Zipper and Plank Week 1 The Zipper The first exercise you’ll learn is a very simple but important core stabilization exercise. It’s the kind of exercise that doesn’t require any preparation. You can do it anywhere, anytime. A key muscle in stabilizing your low back is the transversus abdominis. This muscle is the foundation for a girdle of muscles that supports your low back. Because the transversus abdominis muscle is hidden away under other muscles, it often goes neglected. Out of sight, out of mind. Out of sight maybe, but not out of reach. In fact, one of the easiest exercises you’ll do to eliminate back pain targets the neglected but ever-so-important transversus abdominis. This exercise is commonly known as Drawing-in, but I call it the Zipper (you’ll see why). Here’s how it works: 1. Stand up. 2. Imagine you’re trying to pull up the zipper on a pair of extremely tight pants. 3. To get the zipper all the way up, suck in your gut—zip up—by pulling in your belly button as close to your spine as you can while you exhale. 4. Hold that position for 10 seconds. Don’t forget to breathe while you hold in your belly button. 5. Exhale and relax. That’s it: the Zipper. As you become comfortable with this stabilizing exercise, increase the time you hold in your belly button and the number of repetitions you do. You also can do the Zipper lying down with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor or while sitting in a chair. Practice this exercise every day, whenever and wherever you can. I’ve incorporated the Zipper into many of the exercises that follow in this program. If the Zipper makes doing exercises difficult, don’t include it in those exercises. However, as you become stronger, try adding the Zipper back in to strengthen your core muscles even more and tame your back pain. An added bonus Another muscle that works with the transversus abdominis to stabilize and protect your lower (lumbar) back is the lumbar multifidus. When you do the Zipper, the lumbar multifidus is strengthened, too.

The Zipper

The first exercise you’ll learn is a very simple but important core stabilization exercise. It’s the kind of exercise that doesn’t require any preparation. You can do it anywhere, anytime.

A key muscle in stabilizing your low back is the transversus abdominis. This muscle is the foundation for a girdle of muscles that supports your low back. Because the transversus abdominis muscle is hidden away under other muscles, it often goes neglected. Out of sight, out of mind.

Out of sight maybe, but not out of reach. In fact, one of the easiest exercises you’ll do to eliminate back pain targets the neglected but ever-so-important transversus abdominis. This exercise is commonly known as Drawing-in, but I call it the Zipper (you’ll see why).

Here’s how it works:

1.Stand up.

2.Imagine you’re trying to pull up the zipper on a pair of extremely tight pants.

3.To get the zipper all the way up, suck in your gut—zip up—by pulling in your belly button as close to your spine as you can while you exhale.

4.Hold that position for 10 seconds. Don’t forget to breathe while you hold in your belly button.

5.Exhale and relax.

That’s it: the Zipper. As you become comfortable with this stabilizing exercise, increase the time you hold in your belly button and the number of repetitions you do. You also can do the Zipper lying down with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor or while sitting in a chair. Practice this exercise every day, whenever and wherever you can.

I’ve incorporated the Zipper into many of the exercises that follow in this program. If the Zipper makes doing exercises difficult, don’t include it in those exercises. However, as you become stronger, try adding the Zipper back in to strengthen your core muscles even more and tame your back pain.

An added bonus

Another muscle that works with the transversus abdominis to stabilize and protect your lower (lumbar) back is the lumbar multifidus. When you do the Zipper, the lumbar multifidus is strengthened, too.

The Plank

I discovered the Plank and core stabilization mountain biking. My back was sore at the time, my spondylolisthesis tweaking me slightly askew. A buddy I was riding with also had chronic low back problems. He’d just come back from a visit with his physical therapist and said he’d been taught this really great exercise. He said it was called the Plank and that it could do great things for your low back.

My mountain biking buddy was right. The Plank is one of the best exercises for stabilizing your core, especially when you work the Zipper into it. While the Plank, together with the Zipper, stabilizes the important transversus abdominis muscle (the foundation of the muscle girdle supporting your trunk), the combination also works all the core muscles in your stomach, hips, and back.

I’ve also found the Plank to be one of the more challenging exercises to master, particularly when you first try it. When I first tried the Plank, my body trembled and shook like an earthquake. With time, as my core stabilized, the shaking subsided to smaller tremors, and finally disappeared.

Stretching first to warm-up each day, you’ll devote the next week to the Plank. To break into this exercise gradually, you’ll start with the Half Plank. When you’re comfortable with the Half Plank, you can move on to the Full Plank.

Pay attention to your breathing while you hold your Plank position. When you exhale, draw in your belly button to push the air out and to insure you stay zipped up.

Special note: If you have high blood pressure, don’t do the Full Plank. Check with your health care provider if you can do the Half Plank.

Half Plank

1.Lie face down on the floor with your elbows under your shoulders and your forearms straight out.

2.Exhale yourself up on your forearms to form a half plank using your knees as a fulcrum.

3.Exhale until you’re zipped up (pull your belly button in as far as you can) in the half plank position.

4.Repeat as many breaths (inhaling and then exhaling into the Zipper) as you comfortably can.

5.Lower yourself to the ground on your last exhalation.
6.Rest until you’re ready to repeat steps 2-5 one to two more times.

Full Plank

1.Lie face down on the floor with your elbows under your shoulders and your forearms straight out.

2.Exhale yourself up on your forearms, resting on your toes, your body a straight line from you head to your toes.

3.Continue to exhale until you’re zipped up (pull your belly button in as far as you can) in the full plank position.

4.Repeat as many breaths (inhaling and then exhaling into the Zipper) as you comfortably can.

5.Lower yourself to the ground on your last exhalation.
6.Rest until you’re ready to repeat steps 2-5 one to two more times.