Injuries

An Athlete’s Guide to Chronic Knee Pain

The idea for An Athlete’s Guide to Chronic Knee Pain started when I played tons of basketball during my senior year of high school. My knees flared up and the doctors I visited just prescribed pain killers. So from 2004-2009, I submissively lived with this pain. Looking back, I don’t know I managed. I was an avid trickster from 2002-2011, and I loved doing squats, deadlifts and the likes. I was always jumping, running, or playing some kind of sport. During it all, my knees gave me issues.

In 2009, I posted a YouTube video of my knee sounding like virgin Rice Krispies floating in cold milk. As Jon Call, a good friend of mine put it: I was Googling for crumbs of information on chronic knee pain. I went to different forums and posted my video in hopes of aid. I returned empty handed.

So I decided that I had to fix the problem myself. I forced myself to forget the popular rehabilitation methods. I threw away terminal knee extensions, hamstring stretches, peterson step ups, leg curls, and leg extensions. I sat down with a pen and a notebook and asked myself the following questions:

“What could cause my patellar tendon to nearly shut down in pain?”

“How can so much discomfort nestle into such a simple structure?”

“Why is this problem so prominent?”

“Why aren’t popular rehabilitation methods working?”

I mapped my answers, devising a plan. Over the next year I experimented with my conclusions. The process wasn’t perfect but it was working: my knee pain was fading. I documented my journey. As I worked with more athletes and clients, I tested what worked for me. The results were similar.

I thought back to my basketball days, and how I longed for the very information I held in my hands. So I started typing, and I expanded on the program and rationale behind my method, eventually writing the book I wished I had back when I routinely blew $25 on medical co-pays.

From a business perspective, writing this book was a stupid idea. Sales gurus would tell me that I couldn’t compete with Mike Robertson’s comprehensive Bulletproof Knees. But I never did this to compete with anyone. I don’t doubt the quality and expansiveness of Bulletproof Knees. When I was withering in pain, however, I didn’t drop the money it because I didn’t have a meniscus injury as Mike did. I just had nagging chronic knee pain. Not quite as serious, and I was unsure of the transference.

When I thought back to 2004, I wanted a product that was written with athletic intentions that only dealt with nagging chronic issues and would, most of all, be affordable for a high school kid. And that’s what An Athlete’s Guide to Chronic Knee Pain is. So if you’re looking for a hugely comprehensive and anatomical resource for internal structural damage, you’re not going to find it in An Athlete’s Guide to Chronic Knee Pain.

To give you an idea of what An Athlete’s Guide to Chronic Knee Pain is about, I made a free preview of the book that’s easily downloadable on the main page.

I guess I’ve been rambling, so I’ll shut my fingers down. There’s tons more to read on the main page for the book, in addition to the the free preview, so I hope you take a look. Just click on the picture or link below to check it out. And if you’re one of those ambitious souls wondering how to put out your own eBook, don’t worry. That’s coming soon.

An Athlete’s Guide to Chronic Knee Pain: Theories and Solutions for Patellar Tendonitis, Jumpers Knee, and Patellar Tracking Problems

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE MAIN PAGE FOR AN ATHLETE’S GUIDE TO CHRONIC KNEE PAIN

What A Rejected Article Looks Like, and Why Your Thoracic Extensions and Hip Flexor Stretches Are Wrong

In a few weeks, the culture of this website is going to change. I’m going to become less “end result” oriented, and more “process” oriented. I’m working on a fancy “about” page to explain just exactly what that means, but the shortened version is that the internet is filled with people that spout the end result. Internet ads say, “I made $1,000,000 in ten seconds. Click here to find out how!” That’s end result thinking. If the link said, “Click here to see how I’m trying to make $1,000,000 in ten seconds,” it becomes process thinking.

Most of my articles are end result articles. Here’s how to do X. Do this to accomplish Y. And that’s fine, as end result articles have their place and will always appear on this website. Of course, I’ll continue to find and expand on topics I feel aren’t covered enough, such as skinny fact ectomorph training. For those of you interested in that, you’ll be happy to know I’m in the midst of writing something huge for you. Starting today, I’m going to start being more process-oriented.

WHAT A REJECTED ARTICLE LOOKS LIKE

Some of my readers have aspirations to write for fitness, strength, and health magazines just as I once did before I broke through last October. One of the problems is that, as a beginner writer, you only see finished products. Not every idea that slips into the crevice of your brain’s neurons makes the cut. Behind the scenes, a lot goes on. Sometimes editors guide writing in directions against intention. Other times, the article is flat out rejected as magazines have certain criteria and brands they upkeep and abide by. So regardless of how well you think a piece is written, or how fitting you think a topic is, you might want to hold your breath.

I submitted this piece to a publisher months ago. It was rejected. Looking back, I know why. I’d do a lot of things differently, but I’ll save that critique and insight for another blog post (which, by the way, is a great process oriented topic). Until then, why do you think it was rejected? Did I leave spelling errors in the draft? Is it a bad topic? Is it boring? Drop your comments at the bottom of the page.

Your Lumbar Spine and Its Effect on Mobility

By Anthony Mychal

I’m debating what’s worse: the process of getting whiplash, or driving home after getting whiplash. On one hand, getting your neck abused like a PEZ dispenser is traumatizing. But it’s over before you realize it started.

On the other hand, the drive home is brutal. You don’t change lanes because you can’t turn your head. Your life suddenly depends on peripheral vision. What are you? A horse? And then comes the dire times in which you actually need to see if you’re going to end your life by colliding into a passing car. You can’t trust your rearview mirror because of the blind spot. Since your neck is useless, your rotation comes from the spine, aided by your suicide grip on the steering wheel.

But this is all evidence. Evidence in favor of those that say: “the body doesn’t move in isolation.” No kidding. But it’s also a testament to the body’s resiliency. So your neck is broke. What are you going to do? Die? You’ll find a way to survive. Or, at the very least, try to.

Compensations like these are prevalent throughout your body, but they aren’t necessarily a “good thing.” Deep down, your motivation is survival. Your physiology doesn’t care about chronic pain or nagging injuries as long as the heart is still beating.

Most muscular problems stem from the center of your body because of how important it is. “As athletes advance,” Bret Contreras writes in a recent blog post, “they learn to incorporate their hip and leg musculature into their movements to a much higher degree.”

And for good reason. The pelvis has some of the strongest and largest muscles attaching on and originating from it. The hips control the lower limbs so to speak, just as the shoulders control the upper limbs. These two areas can tell you a lot about how a person functions.

But they aren’t mutually exclusive. As Eric Cressey has pointed out before, stiff hips can lead to a stiff thoracic spine, which can throw off the shoulders and neck. And if the shoulders and neck are struggling, how do you think the elbows and wrists will fare? It’s this crazy stuff that really shows just how far compensations can root.

