There are many muscles located in the upper back region and I believe the Rhomboid muscles (major and minor) are the main culprits of much of this tightness.  In the picture (from Wikipedia) to the right, the rhomboid major muscle is highlighted in red.  The rhomboid minor lies just above it.  When these muscles get tight it is very difficult for many individuals to get a good stretch on those muscles.

Manual stretching in my opinion is by far the most effective method of stretching these muscles.  I want to point out here that you will be also stretching other muscles in the area as well, I just think the rhomboid muscles many times are the major problem.

There are various methods of positioning the body to perform this stretch.  Since I am usually in a weight room with the athletes, I am going to explain how to do it standing since I will not have a nice treatment table to have them lay down on and a weight room bench is not wide enough for the position they would need to be in (face down).

First, be very direct with your athlete and explain to them what the stretch is and how it will potentially help them.  If you already watched the video, you saw that this is very hands on and someone may not be comfortable with you pushing your fingers behind their scapula.  After the athlete verbally tells you they would like to have the stretch done, explain to the them that if the feel light-headed at any time to let you know.  An athlete might feel faint when you are doing the stretch and they are thinking about what you are actually doing.  In the 12+ years that I have been performing this stretch on athletes, this has happened only one time.

After you have completely explained how the stretch is done, tell the athlete to relax as he/she is standing there.  This is why a treatment table makes this stretch a little easier to perform because the athlete can lay down.  I will lightly tap the area where the rhomboid muscles are located.  This will help to relax the musculature in that area.

Locate the bottom point of the scapula.  You may have to poke around a little if you have a thicker athlete.  After you have located the bottom point, run your fingers up the backside of the bone until your pinky finger is just above the bottom point (refer back to the video for a visual explanation).  Keep your fingers straight and lay them flat against the back.  The back of your hand and wrist will be towards the spine.  Now take your other hand and place it on the front portion of the shoulder.  With this hand you will push the shoulder back and this will raise the scapula slightly allowing you to push your fingers under the scapula.  As your fingers start to go behind the scapula, continue to push on the front of the shoulder.  This will increase how deep you will be able to get your fingers allowing for a better stretch.  Hold it in that position for a few seconds.  Sometimes you will actually feel the muscles relax as you are holding the stretch.  The scapula is a “floating” bone and is attached and positioned by muscles so you do not have to worry about dislocating anything.

Keep in constant communication with your athlete as you take pressure off the front shoulder and remove your back fingers.  Slide your fingers further up the scapula towards the neck.  Tap the area again to help relax the muscles.  Perform the stretch again in this location.  You will find this to be a little more difficult and tighter.  If it is the first time the athlete is having the stretch done, it may be difficult for them to relax so you may have to make a few attempts.

After you have completed the stretch, perform it on the other side as well.  Then have the athlete move their arms around and ask them how they feel.  The expression typically on their face will be priceless as they can not believe how much better they feel.  I am warning you now that once you do this stretch on someone, they will become a pain in your butt!  The stretch is so effective that the athlete will continue to come back to you every couple of days and ask for it again and again.  In the video, I explain how this stretch can be done with a tennis or lacrosse ball.  I typically show an athlete at this point how to do it with a ball now that they understand and have felt the stretch.

This is a great stretch to increase range of motion and scapular mobility but do not abuse this stretch.  I typically will only stretch the area once in each position.  Mobility in the scapula is a good thing but hypermobility (rarely ever seen) is not and is usually found in athletes with muscle imbalances.  Understand what you are dealing with and then you can make a good and sound judgement on how to fix it.

Hope that helps!

To your health,

Jerry

Shouldering is when you pick up a weight and get it up onto your shoulder. By doing this, the weight is not evenly distributed across your body like in a traditional back squat.  All the weight is on one side of the body.   This will force the body to counter balance the weight by forcing the muscles of the mid-section, particularly the opposite side from the weight, to contract tightly so you do not fall over.  This is what contra-lateral type of contractions is all about.

