It All Starts With The Core April 19th, 2008

Think of your body as a house. If you were to have a house built for you, you wouldn’t start decorating before you have walls up, would you??? You’d start with the foundation, and work your way up, right? Well, the same came be said for your body as it pertains to fitness. You shouldn’t start with the other parts of your body until you have a solid foundation. And that foundation is your core, the very center of your body.

The core isn’t just your abdominal and lower back muscles. It also includes the muscles in your pelvic region as well as your hips. The majority of these muscles are hidden since they are deep within your torso, so they are often ignored. Doing a million crunches is not going to give you a stronger core. In fact, it will be counter-productive to just focus on one are because that means the opposite area will be weak! This is a major source of lower back pain. The muscles in your core include:

1. Rectus Abdominus

2. External Obliques

3. Internal Obliques

4. Transverse Abdominus

But a strong core has numerous advantages, such as better posture and even increased energy levels. The muscles attach to the spine, pelvis and muscles that support your shoulder blades, so a weak core is going to visibly affect your posture. If you play a sport, the benefits are endless. You can jump higher, throw farther, run faster. . . the core is truly the “magic” button; if it’s pushed, you’ll notice better performance in almost no time! In order to get the best out of your core exercises, you need to focus on the quality rather than the quantity (as is the case with ALL exercises) and make sure that you breath regularly. I’ve seen too many people holding their breath while they do any type of stomach exercises, and that could lead to injury.

Tags: core, abdominal, lower back, muscles, crunches, lower back pain, Rectus Abdominus, External Obliques, Internal Obliques, Transverse Abdominus, posture, increased energy, spine, pelvis