An exhalation strategy can interfere with range of motion or enhance performance. So how are we queuing this? I was going back and forth on the Q&A email, askphilharmonageemail.com with Bryce, and Bryce had actually a really good question in regards to exhalation strategies and such, and when would we actually queue something that would be a much more of an aggressive exhalation strategy, so much like a Vesalva maneuver. And so it allows us to talk about several different things. We can talk about exhalation interfering. We can talk about exhalation as a performance enhancer and we get to talk about sticking point stuff. So let's kind of break this down into those segments. When I started talking about archetypes and started influencing the different breathing strategies in regards to while a wide ISA is going to use a more forceful exhalation to close the ISA, the denero is going to use a sort of lighter exhalation strategy because we don't want to over recruit the external musculature. it started to seem like everybody that jumped on the bandwagon thought that there was only one way to do this kind of a thing and so then that starts to create some some interference because you're going to have situations that come up where people come in with these superficial compressive strategies. These are exhalation based strategies to begin with and if you use the the inappropriate exhalation strategy even if it falls into that then archetypal recommendation, you can still create some interference. So for instance, if I have a wide ISA that has a really strong superficial compressive strategy and I drive the hard exhale to try to close the ISA, you just reinforced everything that's interfering. And so we want to start to look at these things as the needs of the individual. So it's always n equals one as I'm fond of talking about And so for instance in this wide ISA with a strong compressive strategy, you may have to just use simple quiet nasal breathing and you tend to get a really really good response because what we're trying to do is we're trying to take the strategies into consideration and then superimpose what is the best case scenario in regards to the breathing. When we look at the extreme other end, so when we get into this performance relationship, we have to use these really, really strong exhalation strategies because we need high forces and then we need the benefit of that force to actually demonstrate velocity. So we're going to move people towards these vasalva maneuvers. And so there's an element of timing and duration that will either enhance our ability to access these high forces or are we going to create interference for speed?

So if you've been living under a rock, a vasalva maneuver is an exhalation against the closed glottis. So if you've ever lifted anything heavy and you made a little grunting noise that prior to the grunt, which is the release of air, you did a vasalva maneuver. Under those circumstances, if you look at the research and they talk about percentages of 1RMs, if you're a practiced lifter of any kind, you can actually inhibit the vasalva maneuver up to about give or take 80% of your 1rm. At about 80% it's going to become automatic and you're going to need it because at some point in time you're going to have to reduce the relative motions to produce enough force to complete a lift under those circumstances. The thing that we want to recognize is it's not always going to be under these maximal effort conditions for most people. There's going to be a threshold that's idiosyncratic to that individual where they're going to need a higher force output and therefore they will automatically hold their breath. Let me give you a strange for instance, so my dad would have this noise, this mighty yelp that he would give as he was getting out of his recliner. Number one, it was to announce the fact that he was actually getting up to leave the room. But number two, it was because the effort that was required for him to get out of the chair required that much of an exhalation strategy to produce the forces to get out of the chair. So when we talk about the sticking point, we're talking about this high pressure situation that we need to produce. So when we're going to see these visalvis show up, it's going to be there's going to be a joint position where they're going to they're going to typically show up. So it's going to typically going to be in these these internally rotated biased positions. So if you think about as we talked about the sticking point at about 90 degrees of hip and knee flexion plus or minus 30, there's going to show up in these ranges. So anytime you have to produce a high force under these circumstances, again, an IR bias, we're going to see this high internal pressure, number one, be required, but it's probably not going to be easy to inhibit it under those circumstances.

