Engage Your Core!

Engage your core!" Heard in every exercise class in every gym across time immemorial - but how many of us actually know what that means? Usually it just results in us pulling in our belly button and hoping for the best! But, using the deep stabiliser muscles of your core, and having them fire up in the right order, is crucial for strength development and injury prevention. If you're using your local phasic (movement) muscles without firing up your stabiliser muscles first you're at high risk of injury. It's like trying to drive your car with the handbrake still on. I've been putting my clients through their paces this week, getting them to identify and engage the TVA, internal obliques and all the other muscles of the core, all while belly breathing to ensure good nutrient flow to the muscles. It's been a fun week, I think I can say they've all enjoyed the challenge and are quite surprised at the amount of work the quads and hip flexors will do to save your abs the bother!