Bridge Rotations for Full Body Mobility

It’s no secret that stretching and mobility work is not all that thrilling. Kelly over at MobilityWOD makes it about as interesting as it can possibly get and I still catch myself wanting to skip it in favor of the fun stuff on occasion. That’s why I love mobility work that is more performance and skill oriented. If it’s something that’s progressive and skillful, there’s more chance I’ll enjoy doing it and keep it up over time. A good example of this is the Cuban Rotation, a shoulder mobility exercise you can conceivably work up to 50% of your bodyweight over time. Along similar lines, another excellent full body mobility tool that involves some skill and coordination are bridge rotations.

Why YOU Need to do Bridging Work

Before I talk about some of the variations, I want to hammer home why bridging can be so beneficial. Bridging…

• Brings You Into Balance – Most of us sit hunched over all day. The upper back, glutes, and hamstrings are long and loose while the shoulders, chest, stomach, hip flexors, and quads are short and tight. When you’re in a nice back bridge,  all of this is reversed.
• Is Comprehensive – While you may think certain parts of your body are holding you back from mobility, you won’t really know until you try something that challenges everything at once. A full bridge and bridge rotations put demands on the ankles, calves, quads, hip flexors, glutes, abs, back, shoulders, and arms for mobility and flexibility. Yeah..pretty much the whole body. If one area is lacking, you’ll figure it out pretty quickly.
• Is Progressive – Like I mentioned, mobility work is more fun when it involves skill and progression over time. That said, let’s get to some variations…

Basic Bridging

Before we try to do anything crazy, let’s talk about basic bridging. Single and double leg glute bridges have been used by physical therapists and trainers for a while now. They’re a solid tool for activating weak glutes and extending the hip, but they don’t offer a ton in terms of mobility. Check out some basic single leg bridging in this video. If you’re inflexible or have never tried these before, give them a go. Otherwise…next section.

Back Bridge

Moving from the basic glute bridge to the back bridge brings in a whole new world of mobility challenges. While a lot of folks might think it’s just their upper back and shoulders that are holding them back, many times it can be incredibly tight pecs, abs, ribs, calves, quads, and hip flexors that leave you unable to push up into a perfect bridge like the picture above. Here is short and simple tutorial from Al Kavadlo on how to work up to the back bridge:

Bridge Rotations

Once you’ve mastered the ability to move easily in and out of a back bridge on the floor, you can take your dynamic mobility to the next level by working on bridge rotations. These can be very challenging on the ankles, knees, hips, and the upper back, but they’re pretty cool and open up some new doors as far as sequences of movement. Check out this short video from Ido Portal demonstrating some beginner rotations into bridge:

In the following video, one of Ido’s students Steve Atlas demonstrates some more higher level bridge rotations.

As you can see, there are some very impressive demands on the toes, ankles, shoulders, and upper back. Making it look that graceful and easy says a lot about the quality of Steve and Ido’s movement. Always remember that this quality is what we’re after. Anyone can plop down and do 1000 glute bridges in an hour, but moving with grace into a low bridge rotation is a rare thing to see outside of acrobatics, gymnastics, and capoeira. And as you work towards it, you’ll be more pain free and muscularly balanced. It also looks freaking cool. Good luck with it my friends!

Intro to Kiefer’s Carb Backloading Diet

Let me say this…there are e-books and then there are E-BOOKS…John Kiefer’s Carb Backloading is the latter. Most online diet products are pretty trashy and attempt (quite successfully) to prey on people’s insecurities and lack of knowledge. While Kiefer’s book is sold through the same channels as a lot of this crap, it stands miles above all the rest in terms of the information. Even at $57, the bang for your buck is staggering.

Who Should Use This Diet

I’m convinced anyone who isn’t significantly overweight would benefit from this diet. If you need to lose a lot of weight (over 50lbs), check out the Paleo Diet and read The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf. Not only is it effective, but it will give you a good foundation in natural, quality food that will serve you for a lifetime. I would also strongly recommend the Paleo Diet if you have any type of autoimmunity or intolerance to dairy, gluten, soy, or nuts.

However, if you fit into one of the following categories, Carb Backloading is well worth the investment. If you’re looking…

• To lose less than 30 pounds
• For better energy and performance
• To add muscle mass while maximizing fat loss
• For a diet that is non restrictive on the food you can eat
• For a diet that will sustain your health for a lifetime

I’m not going to delve too deeply into the science and all of the specifics of the diet because I really think you should buy it and try it out for yourself. It’s one of those resources that gives you foundational knowledge. In other words, it’s not a one off, superficial protocol. Rather, it has information that will teach you how your body responds to food hormonally and will give you the basic tools to navigate dieting for the rest of your life. And by dieting, I mean what you eat, not the pejorative connotation of restricting yourself. In fact, Carb Backloading is hardly restrictive at all. Of all the eating plans I’ve come across, it’s actually one of the most flexible programs out there. As long as you can put in some legwork to get savvy at going low carb during the day, you can have your cake and more when the sun goes down.

CBL: The General Framework

In a nutshell, Carb Backloading depends on nutrient timing, which involves planning when you eat protein, carbohydrate, and fat during the day. While there are a number of ways to structure the diet to fit your life that Kiefer delves into deeply, the most basic framework is as follows:

• 7AM – Upon waking: Caffeine
• 9AM – Breakfast: Protein, Fat, and/or Vegetables
• 12PM – Lunch: Protein, Fat, and/or Vegetables
• 2PM – Snacks: Protein, Fat, and/or Vegetables
• 5PM – Pre/Mid Workout: Protein, Fat
• 6PM – Afternoon/Early Evening Workout
• 7PM – Post Workout: Sugar and Starchy Carbohydrate, Protein
• 8PM – Second Postworkout Meal – Sugar and Starchy Carbohydrate, Protein, Fat
• 9PM – Last Meal (optional): Protein, Fat

This is all VERY simplified but it gives you a general idea of the meals you eat throughout the day. The variety of food, amounts, and number of meals will vary widely given your goals for fat loss, performance, and your activity level. I’ll say again that you should really buy the book if you want to try it out since calling CBL just a ‘nutrient timing diet’ really gives it short shrift as it goes well beyond that.

