Training Your Core with Caution!
By: James McCorley

We all know everyone wants good abs, whether your young or old, boy or girl. However training your core (the area of your stomach and lower back), can be much more complicated that many people think! This is due to the multitude of muscles that surround this area and the amazingly complex structure that we call the spine.

From my studies in Exercise & Sports Science at QUT, i have learnt some interesting and unknown facts about effectively and safely training your abs as well as taking care of this area!

1. Train your trunk muscles as mobilises and stabilisers. This means, it is important not only to do the common exercises such as crunches and side twists, but do exercises where you are maintaining a correct posture so they work as stabilisers. This can be achieved by performing exercises such as plank, cable exercises, medicine ball throwing exercises and sledge hammering.

2. Take caution with crunches. Full crunches, where you lift your chest up to your knees can place a strong load on the disks in your spine. If you have previous had back pain, this may be something you would like to avoid. Evidence has shown quarter crunches, where you just lift your shoulders of the floor, or straightening one leg when performing crunches, can lessen the load on the back.

3. Do not load the spine shortly after sitting. During prolonged sitting your disks become stiffer, which is not good if you plan to load a weight across your shoulder, such as you would with squats. If your going to squat, WARM UP!

4. Do not load the spine shortly after rising from bed. Very similar to the above point, ensure you warm up.

AND FINALLY

5. ENDURANCE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN STRENGTH. We don\'t want to make our stomach muscles bigger (most of us anyway), so lower loads for longer makes sense! This will also give you greater muscle tone and reduce the loading on the disk in your back.

I hope you all found this information very useful!

If your interested in changing your body shape, and making a change for the good. Then contact me for my $47 introduction pack. You recieve:
- 3 PT Sessions
- Body Assessment
- Goal Setting
- On Going Dietary Analysis

Normally $505, you get it for $47!

Call 0432 385 707 or email james@xcentuate.com.au to get in fast!


Added: 22-06-2011