Squatting Below the Parallel is Bad for Your Knees

 I ninja'd the link for this great article at TonyGentilcore.com. Check it out here

New 3minute drill

Just a heads up folks. I posted another quick drill (exercise) for replacing the conventional treadmills and elipticals at the gym. I am a big advocate of more intensity and motor recruitment over the usual high volume and high boredom aerobics. Try this drill for 3 minutes straight. Oh ya, before performing this you should know how to squat and lunge without any trouble.

Speed Skater ala -Ty

Taste of Cubicle-ville

This weekend I was able to accomplish A LOT of work. I thought it was a necessary thing to do to catch up with things I have been procrastinating. Everything I needed to do revolved around my pc and desk. When it was all over I found myself looking at the time with "that's impossible" expression on my face. I just sat in front of this stupid computer for almost six hours. The only breaks were to relieve my coffee irritated bladder. Right away my stomach grumpled ready for a binging. When I stood up my legs felt like they were made of old wood and rusty hinges. My neck ached from being in the forward position all that time and my lower back made these two popping noises that foreshadowed the coming trouble.

It was too hypocritically funny. I usually tell my clients over and over again not to just sit in front of the computer for more than an hour. Here I was feeling the exact reason why. The great thing is I got a lot accomplished. The bad thing is this morning's ( which is the morning after) workout went from the idea of Olympic lifts to a warmup and a bunch of drills. I simply was not ready for a real workout after abusing my body with desk work all Sunday. DEFINITELY, never doing that again.

Oh ya, one good thing is I was able to prep the first of a video series I call 3 minute drill.



In a nutshell these will be aerobic based drills that are better alternatives to mind-numbing treadmills and elipticals. Not sure what happened to my other videos, they seem a bit distorted. I'll leave that to another day when I am ready to do desk work again and next time with frequent breaks for joint and mental health.

Asymmetry Circuit for Die Hards

 A while back I wrote about self-checking for asymmetries that will effect your joint health and progress. This is adding on to that method and idea. Gray Cook speaks about handling the asymmetries through assessment of movements. The movements for the most part are unilateral in nature. So instead of attempting to pinpoint exact muscles or groups of muscles a person should simply address the movement flaw. A real simple example is a frontal (lateral or sideways) lunge. Finding tension or lower ROM (range of motion) with the left or the right side means, a person would do more volume (either sets or reps) on the lacking side. Quite simple and easy to apply to any unilateral exercise. A more complicated example would be the Turkish Get-Up. A person would not only increase the volume on the flawed side, but would also cut the volume on the opposite side and ONLY train up to the point where the exercise form is correct. Now this is a bit humbling. If a trainee can't even get off the floor properly than this is the stage he will stay at until he can.

I think this is the best way to go for those not wishing to research into kinematics and anatomy. Now, I have been approached with a few questions from "die hard" older long distance athletes. They may have asymmetries and nagging injuries but they are not willing to stop their plyometric training to fix the issue. They usually approach me and ask for a one stop solution. More specifically they ask will yoga or pilates work for the injury. As I right this my blood pressure raises in the idea of magical solutions through cookie cut classes. I usually sigh and just tell them it may help (God help them). A great coach put it like this. Saying there is a simple cookie-cut solution is like saying a person can write a bunch letters on paper and call it a dictionary ( SO TRUE).

Well, for the hard-nosed athletes and enthusiasts I would advise you to do your asymmetry training consistently either in smaller chunks before your actual training, or in a full session on days you are not training. Consider it prehab to prevent rehab. Like I wrote before this session time is for you to really analyze the form you are using and the response from your body when stimulated to be mobile. It is a must to at least jot down quick notes on what you sense and which movement and body side is having trouble.

You can check out an example of my own asymmetry circuit here.