One of the key points to realize is that this diet takes elegant advantage of the way our body responds hormonally to food to both make us healthier and enable us to be fitter while also leaving some room to enjoy ourselves. Hormones are a crucial piece of how our bodies react to outside stimuli like food and stress and largely act as catalysts for bodily function. Understanding how hormones react to the food we eat is one of the first steps in building a successful diet.

Insulin: The Key Hormone

If you could only learn ONE useful thing about diet, it wouldn’t be saturated fat, antioxidants, or vitamins and minerals. It would be insulin. Insulin runs the show. When your blood glucose elevates from eating carbohydrates, insulin is released by the pancreas to ‘mop up’ glucose from the bloodsteam and shuttle it to muscle and fat cells for storage. Insulin is a storage hormone. It makes things grow, both fat and muscle. This is why bodybuilders have manipulated it for years by eating massive amounts of carbs and even injecting insulin. High insulin over time = high fat storage and very little fat burning. Type 2 diabetics who have completely burned out the cells that produce insulin because their levels are so high are typically very overweight or obese. They are also at high risk of cancer, cardiovascular complications, and stroke. To sum up, high insulin levels over time (days, months, years) = massive weight gain, heart conditions, and generally very poor health.

When insulin is low, it’s counterpart hormone, glucagon, is high. While you’re enjoying times of low insulin, you’re in burn mode, the opposite of storage. Fat tissue, muscle glycogen, and muscle tissue is mobilized to be used as energy by the cells of the body. As long as we can limit the amount of muscle tissue we burn, we love low insulin mode. It equals better health and less (or no) fat gain. The key becomes to stay in burn mode while taking strategies to retain as much of the muscle tissue as possible and preferentially burn fat. Kiefer has some brilliance on this topic that I’ll delve into in future posts about the types of meals I eat on the diet.

The Goal: Maintain Low Insulin Until Dinner

We’ve always been told to eat a hearty breakfast of cereal, orange juice, oatmeal, toast, etc, right? You want to know the best way to completely skyrocket your insulin levels from the moment you wake up and derail Carb Backloading? Eat all of that stuff I just mentioned. As I talked about earlier, eating excessive carbohydrate causes insulin to spike in order to ‘mop up’ all of the glucose from the blood and shuttle it to the cells. It takes hours for insulin to return to baseline levels (which is usually the time when folks eat more carbohydrate and jack insulin up again). Eating fat, vegetables, and protein does not spike insulin and instead keeps you in fat burning mode (note: protein slightly elevates insulin, but not to the same degree as carbohydrate).

Despite what the ‘experts’ say about using breakfast to ‘rev your metabolism’, we actually wake up with a phenomenal fat burning hormonal profile. Growth hormone, testosterone, and DHEA (all restorative hormones) spike at night and help repair us, leaving us to wake up refreshed with low insulin levels from not eating for the prior 8-10 hours. You are perfectly positioned in burn mode.

While most people decide to F this perfect situation up with the first bite of breakfast, CBL involves maintaining that profile all day long by eating protein, healthy fats, and vegetables. Where to start? Here’s day one…An egg, spinach, mushroom, and sausage scramble cooked in butter for breakfast, coffee with coconut oil and protein powder to pick you up on the way to work, and a tuna salad for lunch with avocado and good produce. Snack on almonds, string cheese, or cottage cheese if you get hungry during the day. Very simple, very healthy, and very effective.

In Part 2, I’ll pick up where I left off just before the afternoon workout and explain a bit about why all of the dietary carbs are backloaded toward the end of the day. You now know why it’s crucial to keep insulin low as often as possible, but there are some health and performance reasons for spiking it on occasion, specifically after workouts. This is also where you’ll find out about how you can get crazy while still staying on track. We’re talking ice cream, all you can eat sushi, pizza, tacos, and much more. Stay tuned…but seriously, buy the book if you’re interested.

The Cuban Rotation for Shoulder Health

In my post about Getting Started With Mobility, I touched on the concepts of shoulder internal and external rotation. In our quest to gain a solid level of badassery at full body, high intensity exercise (aka CrossFit, bootcamp, TRX classes, etc), shoulder rotation is something with which you should get very well acquainted. Unless you’ve addressed it specifically, the odds are you have internally rotated shoulders and less than stellar range of motion. This happens due to…

• Sitting all day in a car or at a desk
• Bench pressing too often
• Playing throwing and/or overhead sports
• Not balancing chest and back workouts
• Compensating for a lack of mobility in other areas like the upper back and hips
• Too many pullups with an already internally rotated shoulder (the lats internally rotate the upper arm)

Say you go into a CrossFit program while prone to many of the bullet points above. What you’ll end up doing is a TON of volume that will hammer your already tight internal rotators during pushups, dips, muscle ups, pullups, kettlebell swings, and the rowing machine. Because of a concept called reciprocal inhibition, your strong, tight internal rotators are also inhibiting the external rotators from doing their job in addition to getting so bunched up that you lose range of motion internally as well as externally. Put all this together and you’ll have some insanely inflamed shoulders, not to mention the hurt you’ll put on the elbows and wrists from having to pick up the slack for a poorly functioning shoulder.

Enter The Cuban Rotation

It might sound like a Communist military maneuver, but it’s actually one of the best exercises you’ve probably never heard of. In fact, I have no clue where the name came from, but word is that Charles Poliquin was one of the first to do it. It’s a simple movement where the humerus (upper arm) stays abducted horizontally from the body throughout the entire exercise, with the shoulder going from fully internally rotated to fully externally rotated and back again (watch video below). This is an excellent diagnostic tool and strength builder for shoulder internal and external rotation. One of few true external rotation exercises in CrossFit is the snatch and I’d take a guess that about 90% of people aren’t doing it with their shoulder in the correct position. Most folks are so tight in the internal rotators that they can’t fully externally rotate during the turnover of the snatch which makes the movement a poor trainer of the external rotators, not to mention a risk of injury.

So to counteract all of the internal rotation work and undo some of the prior imbalances to the shoulder, the cuban rotation is one of THE BEST exercises you can put in your program. It’s hasn’t gotten much love in mainstream fitness since it’s always been treated more like a corrective exercise, but some folks like Poliquin and Ido Portal see it as a legitimate strength exercise. Their elite standard is to build up to 50% of bodyweight for a single controlled rep. For me, that would equate to a 110lb barbell or two 55lb dumbbells.

Here is a great video from Dr. Clay Hyght describing the merits and performance of the cuban rotation.

