5 RAW AND ELITE CORRECTIVE EXERCISES
Updated: Aug 7
I can still remember when I began this profession nearly 20 years ago. Corrective Exercise was a relatively new term at the time that was initially intended primarily for trainers to help bridge the gap from rehab to performance work. Naturally, trainers do not possess the qualifications and typical knowledge of doctors and therapists, so it makes sense for the latter to provide proper instruction and progression to support and hopefully sustain their treatment efforts. Since then, corrective exercise is still a remarkable concept that stands stronger than ever and has advanced tenfold since its inception into the fitness industry.
Right now, I want to provide you with some unique insights into corrective exercise prescription and revisit some old themes that may not be able to beat. Remember, you don't always have to get creative and cute when what has always worked remains the best. Call it evergreen or whatever the current trend says these days, but if you read from this site regularly, you will clearly see that we can't reinvent the wheel at this point, and it's really an issue of cleaning up the solicited content and removing all the garbage information that runs rampant in the mainstream to eliminate confusion. And just so we are on the same page: Corrective Exercises is any drill that seeks to correct any present dysfunction that exists in your body structure (muscle imbalance, faulty alignment, poor movement efficiency), which regulates collective movement performance.
#1-Angled Face Pulls
I absolutely love this drill popularized by training legend Dr. John Rusin. The beauty of this standard corrective exercise is the simple adjustment of the upward band position, creating a downward pull trajectory. If you study our shoulder anatomy, you'll notice a very subtle movement of what's called "Posterior Tilt" or upward rotation of the scapula, which the band position naturally encourages. This is necessary to truly fix poor shoulder mechanics, common rounding postures, shoulder impingement, and rotator cuff weakness/inhibition. Last but not least, the exercise creates essential awareness of arm and shoulder positioning. The number of injuries you can prevent and treat with this drill, along with balanced strength training are too many to name.
#2-Terminal Knee Extension's------------> Spanish Goblet Squats!
TKE's have been debated for years with both supporters and naysayers. On one side, TKEs can groove healthy triple extension patterns from toe to hip. This will naturally prevent a number of things (hamstring and hip flexor overload, core weakness, knee hyperextension and dominance, etc.). However, just like any exercise, working a joint in isolation is rarely very effective. I've seen great success over the years with tactile or sensory feedback drills like TKEs in terms of restoring healthy movement and building coordination. But you can't deny how limited this exercise can become. Fortunately, everything can be progressed in training. Enter The Spanish Goblet Squat. The exercise combines the concept of TKEs in a functional and essential squat pattern. The benefits are several: Lower hamstring health, ACL Support, ankle mobility, triple extension of ankle, knee and hips, core activation, and so much more. You can program as a substitute to heavy squats and deadlifts in de-load or recovery cycles, use as a dynamic warm-up or primer, or in a DB complex or bodyweight circuit on your off days for recovery and conditioning purposes.
#3-Tall Kneeling Bilateral Banded Dumbbell Press
Why don't you try to say that one five times fast? But seriously, this is a phenomenal preliminary overhead press exercise for anyone injured, out of shape, inexperienced, or coming off a shoulder injury. It's one of those that you really cannot do wrong once you nail your setup, which is quite simple. As you can see below, the band feeds glute contraction (RNT Training), which creates a proper neutral tilt of the pelvis over the ribcage, which creates smooth shoulder rhythm and alignment. This is compounded by the kneeling position, which obviously removes leg support and places more stress on the core and shoulders. Like Joe DeFranco used to say, there are other ways to add training intensity without directly adding weight to the movement.
#4-Foam Roll DB Press
If you are trying to relay to someone the proper way the upper and middle back are supposed to anchor the dumbbell or bench press, then give this a try. The foam roll creates some extension in the thoracic spine that is enhanced by the load you are lifting. As such, feel free to dig a little deeper into the depths of motion as you attempt to lower and load the weight. Rarely does anyone test deficient with flexibility in the chest and other muscles through the pressing motion. But perhaps you can benefit press performance slightly with more aggressive agonist/antagonist stretching seen in this exercise.
5-Band Walks
You've probably seen this drill a hundred times, but I don't care. I'll offer some progression ideas from here at the end, but when it comes to lateral hip strengthening and grooving proper shuffle patterns and hip height, well, nothing compares to superband lateral walks. You could make a decent argument for cable pulley hip abduction, but the limiting factor here is that the pulley system will always miss some of the lateral hip fibers since your working leg either has to sit in slight flexion or extension. Moreover, short and long shuffles are very common in sport, and you simply won't get to hone trail leg form with the pulley, unfortunately. I guess you could say that it's less functional overall. Once you are tapped out with the band walk, you can advance the movement by adding more band tension, holding a weight plate in front of you, or switching to the slideboard, to name a few.
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