Breathing and Abdominal Bracing for Strength

The importance of the core in stabilizing the torso in the squat and deadlift cannot be overstated. Watch this video to better understand how to create a solid and stable foundation through which force can be transferred from the bar to the ground.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcY3YSW9vX4&list=PLb-4Y0uOHcQdpJo1fMf4fO_xusGZBUsNu&index=10

At my gym Elite Performance Center one of the ways we improve core stabilization, strength and mobility is through the use of a tool we’ve developed called the ShouldeRök™.

Squat & Deadlift Warmup

The following video demonstrates the practice I used this last year to prepare for both my squat and deadlift workouts leading up to a world record squat. It involves a sequence of moves that allow you to both assess your readiness as well as begin grooving the correct firing patterns for squatting and deadlifting.

The importance of this warm up should not be overlooked as it focus on properly engaging the glutes, which are often inactive for those who don’t have a physically active job. It’s rare that I find someone who doesn’t have some level of glute-activation issues as a result of the way we live today.

In developing this sequence, I worked through testing a number of different DNS (dynamic neuromuscular activation) based movements on athletes at my gym, Elite Performance Center, and on myself. The approach you see in the video is something that I arrived at over a year ago.

Grooving the firing patterns, activating the glutes, assessing my readiness, and using the test-retest methods demonstrated in the video supported my training to achieve a world record squat. Let’s see what it can do for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjIAS-D7UcY&feature=player_embedded

Squat

T-Spine and Squats Part 1: Misunderstood Cue “Chest Up”

The importance of integrating the thoracic spine into your core stabilization is often overlooked or coached incorrectly. I am going to cover multiple aspects of T-Spine position in the squat, with multiple videos. If you have T-Spine extension while squatting, you have the opportunity to put 10-15 percent on top of your current max squat by correcting it. It is more than just not extending at the T-Spine, however. You must learn to cue the muscles responsible for pulling the T-Spine into position which will integrate this deep spinal stabilization with proper breathing and pressurization strategies.

• The misunderstood squat cue (0:54)
• Remember what matters: the core (1:42)
• Bad ribcage position (3:03)
• The better squat cue (3:51)
• Why focusing on chest up in the squat is harmful (5:28)
• Pressurize, twist heels, fire glutes, and squat (7:53)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IZDVHVohtmE

T-Spine and Squats Part 2: Hand Position

The next step in correcting upper body position in the squat is to take the proper core stabilization we learned in part one and integrate this stabilization all the way up to your shoulders supporting the bar. This will involve where you place your hands and what you do with them.

We have already reviewed the importance of maintaining a proper T-Spine position and not flaring the chest upwards, as well as actively cuing deep spinal stabilization to achieve this positioning. Now that you are able to achieve maximum core stability using these cue and proper abdominal pressurization for bracing, you are primed for the next step.

The next step in the process is to learn the impact shoulder mobility and hand position can have on working against proper positioning. This video teaches you how to find those limitations and apply them to how you hold the bar. It also details how you can then integrate your lats into the lift as a stabilizer for the upper body. You can create a solid base by using your elbow and hand position on the bar to fire the lats. With the rigid braced lats supporting the shoulder girdle and tying into the stabilized core you are now ready to hit a new squat PR.

• Reviewing spinal stabilization cues (0:43)
• Hand placement: is narrow better? (2:05)
• Elbows down with a narrow grip (3:58)
• Losing tension with a wide grip (4:49)
• Lat-pulldowns for the squat (5:43)
• Quick guidelines for hand position (7:30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hbyl5Neoio&feature=player_embedded

Build the Perfect Beast: Squat Series Part 3

This series on squatting has been about maintaining proper spine positon and bracing during the movement. It has had a specific focus on the often overlooked importance of eliminating thoracic spine extension. To date, we have covered how to create the stability to brace the spine and generate deep spinal stabilization. This starts with the process of creating the correct intra-abdominal pressurization. The second piece in this series covered what you can do to determine the correct hand position based on your current shoulder mobility, and then you use that hand position to improve your squat through incorporation of the lats.

In this final piece of the series I will discuss some of the science behind the approach I have been outlining. Much of this approach is based on Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization from the Prague School of Medicine. My belief is that to create the most efficient strength athlete is to include this methodology in heavy strength training. In the video I refer to this as creating the “perfect monster.”

