SAPT Contests through 4/12/15!
We've got some pretty cool contests planned all year long. To kick things off, here are the first two:
(Almost) Every Exercise is a Core Exercise!
Yesterday was an awesome day at SAPT. During our 3PM session, we had 6 athletes deadlifting at one time. Considering the deadlift is one of my favorite lifts, the sound of metal hitting the floor repeatedly was music to my ears. After sessions, I was fortunate enough to be able to train my sister, who I love very dearly. She's not the biggest fan of working out, which is pretty funny considering I literally cannot go 4 days without some form of exercise. Ask anyone who really knows me... If I've gone 3 or 4 full days without lifting, I'm going to be pretty grumpy, I won't really be able to give anything else my full attention, and I just won't be Charlie that you've all grown to tolerate.
Anywho, Lexie has been an awesome "client." She's made great progress and she's been doing her best to workout 3 times a week, even though she routinely works 10-12 hours a day. Last night, she came to the gym after a 10 hour shift even though I'm sure that's the last thing that she wanted to do. She's lost 20 pounds so far, and feels mentally and physically stronger than she has in a long time. I'm incredibly proud of her, and very fortunate that she's allowed me to help her over the past few months.
During our session, she was performing a set of stepback lunges and mentioned that she could really feel her core working. It surprised her because a stepback lunge is clearly a leg exercise, right? Not so fast... This may come as a shock, but a stepback lunge is a TOTAL BODY MOVEMENT! Let's break it down and take a look...
- This exercise is working your legs. Notice how I didn't say "This exercise is working your quads." Your body does not work in isolation. Every single muscle in your lower extremities has to contract, whether that be in an isometric, concentric, or eccentric fashion. Those are all fancy kinesiology terms for a muscle that is "resisting movement," "producing force while shortening," and "coming under tension/producing force as the muscle is stretched." Oftentimes, a muscle will contract in an isometric, concentric, and eccentric fashion at different times during the same movement. Lets take the glutes for example: As you stand tall, your glutes are short and, technically, are contracting in an isometric fashion to prevent your hips from flexing and your body from collapsing upon itself. As you take a step backward with your right leg, your left glute begins to undergo a stretch as the muscle lengthens. The glute has to contract ECCENTRICALLY as you near the bottom of the lunge in order to slow you down. If you were to pause at the bottom of the movement, that glute would need to contract ISOMETRICALLY to maintain your hip position. As your pop forward into the starting position, your left glute needs to contract CONCENTRICALLY as it shortens and extends your hips. Now that I've bored you with a bit of biomechanics, let's move on.
- This exercise is also working your arms! You're holding a weight at your chest. If, for some reason, the muscles in your arms and shoulders decided not to take action, the weight would drop out of your hands. Your back is also active, and this segues into our next point very nicely.
- THIS EXERCISE IS ALSO WORKING YOUR CORE/TRUNK/ABS/AXIAL SKELETON/WHATEVER YOUR WANT TO CALL THAT PORTION OF YOUR BODY THAT CONNECTS YOUR UPPER AND LOWER EXTREMITIES! I apologize for the caps, but I need to get my point across. Your core's main function is to aid in force transmission. During a stepback lunge, you're holding a heavy weight in your hands and your goal is to move it from point A to point B. For the sake of clarity, Point A is the bottom of the movement, Point B is the starting/ending point. Your legs need to create force and apply said force to the weight in your hands. Your trunk aids in that force transmission, and acts as an avenue for the force to be applied to the weight in order to move it's mass from Point A to Point B. If, for some ungodly reason, your core decided to completely shut off you would crumple into a heaping mass on the floor. We often see beginners who don't have adequate core strength stumble during these unilateral split-position movements. We watch their upper bodies teeter from side to side, desperately trying to find the stability that they need in order to stay upright.
The bottom line is, ask any normal gym-goer and they'll tell you a stepback lunge is a leg movement. This way of thinking is so misguided. It assumes that the body works in complete isolation. Now this isn't the fault of the individual, rather, it's the fault of society as a whole. Walk into any commercial gym and you'll see machine after machine after machine, each highlighting the 2 or 3 muscles that the exercise is working. It's incredibly frustrating for a strength coach such as myself. Flashback to college.... During my Methods of Human Nutritional Assessment class that I took at Virginia Tech (Go Hokies!), we had one module that was dedicated to introducing us to weight training. We hopped on the leg press, the leg extension machine, the lat pulldown station, and more. I couldn't believe they weren't teaching us how to squat, how to hinge at the hips while maintaining a neutral spine, how to press a load overhead maintaining proper anatomical positioning. I can honestly say that I learned more about my profession by reading blogs and textbooks, watching Youtube videos, and taking part in internships (VT S&C and SAPT) than in class. That is not to say that what I learned in school did not help. Kinesiology and Exercise Physiology were vital in understanding the basics and principles of exercise science. If you want to be a trainer, go to college. Yes, you can take an online certification course and skip that step, but you're missing out on the foundation. That foundation is what will give you the critical thinking skills to scrutinize training philosophies and decide whether their underlying principles are sound.
