I often lead with my neck or use my hip flexors when I should be using my core. What exercises can I do to isolate & strengthen my core?

Question

Erin Carson · Answer

Hey, Melanie is here and I'm a strength coach. We talked a lot about mobility and how it relates to strength and performance. But I got to tell you, we'd never want to lead with the neck and that can create dominance through those SCM muscles, those sternocleidomastoid. So the first thing, when it comes to just leading with your neck or feeling like your head is out of position, is to just really push back. A lot of times. I'll put my hands behind the head of an athlete and just say chin, back chin, back, chest up, and that will help. Align your cervical spine when it comes to isolating your core. I'm pretty guilty of. Always asking a question with a question. Answering a question with a question. So really quick defined core because in my world hip flexors, glutes, adductors, abdominal muscles ql are all part of the core, pretty much everything from the armpits to mid thigh. So even the It's in my world are kind of part of the core. So when we're talking about strengthening the core and isolating, The Core Body really doesn't function in isolation and neither do muscles when it comes to Performance. So we want to look at this Global picture. So, shoot me another question, specifically to Aaron Carson and let's keep this conversation going and try and get you a little bit more clarity as to what you're really looking to accomplish and how I can best help.

Wendy McClure · Answer

Hi Melanie, good question. So many people overuse their hip flexors instead of their core and many times. We want to train the core in a very sport specific manner. However, sometimes we have to get back to real isolation and Basics to get some things turned back on in the core has. So I would suspect you have a significant amount of strength currently. So normally I would maybe put someone on a stable surface The floor to start. But this is a recommendation. I was thinking about for you was to get you on a roller and your hips would be off the roller so that you have to defy gravity here. Your spine is going to be neutral here, instead of a forward flexed. So you're opening up through the hip flexors. So you can't use them too much. And before we get going, you can wrap your shoulder blades around the roller, get a nice posture. And we Can work a little bit of next strength. First you can gather a chin tuck. This is from dr. Cobb Z Health. If you want to look him up, he's awesome. And we're just going to hover the head. Just slightly hair with off the roller. Ideally you're working on length in this direction. So you can do that. Hold those lips. Maybe 10 seconds at a time to start and progress that. And then, secondly, I have my feet on gliders, which you can go to gliding pro or I Also has gliders are you can use towels, if you're on a wood floor your hips are off here. And instead of being in sagittal, when working here, when we run in cyclic cetera. We're going to challenge the core in a more unstable environment by pulling the legs out to the side and pull it. Back in hips are up pulling back in. You can add challenge by not using your arms so much and you may find that you have a little bit less. Recruitment smooth pattern drawing in on one side versus the other but you've got to use your glutes. You got to use your low back you, soak or here, Asis PSIs. So you've got all of these areas being recruited in concert here as you work. It seems very subtle. It is very just this little little bit of contraction going on on a constant basis. So you might try that. If you need further instructions, feel free to ask me, but that's one suggestion.

Dr. Ted Forcum · Answer

Hey Melanie, this is, dr. Fork. I'm very common scenario to have a forward head, carriage and tight hip flexors. Most people who sit for a living have tight hip flexors. The other two experts gave you some great ideas and recommendations for me. I would definitely enjoy seeing a picture of you either from the side or during an activity where you feel like you're having that forward neck position and maybe that what I always look at the difference between is, is. Prison functioning as their posture Fed Up in that position or the functioning in that position and that kind of guides the type of treatment that or exercises. That we place a person into whether we're doing a Static-X activity to remedy it or a dynamic activity to remedy it. But either way, I think a lot of it's always usually stretching your chest, oftentimes increasing threats extension because your head gives brought forward. It simply because your thracia spine is limited extension. So kind of laying yourself over a large, gymnastic ball getting your chest, open up can be very helpful. But again, you know send over a little snapshot of yourself. That'd be very helpful. Cheers.

Emma Pallant-Browne · Answer

So one of my favorite, go to exercises to begin with that. I really think you can isolate your core in and take out that neck and hip flexors just because it's a static exercise that you can then do some night Dynamic movements within that routine. But planking. I really think that, yeah, you can isolate your core and your cork and work nicely with your lats and glutes. So if Thinking and again, taking the movement Out means that you can really concentrate when you're holding and and that position and and thinking about it. You can really think about switching on those muscles and and isolating them and like you're so your muscles turn on your brain. Signals. Obviously, they're the patterns that you need to reinforce to get the the good muscle connection and movement. So if you're not thinking about holding something If you're not thinking about it switching on then yeah, the exercise is never going to be as effective. So it's always being really purposeful with your exercises and really making sure that all you're thinking about is the areas that you want to work and that's going to help have the kind of motor neuron patterns, that that switch everything on and even sometimes touching. So if you're in the plank, just taking one hand and just tapping well. You want to activate thinking about that and then just lightly rubbing where you want to be relaxed. That can also be a little method. Yeah, to get started. But that's definitely one of the first exercises that I would start on for isolating those areas.

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"I often lead with my neck or use my hip flexors when I should be using my core. What exercises can I do to isolate & strengthen my core?"