What is Original Strength and Pressing Reset?

Original Strength aka “Pressing RESET” is a series of movements that help you to feel better, move better, and think better. You were born with these particular movements preprogrammed into your nervous system, and when you engage in them, you get better. 

You get better? Yes! You improve when you perform these movements. Your brain feels safer, you breathe easier, your nervous system returns to its default “rest and digest” state, your movements become smoother and freer, your emotions “feel” better, your thoughts become clearer, and you can learn, focus, and remember easier, you sleep better, and you love deeper. 

I know, but that’s not a joke. I’m being serious. When you perform these movements and learn how to live in them and through them, EVERYTHING about you gets better or brighter. 

These movements are like reset buttons for your nervous system and, in many ways, for your life. When we move how humans are created to move, everything about the human body and the human experience is optimized; how we perform and function in life is just better.

I know that may be hard to believe, but I’m not asking you to believe me. I’m inviting you to experience what I’m telling you and learn the truth about these movements. We are hosting a workshop on September 21, 2024 at UNITE.rehab.perfom from 8am - 4pm.

Learn how you were designed to breathe. Learn how to activate your vestibular system. Learn how to fully engage in your gait pattern. If you do these three things regularly, you are essentially resetting your body ALL. THE. TIME. And the result of doing these three things, the result of resetting your body, is that you will feel GOOD all over, inside and out. You can absolutely move your life better by Pressing RESET, and it’s AWEsome. 

Reprinted with additions and permission from Original Strength.

Reflexive Tension or Cognitive Tension?

Do we need cognitive tension or reflexive tension when it comes to strength training? This is a hot topic. Where to begin discussing the ways of tension? 

Breathing….Let's start here!

Actually, breathing is the beginning and the end if you think about it.  People who study such things estimate that we go through the inhale-exhale process between 20,000 and 26,000 times per day, which is probably about 11,000 more breaths than we need.  However, that topic is for another day (shameless plug: If this seems interesting you NEED to attend the Original Strength breathing course).  

How we breathe matters.  It is not something that happens to us.  We can control how we breathe and the effects of that are wide-ranging.  Largely, these different techniques for breathing have been known for ages, across different cultures and continents, forgotten and then “rediscovered” again and again. There are breathwork techniques that help clear your sinuses,  improve immunity, increase body temperature, relax, focus the mind…even improve a person's tolerance to higher levels of blood pH and carbon dioxide which can aid in athletic performance.  

This brings us to the topic at hand.  Is there a best way to breathe when lifting weights?

I was asked this question a while back and it came up again so I thought I’d share my thoughts on the subject.  But first, let me add a brief tapestry to all this.  I was first introduced to breathing techniques as a “sort of young” student of strength in the kettlebell community.  During that season of my life, I embraced the teaching that was presented to me in all its facets.  I was taught to “power breathe” while lifting and swinging said kettlebells in a sort of biomechanical match to the movements I was performing.  

If you are unfamiliar, power breathing involves:

- A short powerful nasal inhalation when the body is compressing or coming together eccentrically under load, typically into multi-joint flexion.  For example during the goblet squat or swing - you would inhale as the body drops into the bottom of the squat or in the case of the swing, as the arms lay back on the ribs and the kettlebell is swung between the legs during the backswing phase.   

- A brief breath-hold as the body begins to move out of compression and into an elongated/extended position. 

- A powerful exhale via the mouth through a narrowed air space as the body archives full extension through the concentric phase of the lift/swing.  This is done to maximally stabilize the body by creating intra-abdominal pressure to brace the core for the forces being placed upon it.  

It is also taught to the new students to learn the ways of the bell to ensure safety and to maximize power and strength during the movement being performed. When starting out with weight training it might be best to use this method of breathing and bracing.  It will certainly work to stabilize you.  But is there a better way - or, perhaps a different way?  I am of the opinion that there is.  

Hear me out on this before you report me to the Ministry of Truth.

Breathing in this way is a “feed-forward” method of breathing/bracing.  What is feed-forward?  When it comes to breathing and muscular contractions,  feed-forward means that the action is under conscious control.  You think it - it happens.  Autonomic control on the other hand happens automatically and is done without thought.  So when it comes to power breathing to brace the core against the forces encountered with lifting - you are making it happen.  So what’s the problem? What is the cost? 

Power breathing is a form of over-breathing. With prolonged bouts of work and forceful exhale, there is a chance that one can begin to exhale more carbon dioxide than is necessary.  Carbon dioxide once thought of as a waste gas is now being touted in some research circles as a miracle gas.  Without enough of it in our body, we can not effectively transport oxygen to the working muscles.  Known as the Bohr Effect (named after the Danish physiologist Christian Bohr) oxygen off-loading to the tissues is influenced by the amount of CO2 that is present.  Not enough CO2? The oxygen-carrying protein hemoglobin picks up more oxygen and hangs on to it.   As a result, physical performance will become limited simply by how you breathe.

