Hyena Butt?
Today, one of the Mason interns was troubled and confused as to why he couldn't achieve a below parallel squat without his pelvis slipping into posterior tilt, and lumbar spine into flexion . I describe this squatting mistake as "hyena butt." Come on, you've seen a hyena run…Their butt is always tucked in toward their front haunches…Or maybe it looks more like a scared dog tucking its tail…Whatever you want to call it, it’s not good. Here’s what’s happening or not happening when you see it, and some techniques to help remedy the situation. Weak psoai are the primary culprit of hyena butt. Because few actively achieve hip flexion above 90 degrees (psoai aren’t activated below 90 degrees) during their weekly routines, the psoai become dormant. In situations requiring a significant amount of hip flexion, such as a below parallel squat, weak psoai will limit one’s ability to maintain proper pelvic anterior tilt, causing one to draw ROM from the lumbar spine. This compensation leads to the hyena butt.
Being able to maintain proper lumbar spine alignment during hip flexion is significant for a couple reasons. First, without proper lumbar spine alignment, hamstring and glute function will be compensated significantly limiting the generation and transmission of force. Second, lazy posai will often cause the other flexors of the hip to become tight and overactive. Frequent knee and back pain can be experienced with imbalances in this area. Lastly, the shear stress imposed on the spine during lumbar flexion is tremendous. Slap a couple hundred pounds on your back, as you would during a below parallel squat, then round that lower back (hyena butt), and by god you’ve mixed yourself a delicious cocktail called disc herniation…best if enjoyed supine.
But, there is still hope for all my hyena butt friends. There are a variety of drills to strengthen the psoai. They require quite a bit of precision, careful progression and typically the watchful eye of coach. Here's one taken from our online database of exercises used to coach our distance clients. It's called the "seated psoas march." Coaching cues include, sitting with the knees just above 90 degrees; point toes-up; lift foot off of ground while maintaining a neutral spine (lower back shouldn't move!).
So come see us at, SAPT!
Chris
CrossFit: Friend or Foe?
Due to the number of questions I've received - both in person and via email - regarding my thoughts on CrossFit, I thought it'd be best to briefly touch on this in a blog post. CrossFit has been rapidly growing in popularity among athletes and general fitness enthusiasts alike, and there's no doubt the training philosophy/method of CrossFit is a hot topic on the internet, largely due to the fact of how controversial it is. Before I continue, it's important I make a couple clarifying statements:
- I do not personally "do CrossFit," but the purpose of this post is not to bash another approach to training. I think it's about time we cease getting our underwear up in a bunch because someone has a different way of training than we do (this goes for CrossFitters and non-CrossFitters alike). Also, I feel quite strongly against putting someone (or, I guess in this case, something else) down in order to build myself up. If you're so insecure about your beliefs, values, methods, etc. that your first instinct is to berate someone else in order to make yourself look good, then you have many other problems to worry about other than the fact that someone else believes something different than you do. Let's save the bad-mouthing and finger pointing for the politicians, shall we?
- The concerns I'm going to address are exclusively related to the CrossFit main site, NOT every CrossFit coach/gym/affiliate out there. I am well aware that there are some VERY qualified coaches running CrossFit gyms, and more power to them. For instance, Kelly Starrett of the Mobility Project is preaching a fantastic message by encouraging everyone improve their movement quality via specific mobility drills. John McBrien advocates the prioritization of technique over volume, which is something that CrossFitters are often accused of ignoring. Similarly, there are countless other instructors out there that ensure safe and effective programming/teaching of their clients.
Moving on, I'll do my best to answer the question as succinctly as possible. Understand that my thoughts are largely based off the population I work with (primarily high school and college athletes), and, again, I'm addressing concerns specifically related to what is publicly posted on the main site, not at everyone who works under the CrossFit umbrella.
Were I to coach within a CrossFit affiliate, here are a few "tweaks" I would make in my own programming, compared to the main site "WOD:"
1. Individualize the Programs
Taken directly from the website, everyone performing the WOD (or "Workout of the Day") does the exact same thing, albeit with different loads/intensities:
Our program delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive. Our specialty is not specializing. Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, punish the specialist.
The CrossFit program is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience. We’ve used our same routines for elderly individuals with heart disease and cage fighters one month out from televised bouts. We scale load and intensity; we don’t change programs.
The needs of Olympic athletes and our grandparents differ by degree not kind. Our terrorist hunters, skiers, mountain bike riders and housewives have found their best fitness from the same regimen.
