Thoughts on Injuries: Get Stronger
Tadashi wrote a great post last week. If you haven't read it... you should do so. I wanted to expand a bit on this particular point of his post:
Another aspect that all of these athletes have in common is that they were strong before the injury occurred. If you are a healthy competitive athlete, you have NOTHING to lose by getting stronger. The stronger you can make your active restraints (muscles) the more protection you build around your passive structures (ligaments/tendons/bones). Just ask DeJuan Blair, center for the San Antonio Spurs, who has no choice but to depend on his quadriceps and hamstrings to stabilize his knee. Why? Because he actually has no ACLs. Both of his ACLs were operated on when he was in high school, but the surgery was not successful in repairing the ligaments and the remaining scar tissue was re-absorbed. If his lower body musculature didn’t pick up the slack for this missing ligament, I’d take a wild guess and say he wouldn’t be playing professional basketball. Or any basketball.
Building the strength in all the right places will also build confidence coming back from an injury. As Adrian Peterson rushes down the field breaking tackles and making cuts he’s probably not thinking, “I sure hope this new ACL stays in one piece on this play.” Subconsciously I know he’s thinking “I’m sure glad I have enough control in my glutes to keep my knee tracking properly and my hamstrings are strong enough to prevent anterior translation of my tibia!” Sounds like something he would say
Smart man huh? I agree 100% that being stronger (before and after an injury) decreases the chance of injury (assuming non-contact), decreases the recovery time and, in some cases, allows an athlete to return to play despite having an "unrepaired" injury. Couple of examples:
Conrad Mann, resident Superhero at SAPT, recently had not one, but two knee replacements in the past year. Guess what? He was already in pretty good shape (100 pound chin up... check out the T-Day lift from 2011) and was quite strong heading into his first surgery. (he came in and trained the day before, both times!) Guess what? He's had an extremely rapid recovery (enough to impress his doctor) and actually started trap bar deadlifting about2 months ago. Need I mention that he's trap bar deadlifting 200 lbs already? His glutes, hamstrings and core were very well developed before surgery which all have helped supported his new knees during the period of learning to move with titanium instead of bones in his legs.
Brett Contreas and Dean Somerset (both of whom were my encouragement after my own back injury to continue to train wisely) are two strength coaches who have had some pretty serious back injuries. Both found exercises that they could do and still create a training effect (aka: getting stronger) as well as incorporated solid rehab techniques mobility and soft tissue work. They also are two brilliant fellows and learned everything they could about what muscles needed to be trained in order to protect their backs when they were able to train more aggressively again, despite the injuries remaining "un-fixed." Thanks to both of them, I learned how to rehab my own back, strengthen my active restraints around my spine and train like a beast again.
Also, I tore both my labrums in my hips (passive restraints) 3 years ago because if stupid training techniques and FAI. What can be cause FAI? Weak glutes, weak anterior core (thus an exaggerated anterior pelvic tilt) and joint laxity. I had all three. Exercises such as squatting when these are present are perfect for cultivating tears in labrums. Well, after 2 years of training, my glutes are stronger, my core is stronger (thank you swings!) and I've worked on joint stability in both my hips and lower back. Guess what? Unless I perform a movement that directly causes my hip to internally rotate, like getting in and out of a car, I pretty much forget that I have torn labrums and I trust that surrounding muscles are strong enough to protect my hips.
Life is rough and injuries happen. But, like Tadashi said, injuries are not the end of the world for an athlete, or even the average Joe (and they're not an excuse to stop working out!!). Get stronger today to prevent injuries tomorrow. And, should something come along that busts you up a bit, figure out how to work around it. You can always strengthen something. If you train wisely, do your rehab and keep striving to get stronger, injuries can be easily overcome.
RGIII! And Some Thoughts on Injuries
On Sunday I was watching the NFL playoffs at a local sports bar. In the fourth quarter of the Redskins-Seahawks game we all watched in horror as rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III fell to the ground with a serious knee injury. The whole room filled with Redskins fans fell silent with an overwhelming sense of devastation. Then the silence was replaced with frustrated murmurs and angry comments.
