Why You Should Be Training Muscle Slings

 What’s up, movers! Today’s episode is all about why you should be training muscle slings.

I hope all of you are happy, healthy, and thriving! There’s so much going on in the world right now, and although things can be really rough, I hope you have found, or are looking for, the silver lining in your unique situation. 

That’s the mindset we have to have, right? 

“When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.”

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

You’ve heard these before, and as cliché as they are, they hold a lot of truth. Simply, to change our circumstances, we must change our mindset. We must embrace our struggle and use it as a catalyst for growth.

Maybe that “growth” is achieving the success we want. Perhaps that “growth” comes from a failure, but you’ve gained insight to do it better next time around. 

Everything that happens can be an opportunity for growth if we are open to it.

Me, I’m no exception. 

I’ve had my share of ups and downs the last few months, and sometimes, I just wasn’t willing to see opportunity in the difficulty. But regardless, I double down on my efforts to improve my mindset because I know how vital it is for development. 

It’s amazing how the right mindset can spur creativity. I’ve been knee-deep in some projects that I’m excited to share with you in the coming months. 

All that to say, regardless of where your journey has taken you, you can always alter your course. 

Whether that be your health, fitness, career, or life, it all starts with a choice. A choice to change the lens through which you see situations, good situations or rough situations, as an opportunity to learn and grow. 

And when we learn and grow, we take steps forward and taking steps forward, even small ones, are steps in the direction of progress. 

Go Deeper

And so, speaking of learning and growing, I want to chat about approaching how we look at improving movement. 

The fitness industry is heavily aesthetic-focused and not just literally. Most goals revolve around modifying physiological components, like decreasing body fat, and building muscle, so the emphasis naturally ends up on individual muscular development.

There’s nothing wrong with that, but I’ve noticed that with current and future fitness professionals I work with, the “isolated” approach influences their approach to complex patterns and skilled movements too.

Perhaps it’s natural because we can’t see under the skin, so the approach stays superficial. But just because we can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not impacting our outcomes. 

Here’s an example.

I was observing a fitness professional work with an athlete, and the coach had the athlete perform walking lunges. The coach continued to cue the athlete to “get low.” Though the athlete’s back knee was touching the ground, the athlete excessively flexed at the trunk on each rep and moved more horizontally, leaning forward with the lunge. 

From an outside perspective, the athlete was getting low and was “really working his legs.” But having a grasp on movement in the slightest way, you’d have a red flag raised.  

And not because we have some unattainable expectation of “perfect movement patterns,” but because the athlete’s movement discrepancies were significant enough to potentially hinder functional capacity and performance. 

And that was seen shortly after, when the athlete progressed into sprint drills and had very minimal arm drive, rotated at the trunk, and was short striding.

Am I saying bad lunges caused subpar running gait?

Not at all.

Am I saying that poor force transfer through the body and possible muscle imbalance potentially prevents optimal performance?

Yes. 

We have to look at how the body works together to accomplish movements, not just the individual muscles. 

Obviously, movement is complex and is influenced by several factors, like the CNS, or motor units recruitment, but I want to focus on how the muscles of the body interact to transfer force.

Training Muscle Slings

Our focus is on training muscle slings.

I know I’ve mentioned them before, but I want to spend some time defining them and discussing their importance. Further, I want to give you some examples of how to train these systems to improve movement efficiency.  

 Myofascial chains, or muscle slings, are a concept that describes the synergistic relationship of force transfer through adjacent myofascial and muscular tissue. There have been several systematic reviews of the research regarding muscle slings.

Although more studies are needed to fully understand the multilayered mechanisms at play, it’s been concluded that the connective tissue of the human body is linked and that tension can be transferred through these fascial chains. 

Simply put, slings are groups of muscles that help control, stabilize, and transfer force efficiently through the body by working synergistically to perform a movement.

Why is this important?

I gave you all some visuals of fascia in my early episodes, and I want to revisit and expand upon them. 

We’ve established that muscles don’t operate as independent units but as a linked, synergistic network, working together to accomplish movement. This approach has been reinforced with cellular research identifying contractile cells, free nerve endings, and mechanoreceptors within the fascia, suggesting that fascia has proprioceptive properties and is mechanically active. This means that this network has the potential for its own means of force transfer to contribute to movement; that it can independently increase or decrease tension. This has potentially huge implications for movement and training.

Fascia

Fascia is what holds us together. It’s a sticky and fibrous protein that surrounds everything in the body that resembles a spider web.

Let’s revisit a visual. Imagine one long string connected from the bottom of your foot to the back of your skull. Though each muscle has a unique attachment point, they are all surrounded by the fascial network, which connects with structures next to it.   So, in actuality, your foot is connected to your skull through the same fascial tissue.   With this concept in mind, are we really “isolated” when a muscle contracts?

We need to look at how groups of muscles, not individual muscles, work together to transfer force, stabilize the bones and joints, and accomplish movements.

