“Cirque du Soleil: Training Movements, Not Muscles”
Ken Dobberpuhl, CPT, MAT
I had the opportunity to attend the Cirque Du Soleil performance in San Jose this past weekend. Beyond the athleticism and acrobatic prowess of the performers it reminded me of the disconnect many people still have to the notion of training “body parts”. I’m sure you’ve heard the conversations in the gym or health clubs before. “What are you training today?” Answer: “Chest and Back.” Or “Legs and Arms etc.” When you think about how silly this sounds especially in the context of actual performance enhancement it really has to make you wonder WHY.
I doubt that many of us would expect to see these Cirque performers warming up with leg presses and arm curls. They train the entire body through basic gymnastic movements (body weight exercises) without a single weight machine. To me the most remarkable physical characteristic of these performers is their leanness and lack of muscular size or definition. How can they perform these feats without large muscles?
We have over 600 muscles in the human body and if you look at the orientation of these muscles very few are aligned parallel to the spine, most are at angles to facilitate STABILIZATION and ROTATION.
If we look back at machine based training they have us pushing and pulling in a plane of motion parallel to the spine (sagital plane). Most human movement and all force production require some rotational transfer of force (swinging a club, throwing a ball, running).
If we break human movement down into it most basic patterns we need to be able to: Gait or Locomotion, Level Change (Squatting/Lunging), Pushing and Pulling, and Rotation. When selecting exercises or movements to train, try to use the concept of antagonistic pairs. Most people only train what they can see. For example, they will do hundreds of crunches yet not spend any time in antagonistic back extension. Simply stated you want to perform movements that work the opposite pattern.
The following are some examples of these pairs that you might consider adding to your routine:
Front Squats (Hip Flexion) - paired with - Modified Dead Lifts (Hip Extension)
Overhead Press - paired with - Modified or regular Pull-ups (vertical)
Push-ups (modified) - paired with - Body Rows (Supine pulling the chest to the bar.
Body weight/Assisted Dips – paired with - Dumbbell Upright Rows
