Thursday, January 29, 2009

Compensation Patterns

I get the question quite a bit about what causes compensation patterns in individuals. First lets look at a what a compensation pattern is. It is a way your body compensates or changes its "normal" or meant to be movement pattern.

Take walking for example. Lets say you have tight hip flexors (the muscles on the front part of your hips). This no big deal right? Wrong. This can cause big problems down the rest of the leg not to mention up the chain. Because of these tight hip flexors, anterior pelvic tilt is next on your list of problems, leading to internal rotation of the femur and tibia over time. No big deal again, WRONG. These internally rotated femurs can lead to tight IT bands/adductor's, which in turn can lead to knee/back pain. I won't get into things down the rest of the leg and the problems that can arise in that opposite shoulder and spine.



Now lets say one hip flexor is tighter than the other. Ever hear someone walking from a mile away with one foot pounding into the ground? That leg on the side of the tight hip flexor can end up getting shortened causing it to constantly pound into that group time after time. That is one of many causes of compensation patterns that can arise just because of those tight hip flexors.

You also see quite a few patterns in athletes if work isn't done to iron out these imbalances before they get to far. Take a baseball player swinging a baseball bat. The tourque of the front side leg is going to take a beating if that lead legs exteral rotation isn't up to par.



The Hips Are A Powerful Thing


So how do I fix this? I can tell you how to make it worse. Keep doing what you've been doing!

Is that treadmill walking/running helping your compensation patterns?

Well for the price of only $9.95 you can....kidding! Things such as myofascial release on a foam roller and lots of single leg work can go along ways.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Random Thoughts

1. I love group classes. You can learn so much in a group class just because of the simple fact of you have so many situations to "deal" with or just plain do your job as a trainer. I've had people with ankle replacements where their ankles are immovable to people who first start doing a squat look like they are going to fall forward onto their face. Should people like this be in a group class, no but you can only do get so many people to see the benefits of individual training. Situations like this make you be "quick on your feet" and really helps you become a better trainer by coming up with modifications for certain individuals.

Then I have group classes back in my home town, which I explain to people as a little hole in the wall gym. Not that isn't not nice (it's actually very nice for a small town) but I'm spoiled with all the equipment I have to choose from where I do most of my work. It really makes you appreciate body weight training and how affective it can be if used correctly.

2. I hate snow and cold weather.


Nice weather come back

3. The snatch grip deadlift is great. My upper back and glutes haven't been this sore in a while.

4. I heard a guy talking about how his shoulder was bothering him the other day. Now this guy has some of the worst internally rotated shoulders not to mention the true problem down the chain at the hips that gives him a limp when he walks. Makes me wonder if some people buy one shoe at a time from all the pounding the one shoe gets from the limping. Anyway, I just hear this guy tell someone how his shoulder hurts when proceeds to complete a set of cable crossover flies. The kicker, about 1o minutes later he is pounding out some dumbbell flies. In between sets you would think he trying to rub a whole through his shirt with all the rubbing he is doing on his shoulder.

Please stop doing an exercise if it there is pain! There's a reason the movement hurts. Find a professional such as a Physical Therapist or Personal Trainer who can help get you back to pain free movement. Not to mention recommendations on contraindicated movements to your condition.

5.I love canned pumpkin.

Oh So Good

6. Do NOT stop eating healthy fat if you are trying to loose fat. There's a reason it's a macro nutrient. Your body needs it! It's more then likely that cake you've had for "dessert" for the past 10 years. If anything the macro nutrient carbohydrate is making you fat.



Good Carb


"But it has nuts, they're good for you aren't they?"

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Progress

Its been a while. But last week I did deadlift 405 lbs. for the first time in my life which is very exciting. I've been training for really about the last 6-7 years but I'm going to say only really training for about 8-9 months now. I've always loved to train and have really done it ever since I got started early in high school. I've learned more in the past 8-9 months as a trainer then I ever did in my previous training experiences. So really the first 5-6 years of my training almost made things worse for me as far as activation and technique goes.
I also have had shoulder and knee problems for the past 2-3 years and I've always thought it was because first off I was a collegiate baseball player and a catcher at that. Not to mention my pain was in my right shoulder and left knee, which thanks to reading on reading of Eric Cressey and Mike Robertson to name a couple have made me realize this is a very regular thing. Who would have very thought this pain could have diminished this much in the past couple months. Compensation patterns suck. I know baseball had was a factor but terrible programs design along with exercise technique did quite a bit to help in the pain I was having.
It's unbelievable how informed people are on things such as low back, knee, and shoulder pain. It was hard for me believe how far a these following things incorporated into a warm-up can do to improve pain:

1. Myofascial Release - A foam roller may be one of the best investments you can make.

Greatness

2. Activation Work - simply put you can complete a movement, but if you aren't stabilizing or activating the appropriate musculature you're more then likely going to run into problems down the road. Things from X-band walks, scapular push-ups, to glute bridges.

Scapular Wall Slides

3. Dynamic Warm-up - Yes I used to be that kid who did static stretch on static stretch to "get ready and warm" for my training session. Amazing what a little moving around can do.

4. Warm-up sets and reps - You need to get a "feel" of the movement on hand and who wants to throw 300 lbs on their back without a couple warm up sets?

5. Kettlebell Work - No I'm not saying kettlebells are going or should replace a good ole' deadlift by any means but they have helped me in activating that backside also know as the glutes. Not to mention they can be just plain fun.

Glute Activation = Good

6. Footwear - or no footwear. Nike Free may be one of the greatest things invented or just plain barefoot has helped greatly in deadlift and squatting technique and "feel"


Great Choice


Terrible Choice

Well there it is a little list of things that have helped me greatly in my quest to pain free shoulders and knees. I have seen great improvements from just incorporating an extra 10-15 minutes into my training sessions.