The Online Coaching Controversy

There’s been a lot of blowback on the web lately regarding online coaching. If you’re not familiar with the concept, it’s essentially where someone from a remote location wants more specific help with their training, so they enlist a qualified coach to write their programming for them. As I write this, I have several online clients from Europe, one from Japan, and one from China. Needless to say, without the Internet, this wouldn’t be possible.

In my case, I tend to get a lot of injured or beat-up people who need proper programming to get them healthy. At first, I didn’t really like the idea. I mean, how can you really help someone when you can’t see them? How do you know what days they should crank it up, or what days to reel them back in?

Quite simply, you don’t. It’s not THE most efficient way to train people. But, in that same vein, it’s truly helpful for those who either don’t know how to program for themselves, or simply have no desire to. There are always going to be special cases or people with more major problems than you can solve via the Internet, but these people are generally few and far between. Even in person, they’re still going to be your tougher cases.

Now, some people on the Internet will say that it’s an online coach’s job to teach that person how to program for themselves. Really? Last time I checked this person wants a program, not an education. Now I’m more than willing to explain exactly why I chose a certain exercise, set/rep scheme, etc., but quite often the people I work with don’t give a shit about what they’re doing, as long as it works. Along these same lines, you can give someone the basic tools in a few months, but it’s just not possible to give them all your knowledge in that time frame, especially when the bulk of your interaction is via e-mail.

I have had one or two clients who want me to coach them on the “art” of program design, but they are few and far between. The people that I work with view this as outsourcing on their part. I outsource my financial planning because that person is an expert/professional in their field, and even if I know a lot about the topic, I’ll probably never know as much as someone who dedicates their life to it. In all honesty I don’t care what my financial planner does with my money, as long as I get the returns that I want. The same can be said of online coaches.

So there’s my piece – hopefully it gives you an idea as to how and why an online coaching service may help you.

Stay strong
Mike Robertson

The Source of Scapular Winging

Hi Mike,

I purchased Inside-Out and have been working on the push-up plus exercise, among others. I have noticed when I straighten my arm directly in front of me (as though I’m throwing a punch) the winging of the scapula goes away. Would this mean that my serratus anterior works properly and is not the source of my scapular winging OR that my serratus anterior is not correctly activated and that is why I have scapular winging?

If you have significant scapular winging, chances are you have deficiencies in either strength and/or motor control of the serratus anterior. What you describe is normal; many people have appropriate function into protraction, but they have poor eccentric control of the serratus as the scapula moves back into a retracted position. Quite often when you perform push-ups people have no issue with the concentric movement, but struggle considerably and/or get pain when lowering into the bottom.

Focus on “pulling” the shoulder blades together on the eccentric portion of push-ups, along with keeping your shoulder blades tight to the rib cage. If you can’t perform traditional push-ups properly, you may have to perform them on your knees or even in a power rack until you can achieve proper scapular control.

Good luck!

Mike Robertson


Key #1: Improve and Maintain Thoracic Spine Mobility

The mobility of the upper back, or thoracic spine, especially in regard to achieving sufficient upright posture directly affects the ability to properly position the scapulae (the shoulder blades) during upper body training. Poor scapular positioning can actually weaken the rotator cuff muscles and limit how much weight you can lift, limit arm speed, and limit striking power. Rounded back or slouched posture of the upper back prevents the normal movement and positioning, increasing the likelihood of impingement of the rotator cuff. Repetitive “pinching” of the rotator cuff in this case will result in inflammatory or degenerative conditions or even rotator cuff tears.

Front Squat Weak-Point: The Wrists

I'm trying to incorporate some front squats into my
routine. The good news is they seem to be a godsend for the knees. The bad news is my wrists are starting to bark at the position I've got them in to
support the bar on my shoulders.

Any hints? Maybe/probably I'm doing it wrong? Any specialty bar out there
I should consider?

The biggest issue with the clean-grip front squat is the wrist positioning.
If you have Inside-Out, be sure to focus on the front squat wrist mobility
drill as often as possible to improve specific mobility in that area.

Static stretching of the forearms can help as well, so try this stretch out.
Extend your arm in front of you with your fingers/wrist extended and
pointing straight up. Use the fingers of the off hand to pull your fingers
back towards your face. This should stretch your wrist flexors.

Finally, most people try to start off doing a ton of reps with the front
squat and that's not a great idea. In other words, 3x10 is murder on your
wrist if you aren't ready for it! Keep the same load, but invert the
sets/reps to take the stress off the wrists. I don't like doing much more
than 3-5 reps in the front squat (or most exercises, for that matter) ;)

Hope that helps!

