Opening Day Musings: Are You Willing to Put in the Work?
Posted: April 5, 2012 Filed under: Baseball Content, baseball strength and conditioning, Baseball Workouts, Blog, Off-Season Training for Baseball, Pro Baseball Pitcher Workout, Ryan Flaherty, Strength and Conditioning, strength and conditioning program, strength and conditioning programs, Weight Lifting for Baseball Comments OffEarlier this week, Cressey Performance athlete Ryan Flaherty was named to the Baltimore Orioles opening day roster for today. Ryan and I share a common trait in that we were both born and raised in Southern Maine, so we’ve had some good conversations about what it takes to compete on a national scale when you start out from what isn’t exactly known as a baseball capital of the world. When I heard the great news about Ryan, the logical first choice for reading about it was our hometown newspaper, the Portland Press Herald, in this article.
One of the things that stood out for me about this article was the quote about how Orioles manager Buck Showalter still got so excited to tell guys they made the big league roster – because, unfortunately, it’s a conversation he gets to have much less often than the “You’re cut” interaction.
Being successful – and, even moreso, world-class – is very difficult.
Only 3% of guys ever drafted into professional baseball ever make it to the big leagues. When you factor in free agent signings, it’s likely a 1 in 50 success rate. Taking it a step further, if you look at the 118 first-round draft picks between 2004 and 2007 who actually signed, only 84 (71%) of them ever made it to the big leagues. In other words, even if you are among the most coveted 30 prospects in all of the U.S. and Canada, you still have a long way to go, and a lot of time to fall flat on your face.
I hear it all the time from kids:
I want to make varsity.
I want to play in college.
I want to get drafted.
I want to make it to the big leagues.
While the goals are certainly incremental and far apart, the response needs to be the same: “It won’t be easy, and you need to be willing to work for it – not talk about it.”
Ryan was no exception. He was one of the best athletes – football, basketball, and baseball – in the history of the State of Maine. Then, he was a three-year standout at Vanderbilt, one of the best college baseball programs in the country, before being drafted in 2008. Three years of hard work in the minor leagues later, he’s getting his shot in “the show” today. Tim Collins was a great example from last year – and Tim had to work his butt off to keep his roster spot in the big leagues going in to 2012.
It would have been very easy to be one of the 98% who failed, though. There are thousands of ways in which kids go astray from their goals today, whether it’s due to apathy, poor coaching, overassertive parents, drug use, behavioral issues, or simply not being honest with themselves about how much they need to improve. And, it’s getting worse with every participation trophy that’s handed out, and every time that a parent races in to school to contest a grade on a report card.
In the former case, the rewards should be the excitement of competition, the outstanding feeling that comes from being part of a team, the physical activity that comes with participating, and the character development that comes from dedicating oneself to a goal and working toward improvements to make it a reality. What are we saying to a kid when he busts his butt and looks the coach in the eye every time they talk, yet we hand him the same participation trophy that we gave to the kid that shows up late to practice, refuses to pick up equipment, gets in the coach’s face, and dogs it through drills?
In the latter case, the parent has missed a valuable opportunity to teach a valuable, yet dwindling characteristic in today’s young kids: accountability. When parent could be teaching a kid that “you reap what you sow,” instead, he/she instead chooses to show that you can cut corners in life because there will always be someone around to clean up your mess. I’m all for standing up to your kids – but I think a lot of people today need to stand up TO their kids, too.
It isn’t just about showing up. It’s about genuinely caring about what you do, honestly evaluating where your abilities are, having a passion to become a better person and make the the world a better place, and acting accordingly – while being humble, punctual, diligent, and respectful.
Don’t get me wrong; we absolutely, positively need to encourage all kids, not just athletes – and overbearing parents absolutely crush kids’ confidence. However, there is a happy medium between the two; I think we do them a disservice when we aren’t realistic with them about what it actually takes to be successful. Only then can they appreciate the day-t0-day behaviors and practice they’ll need to be successful: the process for their ultimate destination.
Along these lines, over the years, I’ve had dozens of parents come up to me and say that one of the reasons they love Cressey Performance so much is that young athletes get to interact with and train alongside professional athletes so much. The hard work they see from the pro guys does a better job of demonstrating what level of commitment it takes to succeed better than anything a parent could ever put into words.
I love seeing college and professional athletes involved with clinics for younger athletes, as well as charitable endeavors. It doesn’t just help the kids and charities, but also the athletes themselves. It gives them not only a chance to give back and an opportunity to reflect on how far they’ve come and the hard work it took to get to where they are.
