The next step is to apply what I’ve taught you and start to train your body to be able to absorb and damp down impact forces effectively. To do this, you need to train barefoot. As I mentioned before, this doesn’t mean you have to do everything barefoot, it simply means incorporating some strategic and deliberate barefoot exercises in your training session before you throw on your shoes, if you choose to train in shoes.

Introducing Short Foot

The following exercises were taught to me by Dr. Emily Splichal, one of the smartest presenters I have seen. She teaches all of these exercises in short foot, so first let’s talk about what short foot is.

The purpose of short foot is to strengthen and activate the intrinsic muscles of the foot and leg, especially one called the abductor hallucis (a muscle of your big toe). You can do this exercise with two feet on the ground or both. Obviously it will be more of a challenge if you’re only in a single leg stance.

To perform the short foot exercise:

1. Spread your toes and firmly place them on the ground.
2. Draw the ball of your big toe toward your heel without letting it or your heel come off the ground. Make sure you’re not curling your toes, flexing them in to the floor, or trying to grip the floor with your toes though. Toes should all be flat, while you perform this drawing motion.
3. Hold isometrically for ten seconds. This will start to activate those intrinsic muscles.

Dr. Splichal encourages this exercise to be done 5-8 times per foot. This short foot exercise is not only the first activation exercise you should do while training barefoot, but it is also what you should do while completing the following exercises.

Short Foot Exercises

Single Leg Short Foot

This exercise is straightforward. Stand on one leg. Make sure you have a slight bend in your knee and hip and that you are actively squeezing your glutes. Do the short foot exercise, holding for ten seconds each leg.

Single Leg Deadlift in Short Foot

Progressing from the single leg short foot, in this exercise you will simply hinge forward at the hips (remember your knee and hips should be bent) to perform a bodyweight single leg deadlift while maintaining short foot. Aim for 5-10 reps per side, stopping if you get any foot cramping.

Single Leg Squat

Same as above, but this time you will simply perform a body weight single leg squat while maintaining short foot. Again, aiming for 5-10 reps per leg and stop for any cramping.

Simple, But Challenging

These exercises may seem simple. You may say, “I do single leg deadlifts and squats all of the time and have no problem!” But by incorporating short foot and actively engaging your glutes, you will really feel those small muscles in your foot working. This is why I warn of potential cramping. These muscles aren’t used to working so hard, so they may fatigue quickly. If this happens, grab a golf ball and do some myofascial release (roll out the bottom of your feet) for 2-3 minutes per side.

The Towel Exercise

This is sometimes called the towel scrunch. It looks easy, but can be surprisingly difficult, especially for those who have never trained barefoot. To do this exercise, simply place a towel on the ground and use your toes to curl it in to you. Check out this video for a full description:

In Closing

I hope this series on impact forces and lower leg injuries has shown you just how important barefoot training is. And do realise that it is a process. You cannot go straight from wearing shoes or orthotics to barefoot training.

If you realise the benefits of training barefoot and you want to walk that path, then these exercises are exactly what you need to do to build up strength and endurance in your muscles. Enjoy the process!

More Like This:

• Impact Forces, Lazy Feet, and How Shoes Can Lead to Injury
• Avoiding Achilles Injury and the Benefits of Bare Feet
• What High Heels are Doing to Athletic Performance
• New On Breaking Muscle UK Today

The post Simple Barefoot Exercises for Stronger Feet appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

First, some key points I want you to remember from part one:

In part one of this article I explained what impact forces are, why they are actually a good thing, and how shoes affect your body’s ability to perceive and receive these forces. Today, I want to explain why you get lower leg and foot injuries and how you can avoid them from happening in the first place.

First, some key points I want you to remember from part one:

• Impact is not a bad thing. It gives you energy to move. Without it, you would have to work a whole lot harder.
• You need to be able to anticipate impact, not simply react to it, in order to avoid injury and be able to use the forces as potential energy.
• Shoes or orthotics cause the muscles in your feet to get weak, lazy, and to atrophy. This influences your body’s ability to both perceive and damp vibrations.

Why Are We Getting Injured?

Now that you have a basic understanding of impact forces and what happens to our lower limbs when we heel strike, we can talk about the reasons behind the common injuries of the lower leg and foot.

Impact injures can occur for three main reasons:

1. Difficultly perceiving impact
2. A delayed loading response
3. Poor storage potential

Like anything when it comes to the body, these are not mutually exclusive reasons. You can have difficulty with one, two, or all of these things. Let’s break each reason down a little further.

Reason 1: Difficulty Perceiving Impact

This is straightforward, and it comes right down to footwear. The more cushion you have in your footwear, the less you know how hard you are striking the ground. The less cushion, the more accurate perception you have of the vibrations coming in. Make smart footwear choices. And remember, vibration is also your energy – you want this vibration. Don’t let your shoe take it all away.

“No footwear can allow you to anticipate impact forces, even the most minimalist of shoes. Which means is if you have shoes on, you will always be reacting.”

Difficulty perceiving impact can also arise from training on different surfaces. Different surfaces vibrate at different rates. Concrete or cement is one of the worse surfaces to work on for perceiving impact as it doesn’t vibrate well. So, if you must train on less optimal surfaces, make sure you are really prepared and transition to running on them properly.

Reason 2: Delayed Loading Response

Recall how I earlier discussed the importance of anticipating and not simply reacting to impact forces? When this doesn’t occur and you simply react, this is considered a delay in your loading response. In other words, the necessary loading isn’t happening quickly enough to dampen the vibrations.

