When It’s ‘OK’ to Train with Partial Range of Motion: Upper Body Pressing

Soccer Training: Strength & Injury Prevention

Partial ROM can get a bad rap in the training community.  However, two main reasons partial ROM may be a good idea are to (1) teach certain movements when there a lot of clients (or beginners) or (2) someone who presents with pain in the bottom range of a particular lift.

What comes to mind first??

Pressing Variations

Many athletes, particular overhead ones tend to have anterior instability of the shoulder.  Shoulder instability could be due to the nature of the sport (throwing in particular), weak scapular stability, poor posture, shoulder impingement symptoms, or even an unawareness of how to do the lift properly.  DB Floor Press or board pressing can be a great substitute because the limited range of motion prevents the end range of shoulder extension (which is where the pain usually kicks in).  Besides the safety factor, these two types of pressing can encourage the eccentric portion of the lift because the athlete knows that coming down fast on the floor will not feel good on the elbows!

Push Up

Since push ups are a closed chain exercises (the scapula moves freely on the ribcage), I tend to prefer them for beginners and most of our soccer athletes who may present with shoulder and/or core stability weakness.  One way to use partial ROM with this exercise is to put a 10lb plate on the floor directly underneath the chest to ensure a pain-free depth and in order to be consistent with the eccentric portion of the movement.  Sometimes full ROM (chest to floor) may become a bit problematic due to the poor core control or excessive thoracic kyphosis.

The picture above in just one illustration of a few weak pelvis/core control (hip sag, forward head posture) and can be one major reason why we it can aggravate a shoulder even if it is a closed-chain shoulder friendly exercise.  Remember, excessive kyphosis (rounded upper back) + poor core control = anteriorly tilted scapula = poor inefficient push up form.

Next post will look at a few more considerations with partial range of motion for the lower body

 

Cheers,

Matt

 

Designing The Strength Portion of the Program for Soccer

One topic of discussion that I find interesting is designing basic strength training templates not just for our soccer athletes but for all athletes.  I also provided (if practical) an organized way to  design practices.  Click on link below to see these thoughts.

Thoughts On How To Organize Soccer Practices

Besides the warm-up (foam rolling, mobilizations, etc..), designing an efficient strength template can be as simple as follows…(this is already assuming plyometrics or speed work is done prior)

Most CNS Intensive——————————————Least CNS Intensive

Relatively Heaviest———————————————————————–Least Heavy

Using these continuum’s we can make more efficient programs to help our athletes be more successful in the weight room and on the field.

Example Full-Body Day Strength Day

A1)  Trap Bar Deadlift 3 x 5 (relatively most taxing lift of the day)

A2) Mobilization or Core Stability Exercise (What athlete may need more of)

A3) Explosive Push Up 3 x 6 –key word “Explosive”

B1) DB Reverse Lunge 3 x 8/side (Single leg variation is in every day)

B2) Mobilization or Core Stability Exercise (what the athlete may need more of)

B3) 1-Arm Standing Cable Row 3 x 8/side

C1) Slideboard Lateral Lunge (Bodyweight) 2 x 10/side (Bodyweight variation)

C2) Lateral Miniband Walk 2 x 10/side

The example is pretty simple but works well:  Most taxing lifts are performed in the A’s, slightly less taxing would be B’s, and C’s would be either bodyweight or light(er) patterns.  Obviously, the above example is not set in stone and a multitude of factors play into how one wants to program for the athlete.  On a s imilar note, what a trainer has at his/her disposal and what’s practical at their facility plays a large role in programming.

Cheers,

Matt

Core Stability For Soccer Athletes: Part 2 (Traditional Issues)

In Part 1, the goal was to provide a basic way to start core stability for soccer athletes (among others) in order to provide static stability through the hips, pelvis, and torso.  Another way to look at core stability is to be able to dissociate the extremities from the pelvis and torso.  Today, I wanted to shed light on “traditional” core exercises that are not suited for these athletes.  These tend to train athletes into disadvantageous positions which you may already know about…

#1 Sit-Ups

• Excessive lumbar flexion can place upwards of 3000n of force onto the lumbar spine..I believe that is 600lbs (correct me if wrong)!
• Promotes lumbar mobility instead of lumbar stability.  We want lumbar stability.

