, but rather even loading throughout the strength curve. That means that your choice in weights needs to be dialed in, taking into account the maintenance of perfect technique throughout the entire range of motion. I will say it again, this is all about maintaining tension and maximizing isolated lat activation, so keep the loads low and your internal tension high.

To take this variation to the next level, the progression that I commonly use with my athletes and aesthetics clients is one which allows for a greater range of motion to be utilized. This can be achieved through positioning yourself on a decline bench and staying within the cable rack for decline cable straight arm pulldowns that are detailed below.

Decline Cable Straight Arm Lat Pulldown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHgbtMkSZ8M

While this variation may feel like you are bodybuilding instead of activating, the proof is in the range of motion. One of the limiting factors to a standing straight arm pulldown variation is the range of motion at the top of the movement. Simply put, it is very hard to get to terminal shoulder flexion without compensating or losing tension, which would ultimately defeat the purpose of the activation drill.

By using a slight decline on the piece of equipment that people commonly use to flare up their lower backs and herniate discs, we are going to put this bench to use intelligently. I first picked up this movement from coach Lee Boyce, and it has stayed in my training library ever since. By using the slight decline angle and having the cable set at a lower height, you are locked into a full range of motion if you can maintain stability and control through the pelvis and lower spine. Ensure that you are not compensating to get more shoulder flexion overhead by hyper-extending the lower back. This is a no-no, and will again defeat the purpose of the activation drill. The last thing you want to be doing before loading up a deadlift is crushing your facet joints and discs into a hyper-lordodic position.

Work hard to stabilize your core, pelvis and maintain constant tension and a huge flex at the bottom of each rep. When you have mastered this variation, you have one more big jump to the apex of the straight arm pulldown continuum, the bent over straight arm pulldown.

Cable Bent Over Straight Arm Pulldown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rsn821oILmE

This is my favorite variation of the straight arm pulldown, but also one you must earn your way to implement into your program if you have any chance of seeing notable benefit. The bent over position allows the a natural hip hinge to occur at the hips and pelvis, while maintaining a rigid torso and spine. This angle places even more tension throughout the thoraco-lumbar fascia and other deep fascial connections of the posterior chain connecting to the lats. This position essentially pre-stretches the lats, allowing for even greater activation.

Also, by hip hinging over, increased terminal flexion shoulder range of motion is allowed, really accentuating the stretch on the lats from the top and bottom of the structures. Finally, I see this movement to be more highly transferable into deadlifting and other compound movements as it does indeed utilize the hip hinge, which is the exact foundational movement pattern that will be loaded after the activation drills have commenced.

To really get the most out of this variation, use an extra long rope setup on the cable. This will allow for better shoulder extension paired with internal rotation. If this is not an attachment you have readily available, hook two normal ropes to the single cable clip and pull from there, using the longer ropes on each side. When you do this one correctly, the tension and activation is through the roof, and should be one hell of a novel training stimuli to the lats and posterior chain.

Programming The Straight Arm Pulldown

Since we are not truly loading up the straight arm pulldown in a linear fashion due to the movement being more dependent on internal muscular tension and recruitment, it’s pivotal that we program and execute perfect reps in order to increase the transference into the big lifts.

First off, we want to be placing this straight arm pulldown variation directly in front of your big deadlift of compound movement for the day. The plasticity of your brain and ability to utilize the post activation potentiation effect is just a few minutes, so don’t do these 20 minutes before hitting deads.

Starting with a few sets of 8-10 reps with a load that you can 100% dominate in terms of tempo, range of motion and most importantly that active flex at the bottom of the movement will do the trick. If you are using a band, over time you can add some reps to your scheme, or just move to a heavier band or cable setup.

When progressing the cable pulldown variations, move up the loads with caution. This movement will be sneaky, as adding too much weight will deactivate the lats due to bringing in accessory movers into the exercise. This is about the feel and function of the movement, so stay where you can feel the movement the most, period.

Now it’s time to go enjoy the added benefit of lat activation, core stabilization and a nasty pump of the lats that will transfer into function. And remember, squeeze hard!

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 Stabilize Your Deadlift With Straight Arm Pulldowns appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

The glutes are the functional cornerstone of the human body, and anyone who doesn’t agree should review their movement anatomy and gross human biomechanics. The glutes also happen to be one of the most neglected regions for most lifters who are caught up in the hysteria of overly traditional training. Here’s why using the Pull Through movement as a powerful primer to any lower body training day will not only yield superior performances under the bar, but actually target the glutes in a way that makes them work for you in terms of staying healthy and combating injuries to the hips, knees and lower back.

Are You Training The Glutes Directly?

Simply put, if you are not training the glutes directly your program is NOT complete. Neglecting the most powerful muscular region of the body capable of staggering dynamic strength and static stabilization of the hips, pelvis and lumbar spine is a big no-no. This is especially true if your goal is forging strength that not only looks and performs an an optimal level, but also is resilient enough to keep you healthy through heavy bouts of training.

Forget the fluffy functional training guru’s that will tell you that all you need to develop a strong and sexy set of glutes is squats and deadlifts, and the Instagram “models” that preach endless calisthenics that require maintaining a perfect duck face for hundreds of reps per set. What we need is intelligent loaded isolation work on the glutes that produce results while also enhancing the way you look, feel and function.

My recommendation? Start every single leg day with a primer movement that activates the glutes, hones the hip hinge movement pattern that is a common train wreck for most lifters, spares the spine from constant compression and shear forces while also loading the glutes for strength and hypertrophy. What movement am I talking about that fits all these criteria? The Pull Through, of course!

Building A Basic Base of Booty

If you are new to direct glute training, or just need to revamp your lower body lifting day to have any chance of seeing results, here’s what to do. First, make sure you devote a focused 5-10 minutes into a well organized pre-training dynamic warm up routine like the one I feature in my 6-Phase Dynamic Warm Up Sequence which you can pick up for free right on this site.

From there, move directly into one of the following Pull Through movement variations to target the glutes directly. This “primer” movement placed first in your training day will allow your body more time to acclimate to the training climate, but also clean up any loose ends that your warm up may not have been able to take care of.

We aren’t just doing a few sets here either. The perfect glute primer scheme will consist of multiple ramp up sets followed by some serious volume in terms of working sets. Keep the rep counts relatively high between 8-15 reps to drive local blood flow into the glutes, while also maximizing the pump effect this type of scheme will elicit.

It’s also important to mention that your intent of this glute primer Pull Through movement is to deeply activate the glutes biomechanically, but also working your mind muscle connection to feel the exercise working as well. Move slowly with deliberate tempos with accentuated flexes at the top of each rep and a full range of motion throughout the pattern. By the time you finish up your primer Pull Throughs, you should be greased up, activated and ready to go. Just how we want to go into heavy loaded movements to stay healthy and perform at the top end of our abilities.

Choosing Your Perfect Pull Through Variation

The following three variations of the Pull Through movement are ordered from the most basic to the most advanced. While these movements incorporate different equipment such as bands and cables, it should be reiterated that all Pull Throughs are executed with exactly the same pristine loaded hip hinge movement pattern. Review the videos and coaching notes in detail, and choose the Pull Through variation that fits your needs and equipment perfectly. Time to get to work and build that backside!

Banded Pull Through

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2q4H7xBjxw

The Banded Pull Through is the most foundational variation due to the simplicity relative ease of needing nothing other than a band to execute. That fact is the reason why I have programmed this banded Pull Through variation in my FHT programs with great success in lower body emphasis days.

Coaching Notes

To get started, locate a stable area to secure the band around that is as close to the floor as possible. Loop the band inside your base of choice and step out facing away from the setup. Take an overhand grip on the band with your palms facing down towards the floor and let the band course between your legs.

Now, make sure that your feet as positioned in an athletic power stance that should be similar to your squat stance which is about shoulder width apart and toed out slightly. With a stable spine, drive your butt back into a perfectly braced hip hinge with a slow and controlled eccentric contraction, then drive through and flex your glutes hard for a second at the top of the movement.

Common Technique Problems

While we are utilizing a band for resistance, note that the band provides accommodating resistance. Simply put, there will be less tension through the band as you hinge down, and the most tension through the band at the top lockout portion of the movement. Get as much tension as you possible can by walking out further away from the base of the setup, but ensure you can still flex hard for a second at the top of every rep in the set.

Cable Pull Through

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfL9ZJTpHYc

If you have a cable rack at your training disposal, the next progression off the band pull through is the Cable Pull Through, which allows more even loading through the strength curve while also lets you build your loads more evenly and objectively over time with the pin loaded setup.

Coaching Notes

Using the rope attachment, you will grab each side of the rope with your hands facing each other towards the midline of your body. This setup is slightly different than the banded setup. That being said, everything else from an execution standpoint stays the same. Drive up and flex hard at the top and control a full range of motion through the foundational hip hinge pattern.

Common Technique Problems

While the band controls overloading, the cable will sometimes throw people for a loop as they have trouble controlling the top lockout portion of the movement. This may translate into a loss of balance, or even a lack of full hip extension that is needed to truly activate the glutes properly. Keep in mind that we want to be progressing loads over time on the cable setup, but a little goes a long way. Focus more on your internal tension and tapping into that mind muscle connection to flex the glutes hard every single rep.

Banded Cable Pull Through

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnP9IVvE4Qg

Finally, if you get a little stale over time using the cable pull through as your lower body primer, the addition of a band around the knees is an absolute game changer. While the pull through movement itself really targets hip extension moments at the glutes, the band around the knees in the Banded Cable Pull Through works the glutes into abduction and external rotation to a greater extent, really turning up the ability of this movement to activate the posterior chain.

Coaching Notes

The cable setup is going to be exactly the same as the previous cable pull through, so make sure that your technique and execution is absolutely locked in before throwing another variable into the movement mix. Using a small mini-band, you will be placing the band around the knees, an inch or two up from the knee cap on either side. For long term comfort, ensure that the band is not cutting into your IT-Band area or any other structures of the lateral leg, and is comfortable so you can drive into the band to create tension.

Also, the band resistance does matter. For most athletes using this variation, a extra light to light band will work well, as we are looking to elicit a positional activation at the knees and hips, not necessarily a pure strength movement moving through a concentric and eccentric contraction. Once the correct band is set in the right place around the leg, push out into the band slightly driving your knees away from each other maybe an inch. This knee position will be maintained throughout the pull through in an isometric fashion.

Common Technique Problems

The most common difficulty I see athletes have with this variation is the inability to control both hip extension, abduction and external rotation at the same time. It seems as though the coordination of these coupled actions would be easy, but let me tell you, it will be a challenge. If you are struggling to coordinate the movement with the band and cable rack, you will know right away as the level 0f activation and your ability to volitionally squeeze your glutes will be largely lost.

If this is the case, focus in and clean up your movement mechanics, or simply go back to the cable only pull through variation until your pattern has cleaned up and you are ready once again for progression.

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 Build a Resilient Set of Glutes with The Pull Through appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

The Power of Programming Supersets

One of the easiest ways to cut time off your workouts and add a challenging metabolic component to hypertrophy-specific training is by including the intelligent programming of supersets and compound sets.

Not only will supersets allow you to nearly double your overall workload and volume per workout, they can enhance the overall performance of all exercises in your routine while simultaneously packing on some serious muscle armor.

If adding a few slabs of meat to your frame isn’t convincing enough, listen up. Maximally loaded supersets using short rest periods can skyrocket your anabolic hormone response during and after exercise. This streamlines you toward your strength and hypertrophy goals – one burning, gut-wrenching set at a time.

Almost sounds too good to be true, right? That’s because it just might be.

Improper programming of supersets can lead to increased incidence of traumatic and overuse injuries, while overtraining specific muscle groups and soft tissues alike. Review the simple tips below before you program your training – it could make the difference between personal records and injuries. The choice is yours!

“Improper programming of supersets can lead to increased incidence of traumatic and overuse injuries, while overtraining specific muscle groups and soft tissues alike.”

Compound Sets Vs. Supersets

Superset: The back-to-back performance of two exercises of opposing muscle groups, with little to no rest in between.

It’s common practice in our misinformed fitness culture to use the terms compound sets and supersets interchangeably. This may be okay for the general elliptical-jockey public, but differentiating between these two strategies can be the difference between plateauing with your strength and hypertrophy gains and continuing to throw iron on the bar and muscle on your body month after month.

A compound set is similar to a superset, but with the use of two exercises that activate the same muscle group. Supersets are used primarily to ramp up the metabolic stress of a specific portion of a training session, while saving time in the form of shorter rest periods. Compound sets have an entirely different goal – to add overall volume to a muscle group.

Due to muscular fatigue, compound sets decrease the overall load you’re able to handle for an exercise. But they increase your overall set/rep scheme for a given pair of movements. Simply said, this method will fry the active muscle groups while keeping your heart pounding through your chest.

More Growth Hormone Anyone?

The muscle-building efficacy of back-to-back multi-joint exercises with minimal (under thirty seconds) rest is mainly due to your body’s endocrine response during and after intense bouts. Heavy loads coupled with little rest increase your circulating blood lactate levels, which increase the acidity of your blood. This increase in blood acidity will trigger the release of growth hormone (GH) from one of the body’s most powerful endocrine organs, the pituitary.

Growth hormone is just one hormone in the complex equation of muscle hypertrophy and strength. Testosterone is also released at an increased rate during the performance of near-maximal superset protocols. And directly after a bout of intense training, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) circulates at increased levels for up to forty hours. This leaves the anabolic window wide open for growth potential and recovery.

Common Mistakes

Programming supersets isn’t quite as simple as throwing together two exercises and crushing yourself with as little rest as possible. Here are some of the most common mistakes made when programming supersets, and why they may do more harm than good when incorrectly performed over time:

1. Pre-fatiguing Stabilizing Musculature

Challenging the core during loaded compound lifts is a great way to link body segments and increase overall functionality and performance. But the muscles of the anterior and posterior core are phasic in nature and only able to perform at optimal levels for short periods. If two exercises both challenge the core from an isometric or dynamic stability standpoint, the core will become fatigued, increasing the chance of injury and overuse.

A great example of a bad superset practice I see in the commercial gym setting is supersetting a squat/deadlift with an isolation core exercise such as crunches or the ab wheel. If you are squatting to near maximal intensities, your core will be on fire. No need to kick a horse while it’s down and throw in some crunches on top of it!

2. Over-Compressing the Spine

Performance of two exercises that both add compression of the spine is commonly seen in poorly programmed supersets. Before choosing your exercises, classify them all into two categories: spinal compressors and spinal decompressors.

“Give your back a break. You’re probably already sitting eight hours a day in a slouched posture. The last thing you need is to test your spine’s limits, over and over again, during a superset.”

An example of a spinal compressor is a squat. Vertebral segments are loaded, and forces are bringing them closer together under loads. A movement that acts as a spinal decompressor adds space between vertebral segments. Examples are a chin up or pull up where the feet are in an open-chain position.

Think of this equation when choosing your combos of exercises for compound or supersets:

Compression + Decompression = No Back Pain!

Give your back a break. You’re probably already sitting eight hours a day in a slouched posture.The last thing you need is to test your spine’s limits, over and over again, during a superset.

3. Ordering of Exercises

The most popular exercise in the gym is undoubtedly the bench press. This is the first, and sometimes only, exercise done by many people on a daily basis for upper-body emphasis.

“By programming a posterior-chain exercise before an anterior chain, the completion of the pull will enhance the performance of the push.”

So, it is no surprise that when putting together supersets, the chest exercise always precedes the back. Bro logic would have you thinking that because you cannot see your back in the mirror, it does not exist. If you can’t see it, it’s pretty much useless, right? Wrong on so many levels!

By programming a posterior-chain exercise before an anterior chain, the completion of the pull will enhance the performance of the push. By activating stabilizers in both the posterior scapular region and the posterior pelvic girdle, exercises such as upper-body pressing and quad-dominant leg work will be more effective due to increasing reciprocal inhibition and dynamic stability.

Remember, Pull -> Push! Your shoulders and hips will thank me later!

Best Upper-Body Superset Combos

• Pull Up / Barbell Standing Overhead Press

• Single Arm Dumbbell Row / Barbell Bench Press

• Cable Rope Face Pull / Incline Dumbbell Bench Press

Best Lower-Body Superset Combos

• Romanian Deadlift / Front Squat

• Hip Thrust / Alternating Forward Lunge

• Glute-Ham Raise / Leg Press

Best Upper/Lower Body Superset Combos

• Back Squat / Chin Up

• Front Squat / Parallel Bar Dips

• Deadlift / Dumbbell Floor Press

How Long to Rest for Your Specific Goals

The design of your supersets is dependent on your specific goals. Here are some common goals, and how to program according to the type of gains you are after. Follow the prescribed rest period for your training focus:

Rest Periods Between Exercises / Rest Periods Between Sets:

• Endurance: 15secs / 30secs
• Hypertrophy: 30secs / 45secs
• Strength: 60secs / 75secs
• Power: 60secs / 120secs

Because supersets can be demanding from a metabolic and muscular-stress standpoint, the frequency of training specific groupings of exercises and/or functional body units, should be limited to two to three times per week. Adequate rest and recovery are key to progressing your strength for the long run.

The Gains Are Coming

Supersets can be a game changer for your strength and hypertrophy training. But only if they are performed intelligently, using these simple components of program development.

Don’t let yourself become stale, continue to challenge yourself, and get more out of the basic compound lifts you know and love. Fitness isn’t about reinventing the wheel. It’s about getting that wheel turning as quickly and efficiently as possible.

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is an internationally recognized coach, physical therapist, speaker, and writer, whose published over 300 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 Perfect Supersets For Strength, Muscle & Spinal Health appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. The dynamic warm up is an integral part of the pre-training routine, but it isn’t everything. The use of strategic “ramp up” sets will not only warm you up, but add pain-free volume to your training in the process.

2. If muscle and strength is your goal, incorporating multiple ramp up sets will allow you to prime your central nervous system while ingraining specific movements patterns into your neural library. This leads to cleaner, more explosive movements with a greater ability to load heavy.

3. While there are a few ways to ramp up your major lifts, using this reverse pyramid scheme and taking into account details like movement acceleration and loading is necessary to optimize performance and prevention results.

4. The best “warm up” will blend traditional dynamic movements with ramp ups to provide the best of both worlds, and a greater performance under the bar.

Beyond The Dynamic Warm Up

The generalized pre-workout warm-up has become very mainstreamed in our current day fitness culture. After hearing for years from trainers, coaches and therapists that the dynamic warm up is an essential part of any fitness or exercise program, everyone finally bought in and stopped stretching for 20 minutes prior to any physical activity. This is awesome for the general public looking to stay healthy and get a bit of a sweat dripping off their backs, but for strength athletes, a dynamic warm up is just a piece of the performance puzzle.

Consistently moving heavy loads on a frequent basis with the goal of progressively getting bigger, stronger and more explosive over time needs some special attention in the warm-up department. Through the programming of ramp up sets, strength athletes can utilize movement specific warm ups while not frying their neurological systems in the process. But be careful, if ramp up sets are programmed ineffectively, they can pre-fatigue musculature and neurological conduction patterns, largely limiting epic performances in the gym. Proceed with knowledge, strategy and goals in mind, and reap the benefits of an intelligently designed movement specific ramp up program.

Just in case you were wondering, here is an example of a full body dynamic warm-up that can be used before any type of training session and one which I have utilized with athletes and general fitness population with great success:

Example Dynamic Warm Up

1. Jump Squats – 10
2. Seal Jacks – 15
3. Prisoner Squat – 10
4. Push-Up – 6 (2 second hold at bottom position)
5. Alternating Forward Lunges – 6 (per side)
6. Stick-Ups – 10
7. Band Pull Aparts – 10
8. Half Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch – 30 seconds (per side)
   **Follow up with dynamic effort jumps, throws or sprints

The Introduction of Ramp Up Sets

If you aren’t already familiar with the term, ramp up sets can be defined as preparatory sets of an exercise or movement that are completed with sub-maximal weight to activate specific musculature, prepare active joints for increased loads and intensities, while also grooving a specific pattern in order to achieve pristine authentic movement patterns and form. Think of these as a more detailed and customized version of the generalized dynamic warm up.

Though people have started to get pretty good at warming up dynamically before strength and conditioning work, ramp up sets are usually butchered in the commercial setting. This is likely due to a lack of emphasis placed on their efficacy and importance as it pertains to actual performance in the working sets.

By now, everyone has seen a gym bro approach the bench just to knock out 20 reps with the bar flying off their chests, followed by a few reps with a 45 pounder on each side, then move right into the grand finale by unleashing his inner demons on his max effort press. I’m going out on a limb by saying that there has to be a better way to get warmed up in order to provide an optimal carry over into one’s performance, while not limiting the quality of work that is about to be done.

Programming Ramp Up Sets for Hypertrophy

In my 12-week Functional Hypertrophy Training Program, one key staple of the program was the use of strategic ramp up sets for each movement in a training day. While many programs fail to instruct this minute detail, I wanted to clearly make it a priority because of a few key advantages strategically ramping up your weights provides.

First and foremost, the ramp up sets provide you the opportunity to increase your total workout volume by adding a few sets into the mix for each movement while staying sub-maximal in your exertion. Increasing overall volume is advantageous when the goal is packing on a little extra muscle to the frame. Without going crazy like some of the old Arnold routines which incorporated multiple ramp up sets in conjunction with set and rep schemes of 10×10, we can add a little volume without going overboard.

Many foundational multi-joint strength movements are highly skill-based in nature. The more time you spend under the bar, the better you are able to find your sweet spot in both the setup and execution of a movement. Don’t listen to Allen Iverson; practice is the key when it comes to moving maximal iron and emphasizing hypertrophy.

As extended practice is utilized over time, the neural system will become more highly activated, increasing both the synergistic movement patterns that are coordinated by various segments of the body while increasing available motor units to play a roll in moving a load.

Ramp up schemes also provides you the sensory experience to judge how a load feels on a daily basis. Though in most hypertrophy and strength programs lifters are continuously chasing progressive overload, the rate of perceived exertion (RPE) is also very important. Advanced lifters realize that 225 pounds on a bar on two separate days of the week may feel different secondary to other variables in a performance program or lifestyle, and will adjust accordingly. Appreciating that an internal force and activation is just as important as an external load placed on the body, is a key point in achieving hypertrophy gains for the long run.

Determining Loading Using Ramp Up Sets

For most big compound lifts, I have my clients use a three set ramp-up scheme that looks something like this:

• Ramp Up Set 1 – 50% working load for prescribed number of working reps
• Ramp Up Set 2 – 75% working load for half the reps in working sets
• Ramp Up Set 3 – 110% working load for one single rep (explosively)
• Working Sets – Prescribed sets, reps and load

The goal for the first working set is to move the light weight explosively, tapping into your fast twitch muscle fibers and activating available muscles worked during the pattern optimally.

This will be followed up with the second ramp up set where your reps will be half the number of the prescribed working sets (for example, if you are prescribed 10 sets of 10 reps, your ramp up set 2 will be done with 5 repetitions). The tempo of this movement should be identical to the tempo used with your working weight. It pays to know your body and its capabilities in each movement, so take notes during your training sessions whenever possible. Data will become useful as you progress over time.

The final ramp up set will be completed with a load slightly heavier than the load prescribed in the working sets. This will kick on neural activation and prepare you for your first working set. This set also provides you with an option of boosting your working loads for the next set. Based on your RPE on a given day for any movement, attempt to get the most out of your training by boosting your weights slightly and challenging yourself.

It should be noted that the ramp up scheme and example detailed above is just one of many ways to ramp up. One of the other highly popular ramp up schemes is to simply keep the same amount of reps on the ramp up sets as working sets, but just pyramid the weights up during the ramps. For example, if you have 3 sets of 10 reps at 100 pounds for an exercise programmed for working sets and 3 ramp up sets, the ramping may look like 50 pounds for 10 reps, 70 pounds for 10 reps then 90 pounds for 10 reps. The key here is to stay consistent with your ramps and buying into the system before you begin to auto-regulate.

A New Way To Warm Up

Put both the dynamic warm up and ramp up schemes to good use when designing your own strength training programs, or while you follow along with my hypertrophy focused program right here on the site. Both types of warm ups play a key role in continued progression towards your aesthetic and/or strength goals, so put some time into preparing for each movement, and get ready to reap the benefits!

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is an internationally recognized coach, physical therapist, speaker, and writer, whose published over 300 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 Ramp Up Your Major Lifts For Performance & Injury Prevention appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

The Foundations of Recoverability

With the sky rocketing popularity of high intensity training across the board in our fitness and sports performance industries that’s predicated on the “more is better” mentality, more than ever, athletes and fitness consumers alike are hitting the proverbial brick wall with extremely poor levels of recovery, leaving them at risk for high levels of fatigue, increased incidences of injuries and generalized systemic burnouts.

While many critics of the high intensity training model will quickly discern training as the origin of the problem our industry is facing head on, there may be more to the overtraining story than just those few hours a week that people are spending in the gym. The more athletes I coach and the more world class coaches and experts that I’m around, the more I strongly believe that our industry doesn’t have an overtraining problem, but rather a complex and multi-factorial under-recovering problem.

As with anything in life, you can only fake the foundations on which you stand for so long until your training, performance and lifestyle come toppling down on top of you. So it would be absolutely negligent of me as a fitness and medical professional not to start this resource by ensuring the appreciation for building strong habit formation around a holistic physical lifestyle that integrates training, nutrition and lifestyle together in a three pronged approach to recoverability, regeneration and optimizing performance.

*Thanks to Joel Jamison and 8weeksout.com for portions of this graphic

The graphic above creates the perfect depiction of the multi-factorial process of recoverability. Each of the three elements (training, nutrition and lifestyle) revolve around and are dependent on each other to enhance the overall recovery process across the board. While training seems to be the common scapegoat for training related injuries, systemic burnouts and the development of a dysfunctional relationships with health and physicality, both lifestyle and nutritional factors must also be addressed in order to potentiate the ability for one to optimize this process.

No matter how dialed in your training programming and execution is, and how structured your nutritional strategies are, each of these two factors become highly dependent on one’s lifestyle, specially as it pertains to the stress cycle. You cannot out train our out eat poor sleep habits and constant lifestyle stresses which place a heavy strain on the CNS for extended periods. To the same point, it’s extremely difficult to maximize fat-loss, muscle gain or performance metrics without adhering to an objective and structured plan to fuel according to your specific goals and needs. If nutrition continues to be your Achilles heel, I highly recommend Precision Nutrition‘s resources for further habitual upgrades to your lifestyle and eating habits.

When we take a step back and look at the potential for enhancing the recover process in order to maximize training intensity, frequency and volume in order to achieve a goal or enhance a physical metric, first things must be put first. And in this case, sleep, stress, hydration, nutrition and mental/emotional well being cannot be overlooked or understated. In order to maximize the immense benefit of implementing the performance recovery system into your daily and weekly training protocols, it’s imperative that you have an honest an objective intake of current foundations of stress, lifestyle and nutrition.

If you can first improve upon these non-negotiable factors of lifestyle and nutrition, The Performance Recovery System (a portion of my 2-Day Pain-Free Performance Training System) will prove to be the most effective active recovery protocols you’ll ever use, hands down.

The Hierarchy of Regeneration and Recoverability

Aside from the foundational factors or lifestyle stressors and nutritional practices, intelligently programmed training provides the next biggest bang for your buck in terms of optimizing recoverability. Simply put, if your training program drive you down into the ground beyond your ability to repair with volumes, intensities, frequencies or methodology that is a mismatch for you, your goals and your needs, that is a program is a recipe for long term disaster. Remember, your nutrition and lifestyle play a synergistic role in recovery, but hopefully those aspects of recoverability have been enhanced by the time training becomes the focus.

As it’s been famously stated, you can only get better from a straining stimulus that you can recover from. So before you go seeking additional sources costing you time, money, and energy to enhance the recovery process, take an inventory of your current training status, stimulation and systemization. Smart training that is programmed according to your body, not someone else’s, just may be the best recovery tool that no one is talking about, and should be focusing on.

When in doubt, avoid the mistake of making a mental positive correlation between how hard you worked and how much benefit you got from training. Again, it’s worth reiterating that more is not better in training and beyond. Better is better. And even better than that? Optimization is the goal.

Only when your lifestyle factors, nutrition and training reach requisite levels will you truly be able to take full advantage of additional tools to spark the recovery process. But as the performance recovery pyramid below shows, we must be highly selective in our recovery modalities of choice for a multitude of factors in order to reap the ultimate benefit of expediting the recovery process.

This pyramid creates a great visual of the order of importance of each of the factors that play a role in expediting (or delaying) the recovery process. Note that lifestyle, training, and nutrition make up a majority of the pyramid, while active and passive modalities are found at the top. Even deeper, passive modalities are located at the top of the pyramid, which represent the least important of all the factors centered around the recovery process, yet they are commonly the first types of strategies that people use in attempts to try and spark recovery and regeneration.

Many people are under the false impression that recovery is an inherently passive process, and can only be achieved through passive modalities. It’s no secret that our fitness industry is driven on the idea that supplements will provide a quick fix for any problem that you have, but it needs to be said that their efficacy is dependent on a solidified foundation of the pyramid below, and make up only 4-5% of all nutritional benefits as well. Whether it’s building muscle, burning fat, or optimizing recovery, it’s extremely short sighted to think that supplementation is a cure all for many of the problems and plateaus we face as athletes. They are not, especially if other red flag factors have presented below in the pyramid.

While supplements are nothing new in our industry, in the last decade, there’s been a surprising rise in the popularity of passive physical recovery modalities such as (but not limited to) float tanks, massage, soft tissue manipulation, chiropractic, muscle activation techniques, acupuncture, thermal agents, ice baths and a myriad of other expensive and highly theoretical agents that are geared towards alleviating pain, deactivating a strong sympathetic response to the neurological systems and improving overall recoverability. Not only will many of these passive modalities break the bank when they are utilized on a regular cycle or schedule (if they offer any benefits at all), but they also create a dependency model between the person and their perceived ability to recover.

Before you go spend your hard earned dollars on passive recovery agents such as supplements or therapy, and before you become dependent on a passive based modality to “get you feeling good” after hard training sessions, there’s a step that almost every person misses in this performance recovery pyramid. Yes, I’m talking about active self-sufficient modalities that are not only self directed, but they are absolutely free.

If you plan on unlocking longevity with your training career, you should truly not be willing to pay someone else to do work that you aren’t willing to do yourself. As physically active an autonomous human beings, there are simply just things that we need to be able to do ourselves, and self-maintenance and recovery is one of those things. Our goal is to be the keeper of the key which unlocks our abilities to manipulate the central nervous system to spark the recovery process on demand, not lay slave to another powder, pill or physio session. The power of recovery is literally in our own hands. It’s about time we actually use it.

Hitting the CNS Recovery Switch Post-Training

In order to tap into the potential benefits of active based recovery programming and systemization, we must first have an baseline appreciation for the two polarizing sides of the central nervous system, the parasympathetic and sympathetic systems, and their key roles in training, performance and recovery.

The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is the key regulator of rest, recovery and regeneration. Common metrics associated with the PSN are lowered respiratory rate, heart rate, blood pressure and pupil dilation among many more, and an increased localized blood floor into systemic function of the gut and internal organs.

On the other side of the central nervous system spectrum we have the sympathetic response, which has become widely known as the “fight of flight” response where the body prepares to perform against threat or challenge. The physiological response during a sympathetically driven threat is polar opposite of the PNS, where the respiratory rate, heart rate, blood pressure all increase, while the pupils dilate and blood flow is syphoned to the active locomotive muscular structures to aid in movement efficiency.

While chronically high sympathetic nervous system activity has been closely correlated with increased fatigue, injury and burn out rates, it’s important to understand that a sympathetic based neurological response via training is not the problem, and is actually necessary to perform at the highest level. Where we get into trouble is continuously riding this sympathetic drive on red for hours, days, weeks or months at a time without the inability to downshift the CNS’s response back towards the parasympathetic side of the spectrum that’s commonly associated with rest, recovery and regeneration. Just as an engine in a car will eventually cease under such high intensity performances, so too will our body. Lets avoid burnout before it happens, shall we?

Our goal in the performance recovery system is to be the key regulator of your central nervous system so you can manipulate it’s response on will to perform at the highest levels while also recovering between competition and training bouts at record rates.

I like to think of this as riding the sympathetic wave to it’s peak, which should be maximal effort or exertion in the big performance lift of a day, then strategically down regulating the sympathetic nervous system with more of a parasympathetic emphasis so we can use that huge sympathetic response to make gains (bigger, stronger, faster etc) as fast as possible by starting to recover from it. Simply put, we only want to be highly sympathetic when it’s advantageous for our physical and mental performances, and the way we reach record performance levels is by polarizing the CNS’s response in the other times of the day with a parasympathetic emphasis.

The Performance Recovery System

If your goal is to expedite the recovery process with a results based process that is not only effective but repeatable, then the 5-Step Performance Recovery System is your ticket to success. Here are the 5 steps that create the synergistic recovery system:

1. Global Soft Tissue & Self Myofascial Release Techniques
2. Extended Bi-Phasic Positional Stretching
3. Flow Based Mobility Sequence
4. Low Intensity-Impact Steady State Energy Systems Development
5. Positional Parasympathetic Breathing

Over the course of the next few sections, I’ll detail the use of each of these modalities including video tutorials, programming recommendations and executional performance keys to success. Here’s how to utilize each step in this recovery process and start recovering as strategically as you’re training to reap maximal results based benefit in the gym and beyond.

Step 1 – Global Soft Tissue & SMR Techniques

There’s an obvious time and place to utilize an acute focus with your SMR work in order to yield a more objective and transferable mobility or functional movement based response, but tapping into systemic regeneration during active recovery protocols isn’t one of those times.

I’ve written countless articles on the topic of how to intelligently program stealth and strategic SMR techniques into a general pre-training preparation routine like the 6-Phase Dynamic Warm Up Sequence, but lets be clear that this is a totally separate way in which to utilize the roller, or any other soft tissue directed tool for that matter.

Instead of precisely locating and treating neuromuscular trigger points in soft tissues to normalize the tone (via increased acute spontaneous electrical activity) of these regions with small and targeted oscillatory perturbations, we are going to course the entire tissue of some of the biggest muscles in the body and go after the “pizza dough roller” effect. Using larger passes anywhere from 6-12 inches at a time (or relative foam roller movement on the floor) you’ll be able to cover more area, and eventually come into contact with all major aspects of each superficial region you’ll be targeting.

