Here's a follow-up to the artcile we posted in March titled 2 Days to a More Stable Core...A Quick Look at Core Stability.
I read a comment by a strength coach some many years back that had a very profound impact on my own personal training and program design. I had just happened to be deep in a 12 week program with the short term goal of getting my SLDL (stiff leg dead lift) to 6 reps at 405. Seems like a nice goal, but later I would come to question what was that really for. Anyway here goes the statement that changed my life:
“You cannot fire a cannonball from a canoe”
-some strength coach guy
How’s that settle with you? Well for me, that statement changed everything. Here’s how. The firing of the cannonball represents the strength or power that we (or at least some of us) are training for. Some of us desire the strength and explosiveness that comes with dead lifts and power cleans. However, the canoe represents the unsteadiness that comes with a lack of core stability (ever try to stand up in a canoe…prepare for water). So, the above statement can be a metaphor for most of us that exercise every day. How effective and accurate can a cannon be if fired from a canoe? Or how about what happens to the canoe after the cannon is fired? Two very important questions worth discussing in a blog devoted to either canoes or guys that like to fire artillery from canoes. Here’s is what I took from that statement. If I didn’t start working towards developing core stability, all of the strength I gained from my power lifting routine would be useless. I came to understand that health and strength come from core stability. This is why I frequently say…
If you do not have core stability and core strength you cannot have functional strength and therefore you will be predisposed injuries to various parts of your body.
Well let’s back up a bit. Before I jumped on the Core Strength bandwagon and started standing on exercise balls at picnic’s and parties I had a little mental growing to do. It only took me a short year or so to really digest the canoe statement but I did finally get it. I finally understood that my core really was a canoe after going through some simple core stability tests. So after testing myself for core stability and failing miserably, there was a brief period of exercise depression. I spent a while asking myself some very common questions in order to try and reconcile the sad state of affairs my body was in. Why bother? What am I doing this for? Was all the time spent lifting wasted?
Well, after bouncing back from this a few months later I began to take my exercise and training a little bit more seriously. I studied what the experts were saying to do and tried to stay true to that as much as possible.
I will be describing the Core Stability program that I posted on 3-15-2009 in just a few moments. I first need to make one very simple but important statement.
You cannot maintain core stability and strength without actively training it.
Expecting to do so would be like working for 10 years and then expecting to get paid for the rest of your life. Hmm, I think that sounds like a government job. But anyway, your core training will continue to pay you directly as long as you maintain your exercise schedule. Simple enough. Don’t expect something for nothing. For a brief visual of some of the soft tissue that is a prt of the core, check this link out.
This simple 2 day core workout can be performed anywhere from 4 times per week following the day 1 and day 2 schedule.
Simple 2 day core workout (Compliments of Mark Verstegen, MS, CSCS)
Day 1 Linear Stability:
Tripod Scapular Push Up
Mini Band Walking
Straight Leg Glute Bridge on Stability Ball
Tripod scapular pushup
Start in a tripod position with one arm under your chest and the other arm behind your back. Push your chest as far away from the ground as possible-maintaining a straight line from your ear through your hip. Without letting your back extend or flex, allow your chest to fall towards the ground as your shoulder blades slide closer together, then push back into the ground and return to the start position. Repeat this movement for 8-10 reps and switch arms.
Mini Band Walking
Place the Mini Band just above the knees. Stand in a quarter squat position with your feet under your hips. Keep tension on the Mini Band by keeping your knees directly in line with your toes. Take small, mechanical steps forward, focusing on contacting each step in the middle of your foot. Take 12 steps forward, followed by 12 steps backward.
Straight Leg Glute Bridge on Stability Ball
Lie face up on the ground with your stomach tight and your feet on the stability ball. Your legs should be straight, your toes pulled up towards your shins, and your shoulder blades pulled back and down. Contract your glutes to raise your hips until you create a straight line from your ear to your ankle. Hold for 2 to 3 seconds and repeat for 8-10 repetitions.
Day 2 Lateral & Rotational Stability:
Stability Push
Glute Bridge-1 Leg w/Leg Lock
Lateral Pillar Bridge w/Abduction
Stability Push
Stand with your knees and hips slightly unlocked and the weight distributed through your arches. With your back to a cable machine set at medium height, keep arms straight in front of you. Your hands should be wider than shoulder-width apart, holding a bar or rope attached to the cable. Keeping your body still and left arm straight, bring your right hand towards your chest and then return to the starting position. Continue for 8-10 reps on each side.
Glute Bridge-1 Leg w/Leg Lock
Lie face up on the ground, with your arms at your sides, your knees bent and your heels on the ground. Bring one knee to your chest and hold it close. Lift your hips off the ground until your knees, hips and shoulders are in a straight line and you are supporting yourself with one leg. Hold for 2 seconds and then return to the start position. Repeat this movement for 8-10 reps on each leg.
Lateral Pillar Bridge w/ Abduction
Lie on your side with your forearm on the ground and your elbow under your shoulder and legs straight. Push your forearm away from your body, lifting your hips into the air and supporting your weight on your forearm and feet. Hold this static position while you lift and lower your top leg in a controlled tempo-hold each leg lift for 2 seconds and repeat for 10-12 reps.