In addition, by bracing in this way, you are overriding the body’s reflexive strength - strength that is composed of anticipatory stability and mobility happening at the same time.  In effect, you are teaching your nervous system to brace via conscious control more so than reflexive control.  Reflexive control resides more on the parasympathetic side of the autonomic nervous system, done without thought and lightning-fast…hence the term “reflexive.”  Conscious control of bracing on the other hand requires thought and effort and is, over time, draining to the central nervous system.  The short, rapid inhales and exhales excite the sympathetic nervous system - not always a bad thing, but there is a cost.

Once you own your reflexive strength, there is no longer a constant need for power breathing during training/practice.  You can relax into your strength and breathe normally, through your nose with the tongue on the roof of the mouth.  One of the benefits of this is that you can recover faster - between sets and between sessions.  Since you are not amping up your sympathetic drive as much, there is a quicker turnaround time.  I also believe that this, once learned, is a safer way to train.  By only breathing with the nose while training, you are auto-regulating the tempo and loads you use.  Once breathing becomes driven from the mouth, you are now working in a highly excited/fatigued state.  If that is how you always train, you will end up burned out, injured, or a combination of a lesser or greater degree of both. It’s not sustainable.  

To get yourself gently moving in this direction, try breathing through the nose while carrying things.  Farmers carries, rack carries, overhead carries, etc…Understand that the more complex the movement, the lighter the load will have to be initially as you acclimate.  The implement you use doesn’t matter either. Sandbags, barbells, dumbbells, a small child…all will work.  The same holds true for conditioning work.  Start out with a lighter than usual load or tempo.  The focus will need to be on your breathing when you start.  Don’t worry about your “gains” bro - they will still be there. Over time, you will be able to lift as heavy and go just as fast as you did before, but you’ll be able to do so with less effort and quicker recovery between sessions. The body will adapt to whatever stress you place on it and soon it will learn how to stabilize itself just fine without over tensioning or overbreathing.  

Enjoy. 

Nervous System Controls Range of Motion

In a conversation that I had with one of my personal training clients, it became apparent to me that I had not done a good job explaining to her how the RESETS are supposed to work.  She was complaining of lower back pain that had persisted for the past few weeks.  I asked her if she was doing her RESETS on a regular basis.

“More or less every day” she replied.

“How do they feel?” I asked.

“Well…..”

And there was my answer.  My next question was “Does it hurt when you do them sometimes?”

“I guess a little bit, but I can still do them”

It was at that point that we stopped what we were doing and I hastily scribbled the above diagram on a whiteboard for her.  And as we were going over it together it occurred to me that maybe it would be beneficial to others to go over this component of Original Strength……DON’T MOVE INTO PAIN.

Pain changes the way you move – literally changing motor patterns in the brain. Activation of type IV mechanoreceptors AKA nociceptors causes reflex muscle spasms of the injured/painful area.  This leads to decreased motion and altered motor patterns. The opposite goal of what we are shooting for in OS.  Increased Nociception also leads to sympathetic nervous system activity which leads to sympathetic mediate muscle spasm which decreases blood flow to working muscles which decreases oxygen and nutrient transport in and waste transport out of the muscles.  Increased sympathetic activity also means increase cortisol levels and increased cortisol levels inhibit neuroplastic changes in the motor cortex which means your RESETS are less effective at resetting and wiring in better movement patterns.  Also, remember pain is a cortical response to nociception (ie emotional response) that has reached a threshold and one is now consciously aware of, nociception is actual tissue damage/stress that is injurious. The previous actions mentioned can be taking place with sub-threshold levels of nociception which is another reason diaphragmatic breathing, especially through the nose, is so important to help maintain a better balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

If these altered motor patterns are repeated often enough – they began to stick. This is termed a movement compensation.  Over time these compensations can become the “new movement reality” to the nervous system. Literally, the compensations have been repeated so often to the exclusion of other patterns that they are now “normal” to the individual.  Think about this….statistically, there are more overweight and obese people in the United States than there are non-overweight and obese.  Just because its “normal” doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good thing.

OS RESETS are not immune to this.  If you are moving into pain with a RESET, then it is no longer a RESET.  It is a painful movement, plain and simple.  If you are moving around a painful area of a RESET, then you are compensating for something.  The answer may be to regress the RESET – make it more achievable.

Here are some easy things you can do to regress the OS Big 5 RESETS:

Breathing:  Make your body “shorter” by bringing your knees to your chest – think fetal position. Fold your tongue and place it on the roof of your mouth – it can make belly breathing even easier for some people.

Head Nods / Rotations: Lay with your head in contact with the floor and simply tuck your chin down towards your throat.  Move your eyes up and down and side to side – have a focal point.  Don’t forget that breathing and head and eye movement are RESETS that you can do inside of all other RESETS.

Rolling: Egg Rolls are a good place to start, but for some, Half Rolls do the trick.  Remember that you can insert head nods and rotations, eye movements and belly breathing at any “sticky” part of a roll to help smooth it out.

