Posted by Marianne in Articles, Body Weight Exercises, The Basics | 26 Comments
How to Tighten Your Core Muscles – Tutorial
Hi everyone,
It dawned on me that with a lot of direction to “tighten” “activate” or “engage” the core, some people, beginners especially, may be left wondering what exactly it involves! How do you tighten your core, and what should you feel when doing it correctly.
The “core” means any muscles involved in keeping you upright and stable while protecting the vulnerable structures and joints from injury. These muscles include the abdominal muscles (upper, lower and obliques), the back muscles (upper and lower), the pelvic floor (inside) and, importantly, the glutes.
If your core is relaxed, weak or ineffective you will be at high risk of injury during any activity or exercise. Therefore, in order to begin to strengthen these muscles, you first need to become aware of them. Connecting the mind to the muscles is a vital step in learning to activate them properly.
Most people can master the tensing of their abdominal muscles with some practice, but the problem lies when the lumbar curve remains vulnerable and unsupported. I have found that the key to alleviating this problem, is to get the glutes involved. One problem in this day and age is that, with many people spending more time sitting down, our hip flexors become over active and pull on the lower back, increasing its curve. The glutes must be “reactivated” and exercised regularly to help “relax” the hip flexors. When one muscle is contracted the other will relax. So, the glutes contracting will relax the hip flexors, allowing the lower back to be “released” and supported within the other core muscles.
In addition to this, contracting the pelvic floor will assist in activating the Transverse Abdominal Muscle (TVA), which is the body’s natural weight-lifting belt and helps pull the pelvis forward thus supporting the lower back. As you can see from the video, it is only when my glutes are activated that my body is truely stable and supported.
Steps to tightening the core:
- Place one hand on your lower abdomen (between your pubic bone and your belly button), tense your pelvic floor muscles and feel for some tightening of the (TVA).
- Once you feel this, try and tense this area even more (now you know where it is and what you need to feel).
- Next, tense the rest of the abdomen, as if you’re bracing for a punch, your breathing may become more shallow but forceful.
- At this point start squeezing the glutes and feel the pelvis tilt forward and lower back straighten slightly.
- Your quads will also tighten and you should feel like a solid oak, anchored to the ground with deep roots, like nothing can push you over.
- THIS is core stability!
Think planks, push ups, Kettlebell swings, Military presses, deadlifts ++ – this is what you need to do, for EVERY exercise!
Now go and tighten your core! And go Build a Strong Back and Core!
Hope this helps
Cheers
Marianne
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toilet muscles!!!!! i’m laughing my head off, that was absolutely brilliant, real class!!!!!
mind you, really gives the idea!
i wish youtube still had stars, this definitely deserves 5 out of 5
Sara
It was nearly more graphic than it turned out – with my crude Irish nature and my nurse head filled with bodily functions, I was going to say sooo much more LOL !!
Brilliant video!
I know you are extremely busy but whenever you have time will you also please explain that “squatting low without risks” issue? With a video where you actually show what to do and what not to do?
Thanks.
Bianca
Doing a bit of research first. As I want it to be evidence-based
Given how important the squat is.
Cheers
Marianne
Nice instructional video.
Squatting low places a very high pressure on the knee and all the ligaments there. It is necessary to make sure that all the muscle which keeps the knee “tight” are tighened fully. I never squat lower than 90 degrees (upper leg / femur approximately vertical). Going lower than that adds no benefit or strength but adds an element of risk.
And that was horisontal – not vertical. My bad. Sorry.
Michael, you are kinda contradicting yourself here. Did you not say that exercises should mimic everyday activities. Human beings are given the ability to squat ass to grass, in fact many cultures sit this way across the world. It is natural to see many children sitting this way too. It is our modern day inactive lives and loss of flexibility that cause these pains.
It is also a myth that it is the knees that suffer more from going below parallel. The knee is its strongest in full flexion and full extension and its weakest in between. The risk of squatting “too deep” is actually more to do with hamstring and lower back flexibility. If this is poor you risk putting more pressure on your lumbar spine, and then causing injury. If flexibility does not cause the pelvis to “pull under” then full deep squats are actually benefitial for strength.
Also, knee stability is usually an issue if knees are sore from squats, so you then need to concentrate on “grounding” the feet more and using the glutes to drive up.
Another BIG problem when people are new to squats is that they squat from their knees instead of their hips.
But like most things there are “camps” about do’s and don’t's with squats.
Marianne
Generally i Agree.
And Yes, it is possible to “squat to grass” but You rarely see people rise straight up from that position unless they “fold” their upper body forward and use their arms (on their knees). Kids may do it but not many adults. Problem is, if You go to low, and can’t handle getting backup, You may “sit” on Your heels lessening the tension in the knee, and when You try to get up, You may cause injury to the knee. This may be due to a weak Glut which makes You try to lift Yourself using the Quadriceps. In my oppinion You must be quite strong to do a squat below horisontal especially if You have added weight (bars, KB or sandbags).
