Training the core for strength athletes

Training the CORE for Strength Athletes by Dr. McGill Part 3

Training the CORE for Strength Athletes

Training the core for strength athletes should be direct and straight forward, but depending on who you ask, you will get a different thought process and reasoning. Most of you know that I train my strength athletes with stiffness building core exercises. Powerlifters are very uni-dimensional – Get stiff, lift an enormous weight, and don’t fall over or buckle.

Instead of giving you my thoughts, I will let you enjoy this fantastic video where Dr. McGill explains the science as to why you should train your core this way, and how vs the bending and twisting you see people doing. A great book to read in the entire context is Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance 6th edition. I think a lot of the back and forth about how to train a strength athletes core is merely people either not knowing what they’re talking about and/or people wanting to reinvent the wheel. I digress.

“You don’t want to get loose, then try to correct. You want to get stiff, pull the slack out of the spring.. stiff, stiff, stiff to realign the line of drive through your hips, not your back.” – Dr. McGill.

Brian is available for in-person and virtual video consultations and is the Florida McGill Method provider 

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Brian Carroll

Owner and Founder at PowerRackStrength.com
Brian is a retired world-class powerlifter with over two decades of world-class powerlifting. From 1999 to 2020, Brian Carroll was a competitive powerlifter, one of the most accomplished lifters in the sport's history. Brian started off competing in bench press competitions 'raw,' then, shortly into the journey, he gravitated toward equipped lifting as there were no "raw" categories then. You only had to choose from single-ply (USPF) and Multi-ply (APF/WPC). Brian went on to total 2730 at 275 and 2651 at 242 with more than ten times his body weight in three different classes (220, 242, 275), and both bench pressed and deadlifted over 800 pounds in two other weight classes. He's totaled 2600 over 20 times in 2 different weight classes in his career. With 60 squats of 1000lbs or more officially, this is the most in powerlifting history, regardless of weight class or federation, by anyone not named David Hoff. Brian realized many ups and downs during his 20+ years competing. After ten years of high-level powerlifting competition and an all-time World Record squat at 220 with 1030, in 2009, Brian was competing for a Police academy scholarship. On a hot and humid July morning, Brian, hurdling over a barricade at 275lbs, landed on, fell, and hurt his back. After years of back pain and failed therapy, Brian met with world-renowned back specialist Prof McGill in 2013, which changed his trajectory more than he could have imagined. In 2017, Brian Carroll and Prof McGill authored the best-selling book about Brian's triumphant comeback to powerlifting in Gift of Injury. Most recently (10.3.20) -Brian set the highest squat of all time (regardless of weight class) with 1306 lbs – being the first man to break the 1300lb squat barrier at a bodyweight of 303 lbs.
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