dry land core exercising

Since this thread is about the core, let me ask something to my expert friends here. I often hear the term "engaging your core". I have gotten to the point (I think) where I do use my core without thinking about it. But I was looking at a Thorpe video I've seen dozens of times and noticed something. He seems to pull his shoulders back a bit when swimming. That reminded me of something I read on the Swimsmooth site, so I went back to it and they were talking about engaging the core by tightening the butt and pulling the scapula together a bit, like you would standing with good posture. I have never really thought about that while swimming and am wondering if I should make an effort to pull my shoulders back. It seems like that would make it harder to extend the arm, but maybe not. Anyone ever made a conscious effort to "engage the core" more besides trying to get EVF? The terminology we now use is to "brace through the core" when doing activities where stability of the abdomen, pelvis and back is necessary for proper form. You can feel the abdomen brace by making a tssss sound. Rolling the pelvis under and squeezing the buttocks can prevent you from over-arching the back.

Since this thread is about the core, let me ask something to my expert friends here. I often hear the term "engaging your core". I have gotten to the point (I think) where I do use my core without thinking about it. But I was looking at a Thorpe video I've seen dozens of times and noticed something. He seems to pull his shoulders back a bit when swimming. That reminded me of something I read on the Swimsmooth site, so I went back to it and they were talking about engaging the core by tightening the butt and pulling the scapula together a bit, like you would standing with good posture. I have never really thought about that while swimming and am wondering if I should make an effort to pull my shoulders back. It seems like that would make it harder to extend the arm, but maybe not. Anyone ever made a conscious effort to "engage the core" more besides trying to get EVF? The terminology we now use is to "brace through the core" when doing activities where stability of the abdomen, pelvis and back is necessary for proper form. You can feel the abdomen brace by making a tssss sound. Rolling the pelvis under and squeezing the buttocks can prevent you from over-arching the back.