Barry Ross Sprint Training Dl Program

Strategies for Correcting Bad Posture – Part 4

Written on December 9, 2010 at 3:20 am, by Eric Cressey

This wraps up a four part series on key points to consider and techniques to utilize for correcting bad posture. In case you missed them, check out the previous three installments of this series:

Many great sprinters, like Ben Johnson for instance, under Charlie Francis’ guidance, have been known to rely almost exclusively on heavy squats and their variants, and in some instances deadlifts (I’m thinking Barry Ross style training). Strength and conditioning coach Barry Ross is mainly known for his work in the area of track and field, especially sprinting. Ross helped train sprinter Allyson Felix in high school. Allyson Felix has gone on to become an Olympic silver medalist and world champion sprinter. You may wonder what this has to do with wrestling.

Strategies for Correcting Bad Posture – Part 1
Strategies for Correcting Bad Posture – Part 2
Strategies for Correcting Bad Posture – Part 3

We’ll pick this up with tips 13-16.

13. Look further down the kinetic chain.

I spent much of the last installment discussing the role of the thoracic spine and glenohumeral joint in distorting upper body posture. However, the truth is that it goes much further down than this, in many cases, and isn’t quite as predictable. As the picture below shows, a posteriorly rotated pelvis (swayback posture – third from left)) can kick off a nasty thoracic kyphosis, but an excessively lordotic posture (second from left) can do the exact same thing; it really just comes down to where folks compensate.

In the swayback posture, we see more flexion-based back pain (in addition to the classic upper body injuries/conditions), whereas the lordotic posture kicks off extension-based back pain. Stretching the hip flexors a ton will help the lordotic folks, but usually have minimal effect for the swayback folks. So, you really have to assess the hips individually and contemplate how they impact what goes on further up.

Barry Ross Sprint Training Dl Programming

Likewise, you can look even further down the chain. Overpronation at the foot and ankle kicks on excessive tibial and femoral internal rotation, which encourages more anterior pelvic tilt – which goes hand-in-hand with a lordotic posture. Further up, we may compensate for this lordosis by getting more kyphotic to reposition our center of mass and remain “functional” and looking straight ahead.

14. Get ergonomic…conservatively.

While some ergonomic adjustments to your work station can be extremely valuable, simple modifications often yield the quickest and most profound results. I’ve known folks who have gotten symptomatic relief by going to a standing or kneeling desk to get away from extended periods of time in hip flexion – and by getting the computer screen up to eye level.

Likewise, I always remind people that the best posture is the one that is constantly changing. So, regardless of how “correct’ your posture may be, it should always be a transient thing.

Barry

15. Use 1-arm pressing and pulling variations.

This recommendation will be appreciated by those of you who have checked out my new product, Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better.

If you’re doing the program, chance are that you’ve noticed that there are quite a few unilateral upper body strength exercises – often one in each upper body training session. The reason is pretty simple; you train thoracic rotation and scapular protraction/retraction on each and every rep.

If we are doing thoracic mobility work and lower trap/serratus anterior activation drills in our warm-ups, this is a perfect opportunity to create stability within that new ROM and solidify the neural patterns we’ve hoping to establish (and get an added core training benefit). You simply can’t get this with bilateral exercise, particularly in a supine (bench presses) or prone (chest-supported rows) position.

16. Add range of motion – not just load – to your weight training program.

This note is one that anyone with a decent power of observation could make. Walk in to any gym, and notice the people with the absolute worse posture as they go through their workout routines. What do they do?

They move as little as possible on every single rep. They squat high, don’t go anywhere near the chest on bench presses, or just make up “strength exercises” that amount to violent spasms. And that’s just the ignorant folks.

Among advanced lifters, you’ll see a lot of folks with terrible shoulder mobility and posture sticking with board presses and floor presses (which are certainly justified in limited volumes at specific training times), and doing rows with crazy heavy weights that force them to substitute forward head posture in place of anything even remotely close to scapular retraction.

In short, these folks keep working to add load, when they really should be maintaining or even lowering the load while adding range of motion to their weight training programs.

