The Big 5

Becoming more resilient isn't just about adding strength.

In today's day and age, it often takes something provocative to get noticed. It's not just about having sound data and logic, it's about breaking through the noise to get noticed. Healthcare is unfortunately not immune to this type of thinking and action. "Influencers" are often those who are willing to be a bit "out there" in their recommendations resulting in fads that come and go.

Health and fitness are ultimately not that complicated and it's often those who do the basics best that are the healthiest. This is why we preach the importance of "The Big 5" when it comes to physical resilience. These are the 5 areas that we believe you need to focus on in order to develop and maintain performance across the lifespan. Many people know the importance of one or two of these, but we believe in the value and importance of training each of these areas to develop bodies that can withstand the stressors of life and movement.

To illustrate this point, we'll use running as our primary example.

The Big 5

1. Strength

This is what most people think resilience looks like. We once had a therapist who worked at T-Zero who used the line "Strength is never a weakness." Although he was right, we believe its more nuanced than just developing strength. Strength in the simplest definition is the ability to produce force. It doesn't matter how long it takes, it just matters that you can eventually generate enough force to move something from one point to the next.

In order to determine readiness for running, we often use a single leg squat test. This is where you stand on one foot and lower your butt towards the ground. Many people have the ability to do this but have to be very slow and deliberate to be successful. This shows that they are strong enough but may be lacking in other areas.

2. Power

Power is the ability to produce force fast. There are many sports and activities that don't require that much "peak force" but do require a lot of power because of how quickly the movements need to be. If we revisit the single leg squat test this would look like asking someone to go through that movement quickly. Many people can go through a much smaller range of motion or lose control when speed is increased showing that although they may be strong enough for the movement, they don't have the power necessary to be successful.

3. Endurance

Endurance is the ability to produce force over a longer period of time. Many people feel comfortable with an activity for the first several repetitions, minutes, or miles but over the course of time they start to "fail." They may be strong enough and powerful enough but lack the muscular endurance to maintain success for the full duration of the activity. For our single leg squat example we can test to see what a single leg squat looks like, have someone go run 2-3 miles (depending on their fitness) and then retest. If their single leg squat looks different after the 2-3 miles, they may need to focus on muscular endurance more than just strength and power.

4. Mobility

Mobility is the ability to go through the full range of motion for a specific movement. There are people who are very mobile for one activity or sport and not very mobile for other sports. Often times, mobility is the result of training a movement and not just because some is very "flexible." I once had a client who was a professional dancer and then transitioned to being a triathlete when he retired. After his evaluation I told him that he lacked mobility for certain aspects of triathlon and he was shocked. I showed him what his mobility deficits were by keeping him away from his dance related compensations and it was a very eye opening experience for him. He was a very mobile dancer, not a very mobile triathlete.

5. Balance & Control

Balance and control are all about efficiency. When we're doing an activity we're often trying to control movement in 1 or 2 directions and exploit movement in another. When we're running, we want to control rotation, side to side, and up and down motion and maximize forward motion. If you've ever seen someone running who bobs up and down a lot or who's hips sway a lot side to side you know what this looks like. They have to spend more energy and focus on the extra movements that they aren't as fast moving forward as they could be.

What's next

As you can see, there are 5 primary areas that are necessary to train in order to be resilient and successful in your sport or activity. There are many people who only train one or two of these areas and end up with injuries or decreased performance. In order to have the greatest success, it's vital to develop all 5 of these areas.