Life in the 21st century is busy. Between work deadlines, traffic, taking the kids to their various activities, keeping the house from falling apart, and, of course, our constant accessibility to the immediate needs of other people (thank you, smartphone for that 8 pm work email), it can feel like life has gotten out of your control.

This is why routines are essential for mental and physical well-being. They offer control, peace, and the ability to define what is important. By using routines, you are able to show up at the same time each day to honor that part of yourself.

In this modern day, lives are revved into a sedentary overdrive. Our frenetic pace occurs within an environment of previously unimaginable luxury, and it is killing us. Absent of a need to ensure our own survival, the greatest threat to our own health becomes lack of movement, poor nutrition, and, paradoxically, stress. Millions of hard-working people having no concept of how to take care of themselves. They arrive at home exhausted from a hard day’s work and, understandably, opt for the couch.

3 Minutes to Better Health

Having witnessed this pattern in many good people, I’ve developed a fascination with finding ways to exercise inside the constraints of modern life. Ideally, daily life would be your exercise. That isn’t our world. Whether you’re a new parent or strapped to a cubicle, there is always a way.

Of all the methods I’ve come across for fitting in fitness, none are as convenient and easily applied as Bruce Lee’s morning static contraction circuit, detailed in John Little’s book The Warrior Within. Upon waking each day (this is important because it offers a consistent cue) he’d do the following routine:

• 5 Full Body Stretches: Lying on your back extend your arms and legs as far you can as if your reaching both to the opposite wall. Hold for three seconds, relax for two, and repeat.
• 5 Back Arches: Sit with your hamstrings on the back of your calves. Leaning back, slowly push your hips toward the ceiling as your glutes contract. Hold each arch for three seconds, relax for two, and repeat.
• 12 Leg Tenses: Slowly extend your legs as far as you can and violently contract the muscles of your thigh. Hold for 3 seconds. Rest and repeat.
• 10 Abdominal Tenses: Maximally contract your abdominals (may resemble using the restroom). Hold each contraction for three seconds, relax for two, and repeat.
• 5 Sit Ups to Toes: Lie back on your mattress with your arms overhead. Slowly raise up and reach all the way to your toes. Return to the lying position and repeat.
• 5 Bent Leg Raises: Lie back on your mattress with your arms overhead. Slowly bend your knees towards your chest, pausing once they’ve been pulled back as far as they can go. Return your legs, and repeat.

Because each is held for seconds, I recommend integrating your rep count into the second count for each rep. For example, my leg tenses would be counted as:

• 1-2-3
• 2-2-3
• 3-2-3
• 4-2-3
• 5-2-3
• Etcetera

Bruce Lee believed the most important thing was to train his core because it transferred energy through the entire body. Tim Anderson of Original Strength has echoed this sentiment, referring to the body as an “X” and pointing out how the core is the centerpiece that unites all appendages. This routine is perfect for creating a strong united “X.” All of the exercises should create tension through the entire body working from the core out.

Take a Dose of Fitness

Three minutes of static isometric contractions may not be enough to turn you into Bruce Lee. He complimented this daily routine with a diet of resistance training, running, and, of course, martial arts.

Still, this daily discipline is a convenient effective way to build greater strength, muscular control, and mind-body awareness. For the ardent exerciser, it shores up weaknesses and builds resiliency. For the sedentary, it offers an essential dose of fitness and reconnection to the vessel in which you reside.

Imagine if you did this routine three times a day. In effect that would be three sets of all the exercises. That is a workout. Pavel Tsatsouline has popularized this style of daily exercise. He calls it Grease the Groove Training and has repeatedly proven its utility for creating tremendous improvements in physical fitness.

Static contractions are a portable method of muscle training that has been around for decades. The legendary Charles Atlas even developed a system called “dynamic tension” that worked by pushing muscle against muscle. By fighting yourself, max effort sets are always available to you.

Similarly, many hotel-bound fitness enthusiasts have discovered the power of trying to move immovable objects. The point is simple: fitness is essential and we can all fit it in if we allow ourselves to creatively innovate, adapt, and overcome.

The post Bruce Lee’s 3-Minute Workout appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

A strong core will help you look better and improve your performance in fitness, sports and life. A good abdominal or core program is a lot more than crunches. A great deal of your core work should be isometric exercises like plank variations, quadruped position movements, rotational and anti-rotational exercises.

These dynamic variations will strengthen and target your core from all angles and will also improve your core stability to help you look better and maximize your overall results. The exercises require minimal to no equipment so you can add these often into your regimen.

Single Arm Bear Position Hold

• Start in a quadruped position with your arms directly underneath your shoulders and knees under your hips.
• Brace your core and raise your knees off the ground.
• Keep your back flat with a neutral neck.
• Your knees should be about 2-4 inches off the floor
• Raise and extend one arm to the side, keep your hips square, and core engaged. Think belly button to spine.
• Hold for 20-30 seconds. Then repeat on the other side.

Plank Hold with Dumbbell Push + Pull

• Start in a standard Plank Position with your legs a bit wider.
• Tuck your pelvis and squeeze your Glutes.
• Push a dumbbell and pull back to starting position for the recommended repetitions.
• Keep a neutral spine and your core and Glutes engaged the entire time.
• Do your best to avoid rocking your hips side to side.
• Rest as needed and repeat on the other side.