Wrap-up

Hopefully, this series brought to light some concepts that you can put into action right away. Down the road, I may “reincarnate” this series as I think up some more strategies – or based on reader feedback. Are there other areas you’d like covered? If so, post in the comments section and there may be a Part 5 afterall!

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  1. John Says:

    Hi Eric,

    On unilateral exercises, do you think that sprinters can get enough quad work from only unilateral exercises like lunge variations and pistols [while focusing on posterior chain w/ bilateral]?

  2. Cris Says:

    Afternoon Eric,

    I’d be interested to read your thoughts on the John’s question, especially as I read an article over the Summer by Margot Wells, a UK speed coach and wife of Alan Wells – the gold medal winner at the 100m in the 1980 Olympics. She wrote that, in her opinion, all sprinters should only work with bodyweight and there’s no need for them to weight train. I raised my eyebrows at this, though like to keep an open mind.
    All the best and thanks for your great work.
    Cris

  3. Eric Says:

    @John… It all depends on so many factors, as you probably already know… Many great sprinters, like Ben Johnson for instance, under Charlie Francis’ guidance, have been known to rely almost exclusively on heavy squats and their variants, and in some instances deadlifts (I’m thinking Barry Ross style training…). But in other cases, for instance Michael Johnson, lunges and their variants were used almost exclusively. All depends 🙂

  4. Paddy Says:

    Great Series! Thanks Eric.

    Where do you start when there is dysfunction throughout the kinetic chain? You touch on overpronation. Is there any way to know what kicked off the bad posture and should you aim to fix this first or start at the end (possibly symptoms??) and work backwards?

  5. Mark Says:

    Hi Eric, Thought provoking as usual. Working my way through Maximum Strength at the moment and loving it! I feel better, a lot of little aches are gone and I can feel myself getting stronger. One question though – I’m struggling to keep the bar in the right place on front squats. Could I be leaning too far forward? Am I in fact one of the guys you mention at the end of the article – I should reduce the weight and get the technique right? Any tips you have on the front squat would be great. Thanks for the common sense – it’s not so common!
    Cheers
    PS, I fear that I might have fallen in love with deadlifting too!

  6. John Says:

    I think I’ve seen about 5 or so thorough papers on sprinting mechanics, and all seem to conclude the hamstrings are “most important” (may or may not be correct). I was simply thinking along the lines of using deadlift variations over squat for my “heavy” movements (and getting quad work from single leg). I would think, however, that quad strength/power is most important (landing phase) while hamstrings (and other hip muscles) need mobility (forward leg swing). When I sprint though, it seems as though only my glutes actually get “pumped.” It’s tricky…

  7. John Says:

    I think I’ve seen about 5 or so thorough papers on sprinting mechanics, and all seem to conclude the hamstrings are “most important” (may or may not be correct). I was simply thinking along the lines of using deadlift variations over squat for my “heavy” movements (and getting quad work from single leg).

    From purely looking at sprinting “frame-by-frame,” I’d guess that quad strength/power is most important while the hips need mobility: the quads would seem to be the dominant muscle when landing & “push off” (similar position to a jerk); the hip is already extended pretty far when the foot is on the ground, making me think a max strength increase would have little effect in that unusual range of motion.

    However, when I sprint (60-100m), it seems as though only my glutes (hamstrings a little bit) actually get “pumped.” Also, my gut feeling tells me hip extension strength/power is the limiting factor…it’s tricky I suppose…

  8. Jacy Says:

    Now this is what I am guilty of, a bad posture!

  9. Mike P. Says:

    Eric,

    Awesome articles. I love the Chart in #13. The Military posture is me to a T. I would like to learn more on what I could do for the extreme tightness in the hams, calves and back. Any chance that’s upcoming?

    Also, I’d really like to get the Show And Go program. Any chance you’ll be having a Christmas Sale….”Hint, Hint”

  10. Roger Jones Says:

    I’m with Mike. P, on both counts!

