Robertson Training Systems Newsletter 5.07
In This Issue:
– Robertson Training Systems Updates
– Posture and Performance
Robertson Training Systems Updates
New Article up at FLzine.com
Here’s a little piece I threw together for FLzine.com; in this piece I rant on corrective exercise, and how much I hate the term. Enjoy!
Mike Rants – Corrective Exercise
Interview up at TheNateGreenExperience.com
I also recently did an interview with Nate Green that went up on his site. It’s short and sweet, but hopefully you can pick up some knowledge!
Podcast back soon
As I alluded to last week, I’ve had some issues with the Podcast in coming weeks that I’m hoping to rectify ASAP. I’m actually meeting with a person from the Apple store tomorrow, so hopefully they can set me straight. I really enjoy the Podcasts and I think they’ll get better, but right now the technical side is leaving me a little bit baffled. Stay tuned!
Posture and Performance
A question I get absolutely all the time is, “Why am I not seeing results in my posture/performance/whatever?” Does my training program totally suck?
The answer? Come on, you already know what it is…IT DEPENDS!
In all honesty, without seeing your training program, it’s hard to say whether it’s the problem. With in-person clients at IFAST, it’s pretty easy to root out issues as we control their programming, training, etc. If they aren’t getting results, most of the time it’s due to things they are doing outside of the gym versus what they’re doing inside it.
Imagine the typical computer programmer who would walk into your gym – their hips are constantly in flexion, their upper back and shoulders are slouched over, etc. Even if you gave this person the absolute perfect program and they executed it to perfection, they may not get results.
Why?
Eric talked about this at length in our Building the Efficient Athlete Series, and it’s due to the law of repetitive motion. Quite simply, we often think of only the big-bang things that influence our posture; as lifters we think squats, deadlifts, bench presses, etc. We analyze and review our programs with a fine tooth comb, making sure that our quad dominant and hip dominant lifts are balanced, our horizontal pulls match our horizontal presses, etc.
But far too often, we forget to account for what we do all day everyday!
This is one of the many reasons I’m such a huge advocate for more soft-tissue, activation and flexibility/mobility work – even the best program is going to have a hard time overcoming repeated postures that you assume throughout the day. In this day and age, we have to use a lot of different tools to maintain good movement capacity, and it only makes sense to take advantage of all of them.
Think about it for a second – do you really expect 3 hours in the gym every week to counteract the fact that you sit at a desk or in your car for 40, 50 or even 60 hours every week?
Really?
Because I hate to break it to you, it’s not going to happen. Those low level stimuli absolutely manifest and develop into something much bigger than you give them credit for. Adaptive shortening of muscles can occur in as little as 20 minutes; that means if you’re sitting at a desk for 8 hours every day, your hips are adapting to that position by getting shorter! This is epitomizes the say “If you don’t use it, you lose it.”
If you are really serious about getting yourself healthy, mobile and resilient, you absolutely must take into account the positions you’re in throughout the day and try to optimize them.
If you sit at a desk, get your hips in extension by performing lunge stretches. Or better yet, get a stand-up desk and cue yourself to tighten up your stomach and glutes while standing.
If you drive all day long, set a timer on your phone to go off every 15 minutes that will cue you to sit-up straight and move around a bit. Fidgeting is not a bad thing!
In essence, everything we do influences our posture and our performance. The question, then, is what you’re doing right now positively or negatively affecting it?
Make the conscious decision throughout the day to optimize your posture and alignment. Doing so will not only help you outside of the gym, but it will improve your performance in the gym as well.
Stay strong
MR