A couple of awesome studies have recently emerged and I want to alert my fitness friends about the news. One of the article pertains to foam rolling, and the other pertains to breathing training. Many folks in the S&C industries have been skeptical about these methods, and finally we have some good support for their inclusion in our programs. Bravo to some of my colleagues for being “ahead of the research.”

1. Foam Rolling Increases ROM without decreasing Muscle Activation or Force

First off, I’d like to mention that THIS ARTICLE (the link takes you to the abstract – it’s not on Pubmed yet), just published ahead of print, includes an excellent write-up on how foam rolling is proposed to work. Here’s a brief excerpt:

Fascial restrictions often occur in response to injury, disease, inactivity, or inflammation, causing fascial tissue to lose elasticity and become dehydrated. When fascia loses its elasticity and becomes dehydrated, fascia can bind around the traumatized areas, causing a fibrous adhesion to form. Fibrous adhesions are known to be painful, prevent normal muscle mechanics (i.e. joint range of motion, muscle length, neuromuscular hypertonicity, and decreased strength, endurance and motor coordination) and decrease soft-tissue extensibility (5, 15, 36).

Myofascial release (MFR) therapy is a manual therapy technique developed by John F. Barnes (5), to help reduce restrictive barriers or fibrous adhesions seen between layers of fascial tissue. A new technique of MFR termed self-induced myofascial release (SMR) has become of increasingly common practice for treating soft-tissue restrictions. SMR works under the same principles as myofascial release. The difference between the two techniques is that instead of a therapist providing manual therapy to the soft-tissue, an individual uses their own body mass on a foam roller to exert pressure on the soft-tissue. The SMR technique involves small undulations back and forth over a dense foam roller, starting at the proximal portion of the muscle, working down to the distal portion of the muscle or vice versa (28). The small undulations place direct and sweeping pressure on the soft-tissue, stretching the tissue and generating friction between the soft-tissue of the body and the foam roller. The friction generated from the undulations causes warming of the fascia, promoting the fascia to take on a more fluid-like form (known as the thixotropic property of the fascia), breaking up fibrous adhesions between the layers of fascia and restoring soft-tissue extensibility (32).

The authors hypothesized that foam rolling would indeed increase joint ROM, but that it would also decrease muscle activation and force due to prior research they’d seen involving the effects of massage on EMG and spinal motoneuron excitability. The authors were surprisingly wrong about their second hypothesis.

Methods

They had subjects foam roll their quadriceps like this (the one leg method) for 60 seconds, rest 30 seconds, the repeat for 60 seconds.

The authors measured maximum knee extensor force production, rate of force development (RFD), rectus femoris muscle activation via EMG, and knee flexion ROM when in a half-kneeling lunge position with the rear hip extended (sort of like what’s seen in the position shown in the video below).

Findings

This is the very first peer-reviewed study that examined the effects of foam rolling. Here’s what they found:

• Two minutes following the foam rolling, flexibility was increased by 12.7% (11 degrees), and ten minutes following the foam rolling, flexibility was increased by 10.3% (9 degrees).
• Foam rolling did not impede voluntary muscle activation, force or evoked contractile properties. This cannot be said of regular massage or static stretching.
• Following foam rolling the negative correlation between ROM and force production no longer existed.

Thoughts

Obviously this is only one study and more research is needed, but to me this lends a TON of credibility to what the best practitioners already knew instinctively; which is that foam rolling enhances ROM without diminishing neuromuscular performance.

I’d like to see research showing the effects of foam rolling on subsequent sprint performance.

Somewhere out there, Mike Boyle is doing the Carlton dance.

On a personal note, my favorite foam roller is the Rumble Roller (no affiliate link).

2. Breathing Training Improves Posture

There have not been many studies in the literature showing how posture can be improved, though many coaches and therapists have their theories. Lately, breathing training has become more popular in the industry. In particular, diaphragmatic breathing has received a lot of attention. THIS STUDY (click to download the full paper) recently emerged showing that breathing into a SpiroTiger (no affiliate link) improves posture and trunk flexion strength. Here’s a SpiroTiger in action:

Methods

Subjects breathed into the SpiroTiger for 10 minutes three times per week. This trains the inspiratory muscles and expiratory muscles.

