CORE 101
Your core. The trunk. El fupa factory.
It is the center of your body and your movement. What you may see as the home for your belly button and six pack (well-insulated of course), has more function than you might think.
Made up of over 20 different muscles, this center point is the primary generator of any movement you make. Don’t believe me? Poke into your abs right now and try picking something up, your abs will “kick on” and give you the stability you need to lift up that book, dog, or fork into your mouth. The key word here is stability.
I could write a book about the core and how important its function is, and many people have, but instead I will outline 4 main benefits of a good solid core. But first, let’s review the basics on how the core works.
CORE BASICS
As you might have figured out, the core is more than just a six pack. I believe it was researcher Stuart McGill who once said “Show me a six pack, and I’ll show you a dysfunctional core.” And what he meant was: look does not equate function.
A properly functioning core is one that can easily expand while under pressure. This is easily demonstrated by the soda can model. Imagine you have a soda can, and you try to smash it from top to bottom with your hand. It will not budge so easily! Now imagine instead that you dent the soda can from side and suddenly the can compresses with hardly any effort!
Yes, your core works the same way this soda can does. You naturally create pressure in 360 degrees all around your spine; front, side, and back. So when you have a load to carry or move, you can do so safely. However, let’s say because of weakness, part of your core acts “dented” and now that same load will force your body to change its natural movement pattern to something less ideal and eventually damaging to your anatomy.
There are plenty of reasons why your core might be compensated, and plenty of exercises to correct the problem, but that’s a topic for another day. Here’s 4 reasons why its important to have a strong and balanced core in the first place.
PREVENTS BACK PAIN
You read that right. A well-balanced core can not only keep you from getting back pain, but training it correctly can actually help to get rid of those aches and pains you feel from “degeneration”.
As we briefly reviewed, the soda can model represents intra-abdominal pressure (IAP). There is supposed to be pressure in the gut for many reasons. In regards to pain, this intra-abdominal pressure adds support to the spine itself.
Without pressure on the spine during movement you risk adding shearing forces to the spine which can cause disc tears and accelerated degeneration. Likewise, when you have an imbalanced core, creating this pressure the right way can give your spine the pressure it needs to feel stable and pain-free once again.
IMPROVES ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE
Name one professional athlete with a weak core. I’ll wait.
Whether its throwing a ball, jumping off the ground, swinging a club, or suplexing the living daylight out of somebody; the core is the driving force. And it makes sense why. Remember, stability is the key.
Your body’s main objective when you’re moving around is to keep you upright and functional, otherwise you could never get anything done! So when you lift something with your right arm you’re recruiting the forearm muscles for grip, biceps group and shoulder to keep your shoulder in tact while you bend the elbow, trunk muscles to keep your spine from snaping in half from the weight in your hand, and depending on whether your sitting or standing, muscle groups from your legs too.
So what happens when you train your stability potential (aka your core) better than everyone else? You develop high level coordination and powerful movements, that when paired with skill training make you an unstoppable athlete.
MAINTAINS IDEAL POSTURE
The leader of the core muscle groups is this weird parachute shaped muscle called the diaphragm. If you’ve ever taken a music lesson you might have heard of it. The diaphragm is responsible for 2 things; your breathing and your posture.
If you look at the soda can model, the diaphragm is the top of the can and the pelvic floor the bottom. More on the pelvic floor in another post. The diaphragm is actually directly attached to the spine as well as the rib cage. So if you lay on your back and your rib cage sticks up you know that your diaphragm is functioning at a less than ideal angle.
When the diaphragm is aligned correctly, the ribs will be pulled down towards the pelvis, creating compression “in the can”. This creates a solid base for the rest of your spine so that the head can sit stacked over the spine instead of protruded forward. Also, your bodyweight will be ideally centrated, loading the feet properly so the toes won’t need to curl and the hamstrings won’t need to shorten for balance.
However, the moment there’s a kink in the chain, the body will compensate. This is all directly related in your posture.
HELPS DIGESTIONS
Here’s where things really get interesting.
Have you ever experienced bloating after a meal? Are you human? The answer to both of these questions should be an overwhelming yes. What happens when you are bloated? Well there is overproduction of gas in the intestinal tract and inflammation in the gut that creates unwanted pressure in the abdomen, and your body’s natural response is to relieve this pressure as much as possible.
Bloating will “open the abdomen” by softening certain muscle groups in the core and allowing the ribs to lift up, taking pressure off the GI tract (your gut). The same thing happens, slowly, when a woman is pregnant to allow space for that sweet adorably little baby. When you experience bloating frequently, then the body tends to adapt to that position as your normal state.
The problem here is that without the intra-abdominal pressure that is naturally created by the core, the GI tract cannot move as well as it should. Peristalsis, which is the movement of food, bile, and stool in your intestines, needs external pressure to be effective. So without proper core function you might experience constipation, indigestion, malnutrition, and even heartburn (more on this later).
Even hunger can be affected by proper intra-abdominal pressure. (totally geeking out right now) So by improving the balanced coordination of your core muscle groups you can help with all kinds of digestive issues!
BOTTOM LINE
So here’s the thing.. We live in a world where the fully optimized core is actually kind of rare. Even with top performing athletes, this balance can be an issue. So what does that mean for the everyday joe(anne)? Probably that if you don’t have a regular workout routine you may want to start, and if you are starting out, core work might just be the most important thing you do.
Thanks for reading. More to come.
Dr G