It’s important to not just discuss the drive and character it takes to succeed, but give kids visual examples of it. What better day than opening day, when dreams are coming true all over Major League Baseball? It’s a great starter to a conversation you ought to have with your kids and the players you coach; why not today?
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Mobility Exercise of the Week: Bowler Squat
Posted: April 2, 2012 Filed under: Assess and Correct, Baseball Content, Blog, Bowler Squat, Increasing Pitching Velocity, mobility exercise, Strength and Conditioning, strength and conditioning program, strength and conditioning programs, strength training program, Stride Length, Stuart McGill Comments OffI was introduced to the bowler squat originally by Dr. Stuart McGill at one of his seminars back around 2005. Beyond the endorsement from one of the world’s premier spine experts, the fact that it’s been a mainstay in our strength and conditioning programs for about seven years should prove just how valuable I think this combination mobility/activation exercise is.
Before describing it, though, I should mention that the name is a bit misleading. While it does look like a bowler’s motion, the truth is that it’s more of a “rotational deadlift” than it is a squat. There is some knee flexion involved, but the shin remains essentially vertical, and most of the motion occurs at the hips – and that’s what makes it such a fantastic exercise. Have a look:
We talk all the time about how important glute activation is, but most folks simply think that a few sets of supine bridges will get the job done. The problem is that this exercise occurs purely in the sagittal plane, while the glutes – as demonstrated by their line of pull – are also extremely active in the frontal and transverse planes. The gluteus maximums isn’t just a hip extensor; it is also a hip abductor and external rotator.
As such, the gluteus maximus is essential to properly eccentrically controlling hip flexion, adduction, and internal rotation that occurs with every step, landing, lunge, and change-of-direction. You can even think of it as an “anti-pronator.”
A bowler squat effectively challenges the glutes to both lengthen and activate in a weight-bearing position in all three planes. And, for the tennis and baseball players out there, check out how closely the bowler squat replicates the finish position from a serve and pitch (I noted this in a recent article, Increasing Pitching Velocity: What Stride Length is and How to Improve It).
To perform the exercise, push the hips back as if attempting a 1-leg RDL, but reach across the body with the arm on the side of the non-support leg. The “hips back” cue will get the sagittal plane, while the reach across will get the frontal and transverse plane. Make sure to keep the spine in neutral to ensure that the range of motion comes from the hips and not the lower back. Keep the knee soft (not locked out), but not significantly flexed, either. Be sure to get the hips all the way through at the top, finishing with a glute squeeze.
A few additional cues we may use are:
1. Tell the athlete to pretend like he/she is trying to pick up a basketball with the support foot; it can help those who keep tipping over.
2. Provide a target – a medicine ball or dumbbell – that the athlete should reach for in the bottom position (this keeps folks from cutting the movement short, or making it too sagittal plane dominant).
3. Encourage the athlete to keep the chin tucked (to keep the cervical spine in neutral).
4. Put your hand a few inches in front of the kneecap and tell the athlete not to touch your hand with the knee; this keeps an athlete from squatting too much when he/she should be hip-hinging.
Typically, we’ll perform this drill for one set of eight reps per side as part of the warm-up. However, in a less experienced population – or one with very poor balance – this may serve as a great unloaded challenge that can be included as part of the actual strength training program.
Give it a shot!
For more exercises like this, be sure to check out Assess and Correct: Breaking Barries to Unlock Performance.
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Bench Press Technique: Should You Keep Your Feet Up?
Posted: March 16, 2012 Filed under: bench press, Bench Press Explosion, bench press technique, Blog, Strength and Conditioning, strength and conditioning program, strength and conditioning programs, strength training program, strength training programs Comments OffA few weeks ago, I published a blog, Are Pull-ups THAT Essential?, that was the single most popular in the history of EricCressey.com. One particularly important point I made was that chronically driving the scapulae into depression with overuse of the lats could lead to various injuries in lifters and athletes.
In the comments section after the article, one reader had a great question along these lines: Isn’t benching with a big arch and cueing “down and back” with the shoulder blades during a bench press the exact same thing? Shouldn’t the feet be up on the bench to get people out of extension?
I think it is a similar thing, but not the exact same thing. And, I am not a fan of bench pressing with the feet up on the bench.
Before I get into the details of why, though, we should make an important differentiation between “gym” bench press technique and the bench press technique used by competitive powerlifters in competition.
