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First off, I really want to thank everyone who purchased, promoted, or even just endured the launch of my product How to Read Fitness Research last week.  I think it went really well and I’m happy to have created such a much needed product in this field.  This week, we’ll be back to some regularly scheduled (non-promotional) content. 

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However, as part of the launch last week, my colleague (and super smart guy) Mike Reinold shared some content that I thought would be very useful so I decided to share it here as well for those who don’t follow his blog. 

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Basically, in last week’s post where I shared a video I talked about subscribing to the electronic table of contents of various journals to stay on top of the most current research.  And in my product I list the journals that I think every fitness professional or serious exercise enthusiast should follow.

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But Mike took it one step further and shared some journals that he thinks would also be valuable to those with more of a rehabilitative focus.  I figured I’d present those here so you didn’t miss them.

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Here they are…straight from Mike’s post:

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• JOSPT – Journal of Orthopedic Sports and Physical Therapy – the cream of the crop for ortho and sports PT journals.  Pretty technical but still quality.  The best reason to join the APTA and sports or ortho sections.
• AJSM – American Journal of Sports Medicine – another elite journal, geared more towards ortho and sports physicians and surgeons and a gold mine of information for us too.
• Sports Health – A fairly new journal designed for us all – docs, PT’s, ATC’s, fitnes specialists, etc. A little less technical (which is often good), but great.
• JAT – Journal of Athletic Training – Official journal of the NATA and always has some good content.  Similar to JOSPT, likely the best benefit of joining the NATA.
• JBMT – Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies – For those of us that enjoy different approaches, manual therapy, and expanding outside of the typical American thought process.  Edited by Leon Chaitow, you’ll enjoy the content.  As a side note, I believe that this is where Tom Myer’s Anatomy Trains concept really took a jump start.

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So if you’re interested in rehab and you want to get a jumpstart on the competition by reading some research…these journals would be a great place to start!

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As I mentioned in my product review on Monday, my good friend (and fellow Canadian) Rick Kaselj is releasing his Effective Rotator Cuff Exercises program at a 20% discount until Friday of this week.  Today I asked Rick to fill in some of the missing steps most fitness professionals and their clients make when attempting to rehabilitate a rotator cuff injury.  Check it out.

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Mark asked me to send in some details when it comes to what I do when a client comes to see me with a rotator cuff injury.

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Often times the client has gone to their doctor, got a diagnosis, and got clearance to start an exercise program dedicated to their rotator cuff.  Then they come to see me to determine what they can do in order to overcome their rotator cuff injury.

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These are some of the missing steps that I often see other trainers, coaches and therapists make with their rotator cuff injury clients.

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#1 – Strength is Important but…

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Most times my clients have gone on the internet and downloaded some exercises to do when it comes to their rotator cuff.  They are often strengthening exercises.

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You know, the typical type of rotator cuff exercises you see people doing in the gym.  The client had the right idea but it is too bad that those exercises alone are not that effective in fully overcoming a rotator cuff injury.

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Strength is important but there is so much more than just strength when it comes to overcoming a rotator cuff injury

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#2 – Work on Range of Motion

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If you don’t have fun range of motion with your rotator cuff, work on it.

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Having full range of motion of your rotator cuff, shows your brain that it is okay for you to move your shoulder through full range of motion and that you are not going to re-injure yourself if you do.  This decreases guarding in the shoulder, improves movement and speeds up recovery.

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A lot of time people just focus on movements to shoulder height.  It is important to work on strengthening the rotator cuff against gravity through the full range of motion especially overhead.  Often people avoid doing anything overhead and it leads to the cycle of loss of muscle bulk, loss of strength, loss of endurance, loss of activation and loss of range of motion.

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Remember, the most important part of the shoulder range of motion is the last 10 to 20 degrees in both flexion and abduction.  If you are missing this, there is a good reason why.  It probably means you need to work on the next part.

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#3 – Do Some Isometics

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I know, they aren’t cool but if you believe in rhythmic stabilization or oscillation training, then the step before is isometrics.

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I find a lot of the general public clients need this when it comes to their rotator cuff exercise program.

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When they master isometrics it is off to rhythmic stabilization or oscillation training but most time people stopping doing isometrics too soon or jump to the advanced exercises before their rotator cuff injury is ready for it.

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#4 – Get Away From Planes of Movement

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Most shoulder exercises evolved out of body building and follow planes of movement (front raises / sagittal plane, lateral raises / frontal plane, rotation/ transverse plane).  Start mixing it up.

