Guest Post: Anterior Humeral Glide
Ryan Wood has been given the green light to go hog-wild on a post for this week. Below is what he came up with... be warned, it's good - real good. Ryan may just find himself a regular weekly contributor soon: I’ve noticed a growing trend amongst gym goers that is possibly more annoying to look at than guys wearing skinny jeans. That trend is what’s called Anterior Humeral Glide (AHG). AHG, for simplicity’s sake, is the excessive forward glide of the humeral head during a wide variety of exercises but especially during vertical and horizontal pulls. You can see the problem clearly on exercises like a double or single arm horizontal row. Below is a video of a double arm band row performed incorrectly with AHG present.
Incorrect Row with AHG. Notice the head of the humerus moving anteriorly. This is due to an inability to properly retract the scapulae.
There are a number of problems as to why AHG during an exercise is not a good thing, but the two biggest ones are: 1. You’re flat out going to tear up your shoulder over time; welcome to impingement city. 2. You are in no way, shape, or form getting any benefit out of the exercise. The whole point in doing a row variation is to strengthen the upper back, most notably the scapular retractors (rhomboids and mid/lower trapezius) which you totally miss when you fail to properly perform the exercise.
So how do we address the problem in order to help out the athlete/client? First, check out the video below to see what a correct row looks like without AHG present. Correct Row with Proper Form. Notice in the performance of the row that the head of my humerus does not glide forward. The retraction of the scapulae causes the humerus to align correctly.
Believe it or not some individuals just might not be ready for an actual row; they need a progression. If you find yourself faced with an athlete in this situation, it would be wise to fill their program with exercises that focus solely on the scapular retractors. This will force them to be aware of how to use them effectively. You can saturate their program with this work early on in the session or hammer the movements in their warm-ups… either way, just keep in mind that for someone who has difficulty with scapular retraction, this is hard work! So, let them be fresh and able to concentrate while they work on the form (just like you would make sure an advanced athlete performs the compound lifts at the beginning of a session). Three exercises that can be used to teach scapular retraction:Banded Scapular Retraction
Prone I’s
Band Pullaparts
Coaching cues are a must when a row (or any exercise, really) is involved. If the athlete is not coached in the right way they can not be expected to perform the movement correctly. Here a few coaching cues to ensure retraction.
• Place your finger between the scapulae and tell them to pinch your finger
• Have them imagine pinching a pencil in between the shoulder blade as they retract
• A favorite of Coach Romo’s is to ask them how they would walk on the beach, and then proceed to tell them to stick their chest out!
• The best one of all in my opinion is for you to physical direct their humerus back as they are doing a retraction exercise or a row. Over time they will become aware of what it feels like to retract their scapulae
An exercise is only useful if performed correctly. Retract away my friends!
Friday Distractions
I found some great reads this week about everything from how training changes your genetics to why you shouldn't make your kids finish their meals. I've also made an effort to keep your interest by adding in some "Friday" related images from a Google search (and, believe it or not, these were actually the best ones...): With all the current discussion about minimalist/barefoot running style shoes, Runblogger points out that the best approach to finding the right fit for your feet is an individualized one: On Human Variability, Running Shoes, and Running Form: The Importance of an Individualized Approach.
Sweat Science brings amazing quality - as always - here are several fascinating posts I encourage you to check out: Training Changes Your Genetics (or rather, epigenetics), Is Leisure Time Physical Activity Irrelevant?, and Good Diet Trumps Risk of Heart Disease.
Science Daily has a post on a study that links the number of Facebook friends one has with the number of real world friends and the size of a certain region of the brain. I wonder what it means if you don't have a Facebook account?... I'm pretty skeptical about this one, but it's a fun read: Number of Facebook Friends Linked to Size of Brain Regions, study suggests
Lastly, an excellent post by Maryann Tomovich Jacbosen for Fooducate: The Annoying Kids' Eating Habit Parents Should Adopt. In this post, Maryann points out how children are naturally excellent at regulating their own caloric intake and that skill is lost over time as parents often encourage their children to ignore feelings of satiety and "finish everything on your plate."
Teaching Triple Extension
Want to work on improving everything from linear sprint speed, power, change of direction, force production, vertical jump, and deceleration strength? I know, who doesn’t, right? These qualities should be included in the very definition of athletic success.
The triple extension is a huge key aspect to unlocking all of these qualities in concert. It is also the component that is common through virtually all the movements that come to mind when thinking about the ideal strong, fast, and powerful athlete. Some good examples are a wrestler shooting, a sprinter coming off the blocks, throwers at the point of release, the vertical jump in a volleyball attack, etc.
What is Triple Extension?
Triple extension is the simultaneous extension of three joints: ankle, knee, and hip. Getting all of these areas to extend powerfully at the perfect moment is a beautiful and natural occurrence. Mess it up and, well, it looks really bad…
Why should Triple Extension be taught, developed, and progressed?
