Improving the Split Jerk: A Self-Case-Study

#MondayMusings:

Ever since tearing my ACL 3 years ago everything that resembles a lunge has given me problems. They feel uncomfortable and weak in comparison to squatting motions, and have since formed a mental block that has always made me nervous to go heavy – especially on the split jerk. Ever since the @cwcseminar, @elisbad7 has been programming them regularly, and I’ve been using what I knew before, along with cue’s and drills that I picked up from both @quinn.henochdpt and @ricky_redus to work towards evening out the weight with my power jerk.

Step one was to incorporate bottoms up kettle bell presses with a focus on maintaining a stacked spine to work on the strength deficits from one shoulder to another, along with a bias towards keeping my core controlled, spine stacked, and rib cage down. Here is a simple progression and self-cue that I find helps facilitate this by both keeping the ribs down and palpating the serratus anterior. I will be piecing together a review of current literature that speaks on current evidence of unstable load training for unilateral strength improvement and as a rehabilitation tool over the next few weeks.   

#MondayMusings:

There are varying opinions amongst researchers on whether or not training with an “unstable load” is effective or not. Some researchers say there is no striking difference in shoulder activation using a #barbell vs. a #dumbbell at the same weight, some say that training with an unstable load offers no additional benefits for force and power production, and some say that co-contraction of the musculature around the joint is always a good thing.

I follow the train of thought that there is a give and take between what the research says and what has been used as an effective tool in varying settings. I have not stumbled upon a prospective study on the ongoing effects that a majority bilateral training program has on the body, but I know #CrossFit has a lot of it. If you are only using an evenly loaded barbell for the majority of your training chances are your strong side is getting stronger, and your weak side is getting weaker.

The Half Kneeling Landmine Press is a unilateral movement, which some would call intrinsically unstable, and has been shown to cause greater recruitment of the local core musculature, specifically the internal obliques and transverse abdominous. I have found that the specificity of training in this position gives a foundational and simple awareness of what you should be feeling in the feet, hips, core, and shoulder during a #splitjerk. Also, try adding in neuromuscular re-ed because your lock-out is slow, soft, and self-limiting. 3x8-12 with a two second pause at the top, 3 seconds on the way down, explode up.

Cites:

Behm D, Colado JC. THE EFFECTIVENESS OF RESISTANCE TRAINING USING UNSTABLE SURFACES AND DEVICES FOR REHABILITATION. International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy. 2012;7(2):226-241.

Kohler J, Flanagan S, Whiting W. Muscle Activation Patterns While Lifting Stable and Unstable Loads on Stable and Unstable Surfaces. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2010;24(2):313-321. doi:10.1519/jsc.0b013e3181c8655a.

#MondayMusings:

When I was a freshman in high school I remember performing lunges for the first time in an exercise setting, and I hated them. I can picture the trainers face when I said something like, “Yeah, the lunges feel okay, but they really just hurt my big toe.” He seemed bewildered, and stated that in all his years of training, he has never once heard that. It was not until I learned of the Windlass Mechanism that my statement was validated.

Clinicians argue that you need between 45-60 degrees of big toe extension for proper walking mechanics, and 80 degrees for proper running mechanics. When I first goni’d my big toe in PT school I was rocking out at a lackluster 30 degrees, bilaterally. My entire big-toe-life had been a lie. The Windlass Mechanism utilizes the elastic properties of the bottoms of your feet to transfer energy at toe-off during walking and running, and I had utilized virtually none of it for years.

The #WindlassTest is traditionally used as diagnostic tool for ruling in plantar fasciitis, but can also be used to determine hallux rigidus, or a really stiff toe. Here, @djhousebrother and I use it to determine the latter in the first clip.

The stretch performed in the second clip can be utilized both dynamically for a warmup, or held for a prolonged, static stretch. Current evidence suggests that a stretch must be sustained for ~20 minutes to truly add length to the tissue. Tune in Wednesday for exercises and points of performance to solidify positive outcomes. 

#MondayMusings [Extended Edition]:

We’re going to Tarantino this and give you the end first: turn your sound on and listen as @djhousebrother breaks down what your back foot needs to be doing in the #SplitJerk.

If your big toe doesn’t extend, your body will compensate – when walking or running, you may push-off on the outsides of your feet, or your arch will just collapse. In a lunge/split jerk position, that uncomfortable feeling of your big toe slamming into the ground will, in turn, cause the body to move away from that uncomfortable position through compensation – whether that be in the other joints of the foot – or the ankle, knee, and hip. Some can get away with it, others cannot – but if you are not getting into the optimal position, you may not be reaching your maximum potential.

In the second clip, Josh demonstrates a simple Step-1 to gaining motor control in that new range we got from the previous video, all the while focusing on weight bearing through that first ray of the foot. Step-2 increases specificity of the movement in the #lunge – work in a pain-free range as a warm up and work on optimal hip and foot alignment. Then begin to load the movement with 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps, first by increasing depth, then by adding weight to make it a strength training accessory movement. Step-3 is the Bulgarian Split Squat – follow a similar fashion as the lunge by working into depth and tolerance, followed by load, depending on the goal of the athlete.

Clip three, and Step-4 puts it all together in the #JerkBalance – here focus on technique and timing before loading the bar, as the timing of a jerk may be just as beneficial as loading it, especially for beginners. The jerk balance is a great drill to perform between your initial warm up sets to hammer out any inconsistencies.   

