Why Just Lifting Does Not Prevent Injuries

At quality facilities, such as Endeavor (yes I said it), one of the main concerns of the coach(es) are to prevent injuries.  In my opinion, it could be the number one priority and lifting correctly is injury prevention in itself.  Heck, a large percentage of the research states that most people walking around today will have some kind of pain issue at some joint just because of lack of quality movement, being sedentary, poor nutritional habits, etc…  Injuries or chronic pain can be seen in a variety of areas across the body such as the ankles, knees, hips, lumbar spine, shoulders, and neck.

Even Cristiano Ronaldo can be in pain

Yesterday, I came home, had a good meal and watched Patrick Ward’s webinar on stress resistance in athletic performance and it gave me a kick in the head which helped me realize that everything has a good (eustress) or bad (distress) stress response in our day.  More specifically, people can react to a similar stress much much differently. Literally….everything is a stressor.  I think we may sometimes forget that outside of the facility, A LOT of stuff goes on in someone’s day.  Hundreds of things, good or bad.  When the athletes come to us, we hope they have eaten quality meals (non-processed carbs, good fats, lots of protein, and vegetables), slept well, and are motivated to get after it, however, this may be far from reality.  As a result, we need to provide suggestions or advice to clients that is simple, clear, and in a caring matter.  Caring matters.

Anyway, one of the slides that stood out to me and refreshed my entire outlook on what he called ”the broken athlete” was this idea that there is more to preventing injuries then lifting weights correctly or having the best program out there.  It looked like this…

All of the corners factor into injury with an athlete who may have a small physiologic buffer zone.

Poor Movement

athletes or clients who do not move correctly in all planes of movement

learn to move well first, then load it up.  Using progressions, in my opinion, is key

gym’s may offer up the “hardest classes known to man” but I would argue that many of the people in them have no business performing some of the movements or exercises because of the intensity or volume that is prescribed.  Another reason why coaching matters big time.

learn first and progress

Poor Fitness

poor fitness and movement go hand in hand.

if someone has a low fitness level then as they compete, fatigue, or lift long, the movement quality is sure to go down the drain.  Also, if you do not have a higher level of fitness, the stress capacity will become overloaded.  The best example is something like doing 20 hang snatches in a row.  Ever hear that being done?  Realize that going hard everyday is typically not a good thing.  Thank God for college football Saturdays in the Fall!

Stress Overload

Stress has specific and nonspecific categories.  Specific, in our case, are the stressors we put on the athletes with the program design (intensity, duration, using appropriate movements for each athlete, applying progressions etc..) whereas nonspecific stressors are everything outside of the gym.  These can be family issues, nutritional habits, poor sleeping habits, job related issues, and financial situations.

We can see drastically different examples…

There may be athletes or clients who move well and have tremendous fitness but have a large degree of nonspecific stressors outside of the facility.  On the other hand, there may be athletes that have no outside stressors but have horrendous fitness and movement.  At the facility we hope to drastically improve the environment at the facility so that it is place where athletes both enjoy coming to the facility while applying the right amount of specific stress in order to provide adaptation, progress, and decrease the chance that they will get injured.

Cheers,

Matt

Injuries in Women’s Soccer: How We Can Help

Luckily, I was able to get the PDF file from my colleague Guido Seerden which was a 1-year prospective study of injuries in women’s soccer at the elite level (German Bundesliga).  The results were not surprising, however, they specifically noted every injury that occurred and categorized by severity. Minor (1-7 days), moderate (8-30 days), and severe (+30 days) were the categories and the duration it took to return to play. Here were the graphs that I found interesting…

Percentage of Injuries by Region

 

With the knee and ankle being the most affected area, we need strategies to help prevent injuries.

Match vs. Practice

Knowing how profound these injuries are (especially since ACL’s can end player’s careers if they are towards the end of them), we need try to keep athletes healthy and keep performance high.  How?

We can teach athletes how to absorb or decelerate force through proper movement training and landing (single/double leg).

We also like to incorporate mini-band walks in various directions (forward, backward, laterally) to help athletes learn to strengthen the hips, which when also done properly, keeps the pelvis stable.  Notice in the video my hips and shoulders move across, a typical compensation will see these areas “hike” up and down.

I have mentioned single leg strength as our primary method of training even though bilateral training has benefits, we will always stick with single leg. Posterior chain strength and control is important since this chain is noticeably weaker in soccer athletes.  Learn to love these…
1-Leg DB SLDL

SLDL

Slideboard Curl Variations

What the study also shed light on was when injuries occured during the match, noting that as fatigue sets in, the incidence of injury increases. In this study, after the 60th minute was when they saw this increase.

It’s no surprise the popularity of GPS and tracking players physiological responses before and after games and practices. Tracking has become extremely important because it can help coaches understand how their players bodies are reacting to the stressors of the games and practices and can help monitor whether or not these players should go “hard” at practice or to take a step off the gas pedal for that day.  I would not know anything about the tracking systems but it is maybe one reason how players can help reduce the risk of injury in the later stages of games or the season and also why specific conditioning is needed for these athletes.

