Core strengthening Flashcards
How is true core strengthening different from how popular culture promotes strong abdominals?
Popular culture presents an overdeveloped rectus abdominis as desirable when in fact this is not representative of core health as a whole and can be a source of “compressed tension.” True core strengthening involves a balanced integration of the deeper core muscles.
- What benefits are associated with healthy core strengthening?
-Core exercises build heat and strength.
A strong core can be thought of as “building strength from the inside out” and is often correlated with positive psychological, emotional and spiritual states, including feelings of strength and resilience.
Core strengthening supports the low back and can eliminate back pain.*
Strong abdominal muscles support abdominal organs.**
A healthy core improves posture.
A healthy core improves digestion and elimination and in yoga is associated with healthy digestive “fire.” (See also Manipura Chakra.)
A strong core improves athletic performance.
*Weakness in the core can result in “overrotations in the vertebrae of the lower back, which leads to degenerative disk disease and arthritis.” In addition, “[weak] abs often contribute to trouble in the sacroiliac joint.” (Rachel Brahinsky)
**”I like to think of our core musculature as a tightly wrapped package protecting the internal organs.” (Olga Kabel)
- How do many people compensate for weak abdominals?
Modern lifestyle habits tend to lead to weak abdominals. As a result, many people use back muscles to compensate, which can cause injury.
- How might a weak transversus abdominis (TA) impact the psoas in some core work?
-If the TA is weak, it can lead to low back stress and an overworked psoas.
If the Tranverse Abdominis (TA) is weak, the psoas pulls too strongly on the spine.
Doug Keller explains how in leg lifts, for example, the TA holds the spine steady while the psoas and thighs lift and lower legs.
He notes that it is the effort to maintain a neutral curve in spine that gives abdominals a workout.
The TA tightens to prevent psoas from pulling the back into an exaggerated arch as legs are lifted and lowered.
But if the core is weak and not engaged, great pressure is placed on
lower back, causing it to overarch, which can lead to pain or injury.
Keller explains that the key actions to avoid low back stress are activating low belly and drawing navel slightly back and up.
See article, Beneath the Surface, for more information. Learn to Tame the Psoas
A key muscle at the very center of your core, the psoas is all too often overworked in ab exercises. You’ll benefit most from your core work if you learn the actions that not only tone your tummy, but also tame a tight psoas. – Doug Keller, Yoga Journal, Beneath the Surface
- What potential emotional ramifications might there be for some students engaged in core work?
Many teachers have observed students experiencing a psychological connection with the core. You may wish to let students know that core work may cause an emotional release. In such cases, assure students of this connection and suggest they seek qualified support through their healing process. See Ana Forrest’s teachings for more support.
Psychological Connections
“I’ve observed a lot of psychological baggage connected with the abdomen,” says White. “It’s a common place for people to hold anxiety.” – Carol Krukoff, Yoga Journal, Redefining Great Abs
Core Work May Lead to Emotional Release
The belly region is also central for healing emotionally bound problems, such as eating disorders, and core work can dredge up difficult food-related feelings. Forrest emphasizes that when you deal with students with such concerns, be aware that they will need support. – Rachel Brahinsky, Core Purpose
- Describe potential problems with how students may respond to the phrase, “engage your core.”
-When hearing the cue, “engage your core,” many students incorrectly draw in the outer abs and round the spine.
Tendency to Use Back Muscles
The sedentary American lifestyle has created an epidemic of weak abdominals and a dangerous tendency to use back muscles to compensate. “Many people don’t understand the difference between moving from the lower back and moving from the abdomen,” says White. “When the abdominals aren’t strong enough to do a pose, such as a [supine] leg lift, people will lift their legs by pulling from the lower back, which can cause injury.” – Carol Krucoff, Yoga Journal, Redefining Great Abs
- A balanced approach to core health includes utilizing the abdominals as stabilizers (not prime movers). What are some examples of poses that the abdominals as stabilizers?
Using Abdominals as Stabilizers
The concept of “stabilizers” and “prime movers” can help with understanding core health and choosing effective strengthening movements.
Stabilizers are small muscles that keep the back in alignment. Prime movers are large muscles that are not attached directly to the lower back or central spine.
A balanced approach to core health includes utilizing the abdominals as stabilizers (not prime movers).
Examples of poses that use abdominals as stabilizers include Opposite Limb Extension, Plank Pose and Side Plank Pose.
Stabilizers & Prime Movers
Stabilizers are the muscles that keep your back in alignment. The are also the muscles that hurt when you lift a weight with your back rounded… They are the small muscles of the lower back and the central spine. Prime movers are muscles that aren’t attached directly to the lower back or the central spine. They are large, because their job isn’t to hold the small bones of the back in place but to provide locomotion… The stabilizers can be misused to move things, but that takes them out of the stabilizer role. The prime movers can be used only to move things. – SuppleCity.com, Stabilizers vs Prime Movers
Healthy Abs Work as Back Stabilizers
Pete Egoscue writes: “Everybody wants a flat stomach, but the worst way to get one is to deliberately contract your abdominal muscles. This holds your hips and
spine in flexion, preventing them from achieving neutral positions. Healthy abdominals are intended to work as back stabilizers, not prime movers.” So when it comes to the muscles of the core we need to create stability and balanced development between all the different layers. – Olga Kabel, SequenceWiz, Core Players: The Muscles that Move Your Trunk and How to Move Them
What Does Stabilization Mean?
