The Pistol

I was reviewing our single leg series this morning and realized that I neglected to discuss the pistol, so here you go.

The Pistol is the king of single leg work.  It is an extremely athletic movement, requiring high levels of strength, mobility and flexibility.  Essentially, it is a single leg squat with the non-working leg sticking straight out in front of you at the bottom of the movement.

As far as loading is concerned, some people find it easier to learn the movement while holding a moderate weight kettlebell in the goblet position.  This can help with your sense of balance and groundedness while performing the movement.  I would recommend trying it loaded and un-loaded to find which works better for you. 

Start the movement by balancing on one foot, with your weight going straight through your heel into the floor.  Push the hips back.  As you descend into the squat, raise the heel of your non-working leg, keeping it just an inch or two off the floor, throughout the entire movement.

The bottom position of the movement is when your non-working leg is parallel to the floor.  At this point your tail should be within inches of the ground.  Keeping your weight through your heel, press back up into the starting position.

At the outset, it is unlikely that you will be able to get into the bottom position at all, much less press back up out of it.  The best way to regress the movement is to perform it to an increasingly lower box or step to give you support and a depth finder in the bottom of the movement.

As you are working toward progressing to the full pistol, it is important that you hammer away at your hip mobility, hamstring flexibility and glute strength, as these are the key factors which will affect your ability to perform a pistol.

I'd love to hear about your progress in the comments section.

Train smart; eat right.

Technorati Tags: Athletic Development,Exercise Descriptions,Functional Movement,Movement Patterns,Performance,Single Leg Work,Squats

Safety in the Gym

The single biggest mistake I see people making in the gym is this:

They imitate what they think they see other people doing.

There are a few key factors here that can add up to any combination of injury, ineffectiveness and frustration.  They are:

1. Unless you have a solid understanding of exercise kinesiology, the movement that you saw and the one that you re-produce when you attempt it yourself may be very different.
2. The person you are imitating may have no idea what they are doing.  This can even be the case if they appear very fit, are well-built or (gasp) they are a trainer themselves.
3. Your training goals are different then the training goals of the person you are imitating.  This happens most often when a person training for fat loss imitates the training of a bodybuilder.

This is one reason that I advocate everyone invest in a few weeks worth of training sessions with a qualified trainer when they first begin working out.  I also recommend buying a few sessions every 3-6 months, just to help you with form checks, exercise progressions and matching goals to programming.

The issue of safety in the gym becomes and increasing concern, now that movement based exercises like squats, lunges, deadlifts, cleans and overhead presses are coming back into vogue.  On the surface, they appear to be fairly simple movements to imitate.  In practice however, the difference between performing them properly and going through the motions, or performing them improperly has huge ramifications with regard to:

• Your safety.
• The metabolic advantages of the movement
• The development of the muscles each movement is intended to target.

Train smart; Eat right.

Technorati Tags: Deadlift,Movement patterns,Performance,Squat

The Bulgarian Split Squat

One of the great advantages of the Bulgarian Split Squat over lunges is the ability to go below parallel. This is important, because in a squat based movement (which the lunge is) the gluteus maximus does not fully engage until the knee and hip are bent at 90/90.

Now some of you may have noticed that while I covered several progressions and variations for the lunge, the Bulgarian split squat is the only split squat variation I have covered, leaving out the regular split squat. This is because, as a general rule, the split squat is a lame exercise, providing little in the way of challenge and benefit. It is the same basic movement pattern as the lunge, only with a shorter range of motion, and it is in the end range of motion (Full hip flexion and full hip extension) that we see the real benefits of these movements.

To perform the Bulgarian split squat, place one foot behind you on a bench, or 18" jump box. With your weight driving through the heel of your front foot (are you noticing a pattern here?) squat down as far as you can, while maintaining an upright posture in the upper body. Press back up until the hip is fully extended. Ideally, you will be able to squat down to where the hip is bent to an angle less than 90 degrees. Keep with it, as it may take some time to develop the strength and mobility to do so. The deeper you go, the more benefit you will see here.

Once you can get to full depth, you can progress the difficulty by adding weight: first with dumbbells held at your sides, then with a barbell on your back and finally with dumbbells held overhead.

One last thing: I need you to promise me that you will never perform your Bulgarian Split Squats (or any other exercise) in a Smith Machine. I know, I know, everyone else at your gym does, including the trainers. I could write a whole post on the reasons the Smith Machine is one of the worst pieces of equipment, and I promise that sometime in the next few weeks I will. For now, I'm just going to ask you to trust me when I say that it inhibits performance, while setting you up for injury.

Train smart; eat right.

Single Leg Work

I find that a common misconception among guys in the gym is that single leg work is somehow not manly. I'm not sure why this is. Maybe it's because we have images from the covers of yoga magazines of women in leotards doing single leg deadlifts with 3 lb. pink dumbbells.

Thankfully, this is changing. As the training industry makes a shift to more functionally based, athletic type movements, lunges and the other single leg lifts in all of their glorious variety are making a return to training programs everywhere. If you've never done any single leg training, you've been missing out on a great way to:

• Expose left/right imbalances.
• Activate and strengthen weak glutes, improving posture and reducing back pain.
• Improve your hip range of motion.
• Strengthen your ankles and improve balance.
• Eliminate front/back muscle imbalances, one of the leading predictors of muscular and joint injuries
• Boost your training poundage on the two leg squat and deadlift.

