Some time ago, I took a strong dose of a muscle relaxer for acute lower back pain. It worked so well that the only muscles that were firing were the ones that allowed me to crawl into bed to sleep for almost 36 hours. When standing, I could have been pushed over by a feather, that’s how relaxed I was. Probably the first muscles to “relax” were the stabilizers that kept me upright, in defiance of gravity.
When you do a push-up, what prevents your back from sagging and your belly hitting the floor? If you said “nothing”, besides making a wrong mouse click to this post unintentionally, I would say your spinal erectors are weak. When you are holding a plank position doing a push-up, the spinal erectors go into an isometric contraction to keep you tight, allowing your primary muscles to do the movement.
So, the stabilizing muscles keep your body tight, balanced and in recruitment with other muscles to carry out a physical movement, say, like walking, which we all would consider functional movement. In fact, you can’t have good functional movement without strong stabilizers. Contracted stabilizers keep your body under tension, which is a good thing because it also prevents injury. Heavy deadlifting is where I first learned the importance of keeping this tension in the body. Consider it as a necessary safety mechanism.
In the gym with all the elaborate pieces of equipment available to do isolation exercises like bicep curls and other “mirror muscle” exercises, the emphasis is on the strict targeting of a major muscle group and not necessarily recruiting any others, hence the name, isolation. In compound exercises, many major muscles are called upon and the stabilizers are there to assist. The body is an engineering structural marvel when you consider the sophistication of human movement!
Try this: do 5 reps of 45# dumbbell concentration curls and really focus on isolating the bicep. Now take a 6′ 45# barbell and do the same thing, with one arm. It is a lot harder, isn’t it? Try it again, but this time, get every muscle in your body tight and rigid, keep your elbow in close to the body and grip the bar like you are going to crush it.
What you are doing is recruiting more major and stabilizing muscles to help you perform the task. Pavel calls this the Principle of Irradiation. If you were to tense and recruit muscles like this on all your exercises, not only would your primary muscles increase in strength but so would your entire body.
If you machine train, this alone will help you get more reps and more weight, but the real beauty of strengthening the stabilizers, is in compound lifting like Olympic and power lifting, dumbbells and kettlebells, where strong stabilizers are a necessity. The next level up where these muscles are crucial is when you are lifting heavy, odd-shaped things like sandbags, partially-filled barrels of water and slosh pipes.
From a daily use application, imagine how you felt the two days after the dreaded Moving Day, emptying a houseful of stuff into a moving van, unloading it into the new house and then organizing it. (The mere thought of this makes me cringe)! In spite of your machine or barbell strength, you will be sore as hell, first from muscles you don’t train much and then muscles you painfully exclaim, “I never even knew I had these”! Those are your neglected stabilizer muscles.
How do you train them? I suppose you could become a professional mover, but for most of us, it is about as appealing as lumberjack logrolling or being on a chain gang next to Bubba, (sledgehammer and pick ax training).
You aren’t going to get much stabilization muscle strength from machines since the machine makes it all stable for you, keeping you only on a single physical plane of movement. Hell, on most of these, you get to sit or lie down! That Hammer Curl machine is good for only one thing, nothing, I mean curls.
Barbell training with power and Olympic-style lifting will definitely help you improve your overall strength, but movements such as bodyweight exercises, including pull-ups, ballistic exercises, especially kettlebell swings and snatches are good examples, sandbags, lifting heavy, odd-shaped things like stones and kegs is where the real strength lies. If you have ever worked on a farm, you know what I am talking about. In fact, that strong farm kid who often excels in sports, would laugh his butt off watching us swinging kettlebells and tossing sandbags. Some of us would barely last a day in his world!
Though I don’t use them much, I think Bosu balancers have some value, as it puts you on an unstable plane while you are doing an exercise. It requires a lot of stability muscle action and will develop coordination and balance which are necessary complements to strength.
For me, stability training is something that works well outside of the gym, in the real world, developing real strength.
I would love to hear your comments and thoughts on this post.
June 16th, 2008
Posted by
MarkFu |
General Fitness |
no comments
Earlier in my sales career the company would have monthly and annual sales contests for it’s sales people. There were two dominant strategies to win. The first was that of the front runner. Start strong, fast and never relinquish your lead, which was difficult over a 22 day sales month. The cagey veterans saved all their big stuff from their money customers until the last possible moment and then posted big sales numbers to take the lead away from the front runners. These were the “sandbaggers”. The front runners hated sandbagging because they claimed it was “unfair”. In the end, it was usually “scoreboard” for the sand baggers and it was they who left with the big prize.
I am sandbagging once again, but here the idea is not to hold back and for my first sandbagging workout, I let it go… literally.
I am not going to go on about how sandbagging is superior to other forms of training and go into the details of the tool. Like so many other things out in fitness land, somewhere there is a sand bag guru who has the Enlightened Path to Fitness Nirvana by way of the exalted sandbag. (Please, no sandbag certifications)! It is, however, yet another effective way to train, just not the only way and for me, another way to stay interested in the workout.
