Wednesday, July 21, 2010
How get strong if (part of) our muscles aren't actually on?
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So that seems like a dumb question, doesn't it: how do we get strong if our muscles aren't actually on? After all, we work out; we get lots of reps in - we seem to get stronger, and then someone says about that plateau we're hitting "maybe the reason you're not getting that press is that you're weak." Excuse me? You talking to me?
That happened to me today. As some of you know i'm trying to get the 24kg KB press - hence the wee recent chat with Dan John about pressing. But today, at the 9S strength and suppleness course, one of the components was getting some muscles checked to see if they were firing on demand. Eg, anterior delt. Pretty important in pressing. What did i learn? It wasn't staying on through a good part of the range of motion possible of that muscle. Let me clarify - part of the muscle wasn't staying on through the ROM. In my case, close up to the origin was having a hard time. Just part. Consequence? Sucky press progress.
So we looked at ways to help a person (a) learn the range of motion of the muscle with respect to its action on a joint and (b) how to cue the person to get that part of that muscle to come on in that range of motion. Gotta tell you there were a lot of "Oh so that's what that muscle feels like when it's working" comments.
The big deal here is that we're talking about parts of the whole muscle - not the big "my glute med isn't firing" but "this part of my glute med at this ROM is not firing."
Why would we Care to get More Muscle going?
Contractions: Muscle fibers are wee wee things making up the body of a muscle. Motor units - nerves going to the bundles of muscles - don't all come on at once. But they also don't come on part way. THere's no dimmer switch to a muscle. They're either on or off. The strength of a contraction is relative to the number of motor units that come on. Another cool point is that the ratio of motor units to fibers changes depending on body parts. Hands, feet and eyes have for instance way way higher rations of motor unit to fibers than say the legs or the forearms. There's also issues around the squencing of motor units firing in a contraction, but we'll set that aside for the moment
So the potential to see the effect of motor unit shut down may be greater in the bigger muscles with fewer individual motor units per fiber.
Main point: If a bunch of motor units are not being recruited, or they turn off part way through a motion, we get squishy bits or what feels like dead zones in the body of the muscle.
Conversely, the more motor units firing, the more fibers get triggered, the more force can be produced, the more easily we lift - or the more load we lift and the smoother the lift that can keep the muscle on throughout the action. THis is likely a gross oversimplification that does not take into account recruitment patterns and wind speed etc, but it seems to work as a general model.
Example I had the pleasure to work with a great guy and super coach, big guy too, muscle wise, who said that he had trouble with his squat - his DL overtook it completely. By comparison his shoulders are beautiful. So let's see if those massive delts may also be associated with sans squishy recruitment.
WHen muscle testing his shoulders - the delts and the teres major in particular - everything was solid throughout the range of motion. No squishy bits (unlike mine). Wow. When we tested the quads it was quads be gone. They were just a sea of squishy bits. Wow.
Now, obviously this guy could squat me on his back all day long no problem, so he's not "weak" in the 99lb sand kicked in his face kinda way. But it's plain that he could be stronger and faster if more of the muscle was willing to come on.
Aside: Nervous System Perspective. Everything's connected.
In many cases that weekend, we worked on muscles, helped folks get squishy bits to come on more fully, and tested that yup performance was going up. And in some cases pain was going down at the same time.
With super coach's quads, we did not get so much action back in the legs. A bit of history revealed that super coach's biggest issue is plantar fascitis right now and that's his priority. It may be that in his case, his nervous system is not willing to pour more juice into his quads to let him go heavier if his base is in pain. Poor feet feeling, not so safe for adding greater load. Could be. So wisely super coach is focusing on what his bod is telling him to do.
In other cases, helping one muscle to fire better, helped an entire system to opening up and got people to a whole new level of happy.
Plugging in Muscle Work.
Learning to feel what a muscle feels like - what it's role is in a movement is an interesting exercise.
Here's where some kinesiology can help
- by knowing what muscle is reponsible for what action in a movement, we can see if it's doing its job to support that movement.
This approach to performance checking is another reason why we all need a knowledgeable coach. If progress is stalling it may be that it can be addressed more rapidly by a quick anatomy function check to see if something needs a little attention to be brought to it to come to the party than looking at 20 different lift variations to see if that's the ticket. It's not to say that those lift variations aren't key plateau busters, but for them to function optimally, it would be better for them to be situated on an optimally functioning base, no? Accelerate progress.
A coach can cue our awareness of the muscle, it's ROM and check when it's coming off and help us practice attention to keep that part of a muscle on.
