Image by mikebaird via Flickr

Chances are that you’ve heard your Doctor or your Group Exercise instructor say that you need to “strengthen your core”…but what exactly does that mean?  Most people associate it with working abs, which is an important part of giving shape and definition to the waistline, but it’s really more than that.  Strengthening your core is important for increasing stability, maintaining good posture and alignment,

supporting your spinal column, and protecting it from injury.  While the core is often associated with only the abdominal muscles, it actually also involves your Erector Spinae, a collection

of three muscles running along your neck down to your lower back.  So when you are thinking “core muscles”, make sure to mentally include the abdominal group and the lower back muscles. A formula you should remember:

Strong abs + Weak Lower Back = Lower Back Pain!

Here are a few of the muscles in your core that you need to focus on:

Target Exercise: Center Crunch

• Exercise How-To: While lying on your back on the floor, bend your knees, feet flat.  Hands should be behind your head with your elbows out of your peripheral vision.  Pull your belly button toward your spine and keep it there as you raise your chin toward the ceiling, and pick up your shoulder blades about an inch off the floor.  Keep your abs tight throughout the range of motion – up and down.  Think of your abs as an accordion opening up and folding tightly back together.

The ladies in my classes can recite my favorite phrase by heart: “If you push out, you build out!”

Target Exercise: Crunch Crossover

• Exercise How-To: Repeat the “set up” instructions for the center crunch but you’ll take your right elbow and reach across your body, twisting at the waist toward your left knee.  Make sure to keep your abs in tight throughout the twist, chin off the chest.  Your shoulder blade should push up toward the ceiling and over toward your opposite knee.  Switch sides.

Earlier I mentioned the Erector Spinae, an area that is super important but often neglected. Below I have included an exercise that works that muscle group.  Each time you do abs, you should also do this exercise as well. As with all things in life – emotionally, spiritually, and physically – balance is important!

Target Exercise: Back Extension

• Exercise How-To: Lie on the floor on your stomach, hands behind your head.  Flex your feet so your toes are touching the floor and keep them glued in place.  Keeping your head in alignment with your spine, lift your chest and elbows off the floor, hold for 2-3 seconds, and lower back down slowly.  Do this 10 times. You will feel it in your lower back, in the area you may have heard referred to as your “muffin top”. 

For a strong core, you should repeat these exercises at least 2-3 times per week for 2-3 sets with 10-20 repetitions.

Amy Walker, our “Fitness Friday” guest Blogger, is a Certified Personal Trainer through the American Counsel on Exercise and holds additional certifications through the Cooper Institute of Dallas that include: Nutrition and Dietary Guidance, Special Populations, and the Biomechanics of Resistance Training. Amy owns and operates FitLab Metabolic Services in Peachtree City.