Tag: press

Overhead Press, Missing Molars, and Situps – Movement Debrief Episode 100

Movement Debrief Episode 100 is in the books. Below is a copy of the video for your viewing pleasure, and audio if you can’t stand looking at me. Here is the set list: First, a case study of a patient who had full thorax motion, yet still had pain How to problem solve through a set of movement limitations Why is overhead pressing useful? What does my progression look like to getting someone to overhead press? Do I prefer in front of neck or behind the neck position for overhead pressing? Why do molars get pulled? What impact can pulled molars have on breathing and movement? What would be treatment recommendations? Are situps a bad exercise choice? Will situps hurt your back? When could programming situp variations be useful?

Read More

The Most Important Cues for the Fundamental Movements

Finding that one cue that completely changes a client’s movement quality is beyond gratifying. A cue that makes an exercise go from cringeworthy to oh so pretty. But with so many available moves to choose from, it can become challenging to find the right cue for each individual exercise. Thus, attempting to condense moves into similar buckets may reduce the amount of cues we need. A good cue produce results across similar movements. One concept that Pat Davidson has really made me think about is the concept of a movement archetype. That is, a typical example of a given activity. Regardless of which variation you choose, there are certain qualities that make a squat a squat. You will never confuse a squat with a pushup. These similarities pose a question then. Can I devise an archetypical cue? A cue that would address a particular quality of a given movement task across all variations? That is what my mentee Aadil has challenged me to do, and is going to be a major part of my course: Human Matrix. So today, we are going to look at the following moves: Squat Hinge Reach Pull Press Accessory (aka “core”) What I am going to provide for you today is one cue that you can use for each of these base moves. A cue that is useful among all variations, and ought to maximize performance in each of these endeavors. Let’s dive in.

Read More

Kettlebell Mashup 2018 Course Review

I recently attended a wonderful kettlebell instruction class put on by the folks at Ice Chamber Gym in the Bay Area. This course was taught by none other than my boi Jimmy Yuan (who teaches every class ever, an incredibly sharp cat), my new boi Steven Khuong (the cat behind Ice Chamber), and Jen Cord (a freaky good kettlebell athlete). This course compared and contrasted the two most popular styles of kettlebell training: Hardstyle and Girevoy Sport (GS), teaching how to perform movements within each technique. I am familiar with some of the Hardstyle methods, but never even heard of GS. Attempting the movements were a little, ahem, awkward for me, but I found this style of training to be quite rewarding. All of the instructors were excellent at their craft, and I definitely learned some great technical tips to performing many of the kettlebell movements. Take a class from these peeps has my strongest recommendation. Go ahead and check out the video review below, then get into them notes to get your learn on. A pre-apology, I’m still learning some of the moves, so my technique is not perfect. I tried to use videos from the class itself (Kudos to Ice Chamber to letting me use), but unfortunately I did not film in landscape mode. Fam ain’t perfect (but close).

Read More