Tuning
Muscle work like this, it seems to me, is tuning. It's not the single factor foundation thing in itself that will solve all ills or create training shortcuts. It's a refinement on top of good movement quality to begin with and *then* tuning the muscles within this quality foundation.
It's polishing part of the global picture. But goodness what a big difference a little bit of polish, a little bit of tuning can make: the image is clearer; the music more harmonious - the effect more enlivening.
Muscle tuning in this way therefore seems to make great sense as part of a whole package of coaching/tuning for performance and well being: start with cleaning up whole movement (i like z-health r-phase for this); then dial it in even more with a coach who can offer muscle tuning (and more - like working in the wonderful world of ligaments - no kidding - but that's for another time).
Related Posts
That happened to me today. As some of you know i'm trying to get the 24kg KB press - hence the wee recent chat with Dan John about pressing. But today, at the 9S strength and suppleness course, one of the components was getting some muscles checked to see if they were firing on demand. Eg, anterior delt. Pretty important in pressing. What did i learn? It wasn't staying on through a good part of the range of motion possible of that muscle. Let me clarify - part of the muscle wasn't staying on through the ROM. In my case, close up to the origin was having a hard time. Just part. Consequence? Sucky press progress.
So we looked at ways to help a person (a) learn the range of motion of the muscle with respect to its action on a joint and (b) how to cue the person to get that part of that muscle to come on in that range of motion. Gotta tell you there were a lot of "Oh so that's what that muscle feels like when it's working" comments.
The big deal here is that we're talking about parts of the whole muscle - not the big "my glute med isn't firing" but "this part of my glute med at this ROM is not firing."
Why would we Care to get More Muscle going?
Contractions: Muscle fibers are wee wee things making up the body of a muscle. Motor units - nerves going to the bundles of muscles - don't all come on at once. But they also don't come on part way. THere's no dimmer switch to a muscle. They're either on or off. The strength of a contraction is relative to the number of motor units that come on. Another cool point is that the ratio of motor units to fibers changes depending on body parts. Hands, feet and eyes have for instance way way higher rations of motor unit to fibers than say the legs or the forearms. There's also issues around the squencing of motor units firing in a contraction, but we'll set that aside for the moment
So the potential to see the effect of motor unit shut down may be greater in the bigger muscles with fewer individual motor units per fiber.
Main point: If a bunch of motor units are not being recruited, or they turn off part way through a motion, we get squishy bits or what feels like dead zones in the body of the muscle.
Conversely, the more motor units firing, the more fibers get triggered, the more force can be produced, the more easily we lift - or the more load we lift and the smoother the lift that can keep the muscle on throughout the action. THis is likely a gross oversimplification that does not take into account recruitment patterns and wind speed etc, but it seems to work as a general model.
Example I had the pleasure to work with a great guy and super coach, big guy too, muscle wise, who said that he had trouble with his squat - his DL overtook it completely. By comparison his shoulders are beautiful. So let's see if those massive delts may also be associated with sans squishy recruitment.
WHen muscle testing his shoulders - the delts and the teres major in particular - everything was solid throughout the range of motion. No squishy bits (unlike mine). Wow. When we tested the quads it was quads be gone. They were just a sea of squishy bits. Wow.
Now, obviously this guy could squat me on his back all day long no problem, so he's not "weak" in the 99lb sand kicked in his face kinda way. But it's plain that he could be stronger and faster if more of the muscle was willing to come on.
Aside: Nervous System Perspective. Everything's connected.
In many cases that weekend, we worked on muscles, helped folks get squishy bits to come on more fully, and tested that yup performance was going up. And in some cases pain was going down at the same time.
With super coach's quads, we did not get so much action back in the legs. A bit of history revealed that super coach's biggest issue is plantar fascitis right now and that's his priority. It may be that in his case, his nervous system is not willing to pour more juice into his quads to let him go heavier if his base is in pain. Poor feet feeling, not so safe for adding greater load. Could be. So wisely super coach is focusing on what his bod is telling him to do.
In other cases, helping one muscle to fire better, helped an entire system to opening up and got people to a whole new level of happy.
Plugging in Muscle Work.
Learning to feel what a muscle feels like - what it's role is in a movement is an interesting exercise.
Here's where some kinesiology can help - by knowing what muscle is reponsible for what action in a movement, we can see if it's doing its job to support that movement.This approach to performance checking is another reason why we all need a knowledgeable coach. If progress is stalling it may be that it can be addressed more rapidly by a quick anatomy function check to see if something needs a little attention to be brought to it to come to the party than looking at 20 different lift variations to see if that's the ticket. It's not to say that those lift variations aren't key plateau busters, but for them to function optimally, it would be better for them to be situated on an optimally functioning base, no? Accelerate progress.
