Christmas Came Early! And I Got a Box Full of Balls!

I want to thank Jill Miller and Robert Faust of Yoga Tune Up for donating a box of Yoga Tune Up Therapy Balls to Operation Reload and Recover! I first discovered Jill after she appeared on MobilityWOD. Jill Miller is the queen of fascia and I have always enjoyed her guest spots on MobilityWOD, as her knowledge on movement and recovery is immense.
I'm no yogi, but I started to use YTU Therapy Balls because my body was so extremely tight that a lacrosse ball was just way to rough on many places that I tried to roll out. For those places that I needed to mobilize the most, a lacrosse balls was just too painful, so I was not really benefiting from myofascial release... as the key part is being able to RELAX and contract while treating soft tissue. The YTU Therapy Balls allowed me to actually relax and really treat my issues.
The YTU balls are softer (but not too soft like a tennis ball) and they are grippy, which is important...as anyone who has ever tried using a tennis ball has seen (tennis balls will just slide out from underneath you).
One of the most impactful things that I have learned from Jill is how important, and critical the psoas can be in treating your pain. For me, treating my psoas has been key in my rehabilitation. In an upcoming post I will talk about the psoas and show you some ways to mobilize it.
I STRONGLY suggest picking up a pair of the Yoga Tune Up Therapy Balls. Put it at the top of your mobility want list. Or better yet…come out to a Operation Reload and Recover Event, we have a box of them now!!!

My favorite mobilizations with YTU Therapy Balls are:

1. Using the pair in the bag for thoracic mobilizations. For anyone who needs a lot of t-spine work, (which a majority of our military and first responders do from wearing body armor and carrying heavy loads) a pair of double lacrosse balls are just to rough sometimes. YTU balls are the way to go.

2. Neck Mobilization. I do this one (@5:10 on video) when I watch TV or have been working on the computer for a while and my neck is tight. You would be surprised at how tight your neck can be, This would be great after a jump or a ruck march. As the ball has some grip, gently push the ball into your neck, give the ball a twist to take the slack out, and gently look away in the opposite direction…repeat in different places, and on different sides.

3. Ankle Mobilization. Again…great after/before a ruck march and just after wearing boots all week long.

Interview With Olympic Rower Kristin Hedstrom

About a week ago, some fellow coaches and I had an awesome rowing workshop at Bladium Crossfit with Olympic rower, Kristin Hedstrom. Kristin is an amazing athlete and I cannot thank her enough for taking the time out to coach us. It was great being coached by an elite Olympic rower, and we all learned a lot. I had the opportunity to sit down with her and ask her a few questions:

1.  Damper setting...a much debated topic in the crossfit world. What damper setting should a typical crossfit athlete use for a typical WOD involving rowing less than 1000m at a time?
The numbers on the side of the erg act as a guideline. Instead of going off that, hit "more options" and "display drag factor." This will give you an actual reading of the drag on the machine. Row at a decent pace (like 70% of max), see what number it gives you, and adjust it up or down based on what number your'e going for. Shoot between 120 and 135 - lower end if you're a smaller female, higher end if you're a bigger male. I heard some people saying they want to throw it up to 10 on the damper setting. I was surprised; as elite rowers, we do very little work at a 10. It makes the load really heavy, so you'll burn out sooner and it won't be efficient. What you want is to put a lot of power into each stroke but still be able to keep the fan moving and take a lot of strokes per minute, which is possible on the lower drag setting.

2.  What is the most common fault you spot while people are rowing?
You see this one all the time and it makes all rowers cringe: after finishing the stroke, people bend their knees first and then have to lift their arms over their knees. Instead, your hands should come away from the body, then the upper body pivots over at the hips, THEN the legs bend. It's more of a three-part motion up the slide. 

3. What does your typical warm up look like?
For a 500 / 1k on the erg? 10 minutes rowing at about 70% pressure, stretching, then 5-10 more minutes of going 10 strokes hard, 20 strokes easy. The "hard" should be at the split and rate you want to hold for the race and the easy should be paddling. 

4. What does your typical recovery look like?
From any hard workout, it's at least a 15 minute cool-down, then taking care of the priorities: refueling and rehydrating while stretching and foam rolling. 

5.  I saw on your twitter that you made an interesting looking "kale-mango-pineapple-greentea-coconut-flax smoothie"…there was no recipe; will you share it or should we just burn it from our memory?

