| The philosophy
The body's muscles are divided into two categories, mobilisers and stabilisers.
Mobilisers are the big working muscles you would ordinarily work on in the gym arms, chest, shoulders, back and legs. Although they're powerful, they don't possess endurance fibres and need recovery. We use these big daddies for skilled movement in sport, explosive action, speed and power. People who have not activated their stabilisers, end up using their big mobilisers in an abnormal pattern as a reflex to stabilise the spine.
The result is that when you need to give a burst of effort, the required mobiliser is already in use (supporting the spine). It's a horrible life being a muscle type which should be allowed a recovery phase but never is.
Stabilisers, starting with the transversus abdominus, are the deepest layer of the abdominal muscle group and work in synergy with the pelvic floor group of muscles. The lumbar mutifidus is situated in the lower back, just above your butt cheeks and close to the spine. Both of these stabilisers are connected to your lats, via thoraco dorsal fascia. The lats are shoulder stabilisers.
How it works
During muscle activation and exercise you need to activate the stabilisers as a preparatory contraction before engaging the mobilisers. This provides a foundation for optimum movement to occur by freeing up the mobilisers. The mobilisers involved in the explosive action, speed or power required, get to do what they do best without being at a disadvantage. Once the movement is over, they go into recovery mode not supporting the spine because their cousins, the stabilisers, have it already sorted.
When your stabilisers are engaged and exercised, the inguinal groove (the groove next to your hips that women love) becomes more prominent. Yes, size matters and (go tell your mates) it can be increased.
First, lift that scrotum, big boy.
Aim for 10 percent activation trying too hard will encourage the activation of other muscles, not the point of the exercise.
In the shower
Sack lifts are the most difficult when standing up, but at least you get watch to your little friend hard at work. Relax, assume a neutral spine position. Shift slightly forward on to your toes. Place your fingers on the V of the inguinal groove. Draw your testicles up and onto the pubic bone. Think of it as a ledge. You know you are engaged when the groove moves away from your fingers. While engaged, lengthen through your spine and breathe by expanding your lats (as if they are your lungs).
At your desk
Sit on a gym ball or on a chair with no back support.
Lean forward and lengthen your spine.
Accentuate a slight curve to your lower back.
Draw your scrotum up and onto the pubic ledge.
Breathe while expanding your lats.
Accentuate your lift on the inhale.
In your car
Buckle up.
Shift your spine slightly forward off the back rest.
Drop your shoulders and lengthen your spine.
Imagine your head is filled with helium, let it rise.
Accentuate a slight curve to your lower back.
Draw your scrotum up and onto the pubic ledge.
Breathe while expanding your lats.
Accentuate your lift on the inhale.
In the bathroom
These exercises will isolate and work your stabilisers .You know you are the king when..
Level one: You can shut down the jet while taking a leak.
Level two: You can stop it to the beat of a song
Level three: You can shut down the works, in one contraction, with a first-thing-in-the-morning bladder. Warning: be prepared for an out of control fireman's hose on release.
Still haven't got the picture?
McLoughlin spells it out
Learn to activate your local muscle system as opposed to global muscle system.
tabilisers are your endurance muscles.
Mobilisers, the big ones you traditionally work on in the gym (arms, chest, shoulders, back, legs), are your strength muscles.
Once the stabilisers are activated, the mobilisers are free to perform what they're good at sporty functions and enjoy recovery between contractions.
Focusing on these muscles ensures improved performance.
Keys to a neutral spine
The spine is a series of curves the neck, upper back, lower back and pelvis. You need to address your entire spine to improve your pelvic and spinal posture. The process is initiated from the pelvis and chin. You know your pelvic posture is neutral when your hip bones are in the same line as your pubic bone. Once you have achieved a neutral pelvic posture, lengthen the rest of your spine. Divide the process into a series of thoughts you can use in the lift, the bank queue or waiting to cross the street. Put your body in neutral' regularly; it makes for a healthy habit. McLaughlin shoots a rapid-fire strategy from the hip:
1. Think chin and pelvic bones.
2. Balance your weight over your left and right foot.
3. Shift your slightly weight slightly forward onto the balls of your feet.
4. Tilt your pelvic bones (hips) into the same line as you pubic bone.
5. Lengthen your spine upwards.
6. Correct your head posture by pulling your chin in towards your throat, not dropping it.
7. Lift your scrotum.
8. Breathe from your diaphragm.
Stability exercises
These exercises isolate your core stabilising muscles, the Transversus Abdominus and the Multifidus. Follow the sequence.
