Thank you to my clients who attempted to respond to Monday's "Pop Quiz: the Core." I apologize for the unfortunate challenges of my commenting platform. I will investigate alternate commenting options, to enable commenting for the next pop quiz. With that said, let's get back to the quiz question: Core Strength vs. Core Stability.
If you'd like one last chance to take a guess, I'll give you a definition of the core that eludes to the answer:
The core musculature can be defined generally as the 29 pairs of muscles that support the lumbo-pelvic-hip complex in order to stabilize the spine, pelvis, and kinetic chain during functional movements. These muscles are the foundation for movement; they support the inherently unstable spine. To ensure stability of the spine, trunk muscles must have sufficient strength, endurance, and recruitment patterns.
Faries, M.D., Greenwood, Mike. "Core Training: Stabilizing the Confusion." Strength and Conditioning Journal. 29: 10-24. 2007.
Do you see where we're going with this?
Core strength refers to the ability of the musculature to stabilize the spine, as a platform for body movement.
And despite what an infomercial might lead you to believe, core stability does NOT refer to the stability of the muscles of the core, but rather the stability of the spine. Therefore, you cannot directly target core stability. (I hope it is obvious that you can't work out your spine.) To stabilize your spine, your direct target will be the strength and endurance of the muscles of the core.
In other words, there is not one set of exercises for core strength and a separate set for core stability. Core stability comes from core strength.
Now that we're all on the same page about the terminology, we'll delve deeper into core strength and stability in coming weeks.
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