Core workout anyone?!

crickets chirping

I know, I know… core workouts are hard! I would personally rather do an hour long upper body workout than 10 minutes of core BUT your core muscles are quite literally the reason you are able to stand and sit upright so we should probably pay at least a little attention to them! First, let’s get into some exercises and some anatomy...

And to those of you who love core workouts (I know you’re out there) you’re gonna love this!

We sent out an email this week about the spinal stabilizer muscles (if you aren’t subscribed to our email list, you can just hit the subscribe button on our website so you’ll never miss out!) and talked about their shape and function.

So let’s start with the basic foundational core exercise that everyone knows: the plank.

Everyone seems to know what a plank is but nobody seems to know how to do them correctly and doing them wrong is going to hurt you more than help you!

To break it down and make it simple...

It’s a plank… so you basically want to LOOK like a plank!

We’ve talked about how to stand with the pelvis at neutral. not under, core engaged, glutes squeezed, shoulders back and away from the ears and neck in neutral. It’s going to be the same thing but with your hands or elbows and forearms on the ground!

Here’s the checklist:

Shoulders away from your ears and shoulder blades engaged and squeezed together
Tighten and engage your core muscles. Think about using your core muscles to draw your hip bones toward your belly button
Relax your lumbar spine muscles to decompress your spine and set your pelvis into neutral
Don’t forget to BREATHE!

Getting your core strong is one of the basic foundations of proper movement patterns. So starting here, statically, is a great way to build your foundation.

Now moving into just a few more quick ones to hit the spinal stabilization exercises. We have video of each one to help you execute them well.

These next few target the spinal stabilizers specifically like we talked about this week in our subscriber email.

Tall Chop:

Using a medium resistance band, stand parallel to the band and use your core muscles to pull the band to your pocket. Follow the band with your eyes.

*to make this one more difficult, try doing the same exercise at the bottom of a lunge position. As you can see in the video, your legs should be making 90-degree angles at the knee and hip joint and your back knee should be hovering over the ground, not touching it.

Below is the advanced version. Try it!

Bird Dog Plank:

Get into the plank position we talked about above. Try to keep everything steady while extending the opposite arm and leg slowly and controlled and then alternate to the other arm and leg. You want to try to rock and move as little as possible and try to keep your butt from lifting up like a downward dog pose.

Serratus Ball Plank:

In a plank position with your forearms on a stability ball, engage the core muscles the same as described above for a plank and slowly and controlled pulse forward. The further you pulse forward, the more challenging it is to keep your core properly engaged so slowly over time increase your distance and decrease your speed.