Kneeling Lo-Hi Chops

• Get in a kneeling position, so your knees are in line with your hips.
• Make sure your body is level and is not leaning backward.
• Hold a dumbbell by the horns.
• Take a deep breath. Brace your core and squeeze your glutes.
• Perform a diagonal chopping movement with the weight.
• Keep your arms relatively relaxed so they do not dominate the exercise.
• Keep your shoulder blades drawn together and down. Do not allow your shoulders to round or shrug.
• Reset before each rep.
• Once you have finished chopping in one direction, repeat in the opposite direction.

Double Arm Press Dead Bug

• Lie on your back as you hold a dumbbell in each hand.
• Press the weights and extend your arms
• Bend your hips and knees to a 90-degree angle.
• Tighten your abs and press your lower back onto the floor.
• Take a deep inhale.
• As you exhale, slowly extend your left leg toward the floor.
• Keep your abs tight and do not arch your lower back.
• Slowly return your leg back to the starting position and continue alternating sides.
• Keep your arms extended throughout each repetition.

See more fun workouts and simple exercises to do when stuck at home.

The post 4 Core Strengthening Exercises You Can Do Anywhere appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I’ve crafted this 3-phase workout around movements and positions that demand strong core engagement. You will need to stabilize through uneven loading and unilateral movements. This places a heavy demand on your core. Follow along for a quick, full-body workout that you can do from anywhere that is sure to get your core working.

Equipment Needed:

• Floor space – enough to bear crawl, if not march in place
• Double KB – for front rack, press, row

Time Needed: 25 – 30 min depending on rest and warm up

Phase 1 (5 min)

2 rounds:

• 10 prone plank march (5/arm)
• 10 side plank lift each side

Phase 2 (10 min)

3 rounds:

• 20 bear crawl steps (10 forward, 10 back)
• 10 hollow body rocks
• 10 KB good mornings

Phase 3 (10 min)

3 rounds:

• 16 double KB front rack reverse lunge (8/side)
• 16 alternating KB press (8/arm)
• 16 alternating bent row (8/arm)

The post No Crunches Please: A 3 Phase Core Workout appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Today’s topic inspiration: Coaches, what are your preferred methods for training the core for performance both on the field of play and in the weight room?

Antonio Squillante

“Core training” can sometimes be a misleading term. Training the core – the musculature of the abdominal corset, the system of muscles surrounding and supporting the lumbar spine – means training specific movement patterns such as rotation, flexion, and extension in the effort to create stability in the spine while the upper and lower extremity generate power.

The midsection represents the crossroad of a complicated system of forces – ground reaction force acting from the ground up and gravity acting from the top down- interacting in a very dynamic way with the muscle-skeleton system in the effort to create movement.

The “core” works in synergy with the prime movers of the hip and shoulder girdle to create unilateral and bilateral movement pattern, ipsilateral and contralateral muscle actions supporting the movement of the limbs (the “structural” role of the core) or transferring force along different kinetic chains (the “functional” role of the core) ultimately creating a solid, efficient system.

The glenohumeral joint and the coxo-femoral joint, the direct link between the axial and the appendicular skeleton are, as a matter of fact, free to move in any direction creating complex movements in the sagittal plan, the transversal plan and the horizontal plan.

Each muscle surrounding this joints has a proximal and a distal insertion: the first creates a point of support for the second to move, as the muscle shortens to create tension. The midsection is the “active” link that creates support at the proximal level for the limbs to move efficiently. This means that training the core is training complex movement patterns in such a way that primer movers work in synchrony with the mid section – the rectus abdominis, erector spinae, internal and external oblique, transverse abdominis, and multifidi –  in order to create efficient movement.

What is efficient then? Efficient is moving without “leaks,” without wasting energy along the kinetic chains working together to articulate movements. A strong core provides a solid support for muscles to contract; a solid core also provides optimal alignment between upper and lower extremity creating mechanical efficiency.

So, what is, then, core training? Core training, in my opinion, is training movements to improve efficiency. It is motor control that provides quality in the execution of different motor patterns: if an athlete is training to get stronger, well then his/her midsection will get stronger as well. The same is true for local endurance. Core training is, therefore, a consequence of biomechanically-sound exercise; the need of isolating the midsection arises only in case of major muscular imbalances or deficit in neuromuscular control.

Giulio Palau

Using the breath to create tension is an easy way to activate your core, a lot easier than consciously trying to contract your core musculature. I like to create pressure in the torso by taking a deep breath before an exertion, and forcefully exhaling a small amount of air from the mouth in a pressurized “hiss”.

In between reps it can be hard to inhale deeply without losing tension, so try to “sip” air in small and sharp inhales. The key is to learn how to create tension both while breathing air in and letting it out. A good way of learning this is by holding a kettlebell by the horns and pressing the bottom of the bell into your stomach.

From this position, exert pressure against the bottom of the bell with your torso by taking a sharp “sip” of air through your nose. Now perform a hip hinge while continuing to press the bell into your stomach and maintaining stiffness in the torso.

Exhale air forcefully from the mouth as you stand up powerfully, letting out a sharp “hissing” sound. This teaches you to use the breath to maintain a stable torso while moving through a full range of motion at the hips.

This is a crucial lesson in allowing for the safe and efficient transfer of forces from the hips, into the ground, and through the torso. If you want to develop power and athleticism, you’ll need to know how to do this effectively.

That being said, it’s equally important to learn how to maintain core stiffness independent of what the breath is doing. This can be a little tricky. My go-to here is to exhaust myself with a dynamic drill like a plyometric or power routine to the point of being completely out of breath. I then immediately drop into some variation of a plank. Assuming you maintain proper form in the stabilization exercise, you will maintain stiffness in the torso while you catch your breath, letting your diaphragm move freely as you stabilize.

