I recently came across the Baby GetUp through my good friend Dr. Perry Nickelston.  When I heard him talk about it, what he used it for and the benefits from this exercise I was thinking to myself: “Hey I’m gonna give it a shot; it sounds like a nice corrective exercise to include in a training program to help develop proper muscle sequencing and reinforce a good fundamental movement pattern”.  The Baby GetUp can indeed help you in that regard, but HOLLY SH*T I wasn’t expecting what I was about to experience!  I wouldn’t even say it was hard; I literally couldn’t even do it!!

As someone who takes care about how my body moves and with the time I spend on corrective exercises I wasn’t expecting to be slapped in the face by the Baby GetUp like I did!  The name of the exercise itself suggest an easier version of the Turkish GetUp.  A ‘regression’ of the Turkish GetUp would be a better term, because it might look simpler, but it doesn’t mean it’s easier.  This is the video from Dr. Perry that demonstrate the Baby GetUp:

You’re probably telling yourself it really doesn’t look that hard.  And you’ll most likely be able to perform it more easily than I did, but I’m sure you’ll be surprised by the level of difficulty of the exercise on AT LEAST one side of your body.

In fact, this is a great way to identify asymmetries from side to side in inner core muscle sequencing.  When trying the Baby GetUp, make sure that you’re not cheating by reaching with your neck, getting your top leg off the floor and holding your breathe in.  This should be a movement pattern that feels (or becomes) ‘nice and smooth’ to perform.  It is a fundamental movement pattern, and if you don’t own it, your setting yourself up for compensation movement patterns, and injury in the long run.

I know what I’m gonna be working on in the next couple of weeks!

For an in depth look at the Baby GetUp, check out Perry’s original article on his website HERE.

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We live in a world where low back pain is a very common issue.  We all know people who have back pain or who’ve had hernias or hurt there back playing sports, training or sometimes just picking up grocery bags off the floor.  I read a statistic somewhere that stated that 80% of the population will, at some point in their life, suffer from back pain.  That is A LOT!  And the truth is that low back problems are still very misunderstood.  Even in the research world, we seem to have a better understanding of the injury mechanisms of the lower back, thanks to great researchers like Stuart McGill, but there are still some gray areas.  There seem to be much more that we need to learn.

But as I just mentioned, there is definitely a better understanding of the injury mechanisms of the lower back.  According to McGill’s research there are different movement patterns that cause low back problems.  Hernias and other back problem are usually a result of one of the following:

• repetitive and/or excessive flexion at the lumbar spine
• repetitive and /or excessive extension of the lumbar spine
• repetitive and/or excessive rotation at the lumbar spine
• a combination of flexion and rotation
• a combination of extension and rotation

Most back problems originate from one of these mechanisms.  There are different reasons why these injury mechanisms develop.  Lack of hip mobility, lack of thoracic spine mobility, muscle imbalances and compensation patterns in the hips and core, poor posture, and sitting too much are all reasons why back pain these injury mechanisms can end up causing back pain.

One thing that is really important to understand with back problems is that they do go away.  Having back pain at some point in your life doesn’t mean you have to be stuck with this pain all your life.  Even serious back problems such as hernias don’t last forever.  If it needs surgery, you obviously need to get it.  If you don’t need it (which is often the case with low back hernias), according to McGill, the disk will go back in place by itself if you allow it some recovery time.

If the pain persists or come back, it probably means that the source of the pain hasn’t been addressed (note that I said the source, not the symptoms).  As mentioned above, the injury mechanisms that I outlined that are at the source of most back problems need to be addressed.  That might mean to learn to bend over the right way and learning a good hip hinge (e.g. let the hips move and do the work while keeping the spine in a neutral position).  It could also mean learning to get more hip extension when you run instead of having the lumbar spine compensate and extend too much.  There are also many daily behaviors that will need modifications in order to avoid the faulty movement occurring at the spine.

The bottom line is that you need to re-train your body to move the right way.  If you don’t, the pain will keep coming back because the injury mechanism is still there.  There is also usually a big mental component to any back problem, and understandably.  Folks who suffer from back pain often apprehend the pain coming back, whether it’s when they train or just in their daily activities.  Part of the re-training process in teaching good movement patterns and teaching back pain clients to move better is going to be mental and making sure they understand that they are not stuck with that pain their whole life.

