Posted on June 28, 2018 by Jenny Cromack

Real “Core” Training!

Are you training your “core” properly? Do you know the importance of a strong core? Not sure? Well look no further because this article will overview the real job of our trunk muscles, common training mistakes, and real core training.

A great set of abdominals and a strong toned looking stomach is something most of us wish for. In pursuit of this we subject ourselves to endless sit ups, crunches, and a range of exercises that fold us up. Sound right? These exercises will work your abdominals, or at least part of them. So performing these sit ups folding our trunk into flexion – bringing the chest towards the knees – is not the true job of the abdominals from a health point of view. Our abdominals work to stabilise our spine and prevent us overextending or leaning back too far. All we do by performing sit up after sit up is shorten those muscles, which limits its ability to stabilise and actually makes us anterior dominant and can lead to back pain. So how can you train more effectively and healthier? First lets understand what the core is…

What is the Core?

I think of the “core” (although I hate that term) as a corset. It is a series of muscles that wrap around our torso and stabilise the spine in all directions (bending forwards, backwards, sideways, and rotating). All these muscles work together, much like guy ropes or a pulley system. For example, as one pulls and shortens the other has to slowly lengthen under tension to control the movement otherwise or spine would simply fall over into one position or another. This means that to work our core muslces we not only have to do exercises that shorten them, we also need to put them under load as they lengthen – what we call eccentrically – to build their control strength as they slowly lengthen. So what are the key muscles of the core that we need to consider?

Rectus Abdominis

This is the “6-pack” muscle that we all desire. Its sits down the middle-front of our torso and it’s job is to stabilise and eccentrically control extension (which we neglect in the gym), but also flex the trunk by shortening (hence us doing loads of sit ups).

Obliques (Internal & External)

They are situated towards either side of our rectus abdominis in layers. These muscles control rotation and side bending.  Like the rectus abdominis when we work these in the gym we tend to focus on shortening them in rotational exercises, but what we should also do is work them so they lengthen under load (which I will explain later).

Erector Spinae

They are situated on our backs, they are the strips of muscle than run up either side of the spine. As the name suggests these muscles extend or erect the spine. These smaller muslces also play a major part in controlling flexion or bending forwards by lengthening (eccentrically) under load.

Tranversus Abdominis

This is a very deep muscle that controls our intra-abdominal pressure. It is the muscle that works when we sneeze, cough, or hold in that need for the loo and prevents our bladder embarrassingly emptying on us. This muscle is very important for maintaining spine health as the pressure it creates helps maintain spinal stiffness.

What Exercises Should You Be Doing?

So what should you be doing? Well let’s start with the common mistakes. We tend to work our core in one direction bending forward as we do loads of sit ups and crunches but this is one small aspect of core strength and stability. I am not saying sit ups are really bad, but they do not offer us a strong and effective core alone. We need to focus on two things;

1) Multidirectionality

We should focus on all movements the core is responsible for;

  • Flexion – sit ups etc. (but don’t excessively do these)
  • Extension – back (dorsal) raises, good mornings etc.
  • Rotation – woodchops, russian twists etc.

2) Eccentric and Isometric Control

So the most important thing for me is working the muscles eccentrically or lengthening under load. This is the injury prevention part of core training and will help build a stronger, healthier, and more impressive core.

  • Eccentric Flexors – roll outs, walkouts, reverse jackknives/knee tucks/leg raises
  • Eccentric Rotators – reverse/negative woodchops
  • Eccentric Extensors – negative good mornings, negative dorsal raises
  • Isometric Stability – Plank variations (half, full, side), pallof holds or presses, pike holds (on rings)

These are just a few exercise ideas, but for me the key is working on that eccentric and isometric control as this will lead to a healthy and strong core that will make your back bulletproof.

Give them a go!!