This entry was posted on
March 03, 2010 by Mike Robertson.
It was tagged with
Training.
Ankle Mobility
The winner of our "Rock the Vote" blog post, we're going to discuss the
best ways to integrate Olympic lifts into your training program. What
I'm actually going to do is spread this out over numerous blog posts, as
it's a pretty expansive topic.
DISCLAIMER: I'm not a world-class Olympic lifting
coach. I've spent a lot of hours coaching lifters and working to
improve their performance, but this isn't meant to become the be-all,
end-all O-lift resource. Rather, this is geared towards the average
guy or gal who wants to start utilizing the lifts in their
program.
The first set of posts is going to cover developing the
flexibility/mobility necessary to do some of the basics correctly:
Hold the bar in the front squat position, improve t-spine and hip mobility
in the squat, etc.
Please don't
try the lifts without first developing a certain degree of
mobility/flexibility. I have these horrible visions of a huge,
inflexible bodybuilder going out and trying to full snatch for the first
time after reading this blog post, so please don't be that guy!
He has great mobility - you
probably don't!
Olympic lifters are some of the most mobile athletes in the
world. Even from a joint-by-joint perspective, these guys fit the
bill, as everyone at a high level possess amazing mobility through the
ankles, hips, thoracic spine and gleno-humeral joint.
(Note: If you need to figure out exactly where you need more mobility,
be sure to check out Assess and Correct.)
A Primer on
Mobility
When chatting with former Olympic lifter and good friend Geoff Neupert
a while back, he stated that he developed his mobility by working on it
every single day. In your case, if you really want to get serious
about the lifts, you'll need to get serious about your mobility work as
well.
Let's start by examining the ankle joint, and how you can start to
improve mobility there.
Ankle Mobility
A large degree of dorsiflexion is necessary to squat deep, so that's
where we'll start our journey. Average dorsiflexion is approximately
20 degrees, although Aaron (an O-lifter we trained at IFAST for a year or
so) actually had closer to 35 degrees of dorsiflexion!
Aaron Cunanan - Deep squatter
extraordinaire
From a foam rolling/soft tissue perspective, start by using a lacrosse
ball or foam roller to loosen up the gastroc, soleus, and peroneals.
Improving tissue quality should result in an immediate improvement in
dorsiflexion range of motion.
From there, it's time to actually groove dorsiflexion mobility.
The wall ankle mobilization is a great place to start:
Many have a tendency to perform this exercise incorrectly, so follow
these cues to improve performance:
Weight on the heel and outside of the foot.
Drive the knee forward, or slightly outside the foot (do not go
inside!)
Don't make it a goal to max out mobility on Day 1. Start to
groove proper technique in this exercise, and focus on keeping the weight
on the heel/outside of the foot.
When performing this exercise, you'll probably not a discrepancy
between sides, especially if you have a history of ankle sprains.
Work on getting things symmetrical first and foremost, and then work on
improving total capacity.
Lastly, you can always just throw on a pair of O-lifting shoes and
grealy reduce ankle mobility needs and influences!
In Part II of this series, we'll discsuss hip mobility and how we can
start getting the necessary range of motion to catch those big cleans and
snatches!
This entry was posted on
March 02, 2010 by Mike Robertson.
It was tagged with
Random.
Whirlwind
Ankle Mobility
We're going to go off the beaten path a bit here today, as I give you
the past week's recaps. It's been a busy one, but there's a ton of
great stuff going on that I want all of you to be aware of!
Tomororow we'll get back to formal content, and I'll be writing
up our "Rock the Vote" winner in the coming days as well.
Tuesday
I kid around about it, but I always say that the NFL Combine is one of
the few reasons that anyone knows about Indianapolis (the other main reason
being the Indy 500!)
Regardless, the combine kicked off last week, and as a result, some
really great coaches came into town.
Last Tuesday Bill and I went to dinner at Fogo de Chao with physical
therapist Charlie Weingroff. First off, Charlie may be one of the
smartest guys I've ever met - Dewey Nielsen calls him a "brain with arms
and legs."
