Day 11 - The Core

A year from Now you may wish 

You had started Today

-Karen Lamb

The core is a part of the body exercise instructors, talk about a lot.  The Core have many programs dedicated to it.  Some of them I have watched, some I have attempted to work through.  I have always gotten stumped when the Instructors says, “Make sure your core is … or your core should be ….  I would immediately lose focus especially when they add “you should be feeling it in your core.  And all I felt was uncertainty.  I was doing something wrong. 

Since deciding to add an exercise routine to the lifestyle change, I have searched the internet for an answer to what exactly is the core.  I eventually found the answer.

Google defines the core of the body as this:

Major muscles included are the pelvic floor muscles, transversus abdominis, multifidus, internal and external obliques, rectus abdominis, erector spinae (sacrospinalis) especially the longissimus thoracis, and the diaphragm. Minor core muscles include the latissimus dorsi, gluteus maximus, and trapezius..

Wikipedia defines the core as this:

In anatomy, the core refers, in its most general of definitions, to the body minus the legs and arms.^[1] Functional movements are highly dependent on the core, and lack of core development can result in a predisposition to injury.^[2] The major muscles of the core reside in the area of the belly and the mid and lower back (not the shoulders), and peripherally include the hips, the shoulders and the neck.

In the article ”Do you Know what your core really is and what it does?”, Jeff Kuland, from breakingmuscle.com explains the core as a complex series of muscles, extending far beyond your abs, including everything besides your arms and legs.  It is incorporated in almost every movement of the human body.  

Of the three I understand and like Kuland’s definition better. His article was a quick easy read with a self-explanatory title.  He also offered exercise test and a chart to help people that are into dead man lifts.  With some clarity, I was able to go forth and do push-ups free of reluctance.   Wikipedia also gave an extensive explanation of the core of the body, but it is Wikipedia and can’t be anyone’s only source. 

I felt that Google definition required a medical dictionary and chart. 

Now that I know what Instructors are talking about I am able to look at myself and admit my core needs serious work.  Although I am working with the Gym Box.  I am still researching.   There is so much information out there.  The path for an acceptable body is abundant. Then they break up into genders, vegan, meat, weights and cardio etc etc.  I might even have to dedicate a project to the body.  I don’t think that I can be like the writer AJ Jacobs, I won’t be able to do it for a year, three months is my limit.  I will also have to work on conclusions.

                Please leave a comment. Really.