28 Jan
Blog

5 Exercises to Help Athletes (Possibly) Prevent Injury

As strength coaches, an athlete’s health should be the top priority. The role of a strength coach is to prepare athletes to play their sport and compete through strength and conditioning programs that are developed to elevate athleticism.

More importantly, a coach’s job is to help reduce injury both on and off the field. New York University Head Strength and Conditioning Coach and Assistant Athletic Trainer, Joe Mosher (M.Ed, ATC, CSCS, USAW) feels that:

“We have a duty to our athletes to provide them with a program that not only helps enhance their athleticism but also, and maybe more importantly, provides them with a higher level of injury resilience than they had before. I base everything on the idea that if my athletes are healthy and can compete, then they have at least some chance at winning, regardless of who we play. If they are injured and cannot compete then they have zero chance of winning. Even a one percent chance of winning is still better than a zero percent chance at winning.”

Woman on a lifting platform grabbing a barbell with both hands, prepared to do a snatch

No matter how much stronger, bigger, and faster your athletes are compared to the opposition, if they aren’t healthy, they don’t play. Add these five exercises to your programming to give your athletes the best chance at staving off injuries and staying in the game.

Disclaimer: The content on Breaking Muscle is meant to be informative in nature, but it shouldn’t take the place of advice and/or supervision from a medical professional. While many of our contributors and experts have respected certifications and degrees, and while some are certified medical professionals, the opinions and articles on this site are not intended for use as diagnosis and/or treatment of health problems.

Eccentric Hamstring Slide

  • What: Hamstring eccentric strength and posterior chain engagement.
  • Why: Whether you are an athlete, runner, or fitness fanatic, your hamstring health plays a pivotal role in performance. The hamstrings are a critical component of force development for jumping, running, pulling, Olympic weightlifting, and strength training. Additionally, the hamstrings work to decelerate and absorb muscular force throughout the landing phases of the running/gait cycle and help to stabilize the knees and hips during open chained activity. Without proper hamstring health in both the concentric and eccentric phases of muscle actions, you could be leaving your athletes and clients open to nagging injuries, such as muscle pulls and strains and loss of training development.
  • How: Perform this exercise either in the corrective or accessory segment of the workout. The key to doing these is to have controlled lengthening (eccentric) of the muscle, keeping tension and full range of motion (ROM) throughout the movement. Try adding these into your training regimen twice per week, for 2-4 sets of 10-20 controlled (2-3 second eccentric) reps.

90/90 Breathing

  • What: This diaphragmatic breathing technique from the Postural Restoration Institute is great for teaching athletes and clients correct breathing and bracing during lifts and in life. Poor breathing techniques can create stiffness and pain in the neck, shoulders, pectoral muscles, lumbar, and anterior hip. This stiffness, combined with intense exercise, can lead to serious injury if left unnoticed.
  • Why: The ability to brace and breathe through the diaphragm and abdominals is key to more stability and joint function in the hips, shoulders, and spine. By teaching athletes how to breathe under both non-stressful and stressful situations, they can improve performance and decrease the likelihood of injury during running, contact sports, overextended and rotational movements, and life.
  • How: Perform this breathing protocol in the warm-up routine prior to resistance training. This exercise is a great way to mentally prepare athletes and clients to become more in tune with their breathing. More importantly, it gives them the core stabilization they need to perform optimally and safely.

X-Band Walk

  • What: Glute activation, hip external rotation, and hip/knee/ankle stability.
  • Why: Glute development is critical for hip health, which is a key player in deadlifts, squats, Olympic weightlifting, jumping, landing, and running, as well as power production and injury prevention. Additionally, the glutes stabilize the hip and knee joints, which tend to be susceptible to injury without adequate stability.
  • How: Perform this movement either in the corrective or accessory segment of the workout. Depending on the band thickness and the position of the straps, the difficulty can be altered based on the athlete. The farther the bands are from the hip joint, the more resistance. Start with a few sets of 8-10 steps per leg, focusing on strong, controlled steps.

Marches and Skips

  • What: Running, jumping, sprinting mechanics and leg drive technique.
  • Why: The ability to create force is one thing, but most fitness enthusiasts and even some athletes fall short on the ability to apply maximal force using efficient movement mechanics. The result is decreased running speed, economy, wasting of energy, and an increased risk of potential injury. By understanding and engraining sound marches, skips, and running drills in warm-up sets and pre-competition drills, you can teach athletes to not only run faster, but also safer and more efficiently.
  • How: Perform these drills in warm-up sets and/or pre-competition drills. It is imperative to teach the athletes to not allow knee extension as the leg drives upwards, and to maintain proper alignment of the base leg under the torso. Additionally, be sure to have the athlete actively pull the heel to the glutes with the hamstring, and drive his or her foot directly under the center of mass.