In competition powerlifting bench press technique, the goal is to shorten the range of motion of the bar while maximizing leg drive. Putting yourself in a big lower back arch and tucking the feet up under you more is the way to do this. Additionally, equipped powerlifters wear bench press shirts that pull the shoulder blades forward, and the humerus into extension past the body. Accordingly, the lifter has to consciously pull the shoulder blades down and back to counteract this tension and not jack up the anterior aspect of the shoulder. After about 20 minutes of searching my laptop, I found this old video of me from 2005 when I was a legit 165-pounder (you can tell by the ostrich legs). Notice the big arch and how much upper back involvement I needed to “fight” the shirt (and, for the record, I was never good at using the shirt…hated those things):
The Average Joe doesn’t need to worry about these factors when he’s lifting in the gym; he just needs to figure out what gives him the optimal set-up to stay healthy and still benefit from the exercise. Still, I think we can learn a few things from the powerlifting approach.
First, I’m not convinced that such substantial loads for the upper body alone are a good thing. There are smaller joint structures and more mobility than stability than we see in the lower body, which can handle far greater loads. Sharing the load with the lower body tends to better distribute overall training stress. Bringing the feet up on the bench takes this away.
Second, folks are more likely to go into excessive humeral extension (elbows pass the body) in the bottom position with a “sunken” chest. So, they either jack up the anterior aspect of the shoulder there – or the elbows flare out and we deal with a host of other stability issues.
Third, in standing, we actually have a “normal” lordotic curve. I think it’s optimal to maintain this lordotic curve on the bench rather than take it away completely. Core stability isn’t about cranking someone into excessive extension or flexion; it’s about learning how to maintain neutral. A “middle of the road” approach like the one in the videos below is fine for most lifters (you’ll notice a slight arch is even more important on the close grip bench press, as there is a greater tendency for humeral extension past neutral when the hands are closer together):
Fourth, there is something to be said about learning from very strong people and their experiences. We learned about how bracing was far superior to hollowing in terms of core stability by simply looking at world class squatters and what they did under insane loads. Along these same lines, you simply don’t see world class bench pressers with the feet up and shoulder blades winging out. The flat back posture shifts guys into an abducted scapulae position from the get-go – and it becomes excessive at the top of the press. Internal rotation with protraction closes down the subacromial space and can cause increased rotator cuff impingement as well. A similar thing actually happens when guys have to lift off the racks to themselves to start the lift, and it’s one reason why I always recommend getting a bench press handoff.
Fifth, you have to appreciate that the amount of time spent in scapular depression and lumbar extension (if you are even past the point of “neutral”) is relatively trivial. If this position provides some extra stability, and doesn’t take place for long enough to yield chronic adaptations, I’m all for it.
Hopefully, this brief overview explains why I don’t like to have the feet up with bench press technique. If you’re looking to learn more, I’d encourage you to check out Mike Westerdal’s new resource, Bench Press Explosion. It features some outstanding bench press technique advice, as well as 18 different bench press specialization strength training programs.
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5 Quick and Easy Ways to Feel and Move Better: Installment 1
Posted: March 2, 2012 Filed under: Assess and Correct, Athletic Greens, bad posture, Blog, correcting bad posture, deadlift, deadlift technique, Deadlifts, Fish Oil, Fitness Anywhere, get strong, How to Deadlift, lordosis, lose fat gain muscle, Lower Traps, Move Better, Pull-up, pull-ups, Sleep, Strength and Conditioning, strength and conditioning program, strength and conditioning programs, TRX, Vitamin D Comments OffMy “random thoughts” pieces are some of my favorite writings that I’ve ever published, and today seemed like a good day to throw out some quick and easy ideas on how you can feel better, move better, lose fat, gain muscle, get strong, and – if you’re super-motivated – take over the world. Here goes…
1. Get a good training partner.
There are random dudes you meet at the gym who provide a mediocre lift-off on the bench press here and there, and then there are dedicated training partners. There is a big difference. A good training partner will tell you to get your act together and train hard when you’re slacking off, or even hold you back when your body is banged up, but you’re stupidly trying to push through it. It’s guaranteed accountability, motivation, expertise, safety, competition, and all-around awesomeness. To be honest, I often wonder if most people get the best results working with a trainer/strength coach for these factors more than the actual expertise the fitness professional provides!
2. Make your bedroom a cave.
One of the best investments my wife and I made when we bought our new house were reinforced window shades for our bedroom so that very little light could get through when they were down. They make a dramatic difference in terms of how dark you can make your room at night (especially if you have street lights near your residence) and were 100% worth the extra cost, as compared to regular shades.
