Excellent Deadlift Instruction From EliteFTS

In previous posts (which I can’t link to as my site was hacked and those posts are un-retrievable at the moment; I hope to have them available soon.) I put up some videos courtesy of Dave Tate’s EliteFTS.net The So You Think You Can Bench Part I and Part II and Part III; and So You Think You Can Squat Parts I-V (It takes too long to copy and paste those links. If you’re interested, go to Youtube and look them up.) series are fantastic dissections of those two lifts.

Now we’ve got So You Think You Can Deadlift Parts I-V. This series is presented by big-time powerlifting champ Matt Wenning. He’s a lot stronger than you, I, or anyone that we know. He’s also maintained his health and avoided injury while competing at a high level. This series speaks directly to using exercise to expose our weak links so we can make them stronger. If you love to lift and you love the precise breakdown of lifting then you’ll love this series. Here are the vids:

“The single most important factor in predicting and possibly treating IT band problems is hip abductor strength.” John Davis, Running Writings

A weak link is found

My last post discussed finding and fixing our weak links. Well, during a trail run I found a weak link and the quest is on to bring it up to a respectable level. At this point I’ve boiled it down to poorly functioning glutes–the glute medius to be specific. Glute dysfunction is fairly common and I’m realizing more and more that I’ve had a good dose of it for quite some time. It’s gotten better but I’ve got to make it better yet. Right now this weak point is causing me some knee pain.

Inside IT band syndrome

Lateral epicondyle; where IT Band pain is typically felt

Recently, while finishing a long trail run, I began to feel the dreaded symptoms of IT band syndrome (ITBS). Chances are, if you’re a runner then you either have or you will experience this issue too. If you look at the Wikipedia entry on ITBS you realize this is a mysterious ailment that might be caused by a myriad of issues from the feet to the hips, from the muscles to the bones, from too much running or cycling or rowing or dancing or whatever else you might do on one or two legs. Conventional treatment ranges from ice to ultrasound to stretching to orthotics and various pain drugs like ibuprofen. (Do we really think that ITBS was caused by a lack of ibuprofen or an absence ice sitting on our knee?) I want to fix this issue and clarify what’s at work here. Let’s see if I can make some sense.

IT Band insertion

ITBS symptoms

The most typical symptom of ITBS is lateral knee pain, somewhere in the neighborhood of what you see on these two pictures. That’s where the IT or iliotibial band inserts. As is typical, I felt a sudden onset of pain at this site while running downhill. It’s a fairly sharp pain. Knee flexion while stepping down off a step often brings it on. Apparently, ITBS can be felt elsewhere along the IT band.

The research: It’s all about the hip abductors.

I found some superb articles with some very valuable information regarding the root cause(s) of ITBS and how to address the issue. Biomechanical solutions for iliotibial band (IT band) syndrome / ITBS comes from RunningWritings.com. Glutes rehab – recent research and Gluteus medius – evidence based rehab come from Running-physio.com. There is some overlap between these articles and they all refer to quite a bit of important research. If you’re a trainer who’s working with someone who has ITBS or if you’re suffering from ITBS, I strongly suggest you read these articles. I’ve summarized some things but definitely go to the sources for a thorough rundown.

Both sources cite a study from Stanford, and here’s what you need to know:

“Long-distance runners with ITBS have weaker hip abduction strength in the affected leg compared with their unaffected leg and unaffected long-distance runners. Additionally, symptom improvement with a successful return to the pre-injury training program parallels improvement in hip abductor strength.”

Some sources suggest that foot/ankle dysfunction–specifically over-pronation–is at the cause of ITBS rather than hip dysfunction. Irene Davis and others of the University of Delaware studied both the hips and feet/ankles. They stated:

“However, aside from this variable [an increase in rearfoot inversion moment], these results begin to suggest that lower extremity gait mechanics [i.e. foot and ankle] do not change as a result of ITBS. Moreover, the similar results of the current study […] suggest that the aetiology of ITBS is more related to atypical hip and knee mechanics as compared to foot mechanics. Therefore, the current retrospective study provides further evidence linking atypical lower extremity kinematics and ITBS. (Ferber et al.)”

