Gravity Fx Fitness

Do runners need to do any core training?  Will it make you a more efficient runner?  Most definitely.

This topic of training for the core has gotten a lot of publicity in recent years, with good reason.  Proper stability in this area is necessary for preventing low back pain as well as increasing performance.

Everyone seems to have a different definition of the core and how to train it, but it is much more than your abs and just doing plenty of crunches and situps.  It also includes your low back and the muscles of hips.

One key area that runners need to focus on is your glutes!  These muscles stabilize your hips which obviously will add to your running efficiency.  If your hip joint is not stable your body won’t properly absorb shock or generate adequate muscle force.

I was at a seminar a few years back and a physical therapist was reporting about an injured triathlete who came to see him.  During the evaluation he asked the man “where is your (butt)?”  Apparently, he had no glute development and that was part of the problem.

By spending a lot of time training his glutes the man greatly increased his age group ranking while spending less time running and such.  If you want to reduce the risk of IT band injuries and other lower leg issues, you need some focus on stability.

Single leg bridges are a simple way to train your glutes.  Keep your knee bent about 90 degrees and push through your heel.  Pause at the top for a second or two and slowly lower.  Make sure you move through your hip, the low back is just “along for the ride,” holding still.

Single leg exercises like step ups and multi-direction lunges are excellent.  Start with your own bodyweight and then add dumbbells or sandbags for extra resistance.  Lunges and squats with sandbags are a great way to train your abs and low back, also.

Most crunches and sit-up variations will have minimal positive impact and could increase your risk for back pain.  Bridges and planks in different positions will provide more stability.  For more resistance, push/pull exercises with resistance bands will challenge your core, as will sandbag exercises.

Get moving!

Brian

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I had a great ab workout yesterday without doing any crunches or situps, which are mostly a waste of time.  So what exercises did I do for my abs?

Simple, I did complex movements like front/Zercher grip sandbag squats and handstand pushups with my feet against the wall.  These exercises require intense stability work for your abs, and are pretty good for your back too.

When you do squats with a fairly heavy sandbag in front of you, it requires your abs and low back to work hard to stabilize your spine and maintain good posture.  It also works your mid back muscles along your thoracic spine, again, great for your posture.

For the handstand pushups I place my back to a wall and put my hands on the floor about two feet or so, in front of me on the ground.  Then I walk my feet up the wall until my body is fairly straight and then do some pushups.

Not just a great upper body exercise (if strong enough), I also really feel it in my lower abs and internal obliques.  Those muscles are working hard to provide stability.  This is how these muscles work in real life settings.

These exercises provide a lot more intensity than lying on the ground and doing crunches, which are pretty much a waist of time in my opinion – because they lack proper intensity and require too much time (inefficient).

Doing squats or stepups with a sandbag on one shoulder is also a great ab workout.  They force your obliques (sides) to provide plenty of stability for your spine since all the weight is positioned on one side.

Do you see a theme happening here?  Training your abs with exercises that involve other muscles not only saves you time but gives your abs a more intense workout.  It also builds total body coordination which is important for playing sports but also for avoiding injury in everyday life.

Think of a fireman carrying someone from a burning building.  He either carries that person in front of him or on his shoulder.  Doing crunches won’t help him accomplish this…..

but training with sandbags will!

If short on time, work your entire body in one session – building strength and cardio at the same time.

Get moving!

Brian

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Can improper breathing contribute to your chronic pain?  Let’s take a look.

The last few years I have come across different experts that believe that a change in your breathing pattern can definitely decrease pain and increase your mobility.

In particular, many people are chest breathers when the majority of your breathing should occur through your diaphragm (stomach).  I recently read a newsletter from one of these experts, Dr. Evan Osar.  He talked about a client that was referred to him by a friend.

This person had hip pain for about a six year period and had seen physical therapists, chiropractors, massage therapists and personal trainers for specific hip strengthening and therapy.

No results from these various professionals.  It was discovered that she had a breathing dysfunction and after some work to help clear this up and restore proper diaphragm breathing, the strength in other muscles started to return.

So what exactly causes this breathing dysfunction?  Injuries, too much stress, poor posture – usually its an accumulation of these factors and not just one of them.

Reflexes can also play a part in this dysfunction.  In his book Somatics, Dr. Thomas Hanna discusses the role of reflexes in relation to pain and posture issues.  He believes that the stooped over look that many associate with aging, is actually more an effect of reflexes.

Today the media is constantly telling us about this recession we are in and of jobs being lost.  In stressful times, people are often worried about the future.  Hanna states that this worrying can lead the shoulders to round forward and the muscles of the neck and shoulder to contract more than necessary.

This rounded shoulder posture can interfere with your breathing and also make your muscles work over-time, as your body is now “out of alignment” with gravity.  This poor alignment can contribute to neck, shoulder, low back, and hip pain!

Inefficient movement can result in pain and loss of mobility.  It may also increase your risk of heart attack.  One study done in a Minneapolis – St. Paul hospital looked at 153 heart attack patients.  It was discovered that all were chest breathers (shallow breathing).

So if this sounds like you, I would look for a professional that can help determine if you need to change the way you breathe.  You will then likely need some additional work for both mobility and stability.

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