Read our Blog regularly for Jon Torerk’s and other BioMechanix staff members latest posts. Jon is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and looks forward to sharing his and his staffs insight into body building, conditioning and injury recovery.
Maintaining Proper Spinal Alignment While Resistance Training. The “Five Point Contact Principle” and why BioMechanix teaches this important concept to every one of their clients.
It’s amazing to me that every time I walk into a health club how many people have absolutely terrible form while resistance training, it actually makes me cringe. I would say it is over 95% of the club members. Isn’t the point of going to the gym to get healthy, more fit, and to generally feel better overall? Yet people lift weights while they’re swinging like a bunch of monkeys. Most of the time, instead of taking the time to learn how to lift correctly, people are butchering their own bodies, and actually setting themselves up for injury.
If you asked the majority of people working out, what the term dynamic scapular or joint stabilization means, or how it effects every movement you do while holding weights, most likely they wouldn’t know what you were talking about.
That being said, I’m going to share a simple and easy concept to remember. It’s called the “Five Point Contact Principle”. Every time you go to lift some weights. It will help you get on the road to better form, and it is a simple and smart concept to remember.
To maximize stability and spinal support while weight training establishing a “Five Point Contact” will maximize proper mechanical function and reduce the risk of injury, and it will enable an athlete to maintain proper body alignment during an exercise. Which in turn places an appropriate stress on muscles and joints. Establishing a stable position while weight training is critical.
The five point contact is used during any seated or supine (lying on back, face up) exercise, as well as any standing exercise as well. This is achieved by maintaining the following five points to stay in contact with the bench or floor: (while standing it is held by the same proper body positioning)
1) Back of head
2) Both shoulder blades/upper back (scapula)
3) Buttocks/ sacral area
4) Left foot
5) Right foot
Starting from the top, this keeps the head in a neutral position, making sure that the chin is not tucked down and therefore rounding the shoulders forward. If keeping your head in contact with the bench seems like a stretch and is not comfortable then keep head neutral and look straight ahead.
The shoulders are counted as one unit and should be in contact with bench and as flat as possible as long as they are not in a shrug position and rounded forward. Tucking your chin down in turn rounds the shoulders putting you in a undesirable position to push or pull weights, and will set you up for a neck, shoulder, or lower back injury because of the excessive rounding of the upper back. Please note that there are a few exercises that require one to round or shrug the shoulders intentionally, such as shoulder shrugs, serratus raises, and scapular retractions.
Rounding of the shoulders during lifting causes poor scapular stability and in time will promote shoulder injuries.
The buttocks/sacral area contact maintains normal lumbar lordosis while training and prevents over arching the lower back, and both feet should stay in contact with either the bench or floor. For example, lifting the butt up off the bench while bench pressing is a common mistake and could lead to shoulder and back injury.
The lower back should not be forcefully pushed into bench or floor during any weight bearing exercise, however, while performing abdominal exercises rounding of lower back is necessary. So there is a deviation away from this principle while performing abs, but it does play a role as far as not going into excessive lordosis. The only time this rule should be broken is while performing abs.
Standing resistance exercises follow the same guidelines except there is no bench behind your back. You want to keep the head in a neutral position with chin level to floor, looking straight ahead. Keep shoulders back and not shrugged. The weight held in hands should be supported by muscles of shoulders and upper back, not just hanging there pulling on your joints. Maintain neutral lower back (lumbar lordosis) with tight abdominal muscles.
The abdominal contraction will minimize body swinging while pulling or pushing weights, and keep the knees slightly bent, not locked out by initiating the bend at the hips by going into a partial squat position. Bend the hips slightly and let the knees follow to slight flexion of about 15 degrees. The knees are along for the ride following the lead of the hips.
Keeping this five point contact in mind every time you weight train will minimize injury to your neck, back, shoulders and knees, and promote better spinal alignment and posture according to the NSCA (National Strength and Conditioning Association).
This will certainly bring you closer to having better form, but it is just one part of a broad spectrum of proper weight training mechanics. If you are serious about your exercise program you should consult a NSCA, Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS).
Jon Torerk, CSCS
Ten Tips to a Great Workout
Working out can hurt you almost as much as it can help. With this quick list, you can turn your hum drum work out session into a great one!