This, right here, is the largest red flag. Maybe it's because I worked as a physical therapist aid, completed rotations in cardiac rehab clinics, and now work as a performance coach, but I can confidently say that I would train an elite athlete far differently than I would train an elderly individual whose heart is on the brink of failing. To do otherwise would be inconsiderate and downright dangerous.
Should most people squat? Yes. Should most people learn to pick heavy things off the ground? Yes. I can see where they're coming from there. However, I don't think there's any denying that each and every person has a unique training history, medical history, training goals, etc. that warrant an individual program written for that specific person.
Using just one example, throughout this Summer we (SAPT) have been working with a Division 1, national-level sprinter who is pretty darn close to his genetic potential. During his particular hour of training, we also work with a 41-year old man who sits at a desk 40+ hours per week. To give these individuals the exact same program (even with different loads/intensities), would be ignoring the fact that safe and effective programming is a precise course of action centered around the unique needs, deficiencies, and goals of each person under our watch.
Furthermore, many of the routines place tremendous stress on the shoulder girdle (ex. high volume of overhead pressing, muscle-ups, ring dips, etc.). Not that this is always unwarranted (remember: there's no such thing as contraindicated exercises, just contraindicated lifters), but - for the overhead athletes I work with - these routines could quickly lead down the road of surgery and PT rather than championship titles.
Again, I realize that many CrossFit instructors don't operate under the exact wording of the quote on the website, and I'm not sure how literal the authors intended their statement to be, so I can't completely judge. I would just personally choose to take a different approach to programming.
2. Incorporate Unilateral Work
Every main site WOD I've looked at is composed of bilateral lifts, exclusively. While there's no denying that squats and deadlifts should be a staple of most programs, there is still a training effect that can only be attained by working one limb at a time.
Given that the majority of athletics involve planting one foot on ground at a time (read: running), unilateral work can be a fantastic tool for physical preparation of sport. Single-leg (and single-arm) exercises simply address asymmetries, injury risk reduction, and key muscular stabilizers in a manner that bilateral movements do not. Not to mention, single-leg variations can also be extremely practical for someone who is not meant to squat (due to injury or biomechanical make-up).
3. Form Should Never Be Compromised In Training. Ever.
My number one goal as a strength coach is to keep my athletes and general fitness clients free of injury. As Dan John recently wrote:
It is "almost" okay to get injured in competition, but it's insane to get hurt in preparation
Due to the incredibly high volume, and low/zero rest periods, in most of the main site WODs, I would feel very uncomfortable programming those workouts for the majority of the clientele at SAPT. It would be near impossible to maintain good form, and thus reduce risk of injury, while performing heavy compound lifts during a high state of fatigue.
4. Limit the Volume of the Olympic Lifts, as well as the Squats and Deadlifts (most of the time).
Scrolling through the website, I found multiple workouts prescribing power cleans, snatches, overhead squats, etc. for upwards of fifteen reps in a row. Again, I understand many CrossFit coaches don't approve of this, but still, why even have them up there?
The O-lifts require a TREMENDOUS amount of skill and practice to perform safely and effectively, and are intended to be used in a manner that develop power/rate of force development, not aerobic capacity.
I'm not saying to avoid thinking outside the box, but at the same time I believe there should be a certain reverence held for the big lifts (squats/deads) and the olympic lifts. When utilizing these lifts for reps of 10+, you're no longer working on power augmentation but aerobic adaptations. I would personally prefer to choose one of the countless other means of improving aerobic capacity over the olympic lifts, due to the risk of ingraining poor technique (or even worse, injury) involved.
5. Develop a Progressive Plan for Each Individual, Rather than Focus on Constant Variance.
One of the site's pride and joy seems to center around the fact that each workout is "constantly varied." While I can imagine the creators of the site can back this up with an argument (which is great, and I respect that), I'd personally avoid variance just for the sake of having variance.
If working with a general fitness population that only wants the gym to be an outlet to experience fun, learn new things, and be around like-minded people, this is great! However, when preparing an athlete for a competitive season or a particular competition day, it's necessary to put together a progressive and thought-out plan, and this requires more than just throwing a bunch of play dough at the wall to see what sticks.
Summary
Again, the purpose of this post isn't to point out "flaws" in another training system.In reality, any coach could walk into a gym or performance center (mine included) and point at happenings they don't agree with and/or feel are "wrong." It doesn't really take an intelligent person to do this. That's one of the beauties of the training industry, and I personally think this can make for many thought-provoking and healthy debates.
