I am IronmanDeadbugs are underrated and you need to be doing more of them.
I believe they’re as important and integral of an exercise to your success in the weight-room as squats, deadlifts, or just about any barbell lift you can think of.
In fact, I’d go so far as to say “the more deadbugs you include in your training (and the more proficient you get at them), the higher the likelihood you’ll see improvements in all your lifts.1
I’ll admit deadbugs aren’t super exciting to perform and there are many, many things clients/athletes would likely rather perform:
High rep squats.
Fran
A colonoscopy
But since when does exercising have to be exciting or sexy? While I can appreciate there should be some form of “give and take” with regards to what I feel clients need to do and what they want to do, I have yet to come across anyone – regular Joes and Janes alike to professional athletes – who haven’t benefited from more deadbugs being peppered into their program.
The ability to stabilize and maintain a “neutral” pelvis/spine while simultaneously moving the extremities has a profound effect on one’s ability not only reduce the incidence of injury, but to also improve performance.
NOTE: For more of the what, why, and how’s on the topic I’d encourage you to read THIS quickie article I wrote a few years ago, in addition to THIS one which shows off a few solid progressions.
Learning to perform a deadbug correctly is step #1 (check out the links above), and not coincidentally provides a profound degree of respect people tend to lack towards the exercise.
Actually, screw it, lets press the pause button.
Watch this short video which details mistake #1 when it comes to deadbug execution:
It’s a lot harder than many think.
Another aspect not fully appreciated is the adaptability and “scaling” of the exercise which exists. The deadbug can seamlessly be regressed or progressed to fit the needs, goals, and ability level of the individual.
To that end here’s a nice progression I went over this past weekend while in Vancouver/Victoria teaching my Coaching Competency Workshop.
Deadbug Floor Press
Who Did I Steal It From?: I actually learned this variation a few years ago when I was speaking in London during one of my hands-on breakouts. I had all the trainers in attendance try a few of my variations, and as we had a little more of a back and forth dialogue this badboy made an appearance.
What Does It Do?: All of the benefits of a regular, vanilla deadbug (improved core stability, lumbo-pelvic control, anterior core activation, cueing “canister” position), but less instance of someone wanting to throw their face into a cement floor from boredom.
It’s a deadbug, but a little more “meatheady” and athletic.
Key Coaching Cues: Do NOT lowball the exhale. If you didn’t already, please watch the first video above which breaks down what a full exhale should look like.
Some other minor stuff I didn’t go over in the video:
When pressing (especially with a KB) make sure your knuckles point towards the ceiling. This will help reduce excessive wrist extension.
If need be, you can also decrease the lever of the move by bending the knee of the moving leg, and perform more of heel tap.
When the full exhale is complete and the leg is fully extended, try to let the leg “hover” for a 2-3s count before you return back to the starting position with an inhale.
I shot this video on June 5th. It was 55 degrees outside. WTF mother nature.
You don’t need to be be doing core stability exercises or core strengthening exercises. You NEED to be doing BOTH!
What is Core Stability?
Core stability is the ability of the musculature of the trunk aka the “core” to be able to maintain a certain position. It involves musculature contractions typically 20-25% of MVIC (Maximal Voluntary Isometric Contraction). Another way to think of it is that these exercises require precision and control of movement rather than brute strength.
An example of a “core stability” exercise would be the Bird Dog.
The Bird Dog movement requires the participant to maintain a neutral spine position while moving an arm and leg. This does not require a maximal contraction of the abdominal musculature. It requires a low-level, precise contraction of certain musculature to maintain a neutral spine. There are NOT large amount of forces being exuded to cause the person to have to exhibit brute strength to have to perform.
Other examples of “Core Stability” exercises are:
½ Kneeling Chops
½ Kneeling Lifts
Dead Bug
Segmental Rolling
Prone Superman’s
The exercises mentioned above are all movements that can be made more difficult by adding weight or resistance. The purpose of these “easy” movements are to improve the timing and sequencing of the core musculature. Performance of these exercises are to be performed with precision and control.
What is Core Strength?