I never thought I’d see the day where I was preaching rolling up and down on the quads and lats with reckless abandon, but after seeing marked success in the expedition of recovery with my athletes and clients using this global SMR method, I guess hell does eventually freeze over. Lets review some key points on how to reap the most benefit out of this global SMR technique:

1. First, it’s important to prioritize the largest tissues in the body, which will have the ability to give you the best bang for your systemic recovery buck. The quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, pectoralis group and lats are the five key areas each and every athlete will include in their recovery programming. Forget about majoring in the minor tissues, stick with the big boys here.
2. Since we are programming these global SMR techniques in a portion of the training session, recovery session, or stand alone recovery training day itself that is predicated on recovery, it’s essential that you spend some serious time on each of these tissues. Since the big five mentioned above are the largest, broadest and thickest muscles in the body, more than a half assed 30 seconds is needed to fully cover the surface area of some of these heavy hitters. Spend 2-3 minutes on each tissue, coursing from the most distal aspect of the muscle to the most proximal over that time period. Hell, spend as much time as you need, as there is no overdoing this aspect of recovery.
3. As you’ll be spending some serious time down on the floor, ensure that the rest of your body remains in a relaxed state, and you are incorporating deep breathing techniques (covered in depth in step 5 of this recovery system) into your practice. Some of the most efficient ways to maximize recovery is by synergizing mechanics and systemic mechanisms together in a simple yet effective model.

This is the time and place to extend your soft tissue practice in terms of both depth and duration. Use as much time as you have available here and focus on coursing the big superficial muscles and allowing lymphatic fluid to move back up into central circulation for excretion from the body while also trying to actively contract some of the key muscles to place pressure down over the venous system, which again comes in direct contact with many of these superficial movers.

Feel it out, and remember, recovery and parasympathetic response is the goal, so make sure you aren’t putting yourself into worlds of pain on the roller, as pain is one of the most sympathetic responses known to man. If an elicited pain response is strong enough to stimulate a threat into the system, aka a sympathetic response, you negated any benefits from this modality in the performance recovery system, so ensure that you are strategic with your soft tissue skills, while modulating your system’s excitability with the most effective tool we have available to us, our breathe tempo and rhythm. With any parasympathetic directed technique, slow, controlled deep breathing strategies should be incorporated.

Key Action Steps:

• Target big superficial musculature
• Spend 2-3  minutes on each muscle
• Use global techniques with 6-12 inches of motion on roller
• Utilize parasympathetic breathing throughout

Step 2 – Extended Bi-Phasic Positional Stretching

Stretching used to be the most notoriously devalued technique in all of strength and conditioning. But thankfully coaches and athletes are getting smarter (again), making stretching a reemerging factor bring brought back into programming strategies and methods for some of the top athletes in the work because of one reason only; it simply works.

The re-popularization of this age-old recovery method begs the question, are coaches and athletes just riding a cyclic band wagon on stretching, or have there been some marked improvements to a pretty straight forward technique? Both, but the innovation is more captivating.

Simply put, people have been stretching “tight” muscles with the wrong intention, and seeing some pretty notable benefit not from the mobility and flexibility enhancement, but rather the regenerative mechanisms that take place by putting soft-tissues and joints through full ranges of motions strategically. Realizing that the incorporation of stretching into active recovery days to boost tissue regeneration is the first step, but the second step is actually improving the system of “stretching” for recovery.

A staple recovery based stretching protocol that I program for my athletes that’s referred to as bi-phasic stretching. By utilizing both active dynamic oscillatory stretching with active static stretching in synergy together, you have the ability to expedite the recovery process which is largely dependent on lymphatic drainage and the clearance of byproducts and wastes from contractile tissue back into central circulation, similar to the mechanical and systemic properties of global foam rolling techniques covered above. But as anyone who has used this method will attest, the term “stretching” is truly relative to the execution at hand.

Here’s how Bi-Phasic Stretching works:

1. Choosing a position to achieve an end range stretch of a targeted tissue, you will start the protocol off by oscillating in and out of end range for 30-60 seconds. These are small and strategic back and forth motions to extend the neural tone and resistance of the tissues being stretched to achieve a more authentic and extended end range.
2. Without taking stretch off the system after the oscillation period has ended, you’ll hold an end range static stretch for 60-120 seconds, using the range you opened up with the dynamics.

Placing a priority on the anterior chain musculature that are susceptible to chronic posturally oriented tightness such as the pectoralis group and hip flexors, among many more, will produce the best results long term, but note that this technique can be used for all regions and muscle groups. As the goal of bi-phasic stretching is to actively mobilize the tissues and regions in a pain-free manner that sparks parasympathetic recovery, we must ensure that authentic range of motion, postural control and internal tension is placed through the chain to avoid force leaks, compensation patterns and unwanted movements during the stretching process.

More than anything, this type of stretching technique doubles down as isometric and low amplitude dynamic stability work of the entire body syncing up as an integrated unit tied together by internal spiral tension, torque and control. That’s why this type of stretching has such an amazing dynamic transference into foundational and compound movement patterning when utilized in the dynamic warm up sequence and beyond. As data is collected through micro movements and positional motor skills are enhanced, it becomes easier to transfer the stability from these new and novel position into more gross global movements.

Since many of these bi-phasic stretching positions are postural oriented and dependent on pillar (shoulders, hips and core integrating together as a functional unit) control, we must utilize minimum viable internal tension levels to stay in control of authentic positions while also being able to move smoothly and sequentially through the oscillations on the targeted region. Positional mastery can also be seen at the highest levels by maintaining controlled parasympathetic respiration in novel positions where a stretch is on targeted tissues. Where breathing is altered, positional mastery and control has not yet been met. And where breathing is altered, we are also at an increased risk of sparking up the sympathetic response, again negating any gains from this step in the performance recovery system.

Key Action Steps:

• Target large superficial muscles
• Incorporate extended oscillations and end range holds
• Maintain postural integrity and control
• Utilize parasympathetic breathing strategies

Step 3 – Flow Based Mobility Sequence

It should be noted that active recovery protocols and the performance recovery program system system should start with global SMR and smoothly transition to bi-phasic stretching through the major prime muscular movers in the body. These two modalities go hand in hand, as they create a synergy that is stronger than either of these modalities being used as stand alone techniques.

But remember, both SMR work and stretching are more largely passive in nature with not a whole lot of motor control enhancement or functional carryover, due to the goal of attempting to quickly blunt the truth sympathetic response to training. This leaves us with the necessity to piggy pack on top of the roller and stretches in an active way to remediate movement patterns and further enhance the neural inter and intra muscular coordination of the components in the kinetic chain.

If you’re like many of the athletes I work with, the last thing that you want to do after a training session or on an off day from the strength training is mentally check out and go through your corrective exercises and mobility drills from the last week’s programming. This has led me to gravitate my mobility based active recovery programming to larger catch all movements and programming them in a “flow” type fashion, largely from the influence of my fellow coaches and colleagues Max Shank and Clifton Harski, who serves as a master instructor for Animal Flow.

Catch-all flow based movements are exercises and patterns that target multiple areas of the body in one sequence, placing an emphasis on full body motor control recruitment as opposed to a more specific or targeted drill such as glute or lat activation for example. These catch-all movements also have the ability to be improved with locomotion and flowing through multiple reps of the same drill in alternating fashion. The best flow based patterns allow each joint and region of the body to express a full range of motion spiraling through smooth and articulate movements in order to unlock the inherent potential of the human body to sit ideally on the mobility-stability continuum. Devote 5-10 minutes of constant movement to this block.

The art and functionality of the flow based movement session fits perfectly into my idea of prioritizing what is important for active recovery protocols, training sessions and training days. Not only are we hard wiring functional movement capacity, but we are elevating the heart rate slightly and stimulating the active muscle pump of the body to aid in recovery, as well.

If you haven’t bought into the flow sequences quite yet, and are more analytical and results based oriented with your programming, there is another option for this step in the performance recovery system protocol.

Choosing 3-4 catch-all movements using 8-10 reps per side and cycling through this “circuit” a few times that targets your weakest functional areas and rolling through a continuous progression of reps and sets for 5-10 minutes beats the hell out of just another boring corrective exercise, and also provides a low level cardiovascular benefit. Keep these fresh, as catch all movements were meant to stimulate neural learning in new positions and stabilization patterns. Novelty is king when re-educating your movement patterns, keep that in mind when you want to mentally check out of your next training session.

It should be reiterated that during each step in the performance recovery system, we must place a key emphasis on avoiding elevation of any of the key vital metrics in a sympathetic based response. This includes flow based mobility sequencing as well. Neuromuscular expert Dr. Chad Waterbury recommends that throughout the active recovery training process, the heart rate must stay within a true recovery zone, and never spike in order to maintain and optimize recoverability. As we’ll touch upon in the end energy systems development section, each individual should have a customized recovery zone heart rate that can be easily calculated using Maffetone’s formula (180-age).

Though each athlete and client will have individual zones and needs based on obvious differentiation in cardiovascular abilities, body types, skill sets and a host of endless variables, we can simply ensure that relative fatigue in the system down by passing a “talking test” throughout any steps in this process. If you can talk freely without huffing, puffing or staggering your words, you’e passed. Keep this in mind as you get the urge to make your recovery a competition.

Key Action Steps:

• Goal of moving as many joints through full range of motion as possible
• Spend 5-10 minutes in constant movement
• Focus on slow, deliberate controlled movements
• When in doubt, use your corrective exercises on repeat

Step 3X – Neurological Re-Charge Training

You may be wondering why the next step in the recovery protocol has a “3X” in front of it. Simply put, this is the ONLY step in the sequence that is optional according to when you are utilizing this system in your training for the enhancement of recovery. As we’ll review below, there are three major ways to benefit from this system in terms of ideal times to program for maximal benefits, but if you are choosing to program a “cool down” recovery strategy directly post-training, you can skip this step and move straight into Step 4, which focuses on energy systems development. But for secondary recovery workouts and off day recovery based programming, this step will be an absolute staple.

Before you discount this step, you must know that neurological re-charge training is maybe the single most powerful mechanism to spark neurological recovery of the CNS and beyond via a strategic active training protocol. The original Neural Charge Training was pioneered by my friend and brilliant performance coach Christian Thibaudeau nearly 10 years ago, but just recently has it become a staple step instead my performance recovery system protocol. Since utilizing it regularly with myself and my athletes, secondary active recovery and off day training has never been more effective, period.

While there are many in depth resources on the topic of stimulating neurological recovery via active agents (many written and by Chris) the basis of the method is centered around the utilization of explosive and excitatory training methods to replenish neurotransmitter balance that are usually decreased via hard, heavy and intense training bouts.

Through the utilization of explosive barbell lifts, medicine ball throws, tosses and slams, plyometrics, jumps and literally an endless possibilities of tools and training exercises, the central nervous system can literally re-charge itself back to optimal levels in order to become better prepared for a future training bout or competition.

When in doubt for exercise selection using this method, place a focus on concentric only or concentric emphasized movement training methods that limit mechanical fatigue of tissues due to the lack of an eccentric lengthening phase, but also are able to tap into higher threshold motor unit coupling for the most benefit possible. But the biggest struggle with this method is that it’s almost TOO effective, which may be the reason why this amazing technique has not yet become mainstreamed.

In our Western society, the notion of “if some is great, more is better” also creeps into the fitness and sports performance spaces. But a key tenet of effective explosive based recovery drills is a low total training volume needs to be utilized in order to re-charge the neuromuscular and central nervous systems without adding to any further fatigue.

Keeping training volumes low here regulated by total rep counts between 25-50 highly focused explosive reps with full rest between bouts and a total time of training in this block under 20 minutes will ensure that we actually spark recovery, not pigeon hole it. It’s also pivotal that vital metrics are not spiked here, as you’ll be at the greatest risk to leave the recovery zone due to the explosive compound nature of these movements. This is the reason that I recommend COT methods that are programmed for single repetitions with maximal rest between bouts so stress and fatigue does not accumulate over the course of this recovery step in the system.

Mental imagery and focus can also play a key role in the ability for an athlete to remain in the recovery zone during even explosive bouts that take full advantage of the force equation to recalibrate the central nervous systems’s neurotransmitter balance. That means a relaxed mental rehearsal of explosive based movements and an instant downshift after each rep is necessary to yield maximal benefit from this technique. While training on the nerve has been shown to increase excitability in the nervous system to over perform in power, strength and even endurance competition we must again fight the urge to become sympathetic.

Remember, when the goal is recovery, more is not better, better is better. And that comes with pristinely dialed in prescriptions that are in line with the overall goal of expediting the recovery process in order to be able to train harder, longer and heavier in the days to come.

Key Action Steps:

• Explosive concentric only (or emphasized) movements
• Low total volume of work under 50 reps and 20 minutes duration
• Full recovery between training sets
• Extremely high focus on intensity and execution

Step 4 – LIISS Energy Systems Development

High level athletes and lifters scoff at the idea of doing any form of steady state cardiovascular training, let alone the lowest level activities such as walking, biking and counting down the seconds on pretty much every other type of exercise machine on the cardio deck.

It’s true that cardio isn’t sexy, and doesn’t directly make you sexy. I get that. But from a regeneration and recovery perspective, low-level steady state cardio can minimize joint stress, improving daily activity levels on a day away from the gym, and still tapping into your cardiorespiratory system to aid in central systemic based recovery. The low hanging fruit should never be overlooked, especially when ones ability to recover becomes the determining factor for overall results.

There are a multitude of benefits from treating your  active recovery programming as ways to hit the light switch on your central nervous system to start recovering right away. Nutrition can also play a key role in recovery here as well. While there are many different options in terms of post-workout nutrition, utilizing well timed carbohydrates and easily digestible protein sources during more extended LIISS bouts will aid to spark the recovery process and fuel the next day’s training. This is a technique that I’ve been using with my athletes for years with great success.

By placing this active recovery day into the post-workout window or the otherwise “off” days from training, we have the ability to burn more calories on an otherwise sedentary day, but also doing so with very low central nervous system or mechanical fatigue to the body. But that being said, to ensure that this active recovery day doesn’t place highly tuned athletes into a caloric hole for the day, and maybe even the week. It doesn’t seem like much, but placing an additional 30-90 minutes of LIISS energy systems development will most likely necessitate an increase in calories over the course of the week.

This is especially important if you choose to extend the aerobic based energy systems training for more than 30-45 minutes, as many of us do on off days. The last thing we want to do during a strategically programmed active recovery day is to cause fatigue, and the proper nutrition and variations of aerobic work will keep this from happening.

More than just enhancing cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory health, low intensity steady state cardio has the ability to strengthen and solidify a base of cardio function that every athlete depends on in order to enhance the recovery process not between training days, but also between repeat training bouts in a single session. When the foundations are set on the CV base, the advantages of continuing a locomotive practice which incorporates reciprocal patterning of the lower and upper extremities working in unison together around a dynamically stable core unit are clear.

The work of Dr. Stuart McGill has shown the power of walking on mitigating lower back pain and symptomology in as little as 10 minutes a day. This has become a main driver in our recommendations that our athletes walk 10 minutes a day as a non-negotiable way to spark recovery, protect against lower back pain and enhance cardiovascular function. No, it’s not sexy, but it’s effective, and one of the only “non-negotiable” that actually will continue to stand the test of time in our industry.

Aside from base walking, my go to activities to elicit a heart rate in the recovery or zone 1 range (customized to the athlete or individual via the Maffetone’s formula 180-age referenced above) of 100-125 bmp are hiking, biking, and even the dreaded elliptical. The goal here is to keep joint stress to a minimum, burn a few calories, fuel up, and prepare for the workout ahead. Turn your switch down to low, and just know, the more strategic you with your recovery efforts, the better you can let it rip in your training in the days to come.

Key Action Steps:

• Prioritize low impact methods such as walking
• Stay in a recovery or zone 1 heart rate under approximately 120 bpm
• Make part of non-negotiable daily routine to get 10+ minutes of walking in

Step 5 – Parasympathetic Positional Breathing Strategies

Optimizing training, no matter if your goal is to get as big as possible, as strong as possible, or just to have a more high performing physique, is all about monitoring your training loads and ensuring proper recovery between sessions. But many times, our focus lies solely on training, forgetting about the all-important process of recovery in order to actually regenerate from the training stress itself.

So how to we recover quicker to train harder and train at higher frequencies? Sure, nutrition, hydration, and stress all play an obvious role, but what about the time it takes us to shift from a sympathetic based CNS response in training to a parasympathetic based response that allows the recovery process to start doing it’s work?

That intermediary period between your last set and the time where your CNS comes down off the sympathetic bender it’s currently been on for hours in the gym needs to be minimized. And one of the most effective methods to do that is by implementing recovery breathing as the last “exercise” in the sequence of the day before you ever leave the gym.

And for those of you who do not have an extra 5-15 minutes to devote to this entire system, I’d highly recommend that parasympathetic positional breathing be your modality of choice to quickly reduce the sympathetic drive that is riding high after training as evidence has shown that in as little as 13 minutes of mindful breathing drastically improves recoverability via the parasympathetic response.

If you find yourself jacked up for hours after training followed by a huge crash, this recovery breathing strategy is going to be a game-changer for your ability to recovery along with living a more normal existence away from the gym that doesn’t involve the continual shakes.

And in the worlds of legendary powerlifter Dave Tate of EliteFTS, “post-training parasympathetic breathing is literally the most effective method I’ve ever used to instantly aid in recovery. Better than any supplement or recovery tool on the market and it’s FREE.”

What happens to people, especially those who train in the mornings is that they spark a sympathetic response in their training, and never come back down from it. They stay highly heightened all day until their system finally fails and they crash hard. While this can be limiting to recovery, it can also be a huge limiting factor to strength, muscle, and performance plateaus as well from the glass ceiling this neurological and systemic state places your body into routinely.

In a matter of 3-5 minutes after training in this last block, we can avoid punching the gas on your CNS for hours after your training session has ended. Sure, you’ll initially feel like a bit fluffy at first lying on the ground alone with your thoughts with your eyes closed while others pound away at the iron. But when you turn around in record time with higher energy and more dynamic capabilities under the bar, you’ll quickly see that 3 minutes is some of the best time you’ll ever invest in the gym.

I picked up the positional recovery breathing from legendary strength and conditioning coach Buddy Morris years ago, who has championed this simple yet highly effective technique throughout the NFL and other high performance sports. Want a buy in? If it’s good enough for pro athletes who make a living based on the performance of their bodies, it’s probably good enough for you. Here’s the basics of how to simply execute recovery based breathing without having to check yourself into a meditation or yoga class.

The foundation of the sympathetic recovery breathing technique has a large focus on the position and setup. We want to position your body to make it as easy as possible for a few key things to happen to help spark recovery in multiple facets of physiology.

First, we need passive positioning of the arms and legs to ensure proper centralized drainage of lymphatic fluid. Second, we need to ensure that the spine remains in a relatively neutral position to reduce the threat response to the body. And lastly, we want to make these positions as comfortable as possible, again all for the goal of reversing the CNS response from training.

Here’s exactly how I setup my athletes for recovery breathing after each and every training session to spark the recovery process before they ever leave my watch:

1. Lay on your back with the head resting on the ground.
2. Elevate the legs to above heart level with knees slightly bent.
3. Elevate the arms up overhead.
4. Close eyes and relax the body reducing any tension of stress.

*A quiet area of the gym away from music or noise is preferable

From this position, you should be able to relax every single muscle in your body to allow a fully passive response to take place. From here, we will focus in on only one single movement, that of your breath.

Start off by using this set parasympathetic breath rhythm and tempo:

• Inhale 3-4 seconds
• Hold at Top 2-3 seconds
• Exhale 6-8 seconds
• Hold at Bottom 2 seconds

The main focus with the tempo of the breath is about slowly inhaling and exhaling under control. Since most athletes and lifters have trouble slowing down, especially while in the presence of the iron, using specific tempos can be very useful when initially adopting this recovery breathing strategy.

Inhale for 3-4 seconds fully, hold for a few seconds at the top of the breath, and then really focus on extending the exhalation to around 8 seconds. We want this tempo to be slow and controlled, but also habitual to the point of being passive. The last thing we want to do during recovery breathing is to stress about exact numbers of the breath counts, so you have an excuse to chill and zone out a bit on this one.

The time of recovery breathing is about turning off the sympathetic switch before we leave the gym, so techniques such as positive mental imagery can absolutely be synergized together out of this position to really get the most out of these few minutes. Set your iPhone timer for your prescribed duration in order to avoid checking the clock, and just enjoy your time on the floor in celebration of the ball busting work you just put into the weights.

How do you know it’s working? You should feel an instant calming sensation throughout your body after you are done with a round of this. If you’re struggling to get a positive response, revert back to the corrective exercise based Crocodile Breathing, and refine your skills. And if that doesn’t work, use your training buddy as your personal psychologist and work out your issues that way. For more in depth assessment, testing and corrective systemization of breathing, I highly recommend THIS resource from coach Brett Jones of the Functional Movement Systems.

Key Action Steps:

• Position the body for success on back or stomach
• Focus on slow and deliberate tempo of breathe
• Prioritize a calm and quiet environment

When To Utilize The Performance Recovery System

Unlike power, strength and hypertrophy training, recovery based training protocols cannot be over trained. For a majority of athletes, the more dialed in active based recovery that takes place, the better. But since the effectiveness of the performance recovery system depends on consistently investing focused time and energy into your daily routines, we must define the most optimal times to use this system in order to maximize recoverability while minimizing time invested in the actual process itself.

There are three main ways to effectively and efficiently program the performance recovery system to yield maximal results in recoverability:

1. Post-Workout Window
2. Secondary Daily Recovery Training Sessions
3. “Off Day” Active Recovery Training

Over the years, implementing this system into the post-workout window has shown to not only have the greatest carry over to blunt the sympathetic response of training in record time, but also the best adherence due to programming theses strategies under the eye of a coach, trainer or rehab pro.

After the last set of the day, simply devote 5-30 minutes (depending on the time available) to programming parasympathetic directed modalities in strategic order of the 5-Step Performance Recovery System. If you only have a few minutes to invest into parasympathetic recovery, breathing should be prioritized above all other modalities due to the quickest centralized benefits. For our athletes, positional parasympathetic breathing has become a non-negotiable due to the sheer effectiveness of this protocol.

The second way to program the performance recovery system sequence is to implement secondary daily recovery sessions. If your athletes or clients are training in the morning, place an active recovery based protocol into their daily routine during mid-day or at night. Ensure that this sequence is programmed at least 4-6 hours after the primary training has ended. If your athletes are training in the afternoon, this protocol is extremely effective to use as a pre-bedtime routine in order to bring down the CNS response to double up on recovery via these active modalities plus better quality sleep cycles.

Finally, there should truly be no off days when an athlete or client has a goal in mind. Whether the goal is fat-loss, hypertrophy, sports performance or general fitness, enhancing these physical metrics are dependent on optimizing recovery. That means that at a bare minimum, athletes should be utilizing this performance recovery system once during their off days with 10+ minutes of low impact-intensity steady state cardio placed into the 4^thenergy systems development step. For those who have more time or want to draw out their ESD a bit, up to 45 minutes of recovery zone or zone 1 heart rate work can still aid in sparking the recovery process.

If you are like me and want to derive as much data as physically possible on yourself and your athletes to ensure that you’re seeing notable and objective benefits from the performance recovery system, I highly recommend Joel Jamieson‘s heart rate variability systems, BioForce HRV and his latest project, Morpheus, both of which I’ve personally used with a great deal of success.

How To Start Using The System Right Away

Below is an example of a generalized 5-Step Performance Recovery System protocol that can be manipulated to fit any of the three major recommended ways to maximize recoverability:

1. Foam Roll – Quads / Glutes / Hamstrings / Pecs / Lats – 1 minutes each
2. Bi-Phasic Stretching – Quads / Glutes / Hamstrings / Pecs / Lats – 1 minute each
3. Full Body Corrective Flow – Reciprocating World’s Greatest Stretch – 5 minutes
4. LIISS ESD – Incline Treadmill Walking – 1o minutes
5. Recovery Breathing – 90-90 Supine Positional Parasympathetic Breathing – 5 minutes

Again, it’s important to appreciate the power of the system is the blueprint which allows athletes and coaches to customize, as a results based “one size fits all” program very rarely exists. Using this system as a means to regulate the CNS response to training while also aiding in the overall recovery process will be a game changer for your athletes. But I highly recommend that you use techniques within the system itself that you are both familiar and highly successful with from past experience.

Implement this system by starting slow, and building time and emphasis little by little over the course of a training block. But from my professional experience over the last decade using these parasympathetic modalities to spark recovery, once you get a taste of the results, aka you’re able to train harder, more frequently and at higher intensities, the buy in factor to using this system literally on a daily basis will be strong. Here’s to smarter and more strategic recovery for more effective training.

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is an internationally recognized coach, physical therapist, speaker, and sports performance expert. Dr. John has coached some of the world’s most elite athletes, including multiple Gold Medalist Olympians, NFL All-Pros, MLB All-Stars, Professional Bodybuilders, World-Record Holding Powerlifters, National Level Olympic Lifters and All-World IronMan Triathletes.

Dr. Rusin is the leading pioneer in the fitness and sports performance industries in intelligent pain-free performance programming that achieves world class results while preventing injuries in the process. Dr. John’s methods are showcased in his 12-Week FHT Program that combines the best from athletic performance training, powerlifting, bodybuilding and preventative therapy to produce world-class results without pain and injuries.

The post The Performance Recovery System <br> <span class='subheadline'>Recover Faster, Train Harder, Optimize Results</span> appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - Exercise Science & Injury Prevention.

Unlock Those Ankles Once And For All

Poor ankle mobility has been blamed for damn near everything in the weight room, especially in lifters and athletes that are chronically hurt and move like shit. This widespread nostalgia for ankle mobility has lead us to do some crazy ass things in order to improve dorsiflexion, but chances are, if your crazy prehab practice hasn’t worked by now, it’s probably not going to.

Here’s why the first step in unlocking those functionally debilitating ankles of yours is proper screening and testing to determine the origins of the problems, and prioritizing the right strategies to fix your ankle mobility woes forever. Here is the five step ankle mobility fix that you wish you would have used years ago, as it has the potential to quickly and effective improve ankle mobility for the longterm.

STEP 1 –Assess Your Own Ankle Dorsiflexion Range of Motion

When it comes to ankle mobility, many lifters falsely self-diagnose restrictions into dorsiflexion range of motion due to poor movement patterns, not actual soft tissue or joint limitations. If your foundational squat movement pattern sucks, chances are your ankle complex will throw that neurological parking break on your mobility and further limit your movement. You see, your body is smarter than you are, and it wants to protect you. The only problem with the protection adaptation is digging yourself back out of it.

But before we move forward and start self-treating ankle mobility limitations, we must first objectify our ankle dorsiflexion range of motion to establish a baseline level of mobility. Think of this as our functional starting point, but also a “pass or fail” type screen that identifies if ankle mobility is indeed a red flag issue that may be altering your movement mechanics from the ground up, or if your ankles present with theoretically “normal” functional abilities to move through dorsiflexion.

Since individuals have individuality in terms of body types, joint articulation abilities and functional skill sets, the most effective way to screen a range of motion measurement according to anthropometrics.  Using the width of your fist (usually around 4 inches for males and 3.5 inches for females), we will establish a baseline dorsiflexion range of motion, and a pass vs. fail to determine if you even need to be focusing on opening up your ankles in the first place.

Half Kneeling Ankle Dorsiflexion Range of Motion Screen:

1. This screen will be completed without shoes.
2. Position yourself in a half kneeling position (the front leg will be screened).
3. While keeping foot flat on ground WITHOUT the heel coming up, drive your front knee forward as far as you can out over your toes.
4. Place your fist in front and perpendicular of your longest toe to establish a range of motion metric.
5. If your kneecap passes your fist with out in front of your toes, this is a functionally normal range of motion finding. You have passed.
6. If your kneecap does not pass your fist with, this will establish a baseline starting point and have “failed” this screen.
7. Failed screens will qualify the person for the need of ankle mobility drills.

Now that we have screened for ankle mobility restrictions, and have qualified an athlete for the need of ankle mobility corrective strategies, the next step will be differentiating what type of ankle mobility strategy will be most effective. Not all ankle “mobility” limitations have been created equally, nor will they be corrected with the same strategies.

STEP 2 – Differentiate Soft Tissue vs. Joint Restriction

The ankle is one of the single most biomechanically complex regions of the body, hence the reason they refer to it as the ankle complex. These five synergistic joints surrounded by contractile and non-contractile soft tissues work together to move in all three cardinal planes of motion and also in multi-angled oblique planes of motion.

With the amount of anatomical movement variance that happens with each step, we must appreciate the reliability for categorizing a type of ankle mobility restriction in a basic way. Based on the “feel” of a dorsiflexion terminal end range of motion, we can categorize an ankle mobility problem as being soft-tissue based, or joint based.

Differentiating Soft Tissue Vs. Joint Restriction Test:

1. This test will be completed without shoes. We will be testing one ankle at a time.
2. Step onto an elevated surface and place your feet onto the step keeping the ball of the foot in contact with the step and toes straight forward.
3. Place all your weight into the ankle being tested, and with a straight knee drive your heel down towards the ground while the toes stay in contact with the step.
4. You can move your body forward slightly to accentuate the stretched position of the ankle.
5. When you can no longer increase ankle range of motion, hold this position for 5-10 seconds and assess for the “feel” of the limitation: either a stretching sensation through the back of the leg (Achilles region) or a block at the front of the ankle.
6. Test the same ankle now with a slightly bent knee position. Again, assess for a stretch through the back of the lower leg, or a block at the front.

Simply put, an ankle (or any other articulating joint for that matter) can either be restricted via soft-tissue tone and tightness, or through a joint restriction. If a stretch is achieved through the backside of the lower leg in both positions, you are most likely dealing with a soft-tissue restriction. If you feel a blocking sensation at the front side of your ankle during both knee-testing positions, you are most likely dealing with a joint mobility limitation. If you have discrepancies between straight and slightly bent knee positions in where you feel the limitation, you’ll be addressing both soft tissue and joint restrictions.

While soft-tissue restrictions can be addressed with more traditional techniques like foam rolling and stretching, a joint restriction can NOT be improved with these methods, and will move likely exacerbate the symptoms and range of motion limitations when these soft-tissue strategies are force fed into a joint mobility issue.

And that’s exactly why we screen and test for the type of limitations each individual presents with. In the next two steps we’ll be showcasing a few key strategies to improve both ankle soft tissue restrictions (Step 3) and joint mobility restrictions (Step 4). According to your testing and type of ankle mobility restriction you present with, you do NOT have to use both steps. Focus in on either Step 3 or Step 4, or again, if you have discrepancies in testing, use both (but know this is extremely rare).

STEP 3 – Address Soft Tissues With Trigger Point Work & Stretching

Once we have identified that the soft-tissues that are localized in and around the ankle and lower leg are the limiting factor in achieving end range dorsiflexion range of motion, we can now confidently address them to achieve objective improvement. Before any soft-tissue work or stretching can be directed at the ankles, we must again establish a baseline of dorsiflexion range of motion. Simply execute the test from Step 1 before any self-treatment, and retest with the same procedure after rolling or stretching.

Since the lower leg is comprised of multiple muscles that have a role in the movement of the ankle, foot and toes, we must differentiate main types of tissues in this region form one another so we can be as effective and efficient as possible when hitting them with trigger point work on the roller, or implementing stretching parameters into dorsiflexion.

To improve dorsiflexion range of motion specifically, there are three main players that are commonly neurologically “tight” in the lower leg region; the gastrocs aka the calves, the soleus which is underling to the gastrocs, and the deep flexor group which is located behind the shin bone and is comprised of muscles that attach deep into the base of the foot and toes. Each of these three groups must be located and differentiated from one another in order to achieve a targeted mobility effect.

While the gastrocs and soleus are more superficial as compared to the deep flexor group of the lower leg, we can hit the medial and lateral head of the gastrocs, along with the underlying soleus with either a traditional foam roller or ball. Focus on targeting neurological trigger points in the tissue and oscillating over these points with only an inch of relative movement of your body moving over the roller. Stay here for 45-90 seconds per trigger point.

The deep flexor group is best contacted with a manual based tension. A technique called Hands-On SMR utilizes the acute size of ones fingers to contact this smaller muscle group, tension down over it and mobilize the soft-tissues incorporating active movement. Reaching the thumb behind the shin, tensioning down, and bringing the ankle actively from a toes down plantar flexed position to a toes up dorsiflexed position is one of the most effective ways at hitting these soft-tissues.

Foam rolling without active mobility is useless. This is why once the soft-tissues are addressed with foam rolling, trigger point work, or Hands-On SMR techniques, we now need to become more active in the process and mobilize these soft tissues through an extended range of motion with bi-phasic stretching. Since only the gastrocs cross both the knee and the ankle joints (making it a dual joint muscle) as opposed to the single joint soleus and deep flexor group, we’ll use two different setups to achieve a targeted stretch through all three of these distinct regions.

First, using an elevated surface or step, load the bodyweight onto one leg, and with a straight knee drive the body forward and heel down to move into dorsiflexion. When reaching end range, oscillate on and off with a tiny perturbation for 30-45 seconds. After the oscillations, hold the end range dorsiflexion position for 1-2 minutes with a static hold. The oscillations plus static end range hold is what constitutes a “bi-phasic” type stretch.

In order to place the larger and more powerful gastrocs on slack, we will target the deep flexor group and soleus in the same type of setup, but only with a slight knee bent position while the toes and ankle moves into dorsiflexion. Again, utilize the bi-phasic stretch with the same time based parameters and oscillations, just keeping the knee bent throughout the duration of the stretch.

STEP 4 – Mobilize Ankle Joints with End Range Oscillations 

If when you went through Step 2 and identified that joint mobility was indeed the main source of your ankle range of motion limitations, you should have first skipped over Step 4 (as again you can NOT out foam roll and stretch joint mobility restrictions) and moved straight into this section. Since we are looking to target and improve ankle dorsiflexion range of motion along with alleviating the all too common front sided ankle “pinch” upon reaching end range, the strategies implemented will improve both the quality and quality of this range.

When it comes to improving ankle joint restrictions into dorsiflexion, we are essentially talking about the isolated movement that takes place in the front to back sagittal plane of motion. The main ankle joint associated with dorsiflexion is referred to as the “talo-crural” joint and is comprised of a bone called the talus coming into direct contact with the crural joint formed by the contact between portions of the tibia and fibula creating a joint space. While there is relative motion that happens with the talus sliding under the crural joint, and the crural joint sliding OVER the talus is far more common and is the type of joint movement that happens when the foot is in contact with the ground (just the way we’ve been screening and testing the ankle thus far). That’s why our first strategy will target the mobilization of the talus with dynamic action of the crural joint sliding on top of it.