Rocking:  Reducing the range of motion is a good place to start.  One of my other favorites is to hold a position, either deep in the sit portion of the rock or out in front and add ….. You guessed it, head nods + belly breathing.  Try adding a breath cycle while looking up and then again while looking down.

Crawling: Reducing the range of motion of the hands and legs, what I call not taking such a big step.  Changing knee position, either wider or narrower.

Cross Crawls of any variety are a good substitute for crawling if you can’t get down on the floor. “Elbow to knee” cross crawl – don’t forget to reach back with the hand / extend the opposite shoulder

“Wrist to knee” cross crawl – just an easier version of the above picture.

Where do all these wonderful ideas come from?  How about we dust off the workshop manual and take a look at what is in there.  Everything you need to “become a chef in your own kitchen” (as Tim would say) is there.

Let’s not forget that speed is a load to the nervous system – it sometimes hides compensations for instabilities.  Slow things down – be absolutely present in the movement and pay attention to subtleties – your body may be trying to tell you something!

Understand that there is no substitute for sound medical advice and if you are in pain despite your best efforts not to be – reach out and get help.  Always remember that OS is not a substitute for medical advice.  However, when the body begins to move the way it was intended (I am speaking from experience here), sometimes wonderful things can happen.

• This post was co-authored by OS Master Instructor Dr. Mike Musselman

Arm Care for the Overhead Athlete

When I started thinking about how to write a blog about arm care, it occurred to me that we should be talking about issues that cause us to have arm problems in the first place. Often, these issues manifest in other areas of the body and it’s the arm that ends up being the proverbial “whipping boy” and takes the beating (i.e. it hurts!).  With this thought in mind, let's take a quick look at some easy ways we can keep our arms healthy as overhead athletes (baseball, softball, volleyball, tennis, swimming, javelin and shot putters etc.).  

The very first thing we need to consider and make clear is how muscles are organized according to their function by the brain.  Some muscles are there to move joints.  Others are there to stabilize them.  The second thing we need to recognize is that stabilizing muscles work best based on reflexive based directives (we don’t think about it, it just happens).  The muscles that move joints work best based on thought driven directives (I think about it and make it happen).  Here’s how this works in real life.  Let's take a bicep curl - In order for your bicep to contract and flex your elbow, a thought in your head has to occur for that to take place.  BUT - the muscles that stabilize your shoulder joint fire and do so without you thinking about it.  That is a reflexive contraction!  It didn’t happen because you willed it to, it happened because it had to in order to support the thought driven contraction (the bicep curl).  Got it?  Good! 

So think about this - if we need stabilizers to help the movers, and the stabilizers work best when driven via reflexes, then it makes sense that when it comes to arm care, we should utilize both thought driven movements and reflexive driven movements in our program. I say this because a lot of arm care programs lean heavily on the thought driven movements and don’t do much when it comes to reflexive stabilization and the huge role it plays in arm care.

During our development as children, the shoulder learned how to function and stabilize reflexively, all on its own. It learned how to do its job and work with other parts of the body to create movement. We lifted our big baby head off the ground, we looked up, down and all around.  We pressed ourselves off the floor, laid back down, rolled onto our bellies and back on to our backs.  We learned how to get up on all fours and crawl about the room to explore it.  Largely, we all figured out how to move on our own without coaches or special programs to follow. Doctors call this process the Neuro-Developmental Movement Sequence. This sequence of movements practiced over and over again is what taught our bodies how to move and get strong.  It worked then, and it will work now!  This is the essence of reflexive movement. 

Now, the good stuff: If you want healthy shoulders and arms, a good place to start is the spine. Here is why. The shoulder is anchored through a series of bone and muscle-tendon connections beginning at the spine and ending at the shoulder joint. The go-between the spine and the shoulder joint is the scapula or, as it’s better known – the shoulder blade. All of these structures and the muscles attached to them have to work in concert with one another for the shoulder joint to work up to its potential.   

When the spine has optimal levels of mobility and stability, that allows for optimal functioning of the scapula (shoulder blade) and the muscles that attach to it (see the “posterior view” picture below) In turn, this set up allows for optimal functioning of the glenohumeral joint (shoulder). All of this indicates that movement efficiency at the spine will lead to movement efficiency at the scapula, which in turn leads to movement efficiency at the shoulder joint.

An overly stiff spine (too stable – lacking enough mobility) can result in dysfunction of the muscles attaching to both the spine and the scapula, leading to poor scapular movement. This can result in the shoulder not working in the way it was designed to. Because of this dysfunction, movement compensations typically occur. Over time, these compensations become our “normal way” of doing things and can lead to poor shoulder health and possibly pain.

Specific to the shoulder we want to do the following things:

1. Breathe with our diaphragm

1. When you breathe this way it has the effect of mobilizing your spine so that it works and feels better

2. Lift and lower your head  as well as turn right and left while laying on the floor (your belly)

1. Movement of the head mobilizes the entire spine but especially the cervical and thoracic spine (upper and mid-spine).

1. These areas are also anchor points for muscles that influence the shoulder blade and, therefore, the shoulder joint. Consequently, optimizing both the stability and mobility of the head and neck will contribute to optimal shoulder health

3. Roll from side to side 

1. Rolling nourishes the entire spine in a safe and feel-good way.  The spine needs to move!  

2. Rolling reflexively retrains stabilization of the spine, so the spine is stabilized before arm movement.

1. The spine needs to be stable before your scapula and arm move. This translates to safer movement, and increased force output of the shoulder joint.  

