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YOUR FITNESS COACH
&
The Essence of the CORE
By Willie B. Ray, Personal Trainer,
Art of Strength Kettle Bell Gym
1301 Winchester Road #129
Lexington, KY 40505
Ready for fun in the sun? Fun in the sun
usually means bathing suit weather and
striving for those “six-pack abs”. For many
people they think crunches, crunches, and
more crunches. I believe crunches, sit-ups
and knee raises are only good if you are trying to get your abs in shape for the beach,
but what’s the point of having good looking
abs if they’re not as strong as they look. It’s
like having a Chrysler Magnum that looks
fast, but has a Pinto engine.
Core training goes beyond the regular
crunches, sit-ups, or knee raise. It addresses
all the planes of the body. Many individuals
are not familiar with all of the muscles of
the core region. Having a strong core will
allow an individual to be more functional.
Being functional is being able to move
in all the planes of the body: the sagittal
plane, which is the lengthwise divide of the
left and right sides of the body; the frontal plane, or the invisible line that evenly
divides the front and back parts of the
body; and the transverse plane, which is the
division of the top and bottom halves of the
body.
When you have to perform a difficult
task, the core is not up to standard to meet
the task at hand, which can result in an
injury. One area I like to specialize in is
functional core stabilization, which I will
help educate individuals about these areas
so they are able to perform them on their
own. Core stabilization extends beyond just
simply doing crunches. Examples of core
exercises include a variety of crunches and
sit-ups but also side and front planks, leg
raises, hip circles, various balancing exercises on the stability ball, and more. If you
wish to learn more about these exercises
and others for core stabilization, feel free to
contact me for more information.
The core muscles include the external
and internal obliques, rectus abdominis,
transverses abdominis, iliospoas, quadratus
lumborum and some deeper muscles of
the spine. The rectus abdominis is a long,
flat band of muscle fibers extending vertically between the pubis and the cartilages
of the fifth, sixth, and seventh ribs on
the front part of your trunk. Located on
each side of the rectus abdominis are the
external oblique muscles.
These are the outermost
fibers of the trunk that
run diagonally, forming a “V” shape, similar
to putting your hands
into your coat pocket.
Beneath the external
oblique muscles, running at approximately
right angles to them,
are the internal oblique
muscles which form
an inverted “V” shape.
The deepest layer of
abdominal muscles,
the transversus
abdominis, plays an
important function in
forceful expiration of air from the lungs; as
well as compression of the internal organs.
The iliopsoas muscles consist of the iliacus
muscles, which span from each groin to the
sides of the pelvic cavity. The quadratus
lumborum connects the pelvis to the spine
and is therefore capable of extending the
lower back when contracting bilaterally.
The balance in strength of these muscles
keeps the pelvic region in balance. Of
course, the erector muscles of the back are
very important, too. Much of the imbalance
in the back begins with imbalance in the
pelvic region. Some knee, ankle, shoulder
and neck pain can begin from imbalance in
the pelvic region. Therefore focus on core
stabilization can help ward off injuries to
many other parts of the body.
Most people work their abdominal
muscles and they
do not work their
transverses abdominis. The transversus abdominis
muscle is the major
stabilizer of the
lower back. Many
things we do in our
daily life depend
on this muscle to
stabilize our low
back so we don’t
get injured. When
the tranversus
abdominis muscle
is weak and not performing
the job it was created to do, other muscles
try to do its job. This is one of the big reasons for lower back strain.
Have you been seeing people sitting
on the big balls and standing on balance
boards or discs as they perform exercises?
These are great techniques to strengthen
the core muscles, and it’s a fun way, too. If
you have any questions or wish to receive
a free fitness evaluation and a free training
session, feel free to contact me at 859-2214479 or [email protected].
Yours in Health,
Willie B. Ray
Win a WEEK of
FREE FITNESS
Valid for new clients’ first visit only
www.artofstrengthlexington.com
1301 Winchester Road Suite 129 | Lexington, KY 40505
CALL TO SCHEDULE YOUR SESSION
859-225-3488
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