One of the great things about this exercise is the ability to control the shoulder position from full internal rotation all the way to full external rotation. I’d encourage you to also try this up against a wall and to try and keep your shoulders back in the socket against the wall throughout the entire movement. Watch any of Kelly Starrett’s videos on internal rotation and you’ll notice how one of the big goals is to have full range while the shoulder is back ‘on the shelf’.

‘Grease’ The Rotators and Boost Performance

When you think about even the simplest movements like an overhead press or pullup, there is some very dynamic shoulder movement going on under load. At the bottom of the press, you need very good internal rotation to keep the shoulders back in the socket in a strong position. As you press up, this transitions to a strong externally rotated, ‘active’ shoulder as you keep the bar as close to the center of mass as possible. After doing cubans for a while in my warm ups, I noticed an IMMEDIATE boost to my pressing. I could keep my body line straighter and make fewer sacrifices in my torso position while also keeping the bar closer to my center of mass. By ‘greasing’ this rotator range of motion with cuban rotations, it’s like giving your shoulders an oil change. The press is smoother, stronger, and more efficient. With each quarter inch back in the socket and 10 pounds that you add to your cuban rotation as you continue to train it, you’ll see and feel a bump in your performance on pullups, presses, rowing, and olympic lifts.

Altering Yourself to Downstream Mobility Problems

Another great aspect of the cuban rotation is that it alerts you to other tightness  and clues you into some sacrifices in positioning that you may not have noticed. When I work hard to keep the shoulders back during a full range cuban, I get pretty hot in the tricep right near the inside of the elbow. This is a surefire sign of general problems like a valgus elbow, a rounded upper back, and poor external rotation in the shoulder. The tricep essentially is forced to carry the load in place of poorly performing shoulders and upper back on exercises like pullups and pushups (which means hundreds of poor reps since we do so many of these). Once alerted to a downstream effect like this, you can start working the problem there as well. Simply lie on the floor facedown with the shoulder up in flexion and flex your bicep. Then press your tricep down on a lacrosse ball on the floor right where it meets the elbow and go to town pancaking the tissue to try and loosen  things up.

Training the Cuban Rotation

You can honestly do this every single day as a bodyweight exercise. And should. Even if you’re in your office, go walk up to the wall and do a few sets with no weight 3-4 times a day. Do it in warmups, between sets, or even while lying on a foam roller or lacrosse ball peanut. When doing it weighted while standing, start light and go slow. Let your rotators acclimate slowly to the increased load. Greasing the rotators = better performance, more fun, and fewer injuries. And that’s what it’s all about.

Getting Started With Mobility: The Low Hanging Fruit

If we take one big step back and look at working out, exercise can be a funny thing. It’s about getting work done and completing tasks. Reps, sets, supersets, circuits, etc. We have clear definitions for these tasks: chin over bar, chest to the ground, hip crease below the knee, arms locked out, etc. These definitions don’t really offer any useful cues on form, however. That’s why we have trainers who yell things like: arch the low back, bring the shoulder blades together, press with active shoulders, weight on the heels, and others. These cues dive a little deeper, but they don’t tell us what we really need to know, especially if your body needs a little fixing. To really take an active approach to correcting imbalances and boosting your fitness along the way, you need to invest some time in a little education.

I’ll say it right off the bat…if you want to learn everything you’ll ever need to know about the way the body should move while you’re working out, go watch every video Kelly Starrett has ever made at MobilityWOD. Whether it takes you a month or a year to watch them all and let the info sink in, it’s something that’s more important to your long term health than just about anything besides diet and sleep. And the videos are all FREE. A complete no brainer. Go do it.

At first, you’ll be overwhelmed by the terminology and get a little lost. Luckily Kelly is one of the most entertaining people on the internet and has managed to make anatomy and kinesiology  as interesting and relevant as Monday Night Football. You gotta stick with it. After a few dozen videos, patterns will start to materialize and you’ll begin to remember things that you can apply in the gym. For now, I’m going to give you some of the quick hits that I think are THE most crucial starting points for most people looking to get serious about high intensity, full body training…

Shoulder Internal Rotation & Shoulder Extension

Put your arm out in front of you like you’re going to arm wrestle someone. Now pretend you’re winning and pin the imaginary arm. What your shoulder is doing is internally rotating. Do the opposite and you’re externally rotating. Now pretend you’re on the outside rail of a cruise ship and you’re leaning towards the water with your arms straight back behind you holding the rail. Here your shoulder is in full extension. The shoulder in full flexion is when your arms are straight up in the air and your biceps are by your ears.

Over the past year, I’ve come to the realization that my very poor internal rotation and extension in the shoulder are two of the biggest limitations on my upper body performance. Think about these positions: bottom of the overhead press, top of the pullup, 2nd and 3rd pull of the clean, bottom of the dip, and even arm position during the back squat. If you don’t have squeaky clean internal rotation and extension in the shoulder, you’re leaving something on the table during all of these exercises.

If you watch enough of the MobilityWod videos, you’ll start to catch that Kelly hammers on shoulder IR and extension and highlights it as a huge barrier to performance. He also mentions that overhead athletes like volleyball players and kayak paddlers like him are prone to it. I know from experience playing tennis, golf, baseball, and swimming that overhead work can trash shoulder function if you’re not careful.

To get you started here’s a great MWod titled The Biggest Shoulder Problem of Them All (gee, you think missing IR is a big deal?).

Thoracic Spine Extension

This is another biggie that Kelly makes a point of emphasis. Losing mobility in the upper back (thoracic spine) is something we are all prone to given modern living. T spine extension happens when you pull your shoulder blades together and flatten the upper back. T spine flexion is when you pull the shoulders forward and let the upper back round. One thing that’s key to realize is that there is a ton going on in the upper back. Fixing yourself is not a matter of simply pulling your shoulder blades together and going on your merry way. Everything feeds in back there. Traps, rib muscles, rhomboids, rotator cuff, the deltoids, and the neck. Even tight pecs on the front side can have a significant impact on the tightness of the upper back (and often do).

This MWOD with the plate pinned on the chest is amazing for both the upper back and shoulders. Try it out. But realize this is not an easy fix. Mobilizing the upper back is a big and worthwhile project.

