A.

Training the core

1. You will need to define the biomotor abilities or the part of the body
involved.
According to Cook (2003), the word core represent the central part of your
body, the torso and hips. The core is the powerhouse of the body.
According to Winch ( 2005), the body core defined as the legs are connected to
the upperbody by the spine. The spine is held in positions by many muscles,
all of which connect the two main areas of the body together.
There are a lot of muscles involve in core. Muscle in core means muscle who
support, move and stabilize the spine.

2. Identify the main training methods/ modes utilized ( 3) and describe each
mode adequately.
a) Russian Twist

The Russian twist is an excellent exercise for integrating static extension and
rotational trunk movement. Movement of this nature occurs in many
situations, including football, rugby , hockey and tennis.
Setup
Sitting on the ball, walk forward, allowing the ball to roll underneath you.
Keep walking out until head and shoulders are supported by the ball. Arms
should be extended over your chest, your abdominals set, and your core
parallel to the floor.
Movement
Begin by rotating all the way to one side. Ensure rotation is initiated by the
core. Many first timers to the Russian twist will initiate rotation from the
shoulder. It is also important to keep your eyes on your hands, enhancing the
total core rotation as you move.
Finish

As you reach your end range, change direction and then begin moving in the
opposite direction.

b) Supine Bridge With Cross-Body Pass

Setup
Partner A is in a supine bridge position : shoulders on the ball, neck supported
and neutral, hips up and feet hip-width apart and firmly planted on the floor.
Feet should be positioned far enough out so the knee joint is at 90 degrees and
not shooting out over the toes. With a medicine ball in the hands, arms are
extended up in line with the chest. Partner B stands to the right of partner A
about 5 feet ( 1.5 meters) away in a good athletic stance, ready to give and
receive the medicine ball passes.
Start Position
Partner A rotates from the core onto the left shoulder, keeping the hips squared
and feet planted, dropping the hands ( with medicine ball) off to the left side in
line with the shoulders.

Movement
Partner A rotates from left shoulder around to the right, releasing the ball to
Partner B. Partner A decelerates the rotational movement to the right so that
partner A can receive the pass back from partner B and return to the start
position. Repeat the exercise going from the right to the left.

C) Jack knife

It requires upper-body and core stability and activates the lower abs and hip
muscles to draw the ball in toward the body. The weight in your lower body is
transferred through the ball to produce a load against the hip flexors.
Setup

Standing behind the ball, crouch down and place your abdomen on top of the ball.
Roll forward until your hands reach the floor in front of the ball. Walk your hands
out until your feet remain on top of the ball. Contract the core to hold a strong
link. Your body should be in a straight and firm line from feet to head.
Movement
From the prone push-up position, keep the legs straight and bend at the waist so
the hips elevate and the knees move closer to the torso. This moves the ball
toward your hands. Keep the speed of movement under control.
Finish
Extend your legs to move the ball back to the start position. At this point, at the
end of each rep, your body should be linked with strong contractions forming one
level, straight line.

3. Explain the physiological and physical adaptations that occur due to the modes
of training utilized.
For core strengthening exercise, it enhances flexibility. The exercises aim to
correct muscle tightness, and allow to assume a neutral position so that
strength can be developed to help maintain correct neutral position so that
strength can be developed to help maintain correct neutral positioning during
both static and dynamic conditions. The core muscles are the voluntary
skeletal muscles and each individual muscle cell is call muscle fiber. During
core strengthening exercises each muscle fiber extends to the full length of the
muscles. According to Soroskys et al ( 2014), flexion during the exercises
may reduce facet joint compressive forces and provide stretch to the lumbar
muscles, ligaments, and myofascial structures.
While McGraw stated that core exercises increases the muscle mass, strength
of tendons, ligaments and bone. It increases utilization of motor units during
muscles contractions, thus increases the size and strength of fast twitch
muscles fibers from a high resistance program and size of slow-twitch muscles
fibers from a high repetition program. It also increased blood supply to
muscles from a high repetition program and improved blood vessel health. It
improves the coordination of motor units and increases the storage of fuel in
muscles and also enhances the muscle endurance.
For core strength exercise, the strength of the core will determine the athletes
ability to move and generate power efficiently while participating in sport. The
physical and physiological adaptations that occur with core strength training
program had significant impact on muscular strength, back strength,
flexibility, mean arterial pressure, vital capacity and resting pulse rate.

