Strong Core, Strong Body
Posted by Keri on December 23, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Article post: 5Ktours.com
Our core muscle group is what supports our entire body. Maintaining a strong core is essential for the proper form and strength it takes to perform movement correctly. Without engaging your core muscles we overwork our other muscles and joints in our body, risking possible injury.
Learn why strengthening our core muscle group is so important and try using a few of these exercises from our expert contributors to keep your training effective.
Strong Core, Strong Body
To have a strong core you need to strengthen surrounding and opposing muscle groups including shoulders, back, abdominal muscles as well as the gluteal area. Exercises that I recommend include: planks (side plank as well as prone), bicycle crunches, Pilates exercises, back extension exercises (alternating arm-and-leg superman and superman) push-ups as well as squats and lunges. Focus on quality of the exercises over quantity done.
Core training can be done 4-5x/week as either a complete workout or added to the end of an cardio or strength training session. I also recommend clients work to work on their posture hourly; standing tall with a neutral spine and practice engaging abdominal muscles (imagine you are zipping up a snug pair of jeans and as you are fastening the button pull your abdominal muscles in and up). Work on core stability while you work and sit on a stability ball instead of a chair.
Keri Cawthorne, Owner, Iron Mountain Movement