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Incline Push Up Starting Position

Incline Push Up

Walkouts - I like this exercise because it challenges the anterior/posterior core stabilizers, and the movement of the extremities adds a rotary stability component.

From standing bring both hands to the ground.  Begin to walk the hands out towards the top of a push-up.  Hold the position for 3-5 seconds holding a neutral posture before walking the hands back towards to the feet.  Repeat 5-7 reps.  Bring the hands further in front of the body for more of a challenge.

Walk Out Position One

Walk Out Position Two

Walk Out Position Three

Eccentric Push-ups - The inclusion of eccentric exercises into strength programs has long been a favorite of coaches and trainers to overload particular pattern.

Have a spotter hold a towel or heavy tubing around your hips while you assume a push-up position.  Lower your body to the ground for 3-5 seconds.  Once you arrive at the bottom of the movement, your spotter should help pull you back to the top.  Repeat for 6-8 reps.

Eccentric Push Up Starting Position

Eccentric Push Up

Rotary Stability Corrections
Bilateral Ball Roll - This is the absolute basic in creating low level reflex stability and core recruitment.  I credit this simple exercise with helping me to teach clients abdominal activation than any other technique I’ve every used.

Lay supine on the ground with a small Swiss ball resting on your stomach.  Bring both elbows and knees to either side of the ball and squeeze to activate the abdominals.  Keeping the hips and shoulders aligned, roll onto your side while maintaining the same position throughout.  Look your head back, and roll from the side-lying position to back to supine.  Try this for 8-10 reps.

Bilateral Ball Roll

Bilateral Ball Roll

Cross-body Ball Roll - Great exercise to help stabilize the hips for single-leg exercises like bird-dogs, lunges, or running.

Assume the same basic position as the previous exercise, except this time bring only the right elbow and left knee to the ball.  Extend the left arm to an overhead position, and the right leg straight.  Perform a roll maneuver as described in the previous exercise.  Give it a solid 8-10 reps.

Cross-body Ball Roll

Cross-body Ball Roll Position Two

Single Leg Bridge Corrections
Kneeling Psoas Stretch w/stick - When done correctly this “stretch” should produce an intense glute and abdominal contraction.

Kneel on your right knee, with the left foot positioned forward.  Grab a dowel or foam roller and hold it in front of your with one end resting on the ground.  Push down on the dowel to activate your abdominals, push your hips forward squeezing through the glute to stretch the down hip.  Hold for 3-5 seconds. Repeat for 6-10 reps.

Kneeling Psoas Stretch w/stick Position One

Kneeling Psoas Stretch w/stick Position Two

Glute Bridge w/knee extension - I find this to be a great exercise to introduce hip extension into a walking/marching pattern and starting point for single leg work.

From a supine position, bend both legs while keeping your feet on the floor.  Contract your glutes to raise your hips to the ceiling.  Make sure to keep the pelvis level and begin to extend one knee at time in a marching pattern.  Repeat for 12-20 reps before bringing the hips back to the ground.

Glute Bridge w/knee extension

The aim of any good exercise program should be first, to ensure proper movement quality in the athlete, and then to improve on movement quantity.  It only makes sense - how well you move should proceed how much you move.  Far too often this simple principle is overlooked in the strength and conditioning world.  Muscle imbalance, joint restriction, and compensation are the unfortunate offsprings of fitness programs and dysfunctional movement.

Over the next two posts we will examine how to build quality movement into your workout programs.  First, we take a look at how we learn to move during child development and what we can learn from it.  Second, we look at some basic tests that will help identify deficiencies in basic movement patterns and offer corrective strategies for improving them.

At first it may be difficult to understand the parallel between exercise and child development, but when it comes to developing strength, stability, and coordination we can learn a lot from a baby.  In the first 15-24 months of life we learn to roll, crawl, push ourselves off the ground, stand, walk  and stabilize in different positions.  Each developmental movement lays the foundations for more complex movements to occur.

