by
Eric Cressey
With
reference to strength and conditioning programs, the adjective “stiff” is
generally perceived to be a bad thing, as folks mean it in a general sense. In
other words, you seem “locked up” and don’t move well.
Taken
more literally and applied to specific joints, stiffness can be a very good
thing. A problem only exists if someone is excessively stiff – especially in
relation to adjacent joints. If someone has the right amount of stiffness to
prevent movement at a segment when desired, then you would simply say that it’s
“stable.” That doesn’t sound too bad, does it?
This
is generally a very confusing topic, so I’ll use some examples to illustrate
the concept.
Example #1: Reducing kyphosis.
Take
your buddy – we’ll call him Lurch – who sits at a desk all day long. He’s got a
horrible Quasimodo posture, and he comes to your for help with improving it.
You know that his thoracic spine is stuck in flexion and needs to be unlocked,
so you’re obviously going to give him some thoracic spine mobility drills. That’s a
no brainer.However, would you say that Lurch would make
better progress correcting bad posture with those drills alone, or if he
combines those drills with some deadlifting, horizontal pulling strength
exercises, and a more extended thoracic spine posture during the day? Of course
Lurch would do much better with those additions – but why?
All those additions increased stiffness.
With
the thoracic erectors adequately stiff relative to the cervical erectors (which
create forward head posture when too stiff) and lumbar erectors (create
lordosis when too stiff), there is something to “hold” these changes in place.
If you’re just doing the thoracic spine mobilizations, you’re just transiently modifying
stiffness (increasing tolerance to stretch) – NOT increasing range of motion!
You know what else is funny? In 99% of cases
like this, you’ll also see an improvement in
glenohumeral range of motion (both
transiently and chronically). Mobilize a thoracic spine
and it’s easier to
create stiffness in the appropriate scapular stabilizers. When the
peri-scapular muscles are adequately stiff, the glenohumeral joint can move
more freely. It’s all about understanding the joint-by-joint theory; mobility and
stability alternate.
Example #2: The guy who can squat deep with crazy stiff hip
flexors.
A
few years ago, one of our interns demonstrated the single-worst Thomas Test
I’ve ever seen. In this assessment, which looks at hip flexor length, a “good”
test would have the bottom leg flat on the table with no deviation to the side.
In the image below (recreated by another intern), the position observed would
be indicative of shortness or stiffness in the rectus femoris and/or psoas
(depending on modifying tests):
In
the case to which I’m referring, though, our intern was about twice as bad as
what you just saw. He might very well have had barnacles growing on his rectus
femoris, from what I could tell. But you know what? He stood up right after
that test and showed me one of the “crispest” barefoot overhead squats I’ve
ever seen.
About
an hour later, I watched him front squat 405 to depth with a perfectly neutral
spine. So what gives? I mean, there’s no way a guy with hip flexors that stiff
(or short) should be able to squat without pitching forward, right?
Wrong.
He made up for it with crazy stiffness in his posterior hip musculature and
outstanding core stability (adequate stiffness). This stiffness enables him to
tap in to hip mobility that you wouldn’t think is there.
Is
this a guy that’d still need to focus on tissue length and quality of the hip
flexers? Absolutely – because I’d expect him to rip a hole in one of them the
second he went to sprint, or he might wind up with anterior knee pain
eventually.
Does
that mean that squatting isn’t the best thing for him at the time, even if he
can’t do it? Not necessarily, as it is a pattern that you don’t want to lose,
it’s a key part of him maintaining a training effect, and because you want him
to feel what it’s like to squat with less anterior hip stiffness as he works to
improve his hip mobility (rather than just throw him into the fire with “new
hips” down the road).
These
are just two examples; you can actually find examples of “good stiffness” all
over the body. So, as you can imagine, this isn’t just limited to corrective
exercise programs; it’s also applicable to strength and conditioning programs
for healthy individuals. Effective programs implement mobility exercises and
self myofascial release to transiently reduce stiffness where it’s excessive,
and strength exercises to stiffen segments that are unstable. Effectively, you
teach the body how to move correctly – and then load it up to work to make that
education permanent.
