Optimizing Axial Position in Bilateral Movements

By Colby Mamigonian

When programming for clients or athletes, there should be a constant risk/reward debate going on in your head.

Is my client ready for this progression?
Should I increase load for this movement?
Is this even the correct movement choice for my athlete?

The answers come by assessing if he/she can maintain a biomechanical standard that fits into your system of movement.

It is through this critical thinking, and matching your intuition with observable and precise/accurate assessments that drives sound programming. One of the debates that is common amongst movement professionals is the choice between bilateral and unilateral exercises. Now, personally, I feel unilateral movements outweigh bilateral for many reasons, including motor control benefits, sport transferability, and the bilateral deficit. With that aside, there is a time and place for bilateral movements, and exercises like the squat and deadlift will remain a staple in programming forever, if for no other reason than pure tonnage lifted and the psychological benefits of handling heavy loads.

The question therein is how do we maximize the position our clients and athletes take before performing a bilateral movement, to ensure optimal joint positions, levers, and reduce unwanted impingement strategies of overcoming the load?

The key is establishing neutral axial skeleton position.

First we have to define what neutral, axial position is. When thinking about axial position, we must stack the pelvis, thorax, and cranium in order to establish normal spinal alignment. Normal to me, in the sagittal plane, is:

30 degrees of cervical lordosis
40 degrees of thoracic kyphosis
45 degrees of lumbar lordosis

Luckily, we have three sets of appendages branching off of those three axial structures, that can be used to position the pelvis, thorax, and cranium optimally: two legs, two arms, and two rami of the mandible.

The first step is a thorough assessment to see where your athlete’s spine is at. A typical presentation in the athletic population is a deep lumbar lordosis, flattened thoracic spine (which can appear aggressively kyphotic), and a reversal of normal cervical lordosis into a straight or reversed lordosis. In some circles this is deemed as “extension”. In essence, the axial skeleton has been pushed forward in space. The pelvis anteriorly tips, the ribcage externally rotates and elevates in the front, and there is excessive extension at the occipital atlas joint (or some presentation of the cranium moving forward).

With this presentation, your athlete is managing their body against gravity with an impingement, extension strategy. There may be high neurological tone in their spine extensor chain, hip flexors, and anterior neck. Much of their stability may be coming from impingement of their spinal facets and/or SI compression. When they are asked to descend into a squat or hinge, they will run out of room very quickly in their acetabular joint, and their spine will reach end range extension prematurely. In order to gain depth, you may see knee valgus (true knee valgus! See article by Pat Davidson, excessive pronation or loss of heel contact, and extreme lumbar extension to manage their center of mass that they cannot get to move backwards in space. All of this equates to stress on precious ligamentous tissue and bone on bone impingement, aka sympathetic overdrive!

Two re-establish position, we can use the previously mentioned appendages to pull the axial skeleton back in space. This is achieved through reaching. Here is how I would coach it for the squat, but this cueing can be used for any bilateral movement; deadlift, pushup, bear crawl, etc.

Reaching Patterning for the Bilateral Movements

Place your feet hip to shoulder width apart, toes facing forwards.
Relax your knees slightly.
Set your eye gaze forward and off at a distance, horizontal with the horizon, or between the floor and ceiling.
Distribute your weight evenly between both feet. Ensure your heel, little toe, and big toe sense the floor.
Place tension into the floor through your feet.
Breathe in, and upon exhalation, reach your jaw forward, arms forward, and knees slightly forward.
Feel your obliques aid in guiding your ribcage down and in, your hamstrings pull your pelvis down in back (push through the floor but remain in slight knee flexion), and try and sense your jaw moving forward, and cranium moving backwards.
You should feel the space between your shoulder blades get wider, your lower back stretch slightly, and your neck regain some lordosis.
Pause with the exhale, count to 6, then breathe in while maintaining the reach of knees, arms, jaw.
Focus on the sense of where the air going in. You should feel your rib cage expand between your shoulder blades, and your hamstrings and abs remain tense.
You have now regained more of a normal spinal “S” curvature, and attained better length tension relationships of axial positioning tissues.
Keep this position, and perform your movement, focusing on changing levels through your hips, and maintaining hamstring and ab co-contraction. Keep your eye gaze following your axial position (ie, where sternum travels, eyes travel.)

Through this positioning, the athlete should present with a nicely stacked relationship between the cranium, thorax, and pelvis, with the ear over the shoulder joint which is over the hip joint, with is over the lateral ankle. This should be the position at the start of the movement, and the end of the movement, to ensure that throughout the exercise the athlete has not fallen back into an extended, forward positioned axial strategy.

Many clients/athletes will struggle to maintain this position as they descend into a hinge or squat. Set the depth to the level they can maintain this position. That may be a quarter or half squat in the beginning, but as they improve motor control over this new position, they will then be able to handle a larger range of motion.

About Colby Mamigonian

Colby is a New Hampshire native living in New York City. He currently is an independent trainer, and a physical preparation coach for elite junior and professional tennis players. A student of all things in relation to human performance and well being, Colby works to integrate PRI teachings, neuroscience, and psychological concepts in conjunction with applied physiology and anatomy with his clients and athletes to improve their movement behavior.

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