Scapular Mobility & Control

Your scapulae (shoulder blades) are arguably the the most important bones in your body for movement. They have 17 different muscle attachments and sit delicately across the top of the upper back (another reason thoracic mobility is so crucial). When it comes to the upper body, the scapulae run the show. These small, arrow shaped bones are the reason we have a wide range of movement, strength, and coordination in our shoulders and arms. The scaps can slide and glide to allow us to reach for something, but also lock down tight so we can kick up into a strong handstand. They are a pretty phenomenal piece of standard equipment in the human body. Due to their large number of muscle attachments, it’s very common for imbalances to occur in the scapulae. They are commonly rendered less functional by tightness in the pecs, shoulders, lats, and upper traps, and weakness in the external rotators and lower traps.

Kelly spends a lot of time in his videos focusing on both the scaps and t spine in conjunction. Here’s another good MWod to get you started on mobilizing the scaps.

How To Apply These Mobilizations

I do a version of shoulder IR/Extension, T spine Extension, and Scap mobility during EVERY warm up and also between a lot of my work sets. They are limiting factors for me and I can see visible improvement in both my body alignment and my performance if I do them consistently during a workout session. If you have really tight pecs and anterior deltoids, I’d also recommend a simple doorway pec stretch or pec stretch with a band. Really get in there and hunt around for tightness. The more you open up the pecs and delts, the easier it will be to keep the t spine extended and to keep the shoulders back during IR/Extension work.

There is certainly a ton more to learn and we haven’t even gotten to the hips, but gaining a good understanding of the three sections I listed above will get you well on your way.

Top 5 YouTube Channels for Fitness & Movement

YouTube is the ultimate double edged sword. There are hours of garbage and enough racist and homophobic comments to make you think you were living in the 1700′s. But there is also a vast amount of quality information provided for FREE by top experts in every field. Since our goal for the year is to try and move better, I thought I’d start you off right with some of the best YouTube resources for fitness and movement. The major factors in how I chose these channels are as follows

• Information Quality
• Consistency of Posting Videos Over Time
• A Talent for Presentation

Kelly Starrett

K Star is the mad genius behind the Mobility WOD and started off the series by doing 365 days of 1 video per day teaching regular folks how to mobilize themselves. As the headline of the blog displays, “Every human being should be able to perform basic maintenance on themselves.” Kelly is a DPT in physical therapy and this is your go to blog if you want to play mechanic on your own body and take a long look under the hood. As a CrossFit gym owner, he also has a bias towards performance, which is I believe what has made these videos so popular and intriguing. Instead of approaching corrective exercise from a siloed rehab perspective, Kelly always has an eye on the ‘test/re-retest’ of high performance exercise.

Elliott Hulse

Elliott Hulse is a former standout D1 football player and all around strong-as-hell dude. He has a YouTube channel with a segment called ‘Yo Elliott!” where he answers the questions of his followers. From the first video you watch, you’ll realize that Elliott’s knowledge goes way beyond the typical gym meathead. He is not a dogmatist and is very much into the holistic nature of strength training and sees it as only one part of being a healthy, strong individual. He frequently hammers home the idea that posture and mobility is the foundation of all strength and must be addressed constantly to keep making improvement. The videos I’ve seen where he addresses the thoracic spine, neck, and shoulders are absolutely spot on. You will gain some serious knowledge of biomechanics and kinesiology and how it relates to training when you watch Elliott’s videos.

Carl Paoli

Carl Paoli is a Spanish former high level gymnast and trains out of the same gym as Kelly Starrett here in San Francisco. He has his own training brand called Naka Athletics and also conceived the Gymnastics WOD for CrossFitters looking to broaden their bodyweight skills. Like Kelly, Carl keeps a close eye on performance when trying to improve movement and fix imbalances. He also has some of the best progression series on YouTube for moves like planches, flags, handstand pushups, and muscle ups. If you’re looking to do some serious bodyweight training, Carl’s channel is where you should start.

Mike Robertson

Mike Robertson owns IFAST in Indiana and is another fitness pro who is able to perfectly blend performance and quality movement. Mike is a powerlifter who trains clients that run the gamut from average fat loss folks to high performing athletes. His main goals are to use corrective exercise to improve movement and boost performance. In addition to a great YouTube channel, Mike has some of the best fitness resources on the web in the form of e-books and DVD’s.

John Kiefer

Kiefer is the author of Carb Nite and Carb Backloading and makes his home on the web at Dangerously Hardcore. While his clips are more nutrition and bodybuilding oriented, I wanted to include him because he really does have an excellent tubecast that is complementary to the ones above. Kiefer likes to do 2 minute, monologue type clips where he answers questions from readers similar to Elliott Hulse. They are quick hits that are very useful and worth subscribing to. Also a side note, Carb Backloading is an excellent diet that I’ll be talking about in the future on the blog.

2013: The Year of Better Movement

The beginning of every year is always a good time for reflection and assessment. It’s a time to take stock of how things went in the prior year and look ahead to the goals of the next. As far as the fitness scene is concerned, the past few years have been really exciting. In 2007, CrossFit came on strong and has now grown to the point where there are thousands of gyms across the world and the annual CrossFit Games are broadcast on ESPN. In terms of functional, full body fitness programs to rise in popularity, CrossFit does not stand alone. In the past 5 years, we’ve seen P90x, TRX Suspension Training, Insanity, kettlebell training, bootcamps, boxing classes, and countless other group based fitness programs explode in popularity in the US. There is an obvious shift happening in the past decade. Folks are leaving behind machine based isolation exercise in favor of total body circuit training. There are some very clear reasons why:

• Better Fat Loss and Muscle Building Potential – Full body, high intensity interval training with weights and bodyweight is more effective for fat loss than isolation work and steady state cardio. While some might throw studies at me to debate this, it’s a fact that I’ve seen in the real world. Interval training with weights and bodyweight is also muscle building and muscle sparing unlike repetitve, steady state cardio which is incredibly catabolic. What’s the point of losing 10 pounds of fat if you lose 15 pounds of muscle at the same time?
• It’s More Fun – I have yet to meet an average gym goer who enjoys machine training and trudging along on the elliptical or treadmill. While bodybuilders might like that type of training because it’s an important part of their sport, the average person would rather watch paint dry. Full body circuits provide a much more interesting stimulus and let you take an engaged role in the workout. If a workout includes a TV and a People magazine, let’s face it, you’re really enjoying the work you’re putting in.
• More Motivating – One of the big keys to circuits in a group format is the ability to push you outside your comfort zone. Getting locked into a comfortable routine is not going to get you anywhere and you’ll start to get bored anyway. We all have that intrinsic motivation to succeed in front of others and group classes tap into that perfectly.

