Healthy core with sculpted torso

A flat belly is what most of us desire. Not surprisingly people will do crunches of high repetition for the washboard abs. However, it does not necessarily accompany with a healthy back. Try the approach of core training to tone the abs from inside out will give you healthily sculpted waist.

The core, refering to the torso supporting the movement of arms and legs, includes the muscles of abdomen, back, glutes and upper legs. The superficial, big muscles obviously seen by us connecting to arms and legs. Hidden underneath them are the muscles directly attached to the spine in deeper layers These deep trunk muscles also coined as “built-in weight belt”, stabilize the lumbar spine under dynamic forces. The balance and coordination should be maintained between these outer and inner units to facilitate the spinal stabilization and movement.

Take a look of the golfer in the image below. The trunk rotation is driven by the arms and shoulder complex and power is generated at the hips. The outer core of superficial abdominals muscles (rectus abdominals, external and internal obliques), back muscles and the glutes support the drive of the arms. If the inner core fail to stabilize the spine in good alignment, the shoulder complex would not able to rotate above the pelvis steadily. Not only affects the accuracy of hitting and swing power, but whole body is under the strain of torsion, shear, compression.

golf back swing with arrow

The big outer muscles are responsible for stability and postural control enabling energy transfer from the pelvic through the torso and then radiate to the arms. The healthy inner core promote good breathing pattern support the movement. The core strength come into play as a result of the integration of the core hidden and on the surface. If these big muscles are overtrained with isolated exercises will weaken the balance between the inner and outer core. For instance, if the golfer only train for strong and big arms creating greater force than the spine can be stabilized in neutral position, it put all joints and soft tissues at risk.

The core training is about conditioning the torso in patterns of movement with activation of the spinal stabilizers. Core stability enhance movement and performance. In collaboration of movement training by using movement-based exercises bring the training program as whole. People get fitter and healthier when they can control the force without fears of chronic injury. (Further reading: A step-by-step approach to build strong core)