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For many of us, when training our cores, what we tend to focus on are isolated abdominal exercises, but according to physical therapist Dr. Aaron Horschig reiterates the importance of working on overall functional core stability, which in turn can benefit us in other lifts.
In Horschig’s opinion, the best exercise you can do to challenge your core is the suitcase carry, also known as the one-arm farmer’s carry, a unilateral exercise that requires maintaining a strict upright posture while carrying a weight on one side.
“The exercise keeps the body engaged and stabilized. If we don’t have that stability, the pelvis starts to move wildly.”
While a lot of the core exercises we do in the gym, such as the squat, deadlift, and press, are all up and down movements that move along the sagittal plane, this exercise stresses the body in one movement side to side , moving along the frontal plane, helping to reduce weak links and the risk of injury.
Start by holding a dumbbell or kettlebell. Then simply walk forward, keeping your shoulders and torso straight. It doesn’t have to be particularly heavy, because even holding a relatively light weight on one side will present a challenge in keeping the spine in position while in motion.
“What we’re doing to keep the pelvis in that position parallel to the floor is working the interaction between the glute medius in the stance leg and the QL (quadratus lumborum) muscle in the lower back on the opposite side” , explains Horshig.
When it comes to a good schedule for this exercise, Dr. Horschig recommends 3 or 4 rounds of 45 to 60 seconds each. Once you get the hang of it, you can use a heavier weight or change your form and bring the weight to shoulder height to make the exercise more difficult and challenge your stability even more.
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