This shift to full body group training is powerful and is completely re-shaping the way we get fit. I’ve already seen CrossFit alone attract a huge crowd of folks that would otherwise be splitting most of their time between their couch and their desk, living a very sedentary lifestyle. The enjoyment, motivation, and results you can get from this type of training is sustainable for a lifetime and can even bring you into new social circles you might never have discovered. It’s a brave new world out there in the fitness scene and now is the time to jump in…

With one caveat.

We Need to Learn How to Move Correctly

With high intensity, total body training comes much more responsibility for yourself. The power of circuit training to get you fit is only matched by it’s power to break down your body over time. While all of these programs (CrossFit included) are not lacking in intensity and effectiveness, the biggest problem with them is that they do not focus on moving correctly. I’ll lay off CrossFit a little in this regard since they do a much better job of trying to educate on proper movement patterns than the other training methods. However, best intentions tend to go out the window when you’re redlining on a workout like Fran (kipping pullups and thrusters) and trying to go faster than the person next to you.

The main focus of all of these programs is how much work you can do. Pullups, pushups, squats, presses, lunges, etc. All of it represents mechanical work. And Tony Horton wants you to do more and more every week in P90X to show that you’ve made progress. Pullups are a staple of P90X, CrossFit, and many others. If done correctly, the simple pullup is one of the best tools available to build a fit body. The problem is that we have very simple standards. Chin over the bar and you have yourself a pullup. But in the context of moving correctly biomechanically, the simple ability to get your chin over the bar is almost irrelevant. With a strong enough kip, I’ve seen people get their chin over the bar during a pullup who are moving WAY WORSE than other folks who aren’t even close to a pullup. If you’re craning your neck, protracting your shoulder blades, flexing your upper spine, reinforcing pec/anterior delt tightness,  beating down your inner elbow, and have no control over shoulder torque throughout the movement, is it really that great that you can do a pullup? No. And if doing one pullup like that is bad, what type of shape do you think you’ll be in after doing thousands over a three month period? Sure, you may be leaner and a little stronger in certain muscles, but you’ll be incredibly unbalanced and a few pullups away from a torn labrum or worse.

And it’s not limited to just the pullup. Simple pushups, squats, lunges, rows, and ab work can make imbalances even worse if done incorrectly. They can also put a beating on soft tissue like cartilage, tendons, and ligaments. These imbalances arise for a number of reasons and continue to support the billion dollar industry of chiropractory, massage therapy, and physical therapy.

Why We Get Imbalances

One of the reasons I’ve taken such a keen interest in muscle imbalance is because I’ve been fighting it myself ever since getting into the functional, group training scene back in 2007. At first, ignorance was bliss and I charged all out into full body circuits without trying to do any corrective exercise on myself. I’d been through rehab for surgeries before, but as most of us know who’ve done that, once you feel you’re recovered is when you throw out the rehab work for good. After a while, I got some good advice from some very smart people and started trying to take care of my imbalances. Looking back, it’s pretty easy to see how I got off track.

• I’ve spent most of my life as an overhead athlete. Ever since I can remember, I’ve been throwing a baseball, shooting a basketball, playing tennis, swimming, and playing golf. Add in some rec volleyball and that is a recipe for pretty banged up, unbalanced shoulders over the course of my life. I have protracted scaps, wicked internal rotation that has not been helped by years of bench pressing, and poor range of shoulder rotation and extension. Eric Cressey makes a living by ensuring elite baseball pitchers remain in perfect shoulder health.
• I’m tall. This isn’t an excuse for being average at lifting. There are a lot of tall, fit dudes who can squat 400, deadlift 500, and press 200. But when you add in the imbalances above to longer levers, the little things get exacerbated. Sitting on planes, in cars, and ducking and leaning encourage a forward neck position, a rounded upper back, and the dreaded forward shoulder syndrome.
• I sit at a desk. This adds even more to the conditions above. Forward, hunched over, craned neck, overextended lower back, inactive glutes, and a host of other problems. Check out this video from Charlie Weingroff on the Janda Upper and Lower Cross Syndromes if you have any of these issues (which you probably do if you’ve ever had back, shoulder, or neck pain)
• Three knee surgeries, low back issues, and shoulder tweaks. After two ACL surgeries, a menicus, a cracked patella, rotator cuff injuries, and disc issues in the low back, I still have residual orthopedic issues that linger.

It’s taken me a CSCS certification, a few years, and ton of research on anatomy and kinesiology to understand my problems (and I’m only part of the way there. You can NEVER stop learning more). What you need to realize is that full body circuit training will expose all of these movement problems and imbalances. You cannot just turn someone loose on a random assortment of exercises and expect them to move correctly.

The Body Will Make Sacrifices to Get You Where You Want to Go

The body is highly adaptable. Its main goal is to keep you alive. And if you convince the body badly enough that you want to get over a pullup bar or not get pinned by a 400 pound squat, your body will find a way. Even if that means putting body structures into the most jacked up positions imaginable. I can do 15 terrible strict pullups in a row. We’re talking craned neck, forward scaps, internally rotated shoulder, overarched lumbar. I can do 3 in a row correctly. What does that tell you about how my body has adapted to moving the wrong way? If I only train them correctly from now on, I might be able to do 30 at some point (and some cooler shit like an L pullup, bar muscle up, and back lever). Training them incorrectly? I might get 20 in a row and a few shoulder surgeries to go with it.

This is why our simplistic movement standards are not good enough. Just because you can squat below parallel, get your chin over a pullup bar, or touch your chest to the ground on a pushups does NOT mean you’re moving correctly. Even if you’re getting a passing grade on those artificial standards, your body might pay the price down the line. And if you have any type of higher performance goals, you can forget it if you’re moving poorly.

People Without Fewer Imbalances Are Fitter, Better Athletes

Some folks come from backgrounds that set them up with very well balanced bodies. It can be a combination of body type, activity level, and the way they learned how to move, but you know it when you see it. You can spring them loose on anything in CrossFit and it’s a lot of fun to watch. They learn very quickly. Remember this regardless of whether they are jacked, fat, tall, thin, short or whatever…they ALL have great shoulder function, hip function, and the ability to stabilize in between. I’ve seen people in every shape and size like this. The ability to control and mobilize the structures around the scapulae (shoulder blades), pelvis and the torso in between the two is EVERYTHING. If you can do those things, you’re an athlete. Plain and simple. There will be no mechanical problems holding you back from learning almost any physical feat. It may take time, but you can learn anything.

