Core Strength? Not So Fast

Core Strength? Not So Fast

So you want a strong, sexy core, eh? Join the club! With millions of Americans in pursuit of core strength, why do we see so few good looking cores on the beach and so much back pain? C’mon, isn’t the proof in the pudding?

Let’s cut to the chase. We don’t see many strong cores because most people don’t understand how to properly train their core.

First, let’s define core strength. Your core is everything but your arms and legs. Strength is your capacity to resist and/or produce a force. But the irony is your core will actually use your arms and legs to both resist and/or produce a force. So the core really is your whole body, isn’t it?

Now that we understand what core strength is, next we have to understand how to create core strength.

Any attribute we choose to develop requires one thing: movement. So before we strengthen our core, we have to lengthen our core. Think about throwing a ball. Before you throw it, you have to reach it back, which “turns on” the muscles that help you throw it. Therefore, you need to lengthen (prepare), in order to strengthen (perform).

So, a lack of core strength is typically a lack of core motion. This happens for a few key reasons:

1. Core strengthening exercise takes precedence over core mobilization movements

2. Ground-based core movements don’t carry over well to upright core strength

3. Americans simply sit way too much

The best way to start your core program is to mobilize (specifically move) your midsection.

Comments (0)

Planning For Plan B

In the last 3 posts, we discussed fresh ideas to create new solutions, the importance of prioritizing your goals within your lifestyle and how to tie your values to your actions.  So, we’re done, right?  Wouldn’t life be peachy keen if we could set those things into place once and just do them?  Yeah, try telling your brain that!

The fact of the matter is, once we perceive a better way to do something, behaving yourself into those new patterns can be challenging. This does not give you a pass for a lack of effort so far BUT it would be unrealistic not to acknowledge that life can get in the way of what we want. That’s why it’s important to have a Plan B for your pursuit of wellness.  

Think back on your life.  How many Plan A’s have you made to find a new job, save for a great vacation, better balance work and home, etc only to find that you needed a Plan B, C, D or E to get you to your goal.  The same principle applies to your fitness and wellness goals.  Try this:

    1. Take a look at your goals for 2013 (do this daily for reinforcement)

    2. Appreciate where they fall on your priority scale (appreciate life happens)

    3. Consider the reasons why you want to achieve these goals (values)

    4. Simply tweak your plan to reflect your current situation and get back on track

The fourth point here is not to be misunderstood.  You don’t need new goals, to reassess your priorities or identify new values, you simply need to make minor adjustments to reflect your current situation and keep on going.  Consider this analogy: A chef makes a meal that the restaurant owner loves and he asks to keep it as a regular menu item.  The chef prepares the meal for the staff to try and he gets mixed reviews.  The chef doesn’t throw away the recipe or dramatically alter any of his ingredients. Instead, he makes subtle tweaks until it’s just right.  Eventually, he’ll get the right combination of spices if he just stays with it, and when he does, everyone wins.

Life oftentimes throws us off course. So keep your goals simple and remember to tweak subtly to find the right combination for your success. If you do, you will get there, I promise.

Comments (0)

Tying Your Values to Your Actions

So last week we talked managing and prioritizing your goals. Now we have to make sure the actions you take to meet those goals align with your values.  So what do I mean by values. Your values are the fundamental reasons behind WHY you do WHAT you do each and every day – even if you aren’t consciously thinking about them.  Perhaps you value family, so you devote every Friday night to movie night with your kids. Maybe self-esteem is a key value to you, so you do your best to eliminate negativity from your life.  One of your values may be as simple as valuing balance or quality of life, so you strive not to over commit yourself or your family to ensure everyone has time to savor each and every day.

Whatever your values are, the best way to achieve your goals is to make sure the actions you are taking to meet them reinforce those values. Here’s an example that I think illustrates what I mean.  You’ve stated your goal is to lose 20 pounds and that you value your self-esteem and appearance.  The action you want to take is to eat healthier and exercise more. Great! But here comes the challenge. You are at a business lunch at the local burger joint and EVERYONE is going all out for house special double bacon cheeseburger with all the fix-ins.  Delish!  Now, you have decided that you value your appearance and self-esteem AND that you have a goal to lose 20 pounds.  Put the goals aside, focus on what you said was your value: appearance and self-esteem.  Does going with the crowd and ordering the burger align with those values?

Are you thinking, it’s hard for me to resist, I’ll start tomorrow, this is too hard etc? When you do that, you’re really devaluing your values; the values that tie to your goals and actions. You must empower what you believe in, what you want for yourself. There are no secret workouts or special pills, there is only you. By tying what you want to what you believe in, you will be able to be your own solution. If you do that, YOU will have all the power and the cheeseburger will have none.

Achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life, and that happiness, not pain or mindless self-indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrity, since it is the proof and the result of your loyalty to the achievement of your values. 

Ayn Rand

Stay tuned for the last post in this four part series: planning for plan B

Comments (0)

Got Goals? Good. Now Prioritize and Get Going.

