Month: March 2011

Bench Press Instruction

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Recently I posted an instructional series on the squat (here, and here).  It came from the very knowledgeable and very strong lads at EliteFTS.com.  The next in this series called So You Think You Can Bench.  It’s a seven-part series.  I’m posting the first three here.

You may not be a powerlifter looking for a massive bench press but much of the discussion is very useful. The bench press is a total body lift, not just an upper body lift.  The whole body should be tight: legs, glutes and abs included. There should be a tight arch in the low back. (Dave Tate suggests in this video that you should actually be quite uncomfortable while you benching due to this excessively arched posture. I’m not sure we should spend much if any of our time being terribly uncomfortable.  But the overall idea of tightness and tension is spot on.) The shoulder blades should be pulled back and pressed tightly into the bench. You should think of pulling the bar apart sort of like pulling apart a piece of chewing gum. Watch and learn.

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Z-Health and the ABCs of Movement

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“Make the impossible possible, the possible easy, the easy elegant…” – Moshe Feldenkrais, founder Feldenkrais method of somatic education

The Movement Alphabet

Watch someone walk, run, throw, swing, dance, sit down, shovel snow or pick up something off the ground–watch someone move in other words.  Look closely.  You’ll notice movement at very nearly each and every joint.  From the toes to the ankles to the knees, hips, spine, shoulders, elbows, wrists, fingers and possibly the jaw you’ll likely see at least some degree of movement to the point that you may realize each and every joint plays a role in our larger movements.

If we think of these general movements as words, then movement at each individual joint is a letter of an alphabet.  This alphabet is the very foundation of how we move.  So the better our command and recognition of each letter, the smoother, the faster, the stronger our movement no matter what our event or activity.

Z-Health R-Phase: Learning the Alphabet

R-Phase is the foundation of Z-Health.  The R stands for injury Rehabilitation, movement Restoration all via neural Re-education. We accomplish these goals in R-Phase by establishing (or re-establishing) a connection between the brain and all of our joints.  Why?  Because the majority of chronic pain issues are movement problems.  (i.e. “It hurts when I reach over head/climb stairs/turn my head…”  In other words pain is involved in movement.)  It’s the disconnection of these components that often result in poor movement and thus pain.  Or to use the alphabet/word analogy, it’s like we’re trying to spell a word but we don’t have all the letters we need, so our words are no good.  Our alphabet is complete once we have precise perception and control at every speed of every joint in the body.

Master the Foundations to Become Excellent

Many top athletes are known for their dedication to practice.  Michael Jordan was known to show up before practice and games to shoot free throws.  No noise.  No opponent.  No distractions.  Just him a ball and a basket.  And he worked on mastering the very basic element of his sport, over and over and over…  Kobe Bryant is said to have similar habits.  Michael Irvin of the Dallas Cowboys was known for being the first on the practice field and the last to come off.  Further, a little known fact about boxing champ “Sugar” Ray Leonard was that he used to practice his punches and footwork in super-slow motion so he could perfect his technique.  In a recent New York Times article, former diving-champ-turned-coach Greg Louganis “insists his divers show proficiency in one fundamental before moving on to the next.”  The article goes on to say:

“As a competitor, Louganis’s mechanics were so sound that China’s national coaches in the 1980s pored over film of his dives and tailored their programs to match his technical precision. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Chinese have dominated diving much as Louganis did.”

Do you see a trend here?

The best in the world are intensely dedicated to mastering the simplest details of their sport.  Whether they know it or not, they are working toward  Moshe Feldenkrais’ ideal to, “Make the impossible possible, the possible easy, the easy elegant…”  It’s not some in-born “talent” that we see in the masters of sports, music, etc.  It’s the deeply ingrained understanding and perception of the basics that allow the great ones to become great.  And the good news from all of this is that anyone–anyone–can move closer to fast, nimble, pain-free movement if we dedicate ourselves to perfecting the basics of movement.

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Z-Health: the Performance Enhancement System

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For about two years now I’ve been involved in an exercise system called Z-Health.  I’ve suffered from various chronic pain issues and the methods employed by Z-Health have helped me reduce my pain and regain function to a tremendous degree–far more than any other treatment modality I’ve ever experienced.  (I’d like to give great thanks to Dr. Eric Cobb, creator and founder of Z-Health.)  I get to share this unique system with clients every day.  As a Z-Health Certified Movement Re-Education Specialist, I get to help them find their way out of pain and dysfunction.  For clients in pain, Z-Health R-Phase and I-Phase are key to calming the nervous system and re-establishing good, pain-free movement.  But Z-Health isn’t only about pain relief.  It’s also about performance enhancement.

On that theme, I’d like to show you a couple of articles (here, here) and a video on a 14-year-old Seattle area sprinter named Hannah Cunliffe.  She’s a nationally ranked in both the 100m and 200m events for her age group and she’s able to hold her own against college sprinters.  She hopes to compete in the 2012 Olympics. She’s also one of Dr. Cobb’s clients.  For someone like Hannah, Z-Health S-Phase offers powerful visual and sport mechanics drills.  Sprinting, agility, acceleration, decelerating and jumping are all part of S-Phase.