So we're going to train them to produce this forceful exhalation under these circumstances to actually acquire the internal pressures required to produce these high forces and high speeds. And so again, if we're looking at a box squat for instance and we want to teach the impulse off the box squat, we're going to have to teach this brief forceful exhalation strategy because they may not understand it, they may not have it under those circumstances. We might also use it if we're, again, under the same circumstances where we're trying to impose some velocity on top of this to acquire this concentric overcoming. So if we did like a squat clean or something like that, again, we're going to cue these high force brief exhalation strategies to help us produce force, but also to get the tissue behavior that we're trying to acquire. If we're trying to transition somebody from the slower speed strength training to demonstrating high velocity, we want to start to concern ourselves with the timing of the exhalation strategy. So in these circumstances, we're looking for a situation where we're actually producing the highest amount of tension and we're creating the release strategy, which is where we're going to demonstrate our velocity, and then recapturing our tension again. So if we're doing some form of oscillatory impulse activity like a split squat or some form of rotational activity, now we're talking about strategy. Because if we sustain the exhale through these activities, what we're going to see is we're actually going to see a reduction in the amount of velocity that we're going to be able to demonstrate. Because an acceleration strategy is internal rotation. It is force production. And it's a reduction of relative motion. Well, we need this relative motion available to us to demonstrate the velocity. One other thing as a side note is you're probably going to want to reduce the total volume of slower speed strength training under these circumstances because then what you're going to have is you're going to have this interference where in one aspect of training you're producing high forces and you're sustaining this exhalation strategy for an extended period of time and then the other we're trying to shorten that duration and so we've got a little bit of a conflict so just a word to the wise in regards to your programming that you can actually create interference if you don't pay attention to your loads and volumes. And of course you're going to use some form of key performance indicator whether it be some form of jump, sprint or other high velocity activity. It could be just throwing if you're a baseball pitcher. So hopefully that gives you a little bit of a background, a little bit of a framework to work with when we're talking about these exhalation strategies. Again, they can be interference. And we'll see this quite often in the rehab situation.

So we need to be very particular about our exhalation strategies. But when it comes to performance, there's a timing and a duration that's going to be a very, very important influence in acquiring the desired outcomes. If you have any other questions, please go to askbillharmanetgmail.com. And I will see you guys tomorrow. Good morning. Happy Tuesday. I have neural coffee in hand and it is perfect. Okay. Already a solid Tuesday. Let's dig into today's Q&A. I got a series of questions about chin-ups and pull-ups. Some are associated with what are the compensations that you're typically gonna see. Some of it is associated with one gentleman was asking about elbow pain and we'll kinda get to those. Today I wanna sort of establish just a general framework of what we would expect to see and maybe some generalized compensatory strategies. First and foremost, we gotta talk about range of motion and force production. So remember, we always talk about the concept of having this expanded external rotation field. So we need an ER field so we can access range of motion around us and we superimpose internal rotation on top of that. So our internal rotation is a compressive strategy. It is force production and it is usually resistance of gravity. And so if we limit that ER field. If we reduce the ER field through compensatory strategies or compression, we've immediately limited our potential to produce internal rotation and force production and therefore also ranges of motion. So we want to keep that in mind as we go through talking about the chin-ups and pull-ups. So let's break the chin-up and pull-up into basically three segments. So we're going to talk about the initial position, we'll talk about mid-range, and we'll talk about about the finish. And so when we look at chin-ups and pull-ups, regardless of which one we're talking about, in this end-range position of the hang, the shoulder is going to be biased towards internal rotation under almost every circumstance. We've got the medial border of the scapula that is compressed against the thorax. We have an orientation of the glenate into ER. The humerus is going to be, therefore, in relative internal rotation. So under these circumstances, we need posterior lower expansion of the thorax, and we need an up-pump handle because a deficit in either of these areas is going to lead towards a compensatory strategy. So for some of you, that compensatory strategy might be spreading your hands apart. So you're going to take a wider grip on the bar, and hey, my shoulder's more comfortable because now what you've done is you've created an orientation into extra rotation. You've now sort of expanded your ER field, if you will, and that allows you to produce internal rotation in that position with less compressive strategy. Now, as we move through this chin up, we are essentially under load. So we are going to have an internal rotation bias throughout this entire thing. So this is just like a press. This is just like a bench press. It's just like a squat. We have a compressive strategy from start to finish, but we still need external rotation to allow us to access ranges of motion and therefore that's what we superimpose our internal rotation upon. So when we're doing our pull, this is going to require that we maintain some measure of posterior expansion. If you lack the ability to expand the dorsal rostro area and therefore access some measure of of ER that means we have shrunk the ER field and now we're going to need to figure out a way to superimpose this IR so what we end up doing is we'll typically throw a compensatory strategy on top of that so what you'll see is scapular retraction which turns the glenoid outward into ER or you're going to see traditional spinal extension under these circumstances because that is the substitution for interim rotation at the shoulder when I don't have access to it at the shoulder. Let's not forget about our dynamic ISA. So to get the arms into the overhead position to even start the pull up or chin up effectively, we have to be able to reclose the infersternal angle because what we have to do is we have to create compression in the lower part of the thorax to promote the expansion upwards. So we're squeezing the bottom to push the volume of air into the upper part of the thorax. And this is what allows us to get the pump handle and the dorsal rostral expansion. So we have our ER available to us, and then we can produce our IR on top of it. As we move through the middle range of the chin up, the demand of intranotation is actually going to increase under these circumstances. But I still need to have dorsal rostral expansion. Again, so I have some measure of extranotation that I can propose my IR on. Now, if I don't have that, what you're going to see is you're going to see that thorax compress even more. So you're going to see the space between the scapula get pushed forward. So you'll see this early scapula retraction. Again, this is turning the scapula into ER. So you'll see the arms moving outward away from midline. to try to capture this externally rotated position. So again, I can superimpose my eye are on. So a nice little comparison to this would be for those of you that have to squat with a really wide stance in the toe out. The reason that you do that is because you have to turn your hip sockets outward so you can have enough extra rotation so you can produce force into the ground as you're squatting. Now, let's go to the finish. So for me to finish a chin up, I'm going to need posterior lower expansion, which means that you better be able to control your infrastonal angle by abdominal activity because what I have to do is I have to use my abdomen, my abdominal muscles to push volume posteriorly into the posterior thorax to keep that expanded so I can access the end range position. If you don't expand that, There is no extra rotation range of motion available to you. Therefore, you cannot finish the exercise. So this is for those fine folks that are struggling to get their chest to the bar if they want to or their chin over the bar if they want to. Because what you can't do is you're not expanding that. So again, you're arching your back to produce your internal rotation. you compress to such a degree that you no longer have any range of motion available to you. So the compressor strategy is so great. You don't have ER, you don't have IR, motion stops, and the chin up is done. You'll see this in a lot of very, like the massive body blows that go through this almost like just simple middle range excursions because they just don't have any range of motion available to them. So quick review. common compensations for the lack of shoulder range of motion. You're going to try to find a way to orient into ER. So you're going to try to turn the scapula. So that's why you see the dorsal rostral compressive strategies to turn that glenoid outward. You're going to see traditional spinal extension as a substitution for the internal rotation. But keep in mind, the first thing you have to be able to do to effectively execute these pull-ups and chin-ups, I have to have enough expansion for my extra rotation field that I can superimpose internal rotation on top of it. If you have any questions pertaining to the chin-up or anything else for that matter, go to askbillharman at gmail.com, and we'll see you guys tomorrow.

