I’ll be taking a break from posting new content here on powerDOJO.com for a while as I focus on building up PrecisionMovement.coach – my new site that will be all about helping you with pain, injuries and flexibility problems.
There are already over 10 blog posts to help you out and we’re adding 2-3 new articles every week including articles to help you recover from low back pain and sciatica, improve your posture, loosen tight hamstrings, fix chronic musculoskeletal pain and more.
New assessments and questionnaires will also be published to help you figure out the root cause of your problems and thus, help you get to a PERMANENT solution instead of just applying band-aids when issues surface.
I look forward to continuing this never-ending journey of improving the way we move together.
Overhead mobility is becoming more and more of an issue for many, whether you want it to do Snatches, Overhead Presses or Pullups, or regular tasks like getting stuff off the top shelf or putting a carryon into the overhead compartment on an airplane.
If you’ve got pain when you reach your arms up overhead, you could be suffering from bursitis or tendonitis and these inflammatory conditions are typically the result of one or a combination of the following 4 problems:
1) Poor thoracic spine mobility
2) A super tight pec minor
3) Dysfunctional movement patterns
4) Weak scapular muscles, particular the serratus anterior and lower trap
Today’s technique is that it can help address the last 2 problems, which is why I recommend you do some T-spine mobility work and release the pec minor before you try it out.
To not leave you hanging, I searched my YouTube channel to see what I’ve posted for the T-spine and found this classic (look at that full head of hair!):
And here’s a video I posted recently to release your pec minor and activate your serratus anterior:
Oh and one more thing to ensure I’m being a responsible coach, prep those wrists before hand using the 3 techniques in this vid:
Once you’ve done the prep work, give this a shot and make sure you ELEVATE your scapulae and keep your elbows locked out while breathing naturally (as best you can):
Aim for anywhere from 10-30 second hold times, ensuring you’re actively elevating your scapulae throughout and do a total of 2-4 minutes of work to help cement this range of motion into your CNS.
Do you have pain or trouble with overhead mobility?
If so, tell me what it limits you from doing in the Comments below.
This exercise primarily strengthens your serratus anterior and rhomboids, two muscles that are crucial to scapular stability and shoulder health.
These 2 muscles work together to keep the scapula flush to your ribcage and prevent winging.
Look at the image below and you’ll see that these muscles have the same line of pull and essentially blend into one another, with the rhomboids anchoring the scapula to the spine and the serratus anterior anchoring the scapula to the ribcage.
When they both contract, they pull the medial border of the scapula tight to the body, which is what we need to happen for a stable shoulder joint.
The exercise we’re doing today works both of these muscles at their shortened end range of motion while the pecs also get a great stretch.
When you think of a rotator cuff exercise, you probably picture some type of external rotation move.
While these exercises are great and should be used, I’ve been playing with and have had success using a new type of exercise that I call the “Twisting Wall Press”.
This one is going to be a staple in my healthy shoulders diet for myself and those I work with.
It’s different than your typical rotator cuff exercises because it’s a closed chain vs. an open chain movement (I explain more about this and the benefits in the vid).
The rotator cuff stabilizes your shoulder girdle and ensures the scapula (shoulder blade) and humerus (upper arm bone) move in concert with each other and this exercise trains this ability very well.
Watch the vid and try it out with me then let me know what you think or if you’ve got any questions.
I’d definitely add this exercise in either at the start or end – it’s gentle and non-fatiguing but will help you activate the rotator cuff and scapular stabilizer muscles for proper movement patterning as part of your warmup, or ensure proper patterning/posture post-workout.
Getting down into the bottom range of motion in the Squat is a fundamental human movement pattern that we’ve lost because of all the sitting we do.
We don’t need to think anymore about it.
But is getting down deep into the Squat an absolute necessity?
You could argue against it because in modern western society, we really don’t have to get into this position all the time.
For some sports, yes, but just normal day-to-day activities, we can avoid it completely.
The thing is doing so definitely helps to maintain full flexibility in the hips, knees and ankles, it helps your digestive system do it’s thing because in this position, your guts press up against each other at the same time your anus is opened up (weird, but reality and come on, we’re all adults here).
Plus, I want my body to be able to do everything it was designed to do.
I don’t want to be robbed of my natural movement ability.
And getting down there is fun, especially when you’ve got people down there to play with.