It’s THAT important that you explain all of that as well as possible before you drop the word ‘Deadlift’ in front of them.  The deadlift is not only a safe tool, but an essential part of their rehab.  Most of them will associate deadlift with back injury, or think of it as a dangerous exercise for their back.  This couldn’t be any further form the truth.  And obviously deadlift doesn’t mean ‘heavy’ or ‘full range of motion’ right from day 1.  But there is a very under-appreciated rehab component to the deadlift for clients who’ve had back pain.  The deadlift is probably THE best way to teach someone how to hinge at the hips, while keeping their spine in a neutral alignment.  By reinforcing this movement pattern you will help your clients reduce their risk of re-injuring their back.  A very careful approach must be taken though, and no flaws should be allowed in their form before any type of loading is even considered.  The deadlift is really just a hip hinge and everyone should own that movement, whether you lift weights or not.  It’s just a back saver to know how to deadlift the right way.

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Core training is most often referred to as exercises that work your rectus abdominis.  Sometimes the concept of core training will go as far as including the external and internal obliques and the lumbar erectors, but it rarely goes past that stage.  The term “core” in itself is very loosely used to describe either abs training or stability training, or sometimes both.  But the reality is that your core can include every muscle that runs across your hips, spine (including the cervical spine) and shoulders.

And this is only the back view…

So we definitely need to broaden our horizons when we think about core training and realize it’s much more than just the muscles around our belly.  Here are some of the most overlooked aspects of core training:

• Cervical spine alignment (packing the neck)
• Inner core activation (pelvic floor, diaphragm, transverse abdominis and multifidus)
• Breathing patterns

These are 3 things that go hand in hand with each other, as well as with traditional core training and in my opinion they’re probably the 3 most overlooked aspects of core training among athletes and regular gym-goers.

The trend since Stuart McGill’s work came out is to use neutral spine whenever we train the core and lift weights.  The goal is to reinforce this pattern as much as possible.  But we often forget that the neck is part of the spine and that should also be trained to be neutral.  There is a much deeper core activation when the neck is packed in a neutral position and it provides for greater stability.  The cervical spine often gets into hyperextension when training, especially with posterior chain exercises.  The tendency is to keep the eyes up while the angle of the spine gets closer to parallel.

Notice how hyperextended the cervical spine is.

This position puts a lot of strain on the inter-vertebral discs of the cervical spine on top of having sub-optimal spine stability all the way down to the lumbar spine (each segment of the spine interacts with each other).  Keeping the neck in a neutral/packed position will facilitate a proper breathing pattern (Try and take a deep breath- without thinking about it- first, in a relaxed position with your neck not in a neutral position, and then try it again in a packed neck position.  Notice how the breath with the packed neck position is much more of a belly breath, compared to more of a chest breath without your neck packed).  And that in turn will facilitate activation of the inner core muscles.

Why is this the first image that pops up when I google “packed neck position”??
…but I have to say that his form is pretty impressive

The bottom line is that everything in your core is interrelated together and when everything is indeed coordinated, you gain amazing stability that you wouldn’t have otherwise.   That’s why it’s so important to train your inner core, your breathing patterns and your packed neck position.  From an injury prevention and a strength gain standpoint it can make all the difference.

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Last week I wrote a post about the importance of the external obliques in pelvic control.  If you missed it, check it out HERE.  Now I wanted to give you a couple drills and exercises you can use to improve the recruitment of the external obliques in pelvic control.

The exercises that follow are not all extremely difficult to perform.  It’s more about focusing on performing them the right way.  The pelvis should be neutral throughout the entire movement and as you as you feel your back arching, it’s generally a sign that you’re losing the external obliques engagement.  These exercises are by no means the only ones that exist to attain better recruitment of your external obliques in pelvic control, but it’s definitely a good place to start if you have no clue how to achieve that.

The first one is probably the most basic one.  It’s a variation of an exercise that comes from Shirley Sahrmann’s book Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes.  The goal is maintain a very slight arch in your lower back throughout the whole movement.  To engage your external obliques as much as possible, you can keep your fingers above your illiac crest on both sides; palpation always helps to feel the right muscles doing their work.