Not to sound like a broken record, but I think you can guess what the most common reason for this is: your shoes! No footwear can allow you to anticipate impact forces, even the most minimalist of shoes. Which means is if you have shoes on, you will always be reacting.

Fatigue is another reason for delayed loading response. A lot of times injuries will happen with overuse, or when pushing through fatigue. This happens because the muscles are not contracting fast or high enough, equating to a low stiffness at heel strike. This means that the compartment pressure cannot meet its peak fast enough to sufficiently damp the vibration.

Reason 3: Poor Storage Potential

Your collagen is key when it comes to having efficient movement. Collagen is a main component of our connective tissue – think tendons and ligaments. You need good collagen health. I won’t get too scienc-y here, but there are different types of collagen, and if you don’t have collagen that is elastic enough you will get micro tears. Once this happens, your body repairs it with collagen tissue that isn’t as elastic, setting the stage for a chronic issue.

Most Common Types of Impact Injuries

#1: Shin Splints

In part one, I talked about how creating compression in your lower leg is crucial to damp down the vibration. This compression also acts as a splint to the bone. If this doesn’t happen effectively, your bones will bend. As you can imagine, your bones bending is not ideal. Shin splints can occur when your tibia bends because it wasn’t effectively splinted.

#2: Achilles Tendinopathy

The Achilles tendon is the largest, strongest tendon in the body. It is continuous with the plantar fascia. Your Achilles holds most of your elastic return when you move, which means most of the potential energy is stored in that tendon. Once tendinopathy starts it can be hell to get rid of, because when we walk we take in vibrations in everything that we do.

There are two main reasons people get Achilles tendinopathies:

1. You have poor fascial or connective tissue elasticity, which means you are actually creating small tears in the tissue as you move.
2. You are not stiff enough on heel strike.

With regard to the second reason, it’s not just footwear that can lead to this (in other words, these injures can happen with barefoot athletes too). For example, this lack of stiffness could be due to poor movement patterns, or to an unstable core. Remember, the body works as one, and stability and motor control are dynamic (this is why you often see one-sided injuries).

“If you do decide you want to transition from wearing higher-cushioned to more minimalist style shoes, it is crucial that you do so slowly and properly.”

#3: Plantar Fasciitis

I mentioned earlier that the plantar fascia is continuous with the Achilles tendon. The same two injury reasons as above apply to plantar fasciitis, too. When you walk, your feet go through both pronation and supination, and these movements are what create the stiffness in the fascia. If the foot does not move efficiently throughout its movement, this can lead to less stiffness and more stress on the tissue.

Again, footwear can lead to these inefficient foot movement (not allowing the natural movement of your foot), as can poor motor control, or decreased strength or mobility of your feet.

How Do We Prevent These Injuries?

The most important way to prevent these injuries from occurring is to train barefoot. And I don’t mean you have to do everything barefoot, as much as I would love it if you did do that. I realize many people like to train in shoes, enjoy wearing high heels, or are simply not fans of the barefoot movement.

If this is how you feel, that is fine. But you must incorporate some barefoot training in to your other fitness programming.

As I mentioned, no footwear to date, even the most minimalist of shoes, can allow you to anticipate impact forces. Therefore, training barefoot before getting into those shoes will help prepare your foot and maintain the strength and proprioception of those muscles. And if you do decide you want to transition from wearing higher-cushioned to more minimalist style shoes, it is crucial that you do so slowly and properly. I suggest you work with a professional to help guide you through the stages of transitioning

Finally, to prevent injuries, remember to allow for surface adaptation. Know that different surfaces have different levels of vibration, and make sure you are watching and offsetting for fatigue, as well as maintaining good fascial health and flexibility.

What’s Next?

Now that you know why all of these injuries happen, and the basics of what you need to do to fix them, stay tuned for the last and final part of the series where I will give you a number of exercises and exact strategies to move more efficiently and avoid injury.

More like this:

• Impact Forces, Shoes, and Lower Leg Inuries: Part 1
• Barefoot Basics: How to Regain Your Footing
• 5 Foot Strengthening Exercises to Improve Speed, Power, and Balance
• New On Breaking Muscle Today

References:

1. Bolga, L. and Malone, T. “Plantar Fasciitis and the Windlass Mechanism: A Biomechanical Link to Clinical Practice”. Journal of Athletic Training, 39, 77-82. (2004).

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Avoiding Achilles Injury and the Benefits of Bare Feet appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Creating a long-term plan for movement and health can be a bit daunting. There’s so much information available today that many people just don’t know where to start. What should you prioritise? Should you be going running or lifting weights? And how many times a week should you train?

These questions become increasingly important as we get older and there are greater demands on our time. However, it is always worth remembering that the long-term benefits of prioritising health and movement are huge. Yes, leaving work thirty minutes earlier to walk home might make you feel guilty because of the emails you didn’t respond to; however, people who are more active have greater wellbeing, are more productive at work, and have healthier children.^{1, 2, 3}

A Simple Solution

With that and a myriad of other health benefits in mind, I concocted the great upside-down movement pyramid as a way to help you prioritise your approach to better movement.

The great upside-down movement pyramid.

Over the next few weeks I will present a progressive plan detailing why you should sit less, walk more, move stuff, move really quickly, and move for a long period of time, in that order of importance. Each level of the plan will build on the first to add layers of additional movement to your week, but give you time to put each level into practice. As before – if you’re not managing to do the level above, don’t do the level below. After all, you’ve got to stand before you can walk.

