It keeps you awake at night.
It makes you feel like you’re drowning and you’ll never reach the surface.
But there’s one thing that can make it all better…
…a list.
Are you a to-do list person?
Do you have lists to consolidate your lists?
Me too.
In fact, I’d be super stressed if it wasn’t for a free app called “to-doist”, but anyway, that’s not really what we’re talking about today.
The point is, that having a list can help…to a point, but if you’ve got a list of things that you need to remember about every little thing you do, you’d easily give up!
That’s why, if I had to give you a checklist of things to make sure you’re doing to maximise your core strength training, it would comprise of just three things:
- Sacrum activation
- Lifted sternum
- Movement
That’s it.
So what’s “sacrum activation”?
It’s a technique I developed to help remind your brain how to naturally engage your core – without all the conventional squeezing and “engaging” that creates stiffness – and causes injury.
In an ideal world, we wouldn’t have to remind your brain of anything, but the industry has spent so long telling us to pull our tummies in, that it’s crucial we go through a period of unwinding the stiffness that creates and then help your brain to forget that stiffness creating movement pattern in favour of a new, more natural one.
Here’s a video I created yesterday that demonstrates how this stiffness impacts your running (spoiler alert – it makes you slower!)
What’s a “lifted sternum”?
Your sternum is basically your breastbone – the bit in the middle of your chest.
Often, when we try to strengthen the core, the result is shortened abdominal muscles, which results in the front of your ribcage being pulled down towards your hips.
This not only encourages a slouched posture, but also pulls the muscles in your back into a stretch, which means they can’t function properly.
When this happens, you lose strength and are at a great risk of injury – especially to your lower back, neck and shoulders.
By focuing on lifting the sternum to the sky (without squeezing anything), you make the muscles in your back stronger, keep the length in your abdomen and it’s from this improved position that you can build more strength.
How?
Movement.
Why is movement important?
Because if we don’t add movement to your new-found, more natural way of using your core, your brain won’t recognise how to use it when you move around, which means you’ll resort back to the old way as soon as you move – and that’s completely pointless.
If your brain is to truly forget the old, stiffness creating movement pattern, we need to ask it to use the new movement pattern in as many different situations as possible.
And for that, we need movement.
Then, and only then, can we add weights or resistance.
So if you don’t want your core strength to slow you down.
If you don’t want to waste time and effort on exercise that isn’t actually helpful.
If you want to create a body that is way more resilient and robust when it comes to injury.
You need to follow this simple checklist.
Oh, and if you want to be walked through the entire process, with a brand new video each day, check out the “Unbreakable Me” programme that will help you to unwind the existing tightness in your body, create a strong, mobile and resilient core, and then build strength into your entire body, so that you can make HUGE gains in your performance.
Let’s be SMARTT® – Let’s do this together!
Sarah x
P.S. You won’t find this information anywhere else, so if you’ve tried the conventional methods, yet you’re still struggling, maybe it’s time to try something new 🙂