Gladwell

Several weeks ago I finished reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.  If you’re a regular reader of my blog you’ll know that I love his stuff and this is no exception.  I’m just finishing up his newest book What the Dog Saw which is a collection of shorter articles that he’s written for the New Yorker over the years.

 
Most interesting was an article which talked about the fact that women in North America have about 400 periods in a lifetime whereas women in some tribal cultures have as few as 100.  In other words, the average number in a year is 7, but women have been lead to believe that they need to have one per month to be healthy.  You might guess that the birth control pill has something to do with this, but it is interesting to see how religion also plays a role and how all of these changes may have to do with the incidence of breast Cancer. 

 
Gladwell also has an article on homelessness, the Enron scandal, why people choke in pressure situations, and many more.  Of course, if you read Gladwell you know that the subject of the story is usually only a tool to illustrate a point.  The more I read the more I enjoy his stuff.  I’d highly recommend you check it out as many of his points apply to fitness, nutrition, and life in general.

Sahrmann

If you’re a regular reader you’ll also probably know that I’m a Shirley Sahrmann junkie and her book Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes is one of my top 3 books. If you’re in the same boat you’ll be excited to discover that she has a brand new book coming out called Movement Impairment Syndromes of the Extremities, Cervical and Thoracic Spine and Soft Tissues. Apparently if you preorder you can save a few bucks.

Buchberger

I recently had a chance to review the Buchberger 12 by a bright guy named Dale Buchberger.  In essence, the Buchberger 12 is a series of exercises to be performed (6 per day on alternate days) to prevent or eliminate pain in the shoulder.  What I liked was that the exercises were clear and that the muscles targeted by each were thoroughly explained.  The downside, to me at least, was that it was pretty much a shotgun approach to shoulder health with no means to assess and determine which exercises were best for a given condition.  There were also no regressions for those in pain or much in the way of progressions for those moving forward.

In Buchberger’s defence, I’ve seen him speak in person and he’s a really smart guy.  He knows more about the shoulder than I’ll probably ever know.  He also mentions several times on the DVD that you should consult with your treatment professional to ensure you’re doing the right exercises.  Unfortunately, if you ARE the professional, you’re not going to get a lot of information about what to use and when.  If you are an individual in pain, doing the 12 movements may work, but it certainly isn’t the most time efficient way of treating or preventing issues.

Even though I’ve yet to watch it, I am far more apt to consider Eric and Mike’s Optimal Shoulder Performance DVD on the basis that they talk about how to determine what should be done and when.  To me, this is the most critical element.  Moreover, the fact that they provide progressions, regressions, AND how to maintain a training effect while injured is worth its weight in gold.

Z Health

I also recently had the opportunity to check out the Z Health R Phase DVDs and book.  While the book provided a description of what the Z Health drills would do for me and the DVD had incredibly detailed instructions on how to do all of the specific drills there was no way to determine which of the drills would be most useful for me.  Granted, this is an entry level product, and I’m sure there is something to be said for mastering all of the movements involved before moving to specifics, but I’m not a fan of using the shotgun approach for anything as I’m much too busy for this (as I’m sure most people are).  I want to do only the movements that I absolutely need to do and get back to my life.

Perhaps the higher level Z Health products teach these self assessments (or maybe not), but having to purchase a product to see if you’re going to get what you’re hoping for is not exactly my cup of tea.  I’m inherently a sceptic so it isn’t easy with me to part with money with blind faith.

 
I know that there are a few Z practitioners who read this blog (and possibly a few who have purchased these products as well) so it would be cool to hear your input so you can straighten me out.  Maybe I can even get Dr Cobb on here.  What do you think?

NOTE

If there is an affiliate link to a product on this (or any) page on my website it is because I think the product is worth investing your hard earned money on.  I strongly detest those who link to products solely in the interest of dollars.  Moreover, if you choose not to use the link I provide and just buy the product direct from the seller I certainly won’t be offended.

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.

Recently I received an email asking me if there was a difinitive test for core stability.  The very real truth is that I think there is no single test, but a combination of tests should reveal a lot about what we want to know.

Personally, I’ve been heavily influenced by Stuart McGill and Shirley Sahrmann.   I’ve also taken some great ideas from bright guys like Mike Robertson,  Bill Hartman, and Gray Cook to formulate some of my core testing tools.

To start let’s just address the fundamentals.  Strength is the ability to produce force and stability is the ability to control it.  So doing crunches on a stability ball with a hundred pound dumbbell on your chest might make you strong (although I think it makes you look ridiculous), it isn’t going to improve your core stability.  To be stable you must be able to RESIST the applied force without movement.

Going hand in hand with this notion is the idea that is currently being promoted by many educated coaches and trainers that repeated spinal flexion is a bad idea because it increases the risk of spinal disc injury.  In other words, crunches suck!

Finally, lets remember that the core doesn’t just include the rectus abdominus or the anterior core muscles.  It essentially forms a belt around us and includes more muscles than I’d like to count at this very moment.  Knowing this, it is essential to investigate the muscles all around the core to determine stability.  More importantly, we are not going to test the strength of these muscles, but the ability of them to support the core under load.  In the case of the lower back, endurance is actually far more important than strength for injury prevention.

Here is a quick little protocol that I like to use as a starting point:

1. Front Plank

While doing this movement I like to place a dowel on the person’s back and have them maintain 3 points of contact.  The dowel should remain in contact with the glutes, upper back, and head.  If one of those points is lost then the timer stops.  (Note: I swiped this tip from Mike Robertson)

You should be able to hold this position for 2 minutes.

2. Side Plank – Should be able to hold for 90 seconds

This is as easy as it sounds.  The body should be held straight in a full side plank position for 90 seconds per side.  Note any assymetry between the sides as this is a strong predictor on injury risk.  Work on bringing the weaker side up to match the stronger side before trying to increase the overall time.

You should be able to hold this position for 90 seconds.

3. Back Extension Hold

Set up at though you’re going to do a back extension and hold yourself in the extended position.  As with the front plank, use the dowel along the spine to ensure proper alignment by maintaing 3 points of contact.

You should be able to hold this position for 2 minutes.

4. Double Leg Lower

To perform this test you want to lie on your back and raise both legs straight up into the air.  From here, I’d suggest placing your hands on your external obliques or crossed over your chest.  They cannot be on the floor.  Now slowly begin to lower your legs while concentrating on keeping your lower back flat on the floor.  (Note: a hard floor is more effective than a mat for determining success on this test)

If your feet hit the floor before your lower back raises you have passed.  If not, you suck and you should check yourself into the wimp hall of fame.  Just kidding, but your ability to control your core is probably lacking in this respect.

5.  Rotational Stability

I also like to assess rotational stability by using a test from the functional movement screen.  If you’re going to fail only one of these tests, this will probably be it.  You can check it out HERE.

Again, these only serve at starting points and there are obviously other factors affecting stability of the core, but these tests should be enough to get you rolling.

In the coming weeks I’ll be releasing an audio interview series that will detail how some of the world’s leading experts test and train the core for performance and just plain looking sexy.  Keep your eyes peeled for that.

In the meantime, drop me a note in the comments to let me know how you make out on the tests above.