CraigR

Interesting, are you talking about her back surgery or knee reconstruction?

I like it Kit. You are marketing the programs as ST for GST so it make sense to me, to name them accordingly. Thank-you also for the original post in this thread, brilliant.

I think Kit is saying to contract the quads of the straight leg to protect the knee joint. If you don't do this the stress on the knee can cause the medial side of the knee to open up and consequently place extra compression on the lateral side of the knee where you had meniscus removed. My rehab so far has been based on learning to co-contract both quads and hamstrings for the same reason, but with the hamstring involvement specifically to add additional protection for the new ACL graft. For your situation this might not be required. Kit? Also I consider the SSS, especially the way that Kit cues it, to be closer to a deadlift pattern and the glute activation is incredible. Funnily enough as I first learnt of this exercise as the King deadlift.

Absolutely Kit, my intention wasn't to suggest what you had written was specific to bouldering. Quite the opposite in fact. I'm simply finding it interesting to think about the result of placing specific physical demands of <insert activity here> on top of potential non-specific and common postural compensations such as those you wrote about. Truthfully I've probably just spent too much time sitting on my couch thinking about the specifics of my own situation lately. Anyway, my original (and poorly written) question is at what point would it be beneficial to step back and take in a more holistic view of someone's entire posture when presented with what appears to be a specific issue?

Hi JoachimG, I will share a little of my story as I've recently had ACL reconstruction surgery myself, so I can definitely empathise a little. I've found the mental aspects of dealing with my injury and recovery to be more challenging than the physical. It's been difficult at times to accept what happened but all I can do is attempt to stay positive. I start each day with a leg that I can't fully straighten and only bend to ~45 degrees. I know that it'll improve during the day as it warms up but it is still very frustrating to feel like I'm back to square one each day. I just keep working on it trying to get back to and improve on the previous day's ROM. I don't know how far my recovery will take me but I do plan to continue mindfully boiling the frog. For you, try not to be too negative about your decision to have surgery, as truthfully you don't know how much the rehab would have helped. I know of a local knee surgeon who is pushing for harvested meniscus from cadavers to use for transplants, so who knows what the future will hold for you. Patience will be key, so listen intently to your body and take all the time you need. Focusing on glute activation like you are is probably a good decision and it might be best to initially focus on deadlift variations (i.e. hinging at the hip and keeping your shin vertical) rather than squats. But best to talk to your PT and follow their advice. All the best with your recovery.

I'll add something from another thread that might be useful... I find this interesting. Not only do the lats internally rotate the shoulder but they also attach on the pelvis and thoracolumbar fascia etc, so could tight lats also promote anterior pelvic tilt and lumbar lordosis? If so, this would just compound the issue with tight HFs that Kit previously described. Maybe there's a clue to be found be assessing the rest of your posture too.

Kit and I have spoken and he knows my view, so I'll just put it out here for comment by others. Firstly, I don't think you can stop people from copying the programs. We just have to look at the movie and music industries and their unsuccessful attempts to fight this reality. Secondly, the people that do download copies would probably have never paid for it anyway so I don't think you can count these as lost sales. BUT... If someone is exposed to Kit's methods via downloading a pirated copy and goes on to purchase a different program then that's a win, and if that person signs up for a workshop as a result then it's an absolutely massive win! This is the key in my opinion. More exposure via these programs should potentially lead to more people registering for workshops and even requests for new workshops in new locations. So I really see all these programs as great advertising for Kit's system and his workshops, with all the honest people chipping in along the way with legitimate purchases. On top of that, there's a philosophical side to this discussion as well. Is it more important and rewarding to be able to share this knowledge, or to try and make as much money from the programs as possible?

Might not be best bang for your buck, but rolling plantar fascia and the foot sequence (on YT channel).

I tend to agree. At first I thought it might be good promotional material, however the videos on the YT channel (specifically the "mastering" series videos like ST for GST and single leg dog pose) are far better for promoting the new products.

I'll start. I personally like the idea of individual downloadable videos for each pose in the program that contain only the verbal cues. These could be accompanied by a companion PDF to include basic information about each pose along with static photos and written cues for as a quick and easy reference guide. I'm also open to streaming services such as Vimeo's video on demand as that would give users the ideal combination of either streaming videos directly or downloading local copies for offline viewing. Not sure how this would work with the non-video files such as PDF's though. The key for me is the ability to preserve the sequence of these poses, something that could be handled using series in Vimeo, or perhaps simply a solid folder and file naming structure of the individual files.

Hi all, As everyone knows the ST for GST programs are on their way and this has started some discussion about the optimal way of delivering this new content. I think this thread should open up the discussion so everyone here can share their thoughts and preferences. The community here is fantastic and I know Kit will truly appreciate hearing everyone's ideas so let's share them!

Thanks for posting Jim. I've always felt this difference myself but I've never taken a photo to actually see the difference. Kit, I'm probably stating the obvious here... but I feel the main reason that gymnasts train the forward bend with toes pointed is because that's the exact position they need to achieve during competition. Small details like pointing your toes needs to be automatic and shouldn't take up valuable conscious thought during a complex routine. An argument could definitely be made for training the forward bend with toes pulled back from a flexibility point of view, but this probably isn't seen as worth the trade off for most gymnastics coaches.

Craig, this sounds like a similar concept to the progressions here: http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96381

Agreed, I like it Craig! I'd also entertain the thought of Strength and Movement being split into two forums if a single forum ends up containing too many distinct topics.

This is excellent Kit - some good cues that make this stretch far more effective than what I was previously doing!

Hi everyone, Just a quick update on my progress - after 3 months on the sideline I've now returned to training and playing competitive basketball and so far I'm completely pain free both during those sessions and the day after as well. Very happy! :-)

Hi everyone, I'd like to share an experience that I've had recently thanks to a conversation I had with Kit - hopefully someone finds this useful. My history was that I had experienced pain from a bone spur (anterior ankle impingement) that had also severely restricted my range of motion when compared to my other ankle. When I contacted Kit, he suggested first that I work on this ankle stretch: . He also recalled a story of a friend who had caused his own bone spur to be completely resorbed. The method that he described was to do a variation of a weighted seated heel raise on the gym machine with the same name, but by loading up the ankle in the max stretch position and doing little contracts-relaxes. I've been following these suggestions for the past 11 weeks and using the contract-relax method above 1-2 times per week for about 2-5 minutes each time, entirely dependent on how my ankle was feeling that day. This was quite a painful experience at first, but after about 8 weeks I started to notice that there was very little pain even though I was using heavier weight and my max stretch position was deeper. I'm not 100% pain free, yet, but the results so far speak for themselves; in a knee to wall test there is now very little difference in the range of motion for both ankles and I'm also able to work on my SLS without needing to use either a weight to counter-balance or a heel lift. I'm very happy with the outcome of this little experiment - thanks Kit!