Brijesh and I have numerous things that we can share about what we are currently doing from programming, motivation, coaching, testing, etc… but we wanted to take a moment and ask for some feedback. If there are any topics that you would like to hear please shoot me an email at shawn@sbcoachescollege.com
The topics in our field are endless but we want to make sure that we provide you with content that you want.
Shawn
Thank you to my former intern for writing an article about his experience as a strength and conditioning coach in Hong Kong.
Shawn
International Strength and Conditioning Coaching
Andy Martin, CSCS
I recently returned from a trip overseas to Hong Kong where I worked as the strength and conditioning coach for the Winling Basketball Club in the Hong Kong Basketball Association. As strength coaches, adaptability is one of the foremost skills required to be successful; be it to different athletes, different administrations/front offices, etc. I found this to be especially true while coaching overseas. While I am sure that each country has its own special challenges, I believe that some of the lessons I learned may be universal when coaching internationally.
Hong Kong Basketball
For those of us that have had a chance to coach athletes in the US, specifically basketball athletes, we are fortunate to have seen basketball played at a level that has been and continues to be the premier level in the world. In some countries, due to a lack of grass roots basketball programs, the level of basketball is much lower than we are used to in the US. That isn’t to say that young kids in Hong Kong don’t play basketball, in fact it’s wildly popular there, but they are rarely taught fundamentals that we take for granted because we are so exposed to them growing up. Hong Kong normally does not fare well against the other national teams in Asia.
With that said, the players are still very athletic. Some of them had some experience with “working out”, but none of them had any experience with actual sport performance training. So the task became to identify and correct any movement deficiencies, and design and implement training protocols to athletically develop the younger players and protect the health and performance of the older players. The experience as a whole was a wonderful opportunity, and I would not hesitate to go back overseas to coach, but there a number of challenges that I faced during my time there.
Breaking Down the Language Barrier
Before going over, I knew absolutely no Chinese. I still don’t know much, but you will naturally pick up some words/phrases simply from being exposed to the language on a daily basis. Most everyone could speak some English, and nearly everyone could understand English, but any team meetings or exchanges were almost exclusively in Cantonese. Only one player on the team was actually fluent in English, so immediately I was working against a language barrier. Also, I was informed that Cantonese is a harder version of Chinese to learn than Mandarin, so learning the native language was not a realistic option.
If possible, learning the language of the country you will be coaching in is ideal. However when this is not a practical option, try to learn at least the basic words and phrases that you will be using on a regular basis. Learn how to count, and learn basic instructional phrases that you will use during workouts, like yes/no, stop/go, and good job. A large part of the strength and conditioning process is building a relationship with the athletes, and even though you may not be fluent, displaying an effort to communicate with the athletes in their native tongue is a great start to building that bridge.
Overcoming Facilities/Scheduling Challenges
For the team that I was working with, a number of the players also had regular day jobs. This poses a scheduling problem, since the players will not always have time to come work out, and when they do the times will change from day to day. In addition, our off-court workouts were in a commercial gym, just like a large gym chain in the US. So the issue becomes you may have athletes coming in at different times during the day, and you are trying to put them through workouts while also battling the normal gym crowd for equipment. This is where the “art” of strength coaching comes into play in a big way. Being able to rotate between 1-5 athletes, at different points of a workout, spread out all over the gym, can be an incredibly difficult task. Therefore, organizational skills and the ability to adapt exercises when dictated by available equipment are invaluable skills. Ideally, you would be able to put your athletes on some sort of schedule and have your own facilities to be able to control the workout environment. But when this is not the case, you must be able to make due with the time/equipment you do have and still ensure that your athletes are progressing.