Sit Less

In case you hadn’t heard, sitting is the new smoking.⁴ This may sound melodramatic (after all, we all have to sit), but in terms of the effects on our overall health, there is truth to it. For example, a recent meta-analysis found a 5% increase in the risk of dying (overall mortality) for every additional hour spent sitting per day – after taking physical activity into account.⁵ If we turn this around, people who spend more time standing also appear to have a reduced overall mortality.⁶

“Prolonged periods of sitting can negatively affect the way the arterial wall functions, which is directly associated with atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.”

However, out in the real world, we often need to sit to work. Although standing desks have become increasingly popular, it’s important to note this may not be much better. Standing at a desk doesn’t prevent you from being hunched over a screen, and prolonged periods of standing in one place can also cause things like varicose veins and back pain.^17,18

So What Should We Do?

As you’re probably reading this to procrastinate whilst at work, let’s do the advice bit first, and those who are interested can stick around for the science at the end.

During your commute: If you use public transport, don’t take that seat. You don’t need it. You can even take it up a notch by minimising the use of support rails. Yes, you’ll look silly surfing the bus, but it’s surprisingly fun!

At work:

• Stand (or walk) while you take phone calls or if you need to think.
• Go and find that colleague rather than sending him or her an email. You’re much more likely to get a positive response, and you may even make a friend.
• Relocate for lunch. Better yet – take it outside.
• When sitting, move position frequently, or (quietly) tap your feet to get your blood moving.
• Get up regularly, or at least once an hour. Do a lap of the office, pop outside, or take the stairs. Need reminding? Plenty of free apps and programs are available to nudge you out of your chair.
• Got like-minded colleagues? Stick a pull-up bar on your office door and do a couple of reps as you go in and out.

Instead of staying in the office, head outside for a walk to catch up on calls and texts.

At home:

• It’s okay to relax after a long day, but try not to immediately slip into a coma on the sofa, only to reappear just before bed time.
• Keep getting up, or at least move position regularly.
• Do a few push ups during TV ad breaks. No matter how many times they recommended this in fitness magazines, I’m still not sure anybody does it.
• Do your ironing and other chores while you’re catching up on Britain’s Got Talent and Biggest Loser. That will give you more time to enjoy your weekends.
• The minutes just before and after dinner are a great time to get up, or get out of the house for a quick walk.

The real moral of the story is to focus on minimising the amount of time you spend in one position, rather than to demonise sitting specifically.

What’s the Deal With Sitting?

If we want to dig into why sitting is so bad for our health, three different (and almost certainly connected) mechanisms are important – inflammation, insulin resistance, and blood flow.

“When we’re talking about cardiovascular disease (such as heart attacks and strokes), the big problem stems from atherosclerosis – calcified ‘plaques’ that build up in the walls of our arteries.”

While everybody was worried about cholesterol, the role of inflammation and insulin resistance in the development of heart disease, obesity, type-2 diabetes, and many cancers flew under the radar for decades. However, we’re now seeing that markers of inflammation predict the risk of heart disease better than cholesterol, and if your insulin levels are low (indicating a high insulin sensitivity), then your cholesterol levels become pretty much irrelevant.^7,8,9,10

Why the random trip down biochemistry lane? Because inflammation, insulin, and insulin resistance all increase with time spent sitting.¹¹ Uh oh.

Are You Sitting Comfortably?

In reality, we don’t have any proof that sitting directly causes insulin resistance. Perhaps people who are insulin resistant suddenly have a desire to sit more. It’s unlikely, but possible. Therefore we need to look at other pieces in the puzzle, such as the way in which our blood flow changes when we sit.

When we’re talking about cardiovascular disease (such as heart attacks and strokes), the big problem stems from atherosclerosis – calcified “plaques” that build up in the walls of our arteries. These can rupture, causing a blockage. Alongside things like inflammation, the way in which blood flows through our arteries affects the development of atherosclerosis. When the flow is disturbed or redirected, it puts extra stress on the arterial wall. This is why we see atherosclerosis build up in places like carotid arteries in the neck, because the artery splits into two early on, with increased turbulence at the split point (also known as the bifurcation).¹² However, your arteries need some stress in order to work properly, and reducing flow can have a negative effect on arterial function.

When we sit, we bend at the hip and the knee, which reduces flow in the femoral and popliteal arteries, respectively.^13,14

Left: Femoral arteries; Right: Popliteal arteries

Prolonged periods of sitting can negatively affect the way the arterial wall functions, which is directly associated with atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.¹⁵ That change in flow caused by prolonged sitting is potentially why those arteries in the legs are a common place for atherosclerotic plaques to occur. We even see these patterns of atherosclerosis in 4,000 year-old Egyptian mummies!¹⁶ If you were important enough to have your body preserved, you probably got to spend a lot more time sitting compared to everybody else.

Start With Your Daily Routine

Conjecture about mummies aside, there’s good evidence for minimising your sitting time as much as possible. Try to work as many of the ideas above into your daily routine. That will line you up perfectly up for your next step(s) to better health – walking more.

More Like This:

• Walking: The Most Underrated Movement of the 21st Century
• 4 Office Exercises No One Will Know You Are Doing
• Having It All – Strength Gains in the Office
• New on Breaking Muscle UK Today

References:

1. Puig-Ribera et al.. Self-reported sitting time and physical activity: interactive associations with mental well-being and productivity in office employees. BMC Public Health. 2015 Jan 31;15:72.

2. Sears et al.. Overall well-being as a predictor of health care, productivity, and retention outcomes in a large employer. Popul Health Manag. 2013 Dec;16(6):397-405.

3. Robinson et al.. A narrative literature review of the development of obesity in infancy and childhood. J Child Health Care. 2012 Dec;16(4):339-54.