“Coach Shanahan shoulda taken him out in the 3rd!”
“Why was he even on the field?!”
“NOOOO!!!”
Being a Skins fan myself I can understand the frustration. However there was one comment that cut across the room that really… irked me.
“Well that’s it man, there goes his career. He’s done.”
Hrm...I disagree. I heard the same comments uttered last season when it looked like Adrian Peterson’s knee imploded. Over the next year he had surgery, did his rehab, and got back in the game as if he never skipped a day. Sports are brutal and athletes get hurt, but they can come back. Peyton Manning is another example. After having a level of his cervical vertabrae fused together he returned to help bring his new team to the playoffs.
One of my biggest inspirations is Ted Toalston, a competitive powerlifter in the 198 weight class. In 2011 he suffered a very severe lumbar herniation and underwent spine surgery. Since then he has been smart and consistent in his training, making his return to the platform with a performance that qualified him for the world championships. At the WPC World Championship he pulled off a 705lb squat, 479lb bench, and 650lb deadlift. He listens to his body, does his mobility work, takes care of soft tissue restrictions, trains hard, and trains smart. This is all within a year's time, and I’m pretty sure the bulk of it was spent taking all the right steps to recovery and return, not face-palming at home thinking “there goes my career…”
A lot of their success boils down to their goal-oriented attitude. If these athletes thought, “well, there goes my career,” there would be no point of aggressively attacking the rehab process and doing everything they need to do to get back into the game. If there is something they need to do to get better they will find out what it is and they will do it. The work ethic that helped them become great athletes in the first place is the same work ethic that will get them from injured to playing, and I think it is something we can all learn from and be inspired by.
Another aspect that all of these athletes have in common is that they were strong before the injury occurred. If you are a healthy competitive athlete, you have NOTHING to lose by getting stronger. The stronger you can make your active restraints (muscles) the more protection you build around your passive structures (ligaments/tendons/bones). Just ask DeJuan Blair, center for the San Antonio Spurs, who has no choice but to depend on his quadriceps and hamstrings to stabilize his knee. Why? Because he actually has no ACLs. Both of his ACLs were operated on when he was in high school, but the surgery was not successful in repairing the ligaments and the remaining scar tissue was re-absorbed. If his lower body musculature didn’t pick up the slack for this missing ligament, I’d take a wild guess and say he wouldn’t be playing professional basketball. Or any basketball.
Building the strength in all the right places will also build confidence coming back from an injury. As Adrian Peterson rushes down the field breaking tackles and making cuts he’s probably not thinking, “I sure hope this new ACL stays in one piece on this play.” Subconsciously I know he’s thinking “I’m sure glad I have enough control in my glutes to keep my knee tracking properly and my hamstrings are strong enough to prevent anterior translation of my tibia!” Sounds like something he would say.
The same can be said about a strong core. You should build up the strength in your abs, lower back and glutes to the point where you are confident in the muscular stiffness you can create around your spine, and not simply pray that you have enough structural integrity in the passive structures in your back as you unrack a heavy weight. Whether you are hurt or healthy, there no reason why you shouldn't strive to be stronger and more confident.
The Redskins had a tremendous season, and I am looking forward to the return of RGIII. To the pessimistic fan that thinks all is lost for the young quarterback:
“Strength is never a weakness” -Mark Bell
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t- you’re right.” -Henry Ford
A Tip on Coaching New Exercises
Below is a short video regarding a tip I've found extremely useful when it comes to coaching exercises, specifically when working with someone new or walking someone through an exercise that is new to them.
Let's get to it! Hopefully you find it helpful.
Pills? Shots? How 'Bout a Little SMR?
Happy New Year everyone! Ready for 2013? I am! (I've also had a lot of coffee this morning.)
Yes please!
