Plateau Busting Series: Stability Precludes Dynamism

"No matter what I do, I can't get past 305# on my bench."

"No matter what I do, my quads always take over my squats."

"No matter what I do, I can't hold a handstand-even up against the wall."

"I just don't even know what to do anymore...nothing seems to work."

"I guess I just suck at situps."

These are the tales of woe that bring people to come see me.  And by the time I get to Consult with the individual, to say they are frustrated is the understatement of the century.  

A Quick Note To All My Readers:  On this site, we focus on Muscular DeVelopment.  (If you were referred here from the Transformation Gold Coaching and Training Academy, or any of our Partners, substitute your goal, and/or your situation in for "muscle.")

Today,  we're focusing on muscles; specifically the issue of plateaus caused by instability, and how to break through a plateau when we discover there is (usually hidden) muscular instability.

Let's jump right in. 

RIDDLE ME THIS, BATMAN:   

Can a baby run (not catapult-falling forward) without first learning how to stand well?

Can you make a turn on a bike without first learning how to ride moving forward?

Can a gymnast master the beam without first learning how to balance on one foot?

No.  No.  And No. 

These may seem like ridiculous questions, and they are blaringly obvious for a reason.  In Champion Mindset Training, we talk about how our athletes are able to bust through their plateaus and the importance of BUILDING ON THE FUNDAMENTALS.  

The same is true with busting YOUR plateaus, and YOUR ATHLETE'S plateaus:  The fundamental skills are STABILITY and BALANCE.  

HERE'S THE PEARL:  Stability Precludes Dynamism.

The Body Will Not Permit Dynamic Movements Or Sustain Great Load When It Senses Instability.

Once you learn how to defy gravity and sit up, your brain becomes hard-wired to keep you safe and upright.  Every time you move-even a hair-your brain and spinal cord automatically signal to different muscles in your body, putting them to work to stabilize you.  

Now obv, you are not a weeble; and sometimes you do fall.  But we're talking plateaus today, so let's take the stability concept and apply it to what happens in the Training Room.

Here's What We Know: 

Plateaus develop from a number of things.  Some are physical, some are mental.  

Here's the Top 10 Causes of PHYSICAL Plateaus, in case you missed it.

For my Peeps who are ready to go Next Level, click here and step into some Champion Mindset Training.

When you've plateau'ed in how much you're lifting, for example; and have first and foremost addressed and corrected the nutrition and hydration issue-you gotta start looking at other things.  One of which is your form.  

Every athlete I've coached has had a situation where they have habitually trained themselves (I had done the same with my quads years back) to allow a certain muscle group to dominate many movements and consequently do not allow for full blown training/recruitment of the surrounding muscles and stabilizers.   We gave some insight into this particularly for our peeps who operate with Trap Dominance.

As we correct those habitual movement pathways, what we end up doing is exposing some of the surrounding and deeper muscles who have been living in the dominant muscle's shadow.  Those muscles haven't had to work in awhile (making them weak); so when we then target them, the athlete becomes unstable.  It totally makes sense, right? 

Just like all other things, when you actually put some thought to it, it's predictable.  And something you should be expectant of-and tell your athlete to be expectant of.  (Not that they always believe you.  I cannot tell a lie, it's funny as hell when you get these big burly dudes who are like Bambi on the ice when they almost wipe out from not heeding your warning!  lolololol). 

But if you don't know what you're looking for, are completely unaware that you've got some of these "weaker" muscles, or are simply trying to override them and bring up that other lagging body part, you'll stay stuck and disappointed.

So what does one do?

I'm feeling kinda sassy today, and I'm going with it.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the best answer is to hire a coach to assist you (cue the chirping crickets). 

But if in your travels you are hell-bent on busting through your Plateau of Instability on your own-I invite you to consider one perspective:  Energy.

Track with me here for a second: 

I've said it before and I'll say it again:  The body seriously doesn't care about your goals.  Your body is all about safety-in this case-keeping you stable and vertical.  It requires energy to do that.   

And since Energy Can Never Be Created or Destroyed; every lift you do, or movement you perform only gets so much energy.  So if we look at this Plateau of Instability through the lens of energy output, here's what you need to know:  All of the body's Energy will first be directed at stabilizing you for your lift (yoga pose, etc), leaving the "run-off" Energy to fuel whatever else you're asking your body to do.   

If you wanna do this the right way, (and not continue to allow certain muscle groups to dominate)  you've got to STABILIZE yourself before you'll be able to go to the next level. 

The cool thing is that you don’t have to wait until the stabilizers are fully primed before you can “bring up” the other muscles.  You can run a side by side program to train for stability and at the same time target the muscles you're looking to bring up by providing stability with gym equipment and accessories (grips, straps, bands, belts, chest pads, the bench, yoga blocks, etc).