Remember that your core is designed for endurance and it needs to be trained often. Always be mindful of engaging your stabilizers during any given exercise. Make every exercise a core exercise.

Ted Sloan

When referring to “core” training, lots of things must be taken into consideration. I consider all of the components that contribute to protecting the spine, a part of the core (spinal column, latissimus dorsii, gluteal complex, and the multitude of abdominal muscles).

I believe that it is important to create a base of core strength and familiarity through integration with the core muscles.

I initiate training with isometric exercises such as planks, side-planks, and Tall Kneeling Pallof holds, each targeting the core musculature through different ranges of motion; anti-anterior/posterior flexion, anti-lateral flexion, and anti-rotation.

Once this base is established, I progress each movement into a dynamic variation in order to teach stability through movement. Variations such as body saws, ab rollouts, farmers walks, suitcase carries, rack carries, Pallof holds with lateral steps and bounds, partner ball wrestling are all great.

The post Preferred Expert Methods for Training the Core appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

You would think every exercise that could be done to strengthen the core has already been done. Since Charles Atlas first advertised his bodybuilding programs in the 1970s and 1980s, training the midsection has become one of the biggest areas of fitness, right alongside arm training.

Back then, not getting sand kicked in your face was the emotional tug used to convince people to buy fitness programs. These days, the tug seems to be closely tied to social media. Photographs of chiseled abs and sculpted trunks are posted to harness short-term likes, retweets, and hearts. Hopefully, social media attention will eventually translate to YouTube views and advertising revenue.

These misguided attempts at gaining long-term followers may have a legitimate basis. We know the core looks great when there’s proportion. Mini-waists have had their turn. Bloated mid-sections appeal to the hedonists, who love their food and drink a little (or a lot) more than they love exploration of the “moving arts.”

So, what could be done differently? The current appeal is right on the money – thick, powerful cores built for show and go. That means muscle development and body fat reduction. Nothing covers those two more than exercises driven by both arms and legs. This year is about combinations. The core is involved in everything, so it makes sense to know how to get it involved in a variety of exercises for maximum benefit. Here are five of those exercises.

5 Cutting-Edge Core Combinations: Groundwork on Hands and Feet

Eminent clinicians and strength coaches Dr. Mark Cheng and Dr. Jimmy Yuan recently produced groundwork progressions for prehab and rehab. These progressions dial the right numbers when it comes to safely bringing arms and legs into specific injury-prevention core exercises.

Combining these great exercises with other ground-based workouts like Animal Flow ticks the boxes for injury prevention, dynamic strength, mobility with stability, and aerobic conditioning. Doctor Cheng says, “If you don’t own it, you’re correcting. If you own the movement, you can condition.” The combination of these programs is game changing – think push ups meets crawling meets wrestling with the earth.

When the Chinese women’s volleyball team wanted an abdominal workout to supplement their performance training, I included this at the heart of a brutal twelve-minute workout. This stoic group of highly trained athletes, who never complained during their grueling seven-hour training days, let out all sorts of groans, huffs, and puffs, patting their stomachs like a tap out.

Combine groundwork with workouts like Animal Flow for injury prevention, dynamic strength, and mobility with stability.

5 Cutting-Edge Core Combinations: Tall Kneeling Rotations With Load

The tall kneeling position is simply kneeling down with an upright trunk. Being in the tall kneeling position places the hip joints in extension – a rarely used posture that counteracts the sitting epidemic of our current lifestyle. It also replicates the start and finish position of squatting and jumping.

In this position, you can fall either forwards or backwards. That means muscle activation has to stop you from falling from the knees to neck, as well as in front and behind the hips, spine, and shoulders. This low-level reflexive stability is at the essence of core stability exercise.

When you add deep breathing exercises and rotation of the eyes, head, neck, and trunk, the brain and central nervous system light up like a New Year’s Eve fireworks display. There are so many benefits to this movement that teaching and cueing it will fill an entire workout.

Left: When you add rotation, the CNS lights up; Right: A kettlbell plus rotation gets deep into reflexive stability.

When you hold a kettlebell in front of or behind you, you tap into a further supply of muscle activity that was previously asleep. Add in rotation, and you get even deeper into the reflexive stability of the deeper core. That means you switch on a deep-seated metabolism. Watch the sweat pour out when the core furnace is turned on.

These exercises are best suited for warm ups, in between heavy lifts, and as an additional corrective or conditioning exercise when fatigued from the main training workout.

5 Cutting-Edge Core Combinations: Split Kneeling Rotations With Load

Shifting from tall kneeling to half or split kneeling challenges stability in the lateral direction, bringing the inner thigh, pelvic floor, and lateral hips more into the picture. Loading the movement with a kettlebell in one hand causes a disturbance to the trunk position, so the amount of muscle activity skyrockets in order to constantly adjust the vertical position.

Holding a kettlebell in one hand causes the muscle activity to skyrocket.

5 Cutting-Edge Core Combinations: Single Leg One-Arm Lifts

The natural progression in difficulty from split or half kneeling is to reintroduce the knee, ankle, and foot to the challenge, then remove one leg from the support. The kettlebell, being a distance from the axis of rotation (the hip), demands exceptional core control against rotation and flexion. That means the obliques, back muscles, lateral buttocks, hamstrings, and even inner thighs all work together with the pelvic floor, diaphragm, shoulder stabilisers, neck muscles, and feet. You name it, it’s involved. It’s a core party, and everyone’s invited.