THE MISSING LINK

Now I’m not one of those guys that blames discomfort in the pinky finger on the hip rotators. All I’m saying is that you need to keep the hips and shoulders clean because they have the most responsibility. They’re like babysitters in charge of ten newborns. If they can’t stop one baby from crying, then there’s a good chance all of the babies will start crying—and the babysitter won’t be too far behind.

Keeping the shoulders and hips clean sounds easy, and eager souls will rush into mobility drills. Since more is better, they’ll hit their furthest range of motion with no regard for the body as a system of moving parts. And in order to get the most out of our mobility drills we have to consider what’s in the middle of the shoulders and hips: the lumbar spine.

It’s well known—especially with the surge of pallof presses, planks, and their respective variations—that, in most situations, the lumbar spine is a transmitter and not a producer of force. And when transmitting, tighter is better.

What’s not well known is that the lumbar spine can also be a crux in your mobility work. You can be doing drill after drill, but unless you have control of your lumbar spine, their effects will be moot.

Aside from the shoulders and hips having a large list of responsibilities, they are also at the mercy of our bad habits like sitting too damn much and carrying ourselves with bad posture. We know this though, so we’re smart enough to stretch our hip flexors and get in our thoracic extensions. But any corrective exercise you can dream of will fall short if the lumbar spine is doing the mobilizing. So let’s take a look at both of these movements and see how we can make sure they’re actually doing what we want them to do.

THORACIC EXTENSIONS

If there’s one thing I have learned about thoracic extensions, it’s that everyone hinges from the lower back unless told otherwise. This happens for two reasons.

The first reason is because of the range of motion obsession, as stated earlier. When you get that foam roller under your shoulder blades, the only thing you care about is rounding over so that your head touches the ground. Wrong.

If you’re doing them “right” your head isn’t going to touch the ground because the thoracic spine doesn’t have much extension range of motion.

The second reason is because it “hurts” a little when you do it right, and most people are afraid of pushing comfort zones. Undoing years of hunching, sitting, and bad posture doesn’t feel normal, so don’t expect it to at first.

But the fix is easy, and it starts with your set up. Instead of arching your back in the start position, engage your abs a bit as if you were doing a crunch, and keep this contraction throughout the entire range of motion.

Next, instead of reaching for the ground, fold from the thoracic spine and “feel” the movement in the middle of your back.

Trying to teach this to a group of thirty teenagers at once leads to thirty teenagers doing it wrong. But it only takes a few punches to the stomach before they start to do it “right.” Then, with a little practice, something even crazier happens. They “feel” the lower traps and rhomboids contracting against the foam roller. And I don’t see how that could be a bad thing.

HIP FLEXOR STRETCHING

I blame the hip flexor misconceptions on the front splits. Everyone is obsessed with going as deep as possible, with no regard for actually, uh, feeling a stretch in the hip flexor. More range of motion is only better if you’re tapping into the right movement.

To me, a deep lunge doesn’t represent a flexible hip flexor, it represents a flexible lower back. But to understand why, you have to understand pelvic positioning and the resultant angle of hip extension. (In the pictures, the yellow line represents the pelvic plane, and the red line represents angle of hip extension.)

When standing up, with your back in a neutral position, the angle of hip extension from the pelvic plane is 90°. Holding in neutral, you can only extend your hip 10° to 20°. This range of motion, however, is all hyperextension. So in order to qualify as hyper extension, the angle of hip extension from the pelvic plane has to be greater than 90°.

If you assume an anterior pelvic tilt, the initial angle closes to 70° to 80° (as oppsed to the 90° in neutral). Extending your hip from this position makes it appear as if you’re getting more hip extension, but you’re not. You’re getting the same amount, if not less, because you have to cover the 10° to 20° lost from the anterior pelvic tilt.

In theory, the fix looks similar to what was done at the thoracic spine—don’t care so much about range of motion and tighten the abs—but it’s more difficult to execute.

First, abandon your old hip flexor stretch that probably looks something like the picture below.

Although the deep lunge position makes it appear as if the hip flexor is being stretched, it really isn’t because the angle of hip extension from the pelvic plane is near 90°. Remember that hyperextension happens at an angle greater than 90°, so with the deep lunge you’re barely stretching the hip flexor beyond its length in a normal standing position.

To correct this, squeeze the glute of the rear leg and “push” the front of hip forward while tightening the abs a little. Cue yourself to rip the hip flexor from the bone. (It was a saying I learned from Buddy Morris, and it works well.)

If you’re having trouble tilting your pelvis, practice “nerd posture.” Stand up, squeeze the glutes, and then tilt your pelvis and body as if you did nothing but play Call of Duty all day.

Get back into the lunge position, squeeze the glute of the rear leg, and assume nerd posture at the hip. It’s challenging at first because the lead leg actually pulls on the ground with the hamstring, like a leg curl, for leverage when tilting the pelvis upward.

Once you settle into this position, you won’t be in nearly as deep of a lunge, but you will feel your hip flexor being stretched much more because you’re actually stretching into hip hyperextension.

LESSONS TO BE LEARNED

While compensations can happen in many movements, muscles, and motor patterns, it’s important keep the shoulders and hips clean. The information here extends beyond thoracic extensions and lunging hip flexor stretches. During any mobility or flexibility drill be it scapular wall slides, shoulder dislocates, or fire hydrants, consider the role of the lumbar spine. See if you’re really mobilizing, or if you just think you’re mobilizing. It’s more than going through the motions.

Don’t be upset if you’ve been doing things wrong. Remember, it’s these compensations that enable us to survive. Or, at the least, prevent automobile accidents.

References

Contreras, B. (2011, Sept 11). Standing rotary training is whole body training! [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://bretcontreras.com/2011/09/standing-rotary-training-is-whole-body-training/

Cressey, E. (2011, March 29). Oblique strains in baseball: 2011 update [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://ericcressey.com/oblique-strains-in-baseball-2011-update

Is The Functional Movement Screening Worthless?

Every year there are new methods, new programs, and new screenings designed to “protect” athletes from injuries. Take the Functional Movement Screening (FMS) for example. It consists of seven mobility screens used to identify incorrect, imbalanced, and compensatory movement patterns throughout the body. The theory being that proficiency in all seven tests lessens your chance for injury. But since when have sports become so predictable?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDxeJVIc7iM

The video above showcases a group of NFL guys being taken through the FMS. I know they didn’t work with the athletes long enough to develop proficiency in all seven areas. At the least, they were educated about it. But it is interesting to see how the season is panning out for these guys. Here’s the injury list: Steven Jackson (quad), Greg Jennings (hamstring), Jahvid Best (concussion), Jonathan Stewart (possible ankle), Hakeem Nicks (hamstring), Leon Hall (ruptured achilles), and Patrick Chung (foot). Insane, isn’t it? Only three of the athletes featured have yet to have an injury. Two of which aren’t regular players (Dennis Dixon is second stringer, Aaron Curry has been traded).

