Click here for this edition’s Table of Contents
- “Once you understand the feeling and purpose of a position, change one thing….. then change one more.” -Christine Ruffolo
1. The squat is not the same as a deadlift. The tibia should go forward (if you have ankle dorsiflexion). Mike Robertson even cues knees first at times for this reason.
2. Mike Robertson’s 5 least favorite training cues
3. How to prevent choking: practice under pressure, self-disctraction, don’t dilly-dally, express your emotions before you start. For a better understanding check out my Coaching & Cueing series.
4. When done correctly, the push-up is an incredibly difficult exercise that works the whole body. If you’re only feeling your arms or chest, you should read this article from GMB.
5. Some nice training pearls from Eric Cressey – single leg training is important, but if you want maximal strength you need double leg training (squats, deadlift), teach people that the deadlift pattern is a push not a pull.
6. Eric Barker teaches us how to become motivated to exercise
Don’t focus on the beginning, think about how good you’ll feel progressing towards your goals
Make a plan and write it down, and plan for obstacles (“if-then” implementation intentions)
Make it a game
Use music
7. A difficult, but important concept to intrinsically understand – going backwards can be just as satisfying as going forward. Christine Ruffolo expands on this concept in this great post – “Making something novel isn’t the same as revealing something novel. I don’t think anything can be invented that wasn’t here already. The perspective and introspective journey is what’s different. It’s what you can claim as your own and be proud of. The passage from question to answer to another question is where confidence grows, because the dialogue is all internal.”
8. “Coaches: I don’t care how well you coach pros. They’re already good. Show me what you can teach someone with a family and a job.” -GMBFitness
9. This will cause some controversy as it doesn’t match up with many accepted beliefs on strength – “New research is challenging traditional workout wisdom, suggesting that lifting lighter weights many times is as efficient as lifting heavy weights for fewer repetitions.”
10. Good cue – “foam roll one inch per second”
11. 5 solid fitness industry advice from Eric Cressey
12. The key to reducing muscle cramps is in the mouth-to-mind-to-muscle connection?
13. Dean Somerset goes over the layering approach, also known as chunking, for teaching complex movements.
14. Mike Robertson has a great article that reviews some of the basic conditioning concepts championed by Joel Jameson.
“Lactic training and aerobic training work against each other. Quite simply, the better you get at lactic training, the less aerobic you become. Lactic training is not sport-specific. While a basketball player will tap into the lactic system from time-to-time, it’s not the most prevalent energy system used. Instead, basketball tends to be a blend of alactic (explosive work) paired with aerobic (lower-intensity) demands.”
15. Velocity Based Training – “would have your athletes perform sets of dynamic effort squats at 0.8 m/s instead of at 55 percent”
16. Eric Cressey reminds us how important relative stiffness is, tells us to work the serratus to improve hyperextended elbows, and job advice – become a hip surgeon.
17. Mike Robertson shares a nice post on Alternating Function – “tri-planar in nature and connects the upper and lower extremities. I like to think of alternating function in two ways:
The ability to separate or perform opposing patterns between the same side hip and shoulder. Example: Internally rotating the right hip while externally rotating the right shoulder.
The ability to coordinate movement patterns between opposite hip and shoulder.Example: Externally rotating the right shoulder and left hip, while internally rotating the left shoulder and right hip.”
18. Cue thorax rotation from the sternum
19. “The researchers concluded that these results indicate that “force vector” is a key factor determining the extent to which exercises transfer to sports performance. The front squat has a vertical force vector, and transfers well to athletic activities with a vertical force vector, like the vertical jump. In contrast, the hip thrust has a horizontal force vector, and transfers well to as athletic activities with a horizontal force vector, such as sprint running. This places “force vector” among other important factors that affect exercise transfer to sprinting, like velocity, and muscle group emphasis.”
20. Use the full ROM for hypertrophy – “elbow flexion exercise with full ROM seems to induce greater muscle damage than partial ROM exercises, even though higher absolute load was achieved with partial ROM.”
21. “The researchers concluded that training with heavy, mixed or light loads produces similar gains in muscular size, but only training with heavy loads produces meaningful gains in strength and RFD.”
