Good morning. Happy Monday. I have neural coffee in hand, and it is perfect. All right. We have a busy Monday coming up. We're going to dive straight into today's Q&A with Matt. Matt had a question about carries, more specifically variations of rack carries, suitcase carry, etc. One of the things we want to understand about carries is that we're trying to manipulate the position of the center of gravity to create a shape change that provides a favorable influence in regards to recapturing relative motion under certain circumstances. There are certain circumstances where we're just concerned with force production. We actually mentioned this in the video in regards to strongman training—we're not really concerned with relative motions under those circumstances. But when we are, the magnitude of load will matter because too much weight will compress space. Too much weight will limit the movement of the center of gravity. So we're playing a little bit of a game here in regards to how we're going to shift the center of gravity around. The center of gravity typically oscillates as you walk. We're actually going to change the shape and the movement of that center of gravity to help us recapture relative motions. So Matt, outstanding question. Thank you so much. Everybody have an outstanding Monday, and I will see you tomorrow.

In respect to the carries, I've been trying to get my head around exactly what's taking place aside from, for instance, we're looking at a specific example, left suitcase carry. In respect to a left suitcase carry, I'm guessing that anything that is left of the midline, even if it is in the base of support, is going to promote some degree of internal rotation on the opposing side and toward internal rotation. Obviously, the further we go, we're going to promote more internal rotation on one side, but we will run the risk of a complete orientation in respect to potentially having it sort of too far outside the base of support.

Right, so you're talking about magnitude of load as an influence here, not just the position, right?

Yeah, well, sort of. So I'm thinking that if we took an extreme example and we had a long bar with a weight hanging out to our left side, for instance, and providing the weight wasn't so heavy that we needed to lean over in the opposing direction to keep it upright, we were able to maintain an upright position, then that is going to drive further and further internal rotation on the right side and further and further internal rotation on the left side, providing the load is appropriate and not too heavy.

Correct.

Okay, so what that's got me thinking about then is when we move to, for instance, the difference between a rack carry, a suitcase carry, or an overhead weighted carry. If it's on that side, we're always going to sort of bias a little more ER on one side and a little more IR on the opposing side. So my question, sort of understanding that, when you've got someone who, for instance, is on a right oblique, it's very anteriorly oriented, they're out on the outer edges of both feet to some extent. When I choose a carry, which I would traditionally say, okay, so I'm trying to get that right first met head down, I might look at a left-handed suitcase carry and I'll opt for that, but in that circumstance where I've explained with it on the outside of both feet, I would run the risk of exacerbating that left-sided foot problem if I chose the suitcase carry. If I chose a weight, if I chose a rack carry as an alternative, that would be less detrimental to that left foot position.

Yes, sir.

So, given that understanding, when you have someone who is on a right oblique that's very anteriorly oriented, with their weight out on the outer edges of both feet to some extent, when I choose a carry—traditionally, if I'm trying to get that right first metatarsal head down, I might look at a left-handed suitcase carry and opt for that—but in that circumstance, with the weight on the outside of both feet, I would run the risk of exacerbating that left-sided foot problem if I chose the suitcase carry. If I chose a rack carry as an alternative, that would be less detrimental to that left foot position.

Now you're thinking. I like that. I like that. So you just walked yourself through the process, right? You're identifying basically where the center of gravity is going to fall based on where you position the load. And that's exactly right. That's exactly right. And so you think about it. So if everything was moving up and away from the middle of the base of support, right? So the center of gravity is up. And again, it's on those lateral aspects, and you want to bring it down and in into IR. You do something that would bias one side potentially into that space. But because of the load being outside the base of support, you are running the risk of exaggerating. You're absolutely right. You need to do something that's inside of the base of support. We can take this concept and we can write a whole program for this person, based on that principle. We can do explosive work. What would be considered explosive work? We can do medicine ball stuff with that. We can do carries with that. We can do any number of activities on your feet for that, right? We can get them on the ground. We can roll them around. We can do all this kind of stuff as long as you understand that principle.

So the question and a follow up for that, based on that same carry, The effectiveness of using that same carry left, so right, the presentation we've got left side rack carry upstairs.

You said left side rack carry what?

Upstairs.

I don't understand.

Moving upstairs, up a staircase.

Oh, you're literally going upstairs.

Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. You could do that. What's the advantage? What's the advantage?

Center of mass on that left side. I can keep their center of mass particularly very anteriorly oriented. I can get the ribcage back over their hips, get their weight a little bit further back while they're moving upstairs. That will also make that right foot.

Well, I was initially going to say, I got a question for you. Let me simplify. Okay. What is going up? Like, if you let's just take the stairs out of it for a sec. Let's just make it walking up an incline. Walking up the stairs, right?

Okay.

Well, walking up the stairs, right?

Walking up an incline, they're not going to need as much IR on that right leg.

What are you going to prevent you from doing? What is going up an incline to prevent you from doing?

Well, it's going to slide. It's going to stop you from leaning forward.

Oh, okay. So here's what I want you to do, Matt. I want you to carry weight. I want you to walk up an incline and lean backwards and then tell me how great this goes.

Well, it's not going to get you to lean backwards, but it's going to make you sigh up a lot.

Okay. It's going to prevent you from leaning backwards, which would be driving more of the compensatory IR strategy. Why do we do a front foot elevated split squat?

Slide the two of you down.

Where's your center of gravity? Where's your center of gravity?

Center of gravity is back.