Tag Archives: mobility

5 Reasons to “Dig the Toes In” During Kneeling Exercises

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One of the coaching cues that I find myself constantly using in the gym is for athletes and clients to “dig their toes into the ground.” I tend to use a fair share of exercises in the quadruped, half-kneeling, and tall-kneeling positions in my programming, and when people are in these positions, it’s imperative that they dig their toes into the floor. This rule applies whether someone is performing a Quadruped Extension-Rotation during the warm-up, or a Half-Kneeling Cable Lift towards the end of a training session.

Below is a series of pictures detailing what I mean. Notice the difference in my rear foot/feet in the INCORRECT and CORRECT photos (Chuck Taylors optional, but encouraged).

Quadruped Incorrect
Quadruped – INCORRECT

Quadruped Correct
Quadruped – CORRECT

Half Kneeling Incorrect
Half-kneeling – INCORRECT

Half Kneeling Correct
Half-kneeling – CORRECT

Tall Kneeling Incorrect
Tall-kneeling – INCORRECT

Tall Kneeling Correct
Tall-kneeling – CORRECT

By now you’re probably wondering why I’m adamant on enforcing such a trivial detail. Well, here are 5 reasons why I feel it’s important to dig your toes into the ground.

1. Stability

You’ll notice a marked difference between having your toes dug into the ground versus not having them dug in when performing most kneeling exercises. Having your toes dug in to the floor gives you better stability and balance, and allows you to perform a given exercise more successfully. Digging your toes in essentially lets you feel more “connected” to the floor.

2. Glute Activation

When your toes are dug in and you’re more “connected” to the floor, you can effectively activate your glutes. This is supremely important during all half-kneeling and tall-kneeling exercises, as the hip should be fully extended, stable, and directly above the knee on the ground. Also, by engaging your glutes, the head of the femur is pulled posteriorly, preventing it from gliding forward in the socket and potentially contributing to anterior capsule laxity.

3. Great Toe Extension

If you’re familiar with the joint-by-joint approach, a model for which joints in the body require more mobility or stability, you’ll know that the great toe, and all of the toes, requires mobility. When we walk or run, we progress through the toes, especially the great toe. So, it’s important that we have adequate mobility, particularly in extension, through all of our toes. Digging your toes into the ground during quadruped, half-kneeling, and tall-kneeling exercises promotes and helps maintain extension through the toes. Furthermore, and this is a nice segue to my next point, extension of the toes facilitates a stretch of the plantar fascia. The plantar fascia is directly connected to the Achilles tendon, and lengthening this fascia helps improve…

4. Ankle Dorsiflexion

We’re a very plantar-flexed society. Think about it: when you’re sleeping, sitting, or wearing shoes with big heel lifts, you’re most likely in a state of ankle plantar-flexion. Since many people sleep several hours per night, sit at a desk during work all day, and wear crappy shoes, there’s a lot of time being spent in plantar-flexion. Digging the toes into the ground during kneeling exercises promotes more ankle dorsiflexion, which is an essential movement capacity that, if limited, can lead to things like anterior knee pain.

5. Calf Muscle Inhibition

Piggy backing on #4, promoting and gaining more ankle dorsiflexion will help to inhibit the calf muscles (gastrocnemius, soleus), which are often overactive in today’s population. An individual stuck in plantar-flexion is more likely to have increased tone and decreased soft tissue length in their calves. Take, for instance, someone who is in a gross extension pattern. Their pelvis is anteriorly tilted, adding to an increased lumbar lordosis, causing an anterior weight shift and altered center of gravity. Under these circumstances, the calf muscles would have to contract and constantly be “on” to prevent this individual from falling any further forward. By increasing dorsiflexion range of motion, the calves can be inhibited and effectively turned “off.”

Hopefully now you can see why it’s important to dig your toes into the ground during quadruped, half-kneeling, and tall-kneeling exercises. I use the “dig your toes into the ground” cue all the time in the gym, and I feel with good reason. It may seem nitpicky, but the benefits of this simple adjustment can turn out to pay big dividends.

How to Warm-Up, Part Two: The Bench Press

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Today’s blog is Part Two of a three-part series on how to warm-up for the squat, bench press, and deadlift. This post is coauthored by Matt Skeffington and we’ll be showing you how to warm-up for the bench press. Enjoy!

