PT Personal Trainers

No, Core is not only abs

No matter what is the reason, improving health, recovering from a spinal injury or even for aesthetic reasons, something is always true: most people would like to have a strong and chiseled CORE.

I can not define my abs. What do I have to do?

There are lot of ways to work your CORE, however, exercises such as crunch or leg raises are one of the most popular in gyms.

Know that Personal Trainers can show you a more functional alternative. We train CORE allowing a multiplanar movement (forward, back and side) applied in the position where it is most often requested.

In order to explain the initial statement, it will be important to understand what CORE is, usually described as abdominals by exercise practitioners.

What is CORE?

Firstly, it is important to realize that CORE is not only composed of the abdominal muscles (Rectus Abdominis, Transverse, External and Internal Obliques), but rather by muscular chains, where a large number of muscles work synergistically to perform certain functions.

According to McGuill, CORE is composed of the lumbar spine, abdominal wall muscles (mentioned above), back extensors, quadratus lumborum, as well as the latissimus dorsi, psoas-iliacus and gluteal muscles.

CORE functions?

For McGuill, CORE acts mostly with the function not to start the movement, but to diminish or to stop motion of the torso. This, stabilizes and supports the transfer of energy between the upper and lower limbs of the body. It is this energy transfer that allows us to generate force, giving our limbs the ability to create or to stop movement.

Also, CORE have more functions assigned, such as spine protection, torso and spine mobility and control of the pelvis position.

The synergy between the muscles that compose the CORE, allows a daily negotiation of forces between the different muscles and the force of gravity to be possible to do daily actions such as walking or carrying shopping bags.

I need to improve my Core

Is it really necessary to perform the well-known crunch?

Having already mentioned the functions of CORE, we can say that there are ways of working more efficiently.

Crunchs, leg raises, or V-ups are widespread among gyms, crossfit boxs or even when people do outdoor training.

When we speak about movement patterns for example, in the crunch, there is an action of Spine flexion. One of the fuctions of the Rectus Abdominis (long muscle located in the belly) is spine flexion, this being not the main one, because in our daily life we don’t do this action in isolation.

Wouldn’t it be better to work abdominal wall muscles in a more functional way and with a greater transfer to the way it is requested most of the time? Wouldn’t it be better and more efficient to apply strategies to include the work of the majority of the CORE muscles?

Yes, and Personal Trainers explains you how to do it

As we said initially, CORE is made up of more muscles than the abs. This totality of muscles gives us the ability to move, which occurs in the various planes. It is therefore necessary to have the potential of being able to recruit the muscles for a any movement.

We propose an alternative to the training usually done in the mattress and that passes by working the CORE in exercises done in a more vertical position or mostly through dynamic exercises. Rotational, anti-rotational and frontal or lateral anti-flexion exercises (chops or lifts, static cable holds and unilateral farmer carry) are good strategies to diversify your workout and work your CORE in a more functional and efficient way.

I want to stay with a definite and strong Core

If you want to continue training on the ground, choose exercises such as static and dynamic planks instead or give the chance of experimenting Animal Flow exercises like the Bear crawl. Do you want to have a strong, efficient and defined CORE?

Talk to Personal Trainers and we teach you how.

Contact us now and get a free consultation

Francisco Barbosa text