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Sara Fleming, BA, MS, CFT

Regardless of what a person does in life, he or she engages in sport. It is not the traditional competitive sport we are all familiar with, but life is sport. So, when I approach fitness training with a new client, the trick is to figure what form that sport is going to take and how to get my athlete off the bench and into the game.

Our daily activities require us to have power, strength, endurance, and agility. Unfortunately, daily life activities are not ergonomic. They create wear and tear from incorrect lifts, repeat stress injuries, asymmetrical strength and flexibility deficits, and unexpected maximum efforts. By developing functional strength, the strength that comes from performing tasks that closely mimic life activities, you can restore your strength, energy, flexibility, and help resolve chronic pain and fatigue. Functional training gives you a foundation of strength and stability that can more fully support your joints through a full range of motion as you go through your daily routine.

Let’s use for example the typical stay at home mom with small children. She might spend her day picking up children and laundry baskets, carrying groceries in from the car, taking out the trash, walking up and down the stairs with heavy loads, and trying to keep up with her children during play. She is typically fatigued, has uneven muscle development from carrying heavy loads on one side, may have a weakened core from multiple pregnancies leading to back pain, and probably has neck and shoulder pain from carrying babies on one side and/or nursing. She needs the endurance of a marathon runner and the strength of a power lifter just to get through her day.

So, how do you go about training an individual such as this? I believe the best way is to implement the periodization model and think about how to train “Mom, The Athlete” with proper foundational and functional training.

What does she need first? She needs a strong tendon and muscular structure to support her joints and prevent injury as well as some basic conditioning. Therefore, the first step is to establish foundational strength. We are not going to do that with isolation work or machines, we are going to do that with multi-joint complex moves that recruit large muscle groups and closely mimic movements that she does every day. I approach this with the following exercises:

The squat: I use a weightless body squat to assess all of my clients because people, moms especially, squat all day long. Whether it’s sitting down, picking something up off the floor, or getting something out of a low drawer or cabinet the squat is a simple fact of life. A proper squat, through a full range of motion, requires a great deal of flexibility, fully supported knee and hip joints, as well as strong quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteal, and core muscles. In fact, if someone has a core issue such as a rectus diastasis or a core weakened from surgery, it may be impossible for them to keep their torso upright through the squat and they may need to support themselves by holding onto a bar. Individuals with strength or flexibility issues may also be unable to hold themselves upright through the squat or be unable to lower themselves down through a full range of motion, i.e. top of thighs parallel to the floor. The causes of incorrect form can be discerned through observation, asking questions, and observing the client through the next set of exercises.

The deadlift: This is the simple act of picking something heavy off the ground. This could be a bag of groceries, a laundry basket, and more often than not, a child. You can have your client use a barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell, or a milkjug full of sand. It does not matter, the key here is to do it correctly. If someone can deadlift a lot of weight, but not squat, then you know she has good lower body strength, but perhaps her core needs work. I always begin my clients with a sumo deadlift and move them on to a straight deadlift as they get stronger. This lift strengthens the hamstrings and lower back. It can be a good stand-in for a squat if someone cannot squat for knee or hip reasons.

The overhead press: This is different from the machine press in that the bar comes completely over your head and stops behind your head. This is important because it brings your shoulder blades together and strengthens the rotator cuff. This lift is primarily for shoulder development, but because you are standing, it also develops the back, obliques, abdominals, arms, and chest, which act as stabilizers. Mothers in particular get stiff necks from holding babies and children and looking down at them. The overhead press builds symmetrical strength in both shoulders and the neck. It also restores full range of motion to the shoulder joint.

Pushups, Pull-ups, and Lunges: I also continue to challenge the core by having my clients do pushups, pull-ups or assisted pull-ups such as negatives or bodyrows, and lunges to isolate the individual leg muscles. These exercises continue to tell me a lot about the clients overall strength, flexibility, balance, and core strength. Pushups, either from the floor or a raised bar, cannot be completed without a strong core. A client who can press a lot of weight, but cannot do a pushup likely has core issues and not upper body strength deficiencies. Pull-ups, even assisted pull-ups, require a great deal of upper body strength. Again, if your client cannot pushup, but can do a decent amount of pull-ups or assisted pull-ups, the core may be to blame. Lunges are going to tell me if one leg is compensating for the other. It will also tell me if there are balance issues or any pelvic or hip joint problems.

These six exercises tell me a great deal about my client’s abilities and the only weighted exercises I use in the beginning are the deadlift and the press. I use these exercises circuit style to work on my client’s foundational strength and conditioning for about 3-6 weeks depending on their needs. Because all of these exercises require a great deal of core strength, there is simply no need for additional abdominal work.

I mentioned deficient core strength a lot in the assessments above, but sit-ups and crunches are not the kind of exercises that will correct it. The above-mentioned exercises engage the core muscles and will establish great deal of core strength in a short period of time. Mom, The Athlete will now begin engaging her core when she squats, deadlifts, and reaches overhead in everyday life and she will be more aware of doing these things with proper form. Thus, the foundation is reinforced.

