12 Core Exercises to Make You Harder to Kill and Easier to Look At

“Core” training is always a popular topic in the fitness field, but it’s usually as misunderstood as Bill Cosby after a root canal (or in general). Popular fitness divas, whose names must not be said, like to show you the best new crunch variation to hit your “Abz” or your “Luv Handles” and try to pawn it off as core training. Not to burst your bubble, but these aren’t real core exercises. These are usually just isolation exercises that happen to target a muscle or two of the torso.

“But my abs are part of my core”

True they can be considered part of your core, but they aren’t necessarily your core. Your core is a unit of muscles that work together to stabilize parts of your body during movement. Truth be told, it is very hard to define what the core actually is or consists of. Some people define it as, “from your head to your toes and everything in between.” Some people say it’s everything that attaches your pelvis to your rib cage. Coach Charlie had a great post a few weeks ago about how almost any exercise can work your core, but he points out that there’s a difference between working and targeting. In order for us to be on the same page on targeting the core, I feel that I should share my definition.

I define the core as the group of muscles that create a stable base for movement, allowing your limbs to accelerate, decelerate and transmit force through your body or an implement. In this way, the core becomes very relative to the activity or movement. It allows for an easier understanding of how the stabilizing area should be trained for maximal transfer to specific activities. Put simply, the muscles that define your core depend on the movement you're doing.

For Example: Watch above, you’ll notice the actual force generation comes from the hips and is transferred to the bat. You’ll also notice that the torso itself stays locked down as it’s rotated by the hips until his follow-through. The torso stays stable so that the force from the hips can be transferred effectively into the bat. This is the rotary stability (ability to stabilize rotation) function of the core. And for this movement, I’d broadly define the core muscles as the muscles that make the rotary stability for this movement possible: hip extensors/stabilizers, oblique slings, rectus abdominis, rotares/multifidi, scapular stabilizers and so on. By training these muscles to be active as a unit in rotary stability type movements, I should have the most carryover to his swing and a very effective core exercise.

Trying to work these muscles in isolated groupings would be akin to doing team building exercises by yourself. Isolation work has it’s time and place, but it rarely yields the results that most of us strive for. It misplaces much of your effort into one element, rewarding you with a false sense of satisfaction because you can, “feel the burn.” Just because you feel that muscle burning, does not mean you’re going to receive your desired training adaptation.

If you’re trying to look good naked, and you’re limiting your training stress to just one isolated muscle at a time, you might as well be doing HIIT with a shake weight. You need to put the stress over a large quantity of tissue to help elicit a much more potent metabolic stressor. The more fibers that are put under tension, the more calories that are burned and hormones that are released to elicit a training response. There's no better way to do this than through compound core movements.

If you’re trying to become harder to kill, training muscles in isolation has little carryover to movement, ESPECIALLY with core work. Your muscles don’t work in isolation when they are stabilizing your spine, allowing you to run, throw, punch, jump, kick or swing that bat. You need to focus on the sequencing of these muscles and their ability to stabilize and transmit forces effectively. This will allow you to run faster, punch harder, and protect that lower back better.

The main functions of the core can be grossly broken down into rotary stability, anti-extension and anti-flexion (lateral and linear) exercises as these strategies are usually how the muscles fight for stability. I have found that using my definition of the core, in cohesion with these functions, is extremely useful for being objective about what will carry over best for my athletes. It helps me pick the best variation of movement for particular sports and positions. I have also found that the variations that fit this bill, seem to be the most challenging and metabolically demanding exercises to hit your mid section. But, I’ll let you be the judge, here are my 12 favorites sorted from hardest to easiest and by category,

Anti Extension:

Dragon Flags

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q7l07Pu0HA

My training partner once slapped me in the gut after I did a set of these, his hand is still in a cast. This is probably the most advanced and grueling anti-extension exercise I know other than the Front Lever series. Dragon flags are a great way to include eccentric loading (lengthening phase) of the anterior chain. Just make sure to do them nice and slooooow, while keeping your body straight from the bottoms of your ribs to your toes. Admittedly, this one mainly focuses on the abz and may look like a crunch's foreign cousin, but it's a popular variation for gymnastic style training and strengthens your anterior core very quickly.

Turtle Rolls

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4y3dQSBCEA

Warning: Side effects of turtle rolling may include muscle soreness, strength gains, slight gas, shortness of breath and a sick feeling of satisfaction. This is another great anti-extension exercise that focuses on the anterior chain as a whole unit. Though the limbs do not move, there is still a transmission of force as your partner pulls you up and down. Maintaining this position at a slow tempo is extremely challenging, but can have huge mojo for any grapplers in the crowd.

Bodysaw Planks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE5xLOZqfMQ

Do you grow tired of normal planks? If you have sliders or a suspension trainer, give these babies a whirl. This is an anti-extension exercise that moves the vector of strain throughout the range of motion, causing different fibers of the anterior core to be stressed more than they would in other anti-extension exercises.

