My wife Elle came home from the gym the other day and described the routine she went through in an exercise class. As she described one of the drills that she had trouble doing, in fact enough that she bailed on the drill, I wondered why an instructor would include this drill in a group setting. Then I realized that the instructor probably hadn't analyzed the degree of difficulty of the drill but had included it because it's a new, hip, current core drill and core drills seem to be really popular.
But degree of difficulty is an important thing to understand when it comes to exercise and there are certain elements of a drill that help you figure out if one is more difficult than another.
So, let's look at the drill Elle was faced with and sort it out.
The drills is a side bridge with hip abduction (photo from womenshealthmag.com):
Why is this drill hard? Well, the first thing is that you have only two points of support - your foot and forearm - over which you have to disperse your entire body weight. Your body acts as a long lever on your shoulder and hip so if you have any weakness in these areas, you'll feel a lot of stress in the joints.
Notice that the head and neck have to be maintained in a neutral position against gravity. But, the muscles that attach to the neck and shoulder - levator scapula and upper trapezius for example - are also working on maintaining the shoulder position. This creates extra load on the neck and for people who have underlying disc or joint disease, the position can create pain in the neck or shoulder.
Finally, the leg moves up and down while you're perched on one foot and a forearm. For most people, hip abduction, done properly, is tough at first because of weakness in the gluteus medius and the rotators of the hip. It's always easier to lift something when the base upon which you lift is stable and secure. In this case, the base is not very secure so the lifting of the leg becomes just that much more difficult.
If you find this drill too difficult, try a forearm plank or a side bridge with knees as the distal contact point instead of one foot.
For best results from training, match the degree of difficulty of the drill with your capability.
