one weird trick Archives - Page 2 of 3

February 12, 2016

One Weird Trick: Installment 7 – Roll Out, Roll Out

Many times in our quest for six-packedness, we embark on several different exercises that are targeted towards our abs. In reality, what is the true, underlying solution towards revealing a six-pack? Positive hormonal changes due to sleep, nutrition, and training derived changes, along with slight hypertrophy of the obliques. (I say obliques intentionally, because many times the rectus abdominis could be overly relied on in a synergistic dominance point of view.)

That isn’t where the weird trick comes into play. The above is meant to be followed through with of course!

During this quest for aesthetics and awesomeness, torso position is something that is of utmost importance during various abdominal and core-related drills.

If our ability to produce force is limited by the ability to resist motion in our midsection, then this idea of challenging motion in any capacity will be introduced. Well, why does resisting motion even matter?

Well, to put it very simply, imagine if you have two linemen opposing each other. From a biomechanics and muscular level, would you rather take someone who can resist being pushed around, or someone who will fall down at the slightest movement?

(Keep in mind, from a tactical point of view, there may be an advantage towards letting someone push while you allow them to push – which will ultimately let them fall on their butt.)

Pull when someone pushes and you get thrown!

There are tons of other science-y reasons why developing resiliency at the abdominals, and ultimately, the spinal vertebrae will help you get a six pack!

Spinal motion can involve rotation in both directions, extension, flexion, and side bending both ways, not to mention a total combination of all of these movements. When trying to perform stability ball rollouts, however, you need to be cognizant of not letting yourself lose position!

Another Trick That Involves Balls

In any case, this one weird trick involves developing tension in the most correct path towards improving co-contraction for your abdominals and even extensors of the posterior chain in your backside.

If you perform stability ball rollouts, or ab wheel rollouts, make sure to do these items from an external cuing perspective:

External Cues

Maintain a long line towards the ceiling.
Resist motion in any one direction while in your first starting position
Punch arms down into ground as you descend into the bottom/second position.

How Does This Trick Work?

Many are focused too much on their abdominals during this exercise, and performing rollouts in this manner is probably the most efficacious way to do them! You feel your abs kick on right away, and you can even maintain a better position while performing your stability ball rollouts!

Long story short, performing bilateral shoulder extension (the act of bringing your hands down and back, or away from the ceiling) will elicit torso flexion. Now, as we perform this movement in the stability ball rollout, we are in fact challenging torso extension – so if we combine the two…

Torso Extension + Shoulder Extension = Co-Contraction of All Torso Muscles

This is great news, because we don’t need to think about our position too much, just performing the action in a subconscious and perform it to an immediate mastery! That’s what I’m talking about!

As always,

Keep it funky!

February 4, 2016February 4, 2016

One Weird Trick: Installment 6 – They Say Jump, You Say, “How High?”

Whenever I am working with athletes on a new drill, there are two interesting things that can occur on the gym floor:

Lack of motoric control (inability to control range of motion, so movement is clunky/awkward)
Lack of specific mobility (lack of authentic movement pattern from appropriate musculature due to a bony, hard structure or a soft tissue problem, effectively limiting range of motion)

With respect to teaching a vertical jump, there is of course the basic mechanics of “jumping” – avoiding buckling of the knees, arm and torso angle.

However, teaching the intention of movement in a vertical jump, along with teaching the appropriate response to an external stimuli is of utmost priority from a coaching point of view, which is my main perspective.

Coaching our athletes to jump with strictly internal cues can prove to be deleterious towards the goal of higher force production. Internal cueing can also lead to introspection of self-movement quality.

From What We Say Matters via NSCA

“In sum, an external focus compared to internal focus reduces consciousness and therefore the amount of attention needed to perform a given task. This frees up attentional resources that can be used to further the efficiency and automaticity of a movement skill.”

Essentially I don’t want my athletes second guessing if their back position is good, arm position is good, or if their ankle position is good. I just want them to move with intention of strength, power, and speed.

They shouldn’t be thinking about individual body parts, but they should rather react to an external event to help improve performance based goals.

Check out this one change to an athlete’s perspective and environment that is easy to use as a teaching tool. This coaching tool works especially well when you’re trying to get a shy or even introverted athlete out of their shell, and it also helps create context for other athlete’s if they have played baseball, basketball, volleyball, or any other overhead sport!

How Does This Work

The idea of achieving “triple extension” is a coveted and ideal technique sought after in many jumps and Olympic lifts. In the vertical jump, it is easy to “pull your punches” with respect to achieving full range shoulder flexion, extension at the hip, and knee extension, and ankle plantarflexion.

The external focus on “reaching” for the ball negates any internal focus that telling specific body parts will have on the coaching and cueing aspect.

Long story short, use whatever tool you have to your advantage to help improve performance based outcomes by providing external or analogy related cues. If you are performing broad jumps for example, have athletes jump just a little further than what they are used to – it should push them, but not be unrealistic… and on, and on you go!

As always,

Keep it funky.

January 27, 2016January 27, 2016

One Weird Trick: Installment 5 – Fix Your Overhead Squat

Introducing the Tall Kneeling Position, and How It Can Fix Your Overhead Squat

Watch this video to make sure you do the tall kneeling position correctly, and read below to learn how this drill can fix your overhead squat movement!

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I’ve been blessed to have shared the company of several really smart physical therapists, personal trainers, and strength coaches of all types of backgrounds. I love how we can all see one specific issue, and come up with several different solutions for that same problem.

One of the things that has puzzled many of my colleagues is the inclusion of a tall kneeling position in an exercise program. First, what is the tall kneeling position? And should I include it in my exercise program?

Essentially, the tall kneeling position involves assuming a bilateral stance on your knees.

Next, programming it in your program depends on if you need it or not from an assessment point of view.

Whenever I program a tall kneeling position into a program, more often than not that individual presented lack of control with their overhead squat.

At its simplest, the overhead squat is a bilateral stance movement pattern. In the squat pattern, you are learning to change levels. And by levels, I mean starting tall, and ending up in a lowered stance.

In your beginning stance, you are theoretically in full hip extension while in an upright and standing position.

As you descend and change levels, you are eccentrically loading the posterior chain musculature, maintaining a static torso position, along with going into hip flexion.

In the tall kneeling pattern, you are simply challenging the hip extension movement pattern. There is no deep excursion into hip flexion (although, you can always go into a slight hip flexion pattern by sitting your butt to your heels).

So while an overhead squat can be limited for many reasons – lack of hip mobility, lack of hip control, lack of ankle mobility/stability, which are mainly lower body problems – there are also other reasons that an overhead squat can exhibit a dysfunctional pattern in an individual, namely torso and upper body related problems.

I highlighted and bolded the phrase “maintaining a static torso position” above because, from my point of view, the tall kneeling pattern’s main purpose is to maintain a static torso position while moving in various manners.

When to Use the Tall Kneeling Position

Well, an easy way to see if a drill is right for you is to see if you fit a specific type of criteria. I can’t diagnose from the internet, but I can provide better ways to move about based on your movement, such as during your overhead squat.

Perform an Overhead Squat.
If you have issues maintaining an upright torso, or you tend to dive forward immediately in your squat, elevate your heels.
Perform the overhead squat again.
If the position is not improved, then the tall kneeling position may be appropriate for a few of your drills.

Here are a list of other ways you can challenge torso stability:

… among many, many other drills and exercises!

As always,

Keep it funky.

P.S. In fact, when you think about it, the Glute Ham Raise is also an opportunity to challenge a “Tall Kneeling” position, albeit you are moving at the posterior chain!