Hey hey!
After an amazing bit of weather, the sun feels a bit strange and welcome in my hometown of Madras.
This week, I wrote about 3 things. I am particularly excited about the core piece.
Friendly fire. I’ve written about saboteurs before. In our journey of health and fitness, we are the biggest saboteur. And when we out-manoeuvre that fellow, our friends and family turn to be saboteurs. Without punching anyone in the face, how do we deal with this?
3 quotes, including one by Agassi.
A layman’s introduction to understanding the core. What the heck is it? With the framework I’ve laid out, never be confused ever again about what you are supposed to be doing with our core.
Let’s get going!
Let’s start with the core
What muscle is the core exactly?
Using your core is essential to any form of physical training. It is paramount for safety. Training your core to function, to tie your body together is a skill that you develop by using various drills. And then you subject it to higher levels of stress when you lift weights or get on the rings or do whatever you do.
If you've been to a gym or dabbled in fitness, you've heard of this term. But what does it actually mean?
Is it a specific body part? Like the lats or biceps or whatever? Does it refer to the abs? Then why wouldn't we just say abs?!
The core is not one muscle or a muscle group. It is a catch-all term.
The core refers to whatever parts of the body that transfer power or work done. This varies between movements i.e. some movements have more moving parts, say the deadlift or running, while some movements have less moving parts, say the military press.
An example: The Olympic Snatch
The function of the core is to keep the bits that need to remain stable, stable. So that the bits that move can move better. Think how you are on a stable foundation (the floor) vs an unstable foundation (a BOSU ball). You want to have a stable foundation - internally. That's the function of the core. The bits (limbs) that move generate power (think legs in sprinting) and/or move the load (a kettlebell or Olympic snatch).
In the video above, Klokov is moving some ridiculous weight. Here is how the lift is done, without going into any technical detail.
Legs drive into the floor.
Hips take over.
Together, #1 and #2 have generated the power to lift the weight. But that's not enough
The core needs to transfer, with minimum transmission loss, this power/work done to the load. Else, the load won't be lifted.
The load is held by the arms. The arms are connected to the shoulders.
The legs and hips generate power. This power is transmitted upwards, through the midsection (core), and to the shoulders, and voila - the barbell flies up.
In this example, the core is the trunk of the body, the pillar. The parts between the shoulder and the hip.
Power transmission lines
For your electronic devices to work, electricity is supplied to your house. The electricity is generated in some far-away place and then transmitted via power lines.
Due to various inefficiencies in the transmission, there is a significant difference between what is produced and what is eventually utilised. But that's the nature of the game.
If we produced 100 units and our transmission efficiency is 50%, then we get only 50 units. There are two ways to increase the amount - produce more or improve transmission efficiency.
To get stronger or faster (and for better endurance or fat loss or almost any adaptation), you need to learn to improve both the production and the transmission efficiency.
In addition to transmission efficiency, a proper core function is mandatory to keep you safe.
A different example: The KB Press
What's the core here? The moving part is just the working arm. So, pretty much everything below it is the core.
Your glutes and your quadriceps, for example, are part of the core in a press. But in most movements, they are the prime movers.
The intent is not to confuse you but to drive the point home that the function is the transfer of power and providing a stable foundation for the moving parts to do the moving and lifting.
Focus on the pillar
For healthy, safe lifting, you need to have a strong mid-section. Let's use the word pillar (Exos uses this and I think it is a good term that does the job) for the rest of this article.
While the core will change depending on the movement, to be a better lifter (or a gymnast or martial artist or anything in the realm of physical fitness), you need to have a strong and functional mid-section. Pillar!
This is not just your abs - the 6-pack. Instead, think of your pillar as a six-sided box.
The front of the box - that's your abs. And well, stuff underneath and near it. But pfft, irrelevant technicalities. Think of this as straps running from your sternum to the top of your pelvis. From somewhere just below your nipples to a bit below the belly button where some bony bits are (if you sit, you fold at your hip joint. Poke yourself at the part you fold, you'll see what I mean).
The sides of the box - think of straps running from your armpit to your hips.
The back of the box - think of straps running from your shoulder blades to your pelvis.
The bottom of the box - this is your pelvic floor. When you sneeze, you squeeze this automagically. When you really need to pee but the loo is 200 metres away, you hold it in and walk real fast, right? That's the pelvic floor in action again.
The top of the box - let's ignore this for now.
Shtraps, straps, shraps
You don't need to worry about what the actual muscles are called and all that. That's for you to geek out.
You simply need to know that you need to focus on (at least) the 4 sides of the box. The bottom and top are harder and will come by later.
I like to think of straps running all around my body, from shoulder to hip. The straps run vertically and diagonally. When I set up for a lift, I tighten my straps. If I tighten too much in front, the front crunches/shrinks. If I tighten the straps at the back more than the front, I have a big arch on my chest (think Bench Press). Depending on the movement, you use this.
My recommendation. Don't overthink it. Try to use all straps on all sides evenly. Stay neutral. Once you get past a certain skill level, all of this will make a lot more sense and then you can start figuring out more stuff.
To clarify, straps (shtraps) are not an actual muscle or muscle group. Due to a combination of a coffee shortage and my hurried instruction, I had a couple of my students ask me about this. So, the clarification (and misspelling).
