National Strength and Conditioning Association
Session Review
Stuart McGill, PhD
Ultimate Back Fitness & Performance
2004 National Convention—Minneapolis
Dr. McGill’s topic for his presentation was titled Ultimate
Back Fitness & Performance, which re?ects the title of his
new book that builds upon the research conducted for his
?rst book “Low Back Disorders”. Dr. McGill is recognized as
one of the leaders in the ?eld of back injury and function. He
has written several books, hundreds of articles, and consulted
with numerous corporations, governments, and elite athletes.
Dr. McGill’s information is based on scienti?c research,
which is primarily performed at his laboratory in Canada at
the University of Waterloo.
Dr. McGill presented his lecture as a hands-on session utilizing
attendees as his subjects to overview the ?ve basic pillars of his
strengthening progression. He breaks down his program into
five segments: Motion/motoring patterns, stability and
endurance, multi-dimensional strength, and power.
Motion/Motoring Patterns
The ?rst thing he addressed was the importance of “grooving”
motion and motor patterns, especially as they relate to the
gluteus, hamstring, and psoas muscles. To do this, Dr. McGill
demonstrated a few different examples of exercises to isolate
these muscle groups and how to properly perform each exercise
especially as it relates to proper motor control. He also spent
a signi?cant amount of time teaching the audience how a
squat should be taught and performed, with special emphasis
placed on the importance of single leg squatting.
Stability and Endurance
Dr. McGill went into great detail about his abdominal bracing
technique, which is performed by “locking” down all of the
trunk musculature—not just a few select muscles—to provide
stability. He admitted he was going against traditional thinking
in this area, but provided support for his methods with
research results showing that placing an emphasis on the
transverse abdominis is not the best technique.
To provide stability, he emphasized three basic exercises and
spent a signi?cant amount of time demonstrating how to perform these correctly. The three basic exercises were the curlup, side bridge, and the bird dog.
Then Dr. McGill went into the importance of having good
muscular endurance for back