Programming Core Workouts - Part 4: Isometric Stability

Isometric Stability Exercises for the Core

This is part 4 of the continuing series on Core workouts. If you haven't seen them, or just need a refresher here's Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Our basic pattern continues here with a three part approach - front, back and side. However, these exercises are using various devices to create instability, such as a BOSU, medicine ball or stability ball. 

Instability creates two additional kinds of demand relative to simpler exercises. First, the need to stabilize engages more of the muscles, thereby increasing the intensity of the exercise without having to increase weight. Second, our trunk muscles have a significant role in stabilizing the torso and our body (of course), so a stability demanding exercises is going to help develop that capability. This demonstrates the application of a basic principle: overload. An unstable surface is overload in comparison to regular life, where we don't have to deal with unstable surfaces. Overload is necessary to make regular tasks easy.

Their are four exercises shown above:

1. Medicine Ball Plank - this engages the entire body for stabilization, especially the upper body. Emphasis should be on good posture - as always, a good plank looks just like good standing posture except rotated 90 degrees. This means a neutral spine, instead of letting the hips drop or sticking your butt up in the air.

2. Stability Ball Curl Up - with the small of the back on the stability ball this exercise focuses the demand on the abdominal muscles, unlike the previous exercise. The objective is to hold the shoulders up against gravity while simultaneously stabilizing on the ball to maintain a neutral posture.

3. Stability Ball  Hip Bridge - with the shoulders and neck on the stability ball this exercise places it's demand on the back extensors, glutes and hamstrings. Once again, the objective is to maintain a straight back posture. There is a tendency for people to cheat by letting the hips sag. However, there is no real downside to a bit of over-extension with the back. So I advise people to err on the side of elevating the hips higher than they think they need to.

4. BOSU Side Plank - by elevating the feet on the flat side of a BOSU the side plank gets an added stability requirement. As with the regular side plank the emphasis should be on good posture (which I'm sure you've noticed is the pattern), avoiding the errors illustrated in the video.

Task Complexity

These exercises illustrate another principle for progression, that of task complexity. Task complexity allows us to progress an exercise without increasing weight, by adding additional layers of difficulty in other domains. This does not improve strength but it will improve the cross-over between different exercises. 

It can also provide a way of progressing an exercise in group training when there is a mix of levels. Since not everyone can necessarily do a harder or more intense version of an exercise it can be easier to have some folks do a more complex version of the exercise.

Programming

These are supplementary exercises that work best in conjunction with the more basic exercises described in the previous parts of the series. They can be done on the off days since they are less intense than the standard weighted core exercises.

As with the other isometric exercises, aim for a duration of at least 30 seconds and build up to a minute. Much past a minute and it becomes necessary to change the exercise to continue to make meaningful improvement.

Conclusion

These basic exercise variants can improve an already solid core development and strengthening program by adding task complexity through instability.

(Conclusion about programming)

June Link Round-up

Oy! The summer semester was intense. But awesome. And after that I had to move. Thankfully, this was followed by short vacation.

But I'm finally back to posting. This post is the stuff I had put together for the June Link Round-up, but apparently had been left as a draft for two whole months. Honestly, the program was so intense that I didn't even realize that I'd missed posting for that long.

So, what have we got this time?

Tracking your Progress

Jefit is smart phone app for tracking your workout. I've tried a few others and settled on this one.
The advantages of this app, as I see it:

• Can program in any exercise, if it's not in the database you can add your own
• Can set-up rest times, sets and reps - makes it easy to create a complete design
• Can super-set exercises - that is pair them so that you alternate from one exercise and back to another
• Tracks your progress

Tracking your workouts is incredibly important. If you aren't tracking then you are just working out. Just passing time and burning calories.

But what we want is strength training. We need to be able to check that we are making progress. To set goals and challenge ourselves. This all means you need to be tracking your numbers.

You can also just use a notebook. I did initially. But it's 2014 and I know most of you would rather an app on your phone.

If you have another favorite app, then please share in the comments.

Pell and Bag Work for Power & Speed

This article from Ross Enamait talks about additional approaches to heavy bag training. I feel the advice applies to pell work as well. 

The short version is to include periods of pell/bag work done at maximum intensity, with simple actions, shorter periods. Typical bag work is done on the same timer as a boxing match 3:00 on and 1:00 off. Or a variation thereof. But this never gives you a stimulus to go higher - in encourages you to pace yourself. Sometimes you need to push it though, and this will develop different characteristics than regular bag and pell work.

On Intensity

This blog post from my friend J. Forrest Conway talks about intensity in workouts. It's allure and the dangers therein. I know I've had this problem myself. And I think anyone who gets serious about their training has a high risk of 'addiction' to training and then overtraining.


Cheers,

Programming Core Workouts - Part 3

Dynamic Core Work

Dynamic exercises to train moving your body around a stationary torso for good structure in the fight.

Sorry it took so long to get the next blog post up. Grad school has been intense and I needed to shoot a video for it.

