In this clip, I briefly go through an explanation of proper technique for conventional, romanian and sumo deadlifts. I made this for a client who wanted to show her husband proper deadlift form. While I could get way more in depth, this is a pretty good explanation and demonstration of these major deadlift variations. If you don't know, I am pretty much a deadlift fanatic. It is my favorite and best lift, and probably my favorite thing to do in life. (Just kidding, but not really :) The deadlift and its variations is something that should be included in every exercise program at some point. Not only does it train nearly every major muscle in the body but also develops movement coordination and specific strength that will carry over to almost every sporting and daily activity. Enjoy!
I also want to share with you a link to Patrick Ward's site. I have never met Patrick but have been following his blog for awhile now. He is a great and very knowledgeable strength coach and massage therapist and actually was one of the inspirations for me to make the final decision to get into massage therapy school. This is a link to a recent blog he did that is a case study on a runner with knee pain. He goes through his assessment, thought process and treatment plan for the client. He has done a couple of other case studies as well that are also very good. Its really good stuff so be sure to check it out. I definitely would like to do something similar in the future on my blog. Train hard!!
Don't think this guy understands the importance of proper movement and his back isn't going to like him for it
Proper movement is the base point of exercise and performance. I don't care how great of shape you think you are in or how many times a week you go and workout; if you are not moving the right way, you are wasting a large amount of your time.
"Oh my knee hurts!" Well, if you had any idea how to squat and use your hips and glutes the correct way, your knee probably wouldn't hurt so much. When you squat with your weight on your toes, heels off the ground and your knees are coming forward so far it hurts to watch, you're probably giving yourself knee pain. If you do this throughout the day with work activities, etc. you can only imagine the issues you are creating. "Oh but I went to physical therapy and they said I shouldn't squat." Well sorry to tell you, but if you ever want to get better, you're going to have to learn how to use your hips and guess what, squatting is pretty much the best way to do that. If your therapist was any good, they would have shown you how to move the right way and fix this problem but since they probably have no idea how to move correctly themselves, they screwed you. Sorry. "Oh well I've worked with another trainer before and they gave me a workout plan." Really!? Well that workout plan and that trainer must've really sucked because they sure didn't teach you the most important aspect of any exercise program: HOW TO MOVE!!!
"My back hurts" Well, lets see you pick this ball up. Well since you just picked that up with a flexed lumbar spine, and you do repetitive motion like that at work all day, five days a week, you are probably causing problems. Let me show you how to deadlift properly and that should begin to help you. "Well, my friend works out like all the time and he said that deadlifts can hurt my back." Well, your friend just proved that he has no right to an opinion on the matter. Picking feathers up off of the ground with the form you just showed me is bad for your back. Deadlifting respectable weights with proper form will help you like you wouldn't believe.
(These were just generalizations, not directed towards any individual)
If you are trying to exercise and you are not performing free motion, multi joint movements either because you are scared to or don't think you need to, you have two options. A- Just stay home and eat chips because you are wasting your time and probably creating future problems for yourself B-Get help from an expert who can actually teach you proper movement patterns with effective exercises for yourself.
If you are performing multi joint, free motion movements but have terrible neuromuscular coordination and movement patterns then props to you for at least trying to do something worthwhile. However, you still should refer to option B from above. Get help from an expert who can actually teach you proper movement patterns and effective exercises for yourself.
Movement is so important guys. You need to learn to move through your hips with a stable trunk. You need to learn how to squat both bilaterally and unilaterally while utilizing proper hip, knee and trunk position. You need to learn how to pull and push with proper thoracic mechanics. You need to learn how to rotate correctly. You need to learn how to perform locomotion effectively. You need to understand how to fire the correct muscles at the right times to do all of these things our bodies are meant to do the right way. Its not as simple as going to the gym and guessing your way through random useless things. A home video can't teach you if you have no idea how to feel things. A magazine is even worse. A lot of health professionals that deal with the body can't even help you (also a lot who can). I know this because I constantly see people who have been to other health professionals and still have absolutely atrocious movement skills. It blows my mind.
