Ok, so now that you’ve stepped up to the bar and have set yourself in a good position by following the “3 B’s” (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, see Part 1 of this series), it’s time to safely pick some weight off the floor.

There are a number of different nuances you can get into when teaching someone how to deadlift, but for this sake of this post we are going to break the lift into two main parts: First Pull and Second Pull.​

1. First Pull: This is where you lift the bar from the ground to your knees. During this part of the lift you should be keeping your spine in a neutral position by having your hips and shoulders rise at the same time until the bar reaches your knees. If you let your hips rise faster than your shoulders then you’ll end up rounding your lumbar spine, and if you let your shoulders rise faster than your hips then you’ll end up over-extending your lumbar spine. Both of those approaches increase the shear forces at your vertebra, which our spines are not designed to handle.

So the big takeaway here is that, when you initially starting lifting the weight off the floor, you need to keep your hips and shoulders moving in the same direction, at the same rate, until you get to knee height, and at that point you start to shoot your hips forward as your shoulders continue to rise. Sounds simple enough; right? Well, there are techniques you need to also remember in order to not just perform the lift correctly, but to also keep your back out of harm’s ways. ​

• Keep your lats engaged: We discussed the importance of the lats in Part 1 and the reasoning applies here too. As you lift the weight from the ground you want to keep your lats engaged by trying to “break the bar.” Doing this will allow you to keep the bar close to your shins and thighs, which is crucial to keeping your back safe. The closer that bar stays to your body, the less shear force that go through your low back.
• Neck Position: Don’t flex or over-extend your neck while deadlifting. You want to keep your neck in a neutral, or ever-so-slightly extended, position.
• Push with your legs, don’t pull with your back: This one sounds simple enough; right? In theory, yes. But in practice we see this performed wrong on the time. You want to imagine that you’re pushing the ground away from you vs pulling the weight off the ground. A good way to ensure that this is the case is by creating a “wedge” position. Dr. Travis Jewett does a great job of explaining what that is in the video below.

Thanks for reading,
Dr. Jake

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• Bend: Once you bowed forward and feel tension in your posterior chain, the next step to a proper deadlift is to bend your knees to where you can grip the bar. THE MOST IMPORTANT part of this step is that while you bend down to the bar, you maintain the tension you created previously in your posterior chain. By doing this you’ll not only keep the appropriate muscle groups activated to perform this perform this movement, but you’ll also be much more likely to have your hips in at an optimal height (not low like a squat) which will allow you to keep you shins in a vertical position. This is crucially important and is something we’ll get into more in part II of this series. ​

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• Blades: Once you’ve gripped the bar, the last phase to getting into a good set up position is to “throw your shoulder blades into your back pocket.” By doing this movement you activate your latissimus dorsi which is important for a couple of reasons:
  1. Your lats play a direct role in creating lumbar stabilization due to their connection with the low back via something called the thoracolumbar fascia
  2. By creating tension at your lats you’ll be able to keep the bar much closer to your body while standing up with the weight, protecting you lumbar spine and boosting your performance. ​

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Strength and flexibility training along with skill practice are usual as we train for marathons, weightlifting competitions, tennis matches and golf tournaments. But have you ever thought about training your diaphragm?  What about your pelvic floor?

What if I told you there is one major key to training that many folks skip right over?  Would you try it?  Here is your chance.  The diaphragm is a large muscle in the body with direct connections to the lumbar and thoracic spine and ribs.  The pelvic floor mirrors the diaphragm- like the younger sibling that mimics the older- and has connections to the pelvis, sacrum and hip rotator musculature. What are the most common injuries and dysfunctions that WE see?  Low back, SI joint and hip!

“Core strength” is definitely a buzz word in the fitness industry these days.  And if you ask 5 people what it means, you are likely to get 5 different answers.  So first, let’s talk about the “core.”

What is the core?

Your core, or the “soda can," is made up of your deep abdominals in the front, back muscles in the back, pelvic floor on the bottom of diaphragm on the top.  These muscles work on concert to create pressure on your midline- think a full can of soda that has not been opened.  If there is weakness or dysfunction in one of these muscles, then the midline is depressurized- the can has been opened.

