CoreTraining: The Importance of Fundamentals

      Too often I have patients asking me what is the one exercise that will strengthen the core. Due to the complex nature and importance of the core in various activities and postions, it is impossible for me to answer that question with one exercise.  Every individual, whether they are an athlete or not, requires training of BOTH the postural stabilizers and the power producers.  Not only do we need to address both types of muslces, but in various positions and planes.  I look at many core training programs and am disappointed to find not enough physical therapists are challenging their patients with power exercises for fear of harming them and not enough personal trainers and strength coaches returning to the fundamentals and starting their athletes with the basics.    We need to be identifying weaknesses in all populations and building a solid program that teaches the fundamentals first and progress from there.

     The core is defined in various ways in the literature, but the basic premise is that it forms something close to a cylinder in the central part of the torso.  The bottom is the pelvic and hip muscles, the front are the abdominals, the back is the lumbar muscles and the top is the diaphragm.  Some of the researchers have categorized individual muscles as local versus global muscles, while others have described them as the stabilizers (postural muscles) versus the mobilizers (power muscles).    No matter how they are described, it is important that we train both.  One group cannot function to its full capability with weakness in the other.  Just as beginning with a white color belt in martial arts is required before training to test for another color, we should be doing the same with all our clients/ patients.  Breathing and proper abdominal contraction must be addressed and mastered before moving on to more advanced exercises.

     Screening the high level athletes that come through our doors at Breakthrough Physical Therapy in Irvine, CA, only reinforces the "return to basics" theory.  Too many times we see our patients/athletes not have the basic postural control to maintain a proper position during a single leg squat, raising an arm or a leg on all fours or even maintain a rigid torso during arm and leg movments on their back.  Athletes are the best compensators, and therefore, can often "get away with" amazing high level activity with poor movement patterns.   Imagine what untapped talent could be exposed with proper core contraction and movement patterns. We as practitioners and trainers need to worry less about the quantity of output from our patients/clients and spend some time on the quality of movement.

     Over the next few weeks I will be starting from scratch writing about the proper progression to a core program.  This program will focus on diaphragmatic breathing and core tightening techniques and then it will progress to more dynamic stabilization.  Follow along over the next 2-3 months and find out what some of the top athletes in the country I'll be working with are learning!