Each exercise is a progression on the previous one. Master one exercise at a time and build from that base
1: The bridge
On 90 degree elbows and toes...
Contract lower abdominals and lats
Maintain neutral spine
Breathe lateral costally (breath by expanding your lungs)
Hold for a period of 10 seconds, and up that as you are able
The body's muscles are divided into two categories, mobilisers and stabilisers
The body's muscles are divided into two categories, mobilisers and stabilisers
2: The press-up ---- Like the bridge (top) but on hands and toes...
Maintaining neutral spine, lower body to floor
Stop half way – then full way
Return, stopping half way (recruiting eccentric control)
Breathe, maintaining activation in lats and lower ab
3:The triangle
Maintaining neutral spine, balance on elbow and bottom foot...
Imagine body wedged between two pieces of Perspex
Raise pelvis from the floor, maintaining activation in lats and lower abs
Breathe
Progress to extending elbow to balance on hand
Progress to raising top leg
Mobilisers are the big working muscles - arms, chest, shoulder,back and legs
4: Abdominal curl
Supine with knees flexed...
Squeeze ball or towel between knees
Draw lower abs away from ball
Inhale, then as you exhale, raise head and roll ball away
Follow the ball curling the spine up segment by segment, maintaining activation in lats and lower abs
Slowly return to neutral
5: Ball rolling
Maintain C-shaped spine with lats and lower abs engaged
Hold the ball on the shins
Inhale and roll back
Exhale to return to starting position with lats and lower abs engaged
Stabilisers work in synergy with the pelvic floor group of muscles
Stoke the fire of the lower chamber,activate the stabilisers,providing a foundation for optimum movement since you're now freeing up the mobilisers
6: Abdominal curl with leg raise
Supine with knees flexed...
Squeeze ball or towel between knees
Inhale and exhale with half roll up
Extend one leg to 45 degrees
Inhale to change legs
Exhale to stretch out the other leg
Progress to maintaining double leg raise
7: Oblique abdominal
Maintain the above position...
Raise the ball to the ceiling
Without rotating the trunk, rotate the ball from side to side
Breathe maintaining activation in lats and lower abs
Stop crunching October 2004
Want abs ? Raise the bar
Here's a six-pack sculpting tool: the body bar. With a 10kg bar, you can build abs and work your whole body. Do this programme from strength coach Robert dos Remedios three days a week, resting a day in between. Complete eight to 12 repetitions of each exercise as a circuit, moving between exercises without rest to complete four circuits.
1 SINGLE-ARM ROW
Day 1 Stand with your knees slightly bent and hold a bar in your right hand with a neutral grip (palm facing your body). Lean forward at the hips until your torso is at a 45-degree angle. Pull the bar to just below your rib cage, then lower it to the starting position.
Day 2 Hold the bar in front of your right leg, palm towards you (an overhand grip). Bring your elbow up and out as you raise the bar. Day 3 Perform the Day 1 move on one leg. Stand on your right leg and lift your left leg in front as you lean over and row.
2 SINGLE-ARM PRESS AND BEND
Day 1 Stand holding a bar above your right shoulder in a neutral grip with your right hand. Press the bar up until your arm is straight. Bend to your left side. Pause and return to the starting position.
Day 2 Dip your knees slightly. Quickly push the bar up while standing up. Pause, then lower the weight.
Day 3 Same as Day 2, but jump in an explosive movement. Land on both feet, but with your opposite foot (left if the bar is in your right hand) forward and leg slightly bent, and back leg straight.
3 SIDE-LOADED SQUAT
Day 1 Stand holding the bar in a neutral grip with your right hand at shoulder height. Lower your body until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Pause, then push back up to the starting position.
Day 2 Hold the bar in an overhand grip over your head with both hands in the centre, arms straight. Keep your shoulder blades pulled back as you squat.
Day 3 Step forward with your left leg until your left thigh is parallel to the ?oor, while holding the bar with both hands overhead. Then, with the same foot, step back into a reverse lunge.That counts as two repetitions.
Build inner strength March 2003
This abdominal circuit from the Australian strength coach Ian King works your entire mid-section ,
This abdominal circuit from the Australian strength coach Ian King works your entire mid-section, which means a visible six-pack (for your cover shoot) and stronger stabilising muscles around your spine (for back health and sports).