22. Miguel Aragoncillo’s Bag of Tricks: Half Kneeling using an external band to help someone create internal reference points for a wedge
23. GMB has a nice review of periodization. I really like the graph in this post (below).
Exercise, Movement, & Techniques
24. I really like this side plank correction from Lori of PRI.
25. Stealing from yoga is always a good idea. Here is a YogaFlow with the intention of improving thoracic rotation.
27. This is a little aggressive for most of my clientele, but a nice way to add a valgus knee moment RNT. #TrainInjuryPositions
28. 15 ways to improve your vestibular system (and why you need to).
29. I like this cue for wall lift offs
30. Lateral lunge, rotation, and high plank flow.
31. This may be the best vestibular exercise (you won’t regret watching this one).
32. Extended Clamshell from Christine Ruffolo is a great exercise you can use tomorrow. Plus, she reminds us to work on the ability to dissociate hip ER from hip abduction.
33. One of the best rotational core exercises I’ve seen. Combines agility, footwork, and proximal stability.
34. Craig Liebenson is on Instagram and it’s awesome.
35. 3 closed chain lower trap exercises from Dan Pope
36. I like these closed chain horizontal overhead wall push variations (rhythmic stabilization)
37. This is a great SLDL corrective from Ruffolo
38. Here’s a ton of open book variations. Fit the right one to the right client.
39. Mike Robertson teaches the crossover step up. A nice way to add more planes of motion into the step up.
40. Deficit lunges are a nice bridge between traditional lunges and pistol squats.
41. Christine Ruffolo shows you how to go from no hip IR to lots of hip IR, plus this nice tip “Drive the calves down against the ground for your abs to reflexively hold you up. You should feel the oblique of the lead leg light up as you force rotation.”
42. Downdog
Downdog, high plank, elbow plank
Seated 90-90
Andreo Spina started a wildfire when he re-created the seated 90-90 position within his FRC system. With his system’s principles and open minded practitioners, this position has boomed and become an ideal canvas to explore movement and create mobility.
43. Double IR from Christine Ruffolo
44. Joe LaVacca displays the seated 90/90 ER/IR Hover
45. Craig Liebenson adds a med ball toss to the 90/90 position
46. PRI has an exercise in this position (intentions are different than the FRC system). This can do wonders to improve R rotation (among other things).
47. For my patient population, the vertical trunk 90-90 IR hip mobilization is a little too much. Most of them don’t have that type of hip abduction/IR mobility. They’ll compensate with too much spinal torque. So I’ve found this variation more accessible for the novice or impaired movers. Think acetabulum and lower lumber spine.
48. Liebenson reminds us how load can change movement patterns
49. Ryan Faer shows how you can mobilize the upper extremity too with this seated 90-90 posterior sling mobility
50. Master FRCer, Dewey Nielson, shares some of his 90-90 variations
51. You could call this a biceps femoris mobilization, or maybe a posterolateral chain mobilization, or maybe a sciatic nerve mobilization. Or maybe you should just consider it a movement exploration…
52. Sometimes I like to finish my 90-90 work with this alternating roll.
53. 90-90 Hip Abduction from Kate Galliet
54. Seated 90-90 Hip IR to Hip Flexion from Dean Somerset
55. Christine Ruffolo shows us that you don’t always have to be seated…supine wall, half-kneeling/standing transition, 3-D chair, extended hip, lever change
Exercise of the Month
This is a great “thoracic mobility” exercise. It helps to expand the posterior thorax tissues, improves anterior opposition, and achieves a more neutral position (PRI).
You can use this to destory flat thoracic spines, decrease paraspinal muscle tone, improve hip positioning, increase scapula protraction, balance breathing, increase ankle dorsiflexion, and/or accelerate recovery.
I like to elevate the heels in most of my patients (and myself sometimes) since they don’t have the best mobility. It also allows them to keep a low-threshold movement pattern and prevents the high-tension patterns that a counter-weight may induce.
The main reason I do this blog is to share knowledge and to help people become better clinicians/coaches. I want our profession to grow and for our patients to have better outcomes. Regardless of your specific title (PT, Chiro, Trainer, Coach, etc.), we all have the same goal of trying to empower people to fix their problems through movement. I hope the content of this website helps you in doing so.
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