Don't move the middle: the bird dog with small plate (part 1 of 5)

I recommend reading the support notes for the 'Don't move the middle' exercise series:
https://sportperformancenz.blogspot.com/2018/05/new-exercise-series-dont-move-middle.html

The bird dog is a terrific lumbopelvic stability exercise.  It's also misunderstood and poorly executed much of the time
Set up on the ground in a kneeling position with hands under your shoulders, knees under your hips, and toes off the ground
Pick up the small plate (500g) and place it on your lower back
You need to set neutral lower back and pelvic shape: no downward slump or upward curve.  Your pelvis can be rotated downward (termed anterior tilt) and upward (posterior tilt).  You need to find the neutral position
With neutral lumbopelvic posture, slowly extend one arm and the opposite leg.  The goal of the exercise is to avoid moving anything else.  The arm and leg need to move slowly and only as far as you can before a loss of correct shape is inevitable


video: the bird dog with small plate

New exercise series: 'Don't move the middle', out shortly

These are the support notes for an exercise series I will shortly be posting: 'Don't move the middle'.
Gym has never been known for its subtlety.  Big is best and more is always more.  There's a time for going big but you cannot build without a stable foundation.
Humans have an unstable segment in the middle of the body that allows us to bend and twist.  It's called the core.  This is the area above the pelvis and below the lowest rib.  There are no bones in the core segment aside from the vertebral column, so a special arrangement of muscular tension and pressure is needed to limit inherent instability and keep the spine safe.  The central position of the core segment, between the legs and the shoulders, also means core stiffness is a limiting factor in whole body power.  High core stiffness is needed for the body to produce and control large forces.
As in everything at Sport Performance, we like to begin at the beginning.  The two basic properties of correct core stability/ stiffness are: correct breathing, and neutral lumbopelvic shape.  Abdominal or diaphragmatic breathing is essential to promote activity in the deep core musculature.  Don't hold your breath when you're exercising at low intensities and never when you're performing core stability/ strengthening exercise and postural control activities generally.
The lumbar spine is designed to move independently of the pelvis, in which it sits via the sacrum, so that we can bend over, reach back etc. but when we flex at the hip under high load (e.g. squatting or deadlifting) and transmit large forces down/ up the body, e.g. when sprinting or jumping, lumbopelvic motion needs to be synchronous and neutral, or shearing and compression forces may damage lumbar tissues.  Alongside correct breathing rhythm, setting and holding the pelvis and lumbar spine in a neutral anatomic shape is a key training target of core stability conditioning.
'Don't move the middle' means what is implies: set neutral lumbar and pelvic position before starting each exercise, and then hold that shape throughout.  Holding correct shape is the point of each exercise.  Movement is not the goal but the challenge.  You may regulate tempo - slow is good - and range of motion.  Rest is also good.  There is a small plate involved in all the exercises.  Having adopted a readiness position, the small plate (500g) is placed on your lower back and your goal is to prevent it from falling off. 
The series is also posted to Facebook: sportperformancenz, and you're welcome to post any questions.

strong feet and ankles - part 5 of 5, the 1leg jump, stick, & touch

the final piece of the series, the 1leg jump, stick, and touch
shoes off!
hop or jump forward off one leg.  land on the same leg and stick the landing
with an extended knee, slowly lean over to stretch the hamstring and touch the ground.  stand and repeat
the purpose of this exercise is to strengthen ankle stabilisers using dynamic motion.  it's essential to 'stick' the landing so begin with a smaller, hopping action and progress toward a jumping action as the skill warms up

video: jump, stick, & touch

strong feet and ankles - part 4 of 5, 1leg squat with aeroplane ITI

these exercises are completed barefoot separately or together as a sequence
1leg squat instructions:

• set back into the hip joint and slowly lower down with a dominant backward motion - lead with the hip and let the knee catch up
• the nonworking leg is held above the ground in front of the body
• the knee (loaded) must remain in-line with the foot throughout - no inward roll
• remain head and chest up, i.e. don't rotate your torso downwards

aeroplane ITI instructions:

• soften the loaded knee - small bend.  Slowly lift the back leg and pivot over the loaded hip joint.  Don't drop your shoulders
• maintain neutral torso posture and a stable leg position
• the goal is to form a 'T shape' with your body
• at the top of the bridge, move your arms into streamline - the 'I' position , slowly into the 'T' position, and then back into the 'I' position.  Keep the motion of the arms in the plane of the body, i.e. don't let them fall toward the floor

KEEP YOUR FOOT AND ANKLE STABLE AND NEUTRAL THROUGH ALL POSITIONS

video: 1leg squat with aeroplane ITI barefoot

notes about the 'strong feet and ankles' series

This is a short explanation of the 'strong feet and ankles' post series.
When we move, the feet and ankles are the first structures to bear the effect of body weight and gravity.  This response is largely autonomous or reflexive, and has a direct bearing on energy transfer into the remainder of the body.  Strong, stable foot and ankle motion is essential for the body to produce efficient, powerful movement.
I see lots of feet every week.  The feet of children in primary school all the way up to the elderly.  My observation is that too much sitting and poor footwear is degrading feet and ankles.  For children, the problems start very young because parents, who mean well, are putting shoes on feet that need to feel the ground in order to develop strength and control.  What kind of control would I expect to have in my hands if I wore thick rubber gloves all day, year after year?  The feet and ankles are supposed to do for the legs what the hands do for the arms.
The 'strong feet and ankles' posts are a series of exercises designed to strengthen muscles and patterns of motion.  The exercises should be completed barefoot - no shoes!  The posts function in sequence with the following outcomes in mind:

