Core
Stability
To run as well as you possibly can you need strength in your
'core' muscles.
Your core muscles - the abdominal and lower back muscles -
provide the body with energy and support, and form the
foundation for an enhanced athletic performance.
When you work on developing your core muscles, your leg
muscles will have a stronger anchor point and consequently
it will enable you to run at full strength. All force generated
by upper and lower body musculature either originates, is
stabilised by or is transferred through the trunk and low torso.
So the stronger you can make your core muscles, the less
energy you will waste and the more power you will be able to
generate from your legs.
I personally dedicate 2-3 sessions a week to developing my core
stability. I have been doing this for over a year and believe it is
one of the main reasons why I can run over 160 km a week and
stay injury free.
But developing your core muscles is not as easy as just doing a
few hundred ab crunches. Your centre of power consists of the
abdominal, back and pelvic muscles. Each part of the centre of
power must be trained from a variety of angles to ensure that the
whole becomes more powerful.
There are a great deal of exercises that you can do to strengthen
your core. Swiss Ball (or Fit Ball) are a great apparatus upon which
you can perform most trunk stabilisation, flexibility and strengthing
exercises.
Your goal when doing these exercises is to transport the tremendous
power potential of the core toward the extremities. this will not
only
help you run faster, but will decrease the likelihood and severity of
injury and encourage more efficient movement.
Rather than give you specific exercises at this stage (everyone is
different after all), I will list a few guidelines to follow to ensure
maximum centre of power development.
1. Always fatigue the weaker areas first.
Train your abdominals in the following order:
a) obliques
b) lower abs
c) Upper abs
2. Remember to keep your breathing rhythmic and natural.
Exhale during the contraction (lifting phase) and inhale during the
relaxation (lowering phase).
3. Always focus your mind on your abdominal region
when
performing any exercise. Keep strong and switched on and always
maintain good posture throughout.
4. Technique is everything. Maintain a tight
contraction throughout
and limit the range of motion of the abdominals to 45 degrees or less.
5. Learn to develop a
'feel' for the muscles involved. Focus on
tightening your buttocks, contracting your abdominals and curl your
pelvis under.
Stay tuned for some great advice
from one of Australia's leading experts
in core stability. Jan Carton trains elite athletes and is one of the
most
qualified trainers in Australia.
Jan's articles commence in
April, 2002.
