The REAL Way Core Training Works!

I think it would be very hard to find a fitness professional that would admit their training doesn’t make you better out of the gym as much as it makes you good IN the gym. That is largely because most of us do a lousy job of really understanding how the body functions, so that would make functional training kinda hard to accomplish right?

That’s why we always put so much emphasis of trying to teach important concept of how the body works so you can filter through all the tremendous amount of information that is out there. Yea, it can be more than overwhelming if you are just trying to train smart.

This is especially true when it comes to core training and how to really benefit from the work you put into it. My hope is that at this point, we realize that core training is more than a fancy word for abs. There are so many muscles of our trunk and pelvis that have to work correctly to truly create smart core training.

DVRT Master, Annmarie Licatese, wrote a great blog on some foundational core training and how it benefits runners HERE. You don’t have to be a runner either to really get some great results from these core training concepts. You see, that’s a huge reason to focus on functional training, if done correctly, it crosses over to so many fitness goals.

Some of these core training exercises might be familiar and that’s great! I guarantee you that the subtle spins make a big difference, mostly because we are not trying to get you good at Dead Bugs, Bird Dogs, planks, etc. We are trying to improve how you use your core so you can do the REAL core training.

What do I mean? The major purpose of the core is to both resist unwanted movement to protect the body and to help transmit force from lower to upper body and vice versa. The best example of that is rotational training!!

As we have spoken about time and time again, rotation is the preferred way for our body to make a lot of force like punching, kicking, and throwing, but equally it is a huge way to reduce the chances of low back injuries. That is because most people “twist” through their low backs instead of their hips.

Since your low back doesn’t have a lot of capability to rotate and your hips are these ball and socket joints that have a TON of ability, it makes sense that we want to teach people to move through their hips in creating rotation for both real world strength and injury resiliency.

We’ve given lots of great tips over our DVRT blogs of how to introduce rotation to your core training, but something we haven’t talked about is why DVRT works so well. That largely has to do with something with the funny name called the “Serape effect”. What the heck is that?

In simple terms, ever notice that typically when we create a rotational action we tend to move back first? Think of a tennis serve, baseball pitch, hockey shot, etc. That is because our body is like a big spring and we can create MORE power when we optimize this concept.

The difference with the rotational core training with teach in DVRT versus other programs is we focus on how to use this movement concept and in fact, how to train it. Elastic energy is our body’s friend and makes us powerful. Yet, we want to be careful how we implement it because we don’t want to move through our low backs, but rather our hips.

That means these great DVRT core training progressions that Conner Henry of Envision Fitness in Maple Ridge, BC demonstrates is how we move through these movement concepts. First we start making sure we know how to pivot, move quickly, while maintain our plank. Then we become more reactive in our Around the World, then we can add more power by adding the hip hinge in our DVRT Shoveling.

Like all good training, you shouldn’t rush going through these progressions, rather, take your time in building proficiency and understanding how to use your body right! With the right practice you will start to unleash a whole new world of dynamic real world core training and strength!

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