Monthly Archives: June 2011

Exercises For Your Enjoyment: Side-lying Windmills

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Today’s featured exercise is the side-lying windmill. I stole this one from Eric Cressey and Tony Gentilcore during my internship at Cressey Performance.

I like certain exercises where you can get more “bang for your buck,” and this is one of them, as it works on both thoracic extension and rotation. It’s great as part of a dynamic warm-up or as a “filler” exercise in your strength training program. Currently, I’m using it between sets of bench presses on one of my upper body days.

Key Points:

  1. Lay on your side with with your arms extended perpendicular to your body, hands palm to palm.
  2. Your top leg should be at 90 degrees of hip flexion, resting on a foam roller or medicine ball to keep the spine in neutral and prevent lumbar rotation.
  3. Reach up and overhead, making a big, sweeping arc.
  4. “Open up” your chest as your arm comes around, following your hand with your eyes the whole time.
  5. Return your hand to the starting position and do 5 to 8 controlled reps before switching sides.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

 

Keep It Simple

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A little while back I was getting a lift in on a Saturday afternoon at Cressey Performance. Eric Cressey is a master of the deadlift and I had been trying to think of how to program for myself in order to get my deadlift numbers up. I remembered reading one of his articles when he was training at South Side Gym in Connecticut about how his deadlift really shot up during his time there. When I looked at the program he was doing, it included good mornings, an exercise that I hadn’t done in some time. “Ah-ha!” I thought to myself…”Good mornings must be the answer to increasing my deadlift!” I knew I had to get Eric’s thoughts, so while I was foam rolling, I asked him,

“Do you think good mornings helped your deadlift when you were training at South Side?”

And he replied,

“I think everything I did helped my deadlift.”

The master had spoken.

I thought about Eric’s response a lot and realized that it held a lot of meaning. What I was failing to do at the time was to keep things simple. I was trying to come up with the perfect program. I was looking for the perfect exercises, the perfect amount of sets and reps, and the perfect amount of rest so that I could get stronger. In reality, there really is no “perfect” program. So, I took a step back and rethought my plan of attack.

The road to getting stronger really isn’t that complicated. When I thought about it, it boiled down to this: train hard, lift heavy shit, eat (a lot), rest, and repeat. That’s it. Not very sexy, but it’s true. Matter of fact, whatever your fitness goals may be, this list still holds true (obviously with some minor tweaks in the training and nutrition categories).

If you want to get stronger, gain muscle, or lose fat, you need to train hard. You need to lift some appreciable weight. Your nutrition has to be on point. You have to give yourself ample time to recover and commit to methods of recovery. After you do all that stuff, do it again. And keep doing it.

Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? Don’t be fooled by this simplicity…this may tempt you to deviate from some of these things, but trust me, they work.

I’m a big believer in the Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 Rule. This states that “80% of your results come from 20% of your work.” In other words, less is more. When it comes to your training, stick to the core lifts and fundamental movements. Think squats, deadlifts, some type of pressing, pulling, with some single-leg work and core work sprinkled in there as well. Do these until your technique is really, really ridiculously good.

Once your technique is impeccable, start getting strong at these lifts. Try to add a little weight to the bar every time you train. When your technique is rock-solid and you’ve built up a sturdy foundation of strength, then you can start playing around a bit more and doing variations of these movements.

Whether he meant to or not, this is what I felt Eric implied in his response to my question. If I wanted to get strong at deadlifts, first and foremost, I had to deadlift. After repeatedly pulling heavy shit off of the ground, I had to select appropriate assistance exercises, whether that meant including good mornings or not; it really didn’t matter. Do this for 4-8 weeks, switch up some of the assistance exercises, and do that for another 4-8 weeks. And remember the 80/20 Rule…stick to the core lifts, select a few appropriate assistance exercises, and get after it. For example, here’s what a recent deadlift day looked like for me:

A1) Conventional Deadlift  3 x 5

A2) Prone Windshield Wiper Mobilizations  3 x 8/leg

B1) 1-leg DB Contralateral Deadlift  3 x 8/leg

B2) Barbell Forward Lunges  3 x 8/leg

C1) TRX Alternating Jackknifes  3 x 8/leg

C2) Wall Lat Stretch  2 x 20 sec/side

Core lift? Check.

Hip-dominant movement? Check.

Knee-dominant movement? Check.

Single-leg work? Check.

Core work? Check.

Simple? Yes.

Effective? Yes.

Mad swole afterwards? Of course.

Don’t over-think things. Keep it simple. Never lose sight of the fundamentals, for these are the things that are going to get you the results that you want.

Squatting to Proper Depth

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Squats performed to proper depth seem to be about as popular as mom’s meatloaf at dinner these days. Whenever I train in a commercial gym, the amount of partial squats I see is sickening. Not only are these people butchering one of the greatest and most sacred exercises out there, but they are putting themselves at risk for injury and not getting the full benefit of a correctly executed squat. Now, I understand that there are mobility and flexibility considerations when it comes to achieving proper depth; some trainees currently cannot get to depth and some might never be able to due to various factors. However, any healthy person with sufficient mobility and flexibility should be doing squats through a full range of motion EVERY TIME!

First, let’s define what proper depth is on a squat. A full squat is achieved when at the bottom position, the crease made at the hip joint is just below the top of the knee, or patella (viewed from the side). This applies to all types of squats, whether we’re talking about front squats, high-bar squats, or low-bar squats.

The squat is a very coordinated movement that involves many muscles, most notably the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and adductors (groin muscles). Throughout a correctly performed full squat, these muscles all take on an anatomically sound share of the work. When this occurs, the squat is the safest leg exercise for the knees and allows for a more stable knee than any other leg exercise. Partial squats, on the other hand, stress the knee and the quadriceps without stressing the hamstrings, glutes, and adductors. Simply stated, at the bottom of a squat, the hamstrings must be stretched in order to do their job of providing a balancing “pull” in the movement. In a partial squat, the hamstrings are not fully stretched, which creates anterior shearing forces on the knee. This, as you can guess, is not good and may result in injury.

Every now and then I’ll hear the phrase, “Squats are bad for the knees.” Not only is someone who says this grossly misinformed, but they make me want to repeatedly bang my head against a brick wall.

Chances are that this person was performing squats incorrectly and suffered an injury. Of course, “squats” were the problem, right? Sorry, don’t think so. Squats are not bad for the knees, but poorly performed squats surely are.

Mark Rippetoe, one of the foremost authorities on squats in the industry, would probably agree with me when I say that there is something “magical” about full squats. When full squats, as opposed to partial squats, are performed in an exercise program, we are able to achieve our goals faster and safer. Whether your goal is to have a nice set of wheels, be more athletic, or develop a nice booty, full squats should be a cornerstone of your program. Coach Rip has said, “When it comes to squats, easier doesn’t work.” Sure, it is easier to do partial squats and I realize that some of you might not consider full squats “fun.” Well you know what? I’m going to have to side with The Rock on this one…

IT DOESN’T MATTER!!!