Home Posts tagged "Jeff Cubos"

The Best of 2011: Product Reviews

I've already featured the top articles at EricCressey.com from 2011, and now it's time to highlight the top product reviews I did at this site in the last year. 1. Metabolic Cooking - This was the most popular product review I did on the year for a very simple reason: everybody needs to eat!  And, the folks reading this site prefer to eat "clean" - and Dave Ruel did a great job of making this easier and tastier with an outstanding recipe book to which I still refer every week.  I made two posts about the product: Metabolic Cooking: Making it Easier to Eat Clean with Healthy Food Options A Must-Try Recipe - and My Chubby 4th Grade Pics! (this is the best chicken fingers recipe in history; try it!)

2. Muscle Imbalances Revealed - Upper Body - This was the sequel to the popular lower-body product that was released by Rick Kaselj et al. in 2010.  I went through and highlighted each presenters contributions to the product via four posts: Muscle Imbalances Revealed Review - Upper: Part 1 (Dean Somerset) Muscle Imbalances Revealed Review - Upper: Part 2 (Dr. Jeff Cubos) Muscle Imbalances Revealed Review - Upper: Part 3 (Tony Gentilcore and Rick Kaselj)

3. Lean Hybrid Muscle - As the review below will demonstrate, this program offered me a nice change of pace from my "normal" training when I needed to shake things up earlier this year.  It's a nice follow-up to Show and Go.  Here's my review: How I'm Breaking Out of My Training Rut: The Lean Hybrid Muscle Strength and Conditioning Program

4. Post-Rehab Essentials - Based on the fact that Dean Somerset has now gotten two shout-outs in my top product reviews of 2011, you might think that I have somewhat of a man-crush on him.  The truth is that I think Dean relates complex terms in simple terms and "teaches" about as well as anyone in the fitness industry.  Check out this post that touches on why his product has merit: 4 Reasons You Must Understand Corrective Exercise and Post-Rehab Training

There were certainly some other great products I encountered this year, but these four reviews proved to be the most popular with my readers, based on hosting statistics. We'll be back soon with the top features of 2011. Sign-up Today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a four-part video series on how to deadlift!
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Corrective Exercise: Muscle Imbalances Revealed Review – Upper (Part 2)

This marks Part 2 of my write-up on Muscle Imbalances Revealed - Upper Body, a product that really impressed me.  In my first post, I highlighted some of Dean Somerset's great contributions to the project, and today, I thought I'd bring to light seven more great corrective exercise lessons from another excellent presenter on this resource.

Dr. Jeff Cubos is an Alberta-based chiropractor with an outstanding skill set that not only encompasses his clinical work, but also an excellent ability to relate how what he does in the clinic applies to those in the strength and conditioning field.  This "dual proficiency" was readily apparent in his presentations, too.

Here were a few highlights:

1. From an alignment standpoint, you can envision the core like a house - where the diaphragm is the ceiling, and the pelvic floor is the floor.  Just like with the house, too, the ceiling and floor should be parallel.  Having an anterior pelvic tilt and rib flair dramatically alters this:

2. Good training to address this issue isn't just about stretching hip flexors and activating glutes, though; it's about retraining breathing, "owning" one's breathing in various positions, and progressing that respiratory function (and, in turn, rib positioning) into more comprehensive strength exercises.

3. Jeff does the best job I've seen of discussing breathing drill progression - and how to sync them up with progressive strength training programs.  Just as importantly, though, he does a great job discussing the role of the diaphragm, utilizing an excellent video to show exactly how it works (as you watch it, be sure to check out how the right diaphragm attachment point is more prominent on the spine).  I've mentioned many times in the past in the blog about how we utilize breathing drills, and folks always want to know what they are.  Unfortunately, you can't really just describe a breathing drill; you need to show it and add specific cues.  Jeff does exactly that.  Here's a good excerpt on the assessment side of things, too:

4.  Dr. Cubos also discusses bits and pieces of both the Dynamic Neuromuscular Stability (DNS) and Postural Restoration Institute (PRI) philosophies.  Having been to seminars for both disciplines, I can tell you that Jeff does a great job of presenting this valuable, but sometimes confusing information in as user-friendly a format as one possibly can.  It's a cursory overview, but enough to give you an introduction to these philosophies to find out if they're right for you.

