Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. Fixing shoulder posture isn’t as complicated as you think it is. Using only a band and your own body, these staple exercises have the ability to create neutral shoulder and upper back positioning and also add some impressive thickness and strength to the area.

2. The banded variations of the Over and Back, Face Pull and Pull Apart should be staples in every single person’s programming if you sit at a desk for a living, or just want healthy shoulder for the long run.

3. Here’s how to get the most out of these movements with videos, coaching notes and programming recommendations to bulletproof your shoulders and have you back to uninhibited pain-free training.

The Most Efficient & Effective Way To Improve Shoulder Posture

Western posture, or a lack thereof, is becoming one of the most damaging variables in our modern day physical society. Due to hand held technologies, forced chronic seated/slouched positions, and a general lack of daily movement remediation to counteract the hours on end of feeding into this vicious cycle of dysfunction, this physical problem is real, and here to stay.

How are we going to fix this problem, you may be asking? Well, lets start by counteracting poor posture with the activation and strategic training of upper back postural stabilizing muscles.

The use of specific metabolic stress through postural enhancing muscles such as the external rotator cuff, middle trap and rear deltoid facilitate neutral shoulder and spinal positions. Don’t worry, this isn’t as complicated as the muscles I just named, and consists of only a few quick movements that involve no equipment except for a band and your body!

This is hands down the best shoulder specific dynamic warm-up I have ever used. Using only banded resistance, you can activate postural stabilizers of the shoulders, target upper back muscles that are often neglected, and create an amazing training effect in just a few minutes a day.

Lets break down the three movements that we will be focusing on, and bring it all together to show you the magic behind healthy shoulders and pristine posture.

Banded Over and Back

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouBxGHG-v5g

The Goal:

The reason we place the Banded Over and Back movement first in this sequence is to really focus on the smooth and synergistic control of the small intrinsic structures of the true shoulder joint, also known as the gleno-humeral joint, along with the local muscular attachments to the shoulder blade.

Slow and controlled translation of the head of the humerus into the glenoid fossa in multiple directions does a few key things for long term shoulder health and physical preparation for a training session.

First, the joint itself gets oiled up with an increased amount of synovial fluid production. Second, the synergistic effect of the rotator cuff are trained to work together to maintain joint centration throughout the movements. Finally, the larger muscles of the shoulder complex such as the three heads of the deltoid are hit with a longer duration stabilizing contraction that generates local blood flow into the region.

I could go on and on with why this movement is so great, but lets keep it simple.

Coaching Notes:

Grab a band with your palms facing down and slightly away from each other. Starting with the band down in front of you at your waist, be sure that you place constant tension into the band by pulling your hands away from each other while maintaining a straight elbow position.

You will begin to initiate a dynamic movement of the band traveling up and over your head then back behind your back until it makes physical contact with your lumbar region. Go back and fourth touching down at the waist and lower back for the allotted amount of reps.

Staying smooth with this movement is vastly important. Try to make this movement better and better every single set as you get more warmed up. It goes without saying (well, I guess not) that a neutral spinal position through the neck and lower back needs to be maintained throughout the movement. We are not in the business of training compensation patterns on a daily basis!

Programming Recommendations:

This movement is quite versatile in the way which you can use it to your advantage. Obviously, a time to place this into your training is the dynamic warm-up, but it can also be advantageous to use this as a “filler” exercise if you are focusing on push or pull specific upper body movements like a horizontal press variation.

By itself, this movement will feel very easy, but when programmed strategically with other postural heavy movements, it will create a huge amount of metabolic stress that works to create optimal shoulder positioning and alignment for the long run.

*Caution: If you are experiencing notable anteriorly directed shoulder pain, pass on this movement until you can complete it 100% pain free. Though it is a very powerful tool for posture, it can place a bit too much pressure on the anterior capsule and structures of the shoulder if an injury is acutely present.

Banded Face Pull

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLAgZLXDir0

The Goal:

The Face Pull may be the most versatile training tool in our arsenal for remediating poor shoulder and thoracic positioning. It provides the exact opposite movements that we’re continuously pulled into on a daily basis – namely sitting down and looking at computer, phone, and TV screens.

This movement incorporates humeral horizontal abduction and external rotation of the shoulder and retracts the shoulder blades – all helping combat the hunched over, constantly adducted, internally rotated and protracted shoulder posturing. If you’re slouching over a phone or computer reading this, put down the damn phone! That’s the poor position we’re talking about!

Coaching Notes:

We are targeting the posterior deltoid, middle trapezius and external rotator cuff here with this movement. These are all very small and intricate muscles, so a proper athletic position at the lower body and core is needed to create a stable base to work from.

Place the band at about shoulder height and focus on smoothly exploding the band back to your face while driving the elbows behind you. Be sure to keep the elbows above shoulder height and add a little external rotation to the end of each rep.

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Once you are proficient at this movement pattern, add a second hold on the back side to increase the amount of metabolic stress through these targeted tissues.

Programming Recommendations:

Don’t be fooled into thinking the Face Pull is just another dainty corrective exercise. Sure, it can be programmed into any successful dynamic warm-up or activation technique for prepping the shoulders and rotator cuff, but you can also load this pattern up for a results-producing training effect.

When enhancing posture is the focus, we must match the chronic piss poor positioning that is largely tonic in nature with high rep, high intensity, high tension and high pain threshold movements such as this metabolic variation. Try this twice a day every single day to improve your posture quickly. Yes, it will burn, but that searing feeling through your posterior shoulder girdle will feel better than the shooting pain down your arm if your posture doesn’t improve, or better yet, recovering from invasive surgery!

Banded Pull Aparts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qHgt1y2T1Q

The Goal:

Banded Pull Aparts are one of the best movements to enhance posture and target the upper back muscles directly with pain-free volume that is an absolute requisite to counteract daily postures we are pulled into.

The mechanism of this movement is very similar to the Banded Face Pull, but lacks the external rotation component and the active elbow flexion that sometimes complicates a movement with too many moving parts.

Simply put, the Banded Pull Apart is one of the easiest ways to train the upper back without needing a steep movement based learning curve. The simplicity is due to only having your shoulder working into horizontal abduction and isolating that single movement to train these shoulder blade retractors directly.

Coaching Notes:

Start off by grabbing the band with an overhand grip where your palms are facing the ground. Your hands should be approximately shoulder width apart, but feel free to go wider or more narrow depending on the thickness and tension of your band. Note that light bands work well for most people.

Once you are positioned, your arms should be parallel with the floor with the elbows in a fully extended position. As the name would infer, you will then pull the hands apart squeezing your upper back musculature hard and bringing your shoulder blades together. The band should hit you right in the sternum on the front side of the body if you are doing these correctly.

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As you get better at this movement, add in a tiny rotational component to the back side of the motion where your palms will go from facing down towards the ground to facing each other as you squeeze your upper back and shoulder blades together. This will make a big difference so give it a try.

Programming Recommendations:

More than any other movement in this series, the Banded Pull Aparts are a great way to add “free” upper back volume throughout the day to stimulate postural stabilizers and even add some pretty impressive upper back thickness.

Use these in your dynamic warm-up routine before training, but also think about adding these into your daily routine, especially if you are working a sedentary desk job that has you sitting eight plus hours a day.

Ten reps every hour goes a long way towards building an impressive looking and highly functional back. It’s as easy as throwing a five dollar band in your desk drawer. Get it done!

Putting It All Together

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s03X7SpzcTc

Now that we have the movement defined down to the last minute detail above, we are ready to put these three movements together to form what I call the “Banded Shoulder Dynamic Warm-Up Set” that has worked absolute wonders keeping my clients shoulder bulletproofed through even the most intense training cycles. Here’s the setup:

1A. Banded Over & Back 3×10@0
1B. Banded Face Pull 3×10@0
1C. Banded Pull Apart 3×10@30

*Movements are defined as SETSxREPS@REST

You will complete this giant shoulder set for three cycles through with minimal rest in between exercises. Don’t rush between the movements, but make sure you are not squandering time that will decrease the metabolic stress that makes this set so effective in the first place. Program this into your dynamic warm-up directly before your first big loaded movement every single time you train the upper body.

If you struggle with your posture or chronic and maybe even debilitating shoulder pain, this giant set should be a primary focus on every single training day’s warm-up. No matter if you are hitting bench or squats, throw this giant set into your pre-training routine, as the added volume over the week’s time will absolutely be of benefit for long term postural enhancement and restoration.

And finally, for those of you that have really piss poor posture and daily positions and are in need of some serious kinematic remediation, simply keep a band with you at the office or at home and do this exact tri-set 2-3 times a day to retrain your posterior shoulder girdle and enhance your shoulder and thoracic spine position. All you need is a band that will cost you a few dollars and fits into any bag, and a tolerance to metabolic stress multiple times a day, of course!

Enjoy your rejuvenated posture and the lack of stabbing pain on the front side of your shoulder. Quick fix, but an important one. Having success with this giant set? You’re going to want to stick with this for the long run, so quit being fancy and focus on what creates results.

About The Author

Meet Dr. John Rusin | The Strength Doc

Dr. John Rusin is an internationally recognized coach, physical therapist, speaker, and writer, whose published over 100 articles in some of the most widely regarded media outlets in the industry like Testosterone Nation, Mountain Dog Diet, Breaking Muscle, and Muscle and Strength, to name a few.

Along with an impressive laundry list of publications, Dr. John works with some of the world’s most elite athletes, including Gold Medalist Olympians, NFL All-Pro Quarterbacks, MLB All-Star Pitchers, Professional Bodybuilders and World Class IronMan Triathletes.

He takes pride in offering uniquely customized programming to clients of all walks of life in the exact same detail and passion as the Pros! Dr. John’s 12-Week Bodybuilding Program is now available to you. Functional training using the big barbell lifts more your focus? Join Dr. John’s 12-Week Functional Hypertrophy Training Program!

The post Fix Your Posture with This Shoulder Specific Dynamic Warm Up appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. Lets make this clear, strategic cardiovascular training will not steal your muscle and strength gains. Proper cardio training can actually improve strength and increase muscle mass.

2. Cardio has to involve more than slogging around for hours on end. Appreciating the different types of energy systems and foundations of concurrent training is pivotal in making cardio work for you, and not against you when it comes to becoming stronger and more muscular.

3. If you want to maintain muscle mass, keep cardio and strength training bouts separate, and place an emphasis on splitting up lower and upper body modalities of both training and cardio.

4. For long term orthopedic health and the avoidance of cumulative stress injuries choose low impact modes of cardio while focusing on quality over quantity.

5. If you want to maximize your performance, prioritize proper fueling and refueling cardiovascular sessions and avoiding central nervous system fatigue. That’s what resistance training and conditioning are for.

Cardio…AKA The Activity That Kills Your Gainz

I hate the word “cardio!” Why? Well, mainly because when anyone says the word “cardio” the first thought that comes to mind is a teenage girl on the elliptical trainer texting away on her cell phone, while having more makeup caked on her face than Mel Gibson in Braveheart. When it comes to the word “cardio” there is absolutely a negative connotation associated which leaves the average gym bro going into full catabolic mode and losing all his gains instantaneously with the very thought of the C-word being uttered. However for many, a lack of proper conditioning is holding them back from a wide range of benefits including improved recovery, increased work capacity, and improved body composition.

But how should you incorporate cardio into your overall program? I’m going to breakdown five tips to assist you in strategically programming cardio into your training program in order to preserve your muscle, while allowing you to keep ramping up your strength.

There are a myriad of benefits associated with being well conditioned, however many coaches and fitness professionals are aware that too much cardio can blunt those hard-earned strength and muscle gains. Therefore, I’m going to give you a quick and dirty run-down on the benefits associated with well-developed energy systems, along with what we currently know regarding concurrent training, also known as training for adaptations associated with both strength, power and aerobic adaptations, simultaneously.

General benefits of adequately developed energy systems:

• Improved cardiovascular function
• Improved body composition
• Improved recovery (both during and after training bouts)
• Increased work capacity
• Increased localized muscular endurance
• Improved endocrine function including increased anabolic efficiency
• Increased cardiac efficiency
• Improved autonomic balance (parasympathetic/sympathetic balance)

The basics of concurrent training:

• Aerobic training with frequencies exceeding 3 days per week and/or with durations exceeding 40 minutes may blunt muscular adaptations.
• Muscular power is the strength related outcome affected most drastically as a result of too much (i.e. volume) aerobic training, and/or not choosing the right type of aerobic modality.
• Strength/power training enhances endurance performance, primarily through improvements in exercise economy and select anaerobic characteristics.
• High intensity (i.e. >80% 1-RM) strength training with explosive intent and/or high velocity movements have been shown to be the most efficient and effective types of resistance training for improving performance in endurance athletes.
• Strength/power training does not negatively affect any endurance parameter (including VO2max).
• Nutritional considerations, specifically protein intake and nutrient timing, are of a greater importance when training concurrently than when training for strength/power or endurance alone.

The Proper Programming of Cardio

Here’s how you should be programming your cardio to not only receive the added health and wellness benefits of cardiovascular based modalities, but to also salvage and enhance your muscle and strength in the process.

#1 Keep Cardio and Strength Training Separate

You want to maximize your strength and cardio? Keep the sessions separate! Keeping your cardio sessions separate will assist you in maximizing the quality of each session, while facilitating the adaptations associated with both strength and aerobic training.

What if I have to perform sessions together due to lack of time? Remember these tips:

• Perform an aerobic modality that focuses on the contrasting musculature from your strength training. For example, if you strength trained upper body then perform a predominately lower body aerobic mode such as cycling.
• Place a greater emphasis on fueling before the training session and refueling after the training session.

#2 Focus on Low Impact Modes

Throughout the literature one thing is clear regarding the mode of aerobic training and the interference effect: running interferes to a greater degree. This observation is attributed to the high impact nature of running, the high ground reaction forces elicited throughout the gait cycle, and the eccentric component, which results in greater muscle damage.

If strength, power, and muscle are your primary goals then keep running to a minimum. Try focusing on modes of cardio training that are relatively low impact, while keeping the metabolic stress to a minimum. Additionally, selecting modes of cardio training that involve primarily concentric contractions (i.e. cycling, prowler pushes, swimming, etc.) will assist in limiting the amount of muscle damage that occurs during your cardio training, which in-turn makes recovery much quicker.

Try some of the following:

• Swimming
• Cycling
• Rucking
• Cross-Country Skiing
• Rowing

Here is a chart that covers a variety of implements to utilize when aerobically training, along with the pros of using them.

#3 Quality over Quantity

One of the biggest problems I see with cardio training is too many “mindless minutes.” Each training session needs to have a distinct purpose, and volume/intensity should be monitored just like you would with your strength training sessions. In addition, volume and intensity should be manipulated just as with any good periodized strength program. In order for each cardio session to have a distinct purpose, remember the basics of the bioenergetic pathways.

These energy systems are “turned on” at all times, and work together in an integrative nature to provide you with energy. However depending on the duration/intensity of the activity, a certain energy system will predominant. You need to have a distinct goal in mind with each cardio session, as opposed to throwing mindless minutes of cardio on your schedule. This means monitor your intensity, which ensures that you are training the actual energy system you want to train. Additionally, this means you should program your cardio sessions strategically based on the energy systems you are taxing in your strength training (more on this in tip 4).

Here is a chart describing different types of cardio training, as well as the desired outcomes associated with each type:

Being distinct and choosing quality over quantity is the one of the quickest ways to make your cardio more efficient, while simultaneously preserving those strength and muscle gains!

#4 Central vs. Peripheral

When implementing cardio into your program, you should attempt to vary the way you tax your body. Think about the energy systems just discussed and how various types of strength training taxes those systems. For example, if you have a hypertrophy day (or block) coming up, do you really need high intensity cardio such as high intensity intervals or sprints as part of your cardio? No, this would be primarily taxing the same energy systems (i.e. glycolytic) that your taxing during strength training, which will result in inadequate recovery, depleted muscle glycogen stores, and less than stellar performance. During this type of training, it would be beneficial to employ a form of low-to-moderate intensity cardio such as cardiac output training (i.e. 60-80% HRR) or active recovery work (i.e. 40-60% HRR) for moderate durations. This will assist in recovering from the exercise-induced metabolic stress and muscle damage, as well as the depleted muscle glycogen stores, which will allow you to maximize your strength training workouts.

This discussion can be described as central versus peripheral stimuli. In the previous example, the hypertrophy training was targeting peripheral adaptations (i.e. cellular stress, muscle fiber damage, etc.), while the cardiac output training would be targeting more central adaptations (i.e. stroke volume, autonomic nervous system qualities, etc.). In contrast, if you have a maximal strength training day (or block) coming up, which is relatively low in volume, you could plan for a more metabolically taxing, high intensity cardio session such as HIIT or high intensity repetition work. The maximal strength training session would tax primarily the ATP-PCr system, while resulting in very little metabolic stress and muscle damage. Additionally, muscle glycogen levels would remain relatively unaltered, which is exactly what is utilized during high intensity cardio.

#5 Focus on Fueling and Re-Fueling

If your goal is build muscle, be brutally strong, and have blasting power, you must fuel to perform. Fueling prior to resistance training is something I think we can all agree is common knowledge, however for some reason, people treat cardio differently. I’m not going to get into all of the science behind why fasted cardio is not superior when it comes to burning fat. Fueling to perform cardio is useful for the following:

• Maintaining energy balance
• Replenishing glycogen stores
• Maintaining a whole body protein balance (or ideally, a positive balance)
• Allowing you to optimally perform cardio (i.e. total work performed, proper mechanics, etc.)
• Support anabolic signaling

The quickest way to start losing muscle, while having your strength zapped, is through a negative energy balance. That is, using more calories than you are consuming. In order to preserve your muscle and strength, while reaping the benefits of cardio, you must maintain energy balance. One of the quickest ways I see clients/athletes start losing the energy balance battle is when they do not prioritize consuming calories before or after cardio.

What do you consume? The most important macronutrients to consume prior to cardio are protein and carbohydrates. Why? It’s simple. Consuming protein prior to cardio does not provide you with energy unless you are performing cardio for durations >90 minutes or are performing cardio in a fasted state, and that’s good, after-all you want your protein to be utilized for anabolic purposes, not fuel exercise. Consuming protein prior to cardio assists in maintaining a whole body protein balance, triggering anabolic processes (i.e. LAT1), and initiating the recovery process for after cardio, which helps you preserve muscle and prepare for you next strength training session.

What about carbohydrates? Well, carbohydrates provide you with energy during cardio, which allows you to perform at your highest level, after-all you want to actually progress and perform during cardio not just go through the motions. Consuming carbohydrates prior to, and after, cardio allows you to perform optimally, initiate the replenishment of glycogen stores for strength training, and provides you with much needed calories for maintaining energy balance.

Conclusion

There you have it! Five tips to assist you in programming cardio into your training program, while supporting your gains. If used incorrectly, cardio can kill your gains, drain your energy, and send you home wondering what happened to your strength. However, if used correctly cardio can help you feel and look better, while allowing you to push your muscular limits.

About the Author

Marc Lewis, CSCS, TSAC-F, ACSM-EP-C, ACSM-CPT

Marc is an exercise scientist, strength coach, and author. Currently, he serves as a graduate teaching/research assistant in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, as well as serving as the co-owner of Winston Salem Personal Training, INC in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He has contributed to the websites of numerous strength coaches and fitness professionals, while also publishing peer-reviewed research in academic and practitioner-based journals.

Follow Marc on Twitter, Facebook, or his Website

The post Programming Cardio to Support Muscle & Strength Development appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. Improved proprioception and kinesthetic awareness are big words for what we take for granted about movement in general. Learning how to tap into our lower extremities evolutionary feedback mechanism can altogether prevent injuries and increase in muscle strength but it starts by getting barefoot and digging in.

2. Our bodies are one huge feedback loop of information to and from the brain. Connecting our feet into the group and utilizing the natural spiral effects of muscle tension to center the joint are excellent ways to tap into improved movement. Starting off slow with short exposures to “mindful” training allows you to make steady and safe steps towards barefoot training.

3. Getting to a solid point of any real appreciable foot stability takes time and progression or maybe is it regression? Nonetheless we all need to start somewhere so let’s get to work and learn a thing or two about ourselves.

Introduction

Improving positional awareness through barefoot training can protect your body by decrease the chances of developing a lower extremity injury and at the same time improve your muscle strength and athletic performance. Our gifted feet provide a wealth of information about joint positions, muscle tension and most importantly the ground. Improving performance from the ground up is how we have developed but now after years of wearing shoes, we can’t just go cold turkey. A gradual step down approach from padded shoes to minimalist shoes to finally being barefoot is what is recommended. Let’s cover some of the science and then dig our toes into what we really need to know about barefoot weight training and how it can help you be your best.

Evolution Gave Us All That We Need And Nothing More

From fat pads to heels our feet have adapted in ways far different than that of our ancestors. Long gone are the traits for grasping in our feet but what remains is the highly adaptive and highly specialized information that our feet provide about movement and equally the surface we are moving on. This information equally allows for us to intuitively activate and tension our muscles for force production and force absorption.

When we dull or dampen the incoming information from out feet we over use the outgoing information and place our tissues and bones under more stress to provide increased awareness. In other words, the more padded the foot wear the greater we must compression before selecting the optimal recruitment pattern. This is a perfect scenario ripe for an overuse injury (volume of use), or overload injury (volume of force all at once).

No one in their right mind would play a piano concert with garden gloves on; equally no one would wear heavy rubber boots on their feet to improve in their ballet dance (and that shit is really tough, wink wink to my dancer patients).

Due to the lack in barefoot muscle recruitment studies performed with weight lifters we will in part some facts from the plethora of barefoot running studies and extrapolate what is applicable to our weight lifting cause.

In fact when we compare the rates of lower extremity injuries in barefoot runners (BF) versus shoe (SH) runners for example, we find an increased rate of injuries to the knee and hip/pelvis.

Barefoot runner’s still experience injuries. Common injuries in the BF runner are directed at the foot and are attributed to superficial cuts, abrasions, and blisters but also they initially suffer plantar fascial injuries as concrete and pavement are unforgiving; also most of these BF running studies have used subjects with 6 months to 3 yrs of BF experience.

Most of these foot injuries are not a reality when training at a gym but even accidents can happen and stepped on toes or dropped weights can really ruin a good day. None the less, common sense should prevail as should hygiene and proper gym mat cleaning (don’t scoff at socked feet. Please have you ever stopped to think about the literal crap you step on each day and mop into your own house?). Ok back on topic.

Again, longevity is fundamental to performance and strength gains/adaptations, so staying injury free is and should be at the forefront of any trainers, and trainees mind.

Improved proprioception and kinesthetic awareness are big words for what we take for granted about movement in general. Learning how to tap into our lower extremities evolutionary feedback mechanism can altogether prevent injuries and increase in muscle strength but it starts by getting barefoot and digging in.

Get Connected

Our bodies are one huge feedback loop of information to and from the brain. Connecting our feet into the ground and utilizing the natural spiral effects of muscle tension to center the joint are excellent ways to tap into improved movement.

As written before by John Rusin in “Shoulder Packing & Centration” utilizing the natural winding up or synergistic spiral of the fascial layers, to tension the extremities; can create improved joint positions such as the term centration defines.

With the lower extremities this means “rooting” into the ground.

Time For An Experiment

Take off your shoes. Stand up.

Feel the ground out and notice how relaxed the foot, lateral leg muscles, and lowback muscles are.

Now tension your glutes (come one squeeze them like you have a $100 bill in there, and there aight no one that’s going to take it).

Feel how the tension drives the arch up, so that the tripod of the foot (The first metatarsal head, fifth head, and heel) are in contact with the ground.

Start to now center your knee cap over your last three toes. Essentially, externally rotate your femurs outward to emphasize the recruitment of the lateral chain.

Finally set in the core by bracing, and externally rotate the arms to retraction and depress the scapula.

The posterior chain is set.

Simply stated, using this tensioning postural cue throughout the day can re-enforce how the foot is tied into the rest of the body. What is interesting here is the potential correlation between glute weakness/motor control and uncoordinated flat arches in the feet.

As such a chicken and egg scenario is created.

Do shoes lead to weak feet that decrease the proper input required for greater glute recruitment or do weak glutes lead to dropped arches that then require arch support to maintain proper knee alignment (reduced knee valgus or compensated varus)?

Nonetheless we need to start somewhere so here is an ironed out approach

Phase 1: Strength Building

Note: If you already have a program like the JRx 12-week Functional Hypertrophy Training Program, then inter-mix the barefoot concepts in for additional adaptation. If you are looking to try something new then use the provided progressions below.

Stick with phase 1 and perform at best 2/week for a solid 4 weeks before moving on. Remember that training has a purpose and exercise is just a means to stay healthy. If you are serious about training then you know that strength comes before anything else. Strength is the top priority and if you skip out on that fact, then it’s on you. Stick with a plan and be methodical.

Warm-Up: Bodyweight Squats with Posterior Chain Isometric Emphasis

This setting exercise can take place prior to a training session to ramp up the nervous system and again tie in the whole body, (most notably the posterior chain) through tension. We will combine the posterior chain setting exercise with an eccentric isometric variation to as our warm up.

Grab a towel and find a place to go and get barefoot.

Use an appropriate squat depth and get ready for an eccentric isometric.

Eccentric isometric: Squat down to your depth, pause at that bottom position and begin to tension the glutes and outwardly push the knee’s for a total of 5 seconds. Come out of the squat to a standing position and now use you posterior chain setting isometric for 2 seconds.

Bodyweight Squats

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvHjGILrH0E

Sets: 3

Reps: 10

Tempo: 2502

Rest: 30 seconds

Goblet Squats

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nj8dsQW-_s

Coaching Notes: Grab a towel and find a place to go and get barefoot. Perform an elbow to thigh squat (of course considering you are not rounding at the low back). Push the knee’s outward (knee cap over last 3 toes) and contract the glute the entire way up. Get to the top and squeeze just like you have been practicing.

Sets: 5

Reps: 10

Tempo: 4011

Rest: 40-60 seconds

Last Set: Perform 30 reps @ bodyweight

Deadlift

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prtWaFOEx2g

Coaching Notes: Barefoot again. Use whatever grip you like, I prefer a match grip as I don’t like alternating grips (feel like I can’t set the Lats in with the hand that is palm up or supinated; which when you think about it the Lats assists with internal arm rotation so the external arm is placing the Lats to be asymmetrically loaded as one side is pre-stretched vs the other)

Get the bar just over the arch of your foot. Lower down into position, shrug then depress the scapula to set in the Lats (quick stretch to cue the muscle). Now pre-stretch the hamstring by performing a quick knee extension. Begin to push the knees out slightly and for god sake keep your head neutral with the rest of your spine and stop watching yourself in the mirror (break necker)

Sets: 5

Reps: 8-10

Tempo: 4012

Rest: 40-60 seconds

Farmer’s Walk Variations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FioYqj4ReFs

Coaching Notes: Try these in a low traffic area while being barefoot. Your heel strike pattern will have to change and you will have to maintain tension throughout the glute, Lat, and core.

Recall that what you are doing is conditioning the tissues of the foot to increase in their capacity so don’t over load this when first getting started. Shoes allow you to load more but also they dampen the muscle reaction to the ground leaving you critical fractions of a second that you are placing more load through cartilage, ligaments, and bone. Recall you muscles are massive shock absorbers, when they are on and the switch as the foot.

Sets: 3

Distance: 100ft progressing to 200ft

Tempo: Move slow and over time you can increase speed

Bulgarian Split Squat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AX31UwlUs0

Coaching Notes: Use a bench and a rack to hold onto. Keep that towel with you to stay barefoot but if you can’t well these splits squats are and should be a part of your stable. These can be performed to failure and then use the rack to support yourself to maintain form and rep them out with body weight.

Sets: 3

Reps: 12-15

Tempo: 4020

Rest: 40 seconds

Last Set: Perform to failure while using support from the rack.

Single Leg Dumbbell RDL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph34fi6wico

Coaching Notes: Perform with 2 dumbbells as this isn’t for balance and 2 dumbbells keep the pelvis balanced and equally symmetrically load the hamstring.

Sets: 3 sets

Reps: 10

Tempo: 3010

Last Set: Perform a drop set and work till failure

Bodyweight Finishers

These are performed as circuit A1-A2-A3, B1-B2-B3. Repeat circuit A and B for 2 sets total. Use a rack to hold onto for stability as we will be going to failure:

A1 Single Leg Reverse Lunge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMfGwXdxr6c

*20 reps, 4 second rest

A2 Squat to Jump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vWd9AjUe3U

*15 reps, 10 second rest

A3 Single Leg Box Step Up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7YrI_pODBY

*12 reps, 60 second rest

B1 Forward Box Step Up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaqdg4mpPVg

*20 reps, 4 second rest

B2 Bodyweight Speed Squats

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml7MYv8YKfo

*15 reps, 10 second rest

B3 Romanian Deadlift

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCJh3h6oN3w

*12 reps, 60 second rest

Phase 1: Accessory Work

Accessory work should always be performed on a conditioning day after the main activities.

