Work Your Core

Yesterday, I went to my first Fitness Table class in almost two years. I love that place — it’s where I studied anatomy in detail and became an instructor several year ago.  Unfortunately,  lifestyle and scheduling with my family didn’t allow me to continue teaching there, but I believe strongly in the method and knew my body needed to return to train.

The hour class was like an in-depth conversation with my body.

Well hello there transverse abdominis! I haven’t felt you in a long while. Serratus anterior where have you been? And glutes, baby, I missed you!

The Fitness Table is a core postural program that focuses on strengthening the deepest muscles closest to the spine. Anchored to a table, you perform small movements that go deep and build strength and flexibility from the inside out. Often fitness programs will focus on surface muscles, building big biceps for example. I’ll never forget when a trained football player came in one day, clearly a man who spent a few hours in a gym in his lifetime. But anchor him to the table and ask him to stabilize his hips while moving his upper body, and quickly you could spot a weak core.

Our core needs our love. It’s our powerhouse. If it’s weak, it doesn’t matter how much we do at the surface.

This is true with physical body, as the Fitness Table teaches, but also with the emotional and energetic body. This is what I help people with in my coaching. We can put lipstick on the most beautiful affirmations in the world or sit and stare at a pretty vision board on the wall, but if the conversation below the surface is negative or contradictory, then the whole thing is weak.

Not unlike the Fitness Table, doing deep inner work is subtle. You might not think at first you are doing anything. But trust me, you are.

Everything is shifting, re-aligning and strengthening when you work your core.

P.S. What the heck is transverse abdominis? They are the muscles closest to your spine. Rectus abdominals are the surface muscles we see that create the ‘6-pack’. And truth be told, you can actually create an 8-pack with them. Transverse abs are below and extend around the waist like a corset. Here’s a picture I found at Lean It Up to help you.