Construction workers, farmers, and house builders typically have very strong mid-sections because they carry and move items all the time on their shoulders.  Have you ever seen a roofer throw a bundle of roofing tiles over his shoulder and then climb a ladder to get them on the roof.  Think about how much muscle activity is going on in his mid-section to allow him to do this and not fall off the ladder.

Strongman competitors have been training with these movements for years.  For them it not only helps them training for the events they compete in but it also helps to prevent potential injuries by preparing and coordination the muscles of the mid-section to handle off-setting loads.

So don’t you think it would be beneficial to train athletes with some shouldering exercises as well?  Sport is full of awkward movements and angles; loads are being distributed through the body all the time.  As their strength coach, my job is to prevent injuries to keep them healthy so they can play.  I do believe in exposing my athletes to these types of stresses.

You can use just about anything when talking about shouldering weight.  Most of the time it is done with odd objects such as sandbags, kegs, stones, or punching bags.  I am fortunate to have D-balls in my facility.  These are heavy duty sand filled medicine balls that can weight up to 200 pounds.  Most of mine weight between 20-100 pounds and for my population of athletes and how I implement them into their programs; those weights are usually sufficient.

One of my favorite shouldering movements is the shouldering squat.  I have the athlete wrestle the D-ball up onto their shoulder.  Stabilize the weight through the mid-section and then squat down trying to maintain a balanced posture throughout the exercise.  You can repeat for reps on that side or alternate sides by moving the weight to the other shoulder.  This can be done by pressing it over head and onto the other shoulder or rolling the ball across the chest to the other shoulder.

I typically will work my athletes in a rep range of 12-20 squatting reps and typically 2-4 sets.  Trust me this is enough to get them fired up!  Athletes also like the variation and challenge of this type of exercise.

If you have never tried shouldering, give it a try.  You do not need D-balls.  We did it for years and still do using homemade sandbags.  The sandbags are great because the sand will shift some adding to the difficulty of this exercise.

Look at the picture in this post.  This is Kukka Laakso shouldering that homemade sandbag.  You can see in the picture how engaged her mid-section muscles are as she is stabilizing the weight of the sandbag.  This is exactly the results we are looking for when shouldering a weight!

Hope this helps!

To your health,

Jerry

As the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach at Bucknell University, I work with a number of athletes, and part of my job is to help them remain injury free. To accomplish this, we use a series of Functional Injury Prevention Exercises. These exercises are commonly referred to by my athletes as the F.I.P. (Functional Injury Prevention) and are performed directly after their warm-up and before the core of our weight-training program.

In this article, let’s focus on the shoulder complex, particularly the rotator cuff. The rotator cuff is made up of four muscles and tendons (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis, and teres minor), which stabilize the shoulder joint. When strengthening these muscles, heavy weight and/or excessive resistance are not required. In fact, too much resistance calls in the bigger muscles that surround the shoulder joint and takes the focus off of these smaller rotator cuff muscles. Defeating the purpose. So I like training these muscles using tubing and/or light five to ten pound weights.

Some of the most common exercises are internal and external shoulder rotation. Internal rotation involves keeping the elbow close to your side, bent at 90 degrees and then rotating your arm toward your body. External rotation is just the opposite: you rotate your arm away from your body. See the photos below for examples of internal and external rotation exercises using tubing.

Internal Rotation

External Rotation

Internal and external rotation exercises are a good start for shoulder health for the common person, but athletes tend to require a more complex circuit in my opinion.

A friend of mine, Mike Winn (Physical Therapist from Evangelical Sports Medicine Center, Lewisburg, PA), developed a shoulder circuit I use with my athletes almost weekly. I believe this circuit has increased the integrity of our athletes’ shoulder strength and has helped decrease the amount of overuse injuries associated with many sports. This circuit is a series of five exercises using rubber elastic tubing.