Try this Manual Ankle Dorsiflexion Mobilization:

The most popular way to “mobilize” the ankle joint as of late in the prehabilitation industry is by using a band strapped around the front side of the ankle and moving the ankle into repeated dorsiflexion. It’s important to understand that a simple resistance band cannot manipulate anatomical structures such as joint capsules, ligaments, tendons and fascial sheath. The thought that this works for mechanical reasons is beyond me. That’s why many times we skip the band altogether and instead get our hands in contact with the talus to manually mobilize this joint moving into dorsiflexion just the way a rehab doctor would manipulate an ankle on the therapy table.

From a half kneeling position, use your opposite hand from the ankle you are mobilizing and contact the talus with the webbing between your first and second digits. Squeeze your contact hand around this joint and stabilize it. Bring your opposite hand over the top to aid in “pulling back” on the talus as the ankle moves into dorsiflexion range of motion. Hit end range and mobilize in and out using both active motion of the crural joint moving on top of the talus, and the talus slightly moving posterior (and slightly angled) under the joint itself. Mobilize for as long as you can feel a notable difference (remember that test and re-test thing?). And yes, this will become a bit tiring on your hands, but hell… it’s still more effective than a piece of elastic.

After acute mobilization of the talo-crural joint more passively with your own hands, it’s time to get active and target motor control along with joint mobility. We can only transfer soft-tissue or joint range of motion and mobility into movement and training if we can control it.

Out of the half kneeling position, we’ll be implementing the 3-Way Ankle Joint Mobilization that incorporates more oscillatory movements at end range dorsiflexion. The three directions will be leading with your knee moving slight in towards midline, slightly out away from midline, and straight forward in front of the toes. Use 15-20 slow and controlled oscillations in each direction making sure to reach a comfortable and more extended end range each rep that was enhanced by the previous manual joint move. In order to know exactly if this strategy is working, and to what degree, ensure that you invest the 2-seconds to test and retest between sets in order to objectify your practice and avoid just hoping and praying that your mobility drills are working for you, not against you.

STEP 5 – Maintain Ankle Mobility With Direct Lower Leg Training

Enhanced ankle mobility during testing and corrective exercises is only as useful as how it is transferred back into function. This fact is one of the exact reasons why many “mobility” programs do not achieve notable results for the long term, and are extremely short lived.

In order to extend the life of your ankle mobility (no matter the source of your restriction) and habituate it for the longevity of your training career, we must train into the new range of motion and facilitate motor learning. One of the most effective ways to battle test a new range of motion is by strategically loading it in a way that is targeted to elicit a training effect.

Ankle Mobility Maintenance:

That’s right, all those diagnostic tests and prehab strategies are only as good as your willingness to hammer the lower legs directly in training. And if ankle mobility continues to be your one major lynchpin of dysfunction, there’s no better time to train the lower legs directly than first in a lower body or dynamic movement based training day.

Yes, that means that we’ll be chasing a nasty pump of the lower legs before stepping into the squat rack. To achieve this functional training stimuli in record time, focus on stretching the calves in the bottom position for a full second on each rep, dynamically driving up flexing all aspects of the backside of the lower leg upon peak contraction, and most importantly, accentuating the eccentric lowering moment back down into the stretched position. Execution is pivotal here if we want a strength and hypertrophy scheme like this to extend into mobility enhancement and habituation.

One of my favorite ways to prime the ankles for extended dorsiflexion range of motion while chasing a quick and nasty pump is by using an escalating pyramid scheme that climbs in weight while using 8-12 reps per set. Keep the rest periods minimal here, anywhere from 15-30 seconds to accumulate blood flow into the targeted tissues, and create one hell of a mind-muscle connection to open up that range under the training fire. While squatting for the first time with a nasty calf pump will feel extremely strange, keep it in programming for 3-4 weeks and watch your mobility improve, and your numbers sky rocket.

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is an internationally recognized coach, physical therapist, speaker, and sports performance expert. Dr. John has coached some of the world’s most elite athletes, including multiple Gold Medalist Olympians, NFL All-Pros, MLB All-Stars, Professional Bodybuilders, World-Record Holding Powerlifters, National Level Olympic Lifters and All-World IronMan Triathletes.

Dr. Rusin is the leading pioneer in the fitness and sports performance industries in intelligent pain-free performance programming that achieves world class results while preventing injuries in the process. Dr. John’s methods are showcased in his 12-Week FHT Program that combines the best from athletic performance training, powerlifting, bodybuilding and preventative therapy to produce world-class results without pain and injuries.

The post Fix Your Ankle Mobility In Five Minutes <br> <span class='subheadline'>A Systematic 5-Step Approach To Unlocking Your Ankle Mobility For Good</span> appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - Exercise Science & Injury Prevention.

Ditch Your Dependency on Lifting Equipment

The fluffy functional training gurus will tell you not to use them. Die-hard strength sport athletes and ego driven meatheads have made them a mandatory part of everyday training. But when it comes to using accessory lifting equipment like weight belts, straps, sleeves, wraps and Olympic lifting shoes, we must ask ourselves the cold hard question; are these tools causing more harm than good to our performance and training longevity?

It’s time to set the record straight regarding the proper application of supportive lifting equipment, and debunk some of the most heinous myths that are leaving lifters downright confused when it comes to implementing these tools wisely. Is your use of accessory lifting equipment helping you create a bigger, stronger more resilient body, or are they just another lifting crutch that is creating learned dependency? Here’s the truth behind the smart implementation belts, straps and shoes, who needs to be using these tools, and who should be avoiding them like the plague.

#5 Lifting Straps

Lifting straps have become notoriously associated with weak grip and even weaker choices among the hardcore in our industry. Though directly training your grip at maximal capacity during heavy staple movements like deadlifts, rows and pulldowns can be advantageous to building forearm and hand strength and resilience, there are also strategic times and places where straps are the preferred setup for staple lifts.

Straps can be used in a myriad of ways in the gym, but mainly where grip is the limiting factor of execution along with creating stronger mind-muscle connections in key targeted musculature. Here’s where you should start strapping up, and when you should go raw to challenge your grip.

When NOT To Use Them

If you are a novice lifter or are new to the foundational strength game, your training priority must be centered on raw authentic movement patterns in order to improve motor skill acquisition, firing patterns and learning to tap into full body tension. Going strapless for the first 1-2 years of one’s training career will help bulletproof shoulder, elbow and spinal pain from having improved use of the irradiation effect which transfers force from the hands up into the kinetic chain. It will also place a glass ceiling on external loads that you’re able to handle, which is a good thing when foundational movement patterns are first being developed.

For more advanced lifters who have earned the right to train heavy and move serious loads in the big pulling foundational movement patterns like the deadlift and row, there is a very slippery slope for strap work. As any savvy lifter can quickly figure out, strapping up and lifting will allow for heavier weight to be moved, especially if your weakest link is between your fingertips. But even for advanced lifters, straps should be used sparingly in training, and only sprinkled into top end sets. That means that all warm up and ramp up sets to your big lifts should be executed raw, and a vast majority of accessory pulling should also be taking place without straps supporting the weights.

Finally, if grip and/or biceps strength and function tend to be your functional linchpin of dysfunction, heavy raw grip work should be implemented to bring up these weak links. As the grip and forearms become more emphasized in raw training, the biceps will also be recruited at a higher rate due again to the law or irradiation. While this is a great thing to bring up these problem areas for more advanced lifters, having your grip and biceps take over pulling based movement patterns can also present as a potential challenge as well.

When To Use Them

To progress in the strength, hypertrophy and performance games over time, constant long-term overload must be implemented. But as lifters continue to peak closer to their physical potentials, more glaring weak links will eventually come to the forefront of training that makes it extremely challenging to keep pushing loads up in the big lifts over time. The strategic implementation of straps during supra-maximal loaded training can be highly advantageous for allowing other muscular regions of the body to be overloaded without being limited by even the best grip strength.

Though the hand, wrist and forearm musculature is anatomically and biomechanically designed to withstand extended periods of tension with it’s slow twitch dominant fiber makeup best served for endurance rather than dynamic power, there are times in advanced training where exponential total time under tension (TUT) can be limited by ones grip. In more advanced bodybuilding type programming that introduces extremely high relative intensity into training such as extended drop sets, partial reps and isometric holds to build targeted musculature, the grip should never be the limiting factor to reap the massive benefits of extending a set to chase a metabolically stress induced pump or fiber fatigue. For pull-based movements where intensity techniques are implemented, straps are a preferred setup in order to maximize each challenge set to the fullest extent.

On the opposite side of activation and eliciting a strong mind-muscle connection, straps can also be utilized in more isolative-based movements to emphasize muscular actions at the back, shoulders or even the lower body. Using the lat pulldown to build the lats as an example, the primary muscular mover should be indeed the lats. But many times the forearms and biceps can take muscular targeting emphasis away from the lats, making it extremely hard to elicit strong high quality contractions at these tissues. By implementing straps, the grip can relax while the biceps are also de-emphasized, which shifts the loads more directly to the targeted tissue which are the lats in this case. This same principle can apply to higher rep deadlifts with a back emphasis, direct shoulder work such as lateral raise variations, and even during lower body movements which utilize heavy dumbbells held to down at the sides.

#4 Weightlifting Belts

While lifting belts are nothing new in the world of strength training, this accessory above all others is the most blatantly abused and misused. And as polarizing as the topics of core strength and lower back pain are, this tool sits right in the middle of a constantly debated questions centered around the functionality of the spinal column and core unit.

But as any wise lifter knows, the true answer is always found somewhere in the middle of the polarizing viewpoints, and is highly dependent on the individual lifter and their unique presentations at hand. There are no hard and fast rules regarding the implementation of belts during your lifts, but here are some global rules to lift by to get the most out of this training tool.

When NOT To Use Them

Lets face it, a vast majority of lifters who are using the belt in training have no clue how to properly utilize this training tool to enhance the big lifts. Instead, the use of belts has become bastardized with morons strapping up their mid sections just hoping and praying they won’t flare up their lower backs.

But here’s a reality check, if you are a novice in the strength game, or have a previous or current lower back problem, do yourself a favor and learn how to properly brace, stabilize and maintain tension through the mid section.  Your lack of basic stability requirements at the core is most likely the reason why you’re chronically flaring yourself up, even with the belt on.

The lifting belt is an advanced training tool for advanced athletes who have earned the right to apply it to their training in order to enhance the feel and stability of a big lift via a fine tuned bracing mechanism. It is not a fashion accessory. It should not be put on in the locker room before a training session, and only taken off after hitting the showers. And it for damn sure shouldn’t give you the confidence or false security that it will protect you from potential injurious endeavors in the gym. A 6mm piece of leather cannot hold together piss poor movement execution, nor was it designed to.

Even for advanced lifters who indeed implement the use of a lifting belt for their big lifts, there are times where lifting 100% raw is the preferred method. If an exercise is targeting core strength like a loaded carry as an example, skip the belt and go raw. For upper body emphasized work like presses and pulls, along with unilateral lower body work like lunges, split squats and single leg hinges, go beltless. And this should go without saying but hell, I’ve seen this as well… if you are doing cardio, or training the biceps, triceps or forearms directly, do yourself a favor and go raw.

Decreasing the dependency on the lifting belt will enable you to create more authentic and functional full body tension in all of your movement patterns and exercises, and give you a new appreciation for what it is to generate internal tension through the musculature, fascia and soft-tissue connections of your body that you have volitional control over. And as we say with our geared powerlifters, the stronger you are raw, the stronger you will be when you put the equipment back on.

When To Use Them

Everyone wants a magic number when it comes to intelligently implementing the lifting belt into training the big movements. But as every lifter has individualistic presentations, body types, goals, past injury histories and training experiences, it is very hard to place a strict absolute or relative strength metric on the use of belts for the squat and deadlift specifically.

The best indicator of success using the lifting belt in training to enhance the big lifts, not just adding a training crutch into the equation is a combination of training age on the big lifts and the ability to create a hard and stable brace through the pillar unit consisting of the shoulders, hips and core integrating together as a functional unit. More times than not, serious strength training consisting of periodized barbell lifts for 2+ years is the training age in which a lifter can potentially have success implementing the belt. If two years seems like a long time to you, you haven’t been lifting long enough. Proper bracing technique during compound movement patterns like the squat and deadlift takes years if not decades to master, and is an ongoing process. But this leads me to the next predictive criteria of belted training success, the brace.

The ability to create maximal torque around the ball and socket based hip and shoulder joints in conjunction with 360 degree active expansion through the torso, core and thoracic cage needs to be a pre-requisite to adding a belt into the training equation. Force or tension leaks that take place in lifters who have not mastered the pillar bracing skill can actually be exacerbated by the addition of a belt. Just as we do not add load to a faulty foundational movement patterns, we should also not be adding an external brace aka the belt to a faulty bracing mechanism.

Once the brace is mastered and the belt is strategically implemented into training, the question of when to utilize the belt for maximal benefit while not “detraining the core” (just kidding) comes into play. A vast majority of barbell sport athletes and more seasoned recreational lifters alike will have a great deal of success using a belt for working sets of squat and hip hinge variations. Making this as simple as possible, if you are working at a top end load or relative intensity in these two strength and power indicator based movement patterns, use the belt to enhance your performance and maximize your brace. Just be sure that you are warming up, ramping up and completing your accessory work without it.

#3 Knee Wraps

Knee wraps have been widely used across strength and power sports for decades due to their innate ability to quickly boost strength and power numbers in big compound movements such as the squat. Due to their highly elastic properties, placing this assistive equipment on the knees (or even wrists or elbows) can not only add stability to simple hinge based joints, but also increase the rebound effect out of the bottom aspects of movements to help power through tough ranges of motion in some of the major lifts. Simply put, the addition of wraps give you the ability to lift heavier than without them. This may be a great thing, or it could be a sure fire way to pain and injuries.

As seen in the world of powerlifting and bodybuilding, properly administered wraps at the knees (and sometimes even the elbows) can make all the difference in terms of the amount of weight that can be used on a key indicator lift, bringing up the loading potential extremely quick. But also seen in the sport of powerlifting, bodybuilding and across commercial gyms worldwide, wraps have also been misused and abused when it comes to dependency on these training tools. Here’s where knee wraps can fit into an intelligent training plan, and where they should be avoided for long-term health and injury prevention.

When NOT To Use Them

Anyone who argues against the ability of wraps to create a more stable environment for the joint in which it covers cannot be trusted, nor should they be listened to. Want proof? Just look at some of the strongest wrapped and geared power lifters in the world walk up, rather WADDLE up, to the squatting platform in comp. Knee wraps are wrapped so tight that they literally couldn’t bend their knees if they tried, or at least until they got under a few hundred pounds of load that forces the knees into flexion. That’s the truest sign of stability I can think of.

So how can more stability be a bad thing? Well, in terms of knee joint and patella-femoral biomechanics, more is not always better, especially if the goal is to train pain-free and unlock longevity through self-mastery and resilience. When we think about knee stability, we of course have ligamentous restraints like the ACL and PCL that restrict unwanted motion in the sagittal plane, but also the MCL and LCL that help stabilize the knee medially and laterally. But honestly, these non-contractile structures are not the focus of knee stability, rather the muscles that originate and attach locally are.

The three major muscle groups that play pivotal roles in knee stability are the quadriceps group (all coming to the same local insertion onto the quadriceps tendon, knee cap and patellar ligament), the hamstring complex, and the calves also known as the medial and lateral gastrocnemius muscles. These are some of the biggest muscle groups of the lower body which cross the knee joint and not only move the knee dynamically through flexion and extension, but have key actions to help stabilize the knee working in unison with the ankles, hips, torso and the rest of the body from a kinetic chain standpoint.

As wraps are placed around the knee joint, usually a few inches above the superior patellar line and a few inches below the inferior patellar line, they not only compress the knee cap against the femur, but also restrict some movement from the quads, hamstrings and calves attaching locally as well. For athletes and lifters who have sound ligamentous structure at the knees, the addition of wraps can be great, even if they do restrict the major muscle groups from truly stabilizing to their greatest extent authentically. Shortening the point of pull from a muscle, tendon or regional muscular group can be an intriguing performance enhancement, but usually only in the top levels of strength sports due to a lack of reliability and repeatability of wrapping the same way set to set.

Where lifters get into trouble is trying to cover up a red flag weak link that may be an ACL tear or other ligamentous injury to the knee. At this point, a non-stable knee that depends on the stabilizing musculature for stability and control moving through ranges of motion loses it’s ability to work ideally, which could cause a slippery slope for chronic or acute knee injuries or pain. So if your goal with knee wraps is to cover up an injury, you are far better off skipping the wrap and instead, working on bringing up functional weak links, or truly letting your injuries heal up.

When To Use Them

The times for a non-competitive lifters to use knee wraps or elbow wraps are few and far between due to the cost to benefit ratio not adding up. While there is no doubt that more loads can be lifted using wraps, the compressive and unnatural kinematics of these hinge joints being combined with extremely heavy loading doesn’t bode well for long term physical well being.

More specifically, I have never programmed upper body emphasized strength or power work for any athlete EVER with the use of elbow wraps. I’m sure there will come a time and place where I will, but after 12+ years coaching athletes having never used it once should speak volumes about its pain-free applicability.

Where I do see loads of benefit for the use of wraps for my advanced strength athletes is in the squat and bench press. Working in supra maximal loading on the squat with the addition of knee wraps can be advantageous if the total volume under wraps is monitored closely to avoid chronic wear and tear at the knee cap and local tendons in general. Also, as the bench press gets heavier and heavier with a competition emphasis, the use of wrist wraps can provide that extra support through compression around the wrists that is needed in order to support more training volume and intensity, while also preparing for a meet which would allow the use of this assistive equipment.

Even for my competitive powerlifters who use wraps on the platform, we recommend that they do NOT use wraps at the wrist or knees in their off seasons as they lift more raw or work on strength or hypertrophy schemes to bring up lagging weak links. Even in competition prep or in-season training, I do not have my athletes warm up or ramp up in wraps on either the squat or the bench press. As the weights ramp up to top end “working sets” that is the place and time to put the wraps on and get the most out of them as a performance enhancement tool.

It should be reiterated again that the use of wraps is an advanced training tool for advanced athletes with competitive goals and aspirations. Sure, the cost benefit ratio works out better for these advanced athletes, but also, the application of wraps is a fine art and science. Each lifter will have a specific way they want to be wrapped, whether it’s the wrists or the knees. And many times, it becomes very difficult to wrap yourself, meaning you must have a coach or training partner do it for you. To get it right, it takes practice and reps.

Those lifters who attempt to use wraps but never master their application not only leave their performance results to chance, but also their health, as a bad wrap job is worse than no wrap job at all. This is a main reason why I do not recommend that recreational lifters use wraps, even if they are pain-free and able to attempt to boost performance with them. Just as in the execution of reps, a shitty setup can leave you predisposed to injury, which goes for the power lifts and wraps alike.

#2 Olympic Lifting Shoes

As the name implies, Olympic lifting shoes were originally developed to be implemented into the sport of Olympic weight lifting. By building up the heel of the shoe in conjunction with creating a stiff and flat sole, Olympic lifting shoes have the ability to maximize ground reaction force while helping aid the body, namely the ankles, knees, hips and spine) to more automatically move into advantageous positions to explosively move weight off the ground in the sport’s lift variations.

But over the years, Olympic lifting shoes have become a common crutch for general fitness consumers and average lifters with no goals of ever competing on the platform. Here’s who should be utilizing these adaptive lifting shoes, and what types of lifters and athletes should be avoiding them.

When NOT To Use Them

A vast majority of people have been born with average god given genetics and body anthropometrics and structure. This means that true biomechanical problems that limit lifter’s abilities to move through foundational movement patterns without heavy compensation patterns are few and far between.

Of course there are outliers on any spectrum and bony and soft-tissue anatomical changes that can occur over time due to injury cycles or repeated movements or positions, but chances are even if you are struggling with your ankle mobility, your hip flexibility or your loaded movement patterns, you probably have all the tools you need to be successful but are just lacking the execution of the movements themselves.

Not every pain point or functional movement problem is a mobility problem. On the opposite end of the mobility spectrum is something called dynamic stability or motor control. Simply think of flexibility or mobility as the ability for joints and soft-tissues to articulate together to mechanically move through a range of motion, while motor control is the neurological control and system which allows one to display the mobility that they already have in a sequenced and coordinated manner.

Why is this important as it pertains to Olympic lifting shoes? Many times people will self-diagnose themselves with mechanical movement problems when indeed they really present with neurological patterning issues which place functional parking break on coordination and the ability to move without pain. The shoes go on, the external crutches are introduced to the body and the motor control never gets improved, which is the origin of the problem, and instead usually gets worse.

Unless you are planning to step on the platform and competing in competitive barbell sport, you should veer away from the use of adaptive lifting shoes and instead strategically choose a pair that will allow you to move authentically as possible. But, when moving into a more minimalist shoe in the gym, there must also be an emphasis placed on improving your motor control in your functional weak links. These are usually found in ankle dorsiflexion and hip flexion and rotation for those chronically seeking our shoes to crutch their big lifts.

Even for Olympic lifters, powerlifters and CrossFitters, minimalist shoes should be utilized for all non-power or sport specific barbell lifts in order to reap the benefits of greater ground contact and the function of the ankle and foot complex which is comprised of an impressive group of superficial and intrinsic set of muscles. As a general rule of thumb, use adaptive equipment like Olympic lifting shoes for the minimal effective dose or order to reap the benefit of training with the tool, while also allowing the body to move in as authentic of a way as possible.

When To Use Them

It doesn’t take a savant to figure out that there are clearly sport specific advantages in the utilization of lifting shoes designed for lifting sport.  But it would be short sighted to think that improved performance on the platform is directly correlated with long term orthopedic health and function of the human body. At high levels of competitive sport, there are always gives and takes for each training variable that is implemented into programming and competition. And if one’s goal is to step on the platform and move a maximal amount of weight off the ground into an overhead position and an increased plantar flexion, knee flexion and torso angle helps in the achievement of that goal, the cost to benefit ratio is in alignment.

But there are also anatomical outliers who truly present with limitations in joint mobility and arthrokinematics, which are the slight movements in the joint space, which allow intricate joint movements to take, place, such as components of dorsiflexion as an example.

We’ve all heard the term “bone on bone” before, and even though it sounds like a wimpy excuse not to squat deep or go heavy, there are legitimate orthopedic presentations where joint anthropometry and structure do not allow certain movements to take place. These are the types of individualized presentations that will never be improved with soft tissue work like stretching and foam rolling, and can actually be counter productive to hammer self-maintenance work as it’s a mismatch with the true problems at hand which are the joints themselves.

Many lifters go down the conservative rabbit hole with his targeted soft tissue work, stretching, or maybe even a little joint mobilization work in areas like the ankles and hips. But after a few sessions of doing the theoretically “right” measures and seeing no results and maybe even flaring up the problem worse, an orthopedic evaluation to properly diagnose the problem should be next on your to-do list. Differentiating bony block from soft tissue dysfunction will save your tons of time, and worlds of frustration. And if and when body blocks at the hips, ankles or any other joint for that matter are diagnosed, adaptive tools which alter the foot’s relationship with the ground like an Olympic lifting shoe, or any elevated drop heeled shoe for that matter will be a tool that will help you continue to train while minimizing pain and complication with your movement patterns.

Again, the key to having success with any type of lifting tool or accessory including the Olympic shoe is deep diving on potential functional pitfalls first, bringing them up to as high of a level as possible, and THEN going ahead and implementing in the tool of choice to enhance training, instead of deterring away from it’s powerful effects. Stay strategic with your tools and you’ll reap all the benefits that these pieces are truly capable of.

#1 Elbow & Knee Sleeves

With the rise of the box based fitness model across the industry (and world at this point), we’ve also seen a rise in the use of “supportive” sleeves worn predominantly around the knees, but at times around the elbows as well.

While the knee sleeve is a mainstay in competitive barbell sports, mainly Olympic weightlifting, and to some degree powerlifting, the question remains, do these neoprene sleeves actually hold value for the recreational lifter or non-competitive strength athlete who simply has goals to build muscle, develop strength and improve general health and wellness?

As we’ve seen with the supportive lifting equipment covered above, the answer is almost always “it depends” but without coming off like a condescending know it all, we must define what it actually depends on. Here’s what knee and elbow sleeves can be used for successfully, and when to stay clear of them in order to avoid developing a true dependency on external equipment use in the gym.

When NOT To Use Them

If at the very first sign of pain or discomfort in your knees or elbows you are rushing to pull on sleeves over every hinge joint in your body in order to “support” yourself just enough to continue a training session, I can almost guarantee that you will not receive the long term benefits that you are after with this type of equipment.

As with belts and wraps (as covered above), sleeves should not be worn to hold you together like a duct taped Gumby man, but rather as a way to strategically improve your performance during a specific lift or activity. Not only is the neoprene material, which many of these sleeves are made out of, not strong enough to truly alter the biomechanics or stability patterns of the knee or elbow joints, they shouldn’t be asked to perform such a tall task in the first hand.

Though there are some proprioceptive advantages to having tactile feedback on a region of the body via skin contact in the form of sleeves or even K-tape for that matter, slight neuromuscular feedback enhancement is far from biomechanical support. Don’t confuse the two, and if you’re going to depend on one or the other, you must also have a plan in play to bring up the glaring weak link that left you with pain, injuries or performance plateaus in the first place if you have any chance of hard wiring resilience into your movement system specific to the lift or movement pattern that is giving you continued problems.

Even for those lifters who are otherwise pain-free and have sound movement patterns, I see an alarming trend of sleeves becoming a mandatory part of the athlete’s wardrobe for EVERY workout, every day. Sleeves, and many other supportive pieces of equipment for lifting for that matter, provide instant stimulus and feedback into the system, which creates a “feel good” effect that can become highly addicting. Before this gets out of control, we must define where sleeves can provide benefits below, but more importantly what NOT to do.

If you find yourself pulling sleeves over your knees every time you tie your shoes, you’re probably overdoing it. Contrary to popular belief and action, not every movement in a training day necessitates the use of equipment. If the sleeves go on before every workout, and get taken off after every workout, again, you need to step back and realize that more is not better, especially when it comes to mastering your own body without the use of continuous crutches.

When To Use Them

What is your WHY behind using knee and elbow sleeves? If you can definitively answer this question, you’ll be able to utilize these tools correctly to get the most out of them without creating a dependency on an external crutch.

For those lifters who are training a lower body, or even more specifically, a knee dominant movement pattern, there are clear performance enhancement and injury prevention advantages around warming up local musculature, lubricating local joint spaces with synovial fluid and STAYING prepared to perform throughout the duration of an exercise or workout. While the use of knee sleeves cannot create a dynamic environment for warming up on their own, they can be a nice tool to put on AFTER properly warming up using a 6-Phase Dynamic Warm Up Sequence in order to do a few key things.

First, sleeves that surround an area of the body provide a layering effect that can warm the tissues underneath them. This concept is anything but novel, seen in pro sports like baseball and football routinely. The players all go out and warm up without cold weather gear on, but as soon as they are done the athletic training staff covers them with full length jackets and compression layers in order to maintain the local heat that the body has generated internally. Simply put, they keep you warmer, longer.

With the crazy incidence of knee injuries that continue to rise in the sport and fitness industries, there is a huge amount of data on the use of knee braces and it’s effects on injury prevention. Though some of the studies are a bit outdated, many concluded that a main advantage to ANY type of knee bracing, including neoprene knee sleeves was the proprioceptive enhancement of the region, and the “confidence boost” that wearing ANYTHING on the body can provide to reduce apprehensiveness during training and movement. While we know this to be an effective use of the sleeve, we must again ensure that equipment use does not create a slippery slope to dependency.

The general recommendation for recreational lifters and strength athletes is to use knee and elbow sleeves as a performance enhancement tool, not a pain-modulation tool, with a MVD (minimal viable dose) mindset. For squats, these can be a great tool, but running, jumping, conditioning, foam rolling and stretching with these pieces of equipment on is a bit of an overkill. As for elbow sleeves, lifters can have a great amount of success with elbow sleeves during pushing and pulling, but more so with more isolated and strenuous direct arm training.

If you don’t need them, ditch them. And if you do, use them for only the lifts you absolutely see a notable and objective performance enhancement with, no more, no less. While every tool can be useful for someone, not every tool is going to be useful for everyone. Experiment on yourself, and determine what best suits your body and your individual needs.

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is an internationally recognized coach, physical therapist, speaker, and sports performance expert. Dr. John has coached some of the world’s most elite athletes, including multiple Gold Medalist Olympians, NFL All-Pros, MLB All-Stars, Professional Bodybuilders, World-Record Holding Powerlifters, National Level Olympic Lifters and All-World IronMan Triathletes.

Dr. Rusin is the leading pioneer in the fitness and sports performance industries in intelligent pain-free performance programming that achieves world class results while preventing injuries in the process. Dr. John’s methods are showcased in his 12-Week FHT Program that combines the best from athletic performance training, powerlifting, bodybuilding and preventative therapy to produce world-class results without pain and injuries.

The post These 5 Lifting Crutches Are Killing Your Gains <br> <span class='subheadline'>The Truth About Belts, Olympic Lifting Shoes, Straps and More...</span> appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - Exercise Science & Injury Prevention.

Setting The Foam Rolling Record Straight

Ah, the rise of the roller! If you showed someone a foam roller in a gym 20 years ago, they’d give you a dumbfounded look and direct you to the free weights section of the gym where people actually train. Today? You’d be hard pressed to walk into any gym (or grocery store) in the world and NOT see a collection of rollers being flopped around on by otherwise average gym goers who have somehow learned over time how “pivotal” foam rolling is to making gains in the gym while staving off injury.

Somewhere, something went VERY wrong when it comes to the polarization of foam rolling that has overtaken our current day fitness industry. Why have soft tissue techniques gained polarizing popularity? It’s largely due to one simple fact, foam rolling feels like it’s doing something… something amazing.

This physical feel good effect is a powerful stimulus, especially to the largely misinformed fitness constituency swarming the warm up areas that used to be utilized for training. But the question remains, are SMR techniques actually producing results in terms of performance and injury prevention, or are people just wasting their time flopping around on the ground dry humping a piece of foam for 30 minutes before every training session without actual objective benefits to show for it?

When it comes to soft tissue work, it’s important to discern the fact from the fiction if you want to yield any benefit from your borderline obsessive devotion to the foam roller. Here are 5 of the biggest questions surrounding foam rolling, and more importantly, the answers to the commonly misconstrued myths that we have ALL been told in regards to foam rolling for decades. It’s time to debunk these hard to kill zombie lies, and stream line your soft tissue practice in the process.

#5 Does Foam Rolling Break Up Scar Tissue?

The most common misconception as to why SMR works is something called the mechanical muscular or fascial adhesion model. I hate to even address such poor information, but for the sake of understanding what is NOT happening, here it goes.

This model preaches that cross linkages are formed in muscle and fascial tissue through mechanical stress, thus it takes additional targeted external stress like that of a foam roller to “break up” the adhesions and scar tissue formation.

There are so many holes in this theory it’s hard to figure out where to begin. First off, soft tissues in the human body are anything but “soft” themselves. These are very strong structures that are extremely difficult to mechanically alter in shape or structure. If tissues were able to be manipulated this easily, every single time a person hit the gym and crushed a hard workout, the tissues would be under a shit storm of mechanical damage, and not the type you can jump back into training with a few days later. Also, external pressures and forces on the body such as having a barbell on your back during a back squat would tear your upper back apart due to the large amount of force itself. See why this doesn’t add up as sound reasoning?

Secondly, there are multiple layers of dermal tissues covering the soft tissues that are supposedly being manipulated, and for most people, a fair amount of fatty adipose layers as well. The three main layers of skin are pretty thick if you’ve ever seen a partially dissected cadaver. Did I mention that these layers are also full of mechano and sensory receptors as well?

While the list could go on and on, well leave it there with those two major pitfalls of rationale, but just note that if you unfortunately hear the “breaking up scar tissue” reasoning as to why you are foam rolling in the first place, please be sure to not fall for such utter nonsense.

What’s Actually Happening To Muscular Tone…

The most important question to answer regarding the practice of foam rolling is quite simple; what is the mechanism of action behind why foam rolling actually works? There are multiple tissue models out there regarding the how behind the why, but let me tell you, most of those models are pure and utter BS.

Foam rolling or any other SMR technique for that matter works due to one key mechanism of action, neurological tone reduction in the targeted muscle tissue. By adding external pressure and oscillations through muscle tissue, receptors in the peripheral and central nervous system are stimulated and essentially take the parking break off those tight and tonic tissues. This tightness phenomenon has been referred to as “neural-lock” and by unlocking the tissues based on neurological principles, self-myofascial release technique practices as a whole become far easier to understand and appreciate, especially with the sometimes rapid reduction in tightness of broad and dense tissues.

#4 Does Foam Rolling Make Muscles Longer & Pliable?

There’s been a lot of talk about muscle pliability and the ability of certain training methods to create longer, leaner muscles. Similar to the lack of mechanical mechanisms that limit a foam roller’s ability to actually breakdown scar tissue, a muscle cannot become LONGER for the same rules of mechanical deformation.

A muscle’s length is measured most accurately by taking the distance between it’s origins and insertions. But as any real student of the iron game knows, these distances can be highly variable due to the changing joint angles that active muscular contractions create. But there is a marked difference between the static tone of a muscle or region, and the continuously altered tonicity associated with activation of muscles generating relative movements at the joints of the body. This is where it get a little confusing for people.

Just because a muscle is able to be exerted through further degrees of range of motion does NOT mean that the reason for the improved range of motion came from said muscle being longer or mechanically changed in any way. Reduction of the relative “tightness” or tone of muscles has been shown to increase available range of motion when tested in isolation, but can also improve global compound movement patterns by improving the kinetic chain as a whole.

What’s Actually Happening To Your Muscles…

While muscles cannot become longer or more pliable permanently (without surgical intervention and strategic deformation of origin or insertion points, as has been seen in some more highly clinical cases) we can alter the more normalized tone of tissues or regions in general, pointing to the improvements and changes happening in range of motion or function being highly neurological.

As a muscle tissue reduces it’s resting tone, it will have the ability to quickly unlock more extended ranges terminal end ranges of motion along with more smooth and synergistic muscular actions in association with the regional muscles that are above, below and adjacent to the specific muscle itself. This is largely due to optimizing the length tension relationship of a region of the body to more authentically function in coordination with the rest of the body, and can be a powerful quick fix for even some of the most ingrained dysfunctional or painful movement patterns.