Now, after that little rant, let's get back to the title of this article. Almost every exercise that you perform at the gym (at least at SAPT because we're friggin' awesome) is targeting your core in some way, shape, or form. Occasionally, we'll get the client who asks to perform more core exercises. It makes me chuckle inside, because if only they knew... That deadlift you just performed? Your last set of squats? The 30-40 pushups that you've knocked out over the course of a session? Yup, you guessed it. All working your core. Anytime an exercises demands that you maintain a neutral spine, your core musculature is working overtime to prevent your hips from sagging and maintain that rigid trunk that allows for efficient force transmission. I really hope this article has helped you look at exercises in a different light. I hope that it reaches the people who actually need to read it. Over the past year or so, I've had a few of my friends ask me to help them with their exercise routine. I always ask them what kind of routine they've been on prior to seeking me out, and 99% of the time it goes something like this... "Mon is chest and tris, Tues is back and bis, Thurs is shoulders and core, and Fri is legs." If you've gotten this far, I don't need to explain why this makes me want to run my head into a brick wall. These are the people that this article needs to reach. If you know someone like this, share it with them. Maybe they'll hop on a 3x/week full-body program, or a 4x/week push/pull routine as a result. They'll be thanking you once they realize how long they've been spinning their wheels.
As always, please reach out if you could use my help. Our main mission here at SAPT is to help as many people as humanly possible. We're in the service industry, so please, let us serve you. Also, in the next few weeks we're going to be launching a huge sale on training packages as well as expanding our facility to double its current size. The sale is going to last 2 WEEKS ONLY, so take advantage of it before it's too late. If you aren't in the area, we also provide distance coaching and fitness consultations. Just ask. What's the worst that could happen?
EDIT:I had a reader (Scott Van Zandt) make a very astute observation while reading this article. He mentioned that we need to make a distinction between what an exercise TARGETS, and what an exercise WORKS. For example, the deadlift targets the lifter's posterior chain, but it works almost every single muscle in the human body. This is absolutely correct. Revisiting the article, the stepback lunge does indeed target the lower extremities, but it also works almost every muscle in the body, just like the deadlift. I love that Scott made this observation, as it doesn't take away from anything said in this article, but it provides me with a fantastic idea for a follow-up post. Next week, we'll talk about weak points that hold experienced lifters back in a given lift, and what the most effective method for bringing up this weak link is. Bravo Scott. Thanks again for input.
Lateral Speed and Agility: It Starts in The Gym
Lateral speed and agility is a concept that can easily (and mistakenly) be overlooked when developing a sports performance program for an individual or team. It’s easy to get caught up in dropping an athlete’s 40 yard time and shuttle times. It can be harder to step back and notice that many sports are played in side moving patterns and at various angles requiring athletes to turn and change direction multiple quickly and frequently. The first portion of this post will focus on the strength training techniques to help the lateral athlete. Because we expect the body to move in a variety of planes on the field or court is important that we train the athlete in a manner that supports this. The basis of lateral speed and agility will be strength. Just like straight-ahead speed, the greater the amount of force one can apply to the ground the faster he or she will move. Here at SAPT we use a variety of tools and exercises to enhance an athlete’s ability to apply force and change directions. Below I’ve listed a few of the simple exercises that could add value to your program with videos courtesy of the crew at Concentric Brain.
Abductor Wall Slides
http://youtu.be/f_hYfkzJ1c0
This is probably my favorite exercise to program for beginners. It takes minimal equipment, works like a charm, and is novice friendly. The range of motion for this exercise may start small and increase over time but it is important extremely important the athlete does not rotate away from the wall with their low back or hike up their hip to find additional range.
Lateral Lunges
http://youtu.be/OMMX4F8zxdU
Lateral lunges are a fantastic exercise to build strength in the quads, hips, and hamstrings. These are all key players in getting players to effectively move side to side.
Lateral Sled Drags
http://youtu.be/hLzmj29I65s
Sled drags are a beginner friendly exercise that allows for many different training outcome based on the loading. For strength days a heavier load could be pulled with a crossover step shown in the video while lighter loads can be reserved for technique days.
