Doug Kelsey's Blog

It's Easy, Portable, and Burns Calories. Why Not Do It?

My client with a knee injury was finishing a joint strength training session with me when he asked me a question. Over the prior three weeks, he had increased his single leg squat load tolerance from 69 lbs. to 168 lbs and was rapidly closing in on his body weight of 210 lbs (meaning he would be able to squat on one leg with only body weight force). When this happens, people sometimes experience what I call "expanding expectations". 

"So, what do you think of running for me? I mean I want to play squash, but I was thinking of maybe taking up running? Do you think my legs can take that?" he asked. "I never have run really but I need something that I can do easily and I figured that running would be a good choice. I can do it just about anywhere and it's quick."

"Well, what are you trying to achieve with the running exactly?" I asked.

"I just thought it would be convenient, you know, a simple way to sort of stay in shape," he replied.

"So, the goal is to burn calories, help manage your weight, and generally stay in shape for squash?" I asked.

"Yeah, exactly," he replied.

"Well, I can think of some other options for you that give you a better return on your investment. Running burns calories but not a lot and it has very little post-exercise burn, " I explained. "And, with your condition if that's all you're going to do, you'll likely re-injure your knees. You have to maintain a broad spectrum of fitness for your knees to stay healthy and up for the demand of a game like squash."

"Huh. I guess I thought running was one of the better ways to keep your weight under control and get in shape. I run in squash - sort of. So, what do I do then?" he asked.

****

Running for fat loss and enhanced conditioning is a sacred cow of fitness in the minds of many. A lot of people believe that if they jog 45 minutes or more several days a week that they will lose weight and get in shape. Some people do lose weight but if you consider that being fit means being suitably adapted for the demands you face, unless you need to run a lot, running is a poor choice for overall fitness.

The body adapts very precisely to demand. A long time ago, I trained daily on a cross country ski machine - 45 to 60 minutes. After about six months, I thought I was in pretty good shape. Later that year, I ran into some friends at a convention and after one of the lectures, they asked me to go for a jog. I thought I was going to die. And they weren't running fast at all. I just had no fitness for running even though I had used the same joints and muscles on the ski machine. So, in my client's case, where he wants to play squash which is quick, stop and start, highly anaerobic activity, he will build very little fitness jogging for 30 or 40 minutes three to five days a week. When he goes back into the squash court, he'll feel like he's moving in molasses.

Perhaps a better choice for him would be to put together a drill set that requires him to move his body though gravity and through a variety of motions quickly. For example, he could perform a circuit of push ups, followed by single leg squats, a side to side shuffle run, a round of pull ups, a round of sprints in place and then lateral hops. Then repeat this several times. The dosage - rep counts, loads, speeds, depend on his capability. If he does this with little to no rest between drills, the demand will be very high - similar to playing squash - and the whole routine would take about 30 minutes. Post-exercise caloric burn would be higher than jogging because of the anaerobic demand.

Running is easy, portable, and burns calories and it has a place in fitness but by itself, it's not going to make you fit.

Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertoberlim/512963321/

Swiss Balls and Iron: Do They Mix?

A friend of mine asked me to look over his training routine a while ago so I met up with him at his gym and walked through the drills he was doing. His main goal was what I call "image building". He wanted to look good. Muscled. Ripped. Toned.

One of the drills that was suggested by a trainer was a dumbbell chest press while lying on a swiss ball. He knocked out about 15 reps using 35 lb dumbbells. I asked him why he used the swiss ball and he said his trainer told him that it would make him work harder and make the exercise more effective.

Does it? Do drills like a chest press or an overhead press become more effective if performed on a Swiss ball?

Swiss balls made their way into rehab a long time ago. They create perturbation by being an unstable surface. The idea was to challenge balance, proprioception, and spinal muscle endurance. And they work well for those things.

Stuart McGill, a spine researcher form Canada, has measured the work loads of the spine during various exercises. His research shows that just sitting on a swiss ball increases the muscle activation of the lower back substantially. He argues that the use of a swiss ball as an office chair should be used carefully in people who have chronic low back pain because their stabilizer muscles will fatigue rapidly.

Along the way, therapists and trainers let their creative side run wild with the use of the swiss ball and began doing all sorts of exercise on it. I've even seen people perform squats standing on a swiss ball. 

But, Wall and Behm demonstrated in their research using swiss balls as an unstable surface while performing various exercises that the unstable surface reduces the muscle activation of prime movers. In other words, your body spends more energy and recruits other muscles trying to stay on the ball and reduces the amount of muscle activation used in the main movement.