It should also be noted that localized tone of an entire region can be altered in order to optimize function and performance while reducing exacerbated pain signaling. Simply put, just because your quads seem to be short and tight does not mean that the quads are the origin of the movement deficit or problem within the chain. In cases of neural lock, an entire region including the agonist, antagonist, and secondary and tertiary stabilizing muscles can all become tight, restricting movement in all directions, reducing functionality and usable range in the process.

So while we are not making muscles longer, we can absolutely alter their resting and active tone via foam rolling paired with active strategies in order to improve the entire region or kinetic chain as a whole. As for pliability, the ambiguity of the term makes it extremely challenging to address, but for more or less, the laws of tissue tonicity still apply.

#3 When Is The BEST Time To Foam Roll?

Lets be clear on this; the only time where foam rolling or SMR techniques are warranted in the pre-training routine or warm up is when there is notable mobility dysfunction present. That means that dysfunction has been evaluated and diagnosed, and part of the course of remediation involves foam rolling as a means to improve positions. For everyone else who is considered a functional mover and does not present with pain, there is little to no need for hitting the foam roller before training.

Why? The cost to benefit ratio just doesn’t add up. The cost is your time and energy being placed into soft tissue work that may in fact do absolutely nothing to improve positions or mobility, while time is wasting away from more notable training methods like strength, conditioning and sport specific movements. And honestly, even the dysfunctional athlete who is using foam rolling may be receiving little to no benefit from the foam rolling exercise as a stand-alone method of mobility and soft tissue work. But more on that below.

As 90% of the population is dealing with a pain or dysfunctional issue at any given time, it’s safe to say that foam rolling CAN remain part of an intelligently designed warm up strategy. But with even the most severe cases, the foam rolling time investment should remain under a few minutes. As a general recommendation, pain-free athletes should devote a single minute to soft tissue to start their warm ups, and painful and/or poor movers should spend no more than 4 minutes down on the roller in preparation for actual training.

Here’s When To Foam Roll…

Plain and simple, foam rolling is best utilized as a recovery method after a training bout or competition. Throughout the years, foam rolling has crept into the pre-training routine due to coaches and trainers making the false correlation between foam rolling and enhanced mobility before workouts. Here’s why foam rolling is great for recovery.

When targeting specific soft tissues that have been trained earlier on in the day, or the day before, for most athletes there are significant levels of local inflammation, delayed onset muscle soreness and increased neurological tone in the tissues.

Extended duration foam rolling sessions that address each specific tissue individually for a few minutes help to stimulate the active muscle pump of the body to help clear out inflammation and lymphatic pooling, tap into the neural recovery system by reducing local tone of the tissues and also help to drive blood into local areas that helps nutrient exchange and waste to be cleared out. These mechanisms aid the body to speed up the recovery process as a whole, and can be a very powerful mechanism of recovery when routinely practiced.

And when paired with strategic parasympathetic breathing strategies, global foam rolling techniques can become the perfect anecdote to quickly and effectively spark the recovery process. Breathe deep, target large tissues, and reap the benefits of intelligent recovery via soft tissue work.

#2 Should Foam Rolling Be Causing Excruciating Pain?

I get it, we live in a high paced competitive society where more is always viewed as better. But having seen this mentality trickle into self sufficient soft tissue work has be concerned as people are not only negating any benefit of the soft tissue practice itself, but probably doing more harm than good.

Don’t know what I’m referring to? Well, here are a few examples:

• Smashing a heavy kettlebell into your stomach
• Stepping on people’s triceps until them tap out
• Crushing a barbell deep into your groin
• Sitting on a lacrosse ball until your legs go numb
• The list could go on and on…

Foam rolling that causes high excruciating levels of pain does NOT present any added benefit (I guess other then improved machoism) and is actually taking away the objective benefits that we are seeking via the foam roller and other soft tissue tools. Again this is worth reiterating…

More pain does NOT mean more benefit!

Though each person will have different levels of pain tolerance, it needs to be closely monitored in order to yield positive neurological and systemic benefits. Before you think that I’m instructing you all to foam roll without “feeling” anything, I’m not. The key is eliciting minimal viable doses of pressure and pain to elicit the desired response. If you can do that, you WILL be successful with your soft tissue practice.

Closely Monitor Your Pain Scale While Foam Rolling…

The very presence of pain causes a heightened sympathetic response in the central nervous system that is associated with a fight or flight response that elevates heart rate, blood pressure, and respiratory rate while syphoning blood flow away from the gut and into the extremities for instant use in running or fighting. Not exactly the type of response we want to be eliciting while we are trying to alleviate functional tightness in tissue that’s causing pain or restricting movements, it is?

Any soft tissue mobility modality such as foam rolling, or even stretching for that matter, needs to be executed with the goal of tapping into he power of the OTHER side of the central nervous system, the parasympathetic (rest and recover) side which allows optimization and reduction of the vital metrics mentioned above to take place. This is again the reason why deep recovery parasympathetic breathing strategies should be completed during any foam rolling or soft tissue work, as it again pushes the CNS in the right direction to achieve the desired result.

While pain is one of the single most subjective metrics in the world to try and objectively monitor, I recommend that a foam rolling technique does NOT place an athlete or client into any higher than a 5/10 subjective pain scale. While some athletes will have a higher pain threshold than others making this scale highly individualistic, we must ensure that the goal remains the goal which is to alleviate pain and dysfunction, not cause more of it.

#1 Is Foam Rolling Mandatory To Improve Mobility?

Self-myofascial release techniques absolutely have their place and time in a well balanced performance or fitness program, but we must realize that there are not only better bang for your buck exercises and modes of training out there, but foam rolling by no means is a cure all for mobility enhancement. Let me say that again because every time that this subject is addressed, people misconstrue the message to be, “Don’t Foam Roll!” instead of the real message that is prioritize soft tissue techniques and synergize them with other training modalities to create results in the most effective and efficient way possible.

Our industry has been brain washed into thinking if someone presents with poor mobility capacity, then the ultimate type of remediation to regain mobility and ultimately function is the roller and other ways to manipulate soft tissues. Mobility does not only involve soft tissues, lets make that damn clear. There are things in our bodies called joints that play a huge roll in global mobility and functionality that have an interconnected interplay with soft tissue structures such as muscles, tendons, ligaments and fascia. And honestly, even breaking down mobility in the biomechanical model based on joints and soft tissues is very limited and simplistic in reasoning as well, but is one hell of a step up from the common absolutist soft tissue train of thought.

To think that addressing the soft tissues alone with a questionable technique will be the only thing you need in the battle to produce enhanced mobility and function is ludicrous. Foam rolling can be used as a tissue preparatory mechanism when paired with other forms of mobility enhancement such as stretching, corrective exercise, activation and foundational movement pattern development, the synergy between all of these mechanisms then gives the best chance for mobility remediation. So at the end of the day, there is no doubt that a well-rounded prehabilitation or movement preparatory program is your best bet for improving your movement capacity, increasing your strength and minimizing the incidence of injuries secondary to training. So no, it’s not all about the foam roller, even though it hurts so good. Be better than the foam roller, that’s all I’m saying.

Foam Rolling Is NOT A Mobility Cure All…

For all the foam rolling zealots out there, you are going to really hate this one, but better to face the facts now and reap the benefits of intelligent soft tissue practice for your remaining days on the roller. By itself as a stand-alone soft tissue manipulative modality, the foam roller has very little functional carryover into mobility, flexibility, function, strength, endurance, and pain modulation. Wow, read that one again because this is important even though you don’t want to accept it.

But before you start fuming over this point, here’s the deal. Yes, some people have perceived benefit from foam rolling in terms of the training metrics I listed above, but you must ask yourself the question; were those gains made solely due to your self directed soft tissue practice, or are there other contributing factors causing positive outcomes?

When used by itself, foam rolling clearly has benefits in terms of local and systemic recovery by tapping into the parasympathetic nervous system and of course the multiple mechanisms of recovery mentioned in the section above. But when it comes to aiding global movement in a pre-training routine, foam rolling is a very small part of the entire functional equation in terms of physical preparation for performance.

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is an internationally recognized coach, physical therapist, speaker, and sports performance expert. Dr. John has coached some of the world’s most elite athletes, including multiple Gold Medalist Olympians, NFL All-Pros, MLB All-Stars, Professional Bodybuilders, World-Record Holding Powerlifters, National Level Olympic Lifters and All-World IronMan Triathletes.

Dr. Rusin is the leading pioneer in the fitness and sports performance industries in intelligent pain-free performance programming that achieves world class results while preventing injuries in the process. Dr. John’s methods are showcased in his 12-Week FHT Program that combines the best from athletic performance training, powerlifting, bodybuilding and preventative therapy to produce world-class results without pain and injuries.

The post 5 Foam Rolling Myths Debunked <br> <span class='subheadline'>Setting The Record Straight On True Foam Rolling Facts and Fiction </span> appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - Exercise Science & Injury Prevention.

The King of All Rows

If your goal is to develop a strong and muscular back that looks as good as it performs, you better damn well place an emphasis on the row. The single arm dumbbell row and its many variations provide the cornerstone of smart back training, and facilitate a myriad of non-aesthetic and strength benefits such as healthy shoulders and improved spinal posture.

But even with the mass benefits across the board that the single arm dumbbell row offers, many strength athletes have their priorities mixed up when it comes to back training, putting all of their training emphasis on vertical pulling movements such as a chin ups and shrugs instead of the hammering away at a common weak link in strength and shoulder health, the horizontal pull aka the row.

While well executed vertical pull variations are not inherently dangerous, very few lifters actually present with the requisite movement and skill capacity to train these more advanced movements without performance or orthopedic repercussions.

Too much poor vertical pulling not only places undue stress on the shoulder joint under too much volume and intensity due to the natural internally rotated glena-humeral (true shoulder joint) biomechanics of the movement, but it also only targets a fraction of the musculature that the horizontal row is capable of hitting.

So yes, if you want to build a bulletproof backside that performs as impressively as it looks, it’s time to start dialing back the volume of vertical pull work in your program, and start investing in perfecting the row pattern instead! Here are the 5 staple single arm dumbbell row variations that you should be mastering and progressing to increase intelligent pain-free volume into your back work into your routine.

Why The Single Arm Dumbbell Row Is So Damn Effective

From a strength and functionality standpoint, the single arm dumbbell row should be placed in every single type of training program, period. The unilateral nature of this movement challenges the entire pillar through the hips, trunk and shoulder girdles, while targeting large key movers on the backside of the body. The only question that remains are what single arm row setup should you use based on your specific strength, hypertrophy or performance goals?

With so many to chose from, it can get confusing for even a season veteran of the iron game. So I have broken down the five most effective single arm row setups (from most basic to most advanced) and detailed the differences and focus each movement to program this back training staple to yield the most results that are geared specifically to your goals.

Use these variations to guide you through a step by step approach of rebuilding the horizontal pull pattern. Once you’ve mastered the execution of the movement and challenged loading capacity to a high enough level to elicit a training effect, keep moving up the pyramid to advance your row work to fit your skill level and training goals.

#1 Kneeling Single Arm Dumbbell Row

 If you are a novice lifter or have a history of lower back pain and/or dysfunction, the kneeling three point single arm dumbbell row provides the most stable setup to work from while also minimizing the shift and compensation at the hips and lower lumbar spine that is commonly associated with poor rowing mechanics.

The three points of contact are your foot on the ground, opposite hand placed on the weight bench, and the entire length of your opposite shin in contact with the weight bench in order to increase the total contact area, hence increasing the stability of the setup of this single arm dumbbell row variation as a whole.

Aside from being a great way to teach and master properly executed single arm rowing mechanics, this setup is an effective choice for secondary training days where you want to minimize the stress placed upon the stability of the spine and hips. With more emphasis placed on the dynamic movement itself, the exercise becomes more joint friendly and easier to target the active muscles directly.

Coaching Notes:

• Position yourself on the weight bench with your opposite arm straight with the hand in contact with the bench, same side leg out extended in contact with the floor and opposite shin in full contact with the bench and the ankle crease up against the edge of the bench.
• From this stable position, grab the dumbbell in one hand and ensure that your base is stable by activating the core, glutes, arm and leg that are responsible for static support.
• Row the dumbbell back activating at the lats and focusing on “squeezing” the dumbbell back to your hip, NOT driving the elbow up as commonly practiced incorrectly.
• Tension for a split second at the top of the range of motion and control the eccentric lowering portion until your arm is in a straightened position at the elbow.
• Throughout the reps in a set, maintain constant tension in the muscles of the back and work hard to create smooth and coordinated motions up and down.

#2 Symmetrical Stance Single Arm Dumbbell Row

The symmetrical stance single arm row provides the opposite setup of what we just reviewed with the kneeling three-point stance single arm dumbbell row variation. Due to having both feet in perfect symmetry underneath the hips and the core and spine in a parallel and non-rotated position relative to the floor, the symmetrical stance single arm dumbbell row challenges the core with a greater need for anti-rotation activity throughout the single arm row movement.

This variation is the preferred setup for high performance athletes and other functionally minded lifters who want to “kill two birds with one stone” in their training. This is largely due to time constraints, having a different goals set or focus for training, or just thinking it will have a higher amount of transference into sport of physical activity.

Check out this VIDEO as I teach Dave Tate of EliteFTS the symmetrical stance row at time clock 14:30.

These is no doubt that this variation is the most challenging of the three that we will review in this article, and if you don’t believe me, stay strict on your form and see your loads decrease as your core activity increases. Again, this variation is great for linking up the kinetic chain and creating segmentation synergy, but absolutely limits the top end loads that are able to be moved and controlled by the active back musculature involved in the row. So if you are more aesthetic and strength minded, move onto the last setup we will review, the split stance single arm dumbbell row in the next section.

Coaching Notes:

• Place your feet in the power stance just below your hips with the toes pointing directly forward.
• Using the hip hinge motion, push your butt back and bend at the knees slightly to set your hips and spine in a perfectly stable position to work from.
• Place your opposite hand on the weight bench or any other elevated surface and maintain a straight elbow position.
• At this point, your spine should be parallel to the ground.
• Pick up the dumbbell and begin to row towards your back hip without altering your base of support at the hips, supporting arm or legs.
• Maintain coordinated and smooth rhythm of the row throughout the set.
• It should be noted that the most limiting factor of this type of row setup may indeed be the core, so place your focus on maintaining properly aligned core positions throughout the set.

#3 Split Stance Single Arm Dumbbell Row

If you are a serious strength or aesthetic athlete that wants the best strength and hypertrophy stimulus possible, I would recommend you master the split stance single arm dumbbell row setup for a few key reasons.

First, it allows just enough core and pillar involvement to be deemed functional and transferable to other major lifts or activities. Secondly, due to the angle of the torso during this movement, you will be able to load this variation up heavier while still managing to maintain a stable and neutral spine. And lastly, due to the split stance setup, the hip on the active rowing side (back hip) remains slightly higher than the opposite side hip, creating a pre-stretch through the lats. This pre-stretch really activates the entire lat and places it in a position to do some major work.

My favorite feature about this setup is the ability to allow the lat to stretch at the bottom of the range of motion by letting your shoulder blade protract and upwardly rotate. While still maintaining control, this end range accentuated stretch will allow a greater range of motion that is great for mobility maintenance and expediting the pump to the active muscles.

Again, the greatest thing about the variables that I mentioned above including core involvement, torso angle and pre-stretch hip height, is that you can manipulate these setups to taper this staple rowing movement to your body and your goals. Every single person will have unique anatomy and anthropometrics, so finding your perfect setup by manipulating these variables is necessary for advanced lifters to keep progressing.

Give this setup a shot, and make sure to slightly alter your stance and setup out of this initial recommendation based on your goals, and more importantly, what you feel!

Coaching Notes:

• In a split stance, position your front leg facing forward with a slight bend in the knee while your back leg is semi-straightened with your toes pointing out at an angle to open up and elevate the back side hip.
• To elevate the hip and achieve a pre-stretch of the lat, rotate the rowing side hip up slightly bringing your toe pointing more directly out to the side.
• The opposite arm will be placed on a stable surface such as a weight bench or dumbbell rack. To manipulate your torso angle, use higher or lower surfaces for your arm support.
• From this stable position, grab the dumbbell and row back towards the hip. With the pre-stretch of the lat, let your shoulder blade rotate freely around the thoracic cage, accentuating the range of motion used during the row.
• Allow your thoracic cage to move slightly into extension and rotation during the pull phase of the motion, and forward rotation and slightly flexion during the eccentric stretched lowering phase.
• With the increased scapular and thoracic cage movement, ensure there is minimal momentum and compensation being used.
• Finally, this is a more advanced variation; so master the three point stance before progressing to this.

#4 Decline Arcing Single Arm Dumbbell Row

While the single arm dumbbell row is a movement pattern that predominantly takes place in the horizontal plane of action, advanced lifters can reap the benefits of slight angulation changes in order to target the lats and upper back to a greater degree. Using a traditional flat weight bench with slight inclines or declines can help achieve novel angles to work from in order to clean up functional weak links or accentuate activation or specific muscles that are active in the chain.

Though a slight incline can absolutely be useful in training, I prefer to teach the slight decline from a strength and hypertrophy plateau busting standpoint due to the position the declined angle naturally allows the shoulder (and more specifically the shoulder blade) to fall into during the eccentric portion of the exercise.

Placing a few weight plates under one side of the bench then kneeling on that same side changes the angle of the torso, and in turn, the shoulder complex before the acting rowing motion even starts. With a more declined angle, the shoulder blade can achieve greater degrees of protraction and upward rotation at the bottom aspect of the range of motion that essentially “stretches” the muscles at the bottom at terminal end range.

Training from the stretch can be a helpful driver for enhancing the mind muscle connection while also expediting localized blood flow into the area, which is helpful from both a corrective and hypertrophy standpoint. Lastly, the decline angle forces an arcing type motion of the dumbbell moving from front to back aka “towards the hip” which helps the shoulder cue extension, which is a prime movement that targets the lats.

All of these benefits can be simply achieved by changing the angle. Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication. And for a quick “corrective” fix for flailing elbows on the single arm dumbbell row, try out THIS variation that has proven highly effective for cueing the arcing row with an external banded cue.

Coaching Notes:

• Place 2-3 weight plates under the head of a traditional flat bench.
• Kneel on the high side of the bench which the plates are positioned under.
• Achieve a 3-point kneeling stance on the decline angled bench per #1 above
• Allow the dumbbell to “stretch” the bottom aspect of the motion while still staying under control with full tension around the shoulder joint at all times.
• Drive the dumbbell up and back towards your hip in an arcing motion.
• Activate and squeeze your lats, focusing on the lower rib cage insertion points.
• Control the eccentric action slowly under tension down into the stretched position and repeat.

#5 Split Stance Dead Stop Single Arm Dumbbell Row

Every foundational movement pattern is comprised of three phases of muscular action; the eccentric, concentric and amortization  phases. The eccentric lengthening which occurs at the back happens when the dumbbell approximates the floor, while the concentric happens when the dumbbell is driven up towards the hip. Between these two phases, AFTER the eccentric and BEFORE the concentric is where the amortization phase takes place, aka the change of direction phase.

While moving through all phases of action is a standardized skill which every lifter should be able to master with the single arm dumbbell row, there are certain advantages to taking away the stretch-shortening cycle that occurs in the amortization phase in order to peak higher activation in the musculature comprising the back while also improving starting strength positioning.

This can be simply achieved with a dead stop row variation which incorporates the dumbbell resting on the ground between each rep of the single arm dumbbell row. For advanced strength and hypertrophy training, this is the top of the movement pyramid for the single arm dumbbell row which can spark a huge training effect due to it’s novelty and variance.

Coaching Notes:

• Position the feet in a split stance.
• Hinge the hips over and bend the knees to allow the hand to come close to ground contact.
• Use the opposite hand to stabilize this asymmetrical stance by gripping the dumbbell rack (or a bench).
• Start the dumbbell down on the ground to the side of the back leg.
• Grip the dumbbell hard, tension the hips, core and shoulders together, and pull explosively.
• Peak the flex at the top of the range of motion and accentuate the eccentric back down into the starting position.
• Allow the dumbbell to settle on the ground and do NOT ounce it with touch and go style reps.
• Repeat for the prescribed reps, then reciprocate the feet and hands to train the opposite side.

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is an internationally recognized coach, physical therapist, speaker, and sports performance expert. Dr. John has coached some of the world’s most elite athletes, including multiple Gold Medalist Olympians, NFL All-Pros, MLB All-Stars, Professional Bodybuilders, World-Record Holding Powerlifters, National Level Olympic Lifters and All-World IronMan Triathletes.

Dr. Rusin is the leading pioneer in the fitness and sports performance industries in intelligent pain-free performance programming that achieves world class results while preventing injuries in the process. Dr. John’s methods are showcased in his best selling Functional Hypertrophy Training Program that combines the best from athletic performance training, powerlifting, bodybuilding and preventative therapy to produce world-class results without pain and injuries.

The post 5 Staple Single Arm Dumbbell Rows You Should Be Doing <br> <span class='subheadline'>The Best Row Variations For A Bigger Stronger Back & Healthy Shoulders</span> appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - Exercise Science & Injury Prevention.

The Emergence of the Hybrid Coach In Fitness

With the marked rise of the incidence of injury in sport and fitness over the last decade, many personal trainers and strength coaches have been forced to evolve into a more hybrid role managing pain and dysfunction that is present in nearly every athlete and client who walks through the doors. Our of pure necessity, physical training is shifting a lot more towards physical therapy.

In the same time period, there has been a notable increase in the number of licensed physical therapists working in the sports performance and fitness industries as predominant strength and conditioning coaches. As these two trends continue to gain popularity in many demographics and disciplines of the industry, many personal trainers and strength coaches are left with the question:

“Do I need a doctorate in physical therapy to become a great fitness professional or elite strength coach?”

We’ve brought together 7 of the most influential strength and conditioning coaches from the world’s of professional athletics, elite barbell sport and mainstream fitness and training, who also happen to hold degrees and active licenses in physical therapy, to sound off on this highly debated question.

If you are a strength coach, fitness professional or student in the university setting that is considering pursuing a doctorate level degree in physical therapy, here’s are the most important factors which you must consider to ensure you are making the right move for your career goals.

Dr. Kelly Starrett

Mobility Expert, 2x New York Times Best Selling Author

Should I go to physio school? The question is pretty straight forward.

Should I stop my current career as a strength and conditioning coach, spend a year of my life jumping through admission hoops and filing in school transcripts with bio-chemistry classes at the local city college, spend countless hours observing physios working with really sick people in an inpatient setting, take on 100k plus of school debt, accept the stress that goes with three years of graduate school, then spend six months in an unpaid internship working in a setting in which you don’t really want to build a career, so that you can finally go back to being a strength and conditioning coach with a clinical doctorate in physiotherapy? 

Well yes, obviously. 

If it sounds complicated, it’s because it is. Let me be clear, I can coach anyone, in any state of disease, with any state of injury, of any age, or complex orthopedic history. I’m able to see how the cues I use with children will impact them when they become Olympians. I can provide hands on mobility work directly to my athletes when they are blocked mechanically. When my athletes get injured, I can rehab them and progress their rehab. 

I’m able to speak with physicians and other providers with an automatic understanding that I have had formal training and enough professional association to elevate my clinical thinking above bro-science. I speak corrective exercise, skill transfer exercise, position transfer exercise, and exercise.  When my daughter suffered a terrible break in her tibia this year, I didn’t panic.  I became her head physio and strength coach seven days a week. 

I speak differential diagnosis, and reassure my meathead friends that they don’t have knee cancer after high volume training sessions. I understand the genius of weightlifting, yoga, powerlifting, Pilates, gymnastics, and kettlebells, and Crossfit and how the shoulder is still the shoulder. I don’t get burned out coaching 24-hours a day and I’m happy to talk chronic pain with someone’s mother. 

The problem with the question is, can I be a good physio and not be a good coach? (I’m talking movement practice). There is no way that I would be nearly as competent as a coach as I am now if I hadn’t gone to PT school.  I like being a physio. I like the work. Sure, I’m a coach first, but like two big trees that grow up with intertwined roots, I can’t pull the physio out of the coach, or the coach out of the physio. 

I’m very proud of being a PT. I like PT’s. I like the way we are trained to think. And yet, all of my closest and most influential friends aren’t. They are coaches. Or physio’s that coach. I think ultimately all roads lead to Rome. I believe that most physio education is bereft of real coaching instruction. I also think most coaches have a bit of an incomplete understanding of how the body works. Either way, I’ll see you in the gym.

Follow Kelly on:

Instagram: @MobilityWOD      Facebook: Kelly Starrett

Dr. John Rusin

Sports Performance & Injury Prevention Expert For Banged Up Athletes & Meatheads

Climbing the ranks in the fitness industry and achieving your “dream job” can be an extremely confusing time for many fitness professionals and students. This statement has never been more true to me than the past two years where I’ve had the privilege to travel the globe educating thousands of world-class personal trainers, coaches and clinicians in my Pain-Free Performance Training System seminar.

After two straight days of lecturing on screening, assessments, programming and the tenets of pain-free training, the single most common question I receive after the course is, “Hey Dr. Rusin, do I need to go to physical therapy school to do what you do?” And many times, the answer isn’t a simple yes or no. It’s far more complicated than that.

I get it, many of my students, athletes, readers and followers see me as “Dr. So and So” and are under the impression that the 8+ years I spend in school earning a doctoral level education somehow placed me on this trajectory to allow me to do what I do today. But interestingly enough, I truly believe based on one’s goals, a physical therapy degree is not mandatory, nor even that helpful to become a world class professional in the field.

Very few actually realize that I was a strength and conditioning coach before I ever stepped foot into physical therapy school. Or, that I’ve never worked as a traditional physical therapist seeing post-op patients, taking insurance, doing paperwork, administering heat packs, or whatever it is that physical therapists do these days. Even through physical therapy school, I continued to coach athletes, and man, looking back on it thank God that I did as THAT alone gave me the leg up looking back on it.

See, I never had the goal of being a traditional physical therapist, but rather, fell into the education system randomly and without much purpose. Just a few days into my first semester of DPT, I knew more than ever that I wanted to continue to coach athletes, as it was and IS my passion in life. But being the hard head that I am, I still put in my time, studied hard, worked double time in the gym and got through, only to take a coaching job the second I left school.

But holding a degree in physical therapy AND having built career capital as a coach placed me in a very unique position professionally. There were times early on in my career where I was turned down from strength and conditioning jobs in the collegiate sector for being “overly qualified,” whatever that means. But there were also instances in professional and Olympic sport that having a DPT opened the doors to opportunities I would have otherwise missed out on.

Today, more than 95% of my athlete management is non-clinical, and sits on the side of training far more than it does therapy. But that does NOT mean that an advanced knowledge of the human body and advanced medical and functional diagnostics does not come in handy, it does. So if you are looking to pursue a degree in physical therapy, you must look at YOUR career objective and clearly define what fuels your passion to work in this field.

If your goal is to train athletes and clients on the gym floor, be the best coach you can be. That means investing in your education on THAT side of the industry, remembering that education doesn’t only take place at the university, but rather in unique and diverse real time experiences. If you are a personal trainer who loves working with post-rehab clients and your goal is to work in rehabilitation with this patient demographic, then maybe pursuing a degree in physical therapy may be the best move to chase your passion. But do NOT think it will make you more money, or will lead to training more elite level athletes, it won’t.

And for all you students out there currently slaving away in the library, before you go jumping into an accelerated DPT program or chasing your master’s or doctorate, I’d challenge you to get in the gym, start training human beings and use that experience to fine tune your focus and find what it is that truly drives you. If you’re ever in doubt, look within yourself and define your goals and do what’s best for YOU, not someone else. Let time and experience clarify your next move.

Follow John on:

Instagram: @DrJohnRusin         Facebook: John Rusin

Dr. Stefi Cohen

16X World Record Holding Powerlifter

Having a doctorate in physical therapy as a strength and conditioning coach has given me a unique perspective not only when it comes to writing training programs, but also when it comes to coaching.

The knowledge we gain about the human body in physical therapy school goes beyond any strength and conditioning book or course, starting with spending three months in a cadaver lab dissecting human bodies, learning and memorizing origins, insertions and innervations of muscles, visualizing joints and bones to becoming movement specialists capable of analyzing gait, and then utilizing all of that knowledge to really understand biomechanics of the human body.

We definitely don’t learn a lot about writing exercise programs (even at the great University of Miami Physical Therapy program) that will take someone from injured to competitive like Dr. Rusin always says, but we do gain a deep and unique understanding of how the body works and is supposed to move and how tissues work and  respond to stimulus.

My best part about having the DPT and working with strength athletes is that I have the capability of not only helping my athletes get through injuries, but to come back stronger than ever and then to improve even more after that.

Follow Stefi on:

Instagram: @steficohen         Facebook: Stefi Cohen

Dr. Charlie Weingroff

Sports Performance Physical Therapist & Strength Coach

Follow Charlie on:

Instagram: @chweingroff        Facebook: Charlie Weingroff

Dr. Chad Waterbury

Physical Therapist & Neuromuscular Training Expert

To become an elite strength and conditioning coach, it requires experience and knowledge. Experience is gained by spending years in the trenches coaching athletes and non-athletes alike. In the early part of your career, non-athletes are more important to coach because they typically don’t learn proper posture and movement as easily as athletes do, which makes it more challenging for you. That’s a good thing because it better develops your cueing and coaching skills. If you learn how to coach a middle-aged housewife to squat or deadlift correctly, then doing the same for an athlete will be a cinch.

Knowledge is gained by consulting with experts in your field so you can learn what strategies they’ve found successful, and avoid making the same mistakes they’ve made. Attending seminars from experts such as Dr. John Rusin or Andreo Spina will drastically increase your knowledge base. Beyond coaching, cueing, and consulting with experts, another essential component to learn is programming. I think StrongFirst, an organization created by Pavel Tsatsouline, teaches the best programming strategies out there.

Note that I haven’t mentioned anything about formal education, much less a doctorate degree. From my perspective, you should only seek a doctorate degree if you really wantit, because you definitely don’t need it. Getting a Ph.D., or becoming a licensed practitioner with a DPT or DC degree, takes you beyond the realm of the strength and conditioning world. So if that’s your goal, a doctorate degree could be a good option. However, seeking such a high level of formal education will do very little, if anything, to help your career as a strength and conditioning coach if you follow the steps I mentioned.

Follow Chad on:

Instagram: @drchadwaterbury       Facebook: Chad Waterbury

Dr. Tim DiFrancesco

Strength Coach, Physical Therapist, Former NBA Strength & Conditioning Coach

I’ve come across plenty of great physical therapists who wouldn’t stand a chance in a weight room or strength and conditioning environment. I’ve also come across plenty of great strength and conditioning coaches who would struggle if tossed into a clinical setting. You don’t need a Doctorate in Physical Therapy to be a great strength coach, nor do you need a vast strength and conditioning background to be a great physical therapist. It is important, however, to be fluent in the areas of rehab, strength and conditioning and athletic performance if you want to be truly valuable to your client, patient or athlete audience.

In my case, I’m a licensed athletic trainer, licensed physical therapist and a certified strength and conditioning specialist. I see myself though, as a strength and conditioning coach with a background in physical therapy and athletic training. I help people to get strong the right way. This view and approach helps me to be my best in the space and the area that I enjoy the most, the weight room. That’s my seat on the bus and I own it.

I use my diverse background to expand my perspective and skillset as a strength and conditioning coach. This mindset is what helped me to get a position with the Los Angeles Lakers and spend 6 seasons as the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach with that organization. They didn’t need someone to do physical therapy, athletic training and strength and conditioning. They needed someone who could run the weight room while communicating with other experts in the areas of physical therapy and athletic training.

Having multiple licenses and credentials can undermine your ability to be a successful rehab or strength and conditioning professional. Physical therapists who dabble in strength and conditioning but refuse to admit that lifting heavy things the right way is the most effective route to better durability, performance and health are doing a disservice to their audience. If you want to help people, start teaching them how to move and the process of building strength in fundamental movements. Stop telling people to stretching and rest is what they need!

Meanwhile, strength and conditioning coaches who think that the ONLY tool is lifting often, hard and heavy are inevitably going to skip steps with their audience and set them up for failure. An understanding and respect of both realms is what will make you the voice of reason and a better servant to your audience.

The letters after your name don’t make a great rehab or strength and conditioning pro. Instead it’s your understanding of multiple disciplines and your ability to relay this insight to your audience that will set you apart. The trick is to use a broad understanding of the overall space that we’re in (sports medicine, rehab/therapy, S&C, training, health and fitness) to help you to become great in one area that you enjoy the most. I always tell people: pick a seat on the bus and own it! Expanding on the seat on the bus analogy, it’s smart to get a feel for a few seats on the bus on your way to the one you want to be yours. The issue becomes when you try to sit in a different seat each day of the week.

Follow Tim on:

Instagram: @tdathletesedge       Facebook: Tim DiFrancesco

Dr. Dani LaMartina

Doctor of Physical Therapy, EliteFTS Sponsored Powerlifter

There are two things that come to mind, primarily, based purely on my own experience and where I have chosen to take my career at this time as a doctor of physical therapy, but also an elite powerlifter:

1)   Being pretty good at “lots” of things without ever being “incredible” at one thing. This isn’t necessarily bad as the more we look at how and why our body operates the way it does, it’s so closely linked to neural system processes, and very rarely is movement, pain, or performance solely linked to ONE single facet. We ARE multidimensional and the body of knowledge that we as PT’s choose (some more than others) to jump into is IMMENSE; the best coaches I know are those that have jumped feet first into the scientific application, but only when met with discernment.

2)   I could say “clinical decision making” but really, it comes down to evaluation of the whole picture, and discernment for the best course of action.  We have to be REALLY good at seeing the forest through the trees, while still paying attention to the “important” trees.  When you have a knowledge base that appreciates all the different components that contribute to our movement, you quickly figure out that you can’t apply the same principles to everyone. Period, especially in communication, education, and the neural components of how we cue an athlete.  Great coaches have this skill. I 100% believe that based on the amount of person-contact time I have every single day, if every single one of those is a learning opportunity, I’ve gotten really damn good at picking out the important parts, and knowing when and how to incorporate concepts.

Follow Dani on:

Instagram: @DaniCashPT          Facebook: Dani LaMartina

The post Should You Go To Physical Therapy School? <br> <span class='subheadline'>7 Industry Leaders Sound Off On The Great Debate of Rehab In Fitness</span> appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - Exercise Science & Injury Prevention.

Theoretical “Pain-Free” Shoulder Exercises Gone Wrong

With the ever growing incidence of shoulder pain among the active population, many in the sports performance and fitness industries are seeking instant gratification in the form of a magic pill for shoulder training and health.

