When it comes to movement - these are the BIG 3! Whether you are following SHIFT or loading up with big weight in Program B or C, the way to perform these movements safely and properly will remain the same. Making sure you take the time to practice these and throw them into your daily warm ups. It will pay off big time in the long run. The proper execution of these movements will ensure safety, as well as allow you to progress and build strength in a balanced way across your entire body.

At the very basic level - a squat is raising and lowering your center of mass (your body) and is one of the MOST basic human movements. Have you ever seen a toddler just chill in the bottom of a squat? If you get a chance, notice what that looks like. You’ll notice the heels are down, their butt is lower than their knees, their knees are out and angled the same as their feet, and their chest is up. A child looks comfortable in this position because it’s the way our body is designed to move. In many parts of the world, this position is still a very common way that people perform many of their daily activities.

You might not find it so easy for you.

We sit all day in chairs, in our cars, on the airplane, or on the couch. Sitting all day, for years, weakens our backside (posterior chain - hamstrings, glutes, erectors) and tightens our hips. Wearing high heels and many other types of shoes alters our ankle flexibility. That super flexible toddler we once were, is gone.

The best way to get it back: SQUAT! Doing this movement, both passively in warm ups or just hanging out in the bottom position for 1-3 min a day can greatly improve our ability to get into it. Doing this movement well in workouts with or without weight will rebuild the motor patterns needed to be strong in this movement.

MOVEMENT PROGRESSION

• FEET SHOULDER WIDTH APART

• HEELS DOWN

• BELLY TIGHT

• CHEST UP

• REACH BUTT BACK AND DOWN

• DRIVE KNEES OUT

• KEEP HEELS DOWN

• KEEP BELLY TIGHT

• KEEP CHEST LIFTED

• BUTT LOWER THAN KNEES AT BOTTOM

• HEELS DOWN

• KNEES OUT

• CHEST UP

• BELLY TIGHT

• NO ROUNDING OF THE LOWER OR UPPER BACK

• NO SHIFTING FORWARD OR LIFTING OF THE HEELS

• NO CAVING KNEES

• NO PLOPPING OR RELAXING (UNLESS HOLDING UNWEIGHTED SQUAT FOR MOBILITY PURPOSES)

We say HEELS a lot. But do we need you falling backward because you are SO far back on your heels? NO! Really you will have your WHOLE FOOT on the floor. Toes spread and helping with stability. We say heels so much because it is MOST common for people to want to shift forward. This puts more stress on the knees and turns this into a mostly quad (front of leg) movement. We want the balance, strength, and stability of the backside (glutes and hamstrings) to take most of the work. So stay back!!

Plopping when you try to go low? It is VERY common for people to be weak once they break parallel. Why? Because - chairs. The muscles haven’t had to be strong in that position, and the neuro-muscular system hasn’t been asked to recruit muscle in that position for most of your adult life - or pretty much since you started going to school. So a lot of times people feel that they just kind of collapse. This is the EXACT reason we are going to work on it!

That plop might also be from hip, knee, or ankle tightness and once you get to parallel you find your knees roll in, you shift onto your toes, your back rounds, and your chest drops. This is VERY normal and when done with no weight and not fast - IS NOT DANGEROUS. It just needs to be worked on.

Taking an object from your chest or shoulder level to over your head is pretty universal. That suitcase you store at the top of your closet? It’s that!

Often when people have learned to press in the gym, it is usually lacking just a BIT of range of motion. Typically what we see in the gym is a press that ends slightly out front, or not quite locked out. We are going to fix that! And not to make the movement “harder” but to make sure you are developing ALL of the muscles of the shoulders and upper back - both to protect the joints - but also because we know you want those nice looking shoulders from ALL angles!

You will first want to practice what we call the Strict Press or Shoulder Press and then this movement will transfer over to when we get the legs involved in something like a Push Press or even a Thruster.

