Stabilizing the Pain Threshold

Since the last two days off the last entry, I have not stepped foot into the gym. Instead, after Monday night's workout, I woke up like I "hit a wall." It wasn't my lower body, nor was it my upper body. Instead, my back, obliques and core. SHOT.

I felt like I did 10,000 planks and 10,000 Russian twists the night before. I literally rolled out of bed and wondered what I did to myself. In my pain, I realized how much core and breathing technique is integrated in each exercise an individual performs. From tempo control to assisting with force production, breathing requires obliques, intercostals and Rectus Abdominis muscles. Mentally replaying each exercise, I thought about how and when I used these specific muscles Monday night.

The term antagonist stabilizers is defined as a muscle that contracts to maintain the tension potential of a biarticulate muscle at the adjacent joint. The antagonist stabilizer may be contracted throughout or at only one extreme of the movement. The Antagonist Stabilizer are activated during many isolated exercises when biarticulate muscles are utilized. The Antagonist Stabilizer may assist in joint stabilization by countering the rotator force of an agonist.

Referring to the workout from Monday, the first two initial exercises directly affected the rectus abdominis. For example, Rectus Abdominis and Obliques counters the Erector Spinae's pull on spine during exercise like the deadlift or squat. This counter force prevents hyperextension of the spine, maintaining the tension potential of the Erector Spinae. Antagonist Stabilizers also act to maintain postural alignment of joints, including the vertebral column and pelvis.

For Hammer machine pulldowns, the diagram outlines the area of interest and pain. The machine rows, as well as the unilateral bent-over barbell rows, utilized these same muscles as stabilizers and synergists.


The cable machine flies and bench press also required Stabilizers/Synergists = Rectus Abdominis and obliques. If anything, more so just because the surface was unstable, as we were standing and leaning at a 60 degree angle to the floor.

Finally, aside from the muscles utilized, breathing requires that you exhale actively on effort; inhale passively when relaxing from the effort. This ensures that you do not create intra-cerebral pressure. For a better explanation of performance breathing, I have included a bodybuilding.com link

In short, my my delayed-onset muscle soreness was not necessarily from the major muscles that were directly isolated. Instead, my DOMS experiences resulted from activating my stabilizers and synergistic muscles. Be conscious of these muscles when lifting as they are essential to one's form when lifting. Likewise, be conscious of these same muscles role in breathing, which is always essential to overall workout performance.