It’s been a long, long time since golf has been the domain of men alone; women have played, and excelled at golf, for years. But the societal pressure for women to have thin waistlines may end up getting in the way of having a powerhouse swing.
All healthy abdominal muscles stick out from the body, like an inner tube around your middle. This means not just the ‘six-pack’ that we’re all constantly encouraged to develop, but also the oblique muscles that run around the side of the body. Because of this, when the obliques are strengthened appropriately both to support the core and to create a strong swing, the female body becomes less like an ‘hourglass’. However, it’s been a long time since a healthy, strong, competitive sportswoman has had to concern herself with fitting in with outdated ideals, and hopefully this misinformed image will start to fade from all of our minds.
To get the obliques active, try the Boomerang pose which I posted in my last blog, or you can also find it in the Yoga Tune Up® 10 Minute Quick Fix for Lower Back video here. Both men and women golfers alike will benefit from creating a strong oblique line, and will enjoy this core exercise!
I am finding the concept of a “tubular core” very inviting and am just starting to feel what it means. The Revolved Abdominal. Pose really gets in there for me. It takes a good deal of focus to not just exhale and hold in from the belly as I used to do. My obliques are not that strong so I will being incorporating this one into a daily routine.
I love hearing about new core exercises. I’ve been in the fitness industry a long time, so I often feel that I’ve heard of almost everything out there. Thank you for this new pose to try out.
I will be adding YTU Tubular Core to my own practice, teaching students and telling pretty much anyone who wants to listen. The “wrapping” action it creates, has totally changed how I look at facilitating and sustaining support in the core of our bodies. It is about so much more than then just the front body.
As a new student of YTU, I find “tubular core” a challenge. I look forward to the recommendations from everyone and I begin my journey, let alone improve my core.
I am also new to the concept of the tubular core but i can immediately understand the benefits. My past efforts to achieve core stability would involve shortening the waist, flattening the spine or drawing in the low ribs. A common cue would be to “pull the drawstring on a high waisted pair of pants” or “tighten your wide belt”. Of course these miss the point the the core muscles are not just working at the waist line but the full “tube” of the abdomen. I will be exploring my strength in this area and how it translates into all my poses!
hi sarah, can you explain how boomerang strengthens the obliques? it’s the lateral bend at the wall that we just did today? i felt like i was stretching the obliques on the long side and contracting maybe mostly ql on the short-side so it’s not a strengthener in the way that i would traditionally think of it.
Hi Anh,
Oblique muscles are involved both in lateral flexion and in rotation of the spine, so just as you commented that you were feeling the stretch in the obliques on the long side, that opposite “short side” is getting contracted.
I think I’m finally starting to understand how boomerang strengthens the obliques due to Anh Chi’s question and Sarah’s answer. I’ve always thought of boomerang as a really challenging and exhausting stretch. After learning today that the feeling of stretching is the central nervous system’s instruction to the muscle to contract, I’m wondering if the muscles on the side which is in extension also become stronger after focused stretching due to the firing and activation of the muscle fibers. I’m also wondering if I’ve only been doing half the work for a proper boomerang because I’ve only focused on extension of the stretched side and had not considered contraction of the short side.
Hi Alexa,
Focusing your attention on the contraction will not only build greater strength while contracted (and thus create more extension in the opposite side) but it will also increase that side’s ability to then extend, so I say go for it!
I taught my first post first five days class tonight. The class is called core and I could not contain all my new vocabulary. I think I may have overused the term tubular core, need brainstorm new words to interchange with my new words.
What really worked for me was the inhalation to balloon the belly, gathering the core strength then exhaling into whatever core work was being done. Light bulbs were turning on all around the room.