The Running Writings article discusses several other studies that had similar findings to the Stanford study. The writer reached this conclusion:

“At this point, the evidence overwhelmingly points to a biomechanical fault in the abductor muscles of the hip as the root cause for IT band syndrome. Weak or misfiring gluteus medius, gluteus minimus, or tensor fasciae latae muscles are unable to control the adduction of the hip and internal rotation of the knee, leading to abnormal stress and compression on the IT band. This muscular dysfunction manifests as excessive hip adduction and knee internal rotation, both of which increase strain on the iliotibial band and compress it against the fatty tissue between the lateral femoral epicondyle and the IT band proper, causing abnormal stress and damage. But although the pain is coming from the lateral knee, the root of the problem is coming from the hip muscles.”

(By the way, the hip abductors of which I speak consist of the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, gluteus minimus and the tensor fascia latae or TFL. See below.

Here’s something important: Very often the glute medius doesn’t do its share of the work and the TFL does too much work. Therefore it becomes important to condition the glute medius while de-emphasizing TFL activity. The side-lying hip abduction exercise (described below) works particularly well for activating the glute med while minimizing TFL activation.)

Hip abductors. If they’re weak, your knees will probably hurt.

The Running Writings piece also says, “a doctoral thesis by Alison Brown at Temple University also investigated (hip abductor) muscle strength in runners with and without ITBS; interestingly, she found no difference in maximal strength, but a significant difference in endurance.”

On a slightly different note, a recent study in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise indicates excessive hip adduction (adduction is the opposite of abduction; If you adduct too much then you’re not abducting enough.) is a precursor to patellofemoral pain or PFP. So again, we see abnormal hip mechanics playing a role in knee pain in runners.

Finally, the Running Writings article does a nice job of dispelling some myths about ITBS, among them the idea of foam rolling and/or stretching the IT Band. I won’t go into all of it but the bottom line is: Don’t bother. The IT band isn’t the problem–it’s the hip abductors! Work on them.

Tredelenburg gait

What happens when those hip abductors fail to do their job? We get what’s called Trendelenburg gait. Here’s a picture of it. Notice the right

Trendelenburg gait

hip drops. When that happens the hip muscles on the left are stretched which puts prolonged tension on the IT band. That excess tension may cause pain at the IT band insertion located on the knee. There’s your pain.

Testing the abuductors

Heeding the observation that hip abductor endurance is key to ITBS, I tested that endurance using the old-fashioned, Jane Fonda-style side-lying hip abduction. (I elected to forgo leg warmers.) I got to almost 30 reps on my right leg (the affected side) and the hip was dying. I got to 30 reps on the left leg and with only moderate fatigue. I’ve seen similar performances in several other clients and my wife who also has some ITBS. This all fits in line with what this research found.

The exercises

The two articles from RunningPhysio do a great job of discussing a wide variety of exercises that engage the glutes. In Glutes rehab: recent research we see research on the exercises that elicit the most contraction from both glute medius and glute max. Look at the tables below to see which exercises get the most out of these muscles. (I’m not sure exactly how all of these exercises were performed.)

Here’s RuningPhysio’s take on how to apply this information:

Practical application

From the research findings a good programme for runners wanting to target GMed would be starting with single leg mini-squat, side-lying abduction and pelvic drops and progressing to single leg dead lift, single leg squat and side-lying bridge to neutral. For advanced work you could add leg weight to side-lying abduction or combine side plank with upper leg abduction. This set of exercises would start with at least moderate GMed activation and progress to in excess of 70% MVIC. It would contain both functional weight-bearing exercises that are a closer fit to the activity of running, and non-weight bearing activities like side-lying abduction which has been shown to activate GMed without increasing unwanted activity in TFL and anterior hip flexors (McBeth et al. 2012) and has been used successfully to rehab runners with ITBS (Fredericson et al. 2000).

Runners wanting to improve GMax could start with single leg bridge, lunge with neutral trunk and single leg mini-squat and progress to single leg squat, single leg dead lift and forward step up. All of these exercises are ‘closed chain’ single leg activities where the GMax provides power to extend the hip but also works to help stabilise the hip and pelvis. As a result they are fairly functional for runners as GMax has a similar role during running.

