My last few posts have been discussing the concept of whether or not Ab crunches and other trunk flexion exercises are dangerous.

.

I’m afraid my actual approach to using crunches in my daily training may be misunderstood due to no one’s fault but my own.  I’ve always prided myself on delivering non-biased, battlet-tested training information that empowers you to think for yourself and not just follow. I try to encourage personal creativity and always try to provide information from both sides of controversial topics such as the lumbar flexion debate. That said, based on a few comments floating around the internet on my recent posts, I don’t think folks really understand my true view on this matter.

.

In today’s post, I’m going to clarify my take on crunches, flexion exercises and low back pain research by such brilliant folks like Stuart McGill.

.

Clarifying Crunches

.

I have to give credit to my good friend, Coach Mike Boyle for helping me realize that the messages in my posts may be getting misconstrued. Below is a conversation exchange Coach Boyle and I had a few days ago on his Strength Coach Blog from his post entitled “No More Crunches“.

.

mboyle1959 Says:
March 3, 2010 at 6:11 am

Nick- maybe I should have said “he likes to play Devil’s Advocate”. I know how you train people but, I think your posts sometimes give people the wrong impression of your views. This post was a case in point. The writer used your point to take a stance opposite one your primariliy ageree with. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

.

Nick Tumminello Says:
March 3, 2010 at 5:38 am

Just to clarify a few things:

1. I don’t disagree just for the sake of argument. Put simply, I never have and never will like blanket statements. For instances: “crunches are bad”. No, too many crunches can be bad for some. I would say any exercise is bad, if it’s done to the extent and large amount of volume crunches are often performed. Squat are great, but 100 squats done everyday may be tough on your knees?

REMEMBER – Flexion is not the problem – High repetition flexion is the problem!

2. I do NOT use trunk flexion all that often in my training. But, not because I’m afraid crunches will put my clients on the surgery table.

I don’t use crunches often because much of my training times is dedicated to reversing the sitting position (aka slouchy posture). Crunches replicate this posture and therefore I feel my clients valuable training time is better used not do anything like they already do 8+ hrs a day. This is why I do agree with Coach Boyle when he tells young trainers to cut out crunches and has done it himself.

But, that doesn’t mean we should look down upon a smart and experienced coach if he or she decides to use crunches for a specific athlete.

3. I have a great deal of respect for Dr. McGill and in no way am I attempting to discredit him. I do however feel there are a few things in his book that have no bearing on human movement for the reasons I wrote in that blog post. That said, MOST of what DR. McGill talks about, I believe in 100% and use everyday.

In short, do I think anyone NEEDs to do crunches? – Absolutely NOT! But, then again, I don’t think there is any one exercise that has magical powers that everyone MUST do. A squat, deadlift, Push Up, etc: are all just exercises.

Best regards!

Coach N

.

I hope this clarifies things a bit.  If you’d like to read the rest of the comments from this thread go here.

.

.

by Nick Tumminello

.

Improve overall fitness and coordination by forcing multiple muscles to work together. This full-body movement links big muscles around your abs and back with your hips, shoulders, and neck, says Nick Tumminello, C.P.T., owner of Performance University.

.

Continue Reading…

.

.

Athletes aren’t born; they’re built. This exercise from Nick Tumminello, C.P.T., owner of Performance University in Baltimore, builds your acceleration, speed, and explosiveness.

.

Continue Reading…

.

.

Core training is a hot topic. It always has been and always will be. Why? – Because even though we all may have different approaches to training the “core”. We all agree that the Core is important for health and performance.

.

In this post, I’m going to provide with with an informative video that reveals a major missing piece to the core training spectrum. And, in the video, I show you a simple, very effective way to fill the gap and make your rotary / anti-roation core training more complete.

.

So, if you want to discover a quick and easy way to improve your core training and create workouts that are safer and more effective, watch the video below now!

.

.

.
.

I can honestly say that what I just taught you in the video above is one of the most important, yet often overlooked, aspects of an effective core training exercise program!

.

Post your comments and let us know some of your favorite, “go to” Rotary and/or Ant-Rotation exercises!

.

Alright, I’ve got allot of cool stuff in this issue of Freestyle Friday. So, lets get to it!

.

My Lost Fitcast Interview

.

Back during the Thanksgiving Holiday, I did my second interview with the Fitcast. It was a great interview that covered:

- Functional Movement Screening

- Fat Loss Training

- Training with a Herniated Disc(s)

And plenty more!

.

For some strange reason, I never sent out an email or Blog post notifying anyone of this free interview. So, better late than never!

.

Go here to listen my FREE Fitcast Interview!

.

Cool Workout Tunes!

.

Occasionally, I like to talk about some of the music on the Performance U playlist. These are songs and bands we like to jam to when getting after it in the gym. I try to only talk about lesser known bands that rock!

.

The Band – RA

Favorite Album by RA – Duality

.

.

Favorite Songs by RA – Rectifier, I Lost Everything Today, Everything Little She Does is Magic (cover)

.

.

.

.
.

5 Superpowers You Didn’t Know Your Body Was Hiding From You

.

This is a very interesting, insightful and humorous article  found on Cracked.com.

.

Those motivational speakers are right: You are capable of amazing things. You wouldn’t know it, because 99 percent of the time your body or brain hides these superpowers from you.

Sure, they say there’s a good reason, but we’re not sure we’re buying it. Dammit, we want our…

.

Go here to Continue Reading…

.

.