It all comes down to movement. There are many great exercises that can do a lot for you, regardless of what your goals may be; however, the fact of the matter is that no matter how great the potential of an exercise, if your movement pattern is less than optimal, the exercise is not going to do what it should for you.
You owe it to yourself. If you are going to invest your time in exercise and bettering your body and life, you owe it to yourself to invest some time in learning how to do things the right way. I have talked about and could get into all of the trillion other things that go into proper and effective training and programming but no matter what topic or aspect I talk about, it still comes back to proper movement. It is the essential base point for everything else and has to be mastered first. So give yourself a great gift this holiday season and learn how to move!!
If you haven't already read it, here is Part 1
Some of the main things runners need to work on that many completely skip with their strength training are the following. Max Strength Development
Strength is the base point of pretty every other physical quality. The nervous system must be trained to fire more motor units and muscle fibers and to do so more efficiently. The more force one puts into the ground, the faster he/she will be. This can help the optimization of stride length and stride frequency, which can knock a lot of time off of a race. To build max strength, big bang exercises such as back squats, front squats, deadlifts and many more must be performed for multiple sets of low reps (4-6 sets of 1-5 reps) with maximal weights. Speed Strength Development
If you want to cut time off of your run, it should be common sense that you would want to be faster, right? Training the nervous system to fire motor units and muscle fibers faster will allow one to shave more time off and run a faster, more efficient race. This can be done with many different squatting, pushing and pulling variations with many sets of lower to moderate reps with lighter to moderate weights. For straight speed strength, 8-12 sets of 2-3 explosive reps works well. For speed strength endurance, 6-8 sets of 5-10 explosive reps works well. An exercise like the back squat would work well with this. Addressing Muscular Imbalances
Everybody has some type of imbalance that could be worked on. Runners tend to have more than average. The repetitive motion that is performed for an unbelievable number of steps tends to create problems. One big issue that tends to be common is hip imbalances. From my experience, a weak glute medius muscle on either one or both sides of the body is quite common. When this muscle doesn’t fire or do its job, the knee will cave and the foot will crossover during foot strike. This can cause knee, hip and/or back pain over time and repetition. Single leg movements such as lunge variations and glute med specific movements such as clam shells and side leg raises can help with this. This is just one of many possible imbalances. If it is one side, things tend to be worse.Performing Free Motion Functional MovementsRelying only on machines does nothing for performance. To train for performance, muscular coordination, balance, stabilization and movement patterns must all be addressed with exercise. This means that squatting, pulling, pushing, rotation and locomotive variations all better be addressed within a runner’s strength training program. (Unless you run while sitting down on a pad while the rest of your body is stabilized for you that is).If you run and are missing out on any of these things, you better get to work!!!
The proof and research is out there ladies. If you want to have a rockin body, you need to throw some weight around. Take a look at a couple of my clients doing some serious work here. Samantha weighs around 120, has a great body and trains hard to look like she does. In the videos shown here, she does 20 pushups (has since done 25), 8 pushups with chain and one arm push presses. She has squatted and deadlifted close to 200lbs. This would put a lot of guys in the gym to shame. When she started training over a year ago, she did about 8 pushups on a high incline. Guess what, she is not "bulky," is strong and has a great body.
If this doesn't motivate you other females to start lifting harder, I don't know what will.
You can also look at Jessica doing rack pulls like its her job. She lifts hard and has made amazing progress in her strength and body as well. I have plenty more vids to show, so let me know what you want to see and I'll put em up.
Those 2lb dumbbells, shake weights and 45 minute elliptical workouts are not going to give you the body you want. You must build muscle to get rid of fat and keep it off for good. There is simply no way around it. I have helped tons of females of all shapes, ages and sizes get in great shape and every one of them has pushed themselves with some hard strength training. Get to work!!!!
