Core Training for athletes and office workers is not that different...

 

Mike Bach discusses the benefits of core training and its similarities for both athletes and less active individuals that are sedate in comparison and spend hours each day sitting at a desk

 

No muscle group is more significant than the body’s core muscles and the benefits of training them are widespread.

•    Better posture
•    A more stable centre of gravity
•    Injury prevention
•    Increased speed of rehabilitation
•    Increased protection for back and eliminating back pain
•    Improved exercise performance
•    Improved sports performance
•    Firming and toning of stomach region
•    And even a reduced waistline

With the benefits of them being exercised and strengthen being so far ranging, it is apparent immediately how important they are to men and women in varying areas, from sports stars to the office worker and from the active labourer to exercise newbie. By having a stronger core section, you are preparing yourself to be more successful and injury free in whichever field you are in and whatever your health and fitness goals are.


Definition of Core – your torso. Chop your head, arms and legs off; what you have left is your core!

Definition of Core Function – The ability of your trunk to support the effort and forces from your arms and legs, so that muscles and joints can perform in their safest, strongest and most effective positions.


To most people, core training is defined as and limited to the abdominal muscles and probably exercised in the form of crunches and sit-ups.  These muscles are part of the “outer unit” and are used to move the body and seen on the surface of the body. The issue with over training these popular, better known muscles in relation to other muscles in, the core are that they will take over and create a poor posture that is bending forward. Such a posture can create tension on the spine and in particular lower back pain.

Inside more experienced exercise circles, there is a second unit of muscles that when exercised properly will produce the benefits listed above. This second unit of muscles are described as the inner unit and are the deeper muscles that run along the spine, underneath the outer abdominal muscles, the pelvic floor and breathing muscle. The function of these muscles with regard to movement is to stiffen the spine and other deeper areas of the core that the head, arms and legs have a stable foundation when initiating a movement.

Some of these inner unit muscles are also described as involuntary, meaning that a force has to be present for them to be activated. Think of it also like a light switch; in order to be at it’s most effective you must turn them on to activate. The improved stability created along the spine and lower back are provided via the actions carried out by the TVA (Transverse Abdominis) muscle. By drawing your belly button towards the spine, you are contracting these TVA muscles and result in increased stability on both sides of the spine.

Furthermore, by then bracing your stomach muscles (likened to bracing for an expected punch in the stomach; hopefully something you have to practice for the first time and not through experience!) you are contracting both the inner and outer unit of core muscles and creating an environment for increased stability and performance. This feeling can be likened to wearing a tight belt or girdle except that instead of relying on an external presence in an attempt to stabilise or present the illusion of a flat stomach, you are creating your own manmade version without the prospect of injury that wearing a device could do and preventing your range of motion in the process.  By developing your own core muscles, a flatter, thinner stomach can become apparent that can move in all directions without discomfort and where required with speed.

Training of the core muscles should be progressive and exercises selected based on experience, fitness levels and increasing amounts of core contribution. Some of these exercises are more specific in order to train this contribution and become more functional over time. By functional, I mean to achieve a given goal or objective. In sports this may be throwing a ball or swinging a club. In more sedentary lifestyle and rehabilitation from injury it may be to squat down and pick an object up correctly without pain and in health and fitness to perform an exercise correctly and achieve the most out of it given a goal like to improve fitness or lose weight.

There should be less reliance on machines where increasing core function is the aim. Machines offer a supported environment and so place little demand on the core muscles. Instead use your own bodyweight in a static environment to engage the core area, progressing to more unstable environments to amplify the demands put onto the core muscles. Instability can be provided by your own bodyweight and positioning and also certain pieces of equipment that are commonly associated with core stability training. One great example found in homes, fitness stores, and studios is the stability ball (other names used include swiss ball, fit ball and birthing ball for it’s use in pre-natal populations).

Exercises can also be either static or dynamic in nature, without movement in the early stages to promote training of the core muscles and adding movement for progression and function as outlined earlier. In both cases demands on the core muscles should varied, in a standing, seated or lying position and also exercised in different planes of motion – front on, side on and with rotation.

With this approach, there are simply hundreds of effective exercises that will promote the strengthening of your core muscles and in doing so will reap the benefits specific to your goals instead of being held back.

Mike Bach