​The full spectrum of pelvic floor movement is contraction, relaxation, and bulging.  It is important that we maintain all of these functions for optimal strength, control, and length of the pelvic floor.  The popularity around kegels emphasizes the contraction and strength part.  It seems that women think they tighter and harder they can squeeze, the better. This is true for certain situations- think sneezing.  But it is also important to be able to relax the pelvic floor fully.
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Re-lengthen before we strengthen

For much of the active population, pelvic floor over-tension is a problem.  For these women, we want to focus less on the contraction and more on the relaxation and lengthening.  Once full relaxation and length is achieved, THEN kegels are needed to strengthen in the new range of motion achieved.  Strength comes in many forms- quick bursts, endurance, holds, etc.  These are exercises specific to YOUR needs and deficits that a pelvic floor PT will prescribe to you.  There is also a piece to the puzzle of timing of the pelvic floor contraction.

Look back to a blog I wrote about 7 Habits That May Be Stressing Your Pelvic Floor to start addressing these issues now.

How are you performing a kegel?

Remember how we said a kegel is a pelvic floor contraction?  Well, all of these muscles are deep so if I can SEE you performing a pelvic floor contraction, you’re doing too much.  Sometimes it is hard to know what you are squeezing in the nether regions. Is it pelvic floor?  Is it my glutes?  Am I just squishing my legs together? ​

​Do I need surgery?
Have you tried physical therapy?
How much of your function is compromised?
Did you get a second opinion? 
What are your goals?
How is your overall health?​​

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​The Solution:

Training variability, volume, and mobility are all related and after countlessly having the same conversation with the people we see in the clinic we decided enough was enough. We decided to create a solution that would benefit damn near everyone, and that solution is the Athletes’ Potential Pain-Free Training Plan. Whether your goal is to prevent injuries at CrossFit, improve your running times, or simply become a healthier version of yourself; we’ve created a unique program that requires minimal equipment and minimal time help you reach your goals. 

There is simply nothing on the market like this program. It has been developed from the ground up by new-age healthcare professionals who blend the fields of rehabilitation and human performance and we couldn’t be more excited to offer this service to you. 

You only get one body, so if you’re ready to stop beating it up, click the link above or fill out a contact request form. We’d love to answer any of your questions. Until then, happy training! 


-Dr. Jake

2. Get Appropriate Sleep: I cannot overstate how important it is to get appropriate sleep. You should be getting approximately 7-9 hours of sleep per night, and during the open you need to towards the higher end of that range. To find out more information on how to optimize your sleep, check out our previous blog article "Top Two Ways To Improve Your Sleep." 

3. Eat the Right Food: As the saying goes, “food is fuel for your body” and you want to be giving yourself some jet fuel to optimize your CrossFit Open performance. What this means is you need to be eating the right foods in the right proportions to restore your body’s energy levels and to give it the needed energy it needs to repair and recover. You can find more info on how to do that by checking out out previous blog, "Which Diet is Right For Me." 
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4. Staying Hydrated: You should be drinking water constantly to maintain good muscle and vascular health. The general recommendations say to drink 8 eight ounce glasses of water a day. However there are plenty more variables that go into determining the appropriate amount of water for you to drink. Click here to go to a calculator that will give you a better idea of how much water you need to stay appropriately hydrated throughout the Open.

​So, if you want to get your best possible score in this year’s Open AND decrease your risk of injury then you need to make recovery a priority. A lot of things factor into recovery periods that are outside of your control (age, genetics, training experience, etc.), but by doing what we covered in this article you will be setting yourself up for success by recovering like a pro and getting the most out of your workouts.


Thanks for reading,

Dr. Jake

​​Half Kneeling Balance Drill: Must be able to maintain balance for 60 seconds. Progress by adding weight to one side, being on foam surface, or by closing your eyes.​
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Clock Balance Drill: ​​Complete three full rotations, both clockwise and counterclockwise.
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​Single Leg Med Ball Toss: To improve lateral stability. Complete 30 seconds of tosses with focus on high velocity.

Now as we mentioned earlier, your static stabilizers work synergistically with with your dynamic stabilizers and are equally important to focus . This is where ankle strengthening comes into the picture. Below are three great drills to strengthen your ankles.

Banded Side Step Up: ​Complete 3-4 rounds of 30 seconds in each direction. The key is to keep the band at the bell of your feet.
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Single Leg Jump Rope: Should be able to perform for 60 seconds and without a significant difference in difficulty side-to-side.
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Single Leg Volleys

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Summary:

• Ankle injuries are incredibly common and in the world of soccer and if don’t want to miss playing time due to an injury then you must be programming ankle strength and stability into your training.
• You ankle is made up of both dynamic and static stabilizers, to have a complete program you need to address both
• Try these exercises out yourself, if you can’t figure it out or if your in Atlanta and have been struggling with an ankle injury, fill out the contact request form or give us a call. We’d love to help.

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Jake