4. Rocking on your hands and knees

1. Rocking is actually reflexive strength training for the shoulder! This is one of the ways you developed the strength and stability of your shoulders, to begin with!

2. When you do a lot of rocking, it improves and speeds up the reflexive timing and activation of the shoulder complex and improves motor control.

3. Keeps the spine healthy as rocking with the head held up improves the posture of the spine.

5. Crawl on your hands and knees

1. “Higher intensity” strength training for the shoulder.

1. The shoulder will have to bear the weight of the body alone as you initiate the crawling movement. As a consequence, there is a higher demand placed on the shoulder complex to stabilize and control the movement.

2. Crawling helps to establish optimal posture.  

By first addressing the reflexive stability needs of the spine - shoulder and arm we can then progress to the strengthening needs of the arm aka thought driven movements.  We’ve covered a lot of territory on this post so I’ll save that for “Arm Care For the Overhead Athlete Part 2”  Give these things a try and let me know how they go!

Original Strength for Baseball Players

As OS Instructors, Coaches and practitioners we all know the benefits of Original Strength for restoring our natural movement. Or, if you don’t you should! In athletics this natural movement is expressed with speed, power and grace. It is done largely based on reflex decision making both at a physical and mental level. In order to prepare for the demands of competing, especially at the highest levels, several thousand hours of practice must be done to perfect the mechanics demanded by the particular sport. But what if the reflexive stability we need to move optimally is missing? What if the vestibular system, our sensory motor integration system is off line? The human body will always pick what is easier, not what is best. In terms of movement this is called compensatory patterns of movement. Our bodies crave stability and will get it where ever they can. Thus, if our true stabilizer muscles are not working well we will substitute another muscle or group of muscles to do the job for them. Usually these muscles are in close proximity to the dulled reflexive stabilizers.

Compensatory patterns of stability are developed in the body as a poor substitute for our original design. Over time these inferior patterns become a "new normal" and stiffness or muscle tightness is the result. Muscles that move joints are easily fatigued, muscles that stabilize are not. So what you are really feeling is a tired, overused muscle, not a tight one. Stretching relieves the tightness, foam rolling can help as well....but the stiffness never really goes away. That's because you are addressing the symptom, not the cause of the problem. This is where the basic 5 resets of Original Strength come into play. They restore your body's natural patterns of stability allowing muscles that are designed to be movers of joints to relax and do what they are supposed to do. The resets stimulate the neural reflexivity of the core and nourish the central nervous system. They down regulate the sympathetic drive and muscle guarding associated with compensatory and often times painful movement.

If you're asking your self "what does this have to do with baseball?" The answer is: everything. Honestly this could have been written for any sport but I chose baseball, largely based on the fact that aside from being an OS Instructor I am also a strength and conditioning coach who trains a lot of baseball players. In my 20 plus years in the field I've been fortunate to have trained a few 1st round major league draft picks as well as others who have been drafted in the lower rounds. These are the cream of the crop, very talented athletes. The majority of players I work with are at the high school and college level. The one thing that ties these groups together is the risk of injury either in training or in actual play. As coaches we can have a profound effect on this injury risk and should strive for innovative ways to minimize it while at the same time improving athletic performance.

Few other athletes see as many injuries to elbows and shoulders as baseball players. Throwing a baseball creates a huge amount of stress on the throwing arm and body in general. As an example, observe the mechanical stress of pitching:

As the ball is being accelerated toward the release point, the humerus is internally rotated at speeds of 7,000- 9,000 degrees per second. Just before ball release, the elbow reaches maximal extension angular velocity and can hit speeds of over 2,000 degrees per second. The shoulder distraction force can reach as high as .75 times body weight in kids and 1 to 1.75 times body weight in adults.

The lower body generates a majority of this force and transfers it up the kinetic chain, through the arm and into the ball at the release point. The critical structures involved in this energy transfer are the reflexive core and reflexive scapular stabilizers and rotator cuff. When the scapula functions poorly and the reflexive core is offline, energy transfer becomes inefficient and the result can be injurious. The question becomes how can we as trainers, coaches etc. play a role in helping baseball players perform better?

First, since the Original Strength resets and all of their progressions and regressions are the foundations of all other movements, start there. This is your cornerstone of movement. It is the key to unlocking the unlimited potential inside all of us. If you're reading this and don't know what the resets are I urge you to find an OS certified coach who can teach you (OS Professionals ) Or better yet, get to an OS workshop and learn them first hand ( Pressing Reset Workshops ). I've yet to meet anyone who regretted the investment in themselves or their athletes. A quick overview of the big 5 resets is in order.