The best bang for your buck is rowing, cycling, sprinting, or prowler sled work. I am not a huge proponent to using Olympic lifting on conditioning days, unless it is with a kettle bell and you are working on single arm work. Why?

Well for one, no one in their right mind would or should be doing Olympic lifting for conditioning as form is fundamental for safety. On the other hand, a kettle bell or FatBell would allow for safer conditioning that provides an element of improving symmetry.

Perform your conditioning for 30 minutes and follow up with this accessory work. Check out the exercises below:

Band Moster Walk

https://youtu.be/s9-CFyagiOQ

*10 Rounds to Each Side

Arm Supported Squat Band Hip Abduction

https://youtu.be/Xc7TiTGlmu8

*3 Sets – 15 Reps

Landmine Anti-Rotation

https://youtu.be/eKhI8XMi87Q

*3 Sets – 12 Reps

Standing Anti-Rotation Cable or Band Chops

https://youtu.be/gcmFvoqbf9o

C0aching Notes: This variation starts you rotated and ends with you statically holding the midline position.

*2 Sets – 10 Reps to each side with a 5 second hold at midline

Lateral Plank with Hip Abduction

https://youtu.be/mX93ayuCL_I

2 Sets – 5 Reps with a 10 second hold

Coaching Notes: workouts for those who can’t get on the ground or have a screwed up shoulder use a standing variation against a wall such as an isometric wall hip press

Banded Hip Thrust From Bench

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVgK4z8RWAw

*3 Sets – 15 Reps

Swiss Ball “Stir the Pot”

https://youtu.be/xm0P0O3xlEE

*3 sets – 10/reps each way (counter clockwise/ clock wise)

Push-Up to Plank on Elbows

https://youtu.be/exVmMeiCSJA

*3 Sets – 10 Reps

Phase 2: Power

Let’s now Increase the force production by increasing acceleration of the lifts.

Warm-up A: 2 Arm Kettlebell Swing

https://youtu.be/L59tkdtHGJY

Sets: 3, Reps: 40, Rest: 40 seconds

Warm-up B: Single Arm Kettlebell High Pull

https://youtu.be/CiXeBvm2Toc

Sets: 3, Reps: 40, Rest: 40 seconds

Reverse Medicine Ball Toss

https://youtu.be/YUuj8ml1vl0

Coaching Notes: Grab a heavy ball, and head outside or to a cleared out spot in the gym. Again we are barefoot. Use a deep squat, grab the ball and toss is overhead and behind you. Try to clear you head and please don’t catch the ball. Again, let people know what you’re doing.

Sets: 4

Reps: 6

Rest: 60 seconds.

Single Arm Kettle bell or Fatbell Power Clean

https://youtu.be/nkGCr__Xg78

Coaching Notes: Hey, single arm work allows for all types of shoulders to get in on the action. Using a barbell yes when training specifically for barbell work is a must, but if you are training for figure, bodybuilding, or athletics (not weight training) then use a single arm implement or tool. Recall that a barbell is a tool that emphasizes symmetry and that takes time to master; as well it takes a good set of shoulders. So stay in your training lane and don’t do things without a reason people.

Sets: 5

Reps: 6

Rest: 60 seconds

Landmine Squat to Press

https://youtu.be/_8-SBeBoXlg

Coaching Notes: Use a single arm or 2 arm variation depending on bringing up a weak side.

Sets: 5

Reps: 6

Rest: 60 seconds

Drop Landing Squat Jump

https://youtu.be/lWsczCGGYaM

Coaching Notes: Name says it all. I for one am not a fan of box jumps power production because rarely in sports do we see the need to jump and land into a squat position above the starting height, unless you are in cheerleading and are trying to land a pyramid jump. Rather in reality we focus on jumping, landing, and recovering from that landing phase such as in basketball, volley ball, tennis (think lateral jump to reversal lunge). Nonetheless this is a more translatable power exercise that is focused on injury prevention. Lord knows that when fatigue kicks, the last thing you want is a sharp corner of a box ruining the rest of your week with wearing shorts.

“What happened to your shins?” Oh it was my mom’s dog. “Doesn’t your mom own a Chihuahua?”

Get a 4 to 8 inch box. Start at the top and drop down. When you drop focus on a cat like landing with your arms in front of you. Then immediately thrust your arms upward and jump up. Use an alternating forward step up with each reset.

Sets: 3

Reps: 6

Rest: 60 seconds

Phase 3: Plyometrics

The progression into this phase will test your strength and put the foot literally to the test. You can incorporate this phase at the end of your power workout session for increased metabolic expenditure but realize that the power phase, challenges your nervous system and your immune system as well. So don’t be shocked if you keep getting flu like pains and symptoms when you jump from one program to the next. Stay focused and really set out to finish what you started.

Here I will outline the exercises and use a general set and rep scheme.

Sets: 3

Reps: 20

Rest: 40

1. Squat to jump
2. Lateral hop to hold
3. Speed skaters
4. Broad jump to hops back
5. Power skips
6. Power step ups

Put Your Foot Down

The progress I have outlined above should make a notable gain in lower body strength, and more importantly it should improve your feet. Again, the rule of thumb is progress slow, expect bumps, but stay focused and listen to your body.

When you see plans like this, take a moment to understand the development process and that although skipping right away to harder and yes more interesting exercises may seem appealing, progression starts at the level of the tissue.

Tissue capacity is a more specific term taken out of functional movement. In that the systems of tissues produce function, the capacity of a specific tissue type and anatomical location will vary.

Capacity is directly related to the stress you place on a tissue. A balanced stress, equals a balanced tissue. In either direction of balance you have failure so be smart.

Being coached again is fundamental if you are serious about training so stop sitting around and waiting for the next best supplement to come out, and hope that a single compound or proprietary blend is going to make the difference.

About The Author

Dr. Mario Novo is a results driven sports orthopedic physical therapist who specializes in strength and conditioning and is also the originator The Lifter’s Clinic . Known well by his clients/patients as a mentor and educator, Mario’s passion is to unify the highest levels of rehab science with successful mind and body strength coaching. With Mario’s research having focused on new advancements in muscle hypertrophy periodization and joint health, his goals are to share his knowledge and improve on the human condition through personalized cutting edge program design. Mario currently resides in middle TN where he plans on integrating his skills and knowledge in resistance exercise and rehab to empower and inspire those individuals ready to make a change in their lives through health and fitness.

The post The Science & Application of Barefoot Strength Training appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. The glutes, quads, hamstrings, and calves are actually made up of multiple muscles and/or muscle heads, each of which contributes to the ultimate function of that group. Want results? Know the muscles you’re training.

2. Different muscle groups have different compositions of muscle fibers, and also have varying fiber orientation. Using this knowledge to target your movements to specific muscles. A squat isn’t just a squat.

3. The musculature of the legs is best trained through the variation of loads, ranges of motion, and rep schemes based on the muscles themselves, and your specific goals and body type.

4. Here’s a brush up anatomy and biomechanics lesson plus specific hypertrophy based programming for each muscle group to bring up even your most stubborn areas.

Introduction

When it comes to building muscle, it’s all about asking the question, why? Why is also the single most important question in the fitness industry today. With thousands of training methods, supplements, and camps on nutrition all competing for your money, one must learn to confidently ask why. Why does it work? Why is your approach better? Why should I do it this way?

As a coach who prides myself in Exercise Science, I love asking questions of the human body. One of the most pressing questions I have after spending my first year in the fitness industry surrounded by coaches, trainers, clients, etc. is “Why the hell don’t people know any functional anatomy!?”

I’m not talking about the simple “well this muscle moves the weight like this crap either.” I’m talking about flexion/extension, abduction/adduction, rotation, and active range of motion. I’m talking about fiber type differences and the optimal rep schemes for adaptations in each. I’m talking about GAINZ (yes, with a Z) people, so listen up. You don’t need to have a doctorate degree to be proficient in the biomechanical and anatomical aspects of training either, as knowledge here will absolutely set you apart as both a trainer and trainee.

If you’re reading this and thinking, well I guess I could brush up on my functional anatomy repertoire, you’re in luck. As Dr. John Rusin’s right hand man for all things hypertrophy, he has asked that I whip up some high-application-value literature for his highly intelligent audience right here on DrJohnRusin.com.

OK, here we go; we’re talking about legs first because they are the foundation of any physique, whether you are an elite athlete or simply trying to look good naked. I’m going to break up the legs further into glutes, quads, hamstrings, and calves. I’ll briefly explain what the role of each muscle is and then give you a whole bunch of sample routines to get swole because that’s what we do here at JRx.

The Glutes

The glutes consist mainly of the gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus. All three originate at the ilium and sacrum and insert on the femur. Here’s a cool fact for all of you, a muscle only acts upon a joint that it crosses. That will be a very important thing to remember going forward in this series.

Ok, now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk about what these bad boys do for your hips. All three act to extend the hip (think hinge movements like Romanian Deadlifts), abduct the legs (think leg away from the midline of your body), and externally rotate the hip (think point your toes out, rotating at the thigh). I think of the glutes as bodyguards to the lower-back and knees due to their role in joint stabilization. Accordingly, strengthening them is essential for any trainee.

Grow Your Glutes with Dr. John’s 12-Week Functional Hypertrophy Training Program

The glutes are unique in that they play a role in so many types of movement. In fact, only the shoulder musculature is as diverse. This fact presents us with some challenges when it comes to training the glutes effectively, especially since there isn’t a single movement yet discovered by mankind that maximizes all three of the actions simultaneously. But we are trainers and coaches, and we’re creative and we like challenges right?

An ideal approach to training the glutes involves applying your new knowledge of the actions to your programming. I recommend that muscles with more than one action, such as the glutes, receive attention from an exercise that isolates each action preferentially, used as “primers” at the beginning of a session or “finishers” at the end and a compound movement, that ties as many of the actions seamlessly into one exercise.

Here’s what a sample glute routine would look like, taking into account that the glutes are typically made up of equal parts Type I and Type II fibers:

Priming/Finishing Tri Set:

1A. Lateral Single-Leg Cable Glute Raises

3×15 with 2 second isometric (abduction)

1B. Toes Out Dumbbell RDL

3×12 w/ 2 second isometric, Tip: emphasize squeezing glutes on top of movement (hip extension)

1C. Toes Out Banded Glute Raises/Back Extensions

3×15 w/ 2 second isometric (rotation+extension)

Working Sets

1. Toes-out (introduces external rotation) Wide Stance Squat

Pyramid 15, 12, 10, 8, 4 reps (increase weight each set)

2. Toes-out Barbell Deadlifts

4×15 (I find high-rep training for hip extension exercises particularly taxing on the glutes)

*Check out the video below for more on glute dominant squat patterns 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IyBpBdbB88

So there we have it, a routine that is designed around a specific set of actions that are the same in every trainee. Obviously, more than just the aforementioned movements are effective in strengthening the glutes, and I’d love to hear about some of your favorites.

For me and 99% of my clients however, the above movements work very well. Adjustments should always be made based on the goals and current status of the trainee. Knee valgus on a squat? Prioritize external rotation and abduction work. Chronic pain in the lumbar spine? Ingrain proper hip extension movement pattern to strengthen glute complex.

The Hamstrings

We will continue with the close cousin of the glute complex, the hamstrings. The hamstring complex is a synergist to the glutes and the second most valuable player in the famed “posterior chain”. The hammies consist of three muscles, the biceps femoris, semi-tendinosus and semi-membranosus (listed from lateral to medial). These muscles cross the knee, AND the hip.

Wait what, two joints? Oh my god what are we going to do? Well, let’s calm down, we are going to train each action, just like we talked about. Think about your muscles as pulleys, as such, they cannot push, they can only pull. The hamstrings are no different. When the hamstrings contract, they can carry out two actions, hip extension (just like the glute group), and knee flexion (heel to butt).

Take the NEXT STEP in your training with Dr. John Rusin’s 12-Bodybuilding Program

Hamstring strength and mobility is closely linked to lumbar and pelvic health, so keeping them in top form is critical. Taking into account that the hamstrings are fast twitch dominant, an effective routine would look something like this (note the similarities to the glute routine):

Priming/Finishing Tri-Set

1A. Toes Forward Banded Back Extensions

3×15 (301 tempo) Tip: Drive hips into pad, heels up into roller

1B. Toes Forward RDL

3×12 (301 tempo) Tip: think “streeetch, squueeeze” each rep

1C. Lying Hamstring Curl

3×8 (no tempo) Tip: don’t let the weight bounce, control it

Working Sets

1. Shoulder Width Straight Leg Barbell Deadlifts

5 sets to technical failure (choose weight to fail between 12 and 15 reps)

2. Lying Hamstring Curls

4×8 + double drop-set each set

It is my opinion, as well as many other strength and conditioning coaches, that no posterior chain program is complete without some form of sprint work. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the guys and gals running the 100m and 200m dash next time you see a track and field meet. The glute and hamstring development they boast is simply amazing! These groups are incredibly powerful muscles, and one of the best ways to overload them is to introduce the rigors of sprint work.

The Quadriceps

Most of you already know that the quads consist of 4 muscles on the front of the femur. They are subsequently named vastus medialis (tear drop shaped inside of knee), vastus lateralis (opposite the medialis), vastus intermedius (deep to the others), and rectus femoris (deadcenter and most prominent). These bad boys work together to extend the knee (straighten the leg). Rectus femoris is also a hip flexor, although to a lesser degree.

Training the quads is about as straightforward as it gets, so it bothers me when I see all these bogus tips floating around on where to point the toes while doing knee extensions and how to manipulate stance width on squats. Muscles respond to torque, and introducing an action that does not utilize the target muscle will not increase torque, period. Toes out to hit medialis, and toes in to hit lateralis on the leg extension? More like toes out to tear your MCL and in to tear your LCL.

Your knee only bends one way, so train it that way! Introducing external rotation at the hip (toes out) also won’t do you any good in terms of developing your quads, in fact, your glutes will likely end up taking on the brunt of the training load. This is one that I have just recently learned and man has it made a difference!

Squats and variations of them are your quads best friends. I have yet to meet someone with a strong squat and textbook form that didn’t have some serious quad development. I suggest giving Dr. John’s article on determining optimal squat mechanics at the individual level a read, and then sticking with it.

RELATED: Squat Depth: The Final Answer

Before I drop the sample program, here is something that you can do to increase the activation of your quads during squat and lunge movements. We constantly hear, “don’t let your knees track over your toes, it’s bad for them”. For people without adequate mobility, that statement is 100% true. For high level athletes with sound movement patterns, it couldn’t be further from the truth. Let me explain why with a quick Biomechanics lesson: Torque = Force x Distance over which the force acts (called the moment arm, wow fancy). Knowing that, think about this; the further the knee tracks in front of the toe, the longer the moment arm for your quads becomes. By increasing the moment arm we have increased torque, which is the training stimulus we seek to maximize so long as hypertrophy is our goal.

RELATED: The Truth About Squat Depth, Injury Rates & The ‘Knees Out’ Cue

As long as you or your clients have the mobility in your ankles and hips to keep heels down and spine neutral, let those knees track over your toes a bit and enjoy the gains. This tip can be applied to Squats (in fact it is exactly what a heel elevated squat seeks to achieve), Split Squats, Lunges, and Step Ups alike.

Priming/Finishing Compound Set

1A. Leg Extensions

3×20 (321 tempo) (use a light to moderate weight, don’t forcefully lockout your knees or all the bad things you read about this exercise might actually become real)

1B. Bodyweight Deep Squats

3×25 (hold every 5^th rep at the bottom for a 5 count)

Working Sets

1. Pulse Squat Double Pyramid

20, 15, 12, 8, 12, 15, 20 (don’t lockout on top of movement, keep tension in the quads) Increase weight as reps go down, vice versa as you go back up

2. Leg Press Dropset

Tip: keep feet low on platform, pick a weight you can press 5 times using your ENTIRE active ROM (found by standing on one leg and raising your opposite knee as close to your chest as possible without rotating your foot in or out) and then perform strip sets until no weight remains on the sled.

3. 150 Degree Bodyweight Lunges

Go non-stop (You can thank Paul Carter for this brutal finisher)

*Check out the video below for Quad vs. Glute dominant lunging patterns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKUd2pxDtLE

*And another video on the quadriceps dominant squat pattern using pulse reps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHcsfud1JPs

The Lower Leg

If I had a dollar for every time I heard the “calves are all genetics bro” line, I would be driving a Lambo, and have a swimming pool in my bedroom. I literally hear it all the time. And for the most part, it’s true. I’m sure you all have that one friend who has never touched a weight in their lives yet rocks a pair of calves that is out of this freaking world. If you’re like me and have to work for every single nanometer you add to your calves, this section might be your new best friend.

The calves consist of two muscles, soleus and gastrocnemius. The soleus is deep to gastroc and consists of predominantly slow twitch fibers. These two muscles are responsible for plantar flexion (think tippy toes), which is actually ankle extension, but you probably don’t care. Anyway, the calves have a very short range of motion, so it is important to understand how to train them optimally.

First, the toes out, toes in bull shit has to go. Right now, throw it out the window. You can’t preferentially activate lateral and medial fibers in the calves, sorry. What you can do is learn to contract them both harder than you ever thought possible.

Related: Developing a Mind-Muscle Connection for Muscle Hypertrophy

Tip number one is to roll up onto your big toe every single rep. Your feet will naturally want to roll out so that your peroneal muscles can help out. We don’t want that. As soon as you think you are as high as you can get on your big toe, focus on driving your shin as far forward as possible without bending your knees. That will help you squeeze the last few millimeters out of a good calf contraction.

Tip number two is to spend a lot of time where things are uncomfortable, most notably at peak contraction and maximum length. I recommend at least a two second stretch on the bottom of every rep top of every contraction. Your goal should be to fill your calves so full of blood that it is excruciating. Those little buggers do a lot for you throughout the day, so you have to hit them right in the face to stimulate any sort of noticeable adaptation. My last tip is to hit your soleus just as hard as your gastrocs. The soleus is more active when the knee is at 90 degree flexion, so be sure to spend some time on the seated calf raise machine. OK, here are the goods:

Calf Circuit/Triset

1A. Standing Calf Raise Machine

3×12 (3 second stretch and squeeze)

1B. Seated Calf Raise Machine

3×25 (2 second stretch and squeeze)

1C. Tip Toe Walk

3×50 yds (yes you will look like Frankenstein)

For those of you looking for more, add a set of AMAP bodyweight calf raises off a step or plate between each set if you’re really feeling adventurous. Here’s a video below on proper form and tempo of this movement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3INUZ6ivLMU

All right folks, there you have it, the first installment to the series that will make you a more intelligent and more effective trainer. Thanks for the read, and be sure to tune in next week as we dive into the functional anatomy of the back!

What we learned in Part I

• The glutes, quads, hamstrings, and calves are actually made up of multiple muscles and/or muscle heads, each of which contributes to the ultimate function of that group.
• Different muscle groups have different fiber type compositions, and fiber orientations.
• The musculature of the legs is best trained through the varying of loads, ranges of motion, and rep schemes based on the aforementioned facts.

If you loved this article, great because there’s more where this came from. Over the course of the next few weeks right here on DrJohnRusin.com I will be breaking down each region of the body in a similar manor, teaching the structure, function and application of training based science and theory! Until next week!

About The Author

Ian Padron is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin’s Exercise Science Program and an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer, currently residing in Seattle, WA. Ian’s mission is to revolutionize the health and fitness industry by combining science and education to evoke sustainable change in his clients and readers. He preaches the importance of a holistic approach to training, taking into account the mind AND the body.  Ian also walks the walk as a natural competitive bodybuilder.

Stay current with Ian on his website: Padron Performance    

The post Leg Training for Maximal Muscle Growth appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. For many lifters and strength athletes, lower back pain and dysfunction is the price of doing business making gains in the iron game. Eventually, you’ll be bitten by the lower back pain bug. Better get prepared.

2. Instead of complaining to anyone who will listen about your lower back pain and being “forced” to take a month off of training to focus on getting fat on Cheetos, how about you do something to train through the pain.

3. The worst thing you can do to get back to uninhibited pain-free training is to push through your normal workouts on a blind stupor. Intelligently modified movements and tactics are your best bet.

4. Here’s how to get the most out of your lower body training while dealing with lower back pain, allowing yourself to heal and regenerate while making some gainz in the process.

Introduction

True veterans of the iron game that have clocked enough hours under some heavy ass loads know that lower back pain and injuries are a frustrating and derailing part of the game. If you think this doesn’t apply to you, think again; back injuries are the price of doing business if you’re training at the right intensity. So get off your high horse and listen up! It’s just a matter of time until the iron takes you as its next victim.

This isn’t your physical therapist’s handcuffing list full of dainty recommendations to lay off the weights and try a new brand of tampons. These tips will have you maintaining your hard-earned muscle armor and dominating your stat sheet while letting your lower back recover, thus reducing the risk of another debilitating injury.

#1 Assess The Severity of Your Lower Back Pain

Dominating sets can wait a day; we have to first figure out if you’re able to get back in the saddle, or whether you’re going to wet your saddle. With every case of lower back pain presenting in a unique fashion, it is necessary to determine whether you are dealing with just another muscle tweak, or a excruciating painful amount of structural and functional damage.

Before you pick up the phone to throw your name on the weeklong waiting list to see your primary physician, who is probably a triathlete, if he trains at all, go through this checklist. If you are having any of the following symptoms, your best bet is to make that call:

• Tingling or numbness
• Loss of sensation
• Loss of motor control (inability to coordinate voluntary movements)
• Loss of bowel or bladder function
• Severe immobility- unable to walk

#2 Skip the Trip to Your Ortho

If you made it through the checklist above with a clean slate, chances are you are dealing with a purely musculoskeletal issue. Without neurological involvement you will be able to independently manage your painful episode, lucky you.

The ability to successfully self-treat will save you time, money, aggravation and your general sanity. Through my years of treating lower back pain as a sports performance physical therapist, I can confidently say that 95% of expensive diagnostic imaging procedures are downright worthless.

Sure today’s imaging techniques can show structural damages in high definition, but have we forgotten about functionality? There are guys playing on Sundays in peak physical condition with train wreck imaging, cashing big checks and doing it pain free. There are also desk jockeys out there hindered by gut wrenching pain with clean scans. As Tyler Durden would most likely say, you are not your fucking MRI!

If this is a chronic or recurring issue, the current symptomology should present in a consistent manor as previous injuries. And guess what, if you’re not willing to do things you have never done to rid yourself of this literal pain in your ass, your orthopedic surgeon will be more than happy to grab the knife and open you up, cashing another absurdly large paycheck from the fat cat insurance company in the process. The choice is yours. So choose to be your own best advocate.

#3 Classify Your Painful Pattern

Individuals with active and painful lower back pain symptoms will all be uniquely shitty in their own dysfunctional ways. Just because your recumbent bike-riding spine doc has classified your condition as “special”, it can still be categorized into one of two distinct groups; flexion or extension-based pain and dysfunction. In a matter of seconds, you will be able to identify your painful pattern and move towards recovery all while continuing to crush weight in an intelligent manor.

Flexion based pain and dysfunction is most prevalent within our Americanized culture full of sitting, slouching, and overall piss-poor posturing. On the opposite end of the spinal spectrum, extension-based dysfunction presents more in active populations, especially those stuck in an anteriorly tilted pelvic position for extended periods of time. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, turn on ESPN. CrossFit has produced some of the fittest men and women on the planet, but also some of the most poorly positioned backsides for elite athletes in recent memory. And we wonder why CrossFitters continue to get injured.

Using two clearing tests popularized by the Functional Movement Systems, you will be able to determine your prominent movement dysfunction by the presence of pain while completing the motions below. If either of these tests illicit pain, that is considered a positive test. The most painful test classifies you as either flexion or extension intolerant. Check out the two positions below:

Flexion Based Intolerance Clearning Test Position

Extension Based Intolerance Clearning Test Position

The results of these clearing tests will differentiate the daily movements and positions that will aid your path to recovery and those that will leave you flat on your back for the next three weeks, wishing you would have taken this classification system seriously.

For flexion-based dysfunction, avoiding sitting and slouching is imperative. As for extension, hanging out in an extended spinal position for long durations can exacerbate your current symptoms, delaying your recovery for a few more painful weeks.

For both painful patterns, keep moving and change positions as often as possible. Keeping your body mobile while routinely giving your spinal structures a break will speed up the recovery process and having you pushing new PRs in no time.

#4 Avoid Heavy Front Loaded Hip Hinges

You should inherently realize that the position you were in when you exacerbated your lower back pain symptomology should be avoided. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Don’t think you’re, smarter than a 5^th grader! Stay off these movements until you earn the right to program them back into your routine:

• Deadlift
• Barbell Row
• Good Mornings
• Full Range Crunches/Sit ups
• Back Extensions
• Low Bar Back Squat
• Leg Press

#5 Enhance the Kinetic Chain

A majority of lower back pain is earned over time, and is not just an anomaly as many fool themselves into believing. That means that your mobility and movement patterns have probably been dysfunctional for a long time, and have been getting progressively worse with every single faulty rep. Get your foot off the damn break before you hit the gas!

The jaw dropping bioengineering of the human body provides many answers to why we get injured. This is most apparent in the Joint By Joint Theory, popularized by Grey Cook and Michael Boyle. This theory states that joints alternate between mobility and stability as their primary function. The lumbar spine is no exception. It primarily serves as a set of stability joints, and is surrounded by the thoracic spine and hips, which are primary mobile joints.

 Back To Pain-Free Training: Dr.John’s 12-Week Functional Hypertrophy Training Program

To get our bodies back to equilibrium, a strong prehab-rehab emphasis must be placed on stabilization of the lumbar spine, which we will cover later, and mobility work for the thoracic spine and hips.

Putting a focused effort on increasing dynamic range of the hip can be manipulated by the positioning of the spine in movement. While your primary goal of training is protecting the spine, keeping it in a vertical position decreases the likelihood of buckling and reinjuring yourself. As your spine stays vertical, as it was designed to do in foundational single leg movements, more range of motion of the hips into flexion and extension will be needed to get the job done. Shakira says it best, the hips don’t lie; they are the true intermediate joints of the body, so improve their function first.

#6 Range of Motion is Dictated by Spinal Position

To successfully train through lower back pain, you must accept the fact that pain changes everything. From an activation, mechanics and motor control perspective, your body is compensating to stay out of pain. Even without direct stresses placed on your “Achilles Heel,” your neurological system is on overdrive.

The way we train through pain is to simplify and perfect foundational movement patterns while stabilizing the shit out of the core, hips and shoulders. Core activation, thoracic spine stiffness, and efficient dynamic hip stability will protect your spine allowing continued recruitment of large amounts of lower body motor units necessary for growth and strength gains.

Protect your back by keeping your ribs down and in a neutral position. Owning your rib posture will position the core muscles for optimal activation, thus further stabilizing the spine.

Another technique to stabilize the lumbar spine is to tap into Mother Nature’s weightlifting belt. By tensioning the broadest fascial layer in the body; the thoracolumbar fascia (TLF), the spine is placed in a more neutral alignment. Fire off prime movers that connect to the TLF, including the glutes and the lats, to generate more tension around your mid section. With enough tension, you will live to lift another day.

Don’t forget about your breathing and core activation techniques to create a maximal amount of tension surrounding the spine. It’s not about the technique that you utilize to achieve super-stiffness, as Stu McGill would say, it’s about actually achieving it.

Perfecting your lumbo-pelvic rhythm, or quality of motion as you get into and come out of triple extension of the lower body, will also improve gross spinal biomechanics and deload the lower segments of the lumbar spine, limiting unwanted shear forces. Keeping the spine in neutral and avoiding any unwanted deviations from a centralized position will decrease risk of injury, especially at the most vulnerable ranges of each movement.

Spinal position needs to dictate range of motion of each movement of your program. An assessment with body weight and under load needs to be administered to determine your ability to maintain a neutral spine throughout all phases of the movement. The bottom of lower body movements, such as coming out of the hole in the squat, and the initial pull of the deadlift are notoriously dangerous for the lower back. Limiting these movements will keep you moving towards your goals without falling off the train and re-injuring yourself due to shear stupidity.