Also, realize that CrossFit is a sport! The CrossFit games now take place each year. As such, if you're training to compete in the CrossFit games, then it'd probably be best to utilize this system. But, for the athletes I work with who compete in multiple other sports, it's prudent for me to take a different approach to help them with their sport.
I once had a friend who told me that CrossFit was the best thing that gets him into the gym everyday. If this is the case for you, and you're having fun and remaining injury-free, then by all means continue to go. I'd hope I'm not to arrogant and tunnel-visioned not to acknowledge when someone else in the industry is providing a positive experience for someone. I also believe CrossFit is doing some solid things through the following:
- Encouraging people to learn the basic movements (squat, push, pull, carry)
- To train in an environment that provides camaraderie and accountability. I've heard awesome tales about the general CrossFit training environment/atmosphere, and given this is a key element lacking in many gyms I encourage everyone to find a place (CrossFit or elsewhere) that can "pick you up when you're down."
- CrossFit tends to be insanely popular amongst the female population. Considering that many of us in the training industry have to fight tooth and nail to smite the myriad damaging myths the media puts out to women regarding their bodies and roles in the gym, I think this is fantastic.
While this topic could be debated for hours on end, I hope I didn't lose most of you and/or cause you to begin your first draft of hate mail.
Here's to lifting heavy things. *holds glass up*
How to Deal with Suboptimal Training Situations
Over the weekend I put together a possible program for some athletes who are in a bit of a pinch to pass a 400m repeat test (that they just failed) in one month. Before you get all excited and scroll down, let me qualify this program with a few points:
- This program is NOT ideal –track style training should be undertaken when one has around 12-weeks to dedicate, minimally.
- These athletes are not long-distance sprinters (or anything close), they just need to pass this test.
- Bottom line, the athletes in question could use some overall general physical preparation and aerobic improvement (i.e., why they failed in the first place). So, regardless of sport specificity, this program will provide worlds of improvement for their baseline conditioning and that’s good for any athlete.
- The “Q” workouts stand for Quality and to get best results should be combined with 20-30min non-impact cardiovascular training on the other days of the week. These sessions will be recovery/base building sessions and heart rate should be monitored to stay within the suggested zone.
- General strength training 2-3 days per week should be undertaken in concert with this program.
- Because these athletes are not accustomed to running on a track for these extended distances, all efforts should be made to encourage recovery and regeneration. SMR (foam rolling), static & active stretching, dynamic warm-ups, ice baths, and post-training (all day would be even better) nutrition should all be addressed to stave off any potential problems.
| WEEK 1
Q1 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 2x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down
Q2 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 3x600m (3-4min Walking Rest) 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down
Q3 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 1x800m (1min Rest) 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down |
WEEK 3
Q1 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 3x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down
Q2 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x600m (3-4min Walking Rest) 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down
Q3 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 2x800m (1min Rest) 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down |
| WEEK 2
Q1 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 3x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 2x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 1x600m (4-min Walking Rest) 2x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 3x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down
Q2 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 20-min Steady Pace 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down
Q3 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 6x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 1x800m (3min Rest) 6x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down |
WEEK 4
Q1 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 2x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 1x600m (4-min Walking Rest) 2x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down
Q2 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 20-min Steady Pace 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down
Q3 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 6x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 2x800m (3min Rest) 6x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down |
Oftentimes as a coach or an athlete you get caught between a “rock and a hard place.” Training variables and conditions are rarely perfect and you constantly have to find the right fit for the safest and most effective training plan given a suboptimal situation to yield the greatest result. Personally, I think this is a big reason why my “job” is pretty much nothing but fun all day, every day.
Anyway, as a strength coach (or an athlete designing his/her own program) you have to rise to each unique situation, analyze it, acknowledge that it is not ideal, then move on to create the best program you possibly can give the restraints. I wish “good luck” to the budding, but short-term 400m repeat sprinters over this next month!
As a side note, Arabella is already showing signs of her future status as an elite athlete. Here she is pictured furiously searching Daniel’s Running Formula for training paces associated with her VDOT score - Haha. She really did look through that book around for about 5-minutes.
Happy Labor Day
I hope most of you are able to enjoy a relaxing day off today. In case you missed any of them, here are the posts from the past week: 1) The Best Physical Preparation Advice I've Heard
2) Packing a Nutritional Punch
3) Strength Training is About More than Just the Weight on the Bar
4) The Perspective of a Strength Coach
5) Yet Another Variation of the Pushup and Split Squat
Be back soon!
