SAPT Exercise of the Week: Turtle Rolls for the Anterior Core
Ever since Dr. Stuart McGill (professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo) unleashed his research on spinal health and published his book, Ultimate Back Fitness and Disorders, the fitness industry was awakened to the fact that the typical human sit-up places up to 3,300N of compressive force on the lumbar spine. For those who are wondering if this is a good thing: it's not. As such, when it comes to enhancing someone's "core" strength, I'm almost always going nix repeated spinal flexion in training (i.e. sit-ups), and opt for improving spinal stability. Think pallof presses, landmines, woodchops, single-arm farmers walks, and planks, to name a few.
Or, I may choose a host of anti-extension exercises to give someone their ab training fix, utilizing any of the 20+ demonstrations I give in the video below:
However, should ALL movements resembling a sit-up be avoided like the bubonic plague? I don't think so.
While I do believe that - nine times out of ten - one should train spinal stability in order to correct low back dysfunction, reduce the risk of injury, and morph into a healthy, high-functioning athlete; there are exceptions to the rule.
For example, if I'm training a number of mixed martial artists (which we're consistently doing at SAPT), are you telling me that I never need to help them improve their abdominal strength for guarding?
Or, if helping someone prepare for a military test, should I avoid having them do sit-ups even though the testing protocol calls for a very specific test in sit-up endurance?
(Disclaimer: What I am NOT saying is that you always need to train people in positions specific to where they find themselves in sport (Ex. If I'm training a boxer do I need to repeatedly punch him in the face?). However, sometimes a small dose of a particular training protocol is needed to maximally prepare someone for their respective event.)
Turtle Rolls
Enter the turtle roll. This is a brutal abdominal exercise that hammers the rectus abdominus, along with the internal and external obliques, to both maintain trunk flexion and resist trunk extension. See the demo below:
How to do it:
- Wrap your hands behind your head and touch your elbows to your knees
- Have a partner SLOWLY rock you up and down, touching your heels to the ground at the top
- Brace your abs HARD. Try not to generate any momentum to "swing" yourself up
- Perform 8-12 repetitions
- A cat walking around you is optional
The beauty of these is that you can do them virtually anywhere, as long as another person is close at hand. It is much harder than it looks to keep your elbows in contact with your knees, especially if your partner is moving you slowly. After you master a bodyweight turtle roll, you can hold a weight plate on top of your head (you won't need much though, trust me).
A couple caveats:
- If you have back pain, I'd avoid this one. You can receive plenty of good ab training via other means
- If adding turtle rolls in a training cycle, be sure to do plenty of work for the erectors and include a healthy dose of thoracic mobility drills to prevent hyperkyphotic postural adaptations in the thoracic spine. You should be doing this anyway, though....GOSH!!
- Don't get too addicted to these. They'll certainly fill your "I need to feel my abs burn" craving but be careful to keep your total volume of spinal flexion work in check
That's it, try it out and let me know what you think.
SAPT Blog Gems of 2011
With it being the Friday before the New Year, I thought this would make a good time to share some of the most popular blog posts I wrote during 2011. I thought it would make a great way for some of our newer readership to catch some things they may have missed, give our "veteran" followers some reminders of things they may have read a while ago, and hey, not gonna lie, it makes for an easy day of blog content on my end! 2011 saw substantial growth for SAPTstrength, and I honestly cannot thank you all enough for your support. This was also the first year I made a effort to write consistently, totaling roughly 150 blog posts (along with a few additional articles for websites).
It amazes me to see the readership of this site growing weekly, and it really does humble me to know that many of you out there enjoy the coaches+writers of this site (Sarah, Chris, and myself), and think that we, to put it scientifically: don't suck.
That being said, let's get to the list. Happy New Year everyone, and we look forward to 2012 with you all!
Warrior, The Resistance, Mobility, and Happy Birthday Baggins
You know, it's so funny, sometimes the posts I put together last-minute, on a whim, and in a "holycrapIcan'tthinkofanythingtowritesoletmediscussLordoftheRings" mindset, are the ones that receive the most traffic. This one topped the list, and it wasn't even really about training! Geeze people, comon'! Stop being so hard to please.
I don't know if it's because I talked about Lord of the Rings or discussed the epicness of Tom Hardy's traps, but apparently this one hit home with you all.
26 Things I've Learned: Training Edition
Okay, now for some that are actually training related. Here I recap - via 26 short bullet points - several "ah ha" moments I've had since entering the strength and conditioning industry. This one trimmed the fat and gave the "quick and dirty" for anything ranging from improving one's results in the gym to program design.
A Few Things I've Learned: "Life" Edition
It honestly surprised me how much traffic this one received, as I wasn't anticipating this post being that big of a hit. Here I put on my sage hat (at least as much as possible for me to do so) and give some quick bullet points on anything from behavior economics to yellow traffic lights.
