Exercise Breakdown: Landmine Overhead Press

My starter movement for any sort of overhead pressing. While it may be a starting point, it is in no way indicative of it being only for beginners. For many individuals the ability to get overhead safely can be challenging.

The Landmine Overhead Press is a joint friendly way to train the shoulders as it combines a vertical and horizontal press into one. The exercise itself forces you to resist extension and will as a result train your core. It's often performed as shown in the video in an offset manner which with enough load can also provide an anti-rotary component too. 

If you're having issues with staying tight through your core, you can regress down to the half kneeling landmine press or stand in a split stance. The kneeling version adds in a great hip flexor stretch to the leg that's down on the floor. 

HOW TO:

1. Set barbell up into the landmine or into a corner. 

2. Pick up the bar so that it sets up right in front of your shoulder. Set your core in position with a good exhale. 

3. Press straight up, finishing with a little bit of a shrug (if you need a little bit more trap activation or protraction) and forward lean at the ankle as shown in the video.

4. Return to the starting position, watch that your elbow doesn't go past the midline of the body as your bring the barbell back down. I would also recommend packing the shoulder in this bottom position. 

Technique Breakdown: Turkish Get Up

Why Perform Turkish Get Ups (TGU)

• Core strength and stability
• T-spine mobility
• Hip mobility
• Hip extension (glute) strength
• Gleno-humeral (shoulder) stability
• Body awareness and proprioception
• I get to say "SWEEP THE LEG"

How To

1. The first step is “packing” your shoulder/shoulder blade down and back. Everything outlined will be with the right hand being loaded. 

   If you’re holding the weight in your right hand, your right knee should be flexed with your heel back near your glutes, and your left leg should be slightly angled straight.

2. The first motion is a crunch to get up to your left elbow.  Dan John uses the term “punch and crunch,” So you’re going to crunch and punch, but also drive through your right heel as well. If done with lengthening the left heel it'll be much easier to keep the left leg straight and flat. 
   
   One key with the crunch is to think of leading with your t-spine or chest. You don’t want your chest caved over.  Instead, think about really exaggerating keeping the chest up and out.

3. After getting to your elbow you simply shift your weight onto your left hand. Maintaining your sight on your right hand, right shoulder packed and chest up and out. 

4. After shifting to your hand you’re going to actively drive through your right heel into a high bridge.  The focal point should be to extend the hips, squeezing the glutes to get full hip extension. This would be the point in the exercise where if you're lacking good thoracic mobility, it'll begin to show. Beyond just the hip extension/glute strength, you’re also getting some fantastic shoulder stabilizing benefits on the left-hand side as well.

5. Anyone who grew up watching the original Karate Kid will love coaching this part as it's commonly accepted to cue "SWEEP THE LEG". 
   
   From the high position you think about sweeping your left leg back until your left knee is on the ground underneath you. Here if the client exhibits poor lumbar control, they'll often slip out of neutral. If they have poor hip mobility they will be unable to keep neutral spine as well. 
   
   I cue chest up, and keep their lower back as flat as they can which will help them to be mindful of staying "long" through their spine. 

6. From there all your going to do is rotate your left leg so it's straight and you should look like the bottom of a lunge. Are you still looking at your right hand? You should be. 

7. Now look forward, and stand up. Really it's that simple. 

8. From there go backwards, perform a reverse lunge. 

9. Once you’re set-up in the half kneeling position, find the kettlebell with your eyes, and doing the “windshield wiper” motion with your left lower leg to get it back into position and actively driving into your right hip. If you do this correctly you should be able to maintain a fairly neutral spine, and get a killer stretch in your right hip as well.

10. SWEEP THE LEG! 

    On the transition back, we don’t tend to focus on the high bridge as much. Instead, I’ll often integrate a lower “high bridge” at the same time I’m sweeping the leg through.  This portion of the lift should look more fluid than anything. 

11. With the hips extended, simply drop down to your left hand. Is your shoulder still packed, core tight and eyes fixed on KB?

12. Then down to your elbow and on back down to the floor for the starting position. 

More Protein? No Whey!

Photo by Celia Sun on Unsplash

Protein supplements and meal-replacement products containing proteins have four commonly used scientific measure of protein quality. 

1. Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) which is a measure of growth of animals consuming a fixed amount of dietary protein of a single type. Often considered less applicable to humans. 
2. Biological Value of a protein is a measure of the amount of protein that is retained from total absorbed quantity for body composition. 
3. Net Protein Utilization measure the amount of amino acids available by any one given protein source which are then synthasized in the body as a new protein. 
4. Chemical Score is a measure of the concentration of the nine essential amino acids from a single protein source. 

