Just Train!

I received this call for help yesterday on my web site. I thought it would be worth sharing.

I am getting dreadful stick from my Physio at work for doing band-walking with my cricketers (was at the ECB conference that Vern did) he is saying it will cause tightness of the ITB. Bearing in mind I just do this as part of the warm up to activate the glutes. Has Vern got a beautifully succinct and concise argument to help back up my argument? the Pysio also states that Glut Max is not a stabilizer of the hip. Does Vern agree with this? I think it does help massively because of its attachment to the thoracolumbar fascia. Would be really grateful for any feedback

To me this epitomizes all that is wrong with our field today. This guy is really trying to really do the right thing, but the physio does not get it! If we left training up to the average physio we would never train, we would be neutralizing our spines while drawing in to activate God knows what. We would never get hurt, but we would never get better. Let’s get real here. Does it really matter in performance if the Glute Max is a stabilizer of the hip (I think it is by the way – it all depends on how you look at it) Remember we do not function it the anatomical position. It is about muscle synergies, acting against gravity on the ground!

The Mini Band routine is something virtually every athlete I work with does every day they train and sometimes before competition if we deem it necessary. The goal is to wake up and activate all the intrinsic muscles of the hip that play such an important role in movement. This routine does not cause ITB tightness, if any thing it takes stress off the IT band.

Let’s get away from this reductionist approach that creates robotic movements. Number one do no harm. Number two to get better we must pust the envelope, that demands knowing the athletes and having a system that empjasizes good progressions. GO FOR IT!