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Hard Core

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STIFF SHOULDERS? Aching back? Headaches? It's easy to blame it on work stress, but fitness experts believe the root cause could be physical. Put simply, spending too much time at our desks or on the couch has caused us to go soft inside - and I don't mean emotionally. Without the support of a strong core, even simple activities such as sitting put strain on other parts of the body.

Addressing the issue, experts have started a new trend - core training. By focusing on a deep abdominal muscle called the tranversus abdominis (TVA), core training works from the inside out to improve everything from backache to your back hand.

'The TVA is the most important muscle in the body. It's like a corset that runs from your lower back to your belly button,' says Adam Menhennett, a personal trainer who also lectures at the National Academy of Sports Medicine in the United States. 'Your central nervous system engages the TVA 30 to 110 milliseconds prior to any other muscle.'

The star of the postural show, the TVA's role is to stabilise your lumber spine. By creating the right balance of tension, flexibility and length in this and all the other small muscles (the stabilisers) that connect your core, you provide a solid centre from which every other activity is performed. It's like learning to ride a bike: without those stabilisers on you're going to wobble and fall over.

Although she probably didn't know it at the time, switching on these core muscles is what your mother was talking about when she told you to stand up straight.

So if our body knows those core muscles are so important, why do we have to work so hard to make sure they do their job? The answer, like so many of today's health issues, is in our increasingly sedentary lifestyles.

'The 'sit-down posture' of most lifestyles today means the important postural muscles have become decommissioned,' says Menhennett, 'so the external mobiliser muscles try to act like stabilisers instead.'

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