The Best of 2011: Features

Written on December 28, 2011 at 7:31 pm, by Eric Cressey

I love writing multi-part features because it really affords me more time to dig deep into a topic of interest to both my readers and me.  In many ways, it’s a challenge on par with writing a short book, whereas individual blogs tend to be quick bullet points. That said,  here were five noteworthy features from 2011 at EricCressey.com:

How to Deadlift: Which Deadlift Variation is Right for You? - Part 1 (Conventional Deadlift) – This kicked off a three-part series on why certain deadlift variations may be more appropriate than others for certain lifters.  Be sure to read installments 2 and 3: the Sumo Deadlift and the Trap Bar Deadlift.

Is an Exercise Science Degree Really Worth It? – Part 1 – I expected this series to be far more controversial than it was, but to be honest, most people simply agreed with me, so it was popular for a different reason!  Check out Part 2 as well.

Coffee Consumption and Health: The Final Word – Part 1 – As I noted the other day, one of the biggest surprises for me in 2011 was that my readers were psyched to get nutrition content at EricCressey.com, and Brian St. Pierre’s guest blog on coffee consumption and health was one such example.  Be sure to check out Part 2 as well.

How to Fit Core Stability Exercises into Strength and Conditioning Programs – Part 1 – This two-part feature was published late in the year, but that didn’t stop it from receiving enough traffic to rank in the top five at year-end.  It was a follow-up to the Functional Stability Training seminar that Mike Reinold and I presented at Cressey Performance in November.  Click here for part 2.

Is Dairy Healthy? The Whole Story – Part 1 – This three-part feature was another great guest submission from Brian St. Pierre on a hotly debated topic in the nutrition world.  Check out Part 2 and Part 3 as well.

Speaking of features, that wraps up this third installment of the “Best of 2011″ series; I’ll be back soon with the top videos of 2011.

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Strength and Conditioning Stuff You Should Read: 11/28/11

Written on November 28, 2011 at 6:48 am, by Eric Cressey

Here’s a list of recommended strength and conditioning reading to kick off the week:

13 Fun Facts About Optimal Shoulder Performance – Because our OSP DVD set is on sale for 15% off until tonight at midnight, I figured it’d be a good chance to highlight a bit about the product and its creators.  (Click here to purchase the DVD, by the way)

Trigger Points and a Sympathetic State – This is Patrick Ward’s follow-up blog to the one on soft tissue therapy and stress resistance that I mentioned last week.  Part 2 is just as good as Part 1!

Flax Oil vs. Fish Oil – This was a well-researched piece by Robert Yang on a topic about which I’ve had many client inquiries over the years.  It’ll be nice to have a resource to which I can send them.

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How to Fit Core Stability Exercises into Strength and Conditioning Programs: Part 1

Written on November 22, 2011 at 7:37 am, by Eric Cressey

This past weekend, Mike Reinold and I presented our Functional Stability Training seminar to an audience of about 60 people at Cressey Performance.  The entire seminar was videotaped and should be available sometime in early 2012.  In the meantime, though, I wanted to touch on a topic we covered collaboratively: how to categorize various core stability exercises and incorporate them into your strength and conditioning programs.

Both Mike and I are in agreement that your four general categories are anterior core stability, posterior core stability, lateral core stability, and rotary core stability.

Anterior core stability exercises  teach the body to resist excessive lumbar spine extension, and encompass a variety of drills, starting with dead bug, curl-up, and prone bridging activities.  In prepared individuals, they progress all the way up through more advanced exercises like reverse crunches, stability ball rollouts, and TRX flutters and fallouts.

Posterior core stability exercises are designed to train the body to resist excessive lumbar spine flexion.  Your drills may include everything from the birddog all the way up through more conventional strength training exercises like  deadlift variations.

Lateral core stability exercises teach you how to resist lateral flexion; in other words, your goal is to avoid tipping over.  These drills may start with basic side bridging drills and progress all the way up through more advanced TRX drills and 1-arm carrying variations.

Rotary core stability exercises educate folks on how to resist excessive rotation through the lumbar spine.  Examples include drills like landmines, lifts, and chops.