In case you missed them here are Part 1 and Part 2.

Here's the video


The key point of this series of exercises is moving the limbs around a stationary torso. This is what we do when we fight, as I discussed in part 1. As such this is a natural progression for the core training.

Plank Walkout - the two most common errors I see with this exercise involve the end points of the motion.

• Too Far Back - Only come back to a push-up position, don't bring your hands any closer to your feet and don't let your backside pop-up.
• Too Far Out - Don't reach as far forward as you can. Instead you should only walk forward as far as you are able to do well. And well here means maintaining a neutral spine (as it pretty much always does). If you can't get very far at first then don't worry about - just go a little bit farther each week.

Side Plank Reach - a common error here is a short range of motion. Do not try to do this exercise quickly, take the time to reach as far as you can in each direction.

1-leg Hip Bridge - be sure to get the hips all the way up to full extension. This version of the exercise helps to engage the glute med muscles of the hip because of the need to stabilize with one side.

Programming

For all three of these exercises 8-12 reps for three sets, done as a circuit is a good program, easily included at the beginning of a strength training session. If the objective is simple activation before technical training, such as part of a pre-class warm-up, then half as many reps is sufficient.

Conclusion

Overall these exercises develop movement quality and the focus is not on difficulty or intensity. Progression is therefore less of a concern than with other exercises. However, advanced exercises will be discussed in coming blog posts.

(Parts IV and conclusion about programming)

May Link Round-up - Stretching, Working Harder by Working Smarter and Vitamins

Welcome to another edition of: Things I Read That I Want to Share

Smart Ways to Go Harder

11 Ways to Make an Exercise Harder
For most exercises adding weight is the way to make it harder, but for some exercises there are other ways that are appropriate. These different suggestions can be used to add variety, increase the specificity of a workout or address a specific deficit.

Some highlights for HEMA:
#11 suggests a basic way to make exercises more specific to our needs, such as standing cable presses and rows to mimic the body position of strikes and pulling back to parry. These kinds of exercises should be in a program alongside the foundation exercises like squats.
#10 addresses the need for single leg training and for stability in the same, since when fighting we normally only get to push off one leg at a time, and frequently we are trying to do something else at the same time, such as attacking or parrying.
#5 matters greatly for extended postures like longpoint.

Stretching?

The 5 Most Common Errors Athletes Make with Yoga
15 Static Stretching Mistakes
Stretching obviously has it's benefits. Unfortunately, too many people are unaware of the proper way to incorporate stretching into their program. People tend to think that more is better, when what we really need is the correct amount mobility + stability. Stretching programs may be done before exercise, involve stretching muscles that don't need to be stretched and similar errors. These two articles do a good job of summarizing many relevant points about a stretching program.

In short: If you are not sure, don't stretch it.

Vitamins?

Why Vitamins May Be Bad for Your Workout
I am a skeptic when it comes to supplements. The reality is that good eating is sufficient, and actually superior to supplements. Eating a lot of vegetables and fruits, eating a variety of such and an otherwise sensible diet is well demonstrated to produce good outcomes. The primary exception to this is for individuals who have a known deficiency of a particular nutrient, usually the result of some disease process. But the meme that most people are deficient in something or another just isn't true.

This blog is not just about physical conditioning for fighting, it's also about general Health & Wellness. I have a Bachelor's in Exercise and Health Sciences and I generally want people to be healthier and smarter about their health.

Conclusion

Increase specificity or decrease stability.
Be thoughtful about stretching.
Eat your veggies.

Enjoy.

Programming Core Workouts - Part 2

Adding in the Hips and Motion

Part 1 is here. Now we are going to add three more basic components to our core workout. These additions have to do with the hip musculature. While these muscles are used in the previous exercises there are two basic reasons to work them separately:

1. They are often inactive - Modern living frequently leads to the muscles being poorly used. They get tight or weak. Whether from sitting too much or faulty movement patterns or both. As such it is useful to target them specifically.
2. The hip muscles generate motion - while the trunk muscles prevent motion. The previous exercises are geared towards preventing torso motion. But we need to be able to move around this stable core. These exercises work this aspect.

Once again we have three basic directions - front, back and sides - which define a complete approach.

Front - (iliopsoas and rectus femoris) While the rectus abdominis prevents extension of the back and create a a stable torso, these muscles are used to flex the thigh. Our objective is to train to keep the back flat, with the abs, while being able to generate leg motion.

Back - (gluteus maximus) Weak abs and a tight back frequently lead to hip extension being tied to back extension. Our objective though is to train hip extension while maintaining a flat back, which requires co-activation of the abs while extending at the hip. As well as training to separate back and hip extension.

Side - (gluteus medius) Another muscle that is under utilized in daily life, this muscle serves to stabilize and move the hips laterally. Again the objective is to be able to move the leg laterally while keeping the torso still.