Cheers,

Matt

 

 

 

 

Pressing Movements for Soccer Players

Pressing movements such as push-ups, bench presses, and overhead pressing variations may not seem like a priority for the training of a soccer player.  I am sure that if you asked these players to explain why they to need to do push ups, bench pressing, or overhead pressing, that you may get a exciting variety of answers.  Some answers that I can think of are…

To be stronger on the ball (not get knocked off)

Throw-ins

Strength to knock an opponent off the ball

My thought process is a bit different when explaining to players why they would want some pressing strength.  Specifically, a good push-up is hard to find anywhere.  Rarely does someone come into the facility and perform a perfect set of quality push-ups.  Why?  For one, maybe inexperience training, but also because core stability (to prevent injuries) plagues many athletes and the general population. Here is is the position we want our soccer athletes in when performing a push-up..

Using a PVC Pipe:

The points of contact still remains the same in the push up

•  Sacrum, upper back, and back of head should all be in a straight like.
• Chin is down, biggest mistake will be chin poked forward or even worse, eyes looking up in the bottom position
• Elbows should be tucked slightly back
• “Squeeze your butt tight” is a great cue to help decrease the chances they are using their hip flexors or low back as stabilizers during this movement (anterior pelvic tilt)

Why else do pressing movements?

General pressing strength will help with grip strength that can help soccer athletes hold more weight which can help them with lifts to develop power and lower body strength.  What I mean is that having a good level of upper body strength can help with lower body strength by improving their ability to hold more weight with our single/double leg movements.

Developing power is significantly important for soccer as there many repeated bouts of short (2-6s) explosive runs. We would like to use explosive movements such as 1-arm DB hang snatches, RFE Split Squat Jumps (weights in each hand), push presses, or hang cleans. All which need the ability to hold the a dumbbell or barbell in hand.  Imagine if someone was so weak that they couldn’t hold anything more than a 15lb dumbbell in each hand. That weakness will prevent the athlete from becoming stronger or more powerful because they could not hold anything heavier than 15s in each hand for movements like reverse lunges, split squats, front squats, 1-leg DB SLDL, and the list goes on.

The entire upper body strengthening approach will improve the ideas I discussed above.  It isn’t only pressing strength soccer athletes need but pulling (chin-ups, rows) as well so that our programming is balanced (in the upper body).  Next post will provide the basic progressions we use with our athletes for pressing movements).

Cheers,

Matt

Learning To Pick the Bar Up Off The Floor

How many times has someone informed you that they pulled out their back bending over to pick something up?  Probably at least once, and that one time is typically considered the reason why they pulled “their back out.”  The best analogy I’ve remembered that explained the mechanism behind how injuries occur is to think of a bucket sitting underneath a leaking faucet.

Drops are slowly adding to the bucket over time and eventually, overflow happens.  The overflow is the point at which an injury occurs happens.  It probably wasn’t the bending over that one time to pick the basket up that threw your back out, it was not learning how to hinge into your hips (why we learn to deadlift).  Maybe another advocate was sitting at a desk for hours in the slumped posture we have come to learn so much about.  For this post specifically, I wanted to share two videos which I have found to be powerful in teaching people how to learn to stand up, sit down, and pick up/put bars down safely.  Here is something for everyone that may seem stupid but then again crushing your back over and over again with foolish movements is stupid in my book.  I love Dan John’s explanation and typical response to “squats/deadlifts hurt my back.”  The answer after watching them do perform those lifts…No, how you are squatting or deadlifting is hurting your back.

Notice: hips driving the movement while the torso remains stiff.

Tony Gentilcore, who I think provides some of the best information out there, gives one of the best explanations for setting up to deadlift correctly.  Watch, listen, and learn so that you avoid an injury later or so that you can know more cues to help athletes get stronger safely.

Cheers,

Matt

Under Prepared, Over Injured

Last Saturday it was gorgeous out and considering that I used to love running, wait take that back, I mean sprinting, I thought  it would be a great time to go for a run.  My routine (a  mistake)….

• Put running shoes on
• Wear my old school belly cut Charles Woodson #2 jersey on with some classy running shorts
• Step outside, shake my legs and off I went :  60s run followed by 60s walk until I got back to my house (approx 2- 2 1/2 miles)

Now,  not that you would go to hell for this (at least my calves did for 3 days after), but doesn’t the quick “get it and go” mentality put us in a pretty bad disposition to get hurt?  I know so, and so do those who begin some fitness endeavor with no movement quality, without a quality warm-up, and at an intensity that is usually too high to begin with.  I also know that this is typically the situation at the middle or high school levels in warm-ups.  My experiences were these…

• Soccer: Run around the field once or twice and then do some leg swings in various planes along with some skipping groin thingies that I still see to this day
• Football: Jog 75 yards at a pace closely resembling a walking herd of cows followed by some static stretching
• Track: Run 2 laps around the track followed by some A & B skips, butt kickers, striders, backward runs

As you can see, there is not much except some jogging, and faster based movement skills like skips, form runs, etc…all which are good.  The preparation could have been much better and should be (currently) knowing what we know now.  Hopefully this is not the same but I do fear it is.  If it is,  make sure you get that someone’s attention by giving them a….”Hey Yo” 10x’s or until they almost want to punch you in the face. 

