Things you may not know about your core

So you’ve probabl yheard at some point that you “need to strengthen your core”

And what does that mean anyway?

Do sit ups every day? Hold a plank for 8 mins?

Do you even know where your core is?

One thing that I have found in particular, is that people do not realise that their core is not just their ab muscles. It is acutally much more than that.

Your core is made up of muscles from your mid to lower back, pelvic region and your hips. This means, in order to train each of them you will need to do many different exercises to really target all of these muscles appropriately.

Another thing worth noting is that a lot of these muscles are type I muscle fibres. This means they are slow twitch muscles. We also have type II muscles which are known as fast twitch muscles.

Type I muscles are resposible for long slow movements where are type II are for explosive short term use (think marathon vs sprinting) for this reason they are almost constantly in use in our day to day lives.

This means that strengthening them can really help with your general well being and it’s not just about having a 6 pack.

It is also common for womens core to be weakened after childbearing/childbirth. This is not only because during pregnancy the abdominal wall splits but also during childbirth the hormones realised to aid it can result in muscles and tendons becoming more lax.

When working on strengthening your core, your breath becomes very important. previous ques would have been to suck in your belly, But that neither engages, nor is very comfortable if you need to breath!

You should be able to engage these muscles and breath simultaniously like you would with any other muscles.

For example bend and flex your arm and breath at the same time. Its not hard is it?

What you need to start practicing is bracing your muscles like somebody is about to punch you. This way you will be able to breath while activating those muscles.

Another one is to pretend you are peeing and try to stop the flow (it may sound a bit weird but it works).

Strengthening your core does take time and patience. But it is worth the effort as it will make more of a difference than you realise!

I also released a podcast this week on the topic of the core which is linked here:

Want my FREE kickstarter workout guide? 3 workouts you can do from home or the gym?

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Chrissy