We all know there are more than one line of thought in the fitness industry.  Strength coaches and personal trainers argue a lot over what’s the best way to do things; everybody has his philosophy and his own training system.  There are some things that are backed by science, others not so much, and some that are just good marketing tools.

Regardless of what your training system is and what you believe in, there are some things in common that smart, educated people believe in.  Whether you’re a powerlifting guy, an Olympic lifting guy, a Poliquin guy, an injury prevention guy, or even a Crossfit guy, there is at least one thing everyone can agree on.  If you put all of those people in the same room they might try to kill each other over what they don’t agree on.  But one overlooked principle is actually crucial in making any training system efficient (or somewhat efficient), and that smart people in each camp preach by: form.

Exercise form is often overlooked when judging the efficiency of a training method or system.  No matter which system you believe in, or even if you developed your own, I’m sure one of the things that make your system effective is the way the exercises are performed.  Because after all, good movement is good movement.  This is something that even the smart people in Crossfit would agree on.  I don’t think ALL Crossfit advocates are stupid; I’m sure there are some smart people who believe in it.  And I’m sure that those smart people are preaching good form on their lifts BEFORE trying to get the best time on a given circuit.  There are many things I disagree with about the whole Crossfit thing, but if I was going to get in an argument with a smart Crossfit advocate, I would probably agree that there are some benefits to it when done the right way, with flawless form on every single rep.

Not exactly what I mean by “flawless form”

In the end, no matter what training system you believe in, the most important thing is ‘good movement’.  You want your body to move the right way, and that is not something we can argue over.  Integrity in the joints and in the basic movement patterns is what we’re after.  Moving well and without compensation is the foundation of any athletic endeavor; you develop functional movement first, performance second and skills at last.  Whatever you do, the quality of your movement will dictate the outcome; and the better you move, the easier it’s going to be to achieve high performance and athletic success with minimal risk of injuries.

I’m sure you can agree with me on that….

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Being a strength and conditioning coach is not much different than being a sports coach, a school teacher or even a music teacher.  We all teach something.  The skills or the material we teach is different, but in the end, it’s pretty much all the same.  Kids will learn something from us that will make them better at something.

So in a way, we need to have a pretty good mastery of the material or the skills we teach.  We also need to be able to communicate well in order to help the kids get better.  Being a good player will not guarantee that you will be a good coach, or that you will be good at helping the kids become better at playing their sport.

But other than teaching kids to get better playing guitar, playing hockey, learning history, or improving the way they move and helping them get stronger, what are we there for?  Being a teacher or a coach in whatever field is also about making an impact in kids lives.

No matter how old the kids you’re coaching or teaching are, kindergarten or college, you can make an impact.  You can make an impact by making them better at what they do, but it goes far beyond that.  Some kids need guidance, encouragement, rewards, better self-esteem, and sometimes just someone to talk to.  The impact you can make in a kid’s life is huge.  So many of the kids we train at Endeavor leave after training for a couple months with us with more confidence than they ever had, and sometimes it’s all it takes for them to become a better soccer player, baseball player, hockey player, etc.

Too often we underestimate the influence we can have on a young person’s life.  Many habits, lifestyle changes and values can be taught through strength and conditioning, like any sport, discipline or school subject.  Kids are very influenceable and very moldable and there lives are just waiting to be shaped by their parents, family, friends, coaches, teachers and whoever comes in their life.

One of the stories about a coach’s influence in an athlete’s life that I really like is the one of Cus D’Amato and the impact he had on boxing legend Mike Tyson.  D’Amato, who was a nearly retired boxing manager took Tyson under his wing and made him one of the greatest boxers of all time.

Tyson with his late manager and mentor Cus D’Amato

With the help of D’Amato, Tyson found discipline, work ethic, respect and got his life together; D’Amato was the father figure he never had in his life.  Tyson always attributed his success and rise to stardom to D’Amato who helped him have structure in his life.  What is amazing about this story is that Tyson before D’Amato was a bum, who grew up in high-crime neighborhoods all is life, who has been arrested over 30 times by the time he was 13 and lost his mom at 16.  Despite everything in his life that was pointing to him becoming a criminal, Tyson had the chance to cross path with D’Amato, who put him on right track and gave his life structure.

