Just a quick Sunday update to ask you two questions…

Do you think you know how to train your core? 

Are you maximizing strength at the expense of stability?

Check out my article on Muscle & Fitness Hers HERE for a quick test of your core stability and an exercise to do to improve it.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything so I need to apologize for not having written anything sooner.  However, I can promise you that there is some incredible new content coming very soon.

I’ve almost wrapped up a series of interviews with some of the top professionals in the fitness industry and will be launching a HUGE teleseminar series with all these great minds soon.  Oh yeah…I forgot to mention that it is going to be totally FREE.  I just have some final editing to do on the audio and we’ll be good to go.  Keep your eyes peeled for this as there will only be a limited number of spots on the call.  Better yet, jump on my newsletter list on the left side and you’ll be the first to know.

I also just completed a wicked interview with Mike T Nelson on the power of the nervous system, neuroplasticity, working the opposite joint for better strength, arthrokinetic reflex (bad joints= piss poor strength),  how the brain gets information for performance (hint, think joints, eyes and inner ear), Z-Health and much more!

I’ll be posting this as a two part podcast in the next few weeks.  In the meantime, check out Mike’s blog at www.extremehumanperformance.com.

Recently the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP) published an article on the use of unstable surface training.

Here are a few excerpts that may be of interest:

“Instability resistance exercises induce high muscle activation of postural limb and trunk muscles. The increased activation has been attributed to the increased stabilization functions.  Instability resistance training with its high muscle activation and lower external stress on joints could also be beneficial for general musculoskeletal health and certain types of rehabilitation.”

“Unstable conditions can lead to decreased force and power output, decreased range of motion and velocity. Furthermore ground based weight training exercises such as squats and dead lifts can provide equal or greater trunk activation than using instability devices. Another study has also reported that highly trained individuals do not experience greater trunk activation when performing exercises under light or moderately unstable conditions.”

“Since many of the benefits of instability devices can be achieved with high resistance involving ground based free weights, advanced resistance trained individuals may not need to emphasize this type of training in their strength and power training programs.”

 “The benefits of instability resistance training may be more pronounced for those individuals pursuing primarily general health and rehabilitation benefits and not participating in training with free weights involving high loads.”

So what’s the bottom line? 

While stability training might be beneficial for rehab or even general fitness (I might even contest this one), it probably isn’t a valuable tool for most lifters.  For the definitive explanation of this type of training check out Eric Cressey’s book The Truth About Unstable Surface Training HERE.

Do you use unstable surfaces in your own training?  Do you think stability training is useless?  Feel free to post your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below.

Most people will recognize the serratus anterior as the really cool looking muscle that sits just over top of the ribs and is visible only on someone who is very lean.

As sexy as it is though, this muscle has a function that is more important than just grabbing attention at the beach.  If you have a shoulder blade that sticks out (otherwise known as a winging scapula) you probably need to strengthen this muscle.  The push up plus is a great exercise for this purpose.

However, this article isn’t about how to strengthen the serratus anterior.  Instead, I want to talk about what to do when you’ve tried all the standard exercises and you’ve still got dreadfully winging scapula.

If this sounds like you, then you could have a problem with the nerve that supplies your serratus called the long thoracic nerve.  This nerve comes out from the cervical vertebrae in your neck and winds its way down to the serratus anterior.  When this nerve becomes compressed at any point along its path the serratus won’t fire properly no matter how much activation work you do.

Fortunately, the most common restriction with this nerve happens in the neck as it passes through and around the middle scalene.  When this muscle becomes tight the nerve can be compressed and it won’t function properly.  Tests such as an EMG or a Nerve Conduction Test from your doctor can confirm this.

If this proves to be the case, this can usually be rectified with a couple visits to your local ART practitioner.  Often they can manually release the restriction and allow the nerve signals to travel to the muscle allowing it to contract properly.  If this fails (and it sometimes does), surgery is an option, but I’d suggest going the manual route first.

Usually, once the nerve is released a few weeks of doing some activation exercises for your serratus is all you should need and you’ll be as good as new.

However, I should note that once you’ve taken care of the initial problem, make sure not to carry bags of any sort on that shoulder (ladies, this means no purses) or you can cause the issue to come back.