Rotary Stability

Landmine Rotations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upUKXfawkyo

This is a more advanced, standing, rotary stability exercise that will force you to create tension from the ground up. As you can tell from our intern, Mike, the goal is to keep your pelvis square with your hips and not allow any rotation from the spine as you move the barbell from side to side. A little weight can go a long way if you have longer limbs, so really focus on staying tight and increasing it slowly. I’m talking, “grind a pebble into a pearl with you butt cheeks,” tight.

Hard Rolls

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jbQyoeO47k

There has never been a more straightforward name for an exercise. These are freaking hard when you first try them. You want to squeeze your opposite elbow and knee together while trying to touch the walls of the room with the other limbs. You’ll then pick your head up and look to the direction that you’re rolling. NO KICKING OR PUSHING OFF, USE ONLY YOUR INTERNAL TENSION FROM THE ELBOW AND KNEE! It helps to squeeze a basketball or something in between your elbow and knee when first starting out. This is what you see our athlete, Red, doing above. The decreased ROM will make it much easier to recruit the desired fibers. Once you can master this, dump the ball and go elbow-to-knee.

Wide Stance Pallof Press

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA7hdjs-Tno

This one will help get those buns of steel while still hitting your abz and obliques. There are many different variations of the pallof exercise, I just really happen to like the wide-stance for limiting adductor recruitment (they like to help people cheat). Once it becomes easy, you can start moving on to the chop and lift version to help you kick more butt with your Bo staff.

Deadbug with Stability Ball Squeeze

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eakh9HKEtvQ

This exercise can be deceivingly brutal due to the constant tension placed into the ball. You’ll quickly feel it working and learn how to recruit the right fibers to resist rotary forces and lumbar extension. It’s a great place to begin as you progress to the harder variations listed above.

Anti-Flexion (Mainly laterally)

Overhead Pallof Press

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWjM-V7PstA

Rotary stability at the bottom with some nice lateral flexion-resistance at the top. Though you can load up the fireman carry way more, I would say this one is more difficult and more directly challenges the lateral system when paused at the top. People will literally go weak in the knees and start hiking through the hip on this, so be tight, stay stable, square and reach for the stars!... Then hold that reach for infinity!

Fireman Carry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFZe5AgFaeg

Put something heavy on one shoulder and walk. It’s simple and a great way to resist lateral flexion while building up the muscles of your side. There’s a reason Firemen are strong.

2 Point Single Arm Bent-Over Row

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY3H8RMrVlE

This is a great anti-forward-flexion exercise that also has a hint of rotary stability. It’s surprising the amount you will feel this in your anterior core when breathing correctly, despite being in a hinge dominant position. You’ll notice this is the only anti-forward-flexion exercise that I’ve really listed. I find that the back extension pattern is already worked enough in main movements like deadlift and squat variations and rarely needs to be targeted with extra work.

Suitcase Carry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNvc6_jieaw

There’s no exercise more applied to everyday life than picking up something heavy and carrying it. Doing one side at a time will help you to resist flexing to one side or falling over. Though this one is simpler than the others, don’t underestimate its usefulness in a training program.

My Favorite All Around:

Renegade Row

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6LPtLxMuv8

This hits a little bit of each of the core functions. I consider these much more of a core exercise than an actual row. The limiting factor is never the rowing strength. It’s always the ability to stabilize on the 3 points of contact, so don’t be an egomaniac and use typical rowing weights. Also, for the love of all that is Holy, please don’t look like a hungry cow when you perform them. I see people attempt them all the time, letting their hips sag way too low while their head nears the ground, like they’re about to graze on some grass. It makes me want to bang my head against the wall until that form makes sense. Keep the hips level with the shoulders and square with the ground as you row. It’s that simple.

Try throwing a few of these variations into your next routine. Remember to progress yourself into them as many are harder than they look. After a few weeks, you'll be punching sharks and turning heads like never before!

Priming Your Programming

Programming is the poetry of the Strength & Conditioning world, except way more awesome and less awkward to talk about in public. Some programs flow smoothly, creating synergy in movement and some seem to be as random and mundane as a lazy haiku. If you're on this site and reading this, chances are that you have experienced both. And chances are, you've seen the differences in effectiveness as well.

Most people will go with simple antagonistic pairings, ensuring that the exercises don't pull from one another. A simple push-pull template works well for this and is a common go-to for any trainer or coach. Others may go with simple muscle group splits within their pairings, addressing certain fibers appropriately while others rest. Some may even choose to do all their sets of one exercise at a time, not worrying about pairings. These are all tangible ways to design a program, but what if I told you that there was a way to have your pairings improve the effectiveness of one another? To, "prime" some of the movements in the program if you will. (It's oddly satisfying dropping the title of your article in the article).

Yes that's right, by putting certain exercises together, you can actually improve the movement efficiency and strength. I've seen this work with individuals of all training ages. We've had experienced lifters PR and we've had newb trainees show significant improvement in execution of the exercise between sets.

The reason for this is biofeedback. With any exercise of corrective or, "functional" measure, you should see some instantaneous changes in movement when done correctly. Whether it's a sudden increase in range of motion or a new found ability to stabilize a joint. Using  a movement to practice muscle synchronization or just prime muscle activity can create a temporary increase in function. Pairing movements that carryover with biofeedback is a sure fire way to drastically improve the effectiveness of the workout. Not only will the trainee be able to lift more weight in the applied movement, it will make the improved function stick that much more. It's a win-win!

