I used to walk around the gym years ago and see most of the guys lifting weights and wearing a thick ‘weight belt’ around their waists. Most of these guys happened to also have larger than normal guts sticking out.
It has gotten better these days since now when I walk around I see very few people using these items. I’d like to think it’s because they’ve figured out how useless they really are.
But just last week, a female weightlifter of more the ‘bobybuilder’ type walked up to front desk at the gym and asked a male employee his opinion of the best weight belt she could get. Luckily, she happened to ask an employee well educated in the field of exercise science whose reply was “your TVA”.
She then inquired where to get one and was politely advised she already had one. You see, not everyone in a gym appreciates or is well versed in anatomy and sometimes ‘bodybuilders’ fall into this category. But the other fact is that those involved in weight training seldom appreciate the importance of a well developed, or I should add PROPERLY, developed core. Your beautiful six-pack may look good but it does not function well.
So while these weight lifters walk around with big arms, legs, and other areas they like to show off, they often neglect their core training, opting instead to utilize a useless item known as a weight belt.
The most obvious offenders are, of course, guys mimicking Santa Claus. You know, those guys I mentioned earlier with the big guts hanging over their pants….and the weight belt.
I’ll forgive you for still wondering what a TVA is and whether or not you have one too. You do. It’s just probably not well developed. It’s one of the many abdominal muscles we all have. It is your ‘transversus abdominus’ and when well developed acts like a natural, well fitting girdle.
Better yet, when properly conditioned, it works well in protecting your lower back when properly engaged. This includes engagement during exercise as well as normal physical and often strenuous everyday activity.
Ask not where you can get a useless weight belt, ask how you can develop your TVA. Adding regular core training to your routine that includes ALL of the muscles of the abdominal area…including lower back, hips, and glutes (rear ends), with extra concentration on your tranversus abdominus area.
Pilates training is one of the best ways you can do this. It requires nothing but a mat or a comfortable carpet and YOU…….if you ‘got the guts!’
