Designing my Mindful core training programme

I remember one day, programming myself a core workout and immediately dreading doing it. I remember hating it while I was doing it. And then hating it after as well.

Why was it so bad?

Especially given that I’d programmed it myself based on exercises that were a) effective, b) that I actually liked, and c) well formatted, it shouldn't have been so tough. I couldn’t figure out for a while why these kinds of ‘ab’ workouts, like a lot of HIIT sessions, just felt a bit crap to me. I could seldom make myself do them. And when I did them, well, they didn’t exactly inspire motivation to continue.

I felt like my breathing wasn’t controlled. I felt like I was breathing shallowly and erratically. Sometimes both. I felt like I was tense in places that I shouldn’t be tense. Especially in my shoulders and neck, which probably affected my breathing. I felt like I was rushing to get reps or to fill timed intervals. It was rare that I could actually feel the movement itself. Instead, I could only feel the discomfort of it.

Does any of this sound familiar to you?

If so, the good news is that it can get better!

Becoming mindful about your movement

I’d known that I’d had these kinds of feelings towards certain workouts for a long time. But I’d not really admitted all of these things to myself in specific terms. I’d never taken a mindful moment to accept how I felt and to figure out why. Once I really allowed myself to recognise all of this and not be hard on myself about it, I could think about it objectively. And the solution just sort of appeared.

I think it helped me that I’d been doing a lot of mindfulness practises around that time. A lot of breathwork and more yoga than usual. I think I was more aware than I’d been before - of both my breath and my body. Or perhaps I’d just reached the frustration tipping point that motivated me to do something about it rather than just avoid it. Perhaps both.

As well as being mindful about what didn’t feel good to me about certain training modalities, I reflected on what felt really good.

The workouts and exercises that I generally love the most are the ones where I am more mindful. When I have a 100kg bar in my hands or my entire body weight on my back, I’m incredibly focused on how everything feels. I can send my awareness to any point in my body to check on positioning and technique. I’m hyper-aware of every contraction, of my centre of gravity, of where my toes are in contact with the floor, and I notice the slightest tilt of my pelvis. During training like this, my breathing becomes integral to my focus, performance and even my safety. That is what feels good to me.

So what is it about ab workouts or about HIIT that used to just bum me out? Well, those exercises are harder to attach weight to; they’re not typically exercises you can do with a barbell and some plates. So the way that we tend to increase intensity is to speed up the movement or to do more repetitions. If you do this without being self-aware and focused, tension will start to creep in.

That day - the day of the ‘crap workout’ - I’d handwritten the ab workout that I programmed in a notebook. During the workout, I found myself picking up a pen to make notes alongside it. And after I finished, I found myself again picking up the pen and writing a reflection.

Here’s what I wrote:

“I realise that I need to programme my ab exercises more mindfully... I need to do fewer movements and slow them down. It’s important that I can focus on my breath and maintain good form.”

And this sort of became a new mantra for me.

My Mindful Core Programme

I developed a mindful core programme. And it feels as good as it sounds.

I designed an 8-session programme of short workouts combining just 2 or 3 complementary core exercises. I designed each session to revolve around breaths rather than reps.

I loved that I made the breath the anchor for exercise pace. If I wasn’t taking a deep and full breath through the movement, I knew that I was going too fast or not exercising enough control. Taking this time to move through a range or motion also allows time to check in with your form. To check that your neck hasn’t dropped out of alignment, to make sure that your back hasn’t arched or your pelvis hasn’t tipped, to check that your rib cage is expanding fully.

When I started tweaking some of my sessions to take this approach, every single one of them felt better.

They burnt. But in the right way. I felt empowered and in control. And I finally felt like I was making progress.

This is especially important for me because, having cystic fibrosis, I have to dedicate time to airway clearance and specific, deep breathing exercises to keep my lungs healthy and clear (similar sort of things to what COVID-sufferers are instructed to do by respiratory physiotherapists!) so learning to integrate these types of breathing into my regular workouts is extra beneficial for me (and others with CF!) and is based on a lifetime of learning and experience.

When I first designed the programme, this is the intention that I set for it:

These sessions won’t be strained and stressful. At no point will you be ‘smashing out’ 20 sit ups as quickly as possible, holding your breath just to squeeze out the reps. You want to breathe! You want to feel good and strong and controlled and capable.

These sessions will allow you to mindfully train your core. To tune in to correct positioning, make sure you’re breathing fully, and still feel your core working!

This is a calmer approach to core training that’ll still have your muscles shaking a little if you’re doing it right!

I’m currently revisiting this Mindful Core programme for the second time - during COVID19 lockdown - and I’m still getting stronger and still finding as much benefit from it as when I first designed it. I’ve even coached other people through it via video call and they’re loving it too. In doing this, I realise how much I’d like to share it more widely so that more people can benefit from this approach.

If you’d like to try my Mindful Core programme, please drop me an email at natalie@nataliejohanna.com and I’d be happy to share it with you!