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Originally Posted by George83  Hi fellow lifters, I have a question, I have a small idea of what stabilizer muscles do, but could someone explain it in alittle detail for me and what are some techniques I could use to strengthen them up. |
What you are hearing about stablizer muscles is probably referring to muscles not directly involved in moving a weight, but are used to maintain the body's stability. For example, if I'm doing a military press, the muscles used to move the weight are mostly the deltoids and triceps to get the arms extended above the head. At the same time however, if I'm doing that standing military press, my core needs to remain steady which requires muscles like the abs and lower back holding, along with the glutes keeping the hips locked, the quads and calves keeping the legs firm underneath you.
My own opinion is the best way to strengthen those muscles for the most part is to do lifts that use them to do that very act of stablization. I think there are situations and times to perform exercises that strengthen those muscles in an isolated fashion, but for the most part people can make more efficient use of their strength training time by using lifts which utilize compound movements.
