Coach Glassman breaks down the essential function of the “midline” — the body’s central stabilizing system — as a force transmitter in movement. Using the thruster as his example, coach explains how a collapsing midline wastes energy, disrupts power transfer, and slows performance. Every wiggle or leak in this central structure, is energy spent without productive output — literally the difference between an efficient lift and a slower “Fran” time. Functional movements depend on the ability to transmit power from the hips through a rigid, cooperative midline to the extremities, ensuring that generated force becomes acceleration rather than loss.

Glassman likens the midline to a transmission system: capable of producing enormous stabilizing forces, but operating best at low velocity. The musculature that supports this system, he explains, functions like a high-force, low-speed motor unit — built to brace, not to move rapidly. When the midline holds firm, the body conducts power seamlessly from its base to its output; when it yields, efficiency and control vanish.