Whether you have painful shoulders or just can’t perform chin-ups or pull-ups, you can still do your vertical pulling exericse. After some experimenting with a few versions, we’re using this one with great success with clients who just can’t do an effective pull-up or chin-up. Sure we still use bands to assist with vertical pulls, but this allows some variation. Give it a try and let me know how it goes.
Hi all,
Yes, I’m aware that I haven’t posted in a while. I have some stuff going on that’s taking priority, so my apologies.
However, I wanted to make sure that you were aware that my buddy Mike Robertson still has his new Single-Leg Solution on sale until midnight tonite.
Mike’s new program is an integral part of any training program, but more specifically, we use Mike’s program in the early phases of programming as a compliment to our Assess and Correct progressions.
Here’s why.
One of the keys to effective training and performance is assuring that normal proprioception is intact. To have normal proprioception, you must have full range of motion at each joint. Otherwise, the information coming from the peripheral joints is somewhat skewed resulting in inappropriate or insufficient sequencing of muscle activity around that joint and throughout the kinetic chain. At best, performance will be limited. At worst, you or your clients get injured.
The next phase is to eliminate isolated weaknesses and regain normal joint stability. That’s where the Single-Leg Solution is so valuable. During bilateral exercises, the demands on stabilizing musculature is much less than when performing split stance and single-leg exercises. Therefore, you need to perform a properly sequenced program of exercises that will promote stability in a safe and effective manner.
All the work is done for you. You simply need to follow the programs. Assess and Correct plus the Single-Leg Solution form the foundation that allows you and your clients to train at the highest possible level safely and effectively.
We all know that it’s important to have adequate dorsiflexion.
A lack of dorsiflexion prevents effective squatting, drives feet into pronation, alters pelvic tilt, promotes quad dominance, and a number of adaptations up the kinetic chain.
Ever have an athlete that no matter how hard to you try to impact dorsiflexion, you don’t see the changes in his performance during ground-based activities?
You mobilize his ankle, and his squat doesn’t change. You stretch the calf, and he still has a premature heel lift when he walks. You have him hop up on the exam table, and it looks like he should have enough dorsiflexion as you move the ankle through a full range of motion. You put him back on the ground. No dice.
So what’s the deal? What are you missing?
Let me explain with a little demonstration.
Take your shoes off and stand up…I’ll wait.
Now, keep your knees straight, stay tall, and slowly lean forward until the moment you feel like your heels will come up off the floor and hold that position. Do you feel it?
Do you feel your toes grip the floor? Do you feel the tension move up into your calves?
In an effort to maintain stability, your nervous system turns on your calves and the deep posterior compartment musculature and on up the kinetic chain. Many athletes have the exact same problem.
Your mobilization and stretching may have addressed the physiologic stiffness that would prevent normal ankle mobility, but if your athlete has poor control of his center of gravity, the stiffness will persist to maintain stability. The result is a neurologic barrier to performance and greater risk of injury.
Got an athlete with plantar fasciitis, anterior knee pain, groin pain, piriformis syndrome?
Consider looking at the factors that influence center of gravity and the associated alignment and muscular activation patterns.
Here’s a hint…start from the ground up.
More later.
Amazon.com loves me.
I buy quite a few books each month. Some are technical, some business, some just for fun.
I remember being in Don Corrigan’s office when I was in grad school at Purdue. He had no walls. Just bookshelves filled with books. It must have taken decades to accumulate his library.
You may have heard the quote along the line’s of “You can measure the success of a man buy the size of his library.” I’ve also heard one that goes something like “You can tell how successful you are based on the comparison between the size of your TV and the size of your library.”
Well, last year we got a really big-assed TV…Good thing my library is still bigger.
Anyway, as I write this, it’s Sunday and haven’t posted anything in while, so I thought it might be of interest to see my home library.
I have books and reference materials spread out over several locations like my PT clinics and IFAST, but my largest portion of my library is at home.
So am I a “success?” Hmmm? Yes and no. Last year was my most successful financially. IFAST was named on of the top ten gyms in USA by Men’s Health Magazine. I was asked to speak at the Perform Better Functional Training Summit AND was asked back this year (thanks Chris!). Thanks to many of you Assess and Correct has quickly become a top resource in the fitness and sports training category.
Am I where I want to be? Not yet, but I’m getting there and will continue to read, learn, and apply?
So what are you reading and where do you want to be? How can I help you get there?
Here’s a great “big bang” active thoracic mobilization. I’d seen it done with the shoulder in internal rotation, but those that are prone to shoulder impingement couldn’t tolerate it.
So we tweaked it a bit. You’ll see that Mark brings his fingertips together and actually pushes the shoulders into external rotation. This small modification relieves the sensation of impingement and makes it an even better mobilization. Stiff internal rotators like subscapularis, pecs, and lats are put on a more effective stretch, AND you’ll be able to drive the scapula into posterior tilt to help with the thoracic extension.
Because it’s an active mobilization, the thoracic extensors are working to balance the stiffness of the anterior trunk. If you’ve got athletes with a lot of anterior stiffness as a result of “crunch happy” school-based training programs, try this out.
Here’s how you do it:
1. Sit on a low bench in front of the wall
2. Place your elbows on the wall and the hands, palms facing, behind the head. Pushing the hands apart with the fingertips will increase the external rotation
3. Using the wall with an assist, actively extend the thoracic spine and pull the elbows up and back.
4. Exhale as you extend to protect against lumbar extension compensation.
5. Hold the extension for 3-5 seconds and release.
6. Repeat for 5-10 reps every few hours.
If you need more great mobilizations and corrective exercises, pick up a copy of Assess and Correct.
Have a great weekend!
Bill