So what exercises work well together? Ones that are working upon different aspects of the same pattern. So for example, a deadbug is mainly focusing on the ability of the obliques to stabilize the spine as the hip extends and shoulder flexes. This is addressing activation of the anterior oblique sling, a system of muscles that act together in gait eccentrically during the push-off phase and concentrically during leg swing. If this system is dysfunctional, it's going to severely impact the individual's ability to control the rotation during things like gait or throwing. Due to this, deadbugs are a perfect pairing for a lunge variation, especially for those individuals who like to turn out at the hips. By pairing lunges with deadbugs, we're priming the obliques to stabilize the pelvis/torso and talk to the adductors to stabilize the rotation of gait. This will improve the force transmission of the lunge and create better acceleration and deceleration. AKA Better performance!

Thought must also be put into the threshold strategy at which you're training your client. If you plan on pairing two intensive movements, the chance of good carryover between the two will be minimal, though you can still get a great training affect. Of course, as the individual becomes stronger and more trained, they will be able to perform more advanced variations of each and still have them compliment each other. I personally like to scale it by goal of the more compound movement and training level of the client: higher intensity and max strength work = low threshold pairing. Accessory movements = moderate threshold depending largely upon individual's abilities and training age.

** I feel this should be noted: Any low threshold work you do she be able to be done while maintaining good, diaphragmatic breathing, this will carryover much better as it'll address the local stabilizers much more. You can learn more about threshold strategy here.

So for example, if I have a client squatting heavy for their main movement, I will most likely pair that with a quadruped rocking variation.  The rocking is a low threshold version of the squat, so it's addressing  the tonic muscles (stabilizers rather than prime movers). This will make the local stabilizers within the spine and hips be more active in the pattern and improve the actual squat. I can also manipulate the rocking variation to address any issues in the squat pattern. So if I want to get more out of the anterior  chain of stability, allowing them into a deeper position, I may try an RNT quadruped rockback vs a band. You could get as creative with it as you want for your training purposes. I've seen great success with not only getting people squatting better, faster, but even in improving depth and ease of movement in some of my experienced trainees.

This guy is tall and has a ways to go down, so emphasis is placed on the eccentric phase in the squat and the rock.

You're going to find that certain movements create more biofeedback for some individuals than others. This is where a good evaluation becomes key to really dissect what needs to be addressed. However, for the most part you are going to see that certain exercises just really mesh well with each other to get people moving optimally. This is why if you look at the templates that I have created in Concentric Brain, you will see that my pairings are matched up as such. All I have to do is match the right intensities and ensure that the variations are appropriate for that individual.

Some other pairings that I really like:

Side Planks and Step Ups: It's pretty common to see some hip hike in step ups, though not at all desirable. A common issue is that people will have poor frontal plane stability and  be limited in training this exercise. There is usually some dysfunction in the way the QL, obliques, glute med and adductors talk to each other to stabilize the pelvis in that chain. I have found side plank variations to be great tools for having instant carryover in this pattern. You can choose the variation that puts emphasis on the muscle that you think may be the weak link. They're also very scalable in intensity, making them usable for all levels of trainee.

Concentric Brain has a plethora of side plank variations for you to match to your client.

Bird Dogs and Overhead Presses: Yup, the exercise that has traditionally been a cook-book back care exercise can actually help your overhead press. The bird dog links several movement systems together and when performed correctly should really help with alignment while the shoulder and hip go through full ranges of motion. It's a relatively low threshold movement and as such should get the tonic muscles more active. As I noted in last week's blog, alignment and positioning are the keys to a good overhead press. I've also found that playing with the hand positioning  in quadruped rocking variations can be advantageous by creating more scapular stability via the serratus anterior.

SFMA Rolls and Balance Work: Biofeedback actually works on many more levels than just altering range of motion or mechanics. It can actually work with sensory components as well. Many people look at SFMA rolling as a way to disassociate upper and lower limb movements and work on rotational mechanics. They do all of those and because of that, they can have great carryover to almost any movement for those less coordinated. But the other thing they do that is they help to stimulate the vestibular system via the otoliths within the cohclea. Gravity gives us sensory feedback by using the gel-like substance within the otoliths to pull on the hair follicles. Sensory information about the positioning of the hair follicles is sent to the CNS and tells us which way is up. With a lot of people, especially older clientele, this feedback may be muffled due to less sensitivity of the hair follicles. The SFMA rolling patterns make them slowly roll back and forth, causing more movement of the gel-like substance within the cochlea and stimulating the vestibular system. This creates carryover into upright movements by capitalizing on the increased stimulation and its transfer to body awareness. If the rolls are a little too much for someone (they get dizzy easily) then you can even gently rock/shake them while supine to help recalibrate the gel-like substance first. So long as you can put your hands on your client that is.

Slide from the upcoming rehab-based class I will be teaching at NPTI. AKA Shameless self-plug.