The second one is a little similar, and also a variation of the deadbug exercises.  My colleague Matt Siniscalchi posted this one on his website last week.  I believe that Craig Liebenson or Bill Hartman might have come up with this one.  Again, the goal is to maintain a very slight arch in the lower back and make sure the arch is not increasing as your lowering your legs.  The press against the wall will also favor some inner core activity throughout the movement.

The last one is definitely much harder than the previous two.  I don’t recommend you try it until you’ve mastered the first 2.  It’s basically a leg lowering exercise, but because of the weight of the lower extremities it makes it much harder to keep the neutral pelvis and the external obliques activation.  Again the goal is to maintain a very slight arch in the lower back and make sure yo don’t lose it.

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Pelvic control is an important thing to have at the hips level.  Anterior pelvic tilt is a common problem in the athletic population.  With too much anterior tilt, also comes increased lordosis.

Neutral pelvis on the left. Anteriorly tilted pelvis on the right.

Both of these postural problems can lead to a number of injuries including back pain, hamstring pulls, quad pull, etc.  The traditional approach to reestablishing neutral alignment is to stretch the hip flexors and strengthen the glutes and hamstrings to pull the pelvis posteriorly.

Although this is a good approach, there are other players that can contribute to pelvic control that are often forgotten.  One really important player is the external obliques.  The external obliques’ primary functions are to stabilize the trunk (in combination with the internal obliques, rectus abdominis and spinal erectors) by creating a brace around the spine and to create/prevent rotation at the trunk.  A function of the external obliques that is often forgotten is posterior tilt/control of the pelvis because of its attachment on the illiac crest.  When you’re stuck in anterior tilt the external obliques usually have poor control on the pelvis.

With their attachment directly on the pelvis, the external obliques play a big role in preventing anterior tilt.

Because of their role in posterior pelvic tilt, we could call the external obliques the lower abs.  Not that the bodybuilding guys were right in training their upper abs and lower abs separately, but there might be some merit in making the distinction between the rectus abdominis (who felxes the spine and depresses the ribs) and the external obliques (who posteriorly tilt the pelvis as we’ve just mentioned) in some cases.

Stay tuned for part 2!  I’ll go over exercises you can do to help improve pelvic control using the external obliques.

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I will admit that sometimes I like to use catchy titles for my blog posts, so it makes people curious and catch their attention.  But this one might just be accurate, and nothing else!  The credit goes to my friend and colleague Kevin Neeld for coming up with this one.  This is probably THE hardest exercise ever!

RFE (Rear Foot Elevated) Split Squat + Belly Press Hold with Perturbation:

So what this do (beside making you want to throw up)?? It definitely improves single-leg stability (and possibly endurance, depending how long you hold it for) because of the rear foot elevated position.  There is also a pretty big core strength/endurance involved since your resisting the rotation from the band, and the added manual perturbation just makes it insanely harder on your core!  If you’ve been looking for an extra challenge for your single-leg stability and core training, this is exactly what you need.  A good place to start is 20 second holds per side and you can work your way up to a minute, if you dare!

A quick warning though: anybody who wants to try the RFE split squat + belly press hold with perturbation should have a significant level of experience with the split squat iso-holds (for time) and the belly press.  Anyone trying this exercise without mastering the split squats iso-hold and the belly press first will fail miserably.  I think it really is THAT hard!

Give it a shot if you’re game!

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Well that’s a very revealing blog post title, isn’t it?  You now know that breathing is important.  You need to breathe in order to live (you might want to read that last phrase again, it’s very philosophical).  And I also just came across some research stating that breathing might even be associated with brain function and physical performance.

All joking aside, breathing is an important part of any training programs.  I have been guilty as charged for way too long for ignoring the importance of breathing in training.  When I first started in this industry and was working in a commercial gym in my hometown, I would often have questions from the older crowd about what the right breathing pattern is when they lift weights:

“- Am I supposed to breathe out when I lift the weight and breathe in when I lower it? Or is it the opposite?

- Who gives a shit.  Just use heavier weights, anyway.  Passing out while lifting is overrated.”

