Jun 7, 2018Strong as a Dog
Keeping athletes engaged and motivated in the weight room can be difficult. One way to help with this is to add variety into their workouts. If you’re searching for a new exercise to add to your athletes’ weight room regimen, look no further than the Bird Dog. According to a blog for Stack.com by Dr. Joel Seedman, exercise physiologist and owner of Advanced Human Performance, this exercise can be a great addition to reinforce your athletes’ core recruitment.
Not only does the bird dog create a stronger core, but it can also improve rotary stability, spinal alignment, postural control, shoulder stability, hip alignment and shoulder mobility — each of which is important to athletic success. But as with any exercise, it is important that athletes know how to properly execute the movement in order to gain the most benefit and decrease the chances of injury. Here are the steps to carrying out the Bird Dog, laid out by Seedman:
- While maintaining a neutral spine, kneel on the floor in a quadruped position with your knees under your hips and your hands under your shoulders.
- Raise your opposite arm and leg straight out, keeping your abs braced, stomach in and your whole body in one straight line from head to foot.
- The goal is to resist rotation and extension forces that attempt to destabilize your spine.
Seedman recommends holding each position for 3-7 seconds before switching the opposite sides. However, he also explains that this time shouldn’t start until your athlete is in a stable position.
Although the Bird Dog has many benefits, Seedman does mention that it can become too easy for athletes. And when this happens, the movement can become less effective. To remedy this, Seedman created some variations of the exercise that will keep your athletes progressing and continue to challenge them in the weight room. Here are two of the multiple variations that Seedman introduces in his blog:
Bird Dog on a Bench
Performing this exercise on a bench increases it’s difficulty and effectiveness as athletes’ feet and ankles are hanging off of the bench, creating instability and more recruitment of the core. Athletes also experience decreased support as they only have a narrow space as their base, which helps promote proper alignment. And while your players can become bored by performing the same exercise over and over, using a bench heightens their concentration and engagement as they must be focused or face possibly falling off of the bench. Watch this video from Seedman to see an example of this variation.
Bird Dog on a Bench with Partner Perturbations
This variation helps make the Bird Dog more transferable to the field of play. Many athletes will engage in some sort of contact during competition, whether it’s with another player or even an object. When engaging in this variation, athletes will take the regular Bird Dog position on a bench. A teammate will then tap or push them at random angles and forces, a method known as perturbation training. This increases activation of stabilizers and core musculature to help prepare athletes’ bodies for any scenario and forces. Check out this video from Seedman to see this variation in action.
When performing any variation of the Bird Dog, Seedman expresses the importance of keeping the body in a straight line with both feet dorsiflexed and straight. Athletes’ should also have their eyes pointed straight down at the bench. He also says to start off with the edge of the bench near the top of the athletes ankle. Then, if your athlete needs to be challenged further, have them move their knee back until most of the shin on the supporting leg is off the bench.