If you are able to generate the prerequisite amounts of spinal stability to start working back into deadlift variations, your best choice is the trap bar deadlift and rack pulls. Both these movements will decrease range of motion, and allow you to maintain a neutral spine.

#7 Ditch Direct Spinal Compression

Avoiding direct spinal compression will allow you to train pain free while also going heavy and keeping the intensity sky high. Direct spinal compression refers to loads placed on top of the spine, for example a high or lower bar position. Without diving too deep into mundane movement science and anatomy that you don’t care about, compressive loading increases shear forces in the lumbar spine, and increases core instability due to the high center of gravity, making it one of the riskiest loaded positions for those recovering from spinal insult.

Keeping the load under the level of your current pain or site of injury will decrease the risk of a lower back exacerbation or re-injury. Unless you have freaky short arms, the easiest way to keep the center of gravity low is through placing loads in the hands. In this hang position; your shoulder joints act as a dynamic fulcrum allowing accommodating changes in the center of mass. This will decrease shear forces, which by this point you realize is kind of a big deal.

#8 Incorporate Accommodating Loads

The bottom position of most foundational lower body movements, including squat and deadlift variations, places the lumbar spine at its most vulnerable position for injury. Since the goal is not only to maintain strength while healing from an injury, but also to enhance performance, the use of accommodating resistances such as chains and bands can be a very advantageous way to overload your system.

Accommodating resistances provide a slight deload at the bottom of the motion, reducing shear forces, poor biomechanics and loss of core stability encountered during the amortization phase. Chains and bands also allow some heavy load to be placed on the movement when a lockout into pelvic neutral is achieved. Anytime you can minimize your risk of injury while still yielding a high ROI, use it!

#9 Embrace Single Leg Strength Work

If you earn the right to train through bouts of lower back pain, don’t be the guy who ignorantly refuses to modify his existing leg day. As I mentioned before, pain changes everything, and in order to get a leg up on your lower back pain, you must evolve along with your programming.

Single leg work not only has to be a component of your program, it has to be the focus and foundation for strength and hypertrophy gains. You heard that right, get ready to embrace unilateral work into your primary movements, while focusing your assistance lifts, finishers and conditioning on bilateral movements.

General ordering and emphasis of movements needs to be altered in order to yield the training effects that will prevent your legs from shriveling up like an osteoporotic 80 year old.

Your single leg work needs to be programmed first, and programmed heavy. Next, movements out of the split stance should be completed within strength and hypertrophy parameters. Finally, bilateral work can be programmed as extended sets, finishers and conditioning work.

The key is to get as much work out of these single leg movements as possible in order to pre-exhaust your legs and move into the next phases of the training session. To get the most out your legs, choose one hip dominant and one knee dominant movement for each of the three subcategories of your workout (single leg, split stance, bilateral). Remember to refer back to the contraindication exercise list above when choosing movements to make sure you aren’t continuing to shake that powder keg of a back you are walking around with!

#10 Increase Work Volume

In order to overload your lower body while staying within the parameters of the programming techniques above, the overall work volume of a training session needs to increase. Volume can be most effectively manipulated by adding both sets and reps to the programming for each movement.

For single leg primary strength movements, it is imperative to not only push as hard as possible, but program with primary strength loads that keep you within 4-8 reps. Overall volume of your workout will be increased in these primary movements because they replace the traditional power work, between 1-4 repetitions, that is commonplace for many strength athletes. As long as you can maintain spinal positioning and stability, work towards 50 total reps per leg for single leg work.

Build Volume & Capacity with the New 12-Week Functional Hypertrophy Training Program

During split stance work, strength and hypertrophy parameters are most advantageous to continue the pre-exhaustion of the lower body, while also putting an emphasis on increasing the total volume of the session. Stick to sets of 8-15 reps per leg, while working your way to 60 total reps per leg.

For any single leg movement, make sure to complete all your reps on one leg before moving on to the opposite leg. This will allow you to maintain maximal tension and stability through the pillar while not having to reset your spinal position over and over. For example, for step-ups, complete 6 reps on the left, followed directly by 6 reps on the right for your primary single leg strength movement.

You’ll know its time for bilateral work when you start shaking, are walking a little butt-hurt, and contemplating going to the bathroom to release your demons. This is called pre-exhaustion, and the work that is put in after this level of trashing is what will keep you progressing, even with a painful lower back.

Bilateral work is saved up for extended sets, finishers and conditioning. Pick two movements that meet the criteria for safe lower back programming (my favorite is the trap bar deadlift off platforms and isometric bodyweight squat holds), and crush it! Bilateral work is maximal effort, so go hard. Don’t worry about stressing the core; your legs will be so fried that they will be the limiting factor to every set. Keep loads relatively light, and reps to the max. Shoot for 3 sets of 20+ reps for two bilateral movements to put the final nail in this workout’s coffin.

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is an internationally recognized coach, physical therapist, speaker, and writer, whose published over 100 articles in some of the most widely regarded media outlets in the industry like Testosterone Nation, Mountain Dog Diet, Breaking Muscle, and Muscle and Strength, to name a few.

Along with an impressive laundry list of publications, Dr. John works with some of the world’s most elite athletes, including Gold Medalist Olympians, NFL All-Pro Quarterbacks, MLB All-Star Pitchers, Professional Bodybuilders and World Class IronMan Triathletes.

He takes pride in offering uniquely customized programming to clients of all walks of life in the exact same detail and passion as the Pros! Dr. John’s 12-Week Bodybuilding Program is now available to you.

The post The Lifter’s Guide to Training Through Lower Back Pain appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. The muscles that make up the back are complex to say the least, which is why knowing your movement anatomy and fiber orientation is an absolute must if maximum hypertrophy is your goal.

2. Determining your available active range of motion, or the range in which the target muscle is the prime mover, will increase the amount of total tension you subject your back muscles to. And yes, the upper back muscles respond extremely well to tension and metabolic stress.

3. The muscles of the back are some of the largest and most powerful in the human body. Accordingly, they respond favorably to high volume and heavy loads, and of course, these two training variables rest on great form and movement execution.

4. Here are the top back hypertrophy training tips to build your lats, traps and other upper back muscles to improve your big lifts, and add some functional muscle armor to that back side!

Introduction

Thanks for joining me back at DrJohnRusin.com for the second part of the Maximum Hypertrophy series. I’m psyched that Part I of this series was so well received and am sure you all will continue to gain a ton of actionable knowledge throughout the next few articles that will focus on getting you yolked through the science of regional muscle hypertrophy.

Check out Part I “Leg Training for Maximal Muscle Growth”

In this next article in the series, we are talking about my favorite muscle group to train, the back. By back, I mean lats/teres major, mid/low traps, and to a lesser degree the rhomboids. We will talk about the rotator cuff musculature and upper fibers of the traps in the shoulder training article scheduled to be released in a couple weeks, so just hold your horses on that front.

Before I get started, I want you to be completely honest in answering the following question. If I were to ask you to draw the musculature of the back, including the correct orientation of the constituent fibers, and superficial to deep organization would you be able to do so?

If the answer is yes, you are a badass and way ahead of the curve. If the answer is no, take some time to study the image below, as it will help with the visualization component required in the subsections for training each muscle optimally. You know what they say… You have to know the muscles exist before you can target and train them properly.

Now that we have the basics of what superficial muscles we are training and their approximate location, lets get started with one of the broadest muscles in the human body the spans the vast majority of the back, the latissimus dorsi.

The Lats

The latissimus dorsi, or lats, are two enormous sheaths of muscle that originate from the spinous processes of vertebrae T7-L5, the iliac crest , and thoracolumbar fascia and insert on the intertubercular groove of the humerus.

From that information alone, it is obvious that the lats are enormous muscles, as such they are capable of enormous growth and force production. The lats are unique in that they do just about everything, and then a little bit more. They adduct (think opposite of a lateral raise), extend (think opposite of a frontal raise), and internally rotate the upper arm (think funny bone facing out) and act as a synergist in trunk rotation.

I have found that for the lats, it is best to utilize compound movements that combine these actions. Staples such as T-Bar rows, Pull-Ups, and Straight Arm Pullovers have had a place in every bodybuilder’s arsenal since day one, and for good reason; they flat out work. When training the lats, it is crucial to build a connection with the working muscle.

Take Your Back Training to the Next Level with Dr. John’s 12-Week FHT Program

Every lat movement can be turned into an elbow flexor movement if you focus on moving the weight and not the muscle. This is a very important point as many lifters neglect the intricate detail of some staple back exercises or write them off for good due to poor execution.

I’m not going to get into the specifics of each individual action, but rather provide some cues to keep in mind that will engage the lats to a greater degree when compared to simply going through the motions. Here are three of the most helpful tips that have worked extremely well to improve the targeting and activation of the back muscles, because yes, we are training back, not biceps.

Tip #1: Initiate Pulls with your Lats, NOT your Biceps

That means ZERO elbow flexion until you literally cannot contract your lats any further. Use Tip #2 below to maximally contract your lats. See the videos below on proper pulldown and seated row execution where I implement this tip.

Check out this V-Bar Lat Pulldown variation from Dr. John and his wife Lindsay getting after it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4_2Os133NY

Tip #2: Tuck Your Scaps Into Your Back Pockets

For example, using the cue left scap/elbow into right back pocket. This simple pointer introduces both scapular retraction AND depression, which amplifies the tension created by the shoulder extension and adduction components of all pulling movements.

Tip #3: Establish your Active Range of Motion

The name of the game here is tension. If you lose tension in your lats during a movement, you have gone beyond your active range of motion. So even though you could theoretically “stretch” your lats a few inches further at the end of a row or lat pull-down, you should learn the difference between stretching your lats and stretching your shoulder girdle.

If maximum tension is the goal of your lat training (which it absolutely should be) only perform the eccentric portion of a lift until you are unable to maintain scapular retraction and depression.

Now take these tips and get after it with this lat specific training routine (which pairs very nicely with the trap/rhomboid) routine found later in this article. Note that the Teres Major can be thought of as a miniature lat, and will benefit from the same movements and cues.

*Note that the exercise prescriptions below read SETSxREPS

Priming/Finishing Compound Set

1A. Wide Grip Pull-Ups (Band Assist if Necessary)

4xAMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLWVrs1o7fk

1B. Dumbbell Pullovers on Flat Bench

4×12

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYBm1nXx3U4

Working Sets

1. T-Bar Rows with V-Bar Attachment

5 Sets: 15, 12, 10, 8, 8 Reps + Drop Set Rep Scheme Last Set

**Check out the second movement in this super set video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llqw67_c0p4

2. Underhand Grip Single Arm Lat Pulldown

3×12 (2 Second Iso-Hold On Bottom) 

**Check out the second movement in this super set video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URcXFjv6oRk

3. Hanging Lat Shrugs

3×6 (3 Second Iso-Hold On Bottom)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2cSJD-Za3Q

The Rhomboids and Trapezius 

Moving medial and superior to the lats, we find the traps and rhomboids. The traps are superficial (on top) and are shaped like a pair of triangles arranged bottom to bottom, while the rhomboids lie beneath. The mid traps originate on the spinous processes of T1 to T5 and insert on the medial edge of the acromion (part of the scapula). The lower traps originate on T6 to T12 and insert on top of the scapular spine. The rhomboids originate on the spinous processes of T2 to T5 and insert on the medial edge of the scapula, from scapular spine to the inferior angle.

Right now, take another quick look at the muscle map above and note the direction in which the fibers of these muscles are oriented. Got it? Good. This is crucial for optimizing your pulling mechanics when it comes to trap/rhomboid stimulation and ultimately, adaptation.

To isolate a muscle, we are essentially attempting to contract our muscles in a manner consistent with their fiber orientation, thus relying less on synergistic action from extraneous muscle groups. The rhomboids act to retract the scapula and rotate it downwards. The mid traps also function in scapular retraction, while the lower fibers cause scapular depression. Knowing the above, here are some pointers for training the rhomboids and traps.

Tip #1: Squeeze Your Shoulder Blades Together

When training the rhomboids and middle traps, begin every set by squeezing your shoulder blades together as closely as possible. You should then focus protracting them on the eccentric portion of the lift. Just like every movement I coach, I want to you think to yourself, “STREEETCH, SQUEEEEZE” on every single rep.

Check out Dr. John again on the Chest Supported Seated Row in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVnRqtY1MkA

Tip #2: Drive Your Shoulder Blades Down by Arching

When targeting the lower traps, simply add scapular depression by accentuating your lumbar arch during rowing and vertical pulling movments. The same rule that we use to engage the lats, where we aim to tuck our scaps and elbows in our back pockets should be used in this instance. Note that accentuated lumbar arch does not mean leaning back.

Using the above tips, go ahead and give this mid and upper back routine a try!

Priming/Finishing Compound

1A. Incline 2-Way DB Trap Raises

3×5 of Each Variation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMsGnu192js

1B. Incline DB Shrug to Row

3×12 (3 Second Iso-Hold On Top)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4aqr7i1rNU

Working Sets

1. Seated Cable Rows

4 Sets: 15, 12, 10, 8 Reps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RvTqM5m0MM

2. V-Bar Pulldowns

4×10 (2 Second Iso-Hold On Bottom)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9_EL5alV9g

3. Incline DB Shrug to Row

2×12, 1×8 + Triple Drop Set (1 Second Squeeze On Top During Drop)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4aqr7i1rNU

What We Learned in Part II

• The musculature of the back is complex to say the least, knowing fiber orientation is an absolute must if maximum hypertrophy is your goal.
• Determining your active Range of Motion, or the range in which the target muscle is the prime mover, will increase the amount of total tension you subject your back muscles to. Tension=growth.
• The muscles of the back are large and powerful. Accordingly, they respond favorably to high volume and heavy loads. (remember our definition of heavy still calls for good form)

For More Bodybuilding Tips visit Dr. John’s 12-Week Bodybuilding Program

So there we have it! As always, thanks for tuning in everyone. I hope that this helps blow the top off of your future back specific training sessions. Be sure to hit me up with any questions or comments, and stay tuned for the next edition on training… the Chest!

About The Author

Ian Padron is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin’s Exercise Science Program and an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer, currently residing in Seattle, WA. Ian’s mission is to revolutionize the health and fitness industry by combining science and education to evoke sustainable change in his clients and readers. He preaches the importance of a holistic approach to training, taking into account the mind AND the body.  Ian also walks the walk as a natural competitive bodybuilder.

Stay current with Ian on his website: Padron Performance    

The post Back Training for Maximal Muscle Growth appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. More so than any other muscle, training the chest effectively is all about manipulating angles to preferentially stimulate different fibers.

2. Learning to shut off your anterior delts, and triceps, or at least minimize their recruitment, is absolutely essential if chest hypertrophy is your end goal.

3. Here are the top chest training tips, taking functional anatomy into consideration, to help you improve your physique AND mind muscle connection.

Introduction

We’re back for more with the Structure and Function for Maximum Hypertrophy series here at JRx, and boy do we have a good one. This week, we’ll be talking about optimizing your programming for chest hypertrophy. Before we get started, make sure you’ve given Part 1 (need links) and Part 2 (need links) a look first.

If you’re like most gym-goers, a bigger chest is one of the things at or near the top of the list of “why you got into lifting”. Fortunately, your wish is my command!

I won’t lie; I used to bench a lot, like every day a lot. But that was when I was 17 and didn’t know any better. Six years later, I have reached several conclusions about effectively training the musculature of the chest, and I plan on sharing them all with you in this very article. Thank me later.

Build Your Chest with Dr. John’s 12-Week Functional Hypertrophy Training

The chest is composed of two muscles, the Pectoralis Major and Minor. Pec Major can then be further broken down into the clavicular and sternal heads, named for the point of origin of each head’s constituent muscle fibers. The clavicular head runs from the medial half of the clavicle (collarbone) and inserts on the bicipital groove of the humerus and deltoid tuberosity, while the sternal head originates from the lateral edge of the manubrium (part of the sternum), costal cartilage of Ribs 1-6 and the aponeurosis of the obliques and inserts on the same landmarks as the clavicular head. Pec Major functions in flexion, internal rotation, and Adduction of the shoulder. Why? Because is crosses the shoulder is right! Great job team, you learn so well.

Depending on the individual, Pec Minor originates on the anterior surface of ribs 3-5 and inserts to the medial portion of the coracoid process (structure of the scapula). This muscle’s actions include protraction, and downward rotation of the scapula. A common misconception is that Pec Minor makes up the “upper chest”. This is not true, the clavicular head of Pec Major does. Now you know.

Here’s a picture, look at it:

Perhaps more so than any other body part, I have accumulated all kinds of cues and coaching tips to preferentially activate the chest musculature. I think that it can be traced back to the fact that I used to have no chest whatsoever, until I finally decided to do something about it. Once I educated myself on the actual structure and function of the chest, my progress exploded. Go figure. Thank goodness for this series, I’m saving you guys all kinds of time! I accept monetary and culinary gifts btw. Anyway, I digress, here is a list of the most effective cues I have picked up over the past few years.

Tip #1: Check Your Ego at the Door

For whatever reason, the barbell bench press and all the bullshit that comes with it has somehow become a paradoxical method for guys to measure the size of their balls. They can keep doing that, because we know that it’s all about the size of those pecs. If you are struggling to build your chest, here is what you need to do in three easy steps. Lighten the weight, learn how to contract your chest properly (using the next few pointers), and repeat. It really is that easy.

Tip #2: It’s All About the Angles

Revisit the anatomy image above and take note of the fiber orientation. Remember, it’s your job to pair exercises that compliment fiber orientation. With that in mind, it is obvious that you will have to hit your pecs from a variety of angles in order to optimally stimulate hypertrophy in ALL fibers.

Tip #3: Drive with Your Elbows

IFBB Pro Ben Pakulski suggests acting like you don’t have forearms/hands while training your chest. This may sound strange, but man is it effective. If you focus on driving your elbows as closely as possible on each repetition, you will enjoy a more powerful contraction and more effective stretch. This holds true for pressing and fly movements, and will reduce tricep and shoulder activation.

Tip #4: Ditch the Barbell Work

I might take some flak for this, but I’ll stand by this one forever and ever, even if 5.7 million research studies indicate otherwise (but they won’t). Here is my logic…the pecs bring your humerus across your body, it’s what they do. They can do so at a variety of angles and are capable of producing minor movements in several planes; HOWEVER, the main movement is flexion of the shoulder in the transverse plane. Just look at the fiber orientation! Yes you can increase your pec activation with cues on barbell work like trying to shorten the bar, and adding tempo work, but quite frankly, barbells suck for isolating the fibers in the chest. Dumbbells and cables reign supreme in the world of chest training for several reasons. Here they are, in no particular order

• A more natural and dynamic range of motion for the shoulder girdle
• Ability to fully shorten the muscle fibers
• Symmetrical muscle and strength development in a movement pattern (horizontal pressing) that is seldom equivalent bilaterally

OK, now it’s time for the good stuff. Actually, that was the good stuff. Here’s the fun stuff. Take this one to the gym next time you train chest, and let us know what you think.

Chest Destruction

1. Flat Bench Cable Fly to Dynamic Squeeze

3xFailure (shoot for 6-8)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuHH7i1cOQs

2. Incline Dumbbell Press (15 Degree Bench)

Pyramid 15, 12, 10, 8, 8 (last set 5 second stretch on bottom each rep)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TT0shSUYPU

3. Hammer Strength Flat Bench w/ Half Foam Roller

3×12 (Introduces Full Scapular Retraction, Setup Below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO3SkB-NsX8

4. Pec Deck w/ Half Foam Roller

2x Triple Drop (Setup Below)

And there we have it team. Thanks again for tuning in; we truly appreciate every single one of you. Keep the questions and comments coming, be sure to share this article and the things you learn, and stay tuned for the next edition on building a pair of boulder shoulders!

About The Author

Ian Padron is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin’s Exercise Science Program and an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer, currently residing in Seattle, WA. Ian’s mission is to revolutionize the health and fitness industry by combining science and education to evoke sustainable change in his clients and readers. He preaches the importance of a holistic approach to training, taking into account the mind AND the body.  Ian also walks the walk as a natural competitive bodybuilder.

Stay current with Ian on his website: Padron Performance    

The post Chest Training for Maximal Muscle Growth appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Introduction

The Prowler sled is an extremely versatile piece of equipment that offers many benefits, produces incredible results in a very little amount of time, and gives you a huge bang for your buck. It can be used to help you develop strength or power (depending on how you use it), improve your conditioning, increase your muscle hypertrophy, and it is a great tool for fat loss.

The Prowler sled is incredibly beneficial as it mimics the lower body mechanics of running, but with significantly less wear and tear on the body. In fact, a lot of people who might not otherwise be able to run can obtain similar, if not better results, by using the Prowler sled.

Unlike most pieces of equipment, the Prowler sled allows you to train a large variety of movements. You can also use a mini sled, a sled that is much smaller in stature. With this type of sled, your body is in a more horizontal position and your hands are much closer to the ground. You also have the option of attaching a harness around your waist and to the sled. This sled variation most closely mimics running, and you have the option of sprinting forwards, backwards, or sideways. Lets just say that there are a thousand and one ways to program and progress with the sled.

When it comes to progressing on the Prowler sled, it is relatively straightforward. You can add more weight, go at a faster speed, cover a greater distance, or go for a greater length of time. What you do will depend on your fitness level and goals. The possibilities are endless. I don’t know many other pieces of equipment or exercises that give you such a big bang for your buck, and without taking a massive toll on the body. And those facts alone are why you should make Prowler training a staple in any fitness or athletic performance program!

Benefits of the Prowler Sled

#1 Fast Recovery Time with Low Risk of Injury

The Prowler sled and its many variations are concentric in nature. As a result, there is much less wear and tear on the body, so little to no recovery time is needed. This means that you can add volume to your workouts, can perform Prowler workouts more frequently, or can go at a higher intensity without paying the price of muscle and joint soreness, or injury.

This is especially useful for athletes as it allows them to train hard during their season, yet won’t impede their recovery between games or competitions. The Prowler sled and its many variations mimic the lower body mechanics of running much more than any other exercise. Unlike running, there is significantly less wear and tear on the body, and it is much less technical. People who are not able to run are often able to use the Prowler sled and thrive.

#2 Easy to Use

When it comes to form, while there are some key points that I will outline later on, the Prowler sled is relatively simple to learn and is not as technical as many other exercises, including running. As a result, it is suitable for virtually all fitness levels, and will absolutely help people fast track their way to achieving their goals. It offers the benefits of extremely advanced forms of training, yet is so simple to use.

#3 It Will Get You Cut and Jacked

The Prowler sled is a great tool for losing body fat, adding muscle, and getting shredded. The many variations of the sled will kick your metabolism into overdrive, and will turn your body into a fat burning machine. The Prowler sled is also great for muscle hypertrophy, and will help you achieve a svelte and athletic appearance.

#4 Improves Strength, Power and Speed

You can develop your strength by adding as much weight as possible and pushing/pulling the sled.

Power = Force x Distance / Time

You can develop your power by adding approximately 70-85% of your maximum weight, and moving the sled as explosively as possible. This will have a tremendous carryover effect to sports and movements where you are required to perform explosive and dynamic movements like sprinting, jumping, bounding, planting, changing direction, and so forth.

Unlike most other pieces of equipment, the Prowler sled is very specific in nature to running, and has a massive carryover effect. Unlike running, you cannot cheat with your form. In order to get the sled to move, you need to perform the exercise with impeccable technique, yet it is relatively simple to do. As a result, you will establish proper motor patterns, and will strengthen the muscles that are critical for running. This includes the muscles in the feet and lower legs, quads, hamstrings, glutes, and core. The Prowler sled will dramatically improve your ability to accelerate in all directions, which will improve your quickness, and your acceleration technique.

#5 Great for Sports Specific Conditioning

Many sports are anaerobic in nature. The Prowler sled allows you to improve your anaerobic conditioning by performing sprints that are short in duration and high in intensity, and that last between a few seconds to two minutes.

With the Prowler sled, you can also improve your aerobic conditioning. You can achieve this by performing reps that are longer in duration, or by performing many shorter pushes with very little rest between sets, or by using the sled in conjunction with other exercises as part of a conditioning circuit. This type of training is extremely intense, yet does not thrash your muscles and joints the way regular running does, particularly running that is done on turf, a court, or cement.

#6 Trains a Variety of Movement Patterns

The Prowler sled is extremely versatile and allows you to train a variety of movements. You can push the sled, you can pull the sled, you can run forward, backward, or sideways, you can position your hands up high and be in a more upright stance, or you can position your hands lower and be in a more horizontal stance. You can also perform rowing or pushing movements with the sled.

#7 Safeguards the Body Against Injury

The Prowler sled is a great tool to use as part of your performance enhancement and injury prevention arsenal, and it can even be used to rehabilitate injuries. The Prowler sled is extremely beneficial as it dramatically enhances the strength and stability of the entire body, most notably, the legs, including the lower legs and feet.

While this has obvious benefits in terms of performance and aesthetics, it is also extremely important in preventing joint sprains that result from lack of stability. When you are required to run, jump, stride, plant, and change direction, if you lack stability and strength in your lower legs and feet, you will be extremely vulnerable to injuring yourself. Using the Prowler sled will also help safeguard your body against chronic injuries such as Achilles tendinitis, planter fasciitis, or other injuries that can result from weak feet and lower legs.

How to Properly Use the Prowler Sled

Like any exercise, using proper form with the Prowler sled is essential as it will allow you to perform the exercise safely and effectively. Many people assume that you just grab onto the sled and push. It is not quite as cut and dry as that. The toughest part is getting the sled to move, so having the stability and rigidity from the very start will allow you to push a significantly heavier amount of weight, and more explosively. To perform properly, ensure that you take care of the following:

Grip: Firmly grip the sled. Some prefer to hold higher up, others slightly lower.

Foot Stance: Set your feet up so they are the same width as your running stance. When you stride, make sure that your feet remain the same width apart the entire time. Also, it is important that you drive through your forefoot, and make sure that all of your toes remain in contact with the ground. This will provide you with a much sturdier base, and will provide you with the stability that you need to generate more power.

Alignment: Make sure that your body remains in proper alignment from the head to feet. The spine (from the lumbar to cervical region) should remain in neutral alignment, your joints in your upper body should remain stacked, your torso and pelvis should face ahead, and your knees should remain in line with your feet the entire time.

Breathing and Core: Before you go, take a deep breath into your belly and surround your spine with air (360 degrees of air), brace your core, and drive with your legs. Keep your core braced the entire time. This will provide you with the pelvic and spinal stability that you need, and will allow you to generate a lot of force with your lower body.

Avoid These Common Training Mistakes with Your Prowler Training

Inappropriate Foot Width: When many people stride, instead of maintain their natural running stance, they make the mistake of placing one foot directly behind the other, like walking on a tightrope. When you move this way, you are providing yourself with an extremely narrow base, which will significantly reduce your performance, including the amount of weight you are able to push, and the speed at which you are able to do so.

Not Keeping All Toes in Contact with the Floor: Make sure that you keep all toes spread and in contact with the floor as this will increase the stability of your base. Allowing one or more of your toes to leave the floor, particularly the big toe or baby toe, can cause the arches of the feet to drop, the ankles to invert or evert, and the knees to deviate medially and laterally. The end result will be a decrease in performance and an increased risk of injury.

Poor Body Alignment: Make sure that your body remains in proper alignment from the head to feet. Many people allow their spine to rotate or hyperextend, their pelvis to rotate, and the knees to cave in. While this exercise largely targets the lower body and core, maintaining optimal alignment in the upper body will permit you to move even more efficiently and effectively, and will safeguard it against injury. Ideally, the head of your humerus should be centered in the glenoid fossa the entire time. Failure to do so will make the shoulders vulnerable to injury

Not Bracing Your Core: In order to generate as much power as possible, you need to brace your core the entire time. This will provide you with the spinal stiffness/stability that you need to generate as much power as possible with your full body, and is what essentially links your upper and lower body together. Losing stability around the spine and pelvis will significantly reduce the amount of force that you will be able to produce with your limbs. In addition to this, having a spinal region that is unstable will increase the risk of injury.

Not Using Appropriate Loads for Your Goals: Essentially, you want to select a weight that will help lead you to your goals, while maintaining proper form. Be mindful when you are loading the sled.

Programming Prowler Sled Workouts

The majority of the Prowler sled variations that I do range from 10 to 40 yards in distance (usually 10-20 yards). Typically, I will do all out pushes where I am striving to improve my maximum strength or power, or I will do short sprints and will give myself plenty of time to recover so I can maximize each sprint. On occasion, I will use the sled as a conditioning tool and will perform 60-90 second rounds with very little rest between rounds, or I will pair the sled with another conditioning exercise like the assault bike, medicine ball smashes, or rope climbs.

