Elite Physique The New Science of Building a Better Body

Core Training
113
other muscles, which are collectively
known as the core:
• The hip flexors pull your legs up
toward your torso.
• The spinal erectors extend your
spine when you bend backward
and also prevent your spine
from bending when you need it
to remain stable while lifting a
heavy load.
• The gluteus maximus, your body’s
strongest muscle, works with
your hamstrings to extend your
hips when you’re bent forward.
It also works with the gluteus
medius and minimus, among
other muscles, to produce a
variety of hip movements.
External
oblique
Transversus
abdominis
Internal
oblique
Rectus
abdominis
FIGURE 6.1 Abdominal and core muscles.
E8315/Waterbury/F06.01/670264/mh-R1
• The quadratus lumborum, which runs diagonally from the tops of your pelvis
to the sides of your lumbar spine, both allows and prevents side-bending
movements. It also works with the spinal erectors to extend and prevent
extension of your lower back.
• The latissimus dorsi, your body’s largest muscle by square footage, plays a
key role in stabilizing your lower back in every pulling exercise, from rows
to deadlifts.
Indeed, there’s a lot more to your core than you probably imagined. And we’ve
only discussed its muscles. Think about your skeletal structure. Your spine and
lower limbs are linked through your pelvis, allowing your body to function as
one interconnected unit that can run, jump, or throw a roundhouse kick. In other
words, the pelvis is the central part of the skeleton. So if we consider the technical
definition of core, which according to the Oxford dictionary is “the part of
something that is central to its existence,” then your pelvis is actually your core.
It’s all enough to make your stomach hurt.
You Can’t Crunch Your Way to a Leaner Midsection
No discussion about the core would be complete without mentioning spot reduction.
No reputable research supports the notion that directly training your midsection
will make it lean. But you can certainly find research that refutes it. For example,
one small study used MRI to compare fat distribution in the arms of young tennis
players (Sanchis-Moysi et al. 2019). The researchers found no difference between
the fat in their dominant and nondominant arms. Nevertheless, this is where we
probably don’t need science to support what we already know: Losing fat around
your midsection requires a caloric deficit. Exercise, of course, will help. But many
people have lost plenty of fat without ever breaking a sweat. In chapter 11 we cover
nutrition guidelines to help you combat inflammation and insulin resistance, two of
the biggest culprits for keeping fat around your gut.