Core Activation
This week we will focusing on THE CORE!
Clients often ask "why do we do 6 -12 sets of work on the back muscles or the legs or arms yet only 3-6 sets on the the abs?"
Well, if you engage your core muscles on every exercise you do then you are training them on every exercise anyway so the abs we do at the end of the session are the finishers. No you can't skip them!
The problem with this is a lot of people DO NOT actively brace their core when lifting weights. They're what I call loosey goosey. If I go and poke them in the abs when they are lifting the abs are soft and not engaged, the obliques are non existent.
So this week in sessions I want you to focus on BRACING your core muscles on EVERY single rep you do.
YOUR CORE IS NOT JUST ABS
Your core muscles are not just the rectus abdominus. As you can see from above there are 10 other muscles involved in stabilising your core and an argument can be made that the glutes also play a large role. That being said we are going to focus on the ones above.
HOW TO BRACE YOUR CORE
The easiest way to explain this and you've probably heard me say it before but imagine you were about to get punched in the stomach. The body has a natural reflex mechanism that will have you flex your abs. Your abs shouldn't pop out when you do this they should SLIGHTLY hollow. You should see a slight drawing in of the belly button but then I should be able to feel your external oblique muscles push out and harden. If i stood behind you with my hands on your waist I should be able to feel your oblique muscles stiffen.
Essentially what you are doing is creating your own weight belt. A stiffness through the midsection and lower back. This stiffness is what protects your lower back from injury. Remember the lower back is a joint that requires stability not mobility.
HOW HARD
You don't need to squeeze your abs so hard you stop being able to breathe or you pass gas ( it happens! I have so many stories from the last 20 years haha ). It is a subtle 30-50% of maximal contraction. If I come and poke you in the stomach when you're doing chin ups, lunges, tricep extensions or hip thrusts i should be able to feel the abs being tensed under the body fat. Everyone has the ability to do this to a certain degree, You should be able to engage your core in any position. Some however are more difficult than others.
You will lose your core during a set so actively engaging it on each rep is the key. This engaging of the abs in unison with breathing is true core training. That way your lunges are core exercises, your push ups are core exercises, your squats are core exercises etc.
MUSCLES THAT FIRE TOGETHER WIRE TOGETHER
When you engage your core during your reps you are training a movement pattern that done thousands of times gets remembered by the brain. So next time on the real world when you bend down to help pick up one side of a couch the body automatically braces your core to certain degree. But because you have done so much repetitions of this movement you just naturally engage your core without thinking.
Core activation
If you find it difficult to ACTIVATE your core you are going to need to practice.
Hence why this is the focus of the week!
See you in the gym with a nice stiff midsection
Brad
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