Strength is Never a Weakness: June 2015

Tuesday 30 June 2015

Dr Luke Thomas Chiropractic Series: Issue 1 Shoulders

Mobility, stability, inhibition and compensation. These seem to be the biggest buzz words in the fitness/strength/healthcare professions at the moment, with guru like figures regularly feeding us tit bits of information that tantalize us into purchasing tickets to seminars hoping to acquire other worldly knowledge of the nervous system and human movement. We are all, including myself, suckered into this trap looking for a "magic pill" to help us "unlock the power of the nervous system" or become a "supple leopard" or some manor of other beast.

This stuff interests us, it also sells well; Personal trainers are more and more commonly giving out mobility prescriptions as part of their packages, we are rolling around on foam rollers and digging lacrosse balls into what we assume are trigger points. I hope to clear up some of this recent confusion as well as challenging some of these dangerous, naive viewpoints that seem to be taking hold in people that should know better.

I'm going to try to convince you that 90% of this is marketing sensualism and in reality most topics are pretty simple to understand when you apply some basic biomechanical logic.

The biceps flex the elbow. The triceps extend the elbow. The infraspinatus externally rotates the humerous. All of these statements are irrefutably true, and you will be taught every single one of these in any biological science and you probably always will be, but let me challenge this for you.

Mr Richardson comes into my office, he has a rotator cuff tendonosis which he has had for months. We find that the external rotators have switched off, what do we do ? Prescribe 3x10 external rotations with a theraband, for the end of time, or until the pain fades and you stop being bothered. So what has been accomplished here? All we can hoped to have done is increase the body’s ability to perform an external rotation with a theraband, this follows the famous SAID principal (specific adaptations to imposed demands). We have not changed the speed of contraction, the global stabilization, the mobility in the thoracic spine or the stabilization in the transverse abdominis.

We have in effect done nothing to prevent his problem from reoccurring; he may as well have taken ibuprofen and waited.

"The biggest predictor of injury is previous injury"

Someone is messing up here? We have chiropractors, osteopaths, strength and conditioning coaches, physiotherapists, and rehabilitation specialists. We have a new buzz word every couple of years, core strength, functional fitness, dynamic stability. Nothing is working, people are still getting injured over and over again, patients once out of pain are discharged and sent back to the gym, only to represent weeks/months later. So what are we missing?

Pain is the last thing to appear and the first thing to disappear, dysfunction is deviation from the ideal ROM/a lack of stability and far more pertinent to us as athletes. Mike Boyle and Gray cook have created a joint by joint approach to mobility and stability that clears up many issues for us as powerlifters/athletes.

I'll stick to the upper body as that was the example used earlier

Lumbar spine - stable

Thoracic spine- mobile

Scapulae - stabile

Glenohumeral - mobile

Elbow - stable

Wrist- mobile

Makes sense right? So let's apply this to Andrew and his rotator cuff - Andrews thoracic spine is stiff, which throws off the stability in the scapula allowing his shoulders to round which locks up his Glenohumeral joint ramming his supraspinatus tendon into his acromioclavicular arch. Now when we apply those theraband external rotations we can see they are doing pretty much nothing at all to solve the patient’s problems on a larger scale. Until the thoracic spine starts to move the scapulae will always try to compensate for it by moving in excessive and unnecessary ways never giving the Glenohumeral joint a chance to do its job.

So once I've treated Andrew I would endeavor to check that he has sufficient motion/stability patterns before discharging him back to his sporting activity, this way I know I've done the best job possible with regards to banishing the injury long term.

This concept is fantastically elaborated on my Gray cook in "movement". Gray has developed a functional movement screen which encompasses some basic movements, including a lunge, squat, hurdle step, straight leg raise, and shoulder mobility, alongside a few others. These patterns are observed and given a quantitate score reflecting the quality of the movement.

The author is quick to establish that this is not about spotting a "tight psoas" when viewing a lack of unilateral hip extension while lunging. This would of cause be our first thought, we may even go as far as diagnosing an "inhibited" glute, which to our clients sounds very technical and leads us onto a nice easy corrective prescription of glute bridges. However the unilateral lack of hip extension wasn't picked up on in any other movements, why? Because the glute is not inhibited and would probably test strong if we were to isolate hip extension, so why the poor patterning in the lunge? The issue is normally an asymmetry in the perceived neuromuscular stability while in a split stance, most likely causing the body to clamp down by locking up the psoas. Less easy to say and less easy to prescribe correctives for!

