Incorporate This Trunk Rotation Stability Exercise

Incorporate This Trunk Rotation Stability Exercise

 

When lifting anything, we hear "lift with your legs, not your back!"  When using the spine  to perform resistive activities, many times a dangerous amount of pressure is placed on the ligaments and intervertebral discs.  Over time, this may lead to injuries such as bulging or herniated discs.  Spinal flexion places strain on the discs.  Spinal rotation also places strain on the discs.  But when you combine the movements (flexion with rotation), the discs are most vulnerable.  If these motions are dangerous, is it wise to perform them with resistance added?  I prefer to focus on Spinal Stabilization rather than Resistive Trunk Strengthening Exercises.   

 



Some common trunk exercises you may have seen are the Side Bend QL, Resistance Tubing Trunk Rotation, and the Medicine Ball Trunk Twist.

 





 

 

These exercises are aimed at strengthening the spine throughout the range of motion.  But at what cost? 

 

Try to incorporate the following exercise to your routine for Spinal Rotation Stability. 

Rack a Kettlebell in 1 hand.  This alone places an asymmetric force on your spine.  Your goal is to maintain a neutral spine and not allow the trunk to side-bend toward the added weight.  This is already working the QL on the opposite side of the Kettlebell

 

Press the weight overhead.  This continues to challenge your trunk's stability with the  direction of the force applied from a different position/angle

 

Here's where the rotation comes in.  Instead of actively twisting your spine with the applied resistance (as shown in the Med Ball Twist and Resistance Band Trunk Rotation pics above), rack the weight, rotate your trunk about 30 degrees to the right while maintaining forward facing hips (Your knees and pelvic bones continue to point straight ahead), and then perform the shoulder press.  Attempt a few reps in this position   

 

 

Then, rotate your trunk a little further from the 30 degrees to about 60 degrees trunk rotation.  Again, keep your hips and knees pointing forward.  Press the weight overhead.

 

 

Repeat to the other side at 30degrees, then 60degrees. 

 

The point to this exercise is to engage your trunk stabilizers at a spinal position, and maintaining this stability throughout the lift.  You are challenging multiple spinal positions by varying the amount of trunk rotation.  You are NOT using the spine to rotate a load. You are using the trunk musculature to stabilize the spine when in a rotated position.  This, in my opinion is a safer way to train your trunk.

 

Add even more of a challenge to your grip, trunk and shoulder stabilizers by performing the same activity with the Kettlebell in the Bottoms Up Position...Then try it with Neurogrips!!(www.neurogrips.com)

 



Rotational Stability of The Trunk

Rotational Stability of The Trunk

 

The Super Plank is a great trunk stabilization technique.  It actually requires you to maintain a stable trunk while transitioning from a static position, 'dynamically' to another static position.  At the point of incorporating this activity into your program, you should have no problem maintaining static trunk positions.  The challenge here is dynamic stabilization.  You are moving from the Low Plank position to the High Plank position with minimal trunk rotation.   

 

Start Position: Low Plank

 I transfer my body weight onto my right arm in order to change the position of my left arm to the high plank position.  With this, a rotational load is placed on my trunk

Incorrect: This would need a correction, as you can see my left hip is no longer "squared-off" with the ground.  I gave in to the rotational force

Correct High Plank Position

Incorrect High Plank Position: I am in a jacknifed position rather than a high plank position

Transition from High Plank to Low Plank: Here, I transfer my bodyweight onto my right arm in order to reposition my left arm into a low plank position without losing the "squared-off" hip position with the ground

Incorrect transition of High Plank to Low Plank.  My right hip is higher than my left hip.  Both hips should be level and parallel to the ground

If you see your client performing the Super Plank technique with any of the "incorrect" behaviors mentioned above, attempt to correct them verbally or manually.  If they can not correct it, then this may be too advanced at this time.  Check out the previous posts for less aggressive stability techniques to master prior to returning to the Super Plank



Rotational Stability of The Trunk

Rotational Stability of The Trunk

 

In the last post, I talked about maintaining stability of the trunk while performing the High Plank Shoulder/Elbow Tap, with various foot positions.  In this post, I will disucss maintaining trunk rotational stability while performing the High Plank Hip Extension technique, with modified hand positioning.

 

 

Start position - Notice the hand and foot position - The hips are "squared-off" with the ground

Slowly lift one leg while maintaining the hip "squared-off" position - If you place a  broomstick across the lower back horizontally from one hip to the other, the stick should be parallel to the ground - One side of the stick should not be higher than the other (This is a good feedback technique)

 

Progress the exercise by adjusting the base of support - Decreasing the base (hand position)increases the difficulty

Completion of the level two exercise

Incorrect Performance - It is subtle, but if you look at my right hip, it is slightly higher than my left - I lost the "squared-off" positioning of my hips - This would be more noticeable using the broomstick to assess - I lost the rotational stability slightly - Look for this compensation with clients when training rotational stability



Another common compensation for inability to stabilize the trunk is the jacknifed position seen here prior to hip extension.  This is no longer the High Plank Position