Engage your core

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emdeesea
emdeesea Posts: 1,823 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
**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?
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Replies

  • nhenryoliver
    nhenryoliver Posts: 112 Member
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    Following
  • peachyfuzzle
    peachyfuzzle Posts: 1,122 Member
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    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
    litsy3 Posts: 783 Member
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    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
    MommyMeggo Posts: 1,222 Member
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    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
    rileyes Posts: 1,406 Member
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    Take a deep breath. Tighten your core. Breathe out. Tighten more.
  • star1407
    star1407 Posts: 588 Member
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    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
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    It's pooping without the poop...
  • DaddieCat
    DaddieCat Posts: 3,646 Member
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    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
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,949 Member
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    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
    cafeaulait7 Posts: 2,459 Member
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    For general purposes, act like someone is about to punch you in the stomach (imho).
  • MommyMeggo
    MommyMeggo Posts: 1,222 Member
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    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
    SonyaCele Posts: 2,841 Member
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    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
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
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    Basically stick it out and tight like your gonna get punched in the gut.

    You should do this with or without a belt.
  • Kimo159
    Kimo159 Posts: 508 Member
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    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
    MommyMeggo Posts: 1,222 Member
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    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
    emdeesea Posts: 1,823 Member
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    Thanks, everyone, this really does help!
  • cafeaulait7
    cafeaulait7 Posts: 2,459 Member
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    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
    shor0814 Posts: 559 Member
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    Think of what a lifting belt does; it gives you something to push against not to pull away from to brace your core.
  • determined24girl
    determined24girl Posts: 382 Member
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    Wow I've been doing it all wrong. Thanks for this thread!!!
  • ashleyylo
    ashleyylo Posts: 101 Member
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    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

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