There you have it. Your recipe for improving your core strength and stability. Give it a go and send us an email about how you liked it.
For some much needed coaching or fine tuning, come in for a weekend fitness class. You will have an awesome core workout and learn a little bit more about core training. Send us an email at info@fit224.com to schedule.
Here's a great post about the common misunderstandings related to core training. From that link go to the Part 2 right here.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
10 Overlooked and Misunderstood Facts About Ab Training (Part Two)
Here's the rest of Charles Staley article about abdominal training...
By Charles Staley, B.Sc, Misdirect, Staley Training Systemshttp://www.staleytraining.com
Last article we discussed a number of common fallacies about ab training, including belt use, diet, and force production.
Click here to read that article if you missed it.
This week I'll continue with more little-known facts about your elusive six-pack.
Enjoy!
4. Training Your Abs Correctly Helps Your Back. Training Them Incorrectly Hurts Your Back
The average fitness wannabe will gravitate toward doing dozens, maybe hundreds of crunches per day. After all it worked for Brittney, right? There are at least two problems with this not so innocent approach to ab traning:
1) The reason you can't see your abs is- you're too fat. Why then, would you focus your training on one small muscle group that will not result in significant caloric expenditure? It's a waste of time.
2) Actually, it's worse than a waste of time- it could increase your chance of spinal injury. Here's how: Over weeks, months, and years of sit-ups and crunches, your rectus abdominus is likely to chronically shorten as an adaptation to said training. Stand up right now and contract your abs, like you're doing a standing crunch. Notice how it takes the curvature out of your lower back?
That's what can happen when you do too many crunches and sit-ups. And when you can't maintain a neutral spine, you're much more likely to injure yourself the next time you lift something heavy.
A better approach is to focus more on static training for your rectus abdominus, as well as rotational ab drills, which don't have the same potential to shorten your abs. Here are a few examples from our You Tube Channel (these links will open in new windows).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRCb3syDYos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meZfHqsab9Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWUBMXPzs2g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwzLoYuIzFQ
5. You May Be Training Your Abs More Than You Think
Most people under-estimate how much work their abs receive through their regular training schedule. Squats, cleans, deadlifts, snatches, farmer's walks, kettelebell work, and even heavy dumbbell upper-body exercises result in very high levels of abdominal activation. And honestly, probably as much as you really need.
6. Your Abs Don't Need High Reps
If and when you do decide to do direct ab training, just use normal loading scenarios, just like you would with any other exercise. Where did the high-rep myth come from? Hard to say, but I suspect is has something to do with the (also) mistaken notion that you can "melt" fat off of your midsection through lots of reps- I guess people think that since high reps make them sweat, that heat helps to burn their fat off.
This myth may also stem from the idea that the abdominal muscles are composed mostly of slow-twitch fibers, and therefore benefit most from high-repetition training. While this is at least a plausible premise, I'd also suggest that muscles should be trained based on what they need to do, as opposed to what they're composed of. If you should happen to slip on some ice, your abs need to explosively contract to keep your spine in neutral. If you're a discus thrower, a golfer, a tennis player, or any other rotational athlete, you need explosive abdominal functionality.
7. There Is No Direct Metabolic Pathway Between Your Abs And The Fat That Covers Them
Or to use more conventional language, there's no such thing as isolating a muscle or sport reduction. I covered this in an earlier point, but it bears repeating: Your pattern of bodyfat deposition is genetically pre-determined. Guys tend to carry fat on their midsections (android fat deposition) and women tend to carry it on their hips and thighs (gynoid deposition). You'll always have this pattern, no matter how lean or fat you become. So just train the large muscle groups using "big" exercise and heavy weights, and maybe add some heavy cardio (if you're in the mood), and you should create the caloric deficit you'll need to get leaner.
8. The Best Way To Train Abs Is With A Stability Ball
Obviously you already know part of my argument against this idea from my earlier comments, but given the popularity of stability balls lately, I thought I'd add a few remarks on the topic here. First, I actually like the ball for certain exercises, because it 1) increases the range of motion you can employ, and 2) because it's more comfortable than the floor.
Also, the ball allows for some creative exercises, such as the ball scissors that I provided a video of earlier. With that said however, stability balls are a tool, and like all tools, they provide benefits as well as drawbacks, depending on how you use them. If, for example, you labor under the mistaken impression that you need to do thousands of crunches per week, and that the ball is better because it provides greater range of motion, all you'll do is end up shortening your trunk flexors and lose your lordodic curvature. SO the ball's OK, as long as you keep things in context.
9. The Best Ab Exercises Are The Ones You Can Really FEEEELLL…
Uhh, wrong. Muscles respond to the training stress they experience, not how that stress feels. Just like any other muscle. Whether or not you feel a particular exercise is inconsequential. Perhaps one of the most productive ab exercises is heavy squats while wearing a belt, but I doubt that you consciously feel your abs while doing those squats.