Facing Cultural Opposition to Progressive Training
Chances are if you are coaching overseas, that the athletes have most likely never gone through a progressive resistance training program. At least in the HKBA, players must be either born in Hong Kong, or naturalized as a citizen. This differs from many other leagues in Asia and Europe, where teams are allowed to import players from other countries. The particular problem this posed in Hong Kong was that there was only one real cultural outlook on “working out”. Setting aside the health aspect, most gym-goers in Hong Kong had a very bodybuilding mindset. They were not concerned with muscular strength/endurance, and especially not sport performance, but simply that they had very defined musculature. There were some very strong, muscular individuals, but most showed signs of some pharmacological assistance.
With this being the culture surrounding working out, it is difficult at first to get the players to understand why foam rolling is important, or why you spend 10-20 minutes on neuromuscular/core activation. If it’s not tricep pressdowns or bicep curls, it will take them some time to get on board. This is why an effective strength coach has to be able to educate his athletes as well as develop their program. You have to be able to convey the benefit of the exercises you select as it translates to on-court performance. If you can do that, and get the athletes to understand why you do certain exercises and why the whole workout isn’t spent doing bench press and curls and crunches, then you will have a much easier time getting the athletes to push themselves and really develop.
Adapting to Foreign Cultures/Building Relationships
Coaching overseas is just like any other opportunity in that it gives you a chance to make personal and professional relationships. Especially with basketball, which is probably the most popular sport in the world (aside from soccer), there are coaching opportunities to be had in a multitude of countries. If you can demonstrate that you can not only blend into a foreign culture, but also be a valuable asset to an organization, then you make yourself marketable to teams in any country that may need a strength coach. Coaching internationally can be a valuable and eye-opening experience that I personally feel makes you a better coach because you gain a new perspective on how to deal with athletes. Not just different personalities, but completely different life experiences.
I recently shot a ton of video clips of different exercises for a presentation that I will be doing in China for the Chinese Basketball Association. I am slowly adding them to our new You Tube page for our SB Coaches College followers to enjoy. Please check out our You Tube page frequently as I will be adding videos when time permits.
Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/user/sbcoachescollege
Shawn
Brijesh has done a tremendous job keeping our SB Coaches College fresh and relevant and it is my time to step up and give him a hand. I am seldom heard from but while I am in the midst of an NBA lockout it is time for e to get my feet wet in the world of blogging. Here is a recent interview that I did for The Art of Manliness web-site.
Once again we return to our So You Want My Job series, in which we interview men who are employed in desirable jobs and ask them about the reality of their work and for advice on how men can live their dream.
Are you a guy who loves athletics, working out, and learning about health and fitness? Did you always dream of playing professional sports, but weren’t blessed with the talent or body to compete at the highest levels? While you may not be able to play yourself, you do have a shot at becoming the guy who trains those world class athletes. Of course, as Shawn Windle, strength and conditioning coach for the Indiana Pacers explains, that shot is nearly as slim as being drafted by the NBA: this is an incredibly competitive career path. Do you have what it takes? Read on.
1. Tell us a little about yourself (Where are you from? How old are you? Describe your job and how long you’ve been at it, etc).
I am a 38 year old strength & conditioning coach for the Indiana Pacers, which for those of you that do not know, means I am responsible for the building and rebuilding of NBA bodies. I am responsible for the performance of nearly 60 million dollars of annual assets. My duties include the design and implementation of programs to improve strength, speed/agility, power, nutrition, recuperation, and rehabilitation.
I was born and raised in Auburn, Maine or as my friends like call it, Southern Canada. While building my resume, my wife and I have lived in Florida (Lehigh Senior High School), Massachusetts (Auburn High School), New York (Minor League Baseball), Connecticut (University of Connecticut), New Jersey (Rutgers University) and now here in Indiana. My career is at 15 years and counting, 6 of which have been with the Pacers.
2. Why did you want to become a strength coach? When did you know it was what you wanted to do?
I really stumbled upon this career path. I bounced around to a few colleges trying to find what was right for me, even being told by one to not return. It took being asked by a boss at a pool store to clean the floor with a handheld brush that was about eight inches long for the light bulb to really go off for me, and I decided that if I did not go back to college, scrubbing floors would be my lifelong vocation.