In Gluteus Medius: Evidence-based rehab, the writer very wisely discusses differences in what we might call “functional” vs “non-functional” exercises. (This article also describes most of the exercises you’ll want to employ.) Generally, we might say a functional exercise would look like something we do in real life. A 1-leg squat or 1-leg deadlift is an example. These exercises have us standing (weight bearing) and using the whole body in concert. We don’t isolate a muscle in a functional exercise but rather we train a movement pattern and integrate lots of muscles together. In contrast, a non-functional exercise tends to isolate a muscle. The side-lying abduction or side plank are examples of non-functional exercises. These exercises don’t much resemble anything we do during most of our daily activities or sports. That doesn’t mean they don’t have value though, and the article does a nice job of discussing this issue. The article states:

“Closing thought, from the research I’ve read and patients I’ve seen, a combination of both functional weight bearing and less functional (sidelying) exercises is most likely to be effective in glutes rehab.”

My process

Like I said, my right glute med is indeed easier to exhaust than my left. I figure though that I should work both sides with a little extra work on the right. I’ve been doing lots of the side leg raises and side planks. I can’t yet do a good side plank while abducting the top leg. That’s a tough one. It’s one to shoot for in the future. I’m also doing a lot of band walks. I don’t loop the band around my ankles though, I loop it around my feet. This study determined that placing the band around the feet recruits more glutes and less TFL. These are sort of the non-functional exercises that I do pre-workout or first thing in the morning.

Pre-workout or throughout the day:

side-lying hip abduction: 2-3 sets x 10-20 reps. I go to exertion.
side planks: 2-3 sets x 10-20 seconds

band walks: I side shuffle as well as walk forwards and backwards. I go to exertion.
Hip hikes: Easy to do. This movement has you lifting the pelvis away from the Trendelenburg gait pattern.

Functional/main exercises:

1-leg squat: 3 x 8-15 reps. I recently used a kettlebell in the arm opposite my stance leg. I focus on keeping my pelvis level, knees somewhat apart and I don’t let my non-stance side hip drop which is very important. I also throw several reps in randomly throughout the day.
1-leg deadlift 3 x 8-15 reps: I often hold one or two kettlebells, dumbbells or a barbell.
Off-set step up: 3 x 6-12 reps use a knee-high plyo box for this. I hold a dumbbell on the side opposite my stance leg. I drive up powerfully with the stance leg then do my best to control my descent back down. I don’t plummet back down uncontrolled.
ice skaters: 3 x 12-20 reps. This is a power exercise in which I drive side to side in an explosive manner. There’s no way to do this without using the glute medius.
1-arm carries/farmer walks: I carry a kettlebell in one hand and walk. Very functional and simple to do.

These exercises do a great job of conditioning our movement sling system. Read here and here to learn more about these systems of muscles that work together as we move.

Where's your weak link?

One big concept is on my mind and it’s been expressed by several experts that I look up to. In his book Movement, Gray Cook says “True champions will spend more time bringing up weaknesses than demonstrating strength.” The great powerlifting coach Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell says, “The Westside program is all about finding where you are weak and making it strong. Your weaknesses will hold you back. Kelly Starrett discusses the idea of “making the invisible visible.” With this statement he suggests we can use exercise to expose movement problems. (He talks about this concept here, here and here.) What does all this mean?

All these guys are telling us that rather than going to the gym and doing fun stuff that we’re already good at and simply making our strengths stronger (taking the easy route, really) rather we should find our weaknesses and work like hell to bring them up to speed.

A slightly different paradigm

I think most of us have an equation in our head regarding exercise. It might look like this:

I exercise → I get stronger.

(BTW, the word “strong” doesn’t just mean muscular strength. We can get stronger at swimming, biking, driving a golf ball, carrying bags of mulch, etc. “Stronger” means to improve an ability.)

There might be a few more dots to connect between those statements though. With regard to the earlier statements about weaknesses and making the invisible visible (i.e. make hidden weaknesses visible), we might see the equation thus:

I exercise → I expose weaknesses/pain/poor movement → I correct/improve my weaknesses and poor movement →I get stronger.