As you can tell, you can get pretty creative with the combinations. There are several pairings that I use that I didn't even mention in this article for length's sake. All it takes is a bit of thought, creativity and some trial and error. As long as you are taking notes, you'll soon have a toolbox full of pairing variations to get people moving right. This becomes extremely helpful when creating your templates and when put in Concentric Brain, you can easily just pick the variation of the movement appropriate for that person. Once you have your methods and templates down, you will be writing smooth works of art in no time.

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Elevation Training Masks: Tool or Trend?

Trends come and go in the fitness industry and most of the time, I’m happier to see them go. Every once in a while there is some validity to the method/workout/diet/equipment and it can be usefully implemented by a trainer or coach who has done the research and knows how it should fit into the program. On the other end of the spectrum, you see less reasonable individuals throw the trends directly into their program, ignorant of the effects it may yield on the trainee.

One such trend seems to be the high elevation masks. For those that don’t know, these masks are supposed to create an hypoxic(oxygen decreased) environment to stimulate affects similar to high altitude training. They also make you look like Bane, which is a just as important variable. They have become very popular in many different circles and even I fell victim to the challenge they added to workouts after receiving one for Christmas about 4 or 5 years back. I played with it for about a month before doing some digging on the subject and finding that it wasn't the best tool for my goal of crushing the upcoming Tough Mudder. So I threw it in the closet and forgot about it until recently, which is what sparked this blog post.

The Dirt

Now hypoxic training is still relatively infantile in research. Anthony Roberts has a great article on the contradictory and limited research and how it applies to these masks. One major bump in the road that he hints at, that I would like to reiterate, is that we are assuming that these masks do indeed create an hypoxic environment similarly to that of the hypobaric chambers and areas of high elevation that are used in the research. Though they do decrease the amount of oxygen in which you uptake while wearing them, they do so in a different way. It manipulates the rate at which you can ventilate, so it’s almost as if you’re forced to breath through a straw. Whereas traditional elevation training and research puts you in an environment in which there is less atmospheric pressure, making less oxygen available within the air you breath, creating a slightly different effect. There is no research(from unbiased sources) to suggest whether or not this creates any difference in physiological adaptation but I would theorize that it does. The reason I say this is  the resistance provided on inhalation is going to stress muscles of respiration in a different way than breathing the thinner air at the top of a mountain.

So let's assume despite the difference in the way it decreases oxygen, that it still creates an hypoxic environment. There is also the debacle of how traditional high-altitude training is used and how these masks are used. Though hypoxic training research is limited, it has traditionally been used as a means for endurance athletes to increase their levels of hemoglobin due to the need for their systems to maintain homeostasis in the face of hypoxic environment. The main supported method of doing this is to live high, and train low(LHTL).  In order for the elevation mask to replicate this, one would have to wear the mask for the majority of the day, except for when training, for about 3 weeks straight. If anyone feels committed enough to keep the mask on that long, then please tell me if it works, but be prepared to have the police called on you while in public.

Note: Of all hypoxic training techniques, the live high, train low method has been the most researched and used. One reason why endurance athletes have gravitated towards this method is that it provides the increased hemoglobin without sabotaging their workouts. When training in an hypoxic environment, work capacity becomes more limited as the system struggles for oxygen. This cuts the workouts short, and the decreased amount of work can have negative effects on other mechanisms that need to be trained. For more information you can also look here.

Though I’d like to have this as a tool to improve endurance training adaptations, I’ve found waaaay more research to support that intermittent hypoxic training yields no greater results than normoxic(training at sea level). You're better off taking it off. But this is going off of a lot of the research that used mainly aerobic-based exercise, which makes me wonder if it could have any affect when picking up heavy things?

What About Picking Up Heavy Things?

What’s interesting is that there are a few studies that delve into the influence that a hypoxic training environment can have on resistance training. One study done in Japan measured size and strength gains of elbow flexors and extensors after 6 weeks of training elbow flexion and extension for 4x10(Those dudes were bro’n out!). They found that size and strength increased significantly more in the hypoxic group and speculated that hypoxic resistance training may be a promising  new method.

The study performed at the Japan Institute of Sport Science that Roberts references in his article shows that a hypoxic environment can lead to more growth hormone and more localized endurance within the trained fibers(though strength and size were the same between groups). The thing is, I’m fairly certain that you could get similar results to what these studies found by just lowering the rest periods. By depriving the body of oxygen as in the hypoxic environment, you are essentially limiting its recovery between bouts of resistance exercise. I would think that this is going to place more metabolic stress on the tissues in question and force more of an endurance adaptation to the system. After all, the glycolytic system gets replenished aerobically. What’s more, is we know that for optimum hypertrophy results in resistance training, the rest periods need to be limited while intensity under load stays fairly high. This creates more lactic acid accumulation within the tissue and in turn leads to more growth hormone response. Not to mention it can be pretty grueling and make for an intense workout, which I’m sure the hypoxic groups would attest to. What I feel would be interesting is having the subjects gauge their efforts on an RPE scale as well and compare which group perceived more exertion. My money is on the guys with less air.

So What Good Are They?

