A deep dive on how to train the core like an athlete
Patrick Mahomes went viral for having a dad bod. Yet, every parent comes to us saying, “my kid needs to have a stronger core.”
If the best football player in the world doesn’t have a six-pack, is core training a waste of time?
No. Having a strong core is massively important. You just have to train it like an athlete, not a bodybuilder.
Core can be broken down into 2 types of movements: Brace and Bend.
Brace: You can’t shoot a cannon out of a canoe.
Bracing exercises are movements that attempt to resist movement. These are our “anti” movements (anti-flexion, extension, lateral flexion, or rotation).
There are three main reasons why bracing capacity is so important.
1) Proximal stability is required for distal mobility.
In other words, you need the center of your body to remain stable and sturdy, so that you can control the movement of your arms and legs.
For example, if a basketball player is trying to get to the rim and gets bumped in the paint, if they can’t brace (typically anti-lateral flexion here) then they can’t control their arms to have an intentional finish.
2) You can’t afford leakage through the chain.
Being able to brace allows for efficient force transmittance.
If a volleyball player goes up to spike and doesn’t have anti-rotation capabilities to produce core stiffness, then force will be lost due to over-lengthening of the abs.
If a soccer player plants their foot when changing direction, but doesn’t have anti-rotation capacity, their torso will keep rotating too long, and their transition will be slow.
3) Bracing is an antidote.
A lot of sporting movements require violent extension and rotation (kicking a ball, making a tackle, swinging a bat, making a cut, and even sprinting).
Such violent movements can lead to injuries if left uncontrolled.
Bracing capacity allows you to counterbalance these violent moments.
The most clear cut example of this is a spondy. If you have too many violent extension and rotation moments, you’re going to jam the spinal facet joints to end range and wear down the bone.
If, however, you have a ridiculously strong core, then you’ll be able to buffer the forces on the spine and not put so much wear and tear on the bone. (There is an upper limit to this. Too much volume is still a big problem.)
Some exercise examples for each category are:
Anti-Extension
- Deadbugs
- Reverse crunches
- Flutter kicks
- Planks
Anti-Rotation
- Pallof presses
- Pallof pulses
- Cable chops
- Planks w/ reaches (anti-extension and anti-rotation)
Anti-Lateral Flexion
Exercise examples include:
- Side planks
- Side plank hip taps
- Copenhagen planks
- Da Vinci planks
Carries
Why? Carries can be anti-flexion, extension, rotation, and lateral flexion. So, they deserve a category of their own.
- Suitcase carries
- Waiter carries
- Uneven carries
- OH uneven carries
- Farmer carries
Bend: The tin-man wasn’t too athletic.
Contrary to dogma in the S&C world, the core does not only function to resist movement, it is also used to produce movement. Being able to bend in different directions is useful in optimizing performance.
Bending exercises are movements of lumbar flexion, extension, rotation, and lateral flexion.
So, throwing some sit-ups in there isn’t necessarily bad. It’s just not as commonly needed as the “anti” stuff.
Some additional common questions…
“Okay, but how do I program these?”
Here’s what we do. If an athlete is training with us 2x per week:
- Both days, the warm-up (what we call Activation) will have an anti-extension exercise.
- Day 1, the power movement will be paired with an anti-rotation exercise.
- Day 2, the power movement will be paired with an anti-lateral flexion exercise.
“You didn’t say a whole lot about ‘Bend’ exercises. What do you do there?”
We choose to get our “Bends” in with crawling and gymnastic movements.
Each day during Activation, our athletes will have some sort of crawling or gymnastic movement.
Wait! What should I write about next?
I want to write about stuff that you care about. So, I want you to choose what I write about next week.
- If you want me to write about what your athlete should eat on game day, click here.
- If you want me to write about how your psychology influences pain click here.
- If you want me to write about how much scholarship money is in each sport, click here.
A quick thought on present > perfect
“Present over perfect living is real over image, connecting over comparing, meaning over mania, depth over artifice.” – Shauna Niequist
I’ll just let you sit with that one.
A couple of important things…
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- Everything in these newsletters and on our website is for educational purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice for you or you athlete. Consult directly with a healthcare professional.
Thanks so much for your help in spreading the word about athlete development!
Be >,
Zach
Dr. Zach Guiser, PT, DPT, CSCS