Finally with regard to powerlifting specifically I'll hit a few FAQ’s. Let's start with the most common pain - elbow pain. You should all know that if you load your wrist in extension you’re going to explode your flexors... So I'll skip over that. "Low bar squat position gives me bad elbow pain" "take your hands out further then" or sort the issue out and keep that desired upper back tension. So elbow pain: First we try to smash the it apart with balls, massage, ice, anti-inflammatories and general broscience, but it's not worked and you’re still getting pain. You buy a copy of ‘Becoming a Supple Leopard’, you read it cover to cover, genius it's my subscapularis, aggressive stretching of your internal rotators commences increasing the mobility at the Glenohumeral joint… great; but again it comes back. Until we chase all the way up the kinetic chain, right into the thoracic spines mobility problem, or occasionally as far down as the lumbar spine’s stability then we will never sort this elbow pain out.

As you can see applying our basic biomechanical principals that are frequently neglected in healthcare/personal training can yield amazing results.

Information contained within this entry was taken from Gray cook’s movement, Mike Boyle and Evan Osar’s corrective exercise for the hip and shoulder.

Disclaimer: I have never treated Andrew for a rotator cuff issue!

Written by Dr Luke Thomas Neal MChiro Chiropractor at North Down Chiropractic Clinic, Bangor. Luke frequently treats a number of local elite level power lifters in his clinic as well as members of the general public.

Luke's clinic: http://www.northdownchiro.co.uk/

I hope you all enjoyed reading this article. There will be more guest articles from now on and especially from Luke. I personally believe it is good to expand your own viewpoints and interpretations of a topic through learning off other fields of work such as Chiropractor's, Physiotherapists etc.

Thank you Luke for an enjoyable read

Andrew Richardson, Founder of Strength is Never a Weakness Blog

I have a BSc (Hons) in Applied Sport Science and a Merit in my MSc in Sport and Exercise Science and I passed my PGCE at Teesside University.

Now I will be commencing my PhD into "Investigating Sedentary Lifestyles of the Tees Valley" this October 2019.

I am employed by Teesside University Sport and WellBeing Department as a PT/Fitness Instructor.

My long term goal is to become a Sport Science and/or Sport and Exercise Lecturer. I am also keen to contribute to academia via continued research in a quest for new knowledge.

My most recent publications:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1752928X19300216

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1752928X19301076

My passion is for Sport Science which has led to additional interests incorporating Sports Psychology, Body Dysmorphia, AAS, Doping and Strength and Conditioning.

Within these respective fields, I have a passion for Strength Training, Fitness Testing, Periodisation and Tapering.

I write for numerous websites across the UK and Ireland including my own blog Strength is Never a Weakness.

I had my own business for providing training plans for teams and athletes.

I was one of the Irish National Coaches for Powerlifting, and have attained two 3rd places at the first World University Championships,

in Belarus in July 2016.Feel free to email me or call me as I am always looking for the next challenge.

Contact details below;

Facebook: Andrew Richardson (search for)

Facebook Page: @StrengthisNeveraWeakness

Twitter: @arichie17

Instagram: @arichiepowerlifting

Snapchat: @andypowerlifter

Email: a.s.richardson@tees.ac.uk

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-richardson-b0039278

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andrew_Richardson7

Tuesday 23 June 2015

Auto Regulation and the RPE Scale

Auto regulation means simply to adjust training to fit your current needs. Judging your work capacity on any given day to match your actual training routine with that training. Auto regulation is to do with daily changes and how they will affect your training sessions on a day to day basis.

One way to put it as Omar (from the YouTube channel Omarlsuf) said was "If you feel great train hard, if you feel shit train light/back off" which sounds too simple but too many guys and girls at the gym are going 100% hard every session training to failure. Usually if this is the case there is a lack of programming/periodization. There is no deload/recovery weeks after a phase of over reaching its just go hard every session which isn't good for the body.

As Omar points out in his video the soviets used some simple pre workout tests to see how athletes would perform in their workouts. These tests included taking your grip test and comparing it to your baseline, if you where over this baseline you will go heavier if you where under then back off a little on the intensity. Other tests include vertical and horizontal jump tests. These tests have a strong correlation between their results and how you will perform on the day.

