Last year Michael Boyle released his infamous “The Death of Squats;“ it caused a bit of controversy to say the least.  A couple weeks after that my friend Jonathan asked me, “Have you heard the new death of?”  I replied, “No.”  “The death of push-ups.” he said.  “What!?” I exclaimed.  “Yeah, Boyle’s going after push-ups now,” he replied seriously.  He caught me a couple of times with jokes like this, then it just became a daily thing — every day would be the death of a different exercise or a piece of equipment.  Hence, today I bring you the death of the Bosu balls.

Why do I hate the Bosu ball?  You know that “little half-ball” that all the regulars in your chain gym are always looking for?  “Excuse me, do you know where the Boosoo ball is?” Huh?  “You know the blue ball, with the flat side…it’s for your “core”…”  At this point in time I usually bite my tongue, point in the direction of one of the stupidest things in most commercial gyms, and then my client and I begin laughing and making fun of whoever just asked for it.  Thankfully I’m no longer in this setting, but I was for years and tolerated a lot of ridiculousness like that and this:

That’s right; after finding the Bosu ball stupid exercises always ensue.  The most popular exercises to do on this waste of time are usually performed with pink dumbbells. I know someone out there is shouting “Not me!  I go heavy!  I do push-ups on three of them!”  This is the other problem with this device: it attracts “look at me” types and their circus-trick exercises.  So, there you have it; you can yield pink dumbbells and wobble around and wonder why you never get stronger, lose weight, or obtain the “core” that you’re working so hard to achieve.  Or you can look like a jackass, or possibly some other dude will think you’re awesome (that’s right I don’t think chicks care about your Bosu skills) and  then proceed to waste his time doing the same absurd exercises. There really is no good way you can go with this thing.  Even worse, if you’re an athlete and spend your time training on one of these things, you could end up decreasing your performance as Cressey et al. found in their study, “The effects of 10 weeks of  lower-body unstable surface training on markers of athletic performance.”

But what about for rehab,  you may ask? There is some research to say that it’s effective in this setting, but I never see anyone come into a gym take off a shoe, and stand on a Bosu ball to rehab an ankle injury.  And why the Bosu? I hope PTs quit wasting their money on these things, as there are other less ridiculous-looking and cheaper devices for this type of training.  I also feel that this is something we need to kill the use of, even if there are two good things you could do with it. Is it really worth the purchase?  There is an infinite number of stupid things you can do with it and as an industry (both performance and rehab), we need to get this thing out of the picture — the people have been lied to for too long.  Death to the Bosu ball.

Happy Monday.  In case your dragging today, I’ve included a motivational image; look at those guys getting after it with bars loaded with barbwire.  If you’re still thinking your gym sucks because they don’t have a glute ham raise get over it, or maybe you just need to watch this video.  No excuses.

In my last post outlining my goals for 2011 I forgot one thing: to increase my use of social media.  I don’t know why I said increase, I don’t really use it at all, but that’s about to change.  I’ve gotten myself a Twitter account now and need to update the Facebook account which I haven’t really touched in a couple of years.  I’ve been one of those stubborn types who criticizes social media and wishes for the days of no cell phones and books that had actual, tangible pages.  Well, I don’t think I can hold out any longer, after listening to a recent podcast and hearing Michael Boyle say this about social media:

“What you realize is that the influence is being wielded by the people who are using the internet, whether you like it or you don’t like it…You’ve got to be on Facebook, you’ve got to have a blog, you’ve got to be on Twitter.  If you’re not doing this stuff then you’re falling behind…if you don’t embrace the current marketing with in that business, then you’re probably doomed to fail.”

Doomed to fail!  We don’t want that, so social media here we come, from now on every time I bench press, go to the bathroom, or write a new blog post, all of my “friends” will know!  Not quite, but Boyle is right it’s time to step up my internet presence, I’m falling behind.

This might seem ironic, as I’ve had a blog for some time, but I’ve never gone out of my way to tell others to read it.  And I always thought having a bunch of “friends” I don’t know on Facebook was kind of weird, but if the guys who don’t train people are getting all the praise simply because of their web presence, well we can’t have that then.

In other random news, I’ve finished Dan John’s new book Mass Made Simple.  I will write a review once I do the program.  It will probably be a little bit until my body can handle the squatting load in the program.  Bodyweight for 50 reps!

Also, Eric Cressey put out a nice blog post last week entitled 5 Reasons Direct Rotator Cuff Work is Necessary in a Strength Training Program.  Check it out, and remember to program your traditional cuff work like cable external rotations after all of your upper body lifts, to further prevent impingement.

There are two great seminars coming up, the first is Sports Rehab to Sports Performance Teleseminar – 2010 .  The teleseminar is free and begins next Weds., January 27th at 8pm est.   The first teleseminar will feature Gray Cook and Shirley Sharmann.  There will be  eight teleseminars/interviews,  one will be posted per week for eight weeks( all free).  The speakers are:

Shirley Sahrmann

Gray Cook

Robert Panariello

Dr. Stuart McGill

Dr. Craig Liebenson

Clare Frank

Dr. Michael Reinold

Greg Rose

Michael Boyle

Gary Gray

Eric Cressey

To sign-up click here.

The second seminar unfortunately is not free and you will have to leave your couch to listen.  It is The Summit of Strength and Conditioning and Sports Medicine Leaders , to be held at The University of Louisianna at Monroe on Feb 19 – 20.  This one also has some great speakers including:

Al Vermeil

Dr. Don Chu

Johnny Parker

and once again my very own PT, Robert Panariello

Happy Learning.

In my last post, I spoke about the use of rythmic stabilizations as a warm-up activity for the rotator cuff and included a video of a body blade variation.  At the Testing, Treating, and Training the Shoulder Seminar we learned how to perform them using manual resistance, here is a video of this version from Eric Cressey.

This past weekend was spent working, ice skating (I’m horrible), and reading everything posted on 70’s Big.com.  Although you won’t catch me drinking a 1/2 gallon of whole milk or eating meat sides with meat entrees I do enjoy their content.

“It’s currently in vogue to have a spindly, thin appearance which is typically accompanied by a low body fat percentage. Regardless of why this has come to be, those who have such an appearance are not very useful. Imagine asking someone of this “stature” to help you move your car out of the road, haul some lumber, or even fend off a potential zombie attack. It simply wouldn’t be feasible.”  To read more check out 70’s Big.com.

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.