The first exercise is “Thumbs Out.” This is done with one tube held at arms length with your palms up. To begin, start with your arms parallel to the floor and your thumbs pointing out. Then horizontally pull your arms out to your sides as you retract (pinch) your shoulder blades together and return back to the start position under control.

The second exercise is “Thumbs Up.” Grab a second tube and secure each tube under your feet, so you will be holding one in each hand. Bring your arms forward about 30 degrees. With your thumbs pointing up, raise your arms up until they are parallel with the floor.

The third exercise is “Thumbs Down.” It is the same movement as Thumbs Up but you will switch your grip with the bands, so your thumbs will be pointing down when the arms are parallel to the floor.

The fourth exercise is “High Rotation.” You will start in the same position as Thumbs Down. Then raise your elbows high like an upright row. When your upper arms are parallel to the floor, externally rotate from the shoulder until your forearms are perpendicular to the floor. Return to the starting position in reverse order under control.

The fifth and final exercise is “High Diagonals.” In the Thumbs Down starting position, keep the bands under your feet but switch the bands into your opposite hands. Then cross your arms so your thumbs are pointing into your hips. Extend your arms out away from your body and externally rotate the shoulder as you raise your arms across your body and out above your shoulders. Reverse the order in a controlled manner to restart for the desired number of reps.

I typically have my athletes perform this complex shoulder circuit once or twice a week as part of their Functional Injury Prevention series of exercises. They will perform one to two sets of 10 to 12 controlled reps. For these exercises to be helpful in preventing injuries, the techniques of each exercise must be mastered. I can’t stress this enough.

What you will find when you try this circuit is that each exercise has an elemant of external rotation in the shoulder.  Most of this circuit (as stated above) was developed by Mike Winn, a physical therapist and good friend of mine.  He and I both believe that most athletes need to focus more on the external rotators of the shoulder and spend less time training the internal rotators.  There are so many internal movements in sports that most athlete’s internal rotators are strong enough or in relationship to the external rotators, over developed.  Also, the external roators act as decelerating muscles to help protect the shoulder from throwing movements.

If you are not currently doing any type of rotator cuff training, I would strongly encourage you start.  They work, plain and simple!

Hope that helps.

To your health,

Jerry

I want to explain how to set yourself up to do incline and decline push-ups on a stability ball properly and then some solid reasons why you would want to supplement them into your training program every few phases.

Stability Ball Decline Push-up:

• Position yourself behind the ball so you are on your knees
• Place your chest on the ball and straighten out your legs
• Your feet can be placed close together or spread apart.  The closer together they are the more stabilization will be needed
• Place your hands on the ball just below your chest to make a 45 degree angle in your armpit
• Push into the ball evenly with both hands as you push your body away from the ball.  Really focus on stabilizing as much as possible to limit any shaking you might experience
• Hold for a full second or two and then lower back down to the ball under control
• Again stabilize and repeat for the desired number of reps or until fatigue or improper technique sets in

If you find this is to advanced for you, start by placing the ball up against a wall or bench.  This will keep the ball from rolling around but you will still feel the need to stabilize throughout your body as you execute the movement.  When I talk about stabilizing, I am talking about in the shoulders and core.  Really there will be many muscles working throughout the body to do this.  This has MANY injury prevention benefits as your neurological system tries to coordinate and stabilize your body during the exercise.

Stability Ball Incline Push-up:

• Position yourself behind the ball so you are on your knees
• Place your chest on the ball and roll out onto the ball with your hands on the ground.  Walk out with your hands and keep your legs straight
• Roll out until the ball is under your shins.  For the advanced position, continue to roll out until your toes are on the ball (much harder to stabilize)
• Hold in this position and place your hands so they are outside of the chest and below your shoulders with the arms straight and on the ground
• Perform the push-up by lowering your upper torso towards the ground by tucking the elbows back, again looking for a 45-55 degree angle in the armpit
• Bring your nose to the ground making sure your mid-section stays tight and does not sag
• Stabilize and return back up until the arms are straight
• Repeat for the desired number of reps or until fatigue or improper technique occurs

Stabilization exercises call in and get the smaller intrinsic muscles of the body working to help support the major muscle groups trying to perform the exercise.  Not only is this desirable for athletic movements and preventing injuries; but this will also aid in being able to do more weight on emphasis lifts.  These stability ball push-ups for example, would aid with the bench press.