Regardless, we had a fantastic dinner and got to talk powerlifting,
vibration training, and a whole host of other topics. Needless to say
it was great stuff, and I can't wait to get Charlie on the phone in the
future to pick his brain.
Wednesday was busy running around all day, in lieu of....
The
Weekend
I flew out to Los Angeles this past weekend for the Cosgrove Business
Seminars, which were hosted by Perform Better.
To say this was a fantastic seminar would be an understatement of epic
proportions. This seminar has literally changed how I look at our
gym, and how we have to run it.
The people around me are probably tired of hearing this, but here
goes: I feel we have a great gym. More than just a gym, I feel
we've developed a great community of clients who are serious about getting
results.
But that doesn't pre-qualify us as being a great business. Bill
and I would both rather be in the trenches working with clients than
designing procedures manuals, phone scripts, and marketing pieces.
In that same breath, though, those are the things that have to be done
for us to enjoy long-term success.
I walked away from the seminar with not only page after page of notes,
but also just a ridiculous amount of ideas in my head that I had to get on
paper. I can see how this seminar is going to revolutionize our gym
and our business.
To Alwyn and Rachel - thank you guys so much for putting on such an
amazing seminar! I know this is only the start, but I can't thank you
enough. I wish every gym owner would take this course so they can
start to envision what their facility can be like.
As well, to Chris Poirier from Perform Better - thanks for always
putting on first-class seminars. Alwyn jokes that people just assume
PB is a seminar company, because they put on such fantastic events.
PB is actually an equipment company, so be sure to check them out when you
need supplies.
Coming back Sunday night, sleeping was not an easy thing - between jet
lag and the numerous ideas bouncing around in my head, sleep wasn't the
best
This all leads me to yesterday...
Monday
I worked in the AM on all sorts of gym stuff, and then coached at IFAST
in the evening. Last night, Bill and I headed downtown again to meet
with Chip Morton, head strength coach of the Cincinnati Bengals.
I have no qualms saying Chip is an extremely intelligent guy, and it's
very cool to hear about some of the plans he's got for training his players
in the upcoming months. Dinner topics ranged from assessments and
evaluations, all the way to football-specific training and
conditioning.
(Random Side Note: Sitting in Shula's, I turn around last night and was
forced to do a double-take: "Neon" Deion Sanders was sitting right
behind me! Luckily I didn't shriek like a little school girl, but
that was crazy. It got crazier when 2 minutes after that, Rex Ryan
walked in as well. That dude is a BIG guy!)
Needless to say, it's been a hectic (yet exciting!) week.
Hopefully over the course of the next few days we'll get some traction and
start cranking on the content again.
One last thing - every time I get to travel, train people at my gym, or
just hang out with like-minded individuals, I'm reminded how lucky I am to
do what I love every single day.
Thank you all for supporting me. I sincerely hope that my work is
benefitting you in some form or fashion!
This entry was posted on
February 22, 2010 by Mike Robertson.
It was tagged with
Exercise of the Week.
External Rotation on Knee
Ankle Mobility
In today's edition of "Exercise of the Week," we're going to cover a
simple, yet effective, rotator cuff exercise.
The external rotation on knee not only helps develop strength in the
shoulder external rotators, but can also help you discern the difference
between actual shoulder rotation and scapular motion.
Finally, training in the scapular plane just feels good to many who
have a previous history of shoulder issues.
To begin, here's the exercise:
Some key points with regards to execution:
Use a slow, controlled tempo throughout. It doesn't always have
to be as slow as the video, but this isn't an exercise where you want to
use a lot of momentum and stretch-shortening reflex.
Many will have a tendency to substitue scapular anterior tilt for
shoulder internal rotation. To counteract this, place your
non-working hand on your shoulder/scapula. When you are lowering the
weight, make sure you're only
moving from your shoulder - not your shoulder blade! Your
off-hand can help cue you until you become more aware.