Arm Bar

  • What: Scapular stabilization, rotator cuff stability, and shoulder awareness.
  • Why: Whether you are a throwing athlete (baseball, football, softball, volleyball, tennis), weightlifter (snatches and jerks), or avid fitness enthusiast, scapular and shoulder stabilization are critical for optimal force development and injury prevention. The ability to anchor the posterior shoulder will increase the amount of force than can be controlled, decelerated, and ultimately produced at the shoulder joint. Additionally, Mosher states: “(T)he arm bar is a great shoulder disassociation exercise. It teaches the body to move around a stable shoulder. It also trains the rotator cuff in its first actual role of centering the joint as it moves through a full ROM. Lastly, it allows the athlete to develop thoracic mobility at the same time as teaching the shoulder joint to pack tight but still move independently.”
  • How: Perform arm bars either in the corrective or accessory segment of the workout. The key to doing these is to have controlled stability of the shoulder as you turn your body. Make sure to keep the shoulder blades and abs tight, as you stay “stacked” through the upper/mid back. Try these out for 8-10 repetitions per arm, focusing on a brief pause at the top of each repetition.

The Proactive Approach

Take the time to address your athletes’ needs by including these fundamental exercises in their programming. This proactive approach will bulletproof your athletes from injury and keep them on the field and in the gym for years to come.

Learn more about injury prevention:

Programming for Injury Prevention: How to Keep Your Athletes Healthy

The post 5 Exercises to Help Athletes (Possibly) Prevent Injury appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

14 Oct
Blog

Maximize Muscularity and Strength; Minimize Risk of Injury

Jordan Shallow is a chiropractor, strength and conditioning trainer, powerlifter and educator. He is the co-founder of Pre-Script, which is based on the three pillars of mobility, stability and strength.

In this episode:

  • Jordan identifies the missing piece of the puzzle when it comes to improving performance, gaining strength, gaining muscle mass, managing injury risk and developing more resilient athletes
  • He explains how developing a foundation for skills and stability can enable an increase in strength

This is an interview that I've wanted to do for a few months and I'm excited to finally get it done. When you listen to Jordan it becomes clear what your limiting factor is when it comes to getting results. It shows why you get these excruciating injuries or why you keep hitting plateaus in the gym.

I am willing to bet that you will learn that you have had a blind spot when it comes to your programming. What's crazier is that the blind spot has been hiding in sight the entire time.

If you enjoyed this podcast and cared about it, rate and rate it so we can get the word out and motivate and inspire others to take their performance to the next level.

You can find more podcasts like this on the Breaking Muscle Six Pack of Knowledge page. Here you can find all podcasts for most of the available streaming services including iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, YouTube, Stitcher, PlayerFM and PodBean.

I am the host, Tom MacCormick, and I am a personal trainer and online coach whose goal is to be the curator of the greatest hypertrophy experts in the world. If you're interested in working with me or learning more about me, follow him on Instagram @tommaccormick.

14 Oct
Blog

Maximize Muscularity and Strength; Minimize Risk of Injury

Jordan Shallow is a chiropractor, strength and conditioning trainer, powerlifter and educator. He is the co-founder of Pre-Script, which is based on the three pillars of mobility, stability and strength.

In this episode:

  • Jordan identifies the missing piece of the puzzle when it comes to improving performance, gaining strength, gaining muscle mass, managing injury risk and developing more resilient athletes
  • He explains how developing a foundation for skills and stability can enable an increase in strength

This is an interview that I've wanted to do for a few months and I'm excited to finally get it done. When you listen to Jordan it becomes clear what your limiting factor is when it comes to getting results. It shows why you get these excruciating injuries or why you keep hitting plateaus in the gym. I am willing to bet that you will learnYou have had a blind spot when it comes to your programming. What's crazier is that the blind spot has been hiding in sight the entire time.

If you enjoyed this podcast and cared about it, rate and rate it so we can get the word out and motivate and inspire others to take their performance to the next level.

You can find more podcasts like this on the Breaking Muscle Six Pack of Knowledge page. Here you can find all podcasts for most of the available streaming services including iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, YouTube, Stitcher, PlayerFM and PodBean.

