Stability Precedes Power by Pierrie Miller

[Pierrie Miller is an Athletic Development Intern at Athletic Lab]

As the spring approaches, team sports increase in popularity, rather you’re an athlete who is in the beginning of their season or coming toward the end of a season, injury prevention is always important. As trainers it is our job to ensure that our athletes are prepared for the rigors of a long season. Training requiring a strong mix of strength, power, flexibility and stability is often used to prepare athletes for performance. Often times we hear athletes express the want to be more “powerful”, but less often do we here athletes express the need to be more stable. The idea of training to be more stable might seem silly at first, but it is difficult to perform powerful movements dynamically without a certain amount a stability. This is why we must look at some of the benefits of dynamic stability training. Popular magazines and television often show people conducting stabilization exercises on balance beams, stability balls, and other various forms of unstable surfaces. The truth is, although this looks interesting, it does not necessarily carry over to sports performance. Dynamic stability can be defined as, the process of the hip, knee, and ankle complexes to perform functional movement patterns at high levels without the feeling of slipping or giving away (wilkstorm et al. 2006). The muscles that surround the joints of the human body require a certain amount of stiffness in order for our bodies to maintain an upright posture. Without a certain joint stiffness individual joints may become hyper flexible, which my leave us at risk for injury, preventing this injury is top importance for all trainers. Injuries to lower extremities can happen at any time during team sports, increasing muscular stiffness around joints through strength training using proper technique can help determine the load each individual joint can handle. Thus, increasing joint stability and increasing overall strength. Testing of dynamic stability can be tested through jump landing test to assess weakness during the deceleration of forces (Niu et al. 2013). Generating power in any sport at various directions requires a certain amount of strength and joint stability. By developing a stable base of strength in individual joints an athlete will experience an increase in power output that transfers to their sport. Training such as squat jumps, hang/power clean, and hang/power snatch have all been shown to increase power output at various speeds (Cormie et al. 2011). For the reasons listed above it is imperative that athletes who want to be more powerful become more stable in an effort to perform at a high level and prevent injury. Dynamic stability will transfer over to almost all sports can only improve one’s performance.