Quality over quantity

 Let me preface all of this and say I used to do all of these things. I then started to learn and I will never go back.


First move well, then move often. - Gray Cook

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you read the phrase "workout routine"? Do you think of going on the treadmill for 50 minutes and putting a towel over the digital display of calories burned and hoping that number reaches 400-600? Do you go to the bench press (on Mondays of course) and do 5 sets in a fancy pyramid routine and then do another 4 sets of flys, dumbbell bench press, push up, dips,
and of course thrown in some neck flexors... errrr crunches? Do you then proceed to do every crunch variation known to man for 20 minutes and wonder why your back and neck hurt? But at least you hit your "core".

In our culture we always want the quick fix. It might be disguised as something else but everything today is instant gratification. Look at all of the fitness magazine covers lined up at the shelf:
Six minutes abs!
Get sexy for the holidays! (which could be a week out)
Bigger arms in 30 minutes a week!
The ultimate chest routine ! (I guess the last 327 routines were just warm ups)

Everything has to do with volume. It is much easier for us to count like that. We usually tend to believe more is better. We give no respect for the quality of anything. I recently attended a Functional Movement Screen seminar hosted by Lee Burton and Gray Cook. The FMS is all about movement quality. If you have dysfunctional movement patterns, then why would you keep doing more reps and weight? In his book "Movement", Cook states that there is no standard operating procedure to movement. We attempt to add exercise to dysfunction. Moving well is WIDELY overlooked in the fitness industry. You never see a group of guys in the gym saying, "man that is a great lookin squat, he even externally rotated his shoulders!" What you will see is a lot of this:

Adding tons of weight and can't even drop into a squat. It is more like a Back Compressor. The Back Compressor is a new exercise I made up and it focuses on spinal compression. There is NOTHING  beneficial that will come out of this.

Good movement is not achieved and kept. It must be maintained through a balanced program. The programs that we attempt today have nothing to do with quality and everything to do with quantity. This is a serious mistake.

In this study, CAN SERIOUS INJURY IN PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL BE PREDICTED BY A PRESEASON FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT screen?, the FMS shows that those players who perform poorly on a movement screen are more likely to get injured. This has nothing to do with how much they bench or how fast they can laterally move. Moving well is the baseline for everything else. Before we can start adding weight to your squat, you must be able to perform a correct squat with body weight. This seems logical but is never practiced in your average gym goer. I am using a squat as an example because it is the most butchered exercise on the planet.

Do you put A1 steak sauce on a USDA dry aged prime beef bone-in ribeye? I hope not. What the FMS has set up is a screen to catch dysfunctional movement patterns. If you don't think that moving well pertains to you then try this:

Put your arms straight above your head, sit back on your heels, and drop down.

My guess is that your arms and/or back pitched forward, your back rounded and/or arched, you didn't have your thigh parallel to the ground, knees caved in or bowed out, and your feet turned out. If you did not represent the picture, then you have a dysfunction somewhere. This squat is supposed to exaggerate basic movements. For a more specific example; if can't keep your arms up, you are wound up in either the neck, shoulder or thoracic region. I chose this particular movement because it is the most well known. This is only 1 out of 7 screens I perform the first time I meet with a client. If they perform poorly (most people do), then first order of business is to correct your dysfunction.
 Note: Body weight overhead squatting is mean to bring out dysfunction, and not to prescribe an a corrective exercise. If you can represent the picture, then by all mean add some weight.


Some people have pain even doing this and I cannot address that and you should see a recommended Physical Therapist. I am not 40 years old yet, but I can guarantee that if you move poorly at 25, you will gradually get much worse by 40, and 50, and 60. This generation relies too much on western drugs  (NSAIDS, acetaminophen, pain killers, lipitor) to relieve our pain. The key word is RELIEVE. We should SOLVE the root of the problem which is in your tissues and joints. Even if we do take care of our tissues and nothing else (getting a massage once a week), we are still not changing our patterns. Sitting hunched over at a desk and then pushing weight forward on a machine will only make things worse. We must learn to find the movement we had as a child. We learned to walk through a certain progression of movements. As children, if we performed something wrong, we fell down and it caused pain or discomfort. We then automatically listened to our body and tried something else until it felt right. We don't do that anymore. We hit up the gym and ignore that nagging shoulder or knee and think that it will heal itself. We focus more or losing weight and forget that are only making our dysfunctions worse.

So Matt, I kinda buy into what you are talking about. What do I do now? Well your best option would be to come get screened by me or an other FMS professional. Remember, everybody is different. We have been influenced by both our biology and environment. It would not be wise of me to just give you some blanket suggestions based on the general public's major dysfunctions. Just for example though, here is a general dysfunction that a lot of people have. Lower Crossed Syndrome

You would be surprised how much moving well can correct some acute pains you have. I am not diagnosing you with anything but somebody with knowledge of good movement can be the next step after manual therapy (Physical Therapy, Masseuse, Chiropractor). Let this idea settle in your mind for a couple of days and next time you go to the gym, look closer at people's movement. That person who walks around with an arched back (and butt sticking out) might suffer from or develop back or hip problems. That person with their neck protruded may suffer from headaches and back aches. If it looks wrong, it probably is.