Spring 2015

Health Schools & Wellness
Functional training:
Hard Core for Life
Everyone’s day begins and ends with
a succession of simple core activating
motions. The act of rising in the morning
and laying to rest in the evening requires
the core to activate in a complex pattern
with stabilization at the heart of the cores
intention. Throughout the rest of the day
the core is instrumental in every aspect of
human motion, whether it be lifting you
groceries from the cart, to placing your
child into the safety seat, to throwing your
dog’s ball while playing a game of fetch.
The core muscles are like an envelope
that wraps around an important letter.
They support the spine and its most
valuable contents. These muscles must
be the first objects to activate with any
motion when motion is determined as
a need. The muscles of the core are not
unidimensional but three dimensional
in their arrangement and usage. The
normal person moves within these three
dimensions and into different planes of
motion with all aspects of life. Health
Lateral Lunge with
Medial Rotational
Reach
and fitness professionals have their clients
move into the forward and backwards
directions which are referred to as the
sagittal plane. Motion is created from side
to side and referred to as the frontal plane.
Lastly, motion into rotation is termed the
transverse plane. Most people focus on one
or two dimensions of motion when training
and addressing the third dimension is
paramount for true core strength.
Anterior Lunge with
Lateral Rotational Reach
Start
finish position
When it pertains to functional training,
there is merit in training into one and
two planes of motion. To elicit the most
strength and stability one must train
into all three planes at once. There
are similarities between a professional
athlete training for sports specific
skills when compared to a non-athlete
training for daily expectations of life.
It is our belief that everyone is an
athlete and they are training for life!
Movement specialists from Spooner
Physical Therapy have devised a series
of simple exercises to help increase
the functional core strength by adding
simple modifications to time tested
and proven core movements, such as
the common lunge. Visit upcoming
bootcamps in Desert Ridge hosted by
Spooner Physical Therapy or join us for
individualized 3 dimensional training!
Enjoy developing a core for life through
Health in Motion!
Rotational Lunge
with Rotational
Reach
Start
finish position
Start
finish position
Pictured: Alyssa Ashmore and Ryan Lasley of Spooner Physical Therapy Desert Ridge.
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Spring 2015 | Desert Ridge Lifestyles |
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