To improve muscle size and tone you have to overload the muscle. That means a progressive increase in training loads and speeds. A swiss ball will limit how much you can increase the load and speed simply due to the unstable nature of it. And, at some point, the instability raises the risk of injury as you try to overload the muscle with increasing levels of resistance.

Bottom line - if your goal is to increase strength, improve muscle tone, and look better, swiss balls are not the best choice.

Swiss balls and iron don't mix well.

***

Wahl, M. J. and D. G. Behm (2008). "Not all instability training devices enhance muscle activation in highly resistance-trained individuals." J Strength Cond Res 22(4): 1360-70. 

Why the "How" of Exercise Matters

You can go to a gym, sit on a machine and push or pull weight.

It will help you. No question.

It creates a metabolic event in your body, alters hormone production, increases muscle and other soft tissue strength. It might even change the way you look.

But, it doesn't do a lot for your brain.

Your brain is amazingly plastic. The connections in your brain change based on what you do and this happens over your entire life. Exercise that challenges your balance and increases blood flow has been shown to improve the "wiring" in your brain. And, recently, juggling has been shown to do the same thing.

Now, I'm not suggesting you take up juggling but if you're going to take the time to go to a gym or even just to carve out 30 or 45 minutes a day to exercise, then why not perform drills and movements that will help your brain?

For example, you can sit at a chest press machine and push the weight or you could do a push up. In the chest press machine, you're relatively static and stable. The push up involves more muscles, more coordination and if you add one more thing to the push up - stand up - it becomes a cardiovascular challenge as well. You start in a standing position, then move into the push up position, perform a push up, then return to standing and repeat. The movement of your body mass transforms this drill from a muscle training drill to one that includes coordination, balance, and a cardiovascular event.

Or, you could perform a push up using a suspension training device like the TRX. You anchor the TRX to something stable, a door or even outside to a tree limb, and then perform the push up. You can see a sample of this drill here. This movement is much more challenging to your brain because of the instability created by the suspension device.

When you train, train your brain too.

---

"Training induces changes in white-matter architecture."
Jan Scholz, Miriam C Klein, Timothy E J Behrens & Heidi Johansen-Berg.
Nature Neuroscience, Published online ahead of print 11 October 2009.  DOI:10.1038/nn.2412

"Aerobic exercise training increases brain volume in aging humans."                                                    Colcombe SJ, Erickson KI, Scalf PE, Kim JS, Prakash R, McAuley E, Elavsky S, Marquez DX, Hu L, Kramer AF.    J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2006 Nov;61(11):1166-70.

Should You Stretch?

When it comes to stretching, most people think of it as something you do to become more flexible; to improve your mobility. But, how do you know if you're inflexible and what exactly is flexibility and mobility?

Usually, you stumble onto your lack of motion. You reach for something high, just out of an easy reach and feel tightness in your shoulder; you bend down to pick something up and notice your lower back doesn't want to flex;you back the car out of the driveway and find it tough to turn your head far enough to really see behind you.

So, naturally, you begin to wonder if you should stretch something, somewhere, to improve your mobility.

Mobility is using your available motion and flexibility is just one mobility characteristic. It is one of the factors the influences how easily and efficiently you move.  A person who demonstrates flexibility has pliable muscles that can be repeatedly stretched, actively or passively, without injury.

However, you can be flexible yet have reduced mobility because you can't use the motion you have. This usually comes from weakness or lack of coordination.

So, you may not be able to reach above your head because you lack strength in certain muscles to fully coordinate the movement. It may feel as if you're tight when actually you're weak. If you start stretching areas that feel tight when they're not, you'll not only waste your time, but you could make the situation worse.

When you combine flexibility with strength and coordination you'll get well controlled, smooth, and even elegant motion. You'll move easily, not feel tight or off balance or struggle to complete the task. And to maintain this mobility, you have to use it regularly. If you don't, your body will adapt and you will lose both flexibility and strength.

You need to stretch when you lack normal, pain-free passive movement of a joint or joints. You need to strengthen when you have normal passive motion but cannot move through that available motion.

Most people need to stretch and strengthen the shoulders, upper back, hamstrings and hip flexors and to a lesser extent the ankle and lower back. The reason is that most people's lives do not require regular use of the entire range of motion of those body regions. Most people sit, work on a computer or at a desk and rarely make full use, for example, of reaching over head or 80 degrees of hamstring flexibility. Then, occasionally, they demand more mobility from their joints than they possess and run the risk of injury.