Having trouble getting you lifts up? Well, my training has been going great as of late and I wanted to share a little of what I have been doing. Today, I am going to focus on my bench/upper body training.
I have been doing max effort 5-3-1 cycles. As an example for one cycle, I have done a 2board bench press w/ mini bands. Week 1- work up to 2-3 max sets of 5 reps
Week 2- max sets of 3 reps
Week 3- max singles
Week 4- no heavy barbell work, rep work with pushups or dumbbells
Next cycle- Medium Grip Floor Press w/ chains
Week 1- max sets of 5
Week 2- max sets of 3
Week 3- max singles
Week 4- reps
This type of max effort cycling has been working great for me over the last 3 or 4 months and I have been hitting some nice PR's. This past Thursday, I worked up to 275lbs+~40lbs of chains for a triple on the floor press. I have been training with a medium/semi close grip as well to build my weaker point and get my triceps into my bench stroke more. If you don't know, floor presses are harder than regular bench since you have no leg drive and you pause on the floor. The closer grip I have been training with also makes it more challenging for me. So pressing what equals out to 315 at the top for a triple in this exercise makes me happy right now!! If I were to test my max in the regular bench right now, I am 99% sure I would set a real nice PR.
While this max effort cycling has worked well, the assistance work I have done has made a huge contribution as well.
First, I have made a big effort the entire year to bring my triceps up. It was something I hadn't particularly focused on for awhile and I realized needed to be done. Exercises I have hammered to bring them up and in turn raise my bench include rolling db extensions, elbows out extensions, incline extensions, overhead extensions, chain extensions, pushdowns, one arm tricep pushups and jm presses. Pressing with bands and chains with a closer grip has helped as well. If you read anything by any huge bencher, you will see that strong triceps are key to a big press. I hit them hard at least twice a week, doing 2 to 4 exercises of 3 to 5 sets each depending on which workout day it is. (One day, I might focus on triceps early on. On a max effort day, they are usually trained specifically later in the workout) I cycle from as low as 5 rep sets to as high as 15 rep sets for different exercises.
Second, I have done a lot to bring up specific upper back muscles, particularly my lower traps. Heavy chest supported rows, chest supported db rows and pullups to hit all of the major pulling muscles have been huge. For the scap musculature as a whole, face pull variations have helped. For specific lower trap work, I have hammered out lots of chest supported "I's," "Y's", and band "W's." While my back as a whole has been a strong point for quite some time, specific areas such as the lower traps lagged behind. After focusing on bringing things up to par, I feel much more stable when I press and my shoulders feel much better. When you bench, your upper back should be nice and tight so that you have a solid base to push from. You should be able to feel yourself almost rowing the bar down as your scapulae pinch. This makes you much stronger coming out of the bottom.
Heres how my workout from Thursday looked:
Floor Press w/ chains (add ~40lbs) 225lbsx3 245lbsx3 255lbsx3 265lbsx3 275lbsx3 PR 225lbsx10
High incline db press w/ pause 70lbs 3x8-10 55lbsx12
Chest supported db row 70lbsx6 80lbs 3x5 60lbsx8
Pullups 3x8
High to low face pull 110lbs 3x8
Incline elbows out extensions 45lbs 3x6-8/chain extensions 4x8-15
Incline hammer curls 45lbs 3x6-8/chain curls 3x8-15
Face pull x20
Extra workout: Chest Supported I's 15-20lbs, 3x8-12
Chest Supported Y's 10-12 lbs, 3x8-12
High to Low Face Pulls 3x15
Light db flies
Grip Work
I was amped up the entire workout and after I hit some solid floor presses, I was rolling the rest of the workout. I should note that I've been doing lots of db pressing with a pause at my chest, both flat and incline. This is helping me to be much stronger off of my chest. The weights drop down quite a bit to do them with a pause but it has been paying off.
My other upper day which will be done Sunday will focus on triceps early on and will have a larger emphasis on shoulder work as well.
