Core Strengthening is more than bicycle kicks and crunches

Do you feel like you work your core all the time and you still have weakness? You may feel like you’ve been doing planks and crunches for years and you still continue to hurt your back, or have difficulty engaging the right muscles. Core strengthening is not all about the six-pack abs and aesthetics; in order to truly have a functional core, you need to master your technique to improve your strength and stability. 

Certainly, you can finish 100 bird dogs, crunches or dead bugs in x amount of time, but have you ever tried to slow down your reps and really focus on core activation; you will get a lot stronger by taking longer with each rep and focusing on proper technique. 

Fast reps often mean:

• Less muscle engagement
• Poor control
• Compensating with other muscle groups
• Reinforced bad movement patterns

Ten slow, well-controlled reps are more effective than fifty quick ones. But social media challenges often focus on volume and speed — “100 crunches a day,” “longest plank challenge,” etc.

More is not better. 

It is also important to focus on breathing. Holding your breath during core strengthening can be very detrimental. Breath-holding can cause:

• Reduced stability
• Limited engagement of the deep core muscles
• Increased intra-abdominal pressure and can cause long term back or pelvic floor dysfunction (or even diastasis)

When you intentionally control your movement, your brain can focus on firing the right muscles not just getting through the rep, and this ultimately reduces compensatory muscle activation. 

This:

• Increases time under tension
• Strengthens weak areas
• Makes every rep target the appropriate muscles

Slower reps let you check in with your body:

• Is your pelvis stable and your spine neutral?
• Are your ribs flaring?
• Are your shoulders in the right position? Are they doing more work than your core?
• Are you holding your breath?

By controlling the speed and slowing down, you are able to focus on both the concentric phase contracting your muscle) and Eccentric phase (lengthening under control) as well as your breathing. 

You don’t need to increase sets, add advanced exercises, or spend longer in the gym. Slow the reps and you can be more effective at what youre already doing. 

Things to try: 

• Long holds on basic core exercises (ie: 5 second hold on bird dogs) with breathing
• Time under tension (ie slow lowering on a squat with a pause at the bottom)
• Cut your reps in half but take the same amount of time to complete

These things will help:

• Enhance activation
• Improve your technique
• Reduce risk of injury
• Builds deeper strength
• Creates lasting, functional results

Try these 5 moves and see how they differ from your previous “core workouts”

1. Bird dogs – 5 second hold, slow movement up and down, trying not to move anything except the arm and leg
2. Bear hover planks – 5 second hold, inhale to prepare, exhale to lift and hold for 5 seconds
3. Tabletop reverse marches – slowly lower one leg out long (either tapping the heel or elongating the leg) without moving anything except the leg; exhale during movement to avoid increased intra-abominal pressure
4. Mountain climber PAUSE; high plank position, weight shifted forward, drive knee in to chest and pause for 3 seconds 
5. Front plank – shoulders should be stacked over wrists (or elbows if a low plank), pulling the hands towards the ribcage and feeling the ribcage pull down, hips stay low and core active. Breathe consistently. 

Hopefully you feel your core activate in a different way than you previously had. Take these tips and improve your deep core stability. If you need help activating these muscles, schedule your appointment with Release Physical Therapy to get started!