4. Is sitting the new smoking? New science, old habit. Mayo Clin Health Lett. 2014 Oct;32(10):4-5.

5. Chau et al.. Daily sitting time and all-cause mortality: a meta-analysis. PLoS One. 2013 Nov 13;8(11):e80000.

6. van der Ploeg et al.. Standing time and all-cause mortality in a large cohort of Australian adults. Prev Med. 2014 Dec;69:187-91.

7. Ridker et al.. Relation of baseline high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level to cardiovascular outcomes with rosuvastatin in the Justification for Use of statins in Prevention: an Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin (JUPITER). Am J Cardiol. 2010 Jul 15;106(2):204-9.

8. Yanase et al.. Insulin resistance and fasting hyperinsulinemia are risk factors for new cardiovascular events in patients with prior coronary artery disease and normal glucose tolerance. Circ J. 2004 Jan;68(1):47-52.

9. Després et al.. Hyperinsulinemia as an independent risk factor for ischemic heart disease. N Engl J Med. 1996 Apr 11;334(15):952-7.

10. Bartnik et al.. Abnormal glucose tolerance–a common risk factor in patients with acute myocardial infarction in comparison with population-based controls. J Intern Med. 2004 Oct;256(4):288-97.

11. León-Latre et al.. Sedentary lifestyle and its relation to cardiovascular risk factors, insulin resistance and inflammatory profile. Rev Esp Cardiol (Engl Ed). 2014 Jun;67(6):449-55.

12. Chiu and Chien. Effects of disturbed flow on vascular endothelium: pathophysiological basis and clinical perspectives. Physiol Rev. 2011 Jan;91(1):327-87.

13. Schlager et al.. Wall shear stress in the superficial femoral artery of healthy adults and its response to postural changes and exercise. Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg. 2011 Jun;41(6):821-7.

14. Restaino et al.. Impact of prolonged sitting on lower and upper limb micro- and macrovascular dilator function. Exp Physiol. 2015 Jul 1;100(7):829-38.

15. Bruno et al.. Intima media thickness, pulse wave velocity, and flow mediated dilation. Cardiovasc Ultrasound. 2014 Aug 23;12:34.

16. Thompson et al.. Atherosclerosis across 4000 years of human history: the Horus study of four ancient populations. Lancet. 2013 Apr 6;381(9873):1211-22.

17. Pfisterer et al.. Pathogenesis of varicose veins – lessons from biomechanics. Vasa. 2014 Mar;43(2):88-99.

18. McCulloch et al.. Health risks associated with prolonged standing. Work. 2002;19(2):201-5.

Photo 1courtesy of Shutterstock.

Photo 2 byHäggström, Mikael. “Medical gallery of Mikael Häggström 2014”. Wikiversity Journal of Medicine 1 (2). DOI:10.15347/wjm/2014.008. ISSN 20018762. (Image:Gray548.png) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Photo 3 by Bakerstmd (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

The post Move It or Lose It: How to Sit Less, Move More, and Feel Better appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Nearly every athlete or lifter who’s trained for more than a couple years inevitably tweaks a shoulder. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, it hurts for a few days and then it’s gone. If you’re not so lucky, that twinge sticks around for years and you may even carry the hefty label of “shoulder impingement.”

This article will provide you with a few ideas for training around an injured shoulder and potentially even eliminating that twinge over time (depending on the source).

Let’s Talk Anatomy

First, let’s identify the major anatomical players we’re going to discuss:

• Scapula – the shoulder blade
• Humerus – the upper arm bone
• Acromion – the bit that sticks up from the shoulder blade and comes toward the front of the shoulder

The scapula, humerus, and acromion are the major anatomical players we’ll discuss today.

Most often, “shoulder impingement” is the diagnosis for shoulder pain. Shoulder impingement typically comes in two flavors:

1. External – pain manifests anteriorly (front of the shoulder)
2. Internal – pain manifests posteriorly (back of the shoulder)

The most common type of pain is in the front of the shoulder so the methods and exercises discussed here will be geared for those with external impingement/anterior shoulder pain. But before you proceed, you also need to be aware of whether your pain comes from primary or secondary impingement.

Primary vs. Secondary Impingement

Ever notice how some people can bench press until the cows come home and yet never seem to have shoulder pain? If I did that, my shoulders would be screaming within a month. Primary impingement is a result of structure or anatomy. For example the angle of the acromion will determine the size of the sub acromial space (the gap beneath the red bit below).

Depending on the angle, if your sub acromial space is smaller, it’s much more likely you’ll wind up pinching one of the many tendons that run through it. This little difference means some people can bench press forever without pain and some of us will have a perpetually tweaked shoulder no matter what they do. There will be certain movements that will always cause problems purely based on your anatomy.

“Primary impingement is a result of structure or anatomy. For example the angle of the acromion will determine the size of the sub acromial space.”

Secondary impingement is related to things like lack of mobility, scapular position, muscle tightness or stiffness, etc. and can be reversed if you improve these aspects through dedicated strength and mobility work. The substitutions listed below are great ways to continue training while you work on your mobility and let your shoulder heal. Increasing the amount of pulling versus pushing in your training can play a role, too, and there’ll be more on that later.

A Word of Caution

How to diagnose your shoulder pain – as primary or secondary – is outside the scope of this article. Unfortunately, the only way to truly know your anatomy is via x-ray or MRI. That said, it’s a safe bet that if you inevitably tweak your shoulder every time you overhead press, it’s best to stay away from that entirely.

