In my previous post, I defined what traction is and showed a simple way to traction the spine using a dumbbell.  It does work pretty good and is a great starting point for beginners or someone who needs traction but doesn’t want to be to aggressive doing it.

In this post, I am going to show you a technique that is a little more aggressive but is my absolute favorite traction/stretch that I literally do on a daily basis.  All you use is a simple jump stretch band.  If you do not have access to a band then a long beach towel, rope, or bed sheet would work but you will not have the elastic properties of the band.

First anchor the band around something sturdy with smooth edges (so it won’t damage your band).  Then place the loop of the band around the backside of your wrists and then grab the band with your hands.  This looping method will allow you to relax your hands and not cut off the circulation.  Step back away from the anchor site and slowly bend forward letting your arms straighten out until your arms are up by your head.  In this position you will feel a stretch through your lats and down your back.  Try to focus on relaxing all the muscles through your back-this will feel great!

To add more traction and stretch, slowly shift your body weight from foot to foot and slightly lean out to the side.  This will increase the stretch to one side of the body.  There is no time limit on these stretches.  Just enjoy the traction and stretch and feel the body relaxing.

For a much more aggressive stretch, squat down deep keeping the weight on your heels.  This really increases the feeling of the stretch.  You can again shift your weight from one foot to the other with a slight lean to increase the stretch.

Try standing up out of the squat position and then drop back down.  There is a sensation of relaxation and then increased stretch with each repetition.  Just like the first position, there is no time limit or number to go by.  I always tell my athletes to just listen to there bodies and take a break when they feel like they have had enough and to continue again if they feel like they need more.

Like previously stated, I do these traction and stretching techniques with the band every day.  I normally do them after every workout and sometimes before after my warm-up if I am feeling a little tight yet.  These are also great to decompress the spine after heavy squats or dead lifts.  Many times I will do them in between heavy sets during my rest time.  I do not feel like this stretching diminishes my performance at all.

I have had my share of back irritations over the years and I can easily state that the bands are a true blessing for my back and have helped me to not only feel great but to be able to maintain training as I am (as much as I do not want to admit it) getting older.

Hope this helps!!

To your health,

Jerry

As we age our vertebral discs can deteriorate or become compressed.  Traction may help the discs between the vertebrae by increasing joint space and fluids to those tissues.  Increased disc compression is done as a result with many exercises and athletic movements.  On heavy squat or dead lift days, I like to do some simple traction techniques in the weight room to help decompress the spine.

Hanging with a weight from my ankles is probably the simplest method that I do.  In the video, I show you how to do this off a roman chair (body weight leg raise machine) but this could be done also by hanging off a pull-up bar.  I used a dumbbell and just held it between my feet and hung there in a relaxed position.  You could also used ankle weights if you had  them.

The key to this being successful is to relax the body.  The only area contracted is the front of the shins to hold up the dumbbell and your hands if you are hanging.  Try to envision your spinal vertebrae pulling apart slowly and I swear it will help relax your back muscles instantly.  Hold this for as long as you can or do multiple sets of 30 seconds to 2 minutes.  Also, start with a light weight and increase gradually.  Even just your body weight will provide mild traction properties.  I can feel tension being released as soon as I begin!

Another benefit from this position/exercise is the isometric contraction of the muscles in your shins.  This is great to help prevent shin splints or can be used as a rehab exercise for shin splints.  Either way, you will still get the benefits of the traction.

There are many ways and techniques for providing traction to  the spine.  I personally am a huge fan of traction techniques and believe in the benefits of doing them weekly.  If you have not or do not normally do traction techniques; I would recommend trying this out for a few weeks or even just a couple of days and see if you feel the difference.

Hope that helps!

To your health,

Jerry

PS-If you have a lifting partner or someone else in the gym, I would recommend having them lift the dumbbell into place and then you pinch it between your feet .  It works MUCH better than trying to do it yourself.

My athletes are required to still report to the weight room even if they are putting up with an ailment.  No matter what the problem is, most of the time there are ways to continue to train directly or indirectly that area of the body.  In the video, I referenced an injury to the calf muscle.  Now does this mean this person should only train the upper body for a few weeks and no lower body work until the injury is healed?  NO WAY!  A good strength coach or trainer will still train the legs but maybe not with their typical exercises.

