Click here for this edition’s table of contents
- get comfortable being uncomfortable
Articles
1) Strength is joint-angle specific
2) Eric Cressey gives some tips on tall athletes and reminds how adding a reach into exercises, like the lateral lunge, can help promote the transverse plane.
3) Exercise Motivation – what matters most is that they enjoy it
4) More volume + closer to failure = improved hypertrophy || less volume + further from failure = improved performance
5) Movement can be meditative. Don’t understand how? Read this one by Jennifer Pilotti.
6) One of the main benefits of exercise is on the hormonal level. “A group led by a University of Florida Health researcher has learned more about how the hormone irisin helps convert calorie-storing white fat cells into brown fat cells that burn energy. Irisin, which surges when the heart and other muscles are exerted, also inhibits the formation of fatty tissue, according to the researchers.” In layman’s terms, “Exercise releases a hormone that helps the body shed fat and keeps it from forming.”
7) “Longer distances between the rear and front legs make the split squat more hip-dominant”-Chris Beardsley
8) “faster athletes display greater horizontal braking forces and a tendency toward smaller vertical impact forces”
9) Some nice details on the “reaching” push-up cue from Mike Robertson
10) Dean Somerset shares his thoughts on lat strengthening – “Just as Bret Contreras’s work as shown that the hip thrust isolates the glutes better than squats and deadlifts, one of the best ways to isolate the lats is through single-joint extension exercises. The go-to exercises in this category are stiff-arm pull-overs, stiff-arm pull-downs and – to a lesser extent, due to their inherent difficulty – front levers.”
11) Training triple flexion with anterior core activation is always a good idea
12) You should really exercise outdoors at any chance you get.
13) 50 Jump Rope Exercises (via Robertson)
14) 5 Training Strategies for Hypermobile People: ask them where they feel it, give them extra sensory input, use cues to develop and maintain tension, use pause, eccentric, and tempo work, stop before they feel the stretch
Exercise, Movement, & Techniques
15) Zach Long put together a great collaboration of TRX exercises from various different movement rehab professionals. I feel honored to be on this list with such great other clinicians.
16) It’s like a reverse hollowed body hold
17) Snatch lunge
18) Christine Ruffolo teaches us how to use gravity to improve movement. Some great examples in this post.
19) This is a clever glute stretch
20) Lateral hop kettlebell swing
21) A great yoga based core flow
22) Maybe I need to get more aggressive with my PNF techniques? Here’s a great quick video with various shoulder PNF techniques.
23) Awesome pigeon/9090 exercise
24) Founder Training from Eric Goodman is interesting. It’s like yoga with an emphasis on extensor tone and posterior chain tensioning.
25) 2 common movement impairments are poor scapula motor control and a lack of hallux mobility. This exercise fixes both of these impairments.
26) Chris Johnson shares an advanced hamstring exercise with a novel way to use a rowing machine.
27) Some pilates based spinal articulation exercises. I really like the kneeling cat stretch with the trapez.
28) I like this suspension trainer single arm row/rotation
29) Load can be for more than stress. It can also be used for proprioception.
30) Some great TGU flow work from Scott Fournier
31) This is some crazy kettlebell flows
32) I really like this half kneeling elevated bottom range lunge exercise from Shante
33) My current favorite anterior chain mobility drill. Or as Shante Coffield calls it, vertical bretzel.
Exercise of the Month
Vertical Quadruped Isometric. Or Opposite Arm/Leg Hover. Or as Paul Chek calls it, Horsestance.
Regardless the name, I’ve found this exercise to be extremely valuable.
Since there is such little movement, it allows the observer to better assess the control. Sometimes with the traditional bird-dog there is so much movement that the compensations occur quicker than one can notice. Sometimes people go to places they shouldn’t be going (full “hip extension/shoulder flexion”).
In this variation, the end point occurs instantly after the initial movement. So there are no end range compensations or reactive high-threshold strategies. Plus, from a rehab point of view, this little motion makes it less threatening and very accessible for the sedentary and injured population.
I was told that Chek wants people to be able to perform 10x10sec holds on each side. Give this protocol a try. You’ll quickly find asymmetries and endurance issues.
A key point is that unlike other variations of the bird-dog that emphasize a narrow base of support, a wider base in this exercise will actually make it more difficult.
I’ve been experimenting with crawling exercises with this wider base of support. It provides a much different outcome.
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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