Oh man, my smoothies get a little crazy sometimes, depending on what I have in the kitchen. I never follow a recipe. I just throw stuff in and if it tastes yucky, add a little more of this or that until it's better. More often than not, you can't go wrong. Going off of memory, that recipe looked something like: 

1/2 cup frozen mango

1/2 cup frozen pineapple

1/2 cup frozen kale 

1 tsp matcha tea powder + 1/2 cup water

3/4 cup light coconut milk

a couple tsp ground flax seeds 

a couple tsp chia seeds

6. What is next up for you (when is your next major competition or what are you currently training for)? and how can readers find out more about you?
I'm going for the Olympic Games in 2016, but the most important upcoming race is the 2014 World Championships. National selection for that starts in April. You can follow on my website - www.kristinhedstrom.com - where you'll find links to my blog, twitter account, and ways to support me. 

Thanks again to Kristin for taking the time out to speak and work with us. Go check Kristin out and help support our Olympic athletes. There is a huge misconception that Olympic athletes make a ton of money like NBA or NFL players…they don't! These athletes bust their ass pursuing their passion, simply for the love of their sport. For 99% of these athletes there is NO money in becoming an Olympic athlete…hopefully this will change

“@spartangrass: KendrickJFarris do you do the Olympics for the money?” What money?
— Kendrick J. Farris (@KendrickJFarris) November 29, 2013

USOC pays 25k for gold 15k for silver and 10k for bronze, this hasn't changed in over 10 years and due to inflation it's about 5k less.
— Kendrick J. Farris (@KendrickJFarris) November 29, 2013

Kristin and my fellow coaches after a great rowing workshop

What Makes a Hero?

I recently read this article which reviewed several studies on what makes humans want to take heroic action and if we are hardwired for it. It was an interesting article based on several different experiments. Basically, scientists came up with a few ideas hypothesising that, doing something charitable, "provides an intrinsic reward that is neurologically similar to ingesting an addictive drug", giving people a "high on being heroic" and that being compassionate or heroic can be likened to a muscle that you can condition by certain practices.

...Blah blah blah....For those of us who have served, we can offer a different perspective on this topic. In my experience, what makes a soldier take heroic action in combat is LOVE. Its the love for his brother in arms, a bond which is incredible strong. I would die for any of my brothers that I served with and know that they would do the same for me. Its not that anyone wants to be a hero, they just want their brother next to them to make it home.

What You Can Learn from Stanford's Offensive Line

I am a HUGE college football fan. I grew up in the south, so all I knew growing up was SEC power football. Being out here in the Bay Area for the past year, I have started to catch more Pac-12 games now. I have been a huge fan of Stanford's O-line all year. I finally got my chance this Saturday to go to my first Stanford football game out at "The Farm" in Palo Alto.

As a student of human movement and a football strength and conditioning coach, I love watching them line up. They have a very unique (to me) type of o-line this year. They line up shoulder to shoulder (sometimes with even 9 on the line!), and come at the D-line hard from a 4-point stance most of the time.
I am loving their approach of reverting back to a 4-point stance. I try to encourage my own players (although it is hard as a S&C coach, not a position coach) to do the same. I see how much more potential these guys can have when the can get down low in a 4-point stance, keep their feet straight, and ensure their knees do not cave in. When they get off the line, they can generate much more power and be in a optimal/stable position. I also notice that the players who tend to line up (on offense or defense) without letting their knees come into a valgus knee position tend to not wear knee braces…weird! Mobility is incredibly important for these big men.
 I think a big problem with O and D line players occur when they constantly line up with knees coming inside their feet throughout their career. They become comfortable in this vulnerable position, which makes it that much easier to injure their knees once they take a shot to them. I think if these player were to work more on creating a stable, externally rotated position, they would not be as susceptible to knee injuries. Sure…its football, and when a 300lb linemen falls on your knee, a 300lb linemen falls on your knee! Those injuries will happen and there is little to protect them from this type of injury. But, we can avoid some of the other (more common) injuries that occur by simply teaching our players what a more stable knee position looks/feels like and work on mobility, not just squat #'s.
For those non-football player out there, the same goes for you. Knees out is= OPTIMAL (or, per Takano and the recent debate online over the cue "knees out" maybe I should say- "not letting your knees collapse in once in any type of squat stance so that knees track inside the feet", or whatever cue you want to use...the bottom line is- that allowing knees to cave in is=NOT OPTIMAL). Getting up out of a chair, squatting, jumping, lifting a couch, riding a bike, or PLF'ing during a jump from a C-130 on a DZ…they all should be done with awareness of not letting your knees come crashing in. Can you make a block in the NFL with knees in? Can you clean 405lb with your knees in? Can you live your life with knees caving in all day? SURE!….but it is not optimal and isn't the BEST possible position for performance and injury prevention.
Practice makes permanent…and that goes for both good and bad practice. If you practice good positions, they become your default position; just as if you practice bad positions.

