The Anti-Movements
Creating a central anchor
To move well we need a strong anchor holding our upper body and lower body together, our core. As Dr. Stuart McGill says :
The primary function of our core is to resist motion, providing a stable base to move from and therefore should be trained this way.
The Anti-Movements are designed specifically to practice resilience against unwanted motion in the spine, leading to a strong and stable pillar to move the rest of our body from. Our core does this by anchoring our upper body (rib-cage) and lower body (pelvis) together as one stable torso. For this reason, any muscle which impacts these two structures, acts as a core muscle because it impacts the position of our torso.
The simple aim of the Anti-Movements is to get clients to control their torso whilst still free to move their arms and legs.
A simple system of pillar control
I help clients control their torso by getting them to imagine their torso as a three-dimensional pillar which must remain strong and square. The anti-movements specifically challenge each plane of our pillar system, helping clients learn the adjustments necessary to maintain their pillar when outside training forces are applied.
Clients work on maintaining their Neutral, Brace, Breathe principle throughout their anti-movement exercises, strengthening their torso to unwanted movement and building a stable core from which to move the rest of their body from.
The Anti-Movements
No matter where a clients starting point is, I always aim to build them up to be able to control these four key anti-movement variations.
Anti-Extension
(watch time : ~1.5 mins)
Anti-Lateral Flexion
(watch time : ~1 min)
Anti-Flexion
(watch time : ~1 min)
Anti-Rotation
(watch time : ~1 min)
Although these principles are trained separately, they all combine to give an overall effect of control, strength and stability through the torso.
I teach them one by one to help clients understand how it feels to resist one unwanted movement in each exercise which can then be combined together to give a full 360* torso control. Simply by resisting these four unwanted movements, clients can train their core to be a strong pillar, resilient to unwanted movement whilst still free to move the rest of their body.
Our spine is both a strong and mobile system. Our spine is well evolved to move which allows our body to safely go into all sorts of weird and wonderful positions. The anti-movements are a very rigid way of controlling the torso in order to build the strength side of our spinal integrity. If we are going to consistently load our spine with weight, we want to spread our training forces throughout it as equally and safely as possible.
Similarly, we also want to maintain the health of our spine and its ability to move, meaning we actually want our spine to round, arch, bend and rotate. We need to maintain the ability to do both and should purposefully practice maintaining both the strength and mobility of our spine.
The anti-movements and main movements of weight training aim to build the strength side of our spinal integrity.
Once you know how to keep central control and stability, you’re ready to apply it to your Main Movements of resistance training.
IMPORTANT
Always see a specialist if you have any back pain. Back pain can occur for any number of reasons and it is always important to find out your own cause of pain. As much as these exercises can help align your spine better and build a stronger “core”, they do not know your individual bone structures or injury history. Do not work through pain! Remember, longevity is everything and moving pain free should always be the priority of your training.