The researchers measured the spinal curve (thoracic and lumbar), pulmonary function (forced vital capacity and forced expiration volume in 1.0 seconds), and isometric trunk flexion and extension strength.

Findings

This is the first study of its kind to be conducted. Here’s what the authors found:

• Thoracic kyphosis decreased by 13.1% (5.5 degrees)
• Lumbar lordosis decreased by 17.7% (3.1 degrees)
• Pulmonary function improved (force vital capacity from 4.1 to 4.3 Liters and forced expiratory volume in 1.0 seconds from 3.4 to 3.7 Liters)
• Trunk flexion strength improved by 10.6% (from 695 to 769 Newtons), whereas trunk extension strength was unchanged

The authors offered some explanation as to the findings in this excerpt:

Abe et al (32) reported that the transverse abdominal muscle is the most powerful in the abdominal muscle group with respect to respiration. The transverse abdominal muscle may have been specifically targeted in this exercise. This important muscle is a keylocal stabilizer. Contraction of the transverse abdominis increases intra-abdominal pressure, which leads to lumbar straightening (33). In addition, a rise in intra-abdominal pressure presses the rib cage upward and effectively allows the extension of the thoracic vertebrae (34). In addition, we attribute the decrease of thoracic curvatures to a stretching effect on the thorax. In a previous study, Izumizaki et al (35) reported that thoracic capacity and rib-cage movement were changed by thixotropy, which is the exercise of maximal expiration from maximum inspiration. The stiffness of the rib cage leads to thoracic kyphosis (3). In this study, repetitive deep breathing resolved the stiffness of the ribcage and straightened thoracic kyphosis. This process maybe responsible for altering the spinal curvature.

Thoughts

I’d like to see this study duplicated…I’m a bit skeptical. The study design and findings looked legit though. If this is indeed true, this is huge.

It suggests that spinal posture can be improved by simply training the breathing muscles! It is not easy to alter spinal posture, so this could become very important over time if future studies repeat the findings. And the study duration was only 6 weeks long; which is short for a training study.

The authors didn’t pay specific mention to the diaphragm, which is incredibly important and could explain some of the findings through various mechanisms.

Perhaps the improved posture that strength coaches and personal trainers see with their athletes and clients isn’t so much attributable to increased trunk strength but inner unit strength instead.

This type of breathing training shouldn’t be confused with diaphragmatic breathing “re-education” that is popular these days. This was more like maximal endurance breathing training.

Furthermore, the study shows that you can increase trunk flexion strength by 10% without even training trunk flexion!

I’d like to see the effects of different protocols on posture and different types of strength. For example, breathing into the SpiroTiger for 10 sets of 30 seconds five times per week for six weeks and its effects on posture, pulmonary function, IAP capabilities, and isometric deadlift strength.

That’s all folks!

Given that my friends Marianne Kane and Tony Gentilcore have recently written blogposts discussing their sacroiliac joint issues, I felt that it would be a good time to jot down some thoughts, findings, and experiences with this confusing joint.

The biomechanics of this joint are not easy to comprehend, and to be perfectly honest, in the past year I’ve read at least a dozen papers on sacroiliac joint anatomy, biomechanics, and dysfunction and I still don’t have an accurate grip on the matter. Some of the papers are incredibly detailed, involving 3D finite element modelling and examining stresses, stiffness, compression, shear, and load distribution in different scenarios. However, the vast majority of folks don’t need to be bothered with these sorts of things, so in this blogpost I’m going to focus on what I feel is pertinent to the readers.

What in the heck is the Sacroiliac Joint?

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about the sacroiliac joint:

The sacroiliac joint or SI joint is the joint in the bony pelvis between the sacrum and the ilium of the pelvis, which are joined by strong ligaments. In humans, the sacrum supports the spine and is supported in turn by an ilium on each side. The joint is a strong, weight bearing synovial joint with irregular elevations and depressions that produce interlocking of the two bones. The human body has two sacroiliac joints, one on the left and one on the right, that often match each other but are highly variable from person to person.

As you can see, the SI joint is pretty damn important. We transfer huge loads through the SI joint when we lift weights, run, or play sports, so the structures that affect this joint need to be strong and fit.

