Elbow, Wrist & Hand Corrections: Stay Tuned Therapeutics

Geoffrey Bisop of Stay Tuned Therapeutics in Flagstaff, Arizona goes over some easy corrective exercises for computer abusers…I mean users:

Dead Bug Track (Using Posterior Pelvic Tilt)

The dead bug exercise  track  was conceived to to incorporate movement of the extremities while keeping the transverse abdominus and the muscles of the pelvic floor contracted.

There is a lack of consensus on whether the TVA can be isolated in this fashion but despite that, the dead bug exercise, when combined with pelvic tilt, is a good intervention for cases of anterior pelvic tilt. It is also a great core movement in general and the traditional dead bug, which uses a neutral spine can be practised to learn good control of spinal position and to maintain that position while also challenging the core.

Continue Reading >>  Ground Up Strength: Dead Bug Track (Using Posterior Pelvic Tilt).

The Paradox of Breathing

We’ve all heard the phrase “Just don’t forget to breathe”. Well, all you need to start the lungs taking in air is atmospheric pressure. We can’t forget to breathe and we take thousands of breaths with nary a thought. Yet, we humans beings can find ways to screw up anything including something as refined and fool-proof as our breathing mechanisms.

How do YOU breathe? Are you a chest breather or a belly breather? Do you take short rapid breaths or longer deep breaths? Do you know the difference between correct, natural breathing and unhealthy stressed breathing.? How many of you reading this have had PAIN in your shoulder from drawing in a deep breath? And how many of you want me to stop asking questions and get to the point?

For something so simple and automatic,  some people sure do insist on BREATHING THE WRONG WAY! To learn the CORRECT WAY and get some answers to those burning questions, take a few deep breaths and read Eric Troy’s new article on Paradoxical and Diaphragmatic Breathing.

Related articles

• On breathing and strongman (Eric Troy’s blog at GUS)

The Cook Hip Lift

You may be familiar with a glute bridge, formally known as a “Supine Hip Extension” or “Supine Glute Bridge”. These are used to activate and strengthen the glutes which become weak and inhibited in the case of lower crossed syndrome.

But you probably haven’t heard of the Cook Hip Lift.  Named after Gray Cook, it is a great beginning gluteal  activator and is meant to be used as a precursor to the glute bridge, because is solves a problem that the glute bridge does not address very well.

Continue Reading >> Ground Up Strength: The Cook Hip Lift.

Related articles:

Kneeling Squats (gustrength.com)

Core Stability with Dr. Brian Abelson

A great blog post on how core imbalances can affect your posture and performance, with tips for cyclists and runners at Kinetic Health Calgary’s blog, written by  Dr. Abelson always presents things in a simple straightforward manner, easy for the layperson to understand. No needless jargon from this guy.

In this post,  Improving Core Stability, he uses the example of a shortened rectus abdominus to show how overemphasis in one muscle, or the way we train that muscle, can affect everything else. As Dr. Abelson says…follow the kinetic chain! And yes, your ‘abs’  is ONE MUSCLE.

Dr. Abelson is the author of  “Release You Pain: Resolving Repetitive Strain Injuries with Active Release Techniques®”

At GUS, see Abelson and Tarveen’s video, Resolving Low Back Pain: A Kinetic Chain Approach which is an informative video with an overview I provided. Dr. Abelson takes us along the sciatic nerve in a very graphic way.  If you are having sciatica troubles or just need to know about it, then this is a must watch.  Dr. Tarveen talks about manual therapies such as ART

Also at GUS is more information on sciatica.

While you’re there you can get information on Active Release Techniques® and Rolfing

Deadlift Questions?

Image via Wikipedia

I notice a great many searches for deadlift are landing people here to my blog.  Hopefully, for those searching for specific things they are getting the information they need.  I know that, according to the search terms, that info is here or has been pointed to at GUS or elsewhere.

But if you are looking for more general information about performing the deadlift, bringing up the deadlift or just whether or not you should use the deadlift in your training, then you’d be much better served to come on over to the GUS Forum and ask a question.  We’ll have you lifting like the guy in the picture in no time

Or just come say hello and we can talk about how much we all love deadlifting.

