Today we are talking the importance of the core!!! I get a lot of questions about the core and why it’s important. In general I say that it is the keystone to a strong body, but there is so much more to it than that. Today’s article was published by the prestigious National Strength and Conditioning Association and does an excellent job in describing what the core is, why it’s important, and what we can do to make it stronger.
Here are a few highlights:
1.Core stiffness is essential for injury prevention and performance enhancement.
2. Stiffening the core between the hip and shoulder joints, produces higher limb speed and force.
3.Core training to enhance stiffness is the foundation and underpinning of one of the most fundamental laws of human motion.
A great quote from the paper describes what the core actually does “proximal stiffness enhances distal mobility and athleticism.” An example of this importance involves the pelvis when walking. If you can’t sufficiently stiffen the lumbar spine with quadratus lumborum (QL), your whole body will simply bend to the side the stance phase (foot on the ground part) of the walking cycle. This is because the QL is an essential core muscle forming the outside core. “What else can core training do” you ask? Well not much I guess. Except reduce the risk of back injury, enhance performance, reduce the risk of groin injury, sportsman’s hernia, and knee injury, particularly to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Essentially, noone can afford to neglect this building block of function. So work on your core to enhance stiffness by doing things like suitcase carries, farmers walks, and planks.
All Me Fitness 