Remember that most injuries result from a physical demand in excess of physical capacity and that includes mobility.

In my upcoming posts, I'll discuss how to stretch the shoulders, upper back, hamstrings and hip flexors and how to improve your mobility. In the meantime, pay attention to how easily you move and ask your self if you need to work on your mobility.

Stamina versus Endurance

What's the difference between stamina and endurance and why should you care?

The term "endurance" refers to cardiorespiratory work capacity. How long you can jog, cycle, swim, for example depends largely on cardiorespiratory endurance. You do not need a lot of muscle strength to jog for thirty minutes but you do need an oxygen delivery system that works reasonably well.

Stamina combines strength with endurance. When you have a high degree of stamina, you can sustain physical work over a long period of time. If you have ever had to chop wood or use a pick ax to dig a hole, you quickly find the limits of your stamina.

Some people use the terms interchangeably but your training programs will be different if you want to, for example, run a marathon (requires endurance) versus ski downhill all day (requires stamina).

Most lifestyle demands require some degree of stamina so make sure you're building that into your or your client's routines.

DK

You can comment on any post by clicking "COMMENTS" at the end of the article. Share your opinions and ideas!

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For the latest on MY TRAINING ROUTINES, click here .
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Can You Get The Body You Want In Twelve Minutes A Week?

Dr. Doug McGuff, in his book "Body by Science: A Research Based Program to Get the Results You Want in Twelve Minutes a Week", suggests that if you exercise once per week for about twelve total minutes, you'll burn fat, add muscle, gain strength and get the body of your dreams. He backs his claims up with a lot of factual, scientifically true information on how your body reacts to exercise, how hormones alter your ability to burn fat, has plenty of testimonials and runs a successful gym in South Carolina.

If you want to shape your body, his program might work for you. If you want to get in shape, you'll need other elements.

Dr. McGuff's program uses high intensity training which is why it takes only twelve minutes and why he suggests you perform the drills once per week. And, when I say high intensity, I mean high. This is muscle training at the top end of the load spectrum. For example, his typical prescription is to use a weight that causes maximal fatigue within 40 to 90 seconds completing a repetition in 20 seconds. You continue until you simply cannot move the weight one more time. In order to follow this program though, you use mostly exercise machines like a leg press, shoulder press, biceps curl, etc. 

His routines are scientifically sound but have two drawbacks. One is that you must use a gym (or build on) and the other is that his routines provide little to no challenge to balance, coordination, speed, or agility. If you expect to keep your speed, you need to train for speed; keep your agility, train for it. You become what you do and do often.

So, why only once per week? When you tax fast twitch muscle fiber to their max, your muscles will need at least between three and five days to recover (or longer depending on the intensity and duration of the activity). This is why many bodybuilders exercise the arms on Monday and not again until the following Monday. If you try the same routine, same intensity on Wednesday, you won't be able to lift the same loads and could easily injure your self.

Exercising once per week is tantalizing and I'm sure works as described by Dr. McGuff. But for me, it's boring. I want to move. I want to challenge my balance, speed, agility, coordination as well my strength, flexibility and power. I want athletic conditioning; not body building.

But, that's just me. For you, this might just the thing you need. Whatever you choose, make sure it's something you can create a lifestyle around, enjoy, and look forward to. You're not training for six weeks or even six months. You're training for your life.

Ankle Ligament Sprain: It's About Time

I was jogging along a trail in the woods and as I rounded the corner, a dog with his owner, distracted on his cell phone, lunged at me. I sort of hopped to my right to get out of the way but I didn't see the tree root bulging out of the ground. My foot hit the root at an odd angle and in a flash, I turned my ankle.

The dog was barking and jumping. The owner yanked the leash, kept talking on his cell phone and walked on.

I walked and limped along for about one hundred yards. Gradually, the pain subsided. I was lucky. No significant damage. Had it been my left ankle, I might have had to hop home on my right leg.

Scientists have recently discovered that people who have had prior ankle injuries seem to have a slower muscle response time to an inversion injury like the one I had on the jogging trail. In fact, it's about twice as slow. When you turn your ankle, the reaction time is in milliseconds; a lot faster than you can think.  Your body responds to the sudden perturbation without you having to think about it but if you've had a prior injury your body seems to be on a coffee break. The typical response time by people without a prior ankle injury is 55 milliseconds. Those with an injury, 90 milliseconds (and for reference, an eye blink takes about 300 milliseconds).

