You're Injured–Now What?

At some point in nearly every athlete or active person's career, he or she will experience some injury, either major or minor. Whether you've torn a tendon or ligament, sprained a muscle, or you just have a nagging painful area that won't seem to go away, you understand how frustrating it can be when you're making a lot of progress and your body forces you to a screeching halt.

She does not look like she's having a good time.

Unless it is a traumatic injury (broken bone or a complete muscle tear), many people will just bite their tongues through the pain and continue to train normally. Perhaps they'll rest for a few days, or they'll avoid painful movements.

If you're currently suffering from some sort of issue, you're probably trying to figure out what the safest approach is that will allow you to continue to make progress towards your goals.

Injury (or pain) can be a slippery slope. Often times, people will approach me saying "my XYZ hurts. What should I do about it?" First, let me start by saying that I'm not an Orthopedist, a physical therapist or a chiropractor. I simply work in an environment in which people have a pretty high injury risk if they're not being careful, and I've had the opportunity to rack the brains of some very intelligent people who are much more qualified in this area than I am.

Here are some safe approaches to dealing with a painful or injured area without losing your precious gains that you've worked so hard to achieve:

1. Get assessed! This is the number one, without a doubt, biggest priority. So many people put off going to a physical therapist or chiropractor for one reasons or another. Perhaps they're afraid of what a doctor will say, or they're just too stubborn. Alternatively, they'd prefer to deal with the pain on their own, and they exacerbate their symptoms. Often times, problem areas are a pretty quick fix, assuming you see the right therapist. Finding out what muscles are weak or under-active will be helpful in preventing other similar injuries down the line.
2. Prioritize corrective exercise. I hear so many people complaining about pain, but yet no one wants to do anything to fix it. Instead, they will pop a couple Aspirin and hope it'll disappear on its own. Sorry to rain on your parade, but that won't work in the long term. Where there is pain, there is dysfunction. Injuries are very rarely caused by one isolated incident, but, rather, the culmination of months (or years) of bad movement patterns. Pain happens when your body says "Whoa, something needs to change. I can't keep working like this." Breathing drills are absolutely important to bring your body back to the parasympathetic nervous system. Correcting your posture will improve your mechanics. Strengthening weak muscles will lead to more optimal movement patterns. Do your shoulder stability work, core strengthening, and hip stability exercises. Without consistency, your symptoms will persist.
3. Only lift with perfect technique. This goes hand-in-hand with number two. Don't put more weight on the bar than your body is ready to handle. Injuries happen when you compensate.
4. Don't train painful movements. Figure out a way to work around the pain. If squats are painful when you pass parallel (full knee flexion), try doing box squats or lunges for a while. Are front squats bothering your wrists? Stick with back squats. When a movement causes you pain, you will, subconsciously and consciously, move differently. Your body is going to reflexively shift weight away from a painful area, so you might place more weight on one side of your body than the other, or recruit muscles you shouldn't be recruiting.
5. Focus on other areas of your body. While your ankle is bothering you, you may use this time to work on your pull-ups and your bench press. Try adding some gymnastics movements into your routine. If your shoulder is injured, now's the time to improve your sprints and increase your back squat. Spend time strengthening the uninjured areas, so that you can still stay on top of your game.

Injuries are frustrating, but they're not the end of the world. If you take all of the proper measures to treat them, you can be back to training normally in just a few weeks.

With an injury, the worst thing you could possibly do would be to ignore it and just hope it gets better on its own. Be proactive and help yourself! Remember, we all experience injury at one point or another, and you can still make progress while you're injured. Always listen to your body and train safely.

Works Cited:

1. Cook, Gray. "The Three Rs." Gray Cook Physical Therapist Lecturer Author. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 July 2015.
2. Myers, Thomas W. Anatomy Trains: Myofascial Meridians for Manual and Movement Therapists. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone, 2001. Print.
3. Nickelston, Perry. "10 Things Breathing Patterns Tell Me About Your Body." Stop Chasing Pain. N.p., 8 Mar. 2012. Web. 31 July 2015.

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5 Exercises to Strengthen Your Neck

In the prequel to this post, I explained why so many of us carry a lot of tension in the neck. Stress, poor posture, and breathing can all contribute to elevated shoulders and a heavy head. I taught you a few quick movements that will strengthen the muscles of the chest, back and shoulders, and today I want to teach you some more exercises that will emphasize the neck musculature.

Lately, I've initiated my posts with a little bit of an anatomy lesson, so I'd like to continue that trend and talk a little bit more about the prime movers of the neck and their functions. First, we have the sternocleidomastoid muscles. I know, that name has a hell of a lot of syllables. The sternocleidomastoids (say that 10 times as fast as you can) are two big, strips of muscles that are on either side of your throat. They rotate the cervical spine (the neck), flex your neck forward, and also flex it laterally. Next, you have the scalenes. The scalenes are several tinier strands that wrap around the front of the neck. They work in conjunction with the sternocleidomastoids and laterally flex the neck and help you breathe. There are several other muscles in the neck, of course, but these are going to be the few that I discuss for the purposes of this post.

Now, the majority of people spend most of their time in cervical flexion, meaning that they are looking down at a computer, a book, or a smart phone. The upper trapezius are lengthened and over-active, while the sternocleidomastoids (SCM) are shortened and tight. When upright, many people maintain this position, because the body is lazy and doesn't like to recruit any more muscles than it needs for a given task. We walk around all day looking like the hunchbacks of Notre Dame.

The primary role of the head and neck, though, is to maintain joint centration and navigate our centers of mass. If our heads are cranked forward, now the entire system is out of line. Your center of mass has shifted from its ideal position, your "center," directly over your pelvis. Ideally, we want the earlobes in line with the shoulders.

If your center of gravity is too far forward or backwards, all of your movements will be altered from your clean and jerk to your 40 yard time. Alignment = optimal mechanics and balance.

Many coaches of sports like wrestling and football prioritize training the neck to avoid concussions and other potentially traumatic traumas to the head. While many of these teams make use of high-tech machines to isolate the neck, I believe neck training is best done (especially initially) without any added weight. Your head should be more than enough!