Single leg one-arm lifts demand exceptional core control against rotation and flexion.

5 Cutting-Edge Core Combinations: The Turkish Get Up

The greatest quality of the Turkish get up is it is a self-coaching exercise. It says to you, “Lay down, hold this weight above your head, get yourself off the floor until you’re standing up, still holding it above your head. Now reverse it. Don’t drop the weight.” There are optimal ways to do it, but there are also many variations. No single repetition is perfect, and that is where the money is. If you’re not shaking, you’re not learning.

From a professional coaching and clinical point of view, there are screening elements within the Turkish get up that tell a coach how to add squatting, deadlifting, pressing, and all overhead work into a training program. If you’re a swimmer, there are elements that show your weak links in the pool, or on the road if you’re a runner. Combine that with eye and neck movement, bearing weight through the hand, ground working from the bridge, to split kneeling then standing up in a lunge, and you could have the greatest exercise to go missing for 300 years.

The greatest exercise to go missing for 300 years.

How to Bulletproof Your Workout

If you think the Pilates revolution is the fix-all for core stability, you’re playing right into the hands of countless health clinics who know you’re a sucker.

Abdominal exercises that are done on the floor use the ground to provide stability. If you’re laying on the ground and not rolling around with purpose to restore rolling patterns, you’re not getting the most from your groundwork.

If you’re low on time and want to add some bulletproofing to your workout, you should emphasise the tall kneeling and split kneeling positions due to their ability to stress or recruit the smaller stabilising core muscles. In contrast to standing core exercises, tall kneeling and split (or half) kneeling offer narrowed bases of support. This adds a challenge because the knee, ankle, and foot are unable to provide stability. Combining these narrow bases with loads and movement of the trunk and arms will magnify any core stability problems.

Improvements in timing of muscle activity and control of the spine will warm the hearts of rehabilitation professionals who like to see the core involved in injury prevention. Injury prevention means less trips to the clinic, and that’s money in your pocket, in every sense.

More Like This:

• Do You Know What Your Core Really Is and What it Does?
• At the Core of It: Creating Strength and Tension in the Body
• Everything Is Connected: Fix Weak Links to Prevent Injury
• What’s New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photos and collages 1-4 courtesy of Greg Dea.

Photo 5 courtesy of Andrew Read.

The post 5 Cutting-Edge Core Training Progressions appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

So, that’s all great and you want to start working on your core strength – but you have no idea where to start and you’re not exactly sure what the “core” really means.

What Is the Core?

The “core” is a term used to describe just about everything on your body that isn’t your legs and arms. This means you can think of your glutes, hips, abdominal muscles, inner abdominal muscles, pelvic floor, and scapula as your core. Your core is where your power is generated in order to carry out any movement. While abdominal and inner abdominal muscles do play a large roll in core stability, they don’t make up the core all by themselves.

The core is made up of much more than the abdominal muscles. It includes the muscles of the glutes, hips, pelvic floor, and scapula.

A mistake many people make is to think of their core as only being their abs, and because of this they go about training their core in many ineffective ways. Traditional ab exercises like crunches and sit ups are often used in hopes of achieving a stronger core and more defined abdominals, but this is a terrible method. Not only does performing endless crunches and sit ups not strengthen your core or give you more defined abs, it can be hazardous to your spine.

“The crunching movement is a secondary function and one that’s not meant to be done at high volume due to the stress it puts on the discs of your spine.”

Furthermore, crunches don’t work your abs in the way these muscles were designed to perform. The main function of the abdominals is to support the spine and prevent it from spinning all the way around, breaking over backward, or flexing to the side. The crunching movement is a secondary function and one that’s not meant to be done at high volume due to the stress it puts on the discs of your spine.

In order to train the core effectively, we need to train all the muscles involved, starting slowly and building a foundation. These muscles need to work together as a team. Think of developing your core stability as pouring the concrete base for your home. This base provides structure and safety. It also cannot be rushed or overlooked. You wouldn’t build a home on soggy ground because your house would sink or fall apart. The same can be said for your body when it comes to developing your core.

5 Core and Abdominal Exercises for the Beginner

Most people are familiar with basic core exercises such as planks or side planks. While those are two excellent core exercises, I want to discuss a few under-used movements that go a long way in developing core strength and function. While they may seem gentle or simple, the importance of each of these exercises can’t be overstated for the beginner.

Watch the video for demonstrations of all five exercises listed below.

1. Tummy Vacuums

These are a simple, yet powerful core-conditioning exercise. They’re essential for anyone first starting out, especially for women who have had children, people who haven’t been active, or for those who sit for long periods of time.

“Regardless of which category you fall under, reestablishing TVA function is a must. For the beginner, tummy vacuums are one of the best ways to get it functioning again.”

Tummy vacuums help recondition the TVA (transverse abdominals) to brace the spine during movement. Basically, your TVA is an internal “weight belt” that needs to engage when you attempt to move or lift anything. When you’ve been inactive or pregnant, your TVA might not be functioning well or even be functioning at all. If you sit for long periods of time or don’t exercise, your TVA can become dormant and the body can forget how to engage it during activity.

Regardless of which category you fall under, reestablishing TVA function is a must. For the beginner, tummy vacuums are one of the best ways to get it functioning again.