I typically use higher reps for these - the lowest I'll go is
generally sets of 8, but most of the time I'm working in the 8-15 rep
range. Try using a 2-0-2 or 3-0-3 tempo to begin.
Once you've mastered the isolative stuff, feel free to progress to
higher level (and more integrated) exercises such as PNF patterns and more
"reflexive" 'cuff work.
You've got to start somewhere, though, and this is a great exercise to
develop some basic strength, stability and body awareness around the
shoulder. Enjoy!
This entry was posted on
February 22, 2010 by Mike Robertson.
It was tagged with
Q&A.
Under Construction
Ankle Mobility
Below is a Q&A response that I wanted to post up. Hopefully it
will help those of you out who are hoping to open your own gym/fitness
facility someday!
Hi Mike,
I really enjoy reading your level
headed and erudite advice on your newsletter, Fitcast, Mens Health, etc.
I am an aspiring entrepreneur, not unlike yourself, and
looking into starting up a gym in the XYZ area. I am emailing you to see if
you have any advice to get me started in the right direction,
specifically:
1) What resources did you utilize when
doing market research for your gym? 2) What mistakes did you make in
the planning process that would be easily avoidable? 3) Any resources
I need to be looking at regarding starting a gym?
I
really appreciate any time you could give me, if only to simply point in
the right direction.
1 - Here are the things Bill and I looked for when opening our
gym:
Price per square foot (PPSF)
You could go
a few hundred feet towards the primary road in our area and literally
triple your PPSF. We didn't need visibility, as we're not your typically
"drive-by and join" gym.
Travel Location
We wanted to be near major
intersections and highways. This was critical, as it would get people
to and from our gym faster. I think the general rule of thumb is
people are willing to drive about 20 minutes max to go to your gym.
General Location
This jumps off the
previous point. If people are only going to drive 20 minutes to see
you, you don't want to be in a horrible part of town. We're in a
fairly centralized location that's not only easily accessible, but right in
between several affluent communities.
Competition
I'm assuming you also want to
know how we scoped out competition. In all honesty, I didn't care who
was around us. Bill and I know what we're capable of, and what we
bring to the table. I think other fitness facilites will have to plan
around us, versus the other way around. We're in a unique
demographic, have a higher price point, and offer much more customized
services than anywhere else near us.
(Yes, I realize this may
sound a little arrogant, but I feel we're the best place in our
area.)
2 - As far as planning goes, I'm not so sure we made major
mistakes. Instead, what was more evident was that we simply hadn't
run a business before!
The training/assessment side is actually easy for us in the grand
scheme, because Bill and I are both technicians versus managers or
entrepreneurs. The hardest part for us is on the
repeatability/systems side of things. If you haven't picked up the
E-myth yet, I would do it immediately. Too many of us are technicians
for life, and we wonder why our gyms fail.
3 - I would start off with the E-myth, as well as attending a Cosgrove
Business seminar or mentorship. I'm actually heading to one this
weekend, as I know it will take IFAST to the next level.
4 - You didn't ask a fourth question, but I'm going to give you a piece
of advice that has really paid dividends for me.
I have tried a lot of direct marketing stuff, and not really seen the
result. This is costly in two ways - first off, I'm spending money
and not seeing a return. Second, I was designing a lot of the stuff
up front as well. So I was wasting time and money (yes, I'm sure AC
is having a fit as he reads this. It's just my experience up this
point.)
That said, we've had a huge ROI from our website, Facebook pages,
etc. The book Guerilla Marketing talks about all the things you can
do for free to promote your business, and it's even more true now than ever
before. There are so many platforms out there to help you promote
your business, you absolutely must take advantage of them.
Build a blog.
Create a Facebook fan page.
Start a Twitter account.
Anything you can do to generate interest and "buzz" will help you build
your brand, and therefore your business.
That's not to say I've given up one direct marketing, as I
haven't. I just have to become more disciplined and focused to really
make it work. In the beginning, however, you can save a lot of cash
and still develop a ton of momentum without breaking the bank on
marketing.