To be candid, this classification of core stability exercises isn’t anything new to those of you who have been paying attention over the past few years.  However, introducing these categories really wasn’t my intention in this blog; rather, I had three key points I wanted to highlight:

1. It’s not just what you do; it’s how you do it.

You may be able to hold a prone bridge for 25 minutes, but if you’re doing so in terrible positioning and just relying on your hip flexors and lumbar erectors to do the work, you’re doing more harm than good.  You’d be amazed at how many high level athletes can’t do a simple prone or side bridge correctly.

2. A core stability exercise rarely fits into one category, especially when you add progressions to it beyond the initial stages.

Take a kettlebell crosswalk, for instance.

In this exercise, you have different loads in each hand, which makes it a lateral core stability exercise.  With each step, the athlete goes into single-leg stance, which makes it a rotary core stability exercise.  With the load in the bottom hand, there is a tendency to be pulled into flexion, so you have a posterior core stability exercise.  Finally, with the arm overhead, one must prevent the rib cage from flying up and allowing the arm to fall backward, so you have an anterior core stability exercise as well.  This example demonstrates the role of synergy among all the muscles (and fascia) around the core in achieving multidirectional core stability simultaneously.

Taking it a step further, how you control one plane of movement impacts the benefit you derive from a core stability exercise in the intended plane. In this half-kneeling cable lift, for instance, the primary goal is to work on rotary and lateral core stability, as the pull of the cable back toward the column is the primary destabilizing torque.  You will, however, often see athletes perform the entire exercise in lumbar extension, as evidenced by a rib flair in the front, a backward lean, and loss of the packed neck.  I execute the first two reps with the incorrect positioning, and the subsequent reps in neutral spine with adequate anterior core control.

3. When you consider the overlap among the various core stability exercise categories, it can be challenging to determine how to appropriately sequence them in a strength and conditioning program.

This will be the focus of part 2; stay tuned!

If you’re looking for a great core stability resource right now, I’d encourage you to check out Complete Core Fitness from Mike Robertson.  Mike did an excellent job with the program.

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Strength and Conditioning Stuff You Should Read: 11/2/11

Written on November 2, 2011 at 4:34 pm, by Eric Cressey

Here’s this week’s list of recommended reading:

If You’re Not Growing Your Fitness Business, Here Are Some Fixes… – This was an awesome “choose your own adventure” type of post from Pat Rigsby, as he provides options for fitness professionals facing challenges on the business side of things.  Pat’s ability to find opportunity in any fitness is unparalleled, and one reason why I was stoked to collaborate with him on the Fitness Business Blueprint.

Get Strong Using the Stage System – This was a guest blog I just wrote last week for Men’s Health.  In it, I highlight one of my favorite strength and conditioning program strategies, the stage system.

The Importance of Hip Flexion Strength – This was a great guest contribution from Chris Johnson at Mike Reinold’s blog.

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Strength and Conditioning Stuff You Should Read: 10/13/11

Written on October 13, 2011 at 5:25 am, by Eric Cressey

Here’s this week’s list of recommended strength and conditioning reading:

Thoracolumbar Fascia: An Area Rich with Activity – This was an outstanding guest blog from Patrick Ward on Mike Reinold’s site.  I’m a big fan of Patrick’s writing; he really does an excellent job of blending manual therapy with corrective exercise.

Why Finger Pointing at Carbs is Missing the Point – Brian St. Pierre kicks off what is sure to be a great series by focusing on yet another area in which we overreact on the nutrition side of things.

Why You Need More Strength – In my eyes, this is one of the best things Chad Waterbury has ever written – and Chad is a super-bright guy who has written a lot of excellent stuff.

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Upcoming Reinold and Cressey Seminar

Written on October 3, 2011 at 5:07 am, by Eric Cressey

I thrilled to announce that I’ll be collaborating with Mike Reinold once again – this time on a seminar, Functional Stability Training, to take place on Sunday, November 20, 2011 at Cressey Performance in Hudson, MA.