The player on the left has much more of a stable/strong base, and like
I mentioned above, this an help prevent certain injuries

VIDEO OF STANFORDS O-LINE: 

What have you guys noticed this college football season or think about the 4-point stance?

Movember is Winding Down…But, Don't You Dare Shave!

Repost From Buffleblog.com:

Pentagon Study Finds Beards Directly Related To Combat Effectiveness (via http://www.duffelblog.com)

TAMPA, FL — Forget new gear, weapons, or sophisticated targeting systems. The newest tool coming to combat troops is low-tech: beards. In a report released yesterday, research think-tank Xegis Solutions noted that beards have a direct correlation…

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I Just Vomited in my Mouth...

Captured another gem today on BART…and after just talking about not sitting like a duck too! The way that this chicks femur is pointed one way, and her tibia is spinning off almost 45 degrees the opposite way makes me cringe. Wonder what she is thinking about….maybe, "hmmm…what doctor should I call to repair my ACL?"

Look Familiar??

You Duck Footed Bastard!

If you walk with your feet tuned out (like a duck)...STOP! There is no easier way to fix yourself in order to improve your performance, make your painful knee go away and to help prevent future knee injuries from happening...Plus, you look stupid if you walk like a duck!…Sorry, but you do.

I've heard people, (well, I read a post from a popular fitness blogger) who actually disagrees with this idea. He claims that his entire family is "duck footed" and walk with their feet out and that so therefore he is duck footed and does not agree with many of the ideas regarding creating torque. I disagree.
My wife and I used to both walk with our feet turned out somewhat our whole lives. We were both guilty of walking "duckish" as children. But guess what…upon the realization that it was horrible for us, we BOTH JUST STOPPED DOING IT! Was it hard? Yes, at first. Did it hurt? Yes, at first. But you know what else hurts? An ACL tear! 

Its not that you are prepositioned to turn your feet out (unless you have a medical condition you were born with), you just need to change this bad habit/pattern.
The same can be said with posture. I didn't have horrible posture from a "family condition". I had horrible posture because I developed bad habits, never thought about it implications to my health or worked to correct it. But once I did, I worked, and am still working to correct it. 

So how do you correct walking like a duck? Don't walk or sit like a duck!

DONT LOOK LIKE THIS IDIOT:





















Feet Straight, Not turned out with collapsed arches;

OK....this guy can walk like a duck:

How to Use a Cell Phone or Computer Without Looking Like an Ass

Thought that this guy looked fine?

Then, you need to check out this article/video from techcrunch.com:

Kelly Starrett and Mobility WOD Ruined My Life

Not really…it is actually what got me to learn how to fix myself, transition from the military, go to school for physical therapy and start Operation Reload and Recover.

But something else happened...now all I can see is all the horrible positions people are in all day. After going to the mobility seminar, and studying mobilitywod.com I have started to develop a "Shitty Position Radar". All I can think about when I see someone typing on a computer hunched over is how they are wrecking their body or how that guy walking like a duck is going to have knees that always hurt when he is older and finally breaks down. 

On Kelly's show GPtv and in his seminars he uses pictures of people in horrible positions as references to his drive home his points. He also has explained how he and his friends would trade these images and vote on who had the best pic of the worst position. Viewers would send pics in as well….My wife even actually will now spot horrible positions and send me pics of what she saw.

So...I'm stealing that idea and am going to start to share some pics of the horrible positions I witness. I know it's kinda weird, but I think it will amaze you and help you think about what positions you adapt throughout the day.

Exhibit A:
This dudes neck is in a HORRIBLE position! Let look past the fact that he is completely disconnected from the world around him. As much time as people now spend on their cell phones, this guy has to be in this position for at least 4 hours a day. It hurts to just look at this picture. I wanted to not only go over and tell this guy his neck was going to probably snap completely off in 5 years, but just straight tackle him to teach him how to be legit and look up and use his cell phone. That would teach him…

Veteran Owned and Operated Companies

I wanted to share a few companies that we believe in. We aren't sponsored or get anything from these companies, we just wanna share what other vets are doing. These are all veteran owned and operated. Support veteran companies like these instead of some other crap made in China:

Arise 37:
This clothing company is more than just a clothing company. Owner Joe Reyna is a tattoo artist, designer, and just a great dude. They support other artists at their amazing studio and just hosted a charity event for the Wounded Warrior Project. Check them out, and check Joe Reyna's tattoo work, its amazing...