Not dissimilar to the quick fix supplement industry, an emerging quick fix trend has started to infiltrate the training industry spewing theoretical (and otherwise made up) exercises that are promising near instantaneous pain alleviation and functional transference into sport, training and daily activity.

Don’t get me wrong, superficially this all sounds great. Especially when delivered with a 60-second Instagram clip by a self proclaimed expert doctor teaching an exercise that they’ve never used themselves, nor with actual human beings on the right side of the screen, and an anatomical representation of the problem to the left (as if it’s that simple). To the average person who battles chronic aches and pains, man that shit looks sexy. But the real question remains, is it effective for the goals at hand?

The longer I coach, the more clear it becomes that the power of pain-free shoulder training is not only dependent on choosing the correct exercises for someone’s unique needs, but executing the basic staple movements with pristine movement quality according to the N=1 study in front of you.

Even the perfect program on paper is ineffective and possibly even injurious when executed like shit.

So before you start aimlessly chasing the next mythical corrective exercise you see sliding down your news feed, you need to step back and address the glaring red flag in your movement execution, quality and patterning first based on the PRINCIPLES of pain-free shoulder training.

Don’t settle for a physical life filled with transient gains, fluffy corrective exercises and monotonous daily self help techniques.

Here are the three biggest mistakes that you’re making with your shoulder training that are leaving your shoulders chronically hurt and broken down while killing your muscle and strength gains in the process. Address these common shoulder training faults, and successfully transfer your new found skills into ALL other areas of shoulder training for health and longevity.

The Law of Irradiation

The body simply does not work in pure isolation. Even the smallest movements stimulate the function of the kinetic chain that links individual joints, muscles, fascia, and functional regions together. This synergistic motion segment literally runs head to toe, lead not only by mechanical tension but also by neurological sensation, impulse and potentiation.

Three of the most neurologically dense sensory areas in the human body are the feet, hands and face. The hands and feet also happen to be the two predominant areas of the body which come into contact with either load, or ground based forces and contacts, making them extremely intriguing areas for enhancing the neural kinetic linkages of the full body irradiation effect.

Without diving too deeply into the neural science and laws of muscular potentiation and recruitment, the irradiation effect can be simply defined by the way tension is initiated at load or ground contacts and sequentially travels up chain through adjacent musculature. This traveling tension and muscular recruitment usually ends back closer to a central position on the body (shoulders, hips or core) to better recruit control and stability throughout the entire extremely of motion segment.

Strategically kicking on the irradiation effect to better position, centrate and stabilize otherwise inherently mobile joints such as the shoulder, hip and segments of the spine, have been coached for decades with cues like “crush the bar in your hands” and “root your feet into the ground”. But no matter the external cue that is proven effective, it comes down to the internal tension in the neuromuscular system that optimally positions the body for pain-free performances.

Now nearly every movement in the gym can benefit from tapping into stronger irradiation effects at the hands and feet, especially when training for power, strength and hypertrophy. BUT, there are certain regions of the body where the irradiation effect actually negates some of the potential benefits of training such as the deltoid and intrinsics of the shoulder complex.

Stop Killing Your Grip On Direct Shoulder Training

One of the biggest mistakes I see even the best athletes and coaches make with direct shoulder training is coaching and executing this direct shoulder isolation training exercise the same way as you’d execute a bench press, row or other foundational movement pattern, maximizing the hand grip on the weights.

As soon as maximal tension is initiated at such a neurologically dense region of the body such as the hands, all the other sequential muscles of the motion segment such as the flexors and extensors of the wrist and forearm, the biceps and triceps, and even the large trapezius get activated as well to assist in the targeted motion being trained.

If the goal is lifting as heavy as possible, great. The irradiation effect will help you achieve that goal. But realize for a movement like the shoulder lateral raise, the deltoids no longer remain the prime mover in the exercise, as other secondary muscles come in to support and de-emphasize the targeting at that specific region.

But if your goal is to improve muscular activation and recruitment around the deltoid, scapular stabilizers or even the synergistic rotator cuff in some instances, we need to minimize the irradiation effect, NOT maximize it. This is achieved by loosening up the grip, or eliminating the use of a grip in direct shoulder training exercises.

A perfect example of this technique at work is the cable lateral raise with attachments placed around the wrists instead of held in the hands. By hooking the load to the wrists instead of inside the hands, there is no need to flex the fingers, hands and wrists that will recruit unwanted tension up chain. The hands can simply stay relaxed, allowing the prime mover of the pattern to be the deltoids at the highest degree without heavy compensations coming from secondary muscles assisting with the action.

From an anatomical standpoint, the strength, size and density of the forearms and upper arms trump the simpler, thinner deltoid, thus when brought into a movement, will overtake the action. Remember, the first line of tension aka the muscle that fires first, usually becomes the prime mover, even if that isn’t the muscle that an exercise is attempting to target.

For traditional lateral raises, compensatory irradiation can be minimized by leaving your grip to a minimum to keep the dumbbells in your hand, or even placing multiple dumbbells in your hands to refrain from gripping hard deep into a sympathetically driven global flexion range of motion.

Though the lateral raise is showcased in the video, the same concept can be used for ALL direct shoulder work including multi-directional raises (front, lateral, sides, Y-T-I’s etc), face pulls, pull apart, and many other popular isolation work in this region. Focus on minimizing the grip, enhance your mind-muscle connection and watch your shoulders grow and strengthen at exponential rates.

Train The Targeted Muscle, NOT The Compensators

Direct shoulder training has gained a notorious reputation for being inherently dangerous for the shoulders, mainly due to it’s association with a more bodybuilding-esque style of training compound with extremely poor execution. While many athletes and lifters new to direct shoulder work first make the mistake of tapping into too much tension via their grip, the second common mistake I routinely see with poorly executed shoulder training is utilizing improper ranges of motion and rhythms.

A commonly misunderstood topic in direct pain-free shoulder training is the role of the rotator cuff. The rotator cuff itself is a complex consisting of the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor and subscapularis, four tiny musculo-tendinous structures that attach proximally on the humeral head. A traditionalist, and honestly extremely archaic, approach to rotator cuff strengthening would be centered around breaking each of these structures down individually and training them through their textbook actions in a dynamic way against gravity, load or both simultaneously.

The reason this approach has not only proved to be ineffective but potentially injurious is the idea that the four units of the rotator cuff work independently of one another. This theory is false. The rotator cuff must function as a synergistic unit with a primary role of contracting the gleno-humeral joint and stabilizing this ball into the socket upon initiation of elevation in any direction up to approximately 15 degrees.

This means that the rotator cuff functions with an “all or nothing phenomenon” especially as we place muscular strength and hypertrophy goals on the shoulder complex as a whole. This is where the main problem presents, turning theoretically awesome direct shoulder training movements into potentially injurious ones for the rotator cuff and other intrinsic structures.

Using again a multi-directional shoulder raise as a prime example, we must have an appreciation for the simple mechanisms of movement in order to have optimal success with direct shoulder training exercises. The rotator cuff must initiate stability upon unlocking 0-15 degrees of range of motion BEFORE the deltoid and other bigger, stronger shoulder musculature can take over the prime role in acting as a dynamic mover.

If we take this one step further, training the targeted muscle, as in this case and example is the deltoid during the shoulder lateral raise, depends on adhering to biomechanical laws of tension along with executing these movements with a rhythm that allows a predictable constant tension on the targeted musculature being trained.

In the video above coach Jason Brown is training the supine cable lateral raise and is having trouble “feeling” this exercise in the deltoids, but rather is getting a deeper straining sensation at the front side of the shoulder aka the rotator cuff. Since we already took the grip out of this movement, we know this is NOT a tension problem, but rather an executional problem with his range of motion and rhythm.

As Jason comes down through an eccentric range of motion, his arms come right down to his sides, losing all tension and length tension relationships at the deltoids, shifting loading and requisite recruitment to the smaller rotator cuff in order to maintain tension in the chain. With each rep, we see that tension is lost at the bottom of the range, forcing the rotator cuff to kick on forcefully to unlock the movement over and over again, which can become irritating to these tissues very quickly.

Jason is also nearly locked out at the elbows, creating compensation patterns at the triceps and forearms picking up tension in combination with the rotator cuff acting as the primary means of dynamic movement. Lastly, Jason’s rhythm of this exercise was off, looking very much mechanical instead of smooth and synergistic. This can quickly alter the activation and potentiation of the delts to fire optimally.

While this movement looked fine to the naked eye, the internal feel and targeting of the exercise was clearly off and needing some executional upgrades. As smaller more isolated movements are executed, it’s THAT much more pivotal that we truly deep dive in on fine tuning the feel for long term pain-free gains.

Position For Biomechanics, Coach For Neural Dynamics

The first simple executional fix for this is to stay 15 degrees ABOVE full available bottom range of motion to keep the deltoids on tension, and as the primary movers of this exercise. This also allows us to keep constant tension on the tissues themselves, creating a metabolic stress effect in the tissues from occlusion and total time under tension, which in this case was around 30-40 seconds per set.

After we biomechanically position this exercise for success, it’s time to optimize the firing pattern, rhythm and general execution to peak contraction quality while minimizing force leaks and compensation patterns. Since higher threshold motor units are recruited by increasing load and velocity placed on the pattern itself, we can manipulate both of these variables to improve targets firing patterns at the delts.

It’s important to remember that the delts are NOT huge muscles, even in athletes with some impressive looking shoulders. Also, their relative strength in pure isolation is less than impressive on the weight stack, meaning we must avoid supra-maximally loading this movement as this is a sure fire way to automatically bring in secondary movers to compensate, thus taking away our targeting abilities for the delts.

Another common mistake is loading these isolated shoulder movements too heavy, creating mismatches of the size of the muscle and the authentic strength needed to move the load placed upon it. More loading is NOT better when it comes to isolated feel based movements, better contraction quality is indeed better.

Since loading will be low, we must incorporate a more dynamic concentric action to increase high threshold motor unit recruitment for the delts that have the biggest potential for muscular growth and strength gains. That means exploding up against the resistance under control, and peaking the flex by volitionally squeezing the delts as hard as you can at the top. Controlled explosion plus peak flexes, when executed pristinely, will be an absolute game changer for the feel of this movement.

Lastly, accentuating the eccentric aspect of the movement is a great way to increase the total time under tension of a set, inducing a strong metabolic stress effect aka da pump, and strategically fatigue the targeted tissue. All of these executional details in combination with a little more elbow flexion proved to be a game changer for Jason’s training effect in record time.

Pain-Free Trainability Is Dependent On The Details

Don’t fall for the idea that form, technique and execution doesn’t matter when it comes to training optimally, and training pain-free. After spending my career coaching every intricate detail of human movement patterning with some of the most banged up human beings on earth, I can say that individualizing and perfecting form on a continual basis is one of the most powerful protective mechanisms to building a pain-free and bulletproof body that is as strong as it is resilient.

In the age of information overload preaching the quick fix mentality to pain, dysfunction and performance, don’t fall for the fad. Know that being a master of the details, and becoming a real time problem solver with staple movement patterns and exercises may just be what you need the most, not another theoretically made up fluffy exercise from an Instagram expert that doesn’t even lift. The power lies in the tried and true principle based methods of training and coaching, not the shiny new object syndrome. It’s time to clearly differentiate the two if you want to unlock true pain-free longevity.

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is an internationally recognized coach, physical therapist, speaker, and sports performance expert. Dr. John has coached some of the world’s most elite athletes, including multiple Gold Medalist Olympians, NFL All-Pros, MLB All-Stars, Professional Bodybuilders, World-Record Holding Powerlifters, National Level Olympic Lifters and All-World IronMan Triathletes.

Dr. Rusin is the leading pioneer in the fitness and sports performance industries in intelligent pain-free performance programming that achieves world class results while preventing injuries in the process. Dr. John’s methods are showcased in his best selling Functional Hypertrophy Training Program that combines the best from athletic performance training, powerlifting, bodybuilding and preventative therapy to produce world-class results without pain and injuries.

The post The Biggest Mistake You’re Making With Shoulder Training <br> <span class='subheadline'>Build Bigger, Stronger, Healthier Shoulders With This One Simple Fix</span> appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - Exercise Science & Injury Prevention.

We Cannot Prevent 100% of Injuries, Period

It’s one of the hottest terms in fitness today, injury prevention. With the increasing incidence of injuries across the board in both our fitness and sports performance industries came the rise of the phrase “injury prevention” and with it, the popularity of specific training and therapy programs aimed to combat our current day injury epidemic.

While on the surface, tapering training protocols and methods with the goal of minimizing the risks of training and sport related injuries seem completely warranted. But the truth is a majority of these specialty injury prevention programs have showed no significant results in terms of mitigating injuries from occurring, while many have actually caused more injuries than they have ever helped prevent.

What we are doing as an industry isn’t working, and the disconcerting endeavor, which is training solely for injury prevention, has left many professionals in the field triggered and desensitized to this faulty system. And now, more than ever, athletes and coaches alike have developed a dysfunctional relationship with the way they view pain, injuries and performance.

One of the most common forms of misguided injury prevention logic is the simplistic way in which “injury prevention” is defined. The inferring expectations of what constitutes prevention too far too rigid, setting otherwise success based actions up for failure. Either someone is healthy, or they are injured. Either they are ready to compete in the Olympics or they need to undergo surgery. The form and function of the human body is not that black and white.

These types of absolutist thought processes surrounding pain and injuries leave little to no room to conceptualize the more complex beast, which is the presence of pain manifesting as injuries inside the gym and out.

There’s no such thing as injury prevention. We cannot prevent 100% of injuries from occurring, nor is it practical to expect or promise such as fitness or healthcare professionals. Instead, we need to reshape the way our industry views training as a mode for improving resilience against injuries. This starts with objectifying key metrics associated with true resilience against pain and injuries.

4 KPI’s of The Injury Prevention Pyramid

So the question remains, how do we definitively know we are helping our clients and athletes mitigate the risk of pain and injuries through training? We would never continue squatting or deadlifting an athlete if they became progressively weaker, so why would we continue using the same injury prevention methods in training if our athletes are continuing to get hurt at higher rates?

Here are the 4 synergistic areas of injury resiliency that I use as key performance indicators for my athletes and clients to objectify success in training with the goals of improving performance and mitigating the risk of injuries in sport, and in daily life. Each of these 4 domains are strategically placed in order of progression towards ultimate pain-free self sufficiency, but ALL have an interplaying relationship in the long term health, wellness and performance of your clients and athletes.

#1 Reducing Frequency of Injuries

The first way in which we can redefine the term injury resilience is by reducing the frequency of injuries across a specific time period. Many people still associate pain and injury as an all or nothing phenomenon, so reducing the number of times a pain or injury problem occurs is not only advantageous on a physical level, but also an emotional and psychological level.

Reducing frequency of injuries may look like taking a general fitness client from five bouts of lower back flare-ups to two over a year’s time. It could also be measured through a more specific training block for athlete and client management such as a 12-week off season training program, an 8-week pre-season preparatory block or a 5-month in season maintenance plan.

With a clearer vision of the means, methods and modalities that are utilized within each time frame studied, we can start to collect more significant data points to connect the dots on which aspects of athlete management are yielding positive outcomes, and which may need upgrading that may be showing no change or a negative return in terms of the frequency of flare ups and injuries occurring.

The more injuries that occur, especially re-injuries to the same structure or region of the body, the more physical and emotional stress get attributed to the “hurt state” which can compound over time and make it more difficult to rebuild long term resiliency. That’s why frequency is the first, and arguably the most important aspect of resiliency that creates the foundation of the injury prevention pyramid.

#2 Reducing Severity of Injuries

Pain is one of the single most subjective fundamental physiological responses in the world, making its presence highly personalized to the individual presentation. When you mix pain with human movement, another extremely unique physical characteristic, you have the profession of training and rehabilitation.

While the numerical pain rating scale (NPRS) that gains subjective self-reporting of perceived severity of pain on a 0-10 basis has become the gold standard data collection system across our medical systems, severity of injuries, especially with a functional injury resilience goal needs to be more accurately defined.

When used for acute pain, the NPRS can be a great red flag sign measure of key next steps in the process to ensure proper actions are taken according to the severity of an injury upon acute onset. But once a client or patient leaves the initial stage of acute injury, this scale loses its efficacy for being a functional indicator of return to activity scenarios.

This is why the action of moving away from subjective pain scales to measure more short and long-term severity is warranted. In order to more accurately associate severity with my athletes and clients, I look at the number of days of inactivity as our quantifiable measure for rebuilding resilience with an injury prevention mindset.

A day of inactivity can be clearly defined by a person not being able to participate in normal recreational, training, rehabilitation or sporting activities at any capacity. A day of inactivity is simply a forced 100% rest day in which no programmed physical activity, including structured rehabilitation, can be completed.

An example of this may be sustaining a lower back injury deadlifting on Monday, and not being able to return to any type of training program, nor tolerate a physical therapy examination until Friday, as three days of inactivity.

Using the same type of injury as a second example, if someone sustains a lower back injury deadlifting on Monday, but returns to the gym on Tuesday and is able to bench press and modify their program accordingly without exacerbating the current injury, that would be zero days of inactivity for minimal severity on our scale.

Our goal for this level on the prevention pyramid is to reactivate our clients and athletes as soon as possible into structured physical management, whether that be training in the gym using pain to guide exercise selection, or moving into physical therapy as quickly as possible in order to spark the recovery process.

But don’t get the metric of severity confused with return to train and play scenarios. As soon as someone is able to return into some form of structured physical activity once again, whether that’s concentrating on upper body strength training and undergoing physical therapy for the example above, they are no longer “inactive” but rather, move onto the next key injury prevention metric which is the time table of returning to previous level of function via activity participation.

#3 Minimizing Return To Train and/or Play Time

Return to play time tables have become a highly debated topic in the field of sports performance rehabilitation in the last decade. With the current day epidemic of lower back, shoulder and knee injuries occurring across a broad scope of physical landscapes here in North America, the literally billion dollar question remains, when should someone return back to their previous activities in order to perform at a high level while not being at an increased risk for a reinjury to the site?

It’s important to understand that the management of pain and injuries is a big business with many different co-factors going into why and how a client or athlete would be cleared to return to their previous level of activities. It’s not as simple as the “No pain? Return to train!” mentality that is all too common in our industry.

From insurance companies dehumanizing the patient management process with hand tying guidelines as to how many sessions and what type of therapeutic modalities they will pay for, to surgeons using return to play times as ways to boost ego and professional credibility instead of protecting the functional long term interests of their patients. From parental pressures of early-specialized youth sports to the competitive need and want of athletes to return to their beloved activity at all costs, there are many moving parts in this process.

While a key injury prevention performance indicator still remains minimizing the time between onset of injury and returning to training, sport or functional activity at full capacity, this is the one level of the injury prevention pyramid where at times, quicker return to train and sport is not necessarily optimal, especially for long term health, wellness, function and performance.

One of the driving reasons why broad scoped return to play and train guidelines are so tough to quantify, and many times just blatantly incorrect, is due to not all patient and client management being the same, and not every client presenting the same, even for those who have similar pain presentations and injuries.

From the surgical table to the treatment table, the various aspects of medicine are NOT brands and are not all created equally. Your surgical suite success to your post injury physical therapy management, even if it’s self directed, is simply only as effective as the level of professional you are working with.

While time may heal all, time does not account for strengthening exacerbating functional weak links that must be addressed in order to help prevent injuries from reoccurring. And those factors are most likely the reason for the initial injury in the first place. We need to be smarter than to think that pain and dysfunction can simply be cut out of the body, or optimally managed with ice packs, ultrasound and e-stim.

So while minimizing time from injury to return to train is the goal, complete recovery to the previous level of function needs to be the focus at a minimum. And preferably at a maximum and new standard in our industry, if we want to start making a dent in the injury epidemic which we are currently experiencing, the goal of return to train and/or play should occur with functional weak links having been addressed, strengthened and reprogrammed into movement capabilities in order to keep from picking the scab of the chronic reinjury cycle.

#4 Maximizing Self Sufficiency with the Recovery Process

While the first three lower levels of the injury prevention pyramid will define short-term success in rebuilding resiliency against pain and injuries, the top level of the pyramid has a more long-term focus for unlocking the potential for a truly pain-free lifestyle. This apex represents mastery of one’s own body.

The key data metric that we derive in this final level of the injury prevention pyramid is how someone can minimize their use of external treatment and professional management through pain and injuries, and become more self-sufficient and autonomous in the effective management of their own pain and injuries. This can be quantified through the amount of hours that are invested in direct therapeutic management for recovering from pain and/or injury.

Becoming more self-sufficient with your own recovery process, and more importantly, possessing the knowledge and tool set to maintain your body’s health and wellness with pure autonomy on a daily basis cannot be overlooked in terms of importance for overall resiliency.

Your body is truly the only thing that you own in this world. You will own it until the day you die, so it’s imperative that you make it a point to learn as much about how your body functions, how it responds to different training styles, therapy modalities, nutritional protocols, stress stimuli and beyond. You are your first, and most important client. And you will be your own client for life.

And different from all others, you can feel and experience things exponentially more than even the magical handed doctor or manual therapist ever could. Our goal for every move we make should be to learn something about our bodies to continue to compile data in the study of your own body. The most important type of study where the subject line reads N=1.

There will, of course, be times and places where it’s necessary to seek out medical and fitness professionals to fine tune the self-management of your own body, but we must prioritize active based treatment, training and modalities over passive, as the goal is to learn a new skill and be able to apply that skill for as long as you live. If you aren’t learning it, it will be impossible to live it.

The special thing about becoming self-sufficient, physically autonomous and mindful of your own body at a master’s level on the top of the injury prevention pyramid is that it’s an ever-growing process of changes and evolutions of ones needs and wants. Just because something works today doesn’t mean it will work forever. But find those key elements of a mindful movement practice, and it will serve you and your body for the rest of your life. Now that’s how you achieve pain-free longevity at the highest level.

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is an internationally recognized coach, physical therapist, speaker, and sports performance expert. Dr. John has coached some of the world’s most elite athletes, including multiple Gold Medalist Olympians, NFL All-Pros, MLB All-Stars, Professional Bodybuilders, World-Record Holding Powerlifters, National Level Olympic Lifters and All-World IronMan Triathletes.

Dr. Rusin is the leading pioneer in the fitness and sports performance industries in intelligent pain-free performance programming that achieves world class results while preventing injuries in the process. Dr. John’s methods are showcased in his best selling Functional Hypertrophy Training Program that combines the best from athletic performance training, powerlifting, bodybuilding and preventative therapy to produce world-class results without pain and injuries.

The post There’s No Such Thing As Injury Prevention <br> <span class='subheadline'>Redefining The Way We Look at Pain, Injuries & Recovery</span> appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - Exercise Science & Injury Prevention.

The Pain-Free Power of The Row

The upper body pull pattern may be the most misunderstood upper body movement, especially as it pertains to developing bulletproof shoulders and a resilient back. While we know that strong, stable, pain-free shoulders depend on pulling more than pushing throughout a training week or block, many athletes and lifters confuse the type of pulling based exercises they should be prioritizing in training, and the types that should be more closely monitored in terms of volume and loading. Simply put, building resilience via the pull pattern depends not only on sound execution, but differentiating the vertical pull from the horizontal pull pattern AKA the row in terms of the way it affects long term shoulder development.

The most popular pull across almost every demographic of physical fitness takes place in the vertical plane of motion, the pull up. From CrossFit kips to military PT testing, the pull up has been ingrained in our physical mentality for decades. But it’s important to remember that not all pulling variations were created equally, especially as it pertains to biomechanics.

The vertical pull more closely resembles a push-based motion – it places the shoulder into internal rotation during the dynamic concentric action of the movement itself. This can present as a problem, especially when chronic internally-rotated daily positions and overly internally-rotated training compound to create a shit storm of generalized front-sided shoulder pain, which is now a leading pain point amongst the active population.

While there’s nothing wrong with internally-rotated movements at the shoulders, they must be monitored closely to avoid chronic overuse and dysfunction through the front side of the gleno-humeral joint and the shoulder complex in general. Because of the popularization of box-based facilities, the majority of pulling is centered around the deadlift and the pull-up, which are both internally-rotated movement patterns at the shoulders.

In order to create full-body stability at authentic recruitment of the shoulders through the pull pattern, the horizontal pull, also known as the row, must first be mastered before introducing the more complex vertical pull variations off the pull up bar and beyond. And even for those who have earned the right to pull up, there are unique pain-free shoulder advantages to the row pattern above and beyond what the pull up is able to offer.

Why You Should Row More Than You Pull Up

While well executed vertical pull variations are not inherently dangerous, very few lifters actually present with the requisite movement and skill capacity to train these more advanced movements without performance or orthopedic repercussions.

Too much poor vertical pulling not only places undue stress on the shoulder joint under too much volume and intensity due to the natural internally rotated glen0-humeral (true shoulder joint) biomechanics of the movement, but it also only targets a fraction of the musculature that the horizontal row is capable of hitting, while staying out of internal rotation. And when executed pristinely, the row can move the shoulder into external rotation to prioritize more pain-free training volume in the horizontal plane of motion while rebuild positions challenged via daily postural stressors.

The back and upper shoulders were designed to function as primary stabilizers of dynamic actions that usually take place in pushing movements. This means that these patterns can be trained hard, and under high relative intensities, while literally being trained daily. Mastering the pull from a stable core and posterior hip unit will help develop the strong backside that can support both athletic and functional endeavors alike, and that’s exactly why the row pattern must be a top priority for developing long term shoulder health and wellness.

So yes, if your goal is to build a big, strong back and help mitigate the risk of shoulder injuries while building long term shoulder health, you need to start prioritizing the horizontal pulling pattern as your #1 pain-free shoulder indicator lift – NOT the pull up. And because earning healthy shoulders takes loads of total volume through the row pattern that thrives on intelligent novelty and slight variations off the staple movement pattern, we’ve put together the most detailed pain-free rowing resource the industry has ever seen. Here are the top 30 row variations for stronger backs and healthier shoulders.

#1 Suspension Trainer Row with Band Resistance

Key Coaching Notes:

• Place a band across the hips to implement accommodating based resistance
• Use a suspension trainer or rings to allow hands and shoulder to move freely
• Cue core and hips to brace maximally around a neutral spine
• Kick heels into the ground actively with toes up in dorsiflexion
• Row back explosively driving the elbows while allowing hands to rotate naturally
• Control the eccentric through a full range of motion keeping tension at all times

#2 Single Arm Landmine Meadows Row

Key Coaching Notes:

• Place barbell into landmine position in an attachment or corner of a room to stabilize
• Stagger your stance parallel to landmine hinging at the hips over a neutral spinal position
• Grip the collar maximally or use straps to secure hand position on end of barbell
• Place opposite forearm on knee to help maintain brace and position
• Allow a stretch at the lats without losing tension at the bottom position
• Drive up leading with the shoulder and elbow moving together, allowing shoulder blade to move
• Accentuate the eccentric lowering under control, maintain shoulder blade dynamic stability

#3 Decline Single Arm Dumbbell Row

Key Coaching Notes:

• Place 3 plates under the head of the bench to achieve a slight decline angle
• Kneel on the bench with opposite leg out to the side
• Brace hips, core and shoulders with opposite hand gripping into bench
• Allow the dumbbell to arc forward placing a stretch at the lats
• Drive the dumbbell back towards the hip flexing hard
• Accentuate the eccentric out into a stretch while keeping full tension on back

#4 Single Arm Low Cable Row

Key Coaching Notes:

• Put a single handle attachment on the low cable row setup
• Hinge your hips over and maintain fully braced neutral spine
• Generate tension with opposite arm out to side maximizing fist grip
• Row back with handle in hand keeping the rest of the body strong and stable
• Resist unilateral load wanting to side bend and rotate body
• Use full range of motion with slight stretch of lats and peak contraction on back

#5 Feet Elevated Suspension Trainer Row with Chains

Key Coaching Notes:

• Position the feet into an elevation on bench
• Place chains over the hips to resist the movement
• Keep the suspension trainer or rings perpendicular to the floor
• Brace hips, core and shoulders together and row up against gravity and chains
• Allow hands to move freely into strongest positions
• Maintain full body tension throughout the entire set

#6 Dual Handle Neutral Grip Low Cable Row

Key Coaching Notes:

• Place two separate handle attachments on low cable to allow freedom of hand rotation
• Hinge hips back and maintain neutral spinal position
• Drive elbows back while allowing hand to rotate
• Keep chest and torso upright with neutral head, neck and mid back position
• Allow shoulder blades to slightly protract but keep dynamic stability at all times

#7 1.5 Rep Dual Handle Low Cable Row

Key Coaching Notes:

• Position your body hinged back and neutral spinal position
• Place two separate handles on the low cable machine setup
• Row back through full range of motion, let out half way, row back, then let out all the way
• Keep constant tension on the back at all times

#8 Bent Over Trap Bar Row

Key Coaching Notes:

• Stand inside of the trap bar and deadlift up into standing position
• Hinge the hips back and hold a stabilized static position
• Row up out of the neutral grip position and allow slow eccentric down
• Finish each set by bringing the hips back into neutral position then lower bar

#9 Seated Banded Low Row

Key Coaching Notes:

• Position your body into a seated position on the floor
• Attach a circular JRx Band band to a stable surface with a low anchor point
• Grip each side of the band maximally in the hands
• Allow hands to rotate freely as you row to find strongest position
• Utilize full range of motion and peak each contraction

#10 Supine Dual Handle Cable Row

Key Coaching Notes:

• Position your body lying supine on the ground with hips and knees bent
• Feet should be flat on the floor actively pushing into the ground
• Head, neck, mid-lack and lower back all remain in neutral position
• Drape chains or weights over the hips to pin yourself to the ground
• With dual handles on a cable unit positioned over the chest row down
• The ground will keep you from over rowing the range of motion
• Accentuate the eccentric up through a full range of motion

#11 Kneeling Single Arm Kettlebell Row

Key Coaching Notes:

• Kneel on the bench with the opposite leg out
• Kick on stability from the hips and core bracing maximally
• Grip the kettlebell with maximal force and row up towards the back up
• Accentuate the eccentric down into a slight stretch at the bottom

#12 Side Plank Single Arm Cable Row

Key Coaching Notes:

• Side plank up into a strong and stable position with elbow and bottom foot in ground contact
• With top arm, grab a cable handle attachment
• Row back allowing hand to rotate naturally
• Do not get pulled out of solid stabilized plank position

#13 Kneeling Single Arm Kettlebell Row with Banded RNT Method

Key Coaching Notes:

• Attach a circular band onto a kettlebell handle for RNT Row Method 
• Stabilize your hips and core in the kneeling position on the bench
• Keep tension in the band at all times
• As the kettlebell is rowed up, drive back towards the hip against the bands
• Accentuating the arcing movement in this setup

#14 Multi-Grip Attachment Low Cable Row

Key Coaching Notes:

• Place a multi-grip attachment on the low cable row machine
• Hinge your hips back and maintain a neutral spinal position at all times
• Row back allowing the shoulder blades to rotate naturally
• Peak contractions and accentuate eccentric out through full range of motion

#15 Medium Neutral Grip Low Cable Row

Key Coaching Notes:

• Place the medium neutral grip attachment on the low cable setup
• Out of the neutral grip, drive back the elbows
• Peak the contraction deep into the new found range of motion
• Accentuate the eccentric out through a full range
• Maintain hip, pelvic and spinal neutrality at all times

#16 Dual Handle Low Cable Row with Band at Wrists

Key Coaching Notes:

• Place a light resistance band around the wrists to resist against abduction
• With dual handles on the low cable row setup, row back pulling against the band
• Peak the contraction on the back pulling band apart
• Accentuate the eccentric out through a full range of motion

#17 Close Neutral Grip Low Cable+Band Row with Iso Holds

Key Coaching Notes:

• Attach a blue JRx Band to the low cable row setup
• Place a close neutral grip attachment to the low cable row machine
• Row back through a full range of motion and hold the back position for 3-seconds
• Peak tension with the iso hold then accentuate eccentric out
• Drive hard into the bands and cables both simultaneously
• Maintain strong and stable core braced position

#18 Bent Over Landmine T-Bar Row with Band

Key Coaching Notes:

• Position the landmine into specific attachment or in a corner of a room to stabilize
• Stand facing the collar of the barbell
• Get a circular band around each foot and drape over barbell
• Hinge hips over in a strong static position and place close neutral grip attachment on bar
• Row back through complete range of motion loading with smaller diameter plates
• Accentuate eccentric out and maintain position of hips, pelvis and spine at all times

#19 Half Kneeling Single Arm Cable Row

Key Coaching Notes:

• Kneel on the knee that is one the side that will be rowing
• Opposite arm will be out to the side tensioned maximally with grip fist
• Tension the hips with the glutes and adductors while bracing the core
• Row back against the cable that is slightly higher than shoulder width
• Maintain stable position even while being pulled out with anti-rotational forces

#20 Dual Cable Chest Supported Low Row

Key Coaching Notes:

• Place adjustable bench at 45 degree incline angle and position body chest down
• Place two separate cables in each hand with a handle
• Row back letting the hands rotate naturally
• Peak the squeeze and accentuate the eccentric out through a full range of motion

#21 Dead Stop Single Arm Dumbbell Row

Key Coaching Notes:

• Stagger the stance and hinge the hips over the body
• Get your chest and shoulders as close to the ground as possible
• Start the dumbbell on the ground and row up from a dead stop position
• Allow the dumbbell to rest on the ground between every single rep
• Drive up explosively to move it form zero to movement every rep

#22 Kneeling Dead Stop Single Arm Kettlebell Row

Key Coaching Notes:

• Achieve a kneeling position on the bench with full body tension at the hips, core and shoulders
• Start the kettlebell on the ground before every rep
• Move it explosively from a dead stop position
• Ensure you are not over rotating or compensating with momentum to move the KB

#23 Split Stance Single Arm Dumbbell Row

Key Coaching Notes:

• Split the stance and hinge the hips back
• Use opposite hand on the dumbbell rack or solid stable surface for stability
• Row back the dumbbell towards the hip and allow a stretch at the bottom range of motion
• Maintain neutral spine, hips and shoulders at all times

#24 Chest Supported Low Cable Row with Strap

Key Coaching Notes:

• Position the adjustable bench up at 45 degrees and position chest down
• Attach a strap to the low cable row setup with two handles
• Keep your palms facing down at all times as you row back
• Allow the shoulders to stretch forward slightly, and peak contraction on back side
• Pull the straps apart as you row back to activate the upper back

#25 Chest Supported Low Cable Row with Straight Bar

Key Coaching Notes:

• Position the adjustable bench up at 45 degrees and position chest down
• Attach a straight bar to the low cable row setup and get an overhand grip shoulder width apart
• Keep your palms facing down at all times as you row back
• Allow the shoulders to stretch forward slightly, and peak contraction on back side

#26 Chest Supported Low Cable Row With Medium Neutral Grip

Key Coaching Notes:

• Position the adjustable bench up at 45 degrees and position chest down
• Attach a medium neutral grip attachment to the low cable row setup
• Keep your palms in neutral at all times as you row back
• Allow the shoulders to stretch forward slightly, and peak contraction on back side

#27 Chest Supported Low Cable Row with Rope

Key Coaching Notes:

• Position the adjustable bench up at 45 degrees and position chest down
• Attach a rope to the low cable row setup
• Keep your palms facing down at all times as you row back
• Allow the shoulders to stretch forward slightly, and peak contraction on back side
• Pull the rope apart as you row back to activate the upper back

#28 Kneeling Landmine Meadows Row

Key Coaching Notes:

• Position the knee down on the bench and stabilize the full body brace leading with the hips
• The landmine setup should be perpendicular with the bench
• Strap to the collar of the barbell and use smaller diameter plates for loading
• Drive the shoulder up using movement at the shoulder, scapula and elbow
• Ensure all moving parts are being utilized sequentially with smoothness

#29 Landmine T-Bar Row with Close Neutral Grip Attachment

Key Coaching Notes:

• Setup the landmine in the attachment or in a corner of a room
• Hinge the hips over and use a close neutral grip attachment on the bar for grip
• Pull into position with neutral spinal mechanics
• Allow smaller diameter plates to be loaded to maximize range of motion
• Move through full range of motion peaking the squeeze and accentuating eccentric out

#30 Rotating Dual Handle Low Cable Row

Key Coaching Notes:

• Place two separate handle attachments on the low cable row setup
• Allow the hands to move naturally to generate tension and strength
• Keep neutral spinal mechanics at all times and maintain proper brace

BONUS #31 Kneeling Single Arm Kettlebell Row with Chains

Key Coaching Notes:

• Attach chains to a kettlebell for accommodating based resistance loading
• Kneel on the bench with opposite leg extended out and full body brace
• Row up hard against heavy chains and control eccentric out.
• Maintain proper body position at all times

BONUS #32 Side Plank Single Arm Y-Row with Hip Abduction

Key Coaching Notes:

• Achieve a side plank position on foot and forearm
• Position the cable overhead in line with the body
• Raise the top leg into position activating the lateral hip group and hold
• Row down through a Y range of motion peaking the contraction at the lats
• Let out eccentrically through full range of motion and slight stretch

BONUS #33 Split Stance Bent Over Single Arm Kettlebell Row

Key Coaching Notes:

• Split your stance and hinge your hips back
• Use opposite hand on bench for support of isometric hinge hold
• Grab a kettlebell and row back towards hip
• Complete rest pause with lighter weight to pure failure

BONUS #34 Dual Handle Supinated Low Cable Row

Key Coaching Notes:

• Place two separate handle attachments on the low cable row setup
• Hinge hips back with neutral spinal position
• Fully supinate palms up towards ceiling and keep them there
• Row back engaging hard with lower lats and biceps
• Flex every rep hard and let out through full eccentric range of motion

BONUS #35 Rotating Suspension Trainer Row with Iso Holds

Key Coaching Notes:

• Grip the suspension trainer with hands and kick heels into ground for full body tension
• Row up X amount of reps and hold the top position for X seconds
• Maintain neutral positions at all times, especially through isometrics

BONUS #36 Close Neutral Grip Seated Low Cable Row

Key Coaching Notes:

• Attach the close neutral grip to the cable setup
• Sit on a weight bench perpendicular to the cable setup
• Sit with full lower body support, feet driving into ground and neutral spinal position
• Row back to stomach flexing hard each rep and letting eccentrically out through full range
• Ensure proper brace at the core to support position throughout set

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is a sports performance specialist and injury prevention expert that has coached some of the world’s most elite athletes including multiple Olympic gold medalists, NFL and MLB All-Star performers, and professionals from 11 different sports. He has also managed some of the most successful barbell sport athletes in the world including world record holding powerlifters, CrossFit Games athletes, and IFBB professional physique athletes.