Even though it’s impractical to use an elevation mask for traditional elevation training and the fact that it may only be a question of rest periods for its effects on resistance training, doesn’t mean that we should throw the baby out with the bath water. Though I would argue that the usefulness of these masks are very limited, there could still be a time and place(though not often). It's really just up to research to further itself on the subject to really confirm when that is. But, if I had to guess:

These masks seem to have the ability to stress the metabolic system with oxygen deprivation and will raise the heart rate faster with less movement intensity. They should also tax localized active tissue more quickly due to the poor oxygen supply to the muscle. When used, it will almost be as if the athlete's VO2 Max has been temporarily lowered, causing his lactate threshold to also lower. This could result in a higher rate of blood lactate accumulation within the active tissues and all the training adaptations that go along with it. Though I would say this is typically a negative aspect, as you would get less overall work out of the athlete, if they are injured and the goal is to keep up certain aspects of their conditioning, then I could see some possible benefit to it.

You could theoretically put the injured athlete through less rigorous movements to help avoid the injury in question and yet still get a higher-intensity conditioning affect on their system. A necessity for this to work would be having the trainee wear the mask for 15-20 minutes prior to exercise to help deplete resting levels of plasma oxygen. It should also be worn for a brief period afterwards. For anaerobic conditioning, you could have the athlete do a relatively lower intensity movement and get the heart rate to the point of their lactate threshold much easier than in a normotonic environment. For the aerobic conditioning, the same rules would apply, however you would just manage their heart rate and movement variations differently. I would also consider setting the mask to a higher oxygen deprivation level for the anaerobic conditioning to limit aerobic metabolism; Whereas for the aerobic, I may start with a higher level when the mask is first put on then decrease it for the exercise to allow the aerobic pathway more capacity. The issue is that the actual carryover that this would have to maintaining the athlete's work capacity or sport-specific condition would still have to be determined through further testing and study. Until then, the above ideas are all just speculation of how it could potentially be used and should be treated as such when considering implementation. (I personally will wait for more research before throwing this at someone.)

The other aspect of these masks that I feel could be useful is their resistance affect on the breathing mechanism. This would be less physiological in effect and more neuromuscular. Since you are essentially trying to suck air through a hole or hole(s) of variable size, you are causing the muscles of inhalation to work harder. This could be very beneficial if the coach is subjective about how the trainee is breathing and includes it within low threshold work on the right individuals. Many individualshave limited diaphragm involvement upon inhalation(think neck breathers). Introducing an elevation mask along with some world-class cuing could help to reinforce proper breathing function and add some more advanced breathing drill variations to your repertoire. You could also include it in core drills and force the trainee to inhale against resistance while maintaining the proper tension for the exercise. I personally like the idea of a forced-inhalation deadbug. Whereas I wouldn't go to this variation of breathing intervention with everyone, I could definitely see a time and place.

In Summary

To sum it up, these masks do have potential to elicit very unique affects on ones training. The problem is that the physiological adaptations that will come of it are still questionable when in comparison with other methods. I believe that more research is needed to validate whether they actually replicate a hypoxic environment similarly to an actual change in elevation for the individual. I also think that whether they do or don't replicate it, the ways they are currently being used and implemented into programs by most of their users are going to elicit sub-par results when compared to other means of training. This does not mean that they are completely useless though; They still create a unique affect to alter stressors on the body physiologically and neuromuscularly. This gives them potential to be useful, though there is no substantial proof as to the carryover it will have on performance. Until that proof comes, I'm going to say these masks are just a trend.

Rapid Wave Sets for Size and Strength

Tis’ bulking season for most trainees and that means a constant search for methods of stimulating new muscle growth for strength and size. Today’s post is just that, and at no better time than a week before the Christmas Feast gainz.

What you Need to Know:

-Wave Sets are easily manipulated for whatever goal you have.

-Rapid Wave Sets with controlled rest periods are a great way to put on some size while still working towards your strength goals by capitalizing on PAP.

-Rapid Wave Sets are a great way to break plateaus for experienced lifters who no longer respond to traditional rep schemes.

-For optimum mass gain, you need high volume at a relatively high intensity with limited rest, which is something you can achieve when manipulating the waves correctly.

How they work:

A Rapid Wave Set is typically used for your main strength movement. The, “wave” indicates that there will be a high and low number of reps done depending on the set and as you guessed, rapid wave sets indicate that those numbers have a fairly steep jump/drop.

By first doing lower reps at a higher intensity it ramps up your CNS to elicit more high-threshold motor units for subsequent sets due to a potentiation affect. By doing a heavy double and then following up with a set of 6, you are recruiting more fibers than if you had just started with the set of 6. This allows you to hit a higher weight for the higher-volumed set than you usually would get.

