A couple weeks back I published a post on the structural variations that can be seen between people and how these variations influence the ability of the joints to move. I discussed how certain sports have requirements that need to be met from a joint motion perspective, and that how sometimes those requirements exceed what an individual’s joint structure actually allows for.
This can start be extremely problematic if the joint is consistently being forced to move beyond what it has available. It can start to have detrimental effects on the health of the joint and, over time, lead to severe orthopedic issues. But, the structural build of your joints is not the only thing that is influencing whether or not you can perform a certain move or exercise.
Another aspect that often gets overlooked is that of body proportions; in other words, how much mass or how much length specific sections of your body have. This can be massively influential in your ability to execute an exercise or a specific sporting move.
You may have been told that you cannot perform an exercise in a specific manner because of poor joint mobility or poor strength. But, that is not always the case. In fact, your inability to do an exercise to the exact normative specifications placed upon you may not be a strength or joint motion issue at all. It may, in fact, be largely a body proportions issue.
Two examples that come to mind are the squat and the ab roll up. Now, there is a tremendous video series already put out there by a mentor of mine, Tom Purvis, that describes in great detail how body proportions can affect somebody’s ability to squat in a certain way. So, I would highly recommend you check those out if you are interested in learning more about that. Those videos can be found on YouTube here:
As far as the ab roll ups are concerned, I want to tell you about a conversation I had recently with a client. This client was expressing frustration over the fact that she was unable to successfully perform an ab roll up. She is fit, strong, and highly active. She is able to do almost every other physical feat that she wants. But, she is unable to do this move, and it was really bugging her, especially since it seemed like all of the other ladies in her pilates class were able to do it.
For clarification, this is what I mean when I am talking about an ab roll up:
Here’s the thing – with this exercise, your legs HAVE to be heavier than your torso and upper body in order to successfully complete it. Otherwise you will inevitably get stuck part of the way up and not be able to get the rest of the way up without flinging yourself.
Why? Think of it like a teeter-totter. A teeter-totter has a pivot point in the center. Whichever end of the teeter-totter is heavier stays down while the other end goes up in the air. No matter how hard the heavier end tries it will not be able to go up in the air unless it makes itself momentarily lighter, and thus the other end heavier.
In the case of the ab roll up, if the legs are not heavier than the torso and upper body, you will start to crunch up, but eventually you will hit the teeter-totter point, your legs will come up, and your torso won’t be able to crunch any higher. With this client in particular, that is what appears to be the case.
So, how can you know if what you are experiencing is a joint mobility issue, a strength issue, or a body proportions issue? You need to start evaluating the different pieces individually. From a proportions standpoint, see if you can use some type of artificial or external anchoring to make the desired end heavier. For the ab roll up, this would be like hooking your feet under a bench or having your legs held down by a partner.
Let me be very clear about something here: this isn’t “cheating”, it’s getting physics to work in your favor. Having your legs heavier than your torso is ABSOLUTELY VITAL to successfully doing this exercise. If you do not have this basic component, you WILL NOT be able to do the exercise no matter how strong your abs are – unless you fling yourself through the motion and don’t actually control it.
The second component that needs to be evaluated is the strength component. Now, as I have talked about in blog posts pasts, there are a couple aspects to strength – the mechanical component and the electrical component. The former can be evaluated and improved through traditional strength training, while the latter you may want to seek out an MAT® practitioner to help you. You can find a certified practitioner in your area here.
The third component that needs to be evaluated is the motion component. There are a lot of professionals out there who can assess joint motion, but again I am going to recommend that you seek out the expertise of an MAT® practitioner. They will be be able to assess how well your joints move from the base of your skull to the tips of your toes.
Finally, you need to evaluate the actual skill aspect of doing the exercise. Now, this is a component that, in my opinion, far too much emphasis is placed on it in the traditional fitness realm. Too often the advice for improving your ability to squat is to do more squats. While this may be beneficial at improving the skill of squatting, this is often jumped to as the first line of attack in lieu of skipping over the other three I mentioned above.
If you are having difficulty performing specific exercises in your workouts or moves in your sport, there are a number of potential issues that could be contributing. One of the most overlooked ones is the relative distribution of your body mass as well as the relative length of certain segments of your body. Figuring out how to have exercise appropriately designed to fit each of these aspects of your body can make all the difference between long term success and chronic frustration with exercise and sports.
If you would like a starter guide to assessing your body and figuring out what exercises may be appropriate based off your joint motion, click here.