Core Strength is the ability of the core musculature to maintain or control a certain position against increased forces of gravity, resistance, or weight. Exercises or movements that would be considered core strength are:
Swiss Ball Rollouts
RKC Plank
Stir the Pot
Sledgehammer Hits
Anti-Rotation (Pallof) Press
All the movement mentioned above are using some form of external force. Whether it be gravity, weight, etc., the core musculature has to exhibit a much greater force to resist moving through the spine.
Why Do WE Need BOTH?
Well, you can have great core stability and be weaker than a baby kitten in a wet paper bag or you can have the strongest core in the world and can have poor core stability.
How is that so?
For example, maybe you can hold a plank with proper form for an inordinate amount of time, ie. 5 minutes. I would say that you have great core strength. But we can’t say that you have great core stability.
Here are a few quick tests to determine how someone’s core stability is functioning:
Segmental Rolling
Key Points:
Attempt to roll from your back to your stomach using one arm and no legs.
You may lift your head and reach with one arm.
Bird Dog
Key Points:
Can you maintain a neutral spine while alternating arms/legs?
Does the pelvis remain level while performing?
If so, then you passed. If not, then barring any type of decreased hip extension, thoracic spine extension, or upper extremity flexion mobility, your core stability may be impaired.
½ Kneeling
Key Points:
Bring front foot so that it is in line with down leg.
You should be able to maintain your balance without shaking or using your arms for balance.
Typically, one side is more difficult than the other. There may be a core stability issue if you cannot maintain an upright posture in tandem ½ Kneeling.
If you can perform the ½ Kneeling Test and both sides feel relatively equal, then you passed. If not, then barring any type of decreased hip extension, ankle, or thoracic spine mobility limitations, this could be indicative of a core stability issue.
I don’t think I need to go into as much detail for core strength, but the importance of maintaining a certain position when deadlifting, squatting, lunging, etc. is hugely important to decrease risk of injury and to improve performance.
We needcore stability because throughout the spine there are tiny stabilizing muscles that go from spine segment to spinal segment.
If you present with an imbalance during the Bird Dog, try performing with a towel roll on your low back and widen your base of support so that the movement is challenging but you can perform it with good form.
If the ½ Kneeling Test has imbalances present, try performing ½ Kneeling Chops with a band around the lower legs to improve core musculature recruitment.
The responsibility of these muscles is to stabilize from one spinal segment to another or stabilize a few spinal segments that they may cross over. If these tiny muscles don’t do their job and stabilize like during a bird dog, ½ Kneeling position, or during segmental rolling, compensation will occur.
Instead of those aforementioned muscles working, the work will be placed upon the larger muscles such as the paraspinals, etc.
Who Cares?
Well, if the small, stabilizer muscles aren’t stabilizing effectively and the larger muscles are working harder than they need to, then this can cause movement compensations over time and in turn place you at risk for injury or decrease performance.
If you present with an imbalance during segmental rolling and either can’t do a certain direction or one direction is harder than the other, perform it with some assistance.
If all else fails, see a licensed medical provider with a background in the Selective Functional Movement Assessment here (http://www.functionalmovement.com/site/aboutsfma)
With that said, we need BOTH. Performing core stability exercises as mentioned above during a dynamic warm-up or super-setted in a workout AND doing core strengthening super-setted during a workout.
Run yourself or your client through some of these tests and see what you can do to help improve their movement quality through core stability and core strengthening.
About the Author
Andrew Millett is a Metro-West (Boston) based physical therapist.
There are many root causes of low back pain and discomfort, and there are many people who’s day to day lives are affected by it.
In my neck of the woods – Strength & Conditioning – the culprit(s) can often be displayed on the weight room floor. Lifters who routinely default into movement patterns that place them in (end-range) LOADED spinal flexion or extension are often playing with fire when it comes to their low back health and performance.
NOTE: this isn’t to say that repeated flexion/extension is always the root cause.
