When Dr. Mike created neural coffee and said that we had a coffee that was better for your brain, I started drinking coffee when I was 50. And then I've added some stuff to that to make it even better for my brain. So check that out. Also this past week on billhartmanpt.com I posted a new blog on how to explain things to clients. I hope it's useful for you so please check that out. On YouTube we have last week's Q&A and then I threw up a video about individualization of exercise programming. I'm not a big fan of the whole generic 'this exercise is good for everything' kind of a concept. And so I speak a little bit about how to individualize or why we need to individualize. So check that. Also on Instagram, I talked about finding a solution for your pain. So again, another concept of individualization for you. The value of teaching to learn. So the padawan is gone. We're going to have another padawan coming in in January. So I'm a big fan of teaching but more importantly for the teachers to understand that every time you teach something you learn something and so kind of a big deal I think it's essential for us to become teachers to become the best at what we do. There's also a segment from the iFAST podcast discussing the evolution of continuing education. So how you might want to look at this depending on where you are in your career and what type of continuing education you might want to seek out at this point. So that was of interest. And of course, get the videos for the 16%. But now let's dig into this week's questions. So my first question comes from Andrew. And Andrew asks, could you explain what's going on with the floor when someone is doing a goblet squat in the rack with the band attached to the J-hook? So when they squat down, it's almost as if they're bouncing off of the band. I'm curious as to the intent behind it, when it's appropriate and why. So Andrew, this is in reference to a video that Eric Huddleston posted. I believe, I'm gonna say it's eph.24 is his handle on Instagram. so if you want to check that out and so what this was was a female athlete that Eric's been working with that had been doing a box squat variation to help her control the eccentric element of her pelvic diaphragm and so so when she initially came in she was having a bit of difficulty capturing the concentric orientation pelvic diaphragm and making the return up out of the squat and so what Eric did brilliantly was actually started on a couple of box squat variations but now she's going to learn how to control that concentric orientation still yield so she can squat or so she can execute a counter movement if you would in some form of jumping activity and so what she's doing now is she's squatting to the band so the band is actually just representing a target for her so she knows how deep she was and so the the target would be representative of where the box was and so now she squats to the band so she's now learning how to control and execute concentric orientation with pelvic diaphragm, but still capture enough yielding to allow her to move. And then she's able to recapture that concentric orientation as she comes up out of the squat. So it's just a simple progression from the box squat. But now, like I said, it's just an element of control that she now needs to learn how to manage herself without the use of the box. And then eventually the band gets taken away as well. And then she progresses to more dynamic activities of higher rates of speed and then greater levels of challenge. So nothing magical. She's not bouncing off the band. She's just using that as a target. And like I said, it's just a transition from something that was a little bit more stable, a little bit more limiting, like the box squat.

and making the return up out of the squat and so what Eric did brilliantly was actually started on a couple of box squat variations but now she's going to learn how to control that concentric orientation pelvic diaphragm still yield so she can squat or so she can execute a counter movement if you would in some form of jumping activity and so what she's doing now is she's squatting to the band so the band is actually just representing a target for her so she knows how deep she was and so the the target would be representative of where the box was and so now she squats to the band so she's now learning how to control and execute concentric orientation with pelvic diaphragm but still capture enough yielding to allow her to move. And then she's able to recapture that concentric orientation as she comes up out of the squat. So it's just a simple progression from the box squat. But now, like I said, it's just an element of control that she now needs to learn how to manage herself without the use of the box. And then eventually the band gets taken away as well. And then she progresses to more dynamic activities of higher rates of speed and then greater levels of challenge. So nothing magical. She's not bouncing off the band. She's just using that as a target. And like I said, it's just a transition from something that was a little bit more stable, a little bit more limiting, like the box squat.

You will have to increase your ability to utilize an exhalation strategy because that is how we increase our ability to produce force against loads or gravity or whatever it may be in regards to dynamic activities. So you're going to have to determine what key performance indicators you're going to monitor to determine when your compressed exhalation strategy is becoming so predominant that you begin to lose something of importance to you. And so now if we're working with a regular client who is concerned primarily about health will monitor some element of their mobility that would be indicative of when they start to lose that variability that we would associate with health. So we would do the same thing with an athlete if that athlete requires some movement capability to perform their sport. So that's how we know where that ceiling is. Drew, I can't answer that for you. You're going to have to determine what your key performance indicators are that are the most meaningful to you and then monitor those over time. There's not a black and white answer. A lot of people want black and white answers to these things and there just isn't one. Everything is about gray. Everything is about individualization. So if you have any questions about what are the most important KPIs for you then feel free to ask another question because I think this is a really good thread of questioning that a lot of people don't really understand. They just think that everything is good for everything or everything is bad for everything when we're playing a lot with great areas here. So thanks Drew for that question. Figure out what your KPIs are and then we'll go from there.