If I am trying to add more volume to my workout and have the goal of increasing my muscle hypertrophy, I will often per pair the sled with another strength exercise and will do this on a lower body workout day, or even on an upper body workout day. The beauty of the Prowler sled is that it takes such a small toll on the body, so it can be performed more frequently.

Basic Strength Workout

https://youtu.be/plIHiFaHvq0

To Perform: Load as close to 100% of your maximum weight to the sled as possible. Perform a 10-40 yard push. Rest for 2-3 minutes between rounds and perform 4-6 rounds. Do a few warmup sets at a lighter weight.

Basic Power Workout

To Perform: Load approximately 70-85% of your maximum weight to the sled. If you have been doing this for a while, you might be able to use closer 90% of your maximum weight. Perform a 10 yard push. Your goal is to push this weight as explosively as possible. Rest for 3-5 minutes between rounds. This longer rest interval will allow for phosphagen (ATP/creatine phosphate) stores to recover, which is imperative if you are training for power. Perform 6-10 rounds. Do a few warmup sets at a lighter weight.

Sprint Workouts

https://youtu.be/scNbUaaT-z4

To Perform: Load a moderate amount of weight to the sled. I would estimate approximately 30 to 50% of your maximum weight. Obviously the stronger you are, the more weight you will be able to push at a faster speed. Perform a 10 to 40 yard sprint. Rest for 30-90 seconds, and repeat 10 times. The fitter you are, the less recovery time you will need. Or you can go nuts with a “Suicide Sprint Workout with notes below.

To Perform: Load a moderate amount of weight to the sled. I would estimate approximately 30 to 50% of your maximum weight. Perform a 5 yard sprint, and push it back to the starting position. Then do the same thing with 10,20, 30, and finally 40 yards until you are finished. Rest for 1-3 minutes, and perform this workout 5 times.

Sprint-Strength Pyramid

To Perform: Load 30-40% of your maximum load to the sled and perform a 10-40 yard sprint. Rest for 30 seconds to 2 minutes. The point of this exercise is to go all out, so give yourself enough rest. Now add 50% of your maximum load to the sled and perform a 10 to 40 yard sprint. Continue to follow this pattern until you have added 100% of your max weight to the sled. Once you hit your max weight, begin to decrease your weight until you are back to the 40% mark.

The pyramid should resemble the following:

40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 100%, 90%, 80%, 70%, 60%, 50%, 40%

Hypertrophy Workout

You can either perform this exercise on its own with the goal of improving muscle hypertrophy, or you can use it to add additional volume to your workout.

To Perform: Load approximately 70-90% of your maximum weight to the sled. Perform a 10-40 yard push. When the goal is for hypertrophy, the rest intervals will be much shorter as this will increase the levels of growth hormone, will increase the lactate levels in the working muscles, and will increase hypertrophy. Give yourself a 1:1 work to rest ratio, and perform 8-12 rounds. Do a few warmup sets at a lighter weight.

Prowler Hypertrophy Superset

To Perform: Load approximately 70-90% of your maximum weight to the sled. Perform 8-12 reps of front squats, and follow that up with a 10-40 yard sled push. Give yourself a 1:1 or 1:2 work to rest ratio, and perform 4-6 rounds. Do a few warmup sets at a lighter weight.

Low Sled Prone Drag

https://youtu.be/FJZH0JUfWeE

This is one of the most challenging variations that you will do on the Prowler sled, and absolutely torches the core, upper body, and glutes. It is also great for conditioning.

To Perform: Get into plank position on your hands and feet. Place your toes so they are on the inside of the sled. Take a deep breath in, brace your core, now walk on your hands and drag the sled. The whole point of this exercise is that other than your arms moving, the rest of your body should remain perfectly still and properly aligned. There should be no rotation occurring in your pelvis or spine, nor should your back hyperextend, or neck sag. If this exercise is executed properly, it is absolutely one of the toughest core exercises that you will do. Make sure that you keep your ribs tucked the entire time, and really squeeze your glutes, as this will provide you with the stability and stiffness that you need to perform this exercise properly.

Conditioning Superset Workout Finisher

To Perform: Pair the Prowler sled with another conditioning exercise and perform as a superset. Rather than measuring by distance, I like to use time. For instance, perform a 15 to 60 second sled push, followed by a 15 to 60 second sprint on the assault bike. Or perhaps you could pair the sled with medicine ball slams, or rope climbs. Use approximately 50 to 75% of your maximum load. Give yourself a 1:1 work to rest ratio, and perform 8-12 rounds. Do a few warmup sets at a lighter weight.

The workout might look like the following:

Conditioning Superset Example #1

Prowler sled @ 300 lbs x 30 seconds

Assault bike @ 100% max speed x 30 seconds

*Do 10 rounds and rest for 60 seconds between rounds

Conditioning Superset Example #2

Prowler sled @ 225 lbs x 60 seconds

Legless rope climb + 20 overhead medicine ball smashes @ 25 lbs

*Do 10 rounds and rest for 60 seconds between rounds

Conditioning Superset Example #3

Prowler sled @ 225 lbs x 40 yards

80 yard sprint

*Do 10 rounds and rest for 60 seconds between rounds

Endurance Workout

With endurance workouts, the length of each round will be longer, and the rest interval will be shorter. Use a 1:1 or 2:1 work to rest ratio. If you are of an elite fitness level, you might even try a 3:1 work to rest ratio.

To Perform: Load the sled with about 25 to 40% of your maximum weight. Perform a 60 second sled push. Rest for 30-60 seconds. Do 10 rounds. You can also do 2 minute rounds. Rest for 1-2 minutes between rounds and repeat for a total of 5-10 rounds.

Core Workout

Anti-rotational lateral sled drag with band around the knees. This advanced exercise is absolutely incredible for strengthening the glutes, and training the core.

To Perform: Use the mini sled. Start out with just the sled alone. Position your body so it is facing sideways, grab on to the harness, and extend your arms so they are chest height. Place a resistance band just above your knees. Get into a partial squat position, keep your arms extended, now perform a sideways shuffle and drag the sled. The key to this exercise is maintaining perfect alignment the entire time. Your knees should remain in line with your feet, your torso and pelvis should remain level, and there should be no rotation in your pelvis or spine.

An Advanced Extra!

Anti-Rotational Lateral Sled Drag with Band Around the Knees and Ankles

This advanced exercise is absolutely incredible for strengthening the glutes, and training the core. 

To Perform: Use the mini sled. Start out with just the sled alone. Position your body so it is facing sideways, grab on to the harness, and extend your arms so they are chest height. Place a resistance band just above your knees, and one around your ankles. Get into a partial squat position, keep your arms extended, now perform a sideways shuffle and drag the sled. The key to this exercise is maintaining perfect alignment the entire time. Your knees should remain in line with your feet, your torso and pelvis should remain level, and there should be no rotation in your pelvis or spine.”

https://youtu.be/rRixGvvI7_g

Or this simplified Lateral Sled drag variation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLoum6BPSXU&feature=youtu.be

Putting It All Together

Now that you know what it takes to use the Prowler sled to achieve your goals, the sky is the limit. It’s time to incorporate this hugely ‘’bang for your buck’’ piece of equipment into your workout routine. When you do, you will take your overall health, performance, and aesthetics to the next level.

About The Author

Meghan Callaway is a prominent personal trainer in Western Canada with over 12 years of training experience coaching in the trenches.  Growing up as a multi-sport athlete competing in soccer, ice hockey and baseball, Meghan took her athletic prowess to the University of British Columbia and completed her degree in Human Kinetics.

Meghan currently works with an impressively wide array of clients, ranging from the elite athlete to post-physical therapy rehabilitation and strength training and many average fitness client looking to feel and function better everywhere between.  She teaches and coaches every one of her clients with the goal of helping them perform, feel and look their very best by laying down a properly aligned foundation for every client.

With a unquenchable thirst for learning about the human body and movement, Meghan spends her time broadening her knowledge base as a trainer and coach, and truly practices what she preaches in her own fitness and life.

Learn more about Meghan on her:  Website     Facebook      Instagram    Twitter     YouTube

The post Everything You Need To Know About Prowler Sled Training appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. The human shoulder is capable of performing an incredible range of movement variations. As such, the musculature tarted with shoulder training is complex to say the least.

2. The prioritization of deliberate form and execution in your shoulder training will allow you to optimize the hypertrophic response of individual muscle heads. Simply put, these methods will get you big and strong in record time.

3. The muscles of the shoulder respond well to increased training density, so super and compound sets are valuable tools to up the intensity and blood flow to these often stubborn muscle groups.

Welcome To Shoulder Training 101

Ask and you shall receive! We appreciate the rave reviews on our Maximal Muscle Growth Series and are PUMPED to release Part IV which is focused on optimizing your shoulder training for hypertrophy.

It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about general orthopedic health and well-being, or taking an already great physique to the elite level, a strong shoulder complex is absolutely essential. From preventing and correcting postural issues, to making sure you kill that back double biceps pose on stage, this article will help you turn those puny shoulders into legitimate boulders…with movement and anatomy based SCIENCE, of course!

In terms of complexity, you’d be hard pressed to find a joint that is more intimidating than the shoulder. And shoulder training? Yeah, it can get pretty complicated without a mastery level of movement anatomy and biomechanics.

Flexion, Extension, Abduction, Adduction, Rotation, it all happens here; and in multiple planes of motion. Use the lessons and tips below to make sure you are leaving no stone unturned every time you set foot in the gym. Plus, you can use them to prove your worth as a trainer or coach by truly understanding how the shoulder works (and doesn’t work).

Now before we jump in, I want to lay down a couple key points that I am literally going to drive into your skull in this article. Lets just debunk these myths before you even start asking yourself these questions on shoulder training because you heard it from your bro at the gym:

#1 Cables Are NOT Machines

They’re not going to make you puny and small, and they’re not just for chicks to do glute kickbacks on. Cables are infinitely more effective at creating and maintaining tension in your delts and traps when compared to dumbbells and barbells for most shoulder training movements. Tension translates to growth. Check your ego now and buy into this fact. Your gains depend on it.

#2 Don’t Waste Your Time With Direct Rotator Cuff Work

Direct rotator cuff work is completely unnecessary 99.9% of the time. Unless you are rehabbing an injury with Dr. John, stop wasting your time with countless sets of rotator cuff work and learn to set your scaps and pack your shoulders through ALL movements. This may be the single most important skill to develop if you want to go through hardcore shoulder training workouts and not pulverize your joints in the process.

#3 Strategically Add Novelty To Your Exercises

Old school methods are great, and they work for most muscle groups. However, new school is better in some cases, including shoulder training; so yes, training your shoulders is absolutely in need of a new school flare. Embrace the novelty introduced here and ditch the archaic movements that you keep holding onto, even though you have never felt them actually do anything.

Ok, so keeping those in mind, here we go!

The Deltoid

Ah the delts, perhaps the most misunderstood muscles in the entire fitness industry. “What do you mean bro? Lateral raises, frontal raises, and some presses. Delts are easy!” Well, unfortunately that mindset is a load of bullshit. You’ll understand why by the end of the article.

The deltoids are made up of three heads, you already know this. The anterior, lateral, and posterior heads work in synergy to perform a myriad of actions about the shoulder joint. Posterior delts are up first, because it’s likely you need the most help there; but first, look at the picture above to get your bearings, plus, it lists the different aspects of the deltoid so I won’t have to bore you with that whole routine in this portion, score!

The Posterior Deltoid

The rear delts are best trained by introducing both of its actions into a single movement. That means external rotation and humeral extension.

Ever see the rear delts fly handles on the pec deck machine? Don’t use them. Use the handles that you use for pec flies. “But, but, but…the machine diagram thingy says I should use the rear delt ones…” Too bad, here’s why that approach is not optimal. We want to both extend AND externally rotate the humerus. To do so, your palms need to be facing each other, but not because of what happens at your elbows. Be sure that you don’t confuse supination of the forearm (about the elbow) with external rotation of the humerus (about the shoulder). The former will do nothing in terms of delt activation, while the latter will make you wonder what your shoulders would look like if you had known this 5 years ago.

When using cables, or dumbbells, you want to start each rep with your palms facing each other (think thumbs up). The posterior deltoid is basically doing the exact opposite of your pecs, PLUS that all important external rotation aspect.

Posterior Delt Tip: Set Your Shoulder Blades

If maximum tension in your posterior delts is the goal, you need to be damn sure that local synergists are turned off (locked in place). Pinch your scaps together hard, firing rhomboids and mid traps, and keep them that way throughout your rear delts work. You’ll notice a big difference while training them with this added static retraction.

The Medial Deltoid

These are sadly trained with all kinds of outdated and ass-backwards methods. And by ass-backwards I mean, “hey bro, do you even understand how gravity works?”

Gravity acts downwards, that’s it. You know those guys who bang out countless reps of lateral raises leaning away from something? Yeah, those don’t do what you think they do. Why? Gravity. We need a weight to move VERTICALLY for our muscles to be subjected to tension. So, can you see why a dumbbell lateral raise might not be your best option to maximize tension? For the first half of the movement, the dumbbell is basically moving sideways. If only there was a way to account for this…OH WAIT, THERE IS. Remember when I said cables are your shoulders’ best friends? Well there you go. By manipulating the force vectors associated with the external load, you can increase tension in your target muscle through the ENTIRE range of motion, especially the bottom half of any flexion/abduction around the shoulder joint. Booyah!

Lateral Delt Tip: Lead With Your Elbows

Focus on the distance your elbows travel when isolating lateral delts. They should be the highest point of your arms on lateral raises, upright rows, etc. Your delts affect your humerus, not your forearms, so act like it. When nearing the terminal portion of your ROM for lateral raises, focus on pushing your hands as far out as possible (spread the walls). This cue increases the moment arm with regards to the shoulder joint, thus subjecting the lateral delts to more torque. Torque=Tension. Tension=Growth. Simple stuff, eh?

The Anterior Deltoid

The anterior delts get a whole lot of attention during most varieties of chest presses (unless you read Part III of this series), so I tend to avoid excessive volume when it comes to targeting them, especially with overhead press work. I recommend a few high intensity sets at THE END of your shoulder program, focused at fully shortening and driving blood into the muscle bellies. I like to pick one movement for each of the aforementioned goals. You will see videos for one of my favorite pairings in the sample program below.

Anterior Delt Tip: Work On Your Freaking Mobility!

If you can’t pass the standing wall-slide test for shoulder mobility, you need to get your shit together. Ok you’re right that was a little harsh. Let’s try that again… If you can’t pass the standing wall-slide test for shoulder mobility, you are putting yourself at an elevated risk for chronic shoulder issues while also missing out on a lot of potential for building muscle. Full external rotation of the shoulder girdle, while simultaneously maintaining a neutral spine is tough; especially if you haven’t paid much attention to it in the past.

Master this simple corrective below, and you will be able to reap the benefits of pain-free muscle Overhead pressing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3aK1UOdz-4

By protecting your rotator cuff complex, packing your shoulder, and establishing a firm foundation for force distribution, overhead presses go from an orthopedic surgeon’s main source of income, to an absolutely kick-ass mass builder. Lock and load!

All right, take everything you just learned and put it to the test with the following shoulder routine. Remember to use the cues and focus on the working muscle. SQUEEZE every rep!

1A. Asymetrical Ab/Adduction Band Pull Aparts 3×8

Coaching Notes: Set your scaps and perform a regular band pull apart, trying to touch the walls. Then, abduct one arm, and adduct the other, all while maintaining scapular retraction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH9wXu0Wuqw

1B. Machine Rear Delt Flies 3×20

Coaching Notes: Using the pec fly handles (not the rear delt pegs) set your scaps and activate your posterior delts. Focus on a hard contraction on top, and do not relax your shoulders until after the set is complete.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-d1aRlQ8gk

2A. Lateral Delt Cable Fly to Open 3×12

Coaching Notes: Set cables at just below shoulder height. With criss-cross grip, set your scaps and raise your arms to form a nice wide V, squeezing your delts hard on top. Maintain tension throughout the entire set.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l18Ujl4LWpw

2B. Cable Lateral Raise 3×12 per arm 

Coaching Notes: Leaning slightly out from the pulley system, relax your traps and initiate the movement with your lateral delts. Again, focus on reaching for the walls, while driving the movement with your elbow. Briefly pause each rep on top.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVBacQ0Q3Bw

3A. Anterior Delt Shoulder Bombs 3×10 

Coaching Notes: Set the cable cross at its lowest setting and place a shoulder press bench between the two. Start the movement with your arms elevated at your sides, forming a T. While keeping arms straight, and palms facing forward, touch cables above your head. Repeat, witha 1-2 second hold on top of each rep.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6cq2fey6lI

3B. Dumbbell V-Press 3×8 (no lockout+partial reps)

Coaching Notes: Just like a regular DB press, except you are not going to push them together. For the entire ROM the DBs should be moving away from one another. Go light here, and focus on using the delts, not the upper pecs and triceps. Pulse reps are preferred here to maintain constant but dynamic tension.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASFUc2AiBmI

Now that we’ve covered the deltoid, it’s time to jump into another accessory “shoulder” muscle, which is the trapezius, and more specifically, the upper portion that plays a huge role in shoulder training and muscle development.

The Upper And Middle Trapezius

And before we say see you later for another week, we’re going to talk about the upper fibers of the trapezius. The upper fibers are responsible for scapular elevation (think shrug), and upward scapular rotation (think terminal point of an overhead press). The range of motion is small for these fibers, so hard contractions and maximizing time under tension should be your objectives. None of this five plate per side on a barbell, straps on, bouncing the bar up and down like a spazz bullshit.

Select a weight that allows you to maintain constant tension throughout the entire repetition, and squeeze everything for 3-seconds on top. Remember that ultimately your traps are 1 muscle, and working adjacent fiber orientations (i.e. mid and upper fibers) together is a killer method for maximizing hypertrophy. Check out two of my all-time favorite shrug variations in the program below.

Traps Tip: Occasionally Shrug Up AND Back

By shrugging the weight up and back, you can recruit more fibers in the middle traps. To do so, focus on retracting your shoulder blades, and then shrugging. Free weights aren’t a great option here, so hit the cable variation found below. Stick to the dumbbells and barbells for the strictly vertical shrug work.

1A. Cable Shrug+ Scap Squeeze 4×12 (231 tempo)

Coaching Notes: Stand between and away from narow cable cross setup. Retract scaps and elevate your shoulders as high as possible. Hold for 3 seconds, repeat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFpTwhl4tN8

1B. Behind The Back Shrugs 4×12 (231 tempo)

Coaching Notes: With arms slightly behind the body (you’ll have to step away from the bar) use your traps to pull the bar up, maintaining scapular retraction throughout. Hit a 3 second iso on top and repeat. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0cRkYqBxaU

Well, that’s it for Part IV on shoulder training. Let us know what you think and keep the questions and comments coming! Part V on training the Gunz, AKA the biceps and triceps, will be released next week, in addition to a very exciting announcement, which may or may not include a kick-ass program designed to fine-tune your movement patterns with functional anatomy know-how. Oh how exciting!

About The Author

Ian Padron is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin’s Exercise Science Program and an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer, currently residing in Seattle, WA. Ian’s mission is to revolutionize the health and fitness industry by combining science and education to evoke sustainable change in his clients and readers. He preaches the importance of a holistic approach to training, taking into account the mind AND the body.  Ian also walks the walk as a natural competitive bodybuilder.

Stay current with Ian on his website: Padron Performance    

The post Shoulder Training For Maximum Muscle Growth appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

The Barbell Deadlift Isn’t For Everyone…

I’m going to just say it, so here it goes… The barbell deadlift is NOT for everyone, period. Due to a number of factors that play a roll in ones overall ability to execute this king of all hip hinges with requisite form and technique, most people simply fail to get any training effect from this movement while also staying safe and healthy in the process.

When you force feed any movement, especially one that that depends on proper hip hinge mechanics to spare brutal shear forces through the lumbar spine, you are NOT training the targeted muscle groups or movements any longer, you’re just stressing out the non-contractile tissues like the ligaments, joints, capsules, intervertebral discs etc. That list could go on and on. The last thing you are training is your musculature, so why the hell are you force feeding the movement in the first place?

Though the Trap Bar Deadlift is viewed as a regression off the barbell deadlift in the minds of many, I prefer it for many athletes and lifters due to the SHEAR fact that they can execute the lift with better form, better musculature targeting, and in a far better position to take unwanted stress off the spinal column. At the end of the day who really gives a shit what weight implement you are using as long as you are training and loading up a foundational movement pattern?

Are You Proficient Enough To Deadlift Safely?

The other great thing that happens when form is simplified is that lifters can focus on pushing their physical limits, whether it be max load or max effort, and not have to worry about form breakdown or paying the price with an injury that will derail their training and fitness for extended periods of time. If we can mitigate risk in a movement while receiving the same amount of benefit in terms of physical response to an exercise, that will lead to more notable short and long term results.

Back To Pain-Free Training: Dr.John’s 12-Week Functional Hypertrophy Training Program

If you aren’t quite sure what that means, here’s a good way to assess how proficient you are at a given movement… Are you able to go balls to the wall near absolute muscular failure without form breakdown and putting yourself in vulnerable positions for injuries? Sure every movement will eventually breakdown, but the average person has no idea what true mechanical failure at 100% effort really feels like unless you are an Olympic level athlete who has touched this training pyramid a few times over the course of a career.

People rag on machine training all the time, but you know what? At least machine training can keep novice and inexperienced fitness fanatics from placing themselves into a position that will end up causing more damage than good. I’m not comparing the Trap Bar Deadlift to machine training, lets be clear on that. The key point is we need to find movements that allow us to train at a higher capacity and level of trainability without the repercussions of joint stress and injury.

Here’s How To Start Trap Bar Deadlifting

The first type of Trap Bar Deadlift that people should start with the ensure proper core position and hip hinge pattern is the dead stop deadlift. In this variation you take the weight off the floor and set it back down between each rep to reset your core and make damn sure that your spine remains in neutral alignment and your bracing is on point. Check out the video below:

One common problem with the Trap Bar Deadlift is the inability to load up the movement due to the limitations in bar size. This isn't usually a big deal for most, but once you get a few plates deep on each side, it's hard to keep clips on, which is why many lifters have plates falling off the sides during lifts that contact the floor like the deadlift. A quick and easy fix without purchasing a monster trap bar is to band the plates together with a pro mini band on either side. This will allow you to get at least one more plate on each side of the bar while making damn sure you aren't losing iron falling off the bar mid set! Check out this setup and put it to good use! #strengthdoc #deadlift #trapbardeadlift #plates #bands #docswholift #physicaltherapy #physioswholift #strength #bodybuilding #hiphinge #lifting #hypertrophy #setupfix #smarttraining #trainheavy #trapbar #testosteronenation #mountaindog #drjohnrusin #drjohnrusinphysicaltherapy

A video posted by Dr. John Rusin (@drjohnrusin) on Feb 10, 2016 at 9:29am PST

If you feel comfortable enough to progress the Trap Bar Deadlift from the dead stop variation, we can start adding a bit more speed to the movement with a “touch and go” version that allows you to speed up the eccentric lowering portion of this lift and make contact with the ground and explode the weight back up. It goes without saying that the same spinal and core alignment requisite is still a must here! And as you can see, this variation can be pushed to the limits in a safe and effective manor. Check out this variation as well:

Want to burn the bird after your gluttonous Thanksgiving meal? Prioritize big compound movements like the Squat and Deadlift into today's training session. Make sure to keep the loads heavy, volumes high, and rest periods to a minimum. The Strength Doc family went with a pretty epic back day today with the last movement of Trap Bar Deadlift with an escalating pyramid plus a painful final drop set from the top end weight. Last set was 35 reps including all the drops and left me on the floor! Ready to get back to some real training Monday? Check out my brand new 12-week muscle gain and fat loss program that is discounted this weekend only to $69 for the holiday. Custom training, videos, coaching notes and nutrition for fractions of the cost of my 1-1 coaching. Now everyone can afford to train with the Strength Doc! http://drjohnrusin.com/12-week-program #strengthdoc #thanksgiving #deadlift #backday #training #fatloss #hypertrophy #bodybuilding #physicaltherapy #physioswholift #painfreetraining #strength #testosteronenation #nutrition #musclegain #physicaltherapy #blackfriday

A video posted by Dr. John Rusin (@drjohnrusin) on Nov 27, 2015 at 6:36am PST

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is an internationally recognized coach, physical therapist, speaker, and writer, whose published over 200 articles in some of the most widely regarded media outlets in the industry like Testosterone Nation, Mountain Dog Diet, Breaking Muscle, and Muscle and Strength, to name a few.

Along with an impressive laundry list of publications, Dr. John works with some of the world’s most elite athletes, including Gold Medalist Olympians, NFL All-Pro Quarterbacks, MLB All-Star Pitchers, Professional Bodybuilders and World Class IronMan Triathletes.

He takes pride in offering uniquely customized programming to clients of all walks of life in the exact same detail and passion as the Pros! Dr. John’s 12-Week Bodybuilding Program is now available to you.

The post Deadlifting Tip: Stop Force Feeding The Barbell Deadlift appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. Finally, arm training! The arms consist of small muscle groups; learning how your body responds to changes in training volume, intensity, and frequency is a sure fire bet to accelerate your arm growth without going totally overboard.

2. Spending time at the extremes of your muscle’s ROM. As #1 mentions, the arm muscles are small, so not a whole lot of movement in terms of point A to point B will occur. An effective method to stimulate growth is to spend time producing force in the fully lengthened and fully shortened positions.

3. When it comes to arm training, the plan is pretty damn simple. The actions are straightforward, and emphasis on form is paramount. Learn to ask why you are performing a specific movement a certain way first! If you can’t answer that question with anything other than “uhhh…well this FLEX magazine arm workout told me to” ditch the movement. You can do better.

4. You don’t need 50 different arm training exercises. Pick a handful of movements that feel good for YOU, and perfect them. Don’t give in to the false desire to diversify your exercise selection. Vary set/rep/tempo schemes, but if a certain movement always provides a killer pump…KEEP DOING IT!

Introduction to Arm Training GAINZ

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…Arm Training! I’m stoked about all the killer reviews on this series and am grateful for the kind words and feedback. Building muscle is what I do, and it means a lot to be able to share that passion via Dr. John’s site. We’ve had fun teaching our badass readers about what we feel is the only way to train, and that’s with science.

With that being said, long before I knew about origins and insertions, the sagittal and transverse planes, and Golgi Tendon Organs, I trained with reckless abandon for a very specific reason. I needed bigger arms. Over the years, I’ve gotten older and wiser (I think), but there will always be that bicep crazed 17 year old in me somewhere. Now if you all are anything like me, which I know you are, I don’t think it’s out of line to assume that each and every one of you would jump on the opportunity to add some size to your arms.

Grow Your Guns Faster Than Ever With This 12-Week Bodybuilding Program

I’m not going to be that guy and promise that you pack on “slabs of muscle” or “an inch on your arms in 1 month” because the results are ultimately up to you. Dr. John and I can only give you the tools. However, I will tell you this; I’ve been training hard for about 6 years now (intelligently for about 3). Still, I am making progress by implementing the very techniques that I have taught in this series. For example, one of my goals for 2016 was to put an inch on my arms. I sat down with a training buddy, made a plan to increase the frequency and decrease the volume of my arm training, and have accomplished that goal is less than 2 months’ time. This stuff works if you truly understand and apply it, I’m living proof.

Ok, here are the arm training goods you’ve been so patiently waiting for…

The Biceps

Although this section is titled biceps, we are going to talk about ALL of the main elbow flexors, since they are all responsible for the ultimate size of your arms. The biceps get all the love, and consist of 2 heads, long and short. The long head starts on the glenoid labrum, while the short head originates on the coracoid process of the scapula. Both heads converge to insert on the radial tuberosity and bicipital aponeurosis (fancy name for fibrous sheath). These muscles flex the shoulder AND the forearm, and supinate the forearm. With that being said, here are my top pointers for training the biceps.

#1 Curl In One Plane

Rotating your humerus doesn’t do shit in terms of preferential activation of your long/short heads. They don’t function to rotate the humerus, so ditch the narrow and wide grip crap. Shoulder width grip will do just fine, thank you.

#2 Don’t Pin Your Elbows When Working Your Biceps

WHAT?!?! Yes, you heard me. Ok, now before you dismiss me as an idiot, let’s be rational and think about what our biceps do…they flex the forearm, supinate the forearm, AND FLEX THE HUMERUS. So, if you pin your elbows to your sides, you are inhibiting one of the functions of your biceps. Uh-oh. Just don’t confuse a slight forward arc of the elbow with a severe spastic episode of horsing dumbbells around. Also, this is bicep specific, not the other flexor we are about to cover.

