Strengthen your core

The three main muscles of the front core are your oblique, rectus abdominis and the transversus abdominis. When these three are well shaped, they form what most people refer to as a six pack. Your erector spinal, lower trapsius and the lower latissimus dorsi supports your lower back and spine. So when these muscles are weak or damaged in one way or the other, you will not believe me, you will hardly be able to lift your own legs, arms or stand upright.
So I have just come up with these few exercises which are world recognised to enable you to improve your core strength. A strong core will improve the performance of most of your daily activities, including your sports. Most sports persons’ fitness levels are tested by the strength and endurance of their core. So my friends grab this opportunity and work your core. Your only regret will probably be that you were late to do this.
Exercise 1: The forward lunge
You may ask why? But this is one of the best exercises for developing your leg strength, stomach and back muscles. The legs constitute a huge muscle group in the body. So the more you work them the more your muscles have to work and the more fat you can burn. Stabilising your body when doing this exercise gives your abdominals a great workout. And the result is a very lean and strong core.
Execution: Stand upright with feet shoulder width apart. Palms and both feet facing forward. Tighten the core and lunge forward with your right leg. Push your left knee down towards the ground and stop just before touching the floor. Step back, returning to starting position and do the same movement on your left leg.
Exercise tips: Don’t push your knees forward to be in front of your toes when going down. Keep front shin straight and perpendicular to the floor. To work more on your core don’t drag your feet when stepping back. Don’t swing arms forward and back, keep them firm as you lunge. Increase resistance by holding a pair of dumbbells on both hands. Do 15 to 20 reps on each leg and control the motion throughout the set.
Exercise 2: The lunge jump
This exercise makes the forward lunge much more advanced. The jump makes a huge demand on the muscles, which burns more calories.
Landing requires good stability ad abdominal control, which results in a hard core.
Execution: Start off in a lunge position as explained in the first exercise. With your hands on your hips, lower yourself down, stopping before knees touch the ground. And as you raise up jump to life both feet off the ground. Steadily land down and step back the front leg and switch to the other leg.
Tips: Keep back straight don’t lean forward as you land to work more on your core. Control your landing to reduce pressure on your knees.
Exercise 3: The body weight squat
This is an all rounder exercise, which does a great job on your gluteus, guards ad abdominal muscles.
Execution: Take a comfortable stance, feet shoulder width apart with both arms raised in front of you – parallel to the floor. Keeping you back straight to allow weight on the heels, stick your gluteus our and lower yourself down until your things are parallel to the floor. Push up through your heels and return to standing position and repeat. Do 20 repetitions.
Tips: Tighten core to avoid falling forward. Go down as low as comfortable while maintaining perfect posture to work more on your gluteus. Face your feet out slightly for stability. Break out as you go up and in as you lower down your body.
Exercise 4: Triceps dips
The normal bench triceps dips requires you to have your feet on the floor. But when you elevate your feet, it places more stress on the arms and also on your abdominals making them work harder.
Execution: Start by holding on a bench behind your back, feet slightly elevated on a step box. Tighten core and slowly lower your body by bending from your elbows so they that they may move backwards, keeping them close to your side. Once your forearms touch your biceps, push up to starting position and repeat. Do 20 repeats.
Tip: Look straight up, don’t drop your head to keep your core tight. Avoid quick bouncing movements to reduce strain on your shoulders.
Exercise 5: The burn pie
This is a great exercise as you have to use almost every muscle in your body and it burns lots of calories. The constant moving and jumping is a great abdominal workout which will tone up all your core muscles.
Execution: Starting on a push up position with your hands and feet. Jump your feet towards your hands, then stand straight up hands in the air and jump. Control your landing, press your arms down and push back your legs to starting position. Repeat 20 times.
Tips: Tighten core and keep back straight as you push back. Breathe out as you jump and in when you are going down. Slow movements will allow you to maintain good posture.
NB: To increase the intensity of this workout programme, you can include some cardio exercise in between each exercise. The cardio exercise to choose from are skipping, treadmill, step up box and many more. Remember to do a total body stretch out at the end of your workout to improve your flexibility.
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