Here are 5 of my favorite exercises:

1. Neck flexion

2. Neck Extension

3. Lateral Flexion  

4. Neck Rotation (prone) 

5. Neck Rotation (supine)

Each of these movements can be done for 1-3 sets of 10 repetitions. I recommend starting out with only one or two sets, because you may find that you will be fairly sore after these exercises. The great thing about these movements is that they don't require equipment, and they won't take you long. I recommend my clients do them upon waking up or before bed.

The idea is to realign your center of mass so that you can perform most efficiently. Your balance will improve, you will better your hip and shoulder stability, and all of your muscles will function as they should. Find your center and master your body.


Works Cited:

1. Collins, Christy L., Erica N. Fletcher, Sarah K. Fields, Lisa Kluchurosky, Mary Kay Rohrkemper, R. Dawn Comstock, and Robert C. Cantu. "Neck Strength: A Protective Factor Reducing Risk for Concussion in High School Sports." J Primary Prevent The Journal of Primary Prevention 35.5 (2014): 309-19. Web.
2. Falla, D., G. Jull, T. Russell, B. Vicenzino, and P. Hodges. "Effect of Neck Exercise on Sitting Posture in Patients With Chronic Neck Pain." Physical Therapy 87.4 (2007): 408-17. Web.
3. Keating, Jennifer. "Predicting Short Term Response and Non-Response to Neck Strengthening Exercise for Chronic Neck Pain." Journal of Whiplash & Related Disorders 4.1 (2005): 43-55. Web.

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Why Comparing Yourself to Others Can Hinder Your Progress

Competition is an important part of any sport. If you want to be the best, you have to see what those around you are doing and strive to work even harder than them. When done in excess, however, comparing yourself to other individuals may be counterproductive.

Social media has made it easier to track the accomplishments of others. People constantly post videos from their training sessions, their PRs, and even their failures. These posts allow athletes to get insight into the routines of their competition. The unfortunate part, however, is that it is very easy to see what others are doing and feel as though your own performance is inadequate. I know many people (myself included) find themselves comparing their own progress to that of a friend or athlete over the internet.

Your fitness journey is your own! Here's why you shouldn't compare yourself to others:

1. You don't know their athletic background. Even though someone just started lifting, he/she may have been a competitive dancer. He may have been a Division I athlete in another sport. All of these factors contribute to a stronger, more coordinated lifter. If you were completely sedentary, or have never previously worked out at the level you do now, it's impossible to compare yourself to someone else who has trained at a higher intensity.
2. You have no idea how they're training. Perhaps this person is a full-time athlete. They may not have a family to support or a 9-5 desk job. Maybe they have time to train several times-a-day, whereas you can only train once. You don't know what kind of coach this person has. There are so many factors that go into programming that can positively or negatively influence the end result. You need to tweak your training to cater more towards your own needs and limitations.
3. You have a completely different body type. Weight classes in sport exist for a reason. It's really impossible for me to compare myself to girls who compete in higher or lower weight classes than I do. They're lighter, and they move completely differently. Genetics also play a big role. Someone who has shorter limbs, or smaller levers, is generally going to be able to produce more force than her lankier counterpart, because a.) the bar has a shorter distance to travel, and b.) her muscles will be more compact. Unfortunately, some people are also just gonna have more of a genetic inclination towards certain activities.
4. Everyone progresses at a different rate. We all have different strengths and difficulties. Some movements will come really easily to you, whereas you'll struggle through others.  Your strengths will be someone else's weaknesses. If you don't pick something up as quickly as a friend, that's completely okay.

Yes, when it's game time, you absolutely need to try to outdo your opponents--that's the point of competition. However, for training purposes, I think it's more beneficial to be absolutely laser-focused and self-centered. You need to concentrate on your own improvement, rather than invalidating yourself because you don't stack up to someone else. If you got a bench press PR, and you see someone else who's doing reps with your max, don't let that phase you. In time, you will get there.

Never miss a chance to quote "Office Space..."

Instead of consistently comparing your progress to that of others, compare your progress to where you were at this time last month, or even last year. Focus on what your weaknesses are, and train as hard as you can to improve upon those areas. Ultimately, this fitness journey, wherever you may fall on the spectrum, is about bettering yourself, however that may be. There should not be an "end destination," but rather a constant stride towards health. Every workout is going to make you stronger, mentally and physically. One of my favorite quotes, which is painted on the walls of my gym, is, "hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." This quote serves a daily reminder for me to push through every workout, no matter how tired I may feel or how difficult it might be. Someone can have more of a natural ability for something, but if you get in the gym and bust your ass everyday, your efforts will pay off in the long run. You might not see a change today, or even next month, but when you reflect in the years to come, you will be amazed with your progress. Trust the process, and sweat now, so you can gloat in that success later.

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Train Your Brain, Not Your Muscles

The most common questions a client or friend asks me are "what muscles does (fill in the exercise name here) train?" or, "what exercises can I do to lose fat in my (fill in muscle group name here)?" My answer will always be, "no muscle works in isolation."

The answer is all of them.

You are one single entity. Everything in your body, all of its muscles, organs and soft tissues work in unison.

Unfortunately, our modern understanding of anatomy has influenced people to divide the body up into smaller and smaller parts. You have the digestive system, the musculoskeletal system, the vestibular system, and so on and so forth. There are over 200 bones in your body and well over 600 muscles. The unfortunate part is that, for the purpose of classification or in order to break up something so vast and complex into more memorable, tangible parts, text books and health professionals have made increasingly specific distinctions for each part of the body. We have a never-ending list of different "specialists" for certain areas of the anatomy: cardiologists, podiatrists, orthopedists, endocrinologists, and many, many more. Sometimes it's confusing to know where the territory of one specialist ends and that of another begins.

In this intricate web that is the human body, everything is intertwined and interconnected. Your brain does not isolate certain parts at a time, but rather, they all work in concert to produce normal bodily functions and extraordinary feats. Your brain remembers movement patterns, not muscles. Your brain does not think "okay, I'm going to contract the biceps femoris now." Rather, it functions by using a sequence of impulses to fire several muscles at the same time, while relaxing the antagonist muscles. This happens thousands of times per day.

Now, the reason why this is so important is because one part of a muscle may fire, while the other part may not. I know this sounds confusing, but let me explain. Yes, this muscle has been classified as one comprehensive "unit," for the purpose of anatomy textbooks, but that does not mean that it always functions that way. Many muscles can perform several different actions. In order to really understand how the body uses movement, we have to think about the actions these muscles perform.

