What does ‘engage your core’ actually mean?

Whatever the type of exercise you do, I’m sure you will have heard the phrase ‘engage your core.’ Or it may be phrased in a different way such as ‘brace your stomach muscles.’ But in my experience training clients this is easier said than done. Too often trainers assume people not only know what this means but also know how to implement doing it. And therefore learning how to actually do it properly gets glossed over. And this is a big issue as engaging your core properly is the foundation behind doing the exercises effectively and safely.  So what does ‘engage your core ‘ actually mean?

What Should You Do?

The best way to start is by either lying on your back, knees bent and feet flat to floor. Or standing flat against a wall with your feet 6 inches forward.  For the following example I will assume you are lying down but you can easily transfer the following to standing if you want to.

Tense your stomach slightly and bring your lower back in towards the floor. Getting your back as flat to the floor as you can. You can test this by sliding a hand in between the gap between your lower back and the floor. As a rule of thumb you should not be able to slide your hand all the way under. If you can you need to try and flatten it more. Hopefully whilst you are doing this you can feel the tension in your core.

Then basically just practice going between engaging, holding for a second then releasing. Do this 10/12 times. Then over time build up the time you hold the contraction for before releasing. Don’t over tense, just enough to hold the flat back position. If you over tense you are likely to struggle to breathe during the exercise and will probably be tensing other areas such as your neck (which you don’t want to do) as well.

Who Might Struggle to engage properly?

If you never done this practice before, or at least not understood it or put it into practice properly before it will take time to develop the skill. Like any other skill would. So be patient.

If you have an excessive lumbar curve, i.e. pronounced arch in your lower back this is more difficult. I often find this in clients who have done dance or gymnastics at some point in their lives. In this case you may struggle to get to the point where you can get your back flat enough for a hand not to pass underneath. In this case as long as you don’t feel pain during the exercise and you can feel the muscles bracing just continue.

If, for whatever reason, you struggle to feel your abs contracting. This is quite common in women that have had C-Sections. In this instance you can use a hand on your abs to feel for the muscles tensing. As long as you can literally feel it, even if you can’t feel the sensation, proceed as normal. The sensation may come back over time, but ultimately as long as the muscles are tensing it doesn’t really matter.

When Should I Be Engaging?

Basically you should engage your core whenever you are doing any resistance training. Ensuring your core muscles are engaged will make the exercise easier, more effective and protect your lower back from injury. Over time it will become more and more natural. In the end you should be doing it without even thinking about it. But I always urge my clients not to rush this learning process. It would be like trying to run before you can walk. The effectiveness and safety of all exercises depends on the foundations being learnt correctly.