A common approach to rebuilding a sprained ankle is to use strength training exercises using elastic bands for resistance on the foot and ankle in an open kinetic chain. The thinking is that the lateral muscles (peroneus longus) are weak and that by strengthening them, you'll recover function more quickly and reduce the risk of re-injury. But, the science behind this idea suggests that strength of the muscles isn't the main problem*. It's the reaction time.

Many clinicians understand this and use training techniques on an unstable surface such as an inflatable disc, foam roller, wobble board, etc. to address reaction time deficits. And, although unstable surface training may not be helpful for some other problems (such as squatting on foam pads to increase core strength), for chronic ankle sprains, it helps.

But, there are two other problems that follow an ankle sprain that sometimes are overlooked: weak hip abductors and loss of plantarflexion flexibility**.

Many of the clients we see at Sports Center with the diagnosis of an ankle sprain are well past the acute stage. They no longer battle swelling or an obvious loss of motion and most can function in day to day life reasonably well. The problems they face involve more dynamic tasks such as jogging, running, cutting, and hopping. So, they no longer have an ankle sprain. They have functional limitations of the lower extremity and sometimes the trunk. Many of them will have associated hip weakness and ankle inflexibility.

To solve this, we first collect certain information. In addition to standard orthopedic tests, we also often complete the following tests and procedures to help us better understand the person's functional capability and to direct our programming:

• Single leg stance. This should be at least 30 seconds.
• Single leg squat load tolerance. Expected values are 20% over body weight for 30 repetitions.
• Hip abduction strength measured with a digital muscle tester in an open kinetic chain.
• Hip rotation strength measured with a digital muscle tester in a closed kinetic chain.
• Plantarflexion flexibility. Active and passive. 50 degrees is expected.
• Hip rotation flexibility. 45 degrees is expected (external rotation).
• Running load tolerance. This is tested with the Newton Speed Trainer. Full body weight is the goal.
• Proprioception. Match the opposite side.
• Core endurance. We use the plank drill. Three minutes is the goal.
• Sweeper excursion. A "Sweeper" is a reverse lunge while sweeping the leg around behind the weight bearing limb. Full body weight with a squat of at least 70 degrees of knee flexion and equal excursion is the goal.
• Single leg hop for distance. 85% of the uninvolved side is the goal.

Once we have the data, we design the training program. The training programs are focused more on coordination, balance, reaction time than on strength although there are a few strength drills in the program. Some of the drills we use:

• Single Leg Stance. Play catch. This creates unexpected perturbations but can be kept within a "balance envelope" by how far away from the center of gravity you toss the ball and how heavy the ball is. If the Single Leg Stance Test is less than 30 seconds, we would add a light vector of force connected to a waist strap directed laterally (to the involved limb). This provides some assistance during the stance. If you apply a vector that runs toward the opposite hip, you make the drill considerably more difficult.
• Single Leg Squat. This is a strength drill so the repetition count is less than 15 reps per set. The load level is determined by the test. We start with a stable base and progress to less stable. And, there are variations off this that include adding vectors from a variety of angles to increase load and perturbation. 
• Single Leg Squat and Reach. This is a squat with cones placed in a semi-circle. The client squats and touches a cone. We'll use anti-gravity equipment if needed.
• Sweeper. This is the same movement as in the test. We'll use anti-gravity equipment if needed so the client can perform the drill, control the motion and not hurt. As with the Single Leg Squat, progression moves toward an unstable base.
• Hip Burner. This is a classic hip abduction drill done in sidelying. The client lifts the involved limb up into abduction and then lowers only to the point of the leg being parallel to the floor. The drill is to repeat this small range of motion until the hip muscles "burn" - hence the name "hip burner".
• Perturbation. This is a variation of the Single Leg Stance. The client stands on the involved limb and holds a staff in both hands in front of his or her chest. The clinician gently and sporadically pushes the client from different directions. The client keeps track of how many "faults" he or she has in a defined period (a "fault is losing your balance).
• Sidelying Squats with a Training Shoe. I picked up this shoe from a equipment rep in California about 20 years ago. It is really a metal sandal that straps to the bottom of your shoe. On the bottom of the sandal is a metal hemisphere. This creates an unstable base - similar to a wobble board. Protruding from the toe area of the sandal is a small metal rod. You then add a small cylindrical weight to the rod. You perform the squats on a Total Gym lying on your side (involved side up). Place your foot on the platform of the Total Gym. Because the weight is attached to the metal rod, the sandal creates torque through the leg into the hip loading the external rotators. So, with this drill, you load the evertors of the foot and the external rotators of the leg.
• Superman with a Twist. This is a Yoga drill often referred to as Warrior III. We use a special portable pulley system known as an OnX to create a counter balance from behind to help the client balance on the involved leg. Then, the client turns his or her body right and left. As this the body turns, the foot inverts and everts and has to learn to stabilize itself.