4. What Are The Differences Among The Different Modes Of Training

The core can be trained for multiple purposes including activating muscles and
correcting dysfunction, increasing different types of stability, developing

muscular strength, power, and endurance. The following sections will explain
the different modes of training based on multiple purpose of training.
Stability
Core stability training can refer to exercise intended to improve segmental,
spinal, or whole-body stability (Marshall, W, and Murphy, 2005). Since the
core has been said to provide "proximal stability for distal mobility," a weak
and unstable core can be associated with issues further down the kinetic chain
(Kibler, W, Press, J and Sciascia, 2006). Core stability training includes both
functional balance training as well as traditional core stability exercise.
Functional balance and sensorimotor training are sometimes included in an
athletic training program to improve proprioception and coordination. Several
studies have found that sensorimotor training can have a favorable impact on
power production (Gruber, M, and Gollhofer, 2004). Unstable surface training
is often included in this category, which involves the use of devices such as
BOSU balls, inflatable discs, and wobbles boards. It should be noted,
however, that balance training does not require specialized equipment as any
single-leg movement that involves dynamic extremity motion, such as the
single-leg Romanian deadlift, pistol squat, or high step-up with knee lift, will
effectively challenge the sensorimotor system provided that loading is
matched according to the athlete's abilities. For this reason, strength coaches
should incorporate a mixture of bilateral and unilateral movements in their
programs. Though dynamic contractions can be used to increase segmental
stability of the spine, typical core stability exercises require isometric
contractions in the core to prevent the lumbar spine and pelvis from buckling
and enable efficient transfer of energy throughout the entire body. There are
two common types of core stability exercise; whole-body isometrics and core
isometrics with dynamic limb movement. An example of a whole-body
isometric exercise is a plank, where the entire body is maintained in a fixed
position. An example of a core isometric with dynamic limb movement
exercise is a 3-point plank, where the core remains stable while one limb
moves through a range of motion. Many sports require high force and high-

velocity isometric core contractions, which likely warrants combined training

methods.
Strength
Core strengthening movements can include dynamic or isometric exercises.
The previous section described core stability exercises, which encompassed
isometric strength. The focus in the next section will be on dynamic exercise,
which includes concentric and eccentric contractions. Many sport actions
require core actions that are relatively slow but with higher levels of force. For
example, the deadlift has been shown to involve dynamic spinal flexion with
elite powerlifters, and many situations in mixed martial arts require sustained
lumbar flexion, especially in the clinch or on the ground (Hales, M, Johnson,
B, Johnson, J, 2009). Dynamic core exercises are likely superior to isometric
exercises for the purpose of muscular hypertrophy (Contreras, B, and
Schoenfeld, B, 2011).
Power
The core must also be able to produce powerful dynamic contractions in many
sport actions. This often involves a rapid stiffening effect to transfer kinetic
energy between the lower and upper bodies. For example, most throwing,
swinging, and striking motions involve varying levels of hip and spinal
rotation, and even sprinting requires high levels of core contractions to
produce, reduce, and transfer force. A variety of training methods and
contraction velocities involving core stability exercise, ballistics and
plyometrics, explosive strength exercises, and heavy resistance training can
help to maximize core power.
Endurance
Core endurance is an integral component to many different sports and sport
actions such as rowing, boxing, and rugby. Higher repetition sets are likely
valuable to enhance core muscular endurance for these purposes. Core muscle

endurance is purported to be more important for the prevention of low back

pain and injury than core strength (McGill, S, 2001).