1. raising the working capacity of key stabilisers - the toe scrunch walk and bent knee calf raise
2. developing easy ankle 'spring' - skipping
3. improving balance function or multi-axial stabilisation - 1leg squats and aeroplanes, single leg hopping/ jumping with stable landing mechanics (sticking the landing)

The primacy of the feet and ankles in movement means conditioning programs for children and adults in sport must involve and emphasise strengthening of the feet and ankles.  The simplest way to ensure this is to exercise barefoot.

strong feet and ankles - part 3 of 5, bent knee calf raises

set with your knees bent at about 90deg
high onto your toes, and then slowly down to the bottom with a controlled 'gliding' motion - avoid slippage
progress is made with improved glide from the top to the bottom

video: bent knee calf raise

functionally speaking, jumping and hopping are different motor skills

Sprinting utilises a stiff chain - minimal flexion at the hip and knee with a high toe/ ball strike and very short ground contact time - to achieve high frequency spring or bounce.  Chain stiffness with high frequency spring/ bounce is the basic function of hopping or plyometric exercises.  Jumping (low frequency bouncing) involves significant knee and hip flexion to stretch and store energy in the large muscles/ tendons of the legs and hips.  Jumping exercises are excellent tools to promote muscle power but they provide only indirect gains to sprinting.
Confusion about what constitutes a hop (high frequency bouncing) or a jump (low frequency bouncing) is common in conditioning programs and research studies, and most often results in poor sprinting outcomes

strong feet and ankles - part 2 of 5, the toe scrunch walk

toes/ feet point forwards. 1-3m daily

like all ankle & foot strengthening exercises, the feet are bare

do not lift or slide your feet - pull them forward with your toes

video: the toe scrunch walk

strong feet and ankles - part 1 of 5, skipping

stiff knees and hips, high toe/ ball strike, with very short ground contact time = HIGH BOUNCE

video clip: skipping - stiffness and bounce

a tool you cannot control is a tool you cannot use

what does that mean to you?

What should my child be doing in the gym?

It's a big question and it can be confusing for parents, in as much as our bodies are complex machines and there are conflicting messages.  It doesn't help also that schools, which should be front and centre in the discussion about evidence-based physical and athletic development, lose their minds when it comes to sport.  Where schools practice values-centred, 'no one gets left behind', curriculum driven academic programs, they resort to pissing contests in their sporting programs.

The purpose of gym is to strengthen bodies but the obvious question would be to ask
what and why.  At Sport Performance we work from the following set of core principles:

1. The structural health of our bodies provides the foundation stone.  Critical to this is muscle balance and posture.  Joints and segments need to sit in the correct anatomical position and articulate in a stable manner through a wide range of motion
2. The structure of our bodies - universal to all - awards us with basic motor skills.  These are the building blocks of sporting and specialised skills.  All children need to be able to jump and run, climb and throw, and do so without hurting themselves.  The more complete the toolbox of basic motor skills, the more quickly and completely we acquire specialised skills and capacities, and the less likely we are to injure ourselves
3. Children need lots of different kinds of activity, often  

These ideas are incorporated in our development performance template or pyramid (link below).
The pyramid outlines the basic strength conditioning priorities: activities that promote structural health come first, followed by basic motor skill extension.  High demand (sporting and maximal muscle strength and power) can be safely programmed only when the body and it's skills are sufficiently advanced/ mature.  The template is also used to detail specific deficits/ work-ons for individuals.

Children require a learning environment in the gym: a progressive curriculum underpinned by a sound understanding of motor skill acquisition, personality, and stages of biological development.  We have to recognise and account for the vulnerability and variability that applies during childhood.  What an adult calls exercise is actually 'play' for a child until they are ready to make it something more.


physical development and performance pyramid

Go, do

‘Go, do’ is an idea about how children can compete with happy, functional minds.

FEAR IS THE ENEMY

For many kids, competition paralyses them.  The body may be willing, but the mind is in a state of turmoil.  It is almost impossible to fully control and execute complex skills when we’re anxious and worried.    

Not all emotions are bad for competition.  Excitement and happiness are excellent states for us to get the most out of our abilities.  How can we promote positive energy?

If we strip competition back to its most basic functions, we arrive at: go, and do. 

There are three questions that underpin ‘Go, do’:

• what am I feeling
• what do I think about
• what drives my performance

If I want to be excited about the possibilities of competition and not afraid of failure, then the obvious response to ‘what am I feeling’ would be ‘good’.  If I would like to feel good, then what I think about becomes important.  Racing makes me anxious so the very last thing I should think about is racing.  Think about anything else, or nothing at all.  Lastly, I need to accept that I have nothing to be afraid of because there is no ‘magic’ at work during competition.  I work hard in training, so I can expect to race well because training drives performance.  I am what I am.  Nothing more and nothing less.

What’s the race plan?  That’s easy: run, swim, or cycle as fast as you can.  Spend it all.  Learn to get the most out of yourself by performing without fear.

It is important for coaches and parents to understand that before we can learn to control performance, we must gain access to all the buttons and levers.  We don’t do that by managing details but by learning to ‘swing without fear’.  Cleverness in racing and performance takes time and doesn’t need to be programmed.  It is learned as the mind opens up.  Begin by asking your children to just ‘do’ and do with 100% effort.  Go, do.