Doing Your First Pull Up

Pull-ups have a way of humbling the strongest of lifters. This is due to the fact that you got to pull your own weight, literally. A lot of people have a huge goal of doing a pull up but many of the programs out either sit behind a pay wall or don’t take into account the importance of screening for pre-requisite movement and the importance of taking a bottoms up approach.

Part 1: Screening the body

• What does the body need to be able to do and what is required to perform a pull up?

• Why it matters to manage these issues before embarking on your pull-up journey.

• What should a finishing position for all back exercises feel like?

Part 2: Training the Core

• Why it’s important to start from the floor before moving up to the bar.

• How jumping the gun and beginning with a band assist pull up isn’t the best use of your energy and time.

• Basic exercises to start with

Part 3: Strength Training

• Using the finishing positions from part 1 and bringing it all together.

• Basics of rowing and pulldowns.

• Tips on manipulating your positioning and tempo to increase effectiveness.

Free Program
Download a sample 3-month program

A few key points:

• The sets and rep schemes are fairly consistent with how I would program for most individuals.

• The weight recommendations are just that, a recommendation. If it’s too heavy or too hard, make it appropriate to fit your starting point.

• Progress appropriately

  • Begin with the core work on the floor.

  • Once you start hanging from a bar, the dead hang and scap pull-ups should start to get easier with minimal swinging.

  • If you get to the isometric holds and negatives, you should be fairly stable. If you look like you’re on a swing, you’ve moved on too quickly.

  • The inverted row is a nice way to manipulate your bodyweight by changing your position while maintaining that isometric hold. It’s analogous to the holds you do hanging from a bar.

  • When doing any of the movements, when you complete the motion, you should FEEL the finishing position. If you don’t feel it, it’s likely too hard.

If you have any questions, feel free to drop a comment or send me a message!

Have trouble figuring this all out? Sign up to work with me online where I’ll design a program centered around your current abilities, gym set up and other goals.

Got Knee Pain? Work on Being Able to Lock Your Knees Out

Photo by Meghan Holmes on Unsplash

Lock your knees out. Especially when you lift!

But have you heard the advice that you shouldn’t lock your knees out because it’s bad for you? Ever wonder why that is?

This myth has origins in stories of soldiers standing at attention for hours on end only to end up fainting as they had their knees locked out. It was postulated that this was due to compression of the popliteal artery (a branch from the important femoral artery).

Secondarily, this also centers around old beliefs about arthritis and how excess wear and tear might cause a breakdown. Instead, researchers now are finding it may not be a disease of breakdown but rather uncontrolled local inflammation in the knee joint. (1)

Screw-Home Mechanism

The screw home mechanism is an integral part of ensuring good knee stability. For most healthy individuals this is something you don’t think much about. However, for anyone with prior operations or lingering anterior knee issues, this is an important concept to understand around general knee function.

The medial condyle is 1/2 in. longer than the lateral condyle. This allows the femur to screw home when fully extended and this stabilizes the knee joint. This is an essential aspect of being able to walk and support yourself during the swing phase (Standing on one leg while the other one swings through).

The movement of internal rotation of the femur on the tibia associated with the later stages of extension of the knee constitutes a locking mechanism, which is an asset when the knee is subjected to strain.

In general, it works like this:

• Closed chain (like squatting) the femur moves on a stable tibia (shin bone). (2)

  • The Femur rotates externally to unlock the tibia.

  • The femur rotates internally to lock on the tibia.

• Open chain (like a leg extension) where the tibia moves on a fixed femur. (2)

  • Tibia internally rotates to unlock

  • Tibia externally rotates to lock

I Don’t Have Knee Problems…Why is This Important?

• Most knee problems occur at the terminal extension with a lack of VMO function. Ah, for some, I’m sure you recognize the VMO, this is why so many coaches prescribe terminal knee extensions. Why isolate one motion when you can easily train this whenever you hit leg day!?

• As you flex your knee, the PCL relaxes and the ACL is tightened. The reverse is true, as you extend your knee the ACL tightens and contributes to stability while the PCL relaxes(3). Seems important to ensure these structures are exposed to stressors so they can improve stabilization (albeit minimally).

• If you lack terminal knee extension, you will likely rely on a few strategies.

  • Think of an elderly person who shuffles their feet. They can’t lock their knee out, therefore, decreasing the amount of time they stand on one leg during the gait cycle. So they shorten that time by shuffling their feet instead.

