WHAT’S A HUMAN CORE and WHY A STRONG CORE?
WHAT’S A HUMAN CORE? Your core is not just your abs, it is a 3-D space comprising all muscles between your diaphragm and your distal pelvis. It is your general center of mass, your motor control center and the focal point of force-transfer between your upper and lower body. Your core includes 7 major group muscles and 3 minor ones (your lats, your glutes and your traps)
THE 7 MAJOR CORE MUSCLES ARE:
- – The pelvic floor muscles and all the connecting tissues in that area;
- – The obliques (internal and external) responsible for rotation and side flexion;
- – The rectus abdominis (abs) which help you flex your spine and your torso front and back;
- – The diaphragm, a separator between the thoracic and abdominal cavities, which aids in the respiration process
- – The erector spinae which keeps your spine erect and rotates your spine
- – The transverse abs (TVA) which wraps horizontally from back to front and is responsible for stabilizing your pelvis. (Often a back pain is a result of weak TVA)
- – The multifidus, a small muscle which fills up the hollow parts between your vertebrae and runs deep in your spine from your posterior sacrum at the base of your spine, up to the sixth cervical vertebra (C6) at base of your neck. It is what protects and stabilizes your lumbar region every time you make an upper or lower body move.
WHY A STRONG CORE? Strengthening your core enables your energy to flow efficiently from one extremity to another. A weak core is a weak link in your Kinetic chain of reaction and may result in injury.
HOW TO ACHIEVE A STRONG CORE? You must tackle each of the posterior, anterior, lateral muscle groups and their function i.e. rotation, flexion, extension. Solely working on the superficial group muscles and primary movers (the abs and obliques) does not do the job, it is of utmost importance to target the often forgotten deep-lying muscle groups: the multifidus, the TVA and the erector spinae.
WHY TARGET THESE DEEP LYING MUSCLES? Because of their stabilizing key role, and for being the most effective in assisting with energy transmission.
WHAT’S THE MOST EFFECTIVE CORE EXERCISE? Hands down, the Plank! A plank is a full body workout. It activates all your core muscles and many other muscles such as your delts your rotator cuff, your pecs etc.
PLANK KEY POSITION: A plank means “a long, thin, flat board” to achieve that board stiffness, your spine must be in a neutral position; head aligned with the spine; abs and glutes tight; core in brace (as if you are protecting yourself from receiving a punch in the gut); elbows 90°; hands clasped or prone (facing down); and NORMAL breathing. Avoid holding your breath as this may cause intrathoracic pressure and is unsafe especially if you happen to have blood pressure.
WRONG POSITIONS arching up or down at the hip and head level.
HOW MUCH TIME? Start with 1 session of 3 x 30” with IR (inter repetition)15″ then increase by 5”-10” every few sessions. Who knows you may break the world record of 8hrs 1min one day :):)
HOW TO ENHANCE A STATIC PLANK? Target instability as illustrated: – Plank with arm and leg extension.
– Plank on a Swiss ball incline or decline (Legs on ball) while slightly rotating the ball under your arms (or your feet)
Photos of me by Dan
ADVICE? IMPROVISE 🙂 You may have heard of many other advance Plank moves like rotational planks – side planks – jumping jack planks etc. but all these options hinge on one same factor ADDED INSTABILITY. So keep that in mind, improvise and share your own version of enhanced planks. ~MFS