It's some coffee talk for a moment. Sit down and stay a little while.
Why are we even talking about Motor Control?
Without knowing and understanding the steps of motor control in the human body how can you properly program your strength and conditioning segments? How to you properly identify weaknesses and addresses areas of concerns?
This is a VERY common mistake among trainers who only follow youtube tutorials and do not fully understand the concepts of motor control. Now I'm not saying I don't like youtube. I love me some youtube but you have to know what your looking at because sometimes the instructors, no matter how good they are, miss an opportunity of teaching important points just because it has become second nature to the teacher.
Here is a quick break down of the Levels of Motor Control-
Mobility- The ability to initiate movement through functional range of motion (ROM)
Stability- To maintain posture through tonic holding. *I think this is a piece that is missing stressing certain movements*
Controlled Mobility- Within a weight bearing position or rotate around a long axis.
Skill- Perform functional tasks and manipulate the environment.
What is sometimes lacking is progression of a movement is when an athlete has an increase of mobility. For example the ability to increase the depth of a squat. With the increase the athlete might try to now try an overhead squat, front squat etc etc. The athlete starts low and they feel there squat in improving. BUT most times there is no consideration of the quality of the squat.
How is that? Low is low!
But what about the posterior rotation of the pelvis during a squat, affectionately called the Butt Wink. What is the person now doing? The athlete jumped from Mobility to Skill missing the very important step of Stability- To maintain posture through tonic holding.
How to correct this? In a simple version, do not move to skill until mastering stability. Now this is hard because we are all impatient and when you see results such as increased mobility the tendency is to jump in there and try the skill right away. But in order not increase chance of injury or plateau do to a weak foundation of the mechanics, all four steps must be addressed.
