I got annoyed by a conversation recently

Not a question today

More of a rant.

I train at my kids' hurling club gym.

It's small, but has everything I need, more or less.

Some days I am in with some of the players,which I enjoy.

And I often ask them questions about why they're doing particular exercises or offer tips for improving an exercise if appropriate.

The other day I saw one lad bench pressing with his feet up.

Before I got to ask why, one of the other lads did.

And he told us about his back injuries.

And then mentioned an old hamstring issue.

Later, it was just he and I left in the gym and he was doing some back squats.

I was impressed.

And related how my own history of back injury made the back squat impossible for me for several years.

He opened up at this point, and this is where my rant begins…

He told me he was following his sport S&C program today.

He also had a physio who gave him a rehab program that he follows, mostly at home.

When he does the physio program he is fit to play, when he stops he quickly suffers with symptoms once again.

This has been a multi year cycle at this stage

This is not rehab.

Neither is having 2 separate programs that means he has to train/rehab 6 days per week just to keep the symptoms at bay enough to play.

Physios and S&C coaches should work together as a team.

The two programs should amalgamate into a single plan

After all, both the S&C coach and the physio have the same goal.

To help the player play to the best of their ability.

This was the precise reason I had a network of physios in Dublin, we would refer clients to each other, I'd send them for initial physio and they'd send to me for continuation of that physio into a training plan and not only back to fitness, but beyond the point they were when they got hurt.

Good thinking and programming shouldn't simply mask an injury, keep it at bay so long as you are doing an hour plus a day, but reduce it as far as possible.

Granted, I prefer to use the term “injury management” because I know many injuries actually cannot be totally fixed, but we have to manage them.

But the goal is to not have to manage them, wisdom though, that tells us we can't always reach our goal.

Injury management should be simple.

A small handful of movements that can be fidgeted with through the day, used as part of a warm up and even during breaks in the sporting arena

A good S&C training program takes the rehab into account and build on it, add intensity to it. It should take the rehab and smoothly transition it into effective training.

It's not a generic collection of Squats, rows and presses, but it's a thought out, dynamic program that evolves the rehab into training and on into performance.

Yes there will be variations of a Squat, variations of a press, variations of a pull, but these will be chosen according to the athletes needs.

Done well, some injuries disappear completely in time.

Others will need some degree of ongoing maintenance.

But we shouldn't need hours per week spent just to be able to move, excepting for that initial post injury stage.

If you do get handed a plan that takes hours to follow on a daily basis, you may be wise to get a second opinion.

And if your S&C/fitness coach isn't looking at the notes and exercises the physio sent you, then consider a new coach or at least ask them to do better.

I have likened a team of coaches and physios to the spokes in a wheel. The hub of that wheel is you, the athlete.

And if each spoke does their job in conjunction with every other spoke, that wheel will roll straight and smooth.

It's simple, not easy

But you, the hub, the athlete, the person hiring these professionals to help you, you are the boss.

--

Regards

Dave Hedges

www.DaveHedges.net

www.WG-Fit.com

Some Practical Shoulder Health Tips

I have a nice question in from former WG-FIT member Dave on shoulders.

The timing on this is great as I've had a run on clients with shoulder injuries the last few months.

And there is a quote from Pavel Tstasouline that always made me smile:

"Put your hand up if you have had a shoulder injury, if you don't put your hand up its probably because you can't "

Now for Dave's question:

“Howya' Dave!?

As a content suggestion I'd love some shoulder maintenance pointers as an aging long time supporter! I'm pretty sure you've already got that content somewhere perhaps?

I've really had to pay more attention to the old shoulders and want to keep the overhead press going as long as I can! I'm not struggling with the press, but I do think about the day when maybe it won't be possible....

All the best,

Dave”

This line:

“I do think about the day when maybe it won't be possible....”

I love that line.

Have you ever thought that something you are currently doing that you enjoy doing might become impossible for you at some point?

That overhead press may disappear.

That high kick might get lower and lower

The run becomes a shuffle becomes a walk

Ageing is inevitable, but we have some agency over getting old.

Some…

The good news is, if you train and train across a variety of movements, you're already doing much of what is needed to stave off the inevitable decline.

With the expectation of long term injuries, they may need some special attention. Some particular time spent on them.

The overhead press is a controversial lift in the fitness world.

And I've never understood why. As I ran WG-FIT as a kettlebell focused training centre, the overhead press and overhead lifting in general is simply kettlebell 101.

And while many in the strength world are denigrating the press for being bad for shoulders or causing pain in the shoulders.

Our WG-FIT crew, barring a couple of exceptions, all developed very good shoulder mobility and strength to put weight overhead.

I'd argue developing a good overhead press beats 90% of other rotator cuff work.

So what is the secret?

In my mind the scapula, or shoulder blade, is the key to the shoulder. I've often said the scapula IS the shoulder.

Something I would go into at length about on workshops.

When the scapula moves well, and we find a nice interaction between the scapula and arm, we generally find pain decreases and strength increases.

The scapula does 6 things:

Glides up and down

Glides forward and backwards

Rotates up and down

Tilts forward and backwards

And as it does so, the arm bone aka the humerus, also moves.

So does the collar bone. But that complicates things, so don't worry about him.