Here’s the agenda for the day:

• Functional Stability Training – An integrated approach to rehabilitation and performance training – Reinold
• Recent Advances in Core Performance - Understand the concept of Functional Stability Training for the Core, true function of the spine, and how this impacts injuries, rehab, and training – Reinold
• Maintaining a Training Effect in Spite of Common Lumbar Spine and Lower Extremity Injuries – Outlines the causes and symptoms of several common injuries encountered in the lower extremity, and how to train around these issues to keep clients/athletes fit during rehabilitation – Cressey
• Understanding and Controlling Extension in Athletes – Looks into the causes of and problems with excessive lumbar extension, anterior pelvic tilt, and rib flairs in athletes – Cressey
• Lunch (Provided)
• LAB – Assessing Core Movement Quality:  Understanding where to begin with Functional Stability Training exercises for the core – Reinold
• LAB – A Dynamic Progression of Core Performance Exercises  - Progression from simple core control to advanced rehab and training techniques – Reinold
• LAB – Understanding and Controlling Extension in Athletes – Progresses on the previous lecture with specific technique and coaching cues for exercises aimed toward those with these common issues – Cressey
• LAB – Advanced Stability: Training Power Outside the Sagittal Plane – Traditional power training programs are predominantly focused on the sagittal plane, but in most athletic endeavors – especially rotational sports – power must be displayed in other planes of motion – Cressey

It’s our goal to optimize the learning environment and have lots of interaction with all of those in attendance, so to that end, we’ll be keeping the seminar to 50 people or less.  Given that our Optimal Shoulder Performance seminar in 2009 sold out in under a week, this one is sure to do the same – so don’t delay in registering, if this is of interest.

For more information, or to sign up, check out www.FunctionalStability.com.

Here’s what some of our previous seminar attendees have had to say about their experiences seeing us live:

Related Posts

13 Fun Facts About Optimal Shoulder Performance
Weight Training Programs: Assess, Don’t Assume

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Stuff You Should Read: 6/27/11

Written on June 27, 2011 at 8:41 am, by Eric Cressey

Here are some recommended strength and conditioning reads to kick off the week:

Perfecting the 1-leg RDL – My business partner, Tony Gentilcore, troubleshoots this commonly-screwed-up exercise in a video blog with lots of great coaching cues.

An Intelligent Answer to a Dumb Question – This blast from the past talks about the value of single-leg training and reviews Mike Robertson’s great product, The Single-Leg Solution.

The Fibroblaster IASTM Tool – This post from Jacob Fey on Mike Reinold’s site describes the Fibroblaster, a new instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization tool, that was actually designed and manufactured by Fey himself.  Jacob’s a buddy of CP’s own Chris Howard, and as a result, we’ve had a chance to experience the Fibroblaster first-hand in the manual therapy that’s done at Cressey Performance.  It’s a fantastic implement with a promising feature, for sure.

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Stuff You Should Read: 6/13/11

Written on June 13, 2011 at 5:11 am, by Eric Cressey

Here’s some recommended reading to kick off your week:

How to Use Less Plastic - While he was working with us at Cressey Performance, Brian St. Pierre really did a good job of bringing to light the problems with using a lot of plastic in packing and storing one’s healthy food options.  In this post, he talks about how to reduce the amount of plastic you use.

The Difference Between the Location of Symptoms and the Source of Dysfunction – This Mike Reinold blog highlights how the site of the pain isn’t always the origin of that pain.

Value: The Key Ingredient to Fitness Business Success – Pat Rigsby really “gets it” when it comes to building fitness business up the right way, and posts like this show exactly why. I know a lot of fitness professionals read this blog, and this is must-read material for all of you.

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Shoulder Mobility Drills: How to Improve External Rotation (if you even need it)

Written on May 31, 2011 at 8:12 am, by Eric Cressey

Last summer, a college pitcher came up to Cressey Performance from the South to train for a month before his summer league got underway. He was seven months post-op on a shoulder surgery (Type 2 SLAP) and had been working his way back. Unfortunately, his arm was still bothering him a bit when he got up to see us.

After the first few days at CP, though, he told me that his arm felt as good as it’s felt in as long as he could remember. He’d been doing a comprehensive strength and conditioning program, but the “impact” stuff for him had been soft tissue work, some Postural Restoration Institute drills, an emphasis on thoracic mobility, and manual stretching into internal rotation, horizontal adduction, and shoulder flexion. From all the rehab, his cuff was strong and scapular stabilizers were functioning reasonably well – which led me to believe that his issues were largely due to tissue shortness and/or stiffness.

This realization made me immediately wonder what he’d been doing in the previous months for mobility work for his arm – so I asked. He then demonstrated the manual stretching series that every pitcher on his team went through every day on the table with their athletic trainer. Each stretch was done for 2x20s – and two of those stretches took him into extreme external rotation and horizontal abduction. I was pretty shocked.

Me: “You’re probably not the only guy on your team rehabbing right now, huh?”

Him: “No; there are actually too many to count.”

