Brian Schiff’s Blog

I hope you and your families had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! Starting today and running all week you can save 30% on any and all of my DVDs. Take advantage of this offer on any of my Fit Knee series (osteoarthritis, running, or ACL) as well as my Ultimate Rotator Cuff Training one. The sale will end on Sunday Dec. 7.

Please share this offer with friends, colleagues and family who may benefit from any of these products.  Simply enter code DVD30 at the checkout and hit apply coupon to save 30% today.  Click here to order.

Using a stability ball for hamstring exercises is commonplace in fitness and rehab settings.  I feel the use of isometric exercise is often under rated and under utilized because it is viewed as boring or easy by clients.  I like to use some variations of hamstring bridging on a stability ball focusing on isometric holds with various static positions and dynamic upper extremity movement patterns.

Utilizing time under tension with isometrics is a an excellent way to challenge the CNS and increase muscle activation.  Once a client can master a stationary double leg bridge, this exercise sequence offers some fun and challenging progressions to an otherwise standard and perhaps otherwise boring isometric exercise.

I like to think of these types of exercises as a way to fine tune motor control and resist unwanted motion in a static position as well as with dynamic movement.  Not all clients will be able to progress to the dynamic portion, but use these variations to progress and regress the exercise accordingly.  Adjust the length of the isometric based on the ability of the client.  Beyond a great training tool for the hamstrings, you will realize greater hip, core and pelvic control too.

The video below demonstrates some progressions:

To see the full written description with progressions, visit www.fit-pro.com to read my column Functionally Fit.

Obviously I am a BIG fan of bodyweight training and incorporate it into many of my fitness and rehab programs.  to that end, I wanted to let you know about a great bodyweight training bundle being released today.  I was asked to contribute to this product bundle and have added my very own Ultimate Rotator Cuff Training Guide ($39.95 value).

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• 8 Bodyweight Muscle Building ebooks
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Click the image below for more information. Act now to get all these resources at a steep discount!

I wanted to send out warm wishes for a great Holiday to all my readers.  I am blessed to write, speak, rehab and train people in my daily work – all things I love to do.  Education and sharing information is the primary motivation behind my blogging as I want to help others achieve optimal health, performance and recovery.  To that end, my sincere hope is that this blog continues to be a quality source of information for you and your family/friends.

This is also a time of year when I like to offer discounts on my educational products as a way of giving thanks.  So, through midnight on Cyber Monday (12/2/13) I will be offering a discount on all my DVD’s, e-books, and books (Trigger Point products, online consulting and pulley not included). So, from now until Monday at midnight, you can save 25% on these products by entering coupon code BFIT25 at checkout.

I hope you have a wonderful time with family and friends during this Holiday time and wish you continued health and prosperity moving forward.

As someone who works with high level athletes and those aspiring to take their performance to new levels, I think it is important to understand power development and the real “why” behind the exercises we choose.  I also come at this from the side of a sports physical therapist who is working to get athletes back to their peak performance.

To that end, I am always looking for the most effective ways to train the neuromuscular system.  Finding the most “specific” exercises for our clients is important.  I thought I would provide a brief summery of a new article in the November 2013 Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research that looked to compare the neuromuscular characteristics of two types of jumps: hurdle and drop jumps.  In addition, the authors wanted to examine three types of landing techniques:

1. Preferred – athlete instructed to jump with a technique that allows for jumping as quickly and high as possible
2. Flat foot
3. Forefoot (FORE)

The working hypothesis was that hurdle jumps would be more powerful than drop jumps (DJs) and that foot flat technique would decrease mechanical power.  The study included 25 subjects (male athletes) from Memorial University and during the jumps reaction forces, contact time, rate of force development (RFD) and lower limb EMG were measured.

All subjects did regular regular resistance training multiple plyometric drills with a typical volume of > 100 repetitions per session.  However, none of the subjects had done drop jumps before.  As such, this was the first test assessed to avoid fatigue.  Subjects stood on a force platform and were asked to perform a maximal CMJ.  Two trials were conducted with 1 minute of rest in between jumps.  The maximum CMJ height was used to establish the DJ and hurdle height.  The average flight time of the two trials was used to calculate jump height.

The order of DJ and hurdle jump tests was randomized with 5 minutes of rest between the jumps.  The athletes did a 10 minute warm-up of cycling at 75 W-60 RPM followed by 5 sets of 5 sub maximal hopping, 5 single submaximal CMJ and 2 maximal CMJ.  Only dynamic stretching was allowed during the warm-up to avoid any muscular power deficits created by static stretching.

Results

Contact time

• Hurdle jump had a 36.9% shorter contact time compared to DJ
• Preferred technique 29.1% shorter contact time than FLAT
• Preferred technique had 9.6% longer contact time than FORE
• FLAT 25.9% longer than FORE
• Jump and landing type interaction 23.8% shorter ground contact time for DJ FORE vs. FLAT

Vertical ground reaction forces (VGRF)

• Hurdle jump forces were 11% higher than DJ
• FLAT techniques revealed 30.8% less reaction force than preferred technique and 40.9% less than FORE
• DJ preferred technique had 14.9% more force than DJ FLAT
• DJ FLAT had lowest force level and was 25.9% less than DF FORE

Rate of force development

• Main effect of hurdle jump showed 46.3% higher RFD than DJ
• FORE technique 11.3% higher than preferred and 45% higher than FLAT
• Preferred technique 38% higher than FLAT
• DJ preferred 35% > DJ FLAT
• Hurdle jump preferred 40.9% higher than DJ preferred
• Hurdle jump FORE 43.6% higher than DJ preferred
• DJ FLAT was lowest for RFD

Leg stiffness

• Hurdle jumps were 64% stiffer than DJ
• Hurdle jump FORE had greatest stiffness
• DJ FLAT was the least stiff technique

EMG Activity

• Rectus femoris – HJ had 30% higher activity than DJ, eccentric phase highest, and FLAT higher than preferred and FORE
• Biceps femoris – HJ 68.8% more activity than DJ, concentric phase highest, and preferred higher than FLAT
• Tibialis anterior – FLAT had highest activity, eccentric phase highest
• Gastrocnemius – Preferred 26.3% > FLAT, FLAT 47% < FORE, and concentric phase highest

Key findings of the study

1. Preferred and FORE hurdle jumps were more powerful plyometric exercises than the DJ based on a shorter contact time, higher VGRF, RFD and leg stiffness
2. FORE and preferred landings produced the best results for all mechanical power variables

Continue reading…