Appreciate it.

How do you go beyond the starting point? Oh, sorry. You do something here in Indiana. It's not good. How do you get beyond the starting point? Like where do you go?

Gotcha. Okay. You see it?

The same rule applies. So anytime the load is magnified, the harder I have to push into the ground, the longer I push into the ground, which means that you're going to bring the ERs in. So think about this for a second. So let's put 10 kilograms on a sled and drag it. How big a step can you take? Pretty big. Now I want you to put 100 kilos on the sled. And what happens to your step length? Exactly. Why does it get shorter? Because you don't have ERs anymore. So the rule applies. So when you're using sled work to try to create relative motions, the load matters. We can go back to Matt's question. So the position matters. The load matters. The extremity behavior matters. And so you just have to decide what it is that the intention. Right? It's like, I can create more emotion with resistance, but the resistance has to be to such a degree that I still have access to compression expansion because that's what's turning is. The minute I ramp up where compression becomes the predominant behavior, I've just narrowed my cones, so to speak, into the IR representation.

Because it has to go all the way up into your brain. Your brain makes a decision and spits out the behavior. But you knew it's coming. Right? Right? Yeah. OK. What you're recognizing is the strategy that you use to control your body in space and to manage these forces.

All right. I'll see you later.

Okay, so then once you begin to enter stance phase, which is early propulsion as you represent it, right?

Can you elaborate?

We got time. Go.

Yeah.

Big deal. All right, man. Have a great weekend.

All right, brother. I got a run. Good to see you always. I'll see you obviously, well, I'll see you on the intensive group. Okay. Yes, sir. You know, this rule doesn't seem to be effective across the board. That's why we're looking for principle-based approaches. That's why we're looking for critical thinking. Good morning. Happy Tuesday. I have no coffee in hand and it is perfect. I'm already having a great Tuesday. Had a great mentorship call a little bit ago, so I'm still pretty fired up about that. Last night, I started going through the applications for the intensive. It's always my least favorite part of this whole thing is the selection process because everybody's trying so hard to get in, which I truly appreciate. I wish everybody could come, but we have to keep it small and focused, thus the name intensive. So again, I appreciate everybody that has applied. I'll try to let everybody know, probably within the next couple, three days, so we can get rolling on the preparatory work. So be looking out for that. Today's Q&A is with Andrew, who is a regular on the Coffee and Coaches Conference calls and also a member of IFAS University, so I know Andrew a little. We actually get into a discussion about complexity via lower body training and overhead work, but really what we're talking about is how we manage these processes and what rules apply. When dealing with complex situations, there are too many unknowns for us to actually know exactly what's going on. This is why I talk about a representative model being so important. But we also rely on heuristics and rules of thumb, which Andrew brings up in a great series of questions. I think this discussion will be useful for many people, especially for younger coaches who think there are established rules in the industry. You'll see how it's much more gray than that and we have to get down to basic principles to flesh out how we proceed with interventions. I think you'll find it all very useful. Have an outstanding Tuesday. If you would like to participate in a 15-minute consultation, please go to askbillhartman@gmail.com. I will see you guys tomorrow.

Yeah.

So that's really fast. Okay. And then you've done a max effort bench press before, right? Okay. One moves faster.

Yeah, big time.

Gotcha. And then are you using her extremity range of motion measurements as you're progressing activities, just to see if she's able to maintain the progress in terms of actually maintaining the pelvic diaphragm position that you've tried to achieve, and basically retesting after you progress something just to make sure she's maintained it.

We need to be really specific about this because we're looking at external rotation measures. Shoulder flexion is going to provide us a measure of external rotation, and horizontal abduction are going to provide us a measure of external rotation. To be able to access both of those positions to their full excursion, I would need expansion in both of those areas. Now, if I measure somebody and I see this limitation, what this measure is telling me is you're not expanding in this one specific area. If I know where you can't expand, I know what activities to start to select for you. Because if I can help you create expansion in those areas, I have now recaptured the ability to access movement that you didn't have before.

Okay, so think about what clenching is. It's internal rotation. It's force production. So they're trying to create an element of compression and increased muscle activity for whatever reason it may be. If we were looking at any exercise and we saw a compensation for a lack of internal rotation somewhere, you would see an anterior orientation, you would see excessive what people would call excessive pronation, et cetera, et cetera. So this is a pronate, if they're clenching equally on both sides, let's just say that they are, okay, that's a bilateral internal rotation strategy. So again, they're looking for a position of control, they're trying to restrict movement. Most likely, you're gonna see it show up in the upper cervical spine. So the upper cervical spine and the mandible would move together. And so if I clench, I am not allowing that to move.

I see.