A coach can cue our awareness of the muscle, it's ROM and check when it's coming off and help us practice attention to keep that part of a muscle on.
Tuning
Muscle work like this, it seems to me, is tuning. It's not the single factor foundation thing in itself that will solve all ills or create training shortcuts. It's a refinement on top of good movement quality to begin with and *then* tuning the muscles within this quality foundation.
It's polishing part of the global picture. But goodness what a big difference a little bit of polish, a little bit of tuning can make: the image is clearer; the music more harmonious - the effect more enlivening.
Muscle tuning in this way therefore seems to make great sense as part of a whole package of coaching/tuning for performance and well being: start with cleaning up whole movement (i like z-health r-phase for this); then dial it in even more with a coach who can offer muscle tuning (and more - like working in the wonderful world of ligaments - no kidding - but that's for another time). Related Posts
- What is z-health
- Pelvis Power - working hip opening in the press.
- the other side of the gym: sensory motor work
- Fatigue testing: is the next rep one too many
PDF
Friday, July 16, 2010
Vibram FiveFingers Bikila: Learning about the Name behind the Name & Fast Shoe Look
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Abebe Bikila was a two time olympic marathon winner. In 1960, he ran barefoot - the way he had trained - when the shoe sponsor Adidas didn't have shoes that he liked. Cool is that (a) he won (b) he broke the record (c) it's the first gold medal for Africa in Olympic history. He won gold in the 64 olympics, too. What's amazing is that he died young, at 41, four years after a tragic car accident that left him a parapalegic.
Vibram has a new shoe out designed specifically for runners and for running. They could have called their new shoe anything. They've called it Bikila. When you know something about Abebe Bikila's remarkable story, Vibram picked a pretty potent person to honor. As such, however, the shoe has a lot to live up to to be worthy of the name.
This is a first post quick look at this new shoe that was initiated at the 2010 Boston Marathon.
First point - to me, and chatting with birthdayshoes Justin - they fit more like the classic than the kso with slightly more shallow toe pockets. At least one other reviewer finds them more like a "second skin" than his other VFF's. Not sure there. They are the same size no. for me as the KSO - but i'm going to check a size smaller just to confirm this is right (see what i mean by prelimnary review?)
The shoes are also stiffer in the foot bed and more contoured than other VFF's and the inner thickness of the foot bed is more Flow like than KSO. The lining is very nice. very comfy. The tread is also intriguing with additional little tread bits for traction. The uppers are designed to look like the uppers of the kso, but they're actually one piece of soft silky like material.
Another unique to this model feature is the strap in: there is one strap across the top, that pulls to the inside rather than the outside, but there is no strap running to the back. So these need to wrap around the foot like a stiff sock to stay on. And it seems to work. Everything is smooth and seemingly seamless.
Initially these were the hardest vff's to put on, but after a few attempts, they do respond to the usual toes first, rock 'em in, pull up the heal. They're pretty, too. And that's not bad.
Feel. They definitely feel like there's more shoe there than in the other VFF's - even the flow. And that may be from the stiffness of the shoe and the extra tread bits - stiffness is not a bad thing.
The buzz in the commnity about the bikila's is that they're rocking runners. That will be for a follow up post. But for now,
while i worry about sizing, i'm just thinking about Abebe Bikila from Ethiopia. Keen to learn more about not just a great athlete but a great spirit, too. May be one of the best things that VFF has done is getting more of us to learn about the inspiration for their shoe's name-sake.
(quick update on sizing here - take away: stick with kso sizing)
Related Resources
Abebe Bikila was a two time olympic marathon winner. In 1960, he ran barefoot - the way he had trained - when the shoe sponsor Adidas didn't have shoes that he liked. Cool is that (a) he won (b) he broke the record (c) it's the first gold medal for Africa in Olympic history. He won gold in the 64 olympics, too. What's amazing is that he died young, at 41, four years after a tragic car accident that left him a parapalegic.
Vibram has a new shoe out designed specifically for runners and for running. They could have called their new shoe anything. They've called it Bikila. When you know something about Abebe Bikila's remarkable story, Vibram picked a pretty potent person to honor. As such, however, the shoe has a lot to live up to to be worthy of the name.This is a first post quick look at this new shoe that was initiated at the 2010 Boston Marathon.
First point - to me, and chatting with birthdayshoes Justin - they fit more like the classic than the kso with slightly more shallow toe pockets. At least one other reviewer finds them more like a "second skin" than his other VFF's. Not sure there. They are the same size no. for me as the KSO - but i'm going to check a size smaller just to confirm this is right (see what i mean by prelimnary review?)