Most people with shoulder pain probably already know what they can and can’t do. Be aware that the exercise substitutions below are general ideas and you should add or eliminate according to how your shoulder feels. You should also talk to a health practitioner if you’ve been experiencing chronic pain.

A Little Attention to Form

Before we talk about avoiding and substituting exercises, let’s briefly touch on position and form. If you are unable to achieve the proper position for a lift, say the overhead press, it will be tough to prevent injuries when doing that movement. Check out your shoulder mobility first – and then actually work on it – before loading up the military press.

When it comes to movement form, horizontal pressing and rowing can irritate the front of the shoulder if your rows look like the first two reps in this video. Instead, strive to imitate the form of the last two reps.

What you saw in the first two reps is called anterior humeral glide. It’s when the humerus (upper arm bone) drifts forward in the socket (it looks like it’s popping out in the front) and, as a result, all kinds of friction happens within the joint. Too much friction and – boom! – you wind up with angry shoulders.

Pay attention to how you’re performing your rows and presses and it will go a long way toward maintaining healthy shoulders.

Exercises to Avoid

• Overhead pressing
• Lateral and front delt raises
• Upright rows
• Bench pressing
• Pull ups
• Dips
• Back Squats

If you’re sharp, you’ll notice a common theme among these particular exercises. They entail one or both of the following:

• Humeral flexion – arm going over your head, as in the overhead press
• Humeral abduction – arm going out to the side, as in lateral delt raises or upright rows

Movements like the overhead press or lateral raise can close off the shoulder joint, particularly that pesky sub acromial space, which leads to tendons getting squished. The pronated grip (palms down) of pull ups and bench press also close the shoulder joint more than exercises done with a neutral grip.

Dips are the worst offenders, though. They automatically force the upper arm (humerus) forward in the socket, so we find ourselves in that anterior humeral glide – perfect for rubbing and pinching tendons.

Back squatting may or may not bother you, depending on your shoulder and thoracic spine mobility. But if you’re lacking in either, the typical arm position required by back squatting can be compromising to already tender shoulders.

Exercise Substitutions and Modifications

• Landmine pressing
• Push up variations
• Dumbbell floor presses
• Neutral grip chin ups
• Front squats

Note: You should still avoid front squats if you have an AC joint issue.

Landmine pressing is fantastic for people with cranky shoulders. This movement provides a semi-overhead angle while not requiring full-range shoulder mobility.

If you miss pressing, you can also give supine landmine pressing a whirl.

Push ups are almost always an acceptable substitute for horizontal pressing. The advantage of push ups over barbell or dumbbell work is the shoulder blades are able to glide freely on the rib cage. When you bench or dumbbell press, the scapulae (shoulder blades) are pinned down against the bench. As you bench, your humerus is moving independently from your shoulder blade, which is more likely to result in impingement because the humerus jams up into the acromion. In contrast, push ups allow for a free-moving scapula that moves along with the humerus and thus reduces the likelihood of impingement.

“Doubling your row volume relative to pressing volume can sometimes relieve shoulder pain and prevent it in the future.”

If you think you’ll shrivel up and die without some sort of press, dumbbell floor presses are the way to go. The floor prevents the elbows from traveling past the body (and thus prevent anterior humeral glide) and you can use a neutral grip with dumbbells, which keeps the sub acromial space open. The same can be said about neutral grip chin ups. The more open grip allows for more wiggle room under that acromion.

Reconsider Ratios

Many workout programs incorporate a press-to-pull ratio of 1:1. When you have an injured shoulder, one training modification you can employ is to increase the ratio in favor of rowing, to more like 1:2 or 1:3 press-to-pull. Sometimes pain is simply an imbalance between front and back and increasing the rowing volume can solve your issue. For example, when pairing push ups with bent-over rows, you would perform twice as many sets of rows as you would push ups. You may find that after a few weeks your shoulder pain clears up.

The Take-Home

While this article is not even close to exhaustive, you should find a couple of tips that can help keep you and your shoulders happy.

• Remember to be mindful of the way you perform your presses and rows to avoid anterior humeral glide.
• Avoid exercises that require humeral flexion and abduction (arms overhead and arms out to the side) like the plague – at least for a few weeks while your increase the strength of your upper back muscles.
• Doubling your row volume relative to pressing volume can sometimes relieve shoulder pain and prevent it in the future.

As I’ve said before, you should walk out of the gym feeling like a superhero, not painfully grimacing as you drive home.

More Like This:

• Not the Rotator Cuff: The Truth Behind Most Shoulder Injuries
• A Simple 4-Step Mobility System for Every Lifter (and Every Lift)

• The Truth About Training Your Stabilisers

• What’s New On Breaking Muscle UK Today

Photo 1 courtesy of Shutterstock.

Photo 2 by By BodyParts3D is made by DBCLS, via Wikimedia Commons.

Photo 3 courtesy of Kelsey Reed.

The post Essential Movement Tips to Keep Injured Shoulders Happy appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

That’s one of the downsides of regular exercise. If you train hard and often, you’ve probably got a handful of minor aches and pains. They’re part of the package. The problem occurs when we allow those minor issues to develop into crippling injuries, all the while telling ourselves the same thing – it’s just par for the course.

Stay in tune with what your body is telling you pre- and post-workout.

Pain and injury, while they often go hand in hand, are not the same thing. Just because you’re hurt doesn’t mean you’re injured, and it’s entirely possible you could have an injury that doesn’t cause you constant pain. But while minor aches and pains can frequently be resolved independently, legitimate injuries often require the attention of a medical profession.

