The Pelvis: A Very Good Place to Start

We hear a lot about the importance of strengthening core muscles. There are lots of workouts purporting to develop the core. They often incorporate movements that put a lot of strain on the body and are high risk for injury. It's like going out for hurdles when you haven't trained to run.

My experience has born out that the best way to approach strengthening the core with minimum risk of injury is to first familiarize clients with their pelvis. I'd argue that it's the single most important part of the anatomy for us to know intimately as it coordinates movement between the lower and upper body. Ideally, it would be part of our physical education in school as children. Instead, most of us never learn where it is in our bodies or its crucial role in posture and movement. We inadvertently develop bad habits in the way we hold ourselves in basic movements such as sitting and walking. It's one major factor in why so many of us suffer from chronic back pain.

Taking the time to perform targeted exercises to connect with the pelvis through a full range of motion is critical work. It can be the single most physically transformative action you'll ever take. You can serve as your own masseur, massaging the back in a way that promotes better posture, spinal alignment, elongating and relaxing the muscles throughout. It's precisely this slowing down to experience deliberate movements and to feel the effects running up the spine as far as the top of the head that will eventually give you the results you haven't achieved with those sexy workouts.