Now if you don't have access to the three above tests then you will have to pay close attention to each training session and record how the weights feel. E.G. did they feel fast/light/slow/heavy/strong/weak etc. A good way to do this is to record your training sessions. This is something I have been doing now for over 2 years and I can tell from the videos if it was technically good lift even if I am feeling horrible due to an intense training day.

Over a 4 week period, every workout you do work out the total tonnage so the “sets x reps x weight” then as the weeks go on see how much difference is between each week. You will get to a point where you are finding it harder to maintain the rate of improvement, make a note of this and mark it as your baseline. This “baseline” is to make you aware, if you stay just below it you can maintain the weekly tonnage, but if you go over it for a long period of time you will likely burn out.

This is why doing a 3 week wave where you slightly go above this baseline on week 3 then week 4 deload. Come back and repeat this waved pyramid scheme of training. This allows for recovery and continuous progress.

Another way of judging how you feel is using the RPE Scale (Rate of Perceived Exertion). This is a scale numbered 1-10 or if you use the Borg Scale it is number 6-20 as shown below in their examples;

When applying the above scales to a powerlifting training programme we have to match up the percentages of 1RM to the numbers so it makes it easy to correlate and plan appropriate sessions. Powerlifting to Win used Bryce Lewis RPE scale shown below;

I think this table is a great way to correlate percentages and the 1-10 scale. Makes it a lot easier. RPE scale left side axis and reps top scale going left to right.

Some of the Sports Science work I am doing with my lifters at Teesside University is as follows;

- Using a combo of percentages and RPE variations to monitor individual loads

- Lower Body RPE (1-10)

- Upper Body RPE (1-10)

- Technical RPE (assess the technique of a lift), 1-10 scale, 10 being should be in a hospital and 1 textbook perfect.

- Sets x Reps X Weight (total tonnage)

- Time of total work (in seconds) x overall RPE (using the Genner & Weston method for quantifying workload).

With this amount of information getting back from the lifter, it really paints the picture as to how they are feeling on any given day. The information they provide is all subjective so it’s their own opinion.

I won’t be telling the whole story as I will be giving away my Diss hahah. After it is done I will do an article on what I found out. Now moving on to the next section.

Mike Tuchscherer of Reactive Training Systems says Auto-regulation isn't;

- How you feel is a lie guy "you should not listen to your body" this is not the case
- Magic bullet programme guy who has to have a programme that is perfect in all situations
- I need a deload week guy when they have a bad workout or the weights feel heavy
- Joe Weider instinctive guy everyday is chest and biceps.

The first two not using any auto regulation, they rely too much on a program to do the work and be perfect the other one is saying the same thing but saying how you feel is a lie. Which is untrue how you feel plays a huge role in how you train.

Firstly the human body isn't a math problem which cant be solved simply. We need to adjust and react to day to day real life external variables. Real life things go well things don't go well. Some variables which can affect a training session such as poor nights sleep, hard day at work, argument's which all have a negative effect. On the flip side, getting a great nights sleep, passing a test or getting a promotion would help to facilitate your workout as the stress levels are low.

The other two are over reliant and over react on their emotions and is holding the athletes back. There is a relatively new field of science called Psycho-Neuro-Immuneology, which looks at how psychology, neuro-biology and your immune system all work together. So how you think affects your biology then affects your immune system.

Mike Tuchscherer lecturing on Auto-Regulation

Mike goes on in another video linked in the references on how auto-regulation and the RPE scale are linked.

RPE allows us to control the intensity and the weight on the bar. Fatigue Percents allow you to control the volume. Still hinges on RPE

Some Traditional volume measurements;

- sets
- NL (number of lifts such as 5x5 25 lifts/reps)
- Tonnage (percentage of 1RM and or TUT time under tension)

If you come into a workout and you want to do more volume usually people do more sets or less volume do less sets. This is okay but if you come into a training session with a fixed number of sets this is not auto-regulation, some instances this will and not work and you may need to consider an auto regulation based programme.

Volume is not your main concern, your main concern is to get stronger so strength is your concern. To get this the training intensity will play a key role in getting stronger.

Majority of your training effect will be determined by the weight on the bar, train heavy will have a different training effect to training light. That means the volume primarily determines the magnitude of the training effect.

Its like a compass, the intensity determines the direction, the volume determines how fast you go in that direction. So why not just train to the appropriate stress levels and skip any concerns about volume?