In this article, I’m going to give you a simple way to determine if you’re just hurt or if you’re actually injured and what to do in both cases.

Step 1: Pain or Injury?

Before you can decide on a plan of action, you need to have some idea of what you’re dealing with. The following questions will help you quickly determine whether you can tough it out or if you need some help.

Did Something Happen?

This question usually provides one of the most simple and telling answers. Did your pain start following a specific event? Did you feel a pop or a snap mid movement or did the pain slowly surface over time? Even with overuse injuries, where there is a slow buildup of dysfunction and tissue damage, the actual injury is often the result of some activity that pushed your body past the threshold. Unless there’s an underlying pathology or disease state, most cases where there isn’t something specific that incited the pain probably aren’t a big deal.

Was your pain sudden or has it been the result of a slow build-up of problems?

Is it Swollen, Inflamed, or Bruised?

Serious injuries usually have overt physical symptoms. They may not occur immediately, but if you pop a ligament or cause significant soft tissue damage, there will probably be some visual cues. If you can’t tell whether or not your joint is swollen or bruised, it probably isn’t. Comparing to your opposite side may help your determination. But for the most part, the stuff that would indict an injury will be right there staring you in the face.

Is There a Loss of Function?

Injury diagnosis is done using a combination of factors and observations, but loss of function is one of the biggest indicators. There may be loss of function independent of any sensation of pain or you may be unable to do something because that task has become intolerably painful. In either case, there’s a good chance you have an actual injury. It’s important to distinguish between task functions that give you some discomfort but can still be performed and motions that are so painful you simply cannot do them. This is one of the biggest differences between being hurt and being injured.

How Badly Does It Hurt?

Score it on a scale of ten and try to be as honest as possible. If your pain is passively above a six or it’s a zero but jumps to a nine or ten with activity, there’s a good chance you have an injury. The type of pain is also important. Sharp, stabbing pain, burning, tingling, or numbness are all symptoms that require medical attention. A prolonged dull ache may be resolvable through your own efforts.

Pay attention to when activity exacerbates your pain.

How Long Has This Been a Problem?

Whenever I get a minor tweak that doesn’t throw any obvious red flags, my next move is often to wait. Silly as it may seem, something that feels terrible immediately after the workout might feel like nothing when you wake up the next day.

If the pain persists past 24 hours, but there’s a significant improvement with each consecutive day, then it’s probably not a big deal. If you have something that feels just as terrible on day three as when it happened, it’s probably worth getting it looked at. On the other hand, if it’s mostly resolved but you’re left with a nagging pain that lasts longer than two weeks, it’s also probably time to make an appointment.

“People talk a lot about overtraining and while it’s a real thing, it’s not a problem most non-professional athletes ever have to face.”

Even minor injuries can cause a lot of problems when left unchecked. And, indeed, minor injuries are usually the ones that go unchecked. Sure, you can survive and keep training with minor pain, but if it’s the same pain in the same movements for weeks at a time, then you’re cultivating a physiological time bomb. Eventually it’s going to go off. It’s easy to repair a minor tear. It’s much more difficult to rehabilitate completely shredded tissues.

Step 2: What Do You Do if It’s Just Pain?

Don’t Accept Poor Form Because You’re Working Hard

Contrary to popular belief poor form alone won’t mess you up all that badly. What hurts is when you combine poor form with excessive load. The solution is simple: reduce the load until you can use proper form. If your technique suffers minor flaws from time to time due to fatigue, it’s not a huge deal, but the more time you spend in bad positions the more likely you are to end up injured. Own your movements and own your technique. You can’t build a castle on a shaky foundation.

Avoid Extreme and/or Unnecessary Programming

People talk a lot about overtraining and while it’s a real thing, it’s not a problem most non-professional athletes ever have to face. Usually when people bring up overtraining, they’re actually talking about poor programming. If you just started CrossFit and haven’t been active for the past couple of years, you don’t need to achieve a bodyweight overhead squat by the end of the month. Real strength takes time and it’s a slow process.

The competitive atmosphere in some gyms can be extremely positive and help us push ourselves. But it’s on us (and the coaches) to make sure we stay realistic and don’t push into problems. If you’re not a competitive athlete, do you really need a three-plate clean and jerk right this second? If you’re healthy you may be able to get there, but you need to respect the process. Take a look at what you’re doing and ask yourself if you can achieve more with a simplified approach. The answer is usually yes.

Stick to the basics as a novice and progress slowly to avoid major injury.

Don’t Be in Denial

If you have a minor ache, then you need to address it or at the very least be sure it’s just that. The number of injuries I’ve seen because people simply refused to acknowledge their pain is staggering. Pain doesn’t always mean you need to drop everything, but it is our body’s way of telling us something abnormal is going on. If you ignore your pain, you do so at your own risk.

Step 3: What to Do if You’re Injured

This is easy. Find medical professionals you trust and use them. The more you see your healthcare practitioners , the better care they can provide. If you don’t like your practitioners, find new ones. This isn’t always easy, but it’s worth the extra effort.

Injuries suck, but for most of us they’re just part of being active. With a little effort and self-awareness you can learn how to separate a speed bump from a car crash and keep comfortably cruising toward your goals.

Check out these related articles:

• Starting Over Again – 6 Lessons Learned From Injury
• 7 Reasons Your Injury Is Not Getting Any Better
• Avoiding Injury – How to Train Safely for Years to Come
• What’s New On Breaking Muscle UK Today

Photos courtesy of CrossFit Empirical.

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1. Practice Your Breathing

It seems like a simple concept, but many people spend the majority of their day breathing improperly. Poor posture and habit have made it so most people breathe predominately with their chest and not their diaphragm (it should be 70% diaphragm compared to only 30% chest).

