Well hey to all those weary Bruins fans out there that stayed up late last night only to watch 18 seconds of what-the-hell-was-that chaos? I will say it was one of the wildest endings to a Stanley Cup final I've seen for awhile. What is with Chicago and these crazing endings, 3 years ago Kane scores the game winner and no one knew it but him and a few other because the puck got stuck in the net under the padding. Last night...well if you didn't watch I'll let you watch sports center and see the highlights. Everyone can now start sleeping like a normal human, hopefully. Despite my foolish lack of sleep from staying up I'm feeling a good post today.
I'm going to start this with a question, when is it really a good idea to put your knees over your toes and bear weight on those toes? I'm willing to bet most people with a working brain cell or 2 will tell you never! Second question I have is, if we teach the Deadlift, the Squat, the Clean, the Snatch as well other variations of these exercises to start with hips back and push through the mid-foot or heal, why is it that we have people bombing the push press? I can look on you tube for push press or anything similar to it and 9 out of 10 videos the demo will have the trainee/trainer push their knees forward to start the movement. WHY??? Hurts my knees watching it, especially when it's with heavy weight. I know some people are going to call me out on this and say I'm being too picky or that I am an idiot, either of those might be true. Even if those are so, I'm going to teach it this way, because if you haven't figured it out I worry about knees a ton, mostly because the pair I have are going to need replacing at some point according to my Doctor, AWESOME. Maybe it's an over reaction, but I'm going to do everything to prevent that and in turn I'm going to help anyone I can keep there's as long as possible too.
After that is all said some of you were probably scratching and wondering what in the Holy Hand Grenade is a push press? Push press is an over head pressing variation that enables those that don't have the strength to do a traditional over head press to do exactly that. By using your legs just a little bit to get the weight up. As I said before people botch it, perhaps the person shouldn't be doing the movement in the first place (check out the recent T-Nation article by Tony Gentilcore on over head presses). More to the point if you can over head press and it's not hazardous to your health, let's get you started, and I like this movement to get started with some of my clients, not all, but some.
I've posted video below on mistakes people make doing a push press and how I teach it, the right way. Let's be real, everyone has little things here or there for every lift on how they want it done. As long you are consistent and keep the basics in line, you and you're clients/athletes should be fine, so like I said this is how I teach it.
First video is pretty much the way I teach it and want it done. Pay attention to the green line and how forward my knees slide in each video. This one not too far if it all, others, well it's not pretty lets just go with that.
This next video there are 2 issues, 1 is the knees, you'll notice them, they come far too forward for what I would want. The 2nd issue is that each rep is not distinct, the reps flow together which is wrong to me. It's a power movement, you can not be explosive and have the reps flow together, you won't see a (Good) power lifter try to flow together cleans as if they were one rep, so why would you do it for this? Next case...
Third video the main issue is the knees, but I also have an issue with some people making this into too much of a squat to press, honestly if you want to do a push press and call it so, just be consistent in what you're calling it and how you are coaching it.
Final video the main issue is the press itself, it's an over head variation, not an in front of head, ruin my shoulder and back variation. When you don't finish a press over head you are more likely to look to arch your back to make it some sort of deep incline press with your chest (which is helping, but not as much). Good cue that I've used is elbow in line with the top/back of ear, varies from person to person.
Again make sure you have shoulders healthy enough to do this without ruining yourself, if you have no clue, seek out a (good)local fitness professional. Enjoy the videos guys and I'll be back for more later this week. Until then go out there and get after it!
I've survived the first week on my diet and haven't killed anyone, although I did come close. My brain is adapted to what I've deprived it of and what I'm supplying it with for food and nutrients. Won't go into a ton of detail right now about it, plan on writing about it at the end of the month when I've experienced the full effects and have the results of how it went for me. For now on to the subject of today's matter.
Awhile back I wrote a post about glutes and some of the exercises you can do for them. Those of you that have read more blogs than my own or have been training for awhile now have probably heard quite a bit about glutes. Also if you've had an injury you probably couldn't stop hearing about glutes, or if you are a desk jockey with the standard problems that come with it you've heard about them too. Glutes glutes glutes...what the hell is the obsession with butt's you're probably wondering? Well it's much more than how nice looking some of them are.
Glute strength solves a number of high frequency issues, number one in my assessment is back pain. The glutes and the core muscles are, for the most part, your ticket to a healthy and pain free back. The glutes are a major contributor out of 3 that most consider the driving force in your posterior chain, the other 2 being hamstrings and erector spinae. At first I use to think the posterior chain was essential just in sports, then I got real smart real quick and realized it's essential for life. Think about every time you go to bend over and pick something up and potentially expose your back to injury? The second your glute strength dissapears is the second your hips start to go all out of whack and your hips are pretty damn important clearly. They are that crossover point between your lower body (upper leg) and upper body (lower back), so if those are messed up, something will be in pain, I promise.
