Second Nature Fitness

New blog at wisconsinbjj.com: Muscle Mass and Flexibility

Here’s a quick one I wrote for wisconsinbjj.com

   Somewhere along the line being muscular became synonymous with being stiff, inflexible and unable. This is due primarily to the pec-obsessed bodybuilders of the 1970s and 1980s, who spent hours and hours bench-pressing and doing endless flys, tightening down their chests and shoulders until they couldn’t raise their arms above their heads. In fact, the bench press was rarely, if ever used before the 1960s. There is actually a direct correlation between the rise of the usage of the bench press and an increase in rotator cuff injuries.

   It is not the muscle mass itself that causes inflexibility, contrary to popular belief. It is, as mentioned before, the usage of too many anterior (front of the body)-focused movements and a lack of posterior (back of the body) movements. Additionally, as the chest and shoulders tighten down, overhead movements such as shoulder presses and overhead squats become increasingly difficult (if not impossible), and are thereby ignored and eventually avoided for fear of injury.

   These overhead movements become incorrectly villainized as damaging movements, when in reality it is the use of these chest-focused movements that tighten down the upper body and greatly increase risk of injury. That is not to say that these movements should be forever avoided, but instead used in moderation with muscles that improve the strength of antagonist muscles. In the case of chest/shoulder movements, pulling movements such as pull-ups (done correctly), bent-over rows and snatches are extremely beneficial. 

   There is no such thing as becoming musclebound. There is, however, a real risk of limiting flexibility in pursuit of a singular goal such as large muscles or a higher bench press. Balancing a strength training program with equal parts pressing, pulling, and squatting combined with sufficient mobility work will maintain flexibility while increasing strength, ensuring longevity and balance in your training.

   I’m currently gym-less in Canada, so I’m taking this opportunity to rediscover aspects of my mobility that I may have been neglecting in pursuit of other goals. It is humbling, to say the least. I’m a big fan of intuitive warm-ups - using a group of familiar, basic movements to communicate with the body, reminding myself of proper movement patterns and exploring points of tension that might be new or old. I expand my warm-up from there, delving deeper in to those areas which may be holding more tension or require in-depth preparation (this also helps with skill-specific warm-ups).

   My basic warm-up consists of bodyweight squats, up/down dogs, hip-stretch push-ups, hip rotations, cat/cows, cossack squats, sun salutation lunges, and neck rotations. I do one set of five repetitions each movement (repeat any that feel necessary). I then break in to any movement (aka muscle) group that requires further attention. It staves off the monotony of a cookie-cutter warm-up and keeps me in touch with my body before beginning a workout. I have been known to alter my workout based on tightness or pain discovered in the warm-up, which I’m confident has saved me from injury at least once.

   This week I’m playing around with some different bodyweight movements, rediscovering the details of each and toying with different workout structures. The past year has been heavy on Olympic lifting technique and building strength in my basic lifts, so doing more than five reps of any movement is always fun (I use that term loosely). I’ve kept up on my GPP, so I’ve been doing higher repetition stuff, but not so much with bodyweight, or as a primary component of my workout. So here’s what I’ve been playing with so far this week:

Monday

1. Extended warm-up (includes tumbling, neck mobility/strength)

2. 5,4,3,2,1 of Jack Lalane push-ups and pistol squats (reps per leg). The Lalane push-up is also known as a Chinese push-up, though a true Chinese push-up is done on the fingertips. The trick seems to be in locking the lats and the spine before beginning, a queue which is manageable with a wider foot and hand stance, but it becomes significantly more difficult as hands and feet come together. I’ve developed a bit of a cheat when my hands are fully outstretched above me head wherein I push for a split-second off my forearms right off the ground. It doesn’t seem to make much of a different, but I’m a purist, so I’ve been rebuilding the movement.

   Pistols have been a challenge for me ever since I tore the meniscus in both of my knees (lateral in the left, medial in the right). I did them next to a door frame to give myself a bit of a stability security blanket. The primary goals on these is to keep the spinal arch throughout the movement and prevent side-to-side knee wobble.