Today’s exercise I call the Deep Squat Prayer Pushup and it will help you get further down and more comfortable when you’re down there.
A good test of this is to get down into the deep Squat and feel what it’s like to hang out down there for a minute or two, then stand and walk around for a minute, do this exercise, then stay down in that deep Squat position to compare.
If you do this test, let me know what it feels like in the Comments.
As always with the exercises I share with you, TECHNIQUE is critical, so pay close attention to the pointers in the video and follow-along and watch a few times.
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It’s also a great idea to bookmark/save/share/whatever you have to do to ensure you can come back to this video to further refine your form.
So try it out and let me know how it feels in the Comments and if you’ve got any favourite Squat mobility exercises.
In this video I share some key principles that apply to any corrective exercise you do.
Plus, the drill I share is great for opening up your chest, bringing your shoulders back to where they should be and getting rid of any posture-related shoulder or neck pain.
Strength and activation is a necessary component to improving your flexibility and mobility.
Without proper strength or motor control, your body simply won’t allow you to improve flexibility because it’s not usable range – you’ll just tighten right back up.
For more on this and a complete blueprint to fixing your shoulder flexibility problems, check out the site below:
In today’s QnA video, I answer the following questions:
1. I’m a judo/bjj athlete. What are some effective ways and principles for developing speed for throws and takedowns?
– Matt Hammond, UK [00:44]
2. I suffer from lower back spasms from time to time. As I write this my back decided to have an episode as I was getting ready for work.
Do you recommend any exercises to help strengthen the back?
I’m starting to think I won’t be able to practice BJJ or kickboxing anymore at my young age of 40 🙂 – Ryan Mangila, US [06:28]
3. I’ve read that using an elliptical machine for cardio hinders flexibility due to not using full range of motion.
Do you agree with that? – James Theros, USA [10:19]
4. I want to lose fat so I am doing alot of circuit training, and some of your cage cardio circuits but I don’t want to get weak while I am doing it. What do you recommend? – Mike M, Canada [13:12]
5. Can I add this the new CAGE Cardio workouts to the MMA Strength and Conditioning workout? – Derek Ng [14:33]
If you’ve got a question about training for MMA or martial arts, nutrition, injuries or anything else that you’d like me to answer in a future QnA video, submit it here.
Today’s BB is not about the KO that McDonald laid on Torres, despite it’s awesomeness…
I was watching the fights with my buddy Dan at a pub on the Danforth (Greek town in Toronto) and I was pretty pumped about the Torres/McDonald bout.
McDonald is a young fireball with a ton of potential and it looks like he’s about to go on a roller coaster as opposed to go into a fight – he’s always having a good time.
Anyway, study this for a moment then we’ll continue:
After looking at it what do you note?
Other than the age difference, the 6″ reach advantage that Torres has over McDonald is a big deal, especially since they’re the same height.
Now, check out this still image from their fight:
What do you notice?
OK, here’s what I see…
Miguel has an extremely exaggerated kyphotic (rounded) thoracic spine and forward head. It’s almost as if he doesn’t have a neck.
I call this the turtle posture for obvious reasons…
Compare this to McDonald, who many might say stands pretty straight up.
The turtle posture has a few benefits – such as making your body a smaller target and it helps you keep your chin tucked down.
But it also has some major drawbacks, such as moving your head and chin a bit closer towards your opponent. This totally negates Torres’ significant 6″ reach advantage in this fight. His chin is 2-3″ closer to McDonald compared to if he didn’t have forward head posture. This probably contributed to McDonald landing the big uppercut punch that lead to the KO.
I first made a note of this when watching Pacquiao vs. Margarito. Pacquiao gave up 4.5″ in height and 6″ in reach, but Margarito’s forward head posture helped Manny reach him a lot easier than if he’d stayed tall and used his range. Here’s pic showing you what I mean, look at the rounding in Margarito’s back:
When you’re in turtle posture, your abdominals (specifically rectus abdominis and external obliques) are contracted to bring your rib cage down and round you forward.
When they’re in this shortened position, they’re not as strong as when they’re in neutral position, thus, you can’t generate as much force form your core for your punches.
The other thing when you’re in turtle posture is that you’re basically in the worst possible posture for shoulder and neck health.
Excessive thoracic kyphosis and forward head are a part of something called Upper Cross syndrome, which I talk about and give you solutions for in my Ultimate MMA S&C Program. I also talked about this in the free INDESTRUCTIBLE Shoulder Injury guide.