Even if you don’t want to spend the extra few bucks on souped-up shades, though, you can still get some of the benefits of “cave sleeping” by blocking out light from cell phones, alarm clocks, and – if you’re a frat boy – bright green neon signs of your favorite beer in your dorm room. Also, do your best to shut the TV and computer off at least thirty minutes before you hit the sack as well, as it’ll give your brain time to wind down and transition to some deep, restful sleep.
3. Take Athletic Greens.
I’ve always been a non-responder to supplements. As an example, I never gained an ounce when I started taking creatine in 2001, and never noticed a huge difference in sleep quality when I started taking ZMA. Still, I pretty much trust in research and go with these supplements, plus mainstays like fish oil and Vitamin D and assume that they’re doing their job. It’s interesting how some of the most essential supplements we take are the ones where we might notice the most subtle difference, isn’t it?
Anyway, in 2011, I added Athletic Greens to this mix. I look at it as whole food based “nutritional insurance” use it in place of my multivitamin. I think it’s solid not only as a greens supplement (which, incidentally, doesn’t taste like dog crap), but also because it directly improves gut health to improve absorption of micronutrients. With loads of superfoods, herbal extracts, trace elements, antioxidants, and pre- and probiotics, I could tell that it would be something that would decrease inflammation and improve immunity (something I’ve viewed as increasingly important with each passing year as life has gotten more stressful with the growth of Cressey Performance).
Interestingly, one of our long-time athletes who is now playing baseball at a highly ranked D1 university, started taking Athletic Greens after we chatted about it this summer, and he sent me this note:
Hey Eric, thanks for the recommendation on Athletic Greens. I love the product! I have not gotten sick once since I started taking it 4 months ago, and my body feels better than ever. This is the first semester I haven’t gotten sick. Hope all is well!
I guess I’m not the only one who likes it! Check it out for yourself here.
As an aside, they do a pretty cool combination where you can get greens, fish oil, and vitamin D all at once at a great price, and the fish oil is excellent quality. We have several athletes who get everything in this one place for convenience.
4. Go split-stance.
Last week, in my popular post, Are Pull-ups THAT Essential?, I included the following video of forearm wall slides at 135 degrees, a great drill we like to use to train upward rotation, as the arms are directly in the line of pull in the lower traps. With this exercise, we always cue folks “glutes tight, core braced” so that they don’t just substitute lumbar extension in place of the scapulae moving into retraction/depression on the rib cage.
Unfortunately, these cues don’t work for everyone – particularly those who are super lordotic (huge arch in their lower back). A great “substitute cue” for these folks is to simply go into a split stance, putting one foot out in front of the other (even if it’s just slightly). As you have probably observed in performing single-leg exercises like lunges and split-squats, it is much harder to substitute lumbar extension for hip extension than it is with bilateral exercises like squats and deadlifts. Fortunately, the same is true of substituting lumbar extension for scapular movement on the rib cage. So, if you’re struggling with the exercise above, simply move one foot out in front of the other and you should be golden.
5. Get some assessments done.
Imagine you were about to embark on a cross country trip with a great vacation in mind in, say, San Diego. However, I didn’t tell you where you were starting the journey. While you might get to where you want to be (or at least close to it), it’d make the trip a lot more difficult. You’d probably blow a bunch of money on gas, sleep in some nasty motels in the middle of nowhere, pick up an awkward hitchhiked who smells like cabbage, and maybe even spend a night in a Tijuana jail along the way. Not exactly optimal planning.
A strength and conditioning program isn’t much different than this cross-country trip. If you don’t know how your body works – both internally and externally – you need to learn before you subject it to serious stress. Get some bloodwork done to see if you have any deficiencies (e.g., Vitamin D, iron, essential fatty acids) that could interfere with your energy levels, ability to recover, or endocrine response to exercise. Likewise, consult someone who understands movement to determine whether you have faulty movement patterns that could predispose you to injury. I think this is one reason why Assess and Correct has been our most popular product ever; it gives folks some guidance on where to start and where to go. Otherwise, the strength and conditioning program in front of you is really just a roadmap, and you don’t know where the starting point is.
These are just a few quick thoughts that came to mind today, but I’ll surely have many more in the follow-ups to this first installment. Feel free to post some of your own ideas in the comments section below, too!