Do two or three circuits three or four days a week. Perform one exercise after another with about 30 seconds of rest in between, then rest for one minute between circuits.
Knee-up
Lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor, arms out at your sides and knees bent 90 degrees. Press your lower back flat into the floor as you raise your legs until your hips are bent 90 degrees. Straighten your legs slightly, then lower them as far as you can without allowing your lower back to lose contact with the floor. Take three seconds to lift and three seconds to lower your legs. Do 10 to 15 repetitions.
As you improve Straighten your legs more.
Sit-up
Start on your back, feet flat and hold your arms alongside your body (palms down). Slowly lift your torso to a sitting position. Pause, then slowly lower your torso to the floor. Take three seconds going up and three going down, or do the exercise as slowly as you can. Do 10 to 15 repetitions.
As you improve When you can do 15 repetitions, add one second to the lowering portion of the move and reduce your repetitions to 10.
Wrist-to-knee sit-up
Lie on your back, hips bent 90 degrees, lower legs parallel to the floor. Touch your fingers to your temples at an angle, your forearms forming a 90-degree angle.
Raise your head, shoulders and butt off the floor. Bring your left knee up towards your chest, rotate at your waist, and touch your right wrist to your left knee. Repeat on the other side, left wrist to right knee, taking two seconds to go up and two seconds to go down. Do 10 to 15 repetitions.
As you improve Pull your elbows back, forming a wider angle with your forearms.
Small muscles, big result by Don Alessi October 2003
Build these bit players and your physique will be the star of the show
Let's start with a very safe assumption: you care a lot about your prime-time muscles your biceps, pectorals, abs , quads. You know how to pump them up, show them off, make them perform party tricks.
But a star is only as good as his supporting cast, as anyone who's suffered with Ted Danson through a few episodes of Becker can attest. And the stars of your physique would look and perform a lot better if you spent a little more time developing the bit parts.
Take your serratus anterior, a set of finger-like muscles on both sides of your rib cage. When developed, these muscles create the illusion that your chest and torso are wider than they really are. They transform your abs from a lonely six-pack into a full liquor cabinet. They prevent your arms from quivering during sex, and even help you get the barbell off your chest during a bench press.
Not a bad set of benefits from a muscle you've never heard of.
Keep reading and we'll tell you how to build the serratus, along with four other muscles that you won't hear mentioned during your typical training session. Make them a strong ensemble cast and these five bit players can take your body straight to the top of the charts.
Serratus anterior
What it is : Strips of muscle on both sides of your torso, stretching from the inside ridges of your shoulder blades to your ribs.
What it does : The serratus helps when you push heavy objects off your chest at various angles, controls the separation of your shoulder blades, and assists in lifting your shoulders.
Why it looks cool : If you're very lean and muscular, your serratus and external obliques (described below) form a crosshatch pattern, which lends credibility to your claim that you moonlight as an underwear model.
How to build it: Crunch with a plus
Grab a light barbell with a shoulder-width, overhand grip and lie on your back, knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Start with your arms straight and the bar directly above your eyes. Flatten your lower back against the floor.
Now use your abs to flex your trunk forward, as you would in a typical crunch. At the same time, push the barbell up towards the ceiling, pulling your shoulder blades as far apart as you can. Pause, then slowly return to the starting position. Instead of counting repetitions, aim for one-minute sets. (You'll probably want to start with 30-second sets.) Increase the weight when you can do three to five one-minute sets.
External obliques
What they are : Muscles that start on the ribs and extend diagonally down the sides of your waist.
What they do : If a movement happens at your waist, the external obliques are involved. The torso rotation that's key to golf, tennis and hockey is mostly a function of the external obliques. Even the basic crunching motion, attributed to the rectus abdominis (the six-pack muscle), wouldn't be possible without a strong contraction of the external obliques to stabilise the torso.
Why they look cool : Not only do well-developed obliques make your waist tighter, but their diagonal orientation also creates a virtual signpost that says, Check out what I have down here!
How to build them: Swimmer's backstroke
Lie face-up on the floor, knees bent and feet flat. Flatten your lower back against the floor. Now do a crunch to flex your trunk forwards and lift your shoulder blades as high off the floor as you possibly can.