Comments (0)

New Year. New You. New Solution?

Comments (5)

Sport-Specific WHAT?!?!?

You don't have to look very far to find a sport-specific training routine. Regardless of the sport, these "sport-specific" routines look pretty much the same: Push ups, squats, rows, lunges, blah, blah, blah.  While these are fantastic movements for general conditioning, they are not in and of themselves really specific to any sport.  Now, you can make some of those movements more applicable to a sport or activity by tweaking the movements consistent with the demands of the activity, but that's not as easy as it may seem.

There are a number of considerations when creating a sport-specific routine (many more than listed below).  However, for the purpose of this post lets take an activity (baseball) and dissect it a bit to understand how we can create a routine consistent with the task demand.  Lets start by asking ourselves these questions:

1. What are the demands of the player's position?  (Lets pick the pitcher)

2. What is the position of the player relative to gravity?

3. What are the transformational zones of the key movements the player is required to perform?

4. What are the primary drivers being utilized to perform the activities?

5. What conditioning attributes are required to successfully fulfill the position requirements?

Before we delve into the demands placed upon a pitcher, lets first appreciate there are principles of human function that we must consider in order to create the program.  By the nature of the questions asked, we're considering three dimensionality, positions / motions, transformational zones, natural forces, drivers and task-specific conditioning attributes to name a few.

Three dimensional - All movement occurs in three planes of motion: forward to back, side to side and with rotation.  The first thing our pitcher will do on the mound is step / rotate his body to ready for the pitch.  Rotation through the lower extremity would be a component of his conditioning. 

Positions / motions - The positions we are in determines the motions we go through.  Consider squatting, as you lower your center of mass your hips are meant to flex (bend) symmetrically.  Now, place your R foot ahead of your L foot.  This stance positions your R hip in a flexed starting position while the L hip is starting from an extended position.  As you squat, both hips will flex BUT the R hip will flex more due to its beginning position and the L less due to the same.

Transformational zones - The zone where the body switches directions.  Think about a player swinging the bat.  As he pulls the bat backwards, he loads his body to prepare to hit the ball, before he comes forward and swings the bat, that is the transformational zone of the backswing.  Then, on the other end of the movement after the swing has taken place, the athlete must decelerate (slow down) the bat and that is another zone of transformation.  It is in these key zones (backswing / follow through) where we will focus our training and conditioning efforts.

Natural forces - Gravity, ground reaction forces, mass and momentum naturally stimulate the body and our muscles simply respond to control these forces.  If the player's body is upright relative to gravity, then the majority of conditioning should be upright.  Yes, for core work too!

Drivers - The part of the body that makes a movement occur.  Lets go back to swinging the bat.  The hands initiate the movement back, then, once loaded, the pelvis drives out of the motion creating the whip effect through the core.  So the hands and hips via the core drive the bat 

Attributes - The conditioning skill sets the player needs to successfully perform the position / task demands.  Lets focus on big rocks, this could be a really long list: speed, power, agility, coordination, balance and mobility.

These aforementioned principles are just some of the basic considerations when making a program sport-specific.

So to recap, our player needs a program specific to his position (pitcher), that is predominantly upright relative to gravity, that focuses on the key zones of pitching, running and cutting, that utilizes the authentic drivers of the hands, feet, hips, eyes and one that will enhance speed, power, agility, coordination, balance and mobility.  Now, tell me if you still feel push ups, squats, rows or lunges will give this athlete what he needs to be effective and efficient?  Most likely not.

Since we've identified pitching, running and cutting as the key movements of a pitcher (there are many more), we need to start conditioning our athlete relative to these demands.  Lets take the pitch itself. Our pitcher is R handed.  We must now consider the chain reaction biomechanics of pitching.  As a reference, lets focus on what the hips are doing throughout the movement although we need to know what is occurring at every joint within the body to help our athlete best.  Although the hips will experience movement in three planes, we'll reference the dominant plane of motion.  

Chain Reaction Biomechanics (CRB) of Pitching a Baseball (keep in mind there are different styles of pitching)

Our pitcher will start out facing the batter, he will take a R foot R rotational step away from the batter loading his groin complex (inside hip) on both sides rotationally, then his L knee will follow up and around in the same direction to load the R posterior hip (butt) rotationally and the L hip into flexion (pitcher's prayer).  Then, his L thigh will drive his lower body out of that position reversing all motions as he starts to explode / perform the movement.  This reversal of motion creates the whip effect through the midsection and as the L foot comes into the ground, the L hip flexes / externally rotates as the R hip extends and externally rotates.  As the L foot continues to accept more weight, the trunk pulls the arm around the body and just as the ball is released, the upper body falls forward and the L hip will dive deeper into flexion with extreme internal rotation while attempting to balance all the mass and momentum that just came crashing down onto the L leg.  Here, we have only referenced two joints of the 70+ we own.  It's imperative to know what is occurring at each and every joint within the body.

