We hear the term "core" an awful lot in the gyms, magazines and on TV. But what is the core? What does it do? Is it important to know about, or is it just another fad designed to sell products and services? All of these are common and important questions that deserve answers. This article will inform you and educate you on the core’s different functions, what muscles form the core, and how you can work to make your core stronger.

Core Musculature

The muscles of the core are the body, excluding the arms and legs. Yeah, that's right, the core is not just your abdominals and midsection. Because there are so many different muscles involved in the core, I will break them up into two main groups: primary and secondary core muscles.

Primary core muscles are indeed the muscles in the central area of your torso:

• Pelvic floor: primarily the levator ani, the coccyges.
• Transversus abdominis: the muscle activated to pull your stomach in.
• Internal and external obliques: on the sides of the waist to help you twist.
• Multifidus: stabilizes a number of vertebrae in the spine.
• Rectus abdominis: the abdominal muscle you see if you have a "6 pack."
• Erector spinae (including the longissimus thoracis): also stabilize the spine.
• Thoracic diaphragm: helps control breathing.

These are the muscles that play the most vital roles of stabilizing your hips, spine and torso. They also play a tremendous role in the movement of your body as they support and provide a foundation for just about everything your body does when you exercise or move throughout the day.

Core Training

A number of specific exercise types or modes have been developed in part, to increase the function and strength of your core. A couple of the most familiar types are Pilates and yoga.
Athletic trainers have discovered over the past decades that properly training the musculature of the core has a positive affect on an athlete's performance. They noticed that when core training is performed, athletes are able to perform at a higher level: they tend to run faster, jump higher, and lift heavier than they could before.

Secondary Core

Secondary core muscles are the muscles that support and enhance the function of the primary core muscles and that carry out the tasks on their behalf:

• Latissimus dorsi: large back muscle that pulls down the arms when overhead.
• Trapezius: muscle in the upper/middle back that shrug the shoulders up/back.
• Gluteals: including gluteus maximus, the muscles supporting hip movement.

These muscles work with the primary core muscles to facilitate the movement of the shoulder blades, the hips and other joints that make body movement happen.

Core Functions

The core provides internal pressure to the midsection, giving your body the stability to perform dynamic movements. To accomplish this, the core supports and stabilizes the pelvis and thorax (sternum, thoracic spine and ribs).

The core also supports healthy bowel function as well as that of other abdominal organs. It assists in breathing, expelling substances (vomit, urine, feces, CO2, etc.), and maintaining general health in the organs and systems it contains and supports.

One of the biggest reasons the core receives so much press is because scientists and physiologist over the past decades began to find muscular imbalances and deficiencies in people who used devices to support their movements. For example, someone who sits still all the time is supported by a chair. Another example may be a baby who is not allowed to play freely on the floor, but is immobilized in a crib or chair. It soon became evident that people who did not use their core muscles regularly had trouble playing sports and sometimes even performing basic tasks like carrying the groceries or climbing a ladder. This is when core training really became a focal point for the fitness industry.

Tri-Planar Motion

The words "tri-planar motion" mean three planes of motion. The human body moves in three planes of motion, but most weight machines and supporting devices in our lives keep us functioning in only one. This creates muscular imbalances and inhibits vitality of movement. Trainers began performing exercises that used not just one plane of motion, but two and three planes, and that's how we began using the term tri-planar motion when referring to exercise. This is how "functional training" was born.

The core works in all three planes of motion, so it is important to exercise in a manner that allows for plenty of tri-planar motion. For instance walking and running, twisting lunges, boxing drills, etc.—these types of training all utilize the musculature of the core and can be performed in all three planes of motion, making for a well developed core area.

Do some research, look up the "core," search for terms like "tri-planar motion" and "functional training." You will find a wealth of information on the subject, far too much to go into in this article.

Give it an honest effort, focus on your core, and develop a plan of attack for training it to perform at its optimal levels and it will serve you well.