I began taking courses to improve my grade point average so that I could get back into college as a full-time student. I really enjoyed lifting weights in the typical meathead sort of way, and I loved athletics, so when I went on a college visit to the University of Maine at Presque Isle and the athletic training program director mentioned Strength & Conditioning as a related field, I was hooked. In my first class back in college (History of Physical Education) I listed being the head strength coach of an Olympic Team as my career goal. Although I have trained Olympic athletes, I have not been a strength coach for an Olympic team. Which is okay…the government doesn’t pay as well as the NBA. LOL!
3. If a man wants to become a strength coach how should he prepare? Should he go to college, and if so, what should he major in?
Although nearly anybody can be a personal trainer and there are many courses online to do so, to be a strength & conditioning coach, a 4 year college degree is the first step. Not all strength coaches have degrees in kinesiology, athletic training, or exercise science, but most do, and having a degree in one of those areas will help your chances of getting hired. There are numerous certifications that are either mandatory or highly recommended. The National Strength & Conditioning Association is one of the most prominent entry-level requirements to becoming a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist. The College Strength & Conditioning Coaches Association offers a certification process that is steadily gaining in popularity. Once those “baseline” requirements are met, there are numerous parallel certifications that employers look for. For example in addition to the NSCA certification, I am also certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine as a Performance Enhancement Specialist and also as a Corrective Exercise Specialist, a USA Weightlifting Level One Club Coach, Certified Athletic Trainer by the National Athletic Trainers Association, Certified in CPR and AED, and finally in the Functional Movement Screen. Each certification obviously adds to your toolbox of knowledge but also improves your likelihood of landing a job. Many strength coaches also attend graduate school to seek a master’s degree since some jobs strongly encourage applicants to have an advanced degree. Coursework includes a heavy dose of science, and if that scares you, take a deep breath. I did not enjoy or do well at biology or chemistry because they seemed very abstract to me considering my career goals; however, when it came to exercise science, kinesiology, and motor learning, I found the movement sciences much more interesting and actually easier because I knew those courses would directly affect my future.
4. Once you have the necessary skills, how do you go about getting your foot in the door and landing your first job? How do you go from the bottom of the ladder to becoming a strength coach for a professional sports team?
Volunteering!!! Nobody wants to hear it, but you must be willing to work for free. I was fortunate in that I have received at least some form of payment throughout my career, but I know plenty of people that are professional interns. Jobs working with athletes are hard to find, jobs working with really good athletes are really hard to find, and working with elite athletes is nearly impossible. Many young coaches build their resumes by interning with well known strength coaches at well known universities to increase their visibility and to prove that they are capable of handling the stress of working in a pressure cooker. We have seen the stakes grow each year in college sports, and new coaches usually have 4-5 years to make a significant impact in the win column (2-3 years in professional sports); therefore, the will to win and prepare to win are extremely high on the priority list. Losses can be very tense times for everybody involved from the head coach all the way down to the interns. Higher profile jobs generally lead to other high profile jobs. A great deal of effort, determination, networking, and preparation help move you through the field just like any other profession. Most strength coaches I know have moved around the country quite a bit with the intention of building their resumes and sometimes because they are forced to move. If you are a strength coach in the NFL, you could have a short shelf life since many are directly linked to the head football coach. When that coach gets fired, many times the strength & conditioning staff is released as well. The ideal situation is to be hired by the owner or general manager since these positions do not experience as much turnover.
5. How competitive is it to land a job as a strength coach at the top levels? What separates a candidate for a job from the other guys?
