Do you jump right into your workout or sit and stretch for several minutes before hand.  Neither will really help you athletically.  Jumping directly into a workout is a bad habit formed in youth when the body generally can make up ground in warming up with less chance of injury.  As we get older, this is no longer the case.  While the real world doesn’t give us the opportunity for a proper warmup, risking injury before a workout is generally an unnecessary risk.

The solution to this is dynamic warmup.  While a static stretch depresses the central nervous system, blood pressure, heart rate and core temperature (generally, the opposite of a warm up), a dynamic warmup does the opposite.  A good dynamic warmup should encompass all the major movements and muscle groups.  It should adequately prepare the body for activity as well as create progression in functional flexibility.

Back pain has many root causes, I’ve talked about some of them here and here.  Generally, its related to either strength or flexibility.  However, sometimes its simple muscle activation or movement pattern.

What this means is that when doing a core stability exercise (such as planks), the low back activates as a stabilizer (which it isn’t).  This is not necessarily because of a lack of strength, but more because of a lack of coordination or muscle activation pattern.  This causes an overuse of the erectors, as well as a hyperextension of the spine.  And as I’ve said before, anytime the body uses certain muscles to do jobs they’re not designed to do, first there is pain, then there is injury.  The problem is that planks simply demonstrates or clarifies the pattern, it exists in all other movements as well.

By focusing on the activation of the correct muscles, the dysfunctional movement can be unlearned and replaced by the correct motion.  However, like any other new movement, practice is required.  It is estimated that it requires 10,000 repetitions of an action to make it a habit, therefor you have your work cut out for you.

Jaime Gamache M.Ed., CSCS, is Owner and Head Strength Coach of The Way Human Performance Institute and on Facebook.   Any questions or requests for future topics, please email jgamache@thewayhpi.com

Watch any athlete at the top of their game and you will nearly always see one thing in common: aggressive footwork that is designed to put them in a position to lift, hit, return, field, catch etc., whatever their need of the moment is. Tactical athletes should do no less.

While there are certain foot movements specifically designed to use caution rather than efficiency in tactical movement, the majority of the time tactical athletes need to be fast, precise and controlled. The key to this can always be found in your basic athletic stance: weight on the balls of the feet, knees bent, shoulders square and arms loose. From this basic position, movement can occur in any direction and at any intensity. Lateral movement should occur with the lead leg first and reverse movement should never be preceded by throwing the head back. The hips should always stay low and control is the primary concern.

Jaime Gamache M.Ed., CSCS, is Owner and Head Strength Coach of The Way Human Performance Institute and on Facebook.   Any questions or requests for future topics, please email jgamache@thewayhpi.com

Do you have back or knee pain? How is your flexibility?

Most low back and knee pain has little to do with dysfunction at the site of the pain. While most people don’t work on their flexibility nearly enough, most simply focus on the simple front to back stretches such and hamstring and quad stretches. Many people overlook the rotational strength and flexibility of the hips. When this occurs, the back and knees are forced to adapt to rotational movements they’re not designed to do. When a body part performs a job it’s not designed to do, first there is pain, then there is injury.

A good workout program cannot only focus on strength, power, etc., flexibility must also be included to ensure that the increases in strength and power can be used safely and effectively.

An effective method of training hip flexibility is a series of movements called “hurdle walks”. These movements are exactly what the name implies, walking over a standard set of hurdles, focusing on controlling excess and un-necessary movement. This ensures that flexibility in the hips is actually being focused on rather than simply transferring or disguising flexibility in the back or shoulders.

Jaime Gamache M.Ed., CSCS, is Owner and Head Strength Coach of The Way Human Performance Institute and on Facebook.   Any questions or requests for future topics, please email jgamache@thewayhpi.com

While the weather hasn’t been all that frightful yet this winter, most of us have experienced stepping out in the snow or ice and losing balance. Again in the spirit of integration, while trying to recreate more of the job in the gym, we bring together balance and deceleration.

A hop is a jump from one foot to the same foot.  But a hop can be just as multidirectional as any other agility drill, as well as allowing for the safe integration of balance apparatus.  The emphasis is on the landing.  It should always be soft and under control.  The foot makes contact and the hips drop, using the posterior muscles to absorb ground reactive force.  Movement that is forward or up, foot contact should initiate with the heel.  Movement that is down or lateral should initiate with the ball of the foot.

