Warmup: Foot MFR, Toe Pulls, Frog Squats, Swings, Rib Roll, Raptor, Seated Shoulders

DL (barefoot, belt, JS Platform)
9×1 185+40 bands
9×1 185+80 bands
–Didn’t feel right, so kept it very light.  Worked on tensioning off the floor with feet. 

Pull-Ups
x1, x2, x3, x4, x5, x6, x7, x7
–About 14 minutes alternating with Matt and a lot of chatting.
+16kg on belt  5×2

Pistols
Triples with 16kg to 13″
–I’m getting it.  Challenging to get knee to go before hip.  It can go from ankle as I have 4+”.
–Different ball game with no box even though I am T&G. 

Splits
–All sorts of stuff.  Dean Riddle shows up to meet me first time, and I’m in a straddle with a dowel over my head.

Warmup: Foot MFR, Toe Pulls, Frog Squats, Swings, 1-arm Swings, Raptor, Seated Shoulders, Indian Clubs – 2 1# Clubs, Natural, Prep + 1-5

Bench Press (TPB, thumb+ off the smooth, SlingShot)
singles up to 365
stalled @ ~1 board w/390
–Felt real strong.  365 went up quick.  Surprised @ 390, but I was very narrow, so I’m cool.

Landmine / Rope Pushdowns / Inverted Rows (RT grip, legs long) / 1-leg Pushups
Barx10, +25# 2×5
50×20, 60 2×20
+30# HyperWear Vest 3×10
+30# HyperWear Vest 1×5/5, 1×8/8, 1×10/10

Landmine / Rope Pushdowns / Hammer Curls
Bar 2×10

50×5, 45×5, 40×5, 35×5, 30×5, 25×10
50×3, 45×3, 40×4,  35×3, 30×3, 25×10

25×10, 40×5
–Both DBs @ same time

Conditioning (Ropes, Double Waves-Neutral, +30# vest)
12′ 40/60

Warmup: Foot MFR, Toe Pulls, Frog Squats, Squats, Seated Shoulders, Raptor, Indian Clubs – Natural, 2 1# clubs, Prep+3

Box Squat (Yoke Bar, 44 Ace Briefs)
402×5
462×4
532×5 (high box)
–I am @ parallel when I wear the briefs.  Below parallel when I wear the Marathon or other nothing briefs.
–Maybe next week, I will go 460 for the 5, 500 for the 4….or go for a big single with chains.
–Unracking this bar after using the Spider Bar for so long was interesting.  These bars are VERY different in where they throw you. 

Batwings / 1-arm Swings
32kg 2x10x5s
32kg 2×10/10
–Would have been better off just going home after the squatting intensity and still unable to breath through my nose.

There are probably a couple ways to measure leg length, but the valid by my standards (I don’t know what the literature says) is this.
Tape measure from ASIS to medial malleolus.
For better at least intra-rater reliability, I would suggest thumbing up from underneath the bony landmarks, and measure from where the button starts to jut out. This way you can have a good shot at measuring the same way every single time.

I'm saying medial malleolus to ASIS

You can measure standing bilaterally, standing on 1 leg, and then laying down in the both positions also.
If there is a consistency, then there is really a leg length difference. If there is a difference standing vs. unloaded, it’s a muscular tension somewhere.

If it is a very real structural difference, the shoe can be built up.  Or you can have an osteotomy somewhere if you want.  That might not be preferrable though.
If it’s a muscular dysfunction, it can/should be fixed.

I would say you probably don’t need to be looking at it, especially at first, because if it’s real, I’ve got to think the person already knows. If it’s functional, it will come out in the wash with the FMS asymmetry.
I typically discard anyone that tells me they have a leg length discrepancy especially from another clincian. It’s part arrogance on my part, and part I know the reality that it will come out as we go through the movement screening and assessment. Leg length itself is a Test. It doesn’t tell me enough.

I think the key here is this.  Always look at dynamic patterns first.  If the person moves well, that is all we care about in the first place.  If there are major problems or asymmetries that show up, they should be addressed.  Tag out if you have to.
But static postural tests and exams should only come after movement has been exposed to be in error.

Like most things, leg length should come out in the wash.

Warmup: Foot MFR, Toe Pulls, Frog Squats, Swings, Seated Shoulders, Indian Clubs – 1 1# Club, Open Half Kneeling, Prep+1-2 R/L

2-Board Press (Thumb+ off smooth)
Triples w/215 + 80 bands
–Speed got revved up 2-3 sets in.  Not sure how many we did, maybe 6 or 7×3.

JM Press (Swiss Bar, 3rd grip) / Inverted Row (legs long, RT handles) / Plank
75 3×20
+30# Hyperwear Vest 3×10
+30# Hyperwear Vest 3x 5×10/2

Conditioning (Double Neutral Grip Waves, +30# vest)
5x 20/80
–Mjolnir

KB Snatches (16kg)
Progressions (1-arm swing, High Pull, Snatch) and 10/10

Warmup: Foot MFR, Toe Pulls, Frog Squats

Deadlift (belt, Chuck’s)
singles up to 395+X-Men Band setup

Pull-Ups (KB on foot)
+20kg x1
BWx2
+20kgx1 + BWx2
+20kgx1 + BWx3
+20kgx1 + BWx4
+20kgx1 + BWx5
+20kgx1 + BWx6
+20kgx1 +BWx6 + regrip + BWx1
BWx4
BXx5
–Goal is 33 44 55. 33 minutes, 44# KB, 55 reps.
–Obviously that is not what I did.
–Obviously.

