Watching infomercials about the new, hot abdominal device orthe cute little videos with the guys and girls that model an already lean andimpressive set of rippling core muscles in a commercial workout that promisesyou an amazing set of abs with 5 minutes of work a couple of times a week.

We've all seen them and some of you right now havebought'em?right? I'll tell you right now I've been guilty of the same thoughtprocess. ?The spot reduction 1,000 reps per day workout and no diet changesystem? Yes?even me, Mr. Fat Loss.

As embarrassing as that is to admit, the road started thereand ended soon after when finally started learning what really worked and howmuch exercise you needed to actually do when training core.

The core is also called the Abdominals: In reference to theabdomen, the belly, that part of the body that contains all of the structuresbetween the chest and the pelvis. The abdomen is separated anatomically from thechest by the diaphragm, the powerful muscle spanning the body cavity below thelungs.

The Abdominals are composed of several muscles:

  1.  the RectusAbdominus

  2. TransverseAbdominus

  3.  theExternal and Internal Obliques

Several other experts will also add reference to the pelvicdiaphragm or pelvic floor. A few more will mention muscles immediately aboveand below the pelvis along with the lower back, gluteus muscles plus thehamstrings.

That's a lot of muscle and pretty much covers us from nipplesto knee caps! How in the world are you supposed to hit all those other muscleswith all the other stuff needed within every workout?

Great question and as I found out years later, you don't.Your body automatically involves many of them each time you perform just aboutanytime you move your body. And when you include basic primal movement patternsin your workout selection on a rotational basis, the large muscle groups of thebody and the compound movements of a well planned program will more that suffice.

However, many of us just have to see for ourselves andinstead of listening to expert, seasoned, worldly (did I say all knowing?)advice. Or when some type of injury occurs, we really want to find out how tomake the pain go away and then a series of exercises may be recommended as sometype of exercise prescription by a specialist in rehabilitation.

Either way, if pain is something plaguing your back or thepleasure of sporting a nice set of abs is your goal? specific core training isa great place to start.

Methods that you can choose to strengthen the core include:

  1.  Bodyweight

  2.  Bandsand cables

  3.  Medicineballs

  4.  Physioballs

  5.  Machines?avoidplease!

When starting a core program, you also must be progressivein your beginning exercises and follow a certain protocol, meaning you use easymovements and advance to more difficult:

  1.  Slow tofast

  2.  Simple tocomplex

  3.  Stable tounstable

  4.  Low forceto high force

  5.  General tospecific

  6.  Correctexecution to increased intensity

Core training can be part of or can be the entire focus of atraining program depending on the situation at hand. For cosmetic reasons, coretraining performed after main workout is completed will allow the totalstrength involvement without fatigue of core muscles, reducing over all supportor the bracing and transfer of force through the abdominals while working out.

If for rehabilitation purposes, the core workout may be themain event and the only type of training performed until pain free movement andincorrect movement patterns are eliminated. Then the return to the typicalsport specific or work related activity will continue once pain is reduced andfull body use can be performed.

Core training is more advanced than the infomercials willhave you believe and also very deceptive on how the look ripped abs is actuallygoing to be achieved. Along with the statement on the bottom of the screen inreally small, fine print you'll see the words, ?results may very? to help youunderstand that the device being demonstrated might or might not give you thesame results.

You can discover how to correctly do your core training onyour own or wait until later and pay a lot more possibly due to an injury alongwith an incorrect diagnosis that your back needs a surgical operation becauseof ?excessive disc damage? or ?too much compression here or there?

There are many non evasive strategies worth trying inregards to back pain prevention plus you can have better looking abs at thepool or beach and you certainly can find more fun ways to spend your time.