So do not ignore certain training tools that might be available to you.  The benefits just might be worth your time exploring and adding a bit of variety into your training program.

Hope that helps,

To your health,

Jerry

This is Part II of a three part post.  We filmed video clips of a 6am workout that I ran a mixed group of athletes through. There were athletes from wrestling, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s water polo, and field hockey who participated in the voluntary workout.  Per NCAA rules, all workouts held by a college strength coach in the summer are voluntary.

The set of video clips in this post is of our quick feet line drills.  I put our athletes through this right after our functional or dynamic warm-up.  I also ended these drills with some basic deceleration and landing drills.  These are great for learning body awareness and preventing ACL tears.

Most of these drills are very short and quick.  Roughly 7-12 seconds each depending on the exercise.  The athletes are instructed to perform each exercise to the best of their ability and as fast as possible without compromising technique.

Here are the drills:

• Two Foot Line Hop-Both feet hop Shoulder width forward and back over the line
• Two Foot Side To Side Hop-Feet together, both feet hop side to side over the line
• Right Foot Line Hop-Just the right foot forward and back over the line (then left)
• Right Foot Side To Side-Just the right foot hop side to side over the line (then left)
• Right Foot 45 Degree Hop Out and Back-Keep your toes forward and hop across the line in a 45 degree angle away from the body.  Land with the toes forward not pointing in the direction you are hopping.  Then hop back (then left)
• Right Foot 45 Degree Hop In and Back-Keep your toes forward and hop across the line in a 45 degree angle across the front of the body.  Land with the toes forward not pointing in the direction you are hopping.  Then hop back (then left)
• Straddle Line Sumo Stance-Straddle the line with the feet wider than shoulders with one foot in front of the line, the other foot behind the line.  Quickly hop feet back and forth over the line.  Swing arms at the shoulder joint as well in a running motion and maintain a wider stance
• Straddle Line Semi-Lunge Position-Stand over the line with one foot on each side and get into a 1/4 lunge position or deeper.  Maintain that position as you hop the feet side to side over the line (then switch feet position)
• Step Over Forward-Stand with both feet on one side of the line, step with the outside foot over the inside foot and the line, quickly bring the other foot around as you step back over the planted foot and the line.  Repeat quickly without trying to mover forward
• Step Over Backward-Stand with both feet on one side of the line, step with the outside foot behind the inside foot and over the line, quickly bring the other foot around as you step back behind the planted foot and over the line.  Repeat quickly without trying to mover backward
• Command Step Over Forward & Backward-Start performing the step over forward but this time you travel down the line forwards.  On the “backward” command, from the strength coach, quickly reverse the movement and start stepping over backwards moving backward down the line.  The strength coach will continue to give directional commands
• Deceleration Tuck Jumps-Stand with both feet on the line shoulder width apart, squat down and explosively jump straight up into the air tucking your knees towards your chest.  Try to land back down on the line very softly as you decelerate into a squatting motion contracting your glutes.  Reset and go again.  This is NOT done in quick repetitions like the previous drills.  I usually do 2-3 sets of 10 jumps.  Athletes are instructed to do each one to the best of their ability and not to rush through them
• Deceleration 180 Degree Tuck Jumps-Stand with both feet on the line shoulder width apart, squat down and explosively jump straight up into the air twisting your body 180 degrees as you tuck your knees towards your chest.  Try to land back down on the line very softly as you decelerate into a squatting motion contracting your glutes. You will be facing the opposite direction.  Reset and go again.  Athletes are instructed to perform 2-3 sets of ten reps, 5 reps in each direction per set

These drills are not meant to be conditioning drills and are not run in a continuous circuit style fashion.  I will run a few in a row giving some rest in between each one.  After three or four drills, I will stop them and tell them to shake out their legs and give them some additional rest.  I will vary how many of these type of rests depending on how the group is doing.  I will also keep them focused on breathing through their nose an out their mouth for all the drills.

