By Paul Chek, HHP, NMT
Founder, C.H.E.K Institute

When you see all the fancy cars exiting the drive through at McDonald’s, it’s hard to imagine that the people driving those cars are actually the product of millions of years of evolution, having battled the elements, fought off predators and are what Darwin would consider the ‘fittest’ of our species. In fact, until nearly 10,000 years ago, most of our ancestors still lived a very primal existence, with some tribes existing right up into the 1930s.

For the vast majority of our evolution, we were dependent upon our natural instinctive and reflexive behaviors for survival and life consisted largely of hunting, gathering, and fighting to protect our food and territory. It’s not too hard to imagine that a hunter would occasionally sustain a sprained ankle, knee, or strained shoulder in the process of bringing down an animal but, with no other option than to "just keep going" when hunting, gathering or defending ourselves, the body developed elaborate mechanisms for overriding pain and improving performance.

Over the years, using clinical experimentation with various pieces of gym equipment, I have recognized one such evolutionary mechanism and call it the Survival Reflex.

The Survival Reflex

When working with post-surgical back pain patients and females who had either a hysterectomy or a cesarean section, it was a struggle to activate muscles that had been damaged due to surgical incisions. During one particular session, I noticed that immediately after my client performed a kneeling exercise on a Swiss Ball, a task that she felt challenged and afraid of falling, her lower abdominal muscles began to fire during her struggle to stay on the ball.

Surprised, I took her off the ball and applied numerous objective tests, finding that the previously dormant transverse abdominis and surrounding lower abdominal muscles were firing very well!

I began testing this method with all of my clients who demonstrated motor inhibition (lazy muscles) and found that in most cases the previously dormant muscle remained active after a survival challenge (balance challenge), the only variation being the duration of activity.

Improved Lifting Strength

My next natural progression for the application of survival reflex activation of dormant muscles was to see if this method could improve lifting strength. Not surprisingly, IT DID! To date, I haven’t found anyone who did not feel at least a sense of improved ease with regard to applied intensity for a given lift. Most people notice their legs and trunk are more stable when performing squats, deadlifts or any exercise requiring high force output in a functional (standing), unsupported position.

The explanation for this seems to be a built in survival reflex override system that activates any and every muscle needed to improve the probability of survival. After all, simply falling and breaking a tibia, fibula or femur could have been the end of you 10,000 years ago, so having stabilizer muscles fire when they were supposed to was a matter of survival!

Figure 1 - Survival Reflex Activation

You can use this reflex override to your advantage when training simply by performing a balance challenge for 10 to 30 seconds and up to 60 seconds if the intensity is low; make sure you are in a safe environment so if you fall you won’t get injured (See Figure 1).

Improved Performance

As long as you don’t overly fatigue yourself with the balance challenge, you will find that after attempting any exercise that makes the nervous system think you may fall, you will experience improved performance over the entire stabilizer system as part of a survival strategy for the body. For most people, the improved performance generally lasts about the length of one set. Therefore, the survival/balance challenge should be repeated between sets and as close to the beginning of the set as possible.

Figure 2 - Jackie Hawkins demonstrates an extreme variation of survival reflex activation.

The survival reflex potency is improved as the threat to survival increases! For example, standing on a balance board, or even on the floor on one leg, will activate a survival reflex in some people. On the other end of the spectrum, martial artist Jackie Hawkins is one of the few people in the world that can stand on a Swiss ball on one leg (Figure 2). However, for everyone else, simply closing your eyes while standing on one leg will activate this survival reflex in anyone. A slightly more challenging version of this is to stand on one leg with your eyes closed and have a partner gently nudge you to get you slightly off balance. Sometimes, two or three repetitions of this process (in a row) will yield even greater results, but, remember not to fatigue yourself in the process or else you will defeat the purpose!

Not only do people experience a gain in exercise performance by activating the survival reflex, many people also notice momentary reduction in pain in and around joints after such an exercise. This is due to an endorphin release and activation of stabilizer muscles throughout the kinetic chain--a cheap high that improves performance!

The Swiss ball training experience is usually welcomed by those who have suffered a sporting or work injury and have never been able to restore optimal function as a result of it. Using the techniques and exercises demonstrated in my "Swiss Ball Exercises For Better Abs, Buns and Backs" (for beginners of all ages) and "Swiss ball Exercises For Athletes," most people are able to achieve dramatically improved musculoskeletal performance right in their own home.

For those of you who enjoy the gym, you can take your whole training routine to an entirely new level by applying the advanced techniques using dumbbells and cables with our special burst resistant Duraball; this information is available in my three-video set titled "Strong ‘N’ Stable."

For those of you who fit the description of someone that hasn’t achieved optimal health, strength or performance and are likely to find survival reflex activation techniques useful, a fully individualized Paul Chek health and exercise program is available to you in my new book "How To Eat, Move and Be Healthy!" For the first time ever, you can identify how much stress key body systems are under and learn which eating and lifestyle modifications and which exercises will facilitate the most rapid return of function, health and vitality.

To learn more about Paul Chek’s many books, videos, audios, courses and articles, visit the C.H.E.K Institute web site or call for a catalog. For the rehabilitation professional wanting to learn more about "Survival Reflexes" and other useful assessment techniques and corrective exercises, see Paul Chek’s "Advanced Swiss Ball for Rehabilitation" video. Visit Paul Chek’s Web site at www.chekinstitute.com

Related Articles:

The Power of Walking

Should Athletes Train Like Bodybuilders?

Breathing Exercises and Self Healing

Do Arthritis, MS or Other Conditions Make Exercise Difficult? Here’s What Can Help

Exercise Helps Blood Flow in Arteries

You Can Increase Your Muscular Strength by Just Thinking