The bottom line is that being in this posture not only makes you look like an old man, but it makes shoulder and neck problems very likely.
In fact, I just received this email from Chris, an amateur mixed martial artist who wants to have a pro fight:
“Hi Eric.
I purchased your strength and conditioning program and love your blog and all the info you pass along I have found it most helpful and it definitly has raised my game over the last year. I am now faced with an injury (not sure if that is the correct term) that will not go away. I have had a MRI and the sports medicine doc says I have disc degeneration in my neck C5/C6 and should quit MMA. I am 38 years old and I have had a couple amateur fights and my goal was to get at least one pro fight before I hung up the gloves. My question to you is in your professional opinion can I reverse this to a point where I can compete at a high level or should I just give up? Really I guess is it even reversible to a point where I am not in pain? I love mma but I do not want to quit eventually I thought I would teach as well but I don’t want to be crippled later in life. I am trying to stenghten my back more and have aopted your 3 to 1 push/pull work out plan in order to get my dumbell rows to equal my dumbell press. I have also been stretching my chest, lats and neck and I have really focused on getting rid of bad forward posture but abviously as you have stated the fighting stance is not really the best posture ever…not to mention the stress on my neck from rolling. Anyway I am just curious to see what you think as I definitly respect your opinion. Thank you so much for all the time and energy you put in to providing free info for your blog subscribers. It is greatly appreciated.
Chris”
First of all, from my vantage point of not knowing the extent of the degeneration, not having assessed you fully in person and I don’t know what your pain is like, I can’t say for certain. All I can do is talk in general terms, which may help if you apply them.
To my knowledge, you can’t really reverse disc degeneration. But you don’t necessarily need to. In fact, most people above the age of 30 have discs that would be classified as ‘degenerated’, yet are symptom free.
And it’s not really a disease, but a process that occurs naturally with age and is sped up through excessive stress on the discs when they’re in bad posture, like forward head.
The key thing is minimizing the stresses on the discs that are causing pain. You’ve obviously been paying attention since you’re doing some things that will help, namely working your pull muscles more and stretching your chest, lats and neck. Thoracic spine mobilizations are also important. The chin tuck stretch I show you in the Shoulder guide is HUGE.
But you’re probably going to have to adapt your fighting style and training to minimize the stress on the neck by keeping the neck in neutral posture – that means no more turtle posture.
That means asking your training partners not to crank your neck, or rip you around the ring with a Thai clinch. Basically anything that really aggravates is out. You’ve got to remove all of these things for healing to occur, then only do them if they don’t aggravate you further.
You also might have to change your fighting stance to stand more upright. If you think this isn’t possible or is dangerous, just look at guys like Anderson Silva, GSP and Machida to realize that you can excel without the turtle posture. In fact, as I mentioned earlier, standing a little taller will help you generate more power with your hands because your abs are in a better position for generating force.
This is one of the hardest things for guys to do – change up their old, ingrained habits. But this situation might necessitate it – not everyone’s body can handle the torture that turtle posture wreaks on it.
Some more things to do include various yoga postures such as the bow pose that I show you in the video below (bow pose @ 5:59):
Yoga postures like this one are a part of my 3D Flexibility model, because they affect part the fascia component of soft tissue.
All about fascia.
A fascinating book detailing fascia and its anatomy and functions in the body is Anatomy Trains by Tom Myers. The basic premise is that the fascia, which is the saran-wrap like cover over our muscles, runs from head to toe and there are various fascial lines, or trains.
Somehow, thousands of years ago, some Indian guy started moving his body into weird looking postures that just happen to specifically target these fascial lines.
An example is how the bow pose I show you above hits what Tom Myers calls the Superficial Front Line.
There are a ton of different postures in yoga and the best bet is to figure out what feels like it’s working well for you.
The only way to do that is to try out a bunch of different postures.
And here’s where I”m going to reveal what I’ve got planned for those who want to start working on their kick height right now.
*********** BIG ANNOUNCEMENT **********
I’ve decided to start a small group coaching program where over the next 4 weeks, I direct you to what you need to do to kick higher with more power.
It’s based on my 3D Flexibility model of addressing the 3 main factors of flexibility: soft tissue, neuromuscular and strength.
I’m also all about value and making sure you get MORE than what you paid for.