#3 SQUEEEEEZE

If you haven’t felt like your biceps are about to A) tear of the bone or B) explode with blood flow, you haven’t trained them properly. Neither of these end points require heavy weight either. Tempo work and isometric holds on top of curling movements are the bees knees in terms of racking up mechanical and metabolic stress while training your biceps.

The brachialis is the next muscle up; it originates on the front of the humerus (about mid-point) and inserts to the coronoid process of the ulna. This muscle flexes the forearm, that’s it. In my opinion, this muscle is home to a lot of untouched potential in most trainees. Here are my favorite tips for unlocking those gains.

#4 Neutral or Reverse Grip All the Things… Sometimes

The brachialis is the prime mover of the elbow joint when the forearm is pronated, so reverse curls and hammer curls with a shoulder width grip are great options for brachialis specific work. If you don’t currently devote 1/3 of your curl variations to neutral/reverse grip work, do it. Thank me later.

#5 Tempo Work Is Your Best Friend

I picked up a tip from Charles Poliquin a couple years back about performing reverse curl work with a 6 second negative. My forearms AND brachialis have responded more than favorably. This makes sense, given the fact that those muscles are predominantly slow twitch.

Ok, now you learned some cool stuff, time to put it to the test.

Arm Training Bicep/Brachialis Routine

*Note that there is little to no rest between exercises in these giant sets

1A. Cable Cambered Bar Curls 3×12 (2 sec. on top)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNfSMyAgUN0

1B. Single Arm Cable High Curls 3×12 (2 sec. on top)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGL3pNVcI2s

1C. Barbell Reverse Curls 3×8 (301tempo)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj8Z5Jtudqw

2. Band Hammer Curls 3 x Failure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6vE_sveyGw

The Triceps

Your biceps get all the glory but your triceps make up 2/3 of the mass of your arm. To me, that means a lot of untapped potential for growth. As their name implies, the triceps are composed of three heads. The long head originates from the infraglenoid tubercle of the scapula and inserts on the olecranon of the ulna (elbow). This head functions primarily to extend the shoulder NOT extend the elbow. Its secondary action is to extend the elbow. The lateral head of the triceps originates on the back of the humerus, laterally to the spiral groove, while the medial head originates medial and distal to the spiral groove. Both insert to the olecranon, just like the long head and act only to extend the elbow. Hopefully that clears a few things up right off the bat. Here are my top tips to keep in mind next time you hit those horse shoes!

#1 Hit The Long Head the Right Way

This thing is a beast, it is the biggest of the three heads, but doesn’t do what a lot of people think it does. When performing pressdowns of any variety, get your elbows BEHIND your body to introduce humeral extension. Now you’re cookin’ with gas. Overhead work also shines, as the shoulder must be manipulate into full flexion, which in turn fully lengthens the long head. Remember when I said it was a good idea to spend time at the extremes of your ROM? Good.

#2 Train for the Pump

Your triceps get plenty of indirect work from pressing varieties. Take the syngergists out the equation on tricep day and focus on elbow and shoulder extension. Heavy close grip bench press and dips do not give you the same opportunity to truly isolate the fibers of the triceps. In place of these traditional compound tricep movements, tri (see what I did there?) these killer movements below!

Arm Training Triceps Routine

*Note the compound set below is really a mechanical drop set!

1A. Angled Dumbbell Compound Skull Crusher 3 x Failure

1B. Straight Arm Dumbbell Pullover 3 x Failure

1C. Close Grip DB Tricep Press 3 x Failure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkBMcnXIkh4

2. Cambered Bar 45% Overhead Tricep Extensions 4×15 (2 sec. on top)

*Note – Check out the second movement of this superset video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXHeZbucy1E

A Jacked Up Good-Bye…For Now!

You know what they say, all good things must come to an end. And honestly, what better place to end up than with arm training! Hopefully you’ve racked up equal parts knowledge and lactic acid over the past 5 weeks of this series. Thanks again for tuning in and making the Maximal Muscle articles so successful. Stay tuned for some potential spin-offs designed to keep the momentum you’ve picked up with this series going!

About The Author

Ian Padron is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin’s Exercise Science Program and an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer, currently residing in Seattle, WA. Ian’s mission is to revolutionize the health and fitness industry by combining science and education to evoke sustainable change in his clients and readers. He preaches the importance of a holistic approach to training, taking into account the mind AND the body.  Ian also walks the walk as a natural competitive bodybuilder and loves arm training.

Stay current with Ian on his website: Padron Performance    

The post Arm Training For Maximal Muscle Growth appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. It is estimated that over 200,000 ACL injuries occur in the United States every year. Despite approximately 90% of people opting for ACL reconstruction surgery, significant risk for re-injury after repair remains.

2. Despite the current trends in the physical therapy and rehabilitation communities, squatting BELOW 90⁰ while monitoring closed chain knee flexion provides the most advantageous environment for reimplementing gross motor patterns.

3. The low-bar squat represents a safe and effective exercise to incorporate into ACL rehabilitation, even in the early stages of healing of a post-operative ACL reconstruction.

4. Traditional exercises like the supported physio-ball wall squat just don’t provide enough training stimulus in the rehab process to protect against re-injury. Providing a controlled environment for reimplementing load in addition to proprioceptive challenges is the future of ACL rehabilitation.

5. Simply put, the biomechanics of the low-bar squat encourage maximal strength development with little risk to the ACL. This evidence is more than enough to change the way we rehab ACL reconstruction as a community of rehab specialists. Compound loaded movements will always prevail!

Staggering ACL Injury Rates

It is estimated that over 200,000 ACL injuries occur in the United States every year. Despite approximately 90% of people opting for ACL reconstruction surgery, significant risk for re-injury after repair remains. In fact, research has shown that subjects who undergo ACL reconstruction are still 15 times more likely to sustain an ACL injury in the following year and six times more likely in two years than those with no history of ACL injury (1-2).

Current criteria to return-to-sport after an ACL reconstruction usually involve a battery of testing including, but not limited to, isokinetic strength testing, jump evaluation, and knee arthrometer testing. Typically, strength criteria includes achieving less than 10% deficit in strength of the quadriceps and hamstrings on isokinetic testing at 180⁰/s and 300⁰/s (3). While this may be a great method to compare isolated muscle strength to the non-affected leg, I question its transfer to safety and performance on the field where isolated muscle contractions rarely occur.

The physical therapy community as a whole has done a tremendous job at implementing plyometric training into ACL reconstruction rehabilitation. Clinicians now routinely teach proper jumping mechanics and have made great progress in reducing the risk of ACL injury, but with re-injury rates as high as they are, are we, as a profession, still missing a major piece of the puzzle?

Barbells In The Clinic

Barbell training represents one of the most effective methods to increase strength and muscle mass, two key components to athletic performance. While barbells are often utilized in the gym and athletic training settings, their use in sports physical therapy is not standard. Exercises such as the squat and deadlift often are erroneously labeled by some as dangerous, stating “Squats will hurt your knees,” or “Deadlifts will hurt your back”.

Current dogma also suggests that squats should not be performed at knee flexion angles greater than 90⁰. The combination of fear of injuring patients and lack of knowledge on the biomechanics of a proper full ROM barbell squat often leaves this vital exercise in the dust, when, in reality, it may be EXACTLY what we need.

First, Some Anatomy and Kinesiology

The ACL, in conjunction with the hamstrings, resists anterior tibial translation on the femur

The primary role of the ACL is to resist anterior tibial translation at the knee, especially at low flexion angles (4). Additionally, maximal anterior shear forces during the squat occur at the first 60⁰ of knee flexion, with peak ACL forces occurring at 15-30⁰. The forces on the ACL appear to actually decrease at higher flexion angles. As one descends into the squat, increased hamstrings activation exert a posterior force on the tibia assisting the ACL in reducing anterior translation. Also, anterior tibial translation further decreases in the deep squat due to the soft tissue approximation between the distal hamstrings and proximal calf.

When squats are performed in the clinic, however, they typically are associated with the caveat to avoid going past 90⁰ knee flexion. This reasoning is based on an observed increase in patellofemoral compressive forces at deep flexion angles in some studies (5); however, it may be flawed for a few reasons.

First, in closed-chain knee flexion greater than 90⁰, the wrapping effect occurs (6). In this phenomenon, the additional contact between the quadriceps tendon and the intercondylar notch actually enhances load distribution at the knee leading to an overall decline of retropatellar and compressive forces. Additionally, the highest dynamic peak forces occur at the transition phase of the squat. Therefore, it would be ill-advised to perform a squat to only 90⁰, as this reversal of eccentric to concentric movement would occur where the highest patellofemoral compressive forces are observed (6).

Another aspect to consider is the amount of external resistance needed during the partial vs. deep squat. Compared to deep squats, quarter and half squats require higher weights to stimulate a training effect. In fact, gym students are capable of moving about four times the weight of a deep back squat on a quarter squat (6). This phenomenon is something that, unfortunately, happens far too often.

High school and even college strength and conditioning programs are plagued with partial ROM barbell squats. Sixteen year old kids are performing quarter squats for sets of 10 with 315 lbs. when, in essence, they may not even be able to complete a single rep with 135 to proper depth. Perform a squat with a load that is too heavy within a ROM where maximal shear forces occur at the knee, and you are creating a recipe for disaster. In fact, a load of 1-2x bodyweight in a deep squat only produces a force equal to 28% the overall tensile strength of the ACL, whereas that same load in a half squat produces between 33-42%! (6). Overall, squatting deeper than 90⁰ is safer on the knee and less stress on the ACL.

A Note on Plyometrics

The phases of jumping and landing in plyometric based activity.

Plyometrics represent a major component in ACL reconstruction rehabilitation, and rightfully so. Provided most ACL injuries are non-contact in nature, it is imperative that the athlete knows how to correctly jump. In the later stages, plyometrics are performed as intense as the single-leg triple hop. Research tells us that a bodyweight double-leg jump to 70⁰ results in similar forces on the knee to a half squat with 175 lbs (6).

RELATED ARTICLE: Is Plyometric Training Causing Knee Injuries?

It amazes me that patients are repeatedly jumping with maximal effort on one leg, but there is still hesitancy to implement heavy strength training. What’s ACTUALLY more likely to cause injury to the reconstructed ACL? Instead of constantly focusing on creating exercises that mimic the exact motions on the field, we need to put more emphasis on exercises that are the best at creating strength, and barbell training will always be at the top of the list. 

The Low-Bar Squat

Notice the increased forward migration of the knees in the high-bar squat (left). The low-bar squat (right) is more posterior chain dominant and reduces anterior migration of the knees.

Now that we know squatting below 90⁰ is preferred in post ACL reconstruction rehabilitation, what variation would be most beneficial? Regarding the back squat, there are two common variations that come to mind. The high-bar back squat represents one variation and is typically seen in the weightlifting, CrossFit, and the average weekend warrior community. With the high-bar back squat, the bar rests firmly on a muscular shelf created by the upper trapezius. In order to keep the bar centered over the midfoot during the descent, this will require a more upright torso, and increased knee flexion and ankle dorsiflexion ROM. Due to the more upright torso, this variation tends to create a higher demand on the quads and less demand on the posterior chain. Additionally, because of the increased knee flexion and forward migration of the knee, the high-bar squat has been shown to increase both patellofemoral and ACL stresses (4).

The low-bar squat represents another variation, typically seen in powerlifters. In the low-bar squat, the bar rests lower on the back, on the rear deltoids. This requires more forward trunk lean in order to keep the bar centered over the midfoot during the descent. The low-bar squat requires less knee flexion and ankle dorsiflexion but more hip flexion than the high bar squat. Due to these biomechanical properties, the low-bar position effectively reduces patellofemoral compressive forces and ACL stress due to greater hamstrings activity and less forward migration of the knees (4).

Notice the increased forward migration of the knees in the high-bar squat (left) in the image above. The low-bar squat (right) is more posterior chain dominant and reduces anterior migration of the knees.

Although quad strengthening is vital for ACL reconstruction rehabilitation, so is protecting the knee joint. While the high-bar squat may preferentially target the quads, due to the increased hamstrings activity and reduced forward migration of the knees, the low-bar squat represents a safe and effective exercise to incorporate into ACL rehabilitation. In fact, one source even recommends that exercises done in the standing position with the knees flexed and trunk anteriorly flexed can be performed safely even in the early stages after ACL reconstruction (7)! Due to only minimum anterior shear forces generated during the squat, it can represent a safe and effective rehab exercise to perform for those who wish to minimize tensile loading of the ACL (8).

Typical Strength Exercises in ACL Rehabilitation

The stability ball wall squat represents an inferior exercise choice for ACL reconstruction rehabilitation.

Two staple exercises commonly utilized in ACL reconstruction rehabilitation that come to mind are the leg press and stability ball wall squat. The leg press may represent a great tool in the early stages of rehabilitation when the patient is physically too weak to perform a bodyweight squat. It represents a good stepping stone to squatting, but once an athlete can properly perform a bodyweight squat, the benefits of squatting far outweigh those of leg pressing. In fact, it has been shown that squatting increases both the squat jump and countermovement jump whereas the leg press does not improve these parameters at all (9). It would instead be optimal, in a field where you have limited time with your patients, to dedicate more focus working on the squat instead of the leg press. If performance is the goal, (usually the case in athletic development) the squat should be preferred because it yields better transfer effects.

Another typical exercise used in the clinic is the stability ball wall squat. During this exercise, the patient places his/her back against an exercise ball that is placed against the wall. This mimics a hack squat or a squat done on the Smith Machine with the feet placed significantly forward. The patient is instructed to squat down to 90⁰ and complete 3 sets of 10. Many aspects of this variation are not ideal. First, due to the vertical trunk and lack of anterior pelvic tilt, very little hamstrings are involved, making this a primarily quad dominant exercise and increasing the load on the ACL. Second, this variation of the squat is usually performed to 90⁰ of knee flexion. Despite little to no forward migration of the knee in this variation, allowing the turning point to occur where retropatellar forces are the greatest simply cannot be advised.

Additionally, it is very difficult to sufficiently load this exercise. Dumbbells can be held in the hands, but eventually it can become an awkward movement if the dumbbells become too heavy. Finally, with this variation, the patient is reliant upon leaning on a ball for stability. As a result, he/she does not learn how to effectively move his/her body through space, a vital skill to any sport.

Back To The Basics

Foundational squat patterns using the barbell back squat.

Let’s, for a moment, revisit the isokinetic testing I mentioned in the beginning of the article. Again, we usually aim for recovery within a 10% deficit in strength compared to the un-involved side to return to sport, but I’d like propose a scenario of two patients.

Both Patient A and Patient B have a 5% deficit in isokinetic strength compared to their uninvolved side, and they each pass the jumping and knee stability tests with flying colors. On paper, the are both EQUALLY prepared to return to sport right? However, there is one key difference. Patient A can squat 315 lbs. for a set of 5 with pristine form; Patient B can barely squat 185 lbs. for a set of 5 without some form of maladaptive compensation. Both of these patients score the SAME on isokinetic strength testing under the criteria of percentage of strength of the uninvolved side. The problem with using a side-to-side comparison is that it tells you NOTHING about how the patient moves or his/her absolute strength of the entire lower body as a whole. How is it that isokinetic testing is currently the only strength requirement to return to sport? I have a hunch that Patient A will have an easier time returning to his/her sport than Patient B.

Barbell training is a very simple concept. Progressively loading basic human movement patterns is THE single most effective way to build strength and power that will transfer over to all athletic endeavors. The biomechanics of the low-bar squat encourage maximal strength development with little risk to the ACL. The physical therapy profession has made major progress in incorporating plyometric training and instructing proper jumping mechanics in ACL reconstruction rehabilitation, but are we still missing something? Incorporating a multi-joint strength exercise as simple, yet as effective as the low-bar back squat may be exactly what we need.

About The Author

Michael Mash, CSCS, FMSC is a physical therapy student and strength coach located in Pittsburgh, PA. He started his company, Barbell Rehab and Performance, with the mission to bridge the gap between physical therapy and strength & conditioning. His vision includes implementing the barbell lifts into clinical practice to both increase athletic performance and quality of life for all ages. Michael currently operates and can be contacted through his website, BarbellRehabandPerformance.com

References

1. Paterno MV, Rauh MJ, Schmitt LC, Ford KR, Hewett TE. Incidence of contralateral and ipsilateral anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury after primary ACL reconstruction and return to sport. Clin J Sport Med. 2012;22(2):116-21.
2. Paterno MV, Rauh MJ, Schmitt LC, Ford KR, Hewett TE. Incidence of Second ACL Injuries 2 Years After Primary ACL Reconstruction and Return to Sport. Am J Sports Med. 2014;42(7):1567-73.
3. Barber-Westin SD, Noyes FR. Factors used to determine return to unrestricted sports activities after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Arthroscopy. 2011;27(12):1697-705.
4. Schoenfeld BJ. Squatting kinematics and kinetics and their application to exercise performance. J Strength Cond Res. 2010;24(12):3497-506.
5. Huberti HH, Hayes WC. Patellofemoral contact pressures. The influence of q-angle and tendofemoral contact. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1984;66(5):715-24.
6. Hartmann H, Wirth K, Klusemann M. Analysis of the load on the knee joint and vertebral column with changes in squatting depth and weight load. Sports Med. 2013;43(10):993-1008.
7. Noyes FR. Knee Disorders, Surgery, Rehabilitation, Clinical Outcomes. Saunders; 2009
8. Escamilla RF. Knee biomechanics of the dynamic squat exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2001;33(1):127-41.
9. Wirth K, Hartmann H, Sander A, Mickel C, Szilvas E, Keiner M. The impact of back squat and leg-press exercises on maximal strength and speed-strength parameters. J Strength Cond Res. 2015

The post The Role of Low-Bar Squats in ACL Reconstruction Rehab appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. Every body is shaped a little bit different and can be classified into one of three somatotypes. Ectomorphs tend to be skinny with little body fat or muscle while endomorphs tend to gain both fat and muscle easily. Mesomorphs have a naturally lean, muscular and athletic build.

2. You won’t gain muscle if you don’t have a strong enough reason to change from your skinny self. Find your “why” and unlock the door to gains.

3. To gain weight, you’ve got to take in more energy than you burn off, but you’ve got to make sure you get your nutrients from the right sources. Be sure to consume the right combination of protein, fat and carbohydrate.

4. Your execution of a program, your nutrition and your lifestyle are the most important factors for making gains. In terms of programming, if you’re a skinny guy trying to pack on size, ditch the endless sets of bicep curls and focusing on getting strong in the big compound lifts like the back squat, bench press, deadlift and military press.

5. Figure out why you actually want to change, keep a food journal of what you’re currently eating, tweak one thing at a time with your diet and keep a training journal. Then, focus on getting strong on a program with a heavy diet of compound exercises.

Introduction For “Hard Gainers”

The skinny struggle is real.

In every weight room across America, you’ll see guys who have been coming to the gym day-in and day-out and still look like the same wiry-framed individuals they were a year earlier.

They read all the muscle magazines and take every mass gain supplement known to man yet can’t buy a pound of muscle.

On the other hand, you’ve got dudes who can simply touch a weight and grow. Heck, they can even miss a couple of weeks here and there and still get yoked.

Not fair, right? Then again, life’s not fair.

If you’re scrawny, you can easily put on size. You’ve just got to work a little harder than others.

Let’s discuss common pitfalls with your current training and nutrition (yes, I said nutrition) regimen and what changes you need to make to get that muscular frame you’ve always craved.

What’s Your Body Type?

Everyone’s a little different. Some of us listen to rap music, while others like nothing but country. Some prefer to hit the gym after a hard week of work, while others may want to curl up on the couch in their pajamas and watch re-runs of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (hey, no judgment).

Just like we all have our own individual interests, we each have different body structures.

In the 1940s, American psychologist William Sheldon popularized the term “somatotype” to categorize the shape of a human physique. He described three kinds of somatotypes – ectomorphs, mesomorphs and endomorphs (Carter and Heath, 1990).

Those with an ectomorphic build tend to be lean with little body fat and little muscle. Endomorphs are “big-boned” per se, as they tend to have lots of fat and muscle and gain weight easily.

Mesomorphs have a lean, muscular and athletic build and can both gain and lose weight with relative ease.

Now, Sheldon actually associated one’s body type with certain personality traits, although these assertions raised much debate.

He claimed ectomorphs tend to be self-conscious, private, introverted and socially anxious. Sheldon said endomorphs are tolerant, relaxed, fun-loving and have an affection for food, while mesomorphs are assertive, courageous and risk-takers.

Again, many of these claims are generalizations, but there’s definitely some truth to these.

Think about it – when’s the last time you saw a group of strong, muscular guys playing Dungeons and Dragons?

Probably never.

So ectomorphs may struggle to build muscle not only because of their body type, but also because of their personality.

Based on Sheldon’s claims, ectomorphs could lack the confidence needed to sustain a muscle-building routine because of low self-esteem.

A double whammy.

Still, there’s hope. As an ectomorph, you can certainly put on size.

We’re going to get a little sentimental for a minute, but it’s going to help. Before you make a change, you’ve first got find your “why.”

The Secret To Gains – Finding Your “Why”

Many people don’t like change. There’s a reason we go to the same grocery store, hang out with the same people and wear the same type of clothes.

Research actually supports the fact people don’t like to deviate from the norm. In a 2010 study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, the longer something is thought to exist, the more value people place on it (Eidelman et. al, 2010)

In the first part of the study, those at a university chose an existing requirement over an alternate choice for a course when they were told it had been around for 100 years instead of 10. In the second part of the study, participants who were told acupuncture had been around for 2,000 years thought of it more favorably than those who were told it had existed for 250 years.

Because something had been around longer, people assumed it was better. But longevity doesn’t always mean something is of higher quality.

Just because you’ve eaten cereal for breakfast every day for the last 15 years doesn’t mean that’s the best type of food to have first thing in the morning.

Change is hard, so in order to change, you’ve got to find your “why.” You have to have a strong emotional reason to adjust your lifestyle.

Think about it. You’re not really building muscle just to build muscle. What do you stand to gain from adding 15 or 20 pounds of muscle?

Will having more muscle mass give you greater confidence? What will you be able to do with more confidence?

Will you finally be able to go for that job you’ve always wanted? Will you finally be able to ask out that girl you never thought you could have?

Whatever your reason for wanting to change, you’ve got to remind yourself of it often. Post sticky notes on your bathroom mirror, refrigerator and dashboard in your car. Once you find a strong enough motivating factor, you’ll change.

The First Law of Thermodynamics (Why You’re NOT Gaining Weight)

Alright, enough of the emotional stuff.

So we’ve established it may be harder for you to add muscle than average person. Still, you can pack on plenty of size if you actually focus on what you’re doing outside the gym.

That’s right – you can follow the perfect training program to a “T” and have nothing to show for your hard work if you don’t take in enough calories or burn off too much energy via other methods of exercise.

To gain weight, you’ve got to be in a positive energy balance (take in more energy than you burn off) and to lose weight, you’ve got to be in a negative energy balance (burn off more energy than you take in).

Now, it’s a little more complex than that.

If you follow the “see-food” diet and shovel in everything in sight, you will gain weight – just not the kind of weight you want.

You’ve got to eat the right foods in the right amounts at the right times to optimize muscle growth and weight gain.

According to the National Strength and Conditioning Association, your caloric intake should be about 10 to 15 percent above maintenance to gain strictly muscle weight (Campbell and Spano, 2011). Excess calories will get stored as fat.

While you’ve got to eat enough, you also need to make sure you don’t exercise too much.

Going for a long run or playing pick-up basketball for hours on end during your off days will get you nowhere. If you need to take in more energy than you expend, you better tone it down on the cardio.

So What Types of Foods Should You Eat?

You’ve got to make sure you’re eating the right foods. Shoveling candy, chips and ice cream down your throat will put on mass, but mostly the wrong kind.

Sometimes, though, it’s OK for a leaner guy like you to have some “cheat” foods.

If you’re traveling all day and don’t have access to “health” foods, you would be better off stopping at Burger King and McDonald’s than not eating for 10 hours.

Here are a couple of things you should know about your body type. As an ectomorph, you have a fast metabolic rate, high carbohydrate tolerance and high sympathetic nerve activity (Berardi et. al, 2015).

Ever heard of non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT)? Things like tapping your foot on the ground and walking around do actually contribute to your daily energy expenditure. Skinny guys tend to fidget more than the average person.

So being active all the time can actually work against you.

Also, you’ve got to use carbs to your advantage since you tolerate them well.

Since the majority of the population is interested in weight loss, you’ll hear lots of recommendations for “low-carb” diets. In these cases, we frown upon consuming foods like rice, bread and potatoes in large quantities.

And that’s fine – if you’re overweight.

As a guy who struggles mightily to pack on size, you need carbohydrates – and lots of them.

So why do carbs help you build muscle?

Glucose, the end product of carbohydrate metabolism, is your body’s preferred source of fuel. Because strength training consists of lots of high-intensity work over a relatively short period of time, you’re going to need energy fast, so increasing muscle glycogen stores is crucial.

Carbohydrates are especially important around a workout because carbohydrate consumption greatly increases the secretion of the anabolic hormone insulin, which promotes protein synthesis, decreases protein breakdown, stimulates glucose uptake and enhances glycogen storage (Campbell and Spano, 2011).

So yeah, carbs are kind of important.

For this reason, Precision Nutrition recommends those with an ectomorphic build consume 55 percent of their calories from carbohydrate, 25 percent from protein and 20 percent from fat (Berardi et. al, 2015).

More than half your calories should be coming from carbs.

While your body prefers to burn carbohydrate for energy from either muscle glycogen or blood glucose, you still need some dietary fat (Kleiner and Greenwood-Robinson, 2014). Fat is important in the production of testosterone and assists your body in the repair process post-exercise.

Testosterone? Recovery? Those are pretty important words. If you want to see some serious gains, dude, you better eat your fat. Add things avocados, nuts, nut butters and coconut oil to your diet.

And finally, let’s address the most talked about muscle-building macronutrient of all-time – protein.

Just about any serious lifter will have a protein shake readily available after a workout, and for good reason. Your body needs protein to grow and repair damaged cells and tissue. Because your cells are constantly breaking down and regenerating, your body needs to grab amino acids from its free amino acid pool. While your body makes some amino acids on its own (nonessential amino acids), you need to get eight essential amino acids from your diet. If your body doesn’t have enough amino acids stored, it will break down protein stores in the muscles to get what it needs (Baechle and Earle, 2008).

Not good.

So eat your protein, bro. And get it from numerous sources – not just your precious whey protein powder.

Foods like eggs, lean ground beef, chicken and fish are all great sources. Just make sure you get enough. Two eggs for breakfast and a tiny cup of yogurt for lunch isn’t going to cut it.

What Types of Workouts Should You Do?

Type in “workout to build muscle” on Google, and you’ll get more than three million results.

With so much information out there, you’re no doubt confused.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret – the program itself isn’t the most important part. Do you think Ronnie Coleman, Jay Cutler and Phil Heath all followed the exact same training routines to get to the top of the bodybuilding world?

Absolutely not.

You can get great results from tons of different programs. The most important factors are your execution of the program, your nutrition and your lifestyle.

Pick a program, and stick to it.

Whatever workout you do, you need to follow the basic rules of strength training.

First, you’ve got to practice the principle of progressive overload. In layman’s terms, you’ve got to focus on adding weight to the bar each time you lift.

Do a little bit more every time. Keep a training journal so you remember how much weight you lifted last time.

You’re not going to get jacked benching 135 pounds the rest of your life. While you may notice bodybuilders performing lots of reps and using intensifiers like drops sets, you need to realize those bodybuilders spent their initial years in the weight room getting strong.

At the beginning of his career, Arnold Schwarzenegger followed Reg Park’s 5×5 strength training program, focusing on getting strong in compound lifts like the back squat, bench press, deadlift and military press.

So if you’re a skinny dude trying to pack on some size, don’t you dare head for the dumbbell rack to do biceps curls before you’ve gotten your big, compound lifts out of the way.

Trust me, you’re not attracting any ladies heaving around 50-pound dumbbells like you’re having convulsions.

Similarly, you’ve got to follow the SAID (specific adaptation to imposed demand) principle. Your body will adapt to a certain type of stressor to get better at withstanding that same stressor in the future.

If you train with light weights and high reps, you’re going to improve your muscular endurance. If you want to build muscle, you’ve got to train at least moderately heavy and place lots of tension on your muscles.

