The Gym Mirror Conspiracy

 I don’t know what question I’ve been asked more since I opened my strength and conditioning center: “Did you build this stuff yourself?” or “When are you getting mirrors?”

I can coach the shit out of a Deadlift, but I don’t think I could have put the hand railing that leads up my steps on straight without my dad’s help. So that answers the former. As for the latter, my answer is the same to everyone who asks: “Never.”

Gym mirrors are a pretty expensive addition. Especially when all they really breed are poor technique, gym selfies, and other stupid distractions. Case in point:

Photo from: Reddit Incorporated. http://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/1vm3vr/selfie_level_expert/. 2014.

Photo from: Complex Media Inc. An Expert Douchebag's Guide to Next Level Stunting at the Gym and in Life: //www.comp lex.com/style/2014/01/guide-to-next-level-stunting-at-the-gym/never-miss-an-opportunity-to-selfie. 2014.

Did I mention what a pain in the ass they are to keep clean? There are few things worse than taking minutes out of every work day to windex everyone’s spit and food particles just so they can get a good picture of themselves in their new bro tank for Facebook.

A big part of strength and conditioning is about developing proprioception and kinesthetic awareness. If we need a mirror to tell us where our body is or  how it is performing in space, do we really think we’re getting maximal benefits? You don't see mirrors in basketball gyms or batting cages do you? So where do beautifully constructed crossovers, graceful jump shots, and picture perfect swings come from? I got you: GOOD COACHING. Having multiple sets of eyes on you at all times and getting peppered with constructive feedback completely eliminates the need for mirrors. That’s why I always stress, “coaching” not “yelling.”

Keeping mirrors out of my gym will not only help to breed the most functionally aware athletes in the area, but I can simultaneously keep tatted up meat monkeys outside my walls. I don’t have a preacher curl bar for them to spend a whole day with though, anyway. All my athletes understand first that a good program is about moving, performing, and feeling better, not looking better. Looking better is nothing but a bi-product of hard work and consistency.

If you think mirrors in your workout are a necessity, then understand that you’ve probably already spent too much time in cervical extension in your workouts. Those headaches you're getting aren't because you quite drinking soda, home slice.

Photo from: David Lasniar. Athletic Development and Strength and Conditioning. http://davidlasnier.com/tag/lumbar-hyperextension. July, 2012.

Photo from: www.boneandspine.com OR Functional Range Conditioning: Thoughts and Review http://drjustinrabinowitz.com/category/seminar-review/.

Get your eyes on the floor and train to the effect. Try and understand what exactly it is that your body is doing and where it’s lacking. Trust me, in the long run; you’ll be much better off. Oh, and stop flexing in the mirror, you're the only one that thinks you're awesome.

Should You Be Doing These Exercises?

Every athlete I work with first goes through a unique battery of assessments that I am able to gather at least a small amount of information from. For those of you who read my blogs regularly probably think I sound like a broken record for mentioning this yet again. But the reason I do, is to hopefully give you an understanding of why  I take the time to assess anatomical function and structural integrity of every athlete before beating them down with an advanced strength training program. And also lay some groundwork for this post. It doesn’t just help decide where the athlete needs work, but more importantly helps me decide what I shouldn’t be doing with the athlete.

I understand I still have a lot to learn, not only about strength and conditioning, but also about gathering information from my assessments. What I think I have done well, however, is pick assessments that I understand for the time being. As much as I would like to get into more advanced diagnosis of functional movement and kinesiology, I don’t fully understand what to look for with some exams, what to use the information for, nor how to implement it just yet. So for now I’m going to stick with what I have. I like the assessments I have, and though I’d like them to evolve over time, they give me just the right amount of information about my athletes that I need in order to keep them healthy and strong.

I would like that to be the basis for this blog. Please understand that I am not saying you should absolutely not be doing any of these exercises. I understand that a big part of strength and conditioning is enjoyment. If you enjoy doing these particular exercises and have seen quality results, then you can tell me to piss off. However, if you are experiencing pain and forced regression because of some of these exercises, hopefully I can help to shine some light on as to why that may be happening and what you can do as an alternative.

Here is my list of exercises you may want to stop doing, at least until you pass the recommended criteria.

