{"id":44,"date":"2019-07-16T14:53:52","date_gmt":"2019-07-16T14:53:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dance-forums.com\/blog\/?p=44"},"modified":"2019-07-16T14:53:53","modified_gmt":"2019-07-16T14:53:53","slug":"the-core","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dance-forums.com\/blog\/the-core\/","title":{"rendered":"The Core"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

by Maria Hansen<\/em>



One of the most popular \u201cbuzzword phrases\u201d that I hear today is \u201cYou gotta use your
core!\u201d Everyone knows that \u201cthe core\u201d (also known as \u201cthe center\u201d) is important in
dancing, but I find that many people really don\u2019t understand what it means to use \u201cthe
core\u201d.

Firstly, let\u2019s talk about what \u201cthe core\u201d is. Your abdominal wall is made up of 5 major
muscle groups: the rectus abdominus, exterior and interior obliques, the lower
abdominals, and the transverse abdominus. The rectus abdominus is the muscle group
that runs from your sternum to your pelvis and the muscle fibers run vertically. This is
the muscle that most people try to use when developing their core. It\u2019s the most visual,
being the one where you get your \u201csix pack\u201d and look really sexy and trim. I see so
many dancers doing a gazillion crunches in an effort to make their core stronger.
Problem is, the rectus abdominus acts as a shield that protects our organs and even
though it is an important muscle group, it is not a stabilizer for the spine. In fact, if your
rectus abdominus gets too strong and out of balance it can adversely affect your
posture (which for a dancer is detrimental). Those who regularly perform crunch and situp
exercises for their core and nothing else often demonstrate forward head posture.
You see, as the rectus abdominus becomes chronically shortened, it pulls the chest
downward increasing the First Rib Angle which will also bring your head forward. Not
good!!

So, I would like to address the importance of a deeper abdominal muscle called the
Transverse Abdominus, (TVA for short.) The TVA is the deepest abdominal muscle and
it\u2019s muscle fibers run horizontally. The TVA connects to the spine through the connective
tissue so when it becomes activated, it pulls on the connective tissue which in turn pulls
on the sides of the spine which then stabilizes the spine. When the TVA is activated it
acts almost like a girdle cinching your waist. The problem with the TVA is it is a lazy
muscle and not always easy to find! If the other muscle groups are strong, they basically
try to take over the job of the TVA and the TVA goes on an extended vacation.
Developing the TVA is crucial to finding and maintaining postural stability. Also, because
it is an important stabilization muscle, it also helps to prevent injury and back pain.
There are many ailments that can be directly related to a weak TVA including hip pain
and malfunction, shoulder pain, knee pain, neck pain, balance issues, uncoordination,
etc. Often times, the ability to tap into the TVA and making it do its job is all that is
needed to correct a variety of issues that may be affecting your ability to dance
effortlessly.

So how do you identify the TVA? One of the best exercises for this is an exercise that I
learned from my kinesthetic and postural education at the CHEK Institute called the
Four Point Tummy Vacuum. To perform this exercise:
1. Assume a position kneeling on the floor with the knees directly under each hip and
your hands on the floor directly under you shoulders. Make sure that you keep a
neutral spine which means that you should have a very slight, natural curve inward of
your lumbar spine (lower back).
2. Now, take a deep breath and allow your tummy to drop towards the floor.
3. Exhale and draw your naval towards your spine as far as you can. It is crucial that
you do not allow the spine to move at all! Otherwise you are just flexing your spine
and not using the TVA at all. You may want to have a partner watch you to make sure
that you sure not cheating.
4. Hold for 10 seconds.
5. Now inhale and allow your tummy to drop to the floor.
6. Repeat 10 times.<\/strong>

Once you have mastered this on the floor, you now need to learn to do this in a standing
position. You may progress from the floor to a shortstop position, meaning standing on
your feet with your knees slightly bent, hands on your knees and your body at a 45
degree angle to the floor. Again, make sure your spine is in a neutral position as you
inhale sending the belly out and exhale pulling the naval in.

After that, you need to bring yourself into a standing position with good posture. Stand
against a wall with your heels, hips, upper back and back of head touching the wall.
Make sure your spine is in a neutral position. To check the amount of curvature in your
lower back, you should be able to just barely slide your hand through the space
between your lower back and the wall. If there\u2019s a huge space and your hand goes
through freely, you have too much curve and if there\u2019s no space, you don\u2019t have enough
curve. (I\u2019ll be writing about these issues at another time). Now, inhale and let your belly
hang out. Now exhale, drawing your belly button in, but do not allow the curve in your
spine to change. Hold for 10 counts and begin again. Perform this exercise 10 times.

Now that the correct muscle has been identified, it is possible now to learn how to \u201cuse\u201d
it! The TVA is the major link that connects the upper body to the lower body and all
movement begins from the core. When your body and posture are stabilized,
movements become free and easy without the need to over activate other muscle
groups to try to find stabilization. It is a relatively small movement and correction in the
core, but it is a powerful correction that can make a huge difference in your dancing!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Maria Hansen One of the most popular \u201cbuzzword phrases\u201d that I hear today is \u201cYou gotta use yourcore!\u201d Everyone knows that \u201cthe core\u201d (also known as \u201cthe center\u201d) is important indancing, but I find that many people really don\u2019t understand what it means to use \u201cthecore\u201d. Firstly, let\u2019s talk about what \u201cthe core\u201d is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,16,15],"tags":[78,77,75,76,61,62],"class_list":["post-44","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coachs-corner","category-dance-health-fitness","category-dance-technique","tag-body-mechanics","tag-center","tag-core-strength","tag-dance-fitness","tag-dance-posture","tag-maria-hansen"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Core - Dance Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dance-forums.com\/blog\/the-core\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Core - Dance Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Maria Hansen One of the most popular \u201cbuzzword phrases\u201d that I hear today is \u201cYou gotta use yourcore!\u201d Everyone knows that \u201cthe core\u201d (also known as \u201cthe center\u201d) is important indancing, but I find that many people really don\u2019t understand what it means to use \u201cthecore\u201d. 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