MOVEMENT PROGRESSION

• FEET UNDER HIPS

• HEELS DOWN

• STANDING TALL

• BUTT SQUEEZED

• BELLY TIGHT

• OBJECT(S) AT SHOULDER HEIGHT

• ELBOWS IN FRONT

• OBJECT RESTING ON THE SHELF YOUR SHOULDERS HAVE CREATED

• PRESS STRAIGHT-UP

• KEEP BELLY TIGHT

• STRAIGHT BAR PATH

• FINISH LOCKED OUT OVERHEAD

• WEIGHT OVER THE MIDDLE OF YOUR BODY

• BICEPS BY THE EARS

• BELLY TIGHT

• PRESSING UP

• LOWER WITH ELBOWS IN FRONT

• NO LEANING BACK AT ANY POINT! BELLY TIGHT!

• NO PRESSING OUT AND AROUND THE FACE

• NO OVEREXTENSION OF BELLY AT THE TOP

Deadlifting is just a fancy term for picking something up. No one bats an eye when you pick up your backpack, your child, or your shoes. But deadlifting?! That sounds serious!

Learning how to safely and effectively pick something up off of the ground couldn’t be more important. We all know that one guy (maybe that one guy is you) who threw his back out helping someone move. Or maybe the mom who hurts every time she goes to pick up her child. Unfortunately, the solution most people find for this? Avoiding it completely. That approach only leads to more weakness and tightness. Weakness and tightness leads to a greater risk for injury - and the cycle is not great.

In Street Parking we deadlift dumbbells, kettlebells, medicine balls, sandbags, and barbells. We pick them up. We turn that deadlift into a clean, a snatch, or a ball over the shoulder. We train how to pick up an object off the ground correctly and safely and gain strength, flexibility, and efficiency while doing it!

Oh, and did we mention this is a great way to build the backside? READ: hamstrings and booty.

MOvement PROGRESSION

• HEELS DOWN

• OBJECT CLOSE TO THE BODY

• HINGE AT HIPS

• KNEES BENT

• GRIP OUTSIDE LEGS (OBJECT DEPENDENT)

• HIPS HIGHER THAN KNEES

• CHEST/SHOULDERS OVER OBJECT

• ARMS STRAIGHT

• SHOULDERS BACK

• BELLY TIGHT

• GAZE IN FRONT (NOT UP - ROUGHLY 6 FEET IN FRONT OF YOU)

• DRIVE HEELS INTO THE GROUND

• LIFT CHEST

• PULL OBJECT INTO BODY

• PRESS KNEES BACK

• KEEP BELLY TIGHT

• STAND FULLY

• SQUEEZE CHEEKS

• ARMS STRAIGHT

• SHOULDERS BACK

TO LOWER:

• REACH BUTT BACK

• KEEP HEELS DOWN

• PULL OBJECT INTO BODY

• KEEP BELLY TIGHT

• KEEP CHEST UP

• SOFTEN KNEES

• LOWER UNDER CONTROL TO THE GROUND

• NO SHIFTING FORWARD

• NO SHOOTING UP OF THE HIPS OFF OF THE FLOOR

• NO GOING AROUND THE KNEES

• NO OVEREXTENSION OF THE BACK

• NO ROUNDING OF THE BACK IN SET UP - AS YOU MOVE - OR WHEN LOWERING

TIPS:

The closer the object is to your body - the easier it is to control, the lighter it will feel, and the easier it will be to keep safe and strong positions! Pull it into your body throughout!

You are basically playing tug of war with the weight you are lifting. You want to really stay back in those heels, the same way you would if there was a person on the other side of a rope. Dig in!

The more straight the path of the object is, the closer it will stay to your body, the easier it will be to lift.

BOTH rounding of the back or overextension is not as safe of strong and keeping a nice neutral back. Disclaimer: We all lift things we a round back every day. You drop a spoon on the ground - you're not going to set up like it’s a heavy deadlift. Just remember the heavier the object is or the more reps/more speed you are doing - the more risk of injury there is. We also all know that other guy who has thrown out his back picking up his socks.