Mini Band Lateral Walks
http://youtu.be/JdJWmgu-_iI
Mini bands walks are a fun way to train the muscles of the hip while also challenging torso strength and stability. Two cues I like to hammer home when having athletes perform this exercise is to keep tension on the band throughout the entire set and keep the torso tall and limit rocking.
Check back next week as we take a closer look into some of the drills and exercises we use outside of gym to help lateral athletes get better.
Powerlifting Training for Sports
You must clearly understand the difference between basic training and special physical preparation. [SPP] is different for everybody; one beats up on a tire with a sledgehammer, another does figure eights with a kettlebell, and someone incline presses. Basic training is roughly the same in all sports and aims to increase general strength and muscle mass. Powerlifting was born as a competition in exercises everybody does.
— Nikolay Vitkevich
Don't you want to know more?
I wrote a guest post over at Concentric Brain you can read it HERE.
3 Overhead Press Variations You Aren't Doing
There's nothing more rewarding or manly than taking a heavy weight and shoving it overhead. It's actually a requirement for boys before they can start growing their beards. How the weight gets from point A to B can make a huuuuuge difference on the training effect and your orthopedic health. Many newbs will make the mistakes of hyperextending their back, getting some push from their legs and fidgeting the weight up, not respecting the technique and poise it requires to to execute a strict overhead press. **Just a note, if you're an overhead athlete or if you do not have proper mobility/scapular mechanics, you should not press overhead. It will most likely end up hurting you. If you're not sure if your shoulders are up for it, I recommend reading this article by Todd Bumgardner to find out.**
What's more is that many trainees will often times only stick with one overhead press variation, limiting their progress and shoulder function. Walk into any commercial gym and you'll mainly see peeps pressing dumbells overhead. If you're lucky, you might spy a barbell press. These are both fine variations, but if they're the only two overhead pressing exercises in your repertoire, you're really missing out on optimizing your shoulder mechanics and strength.
Do you like to push a kettlebell overhead every once in a while? That's great! The off-centered load and more centripetal movement of kettlebell pressing, in my mind, makes it more advantageous than it's dumbell counterpart. The traditional movement of the exercise covers more plains of motion and challenges more wrist and rotator cuff strength. Do you turn the bell upside down now and then for a bottoms up press? Awesome! You're training total-body tension, grip strength, and teaching yourself how to drive through the weight's center of gravity(which is a very useful skill for moving weight). These are also great variations that everyone should know about. For today though, we are going to cover 3 press variations that not everyone knows about.
The Z Press
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqcauQS0U6s
Pressing strength, anterior core stability and hip mobility, oh my! This variation seems to challenge it all. It's become a favorite of mine for really reinforcing good torso mechanics during the press. It also will reveal your actual limitations by preventing any excessive extension of the back(which seems to be everyone's go-to cheat) and taking out the legs. This clearly shows any sticking points you may have during the movement so that you can program to break through them accordingly.
If your hip mobility is lagging, then you can try sitting on a 45 lb plate or two to decrease the amount of hip flexion required. If you find that you all of the sudden can't lock out your press when trying this variation, then it's a sign that you probably haven't earned the right to overhead press yet. Back to Todd's article you go!
The video above shows me using a barbell, but you can really lift whatever you want: swiss bar, dumbell(s), kettlebell(s), I've even heard of people getting crazy with some sandbags.
The Javelin Press
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t5shgOhKyE
Remember how I was saying that it's very useful to learn how to lift through an object's center of gravity? Well here ya go! This variation will also help you with your wrist strength and challenge your shoulder stability in a very unique way. The long bar will be teetering at your wrist, this will cause you to have to shift weight and adduct/abduct your wrist to adjust very minutely. You can also press the bar similar to a kettlebell, going from a neutral to slightly externally rotated position. I find myself doing this during higher rep sets(old habits die hard). The momentum the bar gets from this slight rotation will need to be stabilized within the transverse plane, at the shoulder, wrist and elbow.
Whereas the Z press may help you overcome torso and leg cheats, this is going to help the overall efficiency and strength of the drive from your shoulders. One thing that I found to help get accustomed to this movement is to position the exact center of the bar closer to the ulnar side of my hand, it makes it waaaay easier to balance. You will also want to make sure that you do not lose good torso and hip positioning while pressing, especially if you maintain a neutral grip position such as shown. This is made harder by the bar's teetering. You may not be able to tell, but I am actually squeezing my butt and maintaining tension through my anterior core to maintain a neutral pelvis.
The Bent Press
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8hSaCTLnYE
For those that don't know, that's a 48 kilo kettlebell he's got. He's called, "The Iron Tamer," for a reason. This movement takes advantage of structure and position, making it by far one of the most technical overhead press variations. For that same reason, once you've mastered the technique, you can use some pretty ridiculous weight. It's actually an exercise that the old-school strong men used to use to showcase their manliness.