Jaime Gamache M.Ed., CSCS, is Owner and Head Strength Coach of The Way Human Performance Institute and on Facebook.   Any questions or requests for future topics, please email jgamache@thewayhpi.com

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Happy New Year!

New Year is always a time for reflection, renewal and goal setting. But how many of those goals actually get achieved? The problem is that while having lofty aspirations is great, most of the time its unrealistic, or there’s no clear timetable set. Or the goal is simply the ending with no process or plan on how to get there…

For once I’m going to take off my strength coach hat and have a little chat about realistic goal setting and time management. Most people set goals having no specific plan in mind on how to achieve them. Whether you want to lose 20 pounds or gain 20 pounds, both are attainable, given the right time frame.

Remember that the body resists change and that change that happens too quickly is rarely permanent. We’ve all heard stories of individuals on yo-yo diets that jump up and down in weight, always generally returning to about the place the were before. So rather than trying to lose 20 pounds in 2 months, make it 4, or even 6, and stick to it!

Weight gain is even more difficult (at least good weight). If you’re younger (late teens/early twenties) it may be easier because you have growth spurts and testosterone surges still to look forward to. But for most people, it take years to build quality muscle.

Which brings me to the second part of goal setting, dedication. Most people give up before they really get going, or are afraid or unwilling to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve their goals. Every motivational speech ever written includes something akin to, “Nothing worth having is easy.”

Best Wishes and Happy New Year from The Way HPI and VertX!

Jaime Gamache M.Ed., CSCS, is Owner and Head Strength Coach of The Way Human Performance Institute and on Facebook.   Any questions or requests for future topics, please email jgamache@thewayhpi.com

If you’re in the police or military, at some point you have (or will have to) fire a gun. But have you ever thought about the mechanics of that action, more specifically how the time you spend in the gym can make it easier to master the skill of shooting?

I’ve already discussed core stability and  shoulder stability, but how do they interact and how do they improve?  First, and foremost, by challenging them beyond the point of normal imbalance by creating situations that force shoulder and core stability to interact.  An example is an alternating dumbbell bench on a stability ball.   The alternation is from the top position, forcing the constant tension in one arm as opposed to have one constantly in a resting position.  There has been some controversy with this exercise with too much weight used or poorly maintained stability balls, so one should use care when choosing the implements of this exercise.

Jaime Gamache M.Ed., CSCS, is Owner and Head Strength Coach of The Way Human Performance Institute and on Facebook.   Any questions or requests for future topics, please email jgamache@thewayhpi.com

Why do we work out?

Is it to pass our Physical Assessments?

Is it to look better or feel better?

Or is it because we depend on our bodies as tools to do our job, make a living, and bring us home safe every night?

But does what we do in the gym really help us in the every day? Does Bench Press really have good practical application? Or are there better options that bring the experience of the job into the gym?

Of course there are, but it usually requires a little creativity. While pullups are an excellent exercise, you’re probably not going to have to ever hang in one spot and do the repetitive action. Instead, try Jump Pulls. Stand under a pullup bar high enough to be a challenge to jump to (8-9 feet up) and jump up, pull up, release and repeat. This action will have greater job and “real world” application such as jumping up to grab the top of a fence, wall or fire escape.

Jaime Gamache M.Ed., CSCS, is Owner and Head Strength Coach of The Way Human Performance Institute and on Facebook.   Any questions or requests for future topics, please email jgamache@thewayhpi.com

If you’ve ever had to run, you’ve also had to stop. Whether in sports or in life, you’re ability to speed up is almost irrelevant compared to your ability to change direction. But have you ever thought about the process of stopping or what it takes to do it more quickly or efficiently?

The first step to controlling movement is to slow it down and teach the body to strike the ground in the proper pattern. A simple method of achieving this is bounding. Bounding involves leaping from one foot to the other as opposed to a hop, which is one foot to the same foot.

Linear bounds are performed in a straight line with the initial strike in the heel to initiate deceleration with the posterior muscles. The foot makes contact and the hips drop. Landing should be soft and under control. The bound should increase till control can no longer be maintained.

Transverse bounds occur at 45 degree angles to the body. The landing shifts to the ball of the foot and the big toe with the foot pointed straight ahead. All other mechanics remain the same.

Jaime Gamache M.Ed., CSCS, is Owner and Head Strength Coach of The Way Human Performance Institute ( www.thewayhpi.com and www.facebook.com/pages/The-Way-Human-Performance-Institute/11774282495465 ) Any questions or requests for future topics, please email jgamache@thewayhpi.com