Quick side note: I used to love Scott Hall, aka Razor Ramon when I was a kid and after re-watching the E:60 show on his life now, I felt pretty darn sad.  I guess in many wrestlers cases, they are overworked, overinjured, and under recovered.  The spotlight or their demons can sometimes get the best of them.

Under prepared, Over Injured:  The title is exactly what it means, and the examples I provided are only examples of poor preparation but preparation goes beyond the warm-up.  Mainly, the off-season preparation needed in sports or the continual striving of a goal for a personal training client.  Take for example someone who loves to run.

It could be knee, ankle, low back, shoulder..you name it

They start to experience knee pain.  In time, the pain will get worse, prevent them from enjoying running, or soon stop them completely.  Why?  Running (along with almost ALL activitiy) requires degrees of strength, endurance, coordination, flexibility, balance, mobility, and stability.  What is the running singularly working on?  Their endurance.  To stay healthy or to improve, they need to be prepared with adequate levels of strength, mobility, stability, coordination, etc…The preparation or actual running itself is improving one quality causing a dramatic shift in one direction towards a quality that requires a balance of all the ones listed above.  The same goes for athletes or the general person wanting to be healthy.  If you have nagging injuries, or are not seeing results, if you start preparing correctly and doing the things throughout the day to be successful or less likely to be injured, the chances are you will see results.

Cheers,

Matt

Chin Ups for Injury. Prevention, Mass, & Strength

If there is one movement that almost all people neglect its pulling (Vertical/Horizontal) exercises.  Whether it’s pulling exercises for the lower body or upper body, we need it due the adaptations made from poor gym methodologies and posture.  The charts below, I took from an article written from Eric Cressey called “Shoulder Savers” which is a three-part series that all people should read, but it is to demonstrate the imbalances that gym-goers have due to their training.  Here are the 3 basic pairs of movement patterns.

Scapular Retraction/Protraction
Scapular Retraction	Scapular Protraction
All Rowing*	All Bench Pressing
Rear Delt Fly	All Flyes
Prone Trap Raise Variations***(you could count as scapular depression too)	Dips
Face Pulls

*Exclude Upright Rows….always.

Scapular Depression/Elevation
Scapular Depression	Scapular Elevation
Scapular Wall Slides	Shrugs
Prone Trap Raise Variations	Upright Rows
Behind-the-Neck Band Pulldowns	Cleans and Snatches
Prone Cobras to 10&2 (held for time)	Seated DB Cleans
Straight Arm Lat Pulldowns (strict!)/ (I’ll add chins up since this blog post is about that)*	Cuban Presses

Humeral External Rotation/Internal Rotation
Humeral External Rotation	Humeral Internal Rotation
All External Rotation Variations	Bench Pressing, Pushups
Seated DB Cleans	Pullups, Pulldowns
Cuban Presses	Front Raises
Rear Delt Flyes	Dips
Prone Trap Raises	Overhead Pressing
Prone Cobras (held for time)	All Internal Rotation Variations

All the exercises on the left are often overlooked by most people, and if they have performed them it usually is nowhere near the same volume as the right column exercises.  If you also notice, there is enough work here that you should not have a “shoulder day” for your workouts due overuse/injuries that usually happen to this joint. 

Anyway, chin ups would fall under the scapular retraction/depression chart.  The chin-up is almost never seen in commercial gyms because everyone is over by the lat pulldown machine.  Why? Because they are easier.  I understand that if you cannot do a proper chin-up that lat pulldowns are best, for now. If you want to get stronger, get bigger, or even burn some body fat then doing chin ups should be a staple in your program.  Chin-ups are an amazing way to develop those qualities because of their involvement in forearm, biceps, lats, traps, & shoulders.  Here’s a video by Mike Robertson on proper chin up technique.

Chin ups or Pull ups?

The answer…it depends.  Mike Reinold had a great blog post about the differences between the two.  The main points were

• Chin-ups are probably better for aesthetic reasons since it involves higher EMG activity in the lats, biceps, and pectoralis major.
• For poor posture and shoulder function, the pull-up may be better due to lower pec major activity  and increased lower trap activity. Both common goals when dealing with Janda’s Upper Crossed Syndrome.
• Lower Trapezius importance: Due to the overactivity of the upper traps and poor thoracic spine extensibility we have weak/inhibited lower traps = scapular instability.

3 Parts to the Trapezius: Upper, Middle, Lower fibers

Who says girls cannot do chin-ups? These are band-resisted which is a great way to start if you cannot do full chin ups with good form.

Insane strength with perfect form by Ben Bruno