What often happens is that we find an exercise that we really like and at which we’re very strong. We really like that exercise! We do it and we demonstrate to ourselves (and let’s face it, others in the gym) how strong and able we are. Therefore our already well-developed ability gets stronger.

In contrast, I think a lot of us have discovered exercises that we really don’t like. The movement pattern feels awkward, painful or somehow asymmetrical or unbalanced. We have a poor ability to execute the exercise. In other words, we’re weak at this particular movement. We don’t do it well and we know it. Thus we rarely if ever explore this particular exercise. What happens? We probably get weaker and weaker at it.

So while something we’re already fairly good at gets better, a glaring weakness gets weaker. And what do we know about chains and weak links? At some point that weak link (poor movement pattern) is going to cause us a problem if it isn’t already. We may not even know how strong we could be if we fixed our weakness.

My rule of thumb is: “If it’s really difficult to do and you don’t like doing it, then you probably need to do a whole lot of it.”

My experience

A lot of my clients have movement problems and various aches and pains. Their weaknesses are often rooted in a forgotten ability to move properly and maintain their joints in proper position. We frequently need to dial back the exercise intensity and simply work on slow, proper, mindful movement. Sometimes this requires a frustrating level of concentration. It gets difficult. It isn’t always fun. This frustration may lead a client to say ” I just want to work out! I don’t want to think!” In other words, he or she want to revert to their hold habits, ignore their movement shortcomings and do what they’re already good at.

This is an important fork in the road. If a client chooses to continue to focus and do the hard work of correcting bad habits–to improve their true weaknesses–then he or she will almost certainly start to see lasting improvement in the near future. This client and I will likely have a long, productive and happy relationship. On the other hand, we have another type of client. He or she balks at the first sign of difficulty, ignores and avoids weaknesses, and in essence chooses to tread water and only marginally strengthen their limited strengths. He or she has picked an easy but limited route. In this case, our relationship is thankfully short.

The big picture

I’m going to go into some specifics in the next post, but for now I’d like you to consider the idea that the real way to get stronger is to seek out and wallow in your pathetic weaknesses. If you think you don’t have any, then add weight, reps, range of motion and/or speed to see if things start to come apart. Recognize where you start to fail and dedicate yourself to working on those weaknesses.

Lower Trap/Scapula Mobility & Strength Process

I’ve had some on and off right shoulder pain for a while. Along with it has been some wrist and elbow pain. I’ve worked wrist mobility, elbow mobility and I’ve worked shoulder internal rotation as well as elevation and retraction of the scapula. Like I said, the pain comes and goes so I figure I’ve been knocking on the door of the issue, but I haven’t yet nailed it. I’ve employed the following process to very good effect. I’ve used the same process with several clients and seen some very nice changes in shoulder pain and mobility, and neck pain and mobility.

An elevated shoulder

Recently, I asked my wife to look at my shoulders from the back and see if there were any discrepancies or anything that seemed out of place. She quickly said my right shoulder was higher than my left. I took a wild guess and figured I had an elevated scapula and that perhaps my lower fibers of my trapezius muscle weren’t doing their job.

The trapezius

The trapezius (or “trap”) is an interesting muscle. As the name implies, it is a trapezoid. From the picture you

The multi-talented trapezius

can see the superior fibers originate from the base of the skull and attaches at the lateral clavicle, acromion process, and the spine of the scapula. The middle fibers originate from C7 and T1-3 and attach at the acromion and scapular spine. The inferior fibers originate from T4-T12 and run upwards to attach to the lower scapular spine.

The traps do several things. Largely, they shrug your shoulders up (elevation), shrug them back (retraction) or shrug them down (depression). The traps also play a role in rotation, lateral flexion, and extension of the neck. The traps work closely with lots of other muscles including the lats, the levator scapula, deltoids, rhomboids, the muscles of the rotator cuff and a host of neck muscles. Consequently, if some part of the traps are too tight, too long or offline in some way, the result may be shoulder pain, neck pain or other issues down the line such as elbow, wrist or possibly jaw pain.

