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Inner Core - Reduce Pain & Improve Performance
Six-pack abs do not mean that you have good stabilizing technique or a ‘functional core’. They simply mean that you have trained the outer musculature and it holds tone. The inner core covers all the muscles in the abdominal area that are responsible for functional strength and stabilizing.
Follow these simple steps to build strength and stability in your pelvis from the base up.
1. Breathe Properly
Many of us have poor breathing patterns that we aren’t even aware of. It’s important to make sure you are breathing correctly. Did you know your breathing is a great indicator of how well your core muscles work?
Let’s check your breathing right now with a simple exercise.
Correct Breathing Exercise
While sitting or lying down place one hand over your chest and the other hand over your belly. Take a deep breath in. If you felt your top hand primarily rise, this indicates a shallow breathing pattern (upper chest breather). This is a possible indicator that your diaphragmatic muscles may not be actively stabilizing your torso as they should. Instead, your lower hand should rise and fall evenly as well as your rib cage expand to the sides and into the floor.
Practice:
2-3 times per day for 2 minutes.
Now that you are working on your diaphragmatic breathing, let’s create a mind-body connection to those deep core muscles. Did you know proper breathing improves pelvic stability, posture, and athletic performance?
Core Set Exercise:
Take a deep belly-breath in. As you exhale, think of gently turning on your pelvic floor muscles. For women this is often cued as stopping the flow of urine (kegels). For men, think of walking into cold water up to your hips. It’s like gently drawing everything up inside of you.
Do this slowly so you don’t brace. Essentially, it should feel like you have pulled a piece of saran wrap across your lower belly from hip to hip. It is only about a 15% contraction and you should be able to breath comfortably once it is set.
- No bracing through your rib cage
- No change to your pelvic position (no pulling your bum under or flattening back)
- No holding your breath
Notice that your tummy feels flatter and tighter?
Practice:
2-3 times per day for 2 minutes.
3. Test Your Core
Now that you are more connected to your core, it's time to really activate your core muscles.
Core Test Exercise:
Lie on the floor face up, knees bent, and feet together. Place your fingers on your hip bones. Take a deep breath in and slowly set your core (see ‘activate your core’ above). Think of turning all your other muscles off first, then lift one heel and extremely slowly float or levitate that foot off the floor. (I use the word 'levitate' as ‘lift’ seems to make everyone brace like their foot is super heavy and needs major brace to help stabilize).
There is no need to lift the foot high. The moment that it leaves the floor, there should be absolutely no movement in your hips. Just pure stabilizing with your core...and remember, you are still breathing comfortably!
Remember your saran wrap from the core set? Keep that taught. Slowly lower your foot still maintaining no movement in the hips. Reset your core if you need to, and try the other side. This is the part where it will help you greatly to connect your mind to your body and visualize the saran wrap across your hips (flat and tight tummy).
Things to make sure of:
- No side to side or up and down movement of your hips
- No bearing rib cage down into floor
- No breath holding or back flattening
- No belly ‘mountain’ forming inside your hips
You may find lifting one foot is easier than the other. That is quite common. Our bodies use cross-patterns to stabilize, so when we lift the left leg, the right side has to stabilize that movement and vice versa.
We often have dominant patterns in our daily lives that make one side stronger than the other. If that is the case, start and end the exercise with the weaker side, bringing it up to par with the dominant side.
Practice:
2-3 times per day for 2 minutes.
Practice, Practice, Practice
You need to learn to walk before you can run. If you can’t stabilize through this movement, you won’t likely stabilize properly in a standing position let alone a challenging exercise. Remember that the mind-body connection is important. Once you get it, your core should be firing subconsciously and you will be well on your way to a flatter tummy and functional pelvis! Practice makes perfect.
You can always work on getting these exercises a little tighter and there are many progressions
that I can teach you to keep it interesting. Nail these exercises and I guarantee you will be sure to see improved performance and less injuries.
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or if you are interested in Online Training
or 1-on-1 Training, I would love to connect!
Dawn Joseph
is a Kinesiologist, Core Specialist and ICBC vendor. She focusses on re-patterning the core muscles to reduce pain and improve performance. She loves kiteboarding, travel and family time.
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