3 Exercises That Can Strengthen Your Core
Many people that have exercised for years do not realize there is a difference between core strengthening and core stabilization. Do you? How you can tell the difference as far as core routines go, exercises that move your spine are core strengtheners. Exercises that equal no movement of the spine are core stabilizers.
Because we want to strengthen our spine and not focus on stability for the purpose of this article, we want to focus on exercises that involve flexing the spine.
Crunches
Start performing a crunch by lying on a mat or floor. Using your abs, pull the top half of your body up so that your shoulder blades are off the mat. As far as your arms, you can either have them crossed in front of your or slide up and down the top part of your legs. To avoid neck strain, refrain from locking your arms behind your neck. A modification to this exercise is to have your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
If just starting out with this exercise, do one to two sets with 10-12 reps in each set. Work up to three to five sets with 12-15 reps in each set. If you want to “kick up” this exercise a notch, do crunches while on a stability ball. The different angle and instability of the surface will further challenge your core muscles.
Arm Sweep
Start by sitting on the floor, knees bent, feet flat on the floor and arms outstretched. Using your mid back core muscles to keep you sitting up straight, rotate your torso so that your right hand touches your left foot. Come back to the neutral position and then twist the other way so that your left hand touches your right foot. The arm sweep works the abs and back muscles.
At the beginner level, try to do one to two sets of 8-10 reps in each set. Gradually work up to the advanced level of three to five sets with 15-30 reps in each set.
Planks
This last exercise is both for stability and strength and comes in many variations. Start by lying face down on a mat or the floor. Now push up your body so that only your forearms, hands and feet are touching the surface and your body is in a straight line from your neck to your feet – straight like a plank.
Through the tightening of your hips, legs, arms, back, chest and abs, hold in that position for as long as you can working up to 30 seconds. Come back down to the flat position and plank up again. Do as many of these as you can. Once 30 seconds becomes a breeze increase the time by 5 seconds.
Adding a 15-minute routine of these three exercises to your workout sessions three or four times per week will have your core stronger in no time. And with the plank, you’ll also work on core stability.