Through manipulating the rest periods between sets, you can help to elicit more of the training effect you want. For those of you looking to put on some meat, lowering the rest between the heavy double and the set of 6 to about 30-45 seconds may be optimal. I’d also suggest keeping the rest between the set of 6 and the doubles to 90-120 seconds. So in short, an example for an experienced trainee who is looking to put on some muscle may look like this:

2 @ 85%

:30 rest

6@ 75%

:90 rest

2 @ 87.5%

:30 rest

6 @ 77.5%

:90 rest

2 @ 87.5%

:30 rest

6 @ 77.5-80%

The heavy set is mainly there to help improve the volume set and thus does not need a lot of rest. Keeping the rest to 90 seconds between waves and 30 seconds between low and high volume bouts should help to provide a large amount of work in a short time period without sacrificing much else. Of course you can choose different rest for different rep scheme choices, but the ultimate goal is to capitalize on the PAP with minimal affects from fatigue. Typically this type of effect is used for improving rate of force development within athletes, but as I said before, this article is looking more into its use for putting on mass. By capitalizing on window 1 below, we prime the PAP, but rather than using the hightened state for overall force development, we use it more for its affects on power endurance. By doing so, we are able to recruit more motor units(primarily of our fast twitch fibers, which have more potential for growth) to be stressed in the subsequent higher rep scheme that they would not normally be present in. This gives a rare time-under-tension stimulus for these motor units that yields a huge potential for growth.

You’ll also notice how the percentages increase steadily, but the heavy sets start to level off. That’s because for the desired training stimulus, there is no reason to go heavier on the doubles. You actually run the risk of over-exerting yourself and pulling away from the sets of 6(which are going to be fairly hard). So even though the amount of weight being lifted SHOULD be higher, the RPE(rate of perceived exertion) should remain somewhere between a 7 and 8(moves with good speed but still feels heavy) while the higher sets are closer to 9. I use the percentages above just as an example, in reality since this method relies heavily upon an immediate response of the CNS, it's much more appropriate to go off of RPE and feel. Some days you will respond much more positively than others. After the first wave you will have an accurate idea of how much you can increase you volume sets.

Give these a try on your next program, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed. Just keep in mind what movements may or may not be appropriate for it. I mainly use it when programming for the big 3, but have even had success when using them for pullups. Also remember that this method can be very taxing to the system, so be mindful of when to deload. Enjoy!

A Trainer's Guide to Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome(TOS) is a pretty unnerving condition(you'll get that joke later) that festers our community. It can be the result of trauma, poor posture, overuse or even deformity and should only be diagnosed by a qualified professional. With that being said, it's not uncommon for a trainer or coach to end up with clients who have TOS. In fact, in some sport, namely overhead ones,  you will most likely run across several cases of it. It's always best to refer out when you see chronic signs of TOS, but there will be many times when the client comes back from their rehab after the symptoms may have subsided, but the underlying causes are still present. It's for that reason that you should have an understanding of what is at play to give them the best results possible and try to restore function to the area within your professional means.

Overview

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome is defined as a condition that causes pain in the neck/shoulder and usually consist of tingling or numbness within the hand/fingers and a weak grip. As you can see the classic definition doesn't give you a lot to go off of and as I said earlier, it can be due to trauma, posture, over-use or even deformity. For the purpose of this article, we'll only be looking at that within our scope: posture/over-use and their overlap with muscle function.

The symptoms of TOS are caused by the compression of the neurovascular bundle in the thoracic outlet(area between the first rib and collarbone). This bundle consists of the subclavian vessels and the brachial plexus, which explains the tingling and numbness in the hand. Now when examining the picture below, you can see how this bundle passes through the scalenes and under the pec minor. These are the structures that are often responsible for compressing the bundle.

Two less thought of culprits not shown in the picture above are the subscapularis and coracobrachialis. Both of these tissues can aid in compressing the neurovascular bundle and should be especially examined in overhead athletes showing signs of TOS.

Assessment

Any of these four muscles play a major role in dealing with TOS. Often times if the client is coming from a rehab professional, they will already know where the dysfunction lies and can point you right to the issue. Other times it may not be so obvious and you may have do some snooping around to figure out what fibers seem to be the culprit. This is where movement screens or manual muscle testing can make a world of difference. Palpating tone can also be extremely helpful if that is in your scope of practice(careful trainers). Adison's and Reverse Adison's Tests are two orthopedic tests that you can use to determine if the anterior or medial scalenes are compressing the bundle and Wright's Test to see if it's an issue with the shoulder musculature.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FVvOAndbwk

With these assessment tools in your toolbox, it's very important that you remember this: YOU CANNOT DIAGNOSE. That is a clinician's job. Your job is to get them moving and feeling better. Leave the pathologies to the docs and always refer out when the client is in pain or if it persists. But, just as a sit and reach tells about tight hamstrings (Well, kinda..), we can use the information from these tests to help determine what muscles may be shortened and limiting their movements.

Once you feel that you have determined which fibers are the culprits, it's important that you do not go guns blazing and smash the crap out of the pec minor. Again, your job is to make them move and feel better. Muscles get tight for a reason and that reason needs to be addressed. Will stretching those fibers help to decrease the compression? Yes, but unless the reason is addressed, they will tighten right back up before the end of your session. Often times there is a muscle imbalance, movement dysfunction or even fascial adhesion that may be causing that pec minor to increase in tone, shorten up and compress the neurovascular bundle. So once the compressing fiber has been found, put that information together with their subjective movements and work your way to victory through corrective strategy. Just remember that the area of pain is seldom the cause of the pain.