  11. Luke A Says:

    Eric

    In a nutshell, your programs have changed my life. I am not an athlete, not anything special. Just a normal guy, 9-5. However, I am no longer a normal guy. Max strength and Show and Go got me serious. Thanks for everything, and for making me strong. Awesome.

  12. Erik petersen Says:

    Eric, Would you recommend that all trainer’s start with the Access and Correct information or is it ok to just start with something like Maximum Strength or Show and Go? Also, do you have any ideas to give on getting referrals from rehab physicians?

  13. Erik petersen Says:

    One more question. Is there any benefit to doing regular straight-bar dead-lifts versus trap-bar lifts other than if you are planning on competing in power lifting? It makes sense to me to keep the load as close to center line to reduce forces going through the back, especially for people like me who have a grade 1 spondylolistheses.

  14. Thomas S Says:

    eric i would love to see a part 5! these articles have been extremely helpful for me.

  15. Ernie O'Malley Says:

    Hey Eric,

    what would “stretching the hip flexors a ton” mean?
    I think I remember that MR once talked about 20min daily? Would that mean 10min left, 10min right in the same position?

    Thanks 🙂

  16. Ernie O'Malley Says:

    Hey Eric,

    what would 'stretching the hip flexors a ton' mean?
    I think I remember that MR once talked about 20min daily? Would that mean 10min left, 10min right in the same position?

    Thanks 🙂

  17. Eric Says:

    @John… You will probably like this article. Will let you in on some little facts that should help you design the appropriate program for improving sprinting-specific strength…http://www.nacactfca.org/sprinting.pdf

    Little-be-known, the quad is pretty much unimportant on push-off. And, you’ll discover how amazingly important adductor magnus is!!!!

  18. john Says:

    Eirc,

    Ha, that was one of the papers/articles to which I was referring. The one thing about it is they hypothesize, “the velocity of a sprinter, running at full speed, is directly related to the velocity of the swing back of the legs.” It kind of makes me think increasing max hamstring/adductor strength would have little effect because the “swing back” is against no resistance, while the vertical “push” is, despite the range of motion of the quads being small–maybe that’s why they don’t get “pumped.” Anyway, I don’t want to be a Guinea pig and only front squat for 6 months.

  19. Darfy Says:

    Hey eric,

    Could you please she more light on Sway Back vs Anterior Tilt postures. Looking at yours and Mike’s articles i was always sure i was in Anterior pelvic tilt and still am pretty sure. But looking at the Assess and Correct Pdf, it talks about Sway back and the lengthened/shortnened muscles and now this blog and have confused myself a little. I show all the signs of Anterior Pelvic tilt but also feel like i have terribly tight glutes and external hip rotators. I do realise this can be due to inhibition and the force couples at the hip being imbalanced. But it would be great to learn some more differences between the two. I still need to watch my Assess and Correct DVD.
    Thanks for all the great info.

    Darfy.

  20. Jay Says:

    Hi, anything from you on posture is Gold! i have posture problems. i have forward head, kyphosis, lordosis, weak and loose lower adominals, tight chest, tight lower body and i am unable to sleep on my back. i have to sleep on my stomach. What should i doing to correct all these and feel good about myself. Thanks Eric!

  21. Jan Keller Says:

    Hi Eric,

    I have loved these installments on Posture.
    I have always been told and read that if a person presents with an exaggerated anterior pelvic tilt, you should focus on stretching the anterior hip muscles ie, hip-flexors, psaos, rectus femoris etc…. and NOT the hamstrings. But if that same person had insanely tight hamstrings would you still stretch these?
    I would love to hear your thoughts.

    Keep up the great work!!

A decade or so ago the phrase “roadwork” would have conjured up the image of a tracksuit clad athlete stoically jogging through the early morning mist and up the stairs of the Philadelphia Museum of Art to the inspirational tune “Gonna Fly Now’.


