What Are the 7 Key Components of Structure?

Updated 2 May 2013

The 7 Key Components of Structure refers to the configuration of 7 major joints/joint complexes and their surrounding musculature in any exercise.

These are:

1) Grip Confirmation
2) Elbow Lock
3) Shoulder Pack
4) Crown to Coccyx Alignment
5) Core Activation
6) Hip Recruitment
7) Leg Drive

What's so special about these? Nothing really. We know these (or some of these) Components at the back of our minds and are taught them in fitness school, but not in the explicit manner presented in CST.

In CST it is made very explicit what these are and you can describe the technique of any exercise easily using the 7 Components.

These Components are absolutely essential for good Technique (RPT). All of them are important but there are some Components that people tend to lose structure in and we remind them over and over.

Different exercises requires different configurations of the Components but the idea for all of them is to create a stable structure for the body so that it can utilize the most strength to produce a safe and powerful movement.

Take note that all of the Components' structure must be in place otherwise the movement produced would not be efficient, effective or safe. Isolation is a myth. All the body must work together in unison. Every exercise is a core exercise.

Let's take the example of the Push Up to demonstrate what these are.

Good push up (Source)

Correct Components

Component	Top Position	Down Movement	Bottom Position	Up Movement
Grip	About shoulder width, fingers forward, weight on the palm heels
Elbow	Locked, elbow pits turned to face forward	Pull yourself down, pinch your elbows to your ribs	Elbows back, pinched tight to ribs	Press from the armpits, through the elbows, corkscrew the arms outward
Shoulder	Lats tight, pull the shoulders away from the ears, toward the feet
Crown to Coccyx	Straight line from head to heels, look between your hands
Core	Abs tight (brace)	Exhale on effort (high resistance) or inhale on cessation of effort (low resistance)	Abs tight (brace)	Exhale on effort
Hips	Tuck your tail under, butts tight, lock your anal sphincter
Legs	Quads tight, knees locked, on the balls of the feet, pull the toes toward your shins

It seems that the push up is an exercise common and simple enough that everybody should be able to do it properly, but no. Doing a Google Image search, the first picture that comes up in the results is a bad push up.

Bad push up (source)

Another bad push up (source)

Bad Components

Component	Top Position	Down Movement	Bottom Position	Up Movement
Grip	Too wide a grip width, fingers pointing in directions other than forward
Elbow	Not locking the elbows	Flaring the elbows
Shoulder	Sagging the chest, not engaging the lats and letting the shoulders shrugged
Crown to Coccyx	Sagging at the waist, looking up (forward), pushing the head downward
Core	Not bracing	Inhaling on effort (high resistance)	Losing the brace	Holding the breath on effort
Hips	Sagging at the hips, lifting the hips in lordosis, not keeping the glutes tight
Legs	Not locking the knees, relaxing the quads

If you can't maintain structure throughout all the 7 Key Components, it is very likely that the version of exercise that you selected is too difficult for you. Either decrease the resistance or sophistication to ensure that you have correct structure before resuming your exercise.

Also take note that tight does not mean maximal tension. It means selective tension.

If the resistance encountered is high, you need to be tighter. The tighter the lighter. In maximal efforts, maximal tension is likely to be required.

If the resistance is lower, you don't have to use maximal tension. Only use as much tension as necessary (tight-loose-tight) to maintain proper structure. For endurance efforts, controlling the amount of tension is crucial to prevent premature fatigue.

Check out TACFIT Mass Assault to see how to apply the 7 Key Components on dumbbell-based exercises:

Or TACFIT 26 for a variety of bodyweight and weighted exercises: