LILA HELLER PILATES & CORE TRAINING

Core Training for Enhanced Performance

The benefits of core training, or working the deep stabilizer muscles to enhance performance are widely known, but the big benefit is the improvement to functional mobility and injury prevention.

Here are the Top Ten Benefits of Core Training

source- David Lemberg

1. It’s good for you! Core exercises train your deep abdominal muscles - the main one is called the transversus abdominis, TVA. It’s a very deep muscle that surrounds your entire waist, supporting all your abdominal structures including your lower back.
2. Looking good. Of course - this is why we exercise! Well, mostly why we exercise.
3. Core training is the missing piece of most exercise programs. What’s needed are exercises that specifically target the transversus abdominis (TVA). This muscle is your deepest muscular layer and is most effectively trained using core routines.
4. Lower back stabilization. A strong and healthy lower back requires a strong and healthy group of core muscles – the TVA, multifidus, erector spinae, longissimus thoracis, rectus abdominis, and internal and external obliques. A strong core provides weight-bearing support to the lower back, freeing your spinal vertebras, joints, and muscles to do what they were designed to do – move your body around in space (i.e. functional movement).
5. Your body gets much smarter! Core training provides remarkable unexpected benefits, including improved balance and coordination. Core training creates more and better links between your brain – specifically your cerebellum – and your body. The cerebellum is responsible for muscular coordination, balance, and positional awareness – proprioception – your body’s awareness of its positioning in three-dimensional space. Core fitness means your brain is fit, too, and your body’s own intelligence goes up very quickly.
6. Improved flexibility. Improved flexibility is the natural result of improved lower back stabilization. A strong group of core muscles takes weight-bearing pressure off your lower back, removing an ongoing, daily source of lower-back muscular stress and strain. These muscles and ligaments are freed-up to go through their entire ranges of motion, providing improved natural mobility and flexibility.
7. Improved respiration and lung capacity. The TVA is directly connected to the diaphragm. When the core muscles are well-trained and working properly, your ability to breathe in fully and breathe out fully is greatly improved. More air means more oxygen – the performance of all your body systems is upgraded as a result.
8. Reduced occurrence of lower back pain. Most of us have had some kind of lower back trouble here and there. Most of these lower back problems result from bearing too much or too sudden weight in the lower back. Your back muscles and ligaments are not primarily designed to bear weight. Their primary function is to move your body around in three-dimensional space. A strong core allows for more normal spinal function and lower back problems are reduced.
9. Improved physical strength.
10. More fun with running, cycling, surfing, and skiing. Basically, any sport that requires both aerobic performance and flexibility is improved with core training. Core exercises enhance your respiratory capacity and your balance, coordination, and flexibility. The result is upgraded athletic performance – you have more stamina and your sport-specific skills improve.

If you'd like to learn more about how you and I would work together, come on by for a visit (best to call ahead) and I'll happily show you around.