These are great drills that can be done anywhere.  These are also just a few variations of line drills.  Your imagination is the only limit as there are hundreds of different footwork patterns you can do with a line.

In Part III of this series, I will go over the rest of the workout which will include a sprint set workout and cool-down.

Hope this helps,

To your health,

Jerry

There is nothing wrong with static stretching (holding a body part in a stretched position for time) but I believe it should be done at the end of a cool-down after practice or a training session.

This is Part I of a three part post.  We filmed video clips of a 6am workout that I ran a mixed group of athletes through.  There were athletes from wrestling, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s water polo, and field hockey who participated in the voluntary workout.  Per NCAA rules, all workouts held by a college strength coach in the summer are voluntary.

The set of video clips in this post is of our Functional Warm-up.  I know the term “functional” gets thrown around a lot now days but I was calling it that 15 years ago and still do till this day.  Most strength coaches today call it a dynamic warm-up and there are hundreds of different movements that could be implemented.

This is the exact routine, I do with my athletes on our speed, agility, and track training workouts.

• Jog one lap around the football field and line up on the goal line
• High Knees Forward-Drive alternating knees up towards hip height as you move forward, swing arms at the shoulder joint
• High Knees Backward-Drive alternating knees up towards hip height as you move backward, swing arms at the shoulder joint
• Butt Kicks Forward-Lean slightly forward and kick your butt as you move forward, swing arms at shoulder joint
• Butt Kicks Backward-Lean slightly forward and kick your butt as you move backward, swing arms at shoulder joint
• High Knee Grab To Toes-One step at a time, grab a knee and pull it up towards your chest as you raise high on the toes of the opposite leg
• Walking Lunge Elbow To Opposite Ankle-Forward walking lunge and during each lunge you take your elbow down towards the opposite forward ankle
• Reverse Walking Lunge with Opposite Hand Reach-Backward walking lunge and during each lunge you reach with the opposite hand towards the ankle of the leg lunging backward
• Side Lunge With Twist-Side lunge with trail leg straight, sit deep into the movement keeping the knee behind your toes and then twist in your mid-section, stand and repeat for 10 yards and go back in other direction
• Monster Walk-Hold arms straight out in front of you and try kicking one leg at a time up to your hands.  Try to keep your legs straight
• Side Shuffle For Speed-Get in a sumo squat stance with feet wide and shuffle across quickly while staying low.  Then do other direction
• Carioca-If going to the right; drive the left knee up towards your hip and across your body and twist throught the mid-section as you drive the left foot back to the ground. Then quickly step the right foot out to the right and repeat with the left leg.  Then do other direction
• Tapioca-Just like carioca but you just step over your foot instead of driving the knee.  You want to focus on making a lot of quick contacts with the ground and twist quickly trough the mid-section.  I typically have the athletes go for 5 yards and then turn 180 degrees and continue for another 5 yards.  Then repeat back
• High Knee Power Skip-Drive the right arm and left knee up at the same time to get height, land and quickly alternate to the left arm and right knee
• 75% Forward Run Out-From a standing position, explode forward at 75% of your perceived maximum first step acceleration
• Regular Back Peddle-With a slight forward lean, back peddle back
• 85% Forward Run Out-From a standing position, explode forward at 85% of your perceived maximum first step acceleration
• Back Peddle With Extended Reach-Back peddle back but with each step, kick back to gain depth in the back peddle
• 90% Forward Run Out
• Back Peddle With Extended Reach
• 95% Forward Run Out
• Sprinting Back Peddle-Back peddle as quickly as you can
• 100% Forward Run Out-Then repeat the 100% forward run out back

All these are done for 10-15 yards per movement and should be done to the best of your ability.  I will bring the athletes in to go over the day’s workout.  At this point they are not just warmed up but sweating and breathing; something I call, “feeling alive”.  I will then give them 2 minutes to get a drink and mentally prepare for the upcoming workout.