Again, if you’re looking to unlock and develop the athletic potential in yourself or an athlete under your guidance, then triple extension work is a must. Perfection of this movement during training will result in a faster, more powerful athlete on the court, field, or mat. And if you’re faster and more powerful, you WILL be more successful and less injury prone.
Teaching Progressions:
- Basic Bodyweight Strength Exercises – pushups, pull-ups, body weight squats, body weight lunges, etc. should all be considered foundational portions of any athletic development program and should NEVER be skipped. Trust me, no one is “too advanced” for this type of work. These movements have their place in any program whether they appear in the warm-up or the body of the training session.
- Medicine Ball Overhead Throw – this particular exercise allows triple extension to occur. However, I like using other MB variations to teach a powerful hip extension like a Scoop Throw. I suggest 2-3 sets of 4-6 repetitions for beginners and 3 sets of 2-5 repetitions for more advanced athletes.
- Broad Jump and Vertical Jump Variations – these are fantastic because you can add subtle variations almost endlessly to increase or decrease intensity/difficulty for every athlete’s needs. Plus, this is a great opportunity to teach takeoff and landing technique to avoid the dreaded and dangerous knee collapse. Common variations I use regularly include: broad jump, burpee to broad jump, single leg broad jump, vertical jump, hot ground to vertical jump, vertical jump to single leg landing, etc, etc, etc… Sets and reps are the same as med balls at 2-3 sets of 4-6 repetitions for beginners and 3 sets of 2-5 repetitions for more advanced athletes.
- Sprint Variations – Numbers 1-3 are progressed over the course of at least 12-weeks for beginners (less for more advanced athletes), sprinting variations can be added to encourage exceptional high quality triple extension repetitions. Generally for this application of sprints the distance should be kept quite short. I find 5-20 yards hits the right spot. At this point we should be dealing with an athlete that can, minimally, be considered “intermediate” in level and with that qualification I suggest 6-20 sets of 1-3 repetitions at a distance of 5-20 yards. The higher the number of sets, the shorter the distance and the lower the number of reps should be. Oh, and be sure to allow for full recovery for achieving power and speed development.
- Speed Squats – Hands down my favorite style of lower body exercise. This movement type teaches athletes how to produce force by pushing hard into the ground and accelerating up as fast as possible. These variations include the traditional Speed Squat, Wave Squat, and Jump Squat. Speed squat variations should ONLY be used with ADVANCED athletes. I suggest 6-10 sets of 2-3 reps with about 45-seconds rest between sets. Weight should be kept at 55-65% of the athlete’s 1RM squat.
- Olympic Lifting Variations – Please take note that this is the absolute last suggestion of my list of progressions for teaching the Triple Extension, but it is the variation that inexperienced (and in my opinion misguided) coaches frequently jump to first. Olympic lift variations have their place with highly advanced and elite level athletes. However, I rarely use them. Why? Because through my experience I have found that one can elicit faster and greater gains via cycling through numbers 1-5. However, I do use them sparingly with some athletes. I have to admit the athleticism required for Oly lifts can make executing them a lot of fun, but there is a requirement of athleticism!! It makes me sick to my stomach how many coaches are on some kind of auto-inclusion of each and every Olympic variation for each and every athlete. What a mistake! Including these in a program too soon leads to poor form and execution which means you’re not getting that much bang-for your-buck with the movements (i.e., wasting time) and would be better off regressing to something more straightforward. Anyway, some great variations include the jump shrug, high pull, hang clean, etc. Keep the sets moderate and reps LOW.
You really can’t make a mistake if you cool your jets and follow this progression slowly. Remember, untrained athletes will get stronger and faster with very little stimulus. So take your time and learn to enjoy and respect the process!
The Only Tool You Need for New PRs
Want to instantly improve your total body strength with a simple piece of household equipment? Read on.
The first thing I noticed when I walked into SAPT for my initial interview was that all of the athletes seemed to have a towel in hand. Looping them through kettlebells, wrapping them around barbells, hanging them over pullup bars, you name it, the towels were being used for it. As I walked through the facility, a high school guy nearly ran me over as he scurried across the room holding a towel looped through few kettlebells.
Didn’t take me long before I looked at the President of SAPT and asked her:
“So, uh, what’s with all the towels?”
Continue Reading....
(The link above takes you to my most recent OneResult article)
Cross-Training by Lifting Weights...?!?
Cross-Training by Lifting Weights – that’s the title of a New York Times article I found online. I like to peruse the Health section of the NY Times in an attempt to stay abreast of what mainstream people are reading regarding the health/fitness industry. Why the NY Times? They present researched information and, it seems, are genuinely interested in helping those attempting to navigate through all things Health related (not trick them into buying products or creating anxiety by twisting facts).
You may want to know if I read “muscle magazines” too – I do not… generally speaking, they’re all full of absolute nonsense.