The Scalenes

Increased tone and shortness of the anterior or middle scalene can point to a number of things, especially considering they have multiple functions. Mainly keep in mind that they help to elevate the first rib and laterally flex the neck to the ipsilateral side.

Since the scalenes help to elevate the ribs, this means that they are also accessory breathing muscles. Just another reason why you should always assess breathing. If the client seems to be a neck breather, priority number one should be to restore their diaphragmatic breath. It's no wonder that those muscles are getting tight if they're doing 10,000 reps a day to make sure you stay alive. Now because breathing is so closely tied to the limbic system and sympathetic tone can have a HUGE impact on the quality of breath they take, the root cause of dysfunction may be multifaceted. It may take more work than the usual, "just breath through your belly" drill. Relaxation techniques may be a necessary start and utilizing methods from PRI, DNS or Restorative Breathing can do wonders.

As cervical lateral flexors, the scalenes can also be primo compensators for dysfunctional cervical rotation. If you notice that they tend to turn their head as if they're talking on the phone, that's a pretty likely sign that the rotation needs to be cleaned up. This can get pretty complicated and is good for you to know about when considering exercises for their training. A dysfunction in cervical rotation means there will likely be a dysfunction in lumbar and/or thoracic rotation and you will need to adjust accordingly. Because of the intricacy of the neck, this is a situation in which you should leave all the direct work to the rehab professionals unless you've had special training. Otherwise, focus on creating rotational stability in other segments through oblique and multifidi-based drills. Here are two of my favorite drills:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1l7Rf1dNPc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHsWxdn-kGE

The Pec Minor

The dreaded pec minor. Every trainer has clients with pec minor issues and if they say they don't, they aren't looking closely enough. The pec minor is the main anterior stabilizer of the scapula and assists in downward rotation, depression and protraction of the shoulder blade. It also is an accessory breathing muscle so as stated with the scalene, breathing should be closely examined.

As a scapular stabilizer, pec minor dominance is pretty well known and written about, so I'm not going to spend time discussing it's mechanics versus the traps or lats(if you are interested in learning about that, I recommend checking out some of Eric Cressey's articles). But, I would like to point out how far the pec minor's function can reach.

The pec minor is part of Thomas Myers' Deep Front Arm Line. The Deep Front Arm Line is the layer of fascia enticing the muscles shown below. Because of this, these muscles share a lot of neurological connections and will contract to create tension through the line when there is instability. You'll notice that the connection goes all the way down to the thumb. This means that grip dysfunction can easily place more load on the pec minor and add to it's tonicity. This is another reason why being observant to how your client moves is important. If you notice more protraction/downward rotation as they grip weights, then there is likely a dysfunction in their Deep Front Arm Line. This will require special grip work along with a nice, cozy lacrosse ball to the pec minor.

The Subscapularis

The subscapularis is going to be a critical point to examine in OH athletes. Of course it should be assessed in any client with a history of TOS, the violent movements of throwing puts it at a higher chance of dysfunction than other fibers amongst many overhead athletes. Not only has it been noted to be the most important player in stabilizing the humeral head within the glenoid capsule, researchers have found that it contributes to about 53% of cuff movement through the action of a throw. It contracts especially hard during the acceleration phase of delivery along with with the serratus anterior, pectoralis major and latismus dorsi to concentrically internally rotate the humerus.

Knowing these relationships can be a game changer when evaluating shoulder mechanics and their relation to TOS. If the other rotator cuff muscles are weak or dysfunctional, this will put more of a strain on the subscapuaris which is already doing a majority of the stabilization of the humeral head. This goes the same for the synergists that help to internally rotate the humerus through the acceleration phase. If one or more of these muscles show weakness or dysfunction (cough cough winged scapula cough cough) then the subscapularis will also try to take up the slack and become very taught.

It's also worth mentioning that fibers of the subscap will often form adhesions. This can be for a number of reasons, but in our overhead populations, can usually be attributed to overuse. Palpation will usually help to confirm this(if you can) and often times will be found where the subscapularis runs into the serratus anterior. Friction and other release techniques have been found to be very effective in this situation, but again, only do what is in your scope.

The Coracobrachialis

The coracobrachialis is a hugely overlooked muscle within regards to shoulder function in my opinion. It assists with shoulder flexion and horizontal adduction as well as a little bit of internal rotation. For these reason, it can become taught for many different dysfunctions within the shoulder girdle.  Just like every other muscle that I've mentioned thus far, there can be a large number of relationships to look for. It's been noted that the coracobrachialis is an especially large player in stabilizing the glenohumeral joint when at rest in a relaxed, standing posture. As such, working on general shoulder mechanics and posture can be very helpful.

In Closing

As you can guess, there can be many different relationships that could cause the aforementioned fibers to compress the neurovascular bundle. The examples that I listed are just that, examples. It's up to you to use your tools as a trainer to figure out what movement dysfunction is causing the shortening of the fibers. Working to loosen up the fibers will help an issue, but working to restore function will help fix an issue.

