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STABILIZER MUSCLES
🕑 Added 2025-11-24 11:39:00 +0000 UTCToday we’ll talk about stabilizer muscles. These are the muscles that are responsible for the equilibrium position of the parts of our body relative to each other during the exercise. Some believe these muscles should be intentionally exercised, some think that it’s unnecessary. Admittedly, stabilizer muscles have a great impact on your strength and technique. Let’s try to figure it out.
THEORY
There are a huge number of different muscles in our body, that can be divided into two types: MOVERS AND STABILIZERS.
MOVERS are muscles that perform basic muscular work during power exercises. That is, they’re the ones that MOVE skeletal parts relative to each other. For example, when bench pressing, you move the humerus relative to the sternum (chest). This MOVE is mainly performed by PECTORAL muscles, TRICEPS and the anterior DELTS. All of them will be movers.
STABILIZERS are muscles that fix (STABILIZE) the skeletal parts’ position relative to each other, but are not involved in movement.
In other words, these muscles perform the STABILIZING FUNCTION and are not directly involved in weight lifting. What are the benefits from them? These muscles STABILIZE parts of the body for the proper functioning of the MOVERS. And since these muscles do not move, we can imply ISOMETRIC (rather than dynamic) contractions.
By the way, specifically because these muscles don’t do any dynamic work (don’t move bones) we usually forget about them. It is very easy to forget what is hard to see. The situation is also complicated by the fact that most of these muscles are small or are deeper in the body than the usual muscles. Not only do these muscles work isometrically (don’t move parts of the skeleton towards each other), they are also small.
Moreover, depending on the exercise, the STABILIZERS and MOVERS may swap places, making the situation even more confusing. For example, erector spinae muscles will be the MOVERS when doing the back extension, and STABILIZERS in standing swings. And when doing a barbell back squat, they will formally be STABILIZERS, but bear the same load as the movers.
PRACTICE
Imagine that you have very strong quads (legs), but very weak erector spinae muscles. When doing squats, you won’t stop when your legs are tired, but when your back becomes round because of weak extensors. Thus, you will not be able to perform a leg exercise not because of a leg problem, but because of a stabilizer problem.The example is not very good though, as we considered the greater muscles (extensors) that are plain to see. Most often this refers to those muscles that work behind the scenes.
For example, you’re doing a bench press. Let’s say you press a 100 kg barbell 10 times. Does this mean that you can take two 50 kg dumbbells and press them 10 times? Of course not. You’ll never do that. Why?
More muscles (stabilizers) work when you press dumbbells than when you press a barbell. You have to expend your energies not only to press the weight up, but also to stabilize this movement as dumbbells can go any direction. When bench pressing, the weight can lean only to the hips or to the head (weights cannot move relative to each other, because the grip fixes them). You see?
The more technically complex the move (the more the stabilizer muscles’ work), the harder it is to show strength in this move! The main groups performing DYNAMIC MOVEMENT in the bench press include CHEST, TRICEPS and DELTOIDS. Which muscles perform a STABILIZING function? So that the barbell does not fall on the hips or behind the head, many greater and smaller back and shoulder muscles get involved.
Most often, stabilizer muscles are smaller than movers, therefore hypothetically may get tired faster. On the other hand, bodybuilding theory recommends starting the program with more basic exercises (involving more stabilizer muscles) and ending with more isolation ones (involving less stabilizer muscles). And I see an enormous controversy here.
What is this about?
If stabilizer muscles are small, they get tired more easily and faster. It may disrupt the basic exercises as the primary muscles may still be strong, but we have to stop the exercise because the stabilizers have weakened. After all, a chain is as strong as the weakest link. If the stabilizers are weak, the primary muscles will not be loaded enough. CONCLUSION: start a workout with exercises where stabilizer muscles work less.
On the other hand, bodybuilding practice and theory suggest that you should start a workout with more basic exercises (engaging more muscles). For the most part, these exercises involve more stabilizer muscles. For example, bench press and bench press using the machine. The first engages more muscles, the second engages less. This is primarily due to the stabilizer muscles, since the pectoral one contracts in both cases. CONCLUSION: start a workout with exercises where stabilizer muscles work more.
See a system contradiction? Moreover, different instructors recommend completely different approaches. Some say that we load the stabilizers at the beginning of the workout performing the base, others say that we tire the main movers and add the stabilizers at the end so that they don’t prevent us from loading the primary muscles. Where’s the truth? Who’s right?
In terms of muscle gains, there’s little use in training stabilizers. After all, these muscles are most often hidden. Therefore, I believe there’s little point in starting the workout with these muscles to stimulate their maximum growth. In my opinion, it makes sense (by inference) to engage the stabilizers to the full at the beginning of the workout. This is a “side effect” of the maximum involvement of primary muscles (movers). However, the maximum involvement of primary muscles makes a lot of sense for gaining mass and strength.