His innovative pain-free performance programs have been successfully implemented by over 25,000 athletes worldwide including his best selling training system Functional Power Training, which has revolutionized the way coaches and athletes develop strength, muscle and performance pain-free. Dr. Rusin’s work has gained him the reputation as the go-to industry expert for rebuilding after pain, injuries or plateaus.

The post Top 30 Row Variations For A Stronger Back & Healthier Shoulders appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - Exercise Science & Injury Prevention.

DEBUNKING DEEPLY ROOTED SQUAT DOGMA

The squat has been one of the most debated topics across demographics in the fitness and sports performance industries for as long as people have been lifting weights. As the fitness industry continues maturing, so does the ability to answer some of these debated questions. In a constantly evolving industry that has experienced the golden age of bodybuilding in the 1970s, the rise of competitive powerlifting in the 1980s, and the exponential growth of Olympic-style lifting and CrossFit in recent years, the influences of these specialty barbell sports have influenced the way in which coaches, athletes, and general fitness consumers view the squat pattern as sport-specific requisites to achieve a desired goal.

As our industry continues to be exposed to more sport-specific squatting influences, we have lost an appreciation for the squat being a fundamental movement pattern present in the normalized human developmental sequence, and not an exercise that only occurs within the confines of the gym.

As we gain more insights into the unique anatomical, biomechanical, and neuromuscular variables between individuals, the need to customize a squat pattern according to an individual’s specific needs instead of their theoretical sport or goal set has become apparent. If people are all built differently how could they all squat the same? It is time to throw away the one size fits all dogmatic approach to squatting. Outlined below is a method to help determine an individual’s preferred squatting foot position, setup, and depth based on their unique hip anthropometrics for smarter, safer and more optimized squatting.

HIP VARIATION AND SQUATTING

Despite the various styles of squatting over the last several decades, individuality in anatomy has come to the forefront and should not be disregarded when it comes to optimizing the squat stance of an individual. The anatomical differences from person to person of the bony anatomy of the hip cannot be ignored when finding the best squat stance for the longevity of the athlete. The differences in hip anatomy will affect the ability of an athlete to squat in a certain stance.

The main considerations for bony anatomical variation of the hip are:

• Femoral version (the angle of the neck of the femur compared to the knee)
• Acetabular version and inclination (where the hip socket is pointing)
• Combined version of femoral neck and hip socket (summing the orientation of the hip socket and the femoral neck)
• Acetabular depth (depth of the hip socket)

Since both the head of the femur and hip socket can have variations in version (forward/backward orientation), the sum version should be considered. The McKibbin Instability Index is used to sum the versions and may be predictive of hip issues with squatting (4).

The following images visually demonstrate the variations. Bone photos are courtesy of Paul Grilley.

WHAT IS FEMORAL VERSION?

Version, or the orientation of the femoral head and neck to the knee, can vary. Normal femoral version is displayed in Figure 1, with the femoral head and neck oriented forward around 15 degrees.

FIGURE 1. NORMAL FEMORAL VERSION

The average hip joint has version in this range with a forward orientation. Femoral retroversion is when the femoral head/neck are oriented backward from normal.

FIGURE 2. FEMORAL RETROVERSION

Note the small version angle. Typically a retroverted person needs to rotate their hip outward when squatting. Femoral anteversion is when the femoral head/neck oriented more forward from normal.

FIGURE 3. FEMORAL ANTEVERSION

The specimen on the left demonstrates an acetabular orientation pointed more forward and downward compared to the specimen on the right.
Notice the large version angle. The head/neck of the femur are pointed more forward when compared to the angle of the knee. The more retroverted the femur, typically the more toed out squat stance is needed. The more anteverted the femur, the more toed forward squat stance is tolerated.

THE PAIN-FREE STRENGTH SERIES

Instantly Break Pain-Free PR's in Your Bench, Squat and Deadlift.

Name

Email

GET STARTED FOR FREE NOW

ANATOMICAL VARIATIONS – ACETABULUM

The acetabulum is the concave surface of the pelvis where the head of the femur makes contact to form the hip joint. The acetabulum is comprised of three bones, the ilium, the ischium and the pubis to create one half of the hip articulation.

FIGURE 4. ACETABULAR ORIENTATION

This photo illustrates a difference between the acetabulum orientation of two different hip joints. The specimen on the left has a more forward and upward orientation of the hip sockets. The specimen on the right has a more lateral and inferior orientation.

FIGURE 5. ACETABULAR VERSION

The specimen on the left demonstrates an acetabular orientation pointed more forward and downward compared to the specimen on the right.

FIGURE 6. ACETABULAR ORIENTATION COMPARISON

The specimen on the left has visible hip sockets due to their orientation. The specimen on the right has hip sockets oriented downward, which are not visible in this view.

ANATOMICAL VARIATIONS – FEMUR

The femur is the sole bone of the upper leg. It’s head articulates with the acetabulum of the pubic bone forming the hip joint, while its distal portion articulates with the patella (knee cap) and tibia forming the knee joint.

FIGURE 7. SUPERIOR VIEW – FEMORAL VERSION

This figure is looking down the length of two left femurs. The femur on the left is retroverted and the femur on the right is anteverted. Both are left legs.

FIGURE 8. SUPERIOR VIEW – FEMORAL VERSION SPECTRUM

A spectrum of left femurs with the most retroverted femur on the left and the most anteverted femur on the right. All are left legs.

Version of the hip can vary by region of the world (3,12) and by gender (1,5). In one study, the average Caucasian male was shown to have seven degrees of anteversion (range -2 to 35 degrees) and the average Chinese male had 14 degrees of anteversion (range -4 to 36 degrees) (5).
In a study on femoral version in populations across ethnicities, Caucasian males were shown to have retroversion at a rate of 24.1%, African American males at a rate of 15.1%, and all ethnicities of females at 14.3% (6). With the known variations in hip morphology, an assessment is indicated to place people in the proper squat stance for their body.

FUNCTIONAL QUADRANT TESTING TO DETERMINE APPROPRIATE SQUAT STANCE

In order to objectively assess all unique variables of both the femur and acetabulum interplay as a functioning unit that can be scaled up with the squat pattern, a standard orthopedic assessment called the quadrant test, also known as the hip scour, test can be used (2). This test has been utilized for decades in orthopedic practice to manually assess and diagnose the presence and/or location of a hip labral tear, among other unique pathologies such as degeneration, femoral-acetabular impingement, and avascular necrosis of this region (10). The goal for administering this assessment is not to medically diagnose pain or dysfunction, but rather to use the key positions and properties which make this test extremely reliable to gain an appreciation for the femoral acetabular joint’s shape, size, and movement capacity at the deepest joint level minus restrictions from local soft tissue structures.

Positioning your client down in the supine position allows full support of the spine and pelvis in a neutral position, which is of pivotal importance when testing in a reliable and repeatable manner. As with any standardized testing position, the presence of compensation patterns at any segment in the body other than that being tested can lead to false positives and unreliable data collection that can make it more difficult to reliably scale it up the squat pattern based on the key measurements taken. Ensure that the lower extremity on the testing side is the only aspect of the body moving to avoid compensations from the pelvis, spine, or opposite side extremity. From this position, degrees of hip flexion, external rotation, and abduction occurring synergistically will be tested in order to maximize a pain-free hip flexion angle which will represent the theoretical glass ceiling on squat depth that the hip joint itself is able to display with motor control taken out of the equation.

FIGURE 9. HIP QUADRANT TEST

By moving the hip in and out of these windows of motion with the leg reaching terminal knee to chest position with rotary planes also involved, centration of the hip joint can occur. Centration can be defined as maximizing the surface area contact of any joint, in this case, the femoral head into the acetabulum of the pelvis. Increased joint centration can increase the activation of intrinsic stabilizers of the region, and also allow optimal length tension relationship of some bigger secondary dynamic stabilizers, such as the gluteal and adductor group, in order to more optimally position for biomechanical success in the squat pattern. This also allows stronger neuromuscular recruitment and coordination of this compound movement pattern centered around the hip complex.

It is important to note that this assessment takes practice, repetitions, and experience to reliably administer, especially for the goals of grading it up into the squat pattern. Also, it is important to ensure that you are gaining verbal and non-verbal communication and feedback from your client on how these altered positions of the hip feel to them, as pain is never a normal response and can be used to identify red flags for medical referral when necessary. Once optimal hip position on one side of the body is determined, cue your client to hold their knee in that position while you repeat the assessment for the opposite side. Once both hips have been assessed and your client is holding both in place with cues such as “glutes flexing” and “toes up,” it is time to take measurements and record your data.

The four measurements are:

1. Buttocks-to-floor distance
2. Distance between knee caps from mid-patellar line
3. Foot abduction angle from foot’s midline
4. Distance between heels at mid-calcaneal line

Utilizing this data, especially the mid-calcaneal foot width and the foot abduction (toe out) angle, we can scale this squat setup into the standing position starting with these measurements. Note that the mid-patellar width and the buttocks-to-floor distance may not be instantly translated into the standing position due to a lack of motor control skill set in this new stance. This will be the time to coach around these positions with the goal of reaching the theoretical buttocks-to-floor distance and knee cap width distance at terminal authentic end range of motion.

FIGURE 10. BILATERAL QUADRANT TEST

In this figure, the four key measurements taken from the bilateral quadrant test position setup are showcased with the red line indicating the measurement taken referenced above.

It is not expected, nor normal to have clients hop right from the table to a standing squat and be able to execute it pristinely. Due to motor control gaps in the mobility-stability continuum centered around the squat pattern, this will be something that will need to be targeted and improved over time, but now with an objective measure of someone’s bony anthropometrical capacity.

SIMPLE APPLICABILITY OF SQUAT STANCE CUSTOMIZATION

Given the results of the quadrant tests previously described, there are two main variables that can be altered in a squat stance to maximize athlete comfort, depth, and proper execution of the exercise. The first variable in squat stance is width.

After evaluating with the quadrant test, you will find that maximal hip flexion is achieved in some amount of hip abduction vs. adduction before lumbar flexion occurs, which correlates to the mid-patellar distance and distance between heels at the mid-calcaneal line. If maximal hip flexion is achieved with relatively more hip abduction, a wider squat stance may be more ideal for that athlete, depending on other factors, such as limb length, torso length, and ankle dorsiflexion range of motion (9). If ankle mobility is limited, a wider stance may be necessary to prevent the center of mass from being too far behind the base of support (8).

The second variable in stance is degree of toe out or external rotation at the hip joint. When performing the quadrant test, maximal comfortable hip flexion will be achieved for different athletes at a variety of angles of external rotation due to the anatomical variations outlined previously in this article. This will be identified as the foot abduction angle, which was measured during the hip quadrant test, representing the amount of “toe out” angle in the setup of the squat pattern.

FIGURE 11. NARROW VS. WIDE STANCE

In Figure 11, the squat stance on the left showcases a narrower foot width position compared to the wider foot width position on the right as measured by the mid-calcaneal line measurement between heels.

FIGURE 12. FOOT ABDUCTION ANGLES

In Figure 12, the left side squat stance shows an increased foot abduction angle or “toed out” position, while the right shows a more neutral foot abduction angle or “toe in” position.

FIGURE 13. COMMON SQUAT STANCES

Figure 13 displays four avatar positions for possible manipulation of squat stance based on anthropometrical considerations. Each of these squat stances are examples of starting points to position your athletes in sound starting stances, but the use of the quadrant test for more objective and customized measures is encouraged.

1. Narrow foot width with minimal foot abduction angle
2. Narrow foot width with increased foot abduction angle
3. Wide foot width with minimal foot abduction angle
4. Wide foot stance with increased foot abduction angle

Generally, the more retroverted an athlete’s hips, the more toe out they will need to be in the squat, and the more external rotation they will have during the quadrant test to achieve maximal flexion. You will see this as an increased foot abduction angle. For an athlete with more anteverted hips, a relatively more toed forward stance may work better for them (depending on other anatomical variables) in the squat. They will also likely need less hip external rotation to achieve maximal flexion in the quadrant test. You will see this as less foot abduction angle. Testing a combination of stance widths with varying angles of toe out is the best method to determine optimal squat stance after performing the quadrant test, starting with the stance determined by the data acquired in the quadrant test.

CONCLUSION

Begin with the stance identified by the quadrant test. Have your client perform a squat. Repeat with a slightly wider stance with the same amount of toe out. After performing variations in width, check different degrees of toe out at different widths until you find the combination of both variables that allows the athlete the best squatting depth with the least compensations to the squatting pattern. This optimal squat stance will likely be similar to the measurements acquired in the quadrant test, but may differ due to stability and motor control issues, ankle dorsiflexion limitations, and leg length. Ultimately, it is recommended that athlete comfort dictates the combination of width and toe out taken in the squat stance, as long as known biomechanical faults (knees collapsing in, lumbar flexion, heels elevating) are not present (7).

A version of this article was originally published in Issue 5.4 of the NSCA’s Personal Training Quarterly Journal. DrJohnRusin.com has been granted full permission from the NSCA to republish this article in partnership with co-author Dr. Ryan DeBell.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

John Rusin is a sports performance coach and injury prevention specialist who has worked with some of the most elite athletes in the world, including multiple Olympic medalist, National Football League (NFL) and Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Stars, world record holding powerlifters, International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) bodybuilders, and All-World IronMan triathletes. Rusin’s pain-free performance training systems are used by thousands of coaches, trainers, and rehabilitation professionals from across the world to help optimize athletic performance and physical longevity. In the last three years, Rusin has coached more than 20,000 clients through his best-selling book, Functional Hypertrophy Training.

Ryan DeBell is a sports chiropractor and has a Master’s degree in Sport and Exercise Science. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Western States. Before becoming a chiropractor, DeBell attended the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Business, focusing on management of information systems. DeBell is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the international honor society for business, which is the highest recognition a business student can achieve in a business program. After graduating from the University of Western States, DeBell started Movement Fix and has travelled internationally speaking about health and fitness.

REFERENCES

1. Atkinson, HD, Johal, KS, Willis-Owen, C, Zadow, S, and Oakeshott, RD. Differences in hip morphology between the sexes in patients undergoing hip resurfacing. Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research 5(1): 76, 2010.
2. Cook, CE, and Hegedus, EJ. Orthopedic Physical Examination: An Evidence Based Approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall; 2008.
3. Eckhoff, DG, Kramer, RC, Watkins, JJ, Alongi, CA, and Gerven, DP. Variation in femoral anteversion. Clinical Anatomy 7(2): 72-75, 1994.
4. Fabricant, PD, Fields, KG, Taylor, SA, Magennis, E, Bedi, A, and Kelly, BT. The effect of femoral and acetabular version on clinical outcomes after arthroscopic demoroacetabular impingement surgery. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery 97(7): 537-543, 2015.
5. Hoaglund, FT, and Djin, W. Anatomy of the femoral neck and head, with comparative data from Caucasians and Hong Kong Chinese. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 152: 1980.
6. Koerner, JD, Patel, NM, Yoon, RS, Sirkin, MS, Reilly, MC, and Liporace, FA. Femoral version of the general population. Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma 27(6): 308-311, 2013.
7. Kushner, AM, Brent, JL, Schoenfeld, BJ, Hugentobler, J, Lloyd, RS, Vermeil, A, et al. The back squat. Strength and Conditioning Journal 37(2): 13-60, 2015.
8. Lahti, J, Hegyi, A, Vigotsky, AD, and Ahtiainen, JP. Effects of barbell back squat stance width on sagittal and frontal hip and knee kinetics. Published ahead of print. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 2018.
9. Lorenzetti, S, Ostermann, M, Zeidler, F, Zimmer, P, Jentsch, L, List, R, et al. How to squat? Effects of various stance widths, foot placement angles and level of experience on knee, hip and trunk motion and loading. BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation 10(1): 2018.
10. Manning, C, and Hudson, Z. Comparison of hip joint range of motion in professional youth and senior team footballers with age- matched controls: An indication of early degenerative change? Physical Therapy in Sport. 10(1): 25-29, 2009.
11. Ruwe, PA, Gage, JR, Ozonoff, MB, and Deluca, PA. Clinical determination of femoral anteversion. A comparison with established techniques. The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery 74(6): 820-830, 1992.
12. Saikia, K, Bhuyan, S, and Rongphar, R. Anthropometric study of the hip joint in Northeastern region population with computed tomography scan. Indian Journal of Orthopaedics 42(3): 260, 2008

The post The Science of Finding The Perfect Squat Stance <br> <span class='subheadline'>Anthropometrical Considerations For Customizing The Squat Pattern</span> appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - Exercise Science & Injury Prevention.

Fix Your Breathing To Optimize Your Performance

If you’ve hit a strength, endurance or performance plateau, or are just feeling beat to shit after every training session with the inability to recover, stop blaming your training and nutrition program on your stagnation and start looking at the movement pattern that transcends any activity or sport specific focus, breathing. Chances are, you’ve never spent the time or focus fine-tuning a fundamental skill that is literally keeping you alive and you are most likely butchering more than 20,000 times per day.

But not all breathing is created equally. And the way you breath during max effort squatting cannot be the same way you breathe during a 5k run. In order to truly unlock your potential, you must first learn to breathe well by correcting the dysfunctional breathing patterns that have plagued your performance and recovery, then learn to breathe according to the specific task and goal at hand.

Lets get one thing straight, this isn’t some fluffy deep breathing article to make you better at yoga-lates or not keeling over from a stress induced aneurism after the next fight with your spouse. This is the ultimate breathing resource featuring the top 6 battle tested breathing techniques that you’ll literally be able to instantaneously see notable results from in terms of your performance under the bar, and more importantly your recovery during training and between sessions. Here’s how fixing your breathing will finally unlock that potential and blast you through those frustrating plateaus once and for all. Game changing results can be as simple as taking the right type of breath.

#6 Correct Dysfunctional Breathing With Crocodile Breathing

Breathing is truly no different than any other movement pattern. When you step back and view breathing mechanics as a motor skill, this means that it can be improved with the same type of corrective and activation based strategies and progressions that you’d use to correct a squat or a deadlift.

But due to the fact that the average person takes over 20,000 dysfunctional and compensatory breaths per day, fixing faulty default breathing mechanics can be hugely challenging. Many times, verbal cues and corrections are ineffective, presenting the need for more tactile based cues to create a mind muscle connection that will start to improve breathing mechanics from the ground up.

The most effective corrective exercise that I’ve used to spark a change in dysfunctional breathing is called the Crocodile Breath, as originated by Gray Cook of the Functional Movement Systems. Using the ground as a tactile cue from the prone position, this strategy will be a game changer for starting to “feel” what it is to properly expand the belly through 360-degrees, avoiding the takeover of unwanted secondary respiratory muscles in the process.

When To Use This Technique:

This technique is most prominently used in the early stages of breathing re-patterning for those athletes who truly struggle with disassociating compensatory chest breathing from authentic deep belly breathing. Simply think of this drill as a corrective exercise. One notable benefit has been seen, it can be discontinued with the skill being maintained from proper breathing patterns during daily activities and training.

As breathing is classified as a motor skill, a practice component must be implemented in order to re-learn proper patterns that are not only present, but repeatable. Programming in 1-3 minutes of Crocodile Breathing per day, preferably as the first component of a dynamic warm up sequence is usually warranted to start chipping away at old habits and ingraining new ones.

How To Execute The Crocodile Breath:

As with any movement correction strategy, the focused intent needs to be on the quality of movement rather than the quantity or intensity. This means that we must be executing pristine breaths with the  goal of becoming habituated.

Here are some major setup details you need to be keying in on to get the most out of the Crocodile Breath:

1. Start in a prone (lying on your stomach) position on the floor.
2. Bring your fists together and rest your forehead passively on the hands.
3. Keep your legs straight and your toes pointed down.
4. Relax all aspects of the body into this central position.

I often times get questions regarding the hand and head position, as it’s a bit un-natural feeling at first. The rationale behind propping the head on the fists is two fold. First, the head and neck need to remain in a neutral position (with the head NOT turning to one side) to clearly open up the airway. Secondly, with the hands and arms elevated, the secondary respiratory muscles, mainly the scalenes, sternocledomastoid (SCM), and the upper trap are placed into a more relaxed position away from stretch and tension.

Using positions to make it as easy as possible to start to execute proper breaths is a necessity when re-engineering faulty patterns. Once you are positioned correctly, the focus will be placed on the execution and the quality of the breath reps in order to allow motor learning and skill transference to occur.

Tempo of Breath: Inhale 4-6 seconds / Hold 2-4 seconds / Exhale 4-6 seconds

While the tempo of this breath is important for the proper execution of the drill, the true focus needs to be first placed on the expansion of the belly and the movement pattern itself. Since the belly is in direct contact with the floor, it’s the perfect setup for breathing INTO the floor, expanding through the diaphragm authentically.

To take this concept one step further, we are also wanting 360-degree expansion, meaning that not only are we breathing into the belly against the floor, but expanding our breathe through the sides of the torso along with the lower back. To get a feel for this type of expansion pattern, you can use a partner’s hands to palpate your sides, and also use a block or ball on the lower back to push up against during the breath.

Once the proper expansion pattern is mastered, the focus will shift to the tempo of the breath itself. While the above tempo prescriptions of (4-6/2-4/4-6) aren’t set in stone, we do want to ensure that the exhalation is longer than the inhalation to optimize gaseous exchange and slow down the process to avoid compensations. Also, make sure to pause and hold the breath for a split second at the top to truly experience the feeling of a 360-degree expansion, as that’s the corrective goal.

#5 Maximize Bracing and Tightness With The Double Breath Technique

One of the most troubling misconceptions surrounding breathing during strength training is the common recommendation to inhale and exhale fully during reps under loading. If your goal is to move maximal weights with pristine form and stay safe while doing so, a full breath cycle during lifts is the last thing you should be focusing on, even if you’ve been previously told to exhale during the lift and inhale during the lowering process.

While it’s of course necessary to breath during extended sets with increased rep counts, there is a right way to do it, and a wrong way that places the body, and more specifically the spine into destabilized positions via a lack of core stiffness and control. Bracing effectively during any type of foundational strength training movement creates the base of pain-free movement and maximal performance. And with full breaths going in and out, it’s physiologically impossible to gain or maintain maximal brace, placing people into potentially risky positions to train from.

Instead of continuing to breathe haphazardly during lifting and playing the odds with your orthopedic health, the brace and breath can create synergy in the form of the double breath technique to first maximize pillar position and core tightness, while scaling the breath cycle back under controlled tension and control with a shallow “straw sip” breath, and dare I say even a fine tuned grunt. I first picked up this technique while squatting with Dave Tate at the EliteFTS S5 Compound. And man, was it an instant upgrade to core stiffness. Here’s when to utilize each of these techniques for fine tuned bracing strategies.

When To Use This Technique:

Every single time you approach the bar or attempt to move a weight, we must treat the setup, lift and dismount of load with the utmost respect, as respecting load is a powerful tool in not only staying healthy but optimizing performance. So when it comes to strength training, the double breath bracing technique should be utilized each and every set in order to protect the body while performing at the highest levels possible.

Big loaded barbell movements like the squat and bench press tend to demand the most respect from lifters keying into a bracing strategy as compared to the smaller and lower loaded movements. But by going through the motions and lifting loosely without fully bracing and controlling the hips, shoulders and core coordinating together as a functional unit, we are essentially chronically picking the scab of aches and pains long term that can eventually lead into more acute injuries due to simple laziness and disrespecting the process of lifting loads.

The best example of this is deadlifting or hip hinging using a maximal brace and neutral spinal position on leg day, and then turning around the next day and hoisting up dumbbells off the floor for bench press with zero brace, a flexed spine position and loads of compensation. No, you may not get hurt on a single poor setup like this, but over time, the unwanted compensatory stress on the spine will catch up with you.

By positioning and setting up with focused intent, utilizing the double breathe to help maximize the brace, then maintain a brace sipping air at the top of reps when needed, we can better protect the body while staying stiffer to produce more force, leading to more optimal top end performances under load. When in doubt, fine tune your setups, brace harder and respect every rep.

How To Execute The Double Breath Technique:

The key to bracing maximally just before moving a load is tapping into the potential of the diaphragm leading the brace while actively contracting around it with stability generated from the shoulders, hip and core musculature. In order to achieve an optimal diaphragmatic position, this process must start with the breath.

From a stable position with a majority of the joints in anatomical neutral (think of standing straight up here as neutral vs. attempting to breath from a fully flexed and bent over position out of neutral) we will incorporate a 3-step process to breathe and brace around:

• Step 1: Inhale fully through the nose
• Step 2: Gulp additional air in through the mouth
• Step 3: Contract the core musculature expanding 360 degrees

*Hold and maintain brace after Step 3 during active reps

By inhaling fully through the nose, we can extend the time period necessary to utilize close to a full tidal volume of bringing in maximal air into the lungs and pushing the diaphragm down and out. This initial nose breath usually takes around 3-seconds to execute. It’s imperative that this breath is taken in slowly in order to accentuate the air coming in through a belly breathing strategy utilizing the diaphragm as the primary mover, and avoiding the secondary respiratory muscles like the neck and upper back muscles like the upper traps to take over and compensate with more of a chest breathing strategy.

From the initial nose breath, the air must be locked in and held for a split second before we move into the second step, which gulps air in from the mouth. By holding the air in through the nose, and gulping the last bit of air in through the mouth, we can top off the air into the lungs and expansion of the diaphragm into the core space anywhere from 5-15% more. And as we know, a boost in bracing quality leads to potential boosts in strength and power performances.

After both the full nose inhalation and mouth breath, only then do we actively brace the abdominals around the optimal mechanical position of the diaphragm to lock in the super stiffness in the mid section. From there, the focus is shifted into the maintenance of the brace quality through the number of repetitions that will be executed during the set at hand.

For rep counts of 1-3 in a more pure power scheme, all reps can be completed on a single breath hold. But as rep counts exceed 3, we need to ensure that there is air exchange happening in order to continue to bring in oxygen syphoning to the active musculature. A full breath will not be taken between reps here if sets range from 3-8 repetitions. Rather we will sip air in at the top of a movement and push air out slightly and slowly during the concentric raising phase, ensuring air and brace is maintained during sticking or straining points. This is largely the reason for the occurrence of grunts during active loaded reps.

For sets that require more than 8 repetitions, a half breath can be reset at the top of the lifts with a re-bracing strategy in order to continue to bring in more oxygen to the system to help the continuation of a higher rep count. There is never a time to take a full breath cycle in under loading, as this requires us to ultimately lose the entire brace with the inability to gain a quality brace again due to being under constant loading of the position. When taking in air and blowing out during reps, we must adopt a minimal viable dose mentality to maintain brace first, as this will be the number one indicator of quality repetitions and injury prevention.

Tempo of Breath: Nose Inhale 3-seconds / Mouth Gulp 1-second / Hold and Brace

As reviewed above, the goal of maximizing bracing quality starts with a calm, controlled and calculated breath setup and cycle. Air will be taken in initially through the nose for 3-seconds (this time is relative to the time it takes to maximize expansion of the lungs and diaphragm) a secondary gulp of air through the mouth, and a hold while initiating muscular recruitment in a 360 degree fashion.

Different from some of the other breath types and tempos reviewed in this resource, we will see more variability of the time it takes to fully expand the initial nose breath, the gulp time through the mouth, and the hold times based on the movement itself and more specifically, the rep counts associated with the desired training effects. When in doubt, breathe more slowly and under control, and look to the bracing quality as the indicator of what works best for you.

#4 Amplify Performance With Sympathetic Huff Breath

While the major focus on breathing strategies in our industry today are centered around the down regulation of the central nervous system with a parasympathetic emphasis (and rightfully so as western society is stressed the hell out), there are advantageous times and places to actually up regulate the CNS in order to optimize performance with a sympathetic spark. Yes, this goes against common practice and belief, but as it’s been said, there is room for ALL in a more intelligent approach.

The breath cycle is a leading mechanism to quickly and effectively manipulates the central nervous system spectrum according to the goal, environment and challenge at hand. By utilizing the sympathetic huff breath pre-set, especially for power or strength performances, we can spike the brain and body’s response to potentiate for performance when we need it the most.

But before you go huffing and puffing in preparation for each and every set in your workout, we must realize that there is a marked difference between riding the sympathetic wave strategically with a sprinkle approach and overdoing this and fatiguing yourself centrally which will lead to reduced power and strength outputs and a fried CNS. Here’s how to get the most out of the sympathetic huff breath, and the most advantageous places in a strength or performance program to use this powerful technique.

When To Use This Technique:

No matter your goal of training or the orchestration of your training program as a whole, each individual day should be centered on a main performance goal, also known as the key performance indicator (KPI). The KPI represents the most important aspect of the training day, and the strategic exercise, technique or output that is the long-term focus for improvement across the board. Simply put, the KPI is what is measured repeatedly to ensure positive progress is being made towards goal achievement and is usually the movement that is loaded the heaviest or trained the fastest.

While the dynamic warm up and accessory movements in a training plan are of course important, they do not require the up regulation of the CNS in order to optimize performance. This is what differentiates these methods and focuses from the KPI, where performance is the sole focus. It is at these times where the pristine execution and performance of the KPI can be enhanced by using a strategic sympathetic huff-breathing pattern to amplify the CNS’s preparation to perform.

But as powerful of a tool as the huff breath can be, it can also fry your CNS and leave you pre-fatigued before your big KPI’s if overdone or over used throughout too many sets or for too long of a time period. So proceed with caution with the sympathetic huff breath, as more is not better, more strategically implemented is better. Like being in a firefight with bullets in the chamber of the gun without another clip in your pocket, every bullet counts so use them wisely.

How To Execute The Sympathetic Huff Breath:

This breath type is the simplest of all featured in this resource as its execution is dependent on something that a majority of people are already too keenly skilled at, powerful compensatory chest breaths. We can prepare for a big KPI by rapidly bringing air into our lungs and rapidly pushing it out with a huff against resistance. We will complete 2-4 rapid inhales to rapid exhales for a total time of 2-3 seconds.

When best executed, the powerful rapid forced exhalation can be accompanied by a depression of the shoulders while the rapid forced compensatory chest inhalation can elevate the shoulders through active range of motion. This increased range of motion places the secondary respiratory muscles like the SCM, scalenes, pectoralis group and upper trap into advantageous positions to be stimulated, thus up regulating the CNS’s response to the change in position.

Note that the position of the lips and mouth matter in order to achieve the highest level stimulation from this technique as well as the external movement form the shoulders. The lips should be pursed creating less room for the air to exit the mouth when forced exhalation occurs. This will create resistance with the goal of again up regulating the vital metrics before a big bout of power or strength focus.