Your Low Back Pain Might be Stemming from the SI Joint

This is an important take-home point for practitioners – somewhere between 13-30% of low back pain sufferers are actually experiencing pain due to sacroiliac dysfunction (Maigne et al. 1996, Schwarzer et al. 1995, Sembrano & Polly 2009).

Just how does this happen? The answer is pretty confusing. In case this is your sort of thing, then below is an excerpt from THIS paper. If this is not your cup of tea, just skip over this section.

It is widely held that a relationship exists between excessive soft tissue deformation and pain, mediated by group IIIand IV nerve fibers. Immunohistochemical staining of the articular surfaces, associated ligaments, and joint capsule suggests that, in addition to the joint itself, periarticular structures,when strained, could act as sources of pain typically ascribed to the SIJ. Spinal pain mapping studies suggest that deep somatic spinal structures including facet joints, posterior annulus, and lumbar nerve roots may refer deep, achy pain that can simulate an SIJ etiology. Immunohistochemical studies focusing on intraligamentous nerves found in SIJ ligaments lend credence to the possibility that SIJ ligaments could function as pain generators in LBP. Substance P and calcitonin gene-related peptide are both recognized as important neuropeptides in the transmission of pain. Immunohistochemical reactivity to substance P and calcitoningene-related peptide suggests that a tissue can function in pain transmission. SIJ articular cartilage, the anterior sacroiliacligament (ASL), and the interosseous sacroiliac ligament(ISL) have all demonstrated nerve fibers immunoreactive to both substance P and calcitonin gene-related peptide. In addition, the posterior SIJ ligaments have also demonstrated immunoreactivity for substance P, suggesting that both the SIJ itself, and the ligaments constraining it, could play a role in the genesis of LBP. These immunoreactive fibers likely conduct pain impulses in response to mechanical pressure or deformation.

When on One Leg You can Incur More Stress to the Structures than During Bilateral Stance

In THIS (click to download the pdf) review article, the authors stated the following:

The SIJ is 20 times more vulnerable to axial compression failure and twice as susceptible to axial torsion overloading than are the lumbar motion segments. Imbalanced or unilateral loads may jeopardize the interlocking sacral mechanics by impeding balanced transiliac bony fixation and ligamentous tension across the “keystone”. Miller et al. discovered a threefold increase in sacral rotation with both ilia fixed versus a 2- to 8-fold increase in sacral rotation upon loading with one ilia fixed. Hence, athletes and workers participating in activities requiring repetitive, unidirectional pelvic shear and/or torsional forces (e.g.,figure skaters) may have a higher propensity to develop sacroiliac joint dysfunction.

Muscle Balance

The same paper as above had this to say about restoring muscle imbalances:

Muscle balancing efforts should concentrate on the powerful two-joint muscles around the sacroiliac joint (e.g., gluteus maximus and biceps femoris) as they exert shear and torsion loads proportional to the strength of their contraction. Vleeming et al.  have documented that muscles attached to the sacrotuberous ligament (i.e., gluteus maximus and, in some individuals, biceps femoris and piriformis) can significantly limit ventral rotation (i.e., nutation). The clinical relevance of Vleeming’s work may be seen in a patient with a flexed sacrum or ventral capsular tear, tight psoas muscles, and weak gluteus/hamstrings. This individual will require correction of the imbalance to impede aberrant sacroiliac motion and loading.

A Ton of Force Transmitted through the SI Joint? That’s Not Far-Fetched!

Check out THIS (click to download the pdf) review article by Stu McGill. It was published in 1989 – which was 23 years ago! In the article he states the following on page 91 (half-way down on the left hand side):

For example, if the forces of muscles that originate in the SI region are tallied for the trial illustrated in Table 1, then the total force transmitted to the SI region during peak load exceeded 6.5 kN. Such a load would lift a small car off the ground!

When looking at table 1 on page 86, you’ll see that this data was gathered when examining a 27 kg squat lift. This is just under 60 lbs, which ain’t shit! 6.5 kN equates to 1,461 pounds of force.

If you put 1,461 pounds of force on the SI Joint when squat-lifting a 60 pound box, I wonder what kind of force we put on the SI Joint when we lift even heavier loads! It should be mentioned that squat-lifting is slightly different than squatting or deadlifting…it’s actually a mix of the two lifts but involves picking up a box placed in front of the body. Since the load isn’t centered under your COM, you receive much more spinal (and SI joint) loading due to the increased resistance moment arm.