Mike Robertson

What are the six things you MUST do and the one thing you should NEVER do before you get under the bar or take the field to achieve a personal record performance?

Zero Progress to Returning to Training

Some time ago I purchased Magnificent Mobility. At that time I was in the
process of self-rehabbing an SI joint injury that had occured due to
imbalances generated by a previous right side QL strain. I had seen a number
of physiotherapists over a 2 year period to fix these imbalances and all I
received was stretching exercises and advice to do nothing strenuous until
it healed. Unfortunately the body is a complex machine that will adapt to
whatever is thrown at it.

Their advice and incorrect programming resulted in
six months of zero progress, I would wake every morning being unable to tie
my shoelaces, I had difficulty getting out of bed, everything was a
struggle. After doing some research of my own, I came across Magnificent
Mobility. The production levels within the video are as good as any
instructional I have seen, the instruction is clear and precise, without
being clinical. Most importantly, the exercises contained within MM really
helped with the healing process. After a month of practice, combined with
some very easy bodyweight only squats on a regular basis, my range of motion
returned to pre-injury levels. I no longer had problems getting out of bed
in the morning and I could finally return to pre-injury life.

Since returning to training I have found that regular use of the exercises during
warmups has helped me quickly move beyond my previous strength and
conditioning levels. I was amazed at how quickly I responded what seemed to
be very simple drills.

The biggest kick out of this was not being able to train again, or return to
the martial arts that I had missed for so long, it was the simple things -
bringing the shopping in from the car, being able to pick my daughter up
without massive back/hip pain and being able to easily get down on the floor
to play. It is impossible to place a value on mobility: MM is a genuine
bargain. I cannot recommend this highly enough.

Craig Dollin

LiftStrong Friday #1 - The AC Cancer Diaries

Each week, I’m going to write-up a brief review of an article from the Lift Strong CD ROM. I’ll go in order, and I’ll do my best to throw up a blurb about every single article. There are 58, so it could take a while!

Let me preface these write-ups by saying this – my goal is not to write critical, un-biased reviews of these articles. In fact, I shouldn’t have to write anything! The fact that the Lift Strong CD-ROM has over 800 pages of material, costs a measly 25 bucks, and every cent of that goes to cancer research should be enough for you to want to purchase it. But I’m going to use these write-ups as a constant reminder for you to pick up a copy and help out a great cause in the process.

My first write-up will be on the first article, Alwyn Cosgrove’s cancer diaries.

I’ve only known Alwyn for about 2 years now, so I actually did not know him the first time he battled cancer. That’s right, if you didn’t know, Alwyn has fought and defeated cancer TWICE now! Regardless, the fact that Alwyn is still with us today is a testament to good science and a warrior’s mentality. Alwyn is one of the friendlist and most dedicated fitness professionals I’ve ever met. He’s always been there for the young guys in the industry, and truly understands the concept of “paying it forward.”

These diaries are a peek into his thoughts, feelings and emotions as he got the news, went through chemo, and all the ups and downs associated with it. If you’ve ever had a friend or loved one go through chemo, this diary is a very vivid picture of just how mentally and physically taxing this process is.

Even though you know the “ending” of this story (e.g. Alwyn lives happily ever after, cancer-free), it’s the story that unfolds that wraps you up and pulls you in. This section alone was almost 50 pages and I read the entire thing in about an hour’s time last night. It’s truly powerful stuff, and gives a lot of great insight into the mindset of someone who has stared death in the face and survived.

Here’s my suggestion for the week: Maybe you’ve already purchased a copy of Lift Strong and don’t know who else would want one for training purposes. Instead, if you know a friend or loved-one who is dealing with cancer, why not purchase the CD-ROM for them and let them read AC’s diary? I feel reading about someone else who has been through this and survived would be a very uplifting experience.

Until next week, purchase a copy of Lift Strong and have a great weekend!

Mike Robertson

Help Your Clients Achieve Long Term Knee Health

Incorporating Z-Health Principles

Many people have asked how I’m incorporating the Z-Health principles into my programming, so I thought I’d write-up a blog post to layout how it currently looks.

My goal is to get through the R-phase protocol between 3 and 4 times per week. This can be time-consuming, so I think I’ve figured out a way to break it up and still get maximum benefit.