Often times when babies are rushed through the stomach and dog crawling phases of development they don’t acquire the reflex stabilization necessary for proper movement.  These clients often present as adults with very poor balance, mobility, coordination, or repetitive injury.

Reflex stabilization occurs when the abdominal musculature and joint stabilizers contract at the initiation of movement.  The abdominals fire a split second before extremity motion to protect the spine, while specific stabilizing muscles hold the joint in a position of optimal rotation. When this process is disrupted the body must recruit other muscles to work both as prime movers and stabilizers.  This leads to faulty mechanics, decreased performance and increased potential for injury.

In order to fix the problem, you have to go back to the source.  Here are some basic tests of core strength and coordination that will help to test your fundamental movement skills.  You can perform the tests yourself with a mirror, but I recommend having a trained exercise or rehabilitation profession help you to determine the results.

Push-up Test
Assume a push up position lying on the floor.  Hands shoulder height, legs straight, neutral alignment of the spine.  Do a push-up from ground without any lag between the hips and chest.  Observe if there is any dipping of the hips and stomach, bending of the knees, or excessive movement of the spine.

Good Form

Bad Form

Rotary Stability Test
Start from the “all four” position with hands aligned under the shoulders, knees under the hips.  Lift the right arm forward and the left leg back.  Repeat on the other side, noting any asymmetries.

Rotary Stability Test

For the more advanced athlete; assume the same start position, but this time lift the right arm and the right leg simultaneously, while balancing with the opposite arm and leg.  Take note of symmetry.

Rotary Stability Test (Advanced)

Single Leg Bridge Test
Lay face up on the ground with the right leg bent so the foot is flat on the floor.  Hug the left knee into the chest.  Lift both hips off the ground using the right leg.  Note whether the knee, hip and shoulder come into alignment and any difference between the sides.

Single Leg Bridge Good Form

Single Leg Bridge Bad Form

In the next post we will cover corrective strategies for each of the tests to help restore reflex stabilization and improve movement.

Thanks for joining me again for Part Three.  Remember you can read the first two postings on the Train Boston website.

Resistance Circuit Training

This involves performing 3-5 different resistance training exercises consecutively with minimal rest between exercises. One set (or circuit) is completed each time you complete all the exercises. Depending on your training experience I recommend doing the circuit 2-5 times with 1-2 minutes rest between circuits.

Using compound (multi-joint) exercises will allow you to burn the maximum number of calories and stimulate the greatest number of muscle fibers in each session. Typically, I will choose one exercise from each of the following categories and make that my circuit for the day.

Quadriceps dominant exercises – front squat, lunge, step-up

Hip dominant – back squat, dead-lift, hang clean, kettle bell swing

Upper body pushing – bench press, dumbbell press, overhead push press, push-up

Upper body pulling – pull-up, body row, bent row, lat-pull down

Sequencing your exercises in a similar manner will hit every muscle in your body each session, decrease your workout time, and increase your strength levels.

Workouts consist of short bursts of high intensity exercise, followed by longer periods of low intensity exercise.The bursts are referred to as sprints, and the low intensity periods as rest.Intensity for the sprint is gained by increasing resistance, speed or both.

This seems to work best on an arch trainer, stationary bike, or running outside.You can use a treadmill, but changing arm position to hit the buttons frequently can wreak havoc on your stride consistency.

I use three different sprint/rest time ratios of HIIT to keep things interesting. I also like to use at least two different pieces of equipment within each workout, spending 3-5 minutes on each.Depending on your fitness level you can repeat this for up to 20 minutes of sprint/rest cycles.

The below numbers are arranged in a rest/sprint ratio. I always start the set in a rest phase and progress to sprints.

40s/20s – start with 40 seconds of low intensity movement (active rest), followed by 20 seconds of high intensity bursts (sprints)

30s/60s– start with 60 seconds of active rest followed by 30 seconds of sprinting

25s/5s– start with 25 seconds of active rest followed by 5 seconds of sprinting

Don’t expect this to be easy, its not, but it works.