(The side muscles can also be thought to include the adductor group. However, this group serves a different kind of role, is worked separately from the core muscles and is less likely to be problematic)

Programming

Our objective with these muscles is activation and movement pattern related. As such it is useful to include these exercises with the warm-up instead of trying to build-up strength with them.

Deadbugs - The link is to a blog post by Tony Gentilcore. There are two key related points he makes: 1) keep the back flat on the floor, really press it down; 2) the number of repetitions is limited not by your leg muscles but by how many you can do while keeping the back flat. As such 5-8 reps per side is generally the limit, but do 2-3 sets.

Bird-dog - The animated gif with the link isn't perfect, because the objective is maintain a nice neutral spine throughout the movement. 5-8 reps per side is good for 2-3 sets.

Mini-band walks - The mini-band walks will place a strong demand on the glute med muscles, enough that people new to the exercise often have the feeling of having worked a muscle they didn't know they had.

These three exercises as part of the warm-up helps round out the core program and make it more complete and functional. Easier and harder versions of all of these exist and some of them will be discussed later in the series.

Next time we'll be discussing how to organize the great diversity of available exercises and start looking at exercises that require a bit of equipment.

(Parts III, IV and conclusion about programming)

Kettlebells Annoy Me

I'm going to keep this short. And I'm going to return to my series on Core Programming tomorrow.

Kettlebells have legitimate uses. I actually went to Sports Authority yesterday specifically to buy one or two. They were going to fill a small niche in my strength training 'tool bag'.

My main problem with kettlebells is that they are over-hyped. And some will say that's not a reason itself to object to them. But . . .

I found an 8 kg (17.6 lb) bell at the Sports Authority. It didn't have a price tag. I took it up to the register where it rang up for $59.99!

That's almost four dollars a pound. For a single piece, cast hunk of metal. And that's what being over-hyped does that is objectively bad.

A kettlebell can be made from cheap, crap, pig iron, it can be made from impure, mixed, recycled or whatever as long as it's mostly iron. It just does not matter. And the store brand bell, at a discount store, was nearly 4 dollars a pound.

Compare that to the Olympic plates. The Oly plate is made from multiple materials and has to withstand more extreme use, so higher grade materials are a must. It must be precision milled to fit other equipment and still move freely. These are less than 2 dollars a pound at the same Sports Authority.

I walked out of there empty handed. It was a waste of my time.

And that's why over hyped stuff bugs me.

Programming Core Workouts - Part 1

I think "core" workouts are one the grayest areas of program design for any kind of exercise plan. I'm going to start off by describing what I think are the two key elements:

1. Defining a complete program
2. Establishing objectives

Complete Program

Our trunk muscles are arranged into three primary groups: front, back and oblique. While there is clearly more going on than just this, it is a good, functional starting point for understanding them.

Front - (rectus abdominis, iliopsoas, rectus femoris) These muscles produce forward flexion and prevent extension of the spine. In fencing we will hardly need to flex forward at the waist, but we do require good anti-extension. Anti-extension will help us form overhead guards with good posture, strike with good structure and resist grappling. Forward flexion will occasionally be used to duck especially in unarmed fighting.

Back - (erector spinae, quadratus lumborum, glutes) These muscles produce back extension and prevent flexion of the spine. For swordfighting we will normally use these muscles to resist flexion. Example actions include maintaining good posture with forward extended guards and retaining an upright posture as you lunge. Extension is used in dodging backwards, such as against a thrust to the face, and in some grappling techniques.

Oblique - (external obliques, internal obliques, quadratus) These muscles are involved in two movement patterns.

• Lateral Flexion i.e. bending to the side and preventing the same. Used primarily for lateral stability while moving explosively and occasionally for slipping an attack.
• Rotation and anti-rotation. Anti-rotation is used primarily to keep the torso aligned correctly for good structure with attacks and defenses.

These three elements define a complete program and three exercises to target each aspect is enough for a single day's core workout.

Objectives

Our primary use for these muscles is to hold our core still while our limbs move around it. To maintain good posture and structure as we fight. The largest demand on these objectives is created during very intense moments such as lunge or passing attacks, and defenses against powerful blows.

The demand is high force production for a brief moment in time.

As such our exercises should be geared towards keeping the core stiff and motionless at high-intensity, with a secondary aspect of moving the rest of the body while doing the same. Long duration and high rep exercise programs do not achieve these objectives.

Programming

Let's start with a really basic approach. Subsequent posts will expand on this topic, but this is a good starting point. For each of these 30 seconds is sufficient for a set. Add weight when you can easily to 45-60 seconds to bring the time back down to 30.

Plank
Side Plank
Hip Bridge

Conclusion

Programming for the core need not be complex nor does it need to be a time consuming part of the workout. But this only makes sense in the situation where you are doing a complete strength training program, as I've described before. For instance, one arm dumbbell rows are an anti-rotation exercise, so a day with those and side planks is a complete workout for the oblique muscle groups.

(Parts II, III, IV and conclusion about programming)