Tempo of Breath: Rapid Inhale / Rapid Exhale 

Tempo of this breath type is pivotal. The speed and contraction quality of the diaphragm centrally, and the secondary respiratory muscles more superficially must be completed in fast and succinct ways in order to tap into the power of the CNS to prepare the body and mind for maximal performance.

Think rapid and fast when executing the 2-4 sympathetic huff breaths, and follow this method up with the double breath bracing strategy covered in the section above. This technique is best saved for a last top end set where you really need to amplify your CNS for performance. When utilized in a similar way as a trap slap, sprinkling this power breath type into programming can be an ace up the sleeve for getting the most out of your performance on a more reliable metric day in day out.

When used strategically, 1-3 sets of sympathetic huff breaths per workout is going to be a general recommendation. And for total weekly use, do not exceed 8 sets where preparation with the sympathetic huff breath is implemented in order to manage fatigue and recovery to the best of our abilities.

#3 Increase Endurance With Rhythmic Breathing

Endurance sports like running have been notoriously associated with some of the highest injury rates of any physical activity not only due to the sheer number or participants worldwide, but also the ultra repetitive trauma placed on the body through use of specific and repetitive movement patterns. While cardiovascular health and wellness should be a staple focus across the board no matter the demographic or specific activity of choice, it’s imperative that chasing cardiovascular health does not jeopardize orthopedic health.

But chronic pain, injuries and breakdown is exactly what ends up happening to a majority of people chasing endurance as their sole physical focus. Sure, biomechanical positions, general technique, tissue preparedness and a host of other co-factors interplay to create potentially injurious physical conditions, but as we continue to learn more about growing injury rates in endurance sport, one of the central tenets that becomes potentially risky across the board is the association of dysfunctional breathing patterns and injury.

If your goal is to maximize cardiovascular fitness while minimizing risk of injuries in the process, the rhythmical breathe can be a powerful mechanism of keeping you safe while also unlocking performance potential at the highest of levels. By embracing a relaxed rhythmical breathe in alternating right left patterns upon ground contacts, we can equalize mechanical stressors in the body with more symmetry while also retraining the neuromuscular system to perform at lower threshold strategies. Here’s exactly how and why to use this powerful technique.

When To Use This Technique:

As the sympathetic side of the central nervous system is spiked through high levels of physical activities, our body naturally shifts into a fight or flight protection mode. While this can be useful in the short term, in the long term this red lining of our system creates potential problems centered on potential injuries and performance glass ceilings in bouts of exercise exceeding 10-15 seconds in duration. When we perceive stress, our bodies and minds shift into a reactionary autopilot mode, which isn’t necessarily a good thing.

Since traditional reciprocating cardiovascular activities such as walking, running, biking, swimming and cardio machine training are usually trained at durations exceeding a few minutes, fighting the sympathetic response and maintaining lower level outputs both centrally and mechanically can become extremely advantageous for increased training effect and decreased risk of pain and injuries. By operating at lower outputs, we also are able to more volitionally monitor breathing cycles in coordination with our physical positions. That’s where rhythmical breathing comes in.

The highest amount of force and stress in an activity such as running takes place upon initial foot contact with ground, which can exceed 3-4 times bodyweight. And with many runners simply operating in survival mode, breathing becomes shallow, chest emphasized, and most importantly, utilizing an exhalation that occurs on ground contact of one side most frequently as opposed to being equal between right and left.

As an exhalation occurs, the diaphragm rises, decreasing central core super stiffness that can create increased unwanted traveling force up chain from the foot into the knee, hip and spine. Simply put, one side of the body tends to take a brunt of the forceful hit of ground contact while the other is spared. And as we know, one of the biggest predictors of future pain and injury is symmetry of chronic loading.

The rhythmical breathing technique is best incorporated into any reciprocating cardiovascular activity that utilizes the arm and leg moving opposite of one another such as running, walking, swimming and many others. With a 3:2 tempo of 3 strides on inhalation and 2 strides on exhalation, we can alternate side-to-side ground contacts in activities such as running, or even out side to side breathing strategies in activities like swimming. In the short term, the rhythmical breath will be a performance enhancing skill. In the long term, it will have the ability to keep you healthier across the board.

How To Execute The Rhythmic Breathing:

Like any other motor skill, rhythmical breathing must be intelligently implemented into training with a predictable step-by-step approach to mastery. To think that you can go from dysfunctional one sided breathing patterns on your run one day to a 3:2 tempo on the next day seamlessly without detriment to your performance is a bit of a stretch. So similar to the method that’s proved highly effective for rebuilding foundational movement patterns (remembering that locomotion is itself a foundational movement pattern) we will incorporate a 3-step progressive strategy for rhythmical breathing.

• Supine 3:2 Breathing with March
• Standing 3:2 Breathing with March
• Locomotion with 3:2 Breathing

With the normalized developmental sequence in mind, we start our clients down on the ground in a supine position with the feet flat on the floor and hips and knees flexed. From this position, we have more stable ground contacts supporting the spine while also having two feet on the ground, which is a pivotal position for walking and running dynamic transference. The feet will be lifting up and down with alternating form while the breathe is first taken over the duration of 3 steps at the feet, and exhaled out during the duration of 2 steps at the feet. Continue to practice this coordinating of breathing and foot striking out of the supine position for 3-5 minutes at first, then up to 10 minutes with mindfulness and coordination.

Once you have the ability to exceed 10 minutes, it’s time to get up to standing on two feet. In a similar way, we will march the feet on the ground alternating right and left while coordinating the 3:2 rhythm with 3 steps taken on inhalation and 2 steps taken on an active exhalation. You’ll note that this rhythm and tempo will create alternating foot contacts with the ground upon every other exhalation, essentially distributing the force through the ground and feet evenly between right and left.

The final step in the process is implementing body locomotion via walking (and eventually higher paced jogging and running) with the same 3:2 breathing strategy. Start slow here, only walking or running as fast as you can coordinate the breathing cycle with 3 steps taken for every inhalation and 2 steps taken for every exhalation. This is a continuously evolving process and skill set with the ultimate goal of being able to be automatic with this cycle.

Tempo of Breath: Inhale 3 steps / Exhale 2 steps

As it indicates in the name, the focus on rhythmical breathing is the rhythm and tempo of the breathing patterns itself as coordinated with movement. While the average runner or endurance athlete utilizes a 2:2 breathing sequence naturally, this again creates problems as the exhalation is notoriously taken while one side is striking the ground more than the other, creating asymmetries in force exerted on the right vs. the left side of the body.

The simple fix here is incorporating a 3:2 breathing sequence where 3 steps are taken during times of inhalation, and 2 steps for the duration of exhalation, essentially alternating ground contact forces occurring on the right and left sides respectively. This will look like this through two 3:2 breath cycles:

• Inhalation: Right Strike – Left Strike – Right Strike
• Exhalation: Left Strike – Right Strike
• Inhalation: Left Strike – Right Strike – Left Strike
• Exhalation: Right Strike – Left Strike
• This reciprocation continues

*Bold indicates side strike pattern at full exhalation

While alternating strike patterns doesn’t seem like a huge deal in the short term, in the long term after accumulating literally millions of gait cycles all hitting on one side while exhaling and loose in the core and pillar complex, the stress adds up, and can even manifest as pain or injuries. Systemize your breath with cardiovascular activities, perform your best and protect your body in the process. That’s how we make cardio work for us without risking orthopedic health during the chase to improve endurance.

#2 Mitigate Stress With Tactical Breathing

When we think about the highest-level physical performers in the world, our minds automatically gravitate towards professional sports. Sure, there are some serious freaks of nature running around the field on Sundays, but it would be short sighted not to mention the elite tactical athletes such as the Navy Seals in the same sentence.

I’m not here to compare military operation to training in the gym, as of course there’s a huge difference between the two. But it would be negligent for strength coaches and athletes NOT to utilize the advanced techniques that make these tactical athletes so damn incredible under pressure. One of those methods is the tactical breath.

In my time working in San Diego with some of the Special Forces, I learned as much from these amazing human beings as they learned from my coaching. But looking back on it, the single most game-changing method that has revolutionized the way my athletes have been able to train at high relative intensities while also escalating the total volume of work is by mastering and continuously monitoring their breath during sessions. Enter the tactical breath.

When To Use This Technique:

Like many innovative methods, the tactical breath was developed out of pure necessity. I first started formally studying the tactical breath under the teachings of ex-Navy Seal, Mark Divine.

There’s nothing routine about a firefight, no matter how much experience you have in the field. Our human instinct is to instantly heighten our senses with a sympathetic response that elevates heart rate, increases blood pressure, dilates the pupils, and prepares the body from head to toe to fight for it’s life.

While this is a primitive response that is as old as humanity itself, it can present as less than ideal for fine and gross motor skills needed in to physically execute tasks at pristine levels. Imagine if every time Chris Kyle saw a threat walk into his sniper scope he got the sympathetic shakes. That wouldn’t’ exactly be ideal to carrying out his mission. The same can be said (of course to a far lesser extent) to training performances.

While training on the nerve can sometimes create physical and neurological advantages under the bar, more times than not learning how to harness the potential of the sympathetic system by grading it back becomes a more advantageous skill long term. Not every training session is treated the same as a competition, especially as volume, relative intensity and cumulative capacities are challenged throughout the course of a training session.

Simply put, the tactical breath can be used between sets to optimize the recovery window inside the rest periods, and allow for a more full and complete mechanical and systemic recovery that enhances the quality of work being accomplished in training. The quicker you can recovery, the more efficient your training becomes. And the more efficient training becomes, the less energy is wasted, and the more can be streamlined into the training itself, which presents with obvious benefits.

It’s no longer good enough to sit around huffing and puffing for 5 minutes after every tough set of squats. Use the tactical breath to steady your CNS, optimize your intra-set recovery and repeatedly train at your highest levels.

How To Execute The Tactical Breath:

As we reviewed above in the Crocodile Breath, dysfunctional breathing patterns first need to be addressed and improved before we can start successfully implementing these more advanced breathing strategies. Think of it as goblet squatting before back squatting.

Once you have mastered the skill of belly breathing in a fully expanded 360-degree fashion, it’s time to start moving up the ladder of developmental positioning and continuing to master the same authentic breath in different positions. From supine, to kneeling, to standing, ensure that you are maintaining the ability to breathe properly, which will eventually become habituated. From there, it’s time to implement the tactical breath.

It should be noted that during a training session is NOT the ideal time to start using the tactical breath, but rather practicing this skill in a more non-threatening environment first to simplify the variables at hand. My favorite position to start athletes with is sitting cross-legged on the floor with the back supported by the wall.

Here’s exactly how to execute this breath:

1. Sit on the floor with legs crossed and your spine supported by the wall.
2. Place your hands passively into your lap.
3. Close your eyes to simplify sensory input and relax into this position.
4. Inhale with a 4-count using your belly, chest and shoulders in that order.
5. Hold for a 4-count at the top of the breath in full expansion.
6. Exhale with a 4-count out through the mouth.
7. Pause at the bottom of the breath for a few seconds between breaths.

Continue practicing this tactical breath in order to improve your automation, and progress into kneeling, and standing before implementing into your training sessions. The last thing we need between heavy work sets of deadlifts is you guys all hyperventilating, so again… you’ve been warned to earn the right to implement this skill by mastering the technique first.

Tempo of Breath: Inhale 4 seconds / Hold 4 seconds / Exhale 4 seconds

This technique has been referred to as “box breathing” due to the rhythm of 4-second durations at each aspect of the breath. While this tempo has been highly successful in a myriad of physically, emotionally and mentally challenging situations, I’ve gravitated towards teaching a quicker pause at the bottom of the rep, especially in the training setting.

Without getting too technical, we want to ensure that an optimal amount of exchange happens in the lungs and cardio-respiratory system. While the 4-second pause at the bottom of the rep has some merit for grading back of the sympathetic response, mechanically speaking the active tissues during lifts need more perfusion of oxygen and exchange happening locally aka we need more breaths in during our rest periods to expedite recovery for repeat bouts.

By taking the 4-second hold at the bottom of the breath and reducing it to around 1-second, we can increase the amount of breaths we can get in a given rest period. For example, using traditional box breathing, one cycle takes 16-seconds. By reducing the bottom hold to 1-second, a breath will now take 13-seconds. That doesn’t seem like a ton, but as any lifter knows, it’s those last few breaths that truly spark recovery when you really need it.

#1 Expedite Recovery With Parasympathetic Positional Breathing

Optimizing training, no matter if your goal is to get as big as possible, as strong as possible, or just to have a more high performing physique, is all about monitoring your training loads and ensuring proper recovery between sessions. But many times, our focus lies solely on training, forgetting about the all-important process of recovery in order to actually regenerate from the training stress itself.

So how to we recover quicker to train harder and train at higher frequencies? Sure, nutrition, hydration, and stress all play an obvious role, but what about the time it takes us to shift from a sympathetic based CNS response in training to a parasympathetic based response that allows the recovery process to start doing it’s work?

That intermediary period between your last set and the time where your CNS comes down off the sympathetic bender it’s currently been on for hours in the gym needs to be minimized. And one of the most effective methods to do that is by implementing recovery breathing as the last “exercise” of the day before you ever leave the gym in the Performance Recovery System.

When To Use This Technique:

If you find yourself jacked up for hours after training followed by a huge crash, this recovery breathing strategy is going to be a game-changer for your ability to recovery along with living a more normal existence away from the gym that doesn’t involve the continual shakes.

What happens to people, especially those who train in the mornings is that they spark a sympathetic response in their training, and never come back down from it. They stay highly heightened all day until their system finally fails and they crash hard. While this can be limiting to recovery, it can also be a huge limiting factor to strength, muscle, and performance plateaus as well from the glass ceiling this neurological and systemic state places your body into routinely.

In a matter of 3-5 minutes after training, we can avoid punching the gas on your CNS for hours after your training session has ended. Sure, you’ll initially feel like a bit fluffy at first lying on the ground alone with your thoughts with your eyes closed while others pound away at the iron. But when you turn around in record time with higher energy and more dynamic capabilities under the bar, you’ll quickly see that 3 minutes is some of the best time you’ll ever invest in the gym.

I picked up the positional recovery breathing from legendary strength and conditioning coach Buddy Morris years ago, who has championed this simple yet highly effective technique throughout the NFL and other high performance sports. Want a buy in? If it’s good enough for pro athletes who make a living based on the performance of their bodies, it’s probably good enough for you.

How To Execute Recovery Breathing:

While the other two breathing techniques above are more structured in the actual execution of the breath itself, the recovery breathing is more about the position and setup. We want to position your body to make it as easy as possible for a few key things to happen to help spark recovery in multiple facets of physiology.

First, we need passive positioning of the arms and legs to ensure proper centralized drainage of lymphatic fluid. Second, we need to ensure that the spine remains in a relatively neutral position to reduce the threat response to the body. And lastly, we want to make these positions as comfortable as possible, again all for the goal of reversing the CNS response from training.

Here’s exactly how I setup my athletes for recovery breathing after each and every training session to spark the recovery process before they ever leave my watch:

1. Lay on your back with the head resting on the ground.
2. Elevate the legs to above heart level with knees slightly bent.
3. Elevate the arms up overhead.
4. Close eyes and relax the body reducing any tension of stress.

*A quiet area of the gym away from music or noise is preferable

From this position, you should be able to relax every single muscle in your body to allow a fully passive response to take place. From here, we will focus in on only one single movement, that of your breath.

Tempo of Breath: Inhale 3-4 seconds / Hold 2-3 seconds / Exhale 6-8 seconds

The main focus with the tempo of the breath is about slowly inhaling and exhaling under control. Since most athletes and lifters have trouble slowing down, especially while in the presence of the iron, using specific tempos can be very useful when initially adopting this recovery breathing strategy.

Inhale for 3-4 seconds fully, hold for a few seconds at the top of the breath, and then really focus on extending the exhalation to around 8 seconds. We want this tempo to be slow and controlled, but also habitual to the point of being passive. The last thing we want to do during recovery breathing is to stress about exact numbers of the breath counts, so you have an excuse to chill and zone out a bit on this one.

The time of recovery breathing is about turning off the sympathetic switch before we leave the gym, so techniques such as positive mental imagery can absolutely be synergized together out of this position to really get the most out of these few minutes. Set your iPhone timer for your prescribed duration in order to avoid checking the clock, and just enjoy your time on the floor in celebration of the ball busting work you just put into the weights.

How do you know it’s working? You should feel an instant calming sensation throughout your body after you are done with a round of this. If you’re struggling to get a positive response, revert back to Crocodile Breathing, and refine your skills. And if that doesn’t work, use your training buddy as your personal psychologist and work out your issues that way.

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is a sports performance specialist and injury prevention expert that has coached some of the world’s most elite athletes including multiple Olympic gold medalists, NFL and MLB All-Star performers, and professionals from 11 different sports. He has also managed some of the most successful barbell sport athletes in the world including world record holding powerlifters, CrossFit Games athletes, and IFBB professional physique athletes.

His innovative pain-free performance programs have been successfully implemented by over 25,000 athletes worldwide including his best selling training system Functional Power Training, which has revolutionized the way coaches and athletes develop strength, muscle and performance pain-free. Dr. Rusin’s work has gained him the reputation as the go-to industry expert for rebuilding after pain, injuries or plateaus.

The post Top 6 Breathing Drills To Reduce Stress and Optimize Performance appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - Exercise Science & Injury Prevention.

Yes, Sometimes Machines Are Superior To Free Weights

In the midst of the rise of the functional training movement, machine training has become one of the most demonized methods in today’s sports performance and fitness industries. While there are obvious advantages to free weight training from a power, strength and skills development perspective, there are some extremely effective movements and exercises that simply cannot be performed with free weights alone, making the need for specialty machines and equipment clear for a more well rounded approach to fitness and performance alike.

But the biggest limiting factor, other than functional zealotry, that keeps people away from taking full advantage of the novelty effect of specialty machines is accessibility. Specific equipment like the reverse hyper, belt squat, jammer press, back extension and a host of others are rarely found in commercial fitness centers, sports performance facilities or home gyms where a vast majority of people train.

Facing these equipment restrictions in my own sports performance facility along with a vast majority of the gyms my clients and athletes train out of across the globe, we’ve made some simple yet effective modifications for big specialty machine movements to mimic the mechanics and setups all using simple equipment that even a garage gym setup would have. Here are the top 5 simple machine movement modifications to upgrade your specialty training, minus the specialty equipment.

#5 The Reverse Hyperextension Machine

Popularized by Louie Simmons of the legendary Westside Barbell, the Reverse Hyper Machine has become a spine health staple in the worlds of powerlifting, strength sport and athletic performance since its inception into the industry decades ago. While both its unique biomechanical properties and battle tested anecdotal results from the Reverse Hyper have proven extremely effective, its biggest limitation remains extreme equipment limitations to this specialty machine in commercial gym settings, sports performance centers and rehabilitation practices alike. Here’s the simple equipment fix utilizing a bench and a physioball to reap the spine health benefits from this staple movement without use of this specialty machine itself.

Simple Equipment Fix: Physioball Reverse Hyperextension

With the spine health benefits of the reverse hyper too good to ignore, we’ve scaled the look and feel of this machine movement using only a traditional weight bench and a physioball. Place the physioball on the end of the weight bench and position the body over the ball so that the hip joint remains able to move through a close to full range of motion at the top, but more importantly the bottom. If you have taller athletes, you can place weight plates or pads on top of the bench and under the ball to ensure clearance of the feet to the ground and freedom of the hip and spine.

To stabilize the hips even more feel free to add a mini-band just above the knees to cue the glutes to isometrically contract, similar to the belt on the reverse hyper machine. Or to take it to another level all together, place a second band around your ankles to create more tension in the lower body increasing the stability for more lower back and hip isolation.

Grasp the sides of the bench with your hands and hold on tight as you will need solid anchor points in order to reduce the amount of force leak through the upper body and place the emphasis where we want it, on the glutes, erectors and spine itself. Do not skimp on the setup, as gaining optimal positions before the movement starts is pivotal, especially when making specialty modifications.

Now, start the feet in a dorsiflexed toes up towards shin position with toes contacting the head of the bench. Your head should be down and neck flexed in this position while the thoracic and lumbar spine also starting in flexion. Dynamically contract up leading with your glutes and finishing off the “hyperextension” moment with the lower back moving into slight extension. As this happens, chest, head and neck will raise simultaneously creating tension and recruitment across the entire posterior chain.

Pulsate this movement up and down dynamically controlling the concentric raising portion of the exercise while controlling and accentuating the eccentric under tension on the way back down. Utilize as close to a full range of motion as you can, as the power of pain-free training and resilience is found where at the bottom aspects of the movement where the hips and spine are challenged the most.

This movement should be trained in hypertrophy or metabolic stress based schemes with rep ranges between 15-50 repetitions. More volume and frequency can be tolerated here as compared to compound loaded movements due to the isolated position of the hips and back, and also the spine sparing properties of the arcing fulcrum point. Start with 2-3 days per week in your warm up, or as a finisher.

THE PAIN-FREE STRENGTH SERIES

Instantly Break Pain-Free PR's in Your Bench, Squat and Deadlift.

Name

Email

GET STARTED FOR FREE NOW

#4 The Jammer Press Machine

For developing explosive full body power without the Olympic lifts, the Hammer Strength Jammer Machine and many more recent derivatives have thrived in the sports performance industry due to it’s simplicity and effectiveness for producing force. But unless you have access to a stand-alone ground based jammer machine, or have specialty squat racks built out with the capability of adding expensive jammer arms to the columns, chances are you have not experienced this specialty exercise due to specific machine or equipment constraints in your facility. We have solved this equipment limitation using a suspension trainer and barbell against a squat rack to mimic the mechanics of the jammer for simple and highly accessible jammer exercise training.

Simple Equipment Fix: Suspension Trainer Jammer Press

This novel setup will not only blow your mind in its simplicity, but also it’s effectiveness. The tools that you will need here are a traditional barbell, a suspension trainer or rings, and a high enough anchor point (something like a pull up bar) to attach the suspension trainer to. Note that you should have ALL of these items in whatever type of gym you are training at.

Shorten the suspension trainer straps so they are approximately chest height when hanging down vertically to the ground. This will ensure that we are setting up the press from an ideal height around chest level. Now, slip the barbell through each side of the suspension trainer so it’s fully supporting the barbell, and positioned equidistant from the midline of the barbell for symmetrical load distribution. If you have a power rack, use it to help support the bottom of this setup. Note that the rack is helpful but not mandatory.

Position the lower body in a split stance with one foot in front of the other and take a shoulder width grip on the barbell with spine in a neutral position. Powerfully press the bar explosively, and return it back to the starting position. You’ll quickly notice the natural arc that the suspended barbell creates, altering the strength curve while also working into intermediary pressing positions that are extremely shoulder friendly.

A few additions can be made to the suspension trainer jammer press to make it even better including using banded accommodating resistance, along with initiating the movement with a powerful step forward. Like any other movement, add load as necessary to challenge the pattern while keeping in mind this is best used as an explosive power drill to potentiate the nervous system for peak performance.

The suspension trainer jammer press provides an explosive joint friendly spark to pressing based days, and has been a staple primer drill that is programmed after the 6-phase dynamic warm upand before a big loaded key performance indicator of the training day. Keeping rep ranges in the power and strength schemes, approximately 1-6 repetitions is where we’ve found the best success.

#3 The Prowler Sled

The Prowler Sled is one of the simplest and most downright devastating conditioning tools on the planet. But as simple as pushing or pulling a sled with weights stacked on it may seem, environmental and equipment restrictions keep many general fitness consumers and athletes alike from being able to benefit from this versatile tool. Whether your gym is equipped with sticky rubber gym flooring that offers too much friction to push a sled, the cement parking lot where the sleds are pushed is covered in snow during the winter, or you simply don’t have a sled, we’ve got the simple machine-less modification for sled dragging using a treadmill, band and weight belt that will blow your mind.

Simple Equipment Fix: Band Loaded Incline Treadmill Walk

As simple as it may seem, carrying, dragging or pulling heavy shit around is one of the most effective methods for not only building a badass posterior chain, but also cleaning up functional weak links while building your conditioning and cardiovascular abilities in the process. But restrictions due to equipment, setup, weather and more keep many people from benefiting from this catchall exercise.

In the winter months in Wisconsin where temperatures reach -30F (that’s cold as hell for you on the Celsius metric) and size and flooring restrictions in my facility, we rigged the treadmill to mimic a loaded sled drag to gain the posterior chain benefits, sky rocket the heart rate and actually progress something as simple as walking with a goal in mind.

Using a heavy dumbbell or kettlebell as the anchor point (heavy enough to have NO doubt that it will shift when you are walking), a weight bench or a box to elevate up the weight, and a circular resistance band around the waist, we can create an extremely effective modification for traditional sled dragging. This is so easy and effective that I make it a priority to set this up when on the road training in hotel gyms, commercial fitness centers and beyond.

The box and weight serving as the anchor point should be close enough to the end of the treadmill that you don’t have crazy band tension on your system, but far enough away to keep it safe and away from ever contacting the moving belt, which is a big no-no. Looping the band around the handle or a kettlebell or dumbbell and then placing it between you and a weight belt creates a great challenge to the gait pattern. After experimenting with band thicknesses and positions, we recommend starting with a light band like our blue JRx bands, and then progressing from there. Note that a little band tension when combined with inclined angles on the treadmill goes a long way.

This exact setup is used multiple times per week in different positions such as forward walking, backwards walking, and even side walking off of a belt is great. Also challenge your static shoulder positioning by holding the band in your hands and walking against it more similar to a drag or a pull on the sled. The ultimate loaded walking combines the band off belt setup, a weight vest and weights in the hands for the loaded walking trifecta. Try this out the next time you’re restricted by equipment, weather, or want to make your cardio more effective.

#2 The 45-Degree Back Extension Machine

Direct lower back training has seen its rise and fall in recent years, but one standard piece of equipment that is an absolute mainstay in commercial fitness centers to hotel gyms and beyond is the 45-Degree Back Extension Machine or the Hyperextension Machine as it is commonly referred to. From directly targeting the erectors of the lower back while also hammering the glutes, hamstrings and even calves together to fire and be trained as a functional unit, nothing beats this machine. But the only problem remains is the availability of the old Roman chair in sports performance centers, CrossFit boxes, home gyms and beyond. Here’s the simple setup using just a squat rack, bar and band that will blow your mind.

Simple Equipment Fix: Banded Back Extension Over Squat Rack

One of the machines that is quickly dismissed by many in the functional training community is the 45-degree back extension due to its unique setup, mechanics and general use. But for optimally training the glutes, hamstrings and erectors while adding resilience to the entire lumbo-pelvic unit, nothing beats this machine. But from a size, shape and footprint standpoint, the only types of facilities that seem to have these are commercial fitness centers.

With the popularization of the box-based fitness model the use of glute ham raises (GHR) have found their way into many different types of facilities. But for anyone who has tried to do back extensions on the GHR, it works, but due to the mechanics of the setup and movement, it is far from optimal. We now choose to setup over a barbell in the squat rack and utilize a band to resist back extensions that are an upgrade from the GHR, or for many, not doing any machine based direct back work whatsoever.

To get setup for the banded back extension over the squat rack, you will need a heavy weight such as a dumbbell or kettlebell, a circular resistance band, and a barbell. The barbell should be positioned 2-3 inches below hip height in order to ideally hinge over the bar at the hips while keeping the spine in as close to a neutral position as possible. For those of you with sensitive hips, a bar pad is a cheap and easy addition that will be a game changer for not getting chewed up on the bar.

Loop the band around the handle of the weight that is positioned 5-6 feet in front of the rack. Note that you will be facing the weight and band to resist into more and more extension as the band gets stretch. Lastly, the band is placed around your neck for a longer moment arm of pull, or you can simply put it around your shoulders as an easy modification.

Start hinged over the rack with head and neck flexed (as we want to stay out of extension of the lumbar spine here) and feet strong and rooted into the ground. Drive up against the band leading with the glutes and cue your tailbone to tuck under with a posterior pelvic tilt. Flex the top of the rep in, accentuate an eccentric lowering moment through a full range of motion and you’ll be golden on this simple machine-less setup.

Since a limiting factor to this modified machine movement is the resistance of the band, so this setup and exercise modification works best trained with extended rep schemes of 10-40 reps, or more burn out sets to tap into hypertrophy or metabolic stress of the glutes, hamstrings and erectors. Keep constant tension, and these will elicit a nice targeted training effect to level up your direct low back training.

#1 The Belt Squat Machine

If you’ve battled through lower back injuries, you know how hard traditional barbell squatting can be on the spine, especially when rebuilding after injuries. While axial loading down through the spine is by no means inherently dangerous, like anything else, too much is rarely a good thing. But if you don’t have access to beautiful machines like the Matt Wenning Belt Squat to deload your spine while training the squat more frequently, you’ll most likely be forced back to the barbell to continue to progress your muscle, strength or power gains. But before you force feed another barbell squat day, check out this simple landmine belt squat machine-less modification using only weight benches, a landmine barbell and a dip belt.

Simple Equipment Fix: Barbell Landmine Belt Squat

Now this machine-less setup may take some time to fine tune, but if you can get it right it will provide a closely mirroring training effect to the likes of the belt squat machine. Utilizing two benches (or boxes), a barbell positioned on its end in a landmine setup, and a dip belt attached to the bar and around your waist, you’ll be ready to squat minus more compression loads coming down through the spine.

Ensure that the benches are far away from one another that the barbell with weight plates fits in between while also allowing the feet to be ideally positioned for the person’s unique foot position and squat stance. Feet should be placed in alignment with the collar of the barbell, and the weight belt hooked securely bumping up next to the end of the barbell collar, and if you want to be extra creative, a clip placed on the collar of the barbell itself.

In order to get into a safe and effective position when loads get heavier, a partner assist is recommended in order to get both feet set in the squat stance while also deloading the bar and starting the squat from a top down approach. Have your partner do a landmine deadlift to elevate the barbell while you setup the feet and brace down to squat. Complete all of your reps utilizing a countering hand position pushing out as the squat is controlled into an eccentric lowering, and driving back up with the legs while the hands come back to midline. At the end of each set, have your partner assist the lowering of the bar to maintain proper mechanics and never get caught under the bar or between the benches.

Due to load restrictions on this landmine belt squat setup, this movement is best trained at higher set and rep schemes in the upper strength and hypertrophy ranges. Never jeopardize your setup or positions for more load on the bar, as safety of you and your training partner is always the top concern and focus.

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is a sports performance specialist and injury prevention expert that has coached some of the world’s most elite athletes including multiple Olympic gold medalists, NFL and MLB All-Star performers, and professionals from 11 different sports. He has also managed some of the most successful barbell sport athletes in the world including world record holding powerlifters, CrossFit Games athletes, and IFBB professional physique athletes.

His innovative pain-free performance programs have been successfully implemented by over 25,000 athletes worldwide including his best selling training system Functional Power Training, which has revolutionized the way coaches and athletes develop strength, muscle and performance pain-free. Dr. Rusin’s work has gained him the reputation as the go-to industry expert for rebuilding after pain, injuries or plateaus.

The post No Machines? No Problem: 5 Simple Machine Movement Modifications appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - Exercise Science & Injury Prevention.

The Rise and Fall of Online Fitness Coaching

I’m well aware this article will piss a lot of people off, but it needs to be said. Because over the last few years there’s been an epic rise in online fitness coaching. But there’s also been a massive drop in the quality and integrity of coaches. As the demand for online coaching continues to rise it only gets worse…

Uneducated trainers, sneaky marketers, and greedy corporate companies swoop in and make their kills. Lying, cheating, and leeching off hard-working people like you. Selling snake-oil supplements. Using photoshopped before and after pictures in their marketing. Pushing bullshit exercise gadgets.

Worst of all, they’re handing out cookie-cutter programs stolen and recycled countless times and calling them PERSONALIZED. Simply put, it’s a joke.

Forget about shattering physique and performance goals. Work with these coaches and the only thing you should expect is a laundry list of injuries, burnout, and frustration.

It’s only getting worse. My goal for this short article is to shed some light (and humor) on the entire situation. In hopes, it’ll save people lots of time, money, energy, headaches, and injuries.

4 Types Of Wannabe Online Coaches Running Wild On The Internet

Anyone with the know-how to create a social media profile can (and IS!) claiming to be an “online coach.” Whatever the hell that means.

Charging an arm and a leg for a 1-page doc with disastrous programming that doesn’t work and is a major mismatch for your individual needs. Not only are 99% of online coaches a colossal disappointment, but they’re actually hurting people.

Everything that USED to go into being a GREAT coach who gets crazy results was lost when people started hiring one (or all) of these wannabe coaches.

I believe there are four types of people (claiming to be coaches) to blame.

Type #1 The Undercover Training Virgin

The 21-year-old inexperienced kid who doesn’t have the slightest clue how to coach anyone. They’re an undercover training virgin. After a mini transformation of his own, he’s posting shirtless selfies with the caption: “I’m looking for 8 men who want to get totally shredded like me for the summer. Only DM me if you’re serious, bro.”

Type #2 The Burned Out And Desperate Trainer

The burned out and desperate personal trainer trying everything to get out of in-person coaching. They might be a good in-person trainer, but online coaching is a whole different skill set and ball-game. Not many coaches successfully transfer this skill and results.

Type #3 The “Only 3 Spots Left” Guy

The coach who always has “3 spots left.” Typically these are hardcore marketers who’re just in online fitness coaching for the money. They don’t have the slightest clue how to take you to the next level. Instead, they fill up their metaphorical “3 spots” using high-pressure sales tricks that would make a used car salesman proud.

Type #4 The Motivational Maniac

The motivational guru. Their strategy is to use motivational quotes to pump you up. Most don’t have the slightest idea how to actually help people build functional muscle, devastating power, show-stopping strength, or the resiliency to perform under any condition.

A Light at the End of the Tunnel?

The thing is, most people need coaches…

If you want to get big, strong, lean, and resilient? If you want to take your physique and performance to the next level? If you really want to unlock your potential?

You need a training program that aligns with your goals and takes into account your unique situation―like your health history, injury background, training experience, etc. More importantly, you need to get yourself a coach.

To get real results that last, your coach shouldn’t fall into one of those 4 categories.

You’re looking for someone and something much deeper. The fifth type of coach… Only the top 1%

Don’t get me wrong, there are still good coaches out there who knows what they’re doing. Coaches who use methods tested (and proven) in the trenches. And most importantly, coaches that know how to actually COACH. Not just send out Word docs and call it a night.

Coaches who know how to work WITH you, not against you.

Coaches who are with you every step of the way. Answering your questions and guiding you through the process.