I hear plenty of people say something to the effect of “she has a big booty, so she must not have weak glutes!” That is not necessarily true. Just because you have large gluteus maximii, you do not necessarily have equally strong gluteus medii and minimi. One or two of those muscles may still be dysfunctional.

The gluteus maximus is, primarily, hip extensor. Deep squats, lunges, deadlifts, and back extensions will all activate the gluteus maximus. The gluteus medius is activated during hip abduction (when your legs move laterally away from the body). At the same time, the gluteus medius prevents hip adduction. If one has proper activation in the gluteus medius, all of the aforementioned movements should activate this muscle. If not, the muscles like the hip adductors will take the reigns. Usually the result of this is knee, hip or ankle pain. These people will be quad-dominant.

Stability exercises can change the way the muscles in the hip function. Another way is to try to improve your somatic intelligence (also known as mind and body connection). Essentially, this means that you need to actively think about recruiting the muscles you want to fire. Using a lacrosse ball or a foam roller on those areas is an easy way to remind your neuromuscular system to function properly. Check out my article on why you need to have a big butt for some ideas for exercises.

The trapezius muscle is another great example of this. Many people have humongous upper traps, while the middle and lower traps are underdeveloped. Although the muscle has been lumped together under one name, it has many different functions. Therefore, each action of the muscle is accompanied by a group of synergistic muscles.

Do you have chronically tight upper traps? Well, I can tell you with almost 100% certainty that you’re probably a neck breather (rather than a diaphragmatic breather). Your latissimus dorsi (the antagonist of the upper trapezii) and serratus anterior probably don’t function properly. Your lower and middle trapezii are likely not firing as they should. Again, the lower and middle trapezius are all the same muscle, but they perform different functions. Your body views them as separate entities. The upper trapezius (elevates) shrugs the scapula while the middle trapezius upwardly rotates and adducts the scapula. The lower trapezius also adducts and depresses the scapula. Notice one important distinction here: the upper/middle fibers of the muscle elevate the shoulders while the lower fibers depress the shoulders. These actions are functional opposites, and therefore, it is important for us not to lump the entire trapezius as one entity.

Don’t just assume because one part of your muscle appears to be large that it is functional in every action. Basically, you want to train the muscles as you’d like to activate them. Even during an "isolation" exercise like a "biceps" curl, you are using other muscles like the brachialis to move the weight.

Muscles are just broad general terms that don’t really explain how our brains process movement. The ultimate way to prevent injury and get stronger is to learn how to use your body and your brain together. Just because a muscle is strong through one range of motion, does not necessarily mean that it will function optimally during its other actions. If you find that a muscle is weaker or smaller than you'd like, think about other the other synergistic muscles and their tasks, then pick and exercise that will target them accordingly.  Finally, vary the exercises you use to train one muscle group, so that you can train different movement patterns.


Works Cited:

1. Baechle, Thomas R., and Roger W. Earle. Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2008. Print.
2. "FMS." Functional Movement Systems. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 June 2015.
3. Holler, Tony. "3 Reasons Why Activation Is a Game-Changer - Freelap USA." Freelap USA. N.p., 25 Nov. 2014. Web. 11 June 2015.
4. Myers, Thomas W. Anatomy Trains: Myofascial Meridians for Manual and Movement Therapists. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone, 2001. Print.
5. "Reactive Muscles and the Kinetic Chain." Neurokinetic Therapy. David Weinstock, 21 May 2011. Web. 11 June 2015.
6. "Squat Exercise - Anatomy Analysis." Muscle & Motion. YouTube, 01 Mar. 2012. Web. 11 June 2015.

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How Bigger Hamstrings Will Improve Your Athleticism and Prevent Injury

Let's talk about everyone's favorite chain: the posterior chain. So many songs have been written about it, but yet, some people oddly neglect to sufficiently train the glutes and hamstrings.

With this overwhelming abuse of the quadriceps complex, it is important that lifters prioritize isolation of the hamstring muscles to balance out the discrepancy in strength. Hamstring strength can play a role in improved power output, running economy, and may even reduce the risk of injuries like ACL tears.

As much as I love squats (and believe them to be one of the most beneficial exercises), the squat does not actually activate the posterior chain as much as many people think. In fact, many people squatting are quad-dominant, and under-utilize the gluteus maximus.

Before I elaborate, we need to review a little bit of anatomy. The muscles we refer to as the "hamstrings" are actually three separate muscles: the biceps femoris (which has a long head and a short head), the semimembranosus, and the semitendinosus. These two joint muscles work together to flex the knees and extend the hips.

Now that that's out of the way, we can talk about how these muscles affect performance. Since they act as hip extensors, strong hamstrings are going to be crucial for a high jump and a fast sprint. A 2007 study on sprinters concluded that "[...]the muscles mainly responsible for forward propulsion in full speed sprinting are the hamstrings, the glutaeus maximus and the adductor longus. The hamstrings are singled out as the most important contributors to produce highest speed levels." Essentially, an athlete with well-developed hamstrings will be able to horizontally accelerate much faster than an opponent with weaker hamstrings. Each stride will allow him to generate greater hip extension, getting more power as he straightens his legs. While quadriceps strength is necessary, it is the posterior chain that allows him to push harder off of the ground.

Similarly, another study found that runners with a smaller hamstring-to-quad ratio, meaning that there was not as big of a strength/size disparity between the two muscles, had a better running economy. This balance between the quadriceps and the hamstrings allowed the runners to be more efficient in their cadence. It was deduced that "runners should consider implementing hamstring exercises to improve their f-H:Q (hamstring to quad) ratios."

Usain Bolt has some serious hamstring pump.

The muscles activated in jumping are very similar to those we recruit in sprinting. While sprinting is unilateral, jumping is a bilateral movement. The extension of the hips, knees, and ankles, however, is much the same.

A four week study on males (with no strength training experience) found that the Nordic hamstring exercise (which I will show you later in this article) "[produced] favourable neuromuscular adaptations for the possible prevention of hamstring injuries while enhancing performance in athletic, untrained males." Using this exercise, on average, their vertical jump heights increased by about 6.3 cm in a month! That's pretty substantial. Granted, these are untrained individuals, but athletes could still reap some benefits from building the hamstrings.

