This past weekend was spent primarily traveling to and from Hudson, MA for Eric Cressey and Mike Reinold’s “Testing, Treating, and Training the Shoulder” seminar.  The seminar was great; two four-hour bus rides on either end of an eight hour seminar, however, was not.  A special thanks  goes out to Mo Bro Jim and Erin “Crossfit Girl” for the lift to the train station and Lee for the lift to Cressey’s.  “So, what did you learn?” has been the common question this week, and I really  don’t know where to start.  I learned a lot, but I don’t think anyone really wants to hear me ramble on about the dangers of superior migration of the humerus or glenoid retroversion.  But, if you really are interested, here’s some of my notes:

• European soccer players throw like girls.  The reason for this is that throwing sports are not popular in Europe and therefore they are not exposed to a large volume of throwing as children.  Throwing during the developmental stages, when growth plates are open, increases the amount of external rotation one can get with their throwing arm, a good external range of motion is essential for a good throw.  This is the same reason why girls who don’t play sports as kids will “throw like girls”.

• Mike Reinold has a strong stomach and loves what he does.  He once dissected a cadaver, to get a good look at the posterior shoulder capsule on Thanksgiving morning and was still able to eat that evening.

• If your client presents with a shrug like this when he/she raises their arm.  Refer them out — their rotator cuff is not working.  Do not work  through a shoulder shrug like this.

Photo from mikereinold.com

• The function of the rotator cuff is to center the humeral head within the glenoid fossa, as you see that’s not what’s happening above.

• Don’t burn out the cuff.  Heavy sets of cuff work  will fatigue the cuff, keeping it from doing its job (centering the humeral head on the glenoid fossa).  Once the cuff is fatigued the humerus will migrate superiorly, succumbing to the upward pull of the deltoid, decreasing the subacromial space.  This will cause impingement  which can lead to irritation, inflammation, fraying, and tearing.

• When working with a client who has a rotator cuff pathology it is important to identify what stage they are at, i.e.: irritation, inflammation, fraying, and tearing.

• To be safe, put your classic cuff exercises at the end of the workout and avoid fatigue.  Side lying external rotation has been shown to have the highest EMG reading.

• If you’re looking for some good pre-workout cuff exercises try Rhythmic Stabilizations.  I will have to film a video of this, as I can’t seem to find one demonstrating the manual version taught at the seminar, in the meantime if you have a Body Blade at your gym try this:

• Learn how to bench press.  There are numerous articles out there, and I don’t care how many years you’ve been doing it because you are probably doing it wrong and your shoulders are suffering from it.  Keep your feet on the floor.  No, not on those little pegs.  Keep your feet under your knees or further back.  Squeeze the shoulder — and read here: Yo, How Much Ya Bench?

• Pull more than you push.

• This is still Eric’s favorite pulling/rowing exercise:

I could go on and on, as it truly was a great seminar.  If you are interested in learning more, check Eric’s site in the coming months as a DVD of the event will become available soon.

Happy Monday to all.  I’m particularly excited this Monday morning as I just completed the registration for Eric Cressey and Mike Reinhold’s seminar,  Testing, Treating, and Training the Shoulder: From Assessment to High Performance.  The seminar will be held at Cressy Performance next month, for more info click here.  In other awesome news I will also be going to the Bahamas for the first time this Friday.  Besides these two events it’s pretty much life as usual, only slightly colder.  I didn’t write at all last week, as I was quite busy and quite bummed that I couldn’t squat or deadlift due to a mysterious adductor injury.  So, I’m giving my legs a break for the upcoming weeks and focusing more on my diet, which could always use some tuning and will hopefully distract me from the fact that I can’t workout as much.  My first goal for the diet is to include vegetables or fruit with every meal.  I’ve done this in the past with great results, better body comp and more energy, but have slipped up a little bit in the past weeks.  This week if I don’t have veggies in their classical sense, because of time or location I will use this:

or this:

As for my training I will still be showing up everyday and working on my soft tissue, flexibility, and mobility even if I can’t lift.  I will also have time to  start a series for the blog I’ve been wanting to do for awhile now.  It will be a weekly series showcasing things that people do wrong everyday in the gym.  And of course, I will show you how to do them right.   In closing here’s a similarly themed article by Nick Tuminello, How Not to Warm Up, which features a lot of nasty things that you still see performed everyday in the gym.  Until next time.

Happy Monday All!

This weekend I visited  Cressey Performance, an athletic training facility in Hudson, Massachusetts.  There were a couple reasons for my visit, but the most important was a shoulder evaluation.  Eric Cressey of Cressey Performance is known as “The Shoulder Guy” in the training/strength coach field.  I started my day on  Saturday with a one-hour eval with Eric.  I’ve had a symptomatic shoulder for years, but always put off going to the doctor, for reasons that are beyond the scope of this article…well okay, basically I didn’t want to end up in physical therapy that was prescribed by an out-of-shape doctor (who probably tells all his patients that squats are bad for them) following some cheesy outdated cookie cutter you’ve got a shoulder problem program that’s xeroxed for every “shoulder” person that comes in.  So, I emailed Eric for advice/guidance; maybe he knew of somebody in NYC?   He responded with “can you come to Boston” –whoa, why I didn’t think of that?  Boston is only a 4hr $15 trip/4 hours away on the Fung Wah Bus. “Yes” I responded; this would be a great opportunity to get some solid advice on my shoulder and see a kick-ass facility in action.  Then I found out that CP isn’t actually in Boston and there was no real way to get there with public transportation.  Luckily for me an awesome client of mine was willing to drive me out to Marlborough, MA where I crashed for the night on Friday.  Saturday I woke up and got a car service to CP, and as I passed through legitimate swamps on the way, I realized this place was out there!  When I arrived, the day was just getting going at CP and I was excited to take it all in.   After the eval Eric was kind enough to let me hang out and observe a Saturday afternoon at Cressey Performance, as this was the other reason for my visit.  I love to see and learn what other people are doing in the strength and conditioning field.  Eric, along with Tony Gentilcore and Brain St. Pierre , the two other trainer/coaches at the facility were happy to answer all of my questions.  So, if you are ever in the Boston vicinty, it’s worth it to  stop by and check out Cressey Performance.  Here’s a look at the space and a staff workout (FYI, I don’t know what was going on with the music the day they filmed this.  When I was there the music was quite good although I hear they do have a slight techno problem from time to time). Anyways these guys can all deadlift more than you.