2. Clam Shells

The strongest muscles on your body are your glutes – that’s your butt muscles. When they’re working they way they should, they’re a powerhouse team that help stabilize and put driving power into just about any athletic movement. When they’re not functioning well, it’s a recipe for weakness, back pain, and muscle imbalance.

Most beginning trainees have glutes that are not engaging to their fullest. For some people, the glutes might not be working well, for others their glutes might not be engaging at all. When this happens, your hip flexors take over, hamstrings become tight, and there’s a lot of pressure put onto the lower back. This makes just about any lower body exercise difficult, and it can further the problem of weak glutes rather than make it better.

This is where clam shells come into play. They’re a simple exercise that yield big results in getting the glutes activated again.

3. Dead Bugs

Another excellent core strength and trunk stabilizing exercise. Not only do they improve core conditioning, they also help build stability in the hips and trunk. Dead bugs can also help prepare people for crawling exercises. They build the coordination necessary for any cross crawling activity because they essentially mimics the hand and leg movement, only performed on your back rather than your hands and feet.

4. Band Anti-Rotation

Your abdominal muscles have three main functions: anti-rotation, anti-extension, and anti-lateral flexion. Most people include exercises that challenge anti-extension and anti-lateral flexion, like planks and side planks. What most people leave out is some kind of anti-rotation.

“Your abs need to be strong in all of their functions, and anti-rotation is no exception.”

That’s why I’m a big fan of resistance band anti-rotations. They’re simple, effective, and can be done at home or the gym. If you don’t have a resistance band, or want to up the difficulty, you could also use a cable machine. Your abs need to be strong in all of their functions, and anti-rotation is no exception.

5. Bird Dog

This is an excellent exercise for improving core stability because it hits multiple functions at once. The Bird Dog works both anti-extension and anti-rotation, improves coordination, and puts the glutes and shoulders to work. You can think of this exercise as a plank-superman hybrid. And much like the dead bug, it’s a great exercise to help prepare for cross-crawl exercises. If you’re looking for an exercise that delivers a lot of bang for your buck, this one just might be it.

Bird dog is an excellent exercise to improve stability and prepare for cross-crawling movements.

Putting It Together

Now that you have these great core exercises, where do you start? Well, I’ve put together a core-specific workout for you. You can use this at the end of your regular workout as a finisher, at the beginning as part of your warm up, or on its own as a separate gentle workout.

Perform each exercise back to back for the prescribed time and reps:

1. Bird Dog – 10-second holds, 8 reps per side
2. Band Anti Rotation – 10-second holds, 8 reps per side
3. Dead Bugs – 8 reps per side, alternating sides each rep
4. Clam Shell – 10-second holds, 10 reps per side
5. Tummy Vacuums – 5-second holds, 8 reps

If you’re performing this as a stand-alone workout, you can rest for one minute after you’ve worked through the list and then repeat the exercises two more times for a total of three circuits.

If you’re performing it as a warm up or at the end of your workout, then one circuit will do just fine, but feel free to do two or three circuits if you feel the need.

Lay a Strong Foundation

Training your core doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does have to be well rounded. Try adding these exercises or the workout above into your training routine and enjoy the rewards.

Remember, take it slow and you’ll lay the foundation for effective movement for life.

More Like This:

• 4 Out-of-the-Box Ways to Train Your Core
• No More Bicycle Crunches: 5 Smart Exercises to Work Your Core
• Training the Core: 4 Exercises That Take It to the Next Level
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post 5 Fundamental Core and Abdominal Exercises for Beginners appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I consider the hula hoop to be a simple activity device, but can it be used as a viable means of exercise? Strangely enough, I am not the first person to ask this question.

What Science Says About Hula Hoops

Core endurance training ideas and inventions are continually being created. But do they work? Some do and some don’t. That’s where the researchers enter. Their task is to study the mechanism of action and evaluate their potential as a training tool. So Dr. Stuart McGill led a study to determine if a weighted hula-hoop training program improved core muscular endurance and measures of body composition.

A standard dance and performance hoop ranges from 32 to 40 inches in diameter and weighs between .75 to 1.5 pounds. The hoop used in this study was 40 inches in diameter and 3.75 pounds.

Eighteen women with an average age, height, and weight of 47, 5’-5”/166 cm, and 167 lb./75.7 kg. were used as subjects. The following measurements were obtained:

• Hip and waist circumference (in centimeters)
• Body weight (in kilograms)
• Height (in centimeters)
• Total sum of skin folds (in millimeters) at the triceps, biceps, subscapular, iliac crests, and middle calf
• Torso muscular endurance was measured (in seconds) on the static-hold V-sit, front plank, right and left side plank, and back extension

The length of the test was six weeks. Five workout sessions were performed each week consisting of one group class and four at-home sessions. The group class protocol used a hooping time progression beginning from 2:00 on the first day and working up to 15:00 on all five days during weeks three to six.

The at-home sessions were 25:00 in length, broken down into seven segments. Segment one was a dynamic warm up, followed by five varied-time segments of hooping only or hooping combined with other exercises. The last segment was a cool down using static stretches.

Participants were instructed to maintain all other habits and behaviors outside of the hooping sessions and other routine training during the study. This was done to assure any changes in measured variables would be a direct result of the weighted hoop-training program.

Results

The researchers hypothesized the hula-hoop program would improve core endurance and decrease core body fat and waist-to-hip girth ratio. The results both proved and disproved the hypotheses.