Continue rehabbing with the appropriate exercises and modalities, but do not directly train the body part that is injured until you are completely pain-free.  This is when you need to have a small understanding of the body and have general knowledge of injuries and inflammation.  You do not have to be a doctor but without some knowledge of what you or your athlete is dealing with, you will not be able to make the best judgements in the exercise prescription for the continuation of training to take place.

Here is a simple list, with simple definitions, of the most common things you should understand and have to work around as a strength coach or trainer.

Ligaments:  Attach bones to bones

Tendons:  Attach muscles to bones

Cartilage:  Tissue that normally is between bones that acts like a shock absorber

Sprain:  Irritation or tear of a ligament

Strain:  Irritation or tear of a muscle or tendon

Acute Injury:  Sudden injury

Chronic Injury:  Injury or inflammation that developed or got worst over time, can be from over training or trying to train through an acute injury

Tendonitis:  Inflammation of a tendon, can be acute or chronic

Bursa:  A small fluid like sac the sits between the tendons/ligaments and bones that prevents friction from occurring

Bursitis:  Inflamed bursa sac

Fracture:  Disruption or break of a bone

Stress Fracture:  Usually a small hairline fracture in a bone normally from over use, typically will show pain when weight-bearing or applying pressure to that bone

I could continue but if you can understand these and how they are located and function in the various areas of the body, than you should have a sense on the abilities of how to train the body without causing more problems.  My number one rule in the weight room is this:  If it is causing pain then you are probably causing inflammation and this should be avoided.

Athletes may sometimes have to deal with discomfort and pain to compete in their sport and the decision to allow or not allow that to happen should be done by a certified and licensed Athletic Trainer.  As a Strength Coach in the weight room, I have NEVER found it necessary to force an athlete to train with weights through pain.  Train with weights-yes but in pain-free ranges of motion or around the inflamed area.

Please understand that the basis of this article and video is to help you understand how to train when injured.  If an athlete is “sore” because he or she did not do their summer program and came back to school out of shape; there will be little to no mercy from me.  At the D-1 level of athletics, there is an expectation for them to do their part if they are away from school (like over the summer or winter break).  This is why it is important to understand how the body works and the structures that make up the body.  Sometimes discomfort for an athlete is not an injury!

Hope this helps!

To your health,

Jerry

Barbell Hip Thrusts will really target the posterior chain hitting the hamstrings, glutes, and low back muscles but the main emphasis muscle being targeted here is the gluteus maximus.  I really like this exercise and if done correctly will give you huge gains and normally will make you walk a little funny for the next 2-3 days afterwards when you are just learning it.  This muscle soreness is a good thing.  I always say, it is your body’s way of letting you know you accomplished something positive that you needed to address.

Hip thrusts can actually be done multiple ways but in this post I am explaining how to use a barbell for them.  You could also use dumbbells, kettle bells, bands, and even a cable machine if you are creative enough to figure how to set that up,but a standard barbell I think is still the best way to attack a hip thrust.

Most coaches use a bench when doing hip thrusts and that is OK if that is what you have.  I am not a huge fan of using benches for the main reason of being a little to high in the air which can complicate how to get into position and start the hip thrust for most individuals.  I prefer to be resting my shoulders and head on something that is positioned lower to the ground and my partner glute ham raise pads work perfectly for this.  If you don’t have these, you could use a 12-18″ plyo-box and just pad it up with a thick towel. 

Make sure your shoulder blades and head are securely supported and place the bar in the hip crease right at the top of your hip flexors.  Position your feet so they are flat on the floor and at an angle so that when the hips extend your knees will be around a 90 degree angle.  Push your hips up into the bar, drive the weight through the heels of your feet, and extend the hip by squeezing your gluteus as hard as you can.  Raise the bar off the ground until the hips are fully extended, gluteus fully contracted, but do not try to hyper-extend the low back.  Try to create a straight line from your knees through your hips to your shoulders, than lower the bar back down to the floor.  In the picture, Bret Contreras-known for being the glute guy, is performing this.  Notice the straight line in the picture to the left.  That is the correct position at full extension.  For some athletes, placing the bar here can be uncomfortable, especially at heavier weights.  You can pad the bar up using a bar pad or towels.