As I mentioned glutes and hips have a ton to do with sports, for example, think back to when you were first starting sports, and I'm gonna use football for this example since I played it and I think it translates the best. Those that played, when you first started out, do you remember when you were first learning how to tackle and the coach told you to watch the ball cairrers belt, aka their hips, because that was the only thing wouldn't move unless they were in fact going that direction? Case and point, you can not move without your hips. Obviously the really good ones could get those to move and still make you miss and look foolish. Hips are also a huge source of power for athletes, if you can get those to generate force you will do some damage. Any time you are trying to go from flexion to extension, it's your glutes that are (or at least should be) driving you to that point.
Guess He Forgot That Advice
Going from there to the next subject, broad jumps, great exercise for producing and measuring your power without loading up weight on your body. The power in a broad jump is produced mainly through where?? That's right you guessed it, glutes and hips. Starting to notice the theme yet?
My buddy Mike has written a ton of crap about box jumps, it's all good stuff, so I am gonna take a page or 2 out of his book, because there are so many similarities between the 2 moves. The idea with broad jumps, in really simple terms, is to throw your hips forward as far into extension as you can be and still land without making your knees (or anything else for that matter) crumble. Below we got do's and many don'ts concerning a broad jump.
First video is pretty much what you should look like when you perform a broad jump. Land without killing yourself and make it look athletic. Land in the same position you jumped from.
Second video looks pretty much the same to the first one to the untrained eye. Take a listen to how loud my feet hit. I did this video on a wood floor so you could hear it. Landing like that just makes my knees and hips hate me for doing it. Simply put it's not a good idea and a good way to put unnecessary stress on your joints.
Third video involves way too much pressure on the toes. Another great way to make your knees hate you and your jump. The main contact points in your broad jump should be mostly between the ball of your foot and your mid-foot (yes there is a difference).
Fourth video hopefully everyone is starting to pick up on what I've been putting down here. I landed so heavily on my heals I almost fell on my ass. I'm sure a good number of you were hoping I would so you could have a good laugh at me. Sorry to disappoint you guys.
Last video simply has no counter movement and looks about as athletic as John Goodman. No counter movement means your jump will be pretty short and pretty ugly, and this one was.
Moral of the story is if it looks ugly and not athletic then it probably is wrong. My advice to those that are having any of these issues is to cut down the distance on the jumps and focus your technique. Again make it look athletic, it'll save you lots of pain.
Wrapping it all up, this is just one little example of where your glutes come into play in sports. Remember also that they are important for healthy living too. Next time your trainer says that they are going to work on activating your glutes or strengthening them, maybe you can now be a little more excited knowing that they are in fact looking out for your health concerns.
Have a good day all, go out and get after it today!
Hey it's June, never thought we'd make it here after Nemo but we did it guys! Hockey is getting down to the nitty gritty, although I'll say from just a hockey fan in general's perspective, it's been a pretty disappointing pair of series, both are one sided to this point and none of the games were that competitive. LA showed some fight last night, so there is hope yet. The good news is that whoever happens to come out of these Conference Finals I think the Final for Lord Stanley's Holy Grail will be a good one.
Real quick, and I mean real quick because I know everyone here is just so concerned with how my face is doing after my post from a few months ago. The eye is heeling fine, I will probably have a new scar to go with the one that was there from when I was just a little guy (me little?? I know not possible). I made it through the season without reopening it thanks to my scrum cap and some vaseline...keep your mind here guys come on. I'm not any prettier but I'll be fine, still going to be healing for up to another year or so.
Now that everyone can relax knowing that my health is in good shape I'm going to get into one of those posts about something really dumb I've seen a number of people do here while working out. Not so much of a rant, call it more charity, free advice on how to not have your spine turn into dust while doing a deadlift, and if you haven't guessed it from the title,we are talking about rounded backs.
The last few days while either I was working out or while training clients I've noticed a good number knuckleheads doing a variation of the deadlift (one was trying to turn it into a power clean and yeah I'm not getting into that because it will get me way too fired up and it's too early for that). Back to the point, most of these lifts were just asking to be put on the operating table for a back issue. Flat back is a safe back guys and none of these people had one, even on their warm-up sets, oh boy!
Seriously Don't Look Like This Cheesebrain
I know there will be someone reading this that's going to want to jump all over me like a fat kid on fried twinkie "Pavel deadlifts with a rounded back" or the like. News flash champ Pavel has been at this for way longer than most of us, including some of the better known pro's out there like Eric Cressy, Dan John and Dean Somerset (note that none of these guys are into the hump back thing either). He also freaking deadlifts 900+ pounds. Pretty sure no one can keep a completely rigid back on that one and if you can sorry I don't have a trophy for you. Not everyone gets a trophy!
Let's just try this, unless you are doing deadlifts for record numbers and have been doing so for decades, keep a flat back, brace your core and lower back, and use your hips. No more using your lower back and no more turning it into a dead-squats, makes me wanna shove a hot iron in my ear when I see it. Mobility is restricting you from deadlift correctly? Do some mobility drills and elevate the deadlift for a spell, sounds good yes? OK so no more asking to get on the operating table by deadlifting with a rounded back.
Have a good one kids, go out there and get after it, the weather is beautiful, no reason not to!
