Many fitness clients and even some athletes present with very poor lumbopelvic stabilization strategies.  We’ve used a number of methods to train or retrain effective stabilization, but the wall press abs exercise shown here has made teaching much easier.  This comes from an article in the Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 2009, 13, 112-113 by Petra Valouchova, PT, and Craig Liebenson, DC.

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Bill

Guess where I’ll be speaking this coming May?

2nd Annual Boston Hockey Summit and Basketball Symposium 

Date: Saturday, May 22nd and May 23rd at Northeastern University

Who Should Attend: Strength and Conditioning Coaches, Physicians, Certified Athletic Trainers, Coaches, Personal Trainers, and Physical Therapists who are interested in caring for and developing all those engaged in hockey and basketball.

Registration starts at 7:00 am, May 22nd.

Learning Objectives:

The specific learning or performance objectives of this lecture series are to Develop and understand evidence based recovery protocols for high level athletes.

Recognize over-training signs and symptoms and apply the appropriate recovery methods.

Recognize inappropriate movement patterns and implement corrective exercise strategies to promote healthy training and lifelong health.

Develop an appropriate unilateral lower extremity strength program and the reasoning behind the need for such a program in certain populations.

Understand the philosophy and physiology behind Whole Body Vibration and how implementing this practice may add in the recovery of knee pain.

Understand how to plan and implement an annual strength and conditioning program for the female basketball athlete taking into consideration their unique demands and injury rates.

Develop an overall assessment protocol to identify problem areas in high level athletes through both physical measures and movement.

Develop off-season conditioning and plyometric programs for high levels athletes and the reasoning for monitoring volume and intensity of those activities.

Understand the breathing demands and respiratory recovery strategies unique to the game of ice hockey and how best to train this system for optimal on ice performance.

Appreciate and understand how intensity and change of direction during practice and games, ultimately impacts total stress incurred on an athlete and how tracking only volume does not capture total stressors.

Be There!!  Art Horne has put together an outstanding group of speakers.  I’ll probably have more fun just listening and taking notes myself. 

Get more info at http://www.bsmpg.com/

Bill

P.S.  Coming up next double leg exercises v. single leg

Assess and Correct is the most useful physical evaluation tool I’ve ever seen. It’s like having instant access to the knowledge that Hartman, Robertson, and Cressey have gained through years of experience studying anatomy and human movement, and working with real people. But most important, it’s presented in a way that you can put it to use immediately. In fact, the design of the manual is genius because you’re given a series of simple tests to identify postural and movement problems, followed by smart exercise progressions–which you can tailor to a client’s ability—to correct any issues. So it’s a powerful tool that will help any coach create more effective training plans, customized to an individual’s true NEEDS. The upshot: Assess and Correct will make any fitness professional better at what he or she does. One other note: Because I’m a fitness journalist, the authors offered me a free manual for review (common in the industry), but I had already purchased it. When they tried to refund my money, I requested that they not. The reason: I found the material to be so valuable that I felt like I SHOULD pay for it. I’m not sure there’s any testimonial I could give that’s better than that.

Adam Campbell
Fitness Director, Men’s Health

The following came to me via a comment on a recent post on thoracic mobility.  I found it to be quite interesting and felt is deserved to be a answered in the blog rather than in the comments section.  Read this question with great caution as it’s pretty scary:

Mr. Hartman,

When you talk about Thoracic spine mobility are you referring to the flexibility in the musculature or the mobility of the vertebrae themselves. I recall a few weeks back in one of my graduate classes my professor was very clear in stressing the point because the thoracic vertebrae were attached to the sternum, via the ribs, that there was no measurable movement within these joints. He then demonstrated with a model that the only freely movable vertebrae were in the cervical and lumbar regions. Just want to be sure I’m understanding what you mean exactly by mobility. Thoughts?

Thanks for your time.

I am very concerned over your question.  I am hoping that it’s a misinterpretation of what your professor explained rather than a true representation of what you’re being taught at a graduate level.  Let’s review a little bit about thoracic spine mobility.

If your statement in regard to your professor’s comments is true, then I’m afraid your professor is dead wrong.

While it is true that thoracic spine mobility is restricted by the ribcage (one of the reasons why <1% of disc herniations occur in the t-spine is because the ribcage does a good job of limiting spinal flexion), it is far from immobile.

The upper thoracic spine

The zygapophyseal joints of the upper thoracic spine are orientated toward the frontal plane.  This limits spinal flexion to about four degrees per segment from T1-T6, but it allows about 8 degrees of rotation per segment from T1 to T8.  From T1 to T10 you’ve got roughly 6 degrees of lateral flexion per segment.

 The Lower Thoracic Spine

Because the zygapophyseal joints change orientation to a more sagittal plane alignment in the lower t-spine, the ability to flex increases from about five to about 12 degrees per segment as you work your way down from T6-7 to T12-L1.  The orientation of the joints also limits rotation to about 2 degrees per segment below T10.

So you can see that while movement is restrained by the anatomy, the thoracic spine does move quite a bit.  In fact a loss of mobility in the the thoracic spine can lead to neck, shoulder, lower back, and even lower extremity dysfunction and pathology.  This is one of reasons we spend so much time working mobility drills from Inside-Out and Assess and Correct in my clinic and at IFAST.

I would suggest that you research spinal mobility yourself and challenge your professor to prove or clarify his point.  Also, seek out resources that show how a reduction in thoracic spine mobility reduces shoulder range of motion and shoulder girdle posture.  At worst, you’ll get the correct information, and at best, you’re professor may learn something and change his tune a bit.

Best of Luck.

Bill

I was emailing back and forth the other day with best selling author of The Men’s Health Big Book of Exercises (he’s also the author of the women’s version), Adam Campbell.  Since, the Big Book is now a very big book on the best seller list, I thought our conversation would be of interest (yeah, I know I mentioned the book yesterday, but this is good stuff).
 
The topic of the conversation was using little cues or tweaks to maximize the benefit of common exercises and to assure that a guy is using proper technique.
 
Here’s some of the cues we came up with that you may find beneficial:
 
When performing the plank exercise for the abdominals and general trunk stability, push your elbows into the floor to improve serratus anterior activation and improve shoulder girdle stability.
 
Everyone says to brace your core and squeeze glutes as you do a hip extension like a glute bridge.  Instead, cue yourself to lift the trunk and hips as a single unit with a single hinge at the hip joint.
 
When performing a barbell, dumbbell, or cable row, initiate the movement by pulling the scapula (shoulder blade) back and then follow through the pull with the arm.  Let the scapula lead the arm.
 
When performing kneeling exercises like cable chops, lifts, pushes, or pulls, co-contract the stabilizing muscles of the hip by “sucking” the hip joint in tight.  You’ll instantly feel all the muscles surrounding the hip activate making the exercise more effective.
 
Get your copy of the Men’s Health Big Book of Exercises or the Women’s Health Big Book of Exercises.

Bill

P.S.  If you’d like to read more coaching points to improve exercise performance, just let me know.