Stabilization means being able to control the amount of movement of your joints during movement of your body. Stability is not about how much movement you have but about how well you can control it. The activation of specific core muscles allows you to stabilize your joints and control movement. – Grand River Sports Medicine Centre, Core Stabilization
- For what specific reasons are sit-ups and crunches not the optimal core strengthening exercise for many people?
-Sit-ups & Crunches
Sit-ups refer to lifting the entire back off the ground to a sitting position. Crunches lift only head and chest until abdominals engage.
Sit-ups have a relatively high risk of injury. (Kristeen Cherney) Crunches isolate abdominals, but only the outermost abdominals.
Neither sit-ups nor crunches may be the best choice for core strengthening. These movements flex the trunk forward, a movement most people do in excess.
Abdominal exercises such as Crunches are not as effective at engaging the core as poses such as Plank Pose, and they may stress spinal discs.
“From my observations around my gym it looks like abdominal crunches are on their way out, which is a good thing. It doesn’t mean that you should never do them, it just means that you shouldn’t do them exclusively.” (Olga Kabel)
Many Ab Exercises Poorly Engage Core & Stress Discs
The problem with crunches (and many other abdominal exercises) is that not only do they poorly engage your core (compared to other exercises like planks), they also put massive stress on your spinal discs by compressing and stretching them in an unnatural way. Remember, the role of the core is to stabilize the spine, not compress and move the discs (which, by the way, is more likely to make low back pain worse, rather than relieve it). – Yuri Elkaim, Top 9 Core Stabilization Exercises for Low Back Pain
Crunches & Sit-Ups Considered Outdated by Many
Here’s the good news: Core work doesn’t have to mean crunches! In fact, crunches and sit-ups are becoming somewhat passé, with many fitness experts considering them outdated, ineffective, and potentially injurious. – Kat Heagberg, Yoga International, A (Crunch-Free) Core Sequence
More on Crunches & Sit-Ups
Recently I’ve been hearing that the US military is phasing out sit-ups! They’re calling them an “outdated exercise today viewed as a key cause of lower back injuries.” Whoa. Military fitness experts are recommending practicing Plank pose
(on the forearms) instead, saying that it’s both much safer and a better way to improve and measure core strength. – Nina Zolotow, Yoga for Healthy Aging, Plank Pose vs Sit-Ups for Core Strength
Repetitive Spinal Flexion
An abdominal crunch primarily targets your rectus abdominis muscles (the infamous 6-pack), whose job is to flex your trunk forward. Unfortunately, you already flex your trunk forward all day long when you sit, drive, lean forward or stand with your tailbone tucked under. Repetitive spinal flexion over time can mess up your natural lumbar curve, which repositions your spinal disks in relation to one another, creating compression on the discs in places where they are not supposed to be compressed. – Olga Kabel, SequenceWiz, Core Players
- Give examples of ways to cue core engagement.
-Cueing for Core Engagement
Cue to Avoid
Teachers typically find that students misinterpret the cue, “Engage your core.”
Many students will take this to mean “draw in the belly” or “draw the navel toward the spine.”
Common undesirable effects are to engage the rectus abdominis rather than the TA, and rounding the back.
While rounding the back is appropriate in a pose like Bakasana, in many poses it results in misalignment.
If “Engage Your Core” Misinterpreted as Pull the Belly Back
In yoga asana, we are… either trying to hold [the spine] stable in its well-aligned, neutral position (think Warrior II or Mountain Pose) or we are intentionally trying to manipulate it (think: Wheel Pose, Upward-Facing Dog, or Crow Pose). In those three poses, we are using the core in the same way as in Warrior II or Tadasana but also asking one or more of the core muscles that moves the spine
to intentionally manipulate it from its neutral position to another one required for the posture. If most students think “engage your core” means to pull their belly back, then that cue is really only fully helpful in something like Crow Pose where you are intentionally trying to round your lumbar and thoracic region. – Alexandria Crow, Yoga Journal, Alignment Cues Decoded: “Engage Your Core”
More on Problems with Cue, “Engage Your Core”
When teachers say, “Engage your core as you enter the forward bend,” I wonder: “What will students engage when they hear that? The rectus abdominis?” That would tend to round the spine, which is not what we want at all… In reality, the whole trunk should activate harmoniously, although the multifidus muscles on the back may be exerting the most effort in order to maintain a neutral spine and to keep the spine and pelvis together as a unit as we enter into the first phase of the pose. I prefer to say, “Bend at the hips and keep the spine long and the front part of the body open, as you enter the first phase of your forward bend.” – Gyandev McCord, The Expanding Light, Engage Your Core?
Cues to Consider
In Plank Pose and arm balances, push the floor away. Draw hip points toward one another.
Elongate spine.
Draw spine into body
Inhale, lengthen. Maintain the length — even emphasize it — on the exhale.
Send the inhale down and the exhale up.
Questions for Re”ection
Are you experiencing any pain or discomfort? How is your breath?
- What type of movement is needed to bring balance after core strengthening work?
- Name 60 (!) or more core-strengthening poses.
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