Diagrammatic breathing by it's self can relax tired shoulders and stiff necks. It strengthens your core and helps to calm the mind and body. Breathing is one of the first things we do in life and it's one of the last things we will do so it seems appropriate that we do it correctly. Breathing techniques can be found in all the great disciplines: yoga, martial arts and meditation come to mind. They've been around for a while so just maybe they are on to something?

Head nods and rotations not only stimulate your vestibular system but they also mobilize your thoracic spine. The T-spine is important to baseball players since a lack of thoracic mobility is often noted as a root cause of shoulder injuries like AC joint impingement and tendinitis.

Segmental Rolling further mobilizes the T-spine and neurologically connects the shoulder to the opposite side hip. In essence it connects you like a big X. Think about how you run or throw a ball or even hit. Your shoulder and your opposite hip are intricately connected in those processes. The go between these structures is your core. Rolling helps to strengthen these connections via head and extremity driven, midline crossing movement.

Rocking is where reflexive strength starts to be developed in shoulder. The compression of the wrist, elbow and gleno-humeral joint stimulates proprioceptors that reflexively stabilize those structures. It is this reflexive stability that is often missing, dulled or late to the movement party and the result is painful movement. Rocking also helps reset the natural curvature of the spine enhancing posture.

Crawling takes reflex stability to another level. Here true strength is developed and reflexes become hard wired. It's important to note that none of these resets are more important than the others. Since we are all different and have different needs the resets will have varying degrees of impact on each individual person.

Second, the way we train our athletes in the gym can have a far reaching and lasting effect on their performance out of it. Restoring natural movement shouldn't just be relegated to the warm up and cool down phases of a performance program. It can be implemented directly into it. OS resets that mimic strength training movements can be used to improve the movement quality of that exercise. For example, the reflexive core stability, hip hinge, and flexion/extension movements of the knee and ankle seen in rocking is a great compliment to those similar movements observed in squatting or deadlifting.

Rocking Pattern

As the reflexive core is stimulated via rocking, it becomes more neurologically active/sensitive to input. As a result of this heightened sensitivity, the core gets better at stabilizing the spine and pelvis in the loaded upright rocking position aka squatting.

Rocking can also be an effective reset for pressing movements since the compressive nature of rocking stimulates the proprioceptors in the hands, wrist, elbow, Gleno humeral joints and scapular stabilizers. Further, movements that cross midline or work in a contralateral pattern simulate the more "natural" unloaded patterns seen in many athletic movements. Additionally and equally as important to this philosophy is that the human body is designed to move in sequential patterns of joint movement, ( think Turkish Get Ups or 1 arm KB snatch to reverse lunge ) not in isolated, singular joint movements ( think hamstring curls ). For example, instead of bench press which some baseball coaches perceive as dangerous to the throwing shoulder, an alternative is the one arm anti-rotational dumbbell press. Here the athlete is laying off set on a bench supported by the head and shoulder blade of the non working arm. The hips are off the side of the bench. This configuration forces the core to become active as well as the gluts and allows the pressing shoulder to be able to rotate with the load. The load is now being distributed throughout the system of the shoulder, obliques, and gluts (crossing midline)instead of literally being shouldered by the Gleno humeral joint alone in the conventional bench press.

Off Set 1 Arm Chest Press

Overhead pressing for the shoulder (or its ugly cousin seated overhead pressing), another exercise that has been scrutinized by baseball coaches and players as dangerous due to complications with a type 2 or type 3 acromion in some athletes can be trained another way as seen through the lens of Original Strength. Loaded Rocking, elevated rocking, loaded elevated rocking, reverse crawling or reverse loaded crawling are just some of the ways you can safely and effectively strength train the shoulder in a pressing with out pressing environment. The video below will give you an example of crawling - can you see how the arms are used to push as well as accept weight? This is a great way to prep the body for pressing. If we apply a load to crawling by attaching a sled or chain to the body in this movement, we are amping up the neurologic drive / reflexive stability and mobility to the body - enhancing the press.

Crawling

In all of the above examples, the shoulder joint is reflexively stabilized as the gravitational load of the body is transitioned over it. The load can be increased by dragging implements such as chains or sleds or by crawling slowly ( more time under tension). In the case of crawling, the reflexive stability of the shoulders and core as well as the neurological pathways are hard wired and developed within the bodies natural gait pattern in a contralateral fashion. Not only are you improving the stability and motor control of the shoulder, you are enhancing the anti rotational aspect of core stability in a similar pattern of movement as gait. Since the load placed on the core is greater during the crawl than in the upright posture of gait, it has to work harder. Once we come up on to our feet, the body "remembers" to activate the core, stability is enhanced, hips and shoulders articulate more freely and we begin to move the way we were designed to move. In other words, we take the breaks off and become more powerful than we thought possible. For the athletes I work with it means they can move better in the gym and on the field, recover faster and become increasingly resilient to injury.

By observing how the human body was designed and applying the principles of Original Strength, we can safely and effectively create strength training programs that not only enhance strength and performance but improve movement quality at the same time.