I am the host, Tom MacCormick, and I am a personal trainer and online coach whose goal is to be the curator of the greatest hypertrophy experts in the world. If you're interested in working with me or learning more about me, follow him on Instagram @tommaccormick.

27 Aug
Blog

Adapt Workout Goals to Chronic Pain and Injury

There is no getting around it: Chronic pain, be it due to an illness, a persistent injury or an acute incident, sucks.

If you are an active or competitive person and have ever been seriously injured or struggled with significant pain, you know that it can be devastating. If you are a coach or trainer you know that keeping a client motivated and even compliant in this scenario is incredibly difficult, to say the least.

Why can a seemingly superficial problem like an injury trigger such a strong grief response?

People, especially those attracted to competitive or challenging physical activity, generally have a why, what is our ultimate ultimate goal, and the how, how we want to achieve it that motivates us in our training.

When we figure out how this aligns with our goals and makes us feel productive, We often begin to identify with how it relates the ultimate end goal to our ways of achieving it.

If someone's goal is to get stronger and their way to achieve that goal is to stick to a powerlifting program, it is not uncommon for that person to identify as someone who does deadlifts, benches, and squats instead of identifying as a person who generally wants to be stronger.

Pain and injury are uniquely powerful in their ability to keep us away from the things that are fundamental parts of our identity.

When I identify as a powerlifter and suffer a back injury that keeps me deadlifting and squatting for an extended period of time, it feels like a large part of me is gone. That feeling sucks.

When or when the problem becomes chronic, a different set of challenges arise. Often times, we can save our motivation by relying on the idea that our pain or injury is temporary.

When this is no longer the case, we lose hope and can act in harmful ways, e.g. B. by stopping physical activity altogether.

There is a typical process of grieving for injuries that I consider normal and sometimes inevitable. Still, there are specific steps we as athletes and coaches can take to circumvent some of the deleterious effects of this process.

1. Develop a symbiotic, proactive relationship with pain

Develop a symbiotic yet proactive relationship with your pain or injury. Irrational behavior about the harm and pain often stems from an attitude that the pain is or is not an adversary.

When we are seriously injured or in chronic pain, our perception of that pain needs to change so that we can maintain our spiritual well-being and act in a way that supports our ultimate goals.

The first step is to consider the possibility of this restriction not being lifted for a while. Some may call this idea radical acceptance; no matter where you have been or where you want to be, Accept where your body is now.

At the same time, take daily actions to make sure you are doing something to relieve the pain. Work with a qualified practitioner on the proactive piece.

Bottom line: accept your current circumstances, but take steps daily to change them.

2. Think objectively about why and how

Think more objectively about your why, and then find other options. One of the exercises I do with my clients is to explore the roots of their primary goals (AKA, their why).

If we lose our preferred method, we have to find different ways to get to the why. Sometimes the why is not as clear as it seems.

For example, if someone says their end goal is a pullup, their real goal might be:

  • Develop more upper body strength
  • Become more effective on a particular activity
  • To achieve something physically new

Conclusion: get to the bottom of your why. Then start thinking about alternative options.

3. Develop and improve your movement toolbox

Develop and improve your movement toolbox. One of the most powerful insights I see from customers is this When it comes to exercise, there are always other options.

These options are dynamic and can change from day to day. They almost always change as our body adapts to new circumstances and balances them out.

Over time, however, we find that a certain tool (AKA a certain how) is not available to usThere is always another tool that we can use.

In extreme circumstances such as a systemic flare-up or the like, the tool may not be physical, but it still helps us get closer to one of our real end goals. This principle enables us to remain productive and to move despite our acute or chronic limitations.

Bottom line: always have a plan B (and C) ready.

The bottom line of the bottom line

While injury and pain can steal the limelight and seemingly take us away from our goals, we can still make progress by changing our perceptions, realizing what we need, and getting a little creative with our solutions.

Identify, adapt and move.

27 Aug
Blog

Adapt Workout Goals to Chronic Pain and Injury

There is no getting around it: Chronic pain, be it due to an illness, a persistent injury or an acute incident, sucks.

If you are an active or competitive person and have ever been seriously injured or struggled with significant pain, you know that it can be devastating. If you are a coach or trainer you know that keeping a client motivated and even compliant in this scenario is incredibly difficult, to say the least.

Why can a seemingly superficial problem like an injury trigger such a strong grief response?

People, especially those attracted to competitive or challenging physical activity, generally have a why, what is our ultimate ultimate goal, and the how, how we want to achieve it that motivates us in our training.

