Strength Training for Endurance Athletes Part I: Injury Risk Reduction
barbells
Shoulder, Part IV: The Rotator Cuff Teardown
The “rotator cuff” is a set of four muscles around the glenohumeral joint including the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis, and teres minor (see figure). These muscles all originate from the scapula, insert at various points on the humerus, and serve multiple coordinated functions including abduction, adduction internal rotation, external rotation, and stabilization. Each muscle is considered …
The Shoulder, Part III: Internal Impingement
In part 2 of our shoulder series we discussed the topic of “shoulder impingement”, which is commonly understood as the mechanical compression of the tissues beneath the acromion process, resulting in pain or dysfunction — better known as external impingement. We described the biomechanical theory behind this diagnosis, and examined the available research evidence on …
The Pendulum of Specificity in Application: Part I
This article was originally published in September of 2014 as the first of four blog posts addressing The Principle of Specificity. Since then, the coaches at Barbell Medicine have learned a great deal more about the topic and felt that these posts deserved an update and expansion. We’ll be releasing the updated articles and corresponding YouTube videos …
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Fear, Catastrophizing, and Training
Introduction Regular followers are likely familiar with our interest in a “biopsychosocial” approach to both training and injury, particularly the modifiable psychological factors that can have significant effects on performance, recovery, and subsequent adaptation. One important phenomenon we discuss frequently in the context of acute injury and persistent pain is catastrophizing. Catastrophizing is a complex …
Novice Bench and Press Plug-In
Note: We published this protocol in the Barbell Medicine newsletter in March of 2018, but have since added some additional context, explanation, and recommendations for this intervention. Be sure and sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on all the latest content! A novice lifter is someone who can add weight to …
A Novel Approach For Replacing USELESS RPE
It has been said that using Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) is useless for strength and conditioning, which has caused quite a stir between the Barbell Medicine crew and other coaching organizations because we had been using this tool with our clients to manage loading, training fatigue, and the intensity of conditioning efforts up until …
Placebo Sleep?
A 2014 paper by Draganich & Erdal studied the effect of sleep on cognitive functioning in 164 undergraduate students – with an interesting twist. Participants were given a questionnaire in which they ranked how deeply they had slept the prior night on a scale of 1-10. Subjects received education about REM sleep and cognitive function, …
Press Like A Pro: The Classic Press
“How do I increase my press?”- The Internet Fresh on the heels of the 2017 USSF Fall Classic, a strengthlifting meet that contests the press instead of the bench press seen in powerlifting meets, there has been a big uptick in folks asking how to increase their press. After seeing some of the big presses this …
From the Newsletter: A Word on Salt
If you’re reading this, please raise your hand if you’ve heard the phrase “Americans eat too much salt” or, alternatively, that we should “cut back our salt intake”? Show of hands? Ah, yes- seems like everyone has heard that or even possibly said that perhaps. However, what does the evidence say about salt intake and …