When Silly Becomes Essential - How “Pressing Reset” Helped Make a Champion Swimmer

- This in an updated version of a Blog piece I wrote for Original Strength a five years ago. It’s still relevant today as OS has continued to be an important part of what I do and well as helping my son who now swims in college. That said, thanks for reading - enjoy!

Let’s face it, Original Strength is silly.  Grown men and women rolling around on the floor and crawling like babies?  Ridiculous!  Like many people reading this, my first impression of OS held similar sentiment.  Until I tried it.  I have to imagine it’s the same for most of the athletes and personal training clients that work with me.  It certainly was the same for my teenage son. He swims competitively, and as his dad who also works as a performance enhancement coach, was looking for any edge I could find for him…. 

Boy: “What is this supposed to be doing dad?”

Dad: “It’s going to help you swim faster, keep you healthy and recover faster. Now just do it”

Boy: “I feel dumb doing this”

Dad: “Fair enough - do it anyway”

Conversations along these lines were had on a regular basis when helping/instructing my first born rediscover his reflexive core via what are called “resets”.  Obviously, at this point doing these resets was something he wasn’t as sure about as I was. There is a saying I picked up in my martial arts training that sums up this situation perfectly: 

When the student is ready the master shall appear. 

Basically, the master has always been there, it’s the student who needs to be in the right frame of mind or particular circumstance to learn the lessons of the master. 

Fast forward a few months from his initial experience with OS. The lovely Mrs. Shropshire and I were at one of our son’s swim meets.  Sitting up in the stands watching kids swim back and forth, her phone rang.  After a few words she handed me the phone.  It was my son…..

Son: “Dad, my shoulder is hurting and I have to swim soon”.

Me: “How soon?”

Son: “15 minutes”

Me: “Meet me down stairs in the gym”

The “student” was now ready.  I met him outside the pool deck and found a quiet spot where we could get to work.  After a few questions and basic muscle function tests we started with the simple resets.  After each reset we tested the shoulder to see if the pain was increasing, decreasing or staying the same.  We found rocking, bird dogs and rolling were the answer (if you have no idea what I am talking about - click the links!).  With time not on our side, we wrapped it up - his shoulder seemingly pain free at this point. He had just enough time to run out on to the pool deck and get on the starting blocks - just as his heat was being called to get set! He was swimming the 100 butterfly. This stroke DEMANDS a healthy shoulder complex or you don’t even have a chance. My OS skills and really, the efficacy of what I believed in, were going to be put to the test.

Not only did he swim the event pain free (which was enough for me) he set a personal best time!  From then on there were no more objections.  It simply became something that was done on a regular basis.

The silliness had become a secret weapon.

We use Original Strength in a variety of ways when it comes to my son and swimming.  One of these ways is to use it as a recovery tool.  After competition, especially when you are competing in multiple events (think wrestling tournaments, track and field, swimming or sports where there are intermittent spurts of activity with some rest periods sprinkled in there) one of the keys to success is to calm down quickly.  Competition (stress) stimulates the sympathetic nervous system – a.k.a your fight or flight mechanism.  In response to stress the body releases the hormones adrenaline and cortisol. Their main job is to get the body ready for activity - quickly in this case.

• Increases blood pressure

• Increases respiratory rate

• Increases heart rate

• Releases blood sugar for use as immediate energy

• Mobilizes fatty acids for use as energy 

• Suppresses the immune system

• Shunts blood flow away from the gut and to the working muscles thus inhibiting digestion

• Suppresses the reproductive system and as a result inhibits the production of Testosterone in males

All of these things happen to prepare the body instantly for strong and rapid muscular contractions.  Staying in this state of hyper-arousal for a prolonged period of time can lead to undue fatigue and an inability to recover for the next event. 

In a sport where there can be limited time between events that require maximal efforts, Original Strength can be a great way to come down from the physiologic excitement of competition. 

• We use diaphragmatic breathing, head nods, rolling and rocking to down regulate the sympathetic nervous system and help up regulate it’s compliment - the parasympathetic nervous system.  Essentially it does the polar opposite of the sympathetic nervous system.

The opposite is true when we are getting ready for an event.  We “tie the body together” with standing cross crawls, elevated rolls, bird dogs and crawling when it’s appropriate and feasible.  The movements are performed quickly and in short bursts or under some type of load – fast rocking, elevating the bird dogs, commando rocking or reaching with an arm during rocking for example.  Midline crossing slapping of the extremities and shaking opposing limbs along with a few quick tuck jumps are also helpful to tie the body together and bring tactile awareness of the body to the two hemispheres of the brain.  Breathing done with repeated, short rapid inhalations followed by an exhale stimulates the sympathetic nervous system and gets him ready for competition.

The results? Conference champion in the 100 yard butterfly and 200 yard freestyle medley relay and was named All Conference in both events as a sophomore. His junior and senior year he repeated as 100 butterfly champion and capped off his HS career as the fastest 100 butterflier in school history (breaking a 31 year old record), and finished as a state champion and HS All American in the 100 fly.