http://www.arise37.com/arise37/HOME_2.html
http://instagram.com/josephreyna

Anchors Hair Company:
This stuff is great. Now that you can have hair, you need to hook it up with some Anchors Hair Pomade. I love their "shape maker" pomade…

http://loveanchors.com


Guerilla Wodfare:
If you do crossfit, wanna get guerrilla strong, or just look like a badass, pick up one of their shirts. Their shirts are super comfortable and will automatically raise your 1RM by 50lbs….

http://www.guerrillawodfare.com

Happy Veterans Day to all my brothers in arms out there. Thank you to those who came before, and those who will come after. Serving this great country was the best decision I ever made

The Slingshot and a Few Other Weapons

If you are not able to do push-ups correctly, dont just do them wrong in order to pass a PT test or do a workout RXed. If you have been doing push-ups wrong for a long time, doing them correct is going to be tough at first, but the hard/right is better than the easy/wrong way, that will lead to pain down the road as you trash your shoulders.

Last time, I discussed how knee push-ups are a waste of time. So what to do if you want to scale the push-up and get better? Here are a few ideas/options:

First up is---in my opinion the best option. Mark Bell, an elite powerlifter, creator of Strength Magazine and owner of Super Training Gym,  invented a device called: The Slingshot. The Slingshot is a great tool. It costs about $45, but is worth the investment. I think spending $45 now is cheap when you compare it to wasted time and money fixing your shoulder. Many powerlifters use it to raise their numbers on the bench (which you can as well), but it can be used to help your push-ups. I bought one after I had a client who could not do a single push-up. He had never done a push-up before in his life and after training with the Slingshot (and lots of coaching), he is now able to knock out picture perfect push-ups on his own. I also use it as a great shoulder warmup if I'm doing a workout that demands a lot from the shoulders. You can see a demo of Mark Bell in the video below:

If you still feel that $45 is too much money, you can improvise to build your own slingshot. If you double-up a jumpstretch band you can get a similar benefit. But, from experience you can definitely feel a difference with the Slingshot, and its benefit of helping with dips, push-ups, and bench may be worth the money. You can see in this picture how you can improvise:

A few other quick options:

The Perfect Push-up:

This is a pretty good tool to grab if you see one at a yard sale. That rotating motion that is done on the device really nails home the idea of creating torque. 

Ring Rows:

While it is a pull and not a push...I like the way it allows you to create torque in the shoulders and upon lowering allows you to really feel your shoulder and learn the difference of being in a strong/stable shoulder position or if you are in a weak position with your shoulder in the front of the socket.

Scapula Push-ups:

I think it is a great tool to not only build some strength in the scapula region, but good to gain a feel for learning how to "screw your hands into the ground" and create a stable shoulder position. I had a lot of success with this movement with a client who had a train wreck of a push-up. Once he actually felt how his shoulder worked and could feel his shoulder becoming stable, things started to click for him. He stopped bending at the elbow first and instead initiated with the shoulder. 

Just Say NO to "Girl Push-Ups"!

First of all, I apologize in advance for using the phrase "girl push-ups". Before you shoot me an angry email, I know its a b.s. term. I didn't come up with the expression or use the term with my athletes, but it is what many refer to when doing push-ups from the knees. But, now that I have your attention...

Push-ups from the knees are not effiecient and teach bad movement patterns. In the past I was guilty of telling my soldiers, upon reaching muscle fatigue to just "keep pushing from the knees". I was wrong! There is a much better way. I saw Kelly's video below a while back and it opened my mind and really brought to light how we should work with beginners to help them get better at push-ups, and how to refine our push-ups. Once I saw it, I was embarrassed that I had ever suggested a soldier do push-ups from the knees.

So, if you are in a leadership position, you instruct anyone in physical activity, or are just trying to get better at push-ups yourself...FORGET PUSH-UPS FROM THE KNEES FOREVER!!! Tomm I will share some great tools to help with the push-up. 

We just got our new logo! It was created by a friend of ours- Joseph Reyna. Joe is a friend, a fellow veteran, an amazing tattoo artist, he owns the clothing line Arise 37, and is just an all around great guy. Joe is one of the hardest working people I know, so for him to take time out of his busy schedule to do this for us means a lot. Check out Joe's Tattoo work, Arise 37, and support a great American company:

Arise 37:
http://www.arise37.com/
https://www.facebook.com/arise37

Tattoo Work:
https://www.facebook.com/reyna37

Push-up Pain

So, now that we know what a good push-up looks like...how are we doing them wrong?

The main pain associated with the push-up is pain in the shoulders and elbows. In this video, Dr. Kelly Starrett describes how to save the shoulders and why position is so important in the push-up:

So...

