Why Your Lifts Break Down
“Coaching Movement” - STCfit & Fox Physio, Part 1
During this article, Ben Scott from STCfit and Laura Fox from Fox Physio will introduce the 3 types of technique breakdown and how to identify them, and the 5 intervention types we use in programming to facilitate the best outcomes for clients.
Note: This is Part 2 of the Assessing Movement series and builds upon Part 1, “360 Degrees of Movement Assessment” — we recommend reading Part 1 as we will refer to our technique definition and reference lines below.
TYPES OF TECHNIQUE BREAKDOWN
Remembering our definition of technique:
“execution of a movement through a predetermined ROM with adherence to reference lines decided upon by an individual’s morphology, in accordance to the target outcome”
When discussing the “breakdown” of technique, we are to assume the ROM and exercise execution parameters have been set with consideration to the lifter’s morphology and the target outcome. In other words, we’ve set what the lift should look and feel like, it’s been executed by the client to an acceptable standard previously, but we are now seeing a breakdown.
There are 3 main causes for technique breakdown:
Strength
Skill
Function
Each is displayed under different circumstances, allowing us to identify them.
Before continuing, it’s important to note the quote, “All models are wrong, but some of them are useful”. When defining the types of technique breakdown, we are looking to give direction allowing us to later prescribe the correct interventions in our programming.
The following definitions give us the best ability to assess a lift live or via videos, to determine the most likely cause of a breakdown.
STRENGTH BREAKDOWN
We define a strength breakdown as “Failure to adhere to the decided upon technique brought on by load or rep fatigue”
For example:
A lifter squats 100kg for 5 reps with adhering to the technique.
We add 5kg, during the 4th rep we see a rounding of the upper back, and it worsens on the 5th rep. This would suggest a strength breakdown in the upper back brought on by “load fatigue”.
Similarly, if we were to continue with 100kg, with the goal of 5 sets but the lifter showed rounding of the back in rep 5 of the 4th set, and in rep 4 and 5 of the 5th set, we are seeing a strength breakdown in the upper back brought on by “rep fatigue”.
SKILL BREAKDOWN
We define a skill breakdown as “Intermittent failure to adhere to decided upon technique regardless of load”
For example:
If we were to perform the same 5x5 squat program, and noticed the upper back rounding on some reps, but not on others throughout the sets, we are seeing a skill breakdown in the upper back.
FUNCTION BREAKDOWN
We define a function breakdown as — “Failure to to adhere to the decided upon technique, across all reps regardless of load”
For example:
If while performing the 5x5 squat sessions we see a trunk rotation on every rep, we can assume a function breakdown
Once we have a solid idea of what type of breakdown we have, we can begin to consider the intervention types and how they might apply.
INTERVENTION TYPES
The purpose of identifying the three breakdown types is to allow us to make better decisions with interventions.
There are 5 categories of intervention we can apply:
Cueing
Strengthening
Movement/Skill Acquisition
Hypertrophy
Rehab
It’s likely in most cases, all 5 interventions will have some value to the deficiency. Particularly when we consider the 3 deficiencies have potential to overlap and can often be misrepresented in movement.
Cueing
We always want to start with the lowest hanging fruit, Cueing is the fastest intervention and in a lot of cases, particularly in intermediate lifters, all that’s required to correct a Technique Breakdown.
Strengthen
Strength isn’t always the answer, but being weak never is.
For a strength breakdown, we will be looking to intervene with building strength, however more strength will likely encourage skill development, and may also help with a functional dysfunction.
The goal of a strength intervention is to provide a challenge to the perceived weakness in a movement/position as close to that being challenged in the movement as possible.
For example, if we are seeing a strength breakdown in the hips in the hole of a squat, with no presentation of pain, we want to challenge that position. We could choose a squat variation like a pause or tempo to increase time spent in the position, or an accessory movement like a front squat to reduce the complexity of the movement allowing us to achieve “perfect reps”, or compound movements like a split squat variant that reaches full depth. All these interventions have the added advantage of reducing load and fatigue, allowing us to drive volume.
The general rules for strength centric training still apply here (see “Measuring Training Session Success” for full explanation), we’d be looking to use loads of 80%+ and working to an appropriate proximity of failure (between 4 & 1 reps in reserve). This is to target intramuscular coordination, training the lifter to create more force.
It’s important to note, there is nothing wrong with a booty band clam. But for efficiency’s sake, if no pain is present, we want to perform movements that directly contribute to the goal outcome with the greatest direct carry over. The clam would be better suited to a rehab intervention, following appropriate testing to identify specific weaknesses — in this case the gluteus medius.