This is when the fun begins: keeping your chest high, perform a backstroke with one arm at a time, allowing your torso to twist towards the arm that's reaching back. Work up to five sets of 45 seconds each, alternating arms on each repetition. The higher you lift your chest off the floor, the better the exercise will work. Add light dumbbells to your exercise when the move becomes too easy.
Levator scapulae
What they are: Diagonal ropes of muscle that run from the top of the neck to the top of the shoulder blades.
What they do: They help lift your shoulder blades (scapulae), along with the trapezius.
Why they look cool: Visually, their impact isn't huge, although they do help fill out your shirt collar. Mostly, they need to be strong and flexible to help correct the neck-kinking rigours of modern desk life (like trying to hold a phone between ear and shoulder, jot down notes, and gawk at the new receptionist simultaneously).
How to build them: Bent-arm cable shrug
Most right-handed men will find that their levator scapulae are stronger and tighter on the right side. These guys should start with the left (weaker) side. Lefties will probably want to start with the right side (as shown and described here).
Attach a stirrup handle to a low pulley and grab it with your right hand. Stand with your right side to the machine and turn your head so you're looking over your right shoulder. Slowly elevate your right shoulder as high as you can. Now, keeping your shoulder up, bend your right elbow slightly, pull your shoulder blades together at the back, and rotate your right shoulder to the rear. Reverse the steps to return to the starting position, and continue for one minute.
Now turn and repeat with your left arm. If you find that your two sides are equally strong, you can either stop at one set or do one more set for each side. If one side is stronger than the other, do three to five sets for the weak side and one or two for the strong side until your strength equalises.
Gluteus medius
What it is : A wedge of muscle on the side of each hip.
What it does : The gluteus medius lifts your leg straight out to the side and stabilises your pelvis while you walk or run. You use this muscle most directly in martial arts and soccer, when you kick out to the side. The stabilisation function makes it crucial in skating and skiing, which involve side-to-side hip action.
Why it looks cool: Men don't tend to carry much fat around their hips and upper thighs, so when the medius is well developed, it creates a dimple effect on the side of the hip joint.
How to build it: Cable side step-up
Set a step or bench near the low cable. Attach the pulley to a belt around your waist. Start with your left leg, if you're left-handed. Place your left foot on the step and raise the front of your right foot so your weight is on the heel. (This keeps the right foot from doing all the work.)
Now push down with your left foot and lift yourself up on to the step. Make sure you're completely upright at the end of the repetition. Lower yourself until your right heel touches the floor, then repeat for one minute. Turn around and repeat with your right foot on the step. Do a second one-minute set with your weaker leg. In subsequent workouts, do three to five one-minute sets for the weaker leg and one or none for the leg that's stronger.
Triceps long head
What it is: The biggest and strongest part of the triceps muscle, covering the inside and back of your upper arm.
What it does : Along with the other two parts of the triceps, it straightens your elbow and also assists your lats and lower chest in pulling your upper arm down to your side when it's above or out to the side of your body. (Picture a swimmer pulling his arm through the water at the end of his stroke.)
Why it looks cool:
When the long head is built up, it fills in the gap between your rear deltoids and lats, providing the finishing touch for a perfectly V-shaped upper torso.
How to build it: Cable incline triceps extension with rope attachment
Set an incline bench at a 45-degree angle and place it in front of a low cable pulley. Hold your arms straight up above your eyes, slowly bend your elbows as far as you can, pause, then straighten them.
Continue for 20 seconds. Rest 60 seconds and then repeat. Do six to 10 sets. You want your muscles to feel exhausted at the end of each set.
Shape tighter abs - The praying mantis February 2004
Learn from the little guys
Insects are inspiring, with their astounding lifting power and incredibly low body-fat readings. Here's an exercise straight from the Discovery Channel: the praying mantis. This movement works your rectus abdominis (the six-pack muscles) but also recruits your obliques (on the sides) to keep you from falling, says Christian Thibaudeau, a former Olympic lifter and strength coach based in Canada. Move like the insect slowly.
Kneel with your toes pointing down and lean on the centre of a physio ball. With your hands folded, press your forearms into the ball and point your elbows out. Keep your hips pushed forward so that your back remains flat.
Roll the ball in front of you, hold your feet in place as your hips, torso and arms slide forwards. Advance as far as you can without letting your back arch or sag.
Pause, then pull back to the starting position. You should feel your abs contract forcefully as you do.
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