Comprehensive Core Training
Core training is a huge topic in strength and conditioning and Physical Therapy. We’ve written a couple of articles about specific aspects of core training that set the stage for this article, so check those out here:
Core strength can be trained in a lot of different ways. This article will cover some unique core strengthening variations that you can start including in your training right away. We hope you’ll come away with a lot more knowledge and practical tips about core training.
What Do We Mean By Core Training?
The concept of ”the core" is a construct that is poorly defined and many people use the same term to mean different things. Most people think of your “core” as your abdominals, but it really includes your whole trunk. The “core” of your body.
Some of the best “core exercises” are simply lifting heavy stuff in a variety of ways. Solid, well-rounded strength and conditioning is still the most important thing. With that being said, let’s talk about some of the situations when we like to use more isolated core training.
Core Training In Physical Therapy
There are a couple of main ways we incorporate core training when working with patients.
Core training can improve the capacity of a specific area of the body when pain, injury and/or hesitation are present.
Specific exercises like planks or dead bugs can be very useful to test and improve the tolerance of the abdominal, low back, hip and trunk muscles.
Many people like these kinds of exercises and help them feel more confident and secure when they move. Also, there are times when the strength of trunk muscles seems to be the biggest limiting factor and some isolated work is warranted.
For example, we’ve had patients who have the strength in their legs to squat well, but once they put a barbell on their shoulders they have a hard time. This is a situation when some isolated core and trunk strengthening might be useful.
We also use specific core training:
When a sport or activity heavily uses a specific movement of the trunk
Let’s take golf as an example here. Golf takes a lot of rotation. If someone comes to us with low back pain that is worsened by playing golf, we’re going to look at their ability to resist and create rotation. We don’t think it is rocket science to say that it is important for a golfer to be able to control rotation well. The same can be said for many sports.
How To Train Your Core
We’ve covered some of our favorite anti-extension and anti-rotation exercises in previous articles. Those links are at the beginning and end of this article.
Let’s round out the conversation by talking about anti-side bending and and anti-flexion.
Anti-side bending is a great way to add some variety to your training. It’s important to be able to stabilize side to side because most of the things we do in real life aren’t completely symmetrical. Carrying groceries into the house in one trip (obviously the goal 😉), means you’ll probably have more weight in one hand than the other.
The side plank is probably the most common way to train anti-side bending, but there are a lot of ways to go about this.
Here are some of our favorite ways to train anti-side bending:
Superclams
Suitcase Carry
Waiter’s Carry
Side Plank with Row
The Forgotten Aspect of Core Training
Now that we’ve covered anti-side bending, lets go over a less well-known aspect of core training.
Anti-flexion is often left out of the equation, but resisting spine flexion is just as important as resisting spine extension in life and sport.
Some of our favorite ways to do this are with various types of front loaded carries. Holding the weight in front challenges you to stay upright and trains postural muscles well.
Here are some variations we like:
Kettlebell Front Rack Carry
Sandbag Front Rack Carry
Bear Hug Carry
We also really like front loaded exercises in general to work on this aspect of core strength. A front squat is a prime example.
The Zercher position is also a very challenging way to work in anti-flexion core training. Try these Zercher lunges to see what we mean.
Carries for Core Strength
We’ve talked about suitcase carries, waiter’s carries and front loaded carries already, but don’t forget about the good old farmer’s carry.
Picking up some heavy stuff and walking around with it is a great way to build general core and trunk strength. It’s also a lot of fun to challenge yourself this way.
Well-Rounded Core Training To Prevent Injuries
Don’t forget to check out the other articles I wrote on this topic. They give a pretty comprehensive view on core training and how to implement it in your own routine.
Here are links to part 1 and part 2 of the series again.
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