Training Your Proprioceptors

Semper Stronger truly embodies the concept of strong for life and I am sure that is one of the many appealing characteristics of our community that drew you in. But did you know that physical training is more than just training your muscles? You are also training your proprioceptors!

Proprioception is the body’s awareness of where it is within its environment.

There is so much study and research available related to proprioception, sensory receptors, and the nervous system. As a Strong for Life student myself, I highly encourage every member of the Semper Stronger Community to soak in as much knowledge as you can. The more you understand the science of the body, the better you are at taking care of it.

Think of proprioception as syncing your body with your mind. Proprioceptors help us with our balance, coordination, posture, overall positioning, and movement technique.

So why is training proprioception important? What difference does it make?

See proprioception training isn’t necessary for just sports athletes, we all need it. Proprioception is necessary to carry out daily activities – carrying in groceries, shoveling snow, raking leaves, climbing stairs, etc. And it may not be as sexy as Olympic weightlifting, but it is vital to our routine especially if we truly want to be Strong for Life.

Just like you can train your muscles to become stronger, you can train your proprioceptors to be more accurate and responsive

Here are three fundamental ways to incorporate proprioception into your training:

1. Barefoot training. Training barefoot drastically changes your experience – it allows your feet to sense the environment, react, and support you. If you have never trained barefoot, I recommend movement without weight until you have a solid foundation. Start with simple movements like squats, lunges, deadlift, push-ups, plank, etc. Once you are comfortable training barefoot with body weight exercises, then you can move into barefoot light weight training such as kettlebell swings, reverse lunges, lateral lunges, overhead press, thruster, snatch, etc.
2. Balance + Unilateral training. Balance training is crucial to honing proprioceptive movements. Unilateral training will make you more aware of the difference in movement between the left side of your body versus the right side. Awareness is the first step towards improvement. Single-leg and single-arm movements such as single-arm/single-leg deadlifts are great. Stability work with bodyweight squats on a Bosu ball, split squats on a Bosu ball, push-ups on a Bosu ball, elbow to knee bird dogs, etc.
3. Plyometrics and Agility training. This will positively affect your reaction as well as change of direction skills which in turn will positively affect strength, power, and movement. Exercises such as skater jumps, ladder drills, box jumps, squat jumps, jumping lunges, shuttle runs, cone weaves, etc. For more advance training, combine your plyometric and agility drills!

This is for EVERYONE.

If you made it this far into the blog and are thinking “yeah this definitely doesn’t apply to me”… remember poor position and technique will catapult your body to injury.

If you are lifting weights and have poor body positioning because you are unaware or uneducated, and your proprioceptors are too weak or untrained to notice and adjust, then injury is just around the corner.

So let’s prevent that and get some proprioception training in!!!