Today’s podcast is with biomechanics and rehab specialist, Alex Effer. Alex is the owner of Resilient Training, and has extensive experience in strength & conditioning, exercise physiology and the biomechanical function of the body. He also runs educational mentorships teaching biomechanics to therapists, trainers and coaches. Alex has been a previous guest on the show speaking on many aspects of gait, and the links between common gym movements and locomotion.
For the amount of talk that goes into particular exercises, or exercise variations, very little goes into looking at human biomechanics first, as a base layer by which to base exercise selection. We also spend little time understanding how two athletes may ideally perform the same movement differently, to optimize their own leverages. We also often hear, or see exercises or training methods designed to improve external rotation, but tend to overly generalize the roles of “knees in/out”, or “inside edge/outside edge”.
By understanding more about the biomechanical basis of force production, and how structure determines our base of support, we can achieve not only a better exercise selection process, but a better understanding of athletic movement in general.
On the show today, Alex gets into important concepts on how humans produce force in movement, and how the internal and external rotation of joints creates effective motion. This leads into how various body types have different bases of support, and what this means for programming squat and lunge variations, as well as implications on the level of various kettlebell swing and catch exercises. This was an in-depth show that will change your lens on the way you see squat and lunge setups across a breadth of athletes in training.
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Timestamps and Main Points
3:12 – How Alex became the “Thanos” of the biomechanical world
5:38 – What legs that internally, or externally rotate, means for force production strategies
13:16 – How bow-leggedness fits in with athletic movements, such as acceleration, and when varus/bow-leggedness can become an issue
22:22 – Optional squat width, and knees-in, versus knees-out tendencies
27:39 – Concepts on loading the body up in external rotation in regards to force production, considering internal and external rotation in exercise selection
39:33 – The role of swinging weights and kettlebells for the sake of improving biomechanics, such as hip extension, and how to use external loads to internally open up ranges of motion
54:16 – Lateral lunge dynamics in light of valgus, varus, and wide/narrow ISA type athletes
1:07:51 – Dynamics of kettlebell swings and internal rotation, in light of the need to create space to swing the bell between their legs
1:14:06 – Elements that you can learn from athletes by observing their lateral lunge form, and which way they tend to point their toes our knees
1:22:20 – Assessing hip extension quality in lateral lunge and 45-degree lunge situations
Alex Effer Quotes
“When we are looking at the knees (valgus and varus), we have to consider someone’s base of support”
“(With valgus/bowlegged individuals) There are people who don’t have internal and external rotation so they push their knees out to the side, so they only have access to that lateral, frontal plane… they shift their base of support out to the side”
“A valgus, instead of a rectangle going out to the side, they have a front to back rectangle; they don’t have space to the side, but they have space in front of them; so they are able to flex their hip but they don’t have a lot of internal rotation ability, so they will shove their pelvis forward to be able to produce force, and usually it comes from their back”
“Gait is just a forward progression of our center of mass”
“The more my center of gravity goes forward, the more I squish everything”
“I’ll get them to have their feet side by side, together, right under their hips. That tells me how much IR you have. If you have your feet together, but your knees are totally turned out to the side, I know that when I get you to press off your metatarsal off the big toe, that force is not coming from the hip, it’s coming from the back, your foot is going to twist out to the side, so you are not getting that push-off we are looking for”
“Wherever my knees are, that’s where my base of support is, and where I’m putting force into the ground”
“If I have a cowboy, (for squatting) I’ll walk them out to the side until their knees appear straight. With a wider stance, they can get some depth, there is no more shifting in the hips”
“The wall squat moves the center of gravity back”
“If you have room in front of you (like a narrow ISA), a staggered stance squat will feel good for you”
“(As a wide ISA) A sumo deadlift feels better for me than an RDL, which is where my base of support is”
“That early mid-stance is like your deceleration, your force absorption”
“Late mid-stance is more of your propulsion, that’s where you are producing the force”
“I like the term re-distribution of force, better than absorption; absorption makes it sound like you are absorbing it into one tissue (instead of distributing it throughout multiple joints and tissues)”
“Inside that onion of external rotation, at the center of it, needs to be internal rotation, because I need to stay in line and rotate around something… the internal rotation is the producing, and the distributing of force”
“That person is so tense they can’t create the space themselves, so I need something that uses momentum (like KB swinging or drop-catch motions) to blow that space open”
“Sometimes, making points heavier at certain points of motion, is actually opening up motion”
“Somebody is is more bow legged may have a lot of tension around their tailbone, and opening that up may be strategy number 1”
“Lateral lunges can be effective for both (knock kneed and bow leg) but they will be most effective for those with bow legs. Split squat positions will be tough for people with bow legs”
“If you only gave me one option of what you can use (to modulate lifts), I would chose cables”
“Having both hands on the kettlebells going between the legs is one of the last variations I would use, because that requires the greatest amount of internal rotation”
“I will start (a lateral lunge) cueing people to point their toes forward”
“Typically when I do a lateral lunge, I start with going just wider than shoulder stance… it’s too wide when the hips start to turn towards the trail leg”
“I think the 45 degree (lateral lunge) range is so under-utilized ranges, because people traditionally just do the split squat and lateral lunge”
“If people do a lateral lunge and it doesn’t look good, that curtsy (step down) is awesome”
“If I have somebody who doesn’t have good hip extension in a straight leg raise, I can’t put them in a movement that requires a lot of hip extension at the start”
About Alex Effer
Alex Effer is the owner of Resilient Training and Rehabilitation, a name that emphasizes Alex’s unique approach to fitness, which is one that combines both aspects of normal fitness and rehabilitation principles to achieve long- lasting pain free results. Alex uses his comprehensive knowledge and passion in exercise science, autonomics, respiration, rehabilitation, and biomechanics to develop programs that promote injury prevention, sports performance, and rehabilitation through quality of movement.
Alex has gained extensive clinical and practical experience treating and training a variety of clients from professional and amateur athletes, high profile executives, older adults, individuals with certain medical conditions such as Stroke, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis, Congenital Heart Disease, Postoperative rehabilitation and individuals with chronic and complex pain.
Alex’s experience includes: Head Exercise Physiologist at Ace Sports Clinic Inc; Director of Return to Performance and Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Varsity Baseball, Women’s Lacrosse, and Golf team at the University of Toronto; Consultant for the Varsity Blues Football, Hockey, Swimming Team; Head Exercise Physiologist for Balance Physiotherapy; and consultant to Olympic Swimming Athletes, and NBA players.
Alex earned his Bachelors of Kinesiology from the University of Toronto, obtained a Post-Graduate Certificate in Exercise Science for Health and Performance from Niagara College and is a Certified Exercise Physiologist, Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach, and EXOS Performance Specialist.
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