Movement
A movement based intervention has the intent of improving skill. As per strength, our goal is to prescribe a movement as close to the goal movement and with as much direct carry over as possible. This has the intent of increasing the ability of the lifter.
Using the above example again, if a skill breakdown was present in the hip through the hole of a squat, we specifically want to challenge the skill of holding position in the hole. The exercise selection is fairly simple, what level of regression is the lifter capable of executing consistently?
As shown in Ben’s previous article “Progressions and Regression For Success” one regression model for the squat could be:
As you can see some of the exercise selections are the same as the strength interventions. The difference between the two is primarily in the application and execution of the movements.
When we are training to improve movement we are targeting INTER-muscluar coordination as opposed in INTRA-muscular coordination mentioned in the strength intervention. Typically we will program 40–80% loads, and reduce the proximity to failure — staying closer to 4 rep in reserve. We will often gauge when to end the set by “task action failure” presenting as technique breakdown rather than “volitional fatigue” whereby we can no longer produce the muscular force required to complete more reps.
Hypertrophy
Is there ever a downside to having more muscle? While hypertrophy work is typically considered an aesthetic only pursuit, there are many benefits to increasing muscle size in a particular area.
More muscle, more potential strength… the bigger a muscle is the greater its ability to produce force, contributing to strength interventions.
Correction of imbalances… if a muscle is underdeveloped it’s likely due to the lifters movements biasing a stronger position. For example, if you always perform your squat and lunge variants knee dominant (favouring you quads), there’s a chance your glutes are underdeveloped. Specific work on growing your glutes could allow for greater ability to perform hip dominant movements more effectively, in some cases even providing the ability to shift what were quad dominant exercises to become more hip dominant, opening up flexibility in exercise selection.
Proprioception… Being able to hypertrophy a muscle, typically comes from being able to feel it, this ability to feel a muscle and position the body in space to load it effectively will often contribute to increased coordination and thus skill.
When specifically training for hypertrophy it’s best to select exercises which make use of external stability, allowing you to create maximal tension in the target muscle. This will inherently reduce the movement complexity and more often that not means hypertrophy work is done towards the end of the session. While hypothetically, hypertrophy can be achieved from loads between 40% and 100%, typically the best results are found between 65–80%. RIR will typically range between 4 and 0 and will ascend with the load percentage, ie. a 65% load may need to be taken to 0–1 RIR while 85% would still be effective around 3–4 RIR.
Rehab
The goal of rehab is very specific to each individual depending on their presentation. It depends on a multitude of factors, such as the site, intensity and irritability of their symptoms; and also takes into account psychosocial and lifestyle aspects. Rehab is often done as an adjunct to enable the athlete to keep performing the movements they want to perform, but better. Rehab can vary from low load high frequency exercises, to movement prep, movement patterning, or integration of specific strength and hypertrophy exercises.
Movement prep is generally with the outcome of getting appropriate mobility/stability through certain hubs of the body for correct and safe exercise execution, movement patterning involves changing maladaptive and inefficient movement patterns eg eliminating lumbar flexion/extension in hip hinging, and strength or hypertrophy to weak or underdeveloped areas of the body can be integrated into programming. Additionally, accessory exercises in a program should be targeted to the individuals capabilities, and should address any movement issues or weaknesses.
Pain or dysfunction appears for a reason — often due to weakness and/or incorrect movement patterns. The goal of rehab is to not only make the individual symptom free, but to address the contributing factors and make them stronger than before, to ensure that their pain/dysfunction does not recur. By improving the weak links, this allows for greater progressions, optimal performance and mitigates injury risk.
Rehab is generally out of the scope of trainers. Referring out to a practitioner is vital for optimal client care and it is important to know when to do this — do not let your ego prevent you from collaborating with other professionals. Integration with a health professional, such as a physiotherapist, will enable you to get accelerated and better outcomes for your client. We recommend finding an allied health professional who has a background in the fitness industry, to have a working relationship with.
APPLICATION
As we mentioned, the goal of this article was to introduce our model of identifying different types of lift breakdowns, and the intervention types we might use.
Remember — without application, information is all but useless. So, we recommend you get some training videos out, and start looking to see if you have any lifts which display strength, skill or functional breakdowns.
COMING UP
Our next 3 articles will be driving into the specifics around how we apply the 5 interventions to each breakdown type. In the coming months, we’ll unpack the strength, skill and functional breakdowns with case studies.
We look forward to any and all feedback.
Lift Smart, Lift Hard, Lift Long.
Ben & Laura
