Core strength has been a buzz phrase in competitive swimming for well over 10 years now. I hear swim coaches say “if only my swimmers were stronger in their core they could …. (fill in the blank)….” It’s as if the swimmers core will answer all their race performance problems.
However, in my experience, swim coaches who overly focus on core strength" miss the larger and more important picture.
The definition of core varies, historically physical therapists talked about core stability.
Dr. Panjabi (1992) defined spinal stability as consisting of three subsystems, passive components of the spinal column, active control by spinal muscles, and neuromuscular control or coordination.
Others modified the definition of core stability to describe it as the ability of the core is to work in an efficient and coordinated fashion to maintain correct alignment of the spine and pelvis while the limbs are moving.
The core muscles are the superficial and deep spinal extensors muscles, abdominal muscles, pelvic floor muscles, and shoulder girdle and hip girdle muscles.
The term core strength refers to the strength of these muscles groups. Great development, results in greater overall fitness without loss of function. Poor core development is when muscles are intentionally held in contraction regardless of what movement the person is doing.
Poor core development has nothing to do with the function of training for competitive swimming. While intentional muscular contraction may allow the student to do specific gym exercises, intentionally maintaining muscular contraction for long periods is not relevant to racing and everyday life.
The problem with the idea of core strength for competitive swimming is that the intended purpose is to maintain correct alignment of the spine and pelvis, which is assessed in a static position.
Strength is measured by how long someone can hold a plank position (the plank is performed by lying flat on the ground and then bringing yourself up on your toes and forearms).
The objective of this exercise is to hold the position without movement for as long as possible without loss of form. The problem with this as a test is that it has no place in competitive swimming as racing is very dynamic!
Therefore overdevelopment of core strength limits the motion in the pelvis, hips and spine required for racing and training. The reason Coaches want to develop strong core muscles is to improve their teams racing performance.
However, the research does not actually back this up. A study by Michael Tse (2005) looked at college age rowers who performed core muscle strength training and demonstrated improved core strength measurements. But, the subjects failed to demonstrate improved rowing abilities.
Yes, developing your core will give you a stronger stomach but, is this valuable to higher velocity swimming or simply esthetics?
Between your abdominal wall and spine are your internal organs, particularly your intestines. The intestines are a stretchy fluid filled tube that expands depending on how much food you have eaten.
Young children who have just learned to walk have a round potbelly. But they actually have great posture in spite of this apparent lack of abdominal strength.
The postural muscles unconsciously support the spine and head without limiting function in the pelvis and hips. If you watch them play in the sand they can squat for hours without discomfort.
Expanding this crucial point further, young children are able to ride and have great posture on horseback. So why do we think that we need 6-pack abs to have spinal stability?
Overdevelopment or intentional contraction of rectus abdominis (the 6-pack muscle) by holding your belly button in is unnecessary for good posture. Instead, holding this area limits function because rectus attaches to the pubic arch at the bottom and the xyphoid process (bottom of the sternum) at the other.
Contraction of this muscle restricts breathing restricts the pelvis and hips, which are so important for fast swimming.
To feel how intentionally contracting the abdominal muscles affects overall function, try the following:
? Begin by noticing your breathing, the quantity, and ease and where your body is moving as you breathe and then tighten your core – what happens? Notice how shallow your breathing becomes. Feel how the lower ribs are restricted. Let your belly go soft. How deep can you breathe now?
? Contract your core muscles and feel what happens in your waist area between your rib cage and your pelvis. Bend to the side and notice how much effort it takes. Let your abdomen relax and side bend again. How is it now? When you let the appropriate muscles do the job you can do more with less effort.
? Stand up and pull your belly button toward your spine. Slowly lift one knee toward your chest while keeping your abdomen pulled in. How easy is it to lift your knee? Let your belly go soft and repeat lifting the leg.
How easy is it now? Feel how holding your core limits the movement in your hip joints, pelvis and restricts the amount you can lift your leg easily.
I am sure if you wanted you could pull your leg up with your core tight but, look at the effort it took.
High velocity swimming requires the pelvis to move with your technique.. Your spine needs to be able to move so that you can transfer the energy wave you create as you race and train.
Maintaining an alignment required to hold a plank is not going to allow this wave motion to travel down the length of your body since your pelvis and lower back are no longer pliable enough to follow the motion. Therefore, I believe great core strength is very counterproductive to high velocity swimming.
Core stability is a more appropriate goal because it includes coordinated movement of the spinal column. Unfortunately this concept has been greatly overshadowed by thephysical fitness that promotes core strength.
From my perspective, function is the most critical element as to whether an exercise is useful or not. Strength is not useful if your muscles are strictly conditioned to weight machines, gym exercises, end-range movements, and artificial control of muscles.
A swimmer trained in this way will lose functional variety because muscle memory strengthening is very activity specific and does not carry over much to other activities. These exercises do not develop the fine motor control required in riding.
A swimmer that trains to constantly hold the abdominal muscles will not be capable of racing well due the limiting effect this constant contraction has on the ribcage and hips.
Efficient high velocity movements require that muscles contract, de-contract and semi-contract at the right time in the right amount to produce a coordinated smooth and fluid motion.
The appropriate muscles need to fire and stop firing unconsciously to be supple and strong. This is critical for fast swimming. If a swimmer is taught to hold excessive muscle tension for the sake of holding and ignore function then they will be out of time and sync with the water and will never achieve the internal movements required to race in harmony that are desired. high low style items to wear for the wedding occasion
Therefore striving for core stability, which includes diversity, variety and uses the entire body is actually what a swimmer need to focus on for higher velocity swimming.
DARE TO SWIM FASTER...
