Efficient abdominals assist dynamic stability just as dynamic stability assists alignment. This is not about developing prominent abs as these are the outer muscles that do not play such an important role in maintaining alignment.
Most people associate rippling abs with an athletic physique but it’s possible to have an impressive outer definition with no dynamic stability. Rather, think about waking up your postural muscles each day by developing a sense of length and floating. Then you can forget about them and leave them to balance the forces on the spine. In this way you will not interfere with your natural patterning and your spine will find its most efficient balance without conscious effort.
It may be that you do not have sufficient endurance in these stabilisers to continuously support neutral spinal alignment. Dynamic stability is compromised if the underlying postural muscles are weak. In this case, you have to work slowly from the inside out, building endurance in the deepest muscles, the ones that are difficult to feel in the normal course of events, and gradually transfer this understanding to more intense movements. Your goal is to develop a sound base that will give you efficient abdominals that contribute dynamically to functional posture.
The deep unit
The deep unit comprises the transversus abdominals (TA), multifidus and the pelvic floor. These are the deepest muscles in your centre and the ones most implicated in good alignment. Exercise can help you discover and stimulate them.
The pelvic floor
The pelvic floor muscles are like a diamond-shaped hammock located at the base of the pelvis. You will wake up your pelvic floor by bringing the spine and pelvis into neutral alignment, but you have to reconnect daily with this deep stabiliser for this to happen. The action is deep and subtle, and this simple exercise helps you to become familiar with it. Here’s an exercise we recommend for pelvic floor awareness.
The transversus abdominals and multifidus are also explored in the Bodywise book.
copyright: The Australian Ballet 2005
Extracted from Bodywise, discover a deeper connection with your body; ABC Books; rrp: $34.95; fully illustrated. Available from all good bookstores.
Bodywise is written by staff at The Australian Ballet. In 2005 The Australian Ballet is performing throughout Australia and internationally. Visit The Australian Ballet’s website, www.australianballet.com.au for details.
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