The Importance of Training Your Core
by Jennifer Searles NASM CPT
IFBB Figure Professional
Jennifer can be contacted for one-on-one personal training and competition coaching at www.JenniferSearles.com

To many, training the core might seem like a waste of time. Why bother? It doesn’t make you look better, or lose weight, or get stronger or bigger… so one thinks. It absolutely DOES do all of those things. In order to properly maintain muscular balance and movement throughout the kinetic chain, one must have a functionally efficient base from which movement can begin. Without proper balance, exercise technique is compromised, thus hindering the efficacy of the exercises performed.

So what exactly is your core and where is it? While many fitness enthusiasts consider the “abs” the core part of the body, they’re only partially correct. It’s actually much more than that. The core has been defined as the lumbo-pelvic-hip complex (LPHC), and the thoracic and cervical spine. It is where the body’s center of gravity is located and from where all movement originates. Proper recruitment of the muscles in the LPHC enable the entire kinetic chain to function in a neuromuscularly efficient manner, thus ensuring proper deceleration, acceleration and stabilization during movement and exercise, as well as prevent possible injuries.

The core is comprised of two categories of musculature: the stabilization system and the movement system. The stabilization system is responsible for the stability of the LPHC and includes the transverse abdominus, internal obliques, lumbar multifidus, pelvic floor muscles, diaphragm, and transversospinalis. The movement system is responsible for movement of the core and includes the latissimus dorsi, erector spinae, iliopsoas, hamstrings, hip adductors, hip abductors, rectus abdominus, and external obliques. Since the two systems work together synergistically, it’s important to train both and make sure that both systems are equally as strong. Additionally, it’s important to ensure that one trains the core from the inside out. In other words, training the movement system before making sure the stabilization system is ready makes little sense. You wouldn’t want to build a house without a foundation right? The same applies to your core. Strong stabilizers are necessary in order to build and support strong movers. So often you will see someone in the gym doing crunches and training the abdominals, or doing back extensions and training the erectors (both part of the movement systems) but neglecting the deeper muscles of the core (the stabilizers). If a stabilizing system is weak, and the movement system is strong, then the body will sense an imbalance of forces, and will compensate with improper and inefficient movement. This can easily lead to patterns of injury and hamper your progress toward your fitness goals.

So how do you properly train your core then if crunches and back extensions aren’t enough? By simply tweaking a few of the movements that you probably already do and adding a couple of old favorites to your exercise routine. The core stabilization system is primarily made up of slow-twitch, Type I muscle fibers. These are the fibers that respond best to sustained contractions (6-20 seconds) in order to improve motor unit recruitment within the muscle. Therefore, instead of a 4-2-1 tempo as is demonstrated in a traditional crunch, one would hold each contraction for several seconds in order to properly improve intramuscular coordination. After properly training the stabilizing system, the core movement system can do it’s job by working synergistically with the stabilizing system and ensure optimal muscular coordination of the LPHC, which in turn creates balance and efficient movement throughout the entire body.

Following are a series of exercises that I’ve found to be excellent for strengthening the core. Although you’ve probably seen them before, you may not have thought them useful. Until now. I’ve split the exercises into two categories. The first set of exercises is aimed at strengthening the stabilizing system and involves little motion through the spine and pelvis. The second is geared toward strengthening the movement system and involves more dynamic movement through the spine and pelvis. As previously discussed, ensuring the stabilizing system is strong before moving onto the movement system is the course that should be taken. Start by choosing 1-4 of the exercises in the first group. Perform each exercise for 1-3 sets of 10-20 repetitions, holding each repetition for 6-20 seconds. After a few weeks, it’s safe to say that your stabilizers are ready for the exercises in the movement system. Now, you can choose 1-4 exercises in the second group. Perform each exercise for 2-4 sets of 8-12 repetitions, holding each repetition for a count of 6 seconds. After a few weeks of performing movement system exercises, choose a mixture of both and continue to improve your core strength. These exercises should be performed with proper drawing-in maneuver (navel drawn-in to spine) and in a controlled fashion. They should also be performed anywhere from once per week to every workout each week. I find that performing a core workout 1-3 x/week is sufficient for maximum core strengthening.

Stabilizing Exercises**

Floor Bridge-
1. Lie supine on the floor with knees bent, feet flat on the floor and toes shoulder-width apart and pointing straight ahead.
2. Place arms to the side, palms up.
3. Draw abs in and activate glutes.
4. Lift pelvis off the floor until the knees, hips and shoulders are in line.
5. Slowly lower pelvis to the floor.
6. Repeat.
7. To progress, perform as a single-leg exercise.