Hope this gave you some ideas. Train hard!!!!
So I have received inquiries about exercises I do/have done with Dan, the marathon runner who had hip issues, that I train. I've been working on getting more videos taken. If you haven't already done so, be sure to read the hip impingement blog from months back. Here is a vid explaining some basic progressions I like to use to get the glute medius functioning better. Check it out.
One thing I want to point out. As you saw in the video, he flexed his hip when he first did the side leg raise. I then cued him into extension. He could be extended better than what we finished with; he was fatigued since we did this after his entire workout. When the hip flexes, that means that the tfl (abducts the hip just like the glute med, tends to become more dominant) is trying to do the work. So always be sure that the hip is extended fully when raising the leg up. The side leg raise is done against the wall first while actively pushing back into the wall with the heel to ensure that the glute is doing the work. The side leg raise shown here is done after.
As I said, it is very important to do multi joint exercises to get the muscle working in a "real time" environment. Single leg exercises Dan has done and progressed with include split squats, stepups, reverse lunges, forward lunges, and progression from dumbbells to barbells with each. Bulgarian split squats and one leg squats would be the next that I would use. Hip dominant exercises include one leg glute bridges, one leg rdl's, hip thrusts, band stomps and single leg reverse hypers. These all get the glute max nice and strong as well, which he lacked.
When we first started, his left glute med was much weaker than his right so extra sets were done for the left with the clam shells. I also used a band to teach him to keep his knee straight during single leg movements.
After a couple of phases with all unilateral movements, we added in some bilateral movements including plate squats, back squats, front squats, yoke bar squats, pull-throughs, rdl's, sumo rdl's, good mornings and reverse hypers (in different phases obviously).
On top of all of the glute work (his glute was not extending the hip like it was supposed to so the femur rubbed against the socket, hence the reason for so much glute work), his tfl, rectus femoris and psoas needed length (psoas actually needed some strength too). So plenty of stretching and mobility work has been done for these muscles. The hip flexor stretch I have previously shown has been a mainstay. It should also be noted that specific abdominal muscles play a role in what goes on at the hip and pelvis as well.( We will save that for another post.
He now has hardly any hip pain or clicking and has actually begun to get into some light running drills without issues. Doing what needs to be done in the weight room to help running performance and prevent injury is HUGE and hopefully more runners will begin to realize this. In a future post (hopefully soon future), I will discuss some of the energy systems training Dan has done to maintain and build his endurance while simultaneously strengthening his hips and fixing his problems. Stay tuned!!
Really?!
Performing exercises on an unstable surface such as a bosu ball or stability ball has been a "popular" practice over the years for some trainers and exercise enthusiasts. The claim is that performing exercises on an unstable surface such as a bosu ball will activate more stabilizers and train the "core." It is supposed to be more "functional." I hate to tell you (actually I love to), but there is absolutely nothing that is functional about doing an exercise standing on a bosu ball.
In the latest Strength and Conditioning Journal, there is a great writeup by Daniel Hubbard on whether or not unstable surface training is advisable for healthy adults. Looking at all of the research and a little bit of common sense, it is clearly not advisable at all. When a movement is performed on an unstable surface, some extra stabilizers are activated, yes, but the prime movers that are ever so important for real time functional activity are unable to produce the optimal force that they usually do, and have to contribute more to stabilization instead of doing their normal job. Why in the world would anybody want to inhibit the prime movers during an exercise? This makes one more susceptible to injury, hurts performance and can ruin movement patterns. It has also been shown that training on an unstable surface can alter neuromuscular recruitment that can conflict with normal training and activity on a regular surface. During exercise on an unstable surface, antagonists are actually activated more as the agonists produce less force. During normal exercise on a stable surface, antagonist activity usually stays the same or decreases. There is no logic or good reason to do this.
The one time that training on an unstable surface would be advised is to train proprioceptive awareness and balance, and reactive ability right after an injury or in certain individuals with specific balance or awareness issues.