Now we cant do a boat load of volume and combine with high intensity weights over a long period of time but we can do it for a short amount of time. Programmes such as Smolov Jnr fit this profile. This style of training is when you are over reaching high volume with high strength. Between 70-85% of your 1RM doing 130+ reps per week.

The question is asked how can I manage the volume so I can get stronger every session? You still need to put the right amount of weight on the bar to get the necessary stimulus necessary for specific physiological adaptations.

So why not just train to the necessary stress levels and skip any concerns about volume?

This is what Fatigue Percents accomplishes .

The best way to teach this, is by using an example that Mike has created very well, comprising of a squat progression combined with Fatigue percents.

Squat 5 reps at 9 RPE then 5% Fatigue

So what this means I will work up to a 5 rep squat which is equivalent to a 9 on the RPE scale.

This would look like;

90kg 5 reps at 7 RPE (add more weight)
95kg 5 reps at 8 RPE (not at the 9 yet so add more weight)
100kg 5 reps at 9 RPE (top set heaviest I will do)

Drop by the fatigue amount (5% of weight) and work up to another 9 on the RPE scale

95kg for 5 reps at 8 RPE (repeat again until at 9 RPE)
95kg for 5 reps at 9 RPE (finish training)

This controls volume based on your performance on the day.

It is worth mentioning For 'repeats' (straight sets), typically RPE gaps of 1 (e.g. 8 to 9) create 2-4% fatigue, gaps of 2 create 4-8% fatigue, and gaps of 3 create 8-12% fatigue. Therefore, gaps of 1 could be considered low, gaps of 2 medium and gaps of 3 high.

It is worth noting that the rep range has an inverse relation to the fatigue created: i.e. lower reps typically create more fatigue than high reps. For instance, 100x1@8 until 100x1@10= 8% fatigue, while 100x8@8 until 100x8@10= 5% fatigue.

From Powerlifting to Win, they list some more points about Auto Regulation and why it is Necessary

1/ 1RM is not stable from workout to workout. Individuals "readiness" fluctuates.
2/ Due to individual differences, volume impacts everybody differently. 5x5 doesn't cause the same amount of stress for everyone.
3/ Due to fluctuations in readiness, even a given individual has different volume on different day

Powerlifting to Win and Mike refer to "stress" in a number of variations over a Week;

Defintions

Low Stress: Ample recovery time from week to week (low intensity anything below 65%)
Medium Stress: Complete recovery from week to week ( medium intensity 65-85%)
High Stress: Incomplete recovery from week to week (High intensity 85% +)

When writing a programme with auto regulation identify which weeks are of low stress weeks such as a deload pre competition or you going on a holiday and the first week back training. High stress weeks you can do 1-2 weeks of a 5 week block as high stress week. After a high stress week followed by a low stress week.

If in doubt just start at medium stress week as Mike says.

Related to Fatigue Percents

Low Stress: 3% fatigue (18% per pattern per week)
Medium Stress: 5% fatigue (30% per pattern per week)
High Stress: 7% fatigue (42% per pattern per week)

0% Deload: For those used to high volume, doing zero back off sets in a week will be a thorough deload

12-18% Low Stress: Perfect for a recovery week without resorting to a full deload

24-36% Medium Stress: About the most you can recover from at the end of a single week

36-54% High Stress: These weeks are designed to cause overreaching. Don't expect full recovery at the end of the week

54-72% Very High Stress: This is similar to Smolov Base. Very intense and is only appropriate for shock microcycles.

Another System Mike developed is called TRAC

Training Recovery Assessment Computer it is a test and is use to see how your body is dealing with stress.

CAR analogy; reaching your goals as planning a road trip, where you are at is point A and where you want to go is B. A normal road trip is simple but training for a goal isn't you have detours and setbacks, point B is the limit of your own potential/the limit of your car's potential.

Road trips normally if you want to go north you go north, in the gym you cant always go north you may go east or west to help get you to your point B which is North. TRAC is available on Reactive Training systems website.

Hope you enjoyed reading this for more videos, information, training visit my Facebook page linked here;

https://www.facebook.com/AndrewRichardsonPowerlifter

References:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f7-a82-z3A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbOPM3KG0lc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS1YyV3Kdw8&index=50&list=PL92ilWS4EoWrxDEeDvJT92o9rB7Affgh8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUh3woF42PQ&index=58&list=PL92ilWS4EoWrxDEeDvJT92o9rB7Affgh8