Do’s and Don’ts to Increase Core Strength

10/21/08 Posted in Grinnell Training System  |  2 Comments

When I ask a new client what they would like to work on, 9 times out of ten it is to either improve their “core” strength or they point to their midsection and ask, “how do I get rid of this?”

I first tell them that it will be about 60 to 70 percent of their nutritional intake to get rid of the fat around their waste, but I also tell them that proper core training is very important for foundational strength, decreasing low back pain and assisting functional movement. The easiest way to think about what exactly the core muscles are is think of the top of your abdomen right before your chest, and the bottom of your butt. Include all the muscles between those two points, front and backside, make up your core muscles.

So how do you tone those muscles? Here are five things you should think about when you approach your core training:

Crunches.

The number one thing I see people doing wrong when training their core is dong to many crunches and sit-ups. People like to feel that abdominal burn, thinking the fat will disappear from there stomachs, and their core will become strong. Well, that is the far from the truth. Crunches and sit-ups just can’t reach those “deep” core muscles that need to be strengthened. I feel crunches and most sit-ups are pretty much worthless, a waist of time. They make your core weaker and are a cause for more lower back pain.

The only sit-up that I will do is one that I learned from Mitzi Carol, a Pilates instructor here at The MAC. Basically you just lye down on the floor and keeping your legs straight you try to sit up using only your abdomen and reducing momentum as much as possible. When you get to the top keep good posture, and then roll back down as slow as possible drawing your lower abdominals in. I call this a Pilates straight legged sit-up.

Increase Stability of The Lumbar Spine (lower back)

The Lumbar Spine is your lower back/hip area. If you know your anatomy, the most vulnerable part of pain and injury is the L5-S1 vertebrae. Most people don’t really know how to strengthen this part of the back, or in other words stabilize that part of the spine. I recommend avoiding too much rotation of the lower back area, and starting to do various types of plank exercises. The most common exercise or stretch that I see people entails laying on ones back with legs up in the air either straight or bent, and then letting their legs falls side to side. This is not good for you. The Seated Russian Twist, where you sit on the floor and twist side to side, is also harmful. These exercises will decrease stability in the lumbar spine, thus causing weakness and pain. Please try to avoid too much rotation in that area. The best way to strengthen this area is to add various types of planking exercises in your workouts. These exercises prevent rotation and increase strength in the muscles that stabilize the lumbar spine.

Add Various Rollout Movement Exercises into Your Core Routine

Do you remember those good old abdominal exercise wheels that you always saw in peoples basements next to all of their workout gear? Well, don’t throw it away yet because they rock. Just go ahead and try to rollout all of the way on one of those and you are either likely fall and collapse, or you will experience some low back pain. That is because that type of movement really hits those deep abdominals muscles of the anterior (front) core musculature. Most people I work with can’t use the wheel right away; therefore I start them off using a stability ball instead. Anyone of any level can start with a stability ball and experience no low back pain, and increase their anterior core strength. How far you can rollout will just depend on one’s core stability and strength. You can also use an Ab Dolly, dumbbells, a barbell, and a slide board to add variety and progressions.

Include Some Anti-Rotation Exercises in your Workout

The core muscles are stabilizers first. That is why bridges and planks are so crucial for core strength. But, if you look at the anatomy of the core muscles and their actions, about 70 percent or so involve rotating, but not at the expense of rotating at the lumbar spine or lower back. So, you should include ant-rotation exercises where you rotate from the waist up, but not at the lumbar spine. The core musculature is then forced to stabilize against an aggressive or fast rotational force or collision, whether it is in sport or in life. Exercises such as band rotations, medicine ball rotations, and corner barbell rotations are all excellent choices.

Include Multi-joint Lifts in your Strength Training Routine

You will notice that some of the people with the strongest core muscles don’t even do any core work. That is because they are focusing on multi-joint lifts (basically working more than one muscles group at a time), and not single joint lifts (one muscle group at a time such as biceps curl). Some examples of multi-joint lifts are deadlifts, various squats, various lunges, kettlebell exercises such as swings and Turkish Get-ups, Rows, and various medicine ball throws. These types of exercises stimulate a lot of muscles at one time. The core has no choice but to work hard to stabilize the spine as you perform these types of exercises. I like to call these exercises the greatest “bang for your buck” exercises. They are extremely effective, they save time, and yes they are challenging to do.

The next time you are ready to train your “core” keep these five crucial things in mind.

I would like to thank Stuart McGill and Mike Boyle for all of their hard work in research and education.

written by Justin Grinnell