10. Your Abs Can Get Too Big If You Train Them Too Much
Unlikely. Actually, let's just go with nearly impossible. The structure and function of the abdominal musculature makes this scenario highly unlikely. If you happen to subscribe to this myth based on seeing lean bodybuilders with big guts, relax: you're looking at enlarged livers from GH and other drug use. Unless you use these substances, you won't suffer the same fate.
About The Author
Charles Staley...world-class strength/performance coach...his colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results.
By Charles Staley, B.Sc, Misdirect, Staley Training Systemshttp://www.staleytraining.com
Last article we discussed a number of common fallacies about ab training, including belt use, diet, and force production.
Click here to read that article if you missed it.
This week I'll continue with more little-known facts about your elusive six-pack.
Enjoy!
4. Training Your Abs Correctly Helps Your Back. Training Them Incorrectly Hurts Your Back
The average fitness wannabe will gravitate toward doing dozens, maybe hundreds of crunches per day. After all it worked for Brittney, right? There are at least two problems with this not so innocent approach to ab traning:
1) The reason you can't see your abs is- you're too fat. Why then, would you focus your training on one small muscle group that will not result in significant caloric expenditure? It's a waste of time.
2) Actually, it's worse than a waste of time- it could increase your chance of spinal injury. Here's how: Over weeks, months, and years of sit-ups and crunches, your rectus abdominus is likely to chronically shorten as an adaptation to said training. Stand up right now and contract your abs, like you're doing a standing crunch. Notice how it takes the curvature out of your lower back?
That's what can happen when you do too many crunches and sit-ups. And when you can't maintain a neutral spine, you're much more likely to injure yourself the next time you lift something heavy.
A better approach is to focus more on static training for your rectus abdominus, as well as rotational ab drills, which don't have the same potential to shorten your abs. Here are a few examples from our You Tube Channel (these links will open in new windows).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRCb3syDYos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meZfHqsab9Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWUBMXPzs2g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwzLoYuIzFQ
5. You May Be Training Your Abs More Than You Think
Most people under-estimate how much work their abs receive through their regular training schedule. Squats, cleans, deadlifts, snatches, farmer's walks, kettelebell work, and even heavy dumbbell upper-body exercises result in very high levels of abdominal activation. And honestly, probably as much as you really need.
6. Your Abs Don't Need High Reps
If and when you do decide to do direct ab training, just use normal loading scenarios, just like you would with any other exercise. Where did the high-rep myth come from? Hard to say, but I suspect is has something to do with the (also) mistaken notion that you can "melt" fat off of your midsection through lots of reps- I guess people think that since high reps make them sweat, that heat helps to burn their fat off.
This myth may also stem from the idea that the abdominal muscles are composed mostly of slow-twitch fibers, and therefore benefit most from high-repetition training. While this is at least a plausible premise, I'd also suggest that muscles should be trained based on what they need to do, as opposed to what they're composed of. If you should happen to slip on some ice, your abs need to explosively contract to keep your spine in neutral. If you're a discus thrower, a golfer, a tennis player, or any other rotational athlete, you need explosive abdominal functionality.
7. There Is No Direct Metabolic Pathway Between Your Abs And The Fat That Covers Them
Or to use more conventional language, there's no such thing as isolating a muscle or sport reduction. I covered this in an earlier point, but it bears repeating: Your pattern of bodyfat deposition is genetically pre-determined. Guys tend to carry fat on their midsections (android fat deposition) and women tend to carry it on their hips and thighs (gynoid deposition). You'll always have this pattern, no matter how lean or fat you become. So just train the large muscle groups using "big" exercise and heavy weights, and maybe add some heavy cardio (if you're in the mood), and you should create the caloric deficit you'll need to get leaner.
8. The Best Way To Train Abs Is With A Stability Ball
Obviously you already know part of my argument against this idea from my earlier comments, but given the popularity of stability balls lately, I thought I'd add a few remarks on the topic here. First, I actually like the ball for certain exercises, because it 1) increases the range of motion you can employ, and 2) because it's more comfortable than the floor.
Also, the ball allows for some creative exercises, such as the ball scissors that I provided a video of earlier. With that said however, stability balls are a tool, and like all tools, they provide benefits as well as drawbacks, depending on how you use them. If, for example, you labor under the mistaken impression that you need to do thousands of crunches per week, and that the ball is better because it provides greater range of motion, all you'll do is end up shortening your trunk flexors and lose your lordodic curvature. SO the ball's OK, as long as you keep things in context.
9. The Best Ab Exercises Are The Ones You Can Really FEEEELLL…
Uhh, wrong. Muscles respond to the training stress they experience, not how that stress feels. Just like any other muscle. Whether or not you feel a particular exercise is inconsequential. Perhaps one of the most productive ab exercises is heavy squats while wearing a belt, but I doubt that you consciously feel your abs while doing those squats.
10. Your Abs Can Get Too Big If You Train Them Too Much
Unlikely. Actually, let's just go with nearly impossible. The structure and function of the abdominal musculature makes this scenario highly unlikely. If you happen to subscribe to this myth based on seeing lean bodybuilders with big guts, relax: you're looking at enlarged livers from GH and other drug use. Unless you use these substances, you won't suffer the same fate.
About The Author
Charles Staley...world-class strength/performance coach...his colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results.
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