OK, I didn’t really say that ever, but for a lack of better understanding of how the breathing system works, I just didn’t think it was that important.  And when I got much stronger (relatively speaking, of course) I realized that holding your breath in can be more than useful to lift heavy weights and it can improve core stability (when you brace and hold your breath), I was ready to be done worrying about any type of breathing other than just bracing when lifting heavy in my training and the ones of my clients.  Big mistake!  I still don’t think I ever jacked up any of my clients for not teaching them proper breathing patterns, but I do realize that it has its place in any training program.

The diaphragms (yes I put an ‘s’ because you have 2, one on each side) are the most important breathing muscles in the body.  And one thing that’s really important to acknowledge is that the diaphragm is part of a bigger picture.  Through fascial connections, the diaphragm connects with the psoas muscle, which attaches to your vertebraes of your lumbar spine and also crosses your hips.  Through other fascial connections there are other muscles that “connects” to this same line all the way down your legs.  This is part of what Thomas Myers would refer to as the deep front line.

Because of all these fascial connections, the diaphragm muscles and training breathing patterns are both very important.  Stability can be gained through proper core activation.  And I’m not just talking about bracing and holding your breath when lifting heavy weights.  Of course being able to brace your core, create intra-abdominal pressure and holding your breath is part of getting maximum stability under heavy loads and I believe this is something that you need to learn to do.  But this can also create other problems when this is the only way you know how to stabilize your core muscles and your trunk.  When bracing hard, you have a maximum engagement of your rectus abdominis, your external and internal obliques and your spinal erectors.  Your inner core muscles don’t necessarily get activated in those circumstances.  Your inner core muscles, which includes your diaphragms, your pelvic floor, your multifidi and your transverse abdominis are also important stabilizers of your spine.  Under heavy loads and brace your outer core muscles (rectus, obliques and erectors) can take over and your inner core muscles can get shut down.  That’s why these muscles need to be trained.

There are many different ways to attack this.  Addressing breathing patterns is one.  A general concept you want to keep in mind when training your diaphragms and inner core muscles is the one of a neutral spine.  Whatever drill or exercise you use, you want to maintain a neutral spine from your pelvis all the way through your skull (the neck/cervical region often gets neglected, but needs to be in line with the rest of the spine).  That will put your body in a position that will facilitate proper breathing patterns.  When you’re able to maintain a neutral spine through different movement patterns and breathing through that neutral spine, you can start incorporating these breathing patterns into low load core exercises.  The most basic one is obviously a simple plank.  Trying to maintain a neutral spine and breathing through a plank might be harder than you think.  The goal is really not to brace hard nor get maximum core activation, but rather just owning the position, breathing deeply into it and letting the inner core muscles do their job.  Same thing applies if you incorporate the concept with any other core exercise, you’ll want to keep the load relatively low.

There might be more to this position than you might think…

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There are 2 coaching cues that I’ve become more aware of lately that slipped under my radar for quite some time.  I didn’t realize the importance they had on efficient movement patterns and how they could impact they way the athlete moves.

1- Neck position.  By reading Weingroff’s stuff as well as watching his DVD set and seeing him speak, this is a big take home that I got from his message: you need to coach neck position.
It is part of the spine and has an important impact on inner core function.  This is something I feel like too many coaches would say “why the hell does it matter? It’s not a big deal”.  Well, in fact, IT IS a big deal!  When you deadlift, when you do chin ups, when you do lunges, and when you do any core exercises, the position of your neck affects how your whole body will react.  The goal is to get efficient at joint centration and therefore the body can maximize stability and power production.  The joint centration concept that Weingroff tallks about refers to your joints being in “optimal”, neutral and stable positions for the body to function and move as efficiently as possible.  The position of the neck is a big part of this joint centration concept.  Look carefully at your athletes and clients next time they lift; most of them naturally tend to compensate by reaching with their neck in many different positions.  Coaching athletes and clients to pack in their neck is of utmost importance and I’ve been guilty of overlooking this coaching cue for way too long.  I realize now it is as important as keeping a neutral spine, or keeping your shoulder blades back, etc.

2- Breathing.  We’ve all heard this before at some point in our lives: while lifting, you want to inhale on the eccentric phase and exhale on the concentric phase of any given movement.  Many of us have ditched this concept because we know that it is far from optimal when trying to move big weights and it is pretty inefficient strategy to create stability.  Although I still believe this last theory, I’ve been more aware of the importance of breathing and how it affects your body, just not in the old fashion exhale while you push way.  After taking the postural respiration home study course from the Postural Restoration Institute this past weekend, I realize how important breathing patterns really are.

