Why is CXworx considered to be sports inspired? Because there’s nothing we can do athletically without a good foundation of core strength. The core is our powerhouse.

Every powerful movement you see in sport and in life will involve driving up out of the legs and using that momentum to generate speed and strength into the arms. This simply doesn’t work if you buckle in the middle, which means that our functional ability is only ever as good as our core.

Not only do we need core strength to function but it is estimated that eight in ten people will suffer from lower back pain at some point in their life that will make them seek treatment. A lot of these problems are thought to be caused through lack of muscular strength of the support mechanisms that stabilise our spine.

A spine stripped of muscle with only ligaments and discs to support will buckle with only 2kg of load. Muscles are vital to protect the spine – so it’s no wonder that when we see weakness of these key stabilisers, usually as a result of sedentary lifestyles, the incidence of lower back pain starts to rise at an alarming rate.

CXworx is designed to create functional strength and enhance some of the key muscular systems that stabilise the spine to improve our posture and protect us from injury.

HOW DO WE ACHIEVE THIS WITH CXworx?

The exercises are split into two groups: isolated and integrated.

You will see some traditional Crunches, Oblique Twists, Back Extensions and Bridges that isolate load in the individual muscles that make up our core. Other exercises combine these muscles with upper and lower limb strength to produce our integrated exercises.

All functional movements require integrated strength between the muscles of our core and our legs. Something as simple as walking, where we swing our opposite arm forward with our leg, utilises this system.

These links between the muscles of the limbs and core are known as sling mechanisms. There are slings across the front linking muscles such as the pectoralis major and serratus anterior of the upper limb with the external oblique and down into our hip muscles in the lower limb. A posterior sling around the back of the trunk connects the latissimus dorsi on one side with the connective tissue of the lumbar spine and the gluteus maximus on the opposite side. There are also side slings and longitudinal posterior slings

In CXworx the integrated exercises in the standing tracks, including Wood Chops, Power Skaters, Lunges and Squats, and floor exercises such as Hovers, can load these sling mechanisms and deliver athletic strength and movement control.

In fact, research performed at Penn University showed that exercises which integrate the upper and lower limbs with the muscles of the core, such as we see with a Hover, replicate the muscle recruitment patterns that we see with activities such as walking. 

When you walk your core fires in a 3D pattern – the muscles at the front, back and sides of our core coordinate their contraction to stabilize our trunk as we drive ourselves forward. This means that exercises which replicate this type of muscle recruitment pattern provide us with the best type of functional strength.

Always at the forefront of the fitness industry, Sydney Uni Sport & Fitness is proud to be the first fitness centre in NSW to offer this revolutionary core training to its members.

Check the timetable for this new and exciting new program and take the challenge. Numbers are limited!