Are There "Bad" Exercises?

We don't believe that there's such thing as “bad” exercises. There’s no secret council where all the “bad” exercises meet to discuss how they can injure unsuspecting fitness enthusiast. Surely, in a given context, there could be a reason to do any exercise. However we do believe that there are some exercises that are much worse than others and we obviously tend to stay away from them. There are definitely exercises that have higher risk/reward ratios (injury/benefit), exercises that are more difficult to perform correctly (without risk of injury/high success rate) and even some exercises that don’t seem to make much sense from a functional anatomy stand point (increase disfunction).

One example of a bad exercise would be the barbell hip thrust. We're not huge fans of the barbell hip thrust. Now you may be asking yourself “what's wrong with the barbell hip thrust, I see people using it to work their glutes all the time on social media”.

Yes, while it can be used to work your glutes we don't believe it's optimal or even a good selection. The reasoning behind this statement has to do with functional anatomy which will dive into right now.

Force Closure vs. Form Closure: Understanding their Impact on the Sacroiliac Joint during Exercise Selection

The sacroiliac joint (SI joint) plays a vital role in stabilizing the pelvis and facilitating efficient movement. Its biomechanics are influenced by two key concepts: force closure and form closure. These two mechanisms work in harmony to ensure the stability and integrity of the SI joint.

Force Closure

Force closure primarily relies on muscular activity and tension to maintain the stability of the SI joint. It involves the activation and coordination of the surrounding muscles, including the deep stabilizers such as the transverse abdominis and the multifidus muscles. These muscles, along with the thoracolumbar fascia, play a crucial role in creating tension and compressing the joint surfaces together. The force closure mechanism generates a downwards oblique force from the upper part of the pelvis towards the lower part. This force effectively wedges the sacrum between the two hip bones, resulting in a secure and stable joint. It is an active mechanism that allows for load transfer and reduces shear forces.

Form Closure

Unlike force closure, form closure primarily relies on the passive structures surrounding the SI joint. These structures include the ligaments, such as the sacroiliac ligaments, interosseous ligament, and the iliolumbar ligament, as well as the joint capsule. Together, these structures provide anatomical support and ensure the proper alignment of the SI joint. Form closure is based on the concept of bony congruency, where the shape and contour of the joint surfaces create a positive-locking mechanism. The interlocking mechanism of the sacrum and ilium provides inherent stability to the joint and limits excessive motion. Due to form closure, the SI joint is inherently more stable during activities involving weight-bearing and force transmission across the pelvis.

The Impact on the Sacroiliac Joint

The balance between force closure and form closure is essential in maintaining stability, load transmission, and preventing excessive motion at the SI joint. Any disruption or imbalance between these mechanisms can potentially lead to dysfunction and pain in the SI joint region. Insufficient force closure can result from weakened or inhibited muscles around the SI joint, leading to joint laxity and decreased stability. One must take this into consideration when programming for one’s self, or another.

**Barbell Hip Thrusts enter the chat**

Touted by some as being a powerhouse of an exercise to build the backside; we believe it’ll end up doing more harm than good. We’ll preface by saying this, there are peer reviewed studies that show the hip thrust having more muscle activation via electromyography [EMG].

To which we would say “obviously”. If you hook an EMG up to your butt and do a hip thrust, don’t be shocked which it has more activation than a squat or deadlift.

Our gripe with the barbell hip thrust is one of functional anatomy. First it’s important to have a basic grasp on how muscles don’t work in isolation, rather as integrated systems. Now is a great time to revisit our blog on the fascial sling systems of the body. The glutes help stabilize the pelvis and with the help of the lats on the opposite side, tighten down via the thoracolumbar fascia. This can be viewed as part of the body’s natural “weight belt”. That connection between the lats and glutes assists the pelvis via “force closure”. Without this connection and deliberate contraction, exercises like the hip thrust actually aid in dysfunction rather than function. With the hip thrust, we don’t get that force closure, as described previously. The glutes are “learning” to firing without the patterning with the lats. When athletes perform this exercise, they are changing the hip extension motor pattern, altering the way muscles/chains operate (refer back to functional anatomy). Thus reducing the overall function and performance of the body.

With this in mind, it's easy to see that program design and exercise selection isn't just picking the cool things that you see on the internet, and that there's actually science that goes behind the decision making of great programming. If you're looking for a program that takes into consideration functional anatomy while still trying to drive performance and function please check out our total fitness program here, or our sports performance program here. If you're not in the Shoals area and you can't make it to our physical location, we offer remote programming that can be found here.

Resources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacroiliac_joint

https://www.physio-pedia.com/Sacroiliac_Joint_Force_and_Form_Closure

Cripe, C., & Henkin, J. (2022, September). Fitness Lying Down #46; The Glute Truth. episode.