So we are going to have an internal rotation bias throughout this entire thing. This is just like a press. This is just like a bench press. It's just like a squat. We have a compressive strategy from start to finish, but we still need external rotation to allow us to access ranges of motion, and therefore that's what we superimpose our internal rotation upon. So when we're doing our pull, this is going to require that we maintain some measure of posterior expansion. If you lack the ability to expand the dorsal rostro area and therefore access some measure of external rotation, that means we have shrunk the ER field, and now we're going to need to figure out a way to superimpose this internal rotation. So what we end up doing is we'll typically throw a compensatory strategy on top of that, so what you'll see is scapular retraction, which turns the glenoid outward into ER, or you're going to see traditional spinal extension under these circumstances because that is the substitution for internal rotation at the shoulder when I don't have access to it at the shoulder.

So for me to finish a chin up, I'm going to need posterior lower expansion, which means that you better be able to control your infrasternal angle by abdominal activity because what I have to do is I have to use my abdomen, my abdominal muscles to push volume posteriorly into the posterior thorax to keep that expanded so I can access the end range position. If you don't expand that, there is no external rotation range of motion available to you. Therefore, you cannot finish the exercise. So this is for those fine folks that are struggling to get their chest to the bar if they want to or their chin over the bar if they want to. Because what you can't do is you're not expanding that. So again, you're arching your back to produce your internal rotation; you compress to such a degree that you no longer have any range of motion available to you. So the compressive strategy is so great you don't have ER, you don't have IR, motion stops, and the chin up is done. You'll see this in a lot of very, like the massive body blows that go through this almost like just simple middle range excursions because they just don't have any range of motion available to them.