Supporting data:

• Waist circumference decreased 3.4 cm – from 93.9 to 90.5 cm
• Hip circumference decreased 1.3 cm – from 105.1 to 103.8 cm
• Waist-to-hip ratio decreased 2cm – from 89.3 to 87.3 cm

Refuting data:

• The sum of the five skin fold pinches increased from a pre-training mean score of 125.87 mm to a post-training mean of 136.42mm.
• There were no significant changes in isometric endurance.
• The total of all pre-training endurance times had a mean of 442 seconds and showed no significant statistical change as compared to the post-training mean of 428.17 seconds.

Conclusion

So, can you hula hoop your way to a better core? Is it deceiving because while the hoop rotates around the core, in reality the actions of hula hooping are ankle-knee-hip generated?

This study suggests a six-week program of weighted hula hooping correlated with decreased waist and hip girth combined with a relocation of body mass. But there were no improvements in core muscular endurance as calculated by isometric testing.

If you’re seeking a better core, my advice is to focus on time-proven core-strengthening exercises and a proper diet. If you want a new recreational pursuit, get yourself a hula hoop and impress your friends.

You’ll Also Enjoy:

• Breaking Down the Fitness Fads of 2014
• The Top 5 Stupidest Fitness Ideas in the History of the Universe
• Do You Know What Your Core Really Is and What It Does?
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

References:

1. Stuart M. McGill, et al. “A Six-Week Trial of Hula Hooping Using a Weighted Hoop: Effects on Skin fold, Girths, Weight, and Torso Muscle Endurance.” Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 29 (2015): 5, pp. 1279-1284.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Can You Hula Hoop Your Way to a Better Core? appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Despite what late night TV promotions will tell you, the core is made up of so many muscles that listing them all, as well as their functions, would take up most of my word count. The core is not just the four major muscles making up the abdominal group – rectus abdominus, internal and external oblique, and transverse abdominus.

To understand what constitutes a muscle of the core I have one simple test – does it help me to keep my spine in neutral? Dr. Shirley Sahrmann says, in Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes, that the role of the core is to “provide isometric support and limit the degree of rotation of the trunk which, as discussed, is limited in the lumbar spine.” Mike Boyle, in typical fashion, simplifies this even further so we can all get it by saying, “If the spine is moving you are strengthening, not stabilizing. Core stabilization equals no movement of the spine.”

Any muscle that is possibly involved in maintaining neutral spine is therefore a core muscle. So imagine I hold a heavy weight, like a 40kg kettlebell, in my right hand. Naturally my body will want to dip towards the right as the weight pulls me down. Opposing that force will be the muscle of my trunk on the opposite side, as well as my legs and hips, and even those in my lower legs and feet. There is no such thing as an exercise that works only one muscle group – in this case my entire body will work together to hold me in neutral.

And that’s core stability.

Now that you can see how everything is a core muscle, let’s make it a bit more complicated and think about which exercises are core stability exercises. One of the biggest things currently emerging in the fitness world is the importance of the primitive patterns – rolling and crawling. These developmental patterns have been popularized by greats such as Gray Cook in the FMS and the practice is starting to show very positive effects, from increased function in other activities to reducing ADHD.

Why is crawling so important?

Crawling sets up an X pattern that is the basis for many athletic movements. Notice when you walk or run that your arm moves in opposition to your leg? If you rotate that action ninety-degrees you end up with crawling. In the prone position you are able to feel the muscles that should be stabilizing the spine because they have the extra pressure of gravity acting on them.

This is often why an exercise like the plank is a good starting position to teach people abdominal stability. However, the plank quickly becomes too easy and we must seek new and more challenging ways to stabilize the spine. For instance, to begin with a simple plank may be enough, but soon you’ll need to raise a hand or opposite hand and foot at the same time while staying stable.

When you are able to perform exercises such as these easily, it is time to progress to moving plank exercises such as crawling. These low-speed, low-load activities allow you to feel what is going on in your body and make sure your movement is correct. Hips should remain flat without rocking from side to side, knees should come straight forward not out to the side, and spine should stay flat throughout.

But what then?

While there are many crawling options contained within Primal Move, at some point you need to add load and further challenge the body. This is where single kettlebell training comes in. In fact, I believe heavy, single kettlebell training is the single best core stability training you can do once the easy progressions have been mastered.

The role of the kettlebell in single bell training is simple – to pull you out of neutral spine. Your job is to prevent it.

Imagine a goblet squat. In this position there are a number of things happening on a core stability level. My abdominals are working to prevent me collapsing into lumbar flexion, while at the same time the muscles of my back are working to keep my thoracic spine extended and neutral. The muscles of my thighs and hips are struggling to prevent any kind of valgus collapse, which would probably lead to me going into spinal flexion. Finally the muscles of the feet are working to provide a solid arch, which gives me a strong first point of contact with the ground.

Now take all that and multiply it by holding a kettlebell in one hand in the rack. Not only do you have the same issues being faced, you now have to counter both rotational forces as well as higher levels of force on the side bearing the bell.

This can be expanded even more when you use the quick lifts, such as the one-hand swing. When compared to the plank, a heavy, one-hand swing can expose the opposing side of the body to as much as 180% of maximum voluntary muscle contraction. At the same time the body is being forced to learn how to stabilize the spine quickly time and time again. Looking at the forces generated in the swing you can see how something as light as a 24kg bell can quickly become all the core training you’ll ever need.

