SuperCore
SuperCore, was developed to give the man in the street as well as athletes a workout routine to improve their CORE strength for everyday life, but more in particular to improve their ability to do a sport by lowering the risk of injury due to a weak core. Contrary to normal beliefs, the core is not “just” abdominals. Core actually includes the whole body, divided into lower core, mid core and upper core. In SuperCore we work all sections of the core by utilising body weight exercises. Exercises are functional and have been designed in such a way to improve the whole core and ready the body for sport and everyday life.
When you see an athlete, the first thing you notice is that they are typically ripped to shreds. Their strength training along with their sports preparation, keeps them at pretty low body fat levels. But an athlete’s abdominals aren’t just for aesthetics, they are functional as well.
Developing the “core”, or the musculature surrounding the torso, hips and pelvis, anterior and posterior, is essential for all athletes. In fact, it is the elite athletes who are the ones able to utilize this strength to excel in their respective sporting endeavours.
If we understand what exercises provide us with real abdominal and torso strength, then we can achieve the benefits that, up to this point, some athletes have been able to obtain. Some athletes, because only a limited number of athletes (or their trainers) understand how to build functional core strength.
Recently, the strength and conditioning community has documented
and detailed the role of the “core”. Not only is the “core” musculature
important for strength of movement but it is also important to stabilize
and protect the spine and pelvic floor by remaining rigid during the
engagement of complex, loaded or unloaded movements.
Strength of movement means strength of torso movement patterns,
i.e. flexion, extension, rotation, chaos or no movement at all.
For all athletics, the core musculature is taxed in all movement
patterns AND many more. Sports are not patterned, they are random
and the athlete’s reaction to these random stimuli is also random, and
by logic cannot be predicted. That is why we must train in all of these
movement patterns, in addition to, training in a random (or chaotic)
environment. Athletes who can meet and overcome this demand, will
not only be able to absorb impact forces, but also generate them, even
late in the game.
Benefits of SuperCore Training
In general the “core” musculature is not only responsible for all
movement, it is also responsible for protecting the neck, shoulders,
spine, hips and pelvis from injury. Specifically for athletes, the role of
the core musculature becomes much more complex. An athlete’s
“core” strength requires them to:
· create and absorb impact forces
· efficiently transfer, accelerate, decelerate and stabilize powerful ground forces
· maintain positioning and spatial awareness
· regulate breathing under heavy duress and fatigue
· build high levels of muscular endurance and power potential
· promoting co-contraction
· protect the lumbo-pelvic-hip-complex or LPHC
· improving reaction and reactive abilities
· improving balance, agility and coordination
A more general overview of the benefits of a comprehensive torso
training strategy for those interested in getting stronger and meeting
their strength goals:
· improving static and dynamic posture
· improving and creating stability and bracing proficiency
· protection of the neck, shoulders, spine, hips, and pelvic floor during loaded and unloaded complex/compound movements
· improving the integrity and distribution of forces across the kinetic chain
· maintaining sufficient rigidity of the torso during compound, ground based movements
· engaging and preventing movements specific to the muscle actions of involved muscle groups, i.e. elimination of compensation patterns and motor unit recruitment dysfunction
· improving the ability to absorb impact or non-functional deviations of the pelvis or spine during high force movements
· improving the ability to generate, transfer, or dissipate forces (if engaged kinetic segments are immobile, hypermobile or weak dependent upon their specific requirements)
· maintain patterning and positioning under fatigue
· regulation of breathing
BASIC CORE EXERCISES THAT ARE INCLUDED IN THE SUPERCORE WORKOUTS:
· Squats – hindu squats, prisoner squats, Y squats, Sumo squats, Bulgarian squats, split squats, boot squats, etc.
· Burpees – with and without push-ups
· Forward lunges
· Back lunges
· Squat kicks
· Squat jumps
· Tuck jumps or monkey jumps
· Wood choppers
· Push-ups – normal, wide stance, diamond push-ups, offset push-ups
· Kick backs
· Straight leg sit-ups
· Boxer crunches and normal crunches
· Planks, both on the floor and on a stability ball
· Side bridges – many forms, from static to dynamic
· Upper planks and T-bars
· Reverse crunches
· Supermans
· Swimming supermans
· Twisting sit-backs
· Half and full jacknives
· Russian twists
· Russian ballet leg thrusts
· Windmills
These are just a few of the exercises that will develop basic and functional CORE strength for an athlete as well as the man in the stret to cope with everyday physical challenges.
Join our classes on Monday and Thursday evenings to reap the benefits of SuperCore training