I can go on and on about generalities but you will ALWAYS get better answers in response to a SPECIFIC question.

You can post as a guest if you’d like and we’ll be happy to help but we would love to have you as a member.  Perhaps you’ve never posted on forums before or at least you’ve never posted on fitness related forums..well, we will do our best to make you feel comfortable with it. One thing you will find is that the GUS forum is a good balance.  We don’t take ourselves too darn seriously but we also don’t engage in a bunch of smarmy adolescent shenanigans

Related articles

• Nice Deadlift Comparison (Conv., SSLD, and Romanian) (gustrength.wordpress.com)
• Deadlift Questions? (gustrength.wordpress.com)
• Deadlift as Squat (gustrength.wordpress.com)
• Deadlifts: Hips Too High, Too Low, or Juuuuust Right (gustrength.com)

Fix Your Shoulders – Male Pattern Fitness

Fix Your Shoulders – Male Pattern Fitness.

For some reason the comments are always closed kinda quickly at this blog but I wanted to comment on it here.

I feel it may be a bit misleading.

Yes, I agree completely that most people train in a way that predisposes them to imbalances and injury. Such as the internal rotator dominance that was brought up in the post.

However, it is not likely that a study can prove what the study claims to prove. There are just WAY too many variables.

Here is the thing though and I want to make this very clear. Everybody has baggage. You can and likely do have imbalances no matter if you’ve ever hit the weights. Many occupations which require the constant repetition of certain movement patterns or the maintenance of certain positions cause huge postural distortions and do result in PAIN for many, many people who do NOT lift weights.

In fact, what you do 23 hours a day probably has a much bigger impact than what you do 1 to two hours a day three to four times a week. That is not to say that you cannot do some serious harm with faulty training practices.

But hell, sleeping habitually in a bad position can lead imbalances.

Ask a physcial therapist. Or ask a body work person who does deep tissue therapy of some kind. If you think the majority of their clients are athletes of some kind…think again.

That internal rotator problem..desk jockeys are prone to shortened pecs, pec minor, lats which dominate the scapular adductors leading to problems about the shoulder complex. Factory assembly workers…

Very often weight training is simply the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Going too heavy too fast and not paying attention to all the factors mentioned in the post is just a tipping point that turns deficiencies into “injuries”.

None of this is to suggest that the points brought up in the article are untrue…simply a bit unfair and not the whole picture.

One thing I wholeheartedly agree with though: Your training should make you BETTER. Not just stronger but better in every way. It just so happens that those two things can go hand in hand.

That darn pec minor can be a pain in the…

Image via Wikipedia

back. Specifically, if you have a chronic pain between the shoulder blades this may be due to overactive and overshort pecs, pec minors and lats. This can lead to shoulder problems but it is a very common cause to pain in the rhomboids, which is being pulled on and being forced to pull against this in a stretched position…resulting in some very angry rhomboid.

If this is you..view the vid. Don’t forget that there may be trigger points in the rhomboids themselves but don’t try stretching the rhomboids or the general area in an attempt to get rid of the pain. It may “feel good” but it will make the problem worse.

YouTube – Pectoralis Minor TX; Robert Haase-Secrets of Deep Tissue™.

Shoulder Injury Prevention Part II

by Anthony Tomeo

In the first part of shoulder injury prevention, I wrote about certain stretches and mobilizations necessary for the shoulder girdle to function properly and get the appropriate scapulo-glenohumeral rhythm. This means that we need to get the humerus to function properly in the glenohumeral joint to help the scapulae glide efficiently and not tilt anteriorly (up and forward).

The next step is to look at movement patterns…continue reading.

• The Rationale Behind Shoulder Exercises (mikereinold.com)

Shoulder Injury Prevention Part I

Image via Wikipedia

by Anthony Tomeo

The shoulder is a ball-and-socket joint. The head of the humerus (the bone where your biceps and triceps are) attaches into the “glenoid fossa”, which is simply a cavity for the bone to go into. This is just one aspect of this complex joint. It gets crazy.

Above all that, there is also the acromium clavicular Joint…continue reading.