So, advising not to do the squat below horisontal is a precaution, nothing more nothing less.
I can see your point to a degree, but I would actually recommend a box squat to strength the glutes, this way the knees are not compromised in the halfway point. Glute activation, or lack of, is a major issue. I intend to cover this in a tutorial too. The glutes are the key to many problems. The box squat can be a great tool to improving the squat. Another great exercise to strength the glutes and help stabalise the knees is the Bulgarian Squat. Less issues with leaning forward too.
Another issue I see is people not controlling the lowering phase of the squat, they just drop down, so any wonder there’s little strength to get back up. The Eccentric phase is vitial to muscular development.
Marianne, in spite of this extremely interesting exchange of opinions between you and Michael, I would still love (sooner or later and in any case only if you have time) to see a demonstration in a video.
Bianca
Thanks Bianca, i know I keep saying I’m on it, but I really am. I have done a workout today, plan a tutorial tomorrow
Excellent tutorial. I have never really associated glute activation with the core but it make perfect sense. Maybe that will help my lower back pain. I’ll put it into practice immediately.
Thanks Marianne
PS – I’m going to use ‘toilet muscles’ from now on I love it!!!!
Once the glute thing clicked with me, it made all the difference. This is also how you should think of the KB swing, it’s all posterior chain and core through and through – even the toilet muscles
Fantastic information! This is exactly the information I received from my physiotherapist after throwing my back out 10 years ago (due to poor lifting technique, surprise surprise).
It’s amazing how tough it was, at first, to zone in on the transverse abs, and leave them flexed while breathing in and out – but what a difference it made to start from the very beginning and re-learn everything from the ground up!
I am just a beginner and started following you right after Christmas. I just have to say how much I LOVE your workouts and input. My workouts (I hate to say) used to mostly consist of running and honestly not a lot of weight training. I had a knee injury last fall that has put most of my running on hold. I lost a lot of motivation this winter due to that, but then received a Kettle Bell for christmas. I was searching for Kettlebell workouts and stumbled across one of yours. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Your tutorials and fun workouts have got the fire back in me and I just had to tell you how great you are!
-Andrea
Hi Andrea, thanks for your lovely comment. I am glad you are finding your stride again. You will get into great condition with Kettlebells, and bodyweight. It may even help your knee injury too.
The beginner’s corner is growing, so there will be plenty of info and guidance for you and other KB newbies.
Cheers
Marianne
Ha Ha toilet muscles. You know what? that graphic description made everything very clear. Nice visual
Hi Marianne, I’m a complete newbie – just got my first 8kg kettlebell last week and discovered your workouts on youtube and hence this site. Your tutorials are great and I had to comment on this one in particular as I learned a lot from it. My core strength is pretty much non-existent after having a c-section (without benefit of proper anaesthetic; the spinal block didn’t work…ouch) nearly 2 years ago and then going through PND/PTSD for many months afterwards and finally turning a corner and starting to get my life back on track. The way you so clearly described the steps was brilliant because I could actually experience it firsthand and now I have a much better understanding. I have a long way to go, but with helpful tutorials such as these and my KB I’m going to get there. Thank you so much!
Thanks Meg. Boy you have come through a lot! I am glad things are improving for you, and the training will help things too. This is a great community of really supportive and friendly people and I am sure they will welcome your story over at the forum, if you feel like dropping by there. It is great to have you here, especially to start your Kettlebell journey with us
This tutorial came about because I was thinking that I never knew what it was to tighten the core, until I studied the muscles involved. It is always spoken about, but I reckon there are many people who don’t know what they should be feeling when they try. Hense this video and the line about toilet muscles LOL
Glad you found it useful, it will help you from your C-section too.
Cheers
Marianne
Hi Marianne,
I will say that this is the most well explained video about tightening the core. Thanks for this wonderful video. i love your site.
Bethany
Armed Forces Officers Club Abu dhabi UAE
Thanks Bethany, glad this helps
Cheers
Marianne
So that’s why my lower back tends to ache when I do push-ups! I’ve always wondered why it’s not the soreness of my shoulders/chest/upper arms that’s holding me back in busting out more push-ups. Now I know, thanks to you
Squeeze that butt and brace those abs. Controlled tension breeds power and strength
I cannot say a big enough THANK YOU! for breaking this down. For so long, I have been mystified by the “zip up your abs” “get ready to take a punch” “belly button to spine” instructions of core readiness, all of which seemed somewhat contradictory. FINALLY! I know what I should be doing – and this is the very first time I have ever heard anyone include glutes as part of core stability. This is so helpful, as even when I tried to suck in my bellybutton, I wasn’t engaging my glutes to protect my lower back, and hence, I still had a sore lower back and could not maintain plank position, or even pushup position for long. Thanks again!
You’re welcome Alli! The glutes will make the biggest difference to all your training. Every time you return to the plank position, or even just standing after a squat or deadlift, make sure you finish by squeezing the glutes to bring the hips forward.
Cheers,
Marianne