Have Trouble Feeling Your Core During Core Work? Here Are Our Top 3 Tips!
Does your lower back like to "take over" during reclined core work?
If so, you're not alone! This is common for many of us when we lie on our back and do core work such as leg lowers, dead bugs, and hollow body holds.
Sometimes we simply experience this as our low back muscles working during core strength exercises. Other times, we feel it as actual discomfort or pain in our low back.
Either way, here are our top 3 tips for addressing this issue and redirecting the loads to our abdominals – which is where we want them in our core strengthening exercises!
By the way, when we're referring to "the core" here, we're specifically talking about the anterior core, or our abdominals.
If you've ever felt confused about the term "the core," or if you'd ever like to geek out about myths about the core, check out our podcast episode The Truth About Core Training!
Top 3 Tips to Feel Your Core During Core Work:
1) Yoga block reach
Hug a yoga block between your hands and press it up to the ceiling. Hold it there as you perform your leg lowers.
Reaching up with the block forces us to engage our abdominals, which will help us keep our ribs down and our low back pressed into the floor.
2) Overhead wall press
Set up with your head about a foot from the wall and press your arms up into the wall.
This press creates more tension throughout the body, which will naturally help us keep our low back pressed into the floor and our abdominals engaged!
3) Band pull-down
Anchor a resistance band around a sturdy object like a heavy kettlebell or a table leg.
Perform an isometric pull-down, holding the band with your arms up toward the ceiling. (You'll be pulling down on the band without any movement happening in your arms.)
This pull-down will create more tension in our midsection and very effectively force the anterior core to work for us!
We hope these tips help you make the most out of your core work so that you can build the true strength that you're looking for.
By the way, we happen to include all three of these potent supine leg lowering variations in various phases of our Remote Group Training program. Start your free trial any time for a science-based approach to strength training with a yoga focus!
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