Chapter 8: Core and Balance Training Principles
Guidelines for Core and Balance Training
Progressional Training
When it comes to general training progression there are a few key steps you can take to meaningfully progress a program.
- Start off simple. When first getting started in a program, you want the individual to work on something they are capable of doing. This is an opportunity to check in on form and movement patterns to ensure that their base is strong. Progress to complex. As you continue a program, you can progress to more complex movement patterns or positions within your exercise to continue to challenge the individual.
- Start with the expected. The individual should know exactly what to expect with the exercise when they are first starting out, the movement should be consistent and expected. Progress to the unexpected. Progression through a program can begin to add in unexpected, reactive types of exercises and drills to create more functional activities that would be similar to real-world or sport-specific movements.
- Start off stable. Their stability focus when first starting should be within their body. Progress to unstable. Instability can be added into a program in a variety of ways, this might be changing the surface that they are standing or bearing weight on (i.e., a folded up towel, a stability pad or stability ball) or changing their body position to create more instability through balance (i.e., going from a two-foot stance to a tandem stance to a single a single leg stance).
A Functional Core
As with any type of exercise programming, it is always important to focus on the individual’s needs based on their goals, activity, and base of training. When it comes to identifying and developing the basis for a core training program, there are three key functions that should be the focus of the program:
- Producing force
- Reducing force
- Stabilization
Producing Force
In order to create movement within the body, particularly movements that cross the core musculature, the core muscles need to be able to efficiently produce force and transfer that force from the upper and lower extremities. While we often think of core more singularly within our trunk, many of our full body movements (i.e., throwing, kicking, running, jumping, etc.) all have force that is transferred between the upper and lower body through the core.
Reducing Force
Similarly to our force transmission discussed with force production, we also have to consider how our efficient force reduction plays into our whole body movements. We need to be able to control the force production and reduce ineffective movements through force reduction in our core to maintain form, slow down, change of direction, and other reactive and sports-specific movements. Reducing forces through our core can help to accomplish this variety of tasks as well as reduce our risk of injury through uncontrolled movements.
Stabilization
As with many of our different types of training, being able t