One of the best and most popular shoulder stabilization / pre-hab drills used among strength coaches these days is the Push Up Plus exercise. Why? – Because it’s a great exercise for activating and strengthening the all important Serratus Anterior muscles of the shoulder.

.

Serratus Anterior

A strong Serratus Anterior muscle is crucial for optimal shoulder health and functional movement. Put simply, the Serratus Anteriror keeps the Scapula (Shoulder Blade) pressed against the rib cage while your arm moves or deals with load.

.

Many folks blame a weak Serratus Anterior muscle for causing a winged Scapula. Although this can be true. There are some cases in which Scapula winging is cause by a long Thoracic nerve problem. This an an issue that is way beyond the scope of most coaches and therefore beyond the scope of this Blog.

.

Now, what IS within the scope of this Blog is to provide you with yet another  new, smarter and more effective way to use the Push Up Plus exercise for the purpose of shoulder strengthening and injury prevention.

.

.

In the video below, I demonstrate  how to perform the Push Up Plus exercise to MAXIMALLY recruit and strengthen the Serratus Anterior muscles.

.

These recommendations featured in the video below are based on the current Bio-mechanical research and teachings of world renowned Physical Therapists like Mark Comerford and Kevin Wilk.

.

Check out this video and discover how to Perform the Push Up Plus a Better way!

.

.
.

As always, I love to hear your thoughts and feedback. So, don’t forget to comment below…

Regardless of your specific training style, everyone uses the Ab Plank for core strength and stabilization training.

.

Honestly, I don’t use them in the same fashion as I used to but thats a subject for a different post.

.

In this post, I’m going to show you a simple, yet very effective training secret that is guaranteed to double the effectiveness of your Ab plank training.

.

Don’t believe me? – Watch this video and see for yourself…

.

.

.
.
Keep your eyes on the Blog because I’ve got another killer training secret for Side Ab Plank exercise coming at you very soon!
.
.

Everyone knows that in order to continually get stronger, bigger, leaner or faster you must consistently challenge your body by adding progression. More specifically, you need to always incorporate a progressive challenge to your workouts.

.

Although this concept is well known, the methods of how to do this safely, efficiently and effectively are still somewhat of a mystery to athletes and coaches alike.

.

In this Blog post series, I’m going to provide you with a multitude of challenging, fun and effective ways to continually gain muscle, increase strength, improve explosiveness and reduce body fat without increasing the load on the bar or dumbbell.

.

Beyond Just Adding Weight

.

Although adding more weight is certainly a valuable and proven way to progress, there are also many other options that are just as, if not more effective depending on your goals effective. These are the methods I will describe in this and future posts.

.

Don’t Misunderstand!

.

Before you watch the video below, Let’s get one thing straight. I’m not saying you shouldn’t ever add weight to your lifts. Nor am I saying that adding weight is not important to gaining size and strength. All I’m saying is that adding weight is just one method of many. In other words, its just a tool in the tool box, is NOT the only tool in the box.

.

Watch this video and discover the first, simple method to get stronger and improve performance w/o adding addition weight load!

.

.

.
.
Stay tuned for Part 2 because I will reveal another simple and very practical method of gaining strength!

A little while ago, my good friend and Fellow Strength Coach, Mark Young, sent me an email about how he has been incorporating the Tight rotation Core training progressions into his interval conditioning workouts.  You can check out Mark’s Blog here.

.

I wanted to share Mark’s email with you because he has a great idea that I think we all can highly benefit from. Plus, his one interval training concept has sparked about 100 new interval training ideas for me. And, I’m sure it will for you too!

.

First, If you are not familar with the Tight Rotation Core Training Progressions;

Go here to see Tight Roation Level 1,

Go Here to view Tight Roation Level 2

and Here to Tight roation Level 3.

.

Now, here is Mark’s email about how he use Tight Rotations to spice up his Interval Training and Fat Loss workouts;

.

“Nick – I saw your post the other day about Dewey Nielsen and thought I should share my implementation of the tight rotation as well.  Since you mentioned it to me a while ago I have been using it and figured this might be of interest.”

.

“I often like to mix core work with conditioning in the interest of time and so I came up with the idea of having my clients do a tight rotation for time (usually 20-30 seconds) followed immediately by a 30-40 yard sprint.  I never imagined how intense this would be, but most clients tell me that their obliques feel like they’re about to explode after this.  After 5 consecutive sprints people are totally cooked. – Mark Young”

.

Put simply, I love Mark’s idea! Since receiving his email, I have been taking Mark’s concept of using Tight Rotations as part of a interval conditioning and Fat Loss workouts and applying it myself, in a multitude of ways, all with much success! Try it yourself and I’m sure will too

.

The training options available with applying the Tight Rotation progressions into your interval conditioning and fat loss workouts are endless! You are only limited by your imagination! Just make sure you a have a good reason for doing whatever way you come up with!

.

If you are still not confident in developing your own methods of using Tight Rotations in your metabolic workouts, don’t worry because I’m going to take the guess work out of it and show I use it here at Performance U!

.

In my next post, I will provide you a real world training video, featuring one of my favorite metabolic conditioning / Fat Loss circuits utilizing Tight Rotations.

.

Stay tuned!!!

Here it is! – The third and final installment of my interview with world famous researcher and physical therapist, Mark Comerford.

-

As you learned from video 1 and video 2, you absolutely don’t want to miss a single second of these videos.

-

A few folks were unable to watch video 2. I’ve attched it below along with video 3, the final video.

-

Mark is one of the best in the business and the information he gives us in each video is priceless!

-

-

-

-

-
-