When we figure out how this aligns with our goals and makes us feel productive, We often begin to identify with how it relates the ultimate end goal to our ways of achieving it.

If someone's goal is to get stronger and their way to achieve that goal is to stick to a powerlifting program, it is not uncommon for that person to identify as someone who does deadlifts, benches, and squats instead of identifying as a person who generally wants to be stronger.

Pain and injury are uniquely powerful in their ability to keep us away from the things that are fundamental parts of our identity.

When I identify as a powerlifter and suffer a back injury that keeps me deadlifting and squatting for an extended period of time, it feels like a large part of me is gone. That feeling sucks.

When or when the problem becomes chronic, a different set of challenges arise. Often times, we can save our motivation by relying on the idea that our pain or injury is temporary.

When this is no longer the case, we lose hope and can act in harmful ways, e.g. B. by stopping physical activity altogether.

There is a typical process of grieving for injuries that I consider normal and sometimes inevitable. Still, there are specific steps we as athletes and coaches can take to circumvent some of the deleterious effects of this process.

1. Develop a symbiotic, proactive relationship with pain

Develop a symbiotic yet proactive relationship with your pain or injury. Irrational behavior about the harm and pain often stems from an attitude that the pain is or is not an adversary.

When we are seriously injured or in chronic pain, our perception of that pain needs to change so that we can maintain our spiritual well-being and act in a way that supports our ultimate goals.

The first step is to consider the possibility of this restriction not being lifted for a while. Some may call this idea radical acceptance; no matter where you have been or where you want to be, Accept where your body is now.

At the same time, take daily actions to make sure you are doing something to relieve the pain. Work with a qualified practitioner on the proactive piece.

Bottom line: accept your current circumstances, but take steps daily to change them.

2. Think objectively about why and how

Think more objectively about your why, and then find other options. One of the exercises I do with my clients is to explore the roots of their primary goals (AKA, their why).

If we lose our preferred method, we have to find different ways to get to the why. Sometimes the why is not as clear as it seems.

For example, if someone says their end goal is a pullup, their real goal might be:

  • Develop more upper body strength
  • Become more effective on a particular activity
  • To achieve something physically new

Conclusion: get to the bottom of your why. Then start thinking about alternative options.

3. Develop and improve your movement toolbox

Develop and improve your movement toolbox. One of the most powerful insights I see from customers is this When it comes to exercise, there are always other options.

These options are dynamic and can change from day to day. They almost always change as our body adapts to new circumstances and balances them out.

Over time, however, we find that a certain tool (AKA a certain how) is not available to usThere is always another tool that we can use.

In extreme circumstances such as a systemic flare-up or the like, the tool may not be physical, but it still helps us get closer to one of our real end goals. This principle enables us to remain productive and to move despite our acute or chronic limitations.

Bottom line: always have a plan B (and C) ready.

The bottom line of the bottom line

While injury and pain can steal the limelight and seemingly take us away from our goals, we can still make progress by changing our perceptions, realizing what we need, and getting a little creative with our solutions.

Identify, adapt and move.

01 Mar
Blog

Build Shoulder Strength to Avoid Injury

The shoulder. Maybe it's not the best design out there, but it does allow people to do some pretty amazing things. When you think about which joints in the human body are most susceptible to injury, there is healthy competition between the shoulder and knee for the top spot,

But it's not a fair fight. The knee is a highly complex hinge joint designed to deal with an insane force in the frontal and sagittal plane that is inherent to the flexion and extension of the joint. The knee contains a series of stabilizing ligaments (ACL, PCL, MCL, LCL) and menisci (medial and lateral) that offer additional stability and act as shock absorbers to deal with varus and valgus forces as well as internal and internal forces.

The shoulder joint and the surrounding muscles, on the other hand, are a kind of ball joint that was primarily developed to stabilize the glenohumeral joint. While this allows for amazing flexibility and freedom of movement (certainly much more freedom of movement than the knee), all of this flexibility and complexity can make the shoulder more susceptible to injury.

Build shoulder strength to avoid injury - fitness, injury prevention, pushups, shoulder, kettlebell, barbell, upper body exercises, stretcher, packed shoulder, shoulder health, whistle, shoulder strength, upper body workout

The shoulder is under pressure

Conclusion: The shoulder is not well designed to deal with the horizontal and vertical forces that we exert on it in strength and condition, But with intelligent programming and thoughtful extra work, you can train hard, push big weights, and avoid the kind of injuries that we've all probably had one or two times and get stronger in the process.

