It is a consistent goal and major
target area for most people it to get a flat stomach. We often see photos of people doing sit-ups as
an advert for great stomachs – and in all fairness, that position does showcase
the definition!! However, core stability takes a little bit more than
just doing crunchies.
There are 5 main muscles that
fire together to make the “core”. Much
like an apple core, they sit in the centre of your body and “control internal
strength.
These muscles are, the diaphragm
– separating the lungs from the abdominal contents, these muscles contract to
help you breathe out by pulling the edges of your ribs closer together and
slightly downwards. These form the top part of the cylinder that makes the core
strong. The bottom part is then the
muscles of the pelvic floor and we hope that these contract inwards and upwards
as the core fires (or not as the case may be and so you may fart when you cough
or wee when you sneeze!).
The main muscle around the body
is the deep abdominals, connected around the ribs and hips, insert onto each of
the lumbar spines (lower back) and insert into the central part of the stomach
muscle in the middle of the body. These work with the internal obliques (which
attach to the bottom part of the ribs and front of hip) to compress abdomen on
the out breath and pull the ribs closer to the back (giving you a FLAT
stomach).
Finally a muscle called
Multifidus which sits in the grove of the spine holding one vertebrae to the
next and “stiffening” the spine when the core fires (protects back). These are
the main muscles of the core although your trapz (upper back), Lats and
gluteals all work to a lesser extent – those of you who come to my pilates
session know I am always banging on about these and about how the core is more
than just your stomach.......
The core muscles work as a team
and each muscle works with the others to provide strength and stability at the
centre. This helps all kinds of sport and exercise and should be trained in the
following way.
In the first instance all core
training should be done on a still and stable base. If you deep abdominals
don’t fire initially, you will use what is known as the “global” muscles
surrounding the trunk – hence why we can have some fit athletes with a “weak”
core.
Still Stable Exercises – Held sit
up – so lift you head off the floor and basically look down at your stomach,
plank (on knees first then straight legs), side plank – see the abs post about
how to do these or the video, “swimming” (Pilates) where you are on all four
and lift opposite arm and leg – the abs should pull away from your t-shirt –
lift a little to begin with and then work on extending away from the body.
Squat and hold 10 sec, in all of the holding exercises, keep breathing, don’t
hold breath. Once you can maintain these positions for about 40 seconds, then
move on to the next stage.
Moving Core Stability – in plank
position initially lift and hold an arm or leg off the floor. Hold for about 6
seconds and then change. Side plank – lift and lower hips or lift arm overhead
and back to hips. Sit-ups – lift legs off floor and then move whilst
maintaining a still back and hips (any wiggle means you are not being effective
so go back to still position). Initially these can be with bent legs and then
move on to straighter legs once you can maintain a flat stomach and still back
(no arch). Squats - use dumbbells in front or side – single leg squat, lunges, kettle
bell swing, squat and stand on one leg, add overhead press (arms in line with
ears chin tucked in).
The main give away that the core is
not firing is that the back arches - hence ribs lift (no firing of deep abs and
obliques). If this happens you must stop. A) It is no good for your back B)
complete waste of time as you are not teaching the core to fire. I see little
point in training in the wrong position.
These can be done everyday and should be done
a minimum of 3 times a week – and you can do as little as 5 minutes.....brill
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