The shoes are also stiffer in the foot bed and more contoured than other VFF's and the inner thickness of the foot bed is more Flow like than KSO. The lining is very nice. very comfy. The tread is also intriguing with additional little tread bits for traction. The uppers are designed to look like the uppers of the kso, but they're actually one piece of soft silky like material.
Another unique to this model feature is the strap in: there is one strap across the top, that pulls to the inside rather than the outside, but there is no strap running to the back. So these need to wrap around the foot like a stiff sock to stay on. And it seems to work. Everything is smooth and seemingly seamless.
Initially these were the hardest vff's to put on, but after a few attempts, they do respond to the usual toes first, rock 'em in, pull up the heal. They're pretty, too. And that's not bad.Feel. They definitely feel like there's more shoe there than in the other VFF's - even the flow. And that may be from the stiffness of the shoe and the extra tread bits - stiffness is not a bad thing.
The buzz in the commnity about the bikila's is that they're rocking runners. That will be for a follow up post. But for now,
while i worry about sizing, i'm just thinking about Abebe Bikila from Ethiopia. Keen to learn more about not just a great athlete but a great spirit, too. May be one of the best things that VFF has done is getting more of us to learn about the inspiration for their shoe's name-sake.(quick update on sizing here - take away: stick with kso sizing)
Related Resources
- VFF article index
- Solving Calve issues when first running in VFF's
- How to Fit VFF's
- Running Barefoot vs Shoes: videos
- Running Shoes as Single Factor THinking
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Weights, TRX and Brad Pilon's Anabolic Again - fascia-listic
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There's a theory that stretching the fascia is a way to support hypertrophy. It's sort of loaded stretching with opening up the wrapping around our bod that helps keep things together under the skin. Now, i don't know what the evidence is to support this theory, but i think i've experienced it. Feels kinda good. How'd this happen? By a happy side effect of enjoying a good e-book.
Brad Pilon (eat stop eat guy) got himself an Elite Fitness Rack and a stack of books to figure out how to beat his "i'm an experienced lifter and have anabolic slowdown" plateau with his "anabolic again" program. Now me, i got the book initially just for the research value cuz i like Brad's brain. And the theory of the approach is really sweet. As i started looking through the weekly programs i thought heck, i know i'll get stronger, this is different, and seems cool and safe.
So what the heck? i'm coming back from a shoulder tweak, have a long history of craving hypertrophy, and Brad's thesis is, in part, that you don't have to super eat to gain mass, and even a bit of mass makes a big difference (let's see the photo of that 1 pound steak again, brad?)
Now here's what really turned me onto this program, and it's not obvious. It's that the workouts move between the big bar and straps. A lot of the moves are standard things like bench presses and curls in the upper body work. But then there's strap rows. And many things to do with straps. I don't have straps. I don't have a rack on which to put straps. BUT i do have a TRX. And i like my TRX, but i have never blended a TRX with a weight workout.
I am SO SORE. in a good way. and ya, i really get that DOMS is not a sign of anything other than lack of familiarity with the move or load (which could be construed as a bad thing like heh loser why is this triggering you?) But here's the thing: moving between weight work that's compound moves but really stable, and then going and doing strap/TRX work that is not stable - requires more other little muscles to stay stable - and heh if you're doing tricep extensions by straightening out your arms while lying forward into said straps -well, my abs are sore over the full sheet - i feel like not only did i hit the abs, but the saranwrap of the body - the fascia - has been profoundly changed.
Seriously, getting at the fascia with a loaded stretch (as per left in these strap chest flies) is a kind of hypertrophic technique in itself. This belt work with the weights could be a potent factor. We'll see.
Is this an experience that everyone has with a TRX? for me this is new - and i do like going from stable to sensible not quite so stable, and i gotta say i feel sore in ways i haven't felt sore before - which suggests that muscles are getting worked in unfamiliar ways. And that's interesting.
So, so far (like one week) i really am digging Brad's program, and here's to blending strap work with weights. Solids and curves. Nice. Core without thinking about it. And lots of implicit plank work in there too.
If you give Brad's Anabolic Again program a go, leave a comment please. If you mix weights with straps/TRX's, lemme know. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Brad Pilon (eat stop eat guy) got himself an Elite Fitness Rack and a stack of books to figure out how to beat his "i'm an experienced lifter and have anabolic slowdown" plateau with his "anabolic again" program. Now me, i got the book initially just for the research value cuz i like Brad's brain. And the theory of the approach is really sweet. As i started looking through the weekly programs i thought heck, i know i'll get stronger, this is different, and seems cool and safe.