Because of the range of movement that the shoulder is capable of, it is important to train the surrounding muscles so that they are strong in as many of these ranges of movement as possible.

At Gym Jones, we use a series of isometric grips where we ask the shoulder muscles to do what they were designed to do – stabilize the glenohumeral joint. For example:

  1. Double kettlebell / barbell rack
  2. Overhead kettlebell / barbell wears
  3. Mixed kettlebell / dumbbell bears
  4. FLR planks
  5. ring boards
  6. Side boards
  7. Light weight presses with isometric overhead handles
  8. Squat overhead
  9. Slosh pipe carries and holds

Build shoulder strength to avoid injury - fitness, injury prevention, pushups, shoulder, kettlebell, barbell, upper body exercises, stretcher, packed shoulder, shoulder health, whistle, shoulder strength, upper body workout

We also use a number of additional shoulder exercises to get as strong as possible in different areas of movement, including:

  1. Dumbbell side elevations
  2. Leaning over rear delta flies
  3. Breast flies
  4. pushups
  5. Parallel pushups
  6. Ring pushups
  7. pull ups

Feel free to add these shoulder-specific movements and exercises to your existing programming if they are not already available, Remember to stay light enough to ensure perfect technique and only increase weight if you can do it perfectly. Technology is of paramount importance in shoulder work. Don't let your ego sneak in!

Increase your training and increase your strength

As with all other types of training Your sets and rep structures should be progressiveStart at the lowest volume that will adjust and work to the maximum that you can recover from. Go out there and build some bulletproof shoulders.

28 Feb
Blog

Build Shoulder Strength to Avoid Injury

The shoulder. Maybe it's not the best design out there, but it does allow people to do some pretty amazing things. When you think about which joints in the human body are most susceptible to injury, there is healthy competition between the shoulder and knee for the top spot,

But it's not a fair fight. The knee is a highly complex hinge joint designed to deal with an insane force in the frontal and sagittal plane that is inherent to the flexion and extension of the joint. The knee contains a series of stabilizing ligaments (ACL, PCL, MCL, LCL) and menisci (medial and lateral) that offer additional stability and act as shock absorbers to deal with varus and valgus forces as well as internal and internal forces.

The shoulder joint and the surrounding muscles, on the other hand, are a kind of ball joint that was primarily developed to stabilize the glenohumeral joint. While this allows for amazing flexibility and freedom of movement (certainly much more freedom of movement than the knee), all of this flexibility and complexity can make the shoulder more susceptible to injury.

Build shoulder strength to avoid injury - fitness, injury prevention, pushups, shoulder, kettlebell, barbell, upper body exercises, stretcher, packed shoulder, shoulder health, whistle, shoulder strength, upper body workout

The shoulder is under pressure

Conclusion: The shoulder is not well designed to deal with the horizontal and vertical forces that we exert on it in strength and condition, But with intelligent programming and thoughtful extra work, you can train hard, push big weights, and avoid the kind of injuries that we've all probably had one or two times and get stronger in the process.

Because of the range of movement that the shoulder is capable of, it is important to train the surrounding muscles so that they are strong in as many of these ranges of movement as possible.

At Gym Jones, we use a series of isometric grips where we ask the shoulder muscles to do what they were designed to do – stabilize the glenohumeral joint. For example:

  1. Double kettlebell / barbell rack
  2. Overhead kettlebell / barbell wears
  3. Mixed kettlebell / dumbbell bears
  4. FLR planks
  5. ring boards
  6. Side boards
  7. Light weight presses with isometric overhead handles
  8. Squat overhead
  9. Slosh pipe carries and holds

Build shoulder strength to avoid injury - fitness, injury prevention, pushups, shoulder, kettlebell, barbell, upper body exercises, stretcher, packed shoulder, shoulder health, whistle, shoulder strength, upper body workout

We also use a number of additional shoulder exercises to get as strong as possible in different areas of movement, including:

  1. Dumbbell side elevations
  2. Leaning over rear delta flies
  3. Breast flies
  4. pushups
  5. Parallel pushups
  6. Ring pushups
  7. pull ups

Feel free to add these shoulder-specific movements and exercises to your existing programming if they are not already available, Remember to stay light enough to ensure perfect technique and only increase weight if you can do it perfectly. Technology is of paramount importance in shoulder work. Don't let your ego sneak in!

Increase your training and increase your strength

As with all other types of training Your sets and rep structures should be progressiveStart at the lowest volume that will adjust and work to the maximum that you can recover from. Go out there and build some bulletproof shoulders.