Pillar
Strength
from Core Performance: The Revolutionary Workout Program to
Transform Your Body and Your Life
The following is an excerpt from
Core Performance: The Revolutionary Workout Program to
Transform Your Body and Your Life by Mark Verstegen and Pete
Williams
Published by Rodale Press Copyright © 2004 Mark Verstegen
The Foundation: Building Your Pillar of
Strength
We have a
tendency to think of movement as starting from the limbs. If we reach out to
grab something or step forward, we think of those motions as originating with
the end result -- we've reached out; therefore, we've used our arms. We've
stepped forward, so we've worked our legs. Uncountable exercise programs
promise bigger arms or sexier legs as a primary benefit.
Movement,
however, starts from the very center of the body, the core area of the torso.
Amputees still can function and have fulfilling lives because their cores
remain intact. Frost-bite begins at the fingers and toes, areas farthest from
the core, because the body wants to protect what's most important and
concentrates its lifesaving heat around the vital organs at the center of the
body.
That's why we
refer to the torso as the pillar -- it's the structural center of movement and
life. The way we maintain that pillar and its alignment and function directly
correlate to the health of our organs and the rest of our bodies. Everything is
interrelated.
Pillar
strength, thus, is the foundation of movement. More specifically, it
consists of core, hip, and shoulder stability. Those three areas give us a
center axis from which to move. If you think of the body as a wheel, the pillar
is the hub, and the limbs, the spokes.
We want to have
the hub perfectly aligned so we can draw energy from it and effectively
transfer energy throughout the body. It's impossible to move the limbs
efficiently and with force if they're not attached to something solid and
stable.
The better you
can transfer energy through your body, the more efficiently you will move, and
the less wear and tear there will be. If you have good pillar strength and take
a step, force will pass evenly through your foot, calf, and hip -- right up the
pillar and through the top of your head.
If you lack
pillar strength, specifically hip stability, the energy "leaks out" at the hip,
and the body must compensate. More pressure is placed down toward the knees and
up toward the lower back, which over time can cause degenerative problems.
Parents are
always telling their children to sit or stand up straight. There's a reason for
that. Without pillar strength, without what I call perfect posture, you
will significantly increase the potential for injury in a chain that starts
with your lower back, descends all the way to your knees and ankles, and rises
up to your shoulders and elbows.
Everything in
your body is connected and related through this pillar of strength. Your
shoulders and spine are related to the core and gluteus maximus (or glutes),
and they're interwoven in cross patterns that need to be tuned for maximum
efficiency.
Think of a
rubber band wrapped around your body. If one end is not attached, you will not
develop enough tension. The band is fine, but unless both ends are attached
solidly, there's no way to store, release, and transfer energy throughout your
body.
For every
action, there's a reaction. If I fire and move one muscle, it causes another
muscle to react. The muscles stretch and snap back. This dynamic, multiplanar
transfer of energy from front to back, side to side, and top to bottom creates
fluid movement for people with the greatest pillar strength.
Marion Jones,
the world-class sprinter, has tremendous pillar strength. As she sprints 100
meters, there's a smooth transfer of energy through her stable pillar that
allows her to run at such great speed. There's perfect harmony between
coordination, muscular strength, stability, balance, elasticity, and
flexibility.
All movement
starts from a remarkable muscle called the transverse abdominis. Think
of the TA as nature's weight belt. It originates from the lower spine and wraps
around and attaches to the ribs, abdominals, and pelvis. When we draw the belly
button in toward the spine and up toward the ribs, we're essentially tightening
a belt, ensuring the protection of the pelvis and lower back. Your natural
weight belt stabilizes the pelvis and supports the torso.
Whenever
movement begins, the TA is the first muscle that fires -- or, at least, it
should be. For many people, that ability is lost over time on account of
injuries or sedentary lifestyles. We spend so much time in front of computers
and televisions that we develop bad posture. Injuries are a result and
exacerbate the problem further.
Workers at
home-improvement stores are required to wear snug belts around their backs and
abdominals when lifting or moving objects for safety reasons. They need to wear
such devices because their bodies no longer activate their natural weight
belts.
If we can learn
(or relearn) how to activate the TA, we can rely on nature's weight belt and
not wear additional support. We'll be able to stabilize the pelvis so that the
leg and torso muscles can turn to it for support. That, in turn, prevents back
problems. The body will be able to transfer force efficiently through the
muscles rather than through the back and joints.
You'll relearn
how to activate your TA early in this program, and though it's an easy process,
you'll have to make a conscious effort at the beginning. Soon you'll find that
it's second nature, and you will no longer have to think about it.
Now that you
are conscious of the role of the transverse abdominis in core stability, we
need to address your shoulders, another key element of perfect posture. Think
of a skeleton hanging in a classroom. Its shoulders are naturally hanging back
and down, giving it perfect posture and alignment.
Unfortunately,
most people have a tendency to slump forward, with their shoulder blades
sliding forward and up. If you spend much of your day in front of a computer,
as many working Americans do, you're probably slumping over, even if you're not
conscious of it. Unless you make some changes, you're going to end up hunched
over like so many of our elderly friends who, sadly, never were exposed to a
program like this years ago, when they most needed it.
