Restart Adaptation With the 3 V’s

To combat the pain-in-the-ass side of adaptation and compensation, you need to tap into the 3 V’s. The 3 V’s are the elements you need to break out of your movement comfort zone:

• Variety
• Variation
• Variability

They may all sound the same, but they are far from it. The movement I’m going to show you today will illustrate the differences between the three. Enter the supine twister.

A Challenge for All 3 V’s

The supine twister will address all of the elements I mentioned above, to jump-start your body’s adaptation response. Here’s how it works:

Variety: Variety is using a number of different exercises or positions to address a specific goal and increase the transference of learning. In the gym, we spend most of our time with our feet anchored and move the upper body around our feet. With the supine twister, the upper body is anchored and the lower body moves around a fixed point. It’s a totally different dynamic to motor control.

My favorite definition of motor control is from Anne Shumway-Cook:

“Motor control involves the way in which the central nervous system organizes muscles into coordinated movements. Sensory information is used to select and control movement, and movement patterns are influenced by perceptions.”

So if you want to change how you move, one way of doing it is to change your environment, and thus your sensory perception. The supine twister does this by putting you down on the ground, where you don’t usually train.

Variation: Variation means changing elements of a single exercise to stimulate greater diversity and neuromuscular responses. With the supine twister, you can change the pace of the rotations by going fast or slow; do multiple kicks to one side before changing directions; or change how far down, out, and up you kick to the side. By changing the way you lower the end of the bar, you make a difference to how much the upper body is involved.

Variability: Variability adds the elements of unpredictability, rapid change, and automatic reactions to an exercise to develop robustness. With the supine twister, you can train unpredictable reactions and rapid changes in direction by having someone stand above you calling out which direction to go and how long to hold.

You Want Me to Twist? With Weight?

Hold on, you say, isn’t rotation in the lumbar spine bad? Good luck trying not to rotate when you move in real life. Rotation isn’t the enemy; it’s how you rotate that’s the key. 

Many people struggle with the so-called “abdominal brace.” A large percentage of low back problems occur because the abdominal muscles are not maintaining control over the rotation between the pelvis and the spine at the L5- S1 level. It’s difficult to own the brace and move the upper body while the lower body is anchored. But with the supine twister, as soon as you press the weight up you automatically get an abdominal brace.

Train Rotation in the Gym, Own It in Real Life

The supine twister takes a lot of practice. You can injure yourself doing this movement, if you aren’t in total control of the eccentric component. But avoiding a movement because you might get hurt is silly. Learning how to slowly take your body to the edge and back builds resilience. Life can kick you in the ass 24/7 in all planes of motion, especially rotation because that’s where power lives. Are you prepared?

When the rotation ass kicking comes, take comfort in knowing you own it better for having been there before. Have fun and experiment with the supine twister. Or just sit on the couch and do nothing. That’s the only way you ain’t gonna rotate. See you on the ground.

More Core Support Training Exercises:

• Build a Resilient Spine: Create Power for Sport Performance
• 5 Cutting-Edge Core Training Progressions
• Build Bulletproof Strength: Rotational Exercises for Athletes
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photo courtesy of Perry Nickelston.

The post Rotation for the Real World: The Supine Twister appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Your body adapts to stressors quickly. That it’s job. If it wasn’t good at it, you would get hurt all the time. Putting your body into different positions while challenging, controlling, and generating force is the secret to reaching your fitness goals.

Stability and the Nervous System

Stability is the ability to control force. Paul Chek says, “stability always precedes force production.” Mobility doesn’t do you any good if you can’t control it. A body with great mobility and no control is like a car with nobody behind the wheel. You need to be a smart driver who is always in control; riding close to the edge but not over it.

A lot of people think that the point of stability training is to put themselves into extremely unstable positions. Trying not to fall during an exercise doesn’t translate into making you stronger and more powerful. Standing on a BOSU ball while swinging a kettlebell doesn’t mean you are getting more stable. You may think it looks cool (it doesn’t), but if you force your nervous system into survival mode, it puts the brakes on building strength. The brain asks, “Is giving you strength right now a good idea?” When threat is on board, the answer is no.

Enter the Diagonal Side Sit

Power lives in the transverse (rotational) plane. Rotational force trumps all other planes. The transverse plane is a combination of the sagittal (forward and backwards) and coronal (side to side) planes. The more points of contact you have with the floor while tapping into the transverse plane, the faster you gain strength. These contact points give your nervous system a sense of safety. And when your nervous system feels safe, it will grant what you ask.

The multifidi (left) and rotatores (right) are small muslces that work in with the obliques to rotate the body around the spine.