I do like the stability ball for use in certain exercises such as stability ball leg curls and rollouts. However, this is a different story. I would never advise someone to stand on a stability ball to do an exercise as this can lead to injury and completely destroy proper motor control and firing patterns.
Don't believe me? Here are some published research studies to back this stuff up.
In a 2004 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research by Anderson and Behm, it was determined that neuromuscular recruitment was altered and that force output was diminished during unstable surface training. (1)
In a 2007 study by Cressey et al. it was shown that unstable surface training actually hurt performance improvements in young, healthy athletes. This is because there is no carry over from doing things on something like a bosu ball or inflatable disc (used in this study) to doing things in a real time activity. Like I said earlier, force output is less during this type of training which also hurts performance such as shown in this study. (2)
In a 2008 study by Nuzzo et al. it was shown that trunk muscle activity (or "core" activity) during stability ball exercise was less than progressive squat and deadlift exercises performed normally. The so called added "core" activity was supposed to be one of the magical benefits of doing these types of exercises. (3)
These are just a few studies. There are many many more that have consistently shown the same types of results. The fact of the matter is, progressing in the tried and true big bang exercises such as squatting variations, deadlift variations, chinups, etc. will make you stronger, hammer your core, improve proper neuromuscular control and movement patterns and improve performance and body composition better than any bosu ball, stability ball or disc will ever do.
References
1. Anderson KG and Behm DG. Maintenance of EMG activity and loss of force output with instability. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 18: 637-640, 2004.
2. Cressey EM, West CA, Tiberio DP, Kraemer WJ, and Maresh CM. The effects of ten weeks of lower body unstable surface training on markers of athletic performance. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 21: 561-567, 2007.
3. Nuzzo JL, McCaulley GO, Cormie P, Cavill MJ, and McBride JM. Trunk muscle activity during stability ball and free weight exercises. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 22: 95-102, 2006.
I recently had a new client come to me who was diagnosed with femoral acetabular impingement. What that basically means is that he has issues with the head of his femur rubbing against his hip socket. He is a marathon runner and this problem has been affecting his performance. Unfortunately, instead of finding out what exactly was going on that was contributing to his impingement, specialists that he saw went ahead and shaved some of the bone off. While this may or may not have been necessary, if imbalances that he has are not fixed, his problems could come back. As soon as I found out about his issue, I immediately suspected that he had glute and hip flexor issues. Thus, I checked his glute function and sure enough, it sucked. Then, I checked his hip flexor length and pretty much all of his flexors were very stiff and even short, especially psoas and tfl. This leads to the situation I've discussed previously, anterior tilt of the pelvis. The reason his femur is impinging is because of the fact that his glute is not pulling his hip into full extension because of the position he is in. His hamstrings try to extend his hip but without the help of his glute, it cannot be extended fully and properly and impingement comes about. What are we going to do to make things better? We are going to get some length in his hip flexors and get his glute firing on all cylinders. This will allow his glute to effectively pull his hip into proper extension, improve his running economy, get rid of his pain and problems and set him back on the road to record times. There are also some other things going on such as pelvic rotation and other issues up and down the kinetic chain such as ankle stiffness and shoulder imbalances. This condition CAN result from bony abnormalities and various pathologies and in these cases, surgery and physical therapy may be necessary. In many cases, muscular imbalances can be the root of the problem and with some proper training, symptoms can be resolved nicely. If you drive a car that is out of alignment long enough, eventually something is going to break down and you are going to find yourself stuck in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road hoping that you don't get stuck hitchhiking with some loon. You can think of the body and running the same way. If you run long enough with your body out of alignment, eventually something is going to give and you won't be running very far anymore. So if you must run, do yourself a favor and get your body a tuneup once in awhile. It will save you lots of trouble down the road. You can read more about running issues here. Check out a
The Db Arc Row is a great exercise that you don't see or hear about much. I picked this gem up during my time in the strength and conditioning program at UW-L. It will train all of the little stabilizers around your shoulder joint and is great for prehab.
