I’m writing this piece to address the use of braces, wraps, weight belts and any other external devices people attach to their bodies for “support.” This is just information regarding how the body responds to having an external device attached to it over time. This blog, or article, is written to show all the performance improvement opportunities there are for people who have always utilized these items. Rapid Recovery Performance results in greater quality in movement and creates a whole new environment promoting growth, breaking past plateaus. I’m not criticizing the idea of using support items. There’s a place for everything.
I remember seeing posters on the wall of a workplace lunchroom showing people the proper way to lift an object from the ground. The illustration shows a person in a position most people cannot get into anyways and wearing a belt around the waist for “support.” The term “support” means the device provides tension where a muscle cannot. And that muscle didn’t cause itself to shut down, unless it was in response to collisional trauma. How does it learn to function properly if the muscle is limited in its participation with others, preventing orchestration? I always wonder if someone truly had the insight back then to know how much money would be made from chronic back discomfort associated with having restrictive devices cinched around our waists.
If I was going to train a snake to be faster and more powerful, why would I utilize a belt to restrict movement between a segment of its vertebra? There are muscles between the vertebra that need to be able to generate push/pull tension to facilitate movement, helping to transfer force from foot to hand. The belt is a great tool to enhance performance, however, utilizing the belt with the mindset that it will support and protect the spine can lead to overuse. How would this not create problems? The overuse of weight belts inactivate the weight belt we were born with, the Transverse Abdominis (TVA). This muscle wraps around the trunk like a girdle. Its job is to compress the abdomen, provide and resist rotational force. It works with the Diaphragm (breathing muscle) and pelvic floor to create a pressurized cylinder protecting the spine. Engagement of the TVA is created by the action of drawing the belly button inward toward the spine, not expanding the ribs. Many people who sit at a desk all day lose the ability to engage the TVA. Using a weight belt for the purpose of lifting heavier weight promotes a different action. Forcing the belly into the belt allows the lifter to create an abnormally greater amount of intra-abdominal pressure allowing the lifter to generate an abnormally greater amount of tension to move more force. Over time, it becomes difficult to shorten the TVA (draw belly towards the spine). Even though smooth muscle covering organs are involuntary, you cannot tell me they aren’t reacting to the same action (forcing belly outward). When you look at a powerlifter’s trunk, you see its thick and distended, and lean with definition, which could create a great place to store visceral fat around organs. A ring will often develop around the waist of a bodybuilder and is visible as a he or she poses on stage, which is not helping to win anything, btw. As muscles of the trunk become unable to push and pull through its full range of motion, this limitation will work its way outward to other joints bringing bones closer together creating a short and smooth structure over time. Not only does the TVA protect the spine, it helps to facilitate the movement of food and waste through the digestive system. There’s more than one reason to wear a belt. One of my clients and fellow colleagues, Joey Decaminada, IFBB Pro Bodybuilder told me he advises his clients to wear a light, neoprene fat burning belt, but not for its advertised purpose of spot reduction. The light pressure triggers the mind to consistently perform the action of “drawing the belly button in towards the spine, lifting up the sternum.” This muscle is designed to function at all times during all movements and positions of the trunk. It should not require conscious thought. After a while, remove the belt and you’ll find it easier to sit up with better posture. This belt trick definitely works. Does it work for spot reduction? Many say spot reduction is a myth. However, if the muscle goes from being mute to functioning properly you will see a reduction of fat in that area. The muscle had no blood flow, it could not contract and is a great place to put extra calories the body doesn’t use. But for that reason, not because it gets hot under there.
I have a new client currently going through physical therapy to recover a knee after having surgery. He is a Tae Kwondo instructor. They are giving him a knee brace to use when he is working. He said it’s the same one many lineman use in football. Those braces are great to protect you from a lateral collision, but really bad at making movement “better.” We have restored his muscular breakdown chain that led to the surgery. Now we are addressing the muscles that had to endure trauma through the surgery. Definitely needed at first, however the goal would be to utilize this a little as possible. The brace is only encouraging a negative feedback loop and will prevent complete adaptation.
I have another client with back and neck discomfort. She was wearing orthotics in her shoes because “one leg is shorter than the other.” Well, from our first session, I found her left psoas muscle (brings your leg forward when you walk) to be non-functional and shortened to the middle. This would cause the leg to appear to be shorter than the other. Did she really need to go and spend $700 on a pair of shoe inserts? She’s been seeing me for a while now. We did an experiment where, I had her go back to wearing her orthotics for one week. She said by the third day, she had developed a very uncomfortable restriction at her hip joint, opposite her “short” leg. Again, the orthotics was doing a great job managing a negative feedback loop for a while but didn’t prevent her body from further breaking down.
There are all kinds of support items our bodies can learn to rely on. Weightlifting straps, wraps. People with discomfort at the elbow often wear straps cinched tight around the forearm to inhibit muscle, so activities can be performed with less discomfort. I can’t help but to laugh outloud as I re-read that last sentence. Most people utilize these items with one mindset, and that is to be able to lift more weight. More is better, right? Can’t make gains unless you keep using more weight, right? People who believe that usually rely on these items. However, they keep feeling worse, their metabolic rate is slowing, and eventually something pops anyways, and they’re sidelined with a surgery. I used to wear straps to help me pull more weight than my grip strength would allow. Eventually, I used them constantly. Now I fight with Carpal Tunnel symptoms (tightness at the wrist). Is there a correlation? Definitely worth talking about.
Spinal fusion is another type of support provided to patients of major back surgeries. Getting these muscles to come back after that type of trauma is difficult, to say the least. The expense of having that extra support is a reduced range of motion at the trunk, and quality of life. I elected to have my five-level discectomy performed without fusion. My surgeon said he hadn’t done that before but felt confident I could pull it off. Its been four years since surgery. I have full mobility again but doesn’t come without a lot of effort every day. Would life be easier if I gave up some range of motion and have another surgery? That’s a question I ponder quite often during the 3-hour routine I put into getting my body to stand completely upright. Unfortunately, you’ll never know until to do it. What happens if it makes it harder to get ready for my day? What then? I do feel I waited about year and half too long before getting my surgery. I was sure I was going to be able to reverse it. I was too far gone. Nobody could stop my progression. If I knew five years ago what I know now, I’m confident I could’ve reversed it before it got into the nerves. Btw, I first wrote this 2 months ago. My 3 hour daily routine to get upright has been reduced by half now. Things keep getting better.
Utilizing the RRP enhancement program, we can reverse the effects of support item overuse, restore that muscle’s ability to shorten with force and duration, orchestrate that new ability back in with the muscular system, watch quality of the movement (deadlift, squat, etc.) improve 2-fold, and make it bulletproof in one session. Continue with your current program and blow past plateaus. I’m not saying, “take away the belt.” These are the facts and here’s an opportunity for real, visible performance enhancement. A small increase in the distance a joint can accelerate through equates to an exponentially greater ability to handle more intensity with efficiency. This creates a new environment for growth and allows you to blow past plateaus. Its like putting a small fish into a bigger pond. Its Pivotal.
pivotalnkt.com 