In our previous installment, which you can read HERE, we gave you 8 proven reasons on why it’s important to warm-up before your strength training session. As a quick recap, warming up:

  • Decreases your risk of injury
  • Increases power
  • Increases speed
  • Increases strength
  • Increases body temperature
  • Increases motor unit recruitment (especially high-threshold MU’s)
  • Increases energy production
  • Increases flexibility

Today we’re going to show you how to properly warm-up for the bench press. Contrary to popular belief, the bench press is a full-body exercise. As such, our warm-up will cover the whole body. While there may be an upper body emphasis (as there was a lower body emphasis with the squat warm-up), we feel it’s imperative to get the whole body moving and prepared for exercise, not only as a benefit during the subsequent training session, but also to promote long-term movement quality and health.

Now let’s break down the bench press and see what we’ll be focusing on during our warm-up so you can set some new PRs in the gym!

Feet

Always, always, always have your feet flat on the floor during the bench press. Having your feet connected to the ground will give you stability, allow you to effectively transfer force from the ground to the bar, and allow you to activate your glutes. In other words, you will not only be safer, but stronger and able to lift more weight. So no feet in the air allowed while you’re benching!

Fail.

Position your feet outside your hips and slightly behind your knees. This provides you with a good foundation so you can get your whole body into the lift.

Knees

Your knees, much like a perfect squat, are in line with your toes (the second toe, to be specific). Since your knees will also be outside your hips, it’s important that you give your adductors some attention, ensuring their quality and length. Therefore, we’ll be addressing the adductors in the warm-up.

Glutes

Get those glutes tight! Besides being an external rotator of the hip, the glutes also serve as a powerful hip extensor. Your butt should remain on the bench when pressing, giving you a sturdy base, and by engaging them, they encourage that whole body tension that is necessary for a big bench. As a result, glute activation will be an integral part of our warm-up.

In order for the glutes to effectively extend the hip, you’ll need to have, among other things, adequate hip flexor length. That’s also something we’ll be incorporating into our warm-up.

Lumbar Spine

Your lower back should be in its natural, lordotic posture. There’s no need to hyperextend the lumbar spine here, as we’re not preparing you for a powerlifting meet!

Chest/Upper Back/Shoulder

Throughout performance of the bench press, your chest should remain “out” and scapulae depressed and retracted (down and back). To get into this position, you must have adequate pec major/minor length and the ability to activate the rhomboids, middle/lower traps, and lats.

This position will promote thoracic extension and centration of the humeral head (ball) in the glenoid fossa (socket). This will permit smooth horizontal adduction and internal rotation of the shoulder joint as you press that bar up to lockout. Furthermore, it will prevent too much humeral extension.

Another benefit of being in the “chest out, shoulder blades down and back” position is that the bar will not have to travel as far. This is a great advantage if you’re looking to get stronger and add pounds to your bench press (who wouldn’t be, anyway?).

If you’re someone who squats, benches, and deadlifts on a regular basis, you’ll be reinforcing this “down and back” posture quite a bit. That’s certainly not a bad thing, but it’s important that you get your scapulae moving, specifically in elevation and upward rotation. This can be done by getting some upper trap and serratus anterior activation, and we’ll be attacking that in addition to promoting pec length, thoracic extension, and shoulder mobility in our warm-up.

Arms

At the bottom of your bench press, your elbows should be roughly 45 degrees from your sides, and your forearms should remain vertical through the whole duration of your press. With a 45 degree arm angle, the bar should touch your chest somewhere just below the nipple line, and your vertical forearms will allow for optimal force transmission into the bar.

Hands

The bar should be in tight to your thumb, on the heel of your hand, and your thumb should be wrapped around the bar (no thumbless grips!).

Not allowed!

As you press, think about spreading and twisting (like you’re closing a jar) the bar. This will get more of your back musculature involved and also place horizontal forces on the bar, in addition to the vertical forces inherent to the pushing motion, and ultimately allow you to bust through plateaus and lift more weight.

Bench Press Warm-up

After performing soft tissue work with a foam roller and lacrosse ball, proceed to the following warm-up:

1. Supine Bridge w/external rotation x 10

2. Half-kneeling Adductor Dips x 8/side

3. Bench T-spine Extension Mobilization x 10

4. Hip Flexor Stretch w/internal rotation x 20-30s/side

5. Scap Pushup to Yoga Pushup x 6

6. Split-stance PVC Pec Mobilization x 8/side

7. Standing Band Pulldown w/OH Shrug x 10

8. No Money Drill x 10

Pre-Work

A) Tall-kneeling Chest Pass w/hip extension – 3×5, rest 30-60s between sets

Here’s an example of what your warm-up with the barbell might look like if you plan on your first working set being at 225 lbs. for 5 reps:

Bar x 5

Bar x 5

95 lbs. x 5

135 lbs. x 5

185 lbs. x 3

225 lbs. x 5 (first working set)

Wrap-Up

This warm-up will keep you healthy and primed to hit some new PRs on the bench press. We hope you’ll give it a try before one of your next benching sessions!

