Wednesday, April 1, 2015

You Don't Need To Stretch?

Generally, I don't like articles and posts that attention grab with anti-stretching titles, but this one is good. Of course, anyone with half a brain understands that effective stretching, may incorporate isolation work, but like any kind of training, takes the interconnected whole into account.


Related Squat Rx Posts:

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Generally, I don't like derp derp derp..."click bait" headlines..."

(posts click bait link)

Boris, haven't you been doing this long enough to rise above these cyclical "edgy" takes on stuff. There are a million fitness websites, and a million PT's and gurus spewing out their bullshit, selling their fucking products and services.

Is this really a hot, new take on stretching?

Stretching....How about try it and see if it works for you particular goals? You will know quickly.

Also, where did you come up with the wall facing squat from SQuat RX #1?

As in where did you FIRST get exposed to it? You didn't invent it, right? You saw it somewhere. Please for the love of God, tell me where? I beg you. It is my mission to track down the bullshit, and see where some guru spewed it out, and how it gained traction.

Was it Pavel? My guess is that you got it from Pavel.

The problem with the wall facing squat, Boris is it only works for short femur guys like you.

It will completely groove a useless movement pattern with a long femur type, as the squatter will have to abduct the legs so far to maintain a CENTER OF GRAVITY, that they may encounter all manner of hip capsule issues.

In fact, to maintain a good center of gravity over the midfoot, ESPECIALLY with a back squat, the torso will NEED TO INCLINE, Boris. The tip of the head may need to pass over the plane of the feet in order to maintain a good balance over the midfoot.

Please tell me where you got the wall facing squat, Boris.

You know what else, Boris? The side plank sucks. It is not great for the lateral knee to load the weight of the body on it.

Did that one come from McGill?

Yes, I'm angry and fed up with the rampant, convoluted bullshit that spins out of the strength and fitness industry, Boris.

You probably won't post this due to the profanity and anger, and the fact that a couple of sacred cows in the seminar world are being spoke about in a non-reverential term.

But at least I will have some satisfaction in the possibility that a fairly knowledgeable guy will have read it and hopefully seen some wisdom.

While I'm at it, let's talk about Dan John. "Goat bag" this, and "batwing" that. Entire sheeple fitness community gives standing ovation. Please. Just please... It is a crazy, made up world of personality and myth, unlike any other form of endeavor that I can imagine, save nutrition.

Now if you'll excuse me, I must have a gluten-free pizza with my bulletproof coffee, and then go perform batwings, which are basically a fucking row, rear delt fly with squeeze at contraction.

AWESOME!!!! BRILLIANT!!!!

CS2-6 said...

Long time, no post. I hope all is well in the SquatRX world.

Boris said...

Thank you CS2-6.

Anonymous,

I'm sorry that this didn't post earlier - I have blog entries set to allow comments w/o moderation until a certain amount of time and then after that only after moderation so that I can reduce the amount of spammy posts I get to the blog.

I'll try to address some of the things you've said. I agree w. you wholehearted about some things but not others.

Ummm, no. No, it is not a hot new take on stretching. I think I've made my stance on stretching very clear over the years. I'm just trying to do my part to swing the pendulum back to something reasonable.

Batwings and Dan John - well, I love Dan John. Batwings, I think are good - you are right they are essentially an isometric row or bent-over lateral. I don't think they are for everyone, but good.

Side Plank?... Did I advocate this somewhere that I'm not remembering?... You got me here. I don't know. To be honest, I don't know that, aside from playing around w. different exercises, I've ever done side planks regularly...

Wall Squats - I think it's not a bad teaching/learning drill. Don't remember where I got it, but it was not Pavel. I think I used this in Squat Rx #1 and I think that was before I met Pavel personally. You are right about it only working for some.

There are a lot of things I've introduced in the Squat Rx videos (and probably on the blog) that I wouldn't probably advocate or endorse anymore. I don't go back and erase things that I've changed my mind about because the blog and the videos are, as I see them, snapshots of my thoughts at the time. Most (if not all) of the exercises and drills suggested are supposed to be "things you could try" as opposed to "you should do this".

I don't know if I've responded to everything. If you still pop by from time to time, let me know if I've not addressed something you wanted me to.

- Boris