Pete RohlederHey movers! Today we are looking at ways to target and improve muscle slings.
In my last episode, we discussed the importance and impact of muscle synergies. To recap, muscle slings are groups of muscles that help control, stabilize, and transfer force efficiently through the body by working synergistically to perform a movement. I gave you 4 exercises to try and rate yourself from 1, 2, or 3. 3 is awesome, 2 means it could improve, and 1 needs addressed. You based your score on how well moved through the pattern and control the movement, and you needed to consider balance, coordination, and muscular engagement while evaluating yourself. The four exercises were:
- Lying Elbow to Knee Crunch Hold
- Birddog
- High Knee Raise with Eyes Closed
- Single leg T Balance (Single leg RDL)
Check out my last episode if you want descriptions on how to perform them or need a refresher. Each of those movements tested one of the four slings. Let’s identify the slings and provide more examples of exercises to improve muscle slings.
Improve Muscle Slings
The Anterior Oblique Sling
To improve muscle slings, we must understand the slings. The Lying Elbow to Knee Crunch Hold addressed and this sling. The Anterior Oblique Sling is all about force transfer in front, from one side of the body to the other. Hence the name, Anterior. It includes the Internal and External Obliques and the contralateral adductor (medial thigh), so with each side, it forms an “X” across the front of the hips.
This relationship stabilizes the hips but also contributes to accelerating, decelerating, and rotating the body, especially during gait patterns, so training this sling should mimic those patterns. There are many ways to train this sling, but I like tall-kneeling positions with rotation.
Band Rotation with Tall-Kneeling Adduction
A great exercise to improve muscle slings is to incorporate the Band Rotation with Tall-Kneeling Adduction.
With a resistance band anchored slightly behind, above, and to your right, hold it with both hands and arms straight. In a tall-kneeling position, place a foam roller between your legs, and squeeze it together to engage the adductors. Then rotate your trunk and arms down and to the left, focusing on keeping alignment with the shoulders, arms, and trunk. Control the movement back to start, focusing on rotation through the spine.
It’s a great exercise, but if you want to keep it real simple, you could just run in the sand! It’s been suggested that running is sand trains the AOS because of the lack of support of the posterior systems due to little ground support. This causes the AOS to work overtime to stabilize and compensate for the force needed.
The Posterior Oblique Sling
The Birddog engaged this sling. So if the AOS was about the front, you could probably guess what the Posterior Oblique Sling does. Similar to the AOS, the POS provides stability and force transfer from one side of the body to the other but on the posterior aspect. It also crosses the body, forming an “X” across the back and hips with both sides.
The muscles and tissues included in this sling are the Gluteus Maximus, the contralateral Latissimus Dorsi, and the inter-connecting thoracolumbar fascia. This sling provides transverse plane stabilization of the sacroiliac joint (the joint that transfers force between the upper body and lower body) and contralateral transfer during gait and rotation.
This sling is essential for optimal functional movement efficiency and can lead to pain and injury if weak. Weak glutes or lats can disrupt the balance of force transfer, increasing the demand on the hamstrings. This can cause instability at the SI joint, contribute to low-back pain, or increase the likelihood of hamstring injuries.
Step-Up with Shoulder Extension Band Pull
Training this sling should incorporate rotation, glute and latissimus dorsi engagement, and stability. One of my go-to’s is the Step-Up with Shoulder Extension Band Pull exercise.
Start with your right foot on a bench or box with a band in the left hand. Make sure the band is anchored to the wall in front of you. As you step up with your right leg, pull the left arm down and back, keeping the arm straight. This will engage the left Latissimus Dorsi and the contralateral Right Gluteus Maximus, challenging the Posterior Oblique Sling. Slowly control the movement and return to the start, and of course, repeat the movement on the opposite leg and arm once you finish the set. To simplify this, you could always do this in the Birddog position we covered earlier.
The Lateral Sling
In my opinion, the Lateral Sling’s importance is often overlooked. Its role is mostly stability related, specifically during single-leg movements. This was tested with the High Knee Raise with Eyes Closed exercise. Now, most people think, “I don’t do single-leg exercises,” but it goes well beyond that. If you walk or climb stairs, you are continually stabilizing your body on one leg, and weaknesses in that stability can have a big impact on movement efficiency.
The muscles that make up this sling are the Gluteus Medius, Gluteus Minimus, Tensor Fascia Latae (TFL), Iliotibial Band, Adductor Complex, and contralateral Quadratus Lumborum (QL).
When in a single-leg stance, the pelvis must stabilize and remain as neutral as possible in all the planes of movement, sagittal, frontal, and transverse. Any excessive movement in either of these planes will cause force, tension, and alignment compensations, which can lead to reduced range of motion, muscular imbalance through the hips or trunk, decrease in neuromuscular control.
Further, it can impact movement efficiency or performance or even increase the risk of injury. The common observable weakness is a hip drop (also known as a Trendelenburg sign) of the opposite hip during the stance phase, often due to deficiency of these muscles to stabilize the pelvis, most notably, the Glute Medius and Minimus and the contralateral QL.