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Get away from planes of movement and start mixing all of them up.  You can do this with tubing, dumbbells, pulleys, kettle bells, or any kind of resistance.

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Who is this Rick Kaselj Guy?

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Rick Kaselj is a personal trainer that focuses on helping clients overcome their injuries.  Rick’s specialization is the shoulder and he did his Masters’ degree project on designing effective exercises for the rotator cuff.  He shares with rotator cuff injury suffers and fitness professionals what he has learned in school and from his client’s and has put it all into the Effective Rotator Cuff Exercise Program.

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I think that is it.  If you have any questions, just let me know and leave a comment below and I will answer it.

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Thanks for reading and thanks for the opportunity to share, Mark.

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Rick Kaselj, MS

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Okay…it’s Mark again… 

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Also remember that if you purchase Effective Rotator Cuff Exercises before the end of day this Friday I’ll shoot you a short 3 minute video detailing a trick I use to instantly increase client strength and range of motion in their shoulders. 

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Effective Rotator Cuff Exercises <—- Go Get It!

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In the last blog post, I talked about a common muscle imbalance that I see in the lower body.  Now I want to go through an exercise I use to address this problem.

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EXERCISE: Wide Knees Side to Side

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Purpose:

To improve internal and external rotation of the hip with dynamic movement.  The primary focus of the exercise is on improving the length of the internal rotation of the hip.

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Starting Position:

Lying on you back with your knees bent and your feet hip width apart.

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Start

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End

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How to Do the Exercise:

1.  Drop you knees to one side until you feel light resistance.

2.  Hold this end position for a second and drop the knees to the other side until you feel light resistance.

3.  Perform 5 times on each side.

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Progressions:

- Perform the exercises at different range of motions of hip abduction.  Begin with 0 degrees and progress to 15, 30 and 45 degrees of hip abduction on both sides.

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You can see me talk more about this exercise and go through the exercise in this video:

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Contraindication & Common Mistakes:

- Focus on breathing that leads to greater relaxation of the body.

- Visualize the area that you are stretching and imagine it loosening up.

- Movement is slow and controlled.

- You are looking for a light stretch, not trying to rip apart the muscle.

- The primary movement is in the rotation of the hips and minimal movement in the lumbar spine.

- Those with hip replacements should not do this exercise.

- Those with sacroiliac joint dysfunction should be cautious of this exercises as it may mobilize the SI joint and lead to irritation.

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I do this one exercise and I am cured?

It is a little more than that.  I find this exercise is a part of the solution.  Other things that I will do is activation of the frontal plane stabilizers of the hip and self massage of the structures around the hip.  This often times will set people on the right track to recovery.

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I enjoyed sharing and I hope you enjoyed the blog posts.  If you have any questions, just comment below and I will answer your questions.

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Take care and thanks, Mark.

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Rick Kaselj, MS

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Rick Kaselj is a personal trainer that focuses on helping his clients overcome injuries using exercise.  He shares his tips and tricks with trainers, coaches and therapists in his Muscle Imbalances Revealed Program.

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And speaking of the Muscle Imbalances Revealed program, thank you to everyone for your comments!  It is great to see so many readers coming out of the woodwork.  I’ve just awarded the FREE copy of MIR 2.0 to Harry Fisher who commented on the original giveaway post.  However, if you’re still interested in a copy of Muscle Imbalance’s Revealed, just remember that it is only on sale until midnight tonight (Friday).  After that the price jumps by $50 so make sure you pick it up HERE.

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Have a great weekend!

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The Problem

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It is difficult to find anyone that does not have any kind of muscle imbalance, especially in the lower body.

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I look at muscle imbalance being very similar to parachute.  When you jump out of a plane and pull your parachute, you want the parachute to be balanced.  You want it to move straight compared to hooking in one direction.  If one of the straps of the parachute is tight, it will affect your balance, pull you in the wrong direction and you may end up on the freeway.  If one of the straps is too relaxed, you will move away from that side and could end up hung up on a telephone line.

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The body is very much the same.  Muscle can become over/under active or over/under used.   This all leads to potential inefficient movement, poor performance, increase risk of injuries and slower recovery.  Now that we have landed from our parachute ride, lets look at the lower body.

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Looking at the lower body, the area that I look at when it comes to muscle imbalances is the hip.  Specifically the internal and external rotation of the hip.  The most obvious thing we can look at in the hip is the muscles involved in external and internal rotation so let’s start there.

