There is a thought process that performing several different variations of a pressing, rowing, or various abdominal exercises in a half kneeling position will be beneficial for several reasons:
Challenge unilateral lower body stability,
Split a pelvis in order to recruit deep stabilizers in the hip, and
[Re]-introduce the lunging pattern to an individual that can’t get into a this pattern – so a static version of a lunge will be helpful towards that goal!
Traditionally utilizing a pattern such as the half kneeling position will require a contralateral position of the working arm and opposite stabilizing leg.
In other words, if you are performing a half kneeling 1-arm cable row for example, and you are rowing with your right arm, you will have your right leg back in hip extension.
Half Kneeling Ipsi-what?
However, this rule of “same arm that is performing the action, requires the same leg to move” is not a hard and fast rule.
One weird trick that goes against this notion that has helped involves using the same side for both the movement and the leg that is “up,” or in other words if your right hand is moving a weight, you should have your right leg up in hip flexion to help stabilize (instead of having your knee down on the ground).
The reasons this may be more efficacious towards instantaneous strength can be traced towards a sequence of developmental periods of growth as we grow from babies into functioning and developed toddlers/kids.
Photo Credit: PikeAthletics.com
There are also other reasons why this may work, as if you are attempting to push from a position that is compromised or restrictive in nature (half kneeling, for example), you can recruit the side that is pushing by bringing that same leg up into hip flexion, which will recruit more obliques on that side.
Further, you can create more stability in your posterior chain and “push” (or perform whatever action) in a better position via recruitment of your lats as you have that same leg up.
Interestingly enough, we don’t seem to question this stability in the Turkish Get Up, where you use the same hand that is holding the kettlebell, and using the same leg that is in hip flexion…
Make sure to recruit total body tension via irradiation as you perform these movements, which merely requires tightness throughout your legs, abdominals, and opposite hand that is not holding anything (Bonus Trick: Try holding a Fat Grip or other item and squeezing if you can’t develop tension in a hand that doesn’t hold anything).
How to Program
Well you can program this in any capacity for what it is worth. I usually like having half kneeling and unilateral stability exercises as a secondary or part of a “B Series” of exercise selection.
This doesn’t mean you need to adhere to this rule either, but it can help improve further push big numbers after performing a bench press or other bilateral movement pattern.
These movements can greatly benefit you towards improving your strength and even hypertrophy, because if you can press more weight, well then you can recruit more muscular fibers, and perhaps even improve upon your physique.
So many fun things can happen when you begin to understand how to manipulate the neuromuscular system! :)
A funny thing keeps on happening as I continue through the off-season for many of my clients: many individuals still have some sort of dysfunction present on a neuromuscular level.
What I mean by this is that despite the advanced assessment process, despite auditing how someone moves, and despite controlling for as many variables as I can from an exercise selection point of view, some people will still present with dysfunction.
Why is this? Isn’t the point of pursuing options like working with myself, and many other professionals on the continuum, to help improve functioning for whatever the individual desires/needs?
When it comes to the neuromuscular dysfunctions, I see many present with dysfunction with respect to cervical range of motion limitation, thoracic flexion/extension/rotation limitations, and pelvic stability issues.
These items can lead to a dysfunctional scapulohumeral rhythm (a dysfunctional rhythm is still, well… a rhythm), along with a lack of inability to negotiate gravity in an authentic manner in whatever capacity you choose to perform, among many other items that many professionals can point out as “dysfunctional.”
But what is the origin of said abnormal pattern?
Movement is not the only system that can be defined as “dysfunctional.”
If I were to say the reason you are dysfunctional is because you play a specific sport, that would be an incomplete statement.
Playing a sport is not the real reason – many people play sports without dysfunction.
What is the Real Reason?
Some dysfunction can be due to necessary adaptations as a function of playing your sport, some are due to psychological/behavioral triggers, and others due to other things altogether.