Look out for our final installment on how to warm-up for the deadlift!

How to Warm-Up, Part One: The Squat

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Today’s post is a collaboration between Matt Skeffington and I on how to warm-up for the squat. It is Part One of a three-part series we’ll be doing on how to warm-up for the squat, bench press, and deadlift. Enjoy!

It’s your big squat day. Trust us, we know how you feel. All day, you’re jacked up, ready to get to the gym to move some serious weight. In fact, you’re so excited you get out of your car and immediately head over to the squat rack. You get under the bar and begin your first warm-up set. Big mistake.

Your hips couldn’t be tighter from sitting at your desk all day so you’re only able to get into a quarter squat without your adductors ripping in half.  Your shoulders are stiffer than a board and you grimace in pain as you try to get your upper back and hands into a solid position. As you descend into your squat, you tip forward, putting a ton of stress on your low back because your ankles won’t move. Nothing feels good, nothing feels loose, and that 135 lbs. on your back feels more like 500 lbs.

Let’s back things up for a minute. Let’s say you decided to take the extra 10-15 minutes to do a comprehensive warm-up dedicated to getting you ready to squat. You would probably start by doing a little research, because after all, we exercise geeks love research. If you did a few searches on PubMed or the Journal of Strength and Conditioning you would find a variety of studies on various dynamic warm-up protocols and how warm-ups:

Of course the warm-ups done in these studies are very general in nature. We need all the benefits of a sound warm-up listed above, but also want something specifically designed for getting us ready to squat some big weight! Before designing our warm-up it’s important to understand what exactly our joints are doing during a squat so we can target those areas.

Take a look at the video below:

Feet

The first thing we want you to notice is foot position. As you can see, Conor sets up with his toes pointed out. Getting into the proper bottom position of a squat takes a considerable amount of hip flexion and internal rotation. Starting with your toes pointed slightly out allows your hips to start the squat in a position of external rotation. This allows gives your hips some freedom when descending into your squat. If your hip external rotators and extensors (glutes, hamstrings, etc.) are tight, we will not be squatting very deep or very safely. Don’t worry though; we will get your hips nice and mobile in the warm-up.

Ankles

Next up are the ankles. Notice in the side-view how Conor’s ankles allow his knees to slightly glide over his toes as he descends into his squat. Old school bro-science would tell us this is bad for our knees. It’s not.

We need a good amount of dorsiflexion in our ankles to allow us to squat deep while maintaining a solid neutral spine position. In fact, we need about 20 degrees of dorsiflexion to squat properly. If our calves are too stiff, we cannot properly dorsiflex, and we will compensate by either tipping forward or going into lumbar (low back) flexion. OUCH! Have no fear my squatting friends, we will get those calves ready!

Knees

Our next stop on the kinetic chain is the knees. Since the knee joint is mostly a hinge joint (we do have some medial/lateral rotation), the positioning of the knees is determined mostly by the hips. Let’s take a look at Conor’s hips as he squats. From the front you can see how Conor abducts his hips and his knees track out over the toes during the descent of his squat. This keeps his femur and tibia in a strong, neutral position. To get into this position, we need adequate adductor and hip flexor length as well as glute strength and stiffness. In this warm-up, we’ll get your glutes working double time!

Diaphragm

Let’s continue up to Conor’s abdomen. We’re going to let you in on a little secret. The key to moving big weights is not in your legs or your back. It all starts with proper functioning of the diaphragm. Notice how Conor finishes each rep by returning to a neutral spine position. What we mean by that is as he finishes each rep, he doesn’t lean back, look up, or over-arch his low back. He finishes each rep by squeezing his glutes and bracing his stomach, leaving his body in a perfectly neutral position. By maintaining a neutral position and keeping his ribcage down, Conor can exhibit good breathing mechanics and preserve a favorable Zone of Apposition.

