430: Bill Hartman and Chris Wicus on Elastic Athletes, Deadlifting, and the Path of Least Resistance

Today’s podcast features Bill Hartman and Chris Wicus. Bill Hartman is a physical therapist and in-demand educator with his modern approach to human mechanics and training. Bill has been an influential figure to many guests on this podcast, as well as my own views on training. Chris Wicus is a health and performance professional with 15 years of experience, a former professional ultimate frisbee player, and a 2nd degree black belt in karate. He has coached a wide variety of athletes across 17 sports and has been mentored by many top experts in the field. Bill and Chris host the “Reconsider” podcast together and speak on various cutting-edge approaches to human movement in a way that prompts thinking on existing processes in the field, and how to move forward with current understandings of training and biomechanics. So often in physical training, athletes are told to master the basics of “Squat, Hinge, Push, Pull, Etc.”, but unfortunately, within this framework, there is little to no consideration of how various body types have the capacity to carry out those lifts, and what impact intensifying those movements will have on indivdiuals. On today’s show, Bill and Chris speak to the nature of the big lifts (squat, bench, deadlift), and how both “Narrow” and “Wide” ISA athletes (elastic and muscular) will be able to process those movements. We talk about the helical nature of our human design, and how it impacts movement preferences. We also discuss specific strength strategies for athletes who are more narrow and wide, and how to better tailor one’s overall strength program to one’s athletic needs. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and Athletic Development Games. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30-day trial of the TeamBuildr software. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Main Points 6:49- Optimizing Fitness Training for Personal Strengths 13:20- Structural Archetypes: Impact on Athletic Performance 20:32- Helical Influence on Exercise Selection 21:17- Helical Design Influence on Exercise Selection 23:32- Optimal Deadlifting Structure for Performance Success 27:06- Optimizing Performance Through Helical Angles 30:30- Optimizing Force Production for Athletic Performance 31:42- Enhanced Performance Through Strong Grip Training 48:52- Structural Bias Optimization for Deadlift Stance 1:07:54- Optimizing Squat Training for Structural Archetypes 1:12:42- Optimizing Squat Variations for Body Structure 1:18:28- Tailoring Exercises to Individual Constraints for Performance 1:20:14- Archetype-Based Training Support Network and Resources Quotes "The more I lifted in the gym, the worse I felt. So then I start just running more. And by the end of my athletic career was just mostly sprinting and running and not so much of, like, the slow grindy stuff." – Chris Wicus "You look at the difference between 100 meters sprinter, an 800 meters runner, and then a 5K runner, and you're going to see this progressive difference in body type – Bill Hartman “At all measures of scale in a human, all levels of scale. So down to your DNA. So DNA is structured helically. A collagen fiber is structured helically. All of your joints move on helical pathways. So we are helically designed” - Bill Hartman “And so it's not, that narrows can't do deadlifts, but we're going to make modifications that are going to make it more ideal” - Bill Hartman "Too much force production because of the way that we produce force takes away something else that I needed." - Bill Hartman “The best, the most athletic I ever got, I had, like, a 38 inch vertical at one point,