Applying Stabilization Exercises
Everyone can benefit from adding strength and stability exercises to their workouts. Life doesn’t always happen symmetrically, sometimes you may be carrying more weight on one side e.g. groceries.
Stability exercises are especially important for athletes, as you are constantly moving in different planes of motion while transferring your weight through positions that we don’t generally move through everyday.
With these two applications I am not saying go to the gym and purposely train asymmetrically. But there are ways you can improve your stability so that there is less chance of injury.
Add these two Stabilization exercises to your workouts
Stability Exercises
- One Sided Weighted Lunges: This exercise is a lunge progression. Hold the weight on one side, using a dumbbell or kettle bell and do 8-12 lunges. This will force your abs and especially your obliques to work a lot harder to stabilize the other side of the body that is not holding the weight. Make sure to switch so you are working both sides evenly. This is a great exercise for athletes and any individual. As we touched on earlier sometimes you will not always be holding the same amount of weight in both arms.
- Stability Ball Movement Plank: Here is a good plank progression. Assume plank position on a stability ball. The further away your feet the easier the exercise will be. Next, as your arms rest on the exercise ball create small circles anywhere from 5-10 a side. As a result, this will force your abs to work harder to stabilize your body through the plank as you are creating movement on the exercise ball.
Read More
6 Great Ways To Make The Plank Harder
Single Leg Exercises a Must For Strength and Stability
Building Stability, New Solution For Tight Muscles
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