How to ACTUALLY Train Your Core and Reduce Injury Risk
Everyone knows core strength is important, but in my experience, not many can actually explain the WHY and HOW.
I see it all the time on social media and in commercial gyms, where the majority of core training is made up of crunches, planks, or variations of the two.
These exercises are by no means incorrect. However, they are targeting only a small part of what the core is actually capable of, and how it should ideally be trained.
DISCLAIMER: No contents of this blog post are intended to come across as medical advice. If you are suffering with musculoskeletal pain or injury, please consult your GP or another qualified medical professional. Additionally, when seeing Keen Physique for personal training services, appropriate history taking and movement assessments are carried out to ascertain a client’s movement capabilities.
What is the 'core'?
I like to explain the core as any and all muscle groups that have a role in supporting and facilitating movement of the spine and pelvis.
If you Google what muscles make up the core, the result will likely include the following five muscles/muscle groups:
- Rectus abdominus – the mostly commonly known muscle that makes up the “6-pack” *ugh*
- Transverse abdominus – deepest of the abdominal muscles, extending between ribs & pelvis
- Obliques – located on the side of our body, and help to rotate the trunk
- Erector spinae – a group of muscles that extend the spine & neck (back bend)
- Multifidus – mainly supports the lumbar spine, and is thought to be always active
HOWEVER, I would argue that there is so much more that makes up the ‘core’, as so many more large, powerful muscles are attached to, and act upon, our spine and pelvis. Such as the following:
- Latissimus dorsi – expansive muscle in our back that acts on our scapula and assists in breathing, and has attachments to thoracic vertebrae, thorocolumbar fascia, ribs, and pelvis
- Glutes – a group of muscles with various actions, and assists in stabilising our pelvis position which has a great influence on the spine
- Iliopsoas – the primary hip flexor, originating from the lumbar and thoracic spine
My point? The core is more than what’s in your stomach. The spine moves in all directions, and improved function & stability comes for strengthening muscles that span the lumbar, thoracic and cervical segments of your spine! When trained effectively, not only can you reduce back pain and injury risk, but ALL of your other lifts will become stronger.
Why is it wrong to do crunches and planks?
Well, it’s not really. But as I alluded to earlier, they merely scratch the surface of core strengthening. To properly explain this, let’s dive into a little bit more functional anatomy.
The spine is made up of 33 bones which together, create what should be one mobile bit of anatomy. The actions of the spine include flexion, extension, lateral flexion, and rotation i.e. bending forwards, backwards, sideways, and twisting. When we just do spinal flexion (crunches), or planks (anti-extension), we are doing our body a disservice as we’re only targeting a narrow scope of our cores ability, and ultimately restrict spinal movement. The potential negative effect of this is that should a force be applied to our body that we’re not yet adapted to or ready for, an injury can result.
For example, how many times have you heard of someone who exercises regularly, maybe does squats & deadlifts and does them well, but then “puts their back out” from something quite innocuous, like twisting to pick up something that’s relatively light?
Let’s take another area of the body to get this point across even further. Your hip is a very mobile ball-and-socket joint, allowing your thigh to move in all directions (flex, extend, abduct, adduct, internal & external rotate). If you went to the gym and ONLY did hip extension exercises, you would not have the strongest, most functional and healthy hip joint.
How do I train the core effectively?
Throughout this blog, I’ve tried to paint a picture that the core is so much more than what’s in our tummy, elaborating on it’s role to stabilise, support, and facilitate movement of our spine. Here are my three essential points to core strengthening:
1. Appreciate What Your Spine Can Do, Don’t Restrict It!
Remember, your spine is made up of 33 bones, and IS MEANT TO bend forwards, backwards, sideways, and twist. STRENGTHEN THESE DIRECTIONS to build a more resilient and capable spine. Examples of my favourite exercises will be posted to my Instagram (@keen.physique), and include:
- Hanging knee/leg raises (Spinal Flexion)
- Hyperextensions/Aeroplanes (Spinal Extension)
- Roman Chair Side Bends/Lateral Hyperextensions (Lateral Flexion)
- Cable Half-Kneeling Pallof Rotations (Rotation)
2. Train Your Whole Body
A happy body is a balanced body, and a balanced body is a damn strong one.
Successful strength programs contain equal amounts of ALL movement types i.e. squat, hinge, push, and pull. Focusing on improving all types of movement will only help your core strength, and vice versa. They’re mutually beneficial.
So do your compounds movements!
3. Always Keep Improving
Traditional core muscles have the same properties as any other muscle in your body. They’re no different.
A lot of us know that if we want bigger arms, shoulders, or glutes (for example), we start by learning suitable exercises, then repeating those movements with heavier and heavier loads over time.
But traditional core exercises seem to only involve our bodyweight, or progress to a point before becoming stagnant. There are always ways to add load, and if you don’t know how, reach out!
OBVIOUSLY safety comes first, and progression is always a slow process, but we must always aim to progress.