What does it mean to ‘engage your core’ when exercising?

When I began weight lifting in my late 30s, my coaches often gave me a somewhat baffling cue. “Engage your core,” they’d tell me as I stepped out of the squat rack with a loaded barbell on my back.
Did that mean I should suck in my gut? Hold my breath? Or maybe both at the same time?
Not exactly. Activating your core means creating “a brace, by drawing your belly button into your spine, as if you’re about to get punched in the stomach,” said Anatolia Vick, assistant director of fitness and wellness at Rice University.
This creates a belt of stability in the spine and pelvis, which protects the joints, ligaments and tendons and reduces the strain on your back when exercising, said Dr Vick.
It’s not only important while working out; your core stability is tied to everything you do. Engaging your core can keep you from injuring your back the next time you lift a suitcase and it can also help prevent falls, Dr Vick said.
But engaging your core doesn’t come naturally to most people, even those who have already developed core strength. Whether you work out regularly, play golf on the weekends or just like to garden, it’s worthwhile to practise a few exercises to help you learn how to do it properly.
WHY THE CORE IS ESSENTIAL FOR MOVEMENT
Many people think of their core as the ab muscles that make up a six pack. But the core also includes the muscles that run along the spine, back and sides, as well as those that link the trunk to the pelvis and limbs.
Unlike the muscles in our limbs, which often work independently, the core muscles mostly contract together. Picking up a jar off the kitchen counter with one hand uses a few muscles in your arm, but safely lifting something off the floor requires the muscles through your sides, spine, back and pelvis to work in concert. And it takes some practice to correctly engage all of these muscles at once.
If you don’t activate your core during daily activities, and instead hyperextend – or arch – your back, you put more stress and pressure on your joints and limbs, potentially leading to back, hip and knee issues, said Dr Vick.
It’s even more important to activate the core during more strenuous activities, because the forces on your body are greater, said Dr Sharon L Hame, a professor of clinical orthopaedic surgery at the University of California, Los Angeles, in an email.
“The hips and the lumbar spine are particularly vulnerable to injury if the pelvis is not well stabilised,” Dr Hame said.
FIRST, PRACTICE BREATHING
To truly activate your core, you need to breathe both in and out, said Jill Miller, a yoga teacher and the author of Body By Breath. A mistake people often make when trying to activate their core is simply holding their breath, then disengaging when they exhale, Miller said.
To start, inhale and expand the area below your ribs that includes your belly, waist, low back and pelvic floor, and let all of your muscles relax, she said. Then, as you slowly inhale and exhale again, hold in your stomach muscles slightly, gently pulling your belly button toward your spine. The goal is not just to breathe, but to maintain a slight tension in your core after you exhale.
“I liken it to a human blood pressure cuff,” Miller said of the sensation of properly activating your core, “but it’s from the pelvic floor through the waist, and even into the ribs.”
NEXT, MOVE AND ROTATE
Once you know how to engage your core while standing still, try it while moving. Start by lying on your back, Dr Vick said. Lift your legs off the floor and bend your knees at a 90-degree angle. (If this is too difficult, you can also plant your feet on the floor, knees bent.)
Push your back into the floor, as if someone has a hand under your lower back and you’re trying to squash it. (You can also place a towel under your lower back and press against it.)
Start taking deep breaths through your nose and exhaling through your mouth. Then, keeping your knees at 90 degrees, tap your heels to the ground, one at a time, while keeping your lower back pressed against the floor.
“This will help you feel what it’s like to keep your core stable and engaged while moving,” said Dr Vick. Then you can try it while walking, lifting weights or playing tennis.
A loose, unengaged core can cause the body to turn too much to one side or the other, or over-rotate, which can eventually cause back or hip pain. Strengthening and engaging your core helps prevent your body from rotating too far.
To practise resisting this over-rotation, hold a side plank, making sure to consciously breathe in and out while keeping your core muscles tight. Or, try a Pallof press, using a band attached to a doorknob.
Once you know how to activate your core while breathing and moving, practise it with some simple exercises, like jogging around the block or jumping jacks. The next time you pick up a heavy bag of groceries or smack a pickleball, draw your belly button into your spine the way you practiced. Eventually you’ll stabilise your core without thinking, setting yourself up for powerful, injury-free movement.
By Hilary Achauer © The New York Times Company
The article originally appeared in The New York Times.