Here’s a question for you…How can your core become stronger when you train it laying down but you function throughout your days standing, walking and sitting upright?
Training your “core on the floor” may be effective aesthetically, the misconception here, is that it will make your “core” stronger.
First, lets define what core is. I’ve read experts say it’s your transverse abdominis. I’ve been to talks where experts say it’s your entire torso; back, oblique’s, rectus abdominis (which are those 6 or 8 pack in the front), and your transverse. I’ve also been told it’s all of the above plus your chest and upper back. Regardless of what you’ve been told, gaining a stronger core won’t happen by laying on the floor.
The best thing I ever did for my career was apply and accept a job at a personal training studio in Mamarineck, NY. Shout out to One2One Bodyscapes! They gave me a foundation and provided me with the baseline tools to understand true body function. I am able to give my clients more meaning to their workout because I incorporate true functional movements into my routines with my clients and classes. As a fitness trainer, I wanted to give my clients more. After all, there are many different aspects to training besides simply building muscle or losing inches. We want to feel strong too!
When a client tells me that they want a “stronger core“, I ask, what does that mean to you? What is a stronger core? Maybe to them, they mean that they don’t want their back to hurt. Maybe they want to have a “six pack” or maybe not necessarily see the muscles but to have a flat tummy.
Functionally, to train your core to be stronger, we do it standing up. Here’s a little tidbit about our abdominal area
Our abs control the motion of the pelvis and the motion of the rib cage in all three planes of motion (forward/backward, side to side and rotation). Our abs react to this three dimensional motions. If we lay on the floor, we don’t get three dimensions. Think of it like this. Our muscles react to gravity, if we didn’t have the strength of our muscles to hold us up, we would be a pile of flesh and bones on the ground. A great example of this is when a parent constantly reminds their child to sit up straight. What happens over time when we don’t sit up straight? We become hunched over. So our muscles are always working against gravity. However, training them by giving into gravity and laying on the floor, isn’t training them functionally (and only training those surface muscles) and if we aren’t training them functionally, then are we really getting a stronger body?