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Hip Anteversion – Assessment and Implications for Strength and Conditioning Programs
Posted: February 29, 2012 Filed under: anteversion, Blog, Conventional Deadlift, deadlift technique, Elite Training Mentorship, Eric Oetter, How to Deadlift, Retroversion, Strength and Conditioning, strength and conditioning program, strength and conditioning programs, Sumo Deadlift, Trap Bar Deadlift Comments OffToday, we have a guest blog from former Cressey Performance intern Eric Oetter, who is well on his way to a great career in physical therapy. Eric is an extremely bright up-and-comer from whom you’ll be hearing a lot in the years to come. Here’s a little sampling.
As part of the “pre-launch” phase for his new collaborative project, Elite Training Mentorship, Eric posted an outstanding video covering the lower-extremity assessment protocol he uses at Cressey Performance. For those who haven’t yet seen it, follow the link here; you won’t regret it.
In the video, Eric mentions three different factors that can contribute to mobility deficits at the hip: muscular restrictions, capsular restrictions, and bony restrictions. While the first two – muscular and capsular – can be relatively easy to decipher based on the test position of the hip, identifying bony restrictions can be tricky unless you’ve got access to a client’s radiological imaging. For this reason, it’s important to appreciate any structural variations in the skeletal system that can underlie joint malalignment at the hip.
The focus of this piece is a structural variation called hip anteversion. We’ll be covering the joint morphology associated with anteversion, along with a quick orthopedic test and some implications for programming.
What is hip anteversion?
Excerpted from the 2002 text Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes, Shirley Sahrmann describes hip anteversion as the following:
“ … the angle of the head and neck of the femur is rotated anteriorly, beyond that of the normal torsion with respect to the shaft. The result is a range of medial hip rotation that appears to be excessive, whereas the lateral rotation range appears to be limited.”
Essentially, clients who present with this structural abnormality were born with, or have acquired, a more internally oriented neutral position for their femurs as they sit in the acetabulum (or hip socket). To be classified as anteverted, the femoral head and neck must be rotated more than 15° anteriorly with respect to the plane of the femoral condyles (Sahrmann 2002). (Conversely, a posterior rotation of the femoral head and neck would constitute a retroverted hip.)
When observed standing, clients with hip anteversion will often present with femoral adduction and genu valgum – the classic “knock-kneed” posture. As kids, these clients likely eschewed “indian-style” for W-sitting – a position much more congruent with their natural femoral alignment.
While some might also classify “pigeon-toes” as an indicator for anteverted hips, this is not always the case. In the presence of anteversion, some clients – especially athletes – will develop a tibial torsion as a result of the applied stresses to the lower extremities. This adaptation allows for a neutrally aligned sub-talar joint in the face of morphological changes up the kinetic chain.
The largest implication of hip anteversion or retroversion is a significant discrepancy between hip internal and external rotation. As described in the Sahrmann quotation above, hip anteversion creates an apparently large amount of internal rotation (IR) with a reciprocal loss of external rotation (ER).
I liken these morphological changes to those seen in the retroverted shoulder of an overhead throwing athlete. The total hip range of motion (IR + ER) can present at around 90°, or “normal”, but these measures are drastically skewed in one direction of rotation.
Whereas a retroverted shoulder presents a favorable adaptation in baseball, the same cannot always be said for the athlete with anteverted hips.
If undiagnosed or mismanaged, hip anteversion can create pathology. Expect issues like knee pain, back pain, and hip instability (Sahrmann 2002). For this reason, it’s imperative to recognize anteversion when it presents and apply the programming modifications necessary to accommodate this structural abnormality.
So how can I test for it?
Although checking IR and ER in both supine and prone can highlight limitations in the capsule or surrounding hip musculature, you’ll need an extra orthopedic test at your disposal to clear the skeletal system. For this purpose, we’ll use the Craigs’s test.
Assuming you’re following the assessment outlined in Eric’s video, the best time to perform a Craig’s test is immediately after you’ve assessed a client’s hip rotation in prone, especially if you detect a glaring asymmetry between IR and ER.
Note the client in the photos below – here, we see an excessive amount of IR (~50°) met with limited ER (only ~20°). With a rotational deficit of ≥30°, this client may have some torsional issue at play; thus, a Craig’s test indicated.
With the client remaining in prone the knee held in flexion, the Craig’s test is performed by first palpating the same side greater trochanter, a landmark on the femur that protrudes laterally about 5 inches below the iliac crest. Make sure to apply flat-hand contact with the pads of the fingers – this posture allows for greater sensory feedback and precision. Once this position is assumed, begin internally and externally rotating the femur through its full range of motion.
