When you're trying to learn something new, it has to be effortful. Today's Q&A segment is from a call we had last Thursday at the Coffee and Coaches Conference. We went on for about an hour and 45 minutes, and the questions were great. People are stellar, especially when it comes to embracing the struggle when trying to learn something complex. This is a couple of segments that are really good in that respect, covering how to intervene when you're not really sure what to do and how you know what to learn. I appreciate the people in this call, especially Manuel and Borbada. Thank you for offering up your questions and participating. If you have any questions yourself, go to askbihartman.gmail.com.

How would I determine how to test or know when I see this issue in somebody, how do I know it's either down pump handle or too much compression on the posterior side?

Okay. So there's a couple of ways that you can do this without ever having to measure anything. Number one, you've already recognized the glitch in the lift itself, right? And you've already determined that it's a lack of internal rotation, right?

Well, it's a lack of physically keeping the bar close, and I know it's a technique issue.

Right. So do something that brings the pump handle up and see if it gets better. And then do something that expands posteriorly and see if it gets better. Right? So that's an allowable experiment. If you're not sure, intervene, do something, and then see what happens. And that will confirm your suspicion. So next time you see this, you can go, oh, this is going to be either an internal rotation problem or an external rotation problem. You're going to make that association. That's how we do this. That's actually how we do this.

How would you address the orientation problem if it is an orientation problem?

So what are they doing to get there? So they don't have extra rotation and they're squeezing their shoulder blades together to get extra rotation. How do you get extra rotation? You have to expand the space. You have to expand the space between the scapulae, right? We call it dorsal rostral expansion for fun. Does that make sense, that term? Okay, so you need to do some of those activities. So have you ever seen the video I did, the Better Band Pull Apart? Yes. Great one for that, especially for people that are performing on their feet. So that will enhance your ability to expand that area. But you're still going to have technical issues because they've been using that technique for who knows how long, right? And they're just following their path. They're executing based on what their body has the capabilities to do. And yeah, yeah, and I know there's a lot of ways the lifts can go wrong where you can push it out there, and that's why I wanted to minimize those aspects because the one thing you want to recognize in that type of a lift is that if the bar is moving away from the body, they're moving away from the bar somewhere. Right? It is a substitution. Yeah, it becomes simple physics. Mm-hmm, yeah. If it's a technique, like I said, when you're seeing a technical problem, right? You already know there's a problem. You just have to recognize like in that position under those circumstances, what movements do I need to be able to access? Okay. If they have a problem at that point, then I say they probably can't do X, right? So I look at say, where's the relative position of the hip? Where's the relative position of the shoulder? What would be the greatest limitation under those circumstances? And then that directs my thought process. Do I have an ER problem or an IR problem?

Okay.

Cause ultimately that's what you're going to end up doing. That's the goal. The goal is to not have to lay people on a table to figure stuff out, right? The goal is to look at something and say, I know that under these circumstances, I have to be able to access a certain range of motion and you're not doing it.

Right.

Right. Have you ever seen somebody do a split squat and they start to lower themselves and everything looks fine and wonderful. And the closer they get to that 90-degree hip bend, the one side of the pelvis keeps up and doesn't drop down with the other one. You know what that is? It's a lack of internal rotation. Real simple. How do I know that? Because I need internal rotation to access that point without the compensatory strategy. So I didn't have to lay anybody on the table. I didn't have to do any fancy tests or anything like that. I just go, 'Oh, you don't have internal rotation.' So let me modify this to make it easier for you to access internal rotation. So what do I do? I put their foot up on a box that unweights that front leg because maybe it's just too much load. It's really simple. It's like, take the load off and see if they can still do it. If they can't do that, then I have to change exercises. Right? So again, it's just a matter of identifying something, intervening, and then seeing what happens. Okay? You see it? Understanding what parts of the body are influencing the outcome of the movement is important. I'm not negating that. But ultimately, you're already seeing this stuff. Your descriptions to me are great because you tell me exactly what the limitation is. What you don't quite understand yet is when I see that, what's the limitation? So that's where you focus your learning process. You say, 'I need to better understand what areas of compression and expansion influenced my ability to move through space.' Then you can take it to the gym. Then you have the coach's eye, right? Because you already see it, you just need to understand it.

That's why I'm here.

There you go. Me too. I do this so I get better, right? It's purely selfish on my part. No, I, I get it. Yeah.

Teach to learn on that note. It is a question. Is there anywhere like a flow chart about this? Because I always put little pieces together, like what you said about the split squat and modifying the weight, but other times we talked about modifying the foot position. It's just little pieces. For me, it's nice, even if it's like a complicated system, to see what the variables are that I can modify. So for each client, I could choose the most appropriate one or think about all of those things. It just seems very helpful.

It's complex.

Is that what you're saying?

Yes. It's not easy.

And I'm a visual learner. So I would like if it were a system, like it would be beautiful.

Systems fail.

Yeah.

But there's like a framework or something. Well, so we're talking about a model here, Marbella, right?

Yeah.

That's literally what we're talking about. So it only took me 30 years to get here. How much time you got?

I guess I have 30.

So let's talk about this a little bit because I think it's an issue. We're in very young industries, whether you're in rehab or whether you're in the fitness industry or whatever, you're in very young industries. And so what young industries do is they want easy and they want a cookbook. They want the recipe. They say, so I'm making beef bourguignon for dinner. Where's Austin? Is he still on the call? Because Austin's a great cook. But I don't think he uses recipes, right? So I'm making beef bourguignon tonight, Austin. I need a recipe. And it's going to taste just like when Julia Child made it, right? Probably not. So what you're asking me for is cookbook. Or you continue to take pieces and you struggle and then you learn how to put them together and then you master this and then you become the chef because then you can manipulate this at will rather than having say, if I see this, then do that. Right? Then you only have one if-then. And then what are you going to do when that fails? Seriously, what are you going to do? So let's go back to the Splitspot example. You see somebody lowering him down. You see that one hip that kind of stays up, and you go, oh, that's a lack of hip extension. Bill said, put their front foot up on a box. Cool. Uh-oh. That didn't work. Now what do I do? Because all you did was memorize an if and a then. You didn't recognize the principle.

Doubt it, yeah.

So what you're asking me for is a cookbook. Right? Or you continue to take pieces and you struggle and then you learn how to put them together and then you master this and then you become the chef because then you can manipulate this at will rather than having, if I see this, then do that. Right? Then you only have one if-then. And then what are you going to do when that fails? Right? Seriously, what are you going to do? So let's go back to the Splitspot example. You see somebody lowering them down. You see that one hip that kind of stays up, and you go, oh, that's a lack of inhibition. Bill said, put their front foot up on a box. Cool. Uh-oh. That didn't work. Now what do I do? Because all you did was memorize an if and a then. You didn't recognize the principle.

I'm asking more about the principles. For example, we were talking about lowering the center of gravity. So I was wondering what's missing for me is those principles, like for lowering gravity, I need internal rotation, right? And then I need a posterior pelvic tilt or something, depending on where I'm going, I need a different location where I can extend or where I can... Right. Those are just the thought processes I need to go through in my head or with someone.

Right. Okay. So let's start, let's start really, really simple. Let's start really, really simple. When I take a breath in, do I internally rotate or externally rotate?

Take a breath in that I'm.