The word "core" is a fitness industry buzzword that refers to the deeper layers of abdominal muscles. The core muscles support your internal organs and facilitate optimal balance, stability and postural alignment. Likewise, dynamic balance exercises, as well as optimal postural alignment, enhance your ability to find and activate your core muscles.
Understanding Core Function
It's easier to activate your core muscles when you understand their function. The transverse abdominal muscle presses against the diaphragm to expel air during exhalation. The pelvic-floor muscles support your internal organs and stabilize your pelvis. Physical therapist Diane Lee explains that the multifidus, located near the spine, helps the transverse abdominal and pelvic-floor muscles stabilize the lower back for arm or leg movement.
Exhaling helps you activate your transverse abdominal muscle. Place your hands on your belly. Breathe in. Draw your belly in as you exhale. Consciously coughing also activates the transverse abdominal muscle. Find your pelvic floor by imagining that you are going to the bathroom and trying to stop the urine flow. Practice these exercises 10 times a day. The tripod exercise helps you find the mutifidus. Kneel on your hands and knees. Stabilize your spine, and simultaneously lift and extend your right leg and left arm, then your left leg and right arm. Perform 12 repetitions--six on each side.
Core and Back Pain
University of Queensland physical therapist Paul Hodges explored the relationship between core activation and back pain. He found that people without back problems intuitively activated their core muscles a fraction of a second before moving their arms or legs, whereas people with back pain had a delayed core-activation response. People with back pain should practice drawing their bellies in before performing strength-training movements.
Posture and Core
Postural misalignment causes the larger muscles of your body to compensate for the core. If you slouch or have a swayback, your upper back, lower back and hip flexors probably work harder than your core. Practice Pilates exercises or any other type of posture-correction exercise.
Core and Balance Exercise
An article published in the August 2007 edition of the "Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research" detailed the effects of using balance-training equipment to activate the core muscles. Lead researcher Jeffrey Willardson found that performing weight-training exercises on unstable surfaces increased core strength. Consider adding balance conditioning to your strength-training program.
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