The goal of this final part is to improve shoulder mobility to optimize t-spine position and hand position as covered in the first two videos. A detailed warmup movement is covered that will provide you with immediate gains if you are limited due to shoulder mobility and scapular retraction. I also offer a longer term approach that will “fix” many of the shoulder health issues we face as strength athletes. This final approach improves overall shoulder function and health while also developing and strengthening all of the muscles involved in support of the shoulder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjb8_Yu41nE&feature=player_embedded

Butt Wink: It’s Importance and how to eliminate

There are varying views on what causes butt-wink, spinal flexion in the squat. There are multiple supposed solutions, from ankle mobility to hip mobility, and there are even people that question whether or not it matters. In the following video, I provide answers to these questions, as well as immediate fixes through proper engagement patterns. This video addresses longer-term approaches to fix issues that are not resolved by incorporating cues that provide immediate results. If you follow this straight forward approach you will significantly reduce your risk for injury as well as improve your squat performance.

• What is butt-wink and why does it matter? (0:38)
• ATG squats with new lifters (1:55)
• Why you need to get rid of butt-wink (2:43)
• Two primary ways to control spinal area and lumbar flexion (3:15)
• Ways to get rid of butt-wink: is it just hip mobility? (4:49)
• Genetic limitations on hip mobility (6:38)
• How to incorporate solution methods into your training (7:40)
• Hands-on assessment demonstration (8:25)
• Goblet squat for maintaining lumbar spine position (9:36)
• Tactical frog for hip mobility (11:53)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_Tb-2HZuN4&feature=player_embedded
Pause Squats for Core Development

In this video, I demonstrate our approach to using pause squats at Elite Performance Center. While we call it a pause squat, there are some significant differences in how you see it typically done and how we incorporate it into our training.

The approach involves moderate weight but significant time under tension (TUT) in the hole without any support from a belt or wraps. This is an incredibly challenging movement because of the unsupported and timed TUT in the hole with a focus on keeping tight and maintaining proper pressurization. Beyond just being a challenging movement, it becomes a highly effective core development tool with specific carry over to the squat and the deadlift. It also provides lifters with both confidence in the hole as well as strength and power in this position.

In this video, our approach is covered in detail:

• Goals of the pause squat (0:26)
• Why the pause squat is a movement for the core (1:02)
• Pause lengths, sets and reps, and percentage guidelines (1:44)
• Demonstration of the movement (2:35)
• How to manage pain caused by pause squats (3:26)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOPdAUawCvg&feature=player_embedded
Deadlift

Glute Training
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u2wzSCJYzw&feature=player_embedded&list=PLb-4Y0uOHcQdpJo1fMf4fO_xusGZBUsNu

Learning to Sumo Deadlift Using Blocks

Using blocks to learn to sumo deadlift removes several things from the equation and allows lifter to focus on grooving and ingrain the hip firing patterns.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbHWwy8Cc5Y&feature=player_embedded&list=PLb-4Y0uOHcQdpJo1fMf4fO_xusGZBUsNu

Misunderstood Cue – Sumo Deadlift
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLb-4Y0uOHcQdpJo1fMf4fO_xusGZBUsNu&v=V2lAm_QLRWU&feature=player_embedded

Abdominal Training
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LODLuCEp3qs&list=PLb-4Y0uOHcQdpJo1fMf4fO_xusGZBUsNu&feature=player_embedded

Glute Development: Banded Dimels and Ukranian Stallions

In this video, members from Elite Performance Center demonstrate two movements that are effective for glute development. Both lifts have strong carryover to the core barbell lifts. Carryover is specifically mentioned for a reason: when dealing with core full body application of force, as seen in the powerlifting and Olympic lifting movements, the glutes work as part of a system and not in isolation. This system includes hip flexion, pressurization of the core, and spinal stabilization. In my experience as a coach and an athlete, I have seen a clear distinction in the superiority of glute exercises that mimic this approach. Anytime I do loaded glute training, I choose movements that allow you to drive the heel through the floor and don’t put the lumbar spine in either flexion or lordosis. Even a slight bit of lordosis changes the effect on the psoas function as a deep spinal stabilizer, which also impacts full extension as seen in the core barbell movements. These deviations, while minor, change the movement and muscle firing patterns of a strength athlete.

For additional information on how to pressurize and integrate the core properly in these movements, refer to my video on Breathing and Abdominal Pressurization for Strength. Here are two of my favorite development tools, both shown in the video, for strength athletes that do not engage their glutes optimally:

Band Resisted Dimels for Speed

The first is a fairly common movement of a Dimel deadlift combined with some extra band tension to increase the load at lockout. Reps are high (target 20), weight is moderate, and speed is imperative. Glutes must be fired early and hard. This movement is practiced by a number of powerlifting teams.