Fast forward a few years and my son is now swimming in college. He swims at a high level and has yet to be sidelined with any nagging injuries commonly associated with swimming – shoulder, neck and back pain. He continues to work the resets as outlined by OS as well as Original Strength Performance. In OS Performance we marry certain resets to strength exercises to literally take the breaks off your body and allow it to truly express its authentic strength. I firmly believe that the addition of Original Strength to his existing training has helped him to become the swimmer that he is today.   

Original Strength – What It Is and What It’s Not

If you’re reading this, chances are you have been to an OS work shop or are at least somewhat familiar with the concepts that are put forth by Original Strength Inc.  If you have made the investment to come to a workshop – awesome!  You have a manual that has been revised and perfected over the years to provide you with everything you need to press reset on a daily basis.  The manual is a great reference as the amount of information at a work shop can be a lot to remember.   If you have not yet attended but have read Tim and Geoff’s book Pressing Reset Reloaded – you also have a great resource at your fingertips.  If you are a casual observer who is interested in what OS has to offer and like the blogs and videos that OS puts out – you also have a lot of knowledge of the system. 

In its simplicity, OS can seem almost too good to be true – how can these easy resets work so well, in such short order in some cases? How can these resets, which improve performance for world class athletes also help the general population in addition to those in rehab settings?  We have seen and read stories of amazing transformations – people who could only walk with the aid of a cane or walker can now crawl with chains.  People who were in pain and considering surgery end up canceling the procedure that modern medicine and well-intentioned care givers have said is the only way out of that pain.  Could it be that we have a found a panacea – a magic elixir for all things related to movement?  In a word – No. 

What we have at our fingertips is a system – a blueprint given to every single one of us at birth that is the very foundation for movement and learning and our overall development as human beings.  A growing body of evidence supports the links between movement and brain development and cognition.  In amazing ways that go way out side the scope of this blog, the brain is nourished by movement and in return, the brain nourishes the body with the information it needs to function optimally given the circumstances that are unique to each of us.  And, armed with that understanding is the trap.

“You can not put the same shoe on every foot” - Publilius Syrus

The trap is the misunderstanding of how OS works and as an extension - that all types of physical discomfort can be mitigated by performing resets.  Let’s call it what it is….Pain.  There is “pain” and then there is “PAIN.”  Both are real and can be debilitating to a small or large extent, it depends.  In exercise there is going to be some level of exertion that needs to be endured in order to enhance performance.  This refers to a well-known principle of training called the overload principle.  Simply put – you must continuously work harder in order to achieve results.  The body will adapt positively to the stresses placed on it and performance gets better.  If the stress doesn’t gradually and logically increase, the body lacks the necessary stimulus for improvement and it well, doesn’t.

One of the consequences of the increase work load can be something called DOMS – or in the training world “Delayed Onset of Muscular Soreness”.  DOMS is typically felt 24-72 hours post work out and is the result of muscle damage that occurs as a natural consequence of doing work beyond what is typically done.  It is completely normal.  This is pain.  In time it goes away and everything is back to normal.

“PAIN” is another issue all together.  This type of pain occurs when there is an actual injury to a joint, muscle, tendon or ligament.  It can be the result of direct trauma, overuse or misuse caused by faulty body mechanics.  The later is where OS can play in a role in reducing pain and improving how the body moves.   Since OS works primarily on a nervous system level it deals with improving movement via neural pathways.  How? – here’s where I say “come to a work shop and find out!”  but for the purpose of this piece I’ll plow ahead. 

OS works because it honors the original design of the human body and how it was meant to work and move in the first place.  Once we restore the normal neural operating procedures of how the body is meant to run, it runs pretty well.  It does nothing to address acute disturbances to tissue integrity that come along with training – yes I am talking about muscles soreness post work out and in some cases damage to a joint – muscle – ligament.  There is no amount of head nods and belly breathing that can speed up the normal time course of DOMS.  Moving around and exercising can help alleviate some of the soreness, but the tissue, in the end has to go thru a normal process of healing and repair. 

How You Breathe Makes All the Difference in the World

How You Breathe Makes All the Difference in the World

“It’s the little details that are vital.  Little things make big things happen” – John Wooden

 Of the three pillars of Original Strength™ (diaphragmatic breathing, vestibular stimulation, and movement that is contralateral or midline crossing) breathing diaphragmatically is probably the least appreciated. It’s not very sexy – you can’t really compare diaphragms: “Bruh, what’s your diaphragmatic function – do you even belly breathe?”   Even in my own gym where we start EVERY work out, group or personal training with it – I still have to remind people to simply breathe.  Those that do – always do!  They understand at some level that purposeful diaphragmatic breathing if nothing else, makes them feel better.  Those that don’t – usually don’t see the purpose of it all. To paraphrase a few conversations: “How can just breathing through my nose DO anything?  It’s just breathing and I do that all the time anyway”.  The devil is in the details and trust me, if you don’t understand what all the fuss is about – you are far behind the curve and missing a crucial aspect of your fitness training, general health, and how to optimally Press Reset.