You also can maintain tension by lowering the bar back down slowly, not allowing it to touch the floor and then re-raise the back up for reps.  In the video, I am demonstrating how to de-load and then re-load the weight each time.  Both techniques work great and I would encourage you to try them both.  I like to cycle these techniques every other week into my programs and have found this to be very productive.

Depending on which technique I am doing, I normally keep the rep ranges between 3-12 reps for 3-6 sets.  Just depends on what I am trying to accomplish and the goals of my programs.  If you are a body builder, this can really give you definition between the high hamstring and the gluteus.  If you are an athlete, I have found that cycling this in every other 4-6 week phase with RDLs works great, but again that will be dependent on how you train and what your goals are.  This is also a great supplemental exercise for olympic lifts if hip extension and glute firing patterns are an issue for you.

Hope that helps!

To your health,

Jerry

A basic Wall Sit is nothing more than positioning yourself with your back against the wall with your feet positioned away from the wall approximately the length of your upper leg, normally about 18-24 inches from the wall.  Then slide down the wall until your quads are parallel to the floor with your knees at 90 degrees.  Keep your back flat against the wall with your core muscles contracted.  Hold this position for a prescribed amount of time or until technique falters due to fatigue.

Simple ways to make this a little more demanding, although this alone for many individuals will be taxing, is by holding dumbbells in your hands.  Another variation would include the use of a stability ball.  Place the ball between you and the wall and then sit down by rolling down the wall with the ball.  This will bring in more stabilizing features to this already challenging exercise.

Try combining the stability ball and the dumbbells.  Or just try to do a wall sit with one leg extended off the ground the entire time.  Another variation of this would be to do Marching Wall Sits-this is when you are doing a wall sit and you extend one leg straight slowly then bring it back down, stabilize and then extend the other.  Continue this for time or reps.  Obviously, if you have an inflamed knee this is not an advanced option you want to choose.

In the video and picture, I show you a way to directly involve the inner quad muscles (VMO) and the adductors by placing a medicine ball between my knees and then squeeze it hard while holding the wall sit position.  You could use just about anything if you don’t have a medicine ball. Any sports ball would work, pillows, or simply a thick rolled up beach towel.

Now to get the abductors and gluteus muscles more involved, take a small band or tubing (like I have in the video) and place it above your knees and work at maintaining your knees to stay in place when doing the wall sit.  The band/tubing will be trying to pull your knees together.  I have never seen any videos on this before but I use it a lot, especially if I have athletes who have problems keeping good form in the deep portion of the squat.  Particularly, if their knees buckle in some when they are standing up from the squatting position.  This will teach them to push the knees out and actually “feel” which muscles are working to do that.

You can see how easily it is to take just one exercise and just apply some simple variables to it and now it becomes not only more difficult but also a training modality for another lift.  This is the stuff that tends to excite me in the field of strength training and what I believe strength professionals need to be sharing with others to help them move forward.  You see the exercises I just explained here are not just for athletes.  They can be used for injury prevention, rehab, body building, olympic lifting, and even power lifting.  This is why Variety Trainer has a big community of followers from many strength disciplines.  If you felt this information that I shared with you is beneficial, please share it with others who might find it useful as well.  Forward this post or the website address to others.  We need to get this information out to everyone.  Thank you and they will thank you as well!

Hope this helps!!

To your health,

Jerry

I work at the D-1 University level and you would be surprised how many athletes I get each year as freshmen that can’t even do a push-up!  It is sad when I see this.  Even my seven-year old can rip out good push-ups.  Years ago, man I’m getting old, I worked at the jr. and sr. High School levels and I would not allow the athletes to even think about benching until they could perform push-ups correctly.  Body weight and movement control was my main focus for them before they were allowed to start in the weight room and if I worked at that level today it would be no different.

I have no problem with bench pressing but learn to push-up properly first.  Now I know some people’s opinions will be, “well if they are not strong enough to do their body weight than the bench will help with that”.  I think that is a bunch of crap!  Sorry but this aggravates me.  Anyone who wants to lift weights should be able to do their body weight first.  Start with the knees on the floor, work on eccentrics, do them standing against a wall or bench, or do partials until you build up the strength.  This has worked with EVERY kid I have ever trained and guess what-when they started to bench press they were able to control the bar and learned the bench press properly.  While on the subject, if a kid cannot squat below parallel with proper form for 25 reps in a row or more than they are not ready to squat with weight either!  I hope I got my point across here loud and clear.