What To Look For In A Coach

The most respected coaches aren’t the ones doing the online coaching. I’m talking about the people with extensive coaching backgrounds, tons of experience, and a track record of results. The ones who’re teaching around the world, training the best of the best, and keynoting the most prestigious conferences and events in the industry.

It’s because they’re busy in the trenches getting their clients bigger, faster, leaner, stronger, and more resilient.

These are the coaches who inspire long-term change instead of short-term motivation and hype that doesn’t really last.

Good online coaching DOES exist. It’s just a lot harder to find because they’re few and far between.

If you do your due diligence you’ll be fine.

Just make sure your coach has a track record of results, case studies, testimonials, real expertise, happy clients, and has proven they can deliver over and over again.

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is a sports performance specialist and injury prevention expert that has coached some of the world’s most elite athletes including multiple Olympic gold medalists, NFL and MLB All-Star performers, and professionals from 11 different sports. He has also managed some of the most successful barbell sport athletes in the world including world record holding powerlifters, CrossFit Games athletes, and IFBB professional physique athletes.

His innovative pain-free performance programs have been successfully implemented by over 25,000 athletes worldwide including his best selling training system Functional Power Training, which has revolutionized the way coaches and athletes develop strength, muscle and performance pain-free. Dr. Rusin’s work has gained him the reputation as the go-to industry expert for rebuilding after pain, injuries or plateaus.

The post The 4 Worst Types Of Online Trainers <br> <span class='subheadline'>Don't Get Burned By Wannabe "Coaches" Running Wild On The Internet</span> appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - Exercise Science & Injury Prevention.

Nothing Beats The Face Pull For Pain-Free Performance

The face pull is THE pain-free shoulder staple that belongs in most all programs no matter the goal or training focus. If you have shoulders, you should probably be prioritizing face pulls as healthy shoulders are not a given, they need to be earned. Consider face pulls a daily vitamin for long-term shoulder health. Dosed daily, and they can help protect against pain, injury and sedentary daily positions while unlocking performance potential.

If you want to create a strong and stable upper back that acts as the cornerstone of your performances in the gym and out while ridding your shoulders of the notoriously frustrating front sided shoulder pain, you better be hammering loads of pain-free volume with different variations of this key movement. The shoulders thrive with slight variation and strategic novelty, so give them what they need!

Simply put, nothing beats the face pull for building the upper back while bulletproofing the shoulders against pain and injuries. But to think there is one way to do face pulls is a little short sighted, don’t you think? So here are fifteen face pull variations that will make this staple shoulder saving movement ever better including video tutorials, deep diving coaching notes and everything you need to make the already fantastic face pull exercise even better.

#15 Anchor High or Low Depending on Shoulder Blade Position

One of the most common questions regarding face pulls is where to anchor the band or cable unit and more importantly why. While the name of the exercise is pretty clear that you are pulling the band or cable to the face, aka a FACE pull, where is the ideal origin for the resistance to start from?  Well, it depends…

I recommend introducing the face pull in any hand or tool variation at a parallel position of pull to the ground. For many, this will be at approximately chin height. This parallel face pull angle allows a more pure horizontal force vector and places an emphasis on full retraction of the shoulder blades together at terminal end range of motion.

Note that the angle of pull for the face pull is ALL about the shoulder blade starting, ending and intermediary dynamic positions. With this in mind, there are two unique options to better individualize the face pull to specific needs and goals of the exercise.

First, the high anchored face pull is the most commonly utilized variant due to its ability to meet the average person’s shoulder blade position where it’s at. Simply put, our current day society lives in protraction, upward rotation and elevation of the shoulder blade (think high and forward shoulders here) due to apparent postural demands of handheld technologies and poor chronic daily positions.

For these people, pulling at a downward angle to the face allows the shoulder dynamic shoulder movement to be emphasized in the downward rotation moment and also depression of the entire shoulder complex as a unit.

A second altered anchor point variation is the low position face pull, which is best suited for clients that have “low riding” shoulder blade positioning and need to emphasize upward rotation, protraction and slight elevation of their scapulae. While this presentation is not very common in general fitness populations (see previous paragraph) it does present a fair share of times in overhead throwing athletes.

Again, anchoring must be based on the needs of the shoulder blade position, lead by placing a key emphasis on different aspects of the upper back scapular intrinsic stabilizers. If you can quickly assess shoulder blade positioning and combine that with dynamic movement capabilities of the shoulder as a whole, it makes custom fitting face pull setups to your clients much more efficient.

#14 Pull The Band Back To Your Face… AND Apart

The banded face pull is still one of the simplest, most effective tools for building a thick and functional upper back to support the dynamics of the shoulder in a myriad of activities. Using only a band with hands placed in a pronated position, driving your elbows back and the band to your face against accommodating resistance has some major benefits that make it my go-to face pull variation.

First and foremost, many athletes simply don’t have access to cable stacks or machines with the popularization of privatized industrial gyms and boxes. So using a common tool like the band that is available to everyone in every setting has its benefits from a practicality standpoint.

But for a proper training effect with the face pull movement, we need to be a little more selective with the classification of bands that we use. Those tubular bands with handles on each end used in group fitness aren’t going to cut it. We are in need of circular bands. Why? It’s all about the face pull apart when we are talking about maximal activation and trainability.

Set up the band attached to a stable unit like a rig, squat rack or staircase at approximately head height. Drive back your elbows staying around shoulder height. In the last aspect of that range of motion on the backside, your hands need to not only be pulling back on the band, but also driving apart from one another. Hence the name, the banded face pull apart.

This acute detail will be a game changer for your upper back activation, so focus on peaking the contraction as hard as you can driving elbows back and pulling the band apart for a split second before controlling the band back into the starting position.

#13 Lay On A Foam Roller For Controlled Range of Motion

For some lifters who struggle to stay strict in more isolation movements like the face pull, there are some clear advantages to modifying the common standing position down the chain to something simpler, and far more stable. Lying on the ground supine can be a great alternative.

By laying on the ground, the head, neck, thoracic and lumbar spine (not to mention the pelvis) are all supported in neutral while the feet remain flat on the ground with flexion of the knees and hips. The more of your body that is supported, the less motor control requisites a movement will have, and the more likely that movement will be executed at a more optimal level. From a maximal surface area contact perspective, nothing beats supine.

But during movements like the face pull, we like to work a full range of motion. And due to the floor restricting the back end 25% of the range of motion, and arguably the most important aspect of the range for full shoulder blade dynamic stability, it’s less that advantageous for functional training.

By introducing a foam roller vertically under the body, this tool positions the body ideally to benefit from the best of both worlds. Because you’re laying on the ground supported, motor control requisites decrease along with global apprehension of the movement. But since the foam roller sits behind the spine (between the shoulder blades) it frees the scapulae up to move more freely while allowing the humerus (upper arm bone) to extend and rotate through further degrees of range.

When setting up the supine face pull on foam roller, manipulate the angles of pull just the same way as you would in a standing potion. And ensure that your pillar consisting of the shoulders, hips and core remains active to work the face pull from a strong and stable base. This variation works best for high rep sets in the 10-25 range for more metabolic stress based training stimuli.

#12 Use An Underhand Grip To Improve Activation

In a vast majority of my athletes, I prefer to program the overhand-pronated grip to its counterpart, the underhand (thumbs up) grip. The preference is due to the varying degree of external rotation range of motion that is involved on the backside of this movement pattern.

When it comes to adding a more isolated external rotation moment to a movement under loading, a little truly goes a long way. And in the overhand grip, slight external rotation is achieved by the limiting factor, which is the wrist position into flexion during the pull.

A golden rule is never to load a movement pattern heavy into ranges of motion where dynamic stability is not present. You must first earn the right by executing pristine full range of motion movement patterns before loading can challenge it. So keeping that in mind, the underhand grip is programmed for a different goal than the overhand grip, and that goal is activation and corrective movement.

Using the underhand grip on a band or cable as featured in the video helps tap into more corrective based ranges of motion for the shoulder and upper back while learning to stabilize the thoracic spine and shoulder blade during dynamic rotational movements at the true shoulder joint itself.

This variation requires intelligent programming of lighter loads, and slower, more controlled movements in order to avoid flaring up the shoulders or placing undue stress over the rotator cuff or other acute muscles being loaded in this exercise. If you can set your ego aside and load this movement properly in the 6-12 rep range with total control and stability, the activation benefits will quickly present. And that right there is the benefit of the underhand face pull setup.

#11 Improve Upper Back Targeting By NOT Gripping Hard

I realize this tip is most likely contrary to everything you’ve ever been taught about strength training, but remember, not all exercises are created or executed the same. While there are major advantages to maximizing grip on basically all traditional loaded movements due to the power, stability and neural drive tapped into by the irradiation effect, direct shoulder training is the exception to the rule.

When the goal is to target the upper back and intrinsic stabilizers of the shoulder blade, less grip is truly more. From an anatomical size perspective, the 17 acute intrinsic stabilizers that attach directly to the shoulder blade that aid in both static and dynamic stability along with movement are thin, short and straight up small. Lets compare that to bigger muscles in the upper extremity like the elbow flexors and extensors (aka biceps, triceps etc) and the forearm group that is home to many thicker, broader and stronger groups of adjacent muscles. There’s no comparison.

So when you kill your grip on face pull variations, the forearms and upper arms become highly active which takes away recruitment and targeting to the smaller muscles that you’re actually attempting to target at the upper back. For moving weight, that’s great, but the face pull is NOT about moving from point A to point B. It’s about smooth, articulate motions using strong mind muscle connection.

I recommend one of two options for face pulls to minimize or eliminate the irradiation effect via grip. First, use “meat hook grip” with your fingers while leaving your thumb free. This will reduce the grip from the bigger muscles of the forearms and upper arms.

If the meat hook grip doesn’t work, or you simply need to double down on true targeting of the upper back to a maximal degree on face pulls, I recommend the handless grip utilizing bands or straps around the wrist and an open hand. Either of these grips will severely reduce the weight you’ll be able to use for face pulls, but then again face pulls aren’t about heavy weights, it’s about targeting specific motions of the shoulder blades to function optimally in the shoulder complex.

#10 Use Kneeling Positions To Limit Momentum and Compensations

One thing holds true time and time again when it comes to training, cheaters are always going to find a way to cheat. Weather it’s half repping squats in the rack, lifting their ass up off the bench during heavy pressing to self justify using heavier loads, or just swinging around the entire cable stack trying to be a tough guy on face pulls, shitty execution yields shittier results.

The last thing that you should be thinking about with a properly programmed and executed face pull is moving maximal loads. How do you know when loading becomes too heavy? It’s pretty easy, you must alter your movement pattern in order to move the weight. Here are some common ego driven meathead execution errors with the face pull:

1. Leaning back with a split stance against the cable stack
2. Generating momentum with your torso or hips
3. Incomplete range of motion (especially on the back side)
4. Lack of smoothness in eccentric or concentric
5. Unable to “feel” muscles working in the upper back

So lets not get too carried away. If you’re going to execute the traditional standing face pull get into an athletic stance, root the feet into the ground and brace up. The stronger the brace the better the targeted recruitment of the upper back musculature (more on that later down the list) for the face pull.

But if you truly want to make the face pull more functional (while keeping cheaters from cheating this staple movement) the tall kneeling and half kneeling positions are great options to train out of.

Tall kneeling will provide the most challenging pillar position for face pulls, requiring the glutes, adductors and core to create a synergy of stability for a base of support. Keep the torso upright and the hips in neutral.

As for the half kneeling position, asymmetrical stance of the lower body allows more spiraling stability of the hips and trunk to neurologically link, improving core control and movement of the face pull itself, which is a bilateral movement. Heavier loading can be authentically handled here due to the power of asymmetrical stability.

Lastly, the more involved we can get the neighboring regions of the body from head to toe involved in a simple movement like the face pull, the more carryover and higher level training effect we can elicit in a shorter amount of time. Now that’s a win-win in my book.

#9 Improve External Rotation Activation With TWO Cables

One of the key benefits that face pulls offer to long term shoulder health is working the upper back into both downward rotation, retraction and depression of the shoulder blade AND external rotation of the gleno-humeral (true shoulder) joint. If you want to take this one step further, face pulls place the shoulder blade through a near complete range of motion while allowing the gleno-humeral joint to dynamically stabilize in and out of rotational moments, that is a HUGE benefit for skill, stability and strength of the shoulder unit as a whole.

While you can clearly bias more or less rotation using bands or traditional cable setups with attachments like ropes or straps, in order to maximally bias external rotation with face pulls two separate cables or bands become the optimal setup.

By crossing the line of resistance separately in each hand, we can three dimensionalize the face pull more than a traditional single anchor two hands on setup. We can also tap into the freedom of allowing two hands to rotate in and out of pronation and supination more naturally, allowing the shoulders to therefore more through more rotational moments into both internal and external rotation.

The only downside to this setup is that the cables most cross over one another, placing one cable under and the opposite over. We can combat this slight asymmetrical setup by alternating which side is setup on top from set to set. But even when we alternate (now I’m getting picky) there are usually balls on each cable unit close to the end where the carabineer is located. These tend to hit one another and become annoying. If annoying is out biggest issue with the dual handle face pull plus rotation, we are doing well.

Don’t forget that any time a cable variation of the face pull is programmed or called for in training, you can simply copy the location of the anchor point and the line of pull with bands. The only difference here is that we are going from more constant “straight weight” off the cables to accommodating resistance that changes resistance depending on the degree of stretch in the band. What this means for quick time modifications is that smaller, thinner bands like the JRx Red Micro Bandsare usually needed to ensure full range of motion and quality execution.

#8 Sit Down While Face Pulling With Heavier Loads

Just as the underhand grip should be loaded and programmed with caution based on the external rotation moment that this variation places on the shoulder joint, we also need to remember that the face pull can be loaded like a staple muscle builder in the upper strength and hypertrophy rep ranges as well.

But as you start climbing your way up the weight stack in the face pull from a standing position, you’ll quickly hit a glass ceiling on the loads that you can stabilize without compensating at the torso, hips or lower body. As the weights get heavy, two key mistakes usually happen.

First, the lifter leans back and alters the mechanics of the movement that is less than ideal for creating shoulder and upper back resiliency. Second, many will split their stance and sit into a rotational moment at the hips and spine, which is again loads this pain-free shoulder staple in an symmetrical way, negating the “pain-free-ness” of the exercise.

Sure, some coaches will preach to you that you should only train loads that you can control from a symmetrical standing position, but why not alter the setup to reap the best of both worlds? This is where the seated face pull variation comes in.

By sitting on a bench or box, we can create better contact points with the ground, mainly from your ass on the bench in addition to your feet remaining on the floor. From this position, we can better stabilize the torso and spine while dialing in the ideal angle of pull that is staple and actively supported by the musculature of the pillar. This position also can create a higher angle to face pull from, which is great for ensuring that the prime movers (scapular muscles) are targeted and the upper traps and neck don’t take over with heavy compensation patterns.

From the seated position, we need to remain highly active by contracting the glutes, adductors, core and shoulders to achieve a pristine position first before we initiate a heavy face pull. From that base, loading into the 6-10 rep range will become a staple upper back builder that is not only effective, but easy on the shoulders as well.

#7 Root The Feet and Brace The Pillar on Face Pulls

One of the biggest mistakes I see athletes and clients make when executing performance programming is NOT respecting the smaller movements with the same mental intensity and intention as they do the big sexy lifts. I get it, a squat or deadlift is far more exciting than a few high rep sets of banded face pulls, but that doesn’t mean we should just throw in the towel, go through the motions and bull shit our reps. If you’re going to invest training time and energy, you may as well do it right. And that starts with bracing the pillar complex and recruiting full body tension.

A major pain-free tenet that I continually teach my athletes and clients is to setup, prepare and execute every set and rep of EVERY exercise the same, with maximal mental focus on the goal at hand. This means that for traditional standing face pull variations, the feet should be placed into an athletic stance, rooted down into the ground and spiral tensioned up by gripping the toes. Setting the feet is step one, and prepares the rest of the chain to become more optimally positioned for more effective face pulls (or whatever other exercise you’re executing with this setup).

From there we must pay close attention to the pillar complex consisting of the hips, shoulders and core integrating together as a functional unit. The glutes and adductors should co-contract together to stabilize the hips. The pecs and lats should pre-tension and co-contract together to set the shoulders in a prime centrated position. And last but absolutely not least we should take a breath in and brace through the core with 360-degree expansion.

Yes, ALL of that should happen before a face pull rep is ever dynamically pulled back. The more optimally you setup and prepare for a movement, the more likely that m movement will yield positive results no matter the goal at hand. Owning your pillar is the first and most important step to this process. Yes, it takes more mental energy to dial up your focus, but it will be well worth it with the results that you achieve in doing so.

#6 Work Authentic Angles In Chest Supported Positions

Pain-free shoulders are built by training the intermediate slight angles on both pushing and pulling based movements. We’ve covered the importance of customizing the pulling angle on face pulls based on an individual’s shoulder blade positioning, but failed to mention that the angle in which a specific anchor point position creates is secondary to that angle of pull’s interaction with the body’s torso and spinal angles.

Many times when low or high angle face pulls are trained out of the standing position, the torso naturally compensates and either becomes more forward angled or more upright, impacting the interaction between the line of pull and angle of the body. While this can be monitored, we can also more intelligently setup the face pull to gain, maintain and execute this pattern from a strict angle using an incline bench chest supported position.

By placing the body on an incline bench (incline angle can be manipulated to specific need) the chest and pelvis are supported from a static position and are more likely to maintain that solid position throughout the duration of a set of face pulls. This authenticates the angle of pull, ensuring that we aren’t compensating nor moving in and/or around the targeted angle, but rather within it the entire time.

The chest supported face pull also allows more focus on muscular targeting due to a strict restriction of compensation or momentum used at the torso or hip, hitting the upper back harder with less external loading. This setup can be executed with a cable stack, bands, or dumbbells.

Don’t forget that face pulls can be loaded with dumbbells in each hand, especially in this incline bench chest supported position to work the vertically oriented angle of pull for novelty and progression of the face pull pattern.

#5 Go Lighter: Never Let Resistance Limit Full Range of Motion

Anytime you are cruising Instagram or any other social media feed for that matter you need to prepare yourself to see some good, bad and some ugly shit when it comes to fitness, exercises and execution. But the one black eye I tend to see more times than not when it comes to face pulls being improperly executed throughout social media and even into commercial gyms and training centers is a lack of complete range of motion.

Seems like a simple fix, right? Just use lighter weights and move through a full range of motion with quality control and sound movement patterns. Simple enough. But for many misinformed athletes and lifters, the curse of face pull superficial knowledge hits hard, negating many of the benefits of this staple pain-free shoulder training exercise.

Before we move on, this needs to be stated; the face pull is NOT a strength movement. It should NOT be trained in power and pure strength schemes between 1-6 repetitions. It is best suited for hypertrophy and metabolic stress set and rep schemes between 8 and infinite reps. Why? We are targeting the musculature of the upper back, which are posterior chain prime postural stabilization muscles that function to support, stabilize and keep us upright. We must train this region for this goal, to protect and support the shoulders and postural demands of daily lifestyles.

Keeping this in mind, the banded face pull has some clear advantages over the cable unit face pull (as covered above) but again, bands and cables are two different loading stimuli that feel and function differently even if they are used on the same exercise like face pulls.

Using too thick of a band (this is a common face pull flaw) can go from resistance that is easy at the beginning to resistance that is impossible at end range. This is notably true with face pulls where we are weakest and in the most vulnerable position at end range. By using the wrong size band, people tend to half rep their face pulls during them into biceps work instead of an upper back emphasized movement.

And yes, there are also individuals that are just meatheads and go too heavy and negate notable training effects of the face pull while increasing potential risk of pain and injury in the process. Don’t be the guy PR’ing his face pulls, please. And don’t butcher face pulls then complain that “face pulls didn’t work for me.”

So when it comes to face pulls, go for higher reps, use thinner bands and set your ego aside. And above all else, have your shoulder blades moving fully through rotation on the thoracic cage dictate your range of motion, NOT your elbows or hands. Do face pulls right and you’ll enjoy bigger, stronger, more pain-free lifts, I can guarantee you that.

#4 Program Into Supersets To Increase Pain-Free Volume Ratios

Due to the restorative range of motion that the face pull brings your shoulders, mid-back and scapula through, you truly can’t get enough of this type of movement. I consider this strategic upper back work as “pain-free volume” and is otherwise “free volume” that would not necessarily place huge amounts of unwanted mechanical or neurological stress on your body.

So what does that mean? If you struggle with your posture, with your pressing power, with your shoulder health, you need to be absolutely hammering as many face pulls as possible throughout your training week. For optimal shoulder health, your weekly pull to push programming ratios should break down to 3:1 for the average person, or up to 3+:1 if you sit for prolonged periods of time or have a body type of past injury history around the shoulders, neck or upper back. There is no one hard and fast ratio that works for everyone, it’s always case dependent.

In case you didn’t realize, that’s a shit ton of pulling, especially if you enjoy hitting the bench a few times a week. So how to we get in that much volume to ensure longevity in our shoulder health? Simple… add pain-free shoulder staple movements like the banded face pull into your normal programming in superset fashion.

Between sets of pressing or direct shoulder work, simply add in 5-15 reps of banded face pulls in a post-fatigue type setup in order to maximize the trainability of the upper back (working into those ratios) while not adding any more joint or CNS stress into the equation. Adding in banded face pulls throughout your dynamic warm up in superset schemes can also sky rocket your overall pulling volume, again without doing a ton more highly stressful pulling movements like rows, deadlifts or high angle vertical pulling.

Sprinkling in banded face pulls between your sets of direct shoulder work not only helps solidify your pain-free programming ratios, but they also will elicit the metabolic pump effect as well. Any time you can maximize the localized blood flow into the tissue to extend a set without adding any more joint stress, that’s called a win for long-term shoulder health. Try it, and I guarantee it will quickly become a training staple for you.

#3 Bands vs. Cable Face Pulls – Train BOTH

In reality, the tool in which you train the face pull may not be a choice, but rather a necessity. If you’re training predominantly in a home gym or box style setup that lacks cables and machines, the banded face pull will be the necessary variation of choice naturally due to equipment restriction. But does that mean that if you have cables in a commercial center or have a cable stack at your disposal you should never do banded face pulls? Absolutely not.

Like any other comparison of tools in the gym for a given movement, there are both pros and cons to each. Many of the pros for utilizing bands have been covered above (such as accommodating resistance, ability to pull apart etc) but lets remember that bands are cheap, easy to implement and fit into any gym bag. In my opinion, you aren’t serious about your training unless you have bands in your bag.

For those lifters who have access to everything, I prefer to use banded face pulls in the 6-Phase Dynamic Warm Up Sequence and ultra high rep sets where pump is the goal. For hypertrophy work with heavier loading, I prefer the cables and a myriad of different attachments to add novelty and variation. Depending on the goal at hand, there is an ideal face pull for every occasion.

If you do not have access to cables for heavier hypertrophy work, utilizing setups with multiple bands gives a unique feel that can stimulate growth and pump effects in the tissues while matching that goal more precisely. Simply use a lighter band anchored to a rack or upright and heavier bands through to create handles for yourself. Very simple, but very effective when equipment is limited for face pull variation.

#2 Close Your Eyes To Tap Into The Mind-Muscle Connection

I saved this face pull tip for last because honestly, it is a bit whacky. Yes, you read the headline correctly, closing your eyes during face pulls can enhance the feel of this movement pattern and allow you to better tap into your mind muscle connection. How? It’s all about sensory input into your system.

The mind-muscle connection isn’t just a mythical beast that gets talked about in bodybuilding circles only. It’s a real life neuromuscular phenomenon that many veteran lifters have inherently learned to tap into throughout their years mastering movements in the gym. But here’s the limiting factor of the MMC; you must know the muscle you’re volitionally trying to contract actually exists before you can reap the benefits of a highly impressionable nervous system.

During the face pull, the goal is to maximize the activation and MMC of the posterior delts and other intrinsic muscles of the upper back helping move the upper arms into horizontal abduction and external rotation. While there are nearly 20 scapular muscles that influence the movement of the shoulder blade, when it comes to improving MMC, we must focus on just one, the posterior delt.

This superficial muscle can be easily palpated; hence appreciating it’s existence in the human biomechanical system by even the simplest of meatheads. But with so much going on during a movement, we must be able to put first things first, and truly focus out mental energies on the feel of the muscle contracting on each peaking portion of the movement. Taking a huge sensory player out of the equation by simply closing your eyes can enhance this.

Without your visual fields in play, we have cut down on the amount of total sensory input feeding into your system during the movement. This gives us a better chance to improve mental acuity and focus. Give this tip some time to work, as it’s not something that happens overnight. Improving the MMC with the eyes closed technique is a skill that needs practicing, so it fits in great with the loads of volume that you’ll be putting through the face pull movement to keep your shoulders healthy.

#1 Build Face Pulls Into Your Lifestyle With 3:1 Pull:Push Ratios

Face pulls are great for so many reasons, but the reason why I am truly in love with this exercise is it’s ability to maximize trainability, minimize joint stress, all while negating many of the piss poor daily postural demands of our current societal lifestyles. When it comes to maximizing the risk to reward ratio, the face pulls are at the top of the list.

Face pulls, especially the banded variation, are so simple, easy and effective to setup and execute that I recommend all of my athletes and clients have a band with them at their work stations in order to get some reps in during the day to reset their movement systems between bouts of static sitting, standing or computer based work. Hell, I’ve had clients who worked as long haul truckers knock out face pulls at rest stops with the band attached to their rear view mirrors!

My general recommendation is to complete 10-15 banded face pull reps every hour that you spend sedentary, preferable in a strong standing position.  If you pair this with some glute iso-squeezes and a few minutes of walking, you have the perfect scenario for an effective multiple time a day postural reset.

Sure, this doesn’t sound like training, but it’s important to appreciate that all daily movements matter when it comes to long-term shoulder health and performance. I’ve had a huge amount of success rebuilding our client’s shoulders using a 3:1 pull to push ratio, and a 2:1 horizontal to vertical pull ratio. These take into account total reps (not exercises, not loads, not days of the week, literally I’ve heard it all, and it’s all misunderstood). We are talking about total reps on the system.

So if you knock out 10 reps of face pulls per hour and spend 10 hour working a day, you’re already at a surplus of 100 horizontal pull reps (remember face pulls are considered a horizontally driven pulling movement), and after a warm up like the Rusin Shoulder Triset you are at another 100 rep surplus of pulling reps.  Starting to see how your daily positions work into these ratios?

While face pulls or pull:push ratios alone will not (and aren’t meant to) FIX clinical pathologies of the shoulders, adhering to a steady movement diet of face pulls and horizontally driven pulling will help keep your upper back strong and shoulder joint more resilient against pain and injury. That’s the definition of pain-free training, and the true power of the preventative based movement model.

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is a sports performance specialist and injury prevention expert that has coached some of the world’s most elite athletes including multiple Olympic gold medalists, NFL & MLB All-Star performers, and professional athletes from 11 different sports. Dr. Rusin has also managed some of the most successful barbell sport athletes in the world including world record holding powerlifters, CrossFit Games athletes, and IFBB professional bodybuilders and physique athletes. His innovative pain-free performance programs have been successfully used by over 25,000 athletes, which has gained him the reputation as the go-to industry expert for rebuilding after pain, injuries or plateaus. Dr. Rusin is also the founder of the Pain-Free Performance Specialist Certification (PPSC) that has certified over 1500 personal trainers, strength coaches and rehab pros from across the globe in his methods over the past two years.

The post Top 15 Face Pull Variations For Shoulder Health & Performance appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - Exercise Science & Injury Prevention.

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but we’re in the midst of a serious health crisis.

We really shouldn’t be surprised. I mean, we’re experiencing record rates of obesity, systemic disease, and orthopedic pain and injuries.

Just look around, it’s abundantly clear we’re in need of a serious change because this problem affects all aspects of life. People are overwhelmed, overfed, and overstimulated and it’s only getting worse.

If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you’ve heard me talk about how crowded the health and fitness industry is. And how terrible most health, longevity, and performance solutions really are.

This isn’t my opinion—it’s a fact

Nearly all of my private 1:1 coaching clients have tried countless training programs, coaches, and diets that failed to deliver the results they promised.

I’d even go as far as to say most of them are in ‘EMERGENCY mode’ by the time they find me.
I know there are a few people who’ll think I’m being ‘dramatic’ when I say we’re in crisis mode. But I’m not the only one who believes this. I have DATA to support my beliefs.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine used current trends and projected… by 2030:

• One in two adults in the U.S. will be considered obese.
• One in four will be considered severely obese, with a BMI of 40 or higher.
• And obesity rates will climb to over 50% in over 29 states.

Figure 1. Obesity Rates around the World

Which is scary as hell, considering increased obesity has been directly linked to:

• Type 2 diabetes

• High blood pressure

• Coronary heart disease

• Stroke

• Cancer

• Gallbladder disease

• Sleep apnea

• Osteoarthritis

• Fatty liver disease

• Kidney disease

• Pregnancy problems

• Depression

• Anxiety

• And the list goes on…

To take it a step further, The World Health Organization found that the global average life expectancy INCREASED by 5.5 years between 2000 and 2016. So even though people are living longer, we’re seeing a DECREASE in “healthy years.”

Meaning, people are LOSING their health, resiliency, and performance years SOONER than they should be. This is what affects most people in my world.

The problem is, traditional healthcare (and the fitness industry) is NOT set up to fix the problem

Traditional healthcare isn’t helping.

Most doctors, trainers, and experts are so quick to prescribe short-term bandaids that treat symptoms, instead of the problem.

Hormones are all out of whack?

Here’s a pill.

Want to lose weight?

Here’s a pill.

Need more energy?

Here’s a pill.

In crippling pain?

Here’s a pill.

These aren’t solutions! They’re bandaids that address symptoms. They do NOTHING to treat the actual problem.

So when the majority of society plays by their rules? When they get wrapped into quick-fix solutions? When they get suckered by the overnight fitness coaches and programs with no REAL results or systems that back up their methods?

They can kiss their dreams of unlocking their true health, longevity, and performance potential goodbye.

If you’re reading this article I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir when I say…

If you lose your health, nothing else matters

But when it comes to losing your health, I’m not just talking about being obese, deathly sick, or developing a disease.

I’m also talking about the “normal” declines in health, longevity, and performance that most people just chalk up to being a normal part of aging.

You turn 30 and they say “wait until you turn 40.” In your 40’s they say “wait until you turn 50.” In your 50’s they say “wait until you turn 60.” And it never stops.

Tired, achy, weak, and uncoordinated becomes the norm. In fact, it’s what’s EXPECTED.

First, it’s your power. Running, jumping, catching yourself from falling after a slip, and anything else that requires you to generate force goes out the window.

Since you’re unable to generate power efficiently, your muscles don’t activate optimally. When you combine this decrease in activation with a decline in muscle-building hormones, you begin to lose muscle mass FAST.

A loss in muscle mass is also accompanied by a drop in coordination. And when your coordination suffers, you can kiss your balance goodbye.

Because the body begins to tighten the joints and decrease range of motion to stay safe. It’s the only way it can protect itself.

But let’s get something straight…

You’re NOT “just getting old”

When people’s quality of life and physical skills (and abilities) decline, it is NOT because of age.
It’s from a lack of proper training AND from learned disuse.

Meaning, you’re telling your body it’s not important and you don’t need it. I always think about the movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin here. He asks “Is it true is you don’t use it, you lose it?!”

This is especially true when it comes to your physical skills, abilities, and characteristics that go into a high-performance life.

Age is NOT an excuse not to be able to move, function or perform the way our body was designed to. In fact…

You can literally REVERSE the aging process with smarter, more individualized training

To be clear, it’s important to note that training is a tool. Just like a hammer is a tool, it can be used for many different things. Both good and bad.

Your training should invigorate every aspect of your life. NOT leave you broken, burned out, or feeling like shit. People put so much effort into trying to reclaim their health, only to end up broken down, burned out, and hurt.

Most training programs and coaches determine the effectiveness of a training session on sweat, fatigue, and soreness. Let’s get clear on something. Any old “workout” can make you tired, sweaty and fatigued.

These are extremely poor indicators of an effective workout. It takes an intelligent approach to achieve your goals. Especially if you want to look better, feel better, and have a healthier body into your 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and beyond.

Your training should excite you. It should motivate you. It should be fun. And it should be something that you look forward to. Your training should ALSO produce results and help you achieve your goals. Because eventually the novelty of “fun” wears off, and your willpower is put to the test.

Knowing, in the back of your mind, that your training is making you BETTER… is the thing that will keep you pushing through the tough times. And at the end of the day… Becoming a healthier, fitter, and more empowered human-being is FUN in itself.

When done properly, age is NO LONGER A DISABILITY. It’s just a number. Pain and injuries are few and far between. You recover from training sessions faster. You bounce back from flare-ups quicker than ever. You look and feel your best. And you’re doing things other people your age couldn’t even fathom.

My private online coaching clients perform BETTER in their 40’s than they did in their 20’s, thanks to proper training.

Intelligent training CHANGES lives

Slowly but surely, people realize that DAILY HABITS fuels long-term progress.

Because achieving optimal health isn’t about crossing the finish line as fast as possible. And it can NOT solely be measured by a number on a scale.

Optimal health is a LIFESTYLE that you choose to live.

A lifestyle that helps you live LONGER and live BETTER.

If you want a positive shift in health, longevity, and performance… while reversing the aging process?

If you want to battle-back against chronic aches and pains while building a strong, lean and resilient body?

If you want to take your physique and performance to the next level?

You must STOP chasing calories in the gym and kitchen…

And shift your focus on building strength, transforming your physique and bulletproofing your body for life.

I truly feel one of my ‘jobs’ is to keep you well informed about this. I hope this served that purpose.

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is a sports performance specialist and injury prevention expert that has coached some of the world’s most elite athletes including multiple Olympic gold medalists, NFL & MLB All-Star performers, and professional athletes from 11 different sports. Dr. Rusin has also managed some of the most successful barbell sport athletes in the world including world record holding powerlifters, CrossFit Games athletes, and IFBB professional bodybuilders and physique athletes. His innovative pain-free performance programs have been successfully used by over 25,000 athletes, which has gained him the reputation as the go-to industry expert for rebuilding after pain, injuries or plateaus. Dr. Rusin is also the founder of the Pain-Free Performance Specialist Certification (PPSC) that has certified over 1500 personal trainers, strength coaches and rehab pros from across the globe in his methods over the past two years.

The post CRISIS MODE: The State of Health & Fitness appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - Exercise Science & Injury Prevention.