Hey Mwodies,
Today’s episode is about shifting our thinking away from a reactive model of movement dysfunction to a little more sustainable way of thinking. Athletes are stubborn “if it ain’t broke and I’m kicking your ass, don’t fix it” kind of people. We are asking the wrong questions. We should not be asking, how good are you? We should be asking, how much better can you be? Minimizing movement variables, force dumps, and torque bleeds, is the same thing as protecting the athlete from injury. The data sets are huge. Run like a jackass, get hurt. Pull with a crappy back position, get hurt. Eventually. And this is the problem with the reactive model, if we wait for pain or dysfunction to inform us that we need to change technique then we are being suckered out of finding out how much better we can be. And, now we have to deal with that torn labrum or fried heel cord. Sweet. We have to few movement with a different lens. Open circuit positions and over tensioned systems are the root cause of 98% of the problems that the typical athlete faces. This means, that sore elbow from squatting and pullups? It’s a preventable disease.
Going slow and being weak isn’t cool. Make a better decision.
Kstar
11 Responses to “Episode 359/365: Shift of Paradigm Away from Pathognomonic Cueing”
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perhaps rhetorical question/topic for future discussion here… i wonder how this paradigm applies to non-CF pursuits. sure, anyone performing hundreds of double unders and rebounding box jumps for time will blow out an achilles eventually. can proactively fixing position avert disaster in a system that is chronically over-tensioned by virtue of the crappy training methodology? i personally think not. again, do what k-star’s wife counsels: “make a better decision.”
put another way, how does this apply to (real)athletes. for example, i’ve been playing ice hockey for 30+ years at a high level and started at the age of 3. skating, shooting the puck, passing, etc. are deeply ingrained, highly complex neurological motor patterns, just like dribbling would be for a b-baller or kicking for a soccer player. how do you assess the torque bleeds/force dumps with these movements that happen fluidly/chaotically on the rink/court/pitch? is watching an athlete’s landing position in the snatch an adequate correlate?
just some thoughts… thanks for all you do!
That’s a huge question, PD. I’d propose that every athlete should work to achieve normal movement standards (mobility and stability). The principles of biomechanics/kinesiology/neuromuscular programming don’t change based on the sport. On the other hand, the movement standards may be slightly different (very slightly). You ask about the landing position of a snatch being significant for a hockey player. I would maintain that it is significant for anyone who walks. The overhead squat as a screen has been established as a useful tool for assessing movement patterns. Like you mention, it’s difficult to assess movements like a slap shot, so we break it down to the basic components of joint stability/mobility. Plus, athletes are champion compensators, they will leak, dump, and bleed energy all over the rink. It takes a assessment with universally applicable movement standards to reveal the weak links.
(first time here, great post. Looking forward to following the blog)
I was hoping for your thoughts on pullups.
My elbows aren’t hurting, but I’ve heard people say that doing pullups on a straight bar isn’t good. I do have rings and recently added soft-ball pull-up grips to add some variety. (I posted how to build the softball grips on my site.)
What should I be testing/retesting to avoid elbow pain before it starts with pullups?
-Troy
Pathognomonic has to be one of my new favorite words.
And here I thought you were going to talk about how cool a movie Johnny Mnemonic was…
Hey K Starr- I gotta say again, I really love this stuff. Awesome. I’m so sad this is coming to a close. I was hoping I could ask for a huge favor from you before the project is over… Anyway that you can post a more comprehensive video on how to program patellar tendonitis work? I’ve been struggling with patellar tendonitis for years (after highschool track and college rugby I just sort of have it – might be tendinosis at this point). I know there are possibly ways around it, and I’m hoping that you know how to fix it, or how to program ways to fix it. I mean, I know roughly you want to stop jumping for a while, ice the crap out of it, and make your hamstrings steel cables – am I missing anything? Please help! And thanks again!!!
This M-WOD reminds me of a movie i saw recently called Food Matters, another docu-drama about what wrong with health-care in America. Typically physicians treat only the symptoms of disease, not the root cause, bad diet. Its the same for the faults with an athletes technique. Get down to the root cause and fix these things BEFORE there is a problem! Awesome stuff Mr. Starett
This Mwod sums up the reason we all Mwod.
Test and retest what?
So, if I understood the video correctly, is it as simple as striving for PERFECT form on all the exercises we do in CF?
Interesting question, I will try to ask it at the mobility seminar in Davis.
In my opinion, perfect form on CF exercises is too far to the performance side of the practice-performance continuum (i.e. too late). Ideally, we test/mobilize/retest the foundational positions and movements necessary for a squat, DL, etc. then we can get a better understanding of exactly how to exercise to create adaptation rather than compensation (i.e. promoting and actually practicing the “open circuit positions and over tensioned systems are the root cause of 98% of the problems that the typical athlete faces”).