Small Space Fitness -‘The Planks’ +’Stuff’

Basic Fitness Programmes-Planking

Core Stability

You should develop core stability and all round mobility immediately you start any training programme. If you can’t stiffen your trunk when required, as I mentioned on my Aleknas blog, you lose energy that should be transferred to propelling you upwards and forwards when running, jumping to spike a Volleyball or through the wheels of your bike on a Sportive. Leaked energy through a poorly conditioned, wobbling, core makes for inefficient human beings struggling to prevent themselves buckling under the load of heavy shopping bags. Or sprinters trying to drive out of the blocks. I’ll discuss mobility a bit later

Newton’s Third

There’s that bloke again; he told us about ‘stuff’ that helps us understand ‘stuff’. He stated ‘for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction’– Newton’s Third. One cracking definition, and I quote: ‘if you shove something it shoves you back, even if it hasn’t got muscle.’ I couldn’t put it better myself. No seriously, I couldn’t put it better myself. So a big thank you to these clever dudes who share ‘stuff’. In this case from Strength and Conditioning For Sports Performance, Chapter 3, The Biomechanical Principles UnderPinning S&C; by John E Goodwin and Daniel J Cleather.

Real World Setting

Anyway before I get ‘stuffed.’ What does this mean? If you’re a runner, basket ball player, etc. Every time you engage the muscle of the legs to stomp, albeit lightly in some instances, against the ground to drive you body, upwards, upwards and slightly forwards; or whatever the requirement of the activity you’re participating in. You’re body, or limb if you’re a boxer, experiences an equal force coming from the ground, opponent’s head, etc. In sprinting this Ground Reaction Force is what propels you to wherever your body/leg position dictates. Incidentally, that’s why good coaching of body positions is essential if you want to take advantage of this amigos.

Eliminating Energy Leakage

So, for example if you’re a sprinter coming out of the blocks; you’ll want all that return force propelling you upwards and outwards out of your blocks. If your core musculature is weak; or doesn’t coordinate as a team to stiffen at the appropriate moment. Some energy that should be used to propel you in the correct direction is ‘leaked’ as your trunk musculature (intrinsic and superficial muscles: for another blog) struggles to cope with the force generated which creates undesirable, albeit sometimes relatively small, oscillatory (wobbly) movements of the trunk. If you reduce those movements and ‘plug the leak’ you’ll have more force available to execute the required movement. Then you’ll become immediately awesome: I wish. Thus my above video on basic planks.

Mobility

So you’ve plugged the leaks like a good ‘un’ by regular ‘planking.’ You now need to be able to generate forces through your joints required for your sport or activity, without creating injury or inefficiency. For example, weightlifters must position the ball at the top of their upper arms (Humerus) in the socket (Glenoid Fossa) of the shoulder blade (Scapulae) in his/her shoulder joint as accurately as possible. Otherwise, they will fail to distribute forces evenly through the shoulder joint and injury could eventually occur, especially with 100kgs overhead. Similarly, with repetitive training movements, or warehouse employees constantly stacking shelves above their heads: it’s all relative.

Joint Centration

This is where joints are correctly positioned, particularly when under stress during weighted movements: bodyweight squats, overhead press., running, etc. To accomplish this you’ve got to ensure the muscle groups around a joint are all contributing to a movement in the correct proportion. This also applies to being static, as in maintaining a healthy upright posture. This is essential for reducing wear and tear and the early onset of Osteoarthritis.

Kinetic Chain 

Additionally if the joints aren’t accurately centrated you could lose force generated from the ground. For a rough (no hate mail please biomechanists) example. Think of Shot Putters: on the release of the shot from their hands: this would be an accumulation and transfer of forces generated in sequence from the toes of the foot, ankle, knee, hip, trunk, shoulder, elbow & wrist. Basically, you have to be mobile enough to align your joints correctly to ensure you can utilise the forces generated during your chosen activity. Lose any force through energy leakage at a joint/s the Shot wont travel so far. But let’s not forget core stability is the lynchpin for the transfer of forces. 

Muscle Imbalances

If a group of muscles that move and stabilise a limb are out of balance; some will need strengthening, to increase their force input and some will need lengthening and their force input reduced. Mobilising at the beginning of a workout can accomplish some, if not all, of these requirements. However, if things, are totally out of ‘whack’ corrective exercise-it’s Physio time-should be included in your workout. Perhaps between sets of exercise. This is all part of joint centration. If, for example one, or two, of the muscles at the posterior of the shoulder capsule are tight; this could push the head of the humerus into the front of the shoulder joint around the shoulder joint, so it’s not centrated therefore pain could be the result. So obviously you wouldn’t put a humongous great weight through that joint: would you? Regardless if it looks cool and gives you an opportunity to ‘fist bump’ your bro.

Take Home Time

Enough biomechanics from me- I suspect at least one of my previous lecturers is purchasing an AK47 on the Dark Web by now. The bottomline: strengthen the Core, mobilise the joints and use corrective exercise to centrate the joints if required.

Top Tips

1. After you set up, take an inhale to prepare; exhale to move into position then continue to breath 3 dimensionally (see previous blogs).
2. Drive you forearms into the ground on both versions to help stabilise the shoulders.
3. Note how my lower back is flat and my head is in line on the Prone (facedown) version.
4. On the Prone plank my Butt and legs (quads and knees, etc) are, tight,tight tight!
5. Note on the side plank I’m not sinking into the floor and my spine is neutral.
6. Start counting with breaths to prevent rushed breathing. Aim for 5 breaths for all versions and build up to 15 -16 breaths initially (approx 1 min). 
7. Don’t rush; stop when form breaks down; consider sets of 5 breaths with a an appropriate rest in between until the requisite total of 15-16 breaths is completed per session then gradually reduce the time between sets. Once a set of 15-16 breaths is accomplished consider 2-3 sets per workout.
8. If you’ve got any medical issues, especially back problems, get it checked out by a qualified medical professional and obtain clearance before commencing any exercise programme.