The most frequently touted benefit of regular Pilates practice is undoubtedly better ‘core strength’. It’s also the most commonly reported motivating factor when we ask new clients why they want to do Pilates classes- whether it’s a ‘feeling’ in their body that they need exercises for a stronger core, or that their treating practitioner has referred them for core strength exercises. Given how complex core strength can be, it might not surprise you that more often than not core strength is completely misunderstood. If you’ve picked up the understanding that core strength is predominantly about abdominal strength, then read on and prepare to have your ideas challenged a little by what I’ve got to say…
Strong abs don’t make a strong core…
Muscularly your core is made up of the diaphragm, pelvic floor, abdominal wall, multifidus, even your glutes and psoas- and it’s a common held belief that strengthening all these parts in isolation is how to build core strength. It’s normal to hear ‘pull in your tummy’ or ‘squeeze your glutes’, or ‘lift your pelvic floor’ in a Pilates, yoga, or gym class, but it’s just NOT that simple. A strong core is one that’s reflexive and can respond to the demands of life without conscious control
If you’ve been in pain this approach might have an immediate and positive band-aid effect in the short term, but longterm your core musculature will becomes less 'automatic' and unable to adapt appropriately to different activities (think groceries, exercise, sport, gardening, lifting kids, etc). You’ll forever be dependant on remembering to ‘pull in your abs’, or lift pelvic floor for certain movements, and very likely you’ll experience re-injury or pain further down the line- simply because you haven’t addressed the underlying issue. What we really want is to cultivate an efficient and responsive core: an environment in which all the muscles of your core work together in symphony to provide support for all the different movements in life- automatically and reflexively.
So what does make an efficient core?
Multiple body systems, and factors influence core strength, but I’ll simplify a little here and stick with three main factors that any Pilates teacher (worth their salt) would agree are fundamental to a Pilates practice: Alignment, Breathing and Control/Coordination of movement
~ Alignment
Your teacher will use their knowledge of muscles, bones, joints, and how they all interact in an exercise, to guide you through exercises with good alignment. For example we ask that you have a 'neutral pelvis' when you do ‘footwork’ because this is the ideal alignment for sending the load into your hamstrings instead of your lower back. Poor alignment means load moves through an unintended joint (or joints), creating an imbalance over time: eventually our movement patterns adjust and irritation can occur, a cycle ensues, and we get further and further away from efficient movement. Take the footwork example, our intention is to build strength in the legs, and control in the pelvis and spine, a ‘neutral pelvis’ allows us to work the spine, hip flexors, quads, hamstrings and abdominal wall in a balanced way- take neutral pelvis away and you’ll create an imbalance where perhaps your hip flexors and superficial back muscles are working harder than the rest of the body (please note that there’s nothing wrong with working these muscles, and we shouldn’t demonise them- but in this exercise it’s a sign that muscles around the joint are not working in a balanced way.)
~ Breathing
Breath is the most obvious one here, it’s woven through every exercise and becomes the beat, percussion or tempo for your movement throughout a Pilates class. In a reflexive core the diaphragm works in synchronicity with the pelvic floor and abdominal wall to change the pressure inside your abdomen (called 'intra abdominal pressure'). This can get a bit complex if you’re not anatomically minded but your teacher will guide you to use an inhale or an exhale for different movements depending on what the preferred outcome is:
Increase intra abdominal pressure to work against a heavy weight or force
Decrease intra abdominal pressure to allow more movement (mobility) of your spine or trunk
~Control/Coordination
Enter the nervous system, bringing alignment and breathing together as core control. The brain is capable of anticipating how much tensioning to create in your muscles in order to create movement. For example, without conscious thought, and using input from all of your senses, your brain knows more intra abdominal pressure is required to lift a box of books compared with a box of cereal.
Combining this innate intelligence together with breath and alignment means your core muscles know when and how hard to work for the movement or exercise. Just follow the alignment directions from your teacher, breathe and let your brain coordinate how much tension is required in your abdominals, pelvic floor and glutes to move the body part in question, you don’t have to add any extra muscle tensioning or tightening or gripping. (With the brain in mind, it can be helpful to think of this process as a reprogramming of your movement within your brain.)
Wrapping up…
So, if you’ve been referred to Pilates for a stronger core, and you're worried that we haven’t mentioned your abs or asked you to ‘lift pelvic floor’, or ‘tense your core’ during the class, trust in your teacher's comprehensive understanding of the Pilates exercises and how the exercises influence joint alignment and breathing mechanics. And know that when we’re cueing the breath and exactly where to align all your body parts, we’re also cueing the core.
The best part is, with a good teacher, you don’t have to remember all this: we’ve done the training, we’ve done the study and our job is to guide you through classes that create a core that is strong, and most importantly- reactive and automated.
A note about pain…
If you’re experiencing persistent pain or re-injury, you may be given specific cueing for individual muscles of the core as a part of your rehab- know that I’m in no way disputing the use of these cues (I use them myself when appropriate). If you’ve had persistent pain or haven’t felt good after a group Pilates class, then it might be that your core is not working in an automated or reflexive way. Some time in personalised sessions will allow for more detailed assessment and guidance specific to your body where we might use some of these cues- but know that these tools are temporary only and conscious control of your core during rehab or retraining should not be a tool that you have to use forever. (Got questions? I love talking about this stuff! Send me an email and ask away!)