1.     Smith Machine Squats & Hip Sled Leg Press

This is an easy one to kick of the party with because I know they suck. I have for too long seen personal trainers and strength coaches alike throw clients underneath the smith machine because they aren’t able to squat properly. This is a really good way to say, “I suck at my job” or worse, “I’m too lazy to teach you how.” Squatting is about resisting force on the pelvis (our core) like gravitational pull (usually supplemented with weight), rotational forces, lateral flexion forces, and flexion or extension forces as we move through the pelvic range of motion. The ability to do so is absolutely imperative to healthy living and athletic performance alike. Let me say first that I do believe there can be some strength benefits derived from the hip sled, and it can be a great tool for rehabilitation, but there is big difference between our pelvis moving on the heads of our femurs (as in a squat) and our femurs moving on the pelvis. When your pelvis is fixed in a seat, you could be missing out on a lot of proprioceptive feedback that you can greatly benefit from. Besides not maximizing your effort, the smith machine actually takes it step further. A squat naturally occurs in more of an S curve, starting with an anteriorly tilted pelvis and as the athlete/client descends the torso stays erect but the pelvis moves into a more posteriorly tilted position. This is called the “butt wink.” Every good deep squat has one. Because the smith machine moves in a fixed plane instead of this “S curve” you can imagine that there will be some parts of the decent that the vertebral column is receiving some unwanted and certainly unneeded compressive force. No wonder you can’t get rid of that nagging back pain.

2.     Flexion Exercises

I’m really taking the path of least resistance here with these first two topics. You’ll have to stay tuned for the real controversial stuff. This is another easy one for me, because I can unequivocally say there is a better way to achieve anterior core strength. YES I’M TELLING YOU TO STOP DOING SIT UPS AND CRUNCHES. We’ve become a society that lives in lumbar flexion. So when you come into a gym with 30+ extra pounds on your midsection and tell me that you sit in a chair for 8 – 12 hours a day (God forbid you skip watching The Voice after already sitting for 8 hours at work) I think crushing more flexion exercises to feed into your poor core positioning goes against conventional wisdom. What the industry is starting to realize is that working on more flexion not only exasperates the poor positioning of your lumbar vertebrae and thoracic cavity alike, but resisting extension is much safer. And if performed properly is a much more functional method to develop big strong muscles in your anterior core. If you don’t believe me, next time you finish your workout with “abs” try one of these exercises instead. I’ll demonstrate them in order from novice to advanced and remember, the first few can be regressed by extending one leg at a time instead of two. The entire purpose is to resist lumbar extension. (That is the big valley in your lower back) 

3.     Olympic Lifting

Oh boy, now we’re getting into the thick of things. For starters, I think Olympic lifting is awesome. There is no better way to add explosiveness to an athlete in the sagittal plane and they can be extremely beneficial to the athlete who is trying to add some mass. There are also very few exercises out there that require the kind of kinesthetic awareness that cleans, clean and jerks and snatches require. That being said, I believe there is a criterion to meet with young athletes before we get them moving a barbell in an explosive pattern. I personally like the “ability to pull 1.5x your body weight from the floor” threshold. I’m not saying that if you can’t do so, you’ll never do a proper clean or snatch. I just think that until you can do so, there shouldn’t be a huge rush to learn a whole new complicated movement. If you can’t pull 1.5x your body weight you’re more than likely still getting a huge benefit from mastering the first pull. Make sure you master your core lifts before you get into anything too sexy. Eric Cressey, explains it best when he compares progressing too quickly to shooting a cannon out of a canoe. It’s just not feasible. If you can’t get to the barbell with a relaxed back and use the posterior chain of your lower extremity to achieve a good vertical first pull, you might not be ready to move the bar explosively. But let me reiterate, if you love to power clean, and have achieved desired results, keep on keepin’ on brother (or sister).

4.     Overhead Resistance Exercises

This is another group of exercises that I have learned over time also requires meeting a specific set of criteria. A lot of people are perfectly capable of overhead pressing and get huge strength benefits and mass gains from doing so. There are also a whole lot of people (myself included) who have no business handling a large amount of resistance over their head. This includes military presses, snatches, and push presses. The problem for a lot of people isn’t strength, but mobility. And the limitation can be because of a number of reasons. Short lattisimus dorsi, tight triceps or pectoralis musculature, glenoid capsule tightness or even bone spurs. The list goes on and on. The tough part is figuring out which one or which combination is the culprit. If we continue to feed into an extension pattern to achieve an overhead movement, we can do more harm than good for our athletes. The good news is, while you work on your mobility, there are alternatives to overhead pressing that, in my opinion, are equally as effective and a whole hell of a lot more friendly. Check out what a poor overhead pressing pattern looks like here:

Now look at what just getting into a half kneeling position can do for your lumbar region, quite a bit less extension here:

Landmine presses are still my favorite way to get some of the benefits of overhead work but still respect my inability to resist falling into an extensive pattern. Check out how much less lumbar extension we see here:

