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A strong core is at the center of body flexibility

Oakland Tribune July 24, 2006 | Paula Hunt, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS NEWS IN THE world of fitness, your core is where it’s at.

A strong and flexible torso benefits everyone from the 20-year- old offensive lineman to the dad lifting groceries out of the trunk of a car to the 70-year-old woman stepping off a curb.

Yet, despite the fact that the core — the term refers to the area from our neck to our hips — is the foundation from which all movement and energy originate, that it supports our spine and forms our center of gravity, we take our core for granted. go to web site lower back exercises

Maybe that’s because core conditioning is about function, such as the ability to get in and out of a car, and not aesthetics, like developing a pair of impressive biceps.

Core conditioning can improve your balance, athletic performance, posture and coordination. It can help you perform the activities of daily living, not to mention help prevent joint and muscle injury.

But don’t be mistaken: Core strength and abdominal strength are NOT the same thing.

Just because you grunt through 500 crunches a day doesn’t necessarily mean you have a strong core — that just means you have strong abdominal muscles.

“The core is often misinterpreted as the abdominals, but that’s just a small piece of the pie,” says Patrick Hagerman, clinical assistant professor of athletic training at the University of Tulsa and author of the “Complete Idiot’s Guide to Core Conditioning” (Alpha, $19.95).

“There are close to 50 muscles. It’s not the big superficial muscles that the core is usually concerned with. It’s the deeper muscles that can’t normally be seen but are the foundation of the larger muscles.” These muscles range from the long erector spinae muscles that support your spine to the small intercostal muscles between your ribs that help you breathe.

One of the reasons so many of us have weak cores is that we tend to exercise those parts of the body that we see — like focusing on the rectus abdominis to get that elusive “six pack.” “The biggest part missing from core training is lower back exercises, which should be in direct proportion to the abdominal exercises,” says Hagerman. website lower back exercises

“If you do 500 crunches, then you should do 500 (exercises) for your lower back. But nobody ever does lower back. Then they wonder why their back is always hurting.” Hagerman suggests that core conditioning should compose about half of a fitness program that includes cardio and aerobic conditioning, weight training and stretching.

Yoga, Pilates and exercises using balance balls are commonly used in core conditioning programs. There’s no prescription for the best exercises to develop your core, says Hagerman. The key is balance.

“Front, back, left, right, top, bottom, rotation to the left, rotation to the right,” says Hagerman. “If you work hip rotation you need to work shoulder rotation.” The concept of core training has been popular in elite sports performance for five or six years, but surprisingly, many athletes overlook it, says Rob Harris, the sports performance director at Velocity Sports Performances.

For older and special populations, it is critical to have a stable core, particularly for the activities of daily living, says Kay Harrel, director of Baptist HealthLink. “If they’re in a wheelchair and they go to reach for something, if their core is strong and stabilized then their arm can move further away from their body without losing their balance,” says Harrel.

Paula Hunt, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS NEWS