With this optimal alignment, he can demonstrate rock-solid core stability from the inside-out. Conor now has 360 degrees of stability around his core, kind of like an invisible weight belt. Don’t worry, we’ll be practicing some diaphragmatic breathing in our warm-up.

Upper Back

Finally, we end our journey at the upper back. Watching the video from the back-view, you can see how Conor’s back is tight and engaged. This is due to a couple of things.  First, Conor has great extension through his thoracic spine, unlike most of us who are overly kyphotic because we sit all day.

Secondly, Conor’s ability to externally rotate his shoulders and posteriorly tilt and retract his scapulae allows his chest to stay tall and for his elbows to stay down during the squat. This is due to adequate length of his muscles involved in internally rotating his humerus and anteriorly tilting his scapulae. These include subscapularis, pec major and minor, as well as his lats. This is a huge part of a solid squat. Without the ability to keep his chest tall, Conor would be putting a lot more stress on his low back and would be constantly falling forward. And you thought the squat was a just a lower body lift! We’ll attack shoulder and thoracic spine mobility as well as upper back activation in the warm-up.

Squat Warm-Up

Foam Roll

  • If possible, use an elevated surface to foam roll your adductors
  • Include Supine Diaphragmatic Breathing (hips/knees flexed, feet flat) x 10 breaths

Mobility/Activation (*If you have a lot of joint laxity, only perform the standing drills below*)

1. Kneeling Glute Mobilization x 8/side

2. Single-leg Glute Bridge w/2 sec ISO at top x 6/side

3. Split-stance Adductor Mobilization x 8/side

4. Side-lying Extension Rotation x 8/side

5. Standing Hip Internal/External Rotation w/mini-band x 10/side

6. Knee-break Ankle Mobilization x 10

7. Forearm Wall Slides at 135 degrees w/OH Shrug and Lift-off x 8

8. Bowler Squats x 6/side

9. Walking Spiderman w/Hip Lift and OH Reach x 5/side

10. Alternating Lateral Lunge Walk x 5/side

Pre-Work

A1) Box Jumps – 3×5

A2) Wall Hip Flexor Mobilization (Back Knee Elevated) – 3×8/side

Now let’s say you’re planning on performing your first working set of 5 reps at 315 lbs. Your warm-up sets and reps might look like this:

Bar x 5

Bar x 5

135 lbs. x 5

185 lbs. x 5

225 lbs. x 3

275 lbs. x 2

315 lbs. x 5 (first working set)

Wrap-Up

Give this warm-up a try before your next squat session. It will keep you feeling good, injury-free, and it will improve your performance so you can continue to get stronger and squat those big weights.

Check back soon for Part Two on how to warm-up for the bench press!

What’s On My Mind – New Year’s Edition

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Happy New Year everybody! I hope you all enjoyed the holidays. To start off 2012, here are some things that are currently on my mind:

1. Ok, I need to get something off my chest and I might as well get it over with first. Recently, I’ve heard a few women say some things about strength training that absolutely make me cringe. A couple of women have told me that when they lift weights, they put on muscle “very easily.” As a result of this, I’ve seen them either a) shy away from training with weights, or b) continue to work with light weights and refrain from going any heavier. Along those same lines, another woman felt like she was “putting on too much muscle” while strength training. Give me a minute while I go outside and give out a Phil Anselmo-like scream…

Alright, I’m back. I know that I’ll always be fighting the battle to convince women that strength training won’t make them “big and bulky” and that it’s ok to use something heavier than 5 lb. dumbbells. Even so, it doesn’t make it any less frustrating when I hear something as woefully inaccurate as the statements I mentioned above. I’ve thought about this a lot and I feel that something similar to the placebo effect is going on here. You see, women are unfairly bombarded by the media, magazines, popular culture, etc. with this misguided notion that if they so much as touch a weight, they are immediately going to bulk up. Since this idea is planted in their heads, when they actually do touch a weight, they automatically think that they’re getting huge. Like I said, I don’t know what exactly to call this, but it seems similar to the placebo effect: women have a preconceived belief in their mind, which they assume to be factual, that they are sure will cause a certain effect. Maybe it is the placebo effect. I don’t know, but it sucks and is unfortunate. I don’t want to go on an all-out rant about this, but before I move on, consider these points:

  • First of all, I think women have a messed up view of what a truly healthy physique really looks like. I recently heard that in a poll, the majority of women thought that Jessica Biel was either “too bulky” or “too muscular.”

Are you shitting me?!