So I am going to list a bunch of little pointers here to help you perform the perfect push-up; old school style, no  fancy equipment or TV gizmo device, just body weight.  The way it is meant to be done.

• Get in the push-up position with your hands on the floor just behind your shoulders and out to the sides so your upper arm forms a 35 degree angle (if a line was drawn directly off your shoulder to the angle of your arm=35 degrees)
• Your fingers should be pointing forward or just slightly angled out to the sides
• get your torso and legs in a straight line with your core musculature contracted tight
• Take a breath and lower yourself down towards the floor slowly and under complete control
• Lower yourself until your nose almost touches the floor (do not move your head itself towards the floor, keep it in-line with your body)
• With everything in your body tense, push yourself back up (“push yourself away from the floor”) by extending at the elbows
• You will mainly feel this in your chest and triceps but the rest of the body should act as stabilizers with mild to moderate isometric (constant) contraction
• Pause at the top and repeat for desired number of reps

These pointers I have just listed here are what I consider the main emphases of the push-up.  Yes, one could go into much greater detail and break the movement down more but if you got this down correctly most strength coaches would be thrilled.

Also, there are many variations of push-up and techniques that have been developed over the years and I personally love just about every one of them I have come across.  No variation should be attempted though unless you have the basic movement perfected first.

Hope that helps!

To your health,

Jerry

Parker contacted me last summer and asked if he could stop in to Bucknell to meet with me and chat.  Of corse the nice guy that I am said sure!   He explained that he was going to be a senior at Lycoming College this fall and he was very interested in strength and conditioning and wants to learn more about the career itself.  He told me he was currently volunteering with the strength staff from Villanova for the summer to gain experience and asked what the possibility would be to stop into Bucknell when he was at school to see how we did things here.  The one issue he had was he would be completing his senior year playing for the Lycoming football team in the fall and that would take up a big portion of his time.  I told him to contact me when his season was completed.

After his season Parker did contact me and again expressed an interest to come down and even volunteer as much as he could.  I said ok, would you like to do a volunteer strength internship for the spring semester and he quickly said yes.  So I brought him in during the beginning of the spring semester and we set up a schedule around his spring class schedule he had up at Lycoming.  It turns out, he had classes many days of the week so he basically was assigned early morning hours which are many times are busiest hours of the day with teams.

We told him he had to be here a half hour before teams arrived in the weight room which was at 6AM, so he had to be here ready to go at 5:30AM to set up the gym and anything else that needed to be done.  This would be a good time for me to inform you that his commute from Lycoming College to Bucknell is approximately 45 minutes one way.  and he was volunteering to come down 3-5 days a week and stay until he had to leave to head back for class.  Mr. Showers was never late and many times was sitting in his truck in the parking lot waiting for me to arrive before 5:30AM.

I was not sure how long he would last and I figured we would see his true colors start to shine through after about 3 weeks of this schedule.  To my surprise his true colors did shine through in a very positive way.  He was always upbeat, asking questions (wanting to learn and understand), and quickly started to fit in with the staff and athletes.

Parker ended this semester doing everything that was asked of him and in the professional mannerisms you want to see in a young strength coach.  He is definitely a go getter and will be successful in this field.  So why do I share this story with you; I am trying to help him out.  I know there are many strength coaches who come to this site and I wanted to inform you all of Mr. Showers as he is actively pursuing the next stage of his career.  If you have a position available either as a paid internship, GA position, or an assistant position and you would like more information about Parker-please do not hesitate to contact me and/or I will put you in contact with him.

Hope this helps!

To your health,

Jerry

PS- He is not the most comfortable in front of a camera, but I think he did pretty good for his first training video.

The exercise is called an Anti-Rotation Plantar-Dorsi Flexion Exercise.  I use a cable machine but you also could easily use a band or tubing.  The idea is to move the ankle joint through plantar flexion (pointing the toes forward and away from the body) and dorsi-flexion (pulling the toes and foot up towards the shin) while stabilizing the hip and ankle joint for rotating in any direction.

