Think of your body as a motor car. Before the car will move forward or back, you need to put it in to gear. In the same way, you have to put the body in to gear. How? By “squeezing” or “tensing” the abdominal muscles and then making the movement.
Join with me in doing the following simple experiment to prove the point:
Sit down in a regular chair. Now, without using your hands or arms, stand upright. Now that was easy, was it not? Now sit down again in the same upright position as before, but this time try to imagine that your whole abdominal area (all the muscles under the ribcage) is “dead”. They do not exist. Give yourself a few seconds to really concentrate on your “dead” abdominals. Again, please stand up. You should not be able to move even a few inches (or centimeters), never mind stand up! You should not even be able to move or lean forward. Why? It should now be obvious that it is impossible to make a move, any move, whether to stand up, sit down, turn, bend, and get in to or out of a car or even bed, without putting the CORE (refer to “What is the CORE” of my body”?) of your body into gear. The CORE is your weapon that will protect you against common injuries, will help you perform every movement correctly and with more power and balance.