The Deadlift Devotion

The Deadlift is a great exercise choice for athletes or general populations looking to gain power, posterior chain strength, and even postural stability (more on this soon). However, not all coaches should use it for their athletes. Now before you click the unfollow button hear me out. I hold the deadlift as a top priority in my training philosophy because of the high amount of muscle recruitment, true hip hinging emphasis, and amount of power that can be developed. The truth is not all coaches know how to coach the deadlift, therefore why coach what you cannot preach or have never experienced yourself?

I had deadlifted in high school, just like every other high school football player and learned all the bad mechanics as most others and complained of the lower back pain and so on. 

As a young strength coach I have made it a priority to find a good mentor (I am lucky enough to have more than one: Chris Ecklund and Peter Blumert), to teach me how to properly deadlift in order to better coach this exercise. I really like what Mike Boyle asks, "Are you a know-it-all or a learn-it-all?" I strive to be the latter. 

I started out from the most basic hip hinging exercises and progressively worked into my RDL movements to a modified deadlift pulling from a rack and finally to a conventional deadlift pulling from plates. Through many workouts, technical errors and successes, and a two solid mentors I reached a point where I look like I know what the heck I am doing.

The following video is a compilation of deadlifts I pulled on different dates up to this week. The first video is my first pull from ground level. During the different clips, watch my progressions of hip mobility, tempo, and spinal stability throughout the 3 month period. You will notice in the last 2 clips I have double banded the bar to enforce the correct postural mechanics.

Growing up an athlete and collegiate soccer player a lot of movements were easy to pick up, but putting in work to get better at anything is always always always a better reward than reading it from a book and taking the author's word for it. So if there is a movement you can improve on in order to become a better coach put in the work. 

No one expects you to be perfect and know everything in this industry because that is exactly what it is not. The fitness, health and performance industry is always changing with the people you work with and their specific needs. The olympic, power, strength lifts; metabolic and cardio circuits, nutritional guidelines, injury prevention and rehab exercises, etc, are all there; you just have to put in the time and hard work to become better at what you do. How hard are you willing to work in order to become a better coach?

This Weeks Must Reads Jan 26, 2013

Sorry for missing last weeks must reads. I have been working on a huge project that is just about done. Without further adieu here is this weeks must reads.

Prevail Conditioning put this one up a couple weeks back, but there is still great information on Thoracic Spine mobility exercises.

Eric Cressey posted an awesome article about successful training programs. It comes down to simplicity and individualization.

T-Nation put up an article by TC that was eye opening to some of the foods we enjoy every day. From shrimp to soy you will be surprised.

Bret Contreras has an awesome "Glute-Off" video where Charles Staley and himself compete to see who could BB Hip Extension the most weight (with great form I must add). Just a cool video to check out.

Wil Fleming is one of the masters when it comes to Olympic Lifting. Check out his article to become a better coach.


Thanks for reading and enjoy your weekend.

Healthy Fascia for Healthy Functioning

Many of my athletes and general populations tell me about these sore spots or "knots" on their body from training each week. Where do these knots and trigger points come from? Well, it is all part of our body's natural response to exercise or poor posture throughout the day. We get a knot in our back from sitting at a computer and an anterior tilt of our humeri and the muscles that work around the shoulder. Other situations could be a tough consecutive days of training and our muscle tension is increased. Now our bodies have a heightened sense of muscle activity or overactive muscles that need to be inhibited. We can inhibit the overactivity of our muscles by breaking up the micro-trauma in our fascia through self-myofascial release. In theory, we are working towards creating an optimal length tension relationship for our muscles because they are out of sync at this heightened state of tension.

What can we use to perform self myofacsial release?
There are a number of tools around your house that can be used. Here is a list of things that could work:
- golf ball
- tennis ball
- baseball
- lacrosse ball
- pvc pipe
- rolling pin (cooking)

Some of the tools that are more common amongst training and performance centers are foam rollers. At Prevail Conditioning we also have pvc pipes for our clients to use.