Here's where Dave and many others probably struggle.

If the Scapula is a car, the road it drives along would be the rib cage.

And the rib cage is your thoracic spine.

How well does your thoracic spine move?

In many (most?) cases, folks with limited shoulder mobility also have limited spine mobility. Freeing up the spine often improves the shoulder.

So here's a few common interventions for opening up spine movement and giving the scapula a better chance to move:

Child's pose with breathing.

This gets the arms overhead.

Start on all fours, with hands slightly forward of the shoulders.

Now sit the hips back until they rest on your feet, as you sit back you may feel the hands slide back a bit.

Try walk the hands out again, just so it feels like a gentle stretch.

Now pay attention to the breath, as you inhale can you feel the belly press into the thighs? And release as you exhale?

Can you feel the back expand with the in and relax with the out?

Spend 30 seconds to a few minutes here.

Doorway chest stretch

Place a hand against the doorframe, palm facing up.

Now step through the door so the arm gets pulled behind you.

Play with how high the hand is on the doorframe, above or below the shoulder will offer different stretches.

Step back and forth, alternate legs feel where the tight lines are and spend more time there.

No need to hold, this isn’t really stretching, it's move in move out.

Go until you feel change.

Doorframe back stretch

Lots to play with here.

Hold the doorframe (or any solid upright) with one hand and lean back. Now with the other hand reach across yourself and feel the back muscles stretch.

Again play with positions, reach to different points, put one leg behind you, or the other.

Play looking for either tight lines or lines that have no sensation at all.

The more you play with these and don't think that there is a single perfect position the better you will do.

So thats a warm up,

What's next?

Next is finding the press that works for you.

It could be a barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell, landmine.

It could be one arm or both. It could be see-saw where one comes down as the other goes up.

It may be a push press with legs to drive up, but a controlled down.

And if you're a kettlebell user, definitely try bottoms up pressing.

Last thing and for shoulder health this is massively underrated is a thing the gymnastics world call straight arm strength.

This is loading the arm and moving through the shoulder without bending the elbow.

This means motion must happen in the shoulder and scapula.

From things like Turkish Get Ups and Windmills to hanging scap ups, scapula push ups, L-sits etc.

Crawling could also fit here.

So, breathe better, mobilise and then lift.

It's simple, just not easy.

But then, it's no fun if it's easy eh?

Regards

Dave Hedges

www.davehedges.net

Is discipline and being consistent with training simply checking in with your values?

Today's question comes from something I took a note of either in an email or social media conversation and added it to my topics list without taking note of who sent it in, if it was you, let me know:

“Is discipline and being consistent with training simply checking in with your values?”

This is one of those questions that really gives pause for thought.

I've had highly dedicated athletes struggle to commit to S&C work or rehab work.

I've had people come to me for help with injury and not follow through with their homework

I've failed to keep some of my own promises and follow through on things.

And not many would describe me as ill disciplined

So, yeah, discipline is quite possibly a values question.

Or maybe an identity question.

When people bring up the topic of values, usually I groan because we usually then get a wishy washy lecture about self improvement and manifestation.

But values are real.

I would say values are a way of describing your identity.

By that I mean the success guru's will have you pull values out of your imagination which of course makes them impossible to live up to.

Whereas in my head, values are a description of who you are and what you do, with a nod to how that could be better.

And we all train to be better in some way.

Could it be that training is successful because it genuinely underpins our values and therefore our identity.

When our identity is challenged, by injury or other change in circumstances that may lie outside our control, our values are challenged and our discipline can crumble.

I see this a lot with athletes.

A big injury rocks them, threatening to take away their identity.

For them having a strong support network is essential to them getting back on their feet and committing to the rehab work.

If you are familiar with the BioPsychoSocial model, this ought to make sense.

Bio refers to the physical body, where most medical practice works

Psycho refers to the mind, your personal psychology. Possibly this is what we are trying to affect with talk about values.

Social refers to your network, who is in your corner, and how those peoples values affect you.

A good coach or therapist works in all three areas to help people.

If you're out on your own, either because you genuinely are alone or you have withdrawn from people, then you lose the social part of the model.

If you believe you will fail or you can't beat whatever the challenge is, you lose the psychology part.

And more often than not it's the bio element that is under threat and the reason you need discipline and commitment.

It's a complex topic when you dig into it.

But to simplify and to hopefully give you something actionable, it's worth sitting back and really considering who you are from time to time.

And what better time than at the start of a new year?

Rather than setting resolutions, set values.

What makes you tick?

How did you become the you that you currently are?

Who supports you?

Who doesn't support you?

If you started over again, in a new town maybe with new people around you, would you still be you or might something change?

What are you without your sport, without the gym?

To use a quote from the Avengers:

Steve Rogers: “Big man in a suit of armour. Take that off, what are you?”

Tony Stark: “Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.”

We maybe don't need to be as glib as Tony Stark, but maybe he's onto something.

Without the Iron Man suit, he knows who is.

So should you.

And when you do, the question of discipline becomes moot.

You are a person who does the work or you are not. Discipline has nothing to do with it.

So yeah, values.

They're important

But only if they're real and embodied.

Regards

Dave

www.davehedges.net