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External rotators of the hip (lateral rotators):

Gemellus superior

Gemellus inferior

Obturator internus

Obturator externus

Quadratus femoris

Piriformis

Gluteus maximus

Sartorius

Gluteus medius, posterior fibers

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Now the internal rotators of the hip (medial rotation):

Tensor fasciae latae

Gluteus medius

Gluteus minimus, anterior fibers

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(Yes, we can argue about the list above on what muscle should be added and not be added to the list but really will this help out our clients or our ego?)

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The most common issue we will see in most people is normal external rotation (45 degrees) range of motion and a decrease in internal rotation (less than 45 degrees).

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Geraci commented about this in runners:

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“These functional biomechanical deficits would lead to inadequate internal rotation of the tibia and femur and result in inhibition or decreased recruitment of the gluteal muscles, in particular the gluteus medius. Restoring pronation throughout the lower extremity would require joint play techniques or functional joint mobilizations for the foot and ankle.”

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Lets make it simple though.  What will often be seen is a decrease in internal rotation at the hip (shortened hip external rotator) due to poor movement in the ankle and poor stability at the hip.  Most times what trainers, coaches and therapist will do is just address the frontal stability (side-to-side) stability of the pelvis but it is also important to address the mobility in the ankle and decrease range of motion of the internal rotators of the hip.

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There has been a lot of discussion when it comes to ankle mobility but I will go through an exercise that I do that address the internal rotation of the hip.  I will have it for you in the next blog post tomorrow.

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Until then.

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Rick Kaselj, MS

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Rick Kaselj is a personal trainer that focuses on helping his clients overcome injuries using exercise.  He shares his tips and tricks with trainers, coaches and therapists in his Muscle Imbalances Revealed Program.

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Reference – Geraci MC Jr, Brown W. (2005). Evidence-based treatment of hip and pelvic injuries in runners. Phys Med Rehabil Clin N Am. 2005 Aug;16(3):711-47.

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1.  Why the Psoas Isn’t the Devil

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Over the past few years the psoas has been outright demonized and this post  that I wrote for my friend Rick Kaselj deals with my thoughts on the psoas, how its weakness can cause knee pain, and how to deal with it when it does.

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2.  Videos of the Week

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Each week Ben Bruno (whose blog I mentioned yesterday) posts some of the best training related videos he’s seen all week and this week one of my vids made the list.  You can check it out HERE.  Feel free to check out the rest of the videos as well as long as you realize mine is the most awesome. 

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3.  Le soulevé de terre, un exercice incompris?

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Okay…I have to be honest and say that I have no idea what Xavier is saying in this post.  He could be making fun of me for all I know, but he used some of my videos in the post so I figured I’d link it for any French speaking people who read my blog.  Check it out HERE.

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And finally…what you’re all waiting for…FREE STUFF.

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The Nitrean Protein that went up for grabs a couple days back was awarded last night (by random draw) to Carl who commented on the post.  So congratulations to Carl and good luck to everyone else on the upcoming items.  Keep commenting!

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While we’re here I should mention that I’ve acquired two more free items for the Christmas giveaway this week.  The first is the Strength Training for Fat Loss and Conditioning DVD by my good friend Nick Tumminello and the second is the epic 675 page ebook Advanced Techniques in Glutei Maximi Strengthening from my buddy Bret Contreras.

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And since it is Friday…and I LOVE Fridays…I figured I’d just put Bret’s ebook up for grabs right now.  If you aren’t familiar with Bret or his work, you’ll know this is probably one of the most thorough resources you’ll ever read about creating strong and fantastic looking glutes.

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So if you’ve been following along you know the drill.  Leave a comment below and let me know that you want the ebook and I’ll award it to the winner by random draw.

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Comments will be closed at the end of Monday so drop one below ASAP to score Bret’s incredible ebook completely FREE.

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1)  Recently I had a discussion with Bret Contreras about a client I had several years ago who was experiencing lower back pain.  At the time, I was reading Eric Cressey and Mike Robertson’s stuff and got my client to stretch his hip flexors, strengthen his glutes, strengthen his abdominals, etc.  What I failed to realize that this was the solution for those with ANTERIOR pelvic tilt and/or extension based pain.  My client had POSTERIOR tilt that was made worse with flexion.  I actually made his pain worse!

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I later worked to strengthen his hip flexors, lengten his rectus abdominus (think cobra stretch), lengthen his glutes, and stretch the hamstrings.  Fixed the problem in short order.

