Thank you for joining us on today’s livestream where we talked about how you should be engaging your core correctly.

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If you’re in the Back In Shape membership area, the first exercise in there is the vacuums - core engagement. Everything comes in and squeezes around the midsection to protect it. Your back shouldn’t be flattening as you perform it, it isn’t a six pack engagement either. If you can’t get this one, you shouldn’t be moving on to other exercises.  If you’re asked to do posterior pelvic tilts, you may be doing this to avoid hyperextending your back as this will hurt during exercises like deadbugs or leg raises. However, posterior pelvic tilts are not helpful, if you’re doing an exercise like a deadbug it’s better to go as far as you can without overextending and build on that core strength. 

A common complaint is that you might struggle to breathe and engage the core at the same time. If this is you, you will be able to engage the core better as you breathe - these actions will become separate with practice.  Candles: as you breathe in, when you then breathe out if you imagine you’re trying to blow out candles, when you feel like you’ve breathed out completely, try and blow out a little bit more. This action   Is engaging the core appropriate for every exercise? Or just ones that involve the spine or thE need to protect the spine? This is for everything. Your core should be engaged when you’re doing the stretches, doing squats, lunges etc. 

Just going back to the 'durations' part - if someone is able to separate the core engagement from the breath, do you recommend trying to engage the core for longer durations, throughout the day or just when doing specific things If you’re in phase 1 or phase 2, yes learning to do this is definitely worthwhile. It’s a technique that you gradually learn so keeping engaging it throughout the day will be helpful.   Would these exercises be a good place to start for people who have had other surgeries like appendix surgery to help you recover? Yes, C-Sections, hernias or appendectomies, it will help your recovery. It’s really important you ask when you should be doing these rehabilitation exercises as it’s not always appropriate to start doing them straight away so do ask your surgeon. 

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