The numbers are stacked against you if you think you are going to fast track to professional sports. If my memory serves me right, there are over 20,000 members in the National Strength and Conditioning Association and last time I checked there are only 30 NBA teams and about the same in the NFL, NHL and MLB respectively. Do the math! My profession is like any other profession in the sense that you have some people in my position because they are the owner’s cousin, and you have some great strength coaches, and some down right head scratching bad ones. I think most things function on the bell curve, and I would say most professions follow that distribution from terrible to great. I feel like I prepared myself through education, certifications, and practical experience while meeting the right people along the way. Everything in life comes down to your relationships with people. I have seen a lot of great strength coaches never advance in their career because they didn’t understand relationships or refused to play a game that they felt involved too much ass kissing. If meeting people, being nice to them, and working hard is called ass kissing, then I puckered up long ago. If you treat people with respect and show a genuine interest in them, I call that being a man.
6. What is the best part of your job?
I wear shorts to work! Enough said! Seriously that is one of the many perks. If you like shorts, sneakers, socks, sweat suits, or virtually any athletic apparel, the NBA is for you. I have more “gear” than I know what to do with, and it is hard to pass it on to family and friends because at 6’ 6” and 250 pounds it is pretty hard to find people that wear my size. If you are a basketball junkie, you have a courtside seat to the best basketball players in the world for an 82 game regular season schedule. We travel on chartered planes that have outlets for our electronics (everybody is attached to something whether it’s an ipad or a laptop), and first class seating throughout the plane. In my position, I have had some great opportunities to go to concerts in suites, the Indy 500 in a suite and have met countless celebrities/athletes/actors. We stay in the top hotels in the country and every time you turn around there is food. Remember the freshman 15? Watch a rookie staff member relive his freshman year. It takes a lot of discipline to lay off all the food, and it can easily get out of hand.
Outside of the peripheral perks of the job, you also get to be part of a team. Not a cliché team, but an actual group of men working toward ONE goal. Living in close proximity of one another. It is a bond that many people will never grasp. Being a part of the process and helping each player reach his potential can be very rewarding. I see my role as a strength coach as more than just telling them to lift weights. These are pretty young guys and many do not have strong guidance. They have never been asked to grow up, so I like to talk to them about the importance of developing a daily routine and leadership. Great teams understand that none of what we do is really about basketball. It is about developing men. When you teach respect, discipline, accountability, and hard work, everything else falls into place.
7. What is the worst part of your job?
People see the lights and the glamour of the NBA, but what people don’t stop and consider is what we do when the final buzzer sounds. If we are on the road, we usually spend an hour in the locker room while media comes in and guys shower before we even leave the arena. Most games start at 7 pm and end at about 9:30 pm, meaning that we start making our way to the airport at 10:30 pm. The average time in most cities is 20 minutes to the airport, then add in another 30 minutes for the bags to get loaded and get airborne. Usually we get in the air about 11:30 pm if all goes according to plan. Sometimes things don’t run so smoothly like overtime, post game x-rays, stitches, the bus breaks down (oh yes I have seen it), and don’t forget we play mostly in the winter and that means de-icing which can add 20-45 minutes to our departure time. If we are going home, we get to sleep in our own beds, and those of us with kids can expect an early wake up call, so there are plenty of nights I get 3, maybe 4 hours of sleep because when my kids know that Daddy is home from a trip, they usually come in and jump on me bright and early. Sometimes we are on the road, and we get into a city like Denver at 3:00 am, unload the plane, and take the longest ride in the NBA to get downtown. The job can be physically and mentally draining. During the fall the only way we know what day it is depends on if we are watching college football, NFL football, or Monday Night Football. I also always know when it is Thursday because that is trash day at home.
I paint a bad picture, but those are some of the realities of working in the NBA. It is certainly not for everyone.
8. What’s the work/family/life balance like?
With all the travel and home games included I missed 110 dinners and bedtimes at home, causing my wife to function as a single parent from October until April. When I am in my house my phone stays on vibrate, and I only check it a couple of times during the night, only responding to emergencies. I want my kids to have my undivided attention since we have so little time together during the season. That means my wife gets whatever is left over and most times we are so exhausted at the end of the day that leaves our free time to be spent side by side, sound asleep. Family balance does not exist during the season. You do the best you can to make amends during the summer since we don’t work as many hours, and we get to sleep in our own bed almost every night.