1) There’s a stark contrast between flexion/extension and LOADED flexion/extension. Many people have been programmed to think that all flexion/extension of the spine is bad. It’s not. The spine is meant to move, albeit under the assumption that one can do so without significant compensation patterns (relative stiffness), limitations in mobility, and with appropriate use of both passive (ligaments, labrums, and tendons, oh my) and active (muscles) restraints.
It’s when people start placing the spine under load in ranges of motion they can’t control – often in the name of social media glory – that bad things end up happening.
2) However, there are plenty of examples of lifters (mostly elite level, which is an important point) who have been utilizing techniques many fitness pros would deem incendiary with regards to the increased likelihood of spines all over the world resembling a game of Jenga.
A great example is a piece Greg Nuckols wrote HERE, explaining the benefits – biomechanically speaking – of a rounded back deadlift.
But back pain – specifically low back pain – can strike at any moment. I’ve heard stories of people hurting their back during training of course. But I have also, and I think many of you reading will nod your head in agreement, have heard stories of people messing up their back while bending over to pick up a pencil or to tie their shoes.
Or while fighting a pack of ninjas (hey, it can happen).
In pretty much all cases it comes down to one of two scenarios going down:
1. Ninjas attack.A one-time blunt trauma. Think: spine buckling under load, car accident, falling off a ladder.
2. A repetitive aberrant motor pattern. Think: tissue creep into sustained spinal flexion for hours on end at work.
Dr. Stuart McGill and his extensive research on spinal biomechanics has been the “go to” resource for many people – including myself – to help guide the assessment process and to attempt to figure out the root cause of most people’s low back pain.
A term he uses often is “Spinal Hygiene.”
It behooves us as health and fitness professionals to use the assessment as a window or opportunity to “audit” our client’s and athlete’s movement and to see what exacerbates their low back pain.
“Our approach in identifying the cause of pain during an assessment is to intentionally provoke it. Provocative pain testing is essential and irreplaceable when it comes to determining which postures, motions, and loads trigger and amplify pain and which ones offer pain-free movement alternatives.”
People who have more pain and discomfort in flexion (slouching, sitting, bending over to tie shoes) are often deemed as flexion intolerant. Moreover, people who have more pain and discomfort in extension (standing for long periods of time, bending backwards, excessive “arching” in training), are often deemed as extension intolerant.
Ironically, in both scenarios, people will find relief in the same postures that are “feeding” the dysfunction and their symptoms.
What’s the Fix?
Funnily enough, pretty much everything works. There are any number of methodologies and protocols in the physical therapy world that have worked and have helped get people out of low back pain.
It’s almost as if the appropriate response to “how do you fix low back pain?” is “the shit if I know? Everything has been shown to work at some point or another.”
Active Release Therapy, Graston, positional breathing, stretching, mobility work, rest, sticking needles in whereeverthefuck….it’s all been shown to work.
I’ve had numerous conversations with manual therapists on the topic and the ones who tend to “get it” and elicit the best results are the ones who take a more diverse or eclectic approach.
They’ll use a variety of modalities to best fit the needs of the individual.
That said, I’m a fan of directing people towards therapists who take a more “active” approach as opposed to a “passive” approach.
Both can work and both have a time and place. However one approach is less apt to make me want to toss my face into an ax.
Passive Approach = Ultra sound, electric stimulation, etc. This approach treats the symptoms, focuses on instant relief, and not necessarily addresses the root cause(s).
Active Approach = Is more hands on and more “stuff” is happening. Practitioners who fall on this side of the fence tend to focus more on the root cause – poor movement quality, positioning, muscle weakness, mobility restrictions – and work in concert with the patient/athlete to educate them on how to prevent future setbacks.
Above all, an active approach is about finding and engraining a neutral spinal position, and finding pain-free movement.
I think by now you know my preference.
Tony, Shut-Up, What’s the “Forgotten” Cause of Low Back Pain?
Well, to say it’s “forgotten” is a bit sensationalistic. My bad.
We tend to solely focus on either flexion or extension intolerance…and granted those are the two biggies.
However, have you ever had someone come in and pass those “screens” with flying colors only to complain of back pain or discomfort when he or she rolls over in bed, rotates, or maybe experiences an ouchie when they sneeze?