I had a conversation with a friend of mine the other day and she recounted a saga of back pain to me. She had some back pain that just wouldn't go away so she went to the doctor to get the appropriate MRI and x-rays (nothing was found to be structurally wrong). Then, he writes her several prescriptions for muscle relaxers and pain killers, none of which helped. He also told her to get an epideral.. which also did nothing. She then went to another doctor who sent her to physical therapy... which proved, once again, to be a somewhat unhelpful (she said that the PT was great, but by the time she had started making progress with my friend, the prescribed number of sessions were over.). Then, as a last resort, she asked a trainer at the gym she attends who has training in a method called Egosque (a school of thought focused on postural realignment), and within a session or two, bam. No more back pain. For her, she was merely a little out of alignment.
It's an obvious answer in retrospect; kinda like disarming Voldemort with a simple Expelliarmus charm.
My sister-in-law was in a similar situation. She was experiencing near-debilitating back pain for months. She saw a chiropractor, had MRIs and was prescribed various pain-killers and muscle relaxers, to no avail. Then, one day, Steve was rolling his glutes on a lacrosse ball and Jenn, being curious as to why her brother was lolling around on the floor while making pain-faces, asked what he was doing. "Just rollin' my glutes," was the reply. "Can I try?" she asked. Being the awesome brother Steve is, he passed the lacrosse ball to her and taught her how to roll on it.
Within 5 minutes (this is no exaggeration), Jenn's back pain was gone. In her case, it was just tight butt muscles that needed some lovin'. Go figure!
Last story, I was having almost daily headaches, borderline migraine levels sometimes, for a couple of months this past year. I too trucked off to the doctor and had muscle relaxers prescribed to me (I was also taking a fair amount of Motrin to ease the searing pain in my head). Nothing. The muscle relaxers made me feel sick to my stomach, dizzy and my head still hurt. Motrin, as effective as it can be, is not something I wanted to be taking long term. After several futile weeks, I went to see and ART specialist (Dr. Grove in Vienna if anyone is interested. No, I don't get any special treatment, but she's so great and has helped me so much that I'm more than happy to send folks her way!) and she immediately pinpointed my tight neck muscles and within 20 minutes, my headache disappeared. I've been seeing her once a month (to continue working on my neck) and I have had only a handful of headaches (usually when it's been 3-4 weeks since I've seen her) since August. Again, just a little soft tissue work and boom, pain was gone as fast as an apparating wizard.
Not to discount any PTs or chiropractors out there (as it may seem in the two previous stories) but sometimes the problem isn't where the pain is. (and I think that's what happend with my friend and sister-in-law, their respective therapists were perhaps treating the symptoms instead of the cause.) This is also not meant to be a post about diagnosing pain nor do I claim that I can. If you're having pain you should go see a professional, get the MRI or x-ray to rule out any structural damage and then proceed to seek out professionals that know how to administer soft-tissue work (beyond what you can do yourself with a lax ball and foam roller).
I'm relating these stories because from what I see at work and at my previous jobs (and what people tell me when they find out what I do for a living) people have a lot of nagging pains that don't go away with medication or shots. I'm not saying that those medications don't have merit, (I definitely helped keep Motrin in business!), but they only treat the symptoms and not the underlying cause. The main point is that, folks need to attack the source of the pain (none withstanding actual structural damage). And, in my experience, digging into the soft tissue is often the simplest and most effective answer when it comes to nagging, unresolved pains.
If you have some sort of pain that just never seems to go away, I would encourage you to go see a reputable ART therapist or PT to see if they can find the source of your pain. If you don't have the time (or money) to do so, check out this website and take a lacrosse ball and get rolling!
6 Things I Learned During My Internship at SAPT
Today's guest post comes from Jessica, one of our (awesome!) interns from this past Fall. Hope you enjoy. It has been an awesome semester at SAPT! I learned a lot about coaching, correct technique, problem solving, communication, and lots more. In this post I want to share six things I learned on a deeper level during my internship.
