What is your core and how to train it.
Most people connect core with six packs and abs! The fact of the matter is that the core includes more than just the abs but also the pelvic floor, the low back and the diaphragm. The core definitely helps with improving performance in most activities and as such we want to help you understand what else is involved in training the core outside sit ups and planks. The goal of this BLOG is to share The Movement philosophy on the core, how it functions and then share with you some ways that you can train it that you might not have expected. In fact, at the end of this blog you’ll find a downloadable PDF that has 3 exercises to train your core that you might not have thought of. If you don’t want to learn about the core in detail, feel free to skip right to the end and download your free PDF. But we encourage you to read this in full, it’s not super long and might encourage you to think a bit different about your core.
What is your core?
When I hear the word ‘core’, it sounds a little bit soft…I actually prefer the word trunk and I’ll tell you why. A core sounds like an apple core, it seems a bit weak and unimportant. However, trunk makes you think of an oak tree, it’s solid, it’s robust, and it’s foundational to the stability of the tree. So rather than thinking of your core as your abdominals, imagine it as a trunk! It surrounds the middle of your body and involves 360 degrees of musculature. This includes the sides of your stomach or obliques, and your back muscles as well as abdominals. It’s solid, robust and foundational to the stability and power of your body.
What does it do?
Your core certainly flexes your spine as in a sit-up but this isn’t all it does. It also rotates and extends, and side-bends your spine as well as all sorts of combinations of those movements. Further, it transfers force from your lower body to your upper body and vice-versa. Think of throwing, jumping, and swinging, all these types of movements rely on your core to transfer force. It also resists movement, meaning it resists your back from bending when you’re deadlifting, or from extending when you’re catching a football overhead.
How do you train your ‘trunk’?
While training your trunk by doing sit-ups is totally reasonable depending on your goals, I might argue this isn’t training it in a comprehensive way to maximize your performance. Since your trunk rotates, extends, and side-bends you’ll want to include exercises that involve these movements as well such as back extensions and loaded side-bending. Often times people forget to include rotational movements, so this is often a low hanging fruit when it comes to your trunk. Especially when we talk about sports and how many athletic movements involve this transfer of force from lower body to upper body, this is something we definitely think you should train rotation for. For example, rotational med ball throws are a great way to train your trunk for both rotation and transfer of force. I also talked about how the trunk resists movement so you want to include exercises for this as well. This can include exercises such as pallof presses and anti-extension overhead presses. Some major exercises can also be thought of as trunk exercises such as squats, deadlifts, and farmers carries which have been shown to involve high levels of trunk muscle activity. This may not involve a change in your exercise selection but maybe a change in mindset in terms of what’s going on and what you’re training during those exercises.
In summary.
I prefer to think of your core as your trunk instead. This is more appropriate for the robustness of the area and the 360 degree nature of the musculature involved. Your trunk is used for a lot more than just sit-ups and is foundational to most athletic movements. Therefore, it’s important to train your trunk in a comprehensive way and sometimes it’s just about appreciating that most exercises are an opportunity to train your trunk in some way.