Mobilize & strengthen

To get things feeling and moving correctly, I like to start with soft tissue work via a lacrosse ball, the Stick, a foam roller, or whatever tool you like to use to soften tight tissue. I’ve found the stick rolled along the upper trap to be quite effective. An example is below. Also, I like to pin a lacrosse ball against my shoulder blade and the wall to get at the external rotators, mid traps, rhomboids, etc. I like to use the lacrosse ball in a similar fashion to work the pecs, but facing the wall instead of backing into the wall. Then, I’ve been using the following combination of stretches and strength work to put things in working order.

First are a couple of stretches I stole from Kelly Starrett at MobilityWOD.com. Both are useful ways to work on internal rotation and tie in some neck mobility. We often see poor shoulder movement that includes poor internal rotation and tight neck muscles–whether the lower trap is messed up or not. Working some internal rotation, moving the neck and loosening the tissue in that neighborhood seems to help facilitate good shoulder movement.

Second, I use the prone-Y simply to get a feel for what it feels like to use the lower traps. It’s nearly impossible to do this one wrong. Make sure to keep the glutes engaged so the low back doesn’t arch too much. Put a cushion under the forehead so as not to mash your face into the ground, bench, or table. I like to go to mild exertion. This isn’t something to make you grimace. It’s simply to get you connected to your lower traps.

The face-pull comes next. Take a staggered stance so as not to lean back. Keep the upper arms parallel to the ground. Keep the shoulders down–but don’t let the elbows drop. This may be a challenging skill for some. You may find your brain gets a tougher workout than any of the muscles involved. Again, no need to go to use a lot of weight or go to high exertion. Technique is #1 here!

Then I go to something I call a shrug-down. You can do this with a lat pull-down or cables or tubing of any sort positioned overhead. It can also be done with an assisted pull-up machine or unassisted hanging from a bar. The important thing is not to go too heavy. Just like the other exercises, this should feel too easy to start with. Many people find it quite difficult to shrug the shoulders down without bending the elbows. This is a skill and it may take some time, some steam coming out of your ears, and sticking out your tongue to master it.

Finally, I like going to a full cable pull-down or pull-/chin-up. Just like the other exercises, I suggest you go light. Try to separate the scapular depression (the shrug down) from the elbow flexion. See if you can make it sort of a two-part exercise: shrug down, pull up, lower yourself back down, un-shrug. Let me know if this helps your shoulder and/or neck issues.

Get to know your QL.

Recently I’ve been investigating and working on my quadratus lumborum or the “QL.” This muscle attaches to

the top of the hip bone (illiac crest), the 12th rib, and parts of the lumbar spine. For a long time I’ve had a bit of pain (ranging from a lot of pain to just a pinch) in the neighborhood of my right low back. At one point in time I was also told I have a right leg-length discrepancy. (Most leg-length discrepancies are functional rather than structural. That is, the discrepancy is typically due to contracted muscles pulling the leg up rather than one leg bone being longer than the other.)

A gimpy QL can cause various problems including low-back pain, shoulder dysfunction, breathing problems and balance problems. Problems in the QL can affect hip position, ribcage position, spine position–all kinds of things. A tight QL can contribute to pinched nerves in the back, the symptoms of which I’ve had sporadically.

I’ve been digging around my low back with a Rumble Roller, the Stick and a lacrosse ball; and I’ve been working to lengthen the QL. I’ve also been directly working the QL via side bends, side bridges, and 1-arm farmer walks. I’m liking the results. If you’ve got back pain you may want to work on your QL.

Here’s a link to a fairly good QL stretch and further information on the QL.

Below are some videos discussing and demonstrating ways to address the QL. The first video is a very thorough rundown of what the QL is, what it does, and common symptoms of QL dysfunction. The next two videos are from Kelly Starrett at MobilityWOD. He discusses some ways to address a tight, gunked-up QL. Next comes a video from chiropractor Dr. Craig Liebenson and strength coach Chad Waterbury. They present a way to test your QLs and then present a nice progression of strength exercises. I’ve just started using this process with myself and some clients. Finally, there’s a very brief QL stretch. I like to use a stretch like this to test each QL and see if one is tighter than the other. There are lots of ways to stretch the QL. This is just one.