Once I have established a strong foundation, I can functionally train Mom, The Athlete more specifically to the sport of motherhood. She needs loads of energy and endurance to get through her day as well as strength and power to meet unexpected tasks and obstacles. Translated back into a normal day, this means that she simply wants to have enough energy to get all the chores and housework done and still be able be able to play with her children. To meet this goal, I add power training in to the next mesocycle. We introduce Olympic lifting, medicine ball training, and plyometrics, all in the high intensity interval-training format. This strengthens and protects her joints and increases her overall strength, endurance, and power. It also burns a lot of calories in a short period of time so we are working towards optimal body composition as well.

Mom is just one example of the non-traditional athlete. I have also implemented the above training with grandparents who want to gain strength and remain active. The take home message here is to remember that you can define a specific sport for all of your clients. When you train them like athletes for that sport, you will improve their ability to function, their overall sense of well being, and most importantly, you will get them off the bench and enjoying their lives.

The question you may have now is does this work? The answer is a resounding yes. To give you an example, I have a 47 year old client who came to me to lose weight, but was a little intimidated by the curriculum and was afraid she would get hurt. However, now she comes in regularly with stories about how she’s been jumping rope with her kids, riding bikes, and even jumping on the trampoline with them. She’s one of many. Many of my clients come to me hoping to lose weight, but what they get is a better quality of life.

Suggested Reading:

Rippetoe, Mark and Lon Kilgore Starting Strength, 2^nd edition The Aasgaard Company, 2007

Or visit http://www.startingstrength.wikia.com

Deadlifts and Squats versus the Stability Ball: What is the best way to train the core?

Sara Fleming, BA, MS, CFT

Go into any commercial gym these days and you will find a core training class centered around training done on an unstable surface such as a BOSU trainer, a wobble board, or a stability or Swiss ball. Originally intended for rehabilitation and physical therapy programs, stability core training has made its way mainstream gyms and sports conditioning programs over the last decade with many fitness experts touting its benefits. However, recent studies have shown that these stability exercises have little to no advantage over traditional weightlifting exercises.

In a study published by researchers at Appalachian State University, it was shown that the squat and the deadlift produced more activity in the trunk muscles (abdominals, obliques, and lower back) than three stability ball exercises specifically targeting the same muscles. It was concluded that the stability ball exercises (quadruped, pelvic thrust, and ball back extension) did not provide enough stimulus for either increased strength or hypertrophy therefore questioning their role in a sports conditioning program. Squats and deadlifts, however, were found to provide the necessary stimulus for hypertrophy of the back extensors.

Another study published by Eastern Illinois University demonstrated the lack of advantage of recruitment of the trunk muscles when performing the back squat, deadlift, overhead press, and curls both on and off a BOSU trainer. These lifts were performed at 50% and 75% of 1RM.

Researchers at Charles Sturt University in New South Wales, Australia demonstrated that the utilization of unstable surfaces engages assistor muscles to the detriment of the prime movers and actually decreases the athlete’s overall power. This means that the athlete’s body is working so hard to balance that the large muscle groups begin to not work as effectively. Therefore, using unstable surfaces to train in season would actually be detrimental to the power athlete.

Finally, a review written by Dr. JM Williamson from Eastern Illinois University tries to make sense of when it may be appropriate to use stability training in a sport specific setting. He concludes that for the athlete, balance training has its place in the off-season. The stability ball, with light resistance, can be used to maintain core endurance in the post-season period. In the off-season, balance boards or unstable surfaces such as the BOSU paired with plyometrics can be a good tool for developing proprioreception, the ability to sense where one’s body is in regard to one’s surroundings. However, in the pre-season training period, training on a stable surface is the best method for building substantial strength and power in the trunk and extremities.

In conclusion, stability ball training is simply not necessary to have a strong core if you have a barbell. As noted in the introduction, stability training was developed and used primarily by physical therapists in a rehabilitation setting. For someone who is very weak from illness or injury and/or deconditioned, balance training can serve to activate the deep trunk musculature and small assistor muscles that are necessary for simple things like maintaining upright posture and developing core endurance. However, for someone who is already fit and foundationally strong, squats and deadlifts are much better for building a strong midsection all around. For safety purposes, proper form is of the utmost importance with these lifts so if you are not sure of your technique, please be sure to work with a qualified coach or trainer.

Drinkwater EJ, Pritchett EJ, Behm DG. Effect of instability and resistance on unintentional squat-lifting kinetics. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2007 Dec;2(4):400-13

Nuzzo JL, McCaulley GO, Cormie P, Cavill MJ, McBride JM. Trunk muscle activity during stability ball and free weight exercises. J Strength Cond Res. 2008 Jan;22(1):95-102.

Willardson JM, Fontana FE, Bressel E. Effect of surface stability on core muscle activity for dynamic resistance exercises. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2009 Mar;4(1):97-109.

Willardson JM. Core stability training: applications to sports conditioning programs.

J Strength Cond Res. 2007 Aug;21(3):979-85.