Core Exercises
What are Core Exercises?
The core of your body is the main structure that allows the rest of your body to move well. It consists of your lower back, abs and hips. Without a strong core you can suffer from weakness, muscle loss and eventually conditions like arthritis and back pain.
plank
There are dedicated exercises that you can do for core strengthening. Some are done on the floor, others may use a Swiss ball.
It is worth incorporating a number of different exercises into your weekly routines, in order to challenge and use each muscle rather than only focusing on a few exercises that target the same movements over and over again.
What comes surprisingly to most people is that the purpose of your core is actually to resist the movement, rather than be the prime moving device. It is there to help protect your backbone and midsection muscles.
Therefore, when you do core exercises, your aim should be to minimize movement of this important region – unlike every other training exercise which involves extensively moving and working out each muscle or body part.
Sculpting your midsection (your ab muscles) relies heavily on the strength of your core. The more you work this area, the easier you will find it to do the strenuous workouts required to achieve a truly toned body, or even just to drop the fat around your midsection (which is what hides the muscles!).
Slouching is one of the worst habits a person can pick up, particularly someone who is serious about getting in shape or losing weight.
When you train your core, you actually work to eliminate slouching as well. Keep in mind that many of us spend up to 40 (or more) hours per week in front of a computer, often slouching without noticing. Getting into the habit of keeping a strong core posture all day is as important as your workouts.
Doing some core exercises on the floor requires you to move very little, or not at all.
You need to make sure the tension is maintained in your muscles, and over time you’ll know they are becoming stronger as they’ll be able to perform each exercise for a longer period of time.
Other workouts allow you to move during the exercise. Combining both movement (V-sit ups, lunges, squats) and non-movement core exercises (superman and plank) into your routine ensures that you are covering all bases and not focusing too much on just one or two areas.
