Core Training

Everything you know about core training is wrong, so says Mike Robertson, writing for T-Nation. He's a pretty smart guy, so I read the article. And I agree, it matches some research I've seen popping up here and there. Give it a read and see if it makes sense to you, too.

Here is a taste:

Let's start off with a quote from Shirley Sahrmann regarding the role of the abdominal muscles:

"The most important aspect of abdominal muscle performance is obtaining the control that is necessary to:
(1) appropriately stabilize the spine,
(2) maintain optimal alignment and movement relationships between the pelvis and spine, and
(3) prevent excessive stress and compensatory motions of the pelvis during movements of the extremities."
~ Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes, p. 69.

What Ms. Sahrmann is getting at here is when you have the right amount of abdominal or core strength, not only do you stabilize the spine optimally, but you can carry this optimal relationship over to movement (squatting, deadlifting, lunging, etc.).

While it's obvious that very few of us have an optimal relationship at rest, this is magnified more so when we're asked to perform complex or heavily weighted movements (such as squatting, deadlifting, lunging, etc.). Think about it, if you're in poor alignment when you're just standing around, how bad is it going to be when you're trying to move heavy iron?

So what happens when we have weakness of the core? I'll let Porterfield and DeRosa explain:

"Weakness of the abdominal wall results in an increase in the anterior rotary motion of the pelvis (anterior pelvic tilt). The motion increases extension and compressive loading of the lumbar facets."
~ Mechanical Low Back Pain, p. 137.

If we're looking solely at the spine, the anterior pelvic tilt produced can increase low back pain, but what else can it do? This anterior pelvic tilt puts increased stress on the anterior joint line of the knee, and also puts the hamstring in a position of constant stretch, leaving it open to strains as well.

The article has some Flash videos in it, so you'll to download a Flash Player if you don't already have one installed.


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