A few years back, I changed my approach to coaching and simplified the way I was coaching movement-based exercises. What I realized was that many of the people I was working with had a diminished sense of body-awareness. An example of this would be if we attempted to perform any single leg exercises, such as a single leg squat. A common remark I would hear is “I have no balance”. The problem was more than just balance, they also had poor proprioception.
Proprioception is defined as perception or awareness of the position and movement of the body. It has been referred to as a “sixth sense”. Proprioception is controlled by mechanosensory neurons located within muscles, tendons, and joints.
pro·pri·o·cep·tion
/ˈˌprōprēəˈsepSH(ə)n/
noun
- 1.perception or awareness of the position and movement of the body: “exercises to improve balance and proprioception"
Throughout my career, I had observed examples of people with both good and poor proprioception, but did not know how to explain it. I can remember when I put on a Tennis Performance clinic for kids, back in New York. I had twenty kids spaced out on a court. I wanted to work on quadricep strength and knee stability. A common drill for this is to perform cone taps standing on a single leg. To do the exercise, you stand on one leg. Positioned 1 ½ feet from a 6-9” cone, you lower yourself down touching the cone, and then return to the starting position. It’s a great drill that requires minimal equipment and has good carry over to multiple sports. Here is a video of me performing the exercise.
The problem was that most of the kids had a hard time standing on a single leg, without the assistance of a mirror in front of them, and these were athletes.
You’ve probably seen someone with good proprioception and just considered them a good athlete. Think about when a basketball player jumps and changes their body position in the air. Awareness of
posture is considered proprioception. This explains why many people spend most of their day in a slouched position and have no clue that they are. In 2001, I started to transition my training from using predominantly machines to dumbbells, barbells, and medicine balls. This would eventually lead to TRX suspension training, kettlebells, and sandbags. I went from sets of seated leg presses where your hips and back are completely supported, to lunges holding a kettlebell. The transition was gradual, but within a few years my workouts were void of most machines, other than possibly a cable pulley.
The learning curve with exercises was slower, and I learned to use more progressions. Experience taught me that the key was to keep the frustration level low for the participant. Going back to our cone tap drill, I would have someone use a staggered stance initially. Their weight distribution starts with 60% on the front and 40% on the back leg. The progression is to widen the distance between the legs over time, and for them to use the rear leg less, where they eventually perform the exercise on a single leg.
The upside on improving proprioception in people is that they feel the difference in everyday activities. This is when I hear comments of “feeling strong” while I was hiking in Red Rock Canyon or had to jog across the airport carrying my suitcase with one arm and “I felt great”. Positive feedback while doing everyday activities. So next time you are attempting an exercise and you don’t ace it on your first attempt, pause, take a deep breath, and remember you’re probably working on your sixth sense.
I’ll see you at the studio.