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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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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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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The neck is a very particular area on the human body. In athletic development, we pay little to no attention to neck training. Some sports like football and wrestling will sometimes devote time to neck training, but that is pretty much it. And the way they do it is usually not only far from optimal, it’s just flat out dangerous. But I digress, as this could be an entirely different blog post. The truth is, even if we don’t train it specifically, the neck muscles still receive stimuli from conventional strength training. At the same time, I feel strength coaches and trainers alike (me included) do not know nearly enough about how the neck works, how we should deal with it and when we should refer out. Because let’s face it: the neck is a very sensitive area (with the numerous muscles and nerves that pass through it) that should be handled with care at all time.
I watched Charlie Weingroff‘s Training = Rehab DVD set over the last week, and I must say before anything else that it is an incredible resource for any physical therapist, strength coach or trainer out there. Throughout his presentation, Charlie highlights the importance of taking the neck into consideration in training, as well as in rehab, no matter what you are addressing.
Here are a couple of things you should know when dealing with the neck. But before I go any further, the most important thing to remember about the neck is that if you’re a coach or trainer and are dealing with a neck dysfunction or neck pain in a client, REFER OUT! We are not qualified for this type of work by any means, we shouldn’t deal with that.
1. The neck muscles, especially the deep neck flexors are a very important, yet totally forgotten, part of the core. The deep neck flexors are part of the inner core, with the diaphragm, the pelvic floor, the TVA and the multifidus.
Deep Neck Flexors
Inner Core
If you’re not familiar with the inner core, make sure you check out my blog post I wrote a while ago (The Inner Core). The inner core muscles are very important spine stabilizers, and so are the deep neck flexors. A tucked chin or neutral cervical position will always make your spine more stable because it prevents unwanted cervical movement during heavy lifting. Also, the neutral cervical position that the deep neck flexors are able to maintain are going to have a big impact further down the spine; which leads me to my next point.
2. The position of the cervical spine can influence what happens at the lumbar spine. When you create extension at the cervical spine, you have more chances to create extension at the lumbar spine, which we try to avoid when we use heavy loads because of all the shear forces that are going to be applied to the spine. When deadlifting for example, starting with the neck extended (when your eyes are looking straight ahead) will put a lot more stress on the cervical spine, and on top of that, it will increase the extension shear forces on the lumbar spine.
Cervical Hyperextension = Big No No
This happens for 2 reasons; for one, as I mentioned earlier, the deep neck flexors are part of the inner core, and the inner core needs to be activated to optimally stabilize the spine. If you’re looking up, the deep flexors are not activated and the inner core will not stabilize as efficiently. Second, the cervical and lumbar segments of the spine are both inwardly curved (“lordotic”), which causes them to react similarly; if one goes into extension, more often than not, the other one will try to get into extension as well.
3. Coaching and cueing neck position during training is very important. If you’ve read the 2 last points, this might seem pretty obvious, but we want to keep a tucked and neutral chin during everything we do in training.
This might seem a little retarded, but it really is the optimal neck position to lift with!
When you start noticing the position of your neck and the ones of your athletes during a training session, you’ll realize that the neck tends to go in a less than desirable position (read: too much extension) with many, and I mean MANY exercises: lunges, squats, deadlifts, seated rowing, chin ups, push ups and almost every core exercise possible! You will honestly be shocked at how much people go into an extended neck position on so many exercises, and most of the time they don’t even notice it. Notice how much more difficult a simple plank is when you force your chin to stay tucked back.
4. The tucked chin position facilitates efficient breathing. Being aware of the importance of efficient breathing has been a topic that has grown in importance among the strength and conditioning community lately. Breathing through your belly instead of through your chest improves diaphragm function and puts less stress on the already overactive neck muscles scalenes and sternocleidomastoid. Many coaches try to cue breathing through different techniques and exercises to reinforce good breathing patterns. But the truth is that when you get in a tucked chin position, with your neck packed back, you don’t even need to cue anything; it just happens. If you’re not convinced, try it yourself: stand up, get our head in a forward position (chin protruded), put one hand on your chest, one hand on your belly and try to take a deep breath. Now do the exact same thing, but with your chin in a tucked back position (as in the picture above) and take a deep breath. You’ll notice that, when in a tucked back position, without even thinking about it you’ll breathe through your belly much more easily. So instead of cueing breathing techniques, why not just cue good neck position?
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A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about the INNER CORE explaining the differences between traditional core exercises and inner core activation. I also included a simple inner core activation exercise. The truth is, there is a ton of variations and progressions you can use to progress your inner core activation drills to more challenging ones.
Here is another variation of inner core activation drill that I stole from my friend Dr.Perry Nickelston, which I modified a little bit:
You want to make sure you’re squeezing the ball with your legs while pushing back with your butt against it. Also, make sure your spine stays neutral and your belly firm at all time as you reach forward and up with your arm straight.
Remember to progress your inner core activation drills slowly as you don’t want you outer core muscles to take over if the challenge is too hard for your inner core.
For a lot of valuable information on the inner core and lots of other cool stuff, make sure to check out Dr.Perry Nickelston’s facebook page Stop Chasing Pain.
Core Training. One of the most important component of a training program. We all include in our program exercises like planks, rollouts, knee tucks, rotation/anti-rotation exercises to work the core in all possible ways.
But what happens when you perform these exercises with high loads or you go to failure on them?
You overload the rectus abdominis, external obliques and in some cases the lumbar erectors.
But isn’t that the whole purpose of core training?
The answer is, in part. The rectus abdominis, external and internal obliques as well as the lumbar erectors are part of what we call the outer core. The thing is there is also an inner core. The inner core is a term I learned from Dr. Perry Nickelston and it is used to describe the core muscle group formed by the diaphragm, the pelvic floor, the multifidus and the transverse abdominis (TVA).
The inner core is responsible for the muscle activation that support respiration and segmental stability at the lumbar spine. When these muscles are not properly activated, more stress is applied to the outer core muscles to stabilize the spine and this can further lead to back pain.
So how do we train the inner core?
First of all, the inner core needs some low load exercises to activate properly without having the stronger, more dominant outer core muscles compensating if the load is too heavy. The inner core is also easily activated by squeezing something between your knees or by reaching overhead with your arms. With that in mind, I am currently using a variation of the dead bug series that combine both activation patterns of the inner core muscles.
When performing this exercise, you should focus on keeping your belly thight the whole time, crushing the ball with both knees and you should avoid arching with you lower back as you reach overhead (you want to keep a slight natural arch in your back though).
I’ve had great results from implementing this movement in my own training program. I still need to play around a little more with these inner core activation exercises, as I’m just starting to understand their true function. I do believe that inner core training is a good complement to any core training program.
Dr. Nickelston also wrote a very interesting blog post on Carson Boddicker’s website about the inner core where he demonstrates 2 simple progressions of exercises that work on activating the inner core. You should definitely check it out HERE.
