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FITNESS
Introduction to core training

When I mention core training, most people assume I’m talking about crunches and sit-ups. Today there are infomercials with new crunch systems, fitness magazines showing you proper sit ups and “Ab-Blasting” classes showing you every abdominal exercise known to man.

The question is whether these exercises and classes improve the way you look, feel and function?

Do they reduce your chances of back pain or strengthen your core?

These approaches not only hinder your progress but potentially predispose you to injuries, most notably back pain.

The misconceptions: When training your core it’s important to remember that these muscles aren’t so different from the rest of the muscles in your body. We know that when you train legs for instance, in high volumes (high sets, high reps) you will increase the size of the muscle. Your abdominals aren’t different. If you do a million sit ups, you’re going to increase the size of the muscles. If you do heavy weighted sit ups, again you’re going to increase the size of the muscles. This means you are potentially increasing the size of your stomach and waistline. To this day I haven’t met a client who said they’d like to increase the size of his or her stomach or waistline but I’ve met dozens of clients who have done hundreds of sit ups per workout.

If you want a trim stomach, or your abs to show, building up the muscle won’t be effective if you have a reasonable layer of fat on top of them anyway. Limit your sit ups, strengthen your back and provide the most important muscles in your body (the core) with the much needed balance it deserves.

How to train the core: To learn how to work your core properly, first you need to understand the muscles involved; there are more than you think!

The core has eight major muscles on which your training will focus. These eight muscles are distributed throughout the anterior (front) and posterior (back) of your body. It’s important to realize that these muscles work together and if they’re not properly balanced you can end up with problems beneath the surface.

Over my time as a personal trainer I’ve realized that almost every client with lower-back pain has weak overall core strength. This includes weak lower abdominals and lower back. Clients without back pain and little history of it not only had much stronger abdominals but were able to activate core muscles. From this point, alleviating a client’s back pain usually came after I asked them to stop doing crunches entirely and focused on balancing the core. The problem is that most people will do nothing but sit ups and crunches for their abs when they should be doing core strength exercises. This will develop more than just one section of the core and not create an imbalance in the muscles. As an introduction to this topic, your training should be based on balance.

If you do one exercise for your abs, then do one exercise for your lower back. Remember that every movement your body makes involves your core. The more exercises that incorporate your core the better (Standing shoulder press rather than sitting etc).

Make core training a priority and your fitness level will far exceed where it is now. Stay tuned for part two, in which we’ll review core exercises that everyone should do.