Mayo clinic core strength exercises. Good or bad?

Body: 

Hi ladies

I was just given this link, http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/core-strength/SM00047/RETURNTOLINK=1&RE... by a Member of a pudendal neuralgia Forum.

What do you think of these exercises? I reckon if you want to do your exercises lying down they might be quite good. I tried the crunches with my feet on the wall, and didn't get any pressure on my pelvic floor. Maybe I wasn't trying hard enough???

Cheers

Louise

Louise,

I liked the exercises. Lots of these things are done in my yoga class,
but more difficult. I know when I do this kind of exercise, I make sure
that I am doing a kegel. It seems to keep everything in place.

Judy

Well…from a ww perspective we don’t feel pressure when we do the crunch in #2 because the torso and legs are at right angles to each other - which equals pelvic stability. #4 and #5 offer less stability as one side of the pelvis is counternutated. #9 is fine, but should be done in a much more anatomically correct – and therefore beautiful – way by keeping a straight line from crown of head to tailbone. All the rest are classic male exercises that benefit from their pronounced thoracic curve and upper body strength. The only one we do regularly in the studio is #8 as part of our cool down.

There is a lifetime of work ahead of me promoting the female core – which extends from navel to lower edge of buttocks. EVERYWHERE I look I see all sorts of “masters” – kundalini, dance, exercise instructor, etc. etc. teaching “core” strength – MALE core strength – a completely different animal.

What is so astonishing – but logical – is what this sort of chronic, rigorous misalignment of the pelvis does to the female body shape over time. I have been collecting video of “core strength” masters and will put together a presentation to share here. We are (still!!!) trying to get video up but this time dd has taken the reins so maybe it will actually happen. Our first (just for fun) video will be The Whole Baby Workout, which we shot last week – too adorable!

Hi Christine

I agree with you that the bulky upper body of the male is a somewhat peripheral element for the female. I have a feeling that they just like having big upper body muscles, so they count upper body as a part of their core, so exercising it is compulsory. Psychologically the upper body is part of their 'core', and who am I to argue with that! I have a feeling it is a male vanity thing, looking bigger (like frogs and lizards do), in order to scare away predators and competitors. Boys' game. Let them get on with it. Buff bods look good, and are very useful for doing heavy jobs.

Doing these exercises I can feel all those little inside muscles working very hard. In that sense it doesn't matter whether you are male or female. We all have the same musculoskeletal system, and the genetic evolution of the human relies on material from both male and female ancestors to build the next generation of female bodies, so the same principles apply.

I do, however, question the horizontal nature of the exercises. I agree with you that strengthening exercises need to be done in an appropriate direction to get whole body benefit, or else you run the risk of strengthening some muscles in a group, and others will weaken (going back to the tensegrity model, and turning the triangles through 90 degrees). Then you simply end up with different muscles being weak when you are upright again.

I have a feeling that Wholewoman posture needs a counterpart, in Wholeman posture, as the two genders suffer from many of the same problems that we regard as structural, brought about by modern western lifestyle. Google rectal prolapse and all the pictures you find are male! this pudendal neuralgia thing is equally male and female, though they don't (yet) admit a structural cause, though their websites are littered with evidence of it. They call themselves scientists? And what about all those bad backs?

Re the problems with nutation and counternutation on the two sides of the body, I wouldn't have thought that was really a problem, as long as it is controlled, and balanced up on both sides. As you say the two halves of the pelvis are designed to nutate and counternute in opposition to each other whenever we walk, and do many other things as well.

I never do any quantity of any of the type of exercises in this set, so I was expecting to find them quite taxing, but quite unexpectedly they were pretty easy to do, as long as I didn't try and hold them for too long. Maybe the whole body exercise I do consciously with my everyday exertion, dancing etc, is doing just as much good?

I like the idea of the human body being a machine that maintains and adjusts the strength of its structural components as a part of its everyday operations, kind of like an automatic lubrication system, and self-replenishing fluids systems and computerised monitoring that prompts the need for regular maintenance and component replacement and servicing.

A wild horse or a working horse doesn't need exercise programmes on the weekends and evenings to get it fit. It gets its exercise while it is working and living. However, a horse that lives in a small yard does need extra exercise. What is different about the human body?

Cheers

Louise

In my view the only exercises worth doing – outside of work and play – are those that take full advantage of three things:

• The breath
• The natural shape of the spine
• Gravity

I’m developing a series of breath-spine movements that seem to be the perfect counterpoint to all this strength-building we’ve been doing. I plan to include them in the www dvd.