CORE!
CORE!
If you follow my articles, you know I am passionate about the importance of a strong, stable core. A strong core is paramount to keeping your body functionally sound and operational. Many quick-fix diets, pieces of exercise equipment and even surgeries promise a sleeker, better looking abdominal area, but it’s through core training that focuses on strength and flexibility of these muscle groups - coupled with a healthy diet - that you can achieve real, long-lasting results.
Aside from the obvious aesthetic benefits of maintaining a lean and tight core, there are important functional pluses as well. Imagine easing back pain, improving your balance, standing straighter and lifting heavy objects without stress or strain. A strong core allows you to execute everyday movements with ease, even as you age.
Core training is an insurance policy for keeping the body performing at peak levels. And depending on your body type and individual goals, the core is one of the only muscle systems we train for compactness rather than volume. As you train your core, the ultimate goal is not only a toned midsection, but also to attain a functionally sound core that can rotate, contract and support you whichever way you move.
Maintaining a strong core will also lend optimal support to assisting muscles. The core is constantly assisting other muscle groups as they function, acting as a fulcrum for all motion. When you squat down to pick up something from the floor, your core muscles work to maintain the integrity of vertical movement. And when you lift an object overhead you mainly recruit your deltoids and triceps, but your core muscles are also working to both support and balance you, keeping your torso steady as you lift. If your core muscles are not engaging, proper trunk alignment would be nearly impossible. That kind of motion, unassisted by the core, would be both much more difficult and potentially dangerous due to spinal compression.
The keys to successfully executing a core workout are breathing, form and speed. With a firm command of these three elements, you can develop your core muscles efficiently and effectively. Endless repetitions are neither necessary nor advisable; you need only to carry out a few calculated sets to achieve a deep muscular burn. Give your all during each rep performed. That guy/girl who claims that they can do a thousand sit-ups would in reality be lucky to complete fifty that truly work their core, because the neck and lower back, not to mention speed and momentum, usually do all the work when so many reps are involved. For best results, less is more: aim to lengthen the muscle, then contract and squeeze. Place the tension on the core muscles without calling in recruit muscles.
Kim Duke is a certified personal trainer and owner of Core Performance Fitness and Training, located at 55 Bristol Lane, Ellicottville, NY. Kim resides in Ellicottville where she raised her two sons, Zach and Nik. For more information about her studio visit her Facebook page or www.coreperformancefitness.com. Kim can be reached directly at 716-698-1198.