9. What is the biggest misconception people have about your job?
I have heard a lot of people tell me that they would not want to deal with overpaid prima donnas all day long. Dealing with rich young men that don’t want to work. In six years I have really only worked with a couple of divas; the majority of the players are appreciative of everybody on staff and understand that each staff member is there to help them succeed. These guys did not make it to the NBA by simply being tall, and although that helps, it takes countless hours in a gym while nobody else is around working on their skills. Nobody sees these guys come to the arena 3-4 hours before a game. Or come back after the game when the crowd is gone to shoot extra shots. Of course not everybody works like this, but isn’t that why coaches have jobs? I view myself as more of a teacher than anything.
10. Any other advice, tips, commentary or anecdotes you’d like to share?
As a side note, this interview took me almost four weeks to complete. During that time I have visited current players in New York, Los Angeles (twice), and North Carolina in addition to helping with the draft process where we have injected, inspected, and detected nearly 50 draft eligible draft prospects in Indiana alone not to mention a week spent at the NBA Pre Draft Camp in Chicago where the evaluation process includes height, weight, wingspan, body fat, upper body strength, lower body power, speed, and agility. Welcome to the OFF-Season where you spend time with your family!
Mike Boyle and Alwyn Cosgrove Talking shop – what more needs to be said.
Take a listen here – STATE OF FITNESS
Another fantastic article by Joe Bonyai. This is the second part of his series.
S B Coaches College – Swing Speed: From the Floor, Through the Core, Part II
INTRODUCING A NEW ONLINE SERVICE FOR FITNESS PROFESSIONALS!
This May, a new online service for fitness professionals will be launched that will help you incorporate current science into your client interactions.
But first, some background information. My name is Dr. Shawn Thistle, and three years ago I launched the original Research Review Service, an online subscription-based service for physiotherapists, chiropractors, and other manual medicine therapists. Thus far the RRS has been very well received, with subscribers in 16 countries worldwide.
Now, we are launching a Research Review Service for fitness professionals – personal trainers, conditioning specialists and coaches.
RESEARCH REVIEW SERVICE FITNESS is here!
This is the web address: http://www.fitness.researchreviewservice.com
How does RRS-Fitness work?
Every week, RRS-Fitness posts 1-2 new reviews which analyze, contextualize, and put into practice the findings of a recently published scientific article from industry-leading peer-reviewed journals. Each review takes 5-10 minutes to read and focuses on the practical application of results and functional knowledge of research methodology. The reviews are all contained in a database that subscribers have full access to. Topical content is varied and comprehensive, ranging from exercise sciences to sports injuries and rehabilitation. The overall goal of RRS-Fitness is to increase knowledge translation from the scientific literature to those in contact with clients in all types of exercise and training environments. Further, RRS-Fitness will help subscribers collaborate more effectively with Chiropractors, Physiotherapists, and others who deal with common sports injuries – this can help GROW YOUR CLIENT BASE and INCREASE YOUR REVENUE!
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We have posted 5 sample reviews on the site to give you an idea of the format and length of the weekly postings. They can be viewed here: http://fitness.researchreviewservice.com/content/view/396/71/
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There are currently over 120 reviews ALREADY in the RRS-Fitness Database – a significant amount of useful information for new subscribers! Weekly posting will begin in the next couple of weeks.
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All prices listed below are in Canadian Dollars. You can subscribe online using a credit card via PayPal, or offline with a check by downloading our Offline Subscription Form (Click HERE to download).
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Writing Opportunities with RRS-Fitness:
RRS-Fitness is looking for skilled writers, preferably those in the fitness industry with graduate level degrees and a working knowledge of research methodology and implementation. This is a paid position. If you are interested please send a resume/CV to me (shawn@researchreviewservice.com).
