Peruse any fitness or health periodical, and an emboldened font will likely include something along the lines of:

“If we perform ________ properly, it will activate the core.”

“10 moves that will engage the core.”

“The definitive core exercise.”

“A fast, yet effective core workout.”

“Total Core Workout.”

Core training lies at the foundation of any quality training protocol, routine, or program. There are a variety of ways – almost countless – in which the core can be trained. Before prescription, we need definition.

Definitions of Core include:

· The central or most important part of something

· The inner strand of a rope

· A piece of soft iron forming the center of an induction coil

· A cylindrical sample of rock obtained with a hollow drill

· The muscles of the torso, lower back, and abdominal area

Synonyms include:

Interior
Depths
Recesses
Nucleus
Center
Heart
Essence
Substance
Marrow

If the goal is to evolve, then all training must be aimed towards the core. Resistance in its many forms - pushing, pulling, picking up and putting down- is not the destination; rather, the introduction. Take those lessons it teaches and others from the gym. Apply them out there. If they are not acted upon, those lessons are shortchanged.

To go within, one must go without.

Face the elements. Step outside of comfort and into uncertainty. Ride out the path of most resistance. Shake up old routines. Challenge those innermost doubts. Conquer the inner demon. Make exhaustion an acquaintance. Insert yourself into situations that demand acuity and action. Then, only then, if the effort is honest, the evolution is underway, and, core training has just begun.