#2 Drawing-In or “Abdominal Hollowing”

• Imagine sucking in your gut.  This is drawing-in as a means to activate transverse abdominis (Tva) which was thought to be a way to prevent back pain.  We know that core strength or stability is about co-contraction of all abdominal musculature (inner=timing to turn on, outer=works to prevent movement) not necessarily isolation.

hollowing will shrink your stomach size temporarily but will not keep you healthy increase performance

#3 Supermans

• Quite similar to sit ups, it is loading the lumbar spine repetitively….flat out, just not advised.

Not smart considering soccer athletes live in “extension”

 

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

 

 

 

 

Preventing ACL Injuries Part 1: Ankle Mobility

ACL injury is one injury that seems to continuously occur in many sporting populations, but female athletes tend to be plagued most frequently.  Currently, we have 2 of our girl soccer athletes that returned  a few months ago with knee issues (ACL, knee dislocation).  Programming to prevent these issues comes down to solid programming  and taking a holistic approach (not just looking at the knee!).  One of my favorite posts about ACL prevention comes from one of StrengthCoach.com.
Mike Boyle : ACL Prevention Is Just Good Programming

What to Address First?

Injuries to certain joints, in this case the knee, can be caused from limitations in mobility seen in the joints above and below the site of pain or injury.  For the knee, this means addressing ankle and hip mobility restrictions.  Often times, ankle mobility (decreased dorsiflexion or tri-planar mobility) seems to be decreased because athletes can tape their ankles before every practice and game.  Secondly (not secondary in importance), poor footwear is something that athletes tend to be drawn too (check for high-heeled sneakers, and brick-like stiffness Jordans!).  Another reason why people may lose ankle mobility could be that many people sleep on their stomach which forces the ankles to stay in a plantar flexed position. That’s my opinion.  Looking at the big picture, if someone has a terrible ASLR (active-straight leg raise screen), it may drastically affect ankle mobility.  Looking at the Spiral Line (Anatomy Trains) we see how the fascia of the arches runs up through the knee and up to the pelvis (up to the opposite shoulder). These lines help understand global movement and how our bodies function as a unit. In closing, working on ankle mobility (if limited), helps to restore proper proprioception in order for our body to proper stabilize itself in single-leg stance as well as allow the stress to be evenly distributed throughout the lower extremity.

Ankle Mobility Drills

Cheers,

Matt

Not Overloading Athletes: Other Factors To Consider in Programming

We are half way through the summer (wow) and that means that a variety of athletes are involved in some kind of captain’s practices or skill sessions (soccer and football comes to mind).  At Endeavor, we try to make sure our athletes inform us when they’ll be headed back to school, or when their sports start.  Sometimes we even have the opportunity to write extra programming plans for the athletes if they only train with us 2x/week (the majority of our clients).  I am specifically talking about “extra” conditioning programs or basic strength templates to follow at home.  I had the opportunity to write a 8-week conditioning protocol for one of our high school soccer athletes prior to her 2-mile testing and preseason.

What to consider before programming extra?

#1 What is the goal of the program that we have created for her (or anyone) when they are at our facility?

One of the more important concepts is understanding first what do we have her doing at our facility.  For the majority of soccer (2x/week), we will have them working on a variety of things such as…

• Acceleration/Deceleration speed and power work
• Rotational MB throws (power)
• Strength movements (making sure we are hitting every movement pattern each day)
• Core Stability
• Specific mobility drills
• Conditioning: Short explosive intervals (ex: heavy sled drags 10s on: 45-60s off)

#2 How many days do they have practice/What are they doing in these sessions?

What the athlete does outside of the training session (not with us) sometimes helps us in determining the program needed for the individual.  With soccer preseason or captains practices, skill work will turn into a lot of moving, sprinting, and changes of direction (from what I was told, and another reason I need to get out to see the practices to know exactly how the intensity is).

