Core muscle training seems indispensable, or is it?
This morning, upon waking up, I felt an itch in my lower back, and immediately started doing my personal, personalised core muscle training, and felt both stable and itch-free in a matter of minutes, as expected. Due to this reliable, successful exercise, I was thinking, “Core muscle training seems crucial, indispensable, non-negotiable.”
Then I was trying to define for whom this might be true, but realised that it's all from the top of my head. I wouldn't know where to look for reliable data for the “general population,” given that this topic has such big economic relevance and the millions of fitness influencers and snake oil salesmen, and a multi-billion dollar industry. Surely, it's a thick swamp with very little, reliable information.
Definition problems aside, it's still more than a hunch. It's my personal experience. So maybe I should start here. I rephrase:
From my personal experience, core muscle training seems crucial, indispensable, non-negotiable. From my personal experience, to neglet core muscle training for too long, will always lead to discomfort and pain.
I know that's true for me, and everyone who's part of the aging population—I mean… if we take this word literally, aging population, this includes absolutely everyone, in a literal sense.
But which exercises would you allow yourself to pick up, to enter your life?
I see Fitness Youtubers proposing exercises that I, personally, might consider trying once, or try maybe for a while (like side-planks, or curl-ups)… but if you do those exercises daily, or twice daily… I mean, every day, for every day of your remaining life… how is this not a problematic choice? Or at least, a highly personal choice? This exercise will become part of you, part of your lifestyle, just like what you eat, read, how you walk and talk.
I think the topic of choosing a core workout exercise is much bigger than it seems. Two distinct strategies come to mind. From personal experience as a movement (Feldenkrais/Somatics) teacher I've seen clients:
Steadfast. Pick up an exercise, or exercise program, and stick with it. Even years later I heard from clients they are still faithful to regular repetition.
Adaptive. Try once, or for a while, change, drop, pick up something else, neglect, start again…
I might think that "Adaptive" is more of a beginners mindset. With such a strategy you will get to know many different styles, perspectives, and gain a lot of experience. While "Steadfast" is more of a seasoned player (in Austria we say “old cat“) style, based on experience and knowing with certainty what is a good choice for oneself. Maybe a mix is good? Or is it part of ones' inherent, psychologic character structure? Still thinking… curious to hear your thoughts…