Maybe I have ADD, or just like some variety in my workouts which is why I have added sandbag training to kettlebells, Olympic lifting, powerlifting, Crossfit-style, metcon, running, bodyweight, hill climbing, skating, Highland Games and dog tossing to my personal fitness regimen.
My first session of sandbag training looked like this:
70# Sandbag Workout
Stair Climbs
•Zercher Carries: 3 x 3
•Over the Shoulder, L: 3 x 3
•Over the Shoulder, R: 3 x 3
•On the Back: 3 x 3
Back Squats: 3 x 10
Side Throws: 16
June 13th, 2008
Posted by
MarkFu |
Sandbag, Training Log |
no comments
Adjustable Kettlebell Handle
This is great if you only want to buy one or two kettlebells and adjust your weights accordingly with inexpensive plates from a couple of pounds to over 90 pounds. If you are traveling, just take the handle with you and add the plates at your destination.
The handles cost just under $10 in the continental US to ship which, of course, is a great deal less expensive than shipping a fixed weight kettlebell.For more information, contact Val’s Kettlebells at valskettlebells@gmail.com
June 13th, 2008
Posted by
MarkFu |
Equipment, Kettlebells |
no comments
Pick out the dumbbells
The big business plan in the fitness world these days is certifications. Crossfit can get you certified three levels into their system and you can get “certified” in Olympic lifting in a weekend. (Never mind those lifts take years to master). You can get certified in basic barbell training, running, triathlons. Hell, even kids have their own certification. I predict soon there will be a “Masters Certification” for aging baby boomers with time on their hands and plenty of disposable income. (I mean after all, if there is a kid’s cert, why not us? Who do you think pays for the kid’s certification anyway.)
Dragondoor and Pavel have made a lucrative industry out of kettlebell certifications and Crossfit is getting in on that action too.
Ross Enamait, in a kettlebell thread at rosstraining.com tells us don’t expect to find “dumbbell certifications”, but I disagree. For just half the price of all the above “certs” (2 mints in 1), I could capture the entire market with my “dumbbell certification” and I can give participants a piece of paper that acknowledges them as a certifiable dumbbell too. I already have mine.
When did a “weekend training seminar” start being called a “certification” anyway? What about those people who paid their $1,000 and just can’t get the hang of swinging a kettlebell or running around the block on the balls of their feet? How about federal funding for a “No Fat Weekend Warrior Left Behind” program. No question, from a marketing standpoint, “certification” sells.
Ok, I better stop right here lest I sound like Rant at Moynihan Institute!
May 29th, 2008
Posted by
MarkFu |
General Fitness, Humor |
3 comments
Having just done 180 swings last night, this article on the best kettlebell swing height by PT Brett Jones gives some of the best tips on how to get the most powerful swing. (Hint: it’s all in the hips!)
Be the King of Swing! (Sorry, ladies, “Queen” doesn’t rhyme).
On the other hand, if Brett’s kettlebell swings are not your cup of tea, you can always try Lianna’s way:
Hat Tip: liftkettlebells.com.
If you are learning kettlebell movements, this is the place to go see the best in kettlebell videos.
April 15th, 2008
Posted by
MarkFu |
Kettlebells |
no comments
On a hat tip from Scott at straighttothebar.com:
The Wall Street Journal in the March 18th edition written by Laura Johannes, ran an article, “Getting A Handle On Weight Training”.
This is a very short article, meant to introduce their readers to the kettlebell phenomenon and includes a quote about safety and form from Pavel Tsatsouline.
Here is another link to go to if you want to increase your push-ups, mil-style, from Stew Smith. This one comes by way of leanandhungryfitness.com. This is a minimum 10 day plan I am going to give a go.
March 18th, 2008
Posted by
MarkFu |
Weblogs |
no comments
I got my first kettlebell, a 20 kilo from Val, the Babe of My Existence on my birthday, back in August of 2007. I liked it so much, I bought others and so did Val.
Folks at the gym asked where they could get them and being the sales guy I am, I said, “Uh, from me!”
This soon turned into a project and a small business for Val, who has been catering to a local clientele.
Her prices are excellent and if you are looking for someone to get yours from, and I can’t think of anyone better, call her or drop an email. She hopes to put up a web page soon.
March 8th, 2008
Posted by
MarkFu |
Equipment |
no comments
I’d like to share a couple of links I have come across recently. One is an old one that was in my Bookmarks folder that I re-visited for the first time in a while and the other site is very new and reflects my new interest in kettlebell training.
Jeff Waters, of liftkettlebells.com has a new venture that is all kettlebell and focuses on great instructional video. You no longer have to go surfing YouTube in search of good kettlebell training videos. Jeff has done all that on his excellent clean and uncluttered site. While you are there, make sure you check the articles and jump into the forum. Go check it out. I think you will like it as much as I do.
The revisited site is one with a great name, Madcow’s Training Information Site. This is a site heavily linked with barbell routines from names like Glenn Pendlay and Bill Starr covering such topics as periodization, the lifts themselves, diet and much, much more.If you use kettlebells and barbells, make a point to visit, bookmark and subscribe to these top sites.
March 3rd, 2008
Posted by
MarkFu |
Weblogs |
2 comments