I personally have had some good, quick success in playing around with some of these strategies. I make no guarantees but maybe some of this stuff will help you too.

An FMS Discussion Part II

The corrective strategy

Test. Apply a corrective exercise. Re-test. This concept is HUGE. The test/re-test process is just massively important in any situation (technology, medicine, cooking, and yes, human movement) if you want to know if a particular intervention works. Dr. Eric Cobb of Z-Health first introduced the importance of the test & re-test to me. The concept is equally important in the FMS. What does it mean and what does it look like?

We can test all sorts of things. We can test a movement pattern for pain or tightness. As it pertains to the FMS, we want to at some point test and re-test the seven different movement patterns. Beyond that, I could use stepping up and down stairs to test for knee pain. We could bend forward or backward to test for back pain. I could go into a hip flexor stretch on each leg to compare tightness in each thigh. I could stand on one leg to test balance. If you’ve got some sort of difficulty with a particular exercise then that’s a test. So we test something. Then we apply some sort of corrective. Then we re-test.

We might foam roll and/or stretch to increase mobility of a joint. Then we could re-test. Did anything change? We might then employ a stabilization exercise. Then we re-test. Did things improve or not? We could move from static stabilization to dynamic stabilization, that is, we can look at stabilizing a joint while moving other joints. If we see improvement and it holds, then we should practice our new and improved movement. A phrase I heard at the FMS is “Move well then move often.” We want to ingrain these new, good movement patterns. We want to make them habitual. If we load the movement pattern with weights then we look to get stronger in these new movement patterns. We can continue to re-test over the course of time to ensure we haven’t regressed back to poor movement.

My strategy: addressing the ankle, knee and hip

Some of my years-long issues regarding my low back, my right knee and left heel/Achilles are still lingering. These issues aren’t terrible and they hardly limit me but I still would like to clean them up a bit. My right hip tends to be tight. I have intermittent moderate right lateral knee pain. My left calf tends to be tight. I’ve got some impingement in my right ankle. Fortunately, my FMS score is a solid 18 out of a possible 21 which means that it’s safe to exercise and work out vigorously.

Mobility restoration

I’ve employed several tools to restore lost mobility and overcome some movement restrictions. I mentioned in a previous post that I’ve had some dry needling done to my right thigh and hip flexor area. (I’ve since had some done on my right shoulder as well.) This has done a very nice job of relaxing some muscles that were in spasm, thus enabling a greater range of hip extension. I’ve also been using a foam roller, lacrosse ball, and a barbell to get into the gunked up areas of my quads, calves and low-back/quadratus lumborum area. As I mentioned, my right hip and low back are troubled areas, so I’ve spent more time working there than on my left side. (Kelly Starrett of MobilityWOD has some great ideas on addressing restricted tissue. Check out pages 34-37 of his new book Becoming a Supple Leopard for a variety of ways to smash the quad and un-glue matted-down tissues. I’ve been doing a lot of this stuff to great effect.)

A lacrosse ball has been especially useful in getting into my glute minimus and tensor fasciae latae (TFL). I’ve also been using the Stick on my calves and posterior tibialis. You can really experiment with a variety of objects, angles and positions when going after these tight, sore areas. With regard to the test/re-test scheme, it’s a good idea to mash out one side of your body–your right glute for instance– then mash out the other side. How do they compare? Is one side more beat-up than the other? If so, spend more time working there. See if over time you can even them out.

Once I’ve spent a few minutes going after soft-tissue restrictions, I go into some joint mobility drills. Here are some examples:

3D ankle mobility

Hip flexor stretch, pigeon stretch, hip slide

Stability restoration

half-kneeling with rotation

chop & lift

half-loaded lunge

Reactive neuromuscular training:

The only way to do it right is to do it at all. There is often a bit of frustration or struggle with this process–but that’s good! Here, we actually help facilitate bad form–we “feed the mistake” in other words. In this way the unconscious movement fault is made conscious. Now we have a chance to correct the thing. What does this look like? (squat w/band around knees, split squat w/tube)

Reverse Patterning the Squat

I’ve gotten some great ideas from reading Gray Cook’s Movement and Athletic Body in Balance. (I’ve written several times recently about the information in these books. I don’t want to sound like I’ve joined the latest UFO cult or anything, but it’s what I’m into right now. I’m seeing very interesting results, so that’s what I’m talking about.) One concept in particular I’m finding very useful and exciting. It’s known as reverse patterning. Reverse patterning is discussed in chapter 14 of Movement. Though it’s not called “reverse patterning” in Athletic Body in Balance, a very similar process is explored in chapter 6 of that book.