So what the heck? i'm coming back from a shoulder tweak, have a long history of craving hypertrophy, and Brad's thesis is, in part, that you don't have to super eat to gain mass, and even a bit of mass makes a big difference (let's see the photo of that 1 pound steak again, brad?)Now here's what really turned me onto this program, and it's not obvious. It's that the workouts move between the big bar and straps. A lot of the moves are standard things like bench presses and curls in the upper body work. But then there's strap rows. And many things to do with straps. I don't have straps. I don't have a rack on which to put straps. BUT i do have a TRX. And i like my TRX, but i have never blended a TRX with a weight workout.
I am SO SORE. in a good way. and ya, i really get that DOMS is not a sign of anything other than lack of familiarity with the move or load (which could be construed as a bad thing like heh loser why is this triggering you?) But here's the thing: moving between weight work that's compound moves but really stable, and then going and doing strap/TRX work that is not stable - requires more other little muscles to stay stable - and heh if you're doing tricep extensions by straightening out your arms while lying forward into said straps -well, my abs are sore over the full sheet - i feel like not only did i hit the abs, but the saranwrap of the body - the fascia - has been profoundly changed.
Seriously, getting at the fascia with a loaded stretch (as per left in these strap chest flies) is a kind of hypertrophic technique in itself. This belt work with the weights could be a potent factor. We'll see. Is this an experience that everyone has with a TRX? for me this is new - and i do like going from stable to sensible not quite so stable, and i gotta say i feel sore in ways i haven't felt sore before - which suggests that muscles are getting worked in unfamiliar ways. And that's interesting.
So, so far (like one week) i really am digging Brad's program, and here's to blending strap work with weights. Solids and curves. Nice. Core without thinking about it. And lots of implicit plank work in there too.
If you give Brad's Anabolic Again program a go, leave a comment please. If you mix weights with straps/TRX's, lemme know. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Monday, July 5, 2010
Pressing Matters, Part II: Dan John's Overhead Press Template (for Gals especially) for a Bigger Press
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Last week, in Part I of Pressing Matters, we had an interview with Dan John about the Overhead Press (and related). This week, since Dan's said i can share the pressing template he gave me with y'all, that's what's presented below. By way of context, Dan John is a champion athlete in numerous disciplines, coach and author of Never Let Go
, and will be co-presenting a one-time-only workshop with Pavel Tsatsouline this Sept, founded on their forth-coming book. The workshop is called Scientific Strength Secrets of Extreme Performance.
Dan's growing intrigue with the role of the overhead press is well summed up from the interview here:
In the interview, Dan said that his training for women does not change much from what he does with guys. But he does say that "women should press probably every day, doing something in a pressing movement"
And so to that end:
Thank you, Dan John, for a groovy template. When i was tree planting up a clear cut in BC one summer, another plantar, joking through the fatigue said over lunch looking out over the sweeps of burns "To plant a tree, you must LOOOVE the tree." Likewise here, to press the kettle (as Jason Dolby's bud Milosh might say) you must love the kettle" And, for a gal, that means press it a little every day.
For me, coming back to this template from a shoulder tweak has been really interesting in terms of finding the right groove to make progress and not overdoing it, as i have been wont to do.
Models for me here are folks like Asha Wagner
(pictured left, with yours truly in the background) with her 24 pistol, pull up and press, who get great heavy results from volume+lighter loads.
If you do work with this protocol, please come on back and let me (and b2d readers) know how it goes.
Update July 20 - Here's some thoughts from Asha Wagner about part 1 and 2 of this coach john chat.
Related Resources
, and will be co-presenting a one-time-only workshop with Pavel Tsatsouline this Sept, founded on their forth-coming book. The workshop is called Scientific Strength Secrets of Extreme Performance. 
Dan's growing intrigue with the role of the overhead press is well summed up from the interview here:The overhead press would be along with the deadlift as the two most important lifts that most people should do. Yes, you should do a squatting movement every day, for the same reasons toss in a hinge, a walk, and joint mobility work, but for loading, you want the press (maybe even first and foremost in my thinking now) and the deadlift....If can overhead press it, you can bench it. The more you press overhead, the more stable you become overall. Also, for whatever reason, call it what you want, but pressing overhead seems to apply to sport and general badassary.A focus of the interview was the issue of women working to put up heavier presses - and heavier kb's in particular. I own it: i'm struggling to get from the 20 to the 24kg - which largely motivated these questions.