To perform the arc row, set up as you would for a regular dumbbell row with hips back and a flat back; upper body close to parallel with the ground. Begin the exercise with a pronated grip (Palm towards your body). Move your arm out in an arc (hence the name arc row) and gradually supinate (palm facing away from body) your hand as you bring it back and touch your back pocket. Be sure to pinch your shoulder blade as you move towards the back. If you do not do this, you will just get shoulder extension which is not what we want. We want scapular retraction and external rotation. Once you touch your pocket with a supinated grip, rotate back around to the starting position with the same arc you used during the concentric portion of the exercise. These are best performed for 2-3 sets of 8 to 12 reps at the end of a workout or as part of an extra workout.
Give them a shot next time you train upper body!
Wasting his time with this
I have had a few new clients ask me why we don't do very many "machines." For some reason, they were under the impression that you had to use machines to get a good workout, which couldn't be farther from the truth. Here are a few reasons why free weight, free range of motion movements are a thousand times better than machines.
Free Weight Exercises Train Movement Patterns
Whether you are talking about a sport or activities of daily living, you need to train movements and not just muscles if you want to get optimal carryover from your training to your activity. Training compound, multi-joint movements such as squatting, pushing and pulling through a natural range of motion has much better carryover to other activities, and will build muscular awareness, balance and stability in multiple planes of motion. You cannot do this with most machines.
Machines Don't Train Stabilizers
When you perform machine exercises, the resistance is supported by the machine. All you need to do is move the weight through its permanently set path of motion. None of the smaller stabilizer muscles are called upon to perform the movement and thus are never trained or activated. When you return to a functional movement in sport or daily activity, this can lead to inhibited performance and injury. As an example, if you go from doing chest presses on a machine and then try performing a free weight bench press, you will be weak and you will shake as soon as you get some weight in your hands because you will have no stabilizers.
Machines Have a Set Range of Motion
Machines are built with a set range of motion for whatever exercise they are designed for. Everybody has different body structures with different lever lengths, joint angles, etc. If you have a specific limitation or condition somewhere along your kinetic chain, performing an exercise on a machine with a set motion pattern that your body is not built for can do much more harm than good.
Free Weight Exercises Train a Maximal Amount of Muscle Simultaneously
This kind of ties in with the first point, but when you perform multi joint free motion exercises, you stimulate a maximal amount of muscle simultaneously. This is ideal for any activity carryover as well as for fat loss. This does not happen with most machines. For example, lets take a look at the leg extension machine. With this machine, you sit down and simply extend your knee, working your quadriceps muscles alone. Never in any situation will your quadriceps work completely alone. They need to work together with the many muscles of your hips and other areas of your legs and core. In addition, this exercise puts lots of unneeded stress on your knee joint; thus, unless you have healthy knees, its contraindicated for a lot of people. Finally, performing a single joint motion such as this will not release fat burning or muscle building hormones and will not force your body to work very hard.
The back extension machine pictured up top is another good example. Simply leaning back and extending your low back is doing nothing. Your back needs to work together with your glutes and hamstrings. Promoting extreme ranges of motion in flexion and extension in the spine without any motion in the hips like the machine pictured above does, actually contributes to pain and injury instead of protecting against it.
In conclusion, if you want to build the best body possible, finally get rid of pain, or improve your performance as much as possible, you HAVE to train with free weight exercises. Now, I am not saying that ALL machines are bad. There are different types and categories of machines and there are some that are good and some that have their place in certain programs. They just have to be selected appropriately and put into the right area of a program. Hopefully this clears up some of the misinformation some of you may have seen or heard.
Wanna actually strengthen your back? Ditch the back extension machine and start doing deadlift variations. (Note I said back extension MACHINE and not back extensions, which are completely different and are actually useful :)
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