However, I’m pretty sure I could squat-lift 300 lbs if need-be, which is 5 times greater than the load used in the study! What would the SI Joint forces be in that scenario? I’m sure it would be well-over a ton. Insane in the Membrane!

What is Needed for Optimal SI Joint Functioning?

Though the joint itself is an inherently stable structure, there are a lot of muscles and ligaments that contribute to the stability of the sacroiliac joint, and these muscles vary in terms of contribution depending on the position of the body and force vector (magnitude and direction) or loading.

In THIS (click to download the pdf) highly complicated article, it was shown that the pelvic floor and transverse abdominis helped contribute substantial stability to the SI joint from an upright standing position, indicating that these muscles need to be functioning properly to distribute forces in an optimal manner. Vleeming’s work has suggested that the erectors, thoracolumbar fascia, inferior fibers of gluteus maximus, long head of biceps femoris, transverse abdominis, and lats can affect the tension of various ligaments.

Craig Leibenson discussed the muscular slings that work together to provide support to the SI joint in THIS (click to download pdf) article.

In general, to ensure good SI joint load transfer, you need:

1. Ideal posture (lordosis, pelvic tilt, etc.)
2. Proper force closure of the SI joint (created when muscles pull on ligaments that attach to the sacrum and pull it tight against the pelvis)
3. A stable lumbar spine and pelvis characterized by (for lack of better terminology) a strong outer unit (glutes, obliques, erectors, abdominals, lats, etc.) and properly functioning inner unit (diaphragm, transverse abdominis, multifidus, pelvic floor)
4. Good hip mobility
5. Good bilateral and unilateral hip stability
6. Good motor control and kinesthetic awareness during movement (not many people are fully aware of their spinal and pelvic posture during movement)

What to do When the SI Joint Flares Up

Now to the most important part of the article. Sure, the SI joint can take a beating, but if you consistently train hard, chances are your SI joint will act up from time to time – some folks will have issues more so than others due to genetics, posture, and dysfunction. Personally, I experience SI joint issues around once per year, and when this happens I have to pull back on the reigns.

If it’s Bad, Take Time Off!

If the joint is really acting up, just take some time off and try to the best of your ability to give the SI joint some needed rest. Sure, bedrest is rarely the best option for rehab, but the SI joint is sort of like the ribs in that it’s damn-near impossible to truly rest. Anytime you’re on your feet you are transferring forces through the SI joint. If you’re on one limb, the forces increase. If you’re carrying something, the forces increase.

So definitely keep in mind that even excessive walking and having sex (especially if you’re a nasty little Wildebeest) can prolong recovery.

Don’t underestimate how much force is transferred through the SI joint during upper body and core exercises. Definitely don’t be doing any heavy deadlifting, squatting, barbell Bulgarian split squatting, farmer’s walking, Pallof pressing, or landmining.

Let pain be your guide, but know that when you start training, the juices start flowing and your body can lie to you and fool you into doing more than you should.

Ease Back into Things

When things get better, gradually ease back into heavy lifting. Don’t go overboard on the volume or the intensity right off the bat. Give yourself at least a week to transition back into heavier lifting. Maybe three progressively more intense workouts over the course of the week, followed by a couple days off.

Correct any Dysfunction

Now it’s time to address the issues that got you there in the first place so you can avoid the likelihood of reoccurrences. Corrective exercise and improved form on the various heavy strength exercises are paramount. However, it’s also important to know that SI joint pain can happen to any lifter.

You can have good posture, a sound-functioning core, strong muscles, good flexibility, and great technique, yet still experience SI joint pain from time to time. This is the nature of the beast when you’re transferring over a ton of force through the region several times per week, 52 weeks per year!

Hopefully this article is helpful to some of you folks!

I haven’t written an ABC post in a while but I’m bringing it back! Lately I’ve been getting a lot of emails asking the same thing so I’d like to address some of them here on the blog. Today’s question is from Jordan:

Hi Bret,

I am a huge fan of your blog and content, you have completely innovated the way I think about training for athletic performance.

I have been working for a while to implement the glute thrust in my training, but have encountered a problem.  My hamstrings always take over! Any suggestions on how to remedy this?  Maybe that would be a good article, as other lifters at my gym have had the same problem.

