Chris Sinagoga | Wednesday, October 30, 2019 at 6:00PM Blocking movement is a practice I first learned from Carl Paoli when he came to visit in 2012, and basically means setting a standard that forces the athlete into a good movement pattern. A simple example of this is reverse grip on pull-ups; with our palms spun towards us hanging from the bar, we have no choice but to have a good shoulder position (external rotation). Another popular (or, unpopular) example is feet together.
It it not debatable that feet straight and arches up is a safe and strong position for the ankles, knees, hips, and lower back. There are a few reasons why our feet turn out and knees collapse in, the most controllable of which are lack of mobility and lack of coordination. Here's Summer rookie Rylee Hesske on one of her lunges from yesterday's 5k run sub:
For the record, her front shin was vertical just as I asked. But we didn't emphasize the position in her back leg and it shows. Any time our hip is in extension (leg behind us) we need to have internal rotation to make it stable. The opposite is true when we are in flexion, which is why knees out on a squat is better than knees in. Rylee's hip is in extension, and when she doesn't have internal rotation to go with it, we see this bad position. But here's the thing, Rylee will never hurt her back leg while doing lunges, so why does it matter? Well, that's because lunges aren't the only thing that puts her hips in extension. In fact, yesterday's workout had another movement that hip extension plays a major role: running. So if her habits tell me anything, then that should mean...
...yup. Leg is behind her (hip extension), foot turned out, knee coming in.
But she's in the air and how could she get hurt in the air?
True. So let's see if she manages to magically flip her foot back forward before she lands on every stride:
Didn't think so.
This is a very not okay position. Running in a straight line will hide the issue for a decent amount of time, but what if she needs to change direction suddenly to her left (like she will have to on the basketball court in a few weeks). That's a good recipe for a knee injury, unfortunately.
The fix is simple and takes us back to the two most controllable things: mobility and coordination. For mobility, anything involving hip extension/internal rotation is good: couch stretch, softball smash to the hip, banded hip extension, partner quad smash, just keep banging away at stuff and it will loosen up eventually. As far as coordination, this is where blocking movement comes in. Every single exercise we do in CrossFit could be an opportunity to practice undoing Rylee's bad position. Squatting with arches places the feet straight and knees out. Jumping rope with feet together practices feet straight and knees out. More specifically when we look at hip extension, things like burpees and kipping are a great chance to practice that. Here's Rylee doing a few practice reps after the workout:
There is no official movement standard that says your feet have to be together on burpees or pull-ups in order for a rep to be completed. But it's not the completed rep we care about, it's the positions and principles. Burpees and pull-ups are just an excuse to practice them. Blocking movement is something I use across the board because you need to develop good habits without thinking about it. The more we practice blocked movement, the more the good positions will become a default habit, and habits are what translates into other areas.