5. Even if you aren't planning to delve deeply into these disciplines, Jeff covers a few specific cues that you can apply to breathing correctly on every exercise you do - especially if you (or your clients) are stuck in anterior pelvic tilt, lordosis, and an elevated ribs posture.  For instance, Jeff uses the cue of performing a few diaphragmatic breaths at the point of greatest tension in a movement; this will enable an athlete to "own" that position more quickly.  He uses the example of holding for a count of "one-one-thousand" at the top position of the quadruped extension-rotation:

6. I've got to great lengths in several previous blog posts to distinguish between tendinitis (inflammatory) and tendinosis (degenerative) - and Dr. Cubos did a good job of reaffirming things on that front (tendinosis is much more common than tendinitis).  However, he took it even further with some excellent information on the "continuum" of tendinopathies.  I've spoken about how we're all waiting to reach "threshold" (presentation of symptoms), but haven't paid a lot of attention to sub-clinical tendinopathies.  Here's how Jeff portrayed the continuum:

Reactive Tendinopathy - This is acute overload (too much, too soon).  Soft tissue treatments are beneficial, but not locally to the tissue in question.  An example that immediately comes to my mind is a supraspinatus tendinosis; manual therapy to the pec minor, posterior rotator cuff, etc. would be very helpful, but working directly on the supraspinatus could exacerbate the problem significantly.

Tendon Dysrepair - Dr. Cubos referred to this as "a failed attempt at healing, and a disorganization of the connective tissue matrix."  Immediately, I thought of someone with chronically crank hamstrings following a previous strain.  Direct soft tissue work has much more immediate and profound benefits.

Degenerative Tendinopathy - This is the obnoxious, long-term tendinosis we've come to know - whether it's an Achilles tendon or common extensor tendon (Tennis Elbow).  Here we have cell death, disorganization of the connective tissues, and less collagen.  Unfortunately, full resolution isn't that common - but most people can respond over time to the right kind of rehabilitation programs.

7. Last, but certainly not least, Jeff introduces his audience to several common soft tissue treatment approaches, including Active Release Technique, Fascial Manipulation, Functional Range Release, and the various modalities of Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization.  In describing each, he outlines why some may be better for others in certain instances, as well as the differences between approaches.  I think this is a "must-watch" for trainers to understand the skills of the manual therapists to whom they refer, and also up-and-coming rehabilitation specialists to decide which approaches they'll utilize in their professional careers.

All in all, Dr. Cubos was another new name (for me, at least) that I was glad to come across - and I'll definitely be following him more moving forward.  And, in addition to Cubos and Somerset's contributions, there are a host of other great professionals who have contributed to the entire Muscle Imbalances Revealed - Upper series, which is currently on sale with a 60-day money back guarantee, too, so check it out here.

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Corrective Exercise: Muscle Imbalances Revealed Review – Upper (Part 1)

Last summer, Rick Kaselj sent me the eight webinars from his new collaborative product, Muscle Imbalances Revealed - Upper Body, to review.  I was really excited to check them out, as I'd enjoyed the initial version of the Muscle Imbalanced Revealed (MIR) series.

Unfortunately, my enthusiasm to watch it was overtaken by a crazy busy summer schedule and I only got around to looking it over a few months later.  I regretted that it took me so long, as I really enjoyed what I viewed.  That said, I thought I'd use today's piece to comment on my favorite take-homes from one presenter, Dean Somerset, who I thought did an exceptional job.  Be sure to read through to the end, as Rick has a great discount on the entire Muscle Imbalances Revealed series in play this week.

Anyway, Dean's presentation was a pleasant surprise for me in the initial Muscle Imbalances Revealed collection, as I had not been familiar with his work prior to the product.  As it turned out, he did a great job of delving into the fascial system, which is no easy task, considering that even the foremost experts on "fascial fitness" recognize that we still have a tremendous amount to learn in this regard.

