The Journal of Bodywork & Movement Therapies recently published an article by Eyal Lederman: The Myth of Core Stability. Mark Young made mention of it late last year so I figured I’d check it out myself. The following information is a summary of Lederman’s conclusions. But first and foremost… DON’T SHOOT THE MESSENGER! ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT STABILITY AND THE ROLE OF CORE MUSCULATURE Despite the role of the core musculature in creating spinal stability… Alterations and damage to the abdominal musculature (i.e. pregnancy, post-partum, post-surgery, etc) does not seem to directly influence low back stability and/or pain. Despite the exponential number research studies conducted in the last decade… Low back pain has yet to be directly related to spinal instability.   TIMING While the control ...

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Why do squats help you improve your vertical? Why do people perform exercises on a Swiss ball, and does this help to reduce injury and improve performance? Why should an athlete train their “core.” The answers to these questions are related a concept called Specificity. Understanding this concept is critical. It will reveal whether a program is well designed or designed to fail. While the concepts are not difficult to grasp, using them to analyze a training program will be shocking! So let’s get right into this important concept! Specificity relates to how an exercise translates into the sport performance. According to several prominent Strength and Conditioning Coaches 1-4 several key factors must occur if an exercise ...

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  All people should be able read, write and perform simple mathematics. I don’t think anyone would despite these basic skills, as they are necessary to function in our day to day lives. If you ever lost these abilities, such as after a stroke, your life would change. These abilities need to last forever. But have you ever considered that a single leg parallel squat is necessary for life?  You should! If you love to ski and enjoy participating in activities, such as running, and team sports (basketball, soccer, baseball, etc) then you need to be able to perform a single leg parallel squat. Scientific research indicates that possessing this ability aids in injury prevention of knee injuries ...

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Your vertical, speed, agility and explosiveness are directly related to your abilities to produce force. Therefore developing your abilities to produce force will improve your athleticism. Speed, power, agility and explosiveness are slaves to force, power, and time. These are the dimensions we manipulate and develop to build a better athlete – we call this process Full Spectrum Training. We will discuss five concepts that related to force, power and time. Force Force to Weight Force and Time Force and power Reactive Abilities 1.1       Force  Force is a push or pull that can cause an object with mass to accelerate 3. We produce force from signals developed in the brain and delivered from nerves to control muscular contractions. These signals control the magnitude ...

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What if testing athleticism and fitness was useless? In this article we will explore how traditional testing misses key elements that can help protect against injury and dramatically improve performance. I should start by saying that testing is the first step of any program and of course it’s not useless. I just wanted to spark some interest and to show how we must rethink the way we evaluate our athletes. Common testing protocols in the NFL, NHL, NBA and many amateur sport organizations do an excellent job at selecting tests to measure key athletic / fitness attributes - see Table 1: ACA Standard Fitness Testing Protocol Target Levels. Table 1: ACA Standard Fitness Testing Protocol Target Levels The purpose ...

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How you move determines your injury risk and your performance. The single leg squat is part of all our movement assessments. The single leg squat is a movement assessment that helps to screen for risk factors that lead to knee injuries, such as tendopathies, patellofemoral pain, and even non-contact ACL injuries. A good standard we use with our athletes at FITS is to achieve a parallel single leg squat with perfect form. The single leg squat has been chosen, because it is vital movement for running, cutting, changing directions, agility and many more athletic qualities. The assessment protocol we used examined: A)     Depth B)     Presences of dynamic valgus C)     Presence of thoracic collapse.  Depth Depth was graded as Q for quarter squat and ...

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Are you afraid if your child lifts weights? Perhaps you are concerned that they will hurt their low back, knee or another joint in their body. Maybe you, like many believe resistance training will stunt their growth. In this article we will explore the benefits and resistance about resistance training for children and adolescence. If you read nothing else, know resistance training by children and adolescents is safe, in fact it is safer than many other sport and recreational activities. It will not stunt growth and it will (NSCA position statement on youth resistance training1 – see reference below): Enhance the muscular strength and power of youth Improve the cardiovascular profile of youth Improve motor skill performance and may contribute ...

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    The Olympics are inspiring; where the worlds’ greatest athletes compete for countries. But how did they get there? What made them great? Was it hard work or their genetics? The answer is neither.   We all know many people who work hard, trying for decades to achieve greatness. But why wasn’t hard work enough to make them great?     Another position is those people that excel posses an innate talent in their field. Usain Bolt is fast because of his genetics. Albert Einstein is great because he possessed a gift for mathematics. Interestingly, scientific evidence does not support the position that natural talents make great performers. In fact specific traits may not even exist.      So what makes greatness?   The ...

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  I'm sure you’re eager to discover specific exercises to build, your 5-SITE integrity vs. the “CORE”. I believe the wait is worth it, because it will greatly contribute to your or to your young aspiring athlete’s development. It has taken over a decade of practical experience, and years of research to develop 5-Site Integrity and the classification system of exercises that develop 5-Site Integrity. If you’re wondering why I’m using the term 5-Site Integrity I would refer you to Part One of this series.   So without further wait, Figure 1 is the classification system we use to group trunk exercises. This classification system is based on the loading characteristics being applied to the trunk, see ...

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In the previous article we discussed that no one test can properly evaluate the “CORE” as we defined; as the body’s ability to control against spine movements. We also discussed important qualities of the core, which are: capacity / endurance; control against large magnitude loads (direction specific); motor control of the spine during movement. Therefore without further wait the battery of tests we use to evaluate each “CORE” quality can be found in Table 1: CORE qualities and testing methods. Table 1: CORE qualities and testing methods Quality Method of Evaluation Capacity / Endurance Side Bridge Plank Sorensen Back Extension Endurance test Control against large magnitude loads Video motion analysis of the spine during high powered loads: Jumping and landing mechanics during the drop jump test, pent jump, and countermovement ...

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