Stability Training – Does it Work?
I am often asked about stability training as far as it has advantages for strength and if it helps performance, to which I usually give the answer of, ‘no, not really so don’t bother’. However on occasions the answer is ‘some times, but not how you think’. Let me elaborate.
What I am talking about is trainers using things like Swiss balls, Bosu balls and suspension devices like the TRX to ‘train’ their clients and athletes. The idea is that these create an unstable surface to perform whatever movement you intend which in turn makes it more difficult and ‘functional’. This technically forces you to recruit more of your stability muscles to control the movement, hence strengthening them and making you a more stable athlete. Sounds great, in theory.
The problem is that while you need to work the absolute shit out of those poor little stabilisers, you are only pushing around 20% (I made that percentage up) of the weight you could on a stable surface. Because of this, your prime movers are having a big old sleep in not getting anywhere near the amount of tension required to stimulate any sort of strength or growth increases. On top of that you aren’t working your stabilisers that hard either and it is far more effective to develop those stabilisers through specific remedial work.
‘But it’s great for core stability’ I can hear people saying, well no it’s not really because, as I said above you will never be able to squat as much on a Swiss or even a Bosu ball as you can on a platform. Therefore, the muscle tension cannot be as great and cannot create the same training stimulus, all while massively increasing your risk of injury for that specific movement.
I really think the big confusion here is a misunderstanding between activation and strength. Lots of people have shitty muscle activation and poor coordination. So in that instance these people might actually receive an initial benefit from these fancy stability devices as they attempt to mimic a new born giraffe in the gym, but it would reach a ceiling fairly fast (this is essentially rehab, without the prior injury). In addition, a good coach can teach coordination and muscle activation much more effectively.
The other big problem here is that if you are uncoordinated as an adult you will probably die uncoordinated. This is because most of the balance and coordination skill we possess is developed before the age of 12 when our body is still developing those neural pathways. Unfortunately, this means that if your lifelong dream is to do one legged squats on top of a swiss ball while eating a kale leaf and shoulder pressing 2kg dumbbells you might be shit out of luck, but all the power to you.
So when is the sometimes I speak of? That answer is some specific abdominal activation exercises, and rehabilitation. The abdominal exercises tend not to be a function of stability but rather one of shape and comfort, or, because they allow certain movements that would otherwise be difficult to perform in isolation. The initial stages of rehab tend to be where these devises and apparatus come in most handy. When we get injured badly, be that a fracture, dislocation, or soft tissue damage typically there needs to be some level of immobilisation. With this comes muscle atrophy and a down-regulation of specific neural pathways. This is often coupled with severed nerves from surgery and replaced ligaments, which contain sensory organs.
All this plays havoc with the proprioception of that specific appendage. Proprioception is kind of like out sixth sense, it’s how our body knows where it is in space without relying on thought or other sensory inputs. For example, close your eyes and touch your nose with your index finger, your body just knows where it is, most of the time. However, if I had done that after a shoulder reconstruction and spending 6 weeks immobilised in a sling I would have likely missed and poked myself in the eye, mouth or ear. Proprioception is also responsible for the fine movements in the foot, ankle, knee, and hip required to maintain balance so I find devices like wobble boards can be quite useful when reteaching those fine motor skills after injury.
So at the end of the day if you are being sold an ‘amazing’ program, featuring ‘fantastic stability devices to really get that core working’ or ‘that mimic the stability requirements of your specific sport’ it might be an idea to think twice and leave that stuff for the physiotherapists. Real performance is built with real equipment in the gym. If you would like to know more about how Actionsport Performance can take your performance to the next level contact me here.
Be safe and train hard.
Your strength coach,
Cam