To summarise
The core's function is to keep your back safe. And to transmit power efficiently.
The more efficient it is, the better. Else, you are wasting energy creating power but that's dissipating. Think of the power lines that bring electricity to your home.
Pillar is a better term than the core. The pillar is a 6-sided box. Our pillar is 360 degrees - think of wearing a corset. Plus the bottom. And the top that we are ignoring (for now).
The limbs move. The pillar provides a stable pathway.
Think of straps running down vertically and diagonally, from shoulder to hip, all around. Tighten the straps (like a backpack strap being tightened, so that the backpack does not jostle) and hold them there and lift/move.
A drill that you can work on is the bird-dog.
And next week
I'll continue this next week, diving into what the heck bracing means. Breathing and bracing are an integral part of all of this and I've conveniently ignored all of it.
Other parts I've left out are tension levels. Keeping the pillar on at a certain tension level varies for each movement - maximum for the deadlift and moderate-to-low for ballistic movements, like a jump.
Can you think of ONE person in your circle who is into physical training and would find it useful? If so, please share. I’d hugely appreciate it.
3 quotes for this week
A point of view is that quintessential human solution to information overload, an intuitive process of reducing things to an essential relevant and manageable minimum.
— Paul Saffo
I think all of us abstract and reduce things into various different formats. Either in the form of a to-do list or "I stand for this" or any such expression.
A useful way I do this (but it doesn't help with feelings of imposter syndrome) is ... well, here's an example.
Topic: Sun, sunscreen, vitamin D. What?
Information in my head:
Going out in the sun for the body to make vitamin D only works between 11 am to 3 pm.
Wear sunscreen that specifically mentions/blocks UVB. Don't just focus on SPF.
And that's about it. I find that this is adequate to answer 90% of the questions that crop up, in relevance to what I learned from my research. Now, until something dramatically changes in the research, do I really need to know more?
Prize Intensity more than Extent.
Excellence resides in quality not in quantity. The best is always few and rare: much lowers value. Even among men giants are commonly the real dwarfs. Some reckon books by the thickness, as if they were written to try the brawn more than the brain. Extent alone never rises above mediocrity: it is the misfortune of universal geniuses that in attempting to be at home everywhere, are so nowhere. Intensity gives eminence, and rises to the heroic in matters sublime.
– Baltasar Gracian
Intensity and quality - if you focus on this in your (strength) training, you are doing it right.
Derek Sivers' books and articles come to mind immediately.
Finally, when my grades hit bottom, my rebellion reaches the breaking point.
I walk into a hair salon in the Bradenton Mall and tell the stylist to just give me a mohawk. Razor the sides, shave them to the scalp, and leave just one thick strip of spiked hair down the middle.
Are you sure, kid?
I want it high, and I want it spiky. Then dye it pink.
...
To the casual observer I've done something that seems like a desperate effort to stand out. But in fact I've rendered myself, my inner self, my true self, invisible. At least, that was the idea.
– Andre Agassi, Open
Besides some sassy old people, who just stop giving a shit and be how they wanna be, most of us do hide a true part of ourselves.
Read this book for a great story about a legend, and you can see both perspectives. I guess if you dislike tennis, you shouldn't read it.
And oh, of course, age alert. If you don't know who Agassi is, I guess it won’t make much sense. A couple of months back, I made a Matrix reference in class and had a couple of people blink at me. Which came out 21 years ago. Wait what?!?!?!
Friendly fire, Sabotage, Homeostasis
Cleaning out your pantry is one of the best fat loss techniques there is. By putting a significant barrier between you and it - chocolates or biscuits or ice cream or peanut chikki or chips or whatever - you improve your odds of staying on track. Family members will stock up on extra chocolates and biscuits at this time coz it is raining, coz they want it. And if you are on a diet, you should have willpower.
Sock 'em on the jaw. Throw out the junk and say you ate it all. Fuck 'em!
You've been vacationing (at home) a bit too much. Drinking or smoking or whatevering a bit much and you want to take a break, for at least a month. Friends who cajole you and tell you that "just this one time machan" and put some peer pressure.
Sock 'em on the jaw. Or ignore their calls for a few days.
You will sabotage your attempts at fitness. So will your loved ones. That's just how it is. Of course, they want the best for you. Just like you want the best for yourself. It doesn't mean they don't like you. It simply is.
In biology, there's a wonderful concept called homeostasis. Your body temperature, for example, needs to be maintained at an optimal level. If it gets too cold outside, you start shivering and your teeth start chattering. This is an attempt to raise body temperature - homeostasis in action.
Your family and friends are not sabotaging you because they are secretly jealous. They are not in alignment with you. Because you are disrupting the homeostasis of how things are going - of the party, of an evening out, of regular family life.
Coz you are out of whack with them. Not the other way around.
There's no right or wrong here. You have taken a great decision but you cannot do this alone. You need to figure out how to handle friendly fire and saboteurs.
Please don't sock 'em on the jaw.
Thanks for spending your valuable time here. If you found any of these useful, please do share with just ONE or TWO people. Help me grow my community of readers. I truly appreciate it.
