Core Muscles

As a former modern dancer (hence the performance art aspect of my 400 IM), the most important and deepest of the core muscles is the psoas major/minor. It extends from your twelfth thoracic vertebra/first lumbar vertebra (I think) and goes deep deep deep through your trunk down to connect to the top of the femur (leg bone). "The two psoas muscles, major and minor, are perhaps the most important of all the muscles in determining the human, or upright, posture . . . ." (From THE THINKING BODY by Mabel Elsworth Todd; an old book but very important for dance training, uh, in my time.) For dance (and swimming) these are the deepest and most stabilizing muscles with which others work, along the length of the spine, but the psoas muscle is the deepest and most critical to balance and breathing. What is so critical about these muscles is that they go from the back of the spine through the pelvis to attach at the front of the top of the leg bones. So they are very central to strength. This is why dancers can show such strength with long-held high legs, among other aspects of balance and strength (ballet); ballet dancers are using these very very deep abdominal muscles, not the leg muscles, though of course these too are activated. I also keep getting psoas cramping/tightening (I slump, very bad posture) after swimming. A good release is to lie on the floor on your back and have one knee bent, the other leg lengthened and relaxed, and breathe into the extended leg, imagining the connection from the ribs down through the body to the top of the hip sockets releasing. By having good posture (not military, but engaged, in the Pilates sense) in everyday life, your psoas muscles will be stronger. This is one area I think that land training with stability balls or Pilates or any strengthening exercises that emphasize using these deep muscles will truly aid swimming balance, breathing, and overall "connection" of the stroke. I am not there yet. There is another old book we used in dance class that was written by a professor of dance at Julliard, called HUMAN MOVEMENT POTENTIAL. It has a lot of imagery to use to help you bypass your "thinking" about core strength and allowing your bones to fall into least-resistance alignment so that your physical movements are efficient, as they were designed to be. Haven't quite figured out how to translate the imagery into my swimming practice. But, long post short, I would say the psoas muscles are the key core muscles to think about not only for strengthening but also in everyday life for posture and walking. One aside, the "Y" ligament that attaches your hip in the front to your pelvis, is the strongest ligament in the body, because it prevents your pelvis from being able to bend backward so that you don't suddenly find yourself on the ground, hips on sidewalk, legs totally behind you. (I loved studying this stuff in dance class.) Thanks for reading! If you did....

As a former modern dancer (hence the performance art aspect of my 400 IM), the most important and deepest of the core muscles is the psoas major/minor. It extends from your twelfth thoracic vertebra/first lumbar vertebra (I think) and goes deep deep deep through your trunk down to connect to the top of the femur (leg bone). "The two psoas muscles, major and minor, are perhaps the most important of all the muscles in determining the human, or upright, posture . . . ." (From THE THINKING BODY by Mabel Elsworth Todd; an old book but very important for dance training, uh, in my time.) For dance (and swimming) these are the deepest and most stabilizing muscles with which others work, along the length of the spine, but the psoas muscle is the deepest and most critical to balance and breathing. What is so critical about these muscles is that they go from the back of the spine through the pelvis to attach at the front of the top of the leg bones. So they are very central to strength. This is why dancers can show such strength with long-held high legs, among other aspects of balance and strength (ballet); ballet dancers are using these very very deep abdominal muscles, not the leg muscles, though of course these too are activated. I also keep getting psoas cramping/tightening (I slump, very bad posture) after swimming. A good release is to lie on the floor on your back and have one knee bent, the other leg lengthened and relaxed, and breathe into the extended leg, imagining the connection from the ribs down through the body to the top of the hip sockets releasing. By having good posture (not military, but engaged, in the Pilates sense) in everyday life, your psoas muscles will be stronger. This is one area I think that land training with stability balls or Pilates or any strengthening exercises that emphasize using these deep muscles will truly aid swimming balance, breathing, and overall "connection" of the stroke. I am not there yet. There is another old book we used in dance class that was written by a professor of dance at Julliard, called HUMAN MOVEMENT POTENTIAL. It has a lot of imagery to use to help you bypass your "thinking" about core strength and allowing your bones to fall into least-resistance alignment so that your physical movements are efficient, as they were designed to be. Haven't quite figured out how to translate the imagery into my swimming practice. But, long post short, I would say the psoas muscles are the key core muscles to think about not only for strengthening but also in everyday life for posture and walking. One aside, the "Y" ligament that attaches your hip in the front to your pelvis, is the strongest ligament in the body, because it prevents your pelvis from being able to bend backward so that you don't suddenly find yourself on the ground, hips on sidewalk, legs totally behind you. (I loved studying this stuff in dance class.) Thanks for reading! If you did....