I could easily charge $97 for this, but here’s what I’m going to do (this is ridiculous and I should kick my own ass for doing this)…
There are 3 steps to joining the VIP High Kick Coaching program:
Step 3 – Wait for the 1st email from me that will come Monday, April 30, 2012 to kick off the coaching program.
Grabbing the yoga program here not only gives you your ticket to my VIP coaching program, but it also gives you a wealth of yoga moves that you can go through to determine where you may be limited by your fascia.
I’ll also be directing you to perform specific stretches from the program as part of the VIP coaching program.
PLUS – when I launch the 3D Flexibility program in a couple of months, you’ll get a discount equal to the value of the Yoga program! So it’s basically like getting the Yoga program and my coaching for FREE (if you’re planning on getting the 3D Flexibility program when I launch it).
Space is limited and the deadline for signing up is Thursday at midnight, so follow the instructions above and get in now!
Can’t wait to start coaching you to higher and more powerful kicks!
It’s such a problem, it’s why I decided to pursue boxing over kickboxing or Muay thai. Because high kicks feel like they’re going to tear my hips apart.
But about a month ago, I decided to fix my flexibility problems…
I went to the gym to work the heavy bag. This was one of the first times after I started back after hurting my hand. [Remember the bag of peas on my hand?]
There’s only 1 heavy bag in this gym and there was a guy working it before I got there. I figured with my celebrity status, once he saw me he’d drop everything and let me work the bag to my heart’s desire.
For some weird reason that didn’t work. So I decided the direct approach.
“Mind if I work in during your rest breaks to loosen up?”
“Go ahead” he said, cool-ly.
Probably didn’t want to seem too overly excited to meet me. I understand.
While he was clearly not in fight shape, with his “case of beer a week belly”, he could still kick high and hard.
A hell of a lot higher and harder than me.
That’s when it hit me that I’d better address my flexibility issues once and for all, before I get old and weary and need help putting my socks on.
So for the past month or so, I’ve been doing what I do best – diving head first into the research, into books and into whatever resources I could get my hands on. I talked to friends and colleagues in the industry and got their thoughts and insights.
After hours of poring over the data and pages of notes, I feel like I’ve come up with a big reason why many people have trouble improving their flexibility, despite their best efforts.
If you’ve ever had a flexibility issue that wouldn’t go away with simple stretching, this info will open your eyes.
But I need something first. I have one question for you to answer:
Q: What techniques, skills, exercises or situations do you wish you had more flexibility for?
This is a two-way street and for this topic, I really do need your input and feedback.
I was thinking about doing that thing where I make you leave 50 or 5,000 Comments or I don’t make my next post, but yeah, I think that’s kinda gay. Not really my style.
All I know is that the last time survey I posted on injuries, your votes showed that shoulder injuries are the most common, and I put together that little INDESTRUCTIBLE Shoulder Program for ya.
So I’ll leave it up to you or not to post your answer to the Q above.
But if I don’t get any good feedback, there’s no point in me spending the time to write up an article on the TRUTH about flexibility.
Plus, in the article, I might even embed some pics like this:
Enjoys washing a car in a bikini and flexible? How could I NOT post this?
So for anyone who really wants to know the TRUTH about flexibility, leave your answer to the question, “What techniques, skills, exercises or situations do you wish you had more flexibility for?” in the Comments below.
UPDATE
If hip flexibility is an issue, you should check this article out:
I call this the ‘best’ hip mobility exercise for mixed martial artists because it targets 3 areas that are often tight in fighters (and dudes in general):
Hip flexors
Hamstrings
Adductors (groin/inner thigh)
It not only mobilizes and lengthens these muscles, but it also improves your balance, co-ordination and strength at challenging ranges of motion.
Plus it takes the femur through a good rotational range of motion in the joint capsule – something that we don’t do often and doing so with this exercise will help keep the capsule from tightening up and limiting your kicks.
OK , so maybe you won’t get THIS mobile, but if you can do this exercise in perfect form, you’ll be pretty good and you’ll have healthy hips.
![Lose Fat w/o Getting Weak | Exercises for Judo | More LBP [ASK ERIC]](https://www.powerdojo.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/qna-06-600x300.png)
Some are born with it.
That’s when it hit me that I’d better address my flexibility issues once and for all, before I get old and weary and need help putting my socks on.