#3 Knowing what kind of athlete he/she is

Understanding what type of athlete he/she is which can help with programming.  Is he/she more explosive and strong, more aerobic, have a big list of previous injuries?  These are important qualities to understand and something I want to become better at understanding, especially their aerobic ability, repeat sprint performance, etc.. (if anyone has good ideas for assessment for the private setting please let me know!!)

#4 Age

Listen, if you’re in middle school or high school and train 2x/week plus soccer 2x/week, have a captains practice 1x/week, and want extra conditioning to do, I would probably say go enjoy part of your summer!  Part of summer is enjoying it, spending time with family and friends is a must.  It is important to understand that sports should still be enjoyed at these ages.  Preventing injuries and developing as an athlete requires recovering adequately and not overworking oneself.  Realize that if you are always playing, training, and “working” everyday of the week, that you may (and probably will) run into issues later in your career which will end it before you’d expect.

 

With the athlete that I specifically mentioned, I only gave her 1 conditioning session to do per/week to practice for her 2-mile test and improve her aerobic capacity.  We can see how there are many factors to consider and the reasons how it may affect our programming.  One half of the summer down, the other half we are ready to get going!

 

Cheers,

Matt

Useful Pressing Progressions for Soccer Athletes

One of my more recent posts was on the importance of pressing movements for soccer athletes. 

Pressing Movements for Soccer Players

Progression #1: Starting with Incline Push ups and progressing to the floor.

How it should look throughout. Baby Hercules

Push-ups are one my favorite movements because they provide “big bang for your buck.”  We almost always begin our younger athletes on an incline to make sure they get the form: neutral spine, chest comes down first, chin tucked, and elbows pointed back. Like I said in the previous post, you would be lucky to see anyone show you a perfect push up on day 1! 

Progression Used:

• Push up w/ 3sec negative OR
• Push up w/ 3sec hold in bottom position

We can apply the same principles (negatives or holds) with our DB chest presses on Day 2.

Benching is the other primary press that we use on the second day.  With any of the progressions, we can use either a flat, low-incline or incline bench setting.  Here are the practical, and safe progression that continuously challenges the athletes effectively..

#1: DB Chest Press (flat bench, low-incline, or incline)

#2: Alternating DB Chest Press: added core and shoulder stability component (unilateral)

 #3: 1-Arm DB Chest Press (or KB): more core stability necessary because of its unilateral nature

In my opinion, these few variations can go along way in developing our athletes upper body (pressing) strength.  I do want to go into detail with 1/2 kneeling and tall-kneeling versions of pressing next, so stay tuned! Now go enjoy the sun and soak up some vitamin D

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

Hip Range of Motion & Groin Strains of Soccer Players

“Groin injuries account for 10-18% of all soccer injuries.  The causes of groin pain can be multiple and 27% of athletes have more than one cause of groin pain.”  I took the quote from this study and will have follow up information from the study.  Sports such as soccer and hockey require excessive use of the hip external rotators and glutes because of the movement patterns required to be successful.  In soccer, there is a whole host of movements that require repetitive use (maybe overuse) of the hip external rotators and glutes.  These include

• Passing: mostly requires the hip to be placed into external rotation (ER)
• Taking more accurate shots as opposed to simply striking the ball with the top of the boot
  

  Left hip is stabilizing, Right Hip in ER, flexion, and adduction

• The plant leg (hip rotators, glutes, and groins) is trying to decelerate and stabilize in order to transfer force more efficiently for the kicking leg.

Over the course of the season, because of the repetitive movement pattern (just like baseball players lose shoulder IR) or as a result of injury, soccer players will tend to lose hip range of motion (ROM), typically internal rotation.  What else did they note…

• Groin pain affects every 10-18 out of 100 players per year*
• They only focused on hip range of motion and its correlation to groin pain but others manifest as groin pain such as osteitis pubis, hernias, hip pathology, and stress fractures of the pelvis (a big reason to try and prevent these injuries)
• Many more, it is a short study but in my opinion, very informative

I will go into a variety of mobilizations, strength exercises, or stretches that we can use to help our soccer athletes in the next few posts.

Cheers,
Matt