An exercise like the kettlebell clean is ideal for teaching a rugby player how to take and shrug off tackles. As a heavy bell impacts the lifter they are forced to cope with the force of the bell generated from the swing as well as keep their spine neutral throughout the whole process. One of the biggest issues people have with heavy cleans is that one hip tends to lag behind the other. If you stamp down hard on the leg that is opposite the bell-bearing side you are creating that X that our initial crawling movement was helping you to prepare. And watch what happens when you consciously hit that “off leg snap” (trademark term by Dan John Master RKC) and focus on your X – all of a sudden your clean will be, well, clean. Your hips will move forward as one, your spine will be neutral and you’ll be automatically braced for the arrival of the bell into the rack, no matter how heavy.

I don’t generally train clients with double kettlebells and I never have. The only exception has been when they were heading to RKC or RKCII. In the FMS system they have a saying that the bottom four fix the top three (in reference to which exercises to pick first when seeking to perform correctives). The bottom four consists of shoulder and hip mobility and trunk stability. Crawling is linear stability and anti-rotation and so is heavy, single kettlebell work. From heavy get ups to heavy one hand swings, cleans, or squats you won’t find a better way to really strengthen and build core stability.

Not only that, but as every single rep of your entire workout will be a core stability exercise, think of all the time you’ll save by not having to do any core specific work.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Forget Crunches: How to Actually Strengthen Your Core appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

It is very common to see a weakness or deficiency in the core muscles and the low back in particular. The imbalance that is caused by training only one side of the spine (most commonly the abdominal muscles) increases the risk of injury even more. To better understand the chain reaction caused by a weak link, it is helpful to imagine a strong chain running from the head to the toe, down the spine, where each link is dependent on the links both above and below it. When any link of this chain is off-kilter or weak, the entire chain collapses.

Back injuries among Olympic lifters are especially common due to a weakness in this low back link of the chain. The added strain, weight, and demand placed on this part of the body during a lifter’s range of motion requires a very strong core to make that range of motion not only as efficient as possible, but also as safe as possible for the lifter.

“Those who have strong core muscles have a reduced rate of lower back and lower extremity injuries, greater injury prevention as well as increased force production in the upper and lower extremities leading to improved sporting performance.” -Melbourne Sports and Chiropractic

Sometimes the lack of training and focus on this area of the posterior chain (low back, glutes, and hamstrings to name a few) is simply one of vanity. Too often this region is neglected only because this muscle group isn’t seen as often in a mirror as other parts of the body.

Once you have begun training and have started paying attention to this vital link of the body, you’ll definitely feel the difference a strong low back and core can make. The more proper the form is for the lift, the sprint, the swim, on the field, or during any other functional activity, the more powerful and efficient the movement. The body can lift more, react quicker, adapt faster, and stabilize better. All of these help the body stay healthy.

Below are a few simple ways to strengthen the lower back through dynamic stretching and strength work:

Dynamic Stretching:

?

• Gluteus-Ham Developer Back Extensions – An alternative exercise is the “Superman” on the ground.
• Walking Lunges – For the more advanced, weight can be added by carrying it with extended arms overhead.
• High Knees
• Butt Kicks
• Carioca
• Scorpions
• Single-Leg Hip Thrusters – My personal favorite.

Strength Work:

Deadlifts:

Focus on keeping the lats (latissimus dorsi muscles)and the core very tight through this progression. Only the legs move (slowly) as they pull (not jerk) the bar from the ground as the rest of the body stays absolutely locked in place. The deadlift is the first pull of the Olympic clean and jerk, and is a great training tool to strengthen the low back muscles in preparation for this lift. The snatch-grip deadlift does the same thing by way of preparation for the other Olympic lift, the snatch.

Squats:

Squats will help develop the upper thighs, low back, and gluteus (butt) muscles. A proper squat starts with your heels no farther apart than the width of your hips and your toes angled out to no more than thirty degrees. Bend at the waist a few degrees and keep the back as flat as possible. Look forward and not up as you bend at the knees, sitting deep back into the heels. As you rise up, activate the glutes and hamstrings, and be especially careful not to round the back.

The key to building and maintaining a strong low back is to be aware of the low back at all times. Do not neglect the front of the spine either; be sure to train the abdominal muscles as well. Concentrate on every link in the body’s main chain (the glutes, hamstrings, and core) and build each one with the mindset that each one supports the others.

As it is in anything health, training and/or sport-related, consistency is key. Build slowly, properly, and continually. Be patient and make each repetition count. Efficiency and consistency will together develop a faster, stronger, healthier, and more functional body.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Strong Foundations: Building and Maintaining a Strong Low Back appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

This article addresses the core as it functions relative to the overhead press exercise, which is interesting and worthy of study. But before we delve into that topic, let’s define exactly what the core is. Diligent research on the Inter-web provided me with twelve professional opinions on what the core is:

