365 Ways #350–What’s your stance?

#350--Your body is smart. It will not allow the prime movers involved in a particular movement to work at their full potential if the joint(s) over which those muscles cross is not stable. Otherwise, that movement could (and probably will) result in injury. Stability must precede strength or power! This concept is critical when performing pulling or pushing movements from a standing position as one of the key variables you can manipulate to change the exercise is how you place your feet. Going from a stable base of support to one which is less stable increases the neural complexity of an exercise, necessitates more core recruitment, and is one of the best methods to make an exercise more challenging. Below are the stances listed in order of difficulty from least to most complex:

Counter Stance--left leg forward, right leg back, movement performed with right arm.
Parallel Stance--feet placed shoulder width apart, movement performed with either arm.
Ipsilateral Stance--left leg forward, right leg back, movement performed with left arm.
Single Leg Contralateral--on one leg, movement performed with opposite arm.
Single Leg Ipsilateral--on one leg, movement performed by same arm.