Core Training for Strength Athletes
One of the most highly debated topics in fitness and S&C is if, when, how and how much one needs to train their “core” directly. Some strength coaches and lifters feel as though athletes get enough core work from properly performing barbell movements and other movements involve the core. Others feel as though the athlete gains additional benefits from the inclusion of core work, but maybe do not prioritize it high enough and rush through a little at the start or end of a session. Like anything else, you also have people who focus on it too much and overstate its impact and the amount of energy that is justifiable to devote to it. And finally you have the people who have a balanced and systematic application that aligns with the sweet spot. In this article we will make an argument for the inclusion of core training, and discuss some basic concepts and applications with the goal of helping coaches and lifters alike to properly prioritize and act on those priorities with regards to core training.
Is is no secret that opinions in the fitness community are strong. Often strong enough they become unduly dogmatic. With regards to the discussion on core training, we can think of this manifesting in the development of camps who either over, or underemphasize the role of core training in the development of a successful strength athlete. As with most things in life, the answer lies somewhere in the middle. As much of a cop-out as it may seem like, it really does depend on the individual how often, how intense, and what movements are needed for their core training. It will depend on things like training demands, competition demands, injury history, general physical preparedness, what phase of training they’re in, and movement compensations observed by themselves, training partners and/or coaches.
With that said, there are also some constants that everyone should address at all times, so lets dive in there.
Regardless of who you are or what your goals are, with very few exceptions, your core training should cover a few bases.
You should have anti rotational, and anti flexion work in your core training.
Globalized core training to “help the whole body feel connected”
For a sport like powerlifting, or any sport really, without making the training globalized so that it properly integrates to other movement patterns, we are missing out on an opportunity to improve training density and direct carryover. In general we need to train throughout a few planes to stabilize the spine in different directions.
Also, your warmup should include core work to prepare you for the movements that day if longevity is a goal. You wait on the study, I’ll start now. It may be true that you develop plenty of core strength from the primary movements if you are a powerlifter or strongman and are performing very heavy lifts and loaded carries. That being said, utlizing other core movements like roll outs, bird dogs, stir the pots and more in your warmup are a great way to get even more out of your training and improve performance quickly. If you are not training for those sports, you likely would benefit from more varied core work, and from more core strength movements because the spine will not be loaded as heavy as often.
That being said, even for strength sports core work has a valuable place. If nowhere else then for injury prevention in the warmup for all strength athletes, but if you have a history of back injury it is crucial to properly maintain the core for longevity in strength sports. Even if you don’t I strongly believe core work in your warmup will help keep you that way. You warmup the knees, hips, and ankles for squat, but not the spine? C’mon.
Movement selection and volume can be an individual decision based on the needs of the athlete, and to some extent what is enjoyable. When you are choosing a core movement, as well as the load and duration of the movement consideration must be given to the athlete’s injury history, and the athlete’s competition demands. An athlete with a history of low back injury often will spend more time on core work prior to training because they have to in order to train and remain pain free. Many times athletes without a history of low back injury need less core work prior to training and can build more of it in, or perform more at the end. Even for these athletes, as I discussed before some core work should be performed first, and often this is ignored when athletes have the luxury of not having to in order to avoid pain right now.
Aside from injury prevention, what are the competition demands? This means considering things like how long events last and how is the athlete’s core loaded or challenged by competition. The way a powerlifter and strongman trains core, for example would be very similar, but due to the more varied nature and longer duration events in strongman, a slightly more extensive preparatory core program is needed for those entering the sport as novices, and when training for it the sets would be longer, however once one becomes masters of the sport the inverse is true. In powerlifting, this is often the exact opposite in terms of trends over time. Novice powerlifters often feel they can get away with skipping core and can also get by with it for awhile in powerlifting, while most vets have learned the value. With this being said all camps can benefit from the inclusion of core work, whether you are a strength athlete, field athlete, tactical or combat sports athlete, or just a gym rat!