CORE TRAINING - LAYING FOUNDATIONS TO SUCCESS

It's January, so you know what that means!



New year, new you!

Right?

In my experience within this industry, there are two things that happen around this time of year.

Number one is an increase in dieting.

The second is an increase in exercising.

For now I am going to set aside the dieting part of this aquasion ( it's a whole topic of its own for a different blog).

So let's focus on the exercise part.

When it comes to starting a fitness regime, it is very easy to get carried away and charge head first into ‘too much too soon’.

I know what it’s like when you make that decision to make a healthy change to your lifestyle and you feel like you have to do it right then and there so you go at it all guns blazing!

The problem with this is injuries occur. Plain and simple. I have seen it time and time again. And the reason? You haven't adequately prepared your body appropriately to go from doing very little exercise to lots of heavy, high intensity exercise.

At this point sensible training and patience is required. We can't miss out the ‘middle bit’. I promise, you will thank me later.

Let's have a look at three very popular forms of exercise. HIIT ( high intensity interval training), Bootcamps and Crossfit. Let me make it clear that I am not against these forms of exercise, on the contrary, they are great in the correct circumstance).

These forms of exercise all have a few things in common. They all require a good base level of fitness and in particular core stability.

Bootcamps are hard.

HIIT training is hard.

Crossfit is hard.

They will all ask some demanding questions of your body and in all honesty if you haven't got previous experience or have a good general base level of fitness then you may not have the answers to those questions.

So then what happens?

Injuries!

When your motivation is high the worst thing to happen is to pick up an injury that could have been avoided with sensible training.

When you are forced to sit on the side lines for weeks, months that is when motivation will slide. Exercise is much easier to stick to when you are in the groove. When you have a consistent, scheduled program that you are doing on a regular basis, exercise is pretty easy. But when you stop and are forced to take time off, it can be hard to restart. It’s a big problem.

So my advice? Start slow and find out what your body can currently manage.

What is the best way of doing this?

Book a body MOT.

What is a body MOT?

A body MOT is an evaluation of your current fitness levels. A body MOT will look at muscle imbalances, core coordination, flexibility, breathing mechanics and posture.

Why will this help?

Once you have done a body MOT you will have a better understanding of your body and its capabilities.

So then what?

You will get a program of exercises designed specifically for your body's level of ability. These exercises will help give you a stronger foundation to allow you to move onto exercise programs that are more taxing, like Crossfit etc.

There is an excellent quote by exercise practitioner Paul Chek that goes like this,

“You can't fire a cannon from a canoe”

If you don't have a strong deep core and are unable to support and protect your spine then you can't ( or shouldn't be) performing heavy, power based moves. It will lead to injury. Most bootcamps,HIIT training and crossfit exercise protocols require you to do multiple repetitions of dynamic movements often with moderate to heavy load. You 100% need to have a good amount of core stability to do this without injury.

We have deep core muscles that help support our spine and give us a stronger deep core. These muscles include the diaphragm, transverse abdominal wall, pelvic floor, multifidus, internal obliques to mention a few. These muscles are deeper muscles ( i.e not mirror muscles). I believe this is one of the reasons why people miss out training these muscles. You can't see them like you can your biceps!

But we must remember that real strength comes from the inside and works its way out, not the other way around. So before you lift heavy or do a high level of power based moves ( I'm sure you have heard of the dreaded burpee or kettlebell swing), you should have taken time to lay foundations and given your body a strong, supported base to work from.

Put simply, you should put in at least 6 to 8 weeks of flexibility and core stability training before moving onto endurance, hypertrophy, strength and power (depending on your starting level).

Once you have a strong base to work from then you will be ready to hit those bootcamps hard without the worry of injury.

Take the guesswork out of training by having a well informed and educated program.

If you would like to book onto a body MOT then just head to the body MOT page on my website and book your session directly.

Happy training!