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In recent times though, roadwork has fallen out of fashion in the athletic community; now we talk about “conditioning” and flog ourselves stupid with insane high paced workouts that leave us bathing in a puddle of our own puke and sweat.
While I think it is a good thing that we’ve come to understand that running for hours on end is detrimental to the strength, health, and performance of the majority of athletes, we’ve replaced it with something just as stupid.
The majority of “conditioning” training I see people do rarely results in any kind of improved sport performance and, in fact, usually actively interferes with it.
People forget that conditioning is specific. A boxer who is fully capable of doing ten rounds of intense sparring can be left gasping for air like a pack a day smoker after just ten minutes of wrestling practice, simply because they are not yet adapted to the specific conditioning demands of wrestling.
The best kind of sports conditioning is training or playing in the sport itself, and anything that interferes with an athlete’s ability to train or play is a hinderance. That said, it follows though that anything that can increase or enhance an athlete’s ability to train or play is beneficial.
So, aside from developing strength, if “conditioning” is out, what does that leave us with? Aerobic baseline capacity training. Roadwork 2.0 if you will.
Aerobic conditioning is not domain specific so, provided care is taken to keep the level of physical stress low, improvements made allow an athlete to train in their sport longer and more frequently.
The following three methods have each shown excellent results across a variety of sports and activities.
Barry Ross Baseline conditioning
This protocol is probably the easiest and most effective I have ever come across for developing an aerobic baseline for training. The fact that it is so simple and so undemanding is probably the main reason that almost nobody will start or stick with it.
The program was developed by Barry Ross, one of the best sprint coaches in the world, who needed to improve his athletes’ aerobic base without also further fatiguing them or impacting their ability to recover from their intense sprint training sessions.
The solution he came up with was to get his athletes to walk as fast as possible for 15 minutes three times a week with the goal of walking slightly further every week. This was to be repeated for four weeks followed by a two week break before repeating.
Tempo Running
The concept behind tempo running is that as there is little or no barrier to entry to running and only in the most extreme of circumstances do people become unable to take another step. As a result it is extremely easy for athletes (or anyone else for that matter) to run too far and run too fast damaging both sports performance and their bodies. We needed a method of limiting both the pace of the run and the quantity of running performed.
For years I called the following method “Tempo Running”, before I found out that it is essentially a low tech approach to the reasonably well known “Maffetone Running Method”.
This sounds easy, but the first session crushes egos on a regular basis. All the athlete has to do is run for 30 minutes twice a week maintaining a pace which allows them to breath only through their nose. If at any point during the run the athlete breathes through their mouth, they must walk the remaining time even once they are able to resume nose only breathing.
By restricting peoople to only breathing through their nose, it forces them to work at a pace that their body can easily handle.
I got the idea after watching Russian amateur boxers working the pads and even sparring with a mouthful of water, that they were then forced to spit out between rounds to prove they hadn’t swallowed the liquid.
Steady state after high intensity training
While none of these methods are onerous, this approach is the most easily integrated into an existing routine. All that is required is ten minutes of easy, steady state aerobics immediately after an intense sport training session, six days a week.
It is important to take note that in order for this protocol to be effective, it must be performed directly after a high intensity sports training session – not as a separate session, and not after something slower paced.
Interestingly, while it is probably the least effective of these three options for developing your aerobic baseline capacity (it’s still pretty good though) this is the only one that is even remotely likely to result in additional fat loss. While aerobic training is not particularly good at mobilising fat from adipose tissue stores, it is reasonably effective at making use of it once it enters the bloodstream. By performing some steady state aerobic training after high intensity training, which is amazing at mobilising fat from adipose tissue, you are essentially giving yourself some insurance that the fat that was mobilised gets burned.
Barry ross sprint training dl programming

Barry Ross Sprint Training

******
You might have noticed that none of the above training protocols are particularly exciting or sexy. That’s the thing about training in an effective, productive manner – sometimes it’s boring.
And that’s what makes this training genuinely hard for people to do.
The long runs and the puke inducing work outs feel hard but almost everybody will do them because they also feel exciting but it’s a willingness to do the rote work, the punch the clock style training sessions, that is the mark of a genuine athlete.
Ross
Photograph by Malcolm Murdoch