Dr Mel Siff Blog

<< Okay, I’ve heard this claim many times (stabilisation originates from the
“centre.”. Do you have anything to prove this? From a biomechanical point of
view, all movement and stabilization occurs from the ground up….>>

*** This is a claim that far too many people take for granted. Courses on
“Core Stabilisation” are offered by numerous fitness gurus, physical
therapists and fitness organisations, but few people dare to make heretical
remarks that question the ‘Core is All Important’ philosophy. If one has
back problems, poor technique in sport, lack of flexibility and so on, “blame
it on deficiencies in core stability” is the cry.

An article that I wrote for several other Internet discussion groups is
relevant in this regard.

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CORE STABILITY?

Mel Siff

Today, in the fitness and therapeutic world, one of the latest buzz terms
is “core stability” and courses are cropping up everywhere to teach this
amazing new discovery in the world of motor control. The implications are
that an athlete or normal human is somehow seriously deficient if core
stability exercises are not being done in some or other discrete, isolated
fashion.

The belief here, of course, is that isolated core stabilising exercises
necessarily improve balance and postural control. They do not, since most
stabilisation and movement in sports where the hands and feet are in
contact with a surface also depends very strongly on PERIPHERAL contact
with the given surface (some exceptions are diving, airborne gymnastic and
skating manoeuvres, and trampolining.) If this contact is inefficient or
unstable, then no amount of core stabilisation is going to overcome any
deficiency in peripheral stability.

Some simple examples – imagine what would happen to a gymnast or trapeze
artist with poor ankle strength and stability or a huge weightlifter with
great core stability but deficiencies in grip or ankle strength and
stability? One could list a thousand similar examples.

This concept of a separate motor quality called “core stability” leads to
the very faulty belief that core stability is more important and more
central to overall stability than peripheral stability. The fact is that
the body is a linked system of many interacting components, and current
“core stabilisation” dogma happens to be yet another example of
isolationist training. To borrow a somewhat cliched term from the
vocabulary of the late South African Prime Minister, General Jan Smuts (who
coined the word “holism”), it would be far better to talk about “holistic”
stability training. An emphasis on “core stability” is a step towards
general instability, unless it is matched by peripheral stabilisation.

Once upon a time we had kinaesthetic or proprioceptive training or even
motor skill training – now we have “core stability” training, which is by
no means an suitable modern substitute for what used to be offered.
Possibly it is time for the whole “core stabilisation” industry needs to
carefully re-examine itself and take a step back to its more solid older
roots. “Core stabilisation” may be a new term, but it offers little or
nothing new to fitness, therapy or sports training that was not covered
perfectly well a long time ago.

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Dr Mel C Siff

<< I am from Bangladesh. In my country people have this conception that if
teenagers do more of stretching exercise or hang theirselves on to bar, they
will grow taller. Could you please tell me whether stretching does help a
person to grow tall? >>

*** Since height depends strongly on skeletal length, it is extremely
unlikely that short periods of time spent on stretching soft tissues will
have any noticeable effect on overall height. Height and general growth is
determined predominantly by genetics and nutrition.

A Russian book, called “School of Height” did discuss methods of increasing
height in youngsters (probably pre-pubescent), one of them being sleeping
under weighted traction, another being regular weight training. Dr Yessis
translated parts of this book, so he may be able to recall more details than
I can.

Pathological shortness of stature and impediments of growth have been treated
in very young children with human growth hormone, but stretching like in the
typical fitness class or yoga session has never been shown to produce any
significant permanent increases in height. To borrow an expression that has
been applied in other senses, “if you want to be tall, you have to choose the
right parents!”

Dr Mel C Siff

<< What are the possible physiological (muscular) changes that occur in the
development of tone and/or definition. I realize they are not synonymous.

I would like to hear opinions and research based fact. >>

*** Muscle definition tends to increase as bodyfat decreases – the less fat
there is over and within the muscle, the more ‘defined’ and obvious the
muscle appears. Muscle ‘tone ‘ (or tension) has to do with the regular
involvement of the muscles in adequately strenuous physical effort. To be
entirely accurate, one would refer to ‘resting tone’ (which has a lot to do
with the connective tissues in the muscle complex) and active tone or tension
that is generated by muscle contraction.

All too often, we have fitness fans wanting to ‘do weights’ to increase
muscle tone but not muscle bulk, but they are completely unaware of what
‘tone’ really is. What they are doing is confusing a toned look with an
increase in muscle tone (tension), so that they probably are more preoccupied
with improving muscle definition than tone. Ideally, an optimal combination
of both would be necessary for improving physical appearance, but not to the
extent that one loses too much essential bodyfat or gains too much muscle
bulk that, paradoxically, may decrease one’s relative strength and become a
type of ‘muscular adiposity’.

There is some research which shows that there seems to be an optimal level of
hypertrophy for any individual in terms of metabolic and mobility efficiency,
so that it may be that the belief that there may be such a thing as excessive
hypertrophy is supported by research (and theory, as can be confirmed by the
application of what is known as ‘dimensional analysis’ in physics). In other
words, one may refer to two types of overmass: excessive bodyfat and
excessive muscle.

Dr Mel C Siff