I am a great believer in strengthening the core and I am aware of how to activate my transversus abdominus but still a little uncertain I am properly activating my lumbar multifidus.
Does someone know of any exercises that easily isolate the muscle.
Many thanks for your help.
The best way to check to see if you are activating your multifidus is to palpate the muscle before and during a contraction. There are many ways to contract this muscle and which method you choose will depend on your personal level of body awareness. One way to feel for multifidus contraction is to stand in a walking stance and feel the lower back close to the spine on the opposite side to the forward leg. Then shift you weight forward and backward and you should feel the muscle slightly 'swelling'. As for isolating the muscle this is a more of an aspiration than something that is achieved in reality as research shows that nearly all muscle contractions involve multiple muscles even when people have exceptional body awareness and control.
If you are wishing to 'strengthen' a muscle it is first important to understand the function of that particular muscle, then it is useful to know the envelope in which your multifidus can function correctly. This information can then form a basis for the correct choice of exercises and number of repetitions.
The multifidus can be classed as a local stabilizer and to improve its function you need to work low load 30% and repeat aiming for 10 sets of 10s contractions, then the exercise can be progressed. However never work past the point of fatigue because you will then be substituting the work to another muscle.