Mihail has a pelvic diaphragm question, and I'm assuming it's a heat. So Miel says, does the ability to abduct the femur equal the pelvic diaphragm eccentrically oriented and the pelvic outlet closing? And the ability to add duct to the femur, the pelvic diaphragm concentrically oriented and pelvic diaphragm widening? Are these useful tests to figure out where someone is, is limited in propulsion? So yeah, they are useful. And I think your understanding is generally correct. But keep in mind that you're only using one representation. So whenever we look at anything that is externally rotation oriented or internally rotated oriented, we have to use a series of tests because as we move through any joint range of motion, so we're talking about hip range of motion here, There are different positions through the hip motion that are representative of extra rotation and internal rotation. If we only use one representation, then it would be accurate for that position only. So, for instance, If I take you into full hip flexion as another element of external rotation, that's the early propulsive phase. And so if I have a limitation there, then I know you'd be limited in early propulsion. Whereas with the hip extended, we're moving towards a later propulsive strategy. So again, you need to look at these measures across the extended range of motion of that joint. So we can't just use a single representation especially when we're talking about dynamic movements. So if we were looking at a squat, we would have to look at the performance through the entire excursion of the squat and identify what that hip is capable of doing to determine whether it may be a limitation in the propulsive strategy. So, Mihail, I think that you're on track, but keep in mind, again, you've got to look at a number of measures to determine whether you've got any limitation throughout the propulsive strategies.

In regards to the progressive compensatory strategies, any concentric orientation results in compression. That's what it does. And so not every compression is a bad thing. It actually allows movement to occur in the eccentrically oriented position. So what we have to do though is determine whether we're getting compression locally, which is what we typically see with normal movement, or are we getting a superficial compression? So let's use the sternum as a representation of this. So if I have the sternal pec concentrically oriented, I get a down pump handle and I lose internal rotation. So again, these are all representative of some form of superficial compressive strategy. So if I lose dorsal rostral due to, let's just say lower middle trapezius compression, then I'm going to lose some element of external rotation. So again, each one of these compressive strategies is representative of a loss of range of motion somewhere. And it's rather specific once you understand where these compressive strategies are occurring. And so I don't want to get too deep into this because this is something that we spend a great deal of time on at the intensive. But again, when we use the same test that everybody else uses, it's just going to be the representation of what we're seeing as the limitation that's going to determine whether we're seeing a normal movement based strategy or a superficial compressive strategy that truly restricts breathing and the range of motion.

And so let me give you an example of where muscle and tendon can be actually stiffer than a bone, and that would be in the case of a avulsion fracture. So under those circumstances, because the tensile components of force were applied in some way shape or form at that moment in time to these tissues, the muscle and the tendon became stiffer than the bone and so it rips a piece of the bone loose. So at that point, the bone is actually less stiff, so that would imply that the muscle and tendon at that point could have been a compressive element and then the tension element was represented by the bone. And so I don't think that we can blindly say that these are the compressive elements and these are the tension elements because I think it matters what the context is. And under those circumstances, again, I think tensegrity is probably the best representation that we do have because of the way that we are constructed because of the forces that we are able to withstand, and it just stands to reason that this is how we would distribute these loads because if you think about the way that a lot of these loads are calculated through Euclidean geometry they far exceed what we should be able to tolerate. And so the only way that we can tolerate a lot of these forces is to distribute the load throughout the entire system, which would be a tensegrity-based system. So, do I think it's a literal tensegrity structure? I don't know and I don't care. I just think it's the best model that we have right now.

I think it's in the first half of the book where you're going to get a fair amount of that. There are a lot of papers involved. Don Tigny has a lot of papers. But if you search on things like sacroiliac joint mechanics, the pubic symphysis, pelvic floor, acetabulum orientation, or just type in human pelvis into Google, you're going to get plenty of information. But I would say that try to stick to some of the more peer-reviewed and professional resources, at least in the beginning to establish your ability to filter that information and determine what is going to be useful for you and what is not.