It’s easy to look cynical by writing material like this. That’s not my intention. The intention is that hopefully someone, somewhere, learns something from it. Sometimes the toughest thing to get past in this industry (especially with parents) is that if there is no pain, there is no gain. And if their athlete isn’t performing the newest, most advanced maneuvers, their money is being wasted. The fact of the matter is, though, it’s just the opposite. Steady progress in strength and conditioning is all about getting just past the edge of your comfort zone each and every day without doing more harm than good to your body. It’s about listening to your body, but not being a pansy at the same time. Training hard has its place, but never at the expense of training smart. I hope this article shines a little bit of light not only on how all coaches should understand the intelligent progression of exercise but also how the refusal to grow and change in this industry can render one obsolete. Like I said earlier, a good coach first seeks to understand what might cause a set back with an athlete before he decides how to progress the athlete. Without that train of thought, you may find yourself regressing much more often than need be. And regression sucks.

Caleb Heilman

“The only thing I know is I’ll never know everything.” – Jason Green

Minot State University Volleyball Summer Program

Hey ladies (and whomever else decides to read through this),

BEFORE YOU START ANY OF THIS PRINT OFF ALL SIX PAGES OF THE  VOLLEYBALL PROGRAM

I know it's finals week so this is probably the furthest thing from your mind. Your strength program for the summer is finished, though. It ended up being quite the project. I can't explain to you in words how difficult it is to get comfortable talking in a room by yourself while the camera is rolling. I'm still not real confident uploading these videos. I'm sure I'll catch plenty of crap from you ladies by the end of summer. That being said, putting together a quality 12 week strength program complete with a video archive to eliminate confusion was the end goal and I think we've achieved that.

I'll write this quick intro leading into the introductory video for you just in case there is something I didn't cover in one or the other. The program is designed to start on May 19th. Your first 4 weeks of strength training is all ground based close chain movements (feet on the ground). Your daily routine will go like this: foam roll (8 minutes), daily exercises (8 minutes), dynamic warm up (6 minutes), plyometrics OR core work (10 minutes), strength training (30 - 35 minutes). A full day in the gym should take you somewhere between 55 and 75 minutes depending on the set and rep scheme, the type of workout you're doing that day (lower body tends to take longer because of extended rest periods), and of course, how you are feeling that day. If there is ever a day you are feeling under the weather, at least get to the gym, foam roll, get through your daily exercises and warm up THEN see how you feel. Sometimes getting active and moving through some of those therapeutic modalities can make you feel like a million bucks. I would say that if you are finishing before the 55 minute mark, you are not challenging yourself enough with weight on the bar, if it takes you longer than the 75 minute mark you are probably spending too much time in between sets chit chatting with that cute guy in the bro tank who hasn't gotten off the preacher curl machine for the last hour. Here is the intro video:

Like I said, the first thing you will do every day when you get into the gym is go through a short foam roll routine. Some of the things I'd like to highlight with this routine is that we spend some time each day working on our thoracic extension and rotation (leaning back w/ the foam roller under our upper back), softening up our quadriceps and hip flexors, and softening up our calves. Here is your entire foam rolling routine here:

After you finish on the foam roller, you will get right into your shoulder care exercises. This whole routine to start your day IS GOING TO GET BORING. It's just the way it is. But please trust me when I say it may be the most important part of the program. It doesn't matter how much bigger, faster, or stronger you get if you aren't healthy. Availability is the number one thing you can bring to your coach and teammates every single day. Here is your shoulder care video.

As soon as you finish your daily shoulder care you can zip right into your dynamic warm up. For the sake of filming I did these mostly stationary, I would obviously like you to travel a decent distance with these exercises (20 - 30 ft) and then jog back to your starting point. Please keep in mind, as I say in the video, this is all about tissue temperature. It is a "warm up" so if you aren't "warm" by the end of it, you need to pick up your pace. Here is the video:

After you warm up, you will go immediately into either your core work or your plyometrics for the day. On your lower body days I have you doing anti extension and anti rotation exercises before you start deadlifting or squatting. On your upper body days I have your plyometrics programmed before you lift as well. Your strength program is designed for 4 days. I would recommend either a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday stimulus or a Mon, W, Th, Sat stimulus. I think it's imperative that you have two days off in between your Day 1 and Day 3 lower body days. I also understand, however, that with work, being home with friends, and possibly summer school that isn't always the case. So, if you are going to knock out all four days in a row and/or be inconsistent with your routine, just make sure you are listening to your body throughout the summer. Don't go into a heavy front squat day if your legs still feel like noodles from your heavy Deadlift and Single leg squat day.