The main function of the diaphragm is to assist with proper breathing through muscular contractions.

Here is what you need to know: by breathing properly (diaphragmatically) you are going to decrease the work involved, decrease your oxygen demand, and use less effort and energy to breathe. Even more, you will avoid recruiting accessory muscles, which will ultimately avoid muscle overuse and muscle tightness, pain, or injury.

Do you breathe properly? Let’s test and see:

1. Lay on the floor with your knees bent.
2. Place one hand on your stomach and one on your chest and take a deep breath.

Which hand moved? If you are using your diaphragm, the hand on your stomach should move upward (your belly expanding as you inhale). If you’re not breathing with your diaphragm, you might find the hand on your stomach actually dropped. This is not what we want.

“Soft-tissue work can be uncomfortable because of knots and adhesions present in the muscle.“

Time to Practice:

1. Lay on your back in the aforementioned position.
2. Take a deep breath through your nose, ensuring that your stomach moves out against your hand and the hand on your chest remains as still as possible.
3. When you exhale, do so through pursed lips so the exhalation is slow and controlled, while your hand on your stomach drops.

This is diaphragmatic breathing, something you should actively concentrate on and practice daily. I also have many of my athletes’ practice this is a ninety-ninety position – where their feet are against the wall with their knees bent at ninety degrees and positioned just above their hips. This is a great position to practice breathing, especially prior to beginning a workout. Give it a try – you will feel better after.

2. Drink More Water

Most people know they should be drinking water. So I am going to focus on why you need to drink water from a pain and recovery viewpoint. If you’ve ever been to a massage therapist or physical therapist, they may have told you to drink plenty of water post session. This is also true following any soft-tissue work you do to yourself (think foam rolling). The problem is many people don’t understand the reasoning behind this coaching and don’t take it seriously. But they could feel a lot better if they heeded this simple advice.

Soft-tissue work can be uncomfortable because of knots and adhesions present in the muscle. These knots and adhesions are caused by tissue being short in blood, oxygen, and nutrients, while filled with metabolic waste products. These are all things that contribute to that tight, painful feeling we all know so well. When you work on the tissue, you are getting blood flowing again. This means an increased delivery of oxygen, nutrients, and water to the muscle – all of which are good things. However, because of this, water is removed from the bloodstream to go to the muscle, meaning less water is available to the rest of you, which can lead to dehydration (not a good thing).

“The foot is an often-overlooked area when it comes to self-myofascial release or movement in general.“

At the same time your muscles are becoming more efficient at releasing any built-up metabolic wastes into your blood. This is why you may feel slightly nauseated or light-headed post treatment – another important reason to drink plenty of water to help flush out these waste products.

So, the next time your therapist tells you to drink lots of water – listen! And make sure to do so with all of your foam rolling sessions, too. You will be amazed at how much better you will feel.

3. Improve Your Posture (and Confidence)

Many people I talk to want to improve their posture. They sit at a desk most of the day and tend to slouch forward. The problem is, it takes so much conscious effort to sit better and many people struggle to do it. This is why I offer a simple strategy to help become more aware of your posture and start to change the way you hold yourself:

Every time you walk through a doorway, do a posture check. Brace your core, and bring your shoulders down and back. But don’t confuse this with sticking your chest out – that will just increase the lordosis in your lumbar spine.

Chances are you will maintain this posture for mere seconds only, quickly forgetting you have to keep your muscles engaged, distracted by your next project. But then you will soon walk through another door and do it all over again. Over time (give this a few weeks), this repetitive posture check will start to become automatic and you will find yourself walking with better posture without having to constantly remind yourself.

There is an added benefit to this strategy. Research has found that walking tall is good for your energy and mood, improves your confidence, and can decrease your sensitivity to pain. The opposite is also true with research finding poor posture can result in feelings of helplessness and stress.

Even more, a 2010 study demonstrated that part of the reason for the mood is due to physical changes to chemicals in the brain. This study demonstrated that regardless of whether someone felt confident or not, if they adopted a better posture and “power pose,” it increased levels of testosterone (associated with self-confidence) and decreased levels of cortisol (often called the “stress hormone”) in the brain. So give it a shot. A simple strategy to both improve your posture and your mood.

4. Roll Out the Bottoms of Your Feet

The foot is an often-overlooked area when it comes to self-myofascial release or movement in general. I won’t get too technical here, but essentially the fascia on the bottom of your feet connects to fascia throughout the entire length of the posterior chain of your body. This means if you have tension in your feet, you may actually feel this tension anywhere along the chain.

“Poor posture and habit have made it so most people breathe predominately with their chest and not their diaphragm.”

As a good example of this, I will often take people who are tight in the hamstrings and who can’t do a simple toe touch, have them roll the bottoms of their feet, and more often than not they will then have significantly improved their ability to touch their toes. That’s right – just by rolling their feet, their hamstrings feel looser and are more mobile.

The best part is this is quite simple to do and doesn’t require much work. Simply grab a lacrosse or golf ball (you can even use a frozen water bottle) and roll out the bottom of your foot. Ideally, you should do this while standing, but if you find you’re really tight you might want to start sitting. Make sure to avoid any bony prominences and focus on the arch of the foot. You even can do this while brushing your teeth, talking on the phone, or doing the dishes – it doesn’t have to take any extra time in your day.

5. Carry Heavy Things With Friends

I won’t get into all of the numerous benefits of exercise with you today. You all know it and if you’re reading this likely agree that exercise always makes you feel better. So I will leave you with this last way to feel better today – get out there with friends and go lift, carry, and pull some heavy things!

