Comprehensive Centre of Body Exercise (CORE)

Author: Šárka Randáčková

Core (abdomen and buttocks) Training plan

08.06.2016

8 minut čtení

The center of the body, or CORE, although it may not feel like it, is the most important part of our mechanism. It works perhaps constantly when we sit, when we stand, when we walk, when we run, even when we roll over while we sleep. Yet for all that, we vastly underestimate and often ignore it when it comes to training. However, we do not do well.
So below we'll discuss why, when and how to train the center of the body.

What do you need to know?

In order to train the midsection comprehensively, you need to perform exercises where you resist extension, resist rotation, and resist lateral flexion. And you need to practice them at the right times.

The midsection has two basic jobs. It prevents unwanted movements and transfers power between the upper and lower body.

To prevent injury, activate your midsection. Do this every workout, even before you touch the barbell.

The glutes also belong to the center of the body. Activate them before any lower body exercise.

There are two popular currents in mid-body training. On one side are the functional training fanatics. You know, they spend hours training the transversus abdominis, breathing into balloons, and are able to activate their glutes all day long.
On the other side is the type of person who says they don't need direct mid-body training because they do squats and deadlifts. The truth is somewhere in between.

The midsection plays two vital roles in gym training:

It prevents unwanted movement. This prevents internal structures, like your spine, from getting squished like an accordion, and you don't have to spend months recovering.
It transfers force between the upper and lower half of the body. Think of it this way, the idea here is to bend your spine as little as possible and leak as little force as possible. Taking squats as an example, you want a center that will keep you in a static, almost neutral position. You don't want a center that's going to force you to do a good morning instead of a squat.

Control the center of the body

Back injuries can be a death sentence for training. And injuries usually occur as a result of poor technique or poor activation of the mid-body muscles. Technique is a case unto itself. But activation is something you can control, and it starts before you even touch the barbell.

Most exercisers work at a desk, sitting in the same position for 8-12 hours a day, about 300 days a year. Then when you have to squat or deadlift in that same position, it's risky. When you put your mid-body first, you activate dormant muscles that spend most of the day at rest.

Until you have activated the muscles responsible for the unwanted movements, how can they work, and prevent your spine from bending? They can't. A muscle that isn't fired up can't withstand the tremendous force that is exerted on it in training. Let's change that.

Mid-body training in multiple dimensions

Master the activation of the mid-body before the main exercises of the workout. Exercise all the major functions of the mid-body in a balanced approach. This means training in multiple dimensions: resisting extension, resisting lateral flexion, resisting rotation, and engaging the glutes.

Exercises for resisting extension. Resist spinal extension.

Variations: plank, body saw, TRX fallout, walkout, ball roll, ab wheel roll.

Exercises to resist lateral flexion. The goal is to prevent the body from bending sideways. We all know the good old single-arm lunges.- the work is primarily done by the quadratus lumborum (QL) and oblique abdominals.

Variations: plank sideways, one-handed carry, deadlift sideways, and the sloppiest exercise of all - bringing the whole purchase without laying down. In general, you can see that these are exercises where you stand upright and have the weight on one side.

Exercises to resist rotation. The real exercises for resisting rotation are done by resisting rotation of the lumbar spine. From time to time you'll see someone spinning with a stick or dumbbell on their back to "loosen up their back." Unless you have a strong desire for a bulging disc, please avoid such nonsense. Yes, some athletes need explosive rotation, but that is built on a foundation of strength and counter-rotational stability.

Variations: pallof presses, holding objects in a high position on one knee, and generally all exercises in this position are good. Balance exercises such as single arm pull-ups or renegade rows also work well.

Work on buttock involvement. Keep your spine in a neutral, braced position, and generate power without moving out of that position. The gluteal muscles have common tasks - hip extension (tightening the pulling exercise, bouncing into a sprint), abduction (pulling the leg away from the center of the body), external rotation (turning the leg out), and internal rotation (turning the leg in) of the hip joint.

Variations: hip extension on all fours, clamshell, sideways bungee walk, monster walk with x-band. Complex exercises such as squats, thrusts, deadlifts and lunges also work, with emphasis on full hip extension and glute clenching at the top of the movement.

Many coaches and researchers say the glutes should be the primary hip extensor, without losing neutral spine position. This is what the position on all fours teaches us. If we can transfer that function to complex exercises, we win.

Make a plan

Stimulate your mid-body, don't neglect it. Do the following workouts preferably after a dynamic warm-up, before the first heavy exercise. Remember your body position. Don't try for explosive movement or fatigue. Choose a plan that works best for you.