Side Plank Hip Extension
I have two exercises that are my favorite to support the Lateral Sling. The first is the Side Plank Hip Extension with Wall Slides exercise.
Start on your right side. Position yourself in a side plank position (shoulder abducted to 90 degrees, elbow flexed, and arm balanced on your elbow and forearm and feet stacked on top of each other), with your back toward a wall about 6-8 inches away. Plank up, balancing on your right elbow, forearm, and outside of your right foot, and maintain a straight body from feet to head. If this is too challenging, you can flex your right leg and use your keep to balance, but you’ll need to move a bit further from the wall.
This plank position will engage the right Glute Medius as the core stabilizers, including the QL. Next, abduct and extend (or lift up and back) the left top leg, so the heel makes contact with the wall. While pushing back against the wall, drag the leg up and down while maintaining the plank position. This movement engages the hip complex of the opposing side as well, and as a whole, the exercise is a dynamic way to challenge the musculature of the lateral sling.
Pistol Squat
The second is a single-leg squat, also known as a Pistol Squat.
The Pistol Squat is a more advanced movement, but there are ways to regress the exercise, like using a suspension trainer or bands to assist with the movement. So if you can’t nail the Pistol with proper form, I’d start there. Remember, it’s not about completing the exercise; it’s about executing with intent and proper movement- that’s how you target the appropriate muscles.
The Pistol squat requires significant pelvic stability on the stance leg, especially the lower you descend. Go as deep as your balance, coordination, and mobility allow, but the goal is to sit down into the squat a few inches from the ground.
As you descend into the single-leg squat, your hips have to dynamically stabilize as your center moves anteriorly to maintain balance over the midfoot, putting a lot of emphasis on the Lateral Sling, and it really targets the Gluteus Medius to maintain alignment of the knee over the foot during both the decent and ascent. But again, those muscles will engage regardless of the depth you go, as long as you are conscious of the alignment of your knee. Focus on pushing the knee out, or don’t let it move in, and you’ll engage the right muscles.
The Deep Longitudinal Sling
The Single-Leg T Balance exercise addressed this sling. The Deep Longitudinal Sling runs up the back of the body, transferring force from the ground to the trunk and back down. It plays a huge role in controlling and mitigating ground reaction forces and stabilizing the SI joint.
The muscles and tissues primarily involved include the Biceps Femoris (Lateral Hamstring), the Sacrotuberious Ligament, Thoracolumbar Fascia, and the Erector Spinae. These are activated about anytime you are upright or ground-based, as the DLS promotes postural stability and force transmission as you stand. Though all the slings interact, the DLS has significant overlap with the others, almost as if it is the glue that binds the slings, so you’ll notice that working the DLS will engage similar muscles used in other slings.
Activating this sling is the easiest, as all you need to do is focus on ground-based compound (multi-joint) movements, like squats or step-ups. But to really target the posterior chain and SI Joint stability, I like to tap two specific exercises.
Forward to Reverse Alternating Flamingo Lunge
To improve this muscle sling, The first is Forward to Reverse Alternating Flamingo Lunge.
You’ll start in a single-leg balanced position, with the opposite knee flexed, so your foot is at knee level, resembling a flamingo. You will step forward into a lunge, control the descent, then, pushing off the front leg, you will return to the start, bring the front leg back to that flamingo position, focusing on controlling your backward momentum and staying balanced. Hold that position for two seconds, then step back into a reverse lunge, again controlling the descent.
As you push off the back leg, bring it to the start flamingo position, controlling the forward momentum. This will challenge the DLS by forcing you to control the forward and backward momentum and challenge hip stability. Further, the constant eccentric load from impacting and leaving the ground will improve force transmission and control through the body.
Horizontal Band Resistance RDL
My second favorite to improve this muscle sling is Horizontal Band Resistance RDL.
This is a barbell Romanian Deadlift, or hip hinge, with the added emphasis of an anterior bias, or forward—pulling force. First, make sure you can execute the hip hinge, really focusing on the posterior hip shift to load the posterior chain eccentrically, then a good hip extension to bring the hips forward. I’ll tackle the hinge and its variations in a future episode, but for now, that gives you the basic pattern.
Once that feels solid, add the band. The band attaches to the barbell and is anchored in front of you, parallel to the floor. So visually, if you let go of the barbell, it would move forward from the tension in the band. This band forces you to pull the barbell into position, engaging your lats and erector spinae, reinforcing an engaged neutral spine through the movement. This added with the RDL will really dynamically target the DLS.
Conclusion
That should keep you busy for a while! Remember, if you missed any of these exercises or are more a visual learner, you can always check out the show notes page at moretomovement./episode22 to see graphics, descriptions, and videos of these exercises.
Once you try these exercises and really perform them with intent, I bet you’ll not only see but feel the difference engaging these systems can make in your stability, control, and development. This focused approached can really help improve muscle slings. I suggest weaving these exercises into your existing programs, so you can add an extra level to your training and continue to challenge yourself and improve muscle slings. It’s all about progress; to do that, you must disrupt the status quo.
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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Pete Rohleder