After approximately 6-8 weeks of total body, fat loss based training, I’ve switched back to my more conventional upper-lower split. Here’s how my warm-ups look on a lower body day:

Activation/Static Stretching

Rectus Femoris Stretch, 30 sec. each
Glute Bridge, 10 reps
Piriformis stretch, 30 sec. each
Side-Lying Clams, 10 reps each

Nothing Earth shattering here; just trying to loosen up my chronically tighter muscles and get the right ones firing.

Z-Health

Talar Mobs
Lateral Ankle Tilts
Ankle Circles
CKC Knee Circles
OKC Knee Circles
Rehab Hip Circles

I throw the Z-Health R-Phase drills in here so I can get some isolated joint mobility and to make sure everything is moving the way I’d like. I liken the R-Phase drills to “micro mobility” while the M2 stuff is more “macro mobility.” This isolatedàintegrated approach seems to work well for me.

Finally, I may throw some Z in after everything else, especially if I feel something is off in the T-spine, shoulder, elbow, wrist, etc. This is done totally by feel.

Magnificent Mobility Drills

Knee Hugs
Pull-Back Butt Kicks
Single Leg RDL
Back Lunge w/Twist
Walking Spidermen
Lateral Lunges
Squat-to-Stands

From that point I’m thoroughly warmed up and ready to rock. It takes 12-15 minutes, depending on how focused I am at the outset.

Stay tuned for Part II where I’ll describe my upper-body warm-up.



Mike Robertson

Schools of Thought

Hello Mike,

I have your DVD's and I read on your site, then click links and read into t-nation articles by you and Eric Cressey.

I emphasize kettlebell lifting according to Valery Federenko, and use barbells for myself and high school football players.

I bought the Sahrmann text. At least I can index into it for trouble-shooting. I recognize that you and Eric Cressey are translating functional movement, the next gen functional anatomy, into specific exercises related to the profiling found in Sahrmann and the growing body of tests. I appreciate your efforts to open our eyes to use exercises and lifts as profiling.

In the past few weeks I've been able to make my humeral-acromion gap wider and alleviate impingement in myself, a process I believe to have been greatly accelerated by using beside the face pulls and scaption shrug according to your article with Hartman. At first I used a towel to lift the arm of a chest-supported rower, and then I have begun to make a goalpost with arms, bend over until arms parallel the ground, and then use 1kg and 2kg to do the beside the face pulls and hold for two seconds. That is a fairly unglamorous exercise with cable or chest-supported rower, but to think of a grown man working out with 1kg and getting sore doing it, might sideline it into obscurity as a mere cult ritual. But RESULTS highlight the wisdom of going there.

My 91 years old, and has very little if any cartilage in one hip. I started her doing some of the hip work from your dvd, and step ups on a telephone book or two. Her lunges will start ridiculously shallow, but lunges are next, probably quad lunges not to focus on quad but simply because she can't use a longer stride like the glute/ham lunge variations.

Shoulder and hip mobility and efficiency. Power lift form and efficiency. Learning as much profiling as I can. The benefits of warming up dynamically.

There are two schools of American kettlebell lifting. "Russian kettlebells are all the same size", "kettlebells are not heavy(implications: no powerlifting belt, no deadlift grip, no inhale and hold ab tension, no rectal puckering)". The other school, the one that takes people to less reps by far than kettlebell sport does, has people doing windmills and turkish get-ups for their shoulders. I have recently realized that pushing the scapula down with weight only encourages the muscles to come back stronger with more impingement. If those lifts, windmill and tkg, are not our primary overheads, they add, and perhaps ONLY add, to the deficit. If am trying to help somebody out of impingement, your beside the face pulls, scaption shrug, overhead shrug, added to rowing, would be first, not merely weighing down the scapula for a few seconds like smoking a cigarette to relieve nicotine-based anxiety. Federenko's pulls are swings, cleans, snatches, and pull-ups. I add a few renegade rows, bent-over beside-the-face pulls starting with 1kg plates, scaption shrugs starting with five or ten pounds.

Jerks are a big part of kettlebell sport. We don't do presses except for entertainment. Presses weight the scapula down, reducing impingement, while jerks make the load weightless just when we are threading soft flesh between two bones, so the scapula is not depressed by the load when impingement happens. Jerk takes a healthy, balanced scapular muscle relationship. We are also doing lots of reps and sets of jerks, so as we progress, impingement would block our progress with too much inflammation, sounding the alarm. I could also go into detail about good or bad form relating to impingement and scrubbing shoulder cartilage, but I only wanted to describe in detail how your scapular balancing exercises are so important.

-Bob Dodds