3. Headstand work: did a couple pike-ups from the tripod position and worked on keeping the glutes tight in the full extension position.

Wednesday

1. Warm-up (including lacrosse ball work)

2. Three rounds of six reps of divebomber push-ups, hip-stretch push-ups, and standard push-ups. This thing was a burner. The divebombers started off easy, but the single-side focused nature of the hip-stretch push-ups really burned me out, so by the time I got to the push-ups, I was struggling through what is usually a really easy number.

3. I did the same thing for cossack squats, lunges and squats: 3x6. Kept the numbers fairly low and worked on speed. This wasn’t as bad as the push-up sequence, but it was a good hip opener series.

  Hopefully I’ll be able to add in some more variety and higher intensity work later this week, but I’ve been caught up trying to get situated, so it’s been a less than optimal week in terms of overall volume. On a positive note, it’s forcing me to put intensity into movements and form in a way I might not normally.

4 Reasons You MUST Understand Corrective Exercise and Post-Rehab Training

From Eric Cressey

Some good insights into what we need to incorporate into our programming (athlete or otherwise). Here’s a few excerpts:

“Very simply, physical therapists rarely have the time to do everything they want to do to get people truly healthy, so folks often have to just settle for ‘asymptomatic.’”

“…there is certainly a big need for these fitness professionals to step in and help people who may move terribly, but not have symptoms…yet.”

“Everybody is injured, whether they know it or not.”

Check out the full article at Cressey’s website.

lanthorn said: my knees are basically destroyed, so squats are pretty much out of the question (unless I have a desire to not be able to walk for a week), anything you might recommend to replace them that isn’t so tough on the ol’ knees?

   It all depends on what the knee issue is. A good number of knee injuries can be circumvented with enough attention paid to proper form (sitting the hips back sufficiently, keeping the shins in an upright position and maintaining a strong arch) and slowly working to depth. Unfortunately, this can be a long and tedious process with many setbacks on the way, and can easily go astray without the guidance of a knowledgeable coach or PT.

   There are some knee issues which will forever preclude fitness enthusiasts from squatting, and these are usually from acute injuries or genetic conditions. These are much more rare than people think, though. I see new clients all the time who say, “I will NEVER be able to squat!” And we’re squatting to depth, pain-free, by the end of day one. But again, it depends entirely on the particular situation, and it sounds like you’ve made a valiant effort, so my recommendation would to be to work on hamstring strengthening movements such as deadlifts (stiff-legged if you have to), good mornings and even basic hip bridges. If you have access to a glute-ham developer, those can be a fun addition, as well.

  So why did I recommend three hamstring strengthening movements to a guy who asked for a squat replacement? Strength is an integral part of mobility, and if someone has a history of acute injury to a joint it is important to rebuild the muscular integrity of the area (provided they have gone through sufficient healing and rehab). I would also recommend a few more hip openers (perhaps the pigeon, spidermans, and the aforementioned sun salutation) and probably the compass (as demo’d here by Tav of Ritual Fitness).

New blog at wisconsinbjj.com: Three Basic Mobility Movements

Three Basic Mobility Movements (click link to read at source)

   Last week we introduced the concept of mobility. Today we’ll discuss a few basic movements that will help improve mobility, prepare the body for activity, reduce tension and increase joint longevity. As mentioned in the last blog, soft tissue work is essential to correcting tension problems and restoring proper muscular alignment, but in order to build strength, stability and range of motion of the muscles, tendons, and ligaments we need dynamic movements that use proper biomechanics to train the body. So here’s a few easy movements you can add into any part of your workout to improve your mobility.

The Squat

   You might be saying to yourself, “Really? Is that all you’ve got? Squats??” The truth is, when used correctly, the squat is a functionally essential movement that requires the body to move synergistically through a large range of motion. There are so many variations and usages for the squat that, beyond catastrophic injury preventing any hip/knee flexion, it would be foolish not to use this movement. There are plenty of informed squat tutorials out there, so I won’t delve into the specifics here. The king of squats is the overhead squat, and I can’t recommend it enough. Begin with a PVC pipe (or wooden dowel) to learn the movement with proper form, and progress from there.