Basically, sit on the ground at the base of a cable machine and attach the cable to your foot by putting an ankle strap around your forefoot like shown in the video.  If you do not have a cable machine or ankle strap a band or tubing works just as well.  Just have the band or tubing anchored around something.

The weights on the cable stack will be somewhat light and what you are able to control.  Sit your body far enough away from the cable column (leg will be perpendicular to the machine) so there will be tension on the cable the entire time and the weight stack will not bottom out or touch.  Place your foot of the non used leg under your knee/lower hamstring to elevate your other lower leg off the floor.  Then stabilize your hip and ankle so everything is in line and proceed to plantar flex and dorsi-flex the ankle slowly.  The entire time you will be focused to fight the lateral pull of the cable while maintaining in-line movement.

I normally have an athlete perform 3-4 sets of 10-20 reps in both pulls of direction on both ankles.  This is a great pre-hab injury prevention exercise and it also is a great exercise to use for rehab as well.  Always instruct the athlete to maintain focus and to do the exercise slowly to get the most out of it.  It has worked well when I prescribe it in training programs for my athletes.  Give it a try to see for yourself.

Hope that helps!

To your health,

Jerry

In the video, I demonstrate 3 different ways to aggressively stretch the hip flexor area which will also stretch the quad muscles of the thigh.  The first two stretches:  Standing Lunge Stretch and the Bulgarian Split Stance Stretch, I briefly cover in my article “How To Treat Knee Inflammation” but I think it is good to review it here as well.

Standing Lunge Stretch:  Take a big step forward so your legs are positioned into a split stance.  Then squat straight down slowly.  Depending on the level of inflammation this will probably result in some slight discomfort at first.  As you squat down slowly, do not allow your lead knee to move forward.  The shin should remain perpendicular to the floor.  Once down in that position, take both hands and extend them over the opposite shoulder of the knee that is backwards, as shown in the video.  This will give a better stretch to the hip flexor region of the hip.  Hold for 10-20 seconds and repeat 3-5 times on each side.

Bulgarian Split Stance Stretch:  This is a very similar stretch like the standing lunge stretch except you will have the back foot elevated on something approximately hip height or slightly below.  Again the lead shin will remain perpendicular to the floor.  Squat down and back towards the elevated foot.  This will keep the lead knee at 90 degrees with a deep stretch in the hip flexor region.  Hold 10-20 seconds and repeat 3-5 times on each side.  This is a much more aggressive stretch and if highly inflamed may not be able to do right away.

The third stretch for the increasing hip flexor range of motion is a stretch I call a Banded Hip Pump.  It is done with a jump stretch band but could also be done with a beach towel, bed sheet, rope, or modified stretching cord.

Banded Hip Pump (hip flexor stretch):  Take the band and loop it securely around your foot so it won’t easily slide off.  Then roll over on your stomach and extend it over your opposite shoulder from the foot it is anchored on.  Just doing this alone will stretch the quad muscles.  Pull on the band over that shoulder and raise the knee off the floor until you feel a nice stretch in the hip flexor.  Hold that stretch for 10-30 seconds and then pump the knee and thigh back down to the floor and then bring it back up and into the stretch.  I normally instruct my athletes to do this 10-12 times and each time try to feel a little more intense stretch.  Make sure you repeat this and all of the stretches evenly on both legs.

Hip flexor tightness and shortening is becoming more of an epidemic that I truly think needs to be addressed.  These stretches along with increasing one’s activity levels will go a long ways to not only correct problems but to help prevent them in the first place.  Try adding in one or even all three of these stretches into a daily routine and see if you don’t start feeling better whether you are having any issues or not.  You just might be surprised to find out just how tight you really are.

Hope that helps!

To your health,

Jerry

My buddy Mike Whitfield put together a program called Workout Finishers 2.0 which includes 51 of these intense mini workouts.  He put together a group of videos of some of these circuits that I am going to share with you below.  These are great and very challenging.  Check them out-they are pretty awesome.

I do want to be perfectly straight with you first.  Mike helped promote my “Deceleration To Prevent ACL Tears-DVD & Manual” and I really wanted to help him by promoting this project he worked hard on.  Yes, I will get a commission from anyone who picks up this program and I will be honest, that money will help me pay for this site-so thank you in advance if you decide to buy it.  There is no pressure, the videos below alone share a bunch of good info.  If you do decide to buy it, this is what you will get: