Tag Archives: fitness test

It is fitness test week this week so we are working on your core today.  The core is a fundamental building block of your strength and fitness and a real victim of today’s sedentary office and home lifestyles.

In anatomy, the core refers, in its most general of definitions, to the body minus the legs and arms.  Functional movements are highly dependent on the core, and lack of core development can result in a predisposition to injury.  The major muscles of the core reside in the area of the belly and the mid and lower back (not the shoulders), and peripherally include the hips, the shoulders and the neck.

Put simply if you can visualise your body try and imagine what it is that maintains the body’s upright posture given that the only hard material between the hips and the ribs is the essentially flexible spine.  Clearly the muscles in the midsection have a great deal of responsibility in maintaining us in our, uniquely human, upright posture.  There is much more to it than that though.  Aside from the static core functions of maintaining posture there are the dynamic core functions.  A strong core improves balance and application of power to movement.   It is an essential component of athletic ability and a much neglected area.

Today’s gym trainers so often avoid the functional exercises that recruit the core muscles instead relying on the, easy to use, resistence machines which invariably allow you to train whilst seated and supported.  The core is not at work.

At Bootcamp we advocate functional fitness and much of what we do works and develops your core to help maintain your strength despite the long hours spent at the desk or on the sofa!