Maybe—just maybe—the fancy things we do to prevent injuries don’t do a damn thing. Maybe they contribute to the problem. Here’s what Carl Valle of Elite Track has to say:

The Posture Police coach that is overzealous tends to get athletes bracing too much and living in a tight world instead of a balanced relaxation and contraction environment. Interesting to note the increase in hip tears, sports hernias, and lumbar injuries with “Modern Core Training Performance”. Coaches need to guide the trail not blaze it for the athlete.

The “core” transmits force, no doubt. But rotational athletes flirt with fluidity, grace, and relaxation. They can’t always assume a neutral spine.

If I can remember, Dr. Yessis once said something like, “injuries are more likely caused by improper programming, not muscular imbalances.” It all stems back to adaptation. If adapting is necessary for the good of the organism, it will adapt. A martial artist and a baseball pitcher will surely score differently on the FMS. Shouldn’t we expect that? Shouldn’t we allow individual variances between sports and athletes? Or, should I say, how can’t we allow for variances between sports and athletes?

Edit: In light of the responses this post has been getting, I posted an informal follow up here.

How to Cure Snapping Hip Syndrome

I’m going to preface this post by saying that I don’t quite know what the hell I’m talking about. Of course, I have a semblance of knowledge, but most of this is hypothetical on my part.

But because of my tricking days, I’ve developed a rash of noises—pops, clicks, and snaps—that emanate from my hip. In fact, back when my two friends and I did trick, each of us would have our own signature sounding hip noises. You could tell who was warming up based solely on the depth and uniqueness of them.

The official name for this concerto is snapping hip syndrome, and it is common among tricksters and other athletes that expect their hip to have the range of motion of their shoulder. Luckily, it’s not usually painful.

The general consensus—or Wikipedia explanation—is that snapping hip syndrome is caused by a thickening of the hip tendons, which then makes it easier for them to catch on the hip’s structures. But I think there might be more to it.

And if you’re wondering why I’m throwing these ideas around, it’s because I’m not a huge fan of traditional “just accept how it is” treatment. Common protocols for snapping hip never work. They are ridiculous, actually. How can you tell a gymnast that they need to “stretch” to fix snapping hip?

Usually, people that have it are some of the most flexible athletes in the world in dancers, gymnasts, and martial artists.

Before I spill my ideas, I first have to give a bit of credit to Kelly Baggett and the Mobility WOD. The general idea of this theory was inspired by Kelly Starr and how he harps on getting the hip to sit in its capsule better, but I also borrowed some concepts from Kelly Baggett.

So, with that, as you might have guessed, my theory revolves around getting the hip to sit in its capsule better. Repeated kicking motions, or so I theorize, constantly pull the head of the femur out of its socket. As we already know, tricksters have stronger, more enlarged, hip muscles and, when combined with a femur that doesn’t sit in its socket too well, it makes it more likely to have the tendons and whatnot catch on other structures.

Now, every case of snapping hip is different, so this is shotgun rehab. Nevertheless, here it goes:

Common rehabilitation strategies look directly at the problem. Usually the rectus femoris and IT band are the two tendons that catch on the bones of the pelvis. Therefore, it’s easy to think that they are the cause. But we can’t always zero in on the problem area; we have to consider all of the structures that cross the hip joint.

There are two muscles that often go unnoticed—the psoas major and the iliacus. They originate on the spine and pelvis and insert on the inner thigh.

Since they cross the hip joint, they have some responsibility in holding the hip in its socket (unlike most other muscles on the inside of the leg). The adductor mass doesn’t cross the hip, meaning they don’t play an as important role in hip integrity.

We also know that the deep hip flexors—according to Kelly Baggett—are usually weak in most athletes simply because they rarely do activities in which the knee is flexed above the 90 degree plane.

And while martial artists often kick much higher than that, it’s usually with the help of the body’s momentum. This is the difference between dynamic flexibility and static active flexibility. This means that it’s possible that the deep hip flexors lack the slow strength and fine motor control needed at the hip—specifically holding the femur in the socket.

So we have a few issues that are building up after just looking at the problem from an anatomical standpoint. We can attack these issues separately, but that wouldn’t get us too far because the problem is occurring in the complex kicking movement patterns. So not only do we have to treat each problem individually, but we have to think about how it can be incorporated into our kicking drills.

1) Suck your hip

I don’t know the fancy term for this exercise, but I call them hip sucks simply because to perform it you think about sucking your hip into its socket. Even though we’re mainly activating our midsection on these, we’re subliminally activating the psoas and iliacus which is tugging on the femur, encouraging it back into its socket.

(first exercises shown)

Now, when it comes to tricksters, you have to remember that my whole theory is based on doing tons of kicks with no regard for keeping the hip tight. So what I’m proposing is that all of your leg lifts and kicks need to be done with this “hip suck” implemented in order to activate the psoas and iliacus to keep the hip in its socket, but we’ll go into that a bit later.

2) Take care of the deep hip flexors

There’s a crowd out there that uses the following progression: pattern, grind, ballistic. What this means is that you have to develop endurance in a motor pattern before you can get strong in that motor patter. And once you’re strong in the motor pattern it can then be held during explosive movements.

As far as tricksters are concerned, there’s no shortage of ballistic action, but there’s definitely a shortage of pattern and grind, or, what I like to think of as slow strength. Therefore, we need to develop the slow control at the hip to get the deep hip more involved.

For this, I recommend a drill that is both explained and demonstrated by Kelly Baggett.

“A lot of people won’t be able to lift their knee an inch without squirming around all over the place. You should be able to come up several inches. The further you lean forward the harder the exercise is. I’d say if you lean forward about 45 degrees and can’t get your foot off the ground at all you could probably use some work.

I recommend doing a couple of sets of 8-10 with a 2-3 second hold at top on that exercise 2-3 x per week.”

The purpose of this exercise is to encourage the hip to be the dominant controller of the leg. This means that anytime we kick, we want our hip to drive the movement, which will create less outward tug on the femur.

3) Prevent external rotation, and the inside of the hip from collapsing

This is especially a concern for those that have lived in the front splits their entire lives. Although this demands flexibility, the rotation of the rear leg and the relaxation is the mechanism for our injury we’re trying to avoid.