In the interview, Dan said that his training for women does not change much from what he does with guys. But he does say that "women should press probably every day, doing something in a pressing movement"
And so to that end:
Dan John's Pressing Template for Gals
to Increase Their Heavy (KB) Press
to Increase Their Heavy (KB) Press
Rule One: Press daily.
Rule Two: Mix up the presses as much as possible.
Rule Three: Going heavy and getting scorched will not help you.
Typical week, add anything else you like on top of it:
Day One: One arm press ladders of 2-3-5, left right, for up to to ten sets (lots of volume, lots of time here, so cut back on everything else. I suggest going L 2, R 3, L 5, R 2, L 3, R 5, and just wave up. It is amazingly refreshing even though it is a ton of volume
Day Two: SeeSaw Press, a few sets, maybe walking SeeSaw Pressing as part of the warm up, nothing serious.
Day Three: Heavy work with one arm presses, several sets of 1-2, 1-2, 1-2, with near max weights. Clean the goal bell and hold the rack for about five sets of two at the end.
Day Four: SeeSaw Press and Windmills.
Aside, Here's how i do SeaSaw Press and Windmills as a workout, to which Dan commented:
"That combination is very interesting indeed. The upside of not giving someone every detail is that "what you think I said" and "what I meant" merge into a brilliant little workout like this.
I have this nagging feeling that some women are good at the Windmill for all the wrong reasons, so when you mix the presses with windmills you are forcing yourself to double up on the lockouts work and the tension work. I often have to have my female athletes do all their standing presses on one foot (doesn't matter how you do it) simply to teach tension (and, sadly but honestly, to get them to shut up. The social dimension is tough for me to deal with in the weightroom).
mc, that is a lot of volume. For most people, I would tell them to ratchet it in a little, but if you choose your bell wisely, that could really help you. "
Just FYI - i've been pretty loose on the sets for this one - playing around with 7-10 rather than always going for 100 WM reps - pending what else i'm doing. And if i'm concerned i'm not being sufficiently attentive, i do a fatigue check (described here) as a reality check.
Also Dan's notes on the role of the windmill in last week's interview: importantee.
Day Five: 1-2-3 ladders with a medium bell, like the Enter the Kettlebell Program. If you can do 1-2-3-4-5 great...but the work of the week has been put in.
Days Six and Seven: Either Rest or just work some tension stuff into your training.
Keep the workouts in this order in the week, but feel free to rest any day you like. I have always liked resting on Sunday and Thursday, so plug those days in there. (M-1, T-2, W-3, Th-Rest (Days six and seven), F-4, Sat-5 and Sun Rest or whatever (Days 6 and 7). Things always come up which is why I leave the open days open. You can lift five to 14 days in a row without taking a break, but it seems to hit you hard at Day 15.
Just an idea, keep the concept and tweak it, but this is the general outline...
Aside: A few notes from Dan's interview can blend into this mix as well, such as pressing on one foot.
Thank you, Dan John, for a groovy template. When i was tree planting up a clear cut in BC one summer, another plantar, joking through the fatigue said over lunch looking out over the sweeps of burns "To plant a tree, you must LOOOVE the tree." Likewise here, to press the kettle (as Jason Dolby's bud Milosh might say) you must love the kettle" And, for a gal, that means press it a little every day.For me, coming back to this template from a shoulder tweak has been really interesting in terms of finding the right groove to make progress and not overdoing it, as i have been wont to do.
Models for me here are folks like Asha Wagner
(pictured left, with yours truly in the background) with her 24 pistol, pull up and press, who get great heavy results from volume+lighter loads.
If you do work with this protocol, please come on back and let me (and b2d readers) know how it goes.
Update July 20 - Here's some thoughts from Asha Wagner about part 1 and 2 of this coach john chat.
Related Resources
- Part I of Pressing Matters: interview with Dan John
- Kettlebell Articel Index at b2d
- It's Ok NOT to do that last rep
- Fatigue Testing: is your nervous system too pooped for the next set
- Volume and Lighter Loads for Going Heavy
Friday, July 2, 2010
Exploring the Body with Books - kinesiology live and in colour
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After hearing so much about kettlebell swings or presses or squats, ever wondered how our bodies support these movements? How muscels, joints and tendons combine with nerves and blood supply to get it going? Me too. So wanted to offer a few pointers to some of the references i really enjoy for exploring body movement, and in particular to highlight a new one to me, the Atlas of Living and Surface Anatomy for Sports Medicine -(US Link || UK link). 
I'll come back to that one in a sec.
The Power Three In writing about the shoulder last week, i referenced a couple of the anatomy/kinesiology books i like like, including the trail guide to the body
and the Anatomy of movement
, but especially the manual of structural kinesiology - the latter being in about it's zillionth edition.