Me: “Elbows, too, I’m sure.”

Him: “Yep.”

Want to irritate a labrum, biceps tendon, or the undersurface of the rotator cuff? Stretch a thrower into extreme external rotation and simulate the peel-back mechanism. This also increases anterior capsular laxity and likely exacerbates the internal impingement mechanism over the long-term. To reiterate, this is a bad stretch!

Want to make an acromioclavicular joint unhappy? Stretch a thrower into horizontal abduction like this (again, this is a BAD stretch that is pictured):

Want to irritate an ulnar nerve or contribute to the rupture of an ulnar collateral ligament? Make sure to apply direct pressure to the forearm during these dangerous stretches to create some valgus stress. This is a sure-fire way to make a bad stretch even worse:

These stretches are very rarely indicated in a healthy population – especially pitchers who already have a tendency toward increased external rotation. The shoulder is a delicate joint that can’t just be manhandled – and when you’re dealing with shoulders that are usually also pretty loose (both from congenital and acquired factors), you’re waiting for a problem when you include such stretches. In fact, I devoted an entire article to this: The Right Way to Stretch the Pecs.

Everyone thinks that shoulder external rotation and horizontal abduction alone account for the lay-back in the extreme cocking position.

In reality, though, this position is derived from a bunch of factors:

1. Shoulder External Rotation Range-of-Motion – and this is the kind of freaky external rotation you’ll commonly see thanks to retroversion and anterior laxity:

2. Scapular Retraction/Posterior Tilt

3. Thoracic Spine Extension/Rotation

4. Valgus Carrying Angle

So, how do you improve lay-back without risking damage to the shoulder and elbow?

1. Soft tissue work on Pec minor/major and subscapularis – Ideally, this would be performed by a qualified manual therapist – especially since you’re not going to be able to get to subscapularis yourself. However, you can use this technique to attack the pecs:

2. Exercises to improve scapular retraction/depression/posterior tilt – This could include any of a number of horizontal pulling exercises or specific lower trap/serratus anterior exercises like the forearm wall slide with band.

3. Incorporate specific thoracic spine mobility drills – In most pitchers, you want to be careful about including thoracic spine mobility drills that also encourage a lot of glenohumeral external rotation. However, when we assess a pitcher and find that he’s really lacking in this regard, there are two drills that we use with them. The first is the side-lying extension-rotation, which is a good entry level progression because the floor actually limits external rotation range-of-motion, and it’s easy to coach. I tell athletes that they should think of thoracic spine extension/rotation driving scapular retraction/depression, which in turn drives humeral external rotation (and flexion/horizontal abduction). Usually, simply putting your hands on the shoulder girdle and guiding them through the motion is the best teaching tool.

A progression on the side-lying extension-rotation is the side-lying windmill, which requires a bit more attention to detail to ensure that the range-of-motion comes from the right place. The goal is to think of moving exclusively from the thoracic spine with an appropriate scapular retraction/posterior tilt. In other words, the arm just comes along for the ride. The eyes (and head) should follow the hand wherever it goes.

Again, these are only exercises we use with certain players who we’ve deemed deficient in external rotation. If you’re a thrower, don’t simply add these to your routine without a valid assessment from someone who is qualified to make that estimation. You could actually make the argument that this would apply to some folks in the general population who have congenital laxity as well (especially females).

4. Throw!!!!! – Pitchers gain a considerable amount of glenohumeral external rotation over the course of a competitive season simply from throwing. Sometimes, the best solution is to simply be patient. I really like long toss above all else for these folks.

In closing, there are three important things I should note:

1. You don’t want to do anything to increase valgus laxity.

2. You’re much more likely to get hurt from being “too loose” than you are from being “too tight.” When it comes to stretching the throwing shoulder, “gentle” is the name of the game – and all mobility programs should be as individualized as possible.

3. Maintaining internal rotation is a lot more important than whatever is going on with external rotation. In fact, this piece could have just as easily been named “The Two Stretches Pitchers Shouldn’t Do, Plus a Few That Only Some of Them Need.”

To learn more about testing, training, and treating throwing shoulders, check out Optimal Shoulder Performance: From Rehab to High Performance.

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Shoulder Hurts? Start Here.