-If the shoulders are internally rotated...push-ups=pain

-If the elbows bend first...push-ups=pain

-If the butt isnt squeezed and belly isnt tight...push-ups=pain

-If you look up and dont keep your head stable...push-ups=pain

The take away is that position is important. Not just in the push-up, but in all movements. Simply by improving your position, you can avoid a lot of the pain you experience...not to mention save yourself from pain down the road. Practice your push-ups and try to integrate these ideas to be more effective:
1. Get down, feet together and squeeze your glutes (and kept them that way throughout the movement) aka "stay tight" the whole time so you do not sag.
2. "Screw your hands into the ground" so that your elbow-pits are pointing straight ahead to create torque. This is one of the biggest errors. By doing this your push-ups will be much more efficient.
3. Initiate the movement in the shoulders, not the elbows (your elbows should be vertical, at a 90 degree angle throughout the movement).

Your Push-Ups Suck

Sorry to break it to you, but chances are-- you are doing push-ups wrong. I know it is tough to hear, but its true. It was hard for me to realize that I was doing them wrong for years (even though I could max out the PT test). But my inefficient push-ups (that were correct by military standards) was why I was always rehabbing a messed up shoulder.

So, first thing we are going to address is just that...the push-up. In the upcoming posts (and upcoming topics), the goal is to have you start to see how other communities all address the same problem. I will be posting videos of how a great triathlon coach, and a world class gymnast, a yoga teacher, a powerlifter, a physical therapist and a strength and conditioning coach all look at a movement.

Each expert will develop a slightly different correlation about how incorrect push-ups effect their specific athletes in their field. But, what I hope you see is that all of these coaches see the same big picture concept about how to do them correctly.

Over this series, we are going to break down the push-up...not just the movement, but also pain related to the movement, scaling options, recovery/prep and how the military can improve on its teaching/execution of the push-up. First, lets look at what a perfect push-up means/looks like, in order to establish a baseline of how they should look.

Here is a great part 1 & 2 video from elite gymnast/coach Carl Paoli breaking down how to do a perfect push-up:

Part One

Part Two

9/11 Iron Cross Hero Run

If you live in the Bay Area Check out the Iron Cross Hero Run on 9/11. Details are at:
http://www.resiliency-project.org/911-memorial-service/
https://www.facebook.com/TeamRWBNorCal

Team RWB and The Resiliency Project will be there. They are both great organizations.

How we here at Operation R&R are looking at problems and trying to find solutions:

Tactical athletes need to be a jack of all trades. Service members, and first responders are trained in various fields in order to be self sufficient in a time of crisis. Medics are trained in communications, just as communications soldiers are trained for medical situations. In combat and during emergencies this becomes especially important. For instance, should a communications soldier go down, another soldier will need to step in and fulfill those duties as the fight goes on.

This also applies to how tactical athletes should look at their physical training. Our community must be ready for any challenge thrown at them. In my opinion, a program such as CrossFit preps them for these scenarios, just as any good strength and conditioning coach would do as well. I am not saying CrossFit is the only program that looks at various components, but it is one that definitely does. The concept in CF of, “Constantly varied, functional movement” is what any service member must be ready for while performing their duties. But, it is also how we should be thinking about other issues and problems that we encounter. We must vary our thinking about these issue (such as looking at other fields) and think about how it relates to what we do functionally (for example- how does poor shoulder movement/body mechanics/pain affect ruck marching and shooting).

This is how we are trying to address problems here at Operation Reload and Recover. We cannot solely look at the literature of physical therapy to solve joint pain, just as we cannot only look at the literature in strength and conditioning to become a better, stronger tactical athlete. We try to blend different teachings together so they compliment each other. 

Kelly Starrett make a great correlation, that all of the problems that he sees and addresses are not new ideas at all. For example, he states, “In yoga, they aren’t talking about aligning the chakra (when putting your palms together overhead)...they figured out that position was the most stable position for the shoulder when the arm is overhead. Well, so did Olympic weightlifting, so did the swimmers, the gymnasts...and finally, now we have a chance and the ability to connect the dots on these things.” (cite)

10 years ago, we would hear about a NFL player who takes ballet or yoga. Even recently on the HBO show, "Hard Knocks", which followed the Cincinnati Bengals this year, QB Andy Dalton talks about how his wife got him started to do pilates in the off season and felt stronger throwing. Why?...Because he started to see what it meant to stabilize the shoulder and those movements helped him with full range of motion in his shoulder, which is where as a QB he makes his money. Its not that you have to do pilates or ballet to understand full range of motion in the shoulder or ankle, its just a tool to learn how and it allows an athlete to link it all together.

Stay tuned...the first thing we are going to attempt to address is the PUSH UP and start to try and connect some dots about it....