The muscles in our body can be classified into two different categories....mobilisers and stabilisers.
Fairly descriptive and self explanatory terms really; the mobilisers are the bigger and more powerful muscles in the body that we call upon for mobility, motion and power. Such as the quadriceps in our legs and bi-ceps in our arms, for example
The stabilisers on the other hand, are the smaller and more subtle muscles of the body and they are what provide stability, control our movement and give us all important balance in our bodies! Not just balance as in standing on one leg, but also muscular balance. Examples of stabiliser muscles include the erector spinae (muscles that surround and stabilise the spine) and transverse abdominis or TVA for example. NOT the highly regarded 'six pack' ab muslces (Rectus Abdominis), but the slightly deeper abdominal muscles that run across the body, hence 'transverse'.
It is very common for people, myself included, to train and focus on the big mobiliser muscles. But completely forget, or at least seriously neglect the stabilisers.
But forget the stabilisers at your peril!! Here's one good reason why that is......
The rotator cuff is a group of muscles that stabilises the shoulder. They are The Stabilisers of the shoulder and are often overlooked in weight/strength training. Instead, people tend to focus on training the bigger muscles of the shoulders/back with loaded arm extensions and over head bar raises for example. That's fine of course, IF you want to build big/strong mobilisers like the deltoids (shoulder muscles) and nothing else.....but what good are big/strong deltoids, if you then suffer a rotator cuff tear???? I don't think you'll be doing anything overhead with your arms after tearing the tendons in the rotator cuff, let alone lifting any weights, for quite some time!
One could be looking at potential shoulder surgery and a lengthy rehabilitation programme to regain strength back!! Now that might not be your goal in training while you are in the gym raising big weights above your head in an effort to get 'strong', but that is very likely going to be the eventual outcome if you ignore your stabilisers!!!
Since starting my journey into The Power of Posture (2 months ago now), my training focus has completely changed and I am much more mindful of my body and how I use it and what I do to it. My focus and primary goal/motivation is simply good posture and the movement efficiency that comes from it. Nothing else!
So as I understand more about 'mobilisers' and 'stabilisers' and have learned more about my body and functional anatomy, I realised it was the stabilisers I was now working and trying to unlock, activate and train in an effort to correct my muscular and postural dysfunctions. Especially the stabilisers that relate to good upright posture, so my TVA and erector spinae (among others) for example, so that they can properly play their role in supporting my spine.
I have not really got to my shoulder complex yet as I am still working mostly around the hips and lower extremities for the time being. But I am certainly not muscling big weights above my head, so I don't have to worry too much about strengthening my rotator cuff at this time....but that will come in due course. Hips have to be the initial and primary focus when your goal is good posture.
I now also understand that the reason my mobiliser muscles are generally so tight and restricted.....(so tight quads, hamstrings and calves for example!) If you do not have a good solid base (a foundation) in your stabiliser muscles, then the mobiliser muscles have to overwork and compensate for them. To avoid muscular compensation, you need to have muscular balance. Compensation makes muscles work harder that they should be, recruiting on secondary functions, so they get tired and tight in response to compensating for poor stabiliser activation. After tightness and restriction comes injury in the form of tears/soft tissue damage, as described with the rotator cuff example above. There are many other examples of these type of muscular compensation injuries all over our bodies. I hope that makes sense?
Once I have re-aligned myself and rid myself of restrictions, dysfunction and the muscular compensations that I have been building on over the years, I can then start to think about training my mobilisers again. But, I will not be training anything in isolation, so no back squats or arm raises or chest presses for me......ever again! Why just train mobilisers on their own?? It just doesn't make logical sense...at least not to me now. Why not train stabilisers and mobilisers together at the same, just like how we use them in real life......??? Radical concept maybe? I don't think so!
Thanks for reading! I'll leave you with this beautiful piece of spoken word, music and human movement. This is how I aspire to be able to move myself.....one day!......I have a really long way to go!!!