They're kind of like shock absorbers, so they're filled with space and water. When you land, they compress but they can fracture over time. Then you compress, and the subchondral bone actually gets denser. So you'll see this in arthritic research—they'll see the precipitating changes. The subchondral bone gets denser and denser and denser. Well, that's going to reduce our blood flow to the cartilage. The cartilage will slowly wear away and it gets thinner and thinner and thinner. So now we're losing our electromagnetic effect. So now we can't keep the joint farther and farther apart, and so now we do get compressive strategies that will actually become destructive. And again, on that end, that's pretty much how I see a lot of these arthritic changes occurring, because it's a pressure-related phenomenon. It's a blood flow-related phenomenon and nutrition to the cartilage. By the way, discs do the same thing. Okay, don't tell anybody. Now, how do we get medial compartment versus lateral compartment? So now we've got to think about our propulsive strategies. So our propulsive strategies are what we apply into the ground. And propulsion in and of itself is biased towards internal rotation. So we have to apply pressure into the ground. So remember when, when we evolved, we were actually rotated. We were swimmers. We came up on land. We had to learn how to internally rotate and press into the ground. So Johnny, when we talk about the internal rotation, I've got to internally rotate my femur because I've got to drive down into the ground through internal rotation. So more often than not, I'm going to be applying a little bit more force towards that medial compartment as I internally rotate the femur to push into the ground. And so if we talk about the pressure mechanism that we just talked about in regard to the arthritis, that's why we would probably see the bias towards more medial compartment problems than lateral compartment problems, because we're applying forces into the ground. We have to, just because of

So if we look at it from the backside, what we end up seeing in most cases is we get this posterior lower compressor strategy, which is going to move this left ilium forward. So we have a sacrum that is facing the right. When we drop the left leg back in the split squat, what we end up with is an orientation of the whole pelvis turning. So the relative position of the sacrum to the ilium is that the sacrum is still trying to go back to the right. And we've got this ilium that's actually pushing it there. And so we just get a turn like so. And then the back leg ends up in this position away from midline, which is actually still external rotation. And so what we want then is a solution that's going to recapture the ability of that sacrum to turn left. Because if we don't do that, what we end up with is, again, the left side of the pelvis is forward. So the ilium is forward. Rectus femoris picks up concentric orientation. That can increase pressure on the anterior knee. And then we got vastus lateralis, which tries to become this internal rotation muscle because we don't have any internal rotation orientation in the pelvis. So then what we have is just a massive amount of constant orientation in the front of that thigh. So that's why she's feeling that tightness that she complains about. But we also get that compressive strategy on the anterior knee. So what we want to do is we want to try to capture a pelvis position that looks fairly level in the lower part of the split squat. So if we look at a comparison, you can see that when we have the orientation of the pelvis to the left, you can still see that external rotation.

So for me to perform a squat with a heavy barbell, I have to have enough relative motion. So my femur and my knee, right? Or my femur and my tibia have to be able to bend for me to squat down. Well, that's relative motion there. Right? So I have to be able to do that. So what that means is, is that I have now increased the coordination of my system to produce the upward force or the force into the ground that's gonna allow me to push upward and still capture enough eccentric orientation to move. Okay. Just enough, just enough. The stronger I get, the more concentric orientation I need, and I still need enough eccentric orientation. That's how, so that's when your strength starts to top out, right? You can't get any stronger because I need so much upward force that I give up my eccentric orientation and I can't move anymore.

I'm going to IR both ilia. And I'm gonna be in this exhale position. This is my high force producing strategy. So this is my IR representation. So I went from an ER here to an IR in the middle. This is where the pelvic outlet is gonna become concentrically oriented. It's gonna produce my force upward. It's gonna squeeze. I'm gonna compress. And this is my high force producing. So I will have a representation of internal rotation at this point. So if we look at the foot, The same thing is going to happen in the foot. I'm going to move from my early propulsive representation, which is ER with my arch. I'm going to see the arch come down and I'm going to start to lower the arch. I'm going to drive this into intranotation. So I have a tibia that's moving into intranotation. So I'm going to see an element of pronation until I get to the point where I have to produce maximum force. When a golf swing is probably where you're You're in a right handed golfer, it's gonna be where your left arm is parallel to the ground. That's where you're gonna start to produce that highest force because that's where the club head is going to start to accelerate. That's where you're gonna produce that force. It'll be demonstrated and you will immediately move back into extra rotation and the club head is gonna pick up all of its speed there. In the thorax we're going to see a much more of a symmetrical representation under most circumstances. You'll see idiosyncratic differences in any number of growths because of physical structure. But basically what we're looking at is we're looking at a compressed dorsal rostral thorax under those circumstances. Again after that instantaneous moment of maximum force production. I'm going to see the turn into the left and I'm going to see a reversal of the original strategy that I saw on the backside. So now I'm going to see the delay on the left. I will see the overcoming on the right and that's what's going to allow me to produce my turn to the left. So Under those circumstances, what we're going to need to have then is access to an internal rotation that's superimposed on extra rotation going to the left. And so again, I'm going to have the same problem that I had on the backside. If I don't have the ER capabilities in my follow through position, I'm not going to be able to turn into it and produce my IR.

