Personally, I’ve been heavily influenced by Stuart McGill and Shirley Sahrmann. I’ve also taken some great ideas from bright guys like Mike Robertson, Bill Hartman, and Gray Cook to formulate some of my core testing tools.
To start let’s just address the fundamentals. Strength is the ability to produce force and stability is the ability to control it. So doing crunches on a stability ball with a hundred pound dumbbell on your chest might make you strong (although I think it makes you look ridiculous), it isn’t going to improve your core stability. To be stable you must be able to RESIST the applied force without movement.
Going hand in hand with this notion is the idea that is currently being promoted by many educated coaches and trainers that repeated spinal flexion is a bad idea because it increases the risk of spinal disc injury. In other words, crunches suck!
Finally, lets remember that the core doesn’t just include the rectus abdominus or the anterior core muscles. It essentially forms a belt around us and includes more muscles than I’d like to count at this very moment. Knowing this, it is essential to investigate the muscles all around the core to determine stability. More importantly, we are not going to test the strength of these muscles, but the ability of them to support the core under load. In the case of the lower back, endurance is actually far more important than strength for injury prevention.
Here is a quick little protocol that I like to use as a starting point:
1. Front Plank
While doing this movement I like to place a dowel on the person’s back and have them maintain 3 points of contact. The dowel should remain in contact with the glutes, upper back, and head. If one of those points is lost then the timer stops. (Note: I swiped this tip from Mike Robertson)
You should be able to hold this position for 2 minutes.
2. Side Plank – Should be able to hold for 90 seconds
This is as easy as it sounds. The body should be held straight in a full side plank position for 90 seconds per side. Note any assymetry between the sides as this is a strong predictor on injury risk. Work on bringing the weaker side up to match the stronger side before trying to increase the overall time.
You should be able to hold this position for 90 seconds.
3. Back Extension Hold
Set up at though you’re going to do a back extension and hold yourself in the extended position. As with the front plank, use the dowel along the spine to ensure proper alignment by maintaing 3 points of contact.
You should be able to hold this position for 2 minutes.
4. Double Leg Lower
To perform this test you want to lie on your back and raise both legs straight up into the air. From here, I’d suggest placing your hands on your external obliques or crossed over your chest. They cannot be on the floor. Now slowly begin to lower your legs while concentrating on keeping your lower back flat on the floor. (Note: a hard floor is more effective than a mat for determining success on this test)
If your feet hit the floor before your lower back raises you have passed. If not, you suck and you should check yourself into the wimp hall of fame. Just kidding, but your ability to control your core is probably lacking in this respect.
5. Rotational Stability
I also like to assess rotational stability by using a test from the functional movement screen. If you’re going to fail only one of these tests, this will probably be it. You can check it out HERE.
Again, these only serve at starting points and there are obviously other factors affecting stability of the core, but these tests should be enough to get you rolling.
In the coming weeks I’ll be releasing an audio interview series that will detail how some of the world’s leading experts test and train the core for performance and just plain looking sexy. Keep your eyes peeled for that.
In the meantime, drop me a note in the comments to let me know how you make out on the tests above.
My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!
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