Get your Abs to React not Just Contract using Resistance Bands

Resistance Bands

By: Dave Schmitz PT, LAT, CSCS, PES
Muscles are really very dumb. They don’t think they simply react to momentum, gravity or ground reaction forces that are transferred through your arms and legs. The faster and more efficient muscles react to these drivers the leaner, stronger and more developed they become Abdominal muscles are no different than every other muscle. Many trainers, coaches, and fitness minded individuals understand the role of the core as it relates to static or isometric stabilization. However, when it comes to controlling functional movement, training the core to only be an isometric stabilizer is not going to optimally prepare the body to handle daily or athletic activities.

Take advantage of the Feed Forward Reflex

Your lower abdominals, especially your deep transverse abdominus, are neurologically set up to actually fire or react split seconds before actual movement occurs. That said, movement is a must to getting the abs to react effectively and develop.

Get Your Trunk Reacting

Getting your trunk to react comes down to following these 4 principles of functional movement

• All muscles must be loaded and lengthened to some degree before they can react and produce force.
• Muscles are best turned on in weightbearing since this is the posture and position our body was designed to function in.
• Muscle must be turned on by utilizing drivers like momentum (or speed), ground reaction forces (weight shifting) and gravity (resistance). This will occur by creating extremity motion and will be enhanced by adding resistance.
• You must train muscles to react of forces occurring in 3 planes of motion.

Why Bands?

The elastic nature of band training accelerates momentum, speeds up gravity, and increases ground reaction forces. This in turn causes muscles to react faster and more effectively. Bands also allow you to challenge muscles in all planes of movement and force production. They are not gravity depended like weights, med balls or kettlebells. Lastly, bands increase their resistance as you work against them. First of all this creates greater effort at the end of movements which forces muscles work harder to actively length. Secondly, the accelerated rebound as you return out of the contracted movement will cause your body to stabilize dynamically on every rep. This is exactly what you want your body to functionally develop.

How do I implement Resistance Bands into my core training program.

First remember, that if you are always training in standing, every exercise is a core reacting exercise.

That said to the best place to begin a react abdominal band program is with plank training using bands of provide proprioceptive feedback at the hip.



From there begin to incorporate similar isometric training in standing using a band connected to a dowel. The dowel allows you to change the lever arm and creates an easy way to hang on to the band.




Once isometrically strong proceed to adding in low amplitude, short range movements. I recommend performing simple multi-directional steps laterally, backwards or using a drop step.
From this point you can make additional reactive “tweaks” by adding the following variables:

• Increase stride length
• Increased Speed of Step (Always fully weightbearing onto the step leg)
• Increase distance between band connection and hand (Increases lever arm)
• Add a second band to hip
• Position band attachment further behind your body

All of these tweaks will increase trunk reaction and subsequently trunk strength. Good Luck!!!

Dave Schmitz is an Orthopedic Physical Therapist, CSCS, LAT and a Performance Enhancement Specialist with an emphasis on movement training and retraining. Dave recently created the only website exclusively devoted to functional resistance band training at www.functionaltrainingwithresistancebands.com.

He has written several articles, created 2 E-books and several DVDs on how to implement a Functionally Integrated Training (FIT) approach using resistance band.

Want to learn more about Resistance Band Training? Take a peek at Dave's video



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