Core Strength: A Lesson from the Live Oak
There are plenty of 300 year old sprawling Live Oak trees in Louisiana. Their teaching fell on deaf ears until recently. You see, coaching isn’t simple. There are many axioms to trust and the art of coaching is to relay the right message at the right time to the right athlete. To aid in this endeavor there are three points to help relay those messages. Tell them what to do, how to do it and most importantly, why it is important to do it that way. Individual effort is the key to success and without full conviction, overall effort will suffer.
Then the question, why do we work so hard on developing core strength? This Live Oak tree helped me explain. You must have proximal stability to achieve distal mobility. Suddenly the proverbial light bulbs popped on all over the weight room. The message was clear - the stronger your trunk, the wider your domain. Now that everyone was on board with why we devote so much energy to core strength, the most important two questions became what do we do? How do we do it?
Now we can get some work done. Core stability comes from developing the muscles of the abdominals, the low back, and the hips. That is the link between our upper and lower extremities. Our power transfer is reliant on how well this core works. A steel bar will turn a boulder, but if I take the exact same force and apply it to a rubber bar the boulder doesn’t move, the bar bends and the force dissipates through the middle. If your core gives and bends, your force dissipates and performance suffers.
In addition to multiple variations of sit-ups, leg raises, and twists, develop your core by mastering this one exercise: I present to you, the overhead squat.
Coaching Points:
- Use a light training bar or broom stick to learn the lift.
- Stand with your heels shoulder width apart and your feet angled outward.
- Grip the bar with hands wide apart so that when the bar is over your head there are about six inches between bar and head.
- Lock out your elbows, get bone on bone support.
- Squeeze your scapulae together and hold them tight by flexing your traps and shoulders.
- Engage the lift by first moving your hips back and then squatting down.
- Keep your weight over your heels.
- Squat as low as your hip flexibility will allow, we will eventually be squatting far below parallel.
- Push back up by applying as much force to the ground as you can, pushing through your heels.
Have you been trying to eat healthy or lose weight?
Do not be deterred. This is a completely natural human movement, but one that is rarely practiced. You may be challenged by flexibility, range of motion, balance, strength, or any combination. Comfort comes through repetition and the benefits of your efforts will far outweigh your struggles. Your hips will open and strengthen reducing your risk of injury and increasing athletic performance. You will enjoy strength through the entire range of hip motion. It is a total body workout and great for weight loss. It also addresses weakness in the core and the shoulder region. Remember, range before load, as you progress and you are able to perform 10 full range overhead squats with your stick, then you can load the bar with weight.
You probably have no trouble controlling your eating habits during the daytime, but when you get home from work, you might find self-discipline is a great deal harder. For some people, their weakest time is when they walk in the front door. Others do all right until after dinner, but as soon as they sit down in front of the TV, the chips or cookies in the cupboard start calling.
If you struggle with the evening munchies, even after having dinner, it may be time to consider what you eat for breakfast and lunch.
Like most people, you’re probably in a hurry during the daytime, so you might grab a bagel or a muffin for breakfast. For lunch, you may eat a yogurt or a salad. Whether you’re purposely watching your calorie intake, or your schedule gives you little time to eat, you’re likely not getting enough nutrition at the time you need it most -- during your busy workday.
A crazy schedule creates a low level of stress in your body, which causes an elevated heart rate and the release of hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. This condition temporarily distracts your body from the fact that it's not getting enough nourishment, enabling you to get through your challenging day without stopping to eat adequately.
At the same time, stress actually creates a need in your body for more nutritional support. As a result, as soon as you have a moment to breathe -- in other words, when you walk in the door in the evening, or after dinner is over -- your body wants to replenish itself. Your hunger returns in full force. Before you know it, you've eaten that whole box of cookies.
Of course, those cookies don’t answer your body’s need for vitamins and minerals.
Another problem with consuming a lot of calories in the evening is that your body doesn't get a chance to digest them properly before you go
to bed. Your metabolism shuts down at night, so you wake up in the morning feeling sluggish and out of sorts, not really in the mood for breakfast. And there's no time for lunch. So the cycle keeps going.
In many European countries, there is a tradition of a hearty midday meal, followed by a nap -- even during the work week. In some regions, businesses still close for a couple of hours in the afternoon so people can take leisurely lunch breaks. Here in America, the land of the drive-through, our lifestyles don't provide much opportunity for such laid-back behavior.
Are your breakfast and lunch more like haphazard snacks than real meals? If so, perhaps you can restructure your schedule to allow yourself time to eat in a more relaxed fashion. Wake up a bit earlier and eat a good breakfast. If you usually run errands during your lunch break, try doing them after work or on your days off instead.
By taking time during the day to sit down and eat healthy meals, you may find that the evening munchies become a thing of the past.
Sources:
Mayo Clinic: Stress: Win control over the stress in your life. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stress/SR00001
MedicineNet: Put the brakes on nighttime overeating. http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=64056