Recently there has been a lot of talk about the spine and the way it responds to different exercises.  I wanted to share my two cents, but I also wanted to make my points crystal clear.

This week I got my hands on a pig spine to illustrate exactly how the spine responds to different forces.  In this 3 part series I’m going to take a look at 3 different exercises and how they impact the spine.

Okay…so that was a bit serious.  And it is Monday after all so let’s have a little fun shall we.  I created this little video to have a little fun with the current discussions on whether or not we should squat.

Let me know what you think in the comments section below.

As many of you may know, I believe that reading for an hour per day is paramount if you hope to become a leader in any field.  Fitness and nutrition are no different.  Here are a few things to get you started for today.

Fasting for Fat Loss?

If you’ve ever heard that going without food for a long time results in some sort of “starvation response” or “severe muscle loss” you’re going to want to check out these pics on Martin Berkhan’s blog.  Definitely not what you’d expect to see of someone who fasts for up to 16 hours per day.

Martin is a huge source of knowledge when it comes to intermittent fasting and will be part of the free audio interview series coming soon.  Spend a little time on his blog and soak up some knowledge.

Is Your Ab Workout Hurting Your Back?

In this New York Times article, Dr Stuart McGill discusses the transversus abdominis and core training in general.  Also included is a short video where recommended exercises are show.  Worth a quick read.  Oh yeah, Dr McGill is also part of the audio interview series.  Keep your eyes peeled.

Enjoy the reading and have a great week!

By now you’ve probably heard that sitting all day long can lead to tight hip flexors.  You’ve probably also heard that having tight hip flexors can inhibit your glutes making it so that they don’t fire properly.

So you’ve got a double whammy.  You stick out your butt (so to speak), but your glutes don’t actually fire effectively so you’re sticking out a whole lot of nothing.  You know you need to lengthen the hip flexors to reposition the pelvis and allow the glutes to fire correctly.

In an effort to combat this nasty postural fault more and more people are trying to stretch their hip flexors, but most of them are doing it all wrong.  So let’s begin with what a hip flexor stretch should look like.  When done properly, the body is upright and the femur should be extended relative to the torso.  The lumbar spine is kept in a neutral position. 

Unfortunately, the mistake that most people make is that when they sink into the stretch they convince themselves that they have more range of motion than they actually do.  Instead of remaining upright and allowing the femur to extend relative to the torso, they simply lean foward.

In the picture below it appears at first glance that this woman has good hip flexor range of motion but when you look at the hip angle, her femur really isn’t in extension relative to the torso.

The other issue I see most often is that the femur actually appears to be in extension but instead of the extension occuring at the hip, it actually happens at the lumbar spine.  And since most people with tight hip flexors will already have a tendancy for the lumbar spine to extend (due to anterior pelvic tilt) this can happen without them even noticing it.

In the photo below you’ll note that this woman is completely upright and her femur is actually in extension relative to her torso, but the exaggerated arch in her lower back suggests that a large amount of the motion is coming from here instead of at the hip.  Frankly, this isn’t the worst case I’ve seen, but you get the idea.

To properly perform a hip flexor stretch it is ideal to keep the body upright.  Then, before you sink into the stretch, tighten the abs slightly to prevent lumbar spine motion.  I guarantee, this will increase the stretch at the hip.

If you’re like me you want to know every single thing there is to know about training.  Unfortunately, as an up and coming trainer I was constantly referring to the resource lists on the sites of other coaches and trying to choose which of the many books and products to purchase.  With a list of over 50 books it was sometimes hard to decide where to spend my hard earned money.

So, I decided to create a list of my top three books to get you started.  If someone asked me to give up every book I’ve ever read and keep only three, the books below would be the ones I would choose.  While none of the ones I’m about to list aren’t specifically about training, they are the three that I can say without a doubt had the biggest influence on how I think about the body and human movement.

Here they are in no particular order:

Muscles: Testing and Function, with Posture and Pain

This book provided my first real taste of postural assessment.  The detail provided and the numerous pictures were an incredible resource.  More than that, the information on testing for muscle length and strength was awesome!  With charts provided for assessment this is easily one of the best resources I own.

Low Back Disorders: Evidence-Based Prevention and Rehabilitation

Without this book my programming would not be the same.  While a large part of this book was geared towards mechanisms of lower back injury, the power of understanding these mechanisms for exercise selection has been incredibly valuable to me.  I concretely believe that this is the single most important starting place for understanding core training and why to chose and why to avoid certain exercises.  Well worth every penny.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes

Frankly, this book was probably the biggest eye opener for me in understanding normal human movement and the causes of dysfunction.  Dr Shirley Sahrmann is a legend and her ideas changed the way I think about training.  While I genuinely appreciate the ability to assess static posture, assessing and correcting movement itself is possibly the most valuable skill a trainer can have.  Personally, I found this a tough read because I was pouring over each page again and again to make sure I soaked up every ounce of information, but in the end I woud put this book at the top of my list.

If you have some money burning a hole in your pocket and you need a great book to read I’d highly suggest starting with one of the above.

Got a book that you think is better?  Drop me a comment below.