A Cool Pushup and Split Squat Variation
One of the more common questions I receive during the Summer relates to creating a training plan while going on vacation. This is understandable, as exercise is therapeutic for most of the people I work with, and they also don't want to take too much time off and see all their hard work go out the window. Allow me to make two quick points:
- You're on vacation. V-a-c-a-t-i-o-n. As such, your body needs a mental and physical break from your typical daily routine (which, if it's anything like mine, can feel like you've morphed into a pinball and dropped right in the middle of one of the most advanced pinball machines ever. Good for the enjoyment of children. Not so much for the ball).
- At the same time, getting in some physical activity is still more beneficial than not, due the fact you're most likely on a different sleep schedule and indulging yourself with copious amounts of food. As such, I primarily like to stick to bodyweight movements while on vacation. This way, your joints and nervous system still receive a break, all while receiving a training effect and enjoying the health benefits of physical activity.
However, this post isn't about writing a sample vacation plan. But, the whole vacation thing did get me thinking of some exercise variations that I like to use both during travel and in my normal training.
Many times I find that, while I love bodyweight movements, doing the typical repetitions isn't quite challenging enough if I'm keeping the reps to ten and below. As such, I'll utilize a variation of a pushup or split squat to spice things up a bit. While there are literally hundreds of variations to use (trust me, we've listed them), one of my favorites is the ISO hold.
You can use isometric training during virtually any lift, but I particularly like them for pushup and split squat variations. You can do 3-5 reps holding each for a given time, or do a long hold at the beginning/end of the reps. See below for a few examples:
1. Pushup ISO Hold into Reps
Here is Kelsey (my better half) doing a 10-second iso hold into reps:
2. BSS ISO Hold into Reps
Now doing the same thing but with the bulgarian split squat. I especially like these for teaching proper positioning of the front leg, on top of receiving a nice stretch in the hip flexors of the rear leg:
These variations are also fantastic in these scenarios:
- Equipment limitation. Say your dumbbell rack only goes up to 50lbs and you can do 6-8 perfect split squats with the heaviest dumbbells. Adding an isometric hold can automatically increase the challenge. For pushups, you could easily put a weight on your back and do the same thing if seeking ways to make pushups more difficult.
- During a training block in which you need to minimize soreness.
- Vacation. You can enjoy the benefits of bodyweight training while at the same time adding a challenge if needed.
The list could go on, but I gotta make like a baby and head outta here.
Cheers.
A quick perspective on coaching…
My contribution this week delves more into the delivery aspect of my job as a strength coach. Yesterday, marked the start of my first full year with the university I coach at and it got me thinking about all the intangibles of coaching that oddly enough, I’m as equally cognizant of/concerned with than the actual programming that I provide the student-athletes under my watch. Here’s the simple fact, maintaining my status as “leader” of a group of 30 alphas, is the most important, and exhausting, part of my job. How do I maintain rapport? Here’s what works for me:
Consistency: In no circumstance do I deviate from the expectations I place on my student-athletes. And it doesn’t matter if you’re the guy that hit 20 bombs last year, or the utility guy that had 20 pinch-hit appearances, they’re both the same in my book. If I’m going to lift with perfect form, they’re going to lift with perfect form, everyday; I don’t care if that means their preconceived strength prowess takes a hit. Overtime, the garnered respect, and the athletes realized improvements, will speak for themselves.
Civil: The coaches I had who got all hot and bothered, enjoyed tossing around profanities, never did much for me (thankfully this was extremely infrequent!). In fact, I found it kind of humorous that they couldn’t come-up with more intelligent ways to voice their displeasure with a certain individual or situation. Even if their “constructive criticism” was delivered with a smattering of “bombs,” it always felt weird. It's like listening to a friend attempting to share some guidance after a couple too many, kind-of intelligible but the frequent burping is all you really remember. I always try to get my point across without all the theatrics so my message isn’t muddled as it passes through oftentimes still maturing-thick-skulls and short attention spans. They’ll respect the civil delivery, and the line separating friend, and authority figure will remain clearly intact. Plus high-blood pressure runs in my family.
Belief: I don’t care how little, or how much, you know about developing a plan of best practice, any doubt you have in what you’re imposing will be quickly exposed. I encourage questioning from my student-athletes as it’s a way for them to learn and recognize all the considerations that go into the plan I provide them. This dialogue also proves to them that each and every movement on the sheet has a purpose. But, whether my approach today will be the same as it is tomorrow, I have to believe in what’s on the sheet. Because sometimes looking a kid in the eye and saying, “because based on my current understanding, I believe it’ll make you a better person and athlete,” is reason enough. Believe in yourself, believe in your capabilities, and they’ll have no choice but to believe in you.
Maybe this made sense,
Chris