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Take home lessons:

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- Assess your client and make sure that the method you are using is the right one . Eric and Mike had a great protocol, but I was using it on the wrong person.  (My fault, not theirs)

 - If you’re wrong, admit it and make changes accordingly.

- You will almost certainly learn something after talking with Encylopedia Bret-annica.

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2)  Speaking of Bret, he posted a great interview with my good friend Aaron Schwenzfeier.  Aside from having a name that is impossible to spell (I always cut and paste it when I have to write it) Aaron is a wicked smart dude and I’ve been following his stuff for over a year.

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Recently THIS POST by Aaron caused quite a stir in the comments on my Facebook page and I’m curious to hear what you think.  Should we have some sort of mimimum standard for physical fitness to graduate high school as we do with other more academic subjects?

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3)  I have been lucky enough to recieve a sneak peek of Eric Cressey’s new product that is to be released next week.  I’m only a few pages in, but a brief scan has led me to believe that this is going to be a great product for anyone interested in gaining strength AND looking the part.  I’m hoping to be able to lure him on here to ask him some questions about the new program in the near future so if you’ve got anything you want me to ask Eric about getting wicked strong let me know in the comments below.

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4)  I am also currently reading Movement by Gray Cook, playing with my new Rotator, and reviewing Rick Kaselj’s Muscle Imbalances Revealed product that also features Mike Robertson, Bill Hartman, Eric Beard, Kevin Yates, and Dean Somerset.  On top of that I’ll possibly be checking over the lit review on Mike Robertson’s upcoming product as well.  Suffice it to say that I’ve got a lot going on these days on top of my usual chaos. 

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The good news is that after I’m done checking out a product I’ll be able to share my thoughts with you.  The bad news is that with some many things to review, I might start to be percieved as one of those internet marketer types who is strictly in it for the Benjamins (that’s dollars for all of you who aren’t down with my gangsta lingo).  So let me reassure you right here and now that you will NEVER see me endorse a product that I do not support or at least think is worth reading, watching, or purchasing. 

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I honestly figure that this should be obvious since I’ve openly bashed the very popular book Crush It in this post and questioned the even more popular Functional Movement Screen.  To me it should be pretty apparent that I don’t just jump on the affiliate bandwagon to score a few bucks.  But if I do like a product you’ll see a glowing review from me because I consider it part of my responsibility (as someone who has access to a lot of these products) to separate the good products from the garbage.

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Moreover, if I post an affiliate link from I’ll let you know so you’ll have to option to purchase directly from the person who created it if you prefer.  Of course, my family might go hungry if you don’t buy it through me…but don’t feel guilty if you go the other route.  *cough, cough*  I feel so weak… 

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Bottom line: You’ll always get the straight truth from me and I won’t put my name behind something that sucks…unless it is a really good vacuum.

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5)  My wife and I have b en reading some funny stuff at a site we’ve discovered recently and I think THIS is the funniest article on the site.  I laugh so hard that it makes me pee a little every time I read it.  On the other hand, my wife thinks THIS article is funnier.  Which one do you think is the best?  Note: Don’t read the stories if you’re easily offended.  The guy is a little abrasive…and by “a little” I mean “a lot”.

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6)  This is AWESOME!

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 So I’m all over the map today.  Throw down your comments and let me know your thoughts.  Heck, if you’ve got something else on your mind let’s hear it.

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Okay…it has been a while since I posted one of these, but I figured I’d drop a couple things I think are worthy of reading.

1.  Optimal Rest Intervals for Strength and Hypertrophy

 So you’ve probably been told that long rest intervals during training are important for strength and shorter rest intervals are for hypertrophy.  Well, I just found this site this week and Bryan Chung (who writes the blog) takes a solid look at a study that is examining these very things.  He’s not a coach or trainer, but he is a medical science researcher and sits on the board for the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine so he knows his stuff.  Check out the excellent research review HERE.

2.  Movement

As my readers probably know, I can be a little bit of a doubting Thomas when it comes to training and nutrition related information.  At the same time, I can appreciate when someone has contribued a lot of great stuff to this industry and I’m interested to see what Gray Cook will present in his new book Movement.  Recently Laree Draper posted the following three posts by Gray Cook on her blog and I think they made for some great reading.  Check out parts 1, 2, and 3.

3.  Webinar Notice

My friend (and PhD Candidate) Mike T Nelson has just posted a sale on three webinars this week and time is ticking as this is a limited time offer.  Although I have yet to review them, I’m excited to hear what Mike is going to say so I thought I’d share this with my readers as well.  Apparently there is a sport supplement review, a discussion on metabolic flexibility, and another on the neurology of movement.  If you’re interested you can check out his site HERE.   (Note this is not an affiliate link)

That’s it for me.  What are you reading?