Ball Bridge-
1. Lie supine on a stability ball (ball between shoulder blades) with hands on hips. Place feet flat on the floor with toes shoulder-width apart and pointing straight ahead. Allow the back to curve over the ball so that glutes are near the floor.
2. Draw abs in and activate glutes.
3. Lift pelvis until knees are bent at a 90-degree angle and the body forms a straight line from shoulders to knees.
4. Slowly lower the pelvis toward the floor.
5. Repeat.

Floor Prone Cobra-
1. Lie prone on the floor with arms in front of the body, palms facing toward ground.
2. Draw abs in, activate glutes, and pinch shoulder blades together.
3. Lift chest off the floor.
4. Hold for 6 seconds.
5. Slowly return body to the ground, keeping chin tucked.
6. Repeat.

Prone Iso-Ab (Plank)-
1. Lie prone on the floor with feet together and forearms on ground. Clench hands into fists and place at shoulder level.
2. Draw abs in and activate glutes.
3. Lift entire body off the ground until it forms a straight-line form head to toe, resting on forearms and toes.
4. Hold for 6 seconds.
5. Slowly return body to ground keeping chin tucked and back flat.
6. Repeat.
7. To regress, perform with knees on the floor, or hands on bench and feet on the floor.

With Hip Extension- Progression of Prone Iso-Ab –
1. Extend right hip by activating glutes and lifting right leg off the ground, putting leg in triple extension (hip and knee extension, ankle dorsiflexion).
2. Hold for 6 seconds.
3. Slowly return body to the ground, keeping chin tucked and back flat.
4. Switch sides and repeat.

With Hip Abduction- Progression of Prone Iso-Ab –
1. Extend right hip by by activating glutes and lifting right leg off the ground, putting leg in triple extension.
2. Abduct hip.
3. Hold for 6 seconds.
4. Slowly adduct hip and return body to the ground, keeping chin tucked and back flat.
5. Switch sides and repeat.

Side-Lying Iso-Ab (Side Plank)–
1. Lie on side with feet and legs stacked on top of each other and forearm on ground.
2. Draw abs in and activate glutes.
3. Lift hips and legs off the ground until the body forms a straight line from head to toe, resting on forearm and feet.
4. Hold for 6 seconds.
5. Slowly lower body to the ground.
6. Switch sides and repeat.

Movement Exercises

Long-lever Floor Crunch-
1. Lie supine on the floor with knees bent, feet flat on floor and toes shoulder-width apart and pointing straight ahead.
2. Place arms straight overhead.
3. Draw abs in and tuck chin.
4. Slowly crunch upper body forward, bringing the lower rib cage toward hips and keeping arms directly overhead.
5. Slowly lower upper body to the floor, maintaining a drawn-in and chin-tucked position.
6. Repeat.

Short-lever Ball Crunch-
1. Lie supine on a stability ball (ball under low back) with knees bent at a 90-degree angle. Place feet flat on floor with toes shoulder-width apart and pointing forward. Allow back to extend over curve of ball. Cross arms across chest.
2. Draw abs in and activate glutes.
3. Slowly crunch upper body forward, raising shoulder blades off the ball and tucking chin to chest.
4. Slowly lower upper body over the ball, maintaining a drawn-in position.
5. Repeat.
6. To progress, perform as a long-lever exercise.

Short-lever Ball Crunch with Rotation-
1. Perform steps 1-3 of short-lever ball crunch.
2. At the top position, rotate trunk to one side.
3. Return trunk to neutral position and slowly lower upper body over the ball, maintaining a drawn-in position.
4. Repeat.
5. To progress, perform as a long-lever exercise.

Ball Cobra-
1. Lie prone on a stability ball (ball under abdomen). Keep feet pointed toward floor, legs straight.
2. Extend arms in front of body.
3. Draw abs in and activate glutes.
4. Bring arms around to the side of the body by pinching shoulder blades back and down.
5. Lift chest off ball, keeping back and neck in proper alignment.
6. Lower chest to ball and return arms to front of body.
7. Repeat.

Reverse Bench Crunch-
1. Lie supine on a bench with hips and knees bent at a 90-degree angle, feet in the air and hands gripping a stable object for support.
2. Draw abs in and activate glutes.
3. Lift hips off the bench while bringing the knees toward the chest.
4. Slowly lower the hips to the bench.
5. Repeat.

Reverse Bench Crunch with Rotation-
1. Perform steps 1-3 of reverse bench crunch.
2. At the end range, rotate hips to one side.
3. Return hips to a neutral position and slowly lower the hips to the bench.
4. Repeat.

Knee-up-
1. Lie supine on a bench with hips bent at a 90-degree angle, legs pointing straight up in the air and hands gripping a stable object for support.
2. Draw abs in and activate glutes.
3. Lift hips off the bench (use abs, not arms) while pressing toes toward the ceiling.
4. Slowly lower hips to the bench.
5. Repeat.