This warm-up has done very well for me over the years and it is extremely rare for any athlete to pull or tear a muscle during the workouts.  Sometimes I will vary the movements up or add some additional if I know the athletes are sore or stiff from a weight training session.

In “Part II” of this three post series, I will be showing and sharing a quick foot line drill session.

Hope this helps!

To your health,

Jerry

I personally have not trained much with indian clubs and I do not know all the techniques and swings that can be done with them.  The more I have been doing and learning about them; the more I am liking them.

Probably the biggest problem I have with them is the cost.  They are very expensive and I just could not justify the cost to buy a pair.  So I made myself some!

I went to Wal-mart and looked through the kids toys section and found these small hard plastic bats that were covered in this spongy foam; but they seemed to be the perfect size I was looking for.  They were only $5.00 each and I figured what do I have to loose.  If they don’t work out, then my kids just got two new bats to play with.

What I did was; I drilled a semi-small hole in the end of the bat at the handle.  The hole was just big enough to sift sand down into the bat.  I filled the bat up with sand until I had about 1.5-2 inches until it would have been filled.  I the took “Great Stuff” gap/insulation filler and sprayed it into the end of the bat.  This stuff IS “great”.  It expands to fill in all the gaps; this way the sand will not be able to leave the bat through the hole and make a mess.  I let the stuff dry over night and the next day I was swinging.

The bats work great.  To be honest, better than I thought they would.  Now I have to learn more about all the different movements that are involved in training with them.  I feel great working with them; especially in my shoulders.

I would recommend making a pair of them for yourself and give them a try.  They may not be for everybody, but you should not knock it until you try it.  If you make a pair; let me know what you think of them.  So far for me they have been a positive addition to my training tools.

Hope that helps!

To your health,

Jerry

Training the hip complex is one area of the body that is usually not emphasized enough in most weight training programs.   I also see many muscle imbalances across the hip complex and that can lead to other areas of the body getting stressed.  Most of the time, athletes have mobility issues and lack in range of motion.  This is usually due to tight hip flexors.

Let’s face it, athletes now days tend to train hard during practice or a workout session but then suck at being active.  We now live in a society of athletes that go to practice and then go home and sit behind a computer, on the couch, or play video games all night.  They are just not active outside of training and to many people are preaching to them about recovery.  I got news for you that is not recovery!

I can remember going from high school straight down to the track for track practice, then getting to the soccer field for soccer practice, then home for dinner, and then usually doing something outside like kickball, capture the flag, etc.. with others in the neighborhood until it was time to come in for a shower and then off to bed.  To many athletes focus just on one sport these days and that literally is all they do for activity.  Everything else is spent sitting on their butt; which will lead to shortened (tight) hip flexors that turns into more problems and potential for injury.

So by now you are saying, “Jerry where are you going with this?”.  Well I am glad you asked.  I put together this post to show you a body weight hip complex that will help most gain mobility and also strengthen up some of those smaller intrinsic muscles that might be getting neglected.  The best part is, there is no equipment needed and you can do these any where.

The first movement is the fire hydrant.  Get on all fours (knees and hands) and place your core in the neutral position. Once in this position you will try to stabilized your torso so there is little to no twisting through the spine and pelvis area.  ALL movement should be focused through the hip joint.  Keep your knee in a 90 degree position and just raise the leg up laterally as high as you can without twisting.  Go as far as your range of motion will allow for and squeeze for a one second hold, then return to the original position in a controlled manner.

The second movement is the donkey kickback.  Again, keep the knee in a 90 degree position and bring the leg straight back as far as you can.  Hold for a second and return.  Watch that you do not drop your pelvis and belly button down towards the floor to gain more motion.  The idea is to do it all from the hip joint.