Conditioning (Ropes)
3′ Double Neutral
1′ rest
1′ ER/IR
1′ rest
3′ Alt Neutral
1′ ER/IR
1′ rest
3′ Double Overhand

Pistols (to 13″ and 12″ box)
+15# KB bunch of triples
–I’m not doing a box squat; tibia is definitely angled and 2nd and 3rd reps of the set were more touch and go. Definitely a couple plops on the box on the 1st reps.

X-Men Band Setup..................because

Warmup: Foot MFR, Toe Pulls, Frog Squats, Seated Shoulders, Splits

Bench Press (TPB, pinky on the ring, SlingShot)
315×5
–The Slingshot is like the Great Glass Elevator under the bar.
385×1

Band Pushdowns (Green) / Incline Press (Log Bar-Angled Grips) /  Pull-Ups (rings)
4×8
10s up to 205
4×5

1-arm BU Press
16kg 2×5/5, 1×6/6
24kg 2×1/1
–Not pretty but clean.  Best I’ve ever shown you with the 24.

Van Dam Lift
–Got the no hands split pretty easily, but the worst I’ve ever felt up on the steps.  Didn’t give it too many tries today.

Toes Straight
1.  FMS Deep Squat
–This is movement-evaluative squat, not necessarily one that would be be regularly exercised.  If you are actually correcting the squat in the rare occasions of 13 with a 1 on the squat or 19 or 20 with a 1 or 2 on the squat, then again the toes would be straight.  The big piece here in terms of keeping toes straight is to appraise relative hip internal rotation.  It is not a measure of internal rotation per se, but if you can keep your toes straight, the tone of hip flexors and/or stiffness in the posterior capsule is graded by the foot position that would challenge those limitations.  If you can keep toes straight, the Screen suggests that internal rotation is adequate.  However, if toes can stay straight in the 2 position, it does not necessarily mean the issue lies in the hip.  It can still be anything or anywhere.

Toes straight means Toes straight.

2.  Competition Squat
–Louie has talked about this, but I have never actually seen someone employ a powerlifting competition squat with toes straight.  If you can make depth and tension out against a straight foot, in theory, the passive tension of the capsule might give you some “free” stiffness in and out of the hole.  I can never feel it, and inherently, the knees collapse.  It makes sense in terms of the hip stiffness, but I don’t think it’s a viable option especially if you are wider than shoulders, not to mention clipping into FAI in the hole as well.

Toes Out
1.  Slacks hip flexors allowing for more relative stability of the pelvis.  As the Rectus Femoris (AIIS) and TFL and Sartorius (ASIS) become toned or even just in their quality resting tension with toes straight, their vector(s) to the fixed point of the lateral calcaneus is to pull the pelvis into an anterior tilt.  This approximation posteriorly, which feels like a hard arch, can likely cut a squat early from negative proprioception in the spine and/or unable to stay big against the anterior weight.  Letting the toes go out, anywhere from 20 degrees to 90 degrees, changes the line of pull of these muscles out of the sagittal plane, thus making the spine easier to centrate in a squatting pattern.

Getting these guys out of the way can make life a lot easier at the moment.

2.  The toes out position puts the ADDuctors on a line of pull that allows them act as sagittal plane hip extenders.  It’s fairly simple biomechanics.  Better line of pull = more force into returning out of the hip hinge.

Kinesiology says I'm a hip ADDuctor. Real life says I'm a hip extender. Winner: Toes Out.

3.  Partially for the spinal and hip implications of 1. and 2., slight toes out is not coincidentally the centrated position of the hip joint.  Centration is the position of the joint where there is maximal bony congruency around the joint as well as equal co-contraction of agonists and antagonists.  This anatomical visual is the basis of stereotypical postures in developmental kinesiology and is believed to yield full-body neurological strength and stability.  When 1 joint is “in place,” the rest of the body will ultimately follow.

4.  Please keep in mind that while there are advantages to handling load with toes out, it must be an option to be out there.  A loss of hip internal rotation may allow for force the toes to go out, but if there is a hallowing of the lateral glutes, this is the loss of centration in the hip joint that will also be forced.  The hallowing will be an indication that the deep stabilizers of the hips are not functioning as stabilizers.  This is an example of a high threshold strategy where the global muscles are contracting before the local muscles in the default pattern.  Toes out are okay, but it must be an option and still have the proper postural stereotype.