The diagonal side sit is a perfect addition to your stability training program. It is a transitional position that will help you move from lying on the ground to a sitting position. It develops the rotational function of the abdominal oblique muscles, which control rotation of the torso in connection with the smaller muscles of the lower back, known as the mutifidi and rotatores:

• Torso rotation to the left is from the right external oblique, left internal oblique, and right multifidi/rotatores.
• Torso rotation to the right is the left external oblique, right internal oblique, and left multifidi/rotatores.

If you don’t own your obliques, you don’t own the transverse plane.

How to Do It

Setup:

• Use an anchored resistance band or cabled weight stack a few feet off the ground. Position it directly in line with your mid torso.
• Your bottom thigh is perpendicular to your body, and your knee is bent and in line with your ankle. The top leg maintains a straight line from your shoulder, hip, and knee, and your knee bends 90 degrees.
• Your downward elbow is below your shoulder and the palm of your hand is flat.

The Movement:

1. Press the band/weight in front of your body over a count of four seconds.
2. Hold for four seconds.
3. Return to the starting position over a count of four seconds.
4. Perform 12–15 repetitions, switch sides, and repeat. Complete two cycles per side.

Pro Tips:

• Controlling momentum of the band/weight is a critical benefit to this exercise. Eccentric control builds strength.
• Squeeze the glute of your top leg during the entire motion.
• Do not grip the handle too hard. Feel the resistance in the midline, not the forearm.
• Try to maintain a straight line from your head, shoulder, hip, and knee of the top leg.
• Maintain a neutral head position or a slight side bend depending on your comfort level.
• Remember to breathe.

Add a New Plane to Your Training

A stable core is important for everything in life, but most training protocols only train in the sagittal plane. Dynamic anti-rotation training makes you stronger and more stable in ways that conventional movements will not. The diagonal side sit also works cross-body connections of the shoulder to hip, improving walking and running patterns.

Add the diagonal side sit to your stability training and you’ll see improvements in strength and function. This movement can be integrated during any stage of training: before, during, or after.

See you on the floor.

More Movements to Challenge Forgotten Muscle Systems:

• Train the Lateral Plane for Maximum Athleticism
• Muscular Imbalances and the Lazy Man on the Assembly Line
• Build Bulletproof Strength: Rotational Exercises for Athletes
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Teaser photo courtesy of Jorge Huerta Photography.

Anatomy photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

The post Wake Up Your Obliques With the Diagonal Side Sit appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The Rotater is a device designed to help you with stretching and strengthening your shoulder rotation. Internal and external rotation are very important to the proper functioning of your shoulder joint, yet the average individual has limited mobility, especially men. Women tend to have greater issues with shoulder stability and strength.

The Rotater gives you options to address both of these. It works on the principle of aligning your shoulder correctly first, and then either stretching or strengthening. The base model allows for stretching. For strengthening you must add the Strong Arm attachment to your cart, for an additional $11.95.

The Rotater is advertised as being for shoulder rehab, prehab, and performance. Let’s look at what I discovered the Rotater is useful for and what realistic expectations you should have for this product.

Internal and External Rotation

The Rotater is surprisingly effectively for helping you to stretch both the internal and external rotation of your shoulder. For normal range of motion you should have 80-100 degrees of external rotation, along with 60-70 degrees of internal rotation. If you are limited here, the advantage of the Rotater is it can help you achieve a safe stretch.

When stretching your shoulders for rotation it is critically important that you are not torqueing the joint and stretching in a compromised position. This is covered in the DVD that is included with the product. Keeping the shoulder back and down, and only rotating allows for a safe stretch of the appropriate musculature and not other ligaments and tendons.

Strength

The Strong Arm attachment is designed to let you strengthen your rotator cuff using the same piece of equipment. The Rotater is built with multiple attachment points to mount the Strong Arm for a variety of strengthening exercises. If you are looking for a strengthening piece of equipment I would recommend buying a few pieces of rubber tubing instead (buy multiple resistances so you can have progression). Sixty dollars is expensive for just a strengthening piece of equipment.

Also the Rotater is not the sturdiest piece of equipment I’ve ever seen. The lack of sturdiness lends it to be tough to help stretch a larger individual. I weigh 190lbs at 6’1” and it worked very well. One of my CrossFit members who weighs 280lbs tried to use it for stretching and it was fairly ineffective.

The DVD that comes with the Rotater contains some great information on how to use the product but also great information on the shoulder joint. It has diagrams and explanations of how your shoulder works and the proper way to stretch. The Rotater also allows you to stretch and strengthen in a variety of directions. The strengthening work would be great for a post-rehabilitation setting.

In conclusion this is an awesome product for stretching, and also for strengthening for rehab. I would not recommend The Rotater for performance strengthening or for very large individuals. The Rotater also has a rock solid money back guarantee with no questions asked, so if you’re on the fence it’s fairly risk free.

The Rotator is available for $59.97 at TheRotater.com.

The post Product Review: The Rotater for Shoulder Rehab and Prehab appeared first on Breaking Muscle.