I've got a question from Theo. And Theo says, hey, I'm experiencing this increasing pain in the inside of my elbow. I noticed it on just by any kind of gripping activity, but it comes much more severe, especially when attempting any kind of chin up or pull up. Any ideas why this might be happening? Yes. So Theo, I'm going to give you the most common representation that I see with this circumstance. But first and foremost, what I want to do is I want to cue you to watch yesterday's video. So that's kind of the setup for today's video because it gave us a little bit of a background on what our needs are and some of the compensatory representations that we're going to see in Chinooks and Pullups as to how people actually execute these things. The key element that I want you to walk away with from yesterday's video is that we've got to have extra orientation range of motion to superimpose the force of internal rotation on top. So there's going to be common compensations that are associated with the lack of shoulder range of motion that's going to produce orientations into external rotation so we can actually still produce the internal rotation force. Now, here's the problem with chin-ups and pull-ups. Because we've got both hands fixed on the same bar, we create a constraint. And that constraint reduces our ability to turn. So we have cancellations of turns which result in compressive forces and compressive strategies. We see the same thing with barbell activities. So again, no big deal. We just need to recognize these things. But what it does then is we create situations that are proximal to distal and then distal to proximal. And unfortunately, your elbow is dead center. And so we're going to have this sort of wave effect that's going to come down from the top and up from the bottom. So as force demands increase, what you're going to see is you're going to start to see these orientations, orientations into external rotation, which we need to create space. So we have to have a space where we can move and this allows us to produce internal rotation. What's going to happen though is we orient, we're going to drive this from the scapula in most circumstances, the humerus is going to follow the scapula into external rotation. And then we have to produce this internal rotation situation. So let's pick on a muscle where we're talking proximal to distal. People don't think about pronular teres as being a proximal muscle, but it does attach to the medial picondo. So what this muscle is actually doing as you're performing your chin up is it's producing internal rotation because it's a forearm pronular. That's why they named it pronular teres, but they screwed up because it's actually attached to the humerus. And what it actually does to the humerus is it twists the humerus into ER. So it's actually an ER muscle as well. And it's an elbow flexor by traditional representation. So it's doing a lot of stuff, but what it's going to do is it's actually going to pull in that medial condyle as you're trying to drive internal rotation on top of this ER oriented position. Now, let's go distal to proximal. We fixed the hand. So what the hand's going to try to do, it's sort of like a foot being on the ground. The hand is fixed. And so what we're going to do is we're going to start to drive internal rotation with the hand, proximally. And so because of our fixed hand, even if we're supinated, even if we're supinated, we're going to try to drive an internal rotation force. We're going to try to drive pronation from the hand approximately. Now, here's the other problem. If I get a compression on the front because I'm canceling out rotational forces, so if I push my pump handle down under these circumstances to create internal pressure and high force, I'm going to create a situation where I lose shoulder internal rotation. So again, down pump handle, loss of shoulder internal rotation, now I'm in compensation city. So what you're going to see then is we're going to see internal rotation compensations. So this is going to show up as back extension, traditional back extension. Postural orthorax compression, you're going to see increased pernation of the forearm, pernation of the hand, and then you're going to see like a shrugging action, which is actually dorsal rostral compression. And so again, you're going to see all of these substitutions start to take place, and then your poor little elbow in the middle is going to be where we have this point of compensation. Well, but what if we change the hand position? Because again, if that's the constraint, let's just manipulate that. Okay, so you may have noticed that, hey, when I play with my grip a little bit, if I go from like a supineater-apronated grip and I go to this middle range, kind of a neutral grip, that there's a little bit of a difference. Well, any degree of supination is going to start to drive some external rotation orientation from distal to proximal. So from hand proximally, which again, that's why these parallel groups kind of help. But the thing that I want you to recognize is that as soon as you start to load this to any significant degree, you're still going to drive a ton of internal rotation force. One of the other advantages that's possible, which is why we tend to push people towards neutral grip so they can keep training while they're trying to rehab this situation, there's a cool thing about brachioradialis in this neutral grip position that I want to point out. Everyone looks at Breaker 8S to say, oh, that's an elbow flexor. And that's a really good dead guy representation as to what it might do. But what it actually does is it creates a posterior force through the elbow. And that actually decreases the posterior compressive strategy that actually occurs under this same situation. So we get this posterior lateral compression that drives some of this orientation at the elbow as well, and so the neutral grip can actually resolve some of that just by this cool effect from brachioradialis. So let's talk solutions here real quick. So number one, we got to rebuild posterior expansion. We've got to have a true ER field that we can superimpose internal rotation upon. So the activities that we're going to start to select here are going to be posterior expansion. We're going to play with arm position a little bit. So we want to do activities that are below shoulder level. That's going to help us start to build this posterior lower thorax expansion. And then we want to be able to move through the excursion of traditional shoulder elevation where we're going to start to move upward and improve our dorsal, rostral expansion so we can eventually get the arm above shoulder level. Do this progressively. Don't try to do it all at once because chances are you're not going to have enough expansion initially. You might want to also try to superimpose a little bit of supination into the inverted activities that you might be using that are eventually going to get you a little bit of pump handle and dorsal rostral expansion at the same time. If you know somebody that has manual skills and is allowed to touch people, you can manually reorient the forearm. So we block the proximal elbow. a little bit of distraction there to reduce the posterior compression. And then we can actually mobilize that distal form to actually reduce the amount of pronation in the distal form relative to the proximal form. So that's a fun one. And it's rather remarkable in regards to how quickly you can see changes there. Then we got to restore anterior expansion. So we got to get true internal rotation available to us. Because of the elbow being a little uncomfortable, under many situations. We start in a high oblique set. This is a great place to start. We can keep the elbow extended. I do have a video on YouTube showing a high oblique activity where we start to play with inhalation and exhalation. So we're actually creating expansion posteriorly expansion anteriorly and we're manipulating the pressure through the hand so we're getting pronation supination erir through the shoulder at the same time so check out that video We want to move down then to the low oblique position where we can actually get the elbow flexed in this position because we're not pulling we're reducing the demands on premier Terry So now it can just be it's it's true little dead guy self where it's becoming the pronator of the forearm which is what we want to restore normal proximal pronation at the elbow and start to reduce some of this orientation. Eventually what you can do then is start to build these orientations into some direct arm work if that's what you'd like to do. And then I would also suggest that we move from activities where both hands are on a fixed bar to activities where we have a free moving hand and we're doing one side at a time in regards to your pulling activities because what this is going to allow is going to allow the normal rotations to occur so we're not getting symmetrical force production at the same time, which creates this anterior post-deer compression which got you here in the first place. So Theo, I hope that helps you a little bit and directs you in regards to your training.