So the big message here is that Z-Health isn’t just about addressing pain.  It’s about achieving the highest level of performance you want.

Here are a couple of videos:

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I Need More Rest & Recovery

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Sometimes I tell my clients, “I make all the dumb mistakes so you don’t have to.”  Well, I continue to make less-than-intelligent decisions from time to time when it comes to exercise.  I’ve been working out very hard for several weeks and I seem to have overstepped my boundaries.  I’ve got some aches and pains that are proving difficult to resolve. Therefore it’s time to dial back my efforts, prioritize rest, and let all my various tissues and functions restore themselves.

I want to deadlift 500 lbs.  That’s my big goal this year.  In order to hit this goal I must put in very hard work.  Hard workouts must be balanced by adequate rest–but not total rest.  I’ve been lifting three days per week with the idea that I’m doing one heavy workout, followed by a light workout 48 hours later, then a medium workout again 48 hours after that.  Then it’s two days off lifting and I start it all over. As important as it is to lift hard on the hard day, it’s equally (maybe even more) important to ease up on the other days, especially the light day.  So while I’ve definitely been hitting the hard days, I believe I have fallen short of my goal of lifting light.

So here’s my strategy. I’ve based the next few weeks on a variation of the Texas Method as discussed in Practical Programming for Strength Training, the brilliant book by Rippetoe and Killgore.  This calls for a Monday/Wednesday/Friday type of pattern with a medium workout on Monday, a light workout on Wednesday and and the heavy workout on Friday.  Here’s my plan:

Monday: Medium Day

  • Back squat: 3 x 8 reps
  • Pushups:  3 x to exertion (10-25) but not exhaustion; alternated each workout with
  • chin-ups: 3 x 5 (I may play around with band chin-ups to get more reps; I’m not terribly strong on the pull/chin-ups and my forearm is banged up.)
  • Back extension: 3 x 8-10 reps
  • I must stay far away from anything that feels like exhaustion or muscular failure.
  • I’ll likely add back bench press and/or overhead presses once my wrists and shoulders feel better.

Wednesday: Light Day

  • Turkish Get-Ups: 1×5 reps each arm–AND THAT’S IT!

Friday: Heavy Day

  • Deadlift: work up to 1 x 2 reps near goal max
  • Speed deadlift: 3 x 3 around 70% of goal max alternated each workout with kettlebell swings
  • Romanian Deadlift: 3 x 5 reps
  • chin-ups: 3 x 5 alternated each workout with
  • pushups: 3 x to exertion (10-25 reps)

The key to all this is paying attention to how I test during each workout after every exercise.  I’ll be assessing and re-assessing my range of motion frequently (most likely with a standing toe-touch type of assessment), and I’ll be performing Z-Health joint mobility drills often.  If I tighten up at all or if I feel any pain then I MUST stop and call it a day.  This is of course counter-instinctive to me but I know I’ll feel better if I do.  The ultimate goal is 500 lbs. on that deadlift and I won’t get there if I’m beat up.

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Vibration Training and Athletic Performance

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Vibration plates have been around for a few years.  You may have one in your gym.  I’ve never used one and I don’t know much about them but I’ve been aware of them for a while.  A recent edition of the New York Times Personal Best section discusses these contraptions in the article Jury is Out on Vibrations’ Effect on Athletic Ability.

I was and to some degree still am skeptical of the whole idea of vibration plate training.  The machine makes me think of any number of goofy magical exercise machines that one might see on a late-night infomercial.  But some research suggests that there may be some positive and “real” effects of vibration plate training.  Vibration plate training may improve strength and jump performance (look here, here, and here), bone density (here, here), among other benefits.

One issue we must consider is the fact that many of these positive studies were funded by vibration plate manufacturers, so there may be a conflict of interest inherent to these studies.  Further, no one seems sure that vibration plate offers any benefits over and above other types of training such as plyometric work or weight training.  The article states:

“There is something to it,” said William J. Kraemer, a professor of kinesiology at the University of Connecticut and the editor in chief of The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, calling it “another tool” for athletic conditioning. But he added that other conditioning methods might yield the same or better results.

“If you think of conditioning as a toolbox, there are lots of tools,” he said. “But when companies are selling something, they want to pretend that one tool does everything.”

Interestingly, no one seems to know how or why vibration plate training works.  The effects seem to be short-lived.  For instance, a high jumper might use the vibration plate just prior to his or her jump and gain a slight advantage for that jump only.

My personal theory is that perhaps the vibration may drive up the sympathetic nervous system, or the part of our nervous system associated with the fight-or-flight response.  If you watch various athletes prior to competition, you often see them jumping up and down, shaking their arms, tossing their head about.  Boxers and martial artists do this all the time prior to a fight.  I’ve seen Olympic swimmers shaking their arms vigorously prior to their heat.  Perhaps all this vigorous shaking is creating a similar effect to the vibration plate.  More research is needed to figure this out.

All-and-all, vibration plate training may provide some benefits but as yet, these plates don’t appear to be any sort of miracle device.  Money spent on one of these machines might better be spent on a barbell and a few weight plates.

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