The year was 1993, I was in sixth grade and had just joined the YMCA with dreams of pumping iron to increase my vertical jump and build a physique like the WWF super stars I had grown up watching. Before I was allowed to lift in the weight room, I had to go through the YMCA workout orientation with an apparent exercise physiology doctoral candidate. Never mind the fact Richard Simmons had a more impressive physical prowess than the expert fro the ivory tower of academia. What was funny during the orientation is a majority of our time was spent in “Nautilus Room,” this chrome palace was filled with the latest state of the art machines. Ninety percent of our time was spent here, even though 99% of the best athletes and most muscled up physiques were next door in the free weight area, which had not been updated since the 1960s. I remember the last thing Pee-Wee Herman, I mean the YMCA tour guide, said, “Remember your goals of increasing your vertical jump, getting stronger and more muscular can be accomplished more safely and efficiently with the machines I have shown you. We only have the free weights for the serious bodybuilders and athletes.” Wait a second, I may be young but I am not stupid! This was the most contradictory statement I had ever heard. I want to look muscular and be a great athlete I thought to myself. In that “Nautilus Room” I saw out of shape, middle aged men who looked like the only lifting they had been doing is a martini glass as part of their two martini lunch. In the old free weight area, the first person I saw was an ex-con looking dude with a barrel chest, traps that looked up to his ears and huge triceps doing dips for multiple repetitions with three 45s strapped around his waist. On the other side of the weight room I saw the starting tailback, who was a junior college All-American at the local JC, squatting deep rep after rep and adding an additional 45 lb plate to the bar each set. It seemed obvious, as a 12 year old to fulfill my God given destiny and be the best I could be, my future was to be spent in the free weight area moving the pig iron!!!

At this point I realized there was a lot of fallacy in the fitness world; an entire book would not do this topic justice! However, today we will look at unstable surface training-is it exercise science or exercise fashion? As we know, performing exercises on stability balls and bosu balls has increased in popularity over the past decade. These techniques have been implemented not only by fitness folks and athletes, but they are now somewhat common in physique and strength athletes. Do these techniques have a place in your program if you hope to gain strength or pack on serious muscle?

Many strength coaches will say, “Absolutely yes!” Studies have been performed on this subject, so let’s take a look at what has been found.

High profile celebrity trainers and misguided strength coaches alike have perpetuated the belief that the best way to recruit the muscles that stabilize the core is by performing traditional strength training exercises on unstable surfaces.

Recently, James Kohler, of California State University Northridge (CSUN), led a study that showed training on stable surfaces overloaded and best recruited core muscles. Both prime movers and stabilizers were assessed. Thirty resistance-trained subjects performed both barbell and dumbbell shoulder presses on stable and unstable surfaces for three sets of three, with what equated to equal intensity.

The same protocol was used for the bench press. Core muscle activation was measured by using electromyography (measures the electrical activity of muscles). As the instability of the surface increased, the recruitment of core musculature decreased. Scientific studies confirm training on a stable surface is the most efficient way to load core muscles. Other studies echo this finding.

Athletes that are required to compete on unstable surfaces can look at occasionally training on them. However, they are misinformed if they believe they are overloading their core. So if your goal is to develop size strength this is not needed: