Stabilizers

As you already know, buildings, trees, and and almost anything else needs stability. That includes your body. If you have been working out for a short time, you don't really need to work on your stabilizer muscles. They are very important for athletes So they should work them out in their offseason.

So what are your stabilizer muscles and what do they do? Well, some major stabilizer muscles are the hip flexer (not only a stabilizer), the groin muscle, the obliques, and a bunch of smaller ones I don't know the name of!

So what do they do? Well, they stabilize. When you're making sharp turns, they keep you from falling over, and aid in the turn. Your quads' main job is to go forward, the hamstring goes backward. Now, without your hip flexers and groin muscles it would be much more difficult to turn your body. Now try turning while sprinting. Won't happen quickly. So now that I put it to the extreme, what if you do have those stabilizer muscles, but they are weak compared to your quads and your hamstring...? You pull your stabilizer. They are actually pretty easy to pull. I've pulled both. Not fun. You can walk normally (usually), but you can't run. Just going forward actually requires your stabilizers. Think about it. When you're running, you're almost never on both feet. Try standing on one foot. After a while you're probably going to have trouble standing up straight. But what muscles do you use to correct your unbalance? Your hip, your groin, your ankle, and your obliques. Your quads and hamstring may do some, but they are big enough that balancing shouldn't be a problem for them.

So that shows you need your stabilizers. So why not make them stronger and increase your agility and balance?

I've already written about how to work your obliques, so I'll just remind you with the oblique V-up: first, lie on your side. Your hand that is on the floor should be by your hips, and then your other hand should be on your temples. Now bring your legs and your shoulders off the ground, balancing on your hip. Crunch your legs and body together. Don't make them touch, but bring them closer together. There are a ton more ways to work your obliques, but I don't have a ton of time.

Now, the groin and hips are harder to work without a gym. Usually playing sports is enough, unless you weight lift your legs. Also some of the workouts in my plyometrics post work your stabilizers. They usually aren't that challenging, because they mainly work on balance. So don't skip the easy workouts because you think they are a waste of time! Usually they aren't!