See it in slow motion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVQbvANljDs  

Considering the CRB of the throw, how do we now create a training program to enhance this athletes game?  After assessing what the bones are doing in space (real motion) and what they are doing relative to each other (relative motion), we can determine which muscles will turn on to control the motions of the pitch and create an environment for the athlete to subconsciously and authentically creates those motions for effective carryover or what we call sport- specific.  We would simply repeat this process as we assess the demands of the other activities the player would go through.  Lets take a few exercises from above and tweak them to make them more applicable to our player.

1. Push up to knee crossover - after each push up, pull your knee towards your opposite elbow to use authentic drivers to drive the core similar to how its turned on in baseball (position to gravity is not ideal)

2. Squat matrix with foot driver - with one foot steady, drive the moving leg in all three planes of motion along all 6 angulations of movement to functionally stimulate the hip complex (pitch is rotation dominant but challenge player in all 3D to over prepare him)

3. Single leg stance with 1 arm reach and row - stand on a single leg, place a cable in the pitching hand, reach cross body to allow the cable to load the stance leg (L) hip into flexion, adduction internal rotation similar to the demand of the pitch 

4. Pivot lunge  to balance reach - drive rotational lunge to stimulate hip / core separation and return to start position in a single leg stance and add balance reach to flex, adduct internally rotate hip according to demand of activity

*These movements will be tweaked to provoke development of the desired attributes  

Click here for the visual of this circuit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgzc1akqtlE&context=C4f67148ADvjVQa1PpcFMszfeKKfTbDoeJFNgz-U8VmTo03XpN92k=

So the next time you come across a sport or activity specific routine, ask yourself the 5 questions above and see if the techniques chosen pass the test according to what the athlete needs in order to accomplish the said activity.  It is always clear that the intent of the professional writing the programs we see are passionate about their sport, we just need to have a thought process relative to making our programs more functional with higher carryover.

For more information on Applied Functional Science, visit www.grayinstitute.com

Comments (3558)

Nothing Educational, Just Waxing Nostalgia Since The Summer Came To An End

So the summer came to an end I find myself looking back on the last 3 months

 and can’t help but realize how lucky I am to work with our clients/staff.  June started our “Conditioning’ themed month and ended with a bang at our Endurance Competition.  The Competition welcomed family, friends and community.  Some of the events were our “Going Primal: Race to Extinction Relay”, a team 1 mile Kettlebell Run, Tug Of War,  2 Person 100 Burpee Race and the 100 Rep Snatch Challenge.  True to form, every participant laughed at themselves at one point (probably those crazy monkeys) , gave that extra degree and completed 100 Snatches in UNDER 5 MINUTES!!!!  Truly something to be proud of (even if some of us were left with bloody hands!)

  I am TRULY amazed by each and every person’s transformation.  From the Big Dogs to the Newbies, every person that walks through the door is changed. What I love to see the most is the Big Dogs support of the Newbies.  The constant support a new person gets is not necessarily from our staff but from their peers!  There is no competition.  Okay, well maybe there is, BUT it’s a healthy competition.  Our clients encourage and push each other to be better, faster, stronger—better FOR  themselves—NOT better than anybody else.  I can’t remember where I heard this but I think it fits the support system you get from our staff and your fellow workout buddies. “We don't believe you have to be better than everybody else. We believe you have to be better than you ever thought you could be.” 

---Laraine

Comments (1672)

How do you measure success?

Let’s take a minute to think about this question: What motivated you to begin your exercise program?

If you answered weight loss, then you are like most other people in this world. Weight loss is a huge motivating factor when it comes to exercise. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most deceiving ways to measure your fitness achievements. It would take a deficit of 3500 calories, (that’s 500 calories per day) to lose 1 pound in a week. While that is a reasonable and healthy way to lose weight, it can also be an extremely slow and daunting process depending on how much you’d like to lose. This may explain why so many people have such a hard time sticking to their program.

So, now I ask that you take a minute to think about this question: Should the amount of weight you lose be the only way you measure your success? We trainers at Fitness Solutions strongly believe that the answer to that question is ABSOLUTELY NOT! (Which should explain why the scale has been MIA for the last several months!) Allow me to help you recognize the many successes you make day in and day out:

• You just did your 5th pull up in a row without touching your feet to the ground.
• You held on to your kettlebell for a full 30 seconds of 1 arm high pulls.
• You decreased your run time in a 5k race by 1 minute.
• You can now clean or snatch a kettlebell without inflicting pain on your wrist.
• You completed your first half marathon.
• You made it through a Fit Fast or Kettlebell class without having to stop a set early.
• You found yourself dead lifting a heavy bag of groceries with perfect form.
• You finally did an out of sync, transverse plane jumping jack without making one of the ugliest faces you’ve ever seen. (It can be done!)

Your trainers recognize the strides you make each and every time you come to your training sessions. Big or small, these are accomplishments we can all be proud of. So, the next time you step on a scale, be happy with where you are today and excited about where you might be tomorrow.

Submitted by: Angela Winther

Comments (10395)