If you are into fitness, spend time watching workout videos or personal training. You must have heard the trainer or coach saying brace your core, engage your abs, pull your belly button or flex your abs. All this in total means to engage your core while working out.You must be thinking what is this core and how do I engage it while working out. Before learning how to engage your core you must learn what actually is core.
What is core?
When people heard about core they often think it’s six pack. No absolutely wrong core is way beyond your ‘six park.
Core is a complex muscles where many muscles are hidden beneath the exterior musculature people typically train. When it comes to engaging your core you have to engage many other muscles like Rectus abdomin , external obliques, internal obliques, transverse abdomin , Latissimus dorsi, erector spine. Also hip muscles and glutes also help in stabilization of core .But not as much as the other muscles mention above. It’s important to engage all the muscles while working out to get the best out of the workout and training.
How to engage your core?
As of now you know what core is and what muscles you have to engage in order to get the desired results. So let’s now dive into as of how you activate the core muscle for better results. If you put core in the center of workout your movement will be easy. While doing crunches, and other abs exercises. Core muscles makes it obvious that you’re working on core strength and you will feel the burn. Core muscles help you to rotate, resist rotation, stabilize your torso, maintain good posture, and keep your balance.
Activating your core means bracing and tightening all of the muscles in your core. When you engage you’re core you will have to depend less on the other muscles to get the power. In addition when you’re using your core along with arms or legs or both. You are able to use the least amount of force for maximum impact. It’s very important all the muscles lats, paraspinal muscles, hip flexors, and glutesn are engage for safer and better workout.
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Why you should engage your core?
The question that comes to your mind when trainer says ‘engage your core’ or the YouTube fitness guru says the same thing . Why should I engage my core, I am working out already it’s difficult, and many more question must have come up in your head. So I am gonna tell you the reason why you should actually engage your core. First of all when you engage your core you are less likely to get injured during the workout. It creates a stable ring of musculature around your spine that keeps your vertebrae from flexing or extending too far, as well as from bending too far to one side or the other.
When you repeat an exercise and force yourself to repeat the same position over and over again. You are more likely to get injured because of the amount of force you apply in maintaining the position. Shoulder and elbow injuries are very common when not engaging core.