I can play hockey for an hour, but I won’t develop a “dysfunction” comparatively to another person that has played hockey their whole life. In fact, my dysfunction might be that I play the sport of hockey poorly!
Back to my original point, many of the individuals I see are professional athletes. They do almost every rep under our eye, and they are being corrected to the next degree.
What gives? Why would these individuals still display a lack of full range of motion from Point A (end of an in-season) to Point Z (end of the off-season)?
You’d expect there to be a radical change from a neuromuscular point of view, when in fact I am attempting to do an accumulation of these items:
Improve neuromuscular movement quality from a full in-season
Improve fitness qualities of strength, speed, power, and endurance to support a future pre-season and in-season
Induce recovery methods via nutritional protocols and resting strategies, at appropriate times!
Playing “Who Done It?” with Dysfunction
The above dysfunctions could be due to many things:
Fatigue and thus overuse of incorrect neuromuscular patterning (running too much without considering the tonic/phasic relationship of gait)
Lifting too much without appropriate technique, which could lead to inappropriate mechanics, or altered kinematics with respect to everyday functioning
Lack of appropriate equipment necessary to support a given task – running shoes to give an appropriate reference for your feet, ankles, and hips, appropriate cleats to push off with enough friction if playing baseball, or even the right headwear to support certain dance moves (headspins, for example).
Cleats, Shin guards, Motion Control shoes, or even Headspin beanies could be pieces to the puzzle
Essentially if you play a sport, you will eventually need to practice that sport at some point when transitioning from your off-season to pre-season/in-season phases… and accumulated stress from practices, sessions, will happen. This sudden onset of stress from the reintroduction of neuromuscular patterningis necessary in order to get better at your sport specific skills.
Viewing the Forest for the Trees
Fatigue
If someone has enough requisite fitness qualities, you may need to develop their sport specific skillset.
An Optimal Performance Pyramid
For example, I would consider my strength qualities to be relatively high in comparison to another individual with respect to powerlifting standards.
However, in order for me to develop the requisite fitness qualities necessary for me to play hockey for example, that extra strength won’t help transfer towards the endeavor. Thus, I’d fatigue a lot faster than someone else who has an exceptional aerobic capacity, and I would tire out trying to learn sport specific items that much faster.
Gym Logic
If someone is not strong, but technically sound from a sport specific point of view, well then get them stronger to support their technical output.
Essentially, if you move under load (a weighted barbell, for example) incorrectly, you are going to kick on a specific type of patterning. The following things can theoretically happen when performing movements in a gym:
Using or Not Using the Appropriate Equipment
If someone needs equipment in order to perform better, allocating the best equipment will help deliver a better quality of performance. I don’t mean this as in the sense of “Go and get the new Jordan’s,” or even in the context of “MOM! I NEED THOSE SHOES!“
I’m including legitimate and appropriate equipment use in the context of these questions:
Will the equipment in question allow you to deliver a better force production towards whatever endeavor you choose?
Will the equipment in question allow you to deliver a better force absorption towards your chosen endeavor?
Are you more efficient with the equipment?
Are you less efficient with the equipment?
At the same time, to continue with the Devil’s Advocate, perhaps you don’t need to use certain equipment to further instruct or teach a specific lesson or skillset that you may have overlooked from a fundamental level. In other words, perhaps the equipment you have been using in the past have been a crutch for a lack of sports specific technique.
For example, not using a belt in powerlifting has been anecdotally beneficial for myself and others, and when putting the belt back on after a certain amount of time, there is increased strength that is observed.
Sudden Stress
If someone has a sudden onset of stress from, well quite literally anything, how can you manage it?
Do you have a recovery plan for if someone goes on a 8 hour flight across the country, and they need to play about 2 hours right after they get off the plane?
What happens if the person has next to no sleep because of family responsibility?