So man up and start training with some intensity. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. When your muscles start to burn, push through it.

Giving a better effort than than last time is the best way to see those gains, dude!

Ectomorph Training and Nutrition Program

So you want a program that will help you both build muscle and gain weight?

Here are four simple steps you need to take to get started:

1. Figure out why you actually want to change. What would adding more muscle do for you? Would it make you more confident? If having more muscle won’t make your life better, you won’t change.
2. Keep a food journal of what you’re currently eating. To gain weight, you’ve got to be consistent with your diet. As we talked about before – no more starving yourself for an entire day just because you don’t have access to “health” foods. Use an app like MyFitnessPal to make it easy.
3. Try to tweak one thing at a time with your diet. If you change everything at once, you’re setting yourself up for failure and you’re going to end up overwhelmed and back to where you started. Once you’ve been able to continue with a habit every day for at least a week or two, add in something else.
4. Get a training journal and follow the training program below. Don’t tweak anything with this program and stick to it for a while. One of the biggest mistakes skinny guys make is constantly changing their programs based on something they read somewhere else. The only way to know if what you’re doing works is to stick with it for a long period of time. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither were the top physiques out there.

Before we even talk about the program, let’s address your nutrition. Remember, no amount of training you do matters if your nutrition isn’t on point.

Here are two nutritional habits to follow that will add noticeable size to your frame. You can add more once you’ve done these. Pick one to follow each week and don’t add another habit until you’ve proven you can complete the initial habit consistently for at least a week.

1. Eat a big breakfast every day. Choose four to eight ounces of a lean protein source like eggs, ground beef or chicken and combine it with a starchy carbohydrate source like oats, rice and potatoes and a vegetable. Skipping breakfast or eating a light breakfast will do you no good if you want to pack on lots of size.
2. Add two protein shakes per day. Now, we’re not just talking about a shake with whey protein only. Add a handful of berries, two tablespoons of peanut butter, a handful of lettuce or spinach and a serving of coconut oil. That will add some serious calories!

In terms of training, skinny guys respond really well to heavy weights.

Just ask the terminator.

In The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding, Arnold Schwarzenegger recommends ectomorphs use plenty of power moves with heavy weight and low reps in the six-to-eight-rep range (Schwarzenegger and Dobbins, 1999).

Seeing as Arnold is a seven-time winner of the Mr. Olympia award, you should probably listen to him.

Get really good at the “Big 3” exercises – the back squat, the bench press and deadlift.

Sure, you may be using them in your program right now, but are you doing them right? If you’re not growing, chances are you’re not.

Perform five sets of eight reps for each of these exercises three times a week. Use two warm-up sets to ramp up to your three working sets at the same weight. Start with a light weight you can hit easily and add five pounds to the bar each time. For many, your starting point may be just the 45-pound barbell.

It’s progressive overload 101, which is the best way for beginning lifters to see progress.

If you need to add in a couple of isolation exercises like biceps curls or calf raises at the end, fine. But don’t do them before you get your compound lifts out of the way.

Let’s go through the set-up and execution of each of the “big three.” Using improper form is one of the biggest things holding skinny guys back from getting strong.

Back Squat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlam5pWmNk0

Key Coaching Cues For The Back Squat:

1. Grab the bar and grip it tight, thinking about pulling the bar apart
2. Take no more than two or three steps back
3. Set your feet so your toes are pointed slightly out
4. Take a breath in
5. Push your knees over your toes as you descend
6. Descend until just before your back starts to round
7. Extend your hips at the top of the lift
8. Exhale

Bench Press

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e0lFsmY_Js

Key Coaching Cues for The Bench Press:

1. Lie on the bench with your eyes directly underneath the bar
2. Grab the bar and grip it tight, thinking about pulling the bar apart
3. Set your feet underneath your knees
4. Arch your upper back, thinking about putting your shoulder blades in your back pockets
5. Un-rack the bar without your shoulders coming up
6. Take a breath in
7. Pull the bar down to your sternum
8. Lock your arms out at the bar of the lift
9. Exhale

Deadlift

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFoSxaWiSYM

Key Coaching Cues For The Deadlift:

1. Set your feet shoulder-width apart and keep your shins an inch away from the bar
2. Grab the bar with your hands just outside your hips
3. Push your chest up
4. Move your knees forward until they touch the bar
5. Take a breath in
6. Pull the bar off the floor and finish by extending your hips
7. Exhale

About The Author

Luke Briggs is a strength coach, fitness addict and former full-time print journalist. Luke is a certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association and a Level 1 coach through Precision Nutrition. He also holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin’s prestigious school of journalism. A former skinny guy himself, Luke’s vision is to help leaner guys all over the world push past their genetics and build the muscular frames they’ve always wanted. You can check out his free blog and services at LukeBriggsFitness.com

References

Baechle, Thomas R., and Roger W. Earle. “Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning.” Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2008. Print.

Berardi, John, and Ryan Andrews. The Essentials of Sport and Exercise Nutrition. Second ed. N.p.: Precision Nutrition, 2015. Print.

Campbell, Bill I., and Marie A. Spano. “NSCA’s Guide to Sport and Exercise Nutrition.” Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2011. Print.

Carter, J.E. Lindsay, and Barbara Honeyman Heath. “Somatotyping: Development and Applications.” New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Print.

Eidelman, Scott, Jennifer Pattershall and Christian S. Crandall. “Longer is better.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Nov. 2010. Web. 23 Feb 2016.

Kleiner, Susan, and Maggie Greenwood-Robinson. “Power Eating.” Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2014. Print.

Schwarzenegger, Arnold, and Bill Dobbins. “The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding.” New York, NY; Fireside, 1999. Print.

The post The Simple Solution For Skinny Hard Gainers appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. Ladies, peeing during workouts or physical activity is not normal, and shouldn’t just be brushed off as a part of life. There’s a way to fix it.

2. Developing strong pelvic floor control and function involves more than just practicing your kegel exercises every day! This is an old school thought that needs to die, especially if you want to stop peeing during workouts!

3. Incorporating your diaphragm and breathing patterns with challenging positions such as front planks, side planks, squats and core rotation are the staples of any athlete’s urinary incontinence corrective program.

4. There’s no shame in correcting your pelvic floor function and changing the way you move, workout and live. The only shame is letting this dysfunction continue and get worse over time. Lets make the change!

Even A Little Peeing During Workouts Isn’t Acceptable!

Being a Physical Therapist somehow hardwires clam shell exercises and glute bridges into our professional DNA when it comes to women’s health and pelvic dysfunction. By all means, if you can’t do a single leg bridge, you have some strength and stability issues — but to truly work the pelvic floor, you must get functional and a bit creative! But before we move on, remember, the cure for pee pants during workouts isn’t  all about the kegels as you’ve been told. It’s a little more complicated than that.

A strong pelvic floor is not only essential for women wanting to lift heavy, but for all women who want to enjoy life! While it’s awesome that the Crossfit world is bringing awareness to pelvic floor issues, simply saying it’s okay and bragging about peeing during double-unders is not a solution. It’s a crime, and it’s doing women everywhere a disservice. It’s not normal to pee yourself, EVEN JUST A LITTLE. The pelvic floor should be strong and stable like the rest of your body. Women are giving up on what they love because of their weak pelvic floors and the healthcare professionals in their lives are telling them to do more kegels.  That course of treatment is outdated and ineffective, and here’s why.

The Problem With Urinary Incontinence Treatment

Western medicine is great at honing in on an area of treatment, but as we’ve learned with the knee, standard treatment protocol nowadays is to look at the foot and hip first, because it’s rarely the knee itself that’s the cause of the problem. The integration of comprehensive kinetic chain treatment for the knee took 10 years or more to hit mainstream PT.  Let’s do it faster with the pelvic floor.  For years, kegels were thought to be the first and ONLY line of defense for pelvic floor issues. Not only is that simply not true but it’s flat out wrong. Unfortunately, the message to women is still to do your kegels, and if you aren’t getting better then you aren’t doing enough kegels, making women feel horrible about themselves. Let’s beat a dead horse a little more because that works. Yelling at your patient for not doing enough quad sets for their knee pain just seems ridiculous. So, let’s take the time to look at the kinetic chain and be rock stars with treatment!

In order to lift heavy weights, accomplish dynamic movements, and excel in extreme sports with a strong pelvic floor, we need to be integrative. The pelvic floor is not a stand-alone muscle; it interacts with the muscles above and below it to create optimal functioning. That’s why kegels alone often do not work for people, no matter how diligently they do them: they’re only targeting one piece of a much larger puzzle. Now, just because I’m saying kegels should not be your only line of defense for pelvic floor weakness doesn’t mean you should throw out the baby with the bathwater.

What About The Kegel Exercise?

The occasional kegel exercise can be beneficial, but you need to be sure you’re doing it correctly. The common description is to stop the flow of urine, but a more accurate description is trying to draw in a tampon. Graphic, I know, but very accurate. As you lift or draw up your pelvic floor, you should also feel the lower part of your abdominal wall lifting or tightening too. These two are impossible to separate, hence why trunk alignment is so important for pelvic floor function.

The second half, and probably the most important part of doing a kegel, is relaxing or fully lengthening the pelvic floor muscles. All muscles require lengthening before they can fully contract, and when someone is weak they tend to hang on for dear life, which in the long run makes them weaker. This happens to the pelvic floor by constantly holding a low level of tone making it impossible to get a full contraction. This is why deep squatting it so awesome: it gets length to the pelvic floor without taking much effort.

But again, kegels are only part of the battle. Let’s get integrative and see what we are missing when it comes to the pelvic floor, starting with the diaphragm. Here are the three most effective methods to cure your workout pees, and exercises to strengthen your pelvic floor for good!

#1 Develop Your Diaphragm

The diaphragm is the top to your core, making it a formidable ally in your quest for stability and strength. Proper diaphragm function turns on your pelvic floor. If the diaphragm does not function correctly, the pelvic floor won’t either. They work together like a piston system.

A great diaphragm starts with a great inhale. When you lift heavy stuff, you develop strong paraspinal (back) muscles out of necessity to protect your spine. If your paraspinals become a little too hyper-vigilant, they will not relax to allow proper diaphragm expansion. Therefore, we need to shut down your paraspinals (don’t worry, they will kick back in when you pick up that heavy barbell and eventually learn to have a little more balance with the diaphragm).

A plank with relaxed hips, while focusing on breathing is a challenging exercise for the diaphragm. I love this exercise because you get increased core strength and the ability to focus on your pelvic floor, all while training your diaphragm.

The Front Plank

Front Plank Coaching Cues:

• Start on your hands and knees, and then lift your knees so you end up in a push up position with relaxed legs.
• Tuck your chin – keep your head up and in-line with your body.
• Relax your quads and hip flexors (you need strong scapula for this).
• Keep your shoulders away from your ears and your weight forward over your hands. Do not push backwards.
• Elbows pointed toward your toes.
• Tuck your butt slightly from your core, not your glutes (basically making sure your lower abs are working).
• Do not let your lower back drop down when you blow into the balloon.
• Do not let your head drop down when you blow into the balloon.
• Focus on drawing in (contracting) your pelvic floor muscles as you exhale and relaxing out on the inhale.
• If this is too hard, drop down to your hands and knees and start there.
• Don’t do this exercise if you suffer from diastasis recti

Paraspinals still tight? Try this exercise to loosen things up and get you ready for glute activation. This PRI squat really promotes diaphragm expansion and pelvic floor response. Be sure to breathe in the same way as detailed above: Inhale: pelvic floor relaxes Exhale: pelvic floor draws up

The Full PRI Squat

Full PRI Squat Coaching Cues:

• Hold onto something stable, so your arms can relax straight
• Squat down, resting into your hips as much as possible
• Balance your weight between the balls of your feet and heels
• Rest your head on your knees if you can
• Take a deep breath in, feeling the stretch across your midback
• Fully relax on the exhale
• Try to feel your pelvic floor respond to your diaphragm
• Inhale- pelvic floor relaxes down
• Exhale- pelvic floor naturally recoils up
• It may be difficult to get in air at first, this is normal, it just means you are tight. Keep going, it will get easier!

I want your pelvic floor to be automatic in response to your breathing so you never have to think about it again, but in some people the timing is off and needs work. For those people, their pelvic floor goes down when they exhale instead of up. Often, this person has resorted to bearing down pressure on an exhale or valsalva (holding your breath) when lifting to eke out every last bit of intra-abdominal pressure they could (lifting or pooping this way are both bad). Let’s consider this another form of compensation, and it’s not healthy for your pelvic floor. I’ve seen numerous patients with hemorrhoids and hernias who put tremendous pressure down on their pelvic floor without a pelvic floor counter response. But don’t worry, you can retrain this just like any other muscle memory developed in the body. If you do enough simple exercises thinking about your pelvic floor engaging up when you create intra-abdominal pressure, you can rewire the pelvic floor response to become automatic. Try this on your warm up sets with some planks and body weight squats.

Doing a few side planks is never a bad idea either! Heck, if you want to have some fun, try blowing up a balloon and timing your pelvic floor on the exhale. The balloon will create significant intra-abdominal pressure and challenge your pelvic floor to respond. I guarantee you have never done a harder side plank!

The Side Plank

Side Plank Coaching Cues:

• Place your top foot in front and slightly angle your hips toward the ground.

• Make sure your shoulders and hips both face down, locking your core in place so there is no twisting through your midsection

• Inhale- directing air and pressure into your midback, expanding your back ribs – think bra line ladies – although all my male patients get that analogy too (pelvic floor should naturally relax down)

• Exhale – from your bottom ribs (pelvic floor should naturally come up)

#2 Lengthen Your Glutes

Being told you have a tight ass is not the compliment it used to be, especially when it pertains to pelvic floor dysfunction.

Let’s bring the diaphragm and glutes together with the pelvic floor to give you a more in-depth look at the kinetic chain. A dysfunctional diaphragm, glute weakness and lack of hip rotational strength all contribute to shutting down your pelvic floor. Your pelvic floor muscles run from your coccyx to your pubic bone, providing stability for your pelvis and SI Joints, as well as holding up your internal organs. So it’s a very bad idea to let them to take a break for more reasons than just incontinence.

The glutes help to control the pelvic floor. Strong glutes = strong pelvic floor.

Two types of glute inactivity that decrease pelvic floor strength and response time:

1. Too much anterior pelvic tilt (hanging forward) = slow/inadequate response pelvic floor, especially on heavy lifts. I think it’s the hanging, just makes things lazy.
2. Too much posterior pelvic tilt (clenching) = decreased ability to get a full contraction of the pelvic floor = decreased strength

This doesn’t have to happen on both sides simultaneously. I’ve seen patients that think they have a strong pelvic floor, but only one side of their pelvic floor is truly contracting, while the other side is taking a mini vacation. These patients usually have accompanying hip or SI joint pain.

Hanging Into An Anterior Tilt: Post pregnancy body. I hear the flat butt complaint more than once a day, mostly from women. Pregnancy shuts down your diaphragm and flares your ribs, sending you into an anterior tilt and causing your glutes to lose their advantageous angle to work. Take away glute activation for everyday tasks and it doesn’t matter how many times you hit the squat rack at the gym; you are one step closer to flat butt syndrome.

Posterior Pelvic Tilt: There are many ways to shut down your diaphragm and kill your glutes besides being a postpartum woman. If you have you seen a guy hunch over a computer with forward head posture and rounded shoulders for hours a day then you know what I mean. That guy has no butt either; it’s literally a straight line down from his flat lumbar spine to his heels. But don’t worry, he’s getting up from his desk once every 3 hours and doing a corner stretch (like that’s going to cover it).

Clenching the glutes is a strength killer. When you clench your glutes, you keep them in a shorted position creating a tight weak butt (you may have plenty of passive length but lack eccentric controlled length). Muscles like to lengthen AND contract to get stronger, not just contract. In other words, by clenching, you are making your glutes tighter and weaker. The glutes affect the pelvic floor. Chronic clenchers generally have weak pelvic floors that do not want to activate as quickly or intensely as they should. So basically the glute clenching tells the pelvic floor it can take a break, and to throw in one more level, glute clenchers generally lose hip rotational ability as well. You can also clench on just one side. Generally my patients will describe this as their “weak hip”. Clenching, increased pronation (collapsing of the arch) and piriformis (butt) pain go hand in hand.

My favorite way to lengthen the glutes for both an anterior tilt and posterior tilt is a really deep squat. In both cases you focus on the movement coming from the glutes not the low back.

Start by holding on so you can really sit into your glutes, then progress to a front squat. As you acquire more eccentric control to your glutes you will be able to sit further and further without having to hold on.

Squat with Pelvic Floor Timing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arOmS-rbJ18

Squat With Pelvic Floor Timing Coaching Cues:

• Try this barefoot, preferably.
• Start standing close to a bar with your feet roughly hip width apart. I don’t want them too wide or too turned out, but a little is fine. Whatever is comfortable for your hips.
• Spread your toes and engage your arch – Weight balanced – Keep your big toe down
• Tuck your chin
• Try and keep your body as upright as possible as you sit down into your glutes
• Hold a neutral spine. Do not increase or decrease your lumbar curve as you go down.
• If you lack ankle dorsiflexion, place a small book under your heels to compensate.

Not only will you get a stronger, more responsive pelvic floor, you will also develop great glutes in the process. No more flat butts! Amen.

#3 Train the Pelvic Floor for Action

The adductors and hip rotational muscles have a direct line of activation to the pelvic floor. The problem is, too many people train in the frontal plane (think front lunges) and sagittal plane (think side lunges) but not the transverse plane (think rotation).  And if they do, their focus is often on the concentric (contracting or shortening) portion of the work, neglecting eccentric (lengthening) effort.

My favorite exercise for training eccentric hip rotation is a lunge with rotation.

Hip Rotation for the Pelvic Floor

https://youtu.be/9xtpiTn-Y54

Hip Rotation Coaching Cues:

• Grab the handle of the band with your outside hand, and then place your inside hand on top (recruits posterior chain of right shoulder).
• Step away to create tension.
• Tall posture. Chin tucked.
• Start down in a lunge position with your arms straight in front, like you are doing a Pilloff Press.
• As you come out of the lunge, rotate through your hips to the left.
• Your knees should stay straight ahead. This is not a pivot on your feet.
• Your trunk should stay locked in with your pelvis. No rotation is happening from the lumbar spine.
• Focus on the rotation coming from your hips.

This lunge focuses on the rotation of the femur in the socket and eccentric control as you unwind out of the lunge. Guaranteed to make your adductors and glutes sore! Plus, it will stabilize your SI Joint as well as turn on your pelvic floor.

Put An End To Pee Pants With Pelvic Floor Control

Our body is a wonderful integrated system and how one part plays off another is absolutely fascinating. In Matt Damon’s new movie, The Martian, I love it when he says “I’ve got to science the shit out of it”. That’s how we need to be looking at treatment of the pelvic floor, and frankly how we need to address every weakness in the body. Nothing is ever as simple as quad sets or kegels, so let’s stop being lazy and pretending it is.

Start asking every single client or patient, “do you feel like you need to go pee before we do box jumps or do you ever need to rush to make it to the bathroom on time?” They may think what they are experiencing is normal, but you might just discover a pelvic floor weakness that they never would have sought out help for, and can then subsequently CHANGE THEIR LIFE. Because unlike having a flat butt, you can’t “see” if their pelvic floor is working and strong. You have to get a bit personal and ask. If we all get a bit personal, it will become normal and the pelvic floor will be just like any other set of muscles in the body and readily incorporated into general PT treatment and training programs. Not only can pelvic floor training be successful, it can be but fun — and it’s a whole lot more than kegels, bridges and clams! Lets stop the peeing during workouts once and for all! Ladies, who’s with me?!

About The Author

Dr. Sarah E. Duvall, PT, DPT, CPT, CNC

Sarah Ellis Duvall, Physical Therapist and Personal Trainer, has spent the last 15 years utilizing her unique approach to create strength and cure injuries. She is passionate about women’s health and helps women in their quest to become strong and feel great. When she is not hanging off the side of a mountain or spending time with her family, Sarah enjoys writing and presenting at www.CoreExerciseSolutions.com and figuring out how her patients can continue to pursue their dreams and lead a strong, adventurous life. To learn more about her programs, including her Hip, Core and Pelvic Floor Series, visit her website.

References

Boyle KL, et al. The value of blowing up a balloon. N Am J Sports Phys Ther. 2010 Sep;5(3):179-88.

Hsiu-Chuan Hung. et al. An alternative intervention for urinary incontinence: Retraining diaphragmatic, deep abdominal and pelvic floor muscle coordinated function. Man Ther. 2010 Jun; 15(3):273-9.

Park H, Han D. The effect of the correlation between the contraction of the pelvic floor muscles and diaphragmatic motion during breathing. J Phys Ther Sci. 2015 Jul;27(7)

Talasz H. et al. Proof of concept: differential effects of Valsalva and straining maneuvers on the pelvic floor. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2012 Oct;164(2):227-33.

Peeing During Workouts Summary

The post Peeing During Workouts is NOT Normal and It’s NOT OK! appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Want To End Your Training Week Strong? Do THIS!

Sure, we all want to add a little pain free volume on top of a heavy and challenging training week, am I right? But many times, we end up broken down after pushing too much volume and intensity with little to no results to show for it. One of the most effective and efficient ways to build pain free volume into your routine is by the strategic programming of a giant set into your end of the week workouts. This method works especially well when used as workout finishers to test your mental and physical fortitude, but also tap into some metabolic stress in lagging muscle groups that is most commonly lacking from many training programs.

Here’s the exact blueprint of one of my favorite pain free shoulder finisher giant sets that will light a torch to all three aspects of the deltoid muscle while also incorporating the chest and the rhomboids and lats for the pump of your life. Lets be honest, who doesn’t need a little extra attention on the old shoulders!? Are you ready to jump into one of the most challenging shoulder giant sets of your life?

RELATED ARTICLE: Lower Body Finisher Superset For Hypertrophy

Before we get into the exact details of this giant set, you can enjoy watching a full and uncut set of this notoriously brutal pain free shoulder finisher that I completed a few weeks ago. Man, this was one of the first rounds, and those five pound dumbbells felt like 50’s by the time I got to that last movement. Enjoy as you bask in my sorrow and burn, but before you forget…remember, you’re up next!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vw3b5_cS0Q

The Exercises and Prescription

3A. Cable Reverse Fly 2×12@15

3B. Dumbbell Hex Press 2×10@15

3C. Seated Dumbbell 6-Way 2×10@15

Giant Set Coaching Notes

We are saving the accessory shoulder work for last in this training day when you’re most likely ready to call it a day. So be sure to train hard and train heavy before you implement this giant set, but that should go without saying!

These are quick in and out, and only two working sets of shoulder dominant movements to finish off your upper body training with a bang. Are you tough enough to endure the metabolic burn of this finisher? Here’s how to do it, breaking down each of the three movements individually for your movement comprehension. The brutal beauty is in the acute movement execution details so pay attention!

Cable Reverse Fly

Starting with the dual cable rack set at about shoulder height, the first movement will be the Cable Reverse Fly to target again the posterior deltoids along with the scapular retractors like the rhomboids. Execute these pulls in a slow and controlled fashion, as we want to hit the shoulders with tension and metabolic fatigue. For most cable setups, you will have to go one arm over the other, so make sure to switch which arm is positioned on top for all your sets.

Dumbbell Hex Press

As we just targeted posterior shoulder tension, we are going to flip the movement and go into building a huge amount of tension in the anterior shoulders and chest with the Dumbbell Hex Press. This movement is more dependent on internal tension development, meaning you won’t have to load up super heavy to “feel” the tension. So determine a load that will allow you to contract hard. Tension at the top of the movement for a half of a second, and let the dumbbells down slow pressing them together throughout. These should light up your anterior delts and upper chest.

6-Way Shoulder Raise

The last movement in the giant set is a global shoulder movement, the 6-Way. Moving through many planes of motion on this movement, your shoulders will fatigue quickly, especially at 10 reps. Go extremely light to ensure you complete all your reps. Remember, we are targeting metabolic stress here not trying to set PR’s on shoulder specific work. For many, you will have to start with just bodyweight, especially this late in the training day. Execute these with smooth transitions between movements and control your core and shoulder position throughout.

Programming Considerations

This giant set finisher is the perfect way to end a tough week of training. By challenging smaller muscle groups that are most often lacking in the general population that is sedentary during the day chained to desks for hours on end, we blast what needs the extra attention in record time.

So if you are training on body part splits, place this giant set as the last set of movements on your chest or back emphasis days. Or for all you overly functional athletes out there, implementing this challenge set at the end of any big compound movement day incorporating total body or upper body targeted movement works extremely well.

If you love this type of programming with the pairing of specific movements together in an intlligently designed and results driven format, you will love my FHT. Want to take your training to the next level with custom developed and intelligently designed workouts that produce all the results with none of the aches and pains? Join the hundreds of FHT Members that have been revolutionizing the way they look, feel and function with Dr. John’s 12-Week FHT Program!

The Functional Hypertrophy Training Program includes multiple methods of strategic movement pairing to tap into muscle growth, metabolic stress, fat-loss, and of course, post activation potentiation techniques to generate every drop of performance out of your big movements. You ready?

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is an internationally recognized coach, physical therapist, speaker, and writer, whose published over 200 articles in some of the most widely regarded media outlets in the industry like Men’s Fitness, Testosterone Nation, Mountain Dog Diet, Bodybuilding.com, and Muscle and Strength, to name a few.

Along with an impressive laundry list of publications, Dr. John works with some of the world’s most elite athletes, including Gold Medalist Olympians, NFL All-Pro Quarterbacks, MLB All-Star Pitchers, Professional Bodybuilders and World Class IronMan Triathletes.

He takes pride in offering uniquely customized programming to clients of all walks of life in the exact same detail and passion as the Pros! Dr. John’s 12-Week Functional Hypertrophy Training Program is now available to you.

RELATED ARTICLE: Lower Body Finisher Superset For Hypertrophy

The post Pain Free Shoulder Finisher Giant Set appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

This week I am stoked to have coach Eric Bach featured on JRx with his latest work focusing on power development and programming. Eric is my go to expert in the field of athletic performance and training, so I am excited that you will all have the chance to learn from him directly!

It’s no secret that the Olympic Lifts are absent from the majority of my programming, including my popular Functional Hypertrophy Training and newly launched Muscle Prescription. But that doesn’t mean that I and other coaches who don’t prioritize the O-lifts discount power development! It’s actually quite the contrary.

Olympic lifts are just one way to generate power through training, and Eric is here to talk about all the rest of the best training methods that will have you honing your athleticism and power without the bumper plates, while still staying jacked and functional in the process. You ready? Here we go!

Power Training Minus The Olympic Lifts?

5:00 pm.

Finally, it’s time to train.

You’re at your new gym, going through your dynamic warm-up, then starting with a 1-2 light sets of high pulls and cleans. Your first set goes without a hitch—powerful hip extension, scoop, catch, squat, and repeat.

Then, you feel it: The staring eyes of disapproval, cutting through you like a hot knife.

Not five seconds later, you turn and see the manager strutting over, clipboard in hand, ready to lay down the law.

“ I’m sorry, but we don’t allow Olympic lifts in here.”

You swallow your pride, nod in somber approval, and un-rack your weights. Where do you go from here? Without performing Olympic lifts, you routine is completely thrown out of whack.

We’re In a Sad State

In the last few years,  CrossFit has done much to mainstream  the Olympic lifts. And former college athletes have always wanted to continue Oly lifttng after their playing days are over.  But many commercial gyms  continue to push back. Many still prohibit Olympic lifts.

What to do? The obvious strategy would be to switch facilities. But tracking down an Oly friendly gym can be a pain.

Check Out Dr. John Rusin’s Conversation with Eric Bach on Strength Doc Podcast!

Building explosiveness and power is important, even vital to your long-term progress in training. Benefits range from improved muscle fiber recruitment to developing better syncronization and timing of movement patterns. I’d venture to say everyone physically able to do so will benefit from adding explosive movement into their training.

Reap the Benefits Olympic Lifts Without a Full Set of Bumpers

In this article, I’ll show you the best non-Olympic lifting, power building methods. Couple the convenience of these exercises with an accelerated learning curve, and these might just become mainstays in your high-performance training program.

Why Power Is So Damn Important

Power is your ability to generate strength fast.  Improving your power improves your ability to use the strength you’ve already built.

In the short term, training for power activates high-threshold motor units to fire on all cylinders and recruit more muscle during your training. This results in  more efficient training sessions for greater gains in strength, muscle, and performance.