Why i personally enjoy the Manual of Structural Kinesiology so much has to do with its design elegance and economy: it's a thin book that lies flat but is remarkably well packed with focused information, great illustrations and photos, and fabulous tables summarizing joint action, planes of motion, neves involved (why do i have to keep going to wikipedia to get the femoral arteries providing the blood supply to these limbs?)
The amount of information packed into this book is also fabulous, and make learning about the interconnections of body movement highly tractable. The exercises at the end of each chapter really do make testing whether i've learned anything from a chapter about joint type or specific joints a real and valuable reality check. Surprisingly, the book has the best discussion of first, second and third class levers in the body i've encountered. It's surprising how much one slim volume can do well. It also well-models analyses of all the main joints involved in physical movements from push ups to pull ups. IF one has any questions about what closed and open chain movements after this, well, read again.
Anatomy of movement in contrast has fabulous line drawings and a greater focus on exploring exactly the relationship of movements to the joints of the body whether that's leaning back looking at the stars, or where our forearms most comfortably rotate when seated. By using recognizable movements, it also helps translate ideas like the various planes of motion, and what happens if a muscle isn't there. In fact a strength of the book is that illustrations of the movement go right beside descriptions of joint action.
What the book does not have is the kind of analytic summative pages of movements as in the Manual, but it does go into more detail it seems about the small muscles of the hands head and feet.
Trail Guides to the Body
likewise is without the summative tables, but is designed more particularly to help someone get hands on with the body and feel the movement of the joints doing their work. Hence the notion of trail guides: to find various physical milestones for boney bits, for instance, and likewise to find what are the optimal positionings of a limb to be in to feel or palpate where a particular muscle is. Even so, i still have a dickens of a time separating out the adductors.
When you just want to be Skin Deep. The book that is really blowing me away - that is fitting into an exact niche that has been missing at least for me in these other texts - including the Trail Guides - is this aptly named "atlas of living and surface anatomy.
" That is, it's great to see drawings of the musculature, but since we usually deal with people in their bodies, it's useful to get a sense of what all the bits and bumps actually translate to under the flesh. The Manual of Structural Kinesiology does offer photos of people in various positions with labels of what we're seeing underneath BUT NOT ENOUGH - at least not for me.
The Atlas not only shows real photos of real bodies labelled, but, taking it up a notch, shows photos of real bodies under the skin. The kind, wonderful people who have let their bodies be used for study are presented here. These folks are science heroes for sharing their reamains with us. Thank you.
Coordinating layers of Representation. It's a remarkable thing to be able to see how the various muscle tissues that in texts are highlighted abstractly in red or blue, actually just run together, not unlike white and red meat. TO be able to map x-rays to cadavers to abstract drawings is a potent combination. Some of the photos that show the real and delicate tracery of the nerves under the skin in particular especially contribute to making the physical real. Many muscle, manipulation and palpation tests are included. Like the Manual for structural kinesiology - but here illustrated in color - we also get charts of what normal ranges of motion are for all limbs discussed. Now where's a goniometer?? A google book preview is available for the text, though not the images
I have some greater confidence now of coming to grips with where the teres major is looking at one's shoulder blade. I am making sense of the flat bits of the trapezius, that from drawings i had taken to be more full. The short head of the bicep, and the insertion of the pec major all have had "ah ha moments." I can imagine the Big Desk version of this book including pictures of peopel of various heights, weights and ages for each of these postures being the Delux learning resource.
Other than Anatomy. Each of these more kinesiology-oriented books listed here, just for information, is quite different from a raw anatomy text like the amazing Netter's Anatomy
.
While beautiful to have for a deep reference of drilling down and into the body, the book does not provide analysis of movements supported by the limbs described. The text is rather an innert presentation.
That said, such an anatomy text is that: a full bore presentation of anatomy examining where all the tissue rests, from eyeball lenses to kidney dissections. Its concern is beyond the particular scope of movement. While important to have (and know) to put the whole body at least in context, for movement study, i do not find it as helpful as the above texts. I'm still looking for an ultimate general physiology/anatomy text, if such a beast exists. Netter is beautiful and perhaps classic.