1. “The core muscles are the superficial and deep spinal extensors muscles, abdominal muscles, pelvic floor muscles, and shoulder girdle and hip girdle muscles.”
2. “The core is more than just your abdominals, though that is what many people associate with the word. The glutes and lower back muscles, called the erector spinae, may come to mind as well. But even these three groups are not all of the core muscles. There is also the psoas muscle of the hips and the multifidus of the spine.”
3. “Your core is your center of gravity and where movement begins. The muscles of the core are comprised of two different systems, the movement system and the stabilization system. The stabilization system consists of these muscles: Transverse abdominus, internal oblique, lumbar multifidus, pelvic floor muscles, diaphragm and transversospinalis. The movement system muscles are the latissimus dorsi, erector spinae, iliopsoas, hamgstrings (sic), the hip adductors and hip abductors.”
4. “The core refers to the pelvis, rib cage, and spinal region. The core is where a person’s center of gravity is located and where all movement begins. The core is a network of deep stabilization muscles (the inner unit-transverses abdominis, internal oblique, pelvic floor, diaphragm and lower portions of the longissimus and iliocostalis).”
5. “The definition of the core would be the region of the hips, the spine and where the center of gravity is located. Within this area we have groups of muscles which help to stabilize the spine during movement, as well as muscles which help to produce such movement.”
6. “All bodily movements are initiated around the core. Your core is composed of abs, back, pelvis floor and hips.”
7. “Core exercises are about more than just strengthening your abdominal muscles; they also strengthen your hips, back and all muscles in the midsection of the body. The core is your center of gravity and where all body movements begin.”
8. “Core exercise is any exercise that works any part of your trunk to your pelvic region.”
9. “In layman’s terms the core consists of everything from your upper abs right above the rib cage to right below the gluteus to include the fron (sic) and back of the body. Stabilization muscles include internal and external obliques, lumbar, and pelvic floor muscles. Movement muscles include the erector spinae (lower back center above glutes), hip adductors and abductors (inner and outer thigh).”
10. “Core exercises are any exercises that challenge the muscles that make up the torso, spine and pelvis, the area of the body that must stabilize the spinal column and hips and pelvic region, which are your base of support for all movements and actions.”
11. “Core exercises focus on the abdomen, the lower abdomen and hips, the obliques, stabilizing muslces (sic), the spine and the back muslces (sic), as well as the butt.”
12. “First by definition your core is everything except your arms and legs. So it is your entire spine and pelvis.”

Whew! That’s a lot of variation. It looks like the general consensus is the core is composed of all muscles in the mid-region of the human body, between the hips and shoulders. However, one definition included the shoulder girdle muscles. Another included the hip adductors, which would then include the knee as a part of the core because the hip adducting gracilis muscle inserts on the tibia, below the knee. Furthermore, another definition did not include the legs whatsoever. What? Let the core confusion linger on. Moving forward.

Regarding the study on core involvement and the overhead press, it was suggested that little data exists regarding how the exercise is performed and the magnitude of core activation. The study compared the electromyographic activity (EMG) of the superficial core muscles – rectus abdominis, external oblique and erector spinae – between all combination of seated, standing, bilateral (both arms) and unilateral (single arm) dumbbell overhead presses among 15 healthy males.

Five repetitions were performed with 80% of a one-repetition maximum weight in randomized order. Results were analyzed with a two-way analysis of variance and a Bonferroni post hoc test. The position (standing or seated) x the exercise interaction (bilateral or unilateral) was significantly different for rectus abdominis (P = 0.016), but not for external oblique (P = 0.100) and erector spinae (P = 0.151). The following EMG results were observed:

Rectus abdominis: 

• 49% lower in seated bilateral vs. unilateral.
• Similar in standing bilateral vs. unilateral.
• 81% lower in bilateral seated vs. standing.
• 59% lower in unilateral seated vs. standing.

External oblique:

• 81% lower in seated bilateral vs. unilateral.
• 68% lower in standing bilateral vs. unilateral.
• 58% lower in bilateral seated vs. standing.
• 28% lower in unilateral seated vs. standing.

Erector spinae:

• Similar in seated bilateral vs. unilateral.
• 18% lower in standing bilateral vs. unilateral.
• Similar in seated vs. standing bilateral and unilateral.

The researchers concluded that to augment neuromuscular activation of the superficial core muscles during the dumbbell overhead press exercise, the exercise should be performed standing as opposed to seated, and unilaterally as opposed to bilaterally.

Two take-home points:

Yes, the core muscles – as well as other muscle groups (due to the fact no one can offer an exact list of the muscles composing it) – are more active when performing an exercise in a non-supportive position such as standing as opposed to seated. It is just a natural phenomenon. Your body as a skeleton would collapse, otherwise. But it does not mean that any measurable and exceptional development of balance or stability will be gleaned from this. In fact, to better isolate a specific muscle or muscle group, it is more prudent to position the body in a more supportive position to better focus on them. In example, a chest press performed on a stable surface better targets the chest and shoulder muscles as opposed to performing it on a stability ball (dangerous) or while standing using a cable/pulley system. Don’t worry about the core here, which leads to the second point:

To DIRECTLY strengthen the core, simply look at lumbo-pelvic (trunk) kinesiology:

Flexion – rectus abdominus, internal and external obliques, and psoas.

Extension – erector spinae and latissimus dorsi.

Lateral rotation – contralateral (opposite side) external oblique, ipsilateral (same side) internal oblique, ipsilateral latissimus dorsi, and contralateral psoas.

Lateral flexion – quadratus Lumborum, ipsilateral external oblique, internal oblique, ipsilateral erector spinae, and ipsilateral latissimus dorsi.

Flexion and rotation – rectus abdominis, contralateral external oblique, ipsilateral internal oblique, ipsilateral latissimus dorsi, and contralateral psoas.

Extension and rotation – erector spinae, contralateral external oblique, ipsilateral internal oblique, latissimus dorsi, and contralateral psoas.

To better target your core muscles, use a program that allows the muscles to receive more direct isolation in trunk flexion, extension, lateral rotation and lateral flexion. It worked years ago, and can still work today.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post The Core During the Overhead Press (And Other Core-Related Shenanigans) appeared first on Breaking Muscle.