Today’s show features biomechanist, coach and author, Rocky Snyder.  Rocky is the owner of “Rocky’s Fitness” in Santa Cruz, California.  Rocky is an accomplished personal trainer with an absolutely immense library of knowledge in multiple disciplines of human performance, such as biomechanics, exercise selection and neurology. Rocky is the author of the book “Return to Center” and has a track record on being able to restore functional movement ability to even the most difficult client cases.

In the world of training, we have a “muscle-centric” approach, and then a “joint-centric” approach to performance.  I have found that while training and centering one’s efforts on muscles and their actions can definitely be helpful, an approach that can serve a greater percentage of clients in a sustainable manner is one that understands joint mechanics, and how muscles will respond to one’s joint positions.  Muscles that are long, short, weak or tight are as such, because they are responding to an individual’s joint mechanics, and therefore the related demands they are constantly placed under.

Today’s episode focuses on the joint mechanics of the feet and hips.  Rocky starts by highlighting elements of proper pronation and supination (with an extra emphasis on the action of the foot’s transverse arch in movement, it’s link to glute function and how we can assess how well it is being utilized) and how we can look for a deficiency in either area.  Rocky then gets into practical exercise interventions in the world of lunge motions, standing twists, and why Rocky favors spiraling single leg training to glute-bridge oriented exercises for a functional glute training effect.  Finally, Rocky gives his take on how loaded carries fit with the gait cycle, and can “balance out” and restore athletes from compressive gym work.

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Timestamps and Main Points:

4:28 – How Rocky got started in fitness, and the different areas of the field he has layered onto his approach, such as biomechanics, neurology and breathwork (evolution from outdoor athlete, to gym rat, into functional fitness/neurology/biomechanics)

10:43 – Rocky’s experience in coaching youth sports

13:39 – What Rocky thinks on the idea of “over-pronation” and what that term means to him

22:30 – The importance of “anchoring the transverse arch” on pronation mechanics and glute utilization in gait

34:26 – How to improve pronation, and solve the issue of “over-pronation” in an athlete

40:17 – Considering barbell hip thrusts in light of knowing more about pronation and spirals in the body, to activate glutes

46:48 – What Rocky is looking for on the level of the pelvis when it comes to pronation

53:35 – The link between sprinting, anterior and posterior pelvic tilt

58:05 – What Rocky is looking at in a reverse glider lunge exercise in terms of pronation and supination

1:03:30 – The importance of a straight back leg in the isometric lunge exercise in terms of the reciprocal action of the body

1:07:52 – The importance of supination in the foot, and how to create a balance of pronation and supination in the feet in various exercises

1:16:45 – How loaded carries fit with expansion bias and functional core strength, for the human body

“I couldn’t stand gyms when I was growing up, I grew up in the backwoods of New England, I grew up doing rock climbing, cross country skiing, whitewater canoeing, but I was also a gymnast and got into wrestling”

“My work originally started with muscular-centric loading… but now there’s also motor neurology and b...