I am a firm believer that a stronger, all-around, individual will be more resilient to injury. There is a decent amount of evidence to support the idea that hamstring strengthening can prevent the incidence of hamstring pulls, ACL tears, and other such injuries.

Askling et. al. tested hamstring injury in high-level soccer players. He put the players on an eccentric hamstring strengthening protocol 1-2 times a week for 10 weeks. "The results showed that the occurrence of hamstring strain injuries was clearly lower in the training group (3/15) than in the control group (10/15). In addition, there were significant increases in strength and speed in the training group." So the players got stronger, faster, and stayed injury free. What more could an athlete or a coach want!?

Here's the part you've been waiting for--the exercise section:

1. Russian leg curls
2. Good-mornings
3. Hip extensions (add weight if necessary)
4. Single leg RDL
5. Barbell hip thrusters
6. Stability ball leg curls 
7. Single leg sliding leg curl (advanced)
8. Slow eccentric RDLs
9. Reverse hypers
10. Stiff legged deadlifts

Not only will you have a better-looking rear-end, you'll be stronger, faster, and more injury resistant. Sounds like a win, win, win to me. Build those posterior chains!

Works Cited:

1. Askling, C., J. Karlsson, and A. Thorstensson. "Hamstring Injury Occurrence in Elite Soccer Players after Preseason Strength Training with Eccentric Overload." Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports Scand J Med Sci Sports 15.1 (2005): 65. Web.
2. Blazevich, Anthony John. "Optimizing Hip Musculature For Greater Sprint Running Speed." Strength and Conditioning Journal 22.2 (2000): 22. Web.
3. Clark, Ross, Adam Bryant, John-Paul Culgan, and Ben Hartley. "The Effects of Eccentric Hamstring Strength Training on Dynamic Jumping Performance and Isokinetic Strength Parameters: A Pilot Study on the Implications for the Prevention of Hamstring Injuries." Physical Therapy in Sport 6.2 (2005): 67-73. Web.
4. Mjolsnes, Roald, Arni Arnason, Tor Osthagen, Truls Raastad, and Roald Bahr. "A 10-week Randomized Trial Comparing Eccentric vs. Concentric Hamstring Strength Training in Well-trained Soccer Players." Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports Scand J Med Sci Sports 14.5 (2004): 311-17. Web.
5. Moir, Gavin, Ross Sanders, Chris Button, and Mark Glaister. "The Effect of Resistance Training on Hip-Knee Continuous Relative Phase Measures during Accelerative Sprinting." Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 39.Supplement (2007): n. pag. Web.
6. Nuckols, Greg. "Hamstrings: The Most Overrated Muscle for the Squat 2.0 • Strengtheory." Strengtheory. N.p., 29 Apr. 2015. Web. 27 May 2015.
7. Sugiura, Yusaku, Tomoyuki Saito, Keishoku Sakuraba, Kazuhiko Sakuma, and Eiichi Suzuki. "Strength Deficits Identified With Concentric Action of the Hip Extensors and Eccentric Action of the Hamstrings Predispose to Hamstring Injury in Elite Sprinters." J Orthop Sports Phys Ther Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy 38.8 
8. Sundby, Øyvind H., and Mark L.s. Gorelick. "Relationship Between Functional Hamstring." Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 28.8 (2014): 2214-227. Web.

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3 Reasons Why Your Neck is Always Tight

If you had to pick one place where you regularly carry the most tension in your body, what would you choose? I'm willing to bet you chose your upper trapezius muscles.

The upper trapezius muscles seem to be (in my experience) some of the most overused and abused muscles in the human body. Many people I see are, either consciously or unconsciously, in a constant shrugged posture: their shoulders are by their earlobes and necks are pulled forward. Why is this?

There are a few factors that contribute to tight upper traps:

1. Posture. Sedentary individuals seldom remember to sit upright. Often times, you see people with significant flexion in the thoracic spine, protraction of the cervical spine (neck) who are hunched over their computers. Forward head posture will place extra stress on your vertebrae. According to chiropractor Dr. Jason Queiros, "Every inch you hold your head forward, you add 10 pounds of pressure on your spine. Let’s say you’re leaning into your monitor by just two inches, that’s 20 extra pounds that your back and spinal column have to endure." The muscles in your back and neck need to compensate for this imbalance.
2. Breathing. Stress individuals have the propensity to overuse accessory muscles for breathing like the scalenes, sternocleidomastoid, and the upper trapezius, rather than the diaphragm. The tonic muscles in the front of the body shorten, while the phasic muscles in the back lengthen. Neck breathing facilitates a constant "shrugged" position of the shoulders, which are going to put your upper trapezius muscles into overtime.
3. Shoulder stability. The overworked upper trapezii may prevent the other shoulder stabilizers and rotator cuff muscles from functioning as they should. The lower and middle trapezius, the serratus anterior, the rhomboids may all be dysfunctional or under-active as a result.

Now, the way most people look to alleviate tight traps is through stretching or massage. While these modalities can be extremely effective, they are usually short-lived in their relief.

To nip the problem in the bud, you need to address all three of these elements above simultaneously. Surprisingly, changing your breathing first may favorably impact the other two areas. When the breath is out of whack, the body cannot function optimally!

Now, conjunction with adding some breathing drills into your daily routine, some supplementary shoulder stability work could do you some good. Here are a few of my favorite exercises:

1. Scap push-ups
2. Y's and t's
3. Cable external rotation
4. Bear crawls
5. Wall slides
6. Reverse shrugs
7. Serratus pull-overs
8. Band tears

What's most important, throughout all of these movements, is to make sure you're not shrugging your shoulders, otherwise your efforts will be ineffective. I often find myself tapping my clients on their shoulders to remind them.

If you want to find provide your traps with some relief, corrective exercises and breathing drills are going to be the most effective methods to lessen tension. Once you're aware of it, you'll probably be surprised to find out just how often your body instinctively reverts to a shrugged position. The key is consistency. Let some of your other surrounding muscles do their job and give your traps a break...

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To Belt or Not to Belt?