5.  Retroverted hips make it okay.  This bony structural change is typically a result of position during fetal development or an imbalance during early stages of development.  Retroversion creates a normal centration of the femoral head in the acetabulum, however, it is connected via a femoral neck that leads to a femur that is rotated externally.  Depending on the degree of retroversion, toes straight will be closer to slight toes out for some people.  Others will get to centration with excessive toes out.  The Craig’s Test is one fair measure of retroversion or anteversion.  It is also worth noting that some resources describe ante- and retroversion as the opposite of each other.  These are benign conditions overall, but they do lead us to stop looking to increase hip rotation when it’s a bony reason that’s preventing it.

Flat Foot
1.  No arch = less power.  I know a lot of people think they have flat feet, but this can be trained in a number of different ways both through training and manual therapy.  Many years ago, I was chatting with a podiatrist who became increasingly annoying, and I got out of the conversation telling him not to send me anybody with flat feet because after I’m done with them, they won’t need your little orthotics anymore.
The foot should have a tripod base of support via the sesamoid of the big toe, the MT head of the 5th toe, and the lateral heal.  The heel is the rear wheel drive, as Pavel would describe, and the front portion is the front wheel drive.  All wheels interacting with the ground = more more.  If the body of the vehicle is bottomed out on the ground, aka a fallen arch, there is minimized drive.
The arch is obligatory.  There are some people that are structurally flat, but this is terribly rare.  It’s also terrible for your squat or closed chain force production, but you did it to yourself during development.

Patrick Ward showing an example of taking advantage of and driving the short foot.

Watch this video on YouTube.

2.  Orthotics giving you a stiff post as an arch may work, or it may not work.  If you have an arch in the open-chain, or it can be achieved with passive overpressure mean there is an arch available in that foot.  Training it reflexively with tension and reaction with the floor will bring out that arch and a whole gang of tension and strength into the lift.  If you need orthotics to stay out of pain, that’s a different story, but can they be regressed in their stiffness or maybe use something like Barefoot Science that has a built in regression and forcing the arch via a reaction, not just giving you one like in most orthotics.

3.  The short foot is the ideal centrated posture of the midfoot along with close to zero degrees of dorsiflexion.  However, like other stability positions like packing the neck, bracing the abdominals, or squeezing the glutes, the desired position can be achieved through feed-forward mechanisms or just along the chain of a feed-back mechanism.  It is useful to force the short foot as if holding a melon under your foot, but it is only to gain a “feel” for the position and the tripod.  Ideally the short foot with the arch should be gained naturally without demanding it.  It will actually feel quite different.

On the list of all-time fraudulent exercises like push-up plus and ball squats.

Toes Curled
1.  Make no mistake about it.  In a static position, closed loop environment, curling the toes into gripping the floor will increase tension as we have learned from Pavel and Stuart McGill’s Superstiffness principles.
Toes curled is also a sympathetic reaction to threat.  Toes curled inhibits the ideal tripod as well, and while there is stiffness and tension with toes curled, it is at the expense of multiple mid-foot muscles being inhibited.
My thought is that the toes curled is an e-brake on the system, and while static tension is measured, I think posterior chain is inhibited without the toe pads gaining proprioception and a signal that the body is ready to propel.
I’m sure many a stud will suggest, just like the packed neck message, that they have had “success” with curling the toes despite the logic and soft science I am suggesting, but also like the packed neck, I think curling the toes is an e-brake that is easy to drive through.
Try shortening the foot with toes curled and without toes curled.  There should be an appreciable difference in the activation of the deep foot flexors.  I think this is something we want in attempting to translate force from the ground up through the chain.  Curling the toes limits that with the approximation and alteration of the tripod.
Just something to think about, but I don’t really want to argue.

Funny, she didn't look Druish.

Warmup: Foot MFR, Toe Pulls, Frog Squats, Swings

Floor Press (pinky on the ring)
Triples up to 275

Tall Kneeling 1-arm KB Press / Pushdowns (band) / Batwings
20kg 10/10
28kg 5/5
32kg 3/3, 1/1, 2/2
32kg 3/3
–standing

Purple 3×20

28kg KBs 3×6-10s holds

Warmup: Foot MFR, Toe Pulls, Frog Squats, Seated Shoulders, Indian Clubs – Open Half Kneeling, 2 1# Clubs, Prep+4

Box Squat (Spider Bar w/handles, ACE 44 Briefs)
singles up to 620
pinned on the box with 650
–ACE briefs are definitely worth something here, but these are not competition size.  I can get them up by myself and can break parallel with bodyweight.  I remember several years ago when I was bigger, I would hang out with 5 wheels at about 70 degrees.
–530 went up like a DE lift.
–Rob is really improving fantastically in actually understanding staying tight in the hole and using tension the whole lift.
–And Matt got some kind of rehab recently where all of a sudden, he can squat and press and everything.  It’s like magic or something.

GHR / Pull-Ups / Armbar
BWx5, +30# Hypervest 4×5
BWx5, +30# Hypervest 4×5
16kg 3×1 for several breaths
–Working on centrated shoulder, which no one does.
–Hypervest Pro is totally awesome. 

KB Swings (32kg)
on the minute — 5/5, 6/6, 7/7, 7/7, 7/7, 5/5, 6/6, 6/6, 7/7, 7/7
–10/10?  Well, we’ll get there.