His presentations this time around didn't deviate from that initial trend, either; I really enjoyed them for a number of reasons; here are my top seven:

1. Dean did the best job of outlining a clear rationale for foam rolling that I've seen in the industry thus far - and did so in a very layman-friendly format.  In highlighting the role of Ruffini endings - which are slow adapting, low threshold mechanoreceptors that respond to direct pressure (like foam rolling) - Dean showed that they can decrease tone of tissues in the presence of stretch and inhibit sympathetic nervous system activity.

2. Another way he made his point was with a great analogy.  Much like we have fast-twitch and slow-switch muscles, we have receptors that may act in similar ways.  On one hand, we have "fast twitch" receptors like golgi tendon organs and muscle spindles that function with the musculotendinous units.  On the other hand, we have "slow twitch" receptors like Ruffini endings and Pacini fibers that exist in the fascial tissues.  Because the muscules, tendons, ligaments, and fascial tissues are really all continuous with each other, there exists a great amount of interaction between these slow and fast twitch receptors - much like the interaction of different muscle fiber types.  They are all responsive - in both positive and negative directions - to chronic training stimuli - and sitting on your arse in front of a computer screen for years on-end.

3. Dean noted that fascia carries an electrical charge that is never off; it’s just "on" at different levels.  Certainly, it's far more "on" with exercise than at rest - and it's the reason that contractions can last for hours post-exercise.  If you have an individual who isn't able to tone down (pun intended) that contraction in the post-exercise period, you're likely dealing with someone who'll have chronic movement impairments.  If this electrical charge is always present, it can ultimately alter movement to the point that joint structure can actually change (think of the reactive changes in an acromion process, as an example).  Appropriate training enables one to get the benefits of exercise without creating negative long-term adaptation in this regard.

4. What is appropriate training for fascial fitness, though?  Dean cites the same seven components to an appropriate program that I outlined here, but he does so with a very valuable qualifications: adequate hydration status is absolutely crucial to making the most of any training status.  Repeated stretch bouts during the warm-up period allows for more water content for the fascia; each successive stretch improves hydration to allows for better elasticity and tensile strength, which in turn provides better joint stability and force production.

5. I like guys who solve problems.  I love using spiderman variations in our warm-ups, as they are great hip mobility drills.  Unfortunately, though, they don't always look so hot when you have someone with poor thoracic mobility trying to get their elbow down to the inside of their thighs.  Many folks will wind up rounding over - which is certainly not ideal.  Imagine Quasimodo doing this drill and you'll get what I mean.

Dean's solution - which provided me with a "why didn't I think of that?" moment - was to bring the thigh up to the torso.  In other words, do the forward lunge component onto a 12-inch plyo box so that folks can get the hip mobility benefits without compromising thoracic positioning.  Sweet.

6. I thought Dean did an excellent job of highlighting that it can take years to improve fascial fitness substantially.  Super-immobile individuals usually take years and years of either sedentary lifestyles or terrible training habits to get to that point, and unless they're ready to dramatically overhaul their mindsets and daily habits, it can be like swimming upstream when correcting bad posture.  Be consistent when addressing these limitations, but also be patient.

7. I love the fact that he commented on all the normal roles of the core - force transfer, resisting movement, returning from a position outside of neutral - but also highlighted that optimal core function is essential for optimal respiratory function.  Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that we use a lot of specific breathing drills, so I was glad to see a bright dude in the industry backing me up on this one!

This is really just the tip of the iceberg with respect to not only Dean's two presentations, but the entire Muscle Imbalances Revealed - Upper Body package, which also includes webinars from Rick Kaselj, Jeff Cubos, and my business partner, Tony Gentilcore.   I'll highlight a few more of my favorite takeaways in my next post, but in the meantime, I'd strongly encourage you to check this great resource out for yourself.

To sweeten the deal, Rick has put the entire Muscle Imbalances Revealed product on sale for $210 off the normal price through tomorrow (Friday) at midnight.  It's a fantastic deal on a product that I highly recommend - and one that comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee, plus several cool bonus features (including two interviews Rick did with me).  Click here to check it out.

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