If you have any questions about the service, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best Regards,
Shawn
SPECIAL BONUS!
Here is the first review that will be posted this May!
Study Title:
Exercises for spine stabilization: Motion/motor patterns, stability progressions, and clinical technique
Authors:
McGill SM, Karpowicz A
Publication Information:
Archives of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation 2009; 90: 118-126.
Summary:
Spinal stabilization exercises have become very popular, and for good reason. They are commonly prescribed for a wide range of lower back and other musculoskeletal conditions. These exercises are aimed at improving motor control, endurance and coordination of key trunk muscles that contribute to spine stiffness, stability, and coordinated motion. Recent research has indicated that results of these exercises are improved when “neutral spine position” is maintained (1), so the reader should keep this in mind throughout this review. To this end, prudent conditioning specialists are very adept at making “on the fly” adjustments and modifications to patient performance of spinal stability exercises. Encouraging postures to spare painful joints, knowing when to engage in corrective exercise, and knowing when to adjust co-activation patterns to make an exercise more tolerable for a client are all crucial skills, yet little literat
ure exists to guide us.
Sufficient spinal stability requires adequate activation of numerous trunk muscles. It has been well established that when these muscles contract, they create both stiffness and force. Muscle force may not be stabilizing, but muscle stiffness is ALWAYS stabilizing (2). Many clinical populations of LBP patients have compromised load bearing capacity, therefore exercises are preferred that impose minimal spinal load. In this study small basic science study (including only 8 healthy male subjects of university age), three such exercises that are well known by most evidence-based conditioning specialists – the curl-up, side bridge, and bird-dog (the “Big 3”) – were investigated for muscle activation, 3D spinal mechanics, and the influence of clinician correction. Challenging progressions for these exercises were also outlined and evaluated.
Pertinent results of this study include:
The results of this study will be discussed for each exercise individually, and will include technique recommendations for implementation and progression.
Spinal Bracing:
This technique was applied in the same manner with all exercises. Patients were instructed to contract and stiffen the abdominal wall as if they were about to be “hit in the belly” while not pushing out or sucking in. Facilitation was achieved with fascial raking, where the clinician rakes the obliques while not encroaching on the rectus abdominus with the ends of the fingers – firm but not painful pressure should be used.
CURL-UP (including the “DEAD BUG”):
Patient Instructions:
- patient is supine with one leg flat on the ground and one foot flat on the floor (with knee at 90°)
- both hands are placed under the lumbar spine to support the neutral curve, and the elbows are on the ground
- patient is instructed to pivot about the sternum and lift the shoulder blades off the mat while maintaining neutral neck position for 5 seconds
- Progressions: can include elevating the elbows, pre-bracing (stiffening) the abdominal wall, and deep breathing during the exercise
- Dead Bug: patient is supine with one hand under the lumbar spine – starting with the hips, knees and shoulders at 90°, patients then extend the other arm/opposite leg to a horizontal position (but still elevated slightly from the ground) and held for 5 seconds
- Dead Bug Progression: a plyometric, short range movement where the patient pre-braces the midsection then contract ballistically to create motion only at the shoulder, and hip, but not torso
Results from the Study for the Curl-Up/Dead Bug:
- raising the elbows caused a trend of increasing rectus abdominus (RA) activity while reducing upper erector spinae (ES) activity – indicating more of a flexor torque challenge
- while using the abdominal brace – both internal obliques (IO) and external obliques (EO) increased their activation (IO reached roughly 30% of maximum voluntary contraction level)
- the addition of heavy breathing did not increase abdominal muscle activity (actually in some cases it reduced activity)
- although not likely significant, the authors noted that gluteus medius activity increased from 3 to 6% MVC with bracing
- during the Dead Bug, increased muscle activity was noted in all muscles
SIDE BRIDGE:
Patient Instructions:
