Effective athletes participate in some form of sports conditioning in order to perform at peak levels and to be competitive. Power is considered 1 of the most important components of athletic performance, but strength, speed, agility, aerobic capacity, coordination, balance, and core stability are also essential (Foran, 2001). According to Gambetta, core stability is critical for the improvement of the other components of sports conditioning. The core musculature of the human body can be divided into two systems, the local and the global. The local core muscles are those which act as stabilizers, such as the multifidus and the transverse abdominus. The global core musculature is made up of muscles that provide movement, orientation, and force absorption. Examples of global core muscle are the rectus abdominus, external obliques, and quadratus lumborum. (Faries and Greenwood, 2007) Together, both systems of the core act as a link between the upper and lower body, transferring force between those two segments. Without strong global and local core …show more content…
The athlete should first have static core stability assessed prior to progression to a dynamic core strengthening program (Brown, 2006). Once adequate core stability is established, progression into core strengthening activities can occur. A strong and stable core allows for greater force to be transferred more quickly from one part of the kinetic chain to the next (2007, Jakubek). Therefore, functional activities should also be integrated in to a core strengthening program to allow the transfer of energy to continue from the athlete through the sport implement (bat, ball, etc.) (Jakubek,