Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 166

Day 166 I woke up today feeling a little stuffed up. I'd been feeling like that a little bit over the last couple days and was thinking that it was likely allergies, but as today went on I became pretty sure it's a bit of bug. Oh well, just have to push ahead and adapt a bit. I decided to pass on doing a long run and instead put together a circuit of some of my favorite core exercises.

You'll notice you won't find the words crunch of sit-up anywhere in my workout. That's because I don't believe in them. By saying that I don't mean they don't exist, rather I'm kind of saying I wish they didn't. People say all the time that your power comes from your core. This is not necessarily wrong, but it is inaccurate. A more accurate statement would be that power is lost through a weak core.

In order to create force and as a result power, we have to create movement. This is done by using the parts of our body designed to move. When I hit a serve in tennis, the force begins with my legs pushing into the ground as I jump up, then travels through my core and into my upper body as my shoulders turn towards the ball during my follow through. The final application of force comes from my elbow and wrist as I make contact. The role of my core in that whole process was not to create force or movement but to transfer force from my lower body to my upper body. In fact the less movement through my core the better I am at transferring force.

As an analogy think of the core as a bridge that you're running across. Now imagine that bridge is a suspension bridge with a lot of slack. If you tried to run across, the force from your foot strikes would cause the bridge to bounce and swing all over the place. It would be hard for you to run very fast. Now imagine that the bridge suddenly becomes more taught and is supported by wires coming from multiple directions. It would much easier to run across. The purpose of the core is not to create movement but to prevent it, so that the other parts of the body can transfer force more effectively. The problem with sit-ups and crunches is that essentially what they are doing is wiggling the bridge.

When choosing exercises for our core we need to think about training the core to do what it was designed for. Movements that simulate what we do in everyday life and in our sports will yield the greatest transfer. Yes in the morning you may sit-up as you get out of bed, but do you really do it 20 or 30 times in row? No! However, if you work in your garden and pick up a heavy pot are you using your core? Yes! Your core is not lifting the pot, but it's protecting your spine while you lift the pot. Even running, one of our most upright activities is an extremely core intensive activity. When you watch an elite level runner in action it's hard not to notice how effortless they make it look. The reason it looks easy is because not an ounce of energy is being wasted in moving their body forward. The bridge isn't wiggling.

I really could go on and on describing the role of the core and how we need to focus on training methods that have real world applications. Basically I'll say this, when working out spend as little time as possible lying down or sitting. Most of us spend way too much time in those positions already. Just move, pick things up, put them down and do it often, and if you want to see your abs, no amount of sit-ups or crunches will help you see them if you eat too much of the wrong things.

Well I really didn't expect to write a novel for today's post. For a relatively short workout I wrote a lot. Oh well, I hope some of you found it interesting and will maybe think twice about doing those sit-ups in the morning.

Today's Workout

Core Circuit: 3 rounds / no rest between exercises

• Turkish Get-up: 5 reps per side (14 kg)
• Bubka Hanging Leg Raise: 10 reps
• Downward Cable Chop: 10 reps per side (100 lbs)
• Barbell Deadlift: 8 reps (135lbs)

I could have gone a lot heavier with the deadlifts, but I decided that seeing as it was the last part of a core focused set of exercises, that I would be best to keep things light. The idea I was generally tax the musculature of the core from multiple angles, not to work particularly on lower body strength.

For a quick 30 minute workout, it worked pretty well. As I mentioned earlier, I think I may be fighting a bit of a head cold. No cause for concern, just a little inconvenient. If I feel better tomorrow, I'll try get that long run in. If not I can wait a day. I just don't want it to linger too long and be around next weekend when I'm running the K100. On a more positive note, I just realized I have less than 200 workouts left until I'm finished my goal. Still a long way, but I'm approaching the halfway mark, at which point I will actually have fewer workouts left to complete than I will have finished.