Here’s an excerpt from the article:
“A more recent study of experienced runners by a group of Norwegian researchers confirmed that weight lifting could increase performance. One group did half squats with heavy weights three times a week while continuing a running program. The other group just ran. Those who did the squats improved their running efficiency and improved the length of time they could run before exhaustion set in…
… It is not known why weight lifting would improve performance, but investigators speculate that it may train supporting muscle fibers in the legs, allowing runners or cyclists to use them to augment muscles that get tired.”
Did you read the bolded portions?... I’ll wait while you read it again and let it sink in a bit…
1. It IS known why weight lifting improves performance even in “experienced” (code for endurance) runners: strength training improves endurance by improving the mechanisms responsible for improving running economy. Things like posture, leg turnover, reducing perceived effort, reducing injuries, improving speed (especially up hills and on uneven terrain) are all the amazing and, apparently, “not known” by-products of a strength training program.
2. Can you imagine the improvements that would have been recorded by having this group use a program that involved more than just 3x/week of half-squats? Well, I can! If this programming were in the hands of an experienced professional strength coach, this group of test subjects could look forward to getting way more bang-for-their-buck. A periodized plan containing unilateral (see example video below) and other accessory movements plus special physical preparation exercises would no doubt blow the control group out of the water!
The NY Times makes a great effort to present unbiased information, but I would love to see more depth in their fitness articles. The research already exists and their readers can handle it!
If you’re ready to join the mighty training ranks of SAPT and be guided by a group of coaches that is not the least bit surprised by the above findings, then don't wait one more second and contact us here!
A Little Bit About Knee Injuries
Why Do Knee Injuries Occur?1. Poor biomechanical alignment 2. Suboptimal muscle function and strength 3. Poor mobility at adjacent joints 4. Poor strength in surrounding musculature 5. Excessive tension in surrounding muscle and fascia 6. Overuse Types of Knee Injuries 1. Acute knee injuries are those that occur in a moment – as in "if you blink at the wrong moment you’ll miss it" kind of thing. Acute knee injuries result in ligament tears, meniscal tears, etc. By taking a small mental step forward, acute knee traumas can further be classified into two separate categories: contact and non-contact injury.
Anytime I find out an athlete I work with has sustained the ever popular ACL tear the first thing I want to know is if it was a contact situation or not. Why? Because in the situation of a contact injury, there is really nothing that can be done to avoid sustaining that ACL tear (or insert your own injury of choice). In fact, the knee in question can often be functioning perfectly without any strength imbalances or deficiencies whatsoever. And that means that there was an outside force that initiated the injury sequence. A good example is that of a soccer player who is slide tackled. If the foot is planted as the impact occurs, say goodbye to continued knee health and hello to months of therapy. Even the most “perfect” knee will usually not make it out of that situation unscathed.
On the other hand, a non-contact injury typically occurs because the athlete is not strong enough to decelerate his or her own body mass safely. For example, if a basketball player goes to plant and cut and the knee simply “goes-out.” In this instance there was no contact to blame, instead the cause is simply lack of strength (with probable issues of joint restriction about certain joints, too). Chronic Myofascial Injury This is another extremely popular knee injury amongst young athletes. This one is very general and more of the “my knee hurts” kind of pain in which there are no signs of traumatic injury of any kind. In reality, this isn’t so much a knee injury, as a problem with the muscle tissue. My caution here is if you are a coach be sure you don’t write off these types of complaints as unfounded because this is a real problem that should be addressed by improving movement techniques and taking a look at the volume of work (so, think improve strength and address overuse). Chronic Joint Injury These are the old injuries that really settle in as we age and usually affect people that have had serious knee pain or have been dealing with a traumatic injury for and extended period of time. “Current literature indicates that a one-time trauma (such as an ACL tear) significantly increases the probability of knee osteoarthritis, pain, and functional limitations later in life.” – Bulletproof Knees In the case of chronic joint injury, performance improvements are no longer important. At this point the emphasis must be placed on improving the comfort of daily living, longevity of the joint, and avoiding major surgery.
10 Things You Must Do for Healthy Knees 1. Get your glutes firing!!! 2. Strengthen the posterior chain 3. Lots-O-Single-leg work 4. Strengthen the quads 5. Work frequently to improve hip mobility (like it’s going out of style) 6. Address ankle mobility 7. Maintain and improve tissue length 8. Maintain and improve tissue quality 9. LEARN TO ABSORB FORCE CORRECTLY!!! (This one is crucial, but you must have already gone through a focused period working on numbers 1-8 before attacking force absorption whole-heartedly) 10. Improve diet and supplementation (when appropriate)
So, where/how should you get started? The obvious answer is to click here and start training with us in-person or via our distance program. Buuuuuuut, if you're really eager, here is a great starter exercise that will knock out at least 5 or the 10 listed above: Stepback Slider Lunges
Many thanks to Mike Robertson's excellent source on all things knee related in Bulletproof Knees - I've referenced it many times over the last two years and leaned on it heavily for this post, too.