I want you to
keep your shoulder blades pulled back and down toward your waist, as if
thrusting your chest up. You'll hear me reiterate it ("SBD") during the
instructions for many exercises. It's important to keep your shoulders in this
position throughout the program and throughout life.
Another key
concept to understand about pillar strength is the fascial planes that
wrap around the body. Think of these planes as the ropes that tie your muscles
together. They ultimately tie a glute into your opposite shoulder and your hip
muscles to your lower back.
Let's say you
were standing on an observation deck looking directly down upon golfer Tiger
Woods at the tee. As his club comes back, his shoulders turn, and his lower
body remains stable, if only for a moment. At that instant, from your vantage
point, his body would form the letter X. He's able to disassociate his
shoulders and hips as he moves across the transverse plane to generate
incredible power. Why? Because he's developed incredible mobility and pillar
strength.
Core Performance: The Revolutionary Workout Program to
Transform Your Body and Your Life
by Mark Verstegen and
Pete Williams
© 2004 by Mark Verstegen. Permission granted by Rodale,
Inc., Emmaus, PA 18098.
More About The Book
At your core, there's an incredible athlete.
Lean, yet powerful. Strong, but still flexible. World-class trainer Mark
Verstegen shows you how to use your core to transform your body and your life,
turn back the clock, speed up your metabolism, trim your waistline, build
muscle, and gain boundless energy. More than a workout routine, Verstegen's
12-week, comprehensive program reveals the athlete that's always been inside
you.
The Core Program Shows You:
- How to develop balanced fitness --
strength, muscle mass, flexibility, power, and endurance -- without
overemphasizing or shortchanging any component.
- How to recover from workouts so
you get leaner and stronger when everyone else is just getting tired.
- How to eat the right foods to get
the body you want and the energy to have more fun with it.
You probably look at elite athletes and
think they have something you don't. Certainly, they can do things the rest of
us can't, but they have the same muscles and require the same food. They have
to strike a balance between exercise and recovery, or they'll wear down. They
need to get leaner and stronger without compromising their endurance or
flexibility. And if they don't train intelligently and cautiously, they'll get
hurt. Same as you.
Of course, athletes have hours a day to
train, and you're probably lucky if you can squeeze in 60 minutes. So it's no
wonder that you focus on one or two types of exercise -- aerobics,
bodybuilding, Pilates, yoga, kickboxing, or Tae-Bo -- and assume you don't have
time to work on all the other aspects of fitness.
Core Performance is the first program
that delivers strength and muscle mass, endurance and a lean body, balance and
flexibility, athletic quickness and power -- all in less than an hour a day.
How? By giving you a personal coach who has worked with some of the most famous
and successful athletes in the world today.
Mark Verstegen, owner of Athletes'
Performance in Tempe, Arizona, and Carson, California, has trained the best of
the best: Nomar Garciaparra. Mia Hamm. Roberto Alomar. Mary Pierce. When
Verstegen trains an athlete, millions of dollars in salary and signing bonuses
are at stake. Bottom line: If he didn't deliver, he'd be out of business. And
he's busier than ever.
What works for these gifted athletes will
work for you. Sure, you can't do as much exercise as they do, but you don't
need to. It takes less than an hour a day to build the type of fitness that
improves your life in almost every way. You can straighten your posture,
eliminate aches and pains, sleep better, and approach everything you do with
more vigor and a better attitude.
Sure, you will get bigger muscles, a tighter
waist, and more strength and power. But the biggest benefits come from the
inside. The intense focus on the muscles of your core -- abdominals, lower
back, hips, and thighs -- will help you stand taller and prevent the back pain
from which most people eventually suffer. The detailed nutrition section
guarantees that you'll feed your muscles, starve your fat, and get boundless
energy when you need it most. And the attention you'll pay to recovery from
your workouts will give you a straight path to the results you want.
The potential is within you, and the power
to unleash that potential is within Core Performance.
Author
Mark Verstegen directs a
25-person team of performance specialists and nutritionists to train some of
the biggest names in sports, including soccer star Mia Hamm; baseball's Nomar
Garciaparra, Roberto Alomar, and Vernon Wells; WTA tennis players Meghann
Shaughnessy and Mary Pierce; golfers Jim Carter and Billy Mayfair; NFL veteran
Trace Armstrong; hockey goalie Nikolai Khabibulin; and NBA forward Rick Fox. He
serves as director of performance for the NFL Players Association, is an
advisor to Adidas, and serves as a consultant to numerous athletic governing
bodies, including the U.S. Tennis Association. Verstegen and his wife, Amy, a
former Washington State University soccer player, live in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Pete Williams is a contributing
writer to Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal and USA Today
Sports Weekly. He has written about fitness and performance for numerous
publications and is the author of two books on the sports-memorabilia business:
Card Sharks and Sports Memorabilia for Dummies. A graduate of the
University of Virginia, he lives in Florida with his wife, Suzy, and son, Luke.
Reviews
"This is the best decision I have ever made with
regard to improving and educating myself as an athlete. I just wish I had made
it sooner."
--Mia Hamm, Olympic and world-champion soccer player
"This program
has transformed me from a skinny college baseball player with little power into
one of the best-conditioned players in Major League Baseball."
--Nomar
Garciaparra, professional baseball player |
