Eric,
I was wondering about your ideas on a few things. Olympic Lifts, specifically a snatch for taller athletes, anything to worry about when doing it in a longer range of motion, possibly in the shoulder?
Hey Eric I messaged you a while back about my shoulder, I have getting ART treatments, the back of the shoulder healed up great. after doping post. delt exercises, recommended in combination with ART, and combination cold and heat therapy helped a lot as well, now the top of the shoulder is being treated, is there a reason the top bothers me now on right shoulder, I did notice what I think on the left shoulder as an imbalance where the left shoulder hurts when I bench press, I did post delt exercises equally with both shoulders, do you have recommendations for rehab. exercises for top of the shoulders, i still do the post delt exercises each week to balance every thing out, or even what should i do for front delt, or front of my shouders, I have been going light on overhead presses kinda heavy but not too much weight, and side raises and front raises seem to help as well thanks for you input
Eric
AC joints are a pain in the butt, as the restraints to excessive mobility are purely ligamentous in nature (unlike, for example, the glenohumeral joint, which is a combination of muscular and ligament restraints). Rehab modality will depend on the severity of the sprain (assuming you had one at some point).
Regardless, once inflammation is killed down a bit, a comprehensive scapular stability program is your best bet. Lots of seated rows, external rotations, face pulls, prone trap raises, etc. are good bets.
As far as duration of ice application is concerned, there really isn’t a good consensus in the rehab community on what is best. The broad recommendation is 15-30 minutes in order in order to get the desired results. These recommendations are based more on anecdotal evidence than any concrete data. Personally, I don’t get much more out of anything over 20 minutes, although I’m rarely icing large joints like the hip, and I’m pretty lean (see below).
How long you ice is dependent on four main factors:
-
The amount of subcutaneous body fat you have (fatter = longer).
-
The position of the ice pack relative to neural structures (you don’t want to ice a nerve for very long!). Big problems can result from icing, for instance, the ulnar nerve or common peroneal nerve because of nerve palsy related to localized pressure.
-
The target tissue (bones require longer than muscles, tendons, and ligaments)
-
The size of a joint (larger joints need longer).
In your case, 15-20 minutes should suffice.
Is that BSU as in Ball State?
[quote]BSUbird wrote:
Eric,
Quick question regarding inflammation in my AC joint (painful when benching, lat pulldowns, etc.) I was curious the proper amount of time for applying Ice. I have been told to ice as long as tolerable to a maximum of 15 mins.
Also any recommendations to rehab this injury. Obviously, stay away from heavy incline pressing.[/quote]
Unfortunately, I haven’t come up with any measurements to this; I can generally just tell by looking at someone and watching them lift.
Also, what is the name of that basement gym you were talking about in downtown Hartford?
Natural Bodies Fitness Center is the regular gym with which it is affiliated. 1064 Main St in East Hartford # 860- 291-8484. I’ll probably only be there 1-2 more times, as I’m moving elsewhere in CT soon. I can definitely hook you up with a good training partner there, though. In the meantime, shoot me an email and we might be able to get together for a session or two when I’m in the area.
[quote]jodgey wrote:
EC –
In your D-tap interview, you mentioned about the tweeners 6’3 - 6’ 7". I am 6’6", but not sure if I am long torsoed or long limbed. Or maybe just short torso, short legged, and big fucking headed.
What criteria do you use for this? Or is it kind of a sliding scale, ie the longer the limbs, the more of the supporting exercises you must do.
Interested in your thoughts.
Great interview, packed with sweet info.
Also, what is the name of that basement gym you werer talking about in downtown Hartford?
Tim [/quote]
[quote]brotzfrog10 wrote:
sorry for all the question Eric but one more thing is on my mind. my gym does not have a power rack or anything of the like, just a smith machine. should i avoid this machine like the plaque.[/quote]
I’d avoid it; there are a lot of other exercises you can use that will make you a better athlete with a more impressive physique. You might find some uses for it (bench throws, inverted rows), but on the whole, I wouldn’t spend too much time with it when there are barbells calling your name. May I ask why you aren’t looking for a new gym? J
[quote]
I also remember in another post you said that single leg variations of leg exercises would be adequate for strength and balance but you felt that spinal loading or the lack of might be a problem. should i everyonce and a while do a set of squats on the machine or maybe just load up the bar with as much as possible and hold it for a certain amount of time.[/quote]
You can get that loading in ways other than squatting, although it probably won?t be of the same magnitude. Overhead pressing, deadlifts, and other compound exercises provide plenty of stimuli in this regard.