Part of assimilating into the "lifting culture" means geeking out over new purchases like shoes, wrist wraps, straps, and belts. It's easy to fill up your shopping cart pretty quickly on Amazon.com or other similar websites. The question is, how much of these items are necessary, and what is extraneous and perhaps counter-productive?

I've been hesitant to write this post, because I know many people hold very strong opinions on this issue. There are plenty of people at an elite level who are using lifting belts to deadlift 800+ pounds, so it's natural to want to copy what those guys are doing and hope that all of this gear will lead to similar gains for you. If only that were the case...

Personally, I am not an advocate of belts (and most other "accessories" for that matter, but I'll save that for another post) in many circumstances.

First of all, it's important to understand why you're using a belt in the first place, because I believe a lot people have a great misunderstanding of the purpose of a belt. Some people are under the illusion that the belt will magically prevent back injuries. At the moment, there isn't a lot of evidence to support that belts reduce injury rates or lower back pain in any way. According to the CDC, "although back belts are being bought and sold under the premise that they reduce the risk of back injury, there is insufficient scientific evidence that they actually deliver what is promised."

Stuart McGill also notes that "[individuals] who have never had a previous back injury appear to have no additional protective benefit from wearing a belt," and "those who are injured while wearing a belt seem to risk a more severe injury."

A belt is meant to provide additional support and stability for the muscles of the trunk. Basically, the tension of the belt increases intra-abdominal pressure, activation of the spinal erectors and rectus abdominis. All of these things are clearly important in lifting heavy weight. So why do I have such a conceptual problem with using a belt?

A lifter needs to learn to create intra-abdominal pressure sans belt. When one becomes too reliant on a belt to stabilize his core, the risk of injury without one may increase. Essentially, a belt becomes a crutch for poor bodily awareness and motor learning. If you constantly step under a loaded barbell with your belt on, it's going to be much more difficult to move without it!

A belt will create a false sense of security in a lifter, and thus potentially stunt the growth of postural muscles like the erector spinae, multifidi, external obliques and rectus abdominis, as their roles become more limited with equipment.

In my opinion, a belt is most useful upwards of about 85% of your 1 rep maximum on a squat or a deadlift. That's it. Heavy weights require a greater degree of tension in the body, and that's where the belt will come in handy. You should not be warming up with your belt, and you should not wear it all of the time. When you are working up to a heavy single, or doing a ton of high volume work at high intensity, the use of a belt may be warranted and helpful. If you are not, however, training for a sport that requires you to be stronger than your competitors (such as Strongman, CrossFit, powerlifting or weightlifting), then I don't think using a belt is necessary at all. Instead, you could stand to benefit from a ton of practice in maintaining intra-abdominal pressure without the aid of equipment. Both your intrinsic and external muscles will get stronger in the process.

Again, this is my personal philosophy. Obviously for sports like powerlifting, a belt is going to be necessary after a certain point, but make sure you're strong without it as well. I rarely use belts unless I'm approaching 100% on my lifts. I prefer to train organically, when I can. I feel more accomplished knowing I was able to move a certain amount of weight without the aid of a belt around my waist. Some people like the security of having a belt, but I think it's always better to teach your body how to create that strength on its own.


Works Cited:

2. McGill, S., Norman, R.W., and Sharratt, M.T. (1990) The effect of an abdominal belt on trunk muscle activity and intraabdominal pressure during squat lifts. Ergonomics, 33 (2): 147-160. 
3. Reddell, Cheryl R., Jerome J. Congleton, R. Dale Huchingson, and John F. Montgomery. "An Evaluation of a Weightlifting Belt and Back Injury Prevention Training Class for Airline Baggage Handlers." Applied Ergonomics 23.5 (1992): 319-29. Web.
5. Reyna, J.R., Leggett, S.H., Kenney, K., Holmes, B., and Mooney, V. (1995) The effect of lumbar belts on isolated lumbar muscle. Spine, 20 (1): 68-73. 

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Perfecting Your Plank

Several months ago, I wrote an article called "Perfecting Your Push-up," in which I gave you some insight on how to correct some common flaws in a seemingly simple (yet incredibly intricate) movement.

This post will be a sequel to that post, as a solid plank is the foundation of a push-up.

The plank is a staple exercise in many bodybuilding, strength and conditioning, and even powerlifting programs. It's an isometric movement that teaches (ideally) total body rigidity and stability. The forearm or straight-arm planks can be excellent exercises to develop the core if executed properly. Here are some cues to help you get your planks straight:

1. If you're doing the plank on your hands, make sure your fingers are spread so that you can "grip" the ground." If you are doing the plank on your elbows, keep the arms parallel to one another, still spreading your fingers
2. Stack the elbows directly underneath the shoulders in both variations
3. Place the feet close to one another
4. Squeeze your butt*
5. Actively pull your shoulder blades downward to engage the lats*
6. Do not let the hike the hips or let the hips drop
7. Keep the neck in line with the rest of the spine
8. Breathe

I put asterisks next to numbers 4 and 5, because I think they are the most common mistakes in a plank. We like to think of the plank as an "ab" exercise, but yet, we forget about the muscles that should assist the abdominals in this movement like the latissimus dorsi and the gluteus maximus. If you're not squeezing your butt, you're likely drifting into hyper extension, and if your lats aren't engaged, your shoulders are in an unstable position. All of these synergist muscles work complement each other beautifully to stabilize the core.

One other crucial mistake I have seen people make is to try to go until absolute muscular failure. They hold the plank as long as they can even if their bodies are shaking and their hips start to drop towards the floor. This completely defeats the purpose of the exercise and reinforces a bad position. As soon as you lose the integrity of the movement, stop! If you start to shake, give yourself a minute or two to recover before doing another set. Remember, more is not always better.

When the standard plank becomes too easy for you, you can try other variations: single arm planks, single leg planks, weighted planks, shoulder taps (in which you touch one shoulder and then the other shoulder without moving the hips), plank press-ups (in which you go from a forearm plank into straight arm plank, and back into a forearm plank) and so on and so forth! There are many different possibilities.

The next time you want to do planks, make sure you're doing them properly! You will get more out of the movement, and that strength will translate into other activities.