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1.  About a week ago Mike Reinold wrote an interesting post about using the cobra yoga pose to reverse the effects of common postural issues.

He even created this little chart to demonstrate the application and usefulness.

While the majority of the comments revolved around the effects of this pose on the lower back (which may be forced into hyperextension if the hip flexors are excessively tight), I was also thinking about the ankles.  Despite the fact that our ankles tend to be dorsiflexed to some degree while seated, I would argue that tight/short muscles on the front side of the lower limb aren’t really that common compared to the calves.  Since most people tend to sleep with their feet slightly plantar flexed and often our feet are pointed when sitting in other positions, perhaps extending the ankles to relieve the effects of posture at the ankle joint isn’t warranted.

2.  My friend Aaron Schwenzfeier posted the following video on his blog this week and I couldn’t help but hope that my daugther will be more inspired by women like Emily Azevedo (bobsledding athlete) than some of the anorexic media driven nonsense that exists today.  Only once strong, fit, and confident women become the norm in the media will young girls be able to grow up without the expectation to be unhealthy and wafer thin.

3.  And finally, if the above video didn’t leave you impressed, please view the following video posted by my friend Sam Leahey.  This is the newest and best way to develop your body into a fat burning machine.  Enjoy!

Earlier this week I posted a link to some excellent videos by Joe Sansalone in Part 1 of this series.  In Part 2 I posted a discussion I had with Joe himself covering some of the questions that these videos generated for me.  Today, my hope is to wrap up with some final thoughts on these videos and how I intend to incorporate this information into my programming.

Perhaps the single most important thing I took from this series is that in our attempt to be efficient and do the whole YTWL series, we glaze over the fact that most people hardly have the required motor control to do any one of these movements on their own.  In doing so, we reinforce the poor motor patterns and let the scapula migrate upwards during the prone Y due to the upper traps instead of maintaining focus on scapular depression and upward rotation created by the lower traps.  Moreover, we make things worse by sometimes adding weight as soon as a person can hit the prescribed number of reps.

Being a former biomechanics geek, I feel that Joe has a good point about electrode placement affecting readings of muscle activation in any movement.  I also agree that individual performance of any movement will result in some variation in which muscles are recruited.  However, EMG can be a tremendously useful tool and discounting muscle activation studies based on these points might be a little neglectful.  After all, EMG is a huge component of Dr. Stuart McGill’s spine model and few people question this element of his research.  Granted, if you’ve seen the mathematics involved in this model you’d have to be Einstein just to make your argument anyway.

I still believe that performing a wall slide facing the wall will activate the serratus to a greater degree than the lower traps based on EMG and the angle of pull of both muscles.  Raising the arms from the wall at the top of the movement would certainly involve the lower traps if performed properly.   To me, this might be a great way to integrate both movements together to promote upward scapular rotation (a function of both muscles) in a very early progression.

So how would I program the prone Y?  Given what I’ve learned from Joe, I think that I’ll likely begin by performing the Y alone or in a pairing it with another movement promoting upward scapular rotation such as scap push ups or something similar.  Otherwise, I might perform it as part of an overall warm up circuit involving various other activation exercises and mobility drills.  Although I do tend to do some mobility/activation work between sets of exercises, I think that I’ll refrain from this with the prone Y (at least in the beginning) since people might be inclined to just hammer their way through it when their adrenaline is pumping instead of paying attention to the motor control element.  I’d also keep the reps low (between 5-8) to emphasize the importance of taking it slow and getting the movement right.

As far as progressions go, I figure that I’ll probably work from the Y through the rest of the YTWL (actually Nick Tuminello’s LYTP) series one by one before adding range of motion.  Only once this has been achieved would I consider stringing the movements together for strength endurance and finally adding weights.  Of course, some will move quickly through this progression and others will be slower, but that’s what I’m thinking right now.

What are your thoughts?  Would you do it differently?  If so, why?

In any case, a few weeks back there was a discussion on the forum about shoulder packing that resulted in one of the most interesting discussions I’ve seen in a long time.  My good friend Bret Contreras has summarized the discussion HERE.

As great as the discussion was, the best part for me was the videos produced by forum member Joe Sansalone.  Take a few minutes and check them out.  Next time I’ll reveal some of my own thoughts as well as a discussion I had with Joe himself.

Feel free to share your thoughts below!