You can see this clearly if you watch any of the CrossFit Games broadcasts on ESPN2. The guys and girls who finish in the top 10 are making almost ZERO sacrifices in their body position during the workouts. They have excellent hip and shoulder function in any position and the torso stability to match. Form certainly follows function in this respect. There isn’t a single CrossFitter in the top 10 at the CrossFit Games with a rounded upper back, forward/elevated shoulders, overextention in the low back, or glute inactivation. In fact, look at any athletes that move with grace. Kobe, Dwayne Wade, Mike Trout, Adrian Peterson, every gymnast ever. Scapular control, pelvic control, and great stabilization in between.

Bringing Performance, Health, and Rehab Together

The problem is…throw well built folks like that into a CrossFit or group fitness class with regular, unbalanced people and the latter get left behind. Those that are set up well structurally will continue to make progress while the others will bump up against a ceiling, make little progress, and get injured. Then they’ll blame the program for being ineffective while the well balanced folks thrive and continue to lose fat and gain muscle.

So what’s the answer? A lot of therapists and trainers would offer up a steady dose of isolation work and physical therapy and tell you to ditch CrossFit for good. Not only is that an extremely boring route, but it’s unnecessary. For years, there has been a pretty clear delineation between rehab work and general fitness. But lately there have been some very innovative and exciting things popping up that really bridge the gap between corrective exercise and performance. These methods offer up a way to correct your imbalances and see immediate benefit in a workout session.

The key thing you need to remember is that learning how to fix your body and move correctly is the fundamental path to all of the fitness goals you have. Whether you want to look good naked, squat double bodyweight, kick ass in a TRX class, or be able to ski and wakeboard until you’re 70, movement quality is the place to start.

That is the goal for 2013. Take an active role in fixing yourself

There are some very knowledgeable people out there that you need to get acquainted with. I’ll give you three of the most important names now. They are smart, committed, and offer a refreshing perspective on movement that ties directly to fitness and performance.

Kelly Starrett

Ido Portal

Mike Robertson

There are many more resources, tools, and stories to be shared from both me and my clients. Stay tuned….2013 will be the year of better movement.

Abs and The “Evil Wheel”

It’s All About Abs, Baby

Without much exception, everyone wants to know about ‘abs’. The vast majority of marketing in the fitness industry is based on selling a nicely toned 6 pack. In the last 50 years, there have been a million and a half exercises cited as ‘the key’ to great abs.  In reality, most of it is advertising garbage (with some exceptions). The true key to a 6 pack is a rock solid diet and a rock solid set of genetics. The better the genetics, the more you can waver on diet. In the end, there are individual differences between everyone. Some have more tapered waists than others and some also carry less fat in their midsection than others, both of which make someone look leaner regardless of how they eat or exercise. Though individuals can make tremendous improvements in themselves, you can’t turn a rhino into a unicorn…

So put down the fitness magazines and start focusing on yourself. Don’t say ‘I want her abs’ or ‘his abs’, tell yourself that you want to improve YOUR OWN abs. This can literally be one of the easiest things you’ll ever do when trying to improve your health. This is all it takes…

1. Take your shirt off in front of a mirror
2. Take a tape measure and wrap it around your waist at the belly button and measure
3. Record the number of inches
4. Improve your diet: Eat moderate amounts of quality meat, vegetables, fruit, nuts, and seeds. Splurge a little with the occasional bowl of ice cream, quality meat/fish tacos, or sushi, but stay within reason
5. Keep working out hard: medium to high rep compound weight training and high intensity interval conditioning
6. Measure you waist again every 2 weeks and go back and repeat all the steps
7. If the inches don’t drop, do 4 and 5 better

There’s No Magic Exercise, But…

I’ll say it again, there’s no magic exercise. Body fat isn’t like muscle that can be trained specifically. You can’t train your body to lose fat in a certain place. It is an equal opportunity fat loser through and through. To lose it, you’ve got to clean up your diet rather than focusing on doing 1000 crunches a day. Now that we know this, then what is the best way to train your abs? Well that can be answered in a dozen different ways depending on your goals. Are you a tennis or baseball player? Maybe rotational work like cross chops are best. Are you a rower? Maybe flexion/extension work like incline sit ups are the best.

What if you’re just a regular person and have no grand plans to win gold medals and world championships? Well in that case, let’s find an exercise that gives you a lot of bang for your buck and keeps you healthy into old age. Add in portability and low cost and you’ve got yourself a winner with the ab wheel.

The Evil Wheel

This may be the single most effective fitness product ever sold on TV. 95% of the crap that has the word ‘Ab’ in it sold on television is just that…crap. The other 5% is the ab wheel. Here is a good instructional video breaking down a rollout from the knees.

One thing I talked about in the past in my post about the Joint by Joint structure of the body is how the lower back is a stability joint in the body. The lower back and the abs are designed to transfer energy up and down throughout the body. When you think about a sprinter in motion, the legs and arms are generating the power and momentum, while the midsection is just rigidly holding it all together and transferring the energy efficiently. That is one of the reasons I love the ab rollout. It is incredibly effective at training that stability function of the abs without putting a huge beatdown on the lower back. You can certainly get that similar training effect by doing squats, deadlifts, and presses, but your lower back will take a beating doing just those exercises. To give your back a little R&R while continuing to train the stability of the abs, the wheel is where it’s at.

I like to prescribe 3 sets of 10 two or three times a week depending on what other ab work you’re doing. If you want to get crazy with it, you can work up to standing rollouts like this very fit dude right here

In Closing

Regardless of what you take away from this, remember the extent to which you have a six pack is determined in the kitchen and in your parents’ bedroom 9 months before you were born. So if you want to improve your stomach, just take some good measurements and do some hard work on your diet. Looking beyond the 6 pack to the performance and health of your abs, the Ab Wheel is a great way to go. It’ll train stability in your spine and trunk, which will not only improve your abs but will also stave off back problems as you get older. Honestly, what do you have to lose? This thing costs less than a movie ticket after all. Happy rolling.