I’ve applied this concept to the squat and I think I’ve discovered a much better way to teach the squat. It’s simple to teach, safe, and similar to the half-kneeling position, there’s pretty much only one way to do it correctly, that is the only way to do it in any form is to do it correctly. If you do it wrong you basically won’t go anywhere at all.

Problems with teaching the squat

Most of us teach and learn the squat from the top down. That means we start in the standing position, lower ourselves down low in a sitting-type of maneuver, then we stand back up. It’s a fairly complex movement. Coordinated movement must occur at the ankles, knees and hips. Meanwhile stability must occur through all these structures plus the spine. All the while the squatter must stay balanced. Teaching this process can be quite challenging.

Very often a client has no idea at all how to do this: Their knees shoot forward, heels pop up, knees cave in, spine rounds forward, pelvis tucks way under–all kinds of movement faults occur. Then I have to teach this funny movement by using all sorts of language and cues that may or may not resonate with the client. So now it’s almost like learning to juggle, ride a bike and recite the Gettysburg Address all at once. Sometimes it goes very well. Sometimes it can be a real hair-pulling sort of event for both parties.

(The funny thing is, if you watch any number of young children, you can see superb squat technique done over and over and over. No one taught them. They figured it out for themselves! How did they figure this out? Must be some simpler way to do this, no?)

Squatting from the bottom up

Gray Cook talks about primitive patterns. These are movement patterns such as crawling, rolling, squatting and other movements that precede activities like walking and running. These are fundamental patterns to humans. (Modern living tends to rob us of these patterns. We sit too much. We hunch over keyboards and steering wheels too much. We don’t get down on the ground and move in funny ways enough.) In the case of the squat, we all did our very first squat a long time ago. I don’t remember my first squat and neither do you. That first squat actually started at ground level as we were trying to emulate the people around us who were standing and walking. At some point probably after several attempts, we stood up.

Typically when teaching the squat the difficulty comes from our trying to get to the bottom of the thing. As I said previously, we often do it all wrong and it takes a bunch of work to do it right. So instead of making it difficult to get down, why not make it as easy as possible to get into the bottom of the squat position? This is very easy to do. Watch the video to see the process.

Awareness: Half-Kneeling

I’m very much into the idea of awareness so I’m going to continue the conversation. I feel like many of us aren’t fully aware of how to do a lot of things and as a result we’re weak, slow, and/or in pain. We aren’t aware of our spinal position and stability (or lack there of) as we move. We’re not aware of our scapulas as we use our arms. We’re not aware of our glutes as we do all kinds of things. We’re not aware of our pelvic position… In general, we’re not aware of our inabilities, our instabilities, and our weaknesses. So if we think we’re going to function well, be strong, and move fast without awareness then we are very mistaken.

More specifically, I’ve become very keen on improving the rotary stability portion of the Functional Movement Screen (FMS.) I’ve realized that rotational stability is sort of a hidden weakness and an under-appreciated ability. Rotational forces are acting on us all the time and we often don’t know it. If we don’t control rotational forces correctly then we’re at risk of injury and poor performance.

Part of this process includes the half-kneeling position. You can use this position as both a test and an exercise. The interesting thing about this process is either you do it correctly and you succeed or you do it wrong and you fail. Unlike say, a bench press where you can make the bar move up and down in a multitude of ways that may or may not be safe and effective, staying upright in the half-kneeling position equates to the one and only way to do the exercise correctly. Thus, the test is the exercise and the exercise is the test.