1. Correct technique is important!
It is obvious just being in SAPT a short while that technique is heavily emphasized and for good reason! Sloppy form doesn’t strengthen effectively and creates injury.
2. Everyone needs a coach!
No one is above needing a coach! The body wants to slip back into bad habits or rely on the path of least resistance instead of use the right muscles. Even using a mirror doesn’t give you the full perspective. There were countless times this semester when a coach would provide simple feedback that made a huge difference in the quality of a movement a client was performing. Coaching is invaluable!
3. THINK about what you are doing.
Just because something looks cool doesn’t mean it’s a good exercise. When you are doing an exercise, think about the purpose behind it; don’t just assume it is beneficial.
4. Work hard!
I was so impressed throughout the semester at how hard the clients work at SAPT. Those that worked hard every time they came in became stronger. Also those were thoughtful about every movement and didn’t rush were the ones who had good form and benefited the most. The few who rushed through the workout weren’t experiencing the full benefits.
5. It is important to be able to receive correction.
Coaches correct because they care! If they didn’t care, they would let clients do the movement wrong. If you aren’t able to receive correction you will be stunted in your growth. But if you take it in and change what you are doing, you will be able to reach your goals.
6. You can accomplish great things!
Maybe it sounds cheesy but its true! There are way too many lies out there about how people can’t accomplish fitness goals because of their gender, age or even past injuries they’ve had. It has been great seeing various clients break these stereotypes and meet their goals regardless.
Tadashi and I graduated from George Mason last week which was a great way to end the semester. I know I will be better prepared as I meet whatever comes next because of my time at SAPT. Thank you again to everyone for a great semester! I am glad to have met and worked with you all. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season.
10 Things I'd like to Share from 2012
As I opened my computer this morning, it didn't take long to realize I had a list of non sequiturs running around my brain. As 2012 is drawing to a close, why not allow them to run around on paper, forming a random thoughts post. Here are 10 things I either remembered, learned, or simply felt like sharing from the past year: 1. Taking the time to teach an athlete to "sit into the hip" during the foundational phases of jump training in the frontal and transverse planes will do wonders for their athletic development, as they progress onward to more "advanced" stages of change-of-direction training and force transfer outside of the sagittal plane.
Notice how in the video above, I use a "soft knee" during each landing and and push my hips back to decelerate. This displays the proper utilization of the glutes and other active restraints of the hip to create "tri-planar" stability: eccentrially controlling flexion, internal rotation, and adduction of the femur upon each ground contact.
However, the video below shows how you'll typically see people perform lateral hurdle (or cone) hops. Note how I rely much more heavily on the passive supports of my body - namely, ligaments, menisci, and other joint structures - to decelerate each landing.
Many athletes will land with a "double step," or even fall over, when learning how to decelerate correctly for the first time. Investing ample time in mastering this entry-level progression will pay huge dividends later on within the realm of injury risk reduction, change-of-direction speed, and rotational power on the field.
2. I love coffee, and, as a result, one of the best parts of my day (other than a good poop) is preparing and enjoying a quality brew early in the morning. Either that, or visiting my favorite local coffee shop, Caffe Amouri, where I settle down to do computer work alongside my faithful squire, Aragorn.
The best decision I made this past year to enhance the morning experience of home-brewing coffee was to purchase a Clever Dripper to prepare my morning elixir. Some of you may recognize it as the "pour over" or "hand pour" method.
With it, you receive all the benefits of a french press - full extraction of the flavors and sugars of the bean - but without the "mud" that typically resides at the bottom of a the mug. The Clever Dripper also WAY easier to clean than a french press.
I highly recommend it for you coffee-lovers in the crowd.
3. Here's an important classification I like to use for differentiating between main lifts in and accessory lifts in program design: Any main movement can also used as an accessory movement, but not all accessory movements can necessarily be a main movement.
It may sound simple and borderline obvious, but it bears repeating for those that are unsure of how to set up their programs.
