How to Become Bulletproof Against Injury

Having been through rehab of a major lower back injury taught me the importance of not just thinking about strength in terms of how much weight we can lift, but also what our bodies can resist! It's true, most injuries happen because we can't resist well enough the forces acting upon our bodies through activites-of-daily-living.

Your Core and Glutes

That's why training your core and glutes with the proper exercises is so vital. We need to shift the focus from lifting weights and teach our bodies to resist forces as well.

In fact, integrating glutes and core muscles into your training is necessary in developing proper movement function. The average person that lifts weights typically strives to increase the amount of weight they lift to get stronger. That's good! But they might be missing something extremely valuable in their workouts.

Become Bulletproof

Here are three different exercises to incorporate into your training that work your glutes and core so that you not only get stronger, but that you become bullet-proof against injury.

1. Loaded Hip Hinge

From a normal standing position with no weights or resistance, it's fairly easy to bend at the waist and lower the into a flexed-at-the-hips position. However, it is more challenging to return to a standing position. It's even more difficult when carrying something that has weight. This exercise adds yet another layer of resistance with an elastic band attached to a load (a 40 lb sandbag). This range of movement from flexion into extension is where most people get injured. By training this movement with varying degrees of resistance, we can strengthen the core muscles that protect the lower back.

2. Band Loaded Reverse Lunge with Overhead Press

This exercise movement is a beast! There's a lot going on here. To begin with, you have a compound movement pattern that combines a reverse lunge with an overhead press. That's challenging enough for most people. But to really challenge your core I've attached a heavy resistance band to the handle of a 25lb kettlebell. The load is on the kettlebell which makes this more difficult.

Typically I would step into the band and position it around my waist and just hold the kettlebell, which is much easier. By lifting the kettlebell overhead the resistance band pulls the kettlebell back and down. Because the kettlebell is up in the air and overhead, my body must work much harder to stabilize my shoulders, hips, and lower back. And... with the elastic band attached to the kettlebell, I've increased the load and the level of difficulty exponentially. Trust me, my core muscles are working overtime!

3. Band-Loaded Side Lunge with Rotation

Holding a 40lb sandbag against my chest, the sandbag has added resistance attached to it. The payoff here happens when my right foot makes contact with the floor which forces my muscles to have to reduce the force I've generated and then stabilize my entire trunk (hips to shoulders) so that I can then rotate at the waist (more force) and then untwist (reduce force) and then push off of my right leg (producing force) back to a standing position, reducing force once again.

These exercises may look fairly simple, but there's a decent amount of inner stabilization that's taking place so that I don't lose balance and fall, or worse, injure my back, hips, knees, or shoulders.

For those of you reading this who train on a regular basis, I hope you try these exercises. For those of you who don't exercise on a regular basis, please don't attempt these. Write to me and I'll send you easier versions.

We all live under the same laws of physics. As such, we have to carry our bodies through each day and we all manage to push and pull, lower and raise, bend and twist, and locate (walking and running).

Another hard fact is that the aging process slowly takes its toll on our ability to function well, so it's imperative to take measures against the impact of aging, being sedentary, and living under gravity. Movement based exercise is the key to living well and aging slowly.

What I want you to take away from this newsletter is the concept of training your glutes and core with resistance, which can be done in many different ways.

To your best health,