The following solutions for a sudden onset of stress come to mind:
Solutions:
Mindfulness, or meditative practice
Create a robust aerobic engine (doing so for weeks or even months) in anticipation of systemic stress to allow for better parasympathetic functioning in the face of a sudden sympathetic stressor
If systemic stress causes a lack of mobility to occur, choose series of exercises that will circumvent this lack of mobility that may be necessary
I bring up all of these seemingly minute details because I am attempting to explain that as a strength coach, personal trainer, or whatever other title you can give me, sometimes I do not have access to the whole picture that is often viewed as a large jigsaw puzzle.
I can see parts of a cloud, and I can see some trees, but when I’m attempting to fill in the corner of the puzzle, I can’t fill it in when I don’t know even know what it looks like.
Now, imagine a jigsaw puzzle that has a certain window of opportunity to be completed in – and you are all of a sudden on a time crunch, with limited resources!
We Are All Pieces to the Puzzle (Whether Or Not You Realize It)
For what it is worth, we (collectively) as a profession are all parts to a much larger puzzle.
Those of us that crush our athletes through “extraneous” work and drills are attempting to fill in their pieces of the puzzle with what they believe works by violently thrashing the table around, hoping the pieces of the puzzle will eventually fit.
Those of us that don’t create resiliency for our athletes by excessively giving fluffy exercise intensities and selections are likewise attempting to fill in their portion of the puzzle. They do so delicately, and with great precision, because to them every green piece looks like a part of a tree.
Unfortunately, they forget that they have the rest of the picture to complete, and they feel satisfied that they placed one piece of the puzzle in the correct spot, yet there are 9,999 more pieces to place down to complete the puzzle.
Those of us who attempt to improve recovery through nutritional and/or therapeutic modalities are necessary, and yet again are still just one piece of the puzzle. I hope this analogy makes sense, as I can keep on going on!
And to push this issue even further, if you have the capacity to carry a piece of the puzzle to fill in the larger picture, do you even have the ability to communicate to others who are on the other side of the puzzle to make sure you’re in the right spot, at the right time?
What happens if you recognize that a piece of the puzzle is missing from the whole picture? Do you know who to call to help fill that piece in, even if they aren’t part of your specific group of friends trying to help fill it in?
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I find that the more I seek understanding of a certain topic(s), I uncover more questions that I didn’t even realize were relevant questions at the time.
The overhead squat is a coveted screen and assessment tool used by many in the fitness, strength community, and rehab worlds. Many live and die by this movement, and others do not place much priority on it. This combination will look at my own experiences and observations in the overhead squat, along with providing pragmatic application of exercises that will hopefully aim to improve your movement capacity in the squat.
Enjoy!
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There are many different ways to identify how to “score” the overhead squat – I choose to follow an FMS-based instruction towards the overhead squat, as it allows me an easier component towards bucketing and placing athletes in certain groups. Over my tenure at Cressey Sports Performance, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing a relatively large amount of athletes, on top of providing an individual program to cater to their specific needs. This is an experience that is unique to this facility, because many times coaches can look at a large population of individuals, but cannot provide the individual instruction or exercise selection necessary in order to improve outcomes.
The numbers of adequate overhead squats were staggering – over 115 squats and only 12 (twelve) squatswere at industry standard. The other 103 squats were below standard or had other complications in their other movement patterns which limited the squat!
Those who scored “3’s” on the Overhead Squat were either young, relatively hyper mobile in comparison to their other peers (especially in the hip region), and interestingly, played multiple sports (more than just one sport such as only baseball).
Now the reasoning for a lack of ability to perform an overhead squat can be traced to several ideas:
Your joints don’t allow it.
Your tissue quality doesn’t allow appropriate lengthening and shortening in this movement.
You are unfamiliar with the movement.
Your brain is limiting you in some capacity due to pain, novelty of movement, or some other threat.
Your issue is not the squat – it is higher up in terms of movement patterns.