A Case Study w/ [sl]Amber

Intro: A Case Study w/ [sl]Amber:

A few hours prior my friend @amberm88 was a Cranky-McCranky-Pants, mopping around the gym with a whole lotta low back pain. She had been unable to pick up a barbell without pain for the past two weeks. Want to see what went into these clips coming to be? Then PAY ATTENTION.

Amber was training hard for a competition. Amber moves a lot of weight frequently. Amber is a proficient and fluid mover. Amber is athletic and knows how to compensate really really well, almost to the point that you probs wouldn’t even notice that something is wrong. WRONG: Amber has a really stiff thoracic spine, or, upper back.

The training that goes into being an elite CrossFit athlete involves weightlifting and gymnastics. These two modalities of movement exist mostly in the sagittal (forward and backwards) plane, this is what one could refer to as a training bias. Considering her impressive athletic history, Amber used to ball on sucka’s in softball and basketball, both of which include frequent thoracic rotation. Now, not so much.

With the foundational idea of treating the athlete as a whole, I made a student-hypothesis: Make one segment move better to offload the other segment. This is what happened.

**Disclaimer**: I am a student, and this is not medical advice. If you are seeking medical advice refer yourself to a local physical therapist.

Testing, Testing; 1, 2, Rotate:

You can think of most joints that don’t move well as a stuck drawer. How do you open a drawer whenever it is stuck? There is a scientific approach to mobilizing joints, but for the sake of simplicity and wit, do you rip that beast straight out? NAH. You wiggle that thing. You wiggle it and then see what happens. More often than not that wiggle will grease the tracks and the drawer will slide right out.

Apply that to your thoracic spine. Amber had limited wiggle once you limited movement in her hips and lumbar spine (low back) on the bench. In my personal experience working extension on a foam roller is waste of time, because you can so easily compensate in other areas.

Not to mention a lack of thoracic rotation can negatively impact the relationship between our shoulder blades ribcage. And who wants their shoulder being codependent and whinny all the time? I certainly don’t. This being said, a hypomobile (doesn’t wanna move) upper back may have negative effects up and down the spine. In Amber’s case, the issue surfaced in her low back.

AAROM, Take a Breathe, Re-Test:

I once read that if you can’t breathe in a position, you don’t own that position. The statement holds true here. I apply gentle pressure opposite the direction that I want Amber to go, I use Active-Assisted Range of Motion (AAROM) to guide her in the range that is there, but dormant. I give her some assistance to hangout in her end range, and to take a few breathes (sped up here).

The same thing can be done by pressing up against a wall, or using a band to pull you in the opposite direction. Just make sure you are moving with your upper back, not your lower. Chances are you have the range of motion, but you don’t know what to do with it because it’s 2017 and everybody has a tight thoracic spine.

SPINE TIP (no, not the coccyx): if one segment is tight, another segment will reflexively “loosen.”

But do you Extend?

Ask a CrossFitter if they’ll get prone on the ground and extend. They’ll get down there, crush it, and look at you and say, “I can do this all day, I can do unbroken “Michael,” [a hero WOD: 3 rounds of 800m run, 50 back extensions on a GHR, 50 situps], duh.” But then you limit the degrees of freedom, and BOOM, #gnarwhale.

Exercisers are fantastic at global extension, but it’s really hard to extend your spine segmentally. I saw @unchainedphysio use this exercise to prevent mashed-potatoes’ing on front squats, but it’s also a great assessment.

Slow your roll, block the hips, and gain some control of how your back extends. I’d say if you can do 3x30 of these your upper back moves just fine.

Your Ribs Aren’t Moving and Your Diaphragm Hates You

The average human takes 12 breathes a minute. There are 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day…and so on and so on, you do the math. I don’t want to, that’s why I’m in physical therapy school. Did you forget that your ribs attach to your thoracic spine? Its in the name ya’ll.

Here’s a way to get the intercostals (muscles between the ribs) working double time to expand your rib cage. If you sit on one side of a seesaw, does the other side move? Yes, yes it does. This is virtually what is happening here, creating much needed movement around a bound down fulcrum.

Focusing on your breathing, and if you start to cough on your exhales that OK – it just means your diaphragm is moving for the first time in awhile. If you don’t have a wallball, just stack some sturdy pillows under your ribcage and give it a go. And if you fall off like Amber, at least you’re already right next to the ground.

Crawl Before You Walk

As infants, we spend most of our time on our back. Our baby-brains instinctually desire movement and exploration, so we rolled onto our side and then on to our stomachs (in prone). You hated it, and you cried – because your little baby neck was entirely too underdeveloped to hold up your disproportionate noggin.

You began to spend to more time here, then you pressed up onto your elbows, then you began to move around. Eventually beginning to pull yourself up on furniture, getting onto your knees, eventually making your way into standing. These concepts apply to learning exercises. It's easier to learn stuff on the ground, especially if you are like me and tend to be a floppy baby. Try 3x12-15 per side of these exercises to build up rotational endurance.

Stop extending solely from your low back and just hanging out on your passive structures. Please: Use your muscles. Progress yourself with these exercises. If King Soloman were a PT he would probs say something like, “Guard your low back above all else, for from it flows the innervation for everything downstream.” PTverbs 4:23