IOL Strength and Conditioning

Five hours with Chuck Wolf covering function, assessment and program design for the shoulder, foot and spine left me with a pile of notes to ponder and thoughts to share. Rather than do a lousy job of explaining in a blog post material that requires book-length copy, photographs and hands-on demonstration, I’ll compile what were the most remarkable tidbits for easier sharing. From one-liners to longer, here are some of Chuck’s finest mindbenders.

1) When looking at shoulders in terms of the joint mobility/stability stack, we need to split up the shoulder girdle because the scapula requires mobility, while the shoulder joint requires stability.

2) Muscles are stabilizers first, then movers.

3) Proprioceptors are triggered when the muscles are lengthened.

4) All muscles, all joints work on all three planes of motion, including the foot.

5) If you can’t get good dorsiflexion of the foot, you won’t get good knee flexion.

6) Aside of a traumatic injury, the site of an injury is usually not the problem. Check the joint above or below.

7) The glute on the side with the least ankle mobility will be the less active one. Ditto low toe mobility.

8) The leg press uses little glute action because there’s no foot or ankle function.

9) If you have a problem putting your heel in a pronated position (reverse heel guarding), you can force the action by standing on that foot and reaching out in a side reach with the opposite hand. Same side reach will bring a heel from pronated to supinated.

10) Arms overhead will trigger a more neutral position of the foot.

11) If you have a tight calf, work subtalar joint mobility to loosen the calf and regain ankle mobility.

12) Your toes need exercise, too. In particular, the big toe needs good dorsiflexion.

13) If you’re pigeon-toed, your problem begins at the hip.

14) With pronated or supinated feet, if it’s a structural issue (including stretching of the ligaments), orthotics are needed permanently. If it’s a functional issue, it can be fixed: Change shoes; increase foot and ankle mobility; increase big toe mobility and correct walking pattern. Even if orthotics are required, plan on lifetime exercises to strengthen the ankles, feet and toes.
15) Don’t talk on the phone when walking. It messes up joint rotation and core activation head to toe.

16) A shoulder injury effects movement action from the top down. No body movement is normal when a shoulder injury is present, including walking or running.
17) If your stride length is shorter one side to the other, it indicates a tight hip on the opposite side.

18) To test single-leg internal hip rotation, stand with the big toe of the test leg down on the floor. Move the loose foot around the toe to test. Go slowly so you can pay attention to the first point of tightness in order to target the best correction.

19) If you lose frontal plane motion, you lose rotation, and lose glute function.

20) Joggers and bikers have tight hips in the frontal plane and need work to open up the hips. These people need transverse plane programs, and no sagittal plane exercises.

21) Tight IT bands do not need to be stretched more. Instead, you need to identify the cause. Excessive anterior tilt? Weakened, shortened glutes, tight hamstrings? Fix the tilt, fix the foot to activate the glutes, train the transverse plane and a life-long IT band problem could be cleared up in a couple weeks.

22) When you stretch, don’t stretch the muscles, stretch the fascia – the myofascial slings. Think fascia when stretching.

23) With plantar fasciitis, look for a tight, weak glute(s) and tight hip(s), and work to fix them. Work on calf flexibility and ankle mobility on all three planes; stretch and massage entire foot to loosen. Massage toward the heel, not away.

Bonus: In the lateral (side) lunge, don’t bend forward at the hips. Keep the toe, knee and hips lined up to work the glutes. Memory trick: Stack nose, knees, toes.

Ready for more? Here’s part two.