You know what they say about discussions with in-laws at the dinner table: Avoid the topics of politics, religion, and......CrossFit. Just kidding (kinda), but it does seem that people tend to fall on vastly different ends of the spectrum when it comes to CrossFit. It's as if it's an either-or topic...black and white, if you will: Either it's so evil worse than Satan himself, or it's so good it has saved you from congestive heart failure.
In this post, I do my best to look at it from an objective point of view. Is it for elite athletes? General fitness enthusiasts? Are ALL affiliates awful facilities that (quote) "do nothing but injure people?" Click the link to see for yourself.
To Overhead Press or Not to Overhead Press
The overhead press is a hot topic of debate among doctors and strength coaches alike. See this Q & A for a quick run down on if the overhead press is the right exercise for you.
And now, here are two great ones from Sarah and Chris:
A Little Bit About Knee Injuries - Sarah Walls
Here Sarah does a great job breaking down the what, why, and how-to-prevent of knee injuries. Notice that one of her main points is to "get those glutes firing!" I can't tell you how many times I'm working with a female with a knee injury/pain and have her doing glute work when she looks at me, and (*cue sassy voice*):
"Um, I don't want my BUTT to get any bigger...."
Well, do you want your knee pain to increase in magnitude, too?? Get those glutes workin' girl! Your butt circumference won't increase in an unfavorable way, I promise.
Our Take on "Sport Specific" - Chris Romanow
Last, but certainly not least, is an excellent short blurb by Chris on sport specific training. I can't tell you how many times I'm asked by a well-intentioned parent on why I'm not having their child perform X exercise since it is "sport specific." Should you do band-resisted running if you're a sprinter? Is it really necessary to have a soccer player squat, since it doesn't look like a very "sport specific" drill? See his points on the link above.
**That's all for now. Feel free to chime in below for any topics you'd like to see covered in 2012!**
5 reasons why SAPT’s adult training options are for you!
5. Because rather than perpetuate imbalances with your current 60 minute wander around the gym/sit on the recumbent bike, mouth agape routine, you’ll be provided a thorough individualized training program applicable to your specific needs and goals allowing you to hit the gym with vigor and purpose. Dare I say you’ll experience results?
4. Because you won’t be allowed to avoid the things you hate, the things you didn’t know you hated, and learn to embrace these things as the most important parts of your week (well, almost most important). Learn to enjoy movement prep, mobility, and soft tissue drills designed specifically to improve active range of motion around joints and soft tissue quality. Muscular knots and adhesions don’t resolve themselves through quick, unfocused static stretching routines; in actuality, they’ll typically make the knot tighter leading to further discomfort. Knead those knots and adhesions out with our localized soft tissue techniques and experience improved recovery, less inhibited movement patterns, and a general feeling of relief.
3. Though you’ll miss the SAPT coaching staff and community feel of the SAPT training facility during your offsite training sessions, you’ll be able to pacify our SAPT cravings through our thorough and extensive, mobile devise accessible, SAPT Exercise Database. Enjoy the descriptive prose and meticulous demonstrations to ensure you’re executing with perfect form even offsite, on your time. There’s only one way to garner the intended benefit of a training stimulus, and it’s through perfect execution. Going through the motions will elicit blah training effects, plus it’s kind-of unsafe…You exercise to improve your health, right?
2. To stave off type II (fast twitch) muscular atrophy and neural drive impairment. As one ages, without central nervous system activation, and therefore limited type II stimulation, type II fibers will actually disappear (to never return again) and thus significantly lower strength and power output levels. Not only does this present grim performance and overall functionality implications, but structural repercussions as well. Because type II fibers are more hypertrophy inclined, neglecting their recruitment will overtime significantly speed-up muscle mass decline. Consider there is a 10% decrease in total number of muscle fibers per decade after the age of 50, and it’s a wonder the majority of the “well-seasoned” population hasn’t evolved into soft, slithering, amoebas of goo (HA, I had fun writing that!). Our adult programming safely implements compound movements and drills designed to improve power output to elicit the physiological responses necessary to ward off the dreaded “amoeba of goo” condition. Besides, throwing medicine balls is just freakin’ fun.
1. Because you’ll relearn how to take time for…yourself…it’s okay, you’re allowed.
Your first step towards a more pain-free, stronger, youthful you in 2012, starts by clicking here…
You’ll love it…
Chris
Training in the Pacific
My wife and I just returned from an amazing trip to Guam. In case you're wondering where exactly Guam is located (I didn't know where it was initially), it is located somewhere in between Candyland and Heaven. In other words, it's in the middle of freakin' paradise. The picture below is a photo I personally took while we were on one of the private beaches; pretty cool huh? The trip was incredible, to say the least, and all fears of experiencing a "warm Christmas" were completely defenestrated. We also got to spend a fair amount time of exploring the Guam backcountry, during which we came across these freakish spiders every ten yards (not kidding). As much as I hate spiders, I couldn't resist taking a video of one of them. Check it out below...as a defense mechanism, it intentionally oscillates its web back and forth as if it's being blown by the wind.
