Core strength a different perspective.
Image by perlenmuschel from Pixabay
Training the core became a fitness industry trend. There is much controversy today regarding core stability workouts, and the over- statements regarding the benefits of core stability.
Professor Lederman published a study titled “The Myths of Core Stability”. His conclusions:
Weak or dysfunctional, abdominals will not lead to back pain
Core stability exercises-will not prevent injury or reduce lower back pain.
There may be a potential danger of damaging the spine with continuous tensing of the trunk muscles during daily and sports activities.
Consciously developing a specific area of your body to be more developed than the rest, would this be encouraged in any other area of your body? Core strength should be in line with the whole body strength, not one focal point. Core exercises are not reflex driven, an unnatural substitute for support.
Image by Gerd Altman From Pixabay
In the long term, they can be detrimental as you are reducing the trunks range of movement. Core exercises often repetitiously load one area leading to the decline of others. You are also suppressing the trunks ability to respond reflexively. Your trunk can allow you to achieve many movements because unlike the rib cage above and the pelvis below. It is not surrounded by a skeletal scaffolding; it comprises of layers of musculature that enable movement whilst providing support.
When you move other body parts, they stimulating your trunk naturally to adapt to the loads and forces created. Engagement of the core should be the resulting response, from the loads placed upon on them. When you alter the structure of your core musculature, you’re effecting your entire body. Your core does far more than the traditional belief of supporting your back or looking good in the mirror.
We humans are a visual bunch, but we can be forgiven slightly. As the appreciation of a developed core group has evolutionary origins, survival of ancient man and woman depended on finding a strong mate. Many people may feel they have a weak core, but your core gets stimulation from your whole body movement. You have an individual natural whole body alignment, which stimulates your muscles to work reflexively. Your own individual alignment may prevent your body from working reflexively. Both equine and human populations are becoming more sedentary. To develop your whole body and core, you need to move more of you more frequently.
A traditional teaching postural corrections when riding, is to lift your chest and draw your shoulders back. This displaces body parts into a fixed unmaintainable position, disabling core engagement. The history of dressage dates back 2,000 years, Xenophon wrote “the art of horsemanship”. There is currently a rising trend towards equine core strength, I don’t believe Xenophon or any of the prolific horse trainers through the centuries ever had to consider core strength. Spot treating one area to support weaknesses across the body. They listened to their horses, felt their development and instinctively knew what the individual horses needed day by day. Time and attention to detail were used to develop the horse’s whole body. They had all the skill of today’s biomechanics equipment inbuilt within them.
