THE CORE MUSCLES IN RUNNING

On the surface, it looks, as if different moves require different muscle involvement. And this observation is seemingly confirmed by images from different sports, with the emphasis on specific muscle groups, body shape, etc. At the same time, it is obvious that every movement involves a huge group of muscles around the central part of the body, which we call the core muscles.

At the present time, the term "core exercises" is in the air and everybody talks about it as a fashion topic, including runners. But what are the "core exercises" and "core muscles"? In what way does strengthening the core help us run better?

Basically the core (of the body) is a wide area, which includes muscles of the torso with back, and abdominal muscles, the hip and thigh muscles. All of these muscles are important as a structural foundation for the body movement. There is no necessity to explain that these muscles are playing a wider role than the one we are going to discuss here, but the topic is deliberately narrowed to this meaning for the sake of simplicity.

Running is a horizontal transfer of body, using very specific muscle functions to provide for this. These muscle functions are dictated by several requirements of the running movement. First of all, it is necessary to interact with gravitational force, to keep the body from falling down. Second, it is necessary to neutralize gravity in order to move the body from support to flight phase to change support from one leg to the other. And third, it is necessary to fall forward from the mid-stance (Pose) until the end of support and pull the support foot from the ground.

Each of these elements involves specific activity of certain muscle groups. In the first and second cases, it's the quads and calves used as "anti-gravitational" muscles. In the third, it is the hamstring muscles. Nevertheless, all of these activities also involve muscles from the trunk and hips, which direct and support their proper involvement. On the one hand, we need the work of muscles of these areas to provide stability and wholeness of the body, and on the other, we need the work of specific muscles, such as hamstrings, for example, to perform their very special function.

What I would like to emphasize by this example, that just strengthening core muscles is not enough to make running specific movement efficient. It is necessary to connect core strength with the pulling movement performed by hamstring muscles. The pulling, in its own turn, is interrelated with the body falling forward, so the core muscles are providing the body's rotation around the point of support on the ground (the ball of the foot) as a formed body and simultaneously provide the support for the pulling action. The conclusion from these examples is very simple: we need strengthening the core muscles, but it should be connected with the specific muscle activity forming the running technique.

In the Pose Method the problem of strengthening the core muscles is solved by using hip exercises, which allow us to establish a relationship between the trunk and the hips, and then hips and legs as a chain of support. Hamstring muscles, and particularly in running specific drills, should be involved together with core muscles as one system. The same thing is provided in jumping exercises, which should be combined with hip exercises, and with hamstring exercises. So the core strength in running is the base for the Pose, Fall, Pull skills.

Dr.Romanov