Adding the Weighted Pushup to Your Training

As far as exercises go, the pushup is one of the most commonly performed movements in fitness. I’m guessing that the entirety of the readership of this blog has done at least 1 good set in their lives, even if it may have been during a drunken max out contest (raises hand). There is ample reason for the use and popularity of the pushup as a training tool and assessment of physical fitness. The exercise is a very effective conditioning tool for advanced trainees and an ideal upper body strength builder for beginners when done correctly.

CrossFit Resurrects the Pushup

In the lifting and athletic community, the bench press is still the king of all gym exercises. It gets talked about, worked first, and prioritized over nearly all else in the average training program. While the bench press is still the ultimate builder of upper body strength, excessive benching will often cause people to reduce or even eliminate pushup variations from their training programs. Many typical gym routines will include a few bench variations, dumbbell pressing, and a little bit of cable work to round out the chest and shoulder workout.

CrossFit has done well to bring pushups back into the mainstream by including a heavy dose of them in their programming. As long as they’re done correctly (see my post about how to perfect the pushup), they’re an excellent training tool. Traditional CrossFit programming uses regular pushups in their conditioning workouts while also utilizing more challenging movements like ring pushups and handstand pushups as standalone strength builders. One of the earliest (and most potent) CrossFit workouts is Cindy, which requires you to perform as many rounds of 5 pullups, 10 pushups, and 15 bodyweight squats as possible in 20 minutes.

Other training programs have also contributed to the resurrection of the pushup, with P90X and TRX bringing it back into vogue as well. P90X uses high volume pushups targeted to inactive folks looking to get in shape, while TRX provides some variety in the form of suspension training similar to gymnastics rings. The fact is that there are literally dozens of ways to effectively train the pushup both for conditioning and strength. Despite all of the variations, one method that is rarely used is a good old fashioned weighted pushup. CrossFit does very well to outline progressions toward a handstand pushup, but they pay little heed to standard weighted pushup progressions.

The Weighted Pushup

Adding weight to a regular pushup is very simple and can be done in a few ways.

Stack plates on the upper back

• This is the preferred method at my gym. As long as you have another training partner, it’s the easiest and quickest method for loading and unloading. Here is Alex busting out a set of 10 with 65 pounds on his back.
• Not only are they easy to load and unload, but you can stack multiple plates on the back and take them off one by one throughout a set, effectively doing drop sets with weighted pushups.

Wrap heavy chains around the torso

• Another great way to load the pushup is with length of heavy chain. This will keep the load a bit more stable than stacking a weight plate, though it takes longer to get on and off and it’s harder to vary the weight since you need different lengths and thicknesses of chains.
• As you can see in the video below, the chain ends are left loose and hanging below the body. The benefit of this is that it varies the load throughout the range of motion. During the most difficult portion of the pushup near the bottom, the load is lessened due to much of the chain resting on the ground. At the top of the movement, the entirety of the chain is off the ground

Using a Weighted Vest

• Another method for doing weighted pushups is by using a weighted vest. Like the other methods, there are both benefits and drawbacks to using a vest.
• One thing I dislike about using a vest  is that much of the weight hangs off the front if you weight the vest evenly. This causes the front to be bulky and limit the range of motion at the bottom of the pushup. One way to fix this issue is the to raise the hands on pushup handles or bumper plates.
• One great benefit of using the vest over the other two methods is the ability to combine exercises seamlessly into a circuit without stopping. The simple ‘Cindy’ circuit that I mentioned earlier is made significantly harder by wearing a 20lb weighted vest while doing it.
• A weighted vest is also a great way to load exercises like the pushup when you’re working out alone. This is the preferred way to vary the loading when you don’t have a training partner to load and unload plates on your back.

Rep Ranges for the Weighted Pushup

With the weighted pushup, reps and sets can be varied in a number of different ways. In general, I’d have people wait to perform the weighted pushup until they can perform 15 solid pushups without any weight. At that point, you can start adding 5 or 10 pound plates on the back for sets of 5 to 10 reps.

In terms of rep ranges, I really like anything from 8 – 12. Using a challenging weight for a set of 10 will not only provide a tremendous upper body stimulus, but will also be an excellent test for the abdominals. Maintaining quality form on the weighted pushup requires a high degree of tension in the abs since the lower back wants to sag due to the load being placed on the upper back. A 10 rep set will last 20-25 seconds and challenge the abs significantly.

Supersetting the Weighted Pushup with a Pull

One of my favorite supersets in the gym is alternating the barbell row with the weighted pushup. This opposes a horizontal push (pushup) with a horizontal pull (barbell row), and both exercises put demands on both the upper body and the abdominals. To do this, find a good weight for the barbell row for a set of 10 and a good weight to load on the back for a set of 10 pushups. Perform a set of pushups then rest 60 seconds and then do a set of rows and rest 60 seconds. Repeat this for a total of 5 sets of each exercise.

This is a great superset to do in a gym like Crunch or 24 Hr since all you need is a barbell and some plates. You could even do the rows with heavy dumbbells if a barbell isn’t available. You can also superset the weighted pushup with other pulls such as the good old fashioned pullup or a ring/TRX row.

Make Up Your Own Variations

In the end, I’d urge anyone to try any combinations you can think of with the weighted pushup. It’s a very simple and effective training tool that most people don’t take advantage of in their training. Try it out!

The Chain Handle Goblet Squat

I’ve always loved the goblet squat as an exercise. While you can use more weight in the back squat and the front squat, the goblet squat has a special way of naturally putting people in very good squatting positions. Let’s quickly review what we’re looking for in a good squat:

• Weight on the heels throughout
• Knees tracking in line with the toes and not caving in towards each other
• Knees staying in the same place or moving backward during the ascent (no forward gliding while coming up)
• Hips below the level of knee joint at bottom (a below parallel full squat)
• Low back set in a good extended arch but not hyperextended
• Chest up
• Flat upper back
• Chin ‘tucked’ in and back to keep the neck neutral

Back Squat Positional Problems

Due to a number of factors, all of these positional cues can be difficult to replicate in the back squat and the front squat. With skilled, flexible athletes, they may have no problem keeping excellent position immediately when learning how to back squat and front squat, but that is not the case with a vast majority of people. With the toll our modern lifestyle takes on the hips, shoulders, and upper back, there can be some significant inflexibility in those areas that will even make holding the barbell difficult during a back or front squat. And even if people do manage to wrangle the bar into place on their back or shoulders despite inflexibility, it’s almost assured that they’re making compensations elsewhere.

