Anti-core Training
What comes to mind when someone says “core exercises”? For most people it’s the “six-pack” muscles on the front of the body and high rep sets of crunches and twisting exercises. However, there is more to the core than doing crunches or having a six-pack. In fact, the six-pack muscles are just one of many muscles that make up the core. And while being able to bend and twist the spine is important for sport and everyday life, most people should spend more time doing exercises that train the core to resist motion.
Why is this? Many low back injuries are the result of excessive and unnecessary movement of the spine under load (lifting or carrying something incorrectly, for example). Being able to bend and twist is important and a sign of a healthy spine, but the main function of the core, which includes all the muscles of the trunk, including the obliques, back, hips, and pelvic floor muscles, is to stabilize and protect the spine.
This is where “anti-core” exercises come in. These exercises train the whole body to brace and resist motion under some sort of load. Being able to do this helps keep the spine safe and stable while the limbs are moving (proximal stiffness and distal mobility) and improves the transfer of energy between the lower and upper body. Regardless of your activity level or goals, including a variety of anti-core exercises in your training is important for a healthy spine and building a solid foundation for movement in sport and everyday life.
There are three main categories of anti-core exercises: anti-extension, anti-rotation, and anti-lateral flexion.
The goal of exercises in the anti-extension category is to teach the core to remain neutral and resist the extension, or overarching, of the spine. This can be seen during exercises like pushups when the hips start to sag to the floor as the core fatigues, or excessively arching and leaning back while lifting a weight overhead.
The most basic anti-extension exercise, and the one most people are familiar with, is a plank with straight arms or from the forearms.
Here are some other anti-extension progressions to experiment with:
Slider body saws
Dead bugs
Ab wheel rollouts (also with a Swiss ball or TRX)
Loaded/overhead carries
The second category is anti-rotation. Exercises in this category strengthen the muscles of the hips and midsection to resist rotational forces, or the twisting of the spine. This is especially important for endurance athletes like runners and field/court athletes, who often need to be able to both generate and control rotational force. While some rotation is ok and natural, excessive rotation not only increases the chance for injury, but also creates “energy leakage” and inefficient movement.
Here are some examples of exercises that train anti-rotation:
Pallof presses
High plank shoulder taps/reaches
High plank pull throughs (with dumbbell or sandbag)
Landmine anti-rotations
The third and final category of anti-core exercises is anti-lateral flexion. These exercises train the core to resist bending to the side. This can be seen in athletes while performing lateral and change-of-direction movements in sports, where excessive lateral flexion (bending to the side) is not only inefficient but increases the chance of injury elsewhere down the chain at the hip, knee, and ankle. We also see examples of this in everyday life. The most common is when the torso excessively bends to one side while carrying something heavy in one arm, whether that be a child or a heavy grocery bag.
Here are some exercise options that train the core to resist lateral flexion:
Side planks
Suitcase carries
½ kneeling overhead presses
To recap, the three categories of anti-core exercises are anti-extension (arching the spine) anti-rotation (twisting the spine) and anti-lateral flexion (bending the spine to the side).
For both myself and my clients I like to include at least one anti-core exercise each workout, and try to include one from each of the three categories at some point throughout the week. In addition to these, there are many other strength exercises that indirectly develop anti-core qualities as well. These include exercises performed from a half- or tall-kneeling, as well as unilateral pressing, pulling, and lower body movements.