When a muscle contracts, force travels beyond the length of itself. The force just doesn’t stop when it reaches the end. It is transmitted through connected structures and can contribute to overlapping structures, or slings, in accomplishing movements. The more dynamic a movement, the more contributing forces are utilized. Just think of the difference between a heel raise and an all-out sprint. You can visualize the difference in muscle contribution.

The Hip Complex

We need a stable structure for these forces to travel and mitigate the constantly changing patterns. Enter our star player: the hip complex.

I’ve used this analogy before, but I think it really drives the point home. Think of a large highway interchange.

Here in Atlanta, we have something called the Spaghetti Junction, the intersection of two major highways and several access roads. And being one of the worst cities in the nation for driving and traffic, you can imagine how congested it can be. I like this visual because the hips work as an interchange of sorts.

The hips transfer and direct force up and down the body through a smooth process until something hinders it, like a fender-bender that blocks an exit. Traffic is redirected and slowed, making the drive less efficient — the same with the body. If we have something hindering our force transfer, such as injury or poor muscle activation, our movements will suffer, just like the traffic.

Pelvic Stability

Force needs to travel through the hips effectively, and the research points to several components contributing to pelvic stability. Some of those components include the relationship of the anatomical structures of the pelvis (like the articulation of the bones), the integrity and structure of the sacroiliac joint, the influence of the Central Nervous System, the integrity of the ligaments, and active muscle force. Focusing on the active muscle force, we have groups of muscles in this lumbar-pelvic-hip complex that help control, stabilize, and transfer force efficiently through the body. 

I love this visual. Think of a bungee cord- they are typically wrapped around something you want to secure and are great at absorbing shock. Bungees are a useful image for the slings; these groups of muscles are inter-connected to stabilize the hip complex and assist with movement by absorbing and transferring force.

To keep it simple, image bungees that wrap around your waist and lower back, twist around your legs and attach to your shoulders. If you have that visual, you can imagine how the mid-region and hips are secured and supported. However, the slings promote and contribute to movement, in addition to support and stability.

Muscle Sling Assessment

So, to put these concepts to the test, try the following exercises and rate yourself from 1, 2, or 3.  3 is awesome, 2 means it could improve, and 1 needs addressed. Base your score on how well you can move through the pattern and control the movement. Consider balance, coordination, and muscular engagement while evaluating yourself.

Lying Elbow to Knee Crunch Hold

Lie down on your back, arms up overhead and legs straight. At the same time, perform a crunch exercise and as you move up, bring your right elbow and left knee together and try to touch them at the peak of your crunch. Return to the start and repeat with the opposite arm and leg. 

Birddog

Begin on your hands and knees; hands and knees shoulder-width apart, hands directly under your shoulders, and your knees directly under your hips. Keep a braced, neutral spine, and at the same time, reach and point out with your right arm and reach back with your left leg, aiming to fully extend both limbs while balancing and maintaining that braced neutral spine.

If I drew a line from your extended hand through your trunk to your extended foot, it would be a straight horizontal line, like a table. From this position, bring the extended arm and leg down and across your body and aim to touch your right elbow to your left knee. They should make contact around your midsection, and after they touch, repeat the first movement and extend both your arm and leg, all while avoiding losing balance or touching the floor with the moving arm and leg. Repeat with the opposite arm and leg.

High Knee Raise with Eyes Closed

Stand with feet shoulder-width and a braced trunk, and a neutral spine. Shift your weight to your left leg, and slowly lift your right leg by flexing (bending) your knee as high as possible without using your arms. Hold that position for three seconds and then slowly return to the start. Next, repeat the same movement, but with your eyes closed, and compare the first and second movement, being mindful of your balance or movement at the hips.

Did you feel your hips shifting to the left or right, or were you able to stabilize the hips throughout the movement? Repeat the sequence on the right leg.

Single-leg T Balance (Single leg RDL)

Like the last exercise, stand with feet shoulder-width and a braced trunk, and a neutral spine. This time, raise both arms overhead and hold them there throughout the movement. Shift your weight to your left leg, create a soft bend in the knee (knee flexion), and keep that knee position throughout the movement. Begin the movement with a hip hinge, or a posterior hip shift, moving your hips back.

As the hips move back, flex the upper body forward and bring the right leg back and up. Keep the arms and right leg straight and aim to get them parallel to the floor. You should look like the capital letter “T” at the end of this movement. Pull yourself back to the start position using your glutes, hamstrings, and lower back.

Notice any changes in your balance, or your ability to control the movement smoothly, and the positions you can achieve. Were you able to form the letter “T”?

Conclusion

So how did you score? Was it 3’s across the board, or were there a few that could use some work?

Those exercises challenged the four slings, so if there was one you struggled with the most, you might want to focus on improving that one first and progress to the others.

In my next episode, I will identify the four slings and provide exercises to target and improve those specific systems.

Thanks so much for tuning in. It means the world to me, and I appreciate you.

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I look forward to chatting with you next time!

Take care of yourselves, and remember, wherever you are, keep moving.

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