The Beauty of a Birddog
One of the most interesting concepts to me within the realm of “movement” is that some of the smallest and most simple exercises can be so much more beneficial in certain cases than other larger, more complex movements. I think it is fair to say that many individuals from the general public have the misconception that more complex movements are better and more beneficial to the body. We’ve all seen the video posts of people who are trying to achieve this end (aka doing overhead squats on balance boards). The reality is that in many cases, slower, more controlled movements could be more beneficial to clean up bad motor patterns or impairments. With all that being said, one of my favorite “simple” movements is the “birddog.” I put it in quotes because this exercise has taken me quite a bit of time and training to master (and there’s always more to learn), but has been largely beneficial in injury prevention within my daily training regimen.
So, what is a “birddog?”
It is one of the exercises included in Stuart McGill’s (an expert in spine function and rehabilitation) “big three” for lumbar spine stability.
The exercise basically involves starting out with your hands and knees on the floor. The knees should be below the hip, and the hands should be below the shoulder, with the back of the head, spine, and sacrum (tail bone) all in a fairly straight line. After setting up in this position, the progression involves the following:
Un-weighted, Progressing to (Lightly) Weighted:
1) Flexing one shoulder or one leg at a time while keeping the elbow extended until the arm is parallel with the spine.
2) Flexing one arm and the opposite leg while keeping the arm and leg in line with the spine.
-Fight the urge to allow your low back to sag to help with getting to the pointing position.
-I like to cue keeping the eyes straight down on the floor below you to prevent the excessive extension of the cervical spine that results when looking forward.
-Adding a dowel rod and encouraging 3 contact points at the back of the head, mid-back, and top of the sacrum can be a good tactile cue to maintain lumbar spine position.
-Think about reaching forward and kicking back rather than reaching or kicking up to prevent hyperextension of the spine.
-Try to limit to any motion side-to-side.
-Rather than increasing hold time, think about slowly building the rep and set numbers to increase endurance. The McGill link attached below recommends holding each pointing position for no more than 7-8 seconds due to rapid deterioration of available oxygen within the muscles of the lumbar spine (rapid fatigue).
Once this is achieved in an un-weighted manner, weight can be added in each hand to increase the difficulty of the task. A few more keys here are to cycle through two or three breaths while each arm is parallel with the spine, focusing on maintaining proper pelvic alignment, as well as a neutral position within the cervical spine.
Attached below is a clip of Eric Cressey from www.cresseyperformance.com introducing the birddog.
So how can something this simple be so beneficial?
It teaches control of the hips vs. the lumbar spine.
-Many people (athletes especially) are unaware of their lumbar spine and pelvic positioning throughout movement patterns, often leading to increased anterior pelvic tilt and low back pain. This exercise allows for a specific focus to be placed on what pelvic “neutral” really feels like, and the muscle coordination needed to maintain it (which is the most stable position for the spine). As one arm or one arm and the opposite leg are raised, the patient or athlete must actively resist allowing the lumbar spine to sag into a hyper-extended position to achieve a successful repetition.
It teaches you how to breathe while maintaining proper core activation/trains anti-rotational muscle groups within the trunk.
-Take a second to try this exercise moving at your own speed. Now, try it again moving much slower while allowing yourself to cycle through up to three full breaths when one of your arms and legs are parallel with the spine. I’m sure the second option was much more difficult. When you can’t rely on the intra-abdominal pressure created by holding your breath, you will feel a huge difference in the muscle activation requirements and resulting fatigue around the spine. Moving through this exercise will allow you to work on the muscle activation and endurance of these anti-rotation muscles and local stabilizers of the spine throughout each set, which will undeniably help with injury prevention in your sport or daily life.
It encourages lower trap activation along with a large majority of the stabilizers within your shoulders (rotator cuff).
-Moving the shoulder into flexion like you are reaching forward in the birddog position encourages muscle activation and strengthening within the rotator cuff muscles. There is a long lever arm where gravity is working against your either unweighted or lightly weighted hand. In order to achieve the desired flexed or pointing position, the lower traps have to get engaged to upwardly rotate the shoulder blade as well. Therefore, this exercise is useful for building endurance and proper motor control in the rotator cuff as well as in the pelvis and lumbar spine.
It affords the opportunity to work on activating the glute (butt) muscles in cases where the hamstrings are typically more dominant.
-People often struggle to involve the glutes in the extension of the leg. These recruitment issues often lead to increased joint shearing in the hip as the hamstring causes more translation of the femoral head within the acetabulum (head of the leg bone within the hip joint).
Slow and controlled movements have been proven to be more beneficial when trying to build motor control (your brain’s ability to fine-tune and program efficient movement patterns in the muscles through the communication lines that are the nervous system).
-While we often want to push the pedal down and move as quickly and with as heavy of a weight as possible, research has demonstrated that slow and controlled repetitions are more effective in establishing functional motor control.
As a patient or athlete gains more awareness and control of the pelvis and the lumbar spine through active bracing and more efficient movement patterns, the spine will be at less risk for injury. While one exercise cannot be perfect for everyone, this is one exercise that is definitely worth a further study. As you go about completing your olympic weightlifting program, daily WODs, or even your cardio/endurance routine, consider adding in a few un-weighted sets of birddogs 3-5 times a week and see how your body responds. You may find that the next time you max on your clean and jerk or try to PR your 5K, that you experience a lot less back pain from falling into an overarched and instable position.
If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact us or provide your feedback.
Until then, enjoy the journey.
Tyler Vaughn
Owner, PA
CSCS, SPT
Resources:
http://www.ahs.uwaterloo.ca/~mcgill/fitnessleadersguide.pdf
http://ericcressey.com/3-coaching-cues-strength-and-conditioning-programs-14