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6 Reasons You Aren't Meeting Your Weight-loss Goals

If I had a dime for every time someone asked me how they could lose X number of pounds in X number of time, I could probably make enough money to earn myself a spot in the Shark Tank cast. Everyone seems to have extra weight they want to lose, but yet very few of those people actually want to do something about it. Interesting.

Why aren't you meeting your weight loss goals? Here are couple possibilities as to why:

1. You're not tracking your intake. There are a million and-a-half different diets and cleanses on the market. The one thing that virtually all have in common is that maintaining a caloric deficit is paramount. To lose weight, you must be consuming less than you are expending. That's it. It's pretty simple! People say you shouldn't eat carbs, you shouldn't eat fat, you should eat carbs after dark, you should carb cycle, you should eliminate sugar/gluten/dairy/etc., you should drink lemonade everyday for a week, blah blah blah. I could continue. None of that is necessary. Just measure how much you're eating and make sure you're moving a lot. You wouldn't load an arbitrary weight on the bar and try to squat it, right? So why would you neglect to keep track of how much food you're consuming? Weigh your food portions, track everything in a food tracker (I use My Fitness Pal), and find out what a good amount of food is for you to start losing weight.
2. You're inconsistent. You eat "clean" or you track your intake Monday through Friday, and then you go hard and go out drinking and eat whole pies of pizza (guilty as charged) on the weekends. I admire your 5 days of dedication, but you're absolutely destroying all of your hard work over the course of those two days. If you feel inclined to have a day where you don't want to track your calories and just have fun, try to make sure it's not twice-a-week, every week. Make those days fewer and farther between so that you're not sabotaging your progress on the weekends.
3. You're stressed and/or sleep deprived. Adequate sleep and relaxation are underrated as methods of improving bodily composition. If your body is operating in the sympathetic, "fight or flight" nervous system, as it would in someone who is sleep-deprived and/or overworked, you are constantly in survival mode. Your body is going to instinctually hold on to excess fat (or possibly store more food as fat out of fear) if you are in a constant state of stress! 
4. You aren't moving enough outside of the gym. Your NEAT is your Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, or the calories you're expending during your other hours of the day. If you work out for 1-2 hours a day and spend the rest of the day sitting at work, your NEAT is going to be pretty low. If you have a physically demanding job or you go on walks/runs during the day, your NEAT is significantly higher. What you do during the rest of your day is important! Now, I understand that not everyone has the option to go on a 3 hour hike during the day, and people do work desk jobs, but try to move whenever you can! Even if it means getting up and walking around your office every half an hour. Maybe you can walk or bike to work. Take the stairs instead of an elevator or escalator. Play with your kids outside when you have time. Just move whenever you have the chance and increase your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure)!
5. You aren't eating enough of your micronutrients. This is one huge mistake I made. I was carefully tracking my macronutrients (protein, carbs and fat), but I was forgetting about the micronutrients: my fiber intake, calcium, iron, potassium, Vitamin A, etc. Some of these numbers were much lower than I'd expected. It wasn't until I started monitoring all of this on MFP that I was able to increase my intake. A lot of people aren't hitting these numbers, and the foods they consume are nutritionally devoid. More nutritionally dense foods will keep you full for a longer period of time and they will help improve overall bodily function so you can go crush your workouts.



My Fitness Pal has a large database, and it's easy to use.

6. You're not working hard enough. It would be fantastic if we could just take a bunch of magic pills and maybe workout once every week for 20 minutes and miraculously have the body of a Victoria's Secret Angel or Brad Pitt in "Fight Club," but unfortunately I'm going to have to pop your bubble: weight loss doesn't work that way. No pill can substitute hours, weeks, months and years of grinding at the gym. No expensive shake is going to allow you to eat a double bacon cheeseburger with a side of fries and still look like an Adonis. Hard work is the only solution to your weight loss woes. Go to the gym as often as your schedule allows and put in the time. Dedication will help you become stronger, faster and leaner (if that is what you desire).

If you're serious about getting in shape, stop talking about tomorrow or next month. Quit making excuses and finding reasons not to do it. The truth is, none of this is easy. I'm not going to sugar-coat it. Some days I'm absolutely exhausted. There are times when people offer me free donuts or candy. Life is a constant struggle filled with temptation. Sometimes I choose to indulge, but often I just tell myself to quit whining and go to the gym anyway. This type of mental strength is the only way to see progress and achieve a lifestyle of health.

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Behind the Neck Exercises: Do You Need Them?

For every exercise, there's an equal and opposite, behind-the-neck variation. Behind-the-neck lat pull-downs, pull-ups, push presses, strict presses, are just a few examples of exercises I've seen people try to do behind their necks. Perhaps they're trying to hit the same muscle groups in a new way, or target different muscles altogether. Regardless of the reason, I am not generally a fan of the behind-the-neck training club.

Given the overwhelming number of shoulders stuck in internal rotation and spines stuck in kyphosis for the average desk-worker or sedentary individual, many people already come into the gym with a slew of shoulder restrictions and postural limitations. The shoulder is the most mobile joint in the body. Because of the huge range of motion in the joint, many people have poor stability overhead. Men and women alike suffer from scapular flaring (see below) as a result of lifestyle habits and poor posture.

She may look like she's at peace, but she's forcing her shoulders into an unstable position!

It is often difficult enough for someone to maintain shoulder stability in the traditional variations of a pull-up or strict press. Now, once you start trying to do these movements behind the neck, you're just reinforcing a dangerous position that may lead to pain or injury in the future.

For starters, let's analyze the neck position of someone doing an exercise behind his neck.

If you've read my previous posts, you understand that the position of the neck impacts the position of the rest of the spine. This particular...gentleman is obviously very muscular. Despite this, however, his cervical spine (neck) is flexed, and he is reinforcing the dreaded forward head posture ("chicken head" posture). This exercise may be counterproductive for him as it could potentially lead to some neck pain down the line.

Now, let's move on to what might be happening to the shoulders in a movement like the lat-pull downs in the above photo.

As the result of the neck position, (because the human body works as a chain) his shoulder stability is also compromised. Ideally, his scapula should slide down the ribcage as he pulls the bar towards his traps. However, if the shoulders are internally rotated, the shoulder blade tilts forward and slopes off of the ribcage.