Summary If you are interested in getting more out of getting into how the body moves, these books are each recommended - they complement each other really well, but if you want to oh ah yourself, the Atlas is a great eye-openner - especially if you don't have a whack of bodies at your disposal to prod with a copy of any of these beside you. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
I'll come back to that one in a sec.The Power Three In writing about the shoulder last week, i referenced a couple of the anatomy/kinesiology books i like like, including the trail guide to the body
and the Anatomy of movement, but especially the manual of structural kinesiology - the latter being in about it's zillionth edition.Why i personally enjoy the Manual of Structural Kinesiology so much has to do with its design elegance and economy: it's a thin book that lies flat but is remarkably well packed with focused information, great illustrations and photos, and fabulous tables summarizing joint action, planes of motion, neves involved (why do i have to keep going to wikipedia to get the femoral arteries providing the blood supply to these limbs?)The amount of information packed into this book is also fabulous, and make learning about the interconnections of body movement highly tractable. The exercises at the end of each chapter really do make testing whether i've learned anything from a chapter about joint type or specific joints a real and valuable reality check. Surprisingly, the book has the best discussion of first, second and third class levers in the body i've encountered. It's surprising how much one slim volume can do well. It also well-models analyses of all the main joints involved in physical movements from push ups to pull ups. IF one has any questions about what closed and open chain movements after this, well, read again.
Anatomy of movement in contrast has fabulous line drawings and a greater focus on exploring exactly the relationship of movements to the joints of the body whether that's leaning back looking at the stars, or where our forearms most comfortably rotate when seated. By using recognizable movements, it also helps translate ideas like the various planes of motion, and what happens if a muscle isn't there. In fact a strength of the book is that illustrations of the movement go right beside descriptions of joint action.What the book does not have is the kind of analytic summative pages of movements as in the Manual, but it does go into more detail it seems about the small muscles of the hands head and feet.
Trail Guides to the Body likewise is without the summative tables, but is designed more particularly to help someone get hands on with the body and feel the movement of the joints doing their work. Hence the notion of trail guides: to find various physical milestones for boney bits, for instance, and likewise to find what are the optimal positionings of a limb to be in to feel or palpate where a particular muscle is. Even so, i still have a dickens of a time separating out the adductors.
example of surface anatomy labelling
(not from the Atlat; the Altas is WAY better )
When you just want to be Skin Deep. The book that is really blowing me away - that is fitting into an exact niche that has been missing at least for me in these other texts - including the Trail Guides - is this aptly named "atlas of living and surface anatomy.
" That is, it's great to see drawings of the musculature, but since we usually deal with people in their bodies, it's useful to get a sense of what all the bits and bumps actually translate to under the flesh. The Manual of Structural Kinesiology does offer photos of people in various positions with labels of what we're seeing underneath BUT NOT ENOUGH - at least not for me.
cover art from The Atlas of Surface Anatomy illustrating the quality of the image content
The Atlas not only shows real photos of real bodies labelled, but, taking it up a notch, shows photos of real bodies under the skin. The kind, wonderful people who have let their bodies be used for study are presented here. These folks are science heroes for sharing their reamains with us. Thank you.
Coordinating layers of Representation. It's a remarkable thing to be able to see how the various muscle tissues that in texts are highlighted abstractly in red or blue, actually just run together, not unlike white and red meat. TO be able to map x-rays to cadavers to abstract drawings is a potent combination. Some of the photos that show the real and delicate tracery of the nerves under the skin in particular especially contribute to making the physical real. Many muscle, manipulation and palpation tests are included. Like the Manual for structural kinesiology - but here illustrated in color - we also get charts of what normal ranges of motion are for all limbs discussed. Now where's a goniometer?? A google book preview is available for the text, though not the imagesI have some greater confidence now of coming to grips with where the teres major is looking at one's shoulder blade. I am making sense of the flat bits of the trapezius, that from drawings i had taken to be more full. The short head of the bicep, and the insertion of the pec major all have had "ah ha moments." I can imagine the Big Desk version of this book including pictures of peopel of various heights, weights and ages for each of these postures being the Delux learning resource.
Other than Anatomy. Each of these more kinesiology-oriented books listed here, just for information, is quite different from a raw anatomy text like the amazing Netter's Anatomy. While beautiful to have for a deep reference of drilling down and into the body, the book does not provide analysis of movements supported by the limbs described. The text is rather an innert presentation.That said, such an anatomy text is that: a full bore presentation of anatomy examining where all the tissue rests, from eyeball lenses to kidney dissections. Its concern is beyond the particular scope of movement. While important to have (and know) to put the whole body at least in context, for movement study, i do not find it as helpful as the above texts. I'm still looking for an ultimate general physiology/anatomy text, if such a beast exists. Netter is beautiful and perhaps classic.
Summary If you are interested in getting more out of getting into how the body moves, these books are each recommended - they complement each other really well, but if you want to oh ah yourself, the Atlas is a great eye-openner - especially if you don't have a whack of bodies at your disposal to prod with a copy of any of these beside you. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
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