I discussed the half-kneeling position with Denver-area PT Mike Kohm. He’s worked with a lot of runners and cyclists including some pros. He says it’s not uncommon to put a strong, capable athlete into a half-kneeling position and they instantly become an unbalanced clod with no idea how to stabilize his or her body.

Why is this and why does it happen?

By going into the half-kneeling position we’re taking the legs out of the equation and putting a lot more work into the hips and trunk–aka the core. Mike suggests that many athletes have very strong legs that can compensate for an inefficient core. Why not go ahead and get a competent core? Gain awareness. Shore up the weakness. Get really fast/strong/mobile, etc.

The first video goes into the half-kneeling process. The second video is from Gray Cook; it covers the lift and chop which are often done in the half-kneeling position. Finally, if you’re interested in expanding on exercises to improve rotary stability, check out Can’t Turn This by Brett Contreras at TNation.com. It’s full of several very effective exercises that should help you improve the very under-appreciated ability to resist rotational forces.

Pre-Workout Mobilizations

Mobilizing your joints and preparing for your workout is a fairly important process. If you’re like most modern Americans then you sit too much, hunch too much and stay in these positions for hours. The result is stiff, immobile tissue and bad positioning of your parts such as your shoulders, hips, neck, etc. Further, It’s a good idea to get into the positions required of your workout without any weight before you get into those positions with weight so as to prepare those joints and tissues for the work to come.

Several areas of the body need to be mobilized: ankles, hips, spine (especially the thoracic spine) shoulders, and possibly wrists. Here’s a mobilization process that I use with myself and virtually all my clients. I may vary it some from person to person and workout to workout but this is the basic template. I’ve borrowed (okay, stolen directly from Eric Cobb and Z-Health and Kelly Starrett at MobilityWOD.) Remember: STOP IF YOU FEEL PAIN.

Feet & Ankles

I tend to work from the ground up, so feet and ankles come first. I think a lot of people walk into the gym with no mind toward their feet and ankles. It’s only every single step that we need those things to work correctly. The first video covers ankle tilts and toe pulls. The second video looks at a improving dorsiflexion (very important that dorsiflexion) by way of a 3-way calf stretch.

Hips

As I’ve said before, you sit too much. This is a repeat of the hip drills found in that previous post, plus another general mobility drill–all 4s rocking–that I think is very valuable. The last video is specifically for the hip flexors. It’s very easy to go right into the hip flexor drill as part of the other hip drills.

Thoracic spine

Now we get into the spine and shoulders. The first video looks at mobilizing the thoracic spine. The t-spine is very often stiff and tight as a result of sitting behind desks, steering wheels, over bike handlebars, etc. The consequence is that the the neck, shoulders and low back may have to make up for the t-spine’s lack of movement. This will be a problem at some point. Here you can see a saggital plane mobilization. Look here for mobilizations in two other planes of movement.

Shoulders

The shoulders are the most mobile part of the body. They can move in many directions and thus there are many drills available for the shoulders. Here are a few:

Remember, there are a lot of other joint mobility methods and drills out there. These are just a few that I like. I’ll probably refine and add to this list soon.

All About Feet

Anyone who’s read this blog much at all knows I’m way into feet–or I should say I’m way into foot function. Lately I’ve been investigating the diabolical effects of Morton’s Toe. I seem to have a touch of this dysfunction and I think it brought on the major foot pain I had during the trail race I did recently. (And to expand on the issue of injuries, I seem to have had every single running injury known to man. There is an upside. I’ve learned how to defeat these various strange villains of movement.)

Because the feet are so intricate and so extremely important to every single thing we do all the time, I want to present some relevant information on how to fix some potential problems many people may have. So here are some videos from some experts in the field of movement impairment and movement improvement: Dr. Kelly Starrett at MobilityWOD.com and Drs. Shawn Allen and Ivo Waerlop aka the Gait Guys. I’ve found these instructionals to be extremely valuable. If you’re having Achilles issues, plantar fasciitis, knee pain, hip pain–who-knows-what-kind of pain then this information may be very helpful.

Denver Fitness Journal

All Things Health and Fitness by Kyle Norman, MS, CSCS, FMS, RRCA Running Coach

Exercise Demos