Matt Lawrence - The Complete Guide to Core Stability

Firstly, I would like to thank all the guys at the gym: Jamal, Steve, Neils, Warren, Dave and Mario, Simon and Jake thanks for all your help. Thanks also to Grant for managing to get some great photos despite a very hectic photo shoot schedule. Thank you also to my publishers, A&C Black, whose belief enabled me to write this book in the first place. And lastly, thank you to my fiancee, Michelle, not only for helping out with the photos but for her endless patience and tireless support throughout the writing of this book.

Since my early days as a personal trainer and fitness instructor, I have seen many fitness fads come and go; many have re-invented themselves, to return like a phoenix from the ashes, and have subsequently been forced on to an unsuspecting public.

This book is not about fads or gimmicks but aims to deliver plain old common sense with a few exercises thrown in for good measure. The purpose of writing this book is not to make you fitter, faster or help you to lose a few pounds, it is to provide a template and, hopefully, a reference guide to some of the most effective abdominal exercises around. The exercise repertoire has been developed using principles from science, sport and alternative health, and following guidance and advice from many industry experts. This book is designed not just to give you a starting point in abdominal training but rather a complete guide, allowing you, the reader, the opportunity to explore many different variables in exercise execution, progression and adaptation. You should tailor this book to your own goals and requirements rather than trying to complete every exercise. There is no definitive exercise or optimum programme as with much of the fitness industry, everything is relative.

I hope that this book will help you not only to identify with the principles of abdominal training and programme design, but that it will also provide an insight into how to overcome the boredom often associated with exercise. Since writing this book, I have seen how the fitness industry has really embraced the concept of core stability, initially through education of instructors filtering down to health club or leisure centre members and finally the general public who, as a whole, are demonstrating their improved awareness of the importance of core stability. This awareness will only increase, especially with the freedom of information that is posted on the internet through various sites such as You Tube. All manner of tantalising exercise options are being posted by both competent fitness professionals and unfortunately egotists who just want to show off what they can do out performing all other exercise options whatever the cost to themselves. At one level this is a fantastic medium to see all manner of exercises, regardless how intense or demanding, but there is always the risk that for the non-enlightened enthusiast who doesnt understand the demands of certain exercises, injuries will most certainly happen as a consequence.

Either way, the internet is here to stay and communication and sharing of all exercise can and will only help to develop new ideas, exercise options and concepts. Use this book as a reference guide to re-ignite your enthusiasm not just in core training but also for the bigger picture of long-term health and well-being. Where the industry goes with core stability who knows? However, with some of the latest equipment trends and current exploration of function, one thing is certain it will only evolve.

Matt Lawrence

2011

As our Neanderthal cousins were setting off for another hard day at the office, the last thing on their minds was core stability, or neutral spine. They did not concern themselves with such trivialities as muscle bracing and correct posture, why should they? It was a subconscious thing! As hunter-gatherers, their lives would be focused on survival, which meant eating, procreation and protection. Most of their time was spent searching for food, and invariably killing it and getting it home. After a successful hunt, the kill would be dismembered, hoisted on to their shoulders or dragged back to the cave to be prepared for dinner. The deep abdominal muscles of the torso would have been continually active throughout all these running, carrying, lunging, dragging and lifting movements. Unfortunately, technological advancements have allowed modern-day societies to lose track of what their bodies were designed for. Through a lack of appropriate exercises and changes in lifestyle, we have created a new phenomenon: twenty-first-century man.

WHAT IS CORE STABILITY?

To put core stability into its modern context, where there are now few mammoths to chase, consider how you lift shopping into the back of your car or take a baby out of a pram. The muscles of the torso are required to brace or tense briefly upon exertion, in order to stabilise the spine and assist the lifting movement, and to reduce any potential injury to the lower back.

In order to achieve this powerful torso, there is no one optimum exercise you can do; instead, a balance of appropriate exercises relative to your own goals and specific needs is required. If you think core stability is simply a matter of performing endless sit-ups, think again! It doesnt matter how many crunches you can do, these alone are not the answer. In fact the crunch, or sit-up exercise, while having a role in developing that sought-after six-pack, does little to improve core stability.

CRUNCHES/SIT-UPS

For many years, sit-ups or crunches were the only exercises used to train the abdominal muscles. Disappointingly, even today in many fitness magazines the emphasis is firmly on achieving the elusive six-pack. How many variations are there for standard abdominal flexion? This on its own is bad enough, but also, for many years, the sit-up was performed with the feet secured. This is still one of the standard fitness tests used for those who wish to gain entry to the services and armed forces. While performing sit-ups is excellent training for the rectus abdominus (the six-pack muscle), when the feet are secured the hip flexors take the majority of the load due to their relative strength and endurance in comparison with the rectus abdominus. So the exercise seems easier and more repetitions are possible.

One main disadvantage with the sit-up technique is that when you curl your body off the floor, and as you move into forward flexion of the spine, stress is placed on the lumbar vertebrae. If you lift too far, this stress can aggravate the spinal discs and joints.

Abdominal workouts based largely on flexion exercises can result in excessive shortening of the hip flexor muscles. This shortening can pull on the attachments to the pelvis and lumbar spine, which in turn can affect your posture. These muscle imbalances, if not dealt with, can have a knock-on effect on other muscles and joints, which can be detrimental to your posture, and cause pain and potentially spinal injury.

SUMMARY

Most of us do not use the muscles of the torso in a functional way as part of our day-to-day life.

Sit-ups alone do not enhance core stability and so will not improve your posture.

Sit-up exercises performed incorrectly can cause more harm than good.