The third movement is the circle in.  You will start like the donkey kick and then straighten the knee out and bring the leg around horizontally until you are in the peak position of the fire hydrant.  From here bring your leg down to the original starting position.  (Please refer to the video for a good visual)

The forth movement is the circle out.  Start like a fire hydrant and then horizontally bring the leg back while straightening it until it is in-line with your torso.  Finish by bringing the knee back down to the “all fours” position.  Note:  you will not bend the knee to 90 degrees before returning it down.  (Again, please refer to the video for a good visual)

Start by trying to do 10 reps in each position like a circuit.  You will feel a burn and that is a good thing as long as you can maintain good technique.  If you have to stop and rest that is OK.

Aggressive hip workout:  Try challenging yourself by doing each exercise in order as described for a set period of time like 3 or 6 minutes depending on your level.  You get one point for each time you can complete one entire cycle through both hips.  Key here is to maintain good technique and focus.  Hint-make sure you stretch really well afterwards!!

Hope this helps!!

To your health,

Jerry

The biggest mistake most athletes make when first learning this exercise is focusing on the weight or in this case a plate.  I want their focus to be strictly on body positioning and transferring the weight correctly through the movement.  Weight transfer should be stabilized through the shoulders, braced through the core, and pressure through the heel of the lead leg.

First grab a plate (one that is the appropriate weight for you) and hold it at the 3 and 9 o’clock positions.  Raise the plate above your head; with many trained athletes this might be slightly behind the head, “brace” your core.  Bracing the core is when you tighten up your mid-section but you are still able to breath.  Then step out into your first lunge.  This should be a big enough step so your lead knee makes a 90 degree angle and you are not transferring weight out over your toes.  You will also have a 90 degree angle created in your lead hip and trail knee, which will drop to about one inch from the floor (do not bang your knee off the floor).

When you stand up out of the lunge you want to place all the pressure in to the heel of the lead leg and drive up to a standing position.  Your torso and upper body should remain perpendicular to the floor throughout the entire movement.  Now repeat with the other leg in a walking or alternating fashion

I usually go for a distance but you could do a set number of steps.  I instruct my athletes to do one lap around the entire weight room.  This would be approximately 35-45 yards (I have never measured).  The athlete is instructed to stop and rest if their form is starting to suffer.  Technique is very important so they can take as many rest stops as needed.

When first learning to do this make sure someone is paying attention to your form and correcting it each step.  This will help an athlete become more aware of their body.  In athletics this is extremely important and many times over looked.

To your health,

Jerry

The steering wheel will stimulate primarily the anterior and lateral portions of the deltoid muscle of the shoulder.  Along with that there are a lot of secondary muscles being stimulated such as the forearms, biceps, triceps, posterior deltoid, upper chest, upper and lower back, and a major core activation.  You will also find a slight amount of internal and external rotation in the shoulder which is desirable for rotator cuff health because this is in a controlled weighted movement.

First, grab a plate which you are physically capable of holding out in front of you.  Remember, I just stated that this is a “controlled” movement.  Next, raise the plate so the plate is out in front of your chest and face.  Your hands will be positioned at 3 and 9 o’clock on the plate.  Make sure your knees and hips are slightly bent with your mid-section firmly braced.  From here, just turn the plate back and forth as if you were steering a car.  No quick or jerky movements and you do not have to go to any extreme turns as there are no tight corners on this road.

You will feel a burning sensation in the shoulders, low back, and abdominal area; as the muscles will be worked hard to stabilize the weight.  There is no set number of reps or time.  I always just tell my athletes to listen to their bodies and “feel” when it is time to lower the weight or when form is about to break down.  After you set the weight down you will really know what you have worked as your muscles will be screaming at you.

Always try to add a little variety into your training from time to time so the body can get stimulated differently.  This has been proven many times to show better results faster than always sticking to the same exercises.  Give this one a try and challenge yourself.

To your health,

Jerry