| 7 – The Core |
There’s more to a rock solid core than six-pack abs. Sure, we all want to look like Ronaldo when we whip our top off, but having a strong trunk under the surface will pay dividends on the pitch.
Your balance will improve for one – and that’s important when you’re going to shoulder-to-shoulder on the 5-a-side pitch.
All forces pass through your body’s core – if that’s study and powerful, your actions – kicking, running, jumping – will all be executed with greater strength and stability.
Every strength and conditioning program should be based on principles which help improve athletic performance, while preventing injury. The list of guiding principles used by Strength and Conditioning coaches is rather long. We’ll spend the next few minutes reviewing a few you’ll need to know and understand as programs are developed for your students.
The SAID principle states that “if a person is put under a certain physical stress, the physiological systems will overcome the stress by adapting specifically to the imposed demands.” A specific stimulus will force adaptation in the physiological, biomechanical, biochemical and other systems. For example, the body will improve explosiveness by increasing speed, power and strength of the legs and coordination of the upper body. Therefore, each training session or training cycle should have an objective that targets specific adaptations.
Specificity is defined as the degree of similarity between exercises used in training and the movement patterns seen during performance. This concept should be utilized to improve the possible crossover between training and game time performance.
The use of running as punishment violates the rule of Specificity. Running should be used for health benefits and specific performance benefits such as increasing speed or endurance.
Using exercise as a form of punishment, reduces the effectiveness of the training program, can cause rapid development of overtraining symptoms and delivers the message that exercise is not beneficial but a tool for punishment.
Progression is the process of gradually increasing the exercise stimulus within a program. It needs to be understood to monitor the type of progress being made. And proper progression insures that athletic performance is improving instead of remaining stagnant or worse, deteriorating.
To achieve a certain training adaptation the body must be gradually stressed by working against a stimulus or load that is greater than accustomed. It might come from adding weight in strength training or adding difficulty such as sprinting up a hill instead of on a flat plain. The body will adapt and will need further overload in order to continuously improve.
Both overload and progression are concepts that follow the same fundamental principle. They refer to increasing the intensity of the exercise or training to impose a specific demand on the system. And overload and progression need to be monitored. If injury rates increase, then improper progression and/or too much overload stimulus could play a role.
This session focuses on:
Plank to Push-Up
Adding movement to the classic Plank requires additional strength to maintain balance.
– Plank Step-Ups
This core variation also incorporates movement but requires you to recruit more muscles to push them up the step. This one increases strength in both the core and triceps muscles, which is ideal for football players (linemen) who have to push off the ground.
– Alternating Shoulder Tap Plank
This exercise places you in a push-up position, activating more of your triceps muscles in addition to your core muscles. The movement requires a strong core to help stabilize your body.
– Barbell Roll-Outs
This is an alternate take on the classic Ab Wheel Roll-Out, forcing you to use your core strength in a stretched position. It also increases lower back and shoulder strength, which is very beneficial in most sports, because athletes are required to stretch their bodies to perform certain motions. A strong core helps prevent injury during these motions while assisting in producing force.
– Stability Ball Stir The Pot
This core exercise is similar to the Roll-Out, but it requires you to move in a circular motion instead of forward and back. This is beneficial because it works all angles of the core, including the obliques.
– Landmine Rotations
The Landmine Rotation builds great core strength, primarily in the obliques, while strengthening the shoulder muscles, making it an ideal exercise for athletes in sports involving rotational movements, such as baseball and golf.
– Stability Ball V-Up Transfers
This variation increases core strength, primarily in the lower abdominal muscles. Adding a stability ball requires coordination, and you must contract your quadriceps and adductor muscles.
– Lateral V-Ups
Lateral V-Ups focus on the oblique muscles. A good variation to normal V-Ups, they require coordination and train your core muscles to activate simultaneously.
– Dead Bugs
Despite their strange name, Dead Bugs are neither complicated nor crazy. Popularized largely due to research of Dr. Stuart McGill, the Dead Bug produces a killer ab burn while also training you to avoid some common movement deficiencies.
– Crunchy Frogs
Crunchy Frogs require you to bring your knees up, crunching your lower abdominal muscles, rather than bringing your head up and crunching your upper abdominal muscles. They also require both legs and the back off the ground, requiring you to balance, which recruits your core stabilizer muscles.
– Bicycle Crunches
This exercise increases strength and endurance, incorporating rotation in the crunch position and targeting the upper abdominal and oblique muscles. Obviously, this variation benefits cyclists the most.
– Sprinter Sit-Ups
As its name indicates, this exercise is most beneficial to track sprinters and athletes in sports requiring explosive speed. It mimics the sprinting motion, helping to train your core muscles to activate in the correct pattern to enhance your running mechanics.
– BOSU Ball Mountain Climbers
This core variation is similar to the Sprinter Sit-Up, except you are in a push-up position. Placing your hands on a BOSU ball requires balance, increasing the challenge to your core stabilizer muscles.
– Hanging Straight Leg Raises
Probably one of the best tests of a strong core, the Hanging Straight Leg Raise requires great strength in the lower abdominal muscles, hip flexors and lower back.
– Hanging Straight Leg Windshield Wipers
These are Hanging Straight Leg Raises with rotation. Adding rotation increases core strength and endurance, specifically the obliques.