"How You Can Rebuild Your Core with 3 simple Exercises"

Core stability is the big catch phrase in the media today.  People are bombarded with many different types of contraptions or exercises that are supposed to help build a solid core. 

I've read through the research over the past 10 years and have been exposed to two camps of core stability: 

1.  Bracing with spine sparing exercises that involves mostly bridging/plank type exercises.  Most of the research that has been done in this area was done by Stuart McGill.  His philosophy for core stability is what I teach to my patients.  He has a couple of excellent books on the topic:

2.  Abdominal hallowing exercises involves sucking your abdominal wall towards your spine.   Most of the research for this comes out of Australia and was done by Gwendolyn Jull.  The idea is to strengthen the deepest muscle (the transverse abdominus or TVA) in your abdominal region.  I used to utilize this in my earlier years in practice, but found it to not be nearly as effective in getting patients to maintain a good brace in their activities of daily living. 

Paul Chek used to and maybe still is into utilizing this strategy in his rehab programs for patients.  One thing I learned that was interesting from Paul is that if you have an unhealthy gut (bad bugs/bacteria) you will not be able to build a trim and strong core.  I think this is true.  Many people are walking around with an inflamed gut (hence the pooch) and possibly have a parasitic problem, yeast infection, or overgrowth of bad bacteria in there gut.  This leads to inflammation in the intestines and can inhibit development of your core.  More information about this can be found in his book below.

I'll talk more about the above some other time, but you truly are what you eat.  If you eat a lot of poor and unhealthy foods (sugars in particular), you feed the parasites and bad bacteria in your gut.  To help remedy this (without getting a bunch of tests done) you need to eliminate all sugars in your diet and start taking a good probiotic supplement.  E-mail me if you have any questions in regard to what to take and I'd be glad to help. 

Ok, back to the core exercises.  I utilize three main exercises in my office to build a strong base for the core.  Once you can peform all three of these without any effort, you can progress to the harder core exercises. 

Warm Up:  It's important to warm up the soft tissue around your spine before performing any of the following exercises.  Perform the Cat-Camel for 2 sets of 10 before doing any of the following exercises.

Exercise 1:  G-max Bridge

Tips:  Brace your core first then iniate the movement with your buttocks and lift your hips toward the ceiling.  Hold for five seconds and then go back down to starting position.  Work up to 2 sets of 20 per day.

Exercise 2:  Bird Dog

Tips:  Brace your core first and then move your arm forward and your opposite leg straight behind you without twisting your pelvis.  Hold for 3 seconds and then return to starting position by barely brushing your leg and hand against the floor.   Repeat on one side for 20 repititions. 

Exercise 3:  Side Bridge

Tips:  This is the best exercise for maintaining minimal load on the spine while stabilizing the entire core according to Stu McGill.   It's important to perform this exercise last in the progression as it can be difficult for some.  If you have shoulder problems, please do not do this exercise.  Work your way up to 2 sets of 20 on each side.  Once that becomes easy, you can extend your feet out to make the exercise harder. 

Remember, do not do these exercises if you have an existing low back problem.  If you have spinal misalignment/fixation or scar tissue built up in the muscles around the spine, you will remain weak and not fire the proper muscles in order to build your core up properly.  If exercises actually helped cure low back pain then I'd be out of a job. 

The same concept applies to stretching.  If you have a "tight" area in a certain part of your back or body that you constantly stretch, and you see minimal changes then you probably have scar tissue in that region that is causing the muscle to shorten or become weak.  We'll discuss this problem in future articles.

Dr. Bryan Dingsor is the owner of Watertown Chiropractic P.C. in Watertown, SD. He specializes in the treatment of many musculoskeletal conditions and weight loss. For an appointment, please call 605-882-2304 Today.