Why so, we’ve already discussed in the article about compound and isolation exercises. Briefly, COMPOUND exercises give a more powerful NERVE PULSE and are MORE NATURAL for our bones and joints. That’s why you should always start your workout with COMPOUND (MULTI-JOINT) EXERCISES and end with ISOLATION. A byproduct of this approach will be more intense work of stabilizer muscles.
Can stabilizer muscles limit the load in compound exercises?
Yes, they can. But it happens much less often than they like to talk about. Why? Because stabilizer muscles are indirectly loaded. For this load to limit your achievements, there must be either an OVERLOAD or the STABILIZERS must be TOO WEAK. Does that happen? Sure. It’s the only way it works.
Stabilizers are OVERLOADED when you use submaximal “failure” exercise techniques. Under such conditions, muscular in-coordination is common and there may also be injury. Indeed, your stabilizer muscles are unable to act as bones and joints stabilizers relative to each other. The load is unusually heavy.
STABILIZERS ARE TOO WEAK when you do not exercise them. For example, you spent your whole life pressing the barbell using the machine, and then you decide to press the dumbbells. Your primary pectoral muscles are strong enough, but the stabilizer muscles are very weak relative to them, because you did not exercise them. It’s quite simple: what is being exercised is being developed (the specificity principle in sports).
So what does it mean? It means that stabilizer muscles are very easily and organically developed together with primary movers. But this happens depending on the need: when there’s a need, they will develop, when there’s no need, they will not develop.
All these talks about the importance of extra load for stabilizers (so that they do not interfere with exercising the primary movers) are an empty talk. They don’t need any extra load. It is enough to use the base load and they will adapt to it. Once again: the stabilizers do not need to be as strong as the movers, so the usual load on the movers will be enough for them to adapt.
That’s different if you don’t load stabilizers at all. This often happens when a young man uses only machines in his workout. In this case, stabilizers will be weak and limit you in heavy compound exercises. And that will be a problem, because heavy compound exercises build muscles better than isolation ones... CONCLUSION: start with heavy compound exercises (stabilizer muscles work more), and end with isolation ones (stabilizer muscles work less).
BUT it is important to realize that our goal at the beginning of the workout is not to load the stabilizers to the full (this is a side effect), but load the movers to the full (this is the goal). It’s just the second one is impossible without the first one.
HOW TO CHANGE STABILIZERS LOAD DURING THE WORKOUT?
Okay. We agreed that we start with a base that, inter alia, loads stabilizers. And we do that on a regular basis since if we don’t load stabilizers with the base, they will weaken and will prevent us from loading the primary muscles. The barbell will weave, tremble, etc.
Well, what’s next? After all, we can both load the stabilizers (with the base), and almost completely disengage them (with isolation). What should we do? There are several ways of looking at this. Some say that stabilizer muscles should be disengaged by the end of the workout. Alternatively, others recommend tiring the primary muscles with isolation (without stabilizers), and then kill them with the base (with “fresh” stabilizers, but tired primary muscles). In most cases I personally hold to the first point of view (less stabilizers, more isolation at the end of the workout). I approve the second option as a super technique for deepening muscle stress (but not as a permanent way to workout).
The LESS STABILIZERS BY THE END OF A WORKOUT approach is wise. After all, the stabilizer muscles, despite their small contribution to the movement, are nevertheless significantly weaker and smaller in size; therefore, it is logical that they will get tired earlier. Keep in mind that this fatigue adds up and deepens with each new set. And the more fatigued the stabilizers are, the more they will limit the movers in basic movements. What can be done? Reduce stabilizers work by the end of the workout by replacing the base with isolation exercises.
Moreover, the main nervous command from performing basic exercises at the beginning of the workout has already stimulated muscle contractions in the right amount. It is not so much the strength of this impulse (it was already at the beginning of the workout) as the selectiveness of this impulse that is important. And isolation exercises are precisely for this purpose with stabilizer muscles working less. It’s not a good idea to start with such exercises, since they produce less impulse and general stimulation, but they are great at the end of the workout because it is about killing with “small portions” but dead on target.
STABILIZER MUSCLE GROUPS
Great. Now let’s try to understand those muscles that perform the primary (motor) role and the secondary (stabilizing) role in more detail. To that effect, I’ll divide the body into THREE large parts:
CORE consists of a variety of muscles surrounding the spine. These muscles often perform a stabilizing function in those movements where you need to maintain a straight body position. For example, abdominal muscles and erector spinae muscles stabilize your position for leg muscles during squats.
HIP JOINT is the “lower half” of our body associated with the functioning of lower limbs (legs). In all exercises where you are standing still, lower limb muscles perform a light stabilizing function.
SHOULDER JOINT is the “upper half” of our body associated with the functioning of upper limbs (arms). Since most of the exercises in the gym involve hands, it becomes clear that shoulder joint stabilizers play an important role. Depending on movement vector, muscles may swap performing either motor or stabilizing functions. The shoulder joint is the most mobile in humans and therefore is the most fragile. It is very important that stabilizers have a balanced development if you do not want to injure it.