5. Explain How Training Load (Volume And Intensity) Would Be Monitored.

The core strengthening exercises featured in this guide are suitable for most
levels of fitness, but for best results it is always beneficial to do them under
the supervision of a chartered physiotherapist. The physiotherapist will be able
to monitor your technique and suggest appropriate modifications where
necessary. As a rough guide to the progression of the programme, the
timescales below may be helpful. However, for exact sets, repetitions and their
progression it is best to consult a healthcare professional or certified
conditioning coach. A good strength coach understands how to adjust the
difficulty of a core exercise depending on the level of fitness of the athlete.
Lever lengths, ranges of motion, and amounts of resistance can be modulated
to place athletes at their precise levels of fitness and provide the optimal
challenge to their core. Beginners should master the basics before attempting
more challenging core exercises.

a) Specificity
Specificity will form the foundation of any training program for an athletes to
achieve optimal benefits. It is critical that the correct muscle groups, energy
systems and fitness components are targeted to ensure training will improve the
physiological requirements of training purpose.
b) Intensity
Intensity refers to the level of exertion applied during the work phase of a training
program. It underpins specificity and by applying the appropriate intensity, it
ensures that the desired energy system of fitness component is being developed in
training. A higher training intensity is used to target fitness components dominated

by the anaerobic energy systems, rather than the aerobically powered fitness
components.
c) Duration
Duration refers to :

The length of the training program

The length of actual training session, including the length of the work of bouts
The time required for chronic adaptions to occur
The total length of the training program is also important to consider in terms
of fatigue and recovery

d) Overload
Overload refers to a purposeful increase in training stimulus. This increases in
stimulus stress the physiological system in a positive manner to induce long term
changes. When an athletes becomes accustomed to their new training stimulus
adaptations will plateu unless the overload principle is applied. It is crucial to
monitor training loads as insufficient overload will lead plateaus and excessive
overload can lead to overtraining.

e) Frequency
Frequency refers to the amount of training sessions engaged in per week. The
optimal frequency of training is determined by factors including training
status, available time and the athletes goals.

The sum of all training sessions during a given cycle will result in a total
training load for that period cycle and the total stress imposed on body by the
total load it is what will produce training adaptations that eventually will allow
athletes to go further. Even though when this equation is rather simple it is
important to understand that one side of it will affect the other side. In other
words, there is a relation between volume and intensity and in general when

you increase one and you have to decrease the other one. Keep in mind that
the goal of a session will dictate the set up for the equation and not the other
way around. You always want to build your total training load in a way which
allows your body to complete each session so you can repeat the same or a
similar load during the training cycle. Some days, the load might be higher
and some days it will be lower and the reason for that is to ensure that you
recover from session to session, but also to change the stimulus and maximize
the training adaptations. What will specifically define what side of the
equation an athlete should focus more on for a given cycle will depend on the
physiological needs, goals and training phase.
6. How Often Is Training Frequency According To The Training Status Of
The Athlete, The Different Phases Of Training, And Recovery
Requirements?
A strength coach needs to take into consideration many different factors when
designing a proper core training regimen. The following sections will explain
considerations according to the training status of the athletes and help strength
coaches address the necessary factors when designing a training program.

Force vector specificity

All of the aforementioned types of core training, including core activation,
core stability, core strength, core power, and core endurance, are specific to the
vector of force. For example, squats and deadlifts primarily tax the strength of
the erector spinae and therefore act predominantly on spinal extension and
anterior pelvic tilt, or more accurately the prevention of spinal flexion and
posterior pelvic tilt. Though this quality is a vital component of strength
training, it would be of limited utility to a fighter who is on his back with an
opponent straddling him or to a soccer player trying to throw a ball in bounds.