The one place I see this compensation most often in back squats is the lower back. Almost on cue, clients will go from looking like the picture on the left while getting ready to get under the bar for their set to looking like the picture on the right when they take the bar out of the rack and squat. The fact is that trying to maintain normal spinal posture during a back squat when you have tight shoulders is very very difficult, which is why you see most people excessively arch when squatting. Let’s be clear that this exaggerated lumbar curve actually isn’t the most dangerous thing in the world. It’s far safer to build a strong lower back in a slightly exaggerated position than to be weak and prone to flexion (rounding of the lower back).

The main problems you’ll see from squatting (or deadlifting) in that exaggerated lumbar curve position is an inability to transfer force and activate the right musculature. As you can see in the picture, the overarch of the lumbar causes the pelvis to rotate forward. This will take a huge amount of slack off your abs, obliques, glutes, and hamstrings, which are all working to keep the pelvis tilted backwards. When these muscles come off tension, you have a recipe for very poor torso and hip stability.

Enter the Goblet Squat

Unlike the back squat, shoulder and upper back flexibility is never an issue with the goblet squat. You can see in the end of Kevyn’s set of 20 with the 53lb kettlebell that she is able to maintain very solid positioning overall, especially in the lower back. Because the load is positioned at the chest on the front side of the body, there is a natural tendency to correctly stay back on the heels and go deeper into the squat when using the goblet variation. You also have the added benefit of being able to physically keep the knees out at the bottom of the squat and prevent knee caving.

[ Javascript required to view QuickTime movie, please turn it on and refresh this page ]

The Chain Handle Goblet Squat

While the goblet squat can be effectively performed with heavy dumbbells, I find grip and the unwieldy nature of a giant dumbbell to be limiting factors when you get to a certain point. Unless you’re in a large commercial gym, it can also be difficult to find dumbbells that are heavy enough for the job. To solve this problem and also make the weight as variable as I need it to be, I rigged up the chain handle goblet squat

The chain wraps around the weights and is attached via carabiner to two regular cable handles, giving you the ability to progressively load the exercise as you get stronger at it. Here’s Paul’s set of 10 at 114lbs during our trial run of the exercise.

[ Javascript required to view QuickTime movie, please turn it on and refresh this page ]

Both Paul and Tyler were able to hit final sets at 125lbs. One of the things you notice immediately about both this exercise and the goblet squat is the contribution of the abs to the movement. A big reason for this is that the exercise forces the lower back and the pelvis into a correct position, which ends up putting a significant hit on the abs and obliques to maintain stability. With this correct pelvic position and torso stabilization, I find clients can get deeper into squats with less pain almost immediately with these variations.

Hacks for Drinking Your Way Through St. Paddy’s

St. Patrick’s Day. A day of celebration. Most people probably don’t know what they’re celebrating, but it means new clothes, parades, and a full day of drinking with friends, which is reason enough to get crazy. Before the shenanigans start, here are a few quick tips that will make your day run a bit more smoothly and maybe even allow you to be coherent all the way through last call at 2AM.

Pre Drinking Food = Protein

Your key here is going to be protein. And lots of it. Protein has some incredible benefits for the body and is especially useful when trying to make it through a long drinking day while minimizing the damage to your health. First off, realize that alcohol is a primadona when it comes to metabolism. When alcohol gets into your system, it will be burned off first and foremost above any other calories you may be digesting or storing. One reason for this is the alcohol by product acetate is toxic, so the body tags it as a high priority to get out of your system (which is nice). Long story short, whenever you start drinking alcohol for an extended period of time, your fat loss (fat oxidation) drops to nada. So if you just happened to have finished a high carb and/or high fat meal before you start drinking, you can bet a huge chunk of that meal is going to be stored as fat.

The only nutrient category that will NOT convert to fat while drinking is protein. Additionally, protein is by far the most satiating of all of the nutrients. Consider how many chips, pretzels, or buckets of popcorn you can eat before you get full (a lot) versus how many cans of tuna or pieces of steak you can eat before getting full (not many). This fullness from a high protein meal will keep your booze-fueled overeating in check later in the day and evening once you start to drink.

So my suggestion is to find a party with some tasty corned beef and cabbage and go to town on the less fattier cuts. And for some added insurance, throw down a few scoops of whey protein with water before going out.

Drinks = Jamo all the Way

I know regardless of what I tell you, you’ll still be drinking green beer, car bombs, and jameson shots until you’re face down, so let’s come up with a strategy to prioritize these. One thing we have going for us with alcohol is its high thermic effect (TEF), which represents the energy above our resting metabolic rate that it takes to burn it off. In fact, alcohol is a close second to protein in this category, making it actually cost about 5 calories per gram rather than the typically stated 7. This is all good until you start to consider the carbohydrate load in a lot of alcohol and in mixers.

Ideally you want to stick with zero carb spirits like gin, vodka, and tequila or drier red wines. But on St Paddy’s, you’ll probably be taking shots with yourself if you’re drinking tequila all day. The best compromise here is Jameson. Tasty, festive, and won’t crush you in terms of carbs. A close second is bud light in the green bottle. I’d alternate a jamo shot with friends and sipping on a bud light for most of the day. If you want to stay as clean as possible, alternate jameson shots with vodka sodas. As for car bombs, just make em count. Aim to do 2 throughout the day (or three if you’re a big dude) and try to space them.

Interesting parallel: Alcohol actually acts very similarly to carbohydrates as far as fat storage. They both shut down fat oxidation (fat loss) and make it very easy for calories to be stored as fat. The only difference is that carbohydrates themselves can also be stored as fat, whereas alcohol is burned off immediately and is not stored as fat. This may play a factor in why repeated studies show moderate drinkers to be leaner overall than their non drinker counterparts. So the moral of the story is that anytime you’re considering eating carbs, you should start drinking instead for the sake of your health. Bottoms up!

Final tip: Before a long day or evening of drinking, I always pop a 5 Hour Energy. I have no research to back up this being good for me, effective, or useful, but I’ll be looking into it soon. All I know anecdotally is that I’m in MUCH better shape the following day every single time I’ve taken one of these. For what it’s worth.