- the easiest variation has the patient resting on their elbow (directly under the glenohumeral joint) with their hips back in a squat position and knees on the floor (legs bent backward)
- support is then shifted from the hip to the knee as the pelvis is raised (up and forward) in alignment with the sternum and knees
- the opposite hand is placed over the supporting shoulder to stabilize the weight-bearing shoulder
- Progressions: patient removes their opposite hand from the weight-bearing shoulder and places the hand on the waist, extending to a full side bridge with support on the feet (top foot over lower foot), rotating slowly from a side bridge to a front plank position (attempting to lock the ribcage to the pelvis during the transition – see below)
Results from the Study for the Side Bridge:
- a clear progression emerged – the lowest muscle challenge was noted when the exercise was performed from the knees, increasing with foot support, and being the highest when rotating from a side bridge to a front plank (muscle activity approached 50% MVC in the RS and IO/EO, and 30% in the latissumus dorsi)
BIRD-DOG:
Patient Instructions:
- the starting position is on all fours with hips and shoulders at 90°
- Progressions: just arm elevation, just leg elevation, both arm and opposite leg elevation (full Bird-Dog), then the addition of abdominal bracing and/or deliberate slight abduction of the shoulder with further elevation, finally drawing squares with the hand and foot while they are extended (with motion occurring only at the hip and shoulder)
Results from the Study for the Bird-Dog:
- the progression of muscle activation followed the progression mentioned above
The Effect of Expert/Clinician Correction:
- corrections were aimed at c
orrecting asymmetries in spinal twist axis posture toward neutral spine posture - fascial raking was employed as described above
- conditioning specialists are in a perfect position to make continuous hands-on feedback in this manner to improve exercise performance
Results from Study for Clinician Correction:
- clinician correction makes subtle but important changes
- fascial raking increased MVC in the obliques and reduced RA activity during the curl-up, while also reducing spinal flexion to maintain neutral spine position
- correcting the locking of ribcage to pelvis while rotating from a side bridge to front plank increased activity in IO/EO and reduced torso twisting
Conclusions and Practical Application:
The “Big 3” exercises used in this study have been well researched. The data presented in this study can be used to assist clinical decisions regarding where to begin exercise progressions, how to implement corrective techniques, and which exercises to select. Most of the exercise progressions corresponded with predictable increases in difficulty and muscle activation. One finding that may contradict common thought and practice is that the addition of heavy breathing did not affect muscle activation to a significant degree versus abdominal bracing. Further, subjects showed varying muscle activity linked to inspiration and expiration, indicating that some patients can entrain their respiratory muscles to function independently of their spine stabilizing role.
Prudent fitness professionals should take time with their clients and athletes to teach and correct form on spinal stability exercises to ensure proper motor skill attainment, and minimization of unnecessary spinal loads. This study demonstrated that simple corrections using hands-on methods can have positive influences on exercise performance.
Study Methods:
Eight university aged, healthy male volunteers participated in this study, which included measuring EMG and orthogonal 3D spine position measurements during the three exercises. Five of the subjects repeated the exercises with the guidance of an experienced clinician. This data was collected and analyzed according to the methods previously used in this laboratory (Dr. McGill’s at the University of Waterloo), the leading authority on this topic.
Study Strengths/Weaknesses:
This study, despite having a small number of subjects, utilized well-described and previously published methods of data collection and exercise implementation. It should be noted however, that these subjects were healthy males with no history of LBP. Further research is necessary to clarify best practice for implementing these exercises effectively with LBP patients.
Additional References:
- Suni J et al. Control of the lumbar neutral zone decreases low back pain and improves self-evaluated work ability: A 12-month randomized controlled study. Spine 2006; 31: E611-620.
- Brown SH, McGill SM. Muscle force-stiffness characteristics influence joint stability. Clinical Biomechanics 2005; 20: 917-922.
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