4) Deal with soft tissue and resetting the hip

I harp on external rotation of the hip being a problem. Unlike other athletes, tricksters have well developed hip external rotators from side kicking, hook kicking, and outside crescent kicking. This mean the piriformis and the other external rotators are strong enough, and potentially tight enough, to be the reason that the front of our hip—psoas and iliacus—has trouble dealing with the external rotation.

Therefore, stealing from the Mobility WOD, here are some videos that pertain to stretching the external rotators and resetting the hip.

5) Stretch the hip flexors right

Just like in tip #3, most people are used to stretching the hip flexors with front split intentions meaning that their rear leg is externally rotated. But we need to avoid that, so here are two solutions to be used during any lunge stretch.

First, internally rotate the rear leg. Second, push the hip to the outside. I dare say that both can be done, but they can. You’ll notice that you feel this stretch much more on the lateral hip and quadriceps, possibly even creeping into your psoas and iliacus.

And the combination hip flexor and quadriceps stretch can be seen at the end of this article of mine on T-Nation. Remember to internally rotate the rear leg and push the hips to the outside.

6) Incorporation of the tips into front-based kicks

7) Incorporation of the tips into side-based kicks

I know all of these tips may actually reduce your performance in some capacity. By not externally rotating your rear leg, you won’t be as flexible as you could be. You might not be able to hit the splits. You might not be able to kick as high.

At some point, however, for a trickster, you have to assess how valuable these things are. Tricking isn’t martial arts so both the splits and incredibly high kicks to the point of form breakdown aren’t absolutely necessary.

If you are a competitive martial arts athlete or gymnast, however, perhaps you will always have to suffer through snapping hip. Perhaps it’s a rigor of the sport. But for tricksters, you have the power to make your own rules. You aren’t bound by tradition. You aren’t being judged. Give these tips a shot and see how your body responds. What do you have to lose?

Strength Imbalances Put to Rest – Why Great Athletes are Imbalanced

Do strength imbalances cause injury? Or are they a natural adaptation grown out of the impulse to survive? There’s no definitive answer, or so it would seem. Theories of injury causes run amok. But they are all the same in that they are theories. Suppositions. What should be or could be. Not what is.

Truthfully, I’m using nothing but should-be’s and could-be’s to try to disprove others. But that’s really what the fitness industry is all about. Few things are absolute. So I hope that my theory gives you a new perspective. One that you never had, or thought of having. One that can help you better understand how to protect yourself in the future.

A QUICK REVIEW

This is the fourth time I’ve written about strength imbalances. It might help if you went back and refreshed your mind.

In the first article, I talked about the shortcomings of the research field. How most machines don’t mimic real life movement and how most recommended ratios are guesses.

In the second article, I talked about how imbalances are nothing more than adaptations, just like strength or size. A baseball player will always be a stronger rotator to his dominant side because he has to be.

In the third article, I talked about defining a human baseline, which makes classifying imbalances even more difficult. It contains quotes from Bret Contreras and Eric Cressey that agree with my ramblings.

IRRITANTS, VIRUSES, AND ADAPTATION

As I mentioned in the second article, imbalances are adaptations. The body doesn’t intend on having one side stronger than the other. It happens because it’s just reacting to what it’s exposed to.

Training is an irritant to the body, kind of like a virus. If you do squats, the body responds by making the legs stronger so it doesn’t get crushed by the weight on your back. If you get chickenpox, the body responds by making antibodies so that it doesn’t get threatened by the disease again.

But if the body responds to training as an irritant, wouldn’t it naturally build itself up into a mega-creation impervious to injury? Theoretically, yes. But the body cares about survival and not performance. That’s why thoughts of cannibalism creep into your mind if you get stranded in the arctic with a few friends.

It's all about survival. Even from birth.

In addition to the body’s focus on survival, it won’t transform into Megatron unless it’s given the time to recover from the stressful events. Chickenpox isn’t cured in an hour. So let’s take a look at the potential causes of injury.

CAUSES OF INJURIES

Before I give you my three reasons of why injuries occur, remember that these are nothing more than my theories. My should-be’s and could-be’s.

The first reason injuries occur is by simply doing something wrong. Call it bad form, but putting yourself in compromising positions or using bad mechanics will expose structures to stress they aren’t designed to handle. This can be squatting with the knees inward or bench pressing with the shoulders flared. The body can’t move in all directions. Respect how each joint in the body works.

The second reason injuries occur is by not being able to recover from irritants. Recovery being the key word here. The more you stress yourself, the longer it takes to recover. It’s like getting a cold, and then a day later getting the flu, and then a day later getting chicken pox. You’re going to struggle because you’re never working at your highest level and with every disease you dig deeper into your need to recover.

A victim of not enough rest?

Baseball pitchers that have to get Tommy John surgery fall into this category. Take Stephen Strasburg for example. He got hurt less than one year into his MLB career. Eric Cressey theorizes that it’s not so much a mechanics issue as it is him having to always showcase his talents. When you’re always looking to light up the radar gun with triple digits you never get a chance to slow down.

The third, and final, reason injuries occur is because of a combination of both of the above. This is where most are apt to blame strength imbalances, but notice that it’s nothing about strength in the traditional sense. I break this reason into two categories:

1) Mobility impairment that force your body into bad positions. If your thoracic spine is all bottled up, your upper body isn’t going to handle things very well. Same goes for your hips and lower body.

2) Bad motor patterning that stresses muscles out of sequence. This is essentially my theory of knee pain. The muscles nearest the center of our body are designed to do the bulk of movement. When the smaller muscles take over, they stress themselves more than what they are designed for. This, in my opinion, is how most tendonitis starts. When the smaller muscles start to do more than the bigger muscles, you’re going to have problems.

A foot strike way in front of the body puts a lot of responsibility on the hamstring.

A prime case for this is Jose Reyes, who is prone to hamstring injuries. It might be easy to blame all of his problems on hamstring strength, but as Carl Valle explains, the problem is more likely due to his mechanics. (Read more in the blog post, More on Footstrike: Jose Reyes and Hamstring Injuries).

CONCLUSION

If you want to say that injuries are caused by “imbalances,” I probably couldn’t argue. But the moment you bring up strength imbalances, we’re going to have some problems.But I’ll leave you with this these thoughts.

We always have been and always will be imbalanced creatures. Total symmetry just doesn’t happen. From the moment we’re born something is off. We open the pickle jar better with a certain hand. We have a dominant hand for fine motor control. We (might) have uneven abs, ruining our high school dream of having a perfect six-pack.

My abs are imbalanced, noooooooo.

Aside from taking care of your soft tissue restrictions, extreme structural imbalances, and doing a few things right in the weight room, you live and die by your imbalances. The only way to truly have balance is to become equally proficient on both sides of a traditional unilateral movement. So if you’re a pitcher, you’d have match your pitch count with your right and left hand. But you’ll never get anywhere if you did that. It doesn’t leave time to specialize and master the craft.