Paint-the-sky push-up

   Push-ups are another important foundational movement and are widely used, but rarely used correctly. Once you’ve mastered the basics of the push-up, as with the squat, there are endless variations you can use to progress the movement. A limitation with the push-up, as with any horizontal pressing movement (ie, the bench press), is that over time it can tighten down the chest and shoulders and potentially damage the rotator cuff. Using a variation like the paint-the-sky push-up adds mobility back into the shoulder joint. Perform a push-up as usual, but at the top of the movement, pivot onto the sides of your feet (assume a wider foot-stance if needed), turn chest and eyes towards the sky while maintaining shoulder pack (don’t let your shoulder rise up towards your ear), and trace a large circle with your free hand. The idea is to take the free arm and “paint the sky” with an imaginary brush, taking the shoulder through a full range of motion while stabilizing with the planted arm. 

Salutation lunge

   This movement is more or less the warrior one pose from yoga. We are slightly modifying it to correct external rotation of the hip and focus the stretch on the hip flexors and quadriceps of the back leg. Step out into a lunge long enough to instigate a stretch in the back leg. Make sure both feet are pointing straight forward, though the back foot in particular may feel like you are standing pigeon-toed. Sink down a bit deeper into the movement, but do not let the back knee touch the ground. Slightly shift your weight to the back foot, bring your hands together in front of your sternum, push them towards the sky, leaning ever-so-slightly back. As mentioned before, the idea here is to bring the stretch to the hip flexors and quads (the muscles on the front ) of the back leg. If you start to feel excessive tightness/pain/discomfort of the lower back, there is too much backwards lean coming from the spine and not enough stretch coming from the hips. Try to sink into the movement by bending the back knee and shifting the weight back to correct this.

   These are three simple movements we use on a daily basis to work out common tension patterns in clients and athletes. If you work at a desk, drive, type, run, cycle or even train MMA, these points of tension in the hips and shoulders can snowball over time into serious injury. Incorporate these movements along with regular soft tissue work in order to improve your overall mobility, flexibility and strength.

New blog at wisconsinbjj.com: What is Mobility?

I’ve started to do an occasional blog over at wisconsinbjj.com. Here’s the first installment

What is Mobility?  (Follow link to read at source)

  Mobility is the proper functioning of the muscles and joints and the ability to move smoothly and comfortably through sufficient range of motion while maintaining structural integrity of the body.

   It is essential to ensure proper mobility before loading the body. Perpetuation of dysfunctional movement patterns (tension and muscular imbalances in the body) can create unnecessary wear and tear on the body, leading to eventual injury, both acute and overuse-related.

   An effective mobility practice incorporates movement, builds balanced flexibility, increases (safe) range of motion and corrects postural distortions. It is more than just stretching. It is comprised of numerous bodyweight movements, assisted if necessary, that address all the aforementioned issues.

So what is it again?

   It boils down to taking the body through certain movements in order to increase safe range of motion, prepare the joints for movement/loading, and restore proper muscle recruitment. When certain muscles or muscle groups are overused, other secondary or tertiary muscles overcompensate in order to execute movements, or even just to maintain the structural integrity of the body. In the short term, this keeps things running. Unfortunately, after extended periods of time, this wears on the body, pulling things out of alignment and creating potential overuse/disfunction-related injuries, or simply putting one at a greater risk of injury.

How can I avoid these potential injuries?

   The cornerstone to proper mobility is soft tissue work, such as massage (particularly ART or trigger point), foam-rolling or lacrosse ball work. Consider the analogy of a rubber band with a knot in it: you can stretch the band on either sides of the knot almost endlessly, but the knot remains. Soft tissue work is the only means by which you may release this tension in the muscle.

   Soft tissue work will quickly and sometimes painfully introduce you to your tension. From there you can begin your exploration of your personal tension patterns, tight/weak/overused muscle groups and how to go about improving your situation.

   Next week we’ll introduce you to some basic mobility movements that you can add in to your current program.