Whey

Whey protein is one of two protein types found in milk often during cheese making, the other being casein. The two type soft proteins are separated from each other and whey was often considered useless. It was discovered that it was a high quality protein. 

It is a complete protein and contains all 9 essential amino acids and rates well on all 4 measures for protein measures. 

Whey Isolate: Purest form (90-95% by weight) of whey that is great for those who are lactose intolerant as it has had all the lactose removed. 
Whey Concentrate: Most common form of whey protein (60-70% by weight). It is inexpensive and can easily be added to different types of products. 
Whey Hydrolysate: The protein has water added to the polymers breaking them down into it's individual amino acids. This is to help with the body's digestion and absorption. This is a more expensive form to produce. 

Casein

As I mentioned above, casein is distilled through the production of cheese. One for the most important differences in Casein from Whey is that it is an excellent source of glutamine. 

It has lower concentrations of BCAA's than whey and because of a higher lactose content can be problematic for those who don't digest the sugar well.

For many strength and physique athletes the slower digestion aides for longer periods of time when there will not be any consumption of food like while sleeping.

Soy

Rich in BCAA but contains only a small amount of methionine. Most forms of soy are highly digestible and absorbed quickly but for many it is considered a slightly inferior source of protein. 

Soy isolate is fortified with methionine which now makes it fairly comparable to whey and casein. One of the disadvantages are the isoflavones (anti-nutrients) which have been shown to have an estrogenic effect in the body.

Other Commonly Found Proteins

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Rice Protein

Gluten free, neutral tasting and very budget friendly. May be derived from genetically modified rice. 

Egg Protein

Fat free, contains a full spectrum of essential amino acids. May cause upset stomachs. 

Milk Protein

Often seen as Calcium casein ate. High in BCAA's, contains lactose which may or may not cause upset stomachs. 

Hemp Protein

Great source of Omega 3 fatty acids. Provides fiber as well. 100% plant based protein. 

Which Protein should you take?

Well that would vary depending on your goals and dietary preferences. But first and foremost is making sure that you're getting the majority of your protein from whole foods and less processed animal and plant based sources. They're called dietary supplements and shouldn't be considered a main staple of your daily intake, rather in addition to. 

Technique Breakdown: Cable Pullthrough

After coaching up a client with a PVC pipe and they exhibit a decent understand of how to move from the hips, I'll put them on the cable pull through to really ingrain the movement pattern. 

How To:

1. Attach rope to cable station or tie up superband somewhere low by your shins. Straddle rope/rope and walk forward. 
2. Soft knees, breaking from the hips push back while maintaining a neutral spine and reaching through your legs.
3. Once you reach the end range, using your hips, drive back forward and lock out the glutes. Think "ugly butt" or "make diamonds" as in you're looking to squeeze your glutes so tightly that you end up with an ugly butt or that you could make diamonds between them cheeks. 
4. Repeat for 8-12 reps.

A few pointers 

• During the eccentric phase (pushing your hips back) be aware of where your arms are in space. A lot of people end up placing their arms on their thighs and thus reduce the amount of tension placed on the hamstrings and glutes. If you can't control the weight, it's too heavy. 
• Once you end up using a decent load the strength of your core will be put to the test in keeping from having the load pull your backwards. As you extend the hips to squeeze your glutes, you cannot stand straight up rather you'll be leaning forward from the ankles a bit. Think straight line from head to ankles at a 15 degree angle. 
• Also for those individuals with REALLY strong glutes, and the weight stack is too heavy, you can also use a landmine. 

Technique Breakdown: Face Pulls

Face pulls are a great exercise at improving scapular upward rotation including the serratus anterior and mid/upper traps.

I like to have the rope or a band a little lower than my face, no lower than chest level. If the attachment point is up too high you'll end up pulling downwards instead of upwards which is motion that you're trying to get.

Note what you end up doing with your head. Avoid a forward head posture. You're looking to pull the rope to your head not bring your head to the rope.

The final key point is to exhibit control during the face pull. You will be aiming to feel the muscles working (posterior shoulder) and not simply using momentum. 

HOW TO

1. Set up with pulley at chest or chin level.  
2. Grab the rope with your thumbs facing you, keep the arms up high and pull the rope towards your forehead. 
3. As you approach your face, pull the rope apart. You should feel it in your posterior shoulder area not ONLY between your shoulder blades. This isn't a high row. 
4. Return to starting position and repeat for 10-15 reps.