Now even though these are my could-be’s and should-be’s, here are some things I know for sure: Tiger Woods doesn’t swing the club left handed, Michael Jordan didn’t take game winning perimeter shots left handed, and Roger Federer doesn’t hold the racket in his left hand. I’m sure they don’t regret their imbalances. Will you?

The Overhead Press Conundrum

For those of you looking for a definitive way to overhead press, you’re not going to find it here (yet). In fact, this post is a cry for help. A cry to anyone that is willing to respond. Because, for the first time, I’m unsure about the overhead press.

I haven’t always felt this way. Three months ago, I would have showed you how to perform it. Told you it’s benefits. But now, I’m not as confident, which is why I’m reaching out to others. I’d like to hear your opinion, so make sure you comment if you have something to say.

BIT OF HISTORY

I had a few mentors when I dived in the online fitness community. Looking back, I pestered them a lot. But, luckily, they answered promptly even if they were annoyed. Perhaps my most influential was a gentleman named Adam Wehmann. He logged his training over at John Stone’s website and his progress was inspiring. As any fan boy would do, I pounded him with questions. I’m fairly certain – although not distinctly positive – that I started to ask more questions than he was willing to answer.

He told me to check out a book. I looked into the – at the time – obscure text. At least, compared to how popular it is today. The author didn’t have multiple books, his own forum, or his own DVD. Mark Rippetoe was living a quiet life in Wichita Falls, simply following through with an idea spawned during a conversation with Glenn Pendlay.

So when I added Starting Strength to my cart, I was a little skeptical. But when it arrived, I was hooked. Not only was it easy to follow, but also everything just seemed to make sense. I took it as gospel. Since then, my views have changed. I’m more open minded to things, because I’m more knowledgeable.

But of the five lifts explained in the book, I never – until recently – questioned his view of the overhead press. I was sure he was right about it. He had to be. Hell, I debated with a fellow student (he was anti-overhead pressing) about its safety in front of an undergraduate class. I even brought out the big guns. A CrossFit Journal article entitled, The Safety and Efficacy of Overhead Pressing.

All was fine until this summer. I was throwing more. A lot more. Overhead work was cutting into my recovery. At the beginning of my season, there were nights that I would lay in bed as my shoulder throbbed in pain. I had to ditch pressing. And even though my arm feels immaculate and has never been this strong, I want to know if I was doing something wrong. Could I really have had bad form?

THE CONTROVERSY

I’m not questioning the use of the overhead press. I love the lift. I’d do it every day if I could. And that’s why I’m on this mission. To find out how to overhead press. The killer is that I know I can because I do a lot of overhead supports and waiter walks. The lockout feels amazing. I can feel the stabilization, the thoracic spine opening up, and the shoulders growing. Surprisingly, I can even handle the eccentric portion. Enough of my shortcomings though, because you’ve got to be wondering what this article is about.

My question is this: do the shoulders shrug or stay packed in the lockout position?

Shrugged at lockout.

As with any controversial issue, it’s split. The one side – the Rippetoe side – uses a shrug at the lockout position. They say it fully engages the rotator cuff and tilts the scapula, preventing impingement. The other side – the kettlebeller side – keeps the shoulder back and down. They call it a packed position.

I’ve been on a silent mission these past few months to see how professionals overhead press. But I’ve yet to come across a comprehensive explanation of how to press with packed shoulders.

Mike Robertson seems to agree that the shrug is an essential part of the press, even though he doesn’t come out and say it. It can be inferred, however, based on his thoracic mobility dealings in Long Live the Overhead Press and his use of the overhead shrug in Push-Ups, Facpulls, and Shrugs.

It’s no surprise that Dan John prefers the packed position since he is a big proponent of kettlebells. I e-mailed him once, asking him if there were any references to overhead pressing with a packed shoulder and he responded with something like, “every Strength and Health magazine.”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q78IQdI52M

Others like Zach Even-Esh and Jason Ferrugia use the overhead press seemingly more than the bench press, but whether they prefer shoulders packed or shrug is never discussed. It appears that, however, that Jason keeps them packed, while Zach uses a shrug. Can’t know for sure though.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXAlIPyKR3s&feature=channel_video_title

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uucszJRyOWw

Looking at old footage, when the press was more popular, it seems most press from a packed position which is in line with what Dan John said.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7erVblY7aiU

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nJrYPVJ88M

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs8svOg9c9o

Yet a lot of modern footage suggests that a shrug is paramount during a jerk. In most Olympic Weightlifting, the shrug at lockout is easy to pick up on because the head tilts down and falls in-between the outstretched arms.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOoP5yX1bZ4

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZEVfSKbGlU

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqsiykYN720

And as much as I hate to go here, these videos make it seem like the shrugged position is a more stable position. After all, it’s what most Olympic Lifters do. Could the shrug be a more modern and effective way to stabilize the lockout position? Or is only of use if you’re jerking the weight?

WHAT OTHERS SAY

I already started to reach out to others to see what they have to say. But I’m going to keep gathering and post it at all at once. If you can, do me a favor and reach out to those that you know – or even to the professionals in the industry – and show them this post. Let me know what their response is because I’m eagar to see what the results will be. Until then, let me know what you believe. What’s it going to be? Packed or shrugged?

5 Random Thoughts – Injuries, Beliefs, and Old Memories

#1 How many injuries do you have left?

Dan John posted two freebie videos on his blog of an upcomming DVD. One of the concepts he touches on resonated with me — especially considering some of my latest blog posts. Dan says that he has one big injury left in his career. That may sound like a good thing, but he follows it by saying that he doesn’t have any more recoveries left.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBpddEZMcyE&feature=player_embedded#at=39

How you attack life is predicated on how many injuries you think you have left. As you age, you’re less likely to take risks because you know as every day passes, your recovery window closes.

Before I broke my foot (last clip in the video below), I thought I was invincible. I had my share of injuries — a separated shoulder from football that left my arm immobile for six months, a back injury from squatting 405 that put me out six months, another back injury (again squatting 405 [genetic ceiling, anyone?]), a groin strain that put me out a year, and knee pain my entire life. But I recovered from these without much thought. I was young(er). Invincible. You don’t consider the span of your life back then, you only consider the present, making injuries much more manageable.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkSppZUNfjA&feature=channel_video_title

After my broken foot, I ask myself, “can I afford this injury?” I don’t know. I hope I make it to Dan John’s age (no offence Dan) with injuries to spare. I know the risks I take. But I’ll be damned if I want to admit that I have more recoveries in me because it forces me to take more risks. But they’re there. And I know I’ll need them down the line.

