Vertical Core Training

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the 2017 Perform Better Summit in Providence to learn some new tools and to sharpen my skills. People travel from all over the country to attend this conference to see the top professionals in the industry present on the latest trends. I highlighted a few key points and takeaways that I think you'll enjoy from Todd Wrights presentation regarding the core.

Todd Wright has a unique approach to training the core. While most traditional core exercises are performed in isolation lying down, Todd’s Vertical Core Training System keeps you upright on your feet. Training the core from an upright position requires that the body functions as one unit starting from the ground up. In the first 15 minutes of his presentation, we reviewed the anatomy and mechanics of the foot. A weak or restricted immobile foot can lead to dysfunction in the hips and lower back. Anatomy of the foot 206 bones in the entire body 26 bones in the foot 52 of the bones are located on your feet (it’s gotta be important) Biomechanics of the foot While running or jumping the feet acts like a shock absorber. The joint and musculature around the foot lengthen to soak up compression forces. This mechanism spares the spine and other joints from wear and tear.

The intrinsic foot muscles play a significant role in postural control, maintaining balance, and power absorption.

“Every time your foot hits the ground, all those bones and muscles react, causing movement of the lower leg and then the femur, which connects to the pelvis, where all the core muscles attach.”

In addition to keeping his athletes upright as much as possible when training the core, Wright emphasizes training the core from a multi-planar approach because that’s how the body moves. At this time, he had everyone perform exercises requiring bending side to side, forward and back, and twisting. These moves were definitely awkward at first. We performed lunges while side bending and reaching overhead, twisting, and crossing one leg over the other.

Here is Todd demonstrating some of the exercises that we tried out. I should of recorded myself doing it to give you guys a good laugh.

Split Squat Slams

Overhead Band Crunch

Overhead Posterior Lunge

Rotational MB lunge

The main takeaway that I got from this presentation is that the body operates as one unit. To keep the body healthy and performing optimally we should explore a variety of movements.