It's also important to note that anything that is an A1. or B1. by itself requires a rest period in between. As the repetitions go down, the amount of weight you are using MUST GO UP! If there is an A1. A2. That is a superset, which means you do one set of the A1. exercise and then go straight to the A2. exercise before taking your rest period. C1. C2. C3. is a tri set, which means you complete all three exercises in a circuit fashion before taking your rest period. Things got a little difficult with these next 4 videos, because I lost my camera woman. I hope they are still easy enough to follow. Here is your Day 1 core work and lower body strength program:

Because I lost my camera woman I didn't demonstrate your plyometrics here on Day 2. You should be able to YouTube them pretty easily as they are all fairly common: Here is the Day 2 upper body strength program:

Here is your Day Three core work and lower body strength program:

The only exercise in here that might be different is your approach box hops. That's just going to be a box hop that you do with your approach to the net. Here is your Day Four plyometrics and upper body strength program:

This was my first time putting something like this together so I hope you gals put it to good use. There were quite a few hours invested and plenty of humility learned throughout the process, but an awesome experience for me. I'm really hoping I can get more comfortable being on camera because I believe it's a huge asset to privatized coaching.

You ladies that are staying back in Minot for the summer are more than welcome to come to my gym to complete your program if you'd like. If you ladies have any questions whatsoever throughout the summer about strength and conditioning please feel free to call, text, or email me. I would be glad to help you out in any way possible. My cell phone number is 701-340-3547 and my email is calebjheilman02@gmail.com.

HAVE A GREAT SUMMER AND GOOD LUCK!!

Why Glute Development is So Important

This week has been an exciting week for me. I officially opened the doors to my privatized strength and conditioning center and have had quite a bit of buzz around the gym about memberships, personal training, and performance training alike. My first client, a high school senior who signed to play football at the local university stopped in for his assessments on Monday morning. I use things like the functional movement screen, a supine shoulder flexion test, a Thomas test, femoral rotation exams, an assessment for potential valgus collapse at the knee joint and a simple hyper mobility exam. It only took me about half way through the functional movement screen to notice a few things that were expected and a couple that surprised me a bit. Tre is one of the more explosive athletes I work with, so when I discovered he had some pretty short quadriceps and limited ankle mobility I wasn’t all that surprised. What I also found though is that, though he didn’t present with a large amount of extension even though he had some pretty significant dysfunction in his gluteal muscles. Generally when I have an athlete with tight ankles and real short quads, the glutes are “turned off” and he/she is stuck in a gross amount of anterior pelvic tilt, which in turn results in a severely extended posture. It usually looks like this: 

	Photo from: Bridgette,Ashley. 03/19/14. Corrective Exercise: Fix Your Anterior Pelvic Tilt. http://www.rippednfit.com/home/corrective-exercise-fix-your-anterior-pelvic-tilt/

When I explained to him what I thought might be going on, I mentioned something to him about hamstring pathology. He then told me that he had already experienced some “tweaks” in his hamstrings while sprinting. That inspired me to put together this blog. I’d like to talk a little bit about why it’s so important to learn how to hip hinge properly, why development of the gluteal muscles should be important part of every strength and conditioning program, and some unique ways to do just that.

1.    Weak Glutes = Overworked Hamstrings

Before Tre told me he had already experienced some mild hamstring tweaks while sprinting, this is what I was trying to explain to him. The glutes and hamstrings (are supposed to) work together to actively extend the hip in a sprint, squat, dead lift and so on and so forth. The hip extension portion of a sprint is the portion where the foot drives downward to apply force into the ground and like wise with a squat or dead lift. If the glutes aren’t firing properly the hamstrings can get stuck handling a majority of the workload. It’s a lot like that crappy job you had once upon a time with that crappy co-worker who contributed nothing to vital tasks. When you put forth all the necessary effort and your co-worker contributed nothing, who ended up burning out and dragging ass (or getting injured)? It’s important to understand that if something is weak/weakened, the source of the problem may be elsewhere.