We believe multiple vectors must be trained through varying methods in order

to maximize or increase overall athleticism.
Sport actions
A good strength coach will always rely heavily on tried and true core
strengthening exercises. For example, squats, deadlifts, bent-over rows, and
loaded carries, such as farmer's walks, will strengthen the core. Provided the
lumbopelvic region is kept stable, pull-ups and push-ups will strengthen the
anterior core musculature. Targeted core exercises such as side planks, ab
wheel rollouts, and hanging leg raises can be employed to ensure a
comprehensive core workout. With that said, the principle of specificity should
always be a primary consideration when designing an individualized core
routine. Many sports require unique core movements and therefore exercises
can and should be adopted to specifically address these movements. For
example, a throwing motion might involve varying amounts of spinal lateral
flexion, flexion, and rotation. A long bar or rope handle attached to a high
cable can be used to mimic this core contraction which could strengthen the
core in the desired range of motion and therefore add to power production via
increased neural drive and muscle physiological cross-sectional area,
especially when performed in concert with the specific sport skill.

Exercise order
The ideal placement for core exercises within a workout is often debated by
strength coaches. As previously noted, core training is occurring throughout
the entire session. We believe that activation work should be performed in the
dynamic warm-up and possibly interspersed between rest periods between sets
of heavy exercise if workout time is limited. Power and speed work for the
core consisting of various sprints, agility drills, towing, plyometrics, ballistics,
and explosive strength movements should follow the dynamic warm-up. Next,
total body strength training should be performed with a focus on multi-joint

movements. Finally, targeted core exercises should be performed at the end of

the workout to avoid prematurely fatiguing the core.
Progressions and regressions
A good strength coach understands how to adjust the difficulty of a core
exercise depending on the level of fitness of the athlete. Lever lengths, ranges
of motion, and amounts of resistance can be modulated to place athletes at
their precise levels of fitness and provide the optimal challenge to their core.
Beginners should master the basics before attempting more challenging core
exercises. For example, the front plank must be mastered before a more
challenging exercise such as the ab wheel rollout is ever attempted.
Safety
Based on available evidence, dynamic spinal exercises appear to be safe as
long as three different criteria are met (Contreras, B, and Schoenfeld, B,
2011). First, athletes must progress gradually along a continuum to allow for
positive structural adaptations to take place within the discs. Progressing too
quickly will likely have deleterious effects on the discs, whereas proper
progression will likely confer a positive effect on disc health. Second,
excessive end-range spinal motion must be avoided in every direction. It is
important to remember that some sports require end-range flexion. Some
motion in the spine appears to be beneficial to spinal health, but too much
motion may be detrimental. Proper form during dynamic spinal exercises must
be taught and strictly enforced, with a blend of motion occurring across the
spinal motion segments and no individual segment approaching the end of its
range of motion. For example, a crunch should involve approximately 30 of
trunk flexion with the majority of movement occurring in the thoracic spine
while cable woodchops should have most of the motion occurring at the hips
and thoracic spine with minor amounts of motion in the lumbar spine. Finally,
volume must be kept in check with dynamic spinal movements. For the
purpose of core strength, we recommend 2-4 sets of 8-15 reps for most
dynamic core exercises.

7. What type of warm up and cool down is suitable prior to each training
mode?

For warm up, dynamic stretches are more appropriate to the warm up as they
help reduce muscle stiffness. Static stretching exercises do not reduce muscle
stiffness. According to Hadden et al. ( 2014), compered the effects of static
versus dynamic stretching on explosive performances and repeated sprint
ability after a 24-hour delay. They found that static stretching of the lower
limbs and hip muscles had a negative effect on explosive performances for up
to 24 hours post-stretching whereas dynamic stretching had a positive effect
on explosive performance.
According to Pagaduan ( 2012), performance of general warm up and general
warm up with dynamic shown superior gains than other warm-up. However,
there are few research show that static warm-up quite suitable for exercises.
Kose (2015) found that static warm-up are more suitable for flexibility and
jumping activities.
For cooling down, static stretches are more appropriate to the cool down as
they help muscles to relax, realign muscle fibres and re-establish their normal
range of movement. These stretches should be held for approximately 10
seconds.