Brian Schiff’s Blog

Well, with Turkey Day nearly upon us, I am gearing up for a 4 miler on Thursday morning.  I have run 5Ks, 10Ks and half marathons, but this will be my first 4 miler.  They give you a bottle of wine at the end of this one so it is pretty popular in my neck of the woods. 

As I expand my own running and train more and more runners, I often find that many lack good single leg stability and hip strength.  If you are a runner and not doing any strength training or simply focusing on traditional machine-based exercise, you need to shift gears and incorporate single leg exercises to maximize performance and prevent injuries.

In today’s post, I am going to give you an excellent progression of single leg hip drives or lifts to improve stance leg stability, gluteus medius strength and swing leg hip flexor strength.  In addition, this exercise will improve knee stability and ankle proprioception thereby reducing excess tibial rotation/pronation along the way.  That matters if you have experienced IT Band issues or shin splints along the way.  The exercise sequence is as follows:

1. Single leg hip drive holds (3-5 seconds)
2. Supported single leg hip drive
3. Unsupported single leg hip drive
4. Unsupported single leg hip drive with resistance
5. Unsupported single leg hip drive (unstable surface)

You should progress through this sequence of training to ensure best results.  I suggest 1-3 sets of 10-15 reps of each sequence.  The unstable or most advanced version is suitable for cross country runners, runners with poor ankle stability (chronic sprains or hypermobile) or those with poor closed chain mechanics from the ground up.  I have included a few sample reps of these in the video below:

I hope you can put these exercises to good use.  They are great for increasing stance leg strength and stability, while simultaneously improving swing leg strength and mobility. Happy running and have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

I am often asked when is it safe to go back to play after an injury.  In most cases, I am dealing with lower body or back injuries with my athletes, so for the purposes of this post, I will address a lower body functional return to play paradigm.

The tricky part about this question is that no two injuries are created equal.  Sure, I will be the first to acknowledge that I have general approaches to certain injuries and have a sense of how long it should take most of the time.  But, over the past 13 years I have seen enough irregularity and differences to say that everyone heals and recovers differently.

For example, I have had athletes with a simple grade 1 ankle sprain not go back to sport for 6 weeks, whereas those with much more severe grade 2 or even grade 3 sprains go back in much less time.  Why?  There may be several reasons including compliance, body structure, previous medical history, fitness, pain tolerance, and the quality of the rehab to name a few.

In the end, rehab professionals and strength coaches must have sound knowledge of pathophysiology, tissue healing, and program design that ensures maximal progression with optimal tissue loading.  Messing up the stress gradient (too little or too much) will slow the return to play process.  Below are some major milestones my athletes must clear in order before we even get to what I term “functional rehab” or preparatory movement prior to controlled practice:

1. Full active range of motion
2. Normal strength on muscle testing
3. Normal walking gait
4. Symmetrical squat and lunge patterns
5. Single leg squat (back, hip or knee injury) and/or calf raise (ankle injury) within normal limits compared to uninvolved side
6. Single leg hops in place x 10 equal to uninvolved side with no pain or instability
7. Normal running gait on treadmill x 5′ without pain or instability
8. Lateral gait cycle within normal limits (shuffle, carioca and cross stepping)
9. Planned and predictive controlled agility without pain or instability
10. Low level plyometrics in 3 planes without pain or instability

After moving through this fundamental progression (may take days or weeks), the athlete may then begin to perform more demanding neuromuscular work.  This would involve more rotational work, full intensity sprints an cutting, and gradually the transition to reactive agility and speed drills.  Once the athlete completes this process, he or she is ready for controlled practice.

This is an area where I see student athletes get in trouble. They get “cleared” so to speak by the MD and go back to practice.  Cleared to a coach means full go, right?  The athlete should ease back into practice even after a carefully prescribed rehab plan like the one I just laid out.  However, too often, I see athletes rushed back to full practice too soon.  In the case of soft tissue and stress reaction injuries, this often sends them back to the training room or sideline much sooner than the coach or athlete would like.

What is the answer?  Controlled practice progressions with the idea of first increasing volume (total minutes) prior to restoring maximal intensity.  Athletes know what is hard and what hurts.  We just need to communicate with them.  Allow them to do the easier drills and fill up time with those prior to ramping up the intensity for the entire practice.

Let’s take soccer as an example.  Dribbling, passing and light shooting are lower level drills.  In contrast, set pieces and small sided games are much more demanding.  Athletes and coaches must use discretion when returning form play to avoid re-aggravating an injury.  Measuring pain before, during and for 24 hours afterward is crucial in determining how the body is absorbing the force and responding to the training stress. 

If soreness is lingering for more than 24 hours, this is a red flag that the volume and/or intensity is too much.  I educate all my parents, coaches and athletes to follow this simple 24 hour rule.  I have found if you do, you end up with predictable results in terms of recovery and return to play.  So, if you have suffered an injury, be sure to consider moving through a set functional progression and be sure to used a controlled return to play approach to ensure you make a full recovery.  Have questions?  Leave a comment or shoot me an email.

Lately, I have been working with an elite swimmer hoping to make it to the 2012 Olympics in London.  It has been blast training her since she is so fit, driven and willing to embrace training with a smile each session.  I mean seriously, how many 16 year olds do you know that swim 5 hours per day, go to school, and train with someone like me 3x/week?

While I utilize many common exercises in her program, I definitely pepper in several ones aimed at maximizing core and shoulder strength/stability.  One of the exercises I use from time to time with her is a shoulder glide exercise.  I thought I would share this little gem today.

This is NOT an exercise I recommend for people with shoulder impingement, recurrent instability, poor shoulder mobility or those lacking a high level of fitness to begin with.  In other words, this is no sissy exercise and it can be dangerous if used improperly.

To start with, I had my swimmer do it with both hands.  Once she demonstrated the right form with ease, we progressed to this version in the video below:

So, if you are looking for a great way to challenge and improve shoulder and core strength, this is one to add to your arsenal.  Be wary of gliding out too fast as this is a sign your upper body and/or core is not strong enough to decelerate the motion effectively.  The pull back motion is a great way to strengthen the lats and swimming muscles as well, all the while exposing and resolving any single sided deficiencies.