  • Women have roughly 1/10 the amount of testosterone, the body’s primary muscle-building hormone, than men do. So, um, I hate to break it to you, but you’re not going to be putting on slabs of muscle in a matter of weeks.
  • What gives your body “curves” and that “shapely” look? Yup, muscle does.
  • Is it any wonder that most of the strongest women I’ve seen in the gym are also the leanest? I think not.
  • Women squatting and deadlifting appreciable weight is incredibly sexy.

True story: when I met my girlfriend, I knew for sure I had to ask her out when I saw her front squatting at the gym. Total turn-on!

  • Oh yeah, on a similar note, ladies: stop worrying about what the scale says! It is an A-R-B-I-T-R-A-R-Y number!

Aaaaahhhhh, I feel much better now. On with the randomness…

2. Cue the glutes! Not too long ago, Eric Cressey was taking me through a new variation of forearm wall slides. While coaching me, he told me to activate my glutes. This was an excellent reminder to not only cue the glutes in exercises like squats, deadlifts, lunges, and hip thrusts, but also in standing, half-kneeling, tall-kneeling, etc. exercises where you might not think to activate them. The glutes tend to remain dormant in many people and I feel that they help to promote a more neutral pelvic alignment when activated, so it’s important to get those babies firing!

3. Belly breathing. Within the past several months, I’ve learned more about the importance of breathing patterns. Physical therapist Phil Plisky gave an excellent lecture on this when I attended the 2011 Midwest Performance Enhancement Seminar last summer and it’s something that the Postural Restoration Institute has also been stressing as important. Dr. Plisky defined normal breathing as the “outward movement of the abdomen combined with an elevation of the thorax during inspiration and reverse during expiration.” The diaphragm needs to be used properly in breathing; this is done by “breathing through the belly.” Rib cage breathing, on the other hand, indicates a faulty breathing pattern and that the diaphragm is not being used properly. I’m certainly going to be more cognizant of breathing patterns in my programming.

4. Speaking of programming, I just began my first program from Tony Gentilcore. Let’s just say it’s really difficult to get on and off the toilet seat right now. I wonder…could it be the deadlifts vs. chains? Giant Cambered Bar Squats? Single-leg hip thrusts vs. chains? Glute-ham raises? Yeah, all of the above. I’m going to be really getting after it and doing a lot more volume than I’ve been used to lately for the next 2-3 months. The goal is to get stronger and add some more muscle before I start to dial things in for my next powerlifting meet, which is the first weekend in June. I’ll keep you updated on my progress!

5. Stop stretching the lumbar spine. This promotes lumbar mobility and an increased range of motion, which is the exact opposite of what is needed. The lumbar spine requires stability, not mobility, which leads to instability. If you suffer from low back pain, do not resort to stretching the lumbar spine, even if it temporarily makes the pain go away. Instead, focus on other areas up or down the kinetic chain where you may in fact lack mobility, like the hips and thoracic spine, and your condition may improve. So from now on, I’m going to lay The People’s Elbow on anybody I see performing the stretch below.

Put a shirt on, bro.

6. Biotest Superfood. I’m a minimalist when it comes to supplements, but I’ve been thinking lately of adding a greens supplement to my repertoire. I’ve made a concerted effort to include more fruits and vegetables in my diet, but I just want to make sure I cover my bases. I’m a big fan of the Biotest line, so I decided to give Superfood a try. I’ve put it in my protein shake the last two mornings and it wasn’t too bad. It made my shake a little more bland, so it’s going to take a little getting used to, but I’m thinking it’ll become a mainstay in my supplement regimen.

7. Staying on the topic of food, I’ve mentioned before that I love Trader Joe’s. They have a lot of very nutritious selections that many larger grocery store chains don’t carry, but they also have a lot of sweets that are insanely good. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t fall victim to them every so often. Lately, they started selling this stuff I’d never heard of called Cookie Butter.

Man, you could put this stuff on a dog turd and I’d eat it…well, not really, but you get what I’m saying…it’s freaking awesome! They sell it with these little caramel-filled wafers from Holland. Dip the wafer in the cookie butter, put it in your mouth, and thank me later.

8. The New Balance Minimus MX20 is the best training shoe I’ve ever worn. Ever.

9. I hate Bosu Balls.

10. Click HERE and read Chris Martin’s latest post. Very well said.

Thanks for reading all of my randomness and best wishes for an AWESOME 2012!

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!