2.    Weak Glutes = Increased Anterior Pelvic Tilt (APT) = Low Back Pain

This was the part of Tre’s assessment that surprised me. He didn’t seem to present with a large amount of APT. Had I not noticed the dysfunction during his hurdle step and rotary stability test I may have missed it entirely. The glutes are responsible for posteriorly tilting the pelvis. If they aren’t developed properly, the quadriceps dominate, and tilt the pelvis forward. This can result in the extended posture I talked about earlier. An athlete that presents in a gross amount of lumbo pelvic extension is likely going to experience a steady dose of chronic lower back pain. I think any coach who has dealt with an athlete who experiences chronic low back pain understands how much it can hinder the progress of athletic development. I personally deal with numerous athletes and clients every year that complain about chronic lower back pain and more often than not, this is the culprit. You can see how the tilting of the pelvis affects the posture of the lumbar spine here: 

Photo from: Hannon,Kyle. 10/09/12. Anterior Pelvic Tilt and Lower Back Pain.
http://truselftraining.com/2012/10/anterior-pelvic-tilt-pain/

3.    Weak Glutes = Valgus Knee Collapse = Potential Knee Pathology

The glutes, along with extending the hip and posteriorly tilting the pelvis are largely responsible for externally rotating the femur. If they are underdeveloped the femurs can become grossly internally rotated. This severe internal rotation of the hips results in what is called an increased Q-Angle and subsequently a large amount of valgus knee collapse when jumping, performing a sprint, squatting, dead lifting or in severe cases, standing. It looks like this:  

The problem with this particular postural alignment is that the knee joint generally takes the beating. If you understand where the ACL is located within the knee joint, you can imagine the amount of tension it might be under every time force is applied with the femur pulling away from the tibia so much on the lateral side. This posture is generally most common in young women. They’re generally behind the curve in strength development and their pelvic widens naturally as they mature to prepare them for childbirth. The widening of their pelvis, as you can see, doesn’t help them much with the Q angle.

Photo from: Razi,Guy. 05/03/2012. Landing Mechanics and Q Angles. Unchained Fitness.  http://www.unchainedfitness.com/blog/landing-mechanics-and-q-angles

Photo from: Dr. Eric Janssen. 02/17/14. Advanced Care for Knee and Shoulders. http://janssenorthopedics.com/blog/

4.    Weak Glutes = No Girlfriend

Guys, if you’ve got a little booty, that girl you’ve been creeping on for the last 8 weeks in the hallway is never going to notice you. Why do you think girls go to baseball games? It’s certainly not because they love the intricacies of the game or a nice long 7^th inning stretch, get real. Lucky for you, I’m going to get into a few tips now to help you develop some big healthy butt cheeks, squeeze them into your football/baseball pants, and finally get you that movie date you’ve been trying to lock down all semester.

Photo from: Owens,Terez. 06/26/2012. 

http://www.terezowens.com/woman-butt-grabs-player-after-arizona-wins-college-world-series

Glute Dysfunction vs. Glute Underdevelopment

I think there is a difference between being underdeveloped in the backside and simply just not knowing how to use it properly. I believe Tre was suffering from the latter. That might explain why I didn’t notice a ton of extension in his core positioning. So what I did for him would differ from an athlete who simply had no butt at all. Hopefully this helps explain the differences.

1. Correcting Glute Dysfunction

Because I noticed Tre’s glute dysfunction during unilateral (single leg) movements I thought it made sense to try and get him into some single leg exercises that required him to fire one glute as I removed the other from the kinetic chain. I prescribed him two exercises, one that I learned from Eric Cressey, called the supine leg whip and one that my old roommate, Scott Peters, showed me a while back that I call body weight glute bridge with march. They seemed to help Tre quite a bit already understand neuromuscularly how properly fire one glute at a time. They look like this: 

2. How I achieve glute hypertrophy.

According to Brad Schoenfield, a hypertrophy researcher, (and a dude who is considerably smarter than I am) the most important mechanisms for muscle growth are mechanical tension and metabolic stress. The third most important aspect is muscular damage. So I thought to myself, what is the best way to achieve mechanical tension and metabolic stress on the gluteal muscles? Well Bret Contreras has already proved in his Glute Lab over and over that Hip Thrusts contribute a much higher maximum voluntary contraction in the glutes than almost any other exercise. You can see here why they might do so:

And I don’t think anyone would argue that in order to stretch the glutes (and consequently achieve the muscle damage I talked about earlier) we have to achieve full range of motion hip flexion. Well hell, dropping into a deep squat seems like that would do the trick. I like to use a deep goblet squat or a rear foot elevated split squat to achieve this stimulus.

It’s because all of this information available to me (and I am so grateful of these incredible strength coaches who are humble enough to make it available) that almost everyone of my athletes has some sort of super set of these two (squat & thrust) movements in their program.

Hopefully this gave some insight as to why it’s so important to incorporate some of these outside the box methods to help our athletes experience continued health and also maximize performance. There’s a reason most professional athletes today carry a significant amount of junk in their trunk. Turns out it’s pretty damn important. Thanks for reading.

Caleb Heilman

The only think I know is I’ll never know everything – Jason Green