Yeah, you want to feel it? So here's what I want you to do. You're going to have to stand on one leg. So we're also assessing your balance, Andrew. And we will pass judgment on your physical capabilities and superimpose that onto your personality. So pick up your left knee for me. Pick up your left knee like to hip bend to 90 degrees. Now do this. So what I want you to do, boss, is I want you to crank that leg as far into rotation as you possibly can, and let your body just follow where it wants to go. Keep going. Keep going. You feel your back arch?

One demographic, you're saying?

I'm externally rotating, right? Yeah. Okay. Cool. Yeah.

Do you use any assessments to guide that decision-making? So, if you see this person that has a lockout issue, do you do the bench press lockout first and see what happens? Or do you have a way to test whether they should do tricep extensions or something else?

Overcome what? Be specific. The good morning squad. Well, you have to reduce the load because the pressure's too high. So there are a couple of things. I might need to expand to reduce some of the downward force on the pelvic diaphragm. You have to reduce the total load and pressure requirements, because you're just producing too much downward expansion. So how much load can I superimpose on the system and still produce the desired movement? If you want a particular squat, you have to back off to determine that threshold capability and start there. Alternatively, you can modify the exercise to allow the position to occur or change the exercise. For example, moving from a back squat to a front squat immediately alters the load position. Therefore, the expansion of the axial skeleton must change, which may provide the advantage you're looking for in terms of technique.

and they show some very, very specific findings which we'll talk about here in just a second. The reason that there's such difficulty here is because when we're at this end game narrow situation, we have a tremendous amount of concentric orientation that limits the hip mobility to such a degree that it's almost like we really don't have anything available to work with in regards to positioning. And so everything looks like it becomes a compensatory strategy. And so let me show you what we're talking about. We'll grab the puffs here. So we'll start with our narrow ISA presentation, which is going to look something like that. And remember, plastic model, not perfect, but it'll give us a representation. So we're kind of starting there. We get a lot of constant degradation in this posterior lower aspect to such a degree that it creates this push from behind and it sort of orients this ischial tuberosity in line with the femur. And so these extra rotation muscles actually start to pull the femur back inwards. So it's not just ER. You end up with this presentation that looks like they're actually rotated but adducted at the hip. And so when we talk about common findings, these are the people with the really, really horrible looking toe touches. And so they're the people that if they can get below their knees they're pretty happy. So we have extreme deficits in that. Hip abduction is very, very limited. So it's often 10, 20 degrees of hip abduction. Straight leg raises very limited as well, therefore hip flexion. And then if you ever check prone hip internal rotation, you're going to see a pretty big deficit there and you might not have any. If we're trying to rely on some activities that we would commonly default to we just don't even have enough hip flexion to do anything. So what we have to actually do is we have to start with activities where we are sort of oriented with the hip at zero degrees of traditional hip flexion or extension depending on your perspective. And so many times we can throw some manual therapies at this and reduce some of that concentration or orientation. Maybe that buys us a little bit of hip mobility that we can work with. But if we're going to rely on exercise, sometimes we can maybe put them in our prone situation and do something like that that will give us some of this eccentric orientation that we need in that posterior lower, but it tends to be a challenge. It's almost an exercise in futility in many cases. A lot of times what we have to actually do if we have to start with some form of hip approximation activity. So what we're talking about is creating a situation in the back of the pelvis that looks something like this.

I have posted up here is a cross section of the thorax through the scapula so we can see where the humerus is. And what I want to do is I want to talk you through how we manipulate internal and external rotation by the position of the scapula. So if you look at this first diagram, what we have is a representation of what we would consider some sort of normal average kind of a thing where the scapula would rest 30 degrees off the imaginary frontal plane. And so that gives us a starting position. The starting position is kind of important to understand because as we start to move through space time, we're going to see differences in concentric and eccentric orientation. So if I have an anterior compression, what I'm going to end up with is I'm going to get expansion on the posterior side. And what this is going to do is going to change the angle of the scapula relative to the imaginary frontal plane. So now if I have a 60-degree angle, I pick up concentric orientation on the backside of that shoulder. So if you want to pick on a muscle, you could say your principanatus picks up concentric orientation. And then I have a limitation of internal rotation. So that's how the anterior compression works. And so if I want to expand anteriorly, what I have to do is I have to reverse this process. So what I'm going to do now is I'm going to pick a shoulder girdle position. I'm going to pick an activity that produces concentric orientation of the muscles between the scapula. So I'm going to compress that dorsal rostrum area. I'm going to pin the medial border of that scapula against the rib cage. And what that's going to do, it's going to drive the expansion forward. So now what I have is I have a change in that angle of the scapula. So it's not a much flatter angle relative to the frontal, the imaginary frontal plane. And so what that does is it gives me eccentric orientation on the backside of that shoulder and now I pick up the internal rotation. So that's basically the mechanism that we're talking about. So that's how reaching activities tend to work is they create this dorsal-rostral compression. They get the anterior expansion. I get my pump handle back and then bingo-bango, I get my internal rotation.