Ask the Expert
Here’s how to create a rock-solid runner’s core
Standard planks and bridges will tone your abs, but they aren’t the optimal core drills for boosting your running performance. Although abs are important, your core is really an intricately connected set of muscles that crosses your entire midsection, including the internal and external obliques, and erector spinae (back muscles). All these muscles need to be strong to allow your pelvis, hips and back to move in sync as you run, to minimise energy wastage.
“As you run,” says Dr Bramah, “the spine and pelvis move in a dynamic and coordinated pattern, and static exercises don’t tend to train your muscles to control these patterns. It’s better to integrate exercises that force your musculature to control the speci c movement patterns when you run.”