Written on May 16, 2011 at 7:45 am, by Eric Cressey

As you can probably imagine, given that I deal with a ton of baseball players – and the fact that I’ve written about shoulder pain a ton over the past decade – a lot of people initially come to Cressey Performance because their shoulder hurts.  It might be rotator cuff pain, AC joint irritation, or any of a host of other issues, but you’d be surprised at how many similarities there are among the ways that you address most of these issues.

The problem is that pain can throw a wrench in your plans and limit you in your ability to get to exactly where someone needs to improve movement-wise.  For instance, you might have someone who has a significant glenohumeral (ball-and-socket) internal rotation deficit, but it’s hard to manually stretch them into internal rotation without further irritating a cranky AC joint.  Or, someone with a partial thickness rotator cuff tear may be dramatically limited in shoulder flexion, but even shoulder flexion with assisted scapular posterior tilt and upward rotation exacerbates their symptoms.  Very simply, you can’t just pound round pegs into square holes when it comes to dealing with a delicate joint like the shoulder – and that applies to both asymptomatic and symptomatic shoulders.

To that end, there are three initiatives that I think are the absolute most important places to start in just about every case.

First, I’m a huge advocate of soft tissue work with a skilled manual therapist.  In our office, we have a massage therapist and chiropractor who performs both Active Release and Graston.  And, we make sure that any physical therapist to whom we refer clients uses manual therapy as an integral part of their treatment approach.  Whether you’re a regular exerciser or not, tissues can get dense, nasty, and fibrotic, and integrating some hands-on work on the pec minor, posterior rotator cuff, lats, scalenes, sternocleidomastoid, and several other areas can dramatically reduce an individual’s symptoms and improve range-of-motion instantly – and that allows us to do more with a corrective exercise program.

Understandably, not everyone has access to a qualified manual therapist all the time, so you can always utilize self-myofascial release in the interim.  Here, in a video from Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better, CP massage therapist Chris Howard goes over a quick and easy way to loosen up the pecs:

The second area where you really can’t go wrong is incorporating thoracic spine mobilizations.  The thoracic spine has direct interactions with the lumbar spine, rib cage, cervical spine, and scapulae; as a result, it has some very far-reaching effects. Unfortunately, most people are really stiff in this region – and that means they wind up with poor core and scapular stability, altered rib positioning (which impacts respiration), and cervical spine dysfunction.  Fortunately, mobilizing this area can have some quick and profound benefits; I’ve seen shoulder internal rotation improve by as much as 20 degrees in a matter of 30 seconds simply by incorporating a basic thoracic spine mobility drill.

That said, not all thoracic spine mobility drills are created equal.  Many of these drills require the glenohumeral joint to go into external rotation, abduction, and horizontal abduction in order to drive scapular posterior tilt/retraction and, in turn, thoracic spine extension and rotation. If you’ve got a cranky shoulder, this more extreme shoulder position usually isn’t going to go over well.  So, drills like the side-lying extension-rotation are likely out:

For most folks, a quadruped extension-rotation drill will be an appropriate regression:

And, if the hand position (behind the head) is still problematic for the shoulder, you can always simply put it on the opposite shoulder (in the above example, the right hand would be placed on the left shoulder) and keep the rest of the movement the same.

Last, but certainly not least, you can almost always work on forward head posture from the get-go with someone whose shoulder hurts.  We start with standing chin tucks, and then progress to quadruped chin tucks.

Additionally, working on cervical rotation is extremely valuable, although teaching that is a bit beyond the scope of this post.

Keep in mind that these three broad initiatives are really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to a comprehensive corrective exercise plan that would also include a focus on scapular stabilization and rotator cuff exercises, plus additional mobility drills.  They are, however, safe entry-level strategies you can use with just about anyone to get the ball rolling without making a shoulder hurt worse in a strength and conditioning program.

For more information on what a comprehensive shoulder rehabilitation program and the concurrent strength and conditioning program should include, check out Optimal Shoulder Performance, a DVD set I co-created with Mike Reinold, the Head Athletic Trainer and Rehabilitation Coordinator of the Boston Red Sox.

The Optimal Shoulder Performance DVD is a phenomenal presentation of the variables surrounding shoulder health, function, and performance. It combines the most current research, real world application as well as the the instruction on how to implement its vast amount of material immediately. After just one viewing, I decided to employ some of the tactics and methods into our assessment and exercise protocols, and as a result, I feel that myself, my staff and my clients have benefited greatly.

Michael Ranfone BS, CSCS, LMT, ART
Owner, Ranfone Training Systems