CST Free Weight Exercises By Scott Sonnon

Today, we’ve got the first in a series of Q&A contributions from Matt Blake.
Q: What do you think of Ron Johnson’s presentation at the ABCA convention where he stated that curveballs are okay for youths to throw and that they do not cause any structural damage beyond what a fastball does? Rather, it was the [...]
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Further to the post from a couple of days ago on the latest research - How did we manage to run with no shoes ? - I was reading the excellent Science of Sport blog and they pointed to the page that the researches have set up to promote and give training tips for Running Barefoot or In Minimal Footwear

It is definitely worth reading - go here.

There are a couple of videos there that are worth looking at:

Forefoot Striking Barefoot: Produces Minimal Impact Force with No Impact Transient-

as compared to Heel Strike in Shoes: Produces Significant Impact Transient

There are some good tips for making the shift:

Tips on Transitioning to Forefoot or Midfoot Striking

Forefoot striking barefoot or in minimal footwear requires you to use muscles in your feet (mostly in the arch) that are probably very weak. Running this way also requires much more strength in your calf muscles than heel striking because these muscles must contract eccentrically (while lengthening) to ease the heel onto the ground following the landing. Novice forefoot and midfoot strikers typically experience tired feet, and very stiff, sore calf muscles. In addition, the Achilles tendon often gets very stiff. This is normal and eventually goes away, but you can do several things to make the transition successfully:

• Build up slowly! If you vigorously work out any weak muscles in your body, they will be sore and stiff. Your foot and calf muscles will be no exception. So please, don’t overdo it because you will probably injure yourself if you do too much too soon.
• Start by walking around barefoot frequently.
• First week: no more than a quarter mile to one mile every other day.
• Increase your distance by no more than 10% per week. This is not a hard and fast rule, but a general guide. If your muscles remain sore, do not increase your training. Take an extra day off or maintain your distance for another week.
• Stop and let your body heal if you experience pain. Sore, tired muscles are normal, but bone, joint, or soft-tissue pain is a signal of injury.
• Be patient and build gradually. It takes months to make the transition.
• If you are currently running a lot, you don’t need to drastically reduce your mileage. Instead, supplement forefoot or midfoot striking with running the way that you normally ran before beginning the transition. Over the course of several months, gradually increase the proportion of forefoot or midfoot striking and reduce the proportion of running in your old style. Use the same 10% per week guideline in increasing the amount of running you do forefoot striking.
• It is essential to stretch your calves and hamstrings carefully and regularly as you make the transition. Massage your calf muscles and arches frequently to break down scar tissue. This will help your muscles to heal and get stronger.
• Listen to your feet. Stop if your arches are hurting, if the top of your foot is hurting, or if anything else hurts! Sometimes arch and foot pain occurs from landing with your feet too far forward relative to your hips and having to point your toes too much. It can also occur from landing with too rigid a foot and not letting your heel drop gently.
• Many people who run very slowly find that forefoot striking actually makes them run a little faster.

Recap

• Land gently on your forefoot and gradually let the heel come down
• Transition slowly
• Stretch your calves and Achilles tendon
• Don’t do anything that causes pain
• Listen to your body and run totally barefoot to learn good form
• Buy minimal shoes that lack high heels and stiff soles
• Consult a doctor

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On Sunday, we hosted Neil Rampe of the Arizona Diamondbacks for a Myokinematic Dysfunction seminar at Cressey Performance.  It was a great experience, and Neil did a very thorough job of highlighting the different schools of thought with respect to addressing movement impairments.  In particular, Neil spent a lot of time on two schools of [...]
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I want to start this post off and say that I love free thinkers and people who question things. I don't even care if I agree with 100% of what the person is talking about. Rebels make the world more exciting. I have spent the past hour over on Free the Animal and have been [...]
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I can’t resist this one. Obese people are more likely to be mental?

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If you ever try to achieve a big goal … improve your life … or step outside your comfort zones … you’re going to eventually get knocked to the ground, stomped on and kicked in the teeth by life.
This is what you do when that happens
How I *Spectacularly* Bombed Out Of My First [...]

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690gym.com

Remember that address. Make it into a memetic jingle. Bookmark it. Write it down. Etch it on your forehead in mirror writing. But remember it. Because for many years people have been asking, “What IS an RMAX Gym, and what would it look like?” RMAX Faculty Coach Brandon Jones and CST Coach Dennis Haggard through [...]
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Okay, gang; here’s the scoop: I have a new project in the works.
In fact, the entire program is already written, and a few lifters have already taken it for a test-drive with excellent results.  However, I need to get my sample size up to confirm that I’m really onto something here - and that’s where [...]
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I came across an interesting blog today: Methode Naturelle Disciple

I’ve referred to Methode Naturelle before, an approach to fitness and physical cutlure that fits in well with the primal / evolutionary fitness approach. Erwan Le Corre - who I interviewed a year ago here - has been updating the approach recently to creat MovNat.

(Incidentally Keith has some interesting thoughts on Erwan here -

Probably an ideal body shape for an adult male in his 30s is shown in this YouTube video. We know it’s ideal because of what the body is being used for - with power, poise, athleticism and novelty. Only a perfect body could perform the way Erwan Le Corre demonstrates in this video. In doing so he also sets up the criteria for judging what a perfect male body should be able to do (not only what it looks like). Form will follow function. Some will run marathons and therefore have a correspondingly different body shape; others will be more heavily muscled through heavy weight training. But humans in the Palaeolithic would not have run marathons or engaged in heavy weight training.)

Anyway, the new blog is by Kevin Coffin who is using it to gather information about Methode Naturelle and to record his own training and thoughts.

He has a really good post on Workout Structure which explains a little what an MN workout looks like. Erwan is a great thinker and inspirational guy, but he never really explains, in the material I’ve seen at least, how a workout is constructed.

Kevin identifies 7 series of exercises then explains what he does:

There is no set number of reps for any of the workouts. Just move on to the next exercise whenever you are starting to get fatigued. Don’t ever overdo it. This isn’t about being macho and competitive, its about practicing skills. Concentrate on correct form. Try to think of ways to use your body smarter, to accomplish the exercises with less and less effort. For instance, when climbing, practice the different ways of using your body momentum to aid you in your quest for height so that you are less tired when you get to the top. In everything, avoid injury; remember that avoiding injury becomes increasingly difficult if you are too over-fatigued.

I use this method every workday at lunch, for 30 to 60 minutes. There’s a dry riverbed near my office complex that I run down to, it has boulders and trees and sand for crawling. Saturdays are my “fun” day where I either get up in the morning and go for a free exploration run, without structure, or I do some sort of sport or hiking with my family.

It is a helpful post. Check it out.

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I’ve received an enormous amount of emails and private messages from cross-over CST
and RKC athletes about Dragondoor’s announcement regarding their club swinging certification yesterday.
This workshop is not a plagiarism of CST. It is legit. After a misunderstanding yesterday, Dragondoor’s CEO John Ducane apologetically changed the tagline from “first-ever official club swinging certification” (dishonoring CST professionals [...]
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