Life presents us with many options. Your free to choice how you do just about everything, you get to decide what the right choice is for you. However, when it comes to exercise there are specific biomechanical needs that have to be met in order to produce the safest and most effective outcomes. Biomechanics refers to the study of the mechanical laws relating to the movement/structure of living organisms. It is through biomechanics that we are able to define the optimal range of motion in joints, better understand injury prevention, and it serves as the fundamental basis for improving movement quality at large.
You may be asking yourself, doesn’t everybody move the same way since we all have the same bones, ligaments, tendons, and muscles?
The question arises commonly, as most people assume that just because everyone has the tools to move well, that they should inherently move well. If I gave you the tools to build a house, would you be able to do it to a professional contractor’s standard? Probably not, although we may understand the basics, like how to hammer a nail. We haven’t had the years of on-site and off-site training to establish prowess with these tools to create the orchestra that is the magnificent construction of a home. The human body has the potential for great movement, yet many of us are unable to capture that potential due to life. Think about how well a young toddler can move, usually without any effort at all, and it becomes crystal clear.
Life has us placed in common positions like sitting for example that disrupt our hips, spine and shoulders to a great degree. Children ages 5-22 (depending on college attendance) are subjected to sit for 5-8 hours a day including perhaps additional time spent on homework as well. This has major consequences both above and below the hip joint and it negatively impacts our gross movement quality as a whole. This example emphasizes the likelihood for a joint to become locked up due to our consistent movement habits. Other examples that show the same disruption include high-heels, standing for long periods of time, work with repetitive movement, constant texting or computer use, and even those who are bed ridden.
Many of the problems that we incur are due to stagnant positions held for extreme durations. When a joint is subjected to such stress it has no other choice but to lock up in order to provide “safety”. This artificial safety is laid down by the CNS, a division of the nervous system that consists of the brain and spinal cord. All messages relayed in your body are transmitted via the nervous system, but the CNS has specific interest in the integration of sensory information and the development of the appropriate responds to that stimuli. So when your body is set into a position for an extended period of time the CNS gets that feedback. When the feedback is integrated, the response from the CNS is “We must stay within this minimal range of motion, because we have no experience outside of it, we must therefore protect ourselves by locking up that joint inside the current limited range to avoid getting outside of what I’m comfortable with”.
This causes muscles around the joint (and sometimes even the joint capsule itself) to become hyperresponsive, resulting in muscular imbalances that will cause dysfunctional movement when compared to the optimal biomechanics. This can lead to a cascade of problems from pain to serious injury. Much before I was into the science of lifting, I sprained my sacroiliac joint (the joint the connects the base of your spine to your hips). How? By inefficient movement quality while squatting which was caused by muscular imbalances in my hips due to sitting for long periods of time. Unfortunately, I learned this information later, but having experienced it, I am more empathetic and aware of the potential it has to destroy us structurally. At that time I was 18 but this injury peaked my interest in biomechanics and muscular imbalances and has made me invest more time into movement quality both as an individual and as a Coach.
Muscular imbalances are just like a misfiring car engine. The engine requires precise levels of oxygen and fuel, and then a generous spark to create a smooth revolution of each cylinder. These revolutions provide your car with the power needed to propel your vehicle along with help of the drivetrain, and transmission (as well as many other things). A misfire can happen due to either inadequate levels or timing of oxygen, fuel, or even the spark itself. This can severely wear down your engine overtime if not solved. The body is no different. The muscles can be misfiring, although your attempting your hardest to move effectively just like the engines cylinders, your muscles are not activating at the appropriate times to create the quality of movement that is desired. Movements may look like they are depicted on popular machines in a “start” and “finish” position, but it is much more complex than A to B. It is much more like A-Z, as you must consider the movement at every inch demands quality attention to provide you with the correct stimulus to produce the results you’re after while mitigating the likelihood of injury.
Take for example a common fundamental movement like a squat. The squat demands recruitment of all lower body muscles (as well as a good handful of upper body musculature), but the timing of the muscles recruitment is the true breadwinner in a great squat. Most people butcher the squat while coming out of the bottom position. Remember this isn’t include in the A (start) to B (finish) model that we all think about, but rather represent the middle and in my opinion most crucial part of the movement. The lack of appropriate muscle activation timing is commonly the problem, yet this problem can be caused by so many things, the primary thing being what we talked about before-muscular imbalances caused by locked up joints. An efficient squat activation, upon standing up from the bottom position, will first use the glutes (butt muscle), then the quads (front of the thighs), and lastly the quadratus lumborum and erectors (low back muscles). These muscles will only fire in this sequence if your body is free of muscular imbalances. However, the common activation sequence I see as a trainer is usually the reverse and causes overuse of the low back muscles. If someone continues to squat in this manner it is likely they will either soon run into a weight where they can no longer progress quickly, or they will get injured due to excessive stress on the segments of the low back. Just like I did when I was in high school with my low back injury.
The other complex thing to consider is that techniques at large should be followed, however individual variance does exist. We all may have the same bones, ligaments, muscles, but we may have different limb lengths, Q-angles (bone angles), and hip widths that will change our movement habits. This individuality is why going on YouTube to search something as basic as “squat technique” will bring up over 200 pages of results talking about high bar, low bar, overhead, Olympic style, and so many more things. The information availability is not the problem here just like I mentioned in my latest article “Traversing The Grocery Store In Today’s State”. The problem is the filtration of the information to make a decision that is right for you the individual. The study of biomechanics has made it easy to give general tips, but just like all sciences they cannot study everyone, and the studies that they run are commonly not done long enough to see the bodies reaction to said stimuli years down the road.
This is where an experienced eye of a professional comes into play. You can look up as many videos as you want and you can attempt to replicate those videos instructions. But the sad fact is many times it only leads to worse techniques because you lack proprioception, the awareness to know exactly what position your body is in relative to space. I’ve seen this too often as a trainer in the industry for years, you watch people preform an exercise and they bastardize it because they put faith on their interpretation of the information (which may have been wrong in the first place…YouTube pays for views not accuracy). Proprioception is the a major key to achieving great technique, yet it is the main root cause of poor technique. When someone is confident that they are moving in the right way they will continue to do so, but if your technique is flawed then your perception of “the right way” is in fact wrong. More often than not the technique is wrong regardless of all the information you’ve gathered because you likely have muscular imbalances that disrupt the body from moving in an efficient and safe way. The cure all to this is to get connected with a Fitness Professional who has experience, knowledge, and the results to back his/her claims from past clients. Here is a offer to get you started if you’re in the Colorado Springs Area, come get the help you deserve. With the help of a Fitness Professional’s cues, coaching, and programming you are able to reestablish your body to the correct movement patterns. This takes flawless repetitions of movements, mobility work, and appropriate recovery interventions to integrate the CNS in a conducive way. I hope you get this encouraged you to think more about what your movement quality looks like and consider improving it, for the secret to being strong is to remain injury free consistently. If this information has peaked your intrest, check out my podcast for another way to upgrade your health and wellness!
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Cantrell Coaching LLC 