Engage your core

emdeesea

**I posted this in another forum and got like 2 responses. Would like to hear something more if possible.**

I hear this often - to engage my core. And I used to think it meant to hold in the abdominal muscle. But I've now heard that's incorrect, and that you're actually supposed to, like, push it out. And I briefly checked out a couple of exercise web sites but I'm getting conflicting answers.

So does anyone know how to correctly engage the core?

nhenryoliver

Following

peachyfuzzle

Think of it like holding your breath while trying to push that breath out with your diaphragm/abdominal muscles. Once you feel the muscle group activate correctly, you'll be able to repeat it without actually holding your breath.

litsy3

Pretend that you are peeing, and then you need to stop mid-flow and hold it in. That will engage your pelvic floor muscles.

MommyMeggo

Hmm...Id be interested to know too. I always "engage" my "core" by holding it tight, the way I feel the muscles contract when I do a plank. Like in a constant state of "crunching/flexing"- for lack of a better term. *Following*

rileyes

Take a deep breath. Tighten your core. Breathe out. Tighten more.

star1407

I was told this by a trainer once and it made me chuckle.....

Imagine you have a £50 note in your most private area and some beggar is trying to pull it out, you gotta squeeze and hold onto it cos you ain't letting your money go!

Hornsby

It's pooping without the poop...

DaddieCat

For me, it depends on the activity. For something like squats and deadlifts, it's incresing intra-abdominal pressure, which means filling up and expanding outward. For other things, it's contracting and pulling the muscles inward.

For an every day definition, it's not either, really. It's more like, tensing them just enough to feel the tension, which seems to be more in line with pulling it in, but that's not entirely the same thing, for me.

VeryKatie

star1407 wrote: »

I was told this by a trainer once and it made me chuckle.....

Imagine you have a £50 note in your most private area and some beggar is trying to pull it out, you gotta squeeze and hold onto it cos you ain't letting your money go!

That's kegal... core is abs..?

cafeaulait7

For general purposes, act like someone is about to punch you in the stomach (imho).

MommyMeggo

star1407 wrote: »

I was told this by a trainer once and it made me chuckle.....

Imagine you have a £50 note in your most private area and some beggar is trying to pull it out, you gotta squeeze and hold onto it cos you ain't letting your money go!

Say whaaaa? I believe thats a different kind of core.... =P

SonyaCele

BecomingBane wrote: »

For me, it depends on the activity. For something like squats and deadlifts, it's incresing intra-abdominal pressure, which means filling up and expanding outward. For other things, it's contracting and pulling the muscles inward.

For an every day definition, it's not either, really. It's more like, tensing them just enough to feel the tension, which seems to be more in line with pulling it in, but that's not entirely the same thing, for me.

this is me. None of the rest of the explanations is anything close to how i engage my core,

Chieflrg

Basically stick it out and tight like your gonna get punched in the gut.

You should do this with or without a belt.

Kimo159

Hornsby wrote: »

It's pooping without the poop...

Hahahaha!! That would do the trick though..(It is weird that I just tried that right now to see if it worked?)

MommyMeggo

Chieflrg wrote: »

Basically stick it out and tight like your gonna get punched in the gut.

You should do this with or without a belt.

I like this better than mine. Lol. I guess I'd never think to call it pushing outwardly but yeah that's it.

emdeesea

Thanks, everyone, this really does help!

cafeaulait7

Different ways work different muscles, btw. So the gut punch is the deeper muscles and more of your other core muscles. If you are trying to work more superficial muscles for whatever reason, that's more like the crunches or reverse crunches where you contract in towards your spine more (and the spine moves) as you pull. I think of pulling versus bracing/making a strong structure. I think both ways are important at different times.

shor0814

Think of what a lifting belt does; it gives you something to push against not to pull away from to brace your core.

determined24girl

Wow I've been doing it all wrong. Thanks for this thread!!!

ashleyylo

Hmmm there are so many different responses. I remember some trainers in my classes saying things like "pull your belly button into your spine" to engage...

Now feel confused, lol.however this is something I always forget to do. Because I am usually just trying to figure out what the heck I'm doing in general

emdeesea

ashleyylo wrote: »

Hmmm there are so many different responses. I remember some trainers in my classes saying things like "pull your belly button into your spine" to engage...

Now feel confused, lol.however this is something I always forget to do. Because I am usually just trying to figure out what the heck I'm doing in general

That's exactly why I wanted to ask. I've only ever heard the "suck in your belly" thing and then I recently read somewhere that was wrong, and it made me think more about it.

I asked one of the guys at the gym today when I was there (and after I put up this question) and his response was pretty much what the guys here have said - imagine that you're about to be hit in the gut and tighten that to protect it. Or another way to imagine it, is bear down like you're trying to move your bowels. Basically the same mechanism.

So now I just have to try to remember to do that instead of sucking it in. Will be interesting to see how much difference it makes in general stability and strength now knowing I've basically been doing it wrong this whole time.

niamibunni

So we're doing kegels and not pooping. Got it.

kuroshii

An easy way to engage your core is to always maintain good posture when standing (and sitting) and use those correct midriff muscles to do so. When standing, try to make yourself taller. When sitting, don't slouch or hunch.