Not to mention, we had snake (brown tree snakes) and hog traps lining the border of our backyard, as, apparently, they run around with reckless abandon in Guam.
Anyway, back to the point of this post. When it comes to working out on vacation, I find people often fall into one of two camps:
1. Exercising like a maniac. Heaven forbid a week pass by without running one's self into the ground. After all, if you take time off, you're lazy and a slacker, right?
2. Doing absolutely nothing, along with sitting, eating, and drinking as much as possible. You've earned it anyway, no?
As usual, the answer lies somewhere in the middle. While I feel it's EXTREMELY important for exercise-aholics to learn to relax for a change (they'll often find their body needs the break anyway), it's also important to not abuse your body on the other side of the spectrum through sedentary living and consuming alcohol until your eyes bleed. Given the fact that vacations often entail copious amounts of eating rich foods, sitting (especially during the travel portion), and a disrupted/abnormal sleep schedule, nixing exercise entirely may not be the wisest choice.
As such - and while I'd be remiss to claim that I'm a perfect example - I thought some of you may like to see how I made my best attempt to find a balance while in Guam. Enough exercise to keep my body (and mind) moving in the right direction, but so much that I failed to enjoy the vacation for what it was: A freakin' vacation!
Here's what I did:
Workout 1 (in a gym)
A1. Weighted Chins, 4x3 A2. Front Squat, 2x3
B. Barbell Stepback Lunge with a Front Squat Grip, 3x5/side
C1. Barbell Glute Bridge, 3x8x :2
C2. Single-Arm Dumbbell Farmers Walk, 2x60yds/side
Workout 2 (in a gym)
A. Speed Deadlifts, 6x2 @55%
B1. Feet-Elevated Pushup, 10x5
B2. Bent-Over Dumbbell Row, 10x5/side
B3. Single-leg Hip Thrust, 10x5/side (Performed circuit fashion with minimal rest)
Workout 3 (outside)
4 mile descent and climb down and up Sanders Slope. The entire road/path was on an incline. While not physically grueling by any means, it provided a nice change of pace with beautiful scenery, wild hogs on the path (no, I'm not messing with you), and a fair challenge as far as walks are concerned.
Workout 4 (outside)
My wife and I decided that, on Christmas Eve, we'd much rather complete a bodyweight session outside to enjoy the beautiful island weather, as opposed to remaining cooped up in a windowless gym. We found some pullup and dip bars outside and improvised as we went along:
A1. Pullup, 5x8 A2. PUPP, 5x :30 (immediately following each set of pullups) A3. No rest, go straight back to pullups
B1. Supinated-Grip Inverted Row, 3x6x :5 hold at top B2. Tiger Crawl with Pushup, 3x 30yds
C. Squat Series "Finisher:" Squat Jump x20 seconds Bodyweight Squat x20 seconds Squat ISO Hold in Bottom x20 seconds Repeat 3 times
The Rationale
Workouts 1 and 2 Given that I was on a Pacific island, I didn't want to spend too much time indoors. As such, only the first two workouts were performed inside a gym. I went full body on both those days, as I knew they'd be the only two days during the week I'd be able to use the iron. I also kept the volume fairly low, so that I could get in+out of the gym within 45 minutes, as well as give my body a break. The circuit on Day 2 was a way to get in a fair amount of joint-friendly work, while spreading out the volume over ten sets.
"Workout" 3 See above. We also stumbled across a pretty cool beach at the bottom of the slope, along with experiencing plenty of beautiful scenery along the way.
Workout 4 This provided an awesome opportunity to breathe some fresh air, spend some time exercising with my wife, and also give myself a small training effect while leaving me feeling "invigorated" rather than exhausted by the end of it. This workout really counted more toward energy systems training, given the rest periods and sets/reps we used. And it was completed within 20 minutes. Sounds like a winner to me!
There you have it! Our total STRUCTURED exercise time didn't exceed two hours or so, and we still spent plenty of time swimming and walking along the beaches. I returned home not feeling like complete garbage from all the holiday feasting, while at the same time I certainly was able to indulge myself in "vacation mode."
I should have an article coming out on how to exercise while traveling with minimal equipment, so keep your eyes peeled!
Pre-Race Carbs Predict Marathon Performance
Welcome back from a long weekend! SweatScience has an interesting post up about carbohydrate intake and marathon performance. Marathoners aren't exactly SAPT's specialty, but I think there are lessons here for power athletes, too. Check out SAPT's newest hat and our newest hat model. Warning: this falls into the categories of gratuitous cuteness and random family update.