(With respect to the above, I’d like to assume that almost all of the individuals coming into CSP are pain free.)
If your joints don’t allow appropriate motion because of one hard structure bumping into another hard structure, that will be difficult to improve an overhead squatting motion to past 90° of hip flexion.
If your tissue quality is relatively dense and possibly fibrotic, well then that could limit your ability for your muscles to be pliable. Relatively less dense muscle quality can relate to improved neural connections as these drivers.
Many times individuals simply have no pre-conceived notion of what an appropriate squatting movement pattern consists of, so naturally their performance on the screen is limited or poor.
No one instructed “baby” on how to squat…
If your brain perceives threat in some manner, then perhaps changing levels at the hip joint will cause some type of input into the brain that says, “Don’t do this! It might hurt!” There are tons of ways to reduce threat (if you need to), so making sure you are in a positive environment (to take care of the psychological component), safe and appropriate environment and equipment (to take care of the physical component), along with using the right exercise for the right individual will hopefully take care of the issue of threat perception.
The psychological component can definitely influence physical factors.
And finally, the overhead squat is in actuality, my least concern of a movement pattern from a screening perspective. There are actually several other movements that I’m more concerned about, on top of owning breathing, and more importantly several other athletic movement endeavors, such as skipping, shuffling, sprinting, throwing, etc.
The small parts of the overhead squat are actually addressed in detail in other movement patterns from another assessment process, other tests, and even screens. In this case, the small parts that comprise the bigger parts of the overhead squat are just that – mere minutia in the grand scheme of a total screening and assessment process.
Despite having a limited overhead squat pattern…
Will your athlete be successful in his or her sport?
Will your athlete still have immense amounts of force production capabilities?
Will your athlete be able to control other motoric movement patterns?
I’m not saying completely ignore the overhead squat, but placing an immense amount of priority on whether or not someone can perform well when screening for the overhead squat correctly is not a big deal.
To re-emphasize this for you, I’ve done over 115 formal assessments, and an unknown amount of informal assessments (for staff, interns, friends, etc) while only at CSP, and I’ve seen only 12 overhead squats that have gone for par.
That is only 10% of the individuals that have come through the doors, having an adequate standard of movement for one test (out of several movements that were also assessed and screened).
There are other priorities in an individual!
So 90% of the other population that I’ve assessed have had poor squat patterns.
This does not mean I exclude the squatting motion from their exercise program – it just gives me better information on how to address their specific and individual problems.
With ALL of this in mind, now I can introduce an exercise combination that I’ve found lots of success with, as it address several things all at once – a catch-all combination to use some cliche phrases.
Reverse Inchworm to Overhead Squat
This exercise catches a lot of things all at once:
Challenges anti-extension movement
Upward scapular rotation
As you sit back, it catches hip flexion
As you rock back into a squatting pattern, there is sensory input so you can find more ankle dorsiflexion
There is input as you rock back as well for great toe extension, which is crucial for acceleration and gait purposes
Photo Credit: StoneAthleticMedicine.com
Prying Goblet Squat with Breathing
The next component in this exercise combination talks about:
Owning a position of deep hip flexion
Improving the activation of the hip external rotators as you rock the kettlebell/dumbbell up and down
On top of owning breathing patterns.
Programming for Building Up Your Squat
I refer to “building up your squat” because you are doing so from the ground up. First you have a movement pattern that forces you to move backwards – something that doesn’t happen too often in a commercial gym setting, and then own it with breathing and heavy weights.
If you’re programming this, you probably don’t need it too much to improve upon your squat. It’s like taking medicine, you don’t need a full week of over-the-counter medicine to improve symptoms, but maybe 2 days of it plus good sleep will do the trick.
Just like that analogy, maybe you only need a few days of this exercise combination in order to improve your movement patterns, instead of a full month or year of “corrective exercises!”
With this in mind, see how this feels in the beginning of your day, or at the beginning of your exercise program as follows:
