Never Case Fatigue... Chase Performance!

"A coach always trying to "kill" clients in the gym often lacks education. & clients always looking to be "killed" haven't been taught well" - Lee Boyce 

This goes on way to much in the fitness industry, average people start doing these crazy intense bootcamp classes without any coaching on joint mechanics, proper progressions or basic movement foundations. 

People go to these classes with major movement problems and do 100's of repetitions with poor form where quantity/intensity is more important than quality. I have had clients come to me saying "I worked out for 3 years at crossfit/bootcamp/classes" ect.. then put them through a movement/mobility based assessment and I'll find so many problems that were never even brought up as issues to them.

For example, a female client came to me in decent shape wanting to get stronger and lean out. She tells me she was doing classes 4x a week before injuring her hip, Says she knows how to squat no problem been doing it for years under her trainers eye.. I then ask her to do a basic bodyweight squat at our assessment and what do we see? Huuuge lateral shifting, feet collapsing, valgus knees, forward lean, lack of over all tension and stability along with a ton of mobility issues.
None of these were ever brought up to her and she had no idea she was doing them, but she felt tired, sweaty, sore and even lost weight so it must be good for you right? Lol not in the long run..
Don't wait for injuries to happen before you fix the problem, just like you don't wait for your car to break down before you get maintenance done on it. The majority of pain/tightness/stiffness is related back to poor movement and/or lack of movement. Quality should come before quantity 😁 /rant end

How Deep should you squat?

Walk into any commercial gym and 90% of the time people are doing quarter squats, I have even had people come up to me and say I'm squatting to deep because if I go below 90 it's bad for the knees........😐 

Now depending on the individual and joint mobility, the majority of people should be able to get the hip crease below the knee without any issues. I'm not saying you have to hit ass to grass but breaking just past 90 should be your main goal to work towards when squatting, doing anything above 90 is not a squat in my opinion. Now this doesn't just affect strength, aesthetics are affected as well as you can see from the photo where the most activation occurs during the movement. Learn how to squat correctly and get a coach that knows how to find your optimal squat for the goals your trying to achieve, remember there is no one way to squat everyone is different so you need an Individualized approach 💪🏼 "

There are a few studies showing no correlation between deep squatting and injury risk. In fact, there is some evidence that those who perform deep squats have increased stability of the knee joint. In a study using a knee ligament arthrometer to test nine measures knee stability they found that male powerlifters, many of them elite class, demonstrated significantly tighter joint capsules on anterior drawer tests compared to controls. Moreover, both the powerlifters as well as a group of competitive weight lifters were significantly tighter on the quadriceps active drawer tests at 90 degrees of knee flexion than control subjects. 

ACL and PCL forces have been shown to diminish at higher degrees of knee flexion. Peak ACL forces occur between 15 – 30 degrees of flexion, decreasing significantly at 60 degrees and leveling off thereafter at higher flexion angles. PCL forces rise consistently with every flexion angle beyond 30 degrees of knee flexion, peaking at approximately 90 degrees, and declining significantly thereafter (10). Beyond 120 degrees, PCL forces are minimal" 

💥Do you have limited SHOULDER MOBILITY ?💥

This is a sagittal plane shoulder assessment to check "SHOULDER FLXION" I use it with all my clients before starting any exercise program to see each individual's joint mobility/strength/weakness or motor control problems with the shoulder, limited shoulder flexion will have a huge impact on exercises like overhead pressing, handstands, Olympic lifting and overall injury prevention for the shoulder. 

Shoulder flexion is the ability to get your arms overhead without any restrictions or compensation in the spine, having full range means you should be able to go from 0-180 degrees of flexion ending with the humerus beside your ear without any pain or restrictions. Before taking this test it's important to be aware of any individual postural alignment issues that could be affecting joint kinematics and the outcome of this test, if the shoulder or scapula has any major alignment issues it's going to have a big impact on your shoulder flexion and over all mobility of the joint. 

The 2 main assessments I use are passive and active shoulder flexion, here is how to do them. 

💥Passive shoulder flexion test: 

-Lay on the ground in a prone position, knees bent, hands beside hips and thumbs pointed to the ceiling

-Posteriorly rotate your pelvis so lower lumbar stays flat against the ground throughout the entire movement

-Start by raising your arm while keeping the shoulder, elbow and wrist in a straight line then with the help of a partner or gravity try to let your humerus drop down beside your ear and thumb touching the floor behind you. Make sure to stop if your back lifts off the floor at any point of the movement, if you can remain in neutral and reach the floor move onto the active assessment.

💥Active shoulder flexion test:

-The same rules apply as the passive test but this time you will be actively contracting the shoulder flexors (Anterior delt/
Coracobrachialis/
Biceps brachii/
Pec major) also the traps/ serratus anterior are involved in flexion above 90 degrees along with a few other muscles.

-Standing with your back flat against a wall, keep your feet 6-8" away and maintaining a neutral spine position during the entire movement. 

-Raise your arm with thumb pointing up and stop if there is any change in positioning of the spine or you feel you hit end range.

There are actually a lot of areas that may be limiting or inhibiting the ability to get your arms overhead including soft tissue, length tension relations, motor control, joint capsule restrictions or alignment issues and it's very individualized. These are some of the main areas that I work on with clients that make a big improvement to the vast majority of people.

Latissimus dorsi
Pec minor/major
Triceps
Teres Major
Delts
Traps
Rotator cuff