If you haven't yet noticed, a large part to the overhead press is keeping the weight in line with your center of gravity so you have a better line of push. The bent press capitalizes on this and teaches you to really get yourself under the weight, keep tension and use your whole body as a driver. Think of it as a turkish get up mixed with a press in terms of actual goal of the movement. You will need very good hip mobility, thoracic rotation and healthy shoulders to accomplish this exercise. It puts your body in a very unique position to challenge loading of the hips, core tension and shoulder stability/strength; Because of this, it will carryover to more than just your press.
This is definitely not an exercise I would just try to go out and muscle it up. Most people will require some coaching to get it right. I personally am still in the infancy of training this movement and stay relatively light. It serves as a great extended warm up while you're still learning. If you're interested in making this move part of your next program, I'd recommend reading Dave's Book.
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Developing Rotational Strength, Speed, and Power
Developing Rotational Strength, Speed, and Power Developing rotational strength, speed, and power is an incredibly important skill in many sports. Baseball, softball, lacrosse, and certain field events, such as the shotput or discus, are the obvious sports that require rotational proficiency, but nearly every athlete will benefit from putting in their due diligence with rotational movement training. Today’s blog post will dive into SAPT’s methods for developing these attributes, and how we use Concentric Brain to develop templates to expedite the process
Step 1: Develop proper mobility – especially through your thoracic spine!
It’s extremely important to assess your clients/athletes prior to having them train with you. SAPT’s Evaluation Specialist, Jarrett Brummett, developed our movement screen using the FMS and SFMA. The evaluation allows us to assess our client’s level of preparedness before starting them on a strength and conditioning program. It ensures that we start them with the appropriate level of intensity and it provides us with information to indicate or contraindicate certain exercises.
A lot of the time, people walk in our doors with fairly immobile thoracic spines, compensating by rotating through their lumbar segments. One of the first things that we’ll work on in these instances are increasing their ability to move through their thoracic spine and hips, as well as improving their scapular glide and control. Below are a few of our “go-to” thoracic spine and shoulder mobilizations.
Step 2: Develop sufficient core stability.
I don’t think I need to harp on the multitude of reasons why core stability is important, but what you may not know is that your core is built to resist, not necessarily create, movement. Imagine a running back hitting the hole, 200+ lb defenders clawing at his shoulder and hip pads trying to bring him down. He’ll need to be very strong through his midsection to resist these forces, break the tackles and keep plowing forward. Concentric Brain provides a long list of anti-movement core exercises, and I’ll list a few below.
- Anti-Extension: Planks, Ab Rollouts, Deadbugs (also contains a rotary component)
- Anti-Rotation: Pallof Press Variations, Anti-Rotation Medicine Ball Throws, SA PUPP Holds
- Anti-Flexion: Good Mornings, Deadlifts, Hip Hinge Drills
- Anti-Lateral Flexion: Side Planks, SA Farmer Carries
As you can see Concentric Brain’s 11,000 exercise library is categorized in such a way that you can easily pick exercises based on the movements (or anti-movements in this case) they consist of. The software also makes including these anti-movements in a “Core Stability for Rotational Power” template incredibly easy!
Step 3: Introduce Rotational Movements
After ensuring the athlete has adequate thoracic mobility and core stability, we will begin introducing rotational movements to the athlete’s program. These include medicine ball throw variations and single-arm rowing variations that include some thoracic spine rotation. Medicine ball “power” oriented movements are great to incorporate in the beginning of a session when the athlete is first learning them. As they become more proficient, gain strength, and begin to enter intermediate status, these exercises can be used in conditioning circuits or as “finishers” to teach the fast-twitch fibers how to produce force repeatedly, even in a semi-fatigued state. You can set up templates in Concentric Brain for both of these situations; making an “Intro to Rotational Movements” and an “Advanced Rotational Athlete” template that will allow you to plan ahead and include the movements at various times in the workout to target different physiological adaptations.
Step 4: Introduce Advanced Rotational Movement
If you’ve reached this point, you’re on the right track. Your athlete has great core stability, enabling them to generate and transmit force through their torso, and has developed an awareness for rotating through their thoracic spine and hips while keeping their lumbar spine neutral. The neural changes that take place in the early stages of skill development have occurred, and it’s now time to work on some serious rotational force and power development.
Although the volume will ultimately be left up to you, Concentric Brain does provide suggestions. The software also has quite a few advanced variations that should not only satisfy your athletes craving for variety, but also develop rotational speed and power in a variety of different ways. Below are a few video examples of the variations we like to use at SAPT.