And if you’re not convinced of the positive impact of D’Amato in Tyson’s life, just take a look at how his career turned after D’Amato died in 1985, and after he fired Kevin Rooney in 1988 (who was his trainer under D’Amato); Tyson’s career started to decline, he started having problems inside and outside the ring and he never was the same boxer again.

Of course it is a peculiar situation, and you can’t expect all the kids you coach or teach to be little Mike Tysons who need someone to put them on the right path.  But there is always a way you can impact a kid’s life in a way you can’t imagine.

How are you going to make an impact with your athletes today?

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Strength and conditioning coaches and personal trainers use a variety of different coaching cues to guide their clients and athletes to perform various exercises the right way.  When you first start coaching or training people, you talk too much, demonstrate too many times and use too many coaching cues, and your clients end up being confused.  Rightfully so!  Just imagine trying to perform a complex movement that you have never done in your entire life and that is not even close to being similar to something you know; you have no point of reference, your body doesn’t recognize the movement pattern, and on top of that, the person teaching you the movement just keeps talking and adding the number of things you should focus on!  You end up not being able to focus on any one thing because there are too many of them.

But luckily, as you become a better trainer or coach you refine your coaching technique, simplify your explanations and use fewer coaching cues.  You also realize that the most effective coaching cues end up being 90% the same from person to person.  The “chest up” cue is definitely one that’s very common among coaches and trainers.  But it’s also an effective one for a bunch of different exercises.  You can usually use the “chest up” cue with the squat, the deadlift, all variations of horizontal pulling exercises and most posterior chain exercises, just to name a few.

I use the “chest up” cue quite a bit myself.  Combine a loud “chest up” yelled across the room with a French-Canadian accent, and you have something for athletes and fellow coaches at Endeavor to make fun of me for!  It has became a running joke around Endeavor, and our athletes will take the first opportunity to make fun of me, as you can testify yourself by listening to Colby Cohen, Boston Bruins prospect, at the beginning of the following video (I’m also famous for the “butt tight” cue as well, as you’ll notice):

Coming back to serious matters, the “chest up” cue is definitely a useful one to use, but one that you need to be careful with.  There are some unwanted results that could present with this particular coaching cue.  Let me explain…

The “chest up” cue is an effective one because it’s short, simple and hard to misinterpret.  What we are usually looking for with the “chest up” cue is for the client or athlete to prevent from rounding or slouching at the upper back and thoracic spine, and keep the spine neutral.  You might also use the “chest up” cue to help pack the shoulder blades back together when back squatting or doing a horizontal pull.  But one problem may present when an athlete or client tries to get his chest up.  What they don’t know when we say “chest up” is that we want an extension at the thoracic spine, but too often they will get that extension through their lower back or thoraco-lumbar junction.

T-L junction subsitution for thoracic extension

And if you don’t pay close attention to it, you might not even notice, especially if the client or athlete is wearing a loose shirt.

A lumbar hyperextension is not always obvious when you wear a loose shirt

 An extension at the thoraco-lumbar junction will in turn cause a lower ribs flare in the front.  I’ve mentioned in a previous post that a rib flare is also associated with faulty breathing pattern because the diaphragm is not in an efficient position to do its job.

Just notice how differently the diaphragm is positioned between the inhaling and exhaling phases of breathing

So it’s very important to be conscious how your client or athlete will adjust when you tell him/her to get his/her chest up.  Again, the coaching cue in itself is not bad to use, you just need to be more aware of how the person in front of you will interpret it, and you can make the adjustment when necessary.  Personally, when correcting it, I like to put my finger tips on the person’s lower ribs while instructing them to get their ribs down while keeping their chest up; it usually works pretty well.

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