Ukrainian Stallion

The second takes a more obscure movement, the Ukrainian deadlift, and adds a band around the waist for a Reactive Neuromuscular Training (RNT) effect on glute firing. While the load on the hip looks like that of a weighted glute bridge, it has several key differences: the load from the band is minor and the athlete is in a standing position. Between those two factors, there is no effect on full hip extension or the lordosis effect. Volume and reps are high (4×20 target) and the weight is fairly heavy. Glutes must be fired early and hard. This movement is an Elite Performance Center original.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXEsJ3Uvr4I&feature=player_embedded&list=PLb-4Y0uOHcQdpJo1fMf4fO_xusGZBUsNu

Glute Development: Drop the Useless Hip Thurster!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u2wzSCJYzw&feature=player_embedded&list=PLb-4Y0uOHcQdpJo1fMf4fO_xusGZBUsNu

Bench Press

Arching and Setup for Bench Press

Where does an effective bench arch come from? The frequent misconception is that it comes from low back spinal flexibility. This can improve one’s arch but it is not an ‘effective’ arch. The best arch builds a structure that is strong and supportive of the weight you will be bearing in your hands, and also reduces the range of motion.

With these two points in mind think about the role the low back spinal flexibility plays. It certainly does not support the weight so it has a minimal impact on developing that supportive structure as compared to what can be produced in the upper back. What about range of motion then? If you’re using a shirt and doing a lot of belly benching flexing out that lower portion of your spine can reduce your range of motion. However, if lifting raw the belly is usually not touched. Perhaps the very upper part of the belly but that is still the rib cage and thoracic extension will still play a greater role in reducing the range of motion.

Even if using a bench press shirt and belly benching I will argue that a larger, and certainly more effective, bench press Setup can be created using:

• Scapular Retraction
• Upper Lumbar Flexion
• Thoracic Extension

Does this mean that laying over that foam roller to bench press isn’t the best method for improving your Setup or Arch? Yes I am most certainly stating this. Stop laying on a roller to bench and start working some mobility drills to address these areas.

In the following video I demonstrate some methods and sequences that you can use for working on these areas specifically for the bench press. Additionally you will clearly see the improvement in my Setup from beginning to end in this 10min drill…prior to doing ANY low back/stomach stretches that are commonly used.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oMngT-r7Sc&feature=player_embedded&list=PLb-4Y0uOHcQdpJo1fMf4fO_xusGZBUsNu

Lat Involvement in the Bench Press
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ily2X9LCEfg&list=PLb-4Y0uOHcQdpJo1fMf4fO_xusGZBUsNu&feature=player_embedded

Front Delt Isolation Variation – Kettlebell Front “twist” raise
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WX5PdsqzqU&list=PLb-4Y0uOHcQdpJo1fMf4fO_xusGZBUsNu&feature=player_embedded

Band Resisted Bench Setup

We do a lot of upper back work in powerlifting. Strength is needed to support the bar while squatting, to create a stable base while benching, and to hold the back position while deadlifting. One thing that is missed by doing this work in a repetitious manner is that the upper back is not needed to move in any of these lifts, it is purely static strength.

The band resisted bench setup is utilized specifically to support the bench press, but it does help on the other two lifts as well. It is a static contraction to build that static strength, and done in the exact same setup you would be in while benching. In addition it also works the lats heavily while using the same bar path as the bench press.

This is also an incredible tool to teach someone proper bench press form. I often use this with people that are struggling with how to properly recruit the lats while benching. It teaches the correct bar path for the bench press without error as well.

The set up:

1. Hang the bar in bands
2. Slide up under the bar so that the bar is positioned above your upper abdomen
3. Setup as if you are about to bench
4. Retract the traps back and towards your feet
5. Arch your back
6. Squeeze your glutes
7. Tension between feet to traps
8. Now reach up without letting shoulders roll forward – partner may have to bring bar down
9. Pull straight down with elbows until bar touches upper abdomen (lower than where you bench to)
10. Hold for 5 seconds and repeat

These can be done on your back or deadlift day or as an assistance exercise on your bench press day. Usually when I do these on bench press day I am using them as a replacement for a face pulling type movement, or a replacement for a rowing movement when done on back/dead day. 3 sets of 5 reps with a full 5 second pause at contraction works well.

A few things to keep an eye on:

• Keep shoulders retracted and tight the entire set
• Refocus on pulling with elbows if you see an “S” form by curling arms and wrists (have partner watch for)
• Hold bar to stomach the ENTIRE count or drop band tension
• If partner has to hold you down have them put fist on chest close to neck or hold to prevent them from collapsing your arch
• Pushing your belly up towards the bar is good practice, just don’t raise butt off bench

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vIa3A5vYgCc

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