Many Olympic lifting coaches teach jerks or presses behind the neck, because it enables the athlete to keep his torso more upright in the dip. Unfortunately, for most, this might also damage the integrity of the shoulder position in order to maintain a vertical torso.

In an ideal situation, a behind-the neck exercise might be beneficial for an athlete. Unfortunately, the shoulder position is often compromised. If you have had shoulder issues in the past, you more than likely lack mobility or stability in the shoulder joint, and these types of exercises will just exacerbate your issues.

Unless you are certain you can sustain an ideal position in a behind the neck exercise, perhaps your routine is better off without them!

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Why "Cleanses" are a Tremendous Waste of Time

Juice cleanses, or other similar food detoxes seem to be all of the rage these days. From the Whole 30, the 21 Day Sugar Detox, cayenne and lemon water cleanse, the options are seemingly infinite. Each one boasts claims that you will magically rid your intestines and other tissues of toxins or inflammation.

Before you get defensive, keep reading.

I should mention that I think, first and foremost, a healthy diet is the key to preventing or treating an array of different health problems, along with meditation, physical activity, and proper hydration. I believe fulfilling your micronutrient requirements (vitamins and minerals) should be high on everyone's list of priorities.

Now, let's analyze why (what I believe to be most) people start these cleanses in the first place: to lose weight and kickstart healthier habits. Perhaps you just got back from a vacation full of over-indulgence in junk food and alcohol. Maybe you put on a bit of unwelcome weight over the holiday season. Although I completely understand these frustrations, I think cleanses are a load of crap and a waste of money.

I am quite adamantly against them for a few reasons:

1. There is no "quick fix." When it comes to diet and exercise, everyone wants to see changes overnight. The fitness industry feeds on this desire to miraculously improve one's body as quickly as possible. Products claim to help you lose 20 pounds of fat in a month or gain 10 pounds of muscle in 3 weeks, but you must remember that these are just marketing schemes to coerce you into buying a product or subscribing to a new workout routine. The truth is that "health" is not a weekend vacation. A 7 day juice cleanse or a 30 day food detox is a start, but it is only the beginning of a lifelong commitment to wellness. Chugging down cayenne pepper for a week won't transform you into some immortal superhero!
2. Your calorie intake is too damn low! Nearly every juice cleanse I've seen brings you to around 1,000-1,300 calories a day. Unless you're in a vegetative state or you're 85 years-old, that number is way too small. If you're exercising, those numbers are along the lines of what I would call dangerous. There is no way your body can recover and progress if you're starving yourself. Not to mention, juice is low in protein and devoid of most of the fiber that comes with fruit and vegetables, so you won't feel full after consuming these juices. I'm willing to bet that your juice-only diet will leave you feeling lethargic and foggy, rather than leaving you alert and ready to take on the day.
3. It's not sustainable. I advise my clients to eat everything in moderation. I do not recommend they explicitly cut out certain foods, because, well, they're going to crave those foods nonstop! Of course I want them to eat their greens and fulfill their protein requirements, but I don't want them to go crazy in the process! Diets like the Whole 30 have an absurd amount of "no-no" foods. White potatoes, grains, dairy, refined sugar and legumes are all off limits for Whole 30ers. First of all, it can be pretty tiring to have to turn down your mom's meals because it contains XYZ, and second of all, it reinforces a disordered relationship with food! Even if you complete 30 days of "clean eating" with no cheats whatsoever, guess what you're probably going to do on day 31 or day 45? You're probably going to go on a binge-eating spree and scarf down every food you just limited from your diet for the past month and send your digestive system into agony. Why bother cleansing your system if you're only going to inevitably return to your old eating habits? Why limit your cookie intake for four weeks, just so you can snort an entire sleeve of Thin Mints afterwards?

Your kidneys and your liver are organs whose prime function is detoxification. They are more than capable of that job with or without your cleanses. The weight loss industry throws around words like "inflammation" to create fear or buzz. Commercials leave people believing they have chronic inflammation, food allergies and toxins they never even knew about before.

There aren't yet any studies to suggest that these types of cleanses actually serve any benefit to you or your body, but yet tons of "nutrition experts" swear by anecdotal evidence or bogus allegations.

I believe in moderation. If you want to have a piece of cake, have it. Just make sure you're not having the entire cake to yourself, and prioritize nutrient dense foods. Spend your whole day eating food that will fuel your body and provide you with the vitamins you need to sustain organ function. Then, every once-in-a-while, have a snack, if you want one. You'll feel less likely to completely derail your progress and binge if you aren't so strict with your diet.

Drinking the occasional fruit juice is fine, but there's absolutely no need to go on a juice-only diet unless your jaw is fused shut or you have some sort of digestive issues that you'd like to alleviate. Avoid the marketing scams and find some balance in your nutritional habits. It's pretty well-recognized that crash diets don't work, so find one you're prepared to commit to for the long haul, not just a predetermined amount of time!

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You Are What You Repeatedly Do

As a child, you probably heard your mother say something to the effect of, "don't make that face! You'll get stuck like that!" Well, as ludicrous as it sounds, she might've been on to something.

Let's take, for example, someone who is a truck driver. His job requires him to be seated for 8+ hours at a time, hunched over a steering wheel. Over the years, his tissues will adapt to that sedentary job. His hip flexors are used to a shortened position, his shoulders are adapting to the constant internal rotation that driving demands, and his foot on the gas pedal might be locked in plantarflexion (in the pointed position). Day in and day out his body is learning these patterns, and, reflexively, it will forget about the muscles he doesn't use and automatically recruit the ones that he abuses.

Here is Rachel Yurkovich demonstrating some incredible power. Notice how her right arm reaches behind her while the left leg comes forward for counterbalance.

Now, let's say you're a javelin thrower. This person is repeatedly throwing with her dominant side,
which will be significantly stronger than her non-dominant side. The arms, obliques and rectus abdominis will surely have some asymmetries. Perhaps her hips are stuck in a slight rotation in the direction of which she throws. Maybe one of her shoulders is even hiked a little bit higher than the other. On one side of her body, she is able to produce a tremendous amount of power, while the other side might lack coordination.

You get the idea. Our brains (and, subsequently, our bodies) remember patterns. If you're doing the same thing day in and day out (like sitting or throwing), your brain will adapt accordingly. The areas where you carry tension are a direct result of the activities you do on a regular basis; those muscles are tight from overuse.