#2 Die Defending What You Believe

Never stop believing in yourself. Never back down defending an idea you feel strongly about. Never quit.

#3 There Are No Such Thing As Accessory Lifts

On Facebook, there was a wild back and forth between a few people, including Lyle McDonald and Bret Contreras, when someone claimed the hip thrust was an “accessory lift”.

“They [the hip thrust] are bulshit accessories. Fiber recruitment as we all SHOULD know is based off of effort and to another degree, neuroligical efficiency. Not angle training, visual protrusion, speed or in this case, novelty training.”

-Random Facebook Guy

I had a great reply to this, but I’m not the main guy’s friend so I couldn’t post. Bret responded with similar thoughts.

“First of all get it out of your head that this is an accessory movement. That terminology is based on powerlifters who have powerlifting goals in mind.”

-Bret Contreras

The concept of accessory lifts is based upon having a contested lift as a focal point. The only contested lifts are the bench press, squat, deadlift, clean and jerk, and snatch. Non-barbell sport athletes don’t compete in these lifts. Yes, it may be tough to swallow for some of you but there is no need for an athlete to squat, deadlift, bench press, or Olympic Lift. Hell, there is no need for an athlete to squat. All weight training is “accessory” for an athlete.

For a sprinter, squats are as “accessory” as hip thrusts as are “accessory” as deadlifts as are “accessory” as leg presses, and the list can go on.

#4 My Life Was 90% Barbells

A friend of mine called me out on something I wrote in Why You Need To Rethink Your Training. I said activity history 90% barbells but that isn’t entirely true because it makes it sound like I did nothing else.

Truth is, I was an avid trickster from 2001-2005, which helped me develop a lot of kinesthetic awareness, mobility, flexiblity, and explosiveness. But 2005-2009 were my collegiate years and my friends and I never tricked much. We were always confined by the winter months (couldn’t trick at all), and in the summer we tricked once a week if we were lucky. In 2009, we found an open gym and started to consistently trick once a week.

But even then, I prioritized barbell work. I would always lift before tricking because I didn’t want to shortcut my strength gains. I would often be stiff and fatigued, and probably could have set myself up for serious injury (yes, that did happen but it was a fluke). Looking back, I could have been so much better if I didn’t obsess over barbells. I missed out on a lot of memories and skills I could otherwise have, which was one of my motivations for writing the post. Get out there and have some fun with your friends. Life’s too fragile to worry about missing a workout or two.

#5 I Miss Tricking

I haven’t tricked since I broke my foot. Partly out of disinterest and partly out of inability, with my foot being sketchy on abrupt lateral movements and push off angles.

I came across one of my favorite tricking videos, AlexD – The Beauty of Tricking, and was entranced once again. Inspiring and motivating. It brings tears to my eyes. Such a masterpiece.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2E8J6DEEuc

I don’t know if I’ll ever get back into it. I don’t know if I can recover from another injury. But I’ll always respect what I’ve been through, and I don’t regret anything.

How to Prevent a Career Ending Knee Injury

When it comes to fitness, some people need research to vindicate their beliefs. With the gimmicks out there, it’s easy to understand why. But I’ll admit that a lot of my beliefs aren’t shrouded in research. Let that be a little disclaimer before reading this post as it is nothing but a meandering thought that I had while rehabbing my foot.

HOMUNCULUS PEOPLE

I have a love-hate relationship with the Gait Guys. Sometimes they change my life, sometimes they destroy it. One thing they taught me about was the importance of the foot in movement. Considering it was all squats and deadlifts prior to that, I have to thank them.

A main premise that I learned was that propulsion happens off of the second and big toe. If we assume that you have an even weight distribution over the forefoot of your foot’s tripod (which most people don’t have, but were assuming here so don’t judge me) you would have 50% of your weight on each point. But with propulsion, it’s more like 60 or 70% on the medial point (nearest the big toe). This requires to foot to evert somewhat — you can try it out yourself.

An even weight distribution over the forefoot of the foot's tripod.

Carrying more weight on the point nearest the big toe. There is a reason it's the "big" toe and the highest point of the foot is there.

As mentioned in a previous article, I trained isometric holds after breaking my foot. To prepare myself for explosive movements, I did holds in the slightly everted 60/40 position.

You have to remember that when I first started rehab, I couldn’t even balance on one leg, let alone on the tip toes of one leg. So when I tried to progress to the 60/40 position my knee was wobbling all over the place and when I lost balance to the outside (if you’re balancing on your right leg, your body tips over to the right) my knee would jerk inward to get my balance towards the mid line, trying to not fall over.

No big deal when we’re talking about a half crippled guy relearning how to balance on one leg. But if you think in terms of cutting, when higher forces are involved, it’s the same mechanism that causes ACL/MCL injuries. We see a lot of guys go down with knee injuries with NO CONTACT. The two that come to mind are Terrell Owns and Rod Woodson in the NFL, but there are many more beyond my memory.

It used to baffle me how these things happened. But taking what happened to me, I created a little theory. Knowing that propulsion happens off of the medial point of the forefoot (remember the 60/40 relationship), WHAT IF your ankle rolls to the outside (same motion as a traditional ankle sprain) when you’re trying to cut? If the knee spasms inward as it did with me, it makes sense that an internal knee injury will occur.

My hypothetical "cut." The foot plants strongly and everything is aligned, ready to propel upwards.

Hypothetical bad cut. Ankle rolls outward and the knee collapses inward in what you would call a "knee jerk reaction." Although my knee isn't collapsing inward in this picture, I was trying to make it. It physically hurt my knee, making me believe this theory even more.

The big picture is that our ankle stability during cutting is largely dependent on isometric strength because we have to absorb a lot of force in a small time and spit it back out quickly. The range of motion is small. If you look at the video below, when Powell’s foot strikes the ground it stays at a relatively constant angle until propulsion occurs.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRZvlQTTCMg

What if non-contact knee injuries are an overreaction of the knee trying to correct balance issues that are caused by a foot that isn’t doing the “right” thing?

An Awesome Hip Warm Up and Diagnostic Exercise, And Some Information About Hip Clicking

If you read my stuff, you know that I play softball. I can get a bit defensive about it because the younggins don’t understand that us washed up meatheads need something that vents our competitive desires. During the summer months I always have some kind of scrape – or as the baseballers call it, a strawberry – on my knee that’s prone to ripping open. It gets uncomfortable when I’m trying to do anything that involves touching my knee to the ground – like a hip flexor stretch. And boy do I love my hip flexor stretches.

To accommodate, I got used to doing a leg curl when settling into the lunge position to avoid smashing my scab into the ground. After doing this for so long, I realized that I could turn it into a killer diagnostic test for glute function and hip mobility/flexiblity.