In the long-term, you’ll improve neuromuscular efficiency through improved intermuscular and intramuscular coordination.

Intermuscular coordination is the coordinated firing of a movement, or muscles in your body to produce a movement. Think of a movement like sprinting, squatting, or jumping—they’re all predicated on a form of explosive hip extension.

By training the same movement pattern in a couple of ways (explosive, heavy) you’re improving the coordination between the muscles used to produce movement. Better intermuscular coordination results in better movement quality.

Intramuscular coordination, the coordination of individual fibers in your muscles, is composed of three factors:

Rate Coding: Firing rate, the ability to generate force faster.

Recruitment: Greater muscle unit recruitment means you’ll recruit more muscle fibers to produce movement.

Synchronization: Improving synchronization of muscle units improves fluidity, and helps motor units fire together.

Over time, improved intramuscular coordination improves the ability of each individual muscle to recruit more muscle fires to contract faster, together. Coupled with improved intermuscular coordination, you’ll be prepared smash heavier weights, generate strength faster in sports, and improve your athleticism.

Discovering How to Generate Power

The force-velocity curve provides a visual sample of the performance-training continuum. Basically, it shows you that rep speed and power output fluctuates based on exercise speed and intensity in the form of resistance.

These could include:

• Propelling your body through space, like sprinting down the field or jumping out from behind a corner to scare your co-workers.

Throwing a ball

• Engaging in a dinner table fight for the last piece of steak (Guilty as charged).

• Applying force against a large resistance, such as blocking an opponent or hoisting a heavy squat

The graph above shows  an inverse relationship between load and velocity. The heavier the weight, the slower the velocity. On the flip side: the lighter the resistance, the faster the velocity.

These qualities make up opposite sides of the spectrum, with speed-strength, strength-speed, and power making up the middle of the curve.

Taken a Step Further… Power is a Parabolic Relationship.

This means that while power is maximized in the middle, high resistance, low speed exercises like a heavy squat and  explosive, low resistance exercises like a squat jump have lower power outputs.

Can’t I Just Get Stronger?

A base of max strength is imperative to developing power. Unfortunately, most lifters and coaches chase strength, to the exclusion of all else.  They neglect lighter, more explosive movement completely.

Maximum strength is important. But , it’s not the whole story. If you’ve been training for a few years, you should have enough maximum strength.  You will benefit from explosive, lighter exercises to bridge the strength-speed gap.

Non-Olympic Methods to Improving Power

#1 Dynamic Effort Compound Lifts

This method is based on Russian texts and the works of Vladimir Zatsiorsky and popularized by Louis Simmons of Westside Barbell club. The theory is based on lifting submaximal loads with maximum explosive intent. Basically, it’s lifting lighter loads as fast as possible.

DE training uses loads of 40-65% 1-RM lifted with maximum explosive intent—sweet spot for power development in most literature.

This has two huge benefits:

1. Compound lifts like the squat and deadlift are less complex than the Olympic lifts, and aren’t as prone to technical breakdown.
2. Compound likes the squat and deadlift are easier to learn, making them a viable substitute if you don have time to refine your Olympic lifting technique.

So, rather than Olympic lifting variations, load up squats, deadlifts, and presses with lighter loads and lift with maximum explosive intent. You can generate high power outputs to improve explosive power.

#2 Lift Weights with Maximum Concentric Speed

When training for power, maximum explosive intent is everything.

Read that again:.

When training for power, maximum explosive intent is everything.

Lifting with maximum concentric speed is absolutely paramount to getting more explosive and power. Beyond better muscle fiber recruitment, mentally honing in on each rep improves focus and often, technique during your lifts.

Make it your focus to lift each rep like it’s your max, without sacrificing technique or eccentric control.

#3 Lightly Loaded Jumps, and Throws

Explosive Speed and Speed-Strength work is further down on the force velocity curve and uses light resistance movements with maximum speed.

The best examples of speed-strength and explosive speed exercises are lightly loaded exercises like medicine ball throws or dumbbell squat jumps.

Dumbbell Squat Jump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHBld87hV5E

Coaching Notes: In the case of the dumbbell squat jump, use lightly loaded dumbbells (<10% bodyweight) and perform a squat jump. Start tall with the feet shoulder width apart. Then, holding the dumbbells at your sides, drop your hips into a quarter/half squat position. Rapidly reverse the motion, jumping and fully extending through the hip, knee and ankle. Land flatfooted with your head and chest up, in a squat position. Try 2-3 sets of 3-5 reps after your dynamic warm-up, best on lower body days.

Overhead Slam

https://youtu.be/YeguWbNhLfg

Coaching Notes: The overhead slam is an explosive throwing movement to build a trunk resilient to explosive forces in sport and potentiating the nervous system during training. Use a non-bouncy ball unless you want new dental work, and perform three sets of three to five reps with 60 seconds rest between sets.

Broad Jumps

Coaching Notes: Broad jumps are a great exercise for developing lower body power and athleticism. Load up with the feet shoulder width apart. Then, simultaneously swing the arms down while dropping the hips. Rapidly swing the arms forward and jump up and out, landing in an athletic position. Do three sets of 3-5 reps with 90 seconds rest between sets.

Bodyweight Squat Jump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na1zGJvnXYQ

Coaching Notes: Start tall with the feet shoulder width apart. Then, swing the arms down while dropping the hips into a quarter/half squat position.

Swing the arms forward and overhead, jumping and extending through the hip, knee, ankle, trunk, and shoulder. Land flat-footed with your head and chest up, in a squat position.

Sprinting

Coaching Notes: Like lifting, sprinting requires high impact muscular contractions that potentiate the nervous system for better neural recruitment and stimulate the release of anabolic hormones. Like all power exercises, full recovery is important for maximum gains in performance.

Use the following recommendations as a starting point.

Treadmill: 5 x6-10 seconds on moderate speed with an incline, 50-second/full recovery.

On ground: 5×10-30 yards, 90+ seconds recovery. Limit top-end speed to 85-90 percent of top speed to limit injuries until work capacity and technique improve.

Wrap Up

All exercises and techniques are a tool—the Olympic lifts included.

The reason a tool works, powerful hip extension and intermuscular/intramuscular coordination, in this case, is the real goal.

Move explosively, lift lighter and faster, and always use maximum explosive

intent to improve your physique and your performance.

Power Up Your Training Today

Looking to Amplify Your Power and build a true high-powered, athletic body? Then the Power Primer 2.0 is calling your name.

Using the Power Primer 2.0 methods I touched on  this article and discuss further in Power Primer 2.0.   you’ll be equipped  three  12-week Programs to:

• Increase training frequency and nervous system efficiency for strength.
• Build more muscle due to greater training frequency and muscle fiber recruitment
• Improve your athleticism functional ability for the long-term haul
• Improve performance and maximize muscle retention while shredding body fat.

And for this week only, you can get all 3 training programs, my diet customization guide, and exclusive exercise library video guide at 50% off. You’ll get 36 weeks of training, your customizable diet guide, and video training guide for less than a jug of your favorite protein powder! It’s time to build the total package.

Check out more about my Power Primer 2.0 and revolutionize your training – click on image below!

About The Author

I’m Eric Bach, a Denver based strength coach and fitness author who owns and operates Bach Performance. I’m a passionate ex-athlete turned performance coach to athletes, ex-athletes, and busy professionals everywhere. I’ve had roles ranging from collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coach, to helping high school athletes get full athletic scholarships, and training athletes for the NFL Combine and Pro Days. Through my writing on performance and body composition training I’ve been featured in numerous publications from CNN, Huffington Post, T-Nation, thePTDC, and bodybuilding.com to the American Council on Exercise and published research. I have my Bachelors of Science degree, emphasizing in sports performance training, am a certified Strength and Conditioning Coach with the NSCA (CSCS). I am also a Precision Nutrition Certified Coach. I combine my experiences as an athlete and coach to provide you with the most well-rounded information to improve your performance, your body, and your life. Check out my latest program, The Power Primer 2.0 !

The post Improving Power Without the Olympic Lifts appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. Even some of the fittest women struggle to increase their pull up strength enough to string a few reps together and get a training effect. But the problem isn’t the way they train the pull-up, it’s the way they train everything else.

2. When it comes to a lack of pull-up strength, there are many common faults, but when it comes down to it, the entire body including the anterior core, lower body, upper body and shoulders all need to be involved and trained to improve the pull-up.

3. Just doing band assisted pull-ups or the cheater machine will not help you progress to real pull-ups, ladies. And no, kipping like a CrossFitter doesn’t constitute a “real” pull-up.

4. Here’s how to implement a complete full body remediation of strength, stability and performance for the pull up that will have you repping out on the bar while reaping the benefits of getting functionally jacked in the process.

Introduction

The pull-up is one of the most superior exercises you can do for your upper body. This versatile bodyweight exercise will help you develop a statuesque and defined upper body, and will improve your ability to burn body fat. In terms of performance, it will dramatically improve your strength and ability to perform all exercises in the gym, and will enhance your overall athleticism and sports specific abilities. Best of all, the pull-up is extremely convenient as it requires very little equipment, so you can perform this great exercise at the gym, in the convenience of your home, and even outdoors.

Unfortunately, many people, particularly females, struggle to perform pull-ups. The good news is that the issue does not stem from the fact that the exercise is too advanced, the problem is how you are training for it. I don’t hesitate to say that if you follow a fundamentally sound training program, and if you are healthy, you should be able to perform at least a few proper pull-ups, if not many more.

In this article, I will describe some of the common problems that prevent people from being able to perform pull-ups, I will talk about how to address and correct these problems, and I will list some more advanced progressions of pull-ups.

Muscles That Pull-Ups Target

The pull-up is such a bang for your buck exercise as it targets many different muscle groups. While the latissimus dorsi, the largest and most powerful muscle of the back is the primary muscle that is targeted, the pull-up also works the trapezius, rhomboid, deltoid, biceps, triceps, serratus, and core muscles. In other words, it essentially hits the majority of muscles in the upper body and core.

How To Execute The Perfect Pull-Up

When it comes to executing a sound technical pull-up, there are many moving parts to this compound movement. Lets break these aspects of the pull-up down one by one:

Step 1: Grip

Either opt for a grip where your hands are approximately shoulder width apart and are facing away from you (pronated grip), or use a narrower neutral grip where your palms are facing one another.

Step 2: Breathing & Core

Before you initiate the pull, take a deep breath in (360° of air around your spine), brace your core, gently tuck your ribs towards the pelvis so your body is in a slight hollow body position, and squeeze your glutes. This will provide the much needed stability around your spine and pelvis so you will generate significantly more strength with your upper body, and it will make the exercise feel significantly easier. I will exhale as my chin approaches the bar, and will inhale as I begin to descend. Right before I return to the starting position, I will re-engage my core/glutes so I am ready to initiate the next pull.

Step 3: Path

Your body should travel in a straight line to the bar. This will create the shortest possible distance between your body and the bar, minimizing the use of compensation and provocative positions at the shoulders for pain and injury. Just think of this as the polar opposite of a “kipping” pull up that has a curved path up and down from the bar.

Step 4: Ascending (Concentric) Portion

Pack your shoulders, and initiate the pull-up by depressing and retracting your shoulder blades. Keep your elbows at approximately a 45• position (similar to an overhead press) and do not allow them to flare. Pull yourself up by leading with your chest and pulling your elbows down to the floor. Make sure that your chin passes the bar, but do not strain your neck and reach with your chin. Keep your head and neck in a neutral position the entire time.

Step 5: Descending (Eccentric) Portion

Lower yourself down until your arms are fully extended. Skimping out on range will shortchange your results, and partial range reps do not count! It is extremely important that you lower yourself down with control and do not fall or drop into the starting position, and you want to keep your shoulders stable by making sure that they remain packed. Failing to do so will make your shoulders and elbows susceptible to injury.

Step 6: Alignment

It is very important that you maintain proper alignment the entire time. Keep your head, neck, and lower back in a neutral position. Keep your ribs down and do not allow them to flare, and do not allow your pelvis or torso to rotate. Your body should be in a straight line from your head to knees (or feet if you keep your legs extended).

Step 7: Legs

You can either bend your knees, or keep your legs straight. It is important that you engage your glutes and muscles in your legs as a rigid body will be much easier to pull up than a body that is limp and unstable.

10 Key Issues That Prevent People From Performing Sound Pull-Ups

Now that we know what a properly executed pull-up should look and feel like, lets review a few common mistakes and pitfalls I see in people who struggle with this movement:

#1 Inability To Keep The Body From Swinging

Ideally, when you perform a pull-up, your body should travel in a straight path to the bar. Just like the bar path during a deadlift, the shorter the distance you have to move your body, the easier the exercise will be to perform. When many people perform the pull-up, because they think the exercise is purely for the arms, they do not engage their scapular stabilizers, core, or glutes, and this causes their body to swing forward and ahead of the bar. Now instead of having to pull the body in a shorter vertical line, they have to pull their body in both a horizontal and then vertical plane, which will essentially double the amount of work. End result is compromised results.

#2 Not Using Full Range of Motion

Skimping on your range and not fully extending your arms will cheat you out of being able to perform proper pull-ups. Unless you fully extend your arms, the rep is no good…period!!

#3 Using Momentum aka Kipping

While CrossFit encourages momentum as it allows you to perform more reps, a proper pull-up starts from a dead hang position. While kipping definitely makes the pull-up easier (and in my opinion it is actually just cheating) it places the shoulders and other joints under significantly more stress. If you are ever going to perform kipping pull-ups, make sure that you are able to perform proper (strict) pull-ups first and have developed the requisite levels of strength, stability and mobility as this will reduce your risk of injuring yourself. Unless you do CrossFit, skip the kipping, and stick to dead hang pull-ups.

#4 Weak Large Muscle Groups In The Upper Body

While this is fairly straightforward, if your upper body is weak, it will be next to impossible to pull your body in a vertical plane. Women seem more vulnerable to suffering from upper body weakness, in part because many fixate on training their legs and neglect the ever important musculature in the upper body.

#5 Inability To Control The Shoulder Blades

The scapula stabilizers are a crucial link between the arms and the rest of the body. The scapula stabilizers provide the scapula with stability and mobility as it moves synchronously with the arm, and prevents the scapulae from winging out. Many people, including those who are extremely strong, suffer from weak scapula stabilizers. This will absolutely limit their ability to perform pull-ups safely and effectively.

#6 Disengaging During the Eccentric Phase or Bottom of Movement

When many people perform pull-ups, rather than lowering themselves down in a controlled manner, they allow their bodies to violently drop. While this is obviously detrimental to the health of the body, it will also impede their results as it essentially eliminates the eccentric component of the exercise. In order to perform this exercise safely and effectively, the muscles of the mid to upper back, including the scapula stabilizers, and shoulders, need to remain engaged at all times so the shoulders remain pinned. A common sign that someone has disengaged their muscles (usually in their back) is that their neck will disappear into their body.

#7 Under-Engaging The Back and Overusing The Arms

When many people perform pull-ups, they initiate the movement by pulling with their arms, rather than depressing and retracting their shoulder blades. This will decrease their ability to perform the exercise to their full potential, and it will make them susceptible to chronic biceps and forearm tightness, and potentially strains.

#8 Weak Core and Glutes

The core and glutes are what links the upper and lower body, and a stable core/glutes allow you to generate the power that is needed to perform pull-ups. Many people struggle to perform pull-ups, not because their upper body is weak, but because their core/glutes do not provide their body with the stability it needs to execute the movement properly. Imagine trying to pull a 125-225 lb floppy sand bag. Having weak core muscles and glutes turns your body into just that!

#9 Reliance On The Assisted Pull-up Machine or Band Assisted Pull-ups

If you have set the goal of being able to perform pull-ups, stop using the assisted pull-up machine and performing band assisted pull-ups. I’ve watched numerous people slave away on this overrated machine, or use bands, and years later, they’re still not able to do single pull-up. This is not necessarily a reflection of their fitness level, but rather an example of ineffective training methods. With the assisted pull-up machine, zero core stability and glute strength is required, it provides too much assistance, and you are never truly forced to support your body in a dead hang position.

As for band assisted pull-ups, while you are required to use your core and glutes to some extent, and while I would opt for these over the assisted pull-up machine, the band provides assistance at all the wrong times. It provides a huge boost at the bottom of the movement and this is when you need to be able to pull yourself up from a dead stop. The end result is that you will not improve your strength from this position, and will never be able to perform a pull-up without assistance.

If you have no aspiration to perform unassisted pull-ups, both options are fine, and from a physique standpoint, they can be used to add additional volume into a solid training program that already contains unassisted pull-ups, but they offer very little in terms of helping you progress to being able to do proper pull-ups. I do not include them in my training program, and rarely use them when I am training others.

Avoiding performing bodyweight ‘’pulling’’ exercises and spending the bulk of your time on machines – When it comes to being able to do pull-ups, being able to lift a lot of weight on a machine will offer little benefit. This also applies to exercises with free-weights. While many exercises with free-weights and some machine based exercises can be very beneficial to you strength-wise and aesthetically, they will do little good when it comes to enhancing your ability to pull your bodyweight in a vertical plane.

#10 Carrying Excess Body Fat

Pull-ups are already challenging enough for most people to perform. Now imagine performing them with an extra 5-100+ lbs of weight strapped to your body. Guess what, carrying excess body fat is no different. The less body fat you have, the easier it will be to perform pull-ups. This is especially true for females as many tend to carry their excess body fat in their hips and legs.

How To Progress Your Pull-Ups

Now that we have the common mistakes covered, lets go through some detailed coaching progressions so you can transform your pull-ups from flawed to fabulous!

When it comes to all of the exercises below, the key points for stabilizing the body and maintaining proper alignment apply (breathing, bracing, glutes) so I won’t repeat myself.

Phase 1: 4-8 weeks

To acquire the ability to perform pull-ups, start out performing various isometric holds, and pulling your bodyweight, but with some modifications. During this phase, you will also work on improving your grip strength, strengthening your scapula stabilizers, core, and glutes.

Basic Hangs

https://youtu.be/IpOYAcSCDYc

Many people are not able to support their bodyweight in a hanging position. Until you’re able to acquire this basic skill, you will not be able to perform any variation of a pull-up.

Coaching Notes:

Set your grip so your hands are pronated and approximately shoulder width apart. Depress and retract your shoulder blades, pin your shoulders, engage the muscles in your core/glutes, and hang. Once you are able to hang for 30 to 60 seconds, you can make this more challenging by hanging two sturdy towels on the bar and performing hangs while holding on to these, or you can perform basic hangs using extra weight as resistance.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3-5 reps of 30-60 second holds and perform these 3-5 days per week

Concentric Hangs

https://youtu.be/4lv0vtY9S4U

This exercise will help improve your arm strength, grip strength, and core stability.

Coaching Notes:

If you are able to do an unassisted pull-up, pull yourself to the top position so your chin is above the bar. If you are not able to, you can jump up, or stand on a chair or the safety racks so your chin is above the bar. Grab on to the bar,depress and retract your scapula, pin your shoulders, and engage the muscles in your core/glutes, and hold your body so it is in the top position of the pull-up.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3-5 sets of 10-60 second holds and perform these 3-5 days per week.

Inverted Pull-Ups On Fixed Bar, TRX, or Rings

https://youtu.be/y1WgPzicm40

Coaching Notes:

You can perform modified/inverted pull-ups on a fixed barbell, a TRX, or rings. Focus on depressing and retracting your shoulder blades, pinning your shoulders, and engaging the core/glutes. As you become more proficient, you can progress by lowering the bar so you are pulling more of your body weight, and if you are on the TRX/rings, you can move your feet forward so your body is more parallel to the ground. Eventually, you can prop your feet up on a bench so you’re performing decline modified pull-ups or chin-ups. This will help you make the transition to regular pull-ups as you are using similar muscle groups, are performing similar movements, and have to maintain proper alignment.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 8-12 reps perform these 3-5 days per week.

Wall Slides with Foam Roller and Band

https://youtu.be/999uVxrCmRE

Coaching Notes:

Stand approximately 3-6 inches away from a wall and place the foam roller so it is chest height. Place a resistance band around both arms so it is just below your hands. Keep your forearms parallel the entire time, maintain tension in the band, keep your shoulder blades depressed and retracted, and slide your arms up the wall as high as possible without shrugging your shoulders as this will cause the upper traps to take over, and return to the starting position. When the scapula stabilizers and serratus disengage, it’s common for the elbows to flare out. It’s easy to disengage the anterior core when the arms are lifting. This will cause your ribs to flare, and lower back to hyperextend. Keep your arms and shoulders as ”soft” as possible. This exercise is not for the biceps, triceps, or delts. As you get stronger, your range of motion should increase.

This exercise is so much tougher than it looks! It will absolutely help improve your posture, and will have a positive carryover to many other exercises. You can make this exercise more challenging by using a thicker resistance band.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 10-15 reps and perform these 3-5 days per week.

Hollow Body Holds

https://youtu.be/iDx4GC07be4

Coaching Notes:

This extremely effective core stability exercise reinforces the rib tuck that is required to perform the pull-up. Start by extending your legs straight up in the air, then gently tucking your ribs towards the hips. While maintaining this hollow body position, simultaneously reach back with your arms, and slowly drop your legs toward the floor and hold. Your back should NOT arch, yet should not be forcefully pressed into the ground. Your arms and legs should be relaxed so the anterior core is doing all of the work. You should NOT feel your legs or low back, just the anterior core.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 15-30 second holds and perform these 3 days per week. You can make this more challenging by dropping your legs closer to the floor, and/or holding a weight in your hands as this makes the rib tuck even more challenging.

Glute Bridges or Hip Thrusts

https://youtu.be/ZYAsI4D7yDc

Coaching Notes:

Lie on your back, bend your knees, and set your shins so they are vertical. Squeeze your glutes and pick your hips off the floor. Pause at the top, return to the starting position and repeat. Make sure that you pick up your hips by squeezing your glutes and not by hyperextending your spine. You can make this exercise more challenging by placing a resistance band above your knees, and/or using a barbell for extra resistance.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets to burnout and perform these 3 days per week.

Phase 2: 4-8 weeks

Once you have spent some time working on being able to support your body weight, and pulling your bodyweight in a diagonal plane, you can focus on the eccentric (lowering) and concentric (lifting) component.

Eccentric/Negative Pull-Ups

https://youtu.be/b6P8VaeeCyM

Coaching Notes:

Either jump up (or pull yourself up if you are able to), and slowly lower yourself down in 3-10 seconds.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 5-10 reps and perform these 3 days per week. If you are able to perform unassisted pull-ups, do as many as you can, and once your form fails, do the rest with just the eccentric component.

Concentric Pull-Ups

https://youtu.be/-C-TpNh0qmM

Coaching Notes:

If you are not able to perform unassisted pull-ups, jump up and pull yourself the rest of the way up. Lower yourself down using regular speed, or even negative speed.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 8-12 reps and perform these 3 days per week. If you are able to perform unassisted pull-ups, do as many as you can, and once your form fails, do the rest with just the concentric component.

Scapular Pull-Ups

https://youtu.be/pt21ZafVn_E

This variation of pull-up strengthens the ever important yet often neglected scapular stabilizer muscles, the muscles that are supposed to initiate the movement of the pull-up. It also helps develop grip strength.

Coaching Notes:

Set your grip so it is approximately shoulder width apart, and use a pronated grip. Keep your elbows fully extended (important that they aren’t hyperextended). Without bending your elbows, perform a reverse shrugging movement by depressing and retracting your shoulder blades, and lift your body a few inches. Pause for a second at the top position, and lower yourself in a controlled manner to the starting position where you will reset and repeat.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 8-15 reps and perform these 3 days per week.

Ab Wheel Rollouts

https://youtu.be/z-hlx5tMtmU

Coaching Notes:

When most people perform this exercise, they allow their back to hyperextend and allow their body to go into a severe anterior pelvic tilt. The body should remain in a slight hollow body position the entire time, and this is accomplished by bracing the core, tucking the ribs, and squeezing the glutes. Reset before each rep.

The most basic form of the ab wheel rollout is from the knees, and you can make it more advanced by performing the exercise from the feet.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 8-15 reps and perform these 2-3 days per week.

Single Leg Deficit Hip Thrusts

https://youtu.be/5XPKWUure2Y

Coaching Notes:

Set yourself up so your mid-upper back/rear delts are on one bench or box, and your foot is on another bench or box. Make sure that the boxes are close enough so your knee is kept at approximately a 90° angle. Drop your hips down as low as you can, drive through the back of the foot that is on the forward step, squeeze your glutes, and pick your hips up so your body is level. Hold for a count at the top of the lift, reset, and repeat. Make sure that you engage the glute of the nonworking leg as well. Failing to do so will allow your nonworking hip to drop faster, and will cause your pelvis to rotate. Once you are comfortable performing this, you can add weight.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 8-12 reps per side and perform these 2-3 days per week.

Phase 3: 8-16 weeks

Now that you have acquired the requisite skills, it’s time to perfect your ability to perform unassisted dead hang pull-ups. And yes, we’ll start to implement them right into training as stand alone exercises and sprinkled into some novel sets as well.

The video below is a pull-up and push-ups conditioning superset that I performed.

Pull-Up

https://youtu.be/Nm47kxpEDwI

Coaching Notes:

See description above that talks about how to execute the perfect pull-up.

Exercise Prescription:

Build up to doing 3-5 sets of 8-12+ reps, and perform these 3 days per week. Obviously when you’re starting out, you will not be able to perform this number of reps in a row. Aim to add an additional rep per set every 1-2 weeks. Perform as many reps as you can, and when your form fails, do the remaining reps while just focussing on either the concentric and/or eccentric component, or inverted pull-ups. Eventually, the goal is that you will be able to perform the full number of reps unbroken. You can do regular pull-ups the entire time, or you can use a neutral grip.

Phase 4: Pull-Up Progressions

Now that you have mastered the ability to perform the pull-up, here are some more advanced variations that you can do:

Towel Pull-Ups

https://youtu.be/AyuPbjAKpYE

Coaching Notes:

This type of pull-up will really test and develop your grip strength. You can either hang two sturdy towels over the pull-up bar and perform regular grip pull-ups, or you can use one towel and perform neutral grip pull-ups. Because the towels are somewhat unstable, you will need to engage your core, glutes, and scapular stabilizers even more than during regular pull-ups.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 8-15+ reps and perform these 1-2 days per week.

Narrow Grip Pull-Ups

https://youtu.be/9LVJoOrEPAI

This type of pull-up will really develop your grip and forearm strength.

Coaching Notes:

Set yourself up as you would during a regular pull up, but position your hands so they are completely together.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 8-15+ reps and perform these 1 day per week.

Weighted Pull-Ups

https://youtu.be/cvd1LmrizFU

Do not perform this type of pull-up unless you are able to perform at least 10 regular pull-ups in a row. Many people attempt to do weighted pull-ups to boost their ego, but lack the strength and stability to perform the exercise safely and effectively.

Coaching Notes:

While you can hold the weight between your knees or feet, I prefer to use a weight belt, and anchor the weight plate to a chain. In my video, I am holding the dumbbell between my feet, only because I didn’t have access to a belt that fit. When the weight is held between the feet, it demands significantly more core strength.

Due to the additional weight, when many people perform this type of pull-up, it is very common to observe a severely hyperextended spine. In order to perform this pull-up safely and effectively, it’s absolutely crucial that you brace your core, keep your ribs from flaring, and squeeze your glutes as this will provide your pelvis and spine with the stability that it needs to perform the exercise safely and effectively.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 6-10+ reps and perform these 1 day per week.

Single Arm Pull-Ups

https://youtu.be/wNlYw5GZfpQ

While this type of pull-up is very flashy, it demands a tremendous amount of upper body and core strength, and stability.

Coaching Notes:

Use a neutral grip and grab the bar with one hand. Hold on to your wrist with the opposite hand. This will give you a small amount of assistance, and will stabilize your arm. Perform the pull-up the same way you would with two arms. Because you are only holding on with one hand, you will need to engage your core, glutes, and stabilizer muscles in your upper body that much more or else you will find that your body will swing from side to side.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 6-10+ reps per arm and perform these 1 day per week.

Advanced Calisthenics Climbing Pull-Up

https://youtu.be/VAetyPRK4dk

This is my favourite pull up to perform, and is a great example of an advance callisthenics exercise. While it is flashy, it demands a tremendous amount of upper body and core strength and stability.

