SS Weekly Report September 28, 2015

The Starting Strength Weekly Report 2015-09-28: Topics from the Forums: “ROM and the elderly” and “Gluteal amnesia is a myth. But lumbar amnesia is real?.” This week Under the Bar: Fall training. View report in browser View report archive var addthis_config = {"data_track_addressbar":true}; News Announcements Jeremy Davis is the winner of the September Under the Bar drawing. Submit your images to enter this month’s Under the Bar prize drawing. Articles Steve Dussia shares observations and colorful accounts in his article - Bill Starr: A Legend Walked Among Us Videos AskRip #16: The Starr Rehab Protocol SS Coaches’ Updates & Blogs All About the Deadlift from Brent Carter Karl Schudt on Deadlifting and Shoulder Stability Darin Deaton follows with the deadlift theme in Building the Posterior Under the Bar Josh McIntyre pulling 350 for a single at Saint Vincent College after Rip’s lecture, The Case for the Starting Strength Model as (from left) Crystal Riner, Michael Racculia, Jessica Fick, and Jay Yusko look on. [photo courtesy of Josh McIntyre] Marie Kunkel pulling 300, Ande Greco looks on in horror. [photo courtesy of Nicholas Racculia] Aaron and Ben get back to lifting at WSC after summer break. Brothers make great training partners. [photo courtesy of Inna Koppel] Starting Strength Coach Emily Socolinsky benching her successful third attempt at the USAPL colosseum push pull challenge. [photo courtesy of Emily Socolinsky] Karl Schudt coaches Nick Quintin to finish his lockout at the Starting Strength Press Training Camp in Chicago. [photo courtesy of Karl Schudt] Jessica Curl training in Melbourne, Australia. [photo courtesy of Jessica Curl] Click images to view slideshow.Submit your images to report@startingstrength.com Submission guidelines to enter this month’s Under the Bar prize drawing. Best of the Week ROM and the Elderly ScottyBuckeye I have a 74 year old client who I’ve trained for years. This morning, in the interest of providing maximal value, I asked him if there was anything I might be missing when it comes to our training together, or anything that could improve his experience. Ed, a retired pediatrician, wondered if my cuing him to Squat deeper, reach higher (Pulldowns), or extend further (EZ Curls; don’t worry he DLs, Presses, and Benches also) compromised the safety of his joints. Seems like a reasonable question to me; I have wondered the same thing to myself in the midst of cuing him. He indicated that his tendons & ligaments felt more vulnerable at some of these end points of motion some of the time. Is there a place for the elderly to NOT go to a full range of motion to ensure safer joints? Are there any cases where this would be recommended? Another thought I have is that if his joints feel vulnerable, perhaps we should back off the weight until his body feels safe overall. And then continue with our normal, full ROM. Thoughts on this? stef It is not unusual for people to feel uncomfortable and shut down as they go into ROM they have neglected to use and lost strength from. That is a training problem, corrected by using the ROM and developing strength. If a person has developed actual pathology in the joints - bone spurs, for example - no, you don’t push into that defect. Bony changes cannot be fixed by training and smashing soft tissue into them is a bad idea. That said, it is not clear if your post if you are working him into normal ROM or something beyond that. Why are you trying to get him to “extend further” on EZ curls? Further than what? Reach higher into pulldowns? Why? Relaxing and letting the joints/ligaments take the load is not the idea for anyone. Hypermobility is not a good thing. Not sure that this is what you’re trying to get him to do, or what is actually going on. Best of the Forum Gluteal amnesia is a myth. But lumbar amnesia is real? Strength Spin I just read your post on the serratus and the press, and how performing the press under correct coaching solves the movement pattern problem, assuming necessary ROM is present. I believe that I have also seen similar views expressed with regard to “gluteal amnesia”; that performing the squat with appropriate form makes any gluteal activation work unnecessary. So the overriding theory is to get the movement pattern correct, and the appropriate muscles will fire in the appropriate sequence. Am I about right so far? On the other hand, you have stated that a certain percentage of your Starting Strength Seminar attendees lack voluntary lumbar erector control, i.e. “lumbar amnesia”. You are able to solve this by having the attendees perform a more focused lumbar exercise, i.e. the prone Superman exercises until they gain a measure of mind muscle connection and control over the “sleeping” lumbar erectors. If activation or isolation exercises are unnecessary to correct poorly responding glutes, or serratus (serrati?), why are they necessary to correct poorly firing lumbar erectors? Why can’t you just “squat” them through the problem? The reason that you must instruct some trainees about lumbar erector control and that, conversely, nobody needs instruction in how to contract their glutes is that—ready?—it is possible to deadlift and squat with lumbar flexion, but it’s not possible to deadlift and squat without hip extension. Mark Rippetoe The reason that you must instruct some trainees about lumbar erector control and that, conversely, nobody needs instruction in how to contract their glutes is that—ready?—it is possible to deadlift and squat with lumbar flexion, but it’s not possible to deadlift and squat without hip extension. We don’t use isolation exercises to correct lumbar flexion. We use them to demonstrate the muscle’s function, to identify the contraction/motor pathway in the mind of the trainee, and it usually takes about 10 reps, if that. Then we squat and deadlift with the now-correct lumbar position and go up in weight as correct form permits. In fact, the lumbar erectors are the only muscles that sometimes have this problem, in about 10% of our male attendees and essentially none of the females, because they are primarily isometric in function, and their function is therefore not inherently required to execute the gross motor pattern itself. IOW, a round-backed deadlift is wrong, but it’s still a deadlift.