So it's actually an ER muscle as well. And it's an elbow flexor by traditional representation. So it's doing a lot of stuff, but what it's going to do is it's actually going to pull in that medial condyle as you're trying to drive internal rotation on top of this ER oriented position. Now, let's go distal to proximal. We fixed the hand. So what the hand's going to try to do, it's sort of like a foot being on the ground. The hand is fixed. And so what we're going to do is we're going to start to drive internal rotation with the hand, proximally. And so because of our fixed hand, even if we're supinated, even if we're supinated, we're going to try to drive an internal rotation force. We're going to try to drive pronation from the hand approximately. Now, here's the other problem. If I get a compression on the front because I'm canceling out rotational forces, so if I push my pump handle down under these circumstances to create internal pressure and high force, I'm going to create a situation where I lose shoulder internal rotation. So again, down pump handle, loss of shoulder internal rotation, now I'm in compensation city.

And that's a really good dead guy representation as to what it might do. But what it actually does is it creates a posterior force through the elbow. And that actually decreases the posterior compressive strategy that actually occurs under this same situation. So we get this posterior lateral compression. that drives some of this orientation at the elbow as well, and so the neutral grip can actually resolve some of that just by this cool effect from brachioradialis. So let's talk solutions here real quick. So number one, we got to rebuild posterior expansion. We've got to have a true ER field that we can superimpose internal rotation upon. So the activities that we're going to start to select here are going to be posterior expansion. We're going to play with arm position a little bit. So we want to do activities that are below shoulder level. That's going to help us start to build this posterior lower thorax expansion. And then we want to be able to move through the excursion of traditional shoulder elevation. where we're going to start to move upward and improve our dorsal, rostral expansion so we can eventually get the arm above shoulder level. Do this progressively. Don't try to do it all at once because chances are you're not going to have enough expansion initially. You might want to also try to superimpose a little bit of supination into the inverted activities that you might be using that are eventually going to get you a little bit of pump handle and dorsal rostral expansion at the same time. If you know somebody that has manual skills and is allowed to touch people, you can manually reorient the forearm. So we block the proximal elbow. a little bit of distraction there to reduce the posterior compression. And then we can actually mobilize that distal form to actually reduce the amount of pronation in the distal form relative to the proximal form. So that's a fun one. And it's rather remarkable in regards to how quickly you can see changes there. Then we got to restore anterior expansion. So we got to get true internal rotation available to us. Because of the elbow being a little uncomfortable, under many situations. We start in a high oblique set. This is a great place to start. We can keep the elbow extended. I do have a video on YouTube showing a high oblique activity where we start to play with inhalation and exhalation. So we're actually creating expansion posteriorly expansion anteriorly and we're manipulating the pressure through the hand so we're getting pronation supination erir through the shoulder at the same time. Then I would also suggest that we move from activities where both hands are on a fixed bar to activities where we have a free moving hand and we're doing one side at a time in regards to your pulling activities because what this is going to allow is going to allow the normal rotations to occur so we're not getting symmetrical force production at the same time, which creates this anterior post-deer compression, which got you here in the first place.