Then, as their metrics improve (re-testing the above tests), we often add:

• Hopping. Four square, forward back, star drill. Anti-gravity if needed.
• Slide board. Start with a short distance and easy off the blocks. Progress to longer distances with explosive moves.
• Treadmill Drills (would prefer to have an indoor running surface but space always is an issue). This includes sideways, backward, skipping backward.
• Agility drills. Cone drills, three-line side to side drills.

Sometimes a client will need manual therapy; usually muscles in the hip or foot are too tight. But, if a client needs manual therapy after a session on in between sessions, then the session is probably too demanding.

There are a lot of drill choices. It comes down to matching the degree of difficulty of the drill with the capability of the client and making sure you "edge" both the drill choice and the client. Edging is critical. A client's ability can improve quickly. The drills need to keep up with the pace of improvement.

And, I'll offer one other drill I really like: Walk the Plank. Place an eight foot 2 x 4 on the ground. The client's challenge is to walk foot over foot down the 2 x 4. This may not seem hard but with after having had an ankle sprain, it's tough. You can frob the drill (and the first person who sends me the definition of the word "frob" gets a free copy of my book - make sure you send your contact info) with distractions, play catch, carry objects, squat up and down. Let your imagine go on this one.

We like our clients to reach certain functional goals (most of which are listed above in the section of tests and procedures) prior to discharge since many of them are not symptomatic in day to day life. Sometimes this can happen in 4 to 8 weeks and sometimes it's 6 to 8 months or longer. It depends on a number of factors such as the chronicity of the problem, are there other problems, how fit is the person, what's the objective long term (pro sports or run around the block), how adherent will the person be (that's code for following directions).

There are a lot of options when it comes to designing programs for people following an ankle sprain. My advice is to organize the drills around balance, reaction and timing and not worry about open chain ankle strength drills so much. I think you'll find that clients enjoy the sessions more, show up more often, and when you have those things going for you, the outcome is usually better.

DK

*Munn, J., D. J. Beard, et al. (2003). "Eccentric muscle strength in functional ankle instability." Med Sci Sports Exerc 35(2): 245-50.
** Friel, K., N. McLean, et al. (2006). "Ipsilateral hip abductor weakness after inversion ankle sprain." J Athl Train 41(1): 74-8.

Cardio Is No Longer King

Cardio is the King of the Fitness Jungle. Rows and rows of cardio machines - ellipticals, treadmills, bikes, stair steppers, have a huge foot print in commerical gyms. Spin classes, Step Aerobics, BodyPump classes are usually full.

But Cardio's days as King are numbered.

"Cardio" is a generic, over-used, misunderstood word that has become firmly entrenched in the fitness vernacular and in the mind of the public as a "thing". "I'm going to do some cardio" or "I hate cardio" now carries its own meaning.

The term usually means exercise on a machine - elliptical, cycle, stair climber, treadmill - for 30 minutes or more, trying to achieve a certain heart rate and whose purpose is to burn fat. There's a misperception that this type of exercise somehow targets your cardiorespiratory system better than other types of exercise when the truth is that all exercise engages your cardiorespiratory system. The difference between exercising on an elliptical machine and lifting weights is in the type of energy you use to get the job done; not whether your heart and lungs work more or less in one exercise or the other.

There are three main energy systems: Adenosine Tri-Phosphate / Creatin Phosphate (ATP/CP), Glycolysis, and the Krebs Cycle. The first two are anaerobic and the last one is aerobic. The ATP/CP system can fuel about 15 seconds of high intensity work - like a sprint. The Glycolysis system fuels about 30-40 seconds of work and as you pass about one minute, the Aerobic system begins to take over. Now, these systems do not work in isolation of each other. Based on the intensity, you may need a burst of energy and you get this from the anaerobic system even though you might be performing a sustained exercise like cycling.