Before getting into it, take a look at it’s two uses:

AS A WARM UP – I like doing it as a warm up, and I can usually tell how good of a lower body session I’ll have from it. If I can get my hips to open up then I’ll be OK, but when they don’t I know I’m in trouble.

AS A DIAGNOSTIC – For starters, compare the difference between legs. If one leg underperforms compared, you need to smash the rectus femoris with flexibility work. It’s tempting to resort to unilateral strength work to get the under performing leg stronger. But it’s not a strength issue. If one of your leg sucks, it’s because your hip flexors are tight.

*WARNING* In the video, I’m doing this on a puzzle mat because I know what I’m doing. For your safety, do it on a bed mattress. If you don’t shift your weight correctly, it can put a ton of pressure on the rear leg’s knee cap. This can be devastating. Get most of your weight on your lead leg, and what’s left should be above the knee cap of the rear leg, NOT DIRECTLY ON IT. The mattress will help you get the hang of this and is much more forgiving than hard surfaces. */WARNING*

Now that we got that out of the way, here’s what you need to remember:

1) Settle into the initial lunge/pushup position, putting your knee outside of your hands. It looks like a mountain climber.

The initial position.

2) Shift your weight forwards so that you get the weight off of your knee cap, this will also stretch the hip.

3) Squeeze the glute of the rear leg as hard as you can.

4) Do a leg curl with the rear leg while keeping the glute squeezed.

Take a look at the videos below.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeolN9O38OQ

Front View

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-JdR9pmUSE

Rear View

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DljQ_sU2KPY

Advanced Variation – Make sure you read my warning statement

EXTRA CONSIDERATIONS

While were talking about hip flexor stretches, I want to touch on a few things that grind my gears, and they relate to a post I made a while — and I mean a while — ago on snapping hip syndrome. The basic idea was to avoid hip extension and external rotation, and this holds true when stretching the hip. My original post as aimed at the martial artists and gymnasts (see Tricking), but avoiding hip extension and external rotation is difficult because so many moves depend on it.

Flash kicks, aerials -- great example of hip extension and external rotation

It can’t be avoided as apart of sport, but it can be avoided in training for sport, specifically when stretching the hip. If you’re doing a rear leg lift, make sure your toes are pointining to the ground. You’re not going to get as much range of motion, but it will save your hip some mileage. This is something that has to be done consciously, so grab a camera and get to work.

Don't do this.

Do this.

Keep the same relationship during hip flexor stretches too. This is where most people mess up. You don’t want any external rotation on your hip flexor stretches. I’d even recommend EXAGGERATING against external rotation.

Hip extension and external rotation. Don't do this.

Hip extension and internal rotation. Do this.

If you notice, in the second picture my foot is internally rotated. This is an exaggeration, and a great way to stretch the outer hip. And most tricksters need it.

Lastly, when you’re stretching the hip you need to tilt the pelvis upwards — something that happens when you contract the abs and glutes at the same time. The following quote comes from the Coyote Point Kettlebell Club How-To Manual written by Dan John. It’s great advice, and you should use it during all of your hip stretches.

Your pelvis is a “bowl” and I teach it like you have water in it. So, tilt the water out forward, backward, away from the up leg and, finally, tip it toward the up leg. It gives a sense of where the hips should be in the stretch.”

-Dan John

Path to Painless Knees – Fixing Hip Extension

You’re confused. I get it. About a week ago I claimed you didn’t know what hip extension was and did nothing but prescribe a high volume of activation exercises.

Whoopie.

Truthfully, you probably know what hip extension is. It’s that you don’t know how it feels. Does a deadlift feel like a bird dog to you? Aren’t they both powered by hip extension? They should feel more similar than you think, and if they don’t you need to keep reading.

By most standards, you may have perfect squat and deadlift form. But just because you’re setting your back and lifting a lot of weight doesn’t mean you’re maximizing hip extension. I know we glorify strength, but I’m going to squash it right now. Weight on the bar doesn’t matter.

VECTOR TRAINING REBORN

I’m not a big science guy. That’s why I had to search Bret Contreras’s blog for this next section. But I’m going try to appeal to the scholar and meathead in us all by using both fancy and childish terms.

Most exercises train the axial vector, or what I like to call, the up and down vector. During a squat your body moves up and down. In a deadlift, you bend down to the bar and stand up with it in your hands. Although hip extension takes place in a squat and a deadlift, we don’t actually propel ourselves horizontally. Once we set our feet in these lifts, we don’t move. The heavier up and down vector training becomes, the more vertical a bar will travel. Mark Rippetoe harps on keeping the bar path vertical for squats and deadlifts because heavy things like to take the shortest path between two points.

Hip extension happens in the anteroposterior vector, or what I call, the back and forth vector. Sprinting is a great example of a back and forth movement where we propel horizontally. Great sprinters glide across the ground, using little axial, or up and down, motion. We can’t maximize hip extension unless we have some horizontal propulsion.

The question then is, how can we use the muscles that propel us horizontally, without propelling horizontally?

THE BASICS

Home base for hip extension is the romanian deadlift (RDL). If you’re wondering about hip thrusts, they are a good exercise. But the amount of quadriceps activation is disheartening (discussed in the first article). In contrast, the RDL is raw standing hip extension. No knee bend. No chance for quadricep involvement. Just your backside and your mind. This is the movement that teaches you hip extension, and it’s different from what you know so clear your mind of what you think an RDL is supposed to be.

You may think I’m a crazy for complicating the shit out something as simple as lowering and raising a bar, but I’m validated through one of the most popular speed experts, Kelly Baggett. Baggett is a mastermind when it comes to making complicated information seem like a children’s book. And if Kelly says something is difficult, it must be difficult.

“The Romanian deadlift is basically a slower o-lift. Done correctly it should target the glutes. However I’ve always thought it is the hardest exercise in existence to teach and do correctly. “

-Kelly Baggett during an interview at Empowered Athletes

What you’re about to learn is, well, different. My girlfriend can squat and deadlift with what many would see as perfect form – a nice back arch, below parallel – a testament to my awesome coaching. But when it comes to teaching her how to power the lifts through hip extension, clumps of my hair end up on the ground. She just can’t get it. But if you can, you have it made. You’ll see your health improve. You’ll move differently. You’ll walk up steps differently. It’s a golden ticket – a life changer – so take notes. Fixing hip extension is one of the few steps needed to fix knee pain. Don’t underestimate it.

As I said before, don’t worry about a vertical bar path. It won’t happen. It can’t happen. It turns the RDL into a glorified back extension. This negates the power of the hips. And referring to Bagget again, No Glutes = No Results.

Let’s take a look at how to avoid it.