The main point of this article is to always look at the bigger picture. As trainers, we usually see clients more often than traditional rehab professionals and as such, we should be working on total body function, especially as it relates to our client's goals and problem areas. Doing so can expedite progress of any rehab program the client may be in or can even ensure that their pain stays away. Physical therapists and chiropractors are often times restricted by insurance and time as to how much they can truly help with an individual's movements. Their hands are usually tied to getting the individual out of pain and rarely do they get a chance to completely eradicate the root cause for the pain. This is where a good trainer should come in and assist to correct movement and strength to prevent a relapse of symptoms. Working hand in hand with rehab professionals and referring out when needed is extremely important. Sticking to your scope of practice not only protects you, but also ensures your client gets what they need from you. As you can see from this article, there is still a lot you can do.

The “Toes Up” Cue for Squatting and Hinging: Why I give it a thumbs down.

It’s not unusual to hear some coaches or trainers cue their clients to lift their toes when squatting. I actually used to use it fairly frequently if I had someone who couldn’t get their weight back. That is until I started looking a little more closely at what was going on with this cue. First to really understand the mechanisms at play, I want you to stand up with your shoes off. Now shift your weight back without using your hips. Did you feel your toes leave the ground? You just compensated. You pushed your weight back without using your posterior chain. So what is it that is happening when you squat toes to the sky?  You are building an exercise off a compensation, and here are several reasons that you shouldn’t do that.

**Quick Disclaimer**

I do know some VERY strong people who can squat some impressive loads and their big toes do not touch the floor. It it a compensation? Yes. Do they make it work? Yes, but squatting and deadlifting are their sport. It may have been drilled into them long ago and they make it work FOR THEIR SPORT. Most of the athletes at SAPT are not training to get better at powerlifting. They are training to get bigger, stronger and faster in their area(s) of competition. It's for that reason that we must look at the bigger picture of what is going on in the exercises that we coach and their carryover to the athlete's movements.

Movement Carryover:

When deciding what movement to train in a program, you should always keep in mind the exercise's carryover to your goal. This is why squatting and deadlifting are so highly used in a strength and conditioning program. They carry over to almost everything; that is, unless they are performed incorrectly.

If you must lift your toes in order to complete a perfect squat or hinge, then there is something wrong. If you watch someone  move who has trained with their toes up, what you’ll see is that everything falls apart the second those toes are cued to stay on the ground for the movement. They become less balanced, their joint positions change, and they get a bewildered look on their face as their once-thought perfect form tanks like Kevin Costner’s career after WaterWorld.

If the movement is totally dependent upon the toe extensors being engaged to function, then what movements can it possibly carryover to? Only ones where the toes are extended. Which is RARE in the athletic realm.  Even worse is if the movement starts to transfer to propulsion patterns and the toes flare excessively at inopportune times. This would (and has) decrease ground contact of the foot and could hinder ankle stability.

Affects on Heel Strike:

Building off of what I said about movement carry over, deadlifting with your toes up could potentially negatively impact your gait. As we all  know, a deadlift trains hip extension. If we deadlift heavy (as we should) then the movement becomes more engrained. Once it’s been engrained enough, it will start to be replicated in other activities that may require hip extension. If your toe extensors are dominant in your deadlift pattern, then it could possibly become a relationship with your heel strike.

When we heel strike in gait, there is a specific system of muscles that are supposed to fire in sequence to help with the force absorption up the chain. These muscles are the peroneals, bicep femoris, external rotators of the femur, glutes, contralateral erector spinae and contralateral rhomboids. To put it simply, muscles of the outer calf, hamstring, hip extensors and back all fire at once to help the heel strike and lead into hip extension of that leg. You can even see how the foot absorbs the force of this phase below.

Observe how the force has a drastic increase when the heel lands, but then actually decreases as the foot pronates (job of the peroneals) and then reaches a steady, controlled arc through the contact phase. Also notice how the foot whips into position after the initial heel contact and the toes reactively hug the ground.

Now imagine that there is an excess in toe extension due to compensation of the posterior chain in hip extension. This is going to cause more dorsiflexion which would in turn cause the heel to strike the ground in more acute angle, making the force sharper. Not only that, but if it is the big toe extensor (extensor hallucis longus) that becomes one of the drivers for this movement, then it can reciprocally inhibit (turn off) the peroneals, which as I said before, are crucial in the force absorption of this particular phase of gait.

Does this sound far fetched just from one small cue? It’s not. In fact many people may already have this relationship from the get-go due to a weak posterior chain and you’ve probably seen it before. Or maybe I should say that you’ve probably heard it before. Think about people who you can hear pounding the floor as they jog. Watch them walk barefoot, you will see the toes do some funky things. Watch them shift their weight back, you’ll see it again.  This relationship can have huge effects on the force closure of many different joints and can be a large player in shin splints or even S.I. Joint dysfunction. This is why we, as movement professionals, must do our best to keep these systems functioning and NOT give them means to create compensation.

So instead of taking the easy route and cueing, "toes up," try the effective route and progress your clients through proper hip mechanics via activation and weight shift drills. It may take longer, but the pay off will be worth it.