hi, asking because you explain things in ways that make sense: what the hell does “engage your core” mean? everyone says it but no one says what it means, best I can figure is maybe like “tense your abdomen”? tysm!!
I am honestly so stoked you asked this question. That honestly may be the number one LEAST explained cue in the entire fitness world and I am just as guilty of using that without proper explanation. So thank you for this overdue opportunity to info dump about it.
To answer your second question: yes and no. Tensing your abdomen is part of it, but it's not the only part. Just squeezing our midsection is going to engage the upper core, but it largely ignores the deep core muscles which are crucial for every movement pattern in our body.
To engage the entire core you actually want to think a bit lower than your abs. Your core starts with your pelvic floor, and so "engaging the core" when you're not used to using those deep core muscles, often goes easier when you start with the supporting muscles like quads & glutes.
Squeezing your butt and thighs can help engage the pelvic floor and it can be helpful to start with those muscles to help feel the deep core activate. So instead of starting from your "six pack ab" muscles, thinking about starting from your thighs and butt.
Additionally, while you do want to squeeze your abs, there's a bit of a finesse to it. It's not just about like sucking your stomach in.
What you actually want to feel is a sort of lifting sensation from the bottom up. Core activation should start from your pelvic floor and move pressure up the body.
When you start by just squeezing your abs pressure goes the wrong way, this not only can affect how stable your core is, but it also can put you at higher risk for pelvic floor dysfunction.
I'll share some tips I've learned over the years about how to feel that deep core engagement:
The first I learned from Taylor J (I don't think she invented it, but she's who I learned it from)
Ok so this one is kinda crude but bear with me:
First, I just want you to think about a really thick milkshake. Yeah a literal milkshake. And I want you to imagine you're drinking this milkshake through a straw. Think about the engagement you're experiencing in your jaw muscles.
Ok now I want you to imagine you're drinking that thick milkshake not with your mouth, but with your anus.
Yeah I know, bear with me. Think about how that engagement pattern would feel if you were sucking up that milkshake (It's a literal milkshake still, don't lose focus) through your butt.
Ok after the giggles wears off, really think about how that activation pattern would feel. Like you are drawing up from the bottom, through your abs, literally lifting your belly button and pulling it in towards your spine and most importantly, lifting it up. You can do this in front of a mirror and you should actually be able to see your belly button moving.
It's not always a huge movement, but you should be able to see it actually moving up, not just in. Again the goal is not just to suck your stomach in. It's to get it in and up. It's the lifting that's the most important feature here.
Another way you can feel for this engagement pattern is to put two fingers on each hip point, as you engage the deep core with that up and in movement you will feel the distance between your hip points shorten slightly. This is the work of your transverse abdominis (another deep core muscle) "knitting" your core together to protect your spine. It's often described as "knitting" because it works sort of like a corset. It wraps around the base of your trunk and when it's engaged it literally pulls the skin between our hip bones closer together.
So putting it all together what will it feel like:
You'll feel a slight lifting sensation in your groin, your abs will squeeze, but in conjunction with that rising of the bellybutton. The sensation of engagement will start from the bottom and move upwards through your abs.
Now we're talking about the core, but properly engaging the core requires coordination throughout the whole body. You want to keep your shoulders down and back, your chest lifted, but not pushed out if that makes sense. You want your rib cage to stay stacked over your pelvis because core activation also involves your diaphragm, the primary breathing muscle.
When we flare our ribs out (this can be very subtle) and lose that alignment between ribs and pelvis, our diaphragm can no longer extend in its full range of motion. If the diaphragm can't fully extend, this causes dysfunction in the pelvic floor because these two muscles are supposed to work together. If the diaphragm can't effectively do its job, then neither can the pelvic floor. If the pelvic floor can't lift properly on that engagement, it's going to effect how stable the core can be as a whole.
Please let me know if any or all of this doesn't make sense and I will try to clarify it more!
Also, I made a video a while back explaining the deep core stuff too, which might be helpful just as a visual aid to go along with this verbal explanation. But fair warning that video is kinda long, as I'm sure you're already aware, I am incapable of explaining things succinctly 😅😂
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