Abdominal Bracing
To be most effective with your core training, there are few muscles that you need to specifically turn on. We are going to have Liz do what's called that drawing in maneuver. Drawing in maneuver, contracts the deep transverse abdominal muscle which is very important to maintain a stable core. So what she is going to do is from here, exhale and now what she is going to do is just tighten and draw up her abdominal region by bringing her belly button towards her spine.
And now let that relax and now exhale and do that drawing in maneuver belly button towards the spine. You can see she is doing a really good job of not letting her spine change position. She maintains that normal lumbar curve.
So Liz, go ahead and stand up. Now we are going to learn how to do what's called an abdominal brace. An abdominal brace is contracting the muscles that wrap all the way around your core. So Liz, put your fingertips along your lower back muscles. Without bending forward, you should feel that they are somewhat relaxed right now and now bend forward hinging from your hips and you will immediately feel those muscles turned on. Now come back up and stop just at the point where those muscles turn off.
Now from that position, I want you to deeply contract those abdominal muscles. That's the abdominal brace. When she contracts all those muscles all the way around, as if I am going to punch her in the belly button, the lower back turns on. That gives more stability and stiffness within the spine.
Okay, Liz, grab my arm. If I contract the muscles all the way around my elbow joint, it's going to give me stiffness or stability within that joint. That's what we are really looking for when you do your core training is to work on being able to have that brace or that stiffness for you are contracting all that musculature to give more stiffness within your spine.
The body is able to move in three planes, Sagittal, Frontal and Transverse. In order to be a complete and injury resistant athlete, you need to form activity in all three planes. Try plane movements or movements that involve all three planes are especially important for endurance athletes, as they do way too much activity in the sagittal or front to back plane. Cycling or running for hours on our end can lead to muscular weakness in the frontal and transverse planes. Performing the various circuits in endurance core will be your answer to solving the Tri-Plane movement problem. Ultimately, we want to improve our strength in all planes of movement, in order to increase power and efficiency through improved balance and joint stability.
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