  • You can’t lock your knee out, you either walk with more flexion and increase stress on other structures or you walk with some limp. A limp also increases the reliance on other structures, namely your hips to help keep this show running.

• This is why you may not need to squat “ass to grass” but you do need to expose your knee to deep flexion to end-range extension. Pain-free deep flexion tells our brains via our receptors in the deep knee capsule stuff to maintain these structures. This in turn supports our ability to access such positions.
  

  The easy take-home is to do leg presses or lunges maybe. It doesn’t have to be heavy, it just needs to be deep.

Why You Have Pinchy Joints

Capsular Constraint Mechanism

Why it might pinch when you rotate your joints.

Photo by Otto Norin on Unsplash

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I sat down at a Functional Range Conditioning seminar in late November 2017 and heard a concept that fundamentally changed the trajectory of my career.

If your capsule is restricted you can’t rotate, you don’t have a joint.

It took me some time to truly understand what Dr. Spina meant by this. In time as I went about training humans and assessing joints, it clicked the more I learned about the FRS system.

The statement above doesn’t mean you’re having some arthroplasty, rather your joint doesn’t have access to all its degrees of freedom.

In plain English: You’re lacking control in the range of motion your joint should have available to it.

Capsular Constraint Mechanism

Let's use your shoulder joint.

The capsular constraint mechanism states that a tight capsule around the humeral head shifts the direction opposite to the tightness being produced(1). An analogy that helped me understand this is that the joint capsule is like a stress ball that encloses the space between two bones, so as you rotate in one direction, the opposite side needs to accommodate for that.

Applying this to a real-world example. Let's say you’re getting ready to back squat and you set your upper traps under the metal barbell and grab it on both sides as you externally rotate underneath only to feel this pinching sensation on the back side of your shoulder.

“Must just be tight back there”, so you grab your foam roller or lacrosse ball. You roll on the thing for a few minutes and your posterior shoulder feels “looser”. You get back under that bar, pinch! It’s because you’re chasing the symptom and not the root cause.

This makes sense when you look at a dissection of the shoulder, your rotator cuff tendons all blend into the joint capsule. (2) If we lose the ability to rotate, there’s a solid chance your “tight muscles” can’t be stretched or massaged because your problem isn’t only muscular, it’s capsular. When the capsule lacks the space to accommodate the movement, you get that pinching sensation.

It’s all in your brain…kind of

Why does this happen? A little anatomy to help explain this.

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

In your shoulder, you have your labrum and the next piece of tissue is your joint capsule. The capsule contains mechanoreceptors that sense the world around you and sends that information up to your brain.

In general, sensory information is relayed to an interneuron at the spinal cord before it is either remedied through a reflex or sent up to your brain where it’s sorted to the proper areas before kicking the signal back down to your muscles.

We have 4 types of mechanoreceptors that relay information about what’s going on. The joint capsule contains type 1 and 2 receptors.

Type 2 receptors (Pacinian-like or Krause corpuscles) skip that step at the interneuron and travel right up the spinal cord and report directly to the brain. This means your capsule senses movement long before your muscles do!

Now, why is this important?

Well, if we understand that mechanoreceptors sense information about our movements and our movements aren’t very good. Then the information relayed to the brain is that of aberrant movement. Over time, the nervous system interprets this as your new normal and you end up with poor length-tension relationships for your muscles. (3)

This ultimately leads to changes in your joint capsule space (not good) because based on the information your movement gave the brain, it interpreted that you didn’t need all the available workspace.

So, if we know that joint capsules will ultimately restrict our movements and the joint capsule of the shoulder is intimately tied to the rotator cuff, shouldn’t you maintain rotation as much as you can? (the answer is yes, you should)

So what about that pinchy shoulder?

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This applies to both internal and external rotation, assuming you don’t have some more serious injury like a labrum tear or ligamentous sprain.

• When you rotate your shoulder externally, you will inevitably reach that pinch point. Back out of that position a little bit.

• Find an object and rotate externally and try ramping up isometrically to as strong of a contract as you can maintain. Hold for about 10 seconds.

• When you externally rotate further, I’m willing to be your shoulder magically has both more ROM and no pinch, at least not at the position you initially felt that.

• Repeat until you get to your desired end range.

Conceptually, the same process applies to internal rotation.

Long-term-wise, training with the intent to maintain end-range rotation training is key to keeping joints healthy.

References:

1. Kim Y, Lee G. Immediate Effects of Angular Joint Mobilization (a New Concept of Joint Mobilization) on Pain, Range of Motion, and Disability in a Patient with Shoulder Adhesive Capsulitis: A Case Report. American Journal of Case Reports. 2017 Feb 10;18:148–56.

