Squat to Row (Posterior Oblique Subsystem Integration)

Squat to Row (Posterior Oblique Subsystem Integration) is an exercise that combines a deep squat with a standing row, emphasizing the integration of two major muscle groups, the latissimus dorsi and the gluteus maximus. The goal of this exercise is to coordinate the squatting and pulling motion together, to optimize the tranfer of force between the upper and lower body. This exercise can be used as an integration exercise in a corrective exercise template, but can also help build strength and improve balance, while demanding coordination, agility, and control.

Transcript

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This is Brent, President of B2C Fitness,
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and we're talking about posterior
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oblique subsystem integration. Now, your posterior oblique subsystem is your glute,
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thoracal lumbar fascia, and opposite latissimus dorsi. It is one of the group
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of muscles surrounding our core that works synergistically, in this case to
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help us pull back and support our posterior kinetic chain, transfer force
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between our lower and upper halves, as well as, what I'll call, "turn out" our
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kinetic chain. This is a good place for us to start our integrated exercise.
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Number one, by nature, all integrated exercises are going to include movements
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for both the lower and upper halves. The posterior oblique subsystem is what we
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could term the, "almost always under-active subsystem". Whether it is upper
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body dysfunction, excessive forward lean, an anterior pelvic tilt, or lower leg
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dysfunction, the posterior oblique subsystem is under active. We're going to
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find that it's also an easier integrated movement to teach. So it's a very good
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starting point for our routines, for our clients to get introduced to integrated
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exercise. I'm going to have my friend, Salvi, come out and help me demonstrate
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this first posterior oblique subsystem exercise. Now, Salvi has lower leg
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dysfunction, in lower leg dysfunction the posterior oblique subsystem is weak.
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Once again, just to give you a visual here, we're going to work the
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muscles of the lats, thoracal lumbar fascia, and glutes. In this case what we're
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going to do, is simply a squat to row. I'm going to have Salvi grab a couple
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of resistance bands, as we've got going here, and that's fairly significant. Now, when I did
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the overhead squat assessment with Salvi, one thing that she did, was lean
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forward excessively, as well as had her feet turned out. Just the fact that we
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have a counterbalance , allows that she can now lean back, reducing her need for dorsiflexion.
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So, if you just squat, don't squat to row yet, you can see.
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Come back up, squat normally, sit back, relax, good, good. You can see that just having
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this counterbalance fixes her tibia - torso angle, so that it is once again
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parallel. So, we can start right here, just have Salvi squat a few times, go ahead and
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go back up, make sure she's thrusting forward at the hips and squeezing her
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glutes. Now we can go for more of that integrated
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subsystem, so the other muscle that we want to work is our lats, a great way to
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do that is a row. So now I'm gonna have Salvi go down into a squat, she's going to
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squat up, make sure the glutes are squeezed, she's nice and tight, and she's just
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going to go into a row, squeezing her shoulder blades down and back. Good. Let
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your arms out,
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squeeze your glutes. Good. As Salvi gets better at this, she starts
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understanding how to squeeze her glutes and thrust her hips forward, how to lean
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back, how to stay stable here, she's got the row down and she's squeezing her
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shoulder blades down and back, we don't see any excessive elevation up here, I
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can have Salvi do the squat and row at the same time. So she's going to go down into
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a squat, and then up and row. Good. This time let's just make sure you
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tuck under just a little bit. Good. One more time. So that
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posterior pelvic tilt, will help increase gluteus maximus activation, which is one
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of the under active muscles, when the sub system becomes under active. Sometimes
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what helps, is I have people pretend like they're pulling the truck, so that they
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get that lean back, rather than this forward and kind of anterior pelvic
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tilted position. Let's have you do once more. Make sure you let the band go.
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Good. Squat down first, then up and pull.
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Good. So, the progression there is, you can just start somebody with a squat
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holding on to the band, then you can have somebody squat, stabilize, then row,
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and then have them squat to row at the same time. In future videos we're going
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to talk about progressions, as well as how this is a preliminary
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exercise for some of the larger, power movements, that we're going to do later.
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Once again, this was posterior oblique subsystem integration, the, almost
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always, under active system, and this would be the first integrated exercise
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we throw in somebody's corrective exercise routine, to help improve their
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dysfunction, by increasing the activity of those integrated core subsystems.