Why this matters is because of the effect that training has on the muscle, nervous and energy systems. Conventional "Cardio" uses mostly Slow Twitch Fiber (STF) and the Aerobic energy system. In addition, the nervous system is not taxed greatly with a repetitive motion like an elliptical machine or a bike. But, what you really need, especially as you age, is to train Fast Twitch Fiber (FTF) and the Anerobic energy system and to stress the nervous system (balance, agility, etc). To train FTF you have to perform some type of strength training at a moderate to high intensity (and intensity is highly variable by individual). It's the FTF that gives you strength, speed, reaction time etc. and as you spend more and more time on an elliptical machine or jogging or swimming thinking that this will keep you fit, what you're actually doing is teaching the FTF to work like STF. You may burn calories and lose weight but you will gain very little strength and strength is something you need for not just recreational sports or hobbies but for life.

Some people get concerned that if they don't do "cardio" that they are somehow not going to have a healthy heart and lungs. This is just not true. You can maintain your cardiorespiratory fitness by doing things such as lower intensity circiuit strength training where you use loads around 30-40% of your maximum, perform 15 to 20 repetitions per drill and move from one drill to the next with little to no rest. Or, you can use high intensity interval training as well. Cycle as hard as you can for 15 seconds then peddle easy for 45 seconds and do this for 20-30 minutes.

So, is there anything good about "Cardio"? Well, first let's call it what it really is - either Endurance Training or Distance Training. Of course, there is nothing wrong with Enurance Training / Distance Training as a vehicle to tax your heart and lungs. And, there are some other benfits as well:

• Increase in capillary density
• Improved nutrient delivery and metabolic waste removal
• Improved psychological well-being
• Improved insulin sensitivity  
• Decreased blood pressure
• Improved glycemic control
• Reduced body fat
• Improved foundational level fitness

Just recognize that while you're Endurance or Distance training, you are not taxing other parts of your muscle and nervous and energy systems and that those systems need your attention too.

Exercise Is Exercise; A Calorie Is a Calorie?

A few years ago, I bumped into a friend in the lobby of a theater. While we waited for the show to start, he asked me what I was up to. I explained I had just finished a DVD on fat loss. He laughed and said, "Is there something new? Like something other than eat less and exercise more?"

And that is the perception of many people. If you want to lose weight (meaning fat), all you need to do is cut calories and increase your activity. And, this is a true statement. You will lose weight. But, the question is, what kind of weight have you lost?

The combination of what you eat and what kind of exercise you do makes a big difference in weight loss. People who eat a higher protein, lower carbohydrate diet and lift weights lose mostly fat. People who eat a higher carbohydrate and lower protein diet who lift weights also lose fat but they lose more muscle as well. And people, who only walk for exercise lose the most muscle - up to 35% of the drop in weight (diets higher in protein lose less muscle at about 20%)*.

Not all exercise is the same and not all calories are the same. You can cut calories and even add exercise to shape your body but end up with a body out of shape.

*Layman, D. K., E. Evans, et al. (2005). "Dietary protein and exercise have additive effects on body composition during weight loss in adult women." J Nutr 135(8): 1903-10.

The Squat: 13 Things To Do It Right

This article is about how to use the squat as a drill to improve trunk, hip, and leg strength. Take my advice and get this down before you try adding much weight to the movement. The extra weight will showcase your deficits in form and can lead to injury. Master the "air" squat first.

1. Stand tall and look straight ahead with your feet about shoulder width apart and feet angled out slightly.
2. Increase the curve in your lower back as much as possible by tilting your pelvis forward then tilt it the other way as much as possible. Now, find the mid-point of that motion and use bracing to hold it there.
3. Brace tightly and keep it that way.
4. Sit down by moving your butt back and down (think of your ear moving straight down to the floor - you won't be able to actually move straight down but it will help prevent bending forward to soon).
5. Keep the trunk straight.
6. Keep your knees tracking over an imaginary line extending out of the toes / foot.
7. Knees should not roll inside of the foot.
8. Keep pressure on the heels.
9. Lift your arms forward as your body moves down.
10. Keep the lumbar curve throughout the squat. Do not flex it.
11. Stop when your knee is at a 90 degree angle.
12. Begin the ascent by tightening the gluteal muscles and pushing through the feet as if you're pushing the floor down and away.
13. Stand up all the way.

Who can do this?
You must be able to withstand at least gravity level forces through your trunk and lower extremities. If you hurt doing this movement, it's not for you. And, if you increase the speed of motion, you'll quickly exceed body weight (gravity) force.

Common Movement Faults

1. Allowing the lower back to flex or round.
2. Allowing the knees to move too far inward.
3. Bending over too much at the hips.
4. Allowing the heels to come off the floor.
5. Not standing all the way back up.

The squat blends strength and flexibility. If you do not have enough motion and/or strength in the ankle or hip or spine, you'll likely have one or more movement faults.