If that list doesn't convince you, then clearly training to improve health, lifestyle and athleticism is not on your list of goals. I recommend that you go back to reading Muscular Development for your training advice. Have fun making gains on that 5 day split at 2 hours a day. I'm sure your back will be bigger than Dorian's by this time next year you hypertrophy freak.

One of the beauties of these movements is that they follow a nice progression in difficulty level. With each new level you reach, you will improve mobility, strength and balance. They are also fantastic for anyone who is rehabbing from a back injury, in that with many of them, there is no need to load the spine, as bodyweight is sufficient.

Over the next few posts, I will review the finer points of and coaching cues for the following single leg movements, along with their corresponding progressions and variations:

• Forward Lunge
• Reverse Lunge
• Bulgarian Split Squat
• Single Leg Deadlift
• Single Leg Romanian Deadlift
• Pistol

Until then - Train Smart; Eat Right

Technorati Tags: Athletic Development,Functional Movement,Movement Patterns,Single Leg Work,Squat

Improving Your Squat

Following is a checklist of some of the most common problems with an individual's squat.

• Leans too far forward with the upper body
• Knees cave in as you descend
• Can't get into the bottom position (below parallel)

Now let's look at how to correct each of these.

Leans too far forward

Commonly, this is associated with a lack of mobility at the hip joint.  As the hips descend, overly tight hip flexor muscles pull the torso forward, rather than allowing it to remain upright.  This can be fixed by dynamically stretching the hip flexors and quads.  In your pre-workout warm-up, begin to perform Rocking Hip Flexor mobilizations.  To do this, stand in a split stance, with one foot out in front of the other, as if you were about to perform a lunge.  Push your weight forward over your front foot, placing a stretch on the muscles at the front of the back hip.  Hold that position for a one-count, and rock back onto your back foot.  Perform 8 repetitions per side.

Knees cave in as you descend

This problem is generally caused by over-active adductors (the muscles on the inside of your thighs) and weak, or under-active, abductor muscles.  It is very common in women.  A nice little trick that I learned from Mike Robertson's blog is to take a piece of rubber tubing or exercise band and tie it around your knees as you squat.  By putting this little bit of pressure on the outsides of the knees, you cue the abductor muscles to keep the knees in proper alignment.

Can't get into the bottom position

This is generally a problem associated with the tight hip flexors.  If you've fixed those and are still having problems getting all the way down, then a few coaching cues might help.

• Hips back - as you begin your descent, make sure that you are pushing your hips back first.  (As opposed to bending the knees first.)  Some coaches will cue you to think about closing the car door when you have two arms full of groceries.
• Keep your weight through your heels.  In the squat, your weight should never be on your toes, or the balls of your feet.  You should be able to wiggle your toes through the entire range of motion.
• Practice, practice, practice!!!

Good luck taking that squat form to the next level!

Train smart; eat right!

Pete

Technorati Tags: functional movement,movement patterns,performance,squat

Quality Movement - The Squat

The squat has long been heralded as one of the best movements for mass gain, leg strength and core strength.  Arnold called it "The King of All Exercises."  It's one of the three lifts used in powerlifting.  You can't do the olympic lifts without it.  It's even been immortalized in poetry.  (Nods at snooty literature majors in the audience.)  Okay, let's call it a rhyme instead.

But, before we look at the squat as an exercise, we have to look at it as a movement pattern.  Why you ask?  Because if you can't do one properly with just your bodyweight, you have no business loading up your back with 6 big wheels and going for reps!

So what does a good squat look like?  Again, think of what a four-year-old looks like when they squat down to play in the water, but don't want to get their bottom wet.  The key points to notice are:

• Weight is through the heels, they are not up on the balls of their feet.
• The spine is neutral.  The proper "S" curve is maintained.
• The shoulders are behind the knees.

Here's a great test that Gray Cook, designer of The Functional Movement Screen and author of Athletic Body in Balance recommends for checking your squat form:

While standing sideways in a doorway, holding a broom handle overhead in a locked out position, squat down as deep as possible.

You pass the test and may continue squatting as part of your exercise routine, if you meet all of the following:

1. The heels remain on the floor.
2. The feet do not slide or rotate.
3. The knees are aligned over the feet.
4. The hips are below the knees.
5. The broomstick does not touch the wall.

You fail the test if any of the above are not met.

Some common reasons for not being able to squat properly include tight hip flexors, inability to activate glutes, lack of ankle mobility and lack of core stability.  Over the next few posts, we will look at teach of these issues and some corrective exercises for each.  In the meantime, one of the best ways to improve your squat form is to squat.

Here's a great method for correcting improper form:  Stand 6 or 8 inches away from the wall and squat as deep as you can without touching the wall.  Practice this a few times a day, until you can get your hips below your knees without touching the wall.  Once you are capable of this, move in 2 inches, until you can do it with only 4 inches between you and the wall.  If you can do it from a distance of 4 inches, your squat form is pretty solid.

Technorati Tags: Functional movement,Gray Cook,movement patterns,Squat