TOOLS TO IMPROVE ABDOMINAL ISOLATIONS

Last night's class at DCDC focused on pelvic locks and chest locks. Both movements involve abdominal contractions, and I have yet to teach either without at least a few student who really struggle to isolate their abdominal muscles. Why is this? I have two theories:

1. Strength (particularly in the lower abs and lower back)
2. Tension in the abdominal muscles

It is easy to focus on the former without giving attention to the latter. In class I provide several exercises to strengthen the associated muscles. For additional exercises, I highly recommend Suhaila's fitness fusion DVDs because they focus on developing the muscles needed for the format.

However, no matter how strong you become, if you are still holding tension in your belly muscles, you will have a lot of trouble isolating (I am living proof of this-- just ask Suhaila!) Often, the source of the tension is psychological, and builds upon itself during practice, particularly if you are struggling to execute a movement.

To reduce this tension, I recommend incorporating one, or more, of these tools into your life and/ or practice:

1. Intention: Set an intention at the beginning of class, and focus on this intention throughout. Return to this intention whenever you begin to feel frustrated, as a tool for diverting your energy from the source of your frustration.
2. Silence the inner critic in your head: Each of us have an incredibly mean inner critic living in our head that knows our vulnerabilities, and speaks our language. This critic is so mean that our bodies immediately respond to its horrible messages by tensing up. We have to learn to recognize the inner critic, and silence it. There are several tools for doing this, I have had the most success by reading "The Voice Of Knowledge" by Miguel Ruiz, and by utilizing affirmations.
3. Affirmations: Affirmations are an INCREDIBLY powerful tool. I really like the suggestions for using affirmations from we the change blog.

What tools do you use? Have you had success with any of the recommendations above? If so, please share in the comments section.