What’s up with that? And bless you.
Spinal Instability – That’s What’s Up.
Instability can rear it’s ugly head with flexion/extension based issues too, but it becomes more prevalent when rotation is added to the mix.
The body doesn’t operate in one plane of motion, and it’s when people meander out of the sagittal plane and venture into frontal and/or transverse plane movements, when they begin to get into trouble.1
The muscles that provide intersegmental stability to the spine may be under-active and may need some extra TLC.
I’ve worked with people who could crush a set of barbell squats (they handle compression and shear loading well), but would complain of l0w-back pain whenever they did anything that required rotation.
The fix is still going to be helping them find and maintain spinal neutral – I don’t feel this is ever not going to be a thing. Kind of like too much money in politics or LOLcats.
In addition, gaining motion from the right areas – hips, t-spine, for example – will also bode well.
However, I’d like to offer some insight on what exercises might be part of the repertoire in terms of “pain free movement” when spine instability is a factor.2
The Stuff Most People Will Skip (It’s Okay, I Won’t Judge You)
One word: planks.
Dr. McGill has stressed time and time again that improving spinal endurance (and hence, stability) is paramount when dealing with back pain. They key, though, is performing them in ideal positions.
I chuckle whenever someone brags about holding a 5-minute plank. When in fact all they’re really doing is hanging onto their spine….literally.
1. It’s a bonafide way to help people gain a better understanding and appreciation for creating full-body tension.
2. I like cueing people to start in a little more (unloaded) flexion, so that by the end they’re residing in a neutral position anyways.
3. When performed as described in the video below, 10s will make you hate life.
To up the ante you can also incorporate 3-Point Planks (where you take away a base of support, either an arm or a leg, and hold for time) or Prone Plank Arm Marches:
You can also incorporate Wall (Plank) Transitions where the objective is to cue people to keep the torso locked in place. Motion shouldn’t come from the lumbar spine then mid-back. Everything should move simultaneously, as follows:
Deadbugs
I’m a huge fan of deadbugs. When performed RIGHT, they’re an amazing exercise that will undoubtedly help build core and spine strength/stability.
A key component to the effectiveness of a deadbug is the FULL-EXHALE (check out link above). However, one variation I’ve been using lately is the Wall Press Deadbug (for higher reps).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmtsGHk34C0
Here the objective is to engage anterior core (pressing into the wall), to breath normally, and then to perform a high(er) rep set (10-15/leg) making sure motion comes from the hips and NOT the lower back.
If you want to build stability (and endurance) this is a doozy.
Stuff People Are More Likely To Do (Because It Involves Lifting Things)
1. Offset Loaded Lifts
This is an untapped, often overlooked component to back health and performance. Offset or asymmetrical loaded exercises are a fantastic way to train spinal stability and challenge the core musculature.
By holding a dumbbell on one side, for example, you have work that much harder to maintain an upright posture and resist rotary force:
Likewise, with offset presses, the core must fire to prevent you from falling off the bench. Unless you fall off because you’re drunk. If that’s the case, go home.
And we don’t have to limit ourselves to dumbbells, either. We can use barbells too.
2. Shovel Deadlift
3. Farmer Carries
Farmer carries – especially 1-arm variations – can be seen in the same light. The offset nature is a wonderful way to challenge the body to resist rotation (rotary force) and to help build more spinal stability.
4. 1-Legged Anti-Rotation Scoop Toss
Another option is to perform anti-rotation drills such as the 1-Legged Anti-Rotation Scoop Toss. As you can see from my un-edited video below….it’s tougher than it sounds.
5. Anti-Rotation Press
A bit higher on the advanced exercise ladder, the Anti-Rotation Press is another great drill to help hone in on increased core strength and spinal stability. To make it easier, use a longer stride stance; to make it harder go narrower.
This Is Not an End-All-Be-All List
But a good conversation stimulator for many people dealing with low-back pain nonetheless. Have you got own ideas or approaches to share? Please chime in below or on Facebook!