“The average trainee doing o-lifts and RDLs uses way too much back and not enough glute.”

-Kelly Baggett

#1 BACK EXTENSION

Most people that power the RDL through back extension will have a nice arch in their lower back that never goes away, even when they hit lockout. Their lower back arch is “correct” by most standards, but most standards need changed. The extreme anterior pelvic tilt makes it harder to use our glutes.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3-0FRsblTg

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRoqrKyboH0&feature=fvst

#2 HIP EXTENSION

Powering the RDL through hip extension requires tightness and stability everywhere but in the hips, because they are the only thing moving. Most people will have a neutral spine, and will squeeze the glutes at lockout, indicating hip involvement. The bar won’t travel as far down the shins because the lift stops when the hips hit their sticking point as opposed to the lower back and hamstrings.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRNQJ-EDoVY

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QifKBQDcW_8&feature=channel_video_title

CUES

The above may sound confusing, so here is an easy way to conceptualize each scenario.

For back extension – imagine you have a rope around your neck that is tied to a car behind you. If the car speeds away, you’ll lose your balance backwards by leading with the chest and contracting through the lower back.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjlgBqq5Wwg

For hip extension – imagine you have a rope around your glutes that is tied to a car in front of you. If the car speeds away, you’ll lose your balance forwards by leading with the hips and contracting through the glutes. It will look like an air hump.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxP8XCoOE80

PAWING

With back extension, you lose balance backwards. With hip extension, you lose it forwards.

If you act out the hip extension scenario enough times, you can feel your feet pull on the ground right before you lose your balance. This is what propels you forward, and is what Baggett calls pawing the ground.

“There has to be some emphasis on pushing the hips back and pawing back on the ground from that position (like a bull pawing the ground), even though the feet won’t move.”

-Kelly Baggett

To learn how to paw the ground, stand in a split stance with your left leg in front. Keep your bodyweight on the left leg, allowing the right leg to move freely.

From this position, with your right leg, do an upright Modified Bird Dog 1 and drag your right leg across the ground. The rules don’t change. The movement is powered from the glute and that is the only place that should drive the movement. With each repetition, shift more weight to the right leg. The drag across the ground will become slower (second video).

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6H-iO3TbFk

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2pHLHwvfCI

Eventually, you’ll apply so much force that your foot won’t move and you’ll be scissoring the ground between both of your legs. Find the sweet spot in this position so that when you’re pulling back on the ground, your glute is what is contracting. You’ll have to tilt your upper body forward slightly, bending at the hips, to get your hips in a favorable position. Do some isometric contractions once you find the spot.

Instead of our right leg being the free leg, it’s now going to be the grounded leg while our left leg moves. Remember, our right leg, although not moving, is still going to be doing the same modified bird dog motion. Shift 60% of your weight to your right leg, and do the same scissor motion you did from above. Your left leg should slowly glide across the ground as you stand upright. I know I keep stressing this, but your glute is powering this. Not your hamstring.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8ZIMAK0pUI

With each repetition, put more weight on your right leg, always squeezing the at lockout. Work up to having all of your weight on your right leg. If you’re doing them right, these are short range of motion unilateral RDL’s that help learn how to paw the ground.

In the video above, at :30, I do an advance variation of this to help activate the glute even more. Again, the hip stabilizes the leg that is on the ground. By lifting the knee it gives you more horizontal motion making it easier to activate the glute through out the entire range of motion. From start to finish, you should feel it in your glute.

FUNDAMENTAL TIP TOE POSITION

Pawing the ground teaches us how to use the muscles in charge of horizontal propulsion without actually propelling horizontally. As Bagget says, it’s like trying to bench press the bar from a military press position in hopes of getting maximal pec activation. It’s not easy because the force is coming from the wrong direction.

But since you’re learning how train hip extension from a standing position, you’re going to have to make sense of it. This is where the fundamental tip toe position (FTTP) becomes important. It’s the bridge between actually travelling horizontally and theoretically travelling horizontally.

The FTTP is easy get into. Stand with your feet shoulder width, toes pointed forward or slightly out (10 degrees or less), get on your tip toes, and squeeze your glutes.

Let me say that again for those with reading HDD.

1) Stand with your feet shoulder width

2) Toes pointed forward or slightly out

3) Get on your tip toes

4) Squeeze your glutes

The FTTP. Use your pointer finger to palpate your obliques.

Being on your toes challenges your balance, and squeezing the glutes forces the abs to contract to keep the body in equilibrium. Try it out and palpate your abs – obliques especially. The abs and glutes work together, remember this. That’s why anterior pelvic tilting hinders glute function.

The FTTP transitions into an RDL by rocking to an even weight distribution while thinking about driving your hips to the wall behind you. Don’t worry about your upper body, or how far down you can go. Your torso will move naturally with your hips, like a hinge. The sticking point will come soon. The farthest I’d recommend going is fingertips to knee cap level, but some may have to stop even higher. Going lower kills ab tightness and turns the RDL into a back extension. Keeping the midsection tight creates a grinding resistance as you reach your hips back, and this is what you want.

About as far as a beginner needs to go

Pause at the sticking point before pawing the ground to shot your hips forward into the FTTP. Envision the rope tied around your glutes and the car pulling away.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHYFjCqu1MQ

The top of the lift resembles the snap of a kettlebell swing, only you rise on your tip toes. Neghar Fonooni has a wonderful snap at the top of her swing. This lockout and snap is what you’re after. She doesn’t posteriorly rotate her pelvis, and a lot of people trying to learn this type of RDL will. Come up to a neutral spine position and squeeze the glutes – just try to think of the snap you see in this video.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lEZ9buytGo&feature=channel_video_title

AMERICAN DEADLIFT?

If you’re a fan of Bret Contreras, you’ve probably seen his American Deadlift Video. The RDL I teach is similar to his American Deadlift, but the main difference is that he advocates tilting your spine and shifting from anterior to posterior tilt during the movement.

During the RDL I teach, the spine stays neutral throughout, even at lockout as mentioned in the previous section.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAVMj6GJwfY&feature=player_embedded

PROGRAMMING

When you’re relearning hip extension, stay away from the barbell. Start by doing the kind of RDLs I described, but finish in the FTTP. It’s an easy movement to “get” so spend one to two weeks doing 100-300 reps of them per day. You’ll know you’re doing them right if your glutes catch fire, you feel a grinding resistance on the eccentric, and you feel yourself pawing the ground. Truthfully, this exercise will eventually top all of your glute activation exercises and be used in their place for rhythmic sets of 20-100. But don’t rush the process. Give this exercise a try, and watch your health improve. Ingrain this motor pattern because next time, I’m going to teach you ways to load it for strength training.