Expansion posteriorly, expansion anteriorly, and we're manipulating the pressure through the hand. So we're getting pronation, supination, ER/IR through the shoulder at the same time. So check out that video. We want to move down then to the low oblique position where we can actually get the elbow flexed in this position because we're not pulling; we're reducing the demands on pronator teres. So now it can just be its true 'dead guy' self, where it's becoming the pronator of the forearm, which is what we want to restore normal proximal pronation at the elbow and start to reduce some of this orientation. Eventually what you can do then is start to build these orientations into some direct arm work if that's what you'd like to do. And then I would also suggest that we move from activities where both hands are on a fixed bar to activities where we have a free moving hand and we're doing one side at a time in regards to your pulling activities because what this is going to allow is going to allow the normal rotations to occur, so we're not getting symmetrical force production at the same time, which creates this anterior-posterior compression, which got you here in the first place.

I guess how does that inform, for example, other things like how much you flare your arms during a bench press or how you position your feet during a squat? Is that how it works?

Well, now that you brought it up, okay. So when we look at the archetypes and you look at the horizontal element of the helical angle of say a wide ISA individual, they're not going to be as great at reaching overhead as someone that has a more vertical helical angle. And so yeah, you kind of do play with that a little bit as far as what those extremity orientation is going to be like, what is going to be an optimal direction of force production. Um, you know, it's going to, it's going to predispose somebody to be better at certain things. And so yeah, you might play with those angles a little bit and then find your optimal. And you know, like I said, it's not an absolute by any stretch of the imagination. It's, it's a guide, right? It allows you to have a starting point. Many of the things that we talk about are just starting points, right? So when I talk about archetypes, it's like, how do you start somebody? How do you know where to begin? It's a guide. It directs you towards, okay, you're probably going to be better at this than you are at something else. Let's start with where you're most successful.

I've been thinking about towel off presses in one of your recent videos, you put up a demonstration of one. I'm glad. It's coming. So, I could see the line of force, like say you're holding your hands out in front and the pole is going to the right. I could see that almost mimicking gravity and kind of forcing you to go left and push you out of the right side. The same way you would use a ground to help push you up and like expand the top. When using a pallop press, and let's just say it is pulling you to the right, do you normally use it to pull further to the right or pull you out of the right to the left?

I did.

Okay.

I could see the line of force, like when you're holding your hands out in front and the pole is going to the right, almost mimicking gravity and forcing you to go left and pushing you out of the right side, similar to how you would use the ground to help push up and expand the top. When using a Pallof press and it's pulling you to the right, do you normally use it to pull further to the right or pull you out of the right to the left?

What's the intent?

You can shape it to whatever you want, right?

Absolutely. So think about like an offset load on a split squat. But if I put the load on the right side or I put the load on the left side, depending on which leg is forward, I've changed the exercise, haven't I? I've made it easier to do one thing and harder to do the other. And so again, you just have to decide what the intent is. Am I trying to capture a position or promote range of motion? I have to do one thing because If I do the opposing strategy, I've made it harder. And there's times to do that. So once I can capture a position, now I may want to challenge you and say, make yourself get there. Now that you have the potential to do it, now I want to apply a resistance to make it just a little bit more challenging. Because so let's just say, all right, right leg forward split squat, right side load. Easier to drive extra rotation coming up out of the split squat in that situation, harder to drive internal rotation under those circumstances. So am I trying to capture the internal rotation at the bottom, or am I trying to make it easier to come out of the bottom? You see him, it's like, so, you know, that's, that's why, you know, I'm, I'm such a stickler about not wanting people to think that there is only a way, right? People think that there is a good posture. It doesn't exist.