2. Witherspoon JW, Smirnova IV, McIff TE. Neuroanatomical distribution of mechanoreceptors in the human cadaveric shoulder capsule and labrum. Journal of Anatomy. 2014 Jul 9;225(3):337–45.

3. Ganguly J, Kulshreshtha D, Almotiri M, Jog M. Muscle Tone Physiology and Abnormalities. Toxins. 2021 Apr 16;13(4):282.

Do I have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome? You May Not

Every year, over three million cases of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) are reported in the United States (Mayo Clinic). True CTS results from irritation or inflammation of the median nerve as it passes through the tunnel in your wrist. This tunnel is a narrow passageway of ligaments and bones at the base of your hand. Pressure can build up in this tunnel, resulting in numbness or tingling in the hand. Continued strain can lead to severe pain in your wrist, making work and daily activities uncomfortable to accomplish.

However, symptoms such as numbness, tingling, and wrist pain are oftentimes resulting from musculoskeletal dysfunction (meaning: tight muscles), and not true CTS.

Sometimes, thickening from the lining of irritated tendons or other swelling narrows the tunnel and causes the median nerve to be compressed.  The result may be numbness, weakness, or sometimes pain in the hand and wrist, or occasionally in the forearm and arm.  CTS is the most common and widely known of the entrapment neuropathies, in which one of the body’s peripheral nerves is pressed upon.

Many cases of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome are misdiagnosed for several reasons.

• We don’t truly understand the causes of Carpal Tunnel. It seems to be aggravated by overuse and strong evidence that by correcting daily movement you can make significant improvement.

• While the Median Nerve is implicated in CTS, it actually begins from the spinal cord and rooting through your neck and out almost every vertebrae before running down towards your fingers.

• Given that the Median Nerve crosses many muscles on the way to your fingers. It’s no wonder that any number of factors might cause CTS-like symptoms like a tight muscle in your neck or shoulder may cause “tingling” in the fingers. And while it’s similar it isn’t necessarily CTS.

• It goes misdiagnosed because most doctors aren’t necessarily well versed in understanding soft tissue related dysfunction. This leads to a general diagnosis of “tendonitis” which often will call for you to rest.

  • Do seek a second and third opinion if the doctor wants to inject you or schedule you for surgery.

Fortunately, carpal tunnel-like symptoms can often be easily managed with soft tissue work performed on the scalenes, pec minor, coracobrachialis, and several other upper extremity adhesion sites at the cervical spine.

Two very common suggestions to relieve CTS are cortisone injections in your wrist, or surgery to cut the transverse carpal ligament to release pressure.

While it may seem like a quick fix, I am strongly against cortisone injections as they have been shown to speed up degeneration of damaged ligaments and cartilage.

Do I Have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

Many cases of CTS are often misdiagnosed but can be resolved with soft tissue work and improving every day movement. The following tests will help gauge if you should seek help from a medical professional:

1. Phalen's Test

1. You can perform this seated or standing.

2. Passively let your wrist flop into a flexed position as shown in the diagram above.

3. Hold this position for 60 seconds or until symptoms are reproduced.
   Positive response: numbness and tingling occurs on the palmar aspect.
   Negative response: 3 minutes passing without symptoms reproduced.

(The two hand version above is an alternative way to test, though I prefer the one hand version.)

2. Tinel's Test

Tap where circled

1. Lightly tap over the median nerve as it passes through the carpal tunnel in the wrist.

2. Follow your index finger from the tip, then down the palm and up the forearm looking for any sensation.
   Positive response: A sensation of tingling in the distribution of the median nerve over the hand or in the thumb or first 3 digits.
   Negative response: no sensations.

If either test returns positive, I recommend seeing a doctor. If both tests return negative, great! You most likely do not have CTS and can relieve symptoms without surgery.

What to do if both tests return negative:

1. Correct Your Posture

Great little infograph from The Art of Manliness on standing posture

• Focus on sitting up straight, shoulders neutral, and keep the chin in and head straight. By making sure you're sitting and standing upright, it will take the tension of the muscles that might be causing your CTS-like symptoms in the first place.
  Releated: Thoracic Spine and Breathing to help unlock better posture

• Keep your wrists in a neutral position, not bent backwards. This can help prevent a lot of the tightening of the muscles which can possibly entrap a nerve.