#ThePowerofPosture
#Stabilisers
Fairly descriptive and self explanatory terms really; the mobilisers are the bigger and more powerful muscles in the body that we call upon for mobility, motion and power. Such as the quadriceps in our legs and bi-ceps in our arms, for example
The stabilisers on the other hand, are the smaller and more subtle muscles of the body and they are what provide stability, control our movement and give us all important balance in our bodies! Not just balance as in standing on one leg, but also muscular balance. Examples of stabiliser muscles include the erector spinae (muscles that surround and stabilise the spine) and transverse abdominis or TVA for example. NOT the highly regarded 'six pack' ab muslces (Rectus Abdominis), but the slightly deeper abdominal muscles that run across the body, hence 'transverse'.
It is very common for people, myself included, to train and focus on the big mobiliser muscles. But completely forget, or at least seriously neglect the stabilisers.
But forget the stabilisers at your peril!! Here's one good reason why that is......
The rotator cuff is a group of muscles that stabilises the shoulder. They are The Stabilisers of the shoulder and are often overlooked in weight/strength training. Instead, people tend to focus on training the bigger muscles of the shoulders/back with loaded arm extensions and over head bar raises for example. That's fine of course, IF you want to build big/strong mobilisers like the deltoids (shoulder muscles) and nothing else.....but what good are big/strong deltoids, if you then suffer a rotator cuff tear???? I don't think you'll be doing anything overhead with your arms after tearing the tendons in the rotator cuff, let alone lifting any weights, for quite some time!
One could be looking at potential shoulder surgery and a lengthy rehabilitation programme to regain strength back!! Now that might not be your goal in training while you are in the gym raising big weights above your head in an effort to get 'strong', but that is very likely going to be the eventual outcome if you ignore your stabilisers!!!
Since starting my journey into The Power of Posture (2 months ago now), my training focus has completely changed and I am much more mindful of my body and how I use it and what I do to it. My focus and primary goal/motivation is simply good posture and the movement efficiency that comes from it. Nothing else!
So as I understand more about 'mobilisers' and 'stabilisers' and have learned more about my body and functional anatomy, I realised it was the stabilisers I was now working and trying to unlock, activate and train in an effort to correct my muscular and postural dysfunctions. Especially the stabilisers that relate to good upright posture, so my TVA and erector spinae (among others) for example, so that they can properly play their role in supporting my spine.
I have not really got to my shoulder complex yet as I am still working mostly around the hips and lower extremities for the time being. But I am certainly not muscling big weights above my head, so I don't have to worry too much about strengthening my rotator cuff at this time....but that will come in due course. Hips have to be the initial and primary focus when your goal is good posture.
I now also understand that the reason my mobiliser muscles are generally so tight and restricted.....(so tight quads, hamstrings and calves for example!) If you do not have a good solid base (a foundation) in your stabiliser muscles, then the mobiliser muscles have to overwork and compensate for them. To avoid muscular compensation, you need to have muscular balance. Compensation makes muscles work harder that they should be, recruiting on secondary functions, so they get tired and tight in response to compensating for poor stabiliser activation. After tightness and restriction comes injury in the form of tears/soft tissue damage, as described with the rotator cuff example above. There are many other examples of these type of muscular compensation injuries all over our bodies. I hope that makes sense?
Once I have re-aligned myself and rid myself of restrictions, dysfunction and the muscular compensations that I have been building on over the years, I can then start to think about training my mobilisers again. But, I will not be training anything in isolation, so no back squats or arm raises or chest presses for me......ever again! Why just train mobilisers on their own?? It just doesn't make logical sense...at least not to me now. Why not train stabilisers and mobilisers together at the same, just like how we use them in real life......??? Radical concept maybe? I don't think so!
Thanks for reading! I'll leave you with this beautiful piece of spoken word, music and human movement. This is how I aspire to be able to move myself.....one day!......I have a really long way to go!!!
#ThePowerofPosture
#Stabilisers
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