IMPROVE OUR CORE’S ABILITY TO WORK LONG & WELL

The main function of the spine is to keep us upright and to provide a stable base of support for the arms and legs to work off of. Lifts are a great exercise for improving the performance (that is how WELL our core muscles do their job) and endurance (that is how LONG it can do that job well) of the muscles of the core. The exercise targets the obliques, quadratus lumborum, and transverse abdominis muscles, training them to stabilize the core while you move the arms.

HELP PREVENT BACK PAIN & INJURIES

Many back injuries happen with rotation and bending of the spine. Training the obliques, which prevent the spine from rotating, and the quadratus lumborum, which prevents the spine from side bending, along with the other core muscles to keep the spine in good alignment during lifting and moving the arms can help to prevent these injuries.

Take the example of shoveling snow - you are side-bent and rotated in one direction as you are lifting a heavy load up and across your body. This would be an example where using Lifts to strengthen the core muscles could help to prevent a back injury. But how does doing an ANTI-rotation exercise help you do an activity that involves rotation?

1. Because you are training the same muscles, and training them to support the joints to prevent excess motion. 
2. You are also working on getting movement at the hip and shoulder joints as opposed to the spine. The goal is to strengthen the muscles around the spine so that there is no excessive movement in the spine - it is training you to keep your spine relatively quiet as you get most of the movement and strength from the hips and the arms.
3. When muscles are functioning properly they support the joints by controlling movement and by absorbing shock - decreasing stresses on the passive stabilizers (ligaments, discs) and the joint surfaces. A good example of this is jumping. If you relax your muscles when you land, the femur and tibia slam together, the stronger your leg muscles are the more they are able to absorb the impact to protect the joint.

So basically you are training your body to move in the safest way, knowing that in everyday life you will be getting more movement in your spine, but strengthening all of the supporting muscles and improving the range of motion of the limbs to try to minimize the movement in the spine. Many out-of-shape people get a sore back from shoveling snow (or a true injury), but if they had proper body mechanics and good core strength they could shovel a lot longer.

REINFORCE HEALTHY MOVEMENT PATTERNS BETWEEN THE BRAIN & MUSCLES

Most of us have not been taught how to properly move our bodies in the way they are naturally designed to work in order to keep them healthy - with the least amount of wear and tear and to help to prevent injury.

By doing exercises like Lifts that move the arm through a pattern over and over, you are reinforcing the communication between the brain and the muscles to create & make a healthy movement pattern HABIT - the arm is in constant motion and the core muscles need to make constant adjustments to hold the spine in good alignment. The brain is also working to keep the body balanced. This is a very effective way to train the core muscles because this is what they need to do all day long to keep us upright, no matter what we are doing with our arms.. The muscles need to be working in coordination, making continuous changes in how much force they are producing in order to control the movement of the spine. Whenever we move our arms or legs the core muscles need to work together to keep us balanced and to protect the spine from injury.

CREATE BALANCED STRENGTH BETWEEN THE CORE, ARMS & LEGS

When the core muscles are not properly trained, the spine can move too much during lifting heavy objects and/or twist our bodies quickly or repetitively. This can result in injury or more commonly, small amounts of damage over time. As an example, before core exercises were in my life much at all, even something seemingly simple like doing a bent-over row, I would find as I lifted the dumbbell, it felt like my spine wanted to twist & bend & that I couldn’t get a good weight to challenge my actual muscles while keeping my spine in a healthy position- this means then that you either 1. End up tweaking your back in order to lift a weight heavy enough to fatigue the muscles (lats in this case) you are trying to work; or 2. You use a lightweight that doesn’t cause your spine to move but also, it doesn’t really challenge your muscles - they don’t get tired and they won’t get stronger. This also translates into everyday life where you aren’t able to do anything that involves an item that weighs too much or you’ll hurt your back because you don’t have the training & strength in the core to prevent it from doing weird stuff like twisting.

Once core work became a part of all my workouts, I now feel super stable & strong in my core & I can lift an appropriate weight for the muscles I’m trying to work, without feeling like my core/spine is going to move & get hurt.

Training your body to stabilize your spine while you use your arms will help to prevent damage to the spine and keep your spine healthy.

This exercise will also work the muscles of the arm, not only to stabilize the wrist and elbow but to pull the arm up diagonally and across the body - for a combination of abduction, flexion, and external rotation.