That just tells me that you have a very long torso and short legs. Chances are that you are a good bencher and squatter for your size, and you respond well to anything that strengthens your lower back ? and the best way for you to improve on squats and benches is to perform those lifts. I can’t say anymore; that would ruin the surprise! 
[quote]brotzfrog10 wrote:
sorry Eric another question. this one relates to adjusting ones training based on limb lengths. i only stand 6’2 but my inseam is only 29inches. this makes my torso much longer should i adjust in any way[/quote]
There are a lot of reasons, although I’m not as opposed to them as you seem to think. I actually use variations of the barbell row frequently in my own training. I think they get somewhat of a bad rap because there is a tendency to cheat with heavy weights, but this can actually b advantageous if you’re doing barbell rows to help your deadlift.
Also, most people row to get scapular retraction, and barbell rows tend to be inferior to other variations in this regard because of the tendency to focus on humeral extension rather than scapular retraction. Cable rows are better for this purpose.
[quote]lavi wrote:
how come barbell rows seem to rarely be recommended by wsb, strength coaches, and you?[/quote]
Yes. They respond very well to foam rolling, ART, and regular ol’ stretching. We also tend to drop box squats in the short-term and focus on free squatting to give their hips a break. Squat briefs can help as well. Above all, glute activation work is key, as the glutes work antagonistically to the TFL.
[quote]
I emailed you awhile back about my rotating sacrum.I told you I was doing trap bar deads off twenty five pound plates.Do you think that this is too quad dominant? I figure it is a lot of quads but it should give some good glute stimulation because of the upright position.But I am not quite parallel ,so not deep enough for max glute stimulation. [/quote]
The glutes will be more important at lockout when you need to posteriorly tilt the pelvis to neutral. They’ll definitely be assisting with the hip extension component, but if you have existing imbalances, chances are that the hamstrings and lumbar erectors will just take over. If you want to hammer your glutes, single-leg exercises and speed pulls against bands are king.
[quote]beefcakemdphd wrote:
Eric,
squatting irritates my IT bands. Have you have any experience treating powerlifters that get IT band irritation with squatting?
beef[/quote]
Hey Eric,
A lot of people talk about Squatting and Deadlifting in the same week as being too taxing, but if a person were to stick with a more Quad-dominant exercise such as Front Squats,Olympic Squats or Hack Squats would that be okay? What if a person were to use Snatch-grip deadlifts?
I accidentally answered this part of the question in my last post; I’m copying and pasting from Microsoft Word because my computer has been acting up a bit lately and I don’t want to lose posts after they’re complete. Sorry about that.
[quote]couture205 wrote:
I emailed you awhile back about my rotating sacrum.I told you I was doing trap bar deads off twenty five pound plates.Do you think that this is too quad dominant?I figure it is a lot of quads but it should give some good glute stimulation because of the upright position.But I am not quite parallel ,so not deep enough for max glute stimulation.[/quote]
I think that it has its place, but those using it need to do a better job of understanding where such training fits in. My thesis is almost done; hopefully, it will shed some light on the subject.
[quote]couture205 wrote:
I believe I know what you think about unstable surface training for athletic training.Is it safe.For example doing squats on either side of the bosu.I work as a trainer and people just love that crap.I could see where it could be quite stressful to the ankle area.[/quote]
Yes, but to a lesser extent. You can shift around activation patterns just by changing grips as well, for instance. The more vertical you are, the more lats you’re using.
[quote]Vyapada wrote:
Hi Eric,
Does the internal rotation apply to pullups to the sternum (and variations: on rings, knee tuck, etc) the movement looks like it occurs in the same plane as a horizontal row…
Cheers[/quote]
McGill’s Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance is an awesome read. Essentially, bracing refers to locking the rib cage to the pelvis. You’ll often hear about powerlifters pushing out against their belts; this is just an extension of the bracing concept. The “tummy suck” philosophy emerged from misinterpreted findings and applications of research on the TVA in those with lower back problems.
I’m sorry to see Jay Payton go…
[quote]smallnomore wrote:
Hey Eric, in the D-tap you said something about bracing your core musculature properly, rather than “sucking it in”, as in popular literature. Can you explain this in further detail, or direct me to some place I can read more about it?
Thanks
Go Sox![/quote]
Some tall athletes can handle them, and others can’t. It depends on a lot of factors besides just height.