2. Stretch

As stated above, something as simple as poor posture can give you CTS-like symptoms. Here are three main areas of the body and their stretches to relieve poor posture:

• Upper shoulders and neck (upper trapezius, levators, SCM, scalenes)

• Upper chest/shoulders (pectoralis major and minor, serratus anterior)

• Forearm (numerous muscles, including pronator teres.)

Upper Shoulders and Neck (Trap) Stretch: 

1. Reaching your right hand down at your side towards the floor, let your head tip to the left.

2. Slightly vary the angle of your head to feel different versions of the stretch.

3. Hold this to each side for 15-30 seconds and repeat 2-3 times per side.

Chest and Shoulder Stretch:

1. Standing up straight with a tightened belly, reach your arms straight out to your sides at shoulder height (as seen above).

2. Move your arms straight back as far as they’ll go without arching your back. You can do this with assistance from a doorway or wall to help your hands move back.

3. Hold for 10-30 seconds, without pain. Repeat 2-3 times.

Forearm Stretch:

1. With your right arm held out in front of you, use your left hand to stretch the wrist stretching the hand up (shown above).

2. Hold each for 15-30 seconds, 2-3 times. Repeat on other side.

3. Manual Therapy & Corrective Exercise

In conjunction with the improving your posture, wrist position, and stretching, manual therapy from a Licensed Massage Therapist can greatly relieve CTS-like pain. After finding and relaxing the contracted muscles in the above mentioned areas, corrective exercises are performed to offset any problems associated with poor posture and poor breathing patterns.

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Has a doctor suggested wearing a wrist brace for extended periods of time (all day and all night, even when you're sleeping)? Restricting wrist movement isn't a solution and doesn't address the true underlying problem.

If this sounds like you and the tests above show you don't have true carpal tunnel syndrome, schedule a consultation in person or online and get rid of your tingling, numbing, debilitating wrist pain for good.

Lack of Internal Hip Rotation Relates to Low Back & Hip Pain

Improving internal hip rotation is important for a variety of reasons including:

• It allows us to go into a deep squat position safely

• Key contributor to knee and low back pain

• Poor movement for rotation sport athletes like baseball or even golf

• For runners, it doesn’t allow the athlete to extend the hip to engage the glute.

Hip IR should be tested in two positions, because different structures can limit your range of motion depending on whether the hip is extended or flexed. The second test is actually a mobilization for improving hip IR if and when progressed properly.

Testing Seated Internal Hip Rotation

Sit at the end of a table, with your knees bent over the side, and hold onto the table itself.

Now internally rotate the hip, without abducting or side bending, which is a sign of compensating with the lower back.

Generally speaking 35 degrees is good in the general fitness population and 40-45 degrees in competitive athletes.

A quick check to see if you may simply have a "lazy" side if one leg has better hip IR than the other. Perform a side plank on the side that's lagging and reassess. It should improve if it's simply an activation problem, otherwise it helps to narrow down the problem to a structural/muscular or alignment (though not very common) problem. 

Mobilizations to Improve Hip IR

Kneeling Glute MOB

• Set up on all fours with hands under the shoulders and knees under the hips.

• Maintain a slight arch in the lower back and place your right foot on the back of your left knee.

• With your back set sit back into your right hip and hold for a 1-2 count before moving back. Perform 5-10 reps on both sides.

Lying Knee Pull Ins

• Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor.

• Exaggerate the width between your feet.

• Think about trying to internally rotate your femurs which as a result have your knees touch together while keeping your feet on the floor. Hold for a two count and return to the starting position. The stretch should be felt in the hips and not the knees.

• Perform 8-12 reps before working out.

• Good for those with muscular restrictions.

Prone Windshield Wipers (TEST #2)

• Lie on your stomach with your knees together and feet up in the air.

• Keeping the knees together, let the feet fall out to the sides.

• Hold for a two count and return to the starting position.

• Perform 8-12 reps prior to workout.

• This is great in particular for those with a capsular restriction.

Passive Internal Rotation Stretch

This goodie comes courtesy of Dean Somerset. This is more of an advanced stretch and would be sure to be able to knock out all the above aforementioned ones before using this one to help maintain proper hip IR.

• Sit at the end of a table or elevated step and lift one leg back into internal rotation as shown.

• Progressively work your work close to the table, and hold for 30 seconds.

• Repeat on the other leg.

I hope that this post will help steer you in the right direction to improve your lifts in the gym and your times on the trail.

If you should have any specific questions please shoot me a message and I'll be happy to try and help out. If any of this information was insightful, helpful or funny please share it with a friend!