|
| Stabilization
- Part 1 |
 |
|
Going to the gym today
is not like it used to be. Weight rooms of yesteryear
were filled with heavy iron, loud banging and grunting,
and the smell of big sweaty guys lifting inconceivable
amounts of weight. , most health clubs and gyms
have evolved into friendly health centers that cater
to a variety |
of needs. Gyms are now more about getting in shape and
being healthy than simply pumping iron.
Nowadays, the weight room is filled with men and women
of all ages, doing all kinds of exercises and using new
and interesting devices. One of the new buzzwords that
you'll hear around the gym is stabilization. Stabilization
training has many advantages over traditional weight training.
It burns more calories, it strengthens the joints of the
trunk and limbs, improves athletic performance and helps
to prevent injuries. It is fun and challenging in a whole
new way and can take your training to a whole new level.
Allow me to demystify this new concept for you. Stabilization
training involves doing exercises on an unstable surface
or exercise environment, in order to force you to use
the stabilizing muscles. Before going any further, let
us take a brief look at the definition of a muscle that
acts as a stabilizer. Basically, muscles can act in two
ways. We all know that muscles allow you to move your
body. A less known but very important part of every movement
is how muscles can contract and prevent movement in specific
directions in order to allow movement to occur in other
directions. Muscles which act to move your body are called
primary movers. Muscles which prevent movement in other
directions during a movement are called stabilizers. For
example, when performing a bench press movement, the pectoralis
major, anterior deltoids are the primary movers at the
shoulder and the triceps brachii is the primary mover
at the elbow. In order to push the bar straight up and
down smoothly, you have to prevent the bar from moving
sideways or front/back. For this purpose you will use
the shoulder stabilizers.
They contract and hold the shoulder in place while the
primary movers allow you to move the bar straight up and
down. Some of the stabilizers of the shoulder joint that
are recruited during a bench press movement include the
medial and posterior deltoids, the rotator cuff group,
and the latissimus dorsi and teres major. Muscles that
act to prevent movement in joints that are not directly
involved in a paritcular movement are also act as stabilizers.
During the bench press, these include the muscles of the
scapulae, the trunk (pelvis and spine) and the legs.
Stabilization training has been an essential part of sports
and athletics for years. Coaches and trainers have long
since discovered the advantages of having an athlete that
is equally strong and stable: not only for performance
enhancement but also for injury prevention. One of the
major benefits of stabilization training is that it stimulates
many groups of muscles simultaneously. From a neurological
viewpoint, this is an excellent way to reanimate dormant
neuromuscular pathways which have become inactive because
of injury, postural faults or muscle imbalances. This
means that you can improve back pain, neck pain, elbow
pain, and knee pain, because stabilizers act to take the
load off of your joints and neighboring overworked muscles.
Stabilization training has only recently made its way
into the workout spaces of the general public. In fact,
people have been training their stabilizers for years
without even being aware of it. Free weight training is
well known to work your stabilizing muscles in conjunction
with your prime movers. The bench press is but one of
many examples. Training with cables also trains the stabilizers,
albeit to a lessor degree than free weights. Machines
are the one mode of resistence training that do not train
the stabilizers, because they force the exerciser to perform
linear, one-dimensional movements in a pre-stabilized
environment. Machines made their way into gyms from sports,
specifically from rehabilitation. They are fairly safe
and thus very useful for training injured and injury-prone
people, and are easy to use since the movements are virtually
set-up for the exerciser. Despite their safety and ease
of use, machines develop strength in the primary movers
disproportionately to the stabilizers. In the long run
they are less healthy for the neuromusculo-skeletal system,
lead more quickly to training plateaus and burn less calories.
Eventually all exercisers who do strength training should
switch to free weights.
Lately many new and interesting destabilization devices
have appeared on the market. Swiss Balls or Stability
Balls have become a staple in almost every health club.
Bosu half-balls are used in group classes much in the
same manner that steps are used, except that they provide
a destabilized exercise surface. Stability boards are
used to provide a destabilized workout surface so that
exercises that were previously performed on a solid, stable
surface can be made more challenging. The list of such
devices continues to grow as fitness companies develop
new and sometimes wacky looking pieces of equipment to
meet the demands of this new trend in exercise.
Here are a few examples of ways that you can incorporate
stability training into your workout:
1. Swiss Ball Press: Using a Swiss ball as an alternate
surface to lie on instead of a traditional bench for dumbbell
and barbell presses is an excellent way to begin. Using
dumbbells places higher demands on the stabilizing muscles
the shoulder and using a barbell places higher demands
on the stabilizing muscles of the trunk. When trying this
for the first time, be sure you have a spotter who can
hand you the weight and watch you. Also, you’ll
probably notice that the demands of stabilization require
you to use less weight than you normally do. Don’t
hesitate to reduce the weight like you would when trying
any new exercise for the first time.
2. Balance Board Squat Stance: For this you need to
have a specialized piece of equipment called a balance
board. A two dimensional balance board will allow you
work stabilization in two planes: anterior/posterior
(front/back) and lateral (sideways). Let’s begin
by training lateral stability. Stand on the board so
that it can move side to side. Place your feet at the
width of your hips and pointed outwards slightly. Put
your arms out in front of you with your thumbs pointing
up to help you balance. Arch your back by pulling your
shoulders back and slowly squat down until the tops
of your thighs are parallel to the floor. Maintain your
balance and hold your position for 60 seconds. It should
be noted that often a person may notice that his/her
legs start to shake furiously and without control. This
is normal and should subside once you’ve done
the exercise a couple of times. You can do 3 sets of
this exercise. Stay tuned for the next article on stabilization.
 |
Sam Torontour is an experienced personal
trainer and certified strength and conditioning
specialist with over 15 years experience as a fitness
professional. With a Bachelor of Science degree
in Exercise Science and a minor in Biology from
Concordia University, he possesses a thorough scientific
understanding of the workings of the human body,
nutrition and exercise. |
He is certified by the National Strength and Conditioning
Association (NSCA) as a Certified Strength and Conditioning
Specialist (CSCS) and has expertise in a wide variety
of areas. His specialties include physique transformation,
athletic preparation, muscle balance and posture,
flexibility, nutrition and supplementation. He is
also an instructor of Muay Thai (an ancient martial
art developed in Thailand). He has worked with males
and females of all ages and from all walks of life,
including students, older adults, teens and professionals.
He is presently working at Gym L’Apogée
on St. Laurent Boulevard in Montreal, and also works
with clients at their homes. |
|
|