Keep up the good work!

Jordan

Hi Jordan,

Thanks for the kind words. Here are my thoughts:

1. Be Patient

It probably took a lot of time for your glutes to gradually shut down. Your body has learned to rely upon your hamstrings during hip extension. You can indeed cure this quickly, but it won’t happen overnight. It might have taken you 5 years of neglecting your glutes to get to this point, but luckily it will only take several weeks to get the glutes up to par.

2. Static Stretch the Hip Flexors First

If your hip flexors are tight, stretch them first so you can reach end range hip extension and get into the zone of maximal glute activation. Many people have tight hip flexors, but not all people do. Stretch the psoas and the rectus femoris if need-be.

It may also be wise to stretch the hip flexors for other reasons; you may be able to inhibit them a bit and create some slack to make things easier for the glutes.

3. Static Stretch the Hammies First

You may be able to inhibit the hammies a bit by stretching them prior to bridging, and this inhibition could theoretically coerce the glutes to become more active during hip extension.

4. Experiment with Pushing Through the Forefeet

Pushing through the forefeet rather than the heels could be of help. In theory it should increase quad activation and decrease hamstring activation, which would therefore require the glutes to kick in to a greater extent.

But theories don’t always pan out in the real world. Some individuals find this tip helpful while others find that it makes matters worse. When I conducted my glute seminars in New Zealand last year, I had every attendee experiment with this technique. I ended up polling over a hundred attendees regarding forefeet pressure and hamstring activation. The results? Around a third of the attendees felt that it helped reduce hamstring activity, around a third felt that it made matters worse and increased hamstring activity, and around a third couldn’t feel a difference. Give it a try and see if it works for you.

5. Focus and Visualize

Think of the brain as a lake, the spinal cord as a river, and the nerves that feed the erectors, glutes, and hamstrings as waterfalls. I realize that this is not accurate and way too simplistic but it serves as a good analogy. You want to steer more water to the glutes and less water to the erectors and hammies over time.

Focus very intently on using the glutes to push the hips upward. Research shows that intense concentration and visualization can dramatically affect motor learning and muscle activation. Over time you’ll automatically use the glutes heavily during hip extension, but you have to create these neural adaptations and increase the juice delivered to the glutes during hip extension, which may take several weeks of consistent practice.

6. Practice the Posterior Pelvic Tilt Hip Thrust (PPTHT)

The PPTHT is a great way to improve upon your mind-muscle connection to the glutes. First off, most people are incredibly week and uncoordinated with posterior pelvic tilting and lack strength, power, and endurance in this regard. A posterior pelvic tilting moment (torque) is required to prevent anterior pelvic tilt and keep the pelvis stable during heavy deadlifting so strengthening this motion is important.

Second, the inability to dissociate the pelvis from the spine is not an ideal situation and could lead to low back pain and injury especially if the individual engages in heavy or explosive activity.

Third, combining PPT’ing with hip extension requires that the glutes do two things at once which dramatically increases glute activation.

Some individuals who are flexion intolerant could find the PPTHT problematic but most people can easily tolerate it and will benefit from the added glute activation and PPT’ing skills.

Fourth, PPT’ing slackens the hamstrings which places them at suboptimal lengths, theoretically causing the glutes to have to do more to make up for the lack of hamstring force. The act of using the glutes to PPT therefore increases the glute requirements by interfering with the length-tension relationship in the hammies (it should be mentioned that the hammies may slightly contribute toward PPT’ing so this line of thinking could be more complicated).

Fifth, it takes the erectors out of the equation.

And sixth, PPT’ing can theoretically improve anterior pelvic tilt (APT) posture. I’ll expound upon this in a future article. As you can tell, I think the PPTHT is a very good thing that more people should incorporate into their routines. I’ve been employing it myself and with several clients and the consensus is that it’s very helpful and worthwhile.

To perform the PPTHT, focus on pelvic motion. You want anterior pelvic tilt at the bottom and posterior pelvic tilt up top. Squeeze the glutes forcefully and hold the contraction for 1-3 seconds up top. Here’s a video:

Hopefully you find some of these tips useful, but the most important thing is to simply concentrate and focus on using more glute and less hammy which will shift the neural tides over time.

Best of luck Jordan!

BC