Silent Killers of Strength

October 31, 2016

What’s the goal? Strength.

What’s the usual course of action? Train hard and heavy.

What’s the frustrating part? You stop getting stronger.

What’s a reason? Your obliques might be killing it.

Say what? Obliques!!

What the hell do they have to do with me getting stronger? Well, everything

A few key things to ignite dendrites in your brain:

  1. Strength isn’t built it’s granted by your nervous system
  2. The brain is always asking itself if making you stronger is a good idea. If the answer is no, you ain’t getting it no matter how much you want it
  3. If the body feels vulnerable it hides strength
  4. Obliques provide stability and control in rotation aka transverse plane
  5. Power lives in the transverse plane and so does injury, poor performance and first place
  6. Stability always precedes force production. No stability and you become a weak ass.
  7. Force production is strength
  8. Poor abdominal efficiency causes decreased force production and confused movement organization
  9. Deceleration is where most athletes get hurt. Obliques play a critical role in anti-rotation. If you can’t anti well, then you don’t stay well.
  10. When people hit a plateau they often train even harder to break it. Not the smart play to put your foot on the gas when you already have the emergency brake on.

The obliques are powerhouse players in the body. They do a ton of cool shit.

  • You have two external obliques
  • You have two internal obliques

They must work together and with each other for efficient movement and optimal strength. What are their actions?

External oblique flexes your torso forward. Bends you to the same side. Tilts your pelvis backwards. Rotates your torso to the opposite side.


If rotation is compromised the brain restricts strength even in the sagittal and frontal planes. Think front to back and side to side motions. Why? Because the transverse plane is comprised of sagittal and frontal.

What can you do to help tap back into strength?

  1. Foam roll both inner thighs to stimulate the central powerhouse line of stability
  2. Roll (See article here) ROLLING ARTICLE
  3. Perform a Pallof Press (See article here) PALLOF ARTICLE

Regress to progress is the goal in tapping potential strength. Going hard is easy. Going easy is hard. When you observe grace in movement it looks effortless. That’s key to winning. Now go back and unleash the beast within transverse plane efficiency so you need less effort to generate strength.

Bonus Tip:

The muscles that are often a disaster when the obliques don’t play nice. The pec minor and the SCM.

Connected via the shoulder to hip X and the frontal plane line of fascia.

When the shoulder and neck hurt check the obliques.

Learn more on our membership site and come play with us at a workshop

Don’t forget to share the mojo #sharethemojo #scp #csp