As you rotate the leg, you’ll notice the greater trochanter tracking against your fingertips, becoming more or less prominent depending on the direction of rotation. Start shortening your oscillations until you determine the position at which the trochanter is most prominent laterally and pause once you locate it. At this range of rotation, the femoral head is optimally situated within the acetabulum.
We get a positive Craig’s test when the hip rotation at the point of ideal femoral alignment is ≥15° into IR. Also, we can now classify the hip as anteverted, providing useful insight for the dexterous coach.
Check out the video below to see a Craig’s test performed on our client from above.
One thing worth noting – a 1992 study by Ruwe et al. showed the Craig’s test to be more reliable than radiological techniques in the assessment of femoral torsion. So, even if you have client X-rays available, a Craig’s test is still worth administering.
If the Craig’s test is positive, how should I alter programming?
Now that we’ve performed a Craig’s test and determined whether or not any torsional qualities exist, it’s time to write an effective program that respects our findings. Here are a few do’s and don’ts to consider when programming:
• DON’T stretch the hip into external rotation – this only creates impingement. We wouldn’t force the retroverted shoulder of a pitcher into an end-range sleeper stretch, so we need to take the same approach with an anteverted hip. Even though the hip is a much more durable joint, there’s no reason to drive motion that a client simply doesn’t have, as this only serves to jam the femoral head against the acetabulum.
• DO increase the amount of core work in clients with femoral torsion. When someone is stuck in internal rotation at the hip, the kinematics of the lower-extremities become predisposed towards a pronation pattern (sub-talar pronation, tibial/femoral IR, and anterior pelvic tilt).
The hip external rotators often become excessively stiff and overused, as they are constantly checking motion into adduction, internal rotation, and flexion. While increasing external rotator strength will improve the first two, we can employ the posterior fibers of external oblique and rectus abdominis to aid in flexion control, creating a more stable pelvis. By doing so, we’re also increasing stiffness at the lumbar spine, fighting any compensatory motion created by the hip external rotation deficit.
As far as exercise selection goes, focus on half-kneeling chops/lifts and anti-extension – both integrate the hips and core simultaneously to check hip flexion ROM. I especially like rollout variations for clients with hip anteversion, which are highlighted in Eric’s video below.
• DON’T introduce quad-dominant lifts until the client shows dramatic improvements in hip stability. The pronation pattern I described above is essentially a cookbook for ACL and MCL injuries. In a population that is likely anteriorly tilted at the pelvis and anterior weight bearing, the last thing we want to do is make them even more reliant on their quads. An adroit posterior chain should precede any anterior chain-focused movement.
• DO hammer the posterior chain as if your life depended on it. While this statement could serve as a mantra for most general population programming, it is even more important when dealing with anteversion of the hip. These clients sometimes present with femoral control so poor, our first goal is to simply get them to baseline.
Mastering stability in the sagittal plane takes precedence. Start bilateral with deadlift and box squat variations and increase stability demands as the client advances. Great second tier progressions include single-leg RDLs, single-leg hip thrusts, and bowler squats, all of which introduce frontal and transverse plane stability.
Lastly, exercises that force the femur into an abducted and externally rotated state are contraindicated – sumo deadlifts provide a great example. Even though pulling sumo is a fantastic variation for hip strength, it can create malalignment in the acetabulum if the hip is anteverted. In this case, it’s safer to stick with either trap bar deadlift or conventional deadlift variations.
Conclusion
Hip anteversion isn’t something you’ll likely see in every client. Johns Hopkins Medical School reports the prevalence to be ~8-10%, but that number varies based upon cultural norms and neurodevelopmental patterns, which can alter skeletal growth.
Regardless, it is an important structural variation to recognize and program for, especially in an athletic population. Taken as supplement to Eric’s lower-extremity video, I hope this article provides you another piece towards building a better assessment.
About the Author
Eric is currently a senior at the University of Georgia majoring in Exercise and Sport Science, with plans to pursue a Doctorate of Physical Therapy. After concluding a Division-1 football career at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Eric has ardently pursued his passion for coaching, garnering experience with clients of all ages and ability levels through internships at both Indianapolis Fitness & Sports Training and Cressey Performance. His articles can be found on EricCressey.com, 8weeksout.com, and in Fighting Fit magazine. You can follow him on Twitter or reach him via email at ecoetter@gmail.com.
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