4. The wrong and right way to hip hinge during a squat. Be careful of overemphasizing the familiar "hips back" cue too much when either squatting yourself or teaching someone else how to squat, especially if an anterior-loaded squat pattern like a goblet squat or barbell front squat is being performed.
If you push your butt back too much at the start, then your body has nowhere to go but forward on the way down in order to find its center of gravity with respect to the bar position. I think it goes without saying that this is unfavorable, with regards to both safety and that whole getting stronger thing.
See the video above for a brief demonstration of what I'm referring to. The first two reps show what happens when you overdo the hip hinge at the start, and the third and fourth rep show how to properly push your hips back as you descend to the bottom.
5. I read through the Harry Potter series this year (yes, admittedly it was fantastic), and jotted down some memorable lines as I went along. Here are a few of them:
- "Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike." ~ Dumbledore
- "If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals" ~Sirius Black
- "It does not do to dwell on dreams, and forget to live." ~ Dumbledore
6. Speaking of literature, I'm currently reading A Game of Thrones, and it is spectacular, to say the least. The author, George R.R. Martin, does a phenomenal job of reeling you into the story relatively quickly, and the world he creates is a different than most fantasy stories in that he veers away from the typical character archetypes (few are totally good or wholly evil, you don't have the classic hero who overcomes impossible odds and is immune to corruption, etc.) and he breaks many of the "rules" of stereotypical fantasy.
Hint: Don't read it if you're afraid of your favorite and/or likeable characters to die.
Not to mention, Martin is an absolute master of metaphors, description, and overall wordplay. Read it, and thank me later.
And, while I've heard good things about the HBO series, it still doesn't count. Sorry. However, that still doesn't mean this picture is not awesome:
7. One of the most rewarding parts of my job, by far, is helping people to train around injuries. It's extremely humbling to have the opportunity to help countless individuals - be they just coming out of surgery or simply dealing with a "tweaked" ankle or knee - continue to get stronger despite an injury they recently received.
Below is a video of Conrad, a 64-year-old who recently underwent not his first, but SECOND, total knee replacement surgery within the past year. Instead of wallowing in misery over the fact he couldn't do lower body training for a while, he barged through the doors of SAPT, with a battering ram, asking us to prepare him for a powerlifting meet. Keep in mind this was just weeks after his total knee replacement.
We put him on a bench-specialization program, and the end result was him hitting a bench PR in an official meet.
He serves as such a great example to those - way younger than 64 years of age, mind you - who make excuses as to why they seemingly can't take time to care for their bodies.
8. The Hobbit was an excellent film. I honestly don't see how Peter Jackson, or anyone for that matter, could have possibly done a better job with it. Yeah, people are upset he's splitting it up into three parts, but to me that just shows how Jackson pays attention to detail, and wants to ensure they leave no stone unturned during the film. It also means we still have two more excellent experiences in the theater to look forward to around Christmastime.
I didn't want to read any of the reviews before I saw it, so I looked at them a couple days after seeing the movie. Upon reading just a few of them, it confirmed my notion that the opinions of movie critics are worthless and overrated.
9. When you set up for the basic plank (and its variations), choosing to go from the "bottom up" vs. the "top down" actually has significant impact on how much iliopsoas is recruited. Considering that heavy recruitment of the iliopsoas is generally unfavorable in core stability exercises, try setting up from the bottom up rather than the top down.
10. An admittedly strange and ungrounded pet peeve of mine is when people use the words "jealous" and "envy" interchangeably in conversation. They don't mean the same thing!
To clear the air: Envy generally implies a sense of covetousness or a desire for something that someone else has. Jealousy, on the other hand, relates to a sense of resentment due to rivalry or the fear of being replaced.
I readily admit I don't have grounds from which to stand upon this sense of annoyance, as I am far from a grammar expert myself, and I make grammatical errors all.the.time. but for whatever reason I can't get this one out of my head.
Note: If you enjoyed this list format, feel free to check out this post or this post that I wrote in 2011.