Yeah.

But if I put the load on the right side or I put the load on the left side, depending on which leg is forward, I've changed the exercise, haven't I? I've made it easier to do one thing and harder to do the other. And so again, you just have to decide what the intent is. Am I trying to capture a position or promote range of motion? I have to do one thing because if I do the opposing strategy, I've made it harder. And there are times to do that. So once I can capture a position, now I may want to challenge you and say, make yourself get there. Now that you have the potential to do it, now I want to apply a resistance to make it just a little bit more challenging. Because so let's just say, all right, right leg forward split squat, right side load. Easier to drive extra rotation coming up out of the split squat in that situation, harder to drive internal rotation under those circumstances. So am I trying to capture the internal rotation at the bottom, or am I trying to make it easier to come out of the bottom? You see it's like, so, you know, that's why, you know, I'm such a stickler about not wanting people to think that there is only a way. People think that there is a good posture. It doesn't exist.

I had a question about, I noticed in a lot of the exercises, you prioritize the foot position first before doing like the pelvis, the knees and all that stuff. So during movement, so let's just say during gait, does the, like the early propulsion, mid propulsion, late propulsion, does it begin at the foot and go up the extremity? Is that why you're prioritizing the foot position first?

Yeah.

Yeah. Okay, okay. Do you need more than that? Yeah, so think about it. So what sensory input do you have if I'm standing up? Other than my spatial senses that I use, vision, audition, et cetera. What is the most impactful sensation that you have? I only have contact with the ground. And so if you look at, I tell you what, if you look at shoe research, This is this is where where it really starts to show up so so they'll take, like, three different kinds of shoes, right, that are supposed to do different things to feed. And I think it's the sherry. I think is the researcher's name, DI, S-C-H-A-R-R-Y or something like that to Sherry. And what they did is they actually stuck markers in the bones of the feet, which must have been just the most pleasant of experiences. And then they put them in different shoes and then they monitor the bones of the feet. And what they found was is that the feet don't really change much at all regardless of what type of shoe you put someone in. However, what did change is the upstream muscle activity. And so it's kind of a big deal. So again, when you don't have a contact that's coming up from the ground, then the message doesn't get propagated up as to what you may want to be capturing in the hip or the pelvic orientation or the rest of the axial skeleton. So I'm very particular about how I orient the feet depending on where I want them in this propulsive cycle.

Yes. Okay, okay. Do you need more than that? Yes, so think about it. What sensory input do you have if I'm standing up? Other than my spatial senses that I use—vision, audition, et cetera—what is the most impactful sensation that you have? I only have contact with the ground. If you look at shoe research, that's where it really starts to show up. They'll take three different kinds of shoes that are supposed to do different things to the feet. I think it's Scherry—the researcher's name, Scherr, or something like that. What they did was stick markers in the bones of the feet, which must have been the most pleasant experience, and then put them in different shoes and monitor the bones of the feet. What they found was that the feet don't really change much at all regardless of what type of shoe you put someone in. However, what did change was the upstream muscle activity. That's a big deal. Again, when you don't have contact coming up from the ground, the message doesn't get propagated up as to what you may want to be capturing in the hip, the pelvic orientation, or the rest of the axial skeleton. I'm very particular about how I orient the feet depending on where I want them in this propulsive cycle.

Okay. And that's why using arm positions to get ribcage changes works as well because they have another surface contact point.

Absolutely. Well, so hands, hands are the same thing. Anytime you put somebody's hands in contact with the surface, you get feedback approximately. Right? So that's a big deal too. And that's a common error is not attending to where your hand contact is. So again, you have to, any time, this goes for any exercise, you have to decide what is my intent here and then how are we going to execute this? And then what am I willing to allow to happen? Right? If your goal is excursion, then you have to minimize the compensatory strategy. If your goal is force, you might have to maximize those, but also monitor, you know, all other key performance indicators to make sure that you're not creating an interference.

Being that you could like, manipulate the pull up, like if I have one hand supinated, one hand pronated, if I want to, does it make sense to bend the bar? You know, when they say bend the bar or just put your hands up and do the job.

What is bending the bar for?

You're trying to create the ER or the IR as much as you can.