It’s a common cue while exercising, whether lifting weights or running: engage your core by bracing – or contracting - the muscles of the torso. The thinking is that by doing this, you’ll stabilise your spine and reduce the risk of injury.
I’ve talked before about how a strong, functional core is important for running. Does that mean you should hold your core tight while you run?
In this post, I’ll explain why I don’t recommend it. And what I do suggest for creating a more stable base for your running.
Switching off your ‘intelligent’ core
Your deep core system, which includes the cannister of muscles that wrap around your middle like a corset, plus the pelvic floor as the base and diaphragm as the lid, is designed to work automatically, anticipating and responding to your movement. Adjusting to the different demands of running: concrete surfaces versus uneven trails versus sandy beaches; flat surfaces versus hills. Using just the right amount of effort to complete the task, keeping you stable and supported without excessive tension.
When you consciously tighten your core, you override this system so it can no longer anticipate and respond appropriately. Instead of being able to modulate its response to suit the load – think of how your body organises itself to lift a pencil compared to lifting a heavy bag of shopping - it holds tight for everything. And it can’t react as quickly and dynamically to what’s happening – if you suddenly trip and lose balance, for example.
And contrary to popular belief, ‘tight’ doesn’t mean ‘strong’. Muscles generate force by contracting. So if they’re already held tight, with nowhere to go, they can’t be as effective.
Limiting movement
Bracing doesn’t just lock down the deep core system. It also restricts the superficial trunk muscles. Muscles that are designed to help you move, not to keep you stable.
Running is a dynamic activity that involves not just forward motion but also subtle rotation about the centre – as one leg travels rearward, the opposite arm also swings back in counterbalance, gently twisting the spine. Hold the centre rigid, and you compromise the ability of your spine to move. Which may lead to compensations up and down the chain – over-rotation of the shoulders, for example.
Restricting breathing
Try holding your stomach in while breathing, and notice where that breath goes.
The diaphragm is not only the lid of your core system. It’s also your most important breathing muscle. A tight, tense core limits the ability of the diaphragm to descend as you inhale. You may notice that you’re breathing more into the upper chest.
Being able to breathe freely, and use all of your lung capacity, is pretty important when you’re running. Why use a strategy that restricts it?
Could bracing increase your risk of injury?
Bracing is promoted as a strategy for improving spinal stability, to provide protection from injury. A fascinating research study from 2016, published in the Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy, looked at the effect of bracing on how the body manages a high impact activity. In the study, participants were asked to complete a drop landing task – stepping off a 40cm bench with their lead leg and landing with both feet on a force plate – with and without using abdominal bracing.
The body uses hip and knee flexion while running to help absorb the shock of landing. The research study showed that using bracing during drop landing actually reduced bending at the hips and knees, and increased peak ground reaction force. So participants experienced a greater impact from landing when they were holding their centres tight.
This is just one study, but it raises interesting questions about how bracing might affect the body’s ability to dynamically respond to and manage high impact activities.
If not bracing, then what?
If bracing’s not the answer, how can you stay balanced and stable in a dynamic activity like running?
You can create more stability by thinking about how you organise your body when you run. When your heavy parts – head, rib cage, pelvis – are in balance with each other, you’re much better supported than when your chest is thrusting forward, hips are sitting back, or you’re running from your chin.
If you shorten your step in front, you’ll land in a much more balanced and stable position than if your foot is reaching out way ahead of your body’s centre of gravity.
By training your core system to work automatically as it’s designed to, rather than trying to override it, you’ll create dynamic, responsive support without compromising your freedom of movement or your breathing.
Training your reflexive core
In Restore Your Core, we use breathing as a tool to train the reflexive core:
Standing or sitting with a neutral spine and pelvis, put your hand on your lower belly. Imagine a birthday cake with 100 candles floating in the air in front of you. Take a normal inhale, then exhale and slooooowly blow out all the candles. Did you feel your deep core responding under your hand at the end of your exhale?
By using your candles breath in combination with loaded moves, you train your core to activate when it’s needed to support you.
Does that mean that I suggest using candles breathing while you’re running. No. But by teaching your core how to work reflexively when you’re not running, over time you’ll find that it kicks in automatically when it’s needed, including during a run.
If you’d like help in training your reflexive core, find out more about working with me, either in a group class or individually, here. And I’ll be doing an online Restore Your Running Core Foundation Series, specifically aimed at runners, starting on Wednesday 4th August.
Photo by Fitsum Admasu on Unsplash