Without really getting into the details of it, I’ll just say that I’m not a blind follower of the Olympic lifting mentality, and I think that a lot of athletes would be much better off reducing or altogether eliminating the overhead work in their programming.
[quote]fusion360 wrote:
Eric,
I was wondering about your ideas on a few things. Olympic Lifts, specifically a snatch for taller athletes, anything to worry about when doing it in a longer range of motion, possibly in the shoulder?
[/quote]
Sounds more like a supraspinatus injury, although it could have just been that you’ve corrected the infraspinatus component of your impingement and are dealing with a more “classic” case now. I wouldn’t be doing any overhead pressing or lateral raises for now; increase the volume of rows and external rotations and I’d be willing to bet that you feel better in a few weeks.
[quote]Ejonesunt wrote:
Hey Eric I messaged you a while back about my shoulder, I have getting ART treatments, the back of the shoulder healed up great. after doping post. delt exercises, recommended in combination with ART, and combination cold and heat therapy helped a lot as well, now the top of the shoulder is being treated, is there a reason the top bothers me now on right shoulder, I did notice what I think on the left shoulder as an imbalance where the left shoulder hurts when I bench press, I did post delt exercises equally with both shoulders, do you have recommendations for rehab. exercises for top of the shoulders, i still do the post delt exercises each week to balance every thing out, or even what should i do for front delt, or front of my shouders, I have been going light on overhead presses kinda heavy but not too much weight, and side raises and front raises seem to help as well thanks for you input
Eric [/quote]
The overwhelming majority of people can squat and deadlift in the same week regardless of what variation they use. It’s only in those who are VERY strong that they need to start adjusting things.
[quote]KJ Bridgewater wrote:
Hey Eric,
A lot of people talk about Squatting and Deadlifting in the same week as being too taxing, but if a person were to stick with a more Quad-dominant exercise such as Front Squats,Olympic Squats or Hack Squats would that be okay? What if a person were to use Snatch-grip deadlifts?[/quote]
Eric,
Thanks for the reply. You got it buddy, I am currently working on my master’s degree in exsci physiology studying under Dr. Todd Trappe.
The inflammation is starting to come in check and I currently employ all the rehab measures you outlined.
Just a frustrating injury.
[quote]Eric Cressey wrote:
There are a lot of reasons, although I’m not as opposed to them as you seem to think. I actually use variations of the barbell row frequently in my own training. I think they get somewhat of a bad rap because there is a tendency to cheat with heavy weights, but this can actually b advantageous if you’re doing barbell rows to help your deadlift.
Also, most people row to get scapular retraction, and barbell rows tend to be inferior to other variations in this regard because of the tendency to focus on humeral extension rather than scapular retraction. Cable rows are better for this purpose.
lavi wrote:
how come barbell rows seem to rarely be recommended by wsb, strength coaches, and you?
[/quote]
Along with this, do you think that the stronger you get (i.e. wsb) the more toll you place on your lower back (in relation to your rowing strength), and as such if your doing sufficient lower body training that toll may be too great?
I always thought that was why those stronger guys over at westside rarley did them?
Cheers
Good stuff; we’ve got a lot of BSU alums and former faculty members here at UCONN. I hear that Robertson guy didn’t turn out to badly, either…
[quote]BSUbird wrote:
Eric,
Thanks for the reply. You got it buddy, I am currently working on my master’s degree in exsci physiology studying under Dr. Todd Trappe.
The inflammation is starting to come in check and I currently employ all the rehab measures you outlined.
Just a frustrating injury.[/quote]
[quote]Tags wrote:
Eric Cressey wrote:
There are a lot of reasons, although I’m not as opposed to them as you seem to think. I actually use variations of the barbell row frequently in my own training. I think they get somewhat of a bad rap because there is a tendency to cheat with heavy weights, but this can actually b advantageous if you’re doing barbell rows to help your deadlift.
Also, most people row to get scapular retraction, and barbell rows tend to be inferior to other variations in this regard because of the tendency to focus on humeral extension rather than scapular retraction. Cable rows are better for this purpose.
lavi wrote:
how come barbell rows seem to rarely be recommended by wsb, strength coaches, and you?
Along with this, do you think that the stronger you get (i.e. wsb) the more toll you place on your lower back (in relation to your rowing strength), and as such if your doing sufficient lower body training that toll may be too great?
I always thought that was why those stronger guys over at westside rarley did them?
Cheers[/quote]
Makes a lot of sense. That’s a lot of stabilization work to do.