Hi all,
Kind of forgotten what number jog it was - there may have been one between the last one I blogged on and this one.
This post is about core strength. Core strength is one of the main things you work on in yoga, sometimes called "mula bandha", for the Sanskrit amateurs amongst us, or "pelvic floor" for woman who have given birth. The "core" in question is a set of muscles around about your hip area - the easiest way I can describe it is that it's like a dinner plate that holds your guts up.
There, now that I got that out of the way, let's talk about what the core strength is good for. Basically, it's a very convenient pivot spot for your entire body, being pretty much in the middle. That is, your legs push down from that point and thus it supports your lower body; your back pushes up from that point and thus it supports your upper body (and there's another pivot point around your neck from which your head pushes up and thus supports your upper extremity); and at the same time, it can swivel your hips outwards so that the whole system is straight rather than falling in on itself. In short, an important point of the body to strengthen.
I've basically now described why core strength is also extremely useful for jogging. In jogging, posture is best maintained in that way - legs pushing down (and at the same time, knees forward and back legs back alternately), back pushing straight up (and neck pushing the head up with shoulders relaxed rather than bunching up to the ears), and hips swivelled outwards so as to run straight rather than collapsing a bit inwards.
And as I mentioned before, running in this way ensures that only as strength is built up can speed - and overall distance - increase; that is, speed and distance do not come at the expense of posture but are rather both a result and cause of strength.
That is all. Bye!
Daniel
Kind of forgotten what number jog it was - there may have been one between the last one I blogged on and this one.
This post is about core strength. Core strength is one of the main things you work on in yoga, sometimes called "mula bandha", for the Sanskrit amateurs amongst us, or "pelvic floor" for woman who have given birth. The "core" in question is a set of muscles around about your hip area - the easiest way I can describe it is that it's like a dinner plate that holds your guts up.
There, now that I got that out of the way, let's talk about what the core strength is good for. Basically, it's a very convenient pivot spot for your entire body, being pretty much in the middle. That is, your legs push down from that point and thus it supports your lower body; your back pushes up from that point and thus it supports your upper body (and there's another pivot point around your neck from which your head pushes up and thus supports your upper extremity); and at the same time, it can swivel your hips outwards so that the whole system is straight rather than falling in on itself. In short, an important point of the body to strengthen.
I've basically now described why core strength is also extremely useful for jogging. In jogging, posture is best maintained in that way - legs pushing down (and at the same time, knees forward and back legs back alternately), back pushing straight up (and neck pushing the head up with shoulders relaxed rather than bunching up to the ears), and hips swivelled outwards so as to run straight rather than collapsing a bit inwards.
And as I mentioned before, running in this way ensures that only as strength is built up can speed - and overall distance - increase; that is, speed and distance do not come at the expense of posture but are rather both a result and cause of strength.
That is all. Bye!
Daniel