If you have been to an Original Strength™ workshop you have received expert advice on how to optimize your breathing pattern, as well as how to use the diaphragm as the main respiratory and core stabilizing muscle.  If you have not (Register for one here!) we should briefly go over some basics:

There it is!  Approximately located in the middle of the torso, roughly along the border of the rib cage.

*hint – it’s the reddish / pink looking thing

Did you know:

·       Your diaphragm is located in the middle of the chest cavity separating the lungs and heart from the rest of the internal organs located beneath it.

·       When we use the diaphragm to breathe our belly will move up and down according to how the air moves into and out of our body.  Air goes in – belly expands and moves outward.  Air goes out - and the belly drops and moves inward.

·       This is the muscle that mother nature intended us to use for respiration and works best when we breathe through our nose – remember: mouths are for eating and talking, noses are for breathing and smelling.

·       This muscle also works to stabilize your core and is the kick starter for other muscles that stabilize your core.  Yes, you can get a stronger more efficient core by breathing the correct way …. the opposite is also true!

·       Breathing with the diaphragm and placing your tongue on the roof of your mouth (think where the tongue goes when you make the “N” sound – it’ll help you to remember where it’s supposed to go) helps to put the body in a state of relaxation by activating your parasympathetic nervous system – who couldn’t stand a little more relaxation in their life?

You might be saying to yourself “Yeah, yeah, yeah I know all that stuff – you’ve only been droning on and on for the past 8 years!”  OK, I get it.  We all need something new once in a while. So, without further delay let’s go for a deeper dive into how your breathing can have a profound effect on your performance, health and maybe even your longevity. As we already know, the ability to use oxygen is a limiting factor in many aspects of sport and performance.  IF you want to improve your fitness and let’s face it, we all could stand to get a little better, here are a few things to consider. It all began a long, long time ago……

When we were children the simple act of breathing correctly began to literally shape how we would be able to perform physically later in life.    When children breathe through their mouths or suck their thumbs the tongue will rest in the middle of or bottom of the mouth.  Over time, as the bones of the face change and grow, the act of thumb sucking and mouth breathing can bias the shape of the face!  The formation of the bones in the face are influenced by the muscles of the lips, cheeks and tongue.  The lips and cheek muscles pinch in on the face while the tongue exerts a light outward counter pressure.  When the mouth is closed and the tongue is on the roof of the mouth the upper jaw will develop according to the shape of the tongue which is wide and U shaped. When we mouth breathe the tongue is unable to exert its influence on the boney development on the face and the jaw. In response to the lack of this important stimulus the face grows long and narrow and the jaw tends to recede into the face.  The net result of all this is a smaller, restricted airway making breathing under the stress of exercise harder than it was ever supposed to be.  Obviously, this restriction of air flow limits the amount and rate of oxygen delivery to the tissues during a workout or prolonged physical activity.  As the demand for oxygen increases past a certain point the individual is unable to supply that demand and the resultant sensation can be one of suffocation and panic.  This increases respiratory rate further as the body calls into action it’s “panic breathing” muscles of the upper chest, neck and shoulders.  Rapid fatigue sets in, as well as a quick switch over to the panic / sympathetic fight or flight response of the body.  End result: performance— be it of the athletic variety or even just what should be a leisurely hike or jog around the block becomes compromised. 

Try it your self – jut your jaw outward and breathe in through your nose, then pull your chin back (retract it) or simply push on the chin with your fingers and do the same thing.  You’ll probably feel like the airway is restricted with the jaw pulled/pushed in.     

Furthermore, children that breathe through the mouth or suck their thumbs unabated are more likely to have:

·       poor posture and associated muscle weakness

·       poor sleep quality

·       low energy

·       higher stress levels

·       limited ability to concentrate

So really, the problem isn’t just confined to athletics and human performance, but extends further out into quality of life issues. 

An obvious question is “What do I do about it now?  I can’t go back and change time”.  While that is largely true you can begin to improve your own particular situation with the simple practice of mindful diaphragmatic breathing.  If you’re not sure what that is or what it looks like, you can take a look here  (drag your courser over the word “here”, press the “Ctrl” button on your key board and click on it). 

By starting to learn how to breathe this way you can improve the function of your diaphragm muscle – the body’s primary muscle for respiration and deep inner core stability.  After a while your skill will improve and you can try to breathe this way while you are seated, and soon after, while you are walking.  The goal is to be able to breathe through your nose via the diaphragm no matter what position you are in.  At this point you can try to breathe this way during a workout or sports practice if you are in athletics.  If you lose control of your breathing during a workout, just simply stop what you are doing, resume your proper breathing pattern as soon as you can and then continue.  Easy!!  The diaphragm is a muscle and will respond to use and stress being placed on it like any other muscle – it gets stronger and more efficient at its job.  You’ll find that in a few weeks’ time you’ll be able do it without as much effort as before. 

While you can’t change what you did in the past, you can always change what you do in the present and get a little better along the way.