Coaching Notes:

While you can use a regular grip, I prefer to use a neutral grip. Initiate the pull with your one arm and the muscles on that side of your upper body, and simultaneously drive up with the leg on the same size. Now repeat with the arm and muscles on your other side of your upper body, and drive up with your opposite leg. Repeat until your chest reaches the level of the bar. Once you are at the top, engage the muscles in your back, arms, and brace your core, now pull yourself back and forth laterally, while performing a jogging motion with your legs. Once you’ve performed between 5 to 10 reps in each direction, return to the bottom position by performing the opposite movement as you did on the way up. The descent really focusses on the eccentric component. Throughout the entire rep, it’s absolutely crucial that you keep your core muscles engaged and rib cage down. Aim to look as graceful as possible.

Exercise Prescription:

Do 3 sets of 1-5 reps (10 lateral movements per side) and perform this 1-2 days per week.

Bonus Exercises…!

If that wasn’t enough, here are some ultra novel progressions for all your pull-up fanatics.

Pull-Up/Skin The Cat Combo On The Rings

This gymnastics exercise is fun to perform, and is extremely effective. It also tests the mobility, stability and strength of the shoulders.

https://youtu.be/VIr293r-EOY

Coaching Notes: Refer to video tutorial above.

Exercise Prescription:  Do 3 sets of 4-10+ reps and perform these every 1-2 weeks.

Pull-Up To Pullover Combo

This gymnastics exercise is fun to perform, and is extremely effective. It also targets the triceps.

https://youtu.be/nK7_0BGAyrU

Coaching Notes: Refer to video above

Exercise Prescription: Do 3 sets of 4-10+ reps and perform these every 1-2 weeks.

Legless Rope Climbs

These three rope climb variations will dramatically improve your upper body and grip strength.

https://youtu.be/cb9_Y2-ktmY

https://youtu.be/UOcfNnc2X5M

https://youtu.be/IprXw1hFR1w

Coaching Notes:

Make sure that you keep your core and glutes engaged the entire time as a rigid body will be much easier to pull.

Exercise Prescription:

Pick one of the variations, and do 1 set of 1 reps and perform these every week.

Final Thoughts On The Pull-Up

Now that I have systematically provided you with what it takes to being able to perform the pull-up, it’s time to get the ball rolling. Stop doubting your abilities as you are more than capable of performing this extremely beneficial and empowering exercise. Master the pull-up and its many variations, and you will take your upper body strength, athleticism, and aesthetics to another level.

About The Author

Meghan Callaway is a prominent personal trainer in Western Canada with over 12 years of training experience coaching in the trenches.  Growing up as a multi-sport athlete competing in soccer, ice hockey and baseball, Meghan took her athletic prowess to the University of British Columbia and completed her degree in Human Kinetics.

Meghan currently works with an impressively wide array of clients, ranging from the elite athlete to post-physical therapy rehabilitation and strength training and many average fitness client looking to feel and function better everywhere between.  She teaches and coaches every one of her clients with the goal of helping them perform, feel and look their very best by laying down a properly aligned foundation for every client.

With a unquenchable thirst for learning about the human body and movement, Meghan spends her time broadening her knowledge base as a trainer and coach, and truly practices what she preaches in her own fitness and life.

Learn more about Meghan on her:  Website     Facebook      Instagram    Twitter     YouTube

The post The Complete Female Pull-Up Makeover appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

Here’s What You Need To Know…

1. The kneeling push up is NOT a safe and effective way to train the push up, period. By using this variation, you’ll not only make little to no progress in upper body strength, but may even get hurt in the process.

2. The kneeling push up alters the tension and connection of the full body kinetic chain, placing brutal stresses through the lower back, pelvis and anterior shoulders, and predisposing pain and injury in the process.

3. Faking a push up is one thing with poor spinal alignment, but continuing to place your body into injurious positions for the sake of adding reps to your totals is not an acceptable way to progress strength and functionality.

4. The quick fix to bulletproofing your body and making notable progress in strength, body composition and functionality, is by intelligently using and progressing the hand elevated push up. This variation will yield results, without dealing with the aches, pains and poor positions associated with the kneeling push up.

Time To Stop The Kneeling Push Up, Ladies!

The push up is one of the most important foundational movement patterns known to man, but many women, and truthfully men as well, struggle to progress and perfect this traditional exercise. You’ll be hard pressed to walk into any commercial gym or CrossFit box and not see the push up being absolutely butchered to the point of orthopedic concern.

When it comes to training and perfecting this horizontal push pattern, the addition of more and more poorly executed reps with shitty spinal and pelvic positions seem to take president over quality movement patterns that involve the tension and recruitment of muscles, movement chains and anatomical segments throughout the entire body.

While cheating push ups are ineffective at best, and injurious at worst, there’s also another side to this dysfunctional push up story that doesn’t involve being a ego driven meathead. For women that struggle to even compensate their way through a single traditional push up on level ground, the most common popular “regression” tends to be dropping down on the knees and starting to crank out kneeling push ups to make the exercise easier, while having the ability to string a higher number of reps together. Ladies, I commend you on the use of regressions if a limitation is obviously identified, but lets be clear… There are intelligent regressions and poorly thought out regressions. Sadly, the kneeling push up may be just as counterproductive as the ‘hump the floor’ push up you are trying to avoid.

Get Off Your Knees… And Push Up Properly!

The examples above of poorly executed traditional push ups and kneeling push ups are simply not an acceptable way to strengthen the push up pattern, and may even lead to pain and injuries to the spine, hips and shoulders down the road. When it comes to perfecting the push up, an emphasis must first be placed on proper full body alignment and tension through the pillar (hips/core/shoulders), then progressed from a dynamic standpoint with the pushing movement. That is, if you want to stay healthy and actually get stronger via your training instead of setting yourself up for a long and tedious bout of traditional physical therapy.

Here’s why we need to start ditching those ugly kneeling push ups and implementing the hands elevated push up instead in order to build foundational movement patterns at the hips, core and shoulders that transfer into strength, power and function, not lower back and shoulder pain.

Check out the video tutorial below that reviews the problem with the kneeling push up, and the correct way to start teaching the foundational hands elevated push up variation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjDA0D-T6IU

What Constitutes Poor Form And Why Is It Such a Big Deal?

Sure, cheating your way through a max set of 25 reps as a finisher, or breaking the century mark in reps on your knees during a Les Mills class, may stroke your ego a bit, but is it really worth it? The quick answer is no, but here are the four most blatantly clear disadvantages to continuing to push up with poor form, instead of biting the functional bullet and strengthening the movement pattern properly over time.

#1 Poor Spinal Alignment & Bracing

Dropping down to the knees may fool you into thinking you are in a better position to put in some sweaty work from, but in actuality you are likely throwing your lumbar spine into a hyperextended position and causing heavy anterior tilting at the pelvis.

While this position is awesome for Instagram booty shots, what this really does is disintegrates the rock solid pillar position that should be a requisite of any plank or push up variation before any movement is added to the setup. By essentially fulcruming at a lower lumbar segment, the pelvis is forced to rotate forward. While this is a rather shitty functional position to be maintaining, it gets worse as you go to press up with your upper body.

As this compensated lower spinal and pelvic position is quite shoddy by itself, the addition of a horizontal pushing force through the hands, arms and shoulders during the kneeling push up forces the thoracic cage to flare up, causing an even greater amount of extension at the lower spine. Making a bad position worse and continuing to crank reps in this range is usually not the best idea if you like walking, or any other normal activity of daily living. This is called the vicious circle of movement dysfunction and impairment, and most of you won’t even realize it’s happening until it’s too late.

#2 Increased Stress on the Anterior Shoulder

As we lose a neutral position at the hips and core, compensation patterns tend to kick in in order to keep the reps coming on cadence with the Justin Bieber song that’s playing during your muscle pump class every Tuesday and Thursday night.

Since the reason for regressing yourself down to a kneeling push up obviously stemmed from the inability to execute a traditional push up, there was obviously something faulty with either your positioning, bracing, or upper body strength in general.

But for most people who cannot execute a single push up, I’ve seen a majority of people’s “strength” get blamed, when in actuality it is poor alignment at the core and hips, and even worse, bracing and tensional capabilities throughout the pillar that does not allow strength to be displayed. This is something that should be evaluated and tested for, especially if pain is present.

Without the ability to utilize the upper body strength that you do have, even a kneeling push up becomes more stressful on the shoulder joints when compared to a properly positioned and braced push up pattern. As overextension happens at the lower back, the compensation usually throws people forward, causing elevation, internal rotation and protraction at the shoulder blade during the push up. Not only is this the polar opposite position one wants to be maintaining during a push up pattern for optimal strength vectors, but also if you want to protect the shoulders from chronic and traumatic injuries.

#3 Poor Functional Carryover to Strength

I’d argue that the single most important “skill” that an athlete, fitness fanatic or living, breathing, human being should be able to display in order to move through life without putting their orthopedic health behind the eight ball, is the ability to create tension through the pillar and brace properly during movements of all kinds.

That’s the reason why spinal, shoulder and pelvic alignment is the first thing that is reviewed with every single client that walks through my door, no matter if they have goals of performance or rehabilitation.

The ability to brace properly using optimal positions through the pillar, and even incorporating a breathing component, will allow people to function freely no matter what the activity. If the positioning and bracing strategy is absent, due to alignment issues at the knees and hips because of being in a kneeling position in a push up, there is little chance that the pillar can synergistically work as a unit to maintain tension and alignment, while also acting as a means of force transference into the extremities.

Poor positioning and bracing carries over and leads to poor strength, hypertrophy, functional and aesthetics goals, plain and simple. So that being said, if you are doing kneeling push ups with the goal of chiseling out your arms, you’re better off doing nothing instead and saving your back and shoulders in the process.

#4 Limited Upper Body Targeted Training Effect

Like I mentioned in the previous point, with no core stability or recruitment of tension, the last thing that is going to be trained is the pressing motion off the floor. As segments lose stability and deviate away from neutral, compensation patterns sneak in and tend to mitigate the force of any movement, taking the force away from the targeted movement at hand.

A simple example of this is, as you push up with flexed hips, knees bent and a hyper lordodic lumbar position, the “horizontal” pressing turns into a pseudo push back instead of being locked into the plane of motion that should directly target the pecs, triceps and other key players. This press back causes shoulder flexion to happen instead of a locked in horizontal press. Think of pressing from a plank position to a downward dog in yoga and you can picture the movement I’m speaking to.

The strength and force curves are simply altered, and leakage of tension and torque through the upper body and shoulders causes less emphasis to be placed on the muscular recruitment requisite of the motion, and more on compensation at the spine, hips and lower body. This is the reason brittle and frail yogis can seemingly press up forever. It’s all compensation.

Here’s another video that looks deeper into the poor positions of lumbar spine, hips, pelvis and shoulders from the kneeling push up compensation patterns below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz9wR5jHK1Y

Strengthen The Movement Pattern with Hands Elevated Push Ups

With so much that can go wrong with the kneeling push up, it’s pretty awesome that so many problems can be avoided by using one simple variation. This variation will yield strength development and bulletproof your back and shoulders, while progressively improving a foundational movement pattern that will translate into other lifts and exercises along with daily life.

Enter the hands elevated push up, the superior “regression” off the traditional level ground push up. By providing all the benefits of the foundational push up pattern that we know and love, we are able to simply shift the force plane and use physics to our advantage to deload this movement.

Take a look at the video tutorial below to master your perfect setup for the hands elevated push up and start making gains without all the pains:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RVWINzBFAU

Progression of The Hands Elevated Push Up

By using the hands elevated push up variation, you will start to see some marked improvement not only in your execution and injury prevention, but also in your strength and aesthetics. It’s quite common for my clients to start off focusing on the hands elevated push up as their key indicator lift for upper body horizontal pushing, and progress the height of the box all the way down to level ground once again like bosses.

It’s important to remember that the push up is indeed a loaded movement, meaning that rep ranges that focus on strength, hypertrophy and muscular endurance are absolutely still pertinent to making notable progress. Just because the push up starts out as a bodyweight movement doesn’t mean we can’t eventually progress it to be loaded. First thing first though, making sure you can knock out bodyweight reps on level ground with pristine form.

Here’s how to perfectly execute the foundational push up movement pattern:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFAzMbsgeow

Once you get yourself back down to hands on the ground, without kneeling of course, here are some rep ranges you want to think about progressing through based on your goals for this pushing movement. Before you start to add external loads with a weighted vest or plate on your back, ensure that you can rock out 10 perfect reps.

At that point, feel free to work into your “strength” set/rep schemes that are practiced between 3-8 repetitions. Hell, even use banded accommodating resistance for overloading the push up pattern like we do in FHT to make some gainz! Make sure that you are damn near failure on the last rep on these to make overloading the movement pattern effective and reproducible.

Once you have your hands back on the ground, remember, there is no shame in elevating the hands back up to hit some higher rep sets in the hypertrophy and muscular endurance set/rep schemes. For instance, if you can only complete 10 good push ups on level ground and want to hit a set of push ups to challenge your muscular endurance, elevating your hands and hitting failure near rep 15 would be perfect!

This just goes to show that yes, we want to focus on hands elevated push ups to eventually progress to the strict off the floor push up, but once you are there, don’t forget what got you there and use the knowledge to your training advantage. Enjoy the gains everyone, this is going to be a game changer for many of you who have been struggling with push ups on your knees for far too long!

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is an internationally recognized coach, physical therapist, speaker, and writer, whose published over 200 articles in some of the most widely regarded media outlets in the industry like Men’s Fitness, Testosterone Nation, Mountain Dog Diet, Bodybuilding.com, and Muscle and Strength, to name a few.

Along with an impressive laundry list of publications, Dr. John works with some of the world’s most elite athletes, including Gold Medalist Olympians, NFL All-Pro Quarterbacks, MLB All-Star Pitchers, Professional Bodybuilders and World Class IronMan Triathletes.

He takes pride in offering uniquely customized programming to clients of all walks of life in the exact same detail and passion as the Pros! Dr. John’s 12-Week Functional Hypertrophy Training Program is now available to you.

The post Dispelling The Dysfunctional Kneeling Push Up appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

The glutes are the functional cornerstone of the human body, and anyone who doesn’t agree should review their movement anatomy and gross human biomechanics. The glutes also happen to be one of the most neglected regions for most lifters who are caught up in the hysteria of overly traditional training. Here’s why using the Pull Through movement as a powerful primer to any lower body training day will not only yield superior performances under the bar, but actually target the glutes in a way that makes them work for you in terms of staying healthy and combating injuries to the hips, knees and lower back.

Are You Training The Glutes Directly?

Simply put, if you are not training the glutes directly your program is NOT complete. Neglecting the most powerful muscular region of the body capable of staggering dynamic strength and static stabilization of the hips, pelvis and lumbar spine is a big no-no. This is especially true if your goal is forging strength that not only looks and performs an an optimal level, but also is resilient enough to keep you healthy through heavy bouts of training.

Forget the fluffy functional training guru’s that will tell you that all you need to develop a strong and sexy set of glutes is squats and deadlifts, and the Instagram “models” that preach endless calisthenics that require maintaining a perfect duck face for hundreds of reps per set. What we need is intelligent loaded isolation work on the glutes that produce results while also enhancing the way you look, feel and function.

My recommendation? Start every single leg day with a primer movement that activates the glutes, hones the hip hinge movement pattern that is a common train wreck for most lifters, spares the spine from constant compression and shear forces while also loading the glutes for strength and hypertrophy. What movement am I talking about that fits all these criteria? The Pull Through, of course!

Building A Basic Base of Booty

If you are new to direct glute training, or just need to revamp your lower body lifting day to have any chance of seeing results, here’s what to do. First, make sure you devote a focused 5-10 minutes into a well organized pre-training dynamic warm up routine like the one I feature in my 6-Phase Dynamic Warm Up Sequence which you can pick up for free right on this site.

From there, move directly into one of the following Pull Through movement variations to target the glutes directly. This “primer” movement placed first in your training day will allow your body more time to acclimate to the training climate, but also clean up any loose ends that your warm up may not have been able to take care of.

We aren’t just doing a few sets here either. The perfect glute primer scheme will consist of multiple ramp up sets followed by some serious volume in terms of working sets. Keep the rep counts relatively high between 8-15 reps to drive local blood flow into the glutes, while also maximizing the pump effect this type of scheme will elicit.

It’s also important to mention that your intent of this glute primer Pull Through movement is to deeply activate the glutes biomechanically, but also working your mind muscle connection to feel the exercise working as well. Move slowly with deliberate tempos with accentuated flexes at the top of each rep and a full range of motion throughout the pattern. By the time you finish up your primer Pull Throughs, you should be greased up, activated and ready to go. Just how we want to go into heavy loaded movements to stay healthy and perform at the top end of our abilities.

Choosing Your Perfect Pull Through Variation

The following three variations of the Pull Through movement are ordered from the most basic to the most advanced. While these movements incorporate different equipment such as bands and cables, it should be reiterated that all Pull Throughs are executed with exactly the same pristine loaded hip hinge movement pattern. Review the videos and coaching notes in detail, and choose the Pull Through variation that fits your needs and equipment perfectly. Time to get to work and build that backside!

Banded Pull Through

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2q4H7xBjxw

The Banded Pull Through is the most foundational variation due to the simplicity relative ease of needing nothing other than a band to execute. That fact is the reason why I have programmed this banded Pull Through variation in my FHT programs with great success in lower body emphasis days.

Coaching Notes

To get started, locate a stable area to secure the band around that is as close to the floor as possible. Loop the band inside your base of choice and step out facing away from the setup. Take an overhand grip on the band with your palms facing down towards the floor and let the band course between your legs.

Now, make sure that your feet as positioned in an athletic power stance that should be similar to your squat stance which is about shoulder width apart and toed out slightly. With a stable spine, drive your butt back into a perfectly braced hip hinge with a slow and controlled eccentric contraction, then drive through and flex your glutes hard for a second at the top of the movement.

Common Technique Problems

While we are utilizing a band for resistance, note that the band provides accommodating resistance. Simply put, there will be less tension through the band as you hinge down, and the most tension through the band at the top lockout portion of the movement. Get as much tension as you possible can by walking out further away from the base of the setup, but ensure you can still flex hard for a second at the top of every rep in the set.

Cable Pull Through

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfL9ZJTpHYc

If you have a cable rack at your training disposal, the next progression off the band pull through is the Cable Pull Through, which allows more even loading through the strength curve while also lets you build your loads more evenly and objectively over time with the pin loaded setup.

Coaching Notes

Using the rope attachment, you will grab each side of the rope with your hands facing each other towards the midline of your body. This setup is slightly different than the banded setup. That being said, everything else from an execution standpoint stays the same. Drive up and flex hard at the top and control a full range of motion through the foundational hip hinge pattern.

Common Technique Problems

While the band controls overloading, the cable will sometimes throw people for a loop as they have trouble controlling the top lockout portion of the movement. This may translate into a loss of balance, or even a lack of full hip extension that is needed to truly activate the glutes properly. Keep in mind that we want to be progressing loads over time on the cable setup, but a little goes a long way. Focus more on your internal tension and tapping into that mind muscle connection to flex the glutes hard every single rep.

Banded Cable Pull Through

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnP9IVvE4Qg

Finally, if you get a little stale over time using the cable pull through as your lower body primer, the addition of a band around the knees is an absolute game changer. While the pull through movement itself really targets hip extension moments at the glutes, the band around the knees in the Banded Cable Pull Through works the glutes into abduction and external rotation to a greater extent, really turning up the ability of this movement to activate the posterior chain.

Coaching Notes

The cable setup is going to be exactly the same as the previous cable pull through, so make sure that your technique and execution is absolutely locked in before throwing another variable into the movement mix. Using a small mini-band, you will be placing the band around the knees, an inch or two up from the knee cap on either side. For long term comfort, ensure that the band is not cutting into your IT-Band area or any other structures of the lateral leg, and is comfortable so you can drive into the band to create tension.

Also, the band resistance does matter. For most athletes using this variation, a extra light to light band will work well, as we are looking to elicit a positional activation at the knees and hips, not necessarily a pure strength movement moving through a concentric and eccentric contraction. Once the correct band is set in the right place around the leg, push out into the band slightly driving your knees away from each other maybe an inch. This knee position will be maintained throughout the pull through in an isometric fashion.

Common Technique Problems

The most common difficulty I see athletes have with this variation is the inability to control both hip extension, abduction and external rotation at the same time. It seems as though the coordination of these coupled actions would be easy, but let me tell you, it will be a challenge. If you are struggling to coordinate the movement with the band and cable rack, you will know right away as the level 0f activation and your ability to volitionally squeeze your glutes will be largely lost.

If this is the case, focus in and clean up your movement mechanics, or simply go back to the cable only pull through variation until your pattern has cleaned up and you are ready once again for progression.

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is an internationally recognized coach, physical therapist, speaker, and writer, whose published over 200 articles in some of the most widely regarded media outlets in the industry like Men’s Fitness, Testosterone Nation, Mountain Dog Diet, Bodybuilding.com, and Muscle and Strength, to name a few.

Along with an impressive laundry list of publications, Dr. John works with some of the world’s most elite athletes, including Gold Medalist Olympians, NFL All-Pro Quarterbacks, MLB All-Star Pitchers, Professional Bodybuilders and World Class IronMan Triathletes.

He takes pride in offering uniquely customized programming to clients of all walks of life in the exact same detail and passion as the Pros! Dr. John’s 12-Week Functional Hypertrophy Training Program is now available to you.

The post Build a Resilient Set of Glutes with The Pull Through appeared first on Dr. John Rusin - The Strength DOC.

The Power of Programming Supersets

One of the easiest ways to cut time off your workouts and add a challenging metabolic component to hypertrophy-specific training is by including the intelligent programming of supersets and compound sets.

Not only will supersets allow you to nearly double your overall workload and volume per workout, they can enhance the overall performance of all exercises in your routine while simultaneously packing on some serious muscle armor.

If adding a few slabs of meat to your frame isn’t convincing enough, listen up. Maximally loaded supersets using short rest periods can skyrocket your anabolic hormone response during and after exercise. This streamlines you toward your strength and hypertrophy goals – one burning, gut-wrenching set at a time.

Almost sounds too good to be true, right? That’s because it just might be.

Improper programming of supersets can lead to increased incidence of traumatic and overuse injuries, while overtraining specific muscle groups and soft tissues alike. Review the simple tips below before you program your training – it could make the difference between personal records and injuries. The choice is yours!

“Improper programming of supersets can lead to increased incidence of traumatic and overuse injuries, while overtraining specific muscle groups and soft tissues alike.”

Compound Sets Vs. Supersets

Superset: The back-to-back performance of two exercises of opposing muscle groups, with little to no rest in between.

It’s common practice in our misinformed fitness culture to use the terms compound sets and supersets interchangeably. This may be okay for the general elliptical-jockey public, but differentiating between these two strategies can be the difference between plateauing with your strength and hypertrophy gains and continuing to throw iron on the bar and muscle on your body month after month.

A compound set is similar to a superset, but with the use of two exercises that activate the same muscle group. Supersets are used primarily to ramp up the metabolic stress of a specific portion of a training session, while saving time in the form of shorter rest periods. Compound sets have an entirely different goal – to add overall volume to a muscle group.

Due to muscular fatigue, compound sets decrease the overall load you’re able to handle for an exercise. But they increase your overall set/rep scheme for a given pair of movements. Simply said, this method will fry the active muscle groups while keeping your heart pounding through your chest.

More Growth Hormone Anyone?

The muscle-building efficacy of back-to-back multi-joint exercises with minimal (under thirty seconds) rest is mainly due to your body’s endocrine response during and after intense bouts. Heavy loads coupled with little rest increase your circulating blood lactate levels, which increase the acidity of your blood. This increase in blood acidity will trigger the release of growth hormone (GH) from one of the body’s most powerful endocrine organs, the pituitary.

Growth hormone is just one hormone in the complex equation of muscle hypertrophy and strength. Testosterone is also released at an increased rate during the performance of near-maximal superset protocols. And directly after a bout of intense training, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) circulates at increased levels for up to forty hours. This leaves the anabolic window wide open for growth potential and recovery.

Common Mistakes

Programming supersets isn’t quite as simple as throwing together two exercises and crushing yourself with as little rest as possible. Here are some of the most common mistakes made when programming supersets, and why they may do more harm than good when incorrectly performed over time:

1. Pre-fatiguing Stabilizing Musculature

Challenging the core during loaded compound lifts is a great way to link body segments and increase overall functionality and performance. But the muscles of the anterior and posterior core are phasic in nature and only able to perform at optimal levels for short periods. If two exercises both challenge the core from an isometric or dynamic stability standpoint, the core will become fatigued, increasing the chance of injury and overuse.

A great example of a bad superset practice I see in the commercial gym setting is supersetting a squat/deadlift with an isolation core exercise such as crunches or the ab wheel. If you are squatting to near maximal intensities, your core will be on fire. No need to kick a horse while it’s down and throw in some crunches on top of it!

2. Over-Compressing the Spine

Performance of two exercises that both add compression of the spine is commonly seen in poorly programmed supersets. Before choosing your exercises, classify them all into two categories: spinal compressors and spinal decompressors.

“Give your back a break. You’re probably already sitting eight hours a day in a slouched posture. The last thing you need is to test your spine’s limits, over and over again, during a superset.”

An example of a spinal compressor is a squat. Vertebral segments are loaded, and forces are bringing them closer together under loads. A movement that acts as a spinal decompressor adds space between vertebral segments. Examples are a chin up or pull up where the feet are in an open-chain position.

Think of this equation when choosing your combos of exercises for compound or supersets:

Compression + Decompression = No Back Pain!

Give your back a break. You’re probably already sitting eight hours a day in a slouched posture.The last thing you need is to test your spine’s limits, over and over again, during a superset.

3. Ordering of Exercises

The most popular exercise in the gym is undoubtedly the bench press. This is the first, and sometimes only, exercise done by many people on a daily basis for upper-body emphasis.

“By programming a posterior-chain exercise before an anterior chain, the completion of the pull will enhance the performance of the push.”

So, it is no surprise that when putting together supersets, the chest exercise always precedes the back. Bro logic would have you thinking that because you cannot see your back in the mirror, it does not exist. If you can’t see it, it’s pretty much useless, right? Wrong on so many levels!

By programming a posterior-chain exercise before an anterior chain, the completion of the pull will enhance the performance of the push. By activating stabilizers in both the posterior scapular region and the posterior pelvic girdle, exercises such as upper-body pressing and quad-dominant leg work will be more effective due to increasing reciprocal inhibition and dynamic stability.

Remember, Pull -> Push! Your shoulders and hips will thank me later!

Best Upper-Body Superset Combos

• Pull Up / Barbell Standing Overhead Press

• Single Arm Dumbbell Row / Barbell Bench Press

• Cable Rope Face Pull / Incline Dumbbell Bench Press

Best Lower-Body Superset Combos

• Romanian Deadlift / Front Squat

• Hip Thrust / Alternating Forward Lunge

• Glute-Ham Raise / Leg Press

Best Upper/Lower Body Superset Combos

• Back Squat / Chin Up

• Front Squat / Parallel Bar Dips

• Deadlift / Dumbbell Floor Press

How Long to Rest for Your Specific Goals

The design of your supersets is dependent on your specific goals. Here are some common goals, and how to program according to the type of gains you are after. Follow the prescribed rest period for your training focus:

Rest Periods Between Exercises / Rest Periods Between Sets:

• Endurance: 15secs / 30secs
• Hypertrophy: 30secs / 45secs
• Strength: 60secs / 75secs
• Power: 60secs / 120secs

Because supersets can be demanding from a metabolic and muscular-stress standpoint, the frequency of training specific groupings of exercises and/or functional body units, should be limited to two to three times per week. Adequate rest and recovery are key to progressing your strength for the long run.

The Gains Are Coming

Supersets can be a game changer for your strength and hypertrophy training. But only if they are performed intelligently, using these simple components of program development.

Don’t let yourself become stale, continue to challenge yourself, and get more out of the basic compound lifts you know and love. Fitness isn’t about reinventing the wheel. It’s about getting that wheel turning as quickly and efficiently as possible.

About The Author

Dr. John Rusin is an internationally recognized coach, physical therapist, speaker, and writer, whose published over 300 articles in some of the most widely regarded media outlets in the industry like Men’s Fitness, Testosterone Nation, Mountain Dog Diet, Bodybuilding.com, and Muscle and Strength, to name a few.

Along with an impressive laundry list of publications, Dr. John works with some of the world’s most elite athletes, including Gold Medalist Olympians, NFL All-Pro Quarterbacks, MLB All-Star Pitchers, Professional Bodybuilders and World Class IronMan Triathletes.

He takes pride in offering uniquely customized programming to clients of all walks of life in the exact same detail and passion as the Pros! Dr. John’s 12-Week Functional Hypertrophy Training Program is now available to you.

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