There are certain things in the strength and conditioning/personal training field that make you cringe every time you hear them. Core is toward the top of that list, however, sometimes living in cliche phrases is what we need to do in order to communicate better with our patients/clients.
To better define what it is, let’s describe what connects to it.
First and foremost, when we think of the core, we think of the 6 pack–known as the rectus abdominus. The muscle is essentially a sheet that connects the front portion of your ribs to the front of you pelvis. It gets it’s shape from a central tendon–linea alba–and tendons that run horizontally from there.
But, if that was all there was, we would be in trouble. We have external obliques, internal obliques, and transverse abdominus that all band together to create a lattice of protection. This is great, because without this protection we would basically rupture our internal organs housed in the area.
If we all addressed the strength and endurance of this area we would probably all be a little better off. However, that is definitely not all that represents the core. We have these fancy postural muscles that help hold us upright. Commonly referred to the erector spinae group which is composed of three different pairs of muscles along the spine. There are little tiny muscles that run between each vertebra in the spine, there is the QL, which runs from the hips to the lower ribs. There is the iliopsoas group that runs from the lower spine to the hips. One of the bigger players, I feel, is the lats. They run from the upper arm and course all the way down to the hips. They can create shoulder stability and a great extension moment in the spine.
Clearly, it is difficult to find balance. Any imbalance, if great enough, will create movement dysfunction and surely pain. In my experience, the majority of kids coming in can’t do a pull up or even some sort of inverted row which is essentially a lesser version. They also present with a great amount of anterior tilt showing that their abs probably aren’t working all that well. How do they conquer gravity then?
When taking part in a workout program, especially in the lower training ages (you haven’t worked out in a couple of months) then make sure to keep it semi balanced. Realize that all your big lifts essentially have an extension moment on the spine, really requiring those meaty lats to hold down the fort. I would encourage you to find some sort of flexion moment at the trunk level.
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