Top Tips for the Gym

Outside of the competitive arena, the easiest way to find how far down the bar should go for your shoulders is to take a light broom stick and use it to bench press. As the bar lowers you will rotate more-or-less around the axis in the shoulder joints. This is efficient and minimises the load on the shoulders. When you get to the natural end of your shoulder ranges of movement, the axis will change from the shoulder joints to the shoulder girdle. When this happens, the type of movement changes from rotation around the shoulder joint to a retraction of the shoulder girdles, in other words they move together and the width of the shoulders actually reduces. This alters the plane of movement and mechanics to the point that at the bottom, when the shoulders are retracted, the return movement means you are pushing out to the side more than you are pushing straight up. Given that the bar is forcing the humerus down and the muscle contraction is working at an inefficient angle to the line of gravity (pushing out to the side), this makes for an awkward position and ineffective movement that can cause impingent.
So, the take home message here is to bench to the depth that your shoulder joint ranges allow, without letting your shoulder blades glide towards each other, unless of course you are a competitive power lifter in which case you’d better hope there are some rule changes!

Squats
This is one of the most prevalent exercises in training programmes, yet if not performed correctly can cause many problems. There are many different ways of squatting, depending upon what you are trying to achieve, so there is not necessarily any right or wrong over all techniques, merely different ones trying to hit different body parts. There are however some fundamental points that should be consistent in any technique.
There is no one correct way of deciding which way everybody’s feet should be pointing during a squat. Foot placement is determined by your tibial torsion (natural rotation in your tibia), your foot and pelvic biomechanics, calf (soleus) flexibility, and even glute weakness. A great way of finding the right position for your feet is to walk on the spot with your eyes closed for 5 seconds and then place your feet where they feel comfortable. Open your eyes and look down, they will be placed in the correct position for you.
Following on, widen your stance until the width is suitable for the type of squat you’re doing (without altering the direction your feet are pointing), and you’re good to squat. If you place your feet in an artificial position that is theoretically correct, but not specifically right for you, chances are you’ll get injured at some point in the future.
Work on your intrinsic biomechanics and you’ll find your foot position changes to one that is closer to being technically correct, but don’t change it consciously. Give yourself the capacity to adopt the right position and it will likely happen automatically, and if not then coaching will help. But forcing an unnatural position for you will usually end in pain at some point in the future.
Also when you are squatting heavy weights, don’t squat below the break point in your lumbar spine. That’s the point below which your lumbar spine flattens out. If your trunk muscles are in good shape, or if you’re working very light or with no weight (maybe doing some kind of functional movement), it’s OK to go below your break point. The spine was designed to flex as your hips go into flexion, but not with a huge weight on your back! So as soon as you start squatting beyond light weights, then do avoid going past the break point and try to maintain your natural lumbar curve throughout. As soon as that starts to flatten, you’ve reached your break point, don’t go any lower. The clue is in the name, you are more likely to break if you drop below the break point.

Leg extensions
These are probably one of the oldest leg exercises since resistance machines were invented and are intended to work the quadriceps. The debate around this exercise is two-fold; is it functional and does it load the patella (and its tendon) too much?
The answer as to whether it is functional or not depends firstly on how you define function and secondly what the task is you are training to perform. It is probably fair to say that there are more tasks that require better function in a squat pattern than a leg extension pattern. So leg extensions are probably less functional than squat patterns for most people.
In addition, work by Steinkamp (1993) found that the load going through the patella-femoral joint is far greater doing a leg extension between 0 and 30 degrees than leg pressing activities. Also work by Chow and many others have shown that the shear forces going through the knee joint are far higher in leg extensions than more functional type patterns like leg pressing and squatting. Lastly, Powers did some work in 2003 showing that the open chain leg extension movement caused more lateral displacement of the patella than closed chain exercises.
So the leg extension is a much maligned exercise these days, and as you can see, probably for good reason. But remember there is usually a place for every exercise, as long as it is used at the right time for the right person and performed in the right way.

Leg rolls
This is a great exercise to mobilise the lumbar spine in rotation and some extension. A common exercise, but also often incorrectly performed. Usually the shoulders are kept still by the arms being held in a crucifix position to emphasis the movement in the spine. The common mistake is that clients commonly allow their knees to slide past each other as the spine rotates. This serves to direct the emphasis of the exercise away from the spine and focus on the hips and pelvis. Hold the knees together firmly and the movement is directed towards the spine and taken away from the pelvis/hips for a much more effective spinal movement.

Lateral pulldowns
This exercise, where the bar is pulled down to the back of the neck, can increase the load on the facet joints in your neck as your chin pokes forwards to avoid the bar hitting the back of your head. Simultaneously the shoulders are often internally rotated as the arms are pulled down to your side. Latissimus dorsi is a medial rotator of the shoulder, as is the ‘mini’ Lat (Teres Major) then add the pectorals, and you have some powerful medial rotators which are used in the lateral pulldown exercise. They are also shoulder adductors.
It takes quite some force to prevent the shoulders from medially rotating considering these forces, and the lateral rotators are sometimes not up to the task. There are only 2 main muscles in this lateral rotator group after all; teres minor and infraspinatus. As they fatigue and as their length tension reduces as the arm is adducted, their ability to maintain the shoulder in a neutral position is disrupted and so the power of the medial rotators takes over and the shoulders internally rotate. There will be other factors too of course, but try and make sure the lateral rotators are worked proportionately to help prevent this and other shoulder problems.

A short note on rotator cuff (cuff) exercises
While the rotator cuff is designed to work as a reflex muscle and fire up automatically in response to proprioceptive stimulation, the correct ratios of these muscles is important to provide all-round stability. It has been established that the lateral rotators of the shoulder should be able to generate about 60% the force of the medial rotators, and if these ratios are not in place the stability of the shoulder can be compromised. So we can reflexly work the cuff and facilitate proprioceptive stimulation, but if the ratios are down, the shoulder is still vulnerable. So working the rotators in isolation is a good thing, as long as it is a precursor to reflex and more functional work.
One note on working the cuff; always try and avoid doing the rotation exercises with the arm at 90 degrees abduction. This is perhaps the worst position to work the cuff as it is here that there is an impingement between the greater tubercle on the humerus and the acromion process. It actually causes the impingement you’re trying to avoid by doing cuff work. So, work the cuff below 90 degrees (or even above), but not at 90 degrees. The safest position to work the cuff is in scapula neutral where the arm is abducted to approximately 45 degrees and brought 30 degrees forward of the midline.

Intelligent Training Systems
Martin Haines is a Biomechanics Coach and CEO of Intelligent Training Systems (ITS). ITS are accredited by the UKBCA and are world leaders in biomechanics coaching. They travel the world educating personal trainers, strength & conditioning coaches, physiotherapists, fitness instructors and more in the science of biomechanics coaching. ITS have trained biomechanics coaches who now work for suppliers to a variety of professional bodies including UK Athletics, British Triathlon and the European Golf Tour, to name but a few.

ITS specialise in the practical application of biomechanics into injury prevention, injury rehabilitation, sports performance and strength conditioning. Their course portfolio is vast and includes fitness instructor courses, personal training courses, group exercise courses and biomechanics courses, allowing participants to become Biomechanics Coaches, Biomechanics Trainers, Back specialists and more! ITS are the only company in the world who provide these services and education programmes. Take a look at www.IntelligentTrainingSystems.com for course locations and availability or call Rachel on 0115 878 0466.