Fear not--there is a way to overcome the demands of your daily lifestyle.

The key is to assess the demands of your lifestyle and understand where you carry tension in your body and why. Once you've come up with a clear idea, the next step is to try to correct those imbalances or dysfunctional patterns.

One way to do this is to find the most ergonomic way to perform your given task. If you're spending a large portion of your day sitting, at least make sure you're seated in a good position. Get up every 30-40 minutes to get some blood flow to your legs and open up the hips a bit.

Now, the next step is to minimize those imbalances. Everyone has some type of asymmetry, but doing some work to correct that will prove to be beneficial. To go back to my earlier example, a javelin thrower is repeatedly throwing with a dominant arm (for the sake of this article, we'll say it's the right. When she throws the javelin with her right arm, she rotates her body towards the left side. The left obliques and hip flexors are overworked, so it would be helpful for her to isolate the right obliques (working the cross pattern of the left arm to the right leg) to give her left obliques a bit of a rest. She can make use of this on her off days in the gym with bands or bodyweight exercises, or maybe even practice throwing with the opposite hand.

Every once in a while, I do my split jerks with the opposite leg coming forward. Normally, my left leg reaches out in front of me, so my torso has become very comfortable and stable in that position. I've made an effort to try to give the right obliques some love.

Regardless of your profession or sport, we all have some type of repetitive motion or pattern we maintain for extended periods of time. Consider those patterns and try to lessen the impact by creating balance.


Works Cited:

1. Myers, Thomas W. Anatomy Trains: Myofascial Meridians for Manual and Movement Therapists. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone, 2001. Print.

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Training Simple for Maximum Results

There is a seemingly infinite list of exercises to work any given muscle group. With websites like YouTube, it's pretty easy to find new exercises on the internet and feel inclined to add them into your routine. The question, however, is are these circus tricks necessary to take your performance to the next level? When it comes to adding in movements to your routine, I believe less really is more.

Just when I think I've seen it all, I find some crazy new movement on Instagram or some other form of social media. While these exercises range from impressive to asinine, many of them are unnecessary when developing a program for yourself or others.

There's a lovely acronym in the fitness industry that is applicable here:

SAID: Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands

This principle explains simply that our bodies will adapt to the stressors to which are exposed. Therefore, if I want to become a better sprinter, well, adding some more sprinting drills into my regimen is a great starting point.

This may come as a surprise, but these will not make you a better squatter.

Personally, I train to compete in the sport of Olympic weightlifting. In order to get better in my sport, the bulk of my training consists of variations of snatches, cleans, jerks, presses and squats. Every once in a while, I'll add in accessory movements based on any imbalances or weaknesses. I rarely do conditioning, because it isn't really necessary for me to become a better weightlifter.

While you may not be looking to compete in a sport, it's important for you to set out your intentions from the get-go. You want to set realistic, quantifiable goals for yourself, and then select your exercises based on those goals. For example, if you want to bench 400 lbs, set your weekly workout routine around the bench press. Bench more regularly, and maybe include other, similar movements in your routine that will hit the same muscle groups (e.g. dips and strict press).

The more exercises you add into your weekly routine, the more overwhelmed you'll feel, and the less attention you'll pay to each movement! If you do 10+ exercises per day for the same muscle group, you're missing out on your ability to focus on any one of them.

Exercise variety does not determine your results. Doing 20 exercises for a muscle group will not necessarily make your muscles grow any quicker than doing 3 exercises for a muscle group. What does determine hypertrophy (muscular growth) is intensity (or weight used) and volume (number of reps performed). Basically, you only need to do a lot of reps of a few exercises to see results!

To apply this to sports, you must first analyze the demands of your specific sport. If you are a tennis player, which primarily takes place in the frontal plane, you want to make sure that a big part of your program involves lateral movements. Lateral lunges, lateral jumps and shuffling drills are all important exercises for tennis. Sprints on the rowing machine will certainly get your heart rate up, but they won't necessarily improve your forehand. Your exercise choices should mimic the demands of the game.

I'm certainly not telling you that you shouldn't try new exercises, as you may find a fun, creative new movement that helps you improve your weak areas. Instead, I believe you should find a handful of exercises that are directly beneficial to you and that will help you achieve your goals in the gym; everything else is frivolous.

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Your Hips Don't Lie...Or Do They?

We'd all like to move our hips like Shakira (or maybe that's just me). One thing I've noticed, though, in many of my clients, is that the cue "hinge at the hips" usually raises confusion. The fact is that many people I've met do not know the difference between bending at the hips and bending at the waist. I am to put an end to this gray area.

Whether you're picking something up from the floor or preparing yourself for a deadlift PR, it's crucial, for the longevity of your spine, to learn how to properly load the hips.

This guy knows how to drop it low.

Take a look at the photo: which one looks safer? If you were going to pick up your dining room table while moving into a new house, what do you think would be the safest and most mechanically optimal way to do so? Which position would allow someone to efficiently deadlift upwards of 500 pounds?

I'm guessing (and hoping) you picked the photo on the left.

The photo on the right will place excessive shear force on your intervertebral disks and prevent you from properly engaging the powerful forces that are the erector spinae, the gluteus maximi and the hamstrings complex.

Look at that hip hinge...

To help clients learn to hinge at the hips, I have them lift up one leg and place a hand in the crease of the hips. Once they've established this placement of the hands, I ask them to keep their hands there and try to bend and squeeze their hand with their hips as they push their butts back towards the wall. This tactile cue allows them to feel how they should load a weighted movement.

You'll know you're hinging at the hips properly when you feel a nice stretch in your hamstrings at the bottom of the movement--this allows us to use that elastic capacity to extend the hips as we stand.

You should lift both a laundry basket and a barbell in the same manner: loading the hips and bracing the core. When used properly, the hip extensors (like the hamstrings and the glutes) can produce an incredible amount of power. When misused, we run the risk of injury and we are limiting the full potential of the posterior chain.

Your glutes are (arguably) the biggest muscles in the body, so why wouldn't you want to take full advantage of them while lifting heavy weight?

If you want to learn to move like Shakira, the first step is to understand how to prime the hips for movement.

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Just Say No to the Smith Machine