It affects the position of your spine, your thorax and your ribs on both sides.  Most people have ribs flaring out on the left side and are not very efficient at using their right diaphragm (more on this in an upcoming blog post); because of that the whole orientation of the spine, the thorax and the ribs are affected; which in turn affect neck and shoulder muscle function.  Without going into too much details right now, breathing really does have a profound effect on how we move and position our body.  I’m still not going to tell my athletes to exhale on the way up on a heavy set of deadlift because they need stiffness, which they couldn’t get that way, but there are ways to incorporate breathing patterns into training.  Coaching effective breathing patterns is another often overlooked coaching cue that deserve more attention than it has had recently.

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Debatable, I know…Putting up a title like “the greatest exercise ever” or “the best exercise” label on something is hard and can brings you a lot critique because there is just so many factors to account for depending on who you train, the set up of your facility, clients’ injuries, etc.  And let’s face it we all have different opinions.  But before I start to elaborate on the hows and whys we may have different opinion, I’ll get back to the essential of today’s post! (and I assume you get the point!)

The Belly Press (also called the Pallof Press) is, in opinion, the most versatile core exercise out there because it has so many uses and so many variations.  The standard Standing Belly Press is typically an anti-rotation exercise for the core muscles.  The exercise is so simple and at the same time so effective, that it really is one of the best exercise out there.  Usually, the exercise needs very little coaching cues, and people feel very easily in the right place.  Mike Boyle has mentioned before that an exercise that requires little coaching and gives you the outcome you’re looking for is basically something that should be in your program.  And depending on what variation you use, you can use more component than just anti-rotation for the core.

If you’ve been using the Belly Press for a little while, use the following variations to add some variety in your programs.  And if you don’t use it, start using it today!

- Standing Belly Press (the basic exercise):

- 1/2 Kneeling Belly Press:

- Tall Kneeling Belly Press:

- Split Stance Belly Press:

- Belly-to-Overhead Press:

- Belly Press Iso-Hold Walk Out:

And if you want to add more challenge to any of these variations, try the perturbations, which creates an unpredictable environment and require more stabilization:

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I’ve written a lot about core training and different core exercises in the past.  But one thing that’s really important to consider with core exercises is that you just can’t use anyone randomly with any athlete or client.  It is fair to say that we should use progressions with our core exercises, at least with beginners; start them with more simple and basic exercises and progress them to more challenging variations.  You should do that with all your core exercises from the different groups: anti-flexion, anti-extension, anti-rotation, anti-lateral flexion and inner core exercises.  Today, I want to focus on anti-extension, or the anterior core group.

- The first most basic progression for most would be, with no big suprise, the front plank.

The front plank is a basic bodyweight exercise that requires to maintain a straight line throughout your body and keep a neutral spine position.  This is also the goal of most other progressions, but the front plank plank does that without additional challenges.

- The second progression would be the stability ball front plank.  Once someone has mastered the front plank and can hold it for over a minute, you can progress them to the stability ball version.  The biggest difference with the stability ball front plank is that the surface on which you place your elbows is unstable, which in turn will require a greater activation from your core muscles to maintain the proper position.

- The third one is a similar variation from the stability ball front plank.  Once that position is mastered, you can incorporate mini-rollouts with the same position on the ball to make it more challenging.  Once again the goal is to maintain a neutral spine and keeping the belly tight even if we added movement.

- The slideboard bodysaw would be the next progression following the stability ball minirollouts.

The effect is pretty much the same because your points of contact on the ground further away from each other (elbows and feet), but this time since your moving your whole body away it makes the slideboard bodysaw much more difficult.

- The last one, but not the least, is the ab wheel rollout.  This implement has been around forever, but I fell like it is not appreciated enough.  When done correctly the ab wheel rollout is one of the most difficult anterior core exercise of all.  You need to be really strong in order to maintain a neutral spine throughout a full range of motion.  And to push things a little further, when you’ve mastered the ab wheel rollout, you can do it band-resisted:

There are many other variations of anti-extension core exercises we use with our athletes at Endeavor, but hopefully this gave you an idea of how progress anterior core exercises.

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