Back Extension-
1. Lie prone on a back extension bench with legs straight and toes shoulder-width apart and pointing straight ahead.
2. Place pads on thighs and cross arms over the chest.
3. Bend forward at waist to end range.
4. Draw abs in, activate glutes, tuck chin and retract shoulder blades.
5. Raise upper body to a neutral position, keeping chin tucked and shoulder blades retracted and depressed.
6. Slowly lower upper body toward the ground to end range.
7. Repeat.

Cable Rotation-
1. Stand with feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly flexed and toes pointing straight ahead.
2. Hold a cable with both hands directly in front of chest, with arms extended and shoulder blades retracted and depressed.
3. Draw abs in, activate glutes and tuck chin.
4. Rotate body away from the weight stack using abdominals and glutes. Allow back foot to pivot and put back leg into triple extension (hips, knee and ankle).
5. Slowly return to start position.
6. Repeat.

Cable Lift-
1. Stand in a semi-squat position with feet shoulder width apart and pointed straight ahead. Lift chest.
2. Hold a cable with both hands at the level of the knee closest to the weight stack with arms fully extended.
3. Draw abs in, activate glutes and tuck chin.
4. Keeping arms extended, lift the cable diagonally and rotate the body using hips, abs and glutes and allowing the back foot to pivot.
5. Lift until the hands reach eye level and the back leg achieves triple extension.
6. Slowly return to start position.
7. Repeat.

Cable Chop-
1. Stand with feet shoulder width apart, pointed straight ahead and arms extended.
2. Hold a cable with both hands at shoulder level.
3. Draw abs in, activate glutes and tuck chin.
4. Keeping arms extended, lower the cable diagonally and rotate the body using hips, abs and glutes and allowing the back foot to pivot.
5. Lower until the hands reach knee level and the back leg achieves triple extension.
6. Slowly return to start position.
7. Repeat.

**All exercises taken from National Academy of Sports Medicine Optimum Performance Training for the Health and Fitness Professional 2nd edition. Calabasas, CA: National Academy of Sports Medicine; 2004.

How I Train My Legs

Legs… A girl’s worst nightmare when it comes to conditioning, size and shape while preparing for a competition. They’re always too small, too big, too soft, too SOMETHING, and never the right anything. I’ve struggled with my lower body for as long as I can remember. My problem has always been too much thickness in my lower body muscle, and not enough conditioning. After trying many different types of training, from jumping up and down from boxes, to lunging my way across the expanse of whatever gym I’m in, I’ve found something that works for me. In the following paragraphs, I’m going to share it with you!

Since I have a good deal of size to my lower body already, I avoid training very heavily in the off-season. My goal is to keep a nice shape to my legs, and not gain any more density or size. In order to achieve this, I train my legs 2x/week, and never go below 15 reps. I perform 3-4 sets of 15-20 reps of each movement, and take 30-60 seconds rest in between. Not only are my muscles burning, but I’m keeping my metabolism and heart rate up, thus creating a perfect fat burning environment. I like to vary the exercises from time to time, maybe including one different movement each week, but find that the basic lower body exercises such as the leg press, squat, and lunge are really the ones that work the best.

Whenever I begin training for my competitive season, I like to include one heavy training day into my routine each week. This helps me to retain my musculature while dieting. When calories are being cut, and cardio is being increased in an effort to shed fat, you also run the risk of shedding muscle at the same time. By increasing your lifting weight, you give your body an environment conducive to holding onto lean mass. During this workout, I perform 10-12 reps for 3 sets of each exercise. The second leg workout of the week is a lighter, higher rep workout. In this workout I do the same exercises as the heavy day, but I lessen the weight to a degree that allows me to perform 20-25 repetitions. I find that by keeping one high rep workout per week, I’m able to retain a longer more streamlined shape to my legs. When I train heavily too often, my legs and glutes become very thick. The workout shown here is the exact routine I use when preparing during my competitive season. It’s basic, but it works!

Some things to remember when training your legs (or any body part) are to keep your focus on the muscles that you’re targeting. It’s very easy to have another body part take up the slack when the primary muscle being worked fatigues. Also, diet is a huge part of what makes our lower half shine. Women tend to hold onto a great deal of body fat in the hips and thighs as a result of our naturally higher levels of estrogen. It’s very important to make sure we aren’t taking in more calories than we are able to burn in a day. Small meals every few hours with the proper ratios of macronutrients will keep the metabolism high, and will provide the necessary fuel needed to make our bodies run efficiently and keep the fat at bay. Lastly, cardio is a key factor in keeping fat levels low. Every body is different, and requires different amounts of cardiovascular exercise. Find what works and stick to it. I am very cardio dependent and do 60 minutes per day in order to maintain a lean physique (more when I’m in show mode!) Remember to eat clean and train hard, and the luscious legs you’ve longed for will be yours!