Check out these related articles:

• 5 Habits That Are Hurting Your Workouts
• How to Activate Your Diaphragm to Improve Your Breathing and Performance
• Video – Free Your Toes By Stretching Your Plantar Fascia
• What’s New On Breaking Muscle UK Today?

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References:

1. Brinol, Petty and Wagner. Body posture effects on self-evaluation: A self-validation approach. European Journal of Social Psychology, 39, 1053-1064 (2009).

2. Carney, Cuddy, and Ya. Power posing: brief nonverbal displays affect neuroendocrine levels and risk tolerance. Psychological Science, 21 1363-1368. (2010).

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post 5 Simple Ways to Move and Feel Better Right Now appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

You would never build a house on a muddy foundation, yet as athletes we operate on both stiff and weak ankles. This article will provide you with fast, but accurate screens to assess your current mobility and strategies to improve performance in any sport or activity.

It may seem silly to look for gains in strength in such a small joint, but having an effective and efficient base will effectively translate to improving all other standing movement patterns. First we need to establish proper range of motion and then stabilize the joint. Once we have control of the joint we look to enhance the performance through ground reaction time, coordination, and power output. This follows the same patterns put forth in the squat and deadlift articles posted previously.

In the screens outlined belowed we will examine both flexion and extension of the ankle:

Start position for screenings.

Screen #1: Active Dorsiflexion Lying Against Wall¹

Lay on the ground with feet together and flat against the wall. Have your legs flat and together, with arms rested by your sides and palms facing up. From here, pull your toes back and as far away from the wall as possible while maintaining heel contact with the wall.

Flex the toes and feet toward yourself as much as possible.

• Inability to move the ball of the foot from the wall constitutes failure of the test
• 0.1-1 inch from the wall is acceptable
• 1+ inch from the wall is optimal (if you are able to slide the opposite big toe behind your flexed foot this would clear your 1+ inch range)

Examine flexibility one foot at a time. If you can fit big toes behind with no contact, you are greater than 1 inch.

Screen #2: Active Ankle Plantar Flexion Un-Weighted²

Begin lying on your back with your feet in a vertical position. Under control, point your toes away from you as far as possible and hold at your end range of motion.

Passing extension test – greater than 20 degrees.

The goal is to achieve at least 20 degrees range of motion, and ideally 30. Visually if you reach a flat line between your foot and shin you have optimal range of motion passing the test. If you are unable to reach 20 degrees you fail the screen.

Failure of extension test.

Screen #3: Passive Dorsiflexion Weighted³

Stand with your right foot perpendicular to the wall, with your big toe 1 inch from the wall and knee in line with the second toe. Flex the right knee and attempt to touch the wall while keeping the entire foot flat on the ground paying specific attention to the heel. If successful, move 2 inches from the wall and repeat the process until maximum distance is found.

• <2 inches = failure of the test
• 2-4 inches = acceptable range
• 4+ inches = optimal range

If you have optimal range of motion in all three tests, you may then skip the mobility portion and jump ahead to the performance section. If you failed any of the tests or are in the acceptable range continue through the mobility drills first.

Corrective Pattern Sequence

• Mobility – re-establishing functional range of motion

• Sitting stretches (pictures below) – perform these once per day, focusing slow lowering into a seated position until you can fully relax and there is no muscle tension while in these positions
• Perform the third screen and hold the stretch for thirty seconds and up to three minutes
• Banded stretch
• Self-Myofascial Release on calves and tibialis anterior (front shin muscle) using foam roller, lacrosse ball, Theracane, The Stick, etc.
• Range of motion movements – drawing the alphabet with your toes while leg is extended
• Static Stability – using the joint/muscle/movement pattern that stresses the area needing correction by moving other joints and requiring it to remain static
  • Balance on 1 leg for 30 seconds with good posture
  • Balance on 1 leg and throw a medicine ball against a wall or with a partner
    • Chest Pass 3×10
    • Overhead Throw 3×10
    • Side Toss 3×10
• Dynamic Stability – moving the joint/muscle/movement patterns through a range of motion requiring dynamic motor control. Focus on soft landings, not maximum force/distance of jumps
  • Calf raises three foot positions: neutral, internally rotated, and externally rotated
  • Double leg jumps – air jump, forward jump, lateral jumps
  • Single leg forward hops, side to side hops
• Full Re-patterning of Movement –moving correctly through a full range of motion
  • Perform bodyweight squats with correct form using the squat article
• Strength –weighted calf raises, vertical jump for height, and broad jump for distance
• Power – box jumps, lateral jumps, agility ladders, sprint accelerations and decelerations
• Performance –sport/activity-specific training

When you arrive at the dynamic stability section of the progression make sure slowly progress through the jumps. According to the NSCA guidelines for plyometrics a beginner should only have “80-100 foot contact per session,” however for those who are deconditioned, overweight, or older should begin with 40-50 contacts per session.⁴ As a general training rule start conservative and you can always add more the next session, however you can never take back work already done.

Left photo: Seated stretch, toes under. Right photo: Seated stretch, toes pointed.

Banded stretch – keep both legs straight and flex toes toward you.

References:

1. “Chapter 3 Assessing Flexibility” accessed February 12^th 2013

2. “Ankle Goniometry” accessed February 12^th 2013

3. “Reliability of Three Measures of Ankle Dorsiflexion Range of Motion” accessed February 14^th 2013

4. “Practical Guide for Plyometric Intensity” accessed February 15^th 2013

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