1. MIX IT UP: Change your training program frequently and avoid doing the same workout, over and over again. Change the exercises, volume, intensity, repetitions, and rest periods – weekly or monthly. Always doing the same old routine causes your body to adapt to it, therefore there will be no changes and causes stagnation.
2. SET FITNESS GOALS: Be sure your fitness goals take into account all of these aspects: structural needs, functional needs, metabolic concerns, flexibility, working with an injury, sport specific goals, and of course personal goals.
3. CHECK YOUR POSTURE: Have a posture assessment, so you can focus on areas to improve upon for correct spinal alignment, shoulder, knee, head positioning, structural scoliosis, and functional scoliosis.
4. DIVERSIFY: Include all of the following aspects of fitness for a more effective and balanced program: Aerobic endurance, Anaerobic endurance, muscular strength, muscular power, proprioception, and flexibility.
5. GO FASTER & SLOWER: For greater strength gains perform slow eccentric (negative) and fast (positive) motions to innervate more type II muscle fibers.
6. TEST YOURSELF: Before you start plyometric exercises, the following guidelines should be met to be certain you have strength and speed to do so:
1) Be able to squat at least 1.5 times your body weight with impeccable form to reduce the risk of injury, and be able to perform five repetitions of the squat with 60% of body weight in 5 seconds or less.
2) For upper body plyometrics you should be able to bench press 1x the body weight for individuals weighing over 220 lbs, and 1.5x body weight for those under 220 lbs. You should also be able to perform 5 repetitions of the bench press with 60% of body weight in 5 seconds or less.
7. COMPOUND YOUR INTEREST: The majority of your strength training exercises should be compound in nature, focusing on multi-joint movements and focusing on core strength.
8. TO BELT OR NOT TO BELT: Weight belts should only be used for high intensity lifts, power lifts, and lifting maximal loads. When a belt is used, the abdominal muscles and muscles in lower back can relax, and this will promote the detraining of stabilizer muscles and may contribute to their weakness and may therefore be detrimental rather than beneficial.
9. MECHANICS: Learn proper lifting mechanics from a professional such as a NSCA Strength and Conditioning Coach (CSCS), or NSCA, CPT – not your friend who lifts weights and thinks they are now a professional weight lifter just because they go to the gym.
10. IF YOU DON’T KNOW, WE CAN HELP: Understand the Five Point Contact principle and how it is applied to most supine and seated exercises with the Los Angeles personal trainers at BioMechanix Strength and Conditioning Clinic.
Jon Torerk, CSCS
Proper Lifting Technique
Technique is key to all fitness programs because it saves you from injury. The video below shows how to do a proper lift:
EP-9 from chinaboxer777 on Vimeo.
Vital Juice – Body Shop (06/03/09)
This “mechanic” will fine-tune you for high performance.
When we trained with extreme freeride mountain biker Jon J. Torerk, we noticed the sheer drop outside the gym window. “I’d jump that in a second,” he said. “I’ve loved jumping off roofs since childhood.”
So when we learned that the guy is also a top-level trainer with a rep for healing “impossible” injuries, we figured he knows what he’s talking about. We were right:
He’s a body mechanic. Torerk, founder of BioMechanix, tested our posture and flexibility. “Most people who come in have a structural issue,” he explained. He finds out which areas are injury-prone, and builds a customized workout.
He skips the circuit. Instead of circuit training, Torerk offers “super setting,” exercises done back-to-back to build power and joint support. According to Torerk, clients who plateaued years ago see changes after as little as two months of super setting.
He drops it like it’s hot. We experienced “drop setting”: exercising with weights, then removing half the load and repeating the set to build strength and endurance.
He tunes you up. As you work out, Torerk will make targeted, precise adjustments.
We came out ready to roll.
Jon J. Torerk, CSCS, (310) 770-6916. Check out a bike stunt here.
Bench Press
Disclaimer
The information provided through this website or any other BioMechanix communication is for informational purposes only and is not intended to replace that of your health care professional. Always consult your healthcare professional when considering any changes to your health and fitness lifestyle. Use of any information provided through the BioMechanix website is at your own risk. BioMechanix, its agents and or its representatives are not liable for any direct or indirect claim, loss or damage resulting from use of this or any information from this application, any BioMechanix website and / or any website(s) linked to/from it. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