So how do we perform self myofacsial release?

These tools are used to apply pressure to our "trigger points" in order to inhibit our overactive muscles and release the tight uncomfortable sensation we experience. In the following video I demonstrate how to use the different tools (golf ball, tennis ball, pvc pipe, foam roller) and which muscle groups they work best on, from my preference.

Review:
Use the golf ball for the arches of your feet.
Use the tennis ball for your glutes while stretching the muscle.
Use the PVC pipe for your legs.
Use the foam roller for your back.

Releasing the trigger points and knots on our body can be achieved through self myofascial release and will enable your clients to move more efficiently and simply feel better. If you have any more questions abut self myofascial release or other tools that can be used for certain places, leave a comment below!

This Weeks Must Reads Jan 12

Here are some great articles from the top fitness and health professionals this week.

First up! Bret Contreras wrote a monster of an article on Glute Imbalances. He has a passion for research and does an awesome job transferring the data into practical terms for people to understand. If you are a coach looking to get better, you need to check this out.

Next, NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine) posts a ton of quality information pertaining to training and nutrition. This post on Simple Sugars gives readers the "behind the scenes" nutritional info most people never see (unless of course you studied health sciences in college).

For you weight lifting enthusiasts Bob Takano writes about evolution and history of Weight Lifting and Coaches during his time.

Last but never least, Eric Cressey breaks down proper Push Up technique to get the most out of this exercise. Always informative and technique-oriented just how I like it.

Have a great weekend!

This Weeks Must Reads, Jan 6

It is really important to keep up to date with what the top fitness professionals are talking about and the new research that is coming out. However, it is understandable that most people do not have the time to read up each week. Therefore, I am committed to finding the most beneficial and up to date information written by the top professionals in the industry to save you time on the web.

Wil Fleming kills it with a Breakdown of the Snatch in a lengthy, but worth every word article on T Nation. If you are enjoy Olympic Lifting and are looking to get better, this is for you.

Gray Cook and Brett Jones talk through the Kettlebell Squat in an instructional video on FMS' website. Ketlebells are great tools to throw in your programs when used correctly and safely.

Dr. Berardi discusses Getting in Shape after an injury and shares a time when he recovered from injury.

There were definitely more great reads, but these were at the top of the list for the week. Share these reads with friends and enjoy!

Proper Spine Position for Hip Hinging

Part 1: TEACHING POSITION


The Deadlift is an extremely beneficial movement that when coached correctly can result in serious power enhancements. So where do you start?

IT ALL STARTS WITH THE SPINE
First, you have to teach your athletes how to correctly position and stabilize their spines before you even lift a load. I start by using a dowel (PVC, Wood), to help my athletes find three points of connection: head, Thoracic Spine, and sacrum (or top of your butt). Use a picture or video to show this. A few reasons an athlete may not be able to start here, could be horrible posture (usually in a kyphotic state), or the occasional ponytail which can offset the dowel. I'm serious about this one!




THE MAGIC DOWEL

Once your athlete can maintain those 3 points of contact with the dowel we can coach the hip hinge. First set your feet at hip width. grip the floor with your feet and neveret them come off the grouns. Now the hip hinge is the primary movement of this lift where the hips are moving from flexion to extension (or in our beginning stages extension to flexion). The key to coaching this part is to enforce maintaining the 3 points of contact throughout the entire movement. When returning to hip extension we want to reinforce squeezing the glutes to finish the movement. Make sure you look to see if your athlete is using their spine to finish the movement or their glutes!

Coaching cues to perform the movement:

- big chest, chin tucked, shoulders back

- squeeze the glutes at hip extension

- brace your torso and create stiffness before starting the movement


Spine Position will make a huge difference for you and your clients overall physical health. When taught correctly, this movement will show up in many different lifts and set your clients up for success.