Better Core In A Month
From an article by Stephanie Mousour on Today (April 2022)
This topic has been touched on before and is vital to help you maintain an active lifestyle and reduce the likelihood of injury and reduced strength and balance. Your core is more than just abs as one might think. It includes your inner thighs, glutes, low back, and abdominal muscles. The program combines elements of Pilates and traditional strength training. Although it is a beginner level, it doesn’t mean it’s easy as it will involve deep muscles within the core. Some of the exercises are done on a mat and the others include standing work. As always, consult with a health professional if you are just starting out. If you feel pain, stop the exercise and seek medical advice.
Before you begin, a warm-up is recommended by doing a series of pelvic tilts to align the spine and engage the abdominal muscles.
- Pelvic tilt – lie on your back on a mat with knees bent and heels close to you. Inhale, then exhale and tilt the pelvis forward, keeping your low back on the mat with the abs engaged. Repeat 10x.
- Pilates Ab Crunch – lie on your back on a mat with knees bent and heels close to you. Put your hands behind your head, exhale and curl up. Don’t press your chin to your chest. Pulse up keeping shoulders off mat for 10x and repeat. (variation, cross one leg by placing right ankle over left knee and then keep right leg pressed away as you pulse, then do same for other side)
- Pilates Bridge – – lie on your back on a mat with knees bent and heels close to you. Arms are straight and by your sides. Keep knees over heels and raise hips off floor as high as you can and hold for 10 seconds. Squeeze your glutes too. Pull navel in towards spine and shoulder blades off floor if comfortable. 10x and repeat.
- Bridge March – lie on your back on a mat with knees bent and heels close to you. Arms are straight and by your sides. Keep knees over heels and raise hips off floor as high as you can and hold for 10 seconds. Squeeze your glutes too. Pull navel in towards spine and shoulder blades off floor if comfortable. With hips raised, raise right foot off ground as if marching and alternate between feet. Keep hips off mat while performing exercise. 10x and repeat .
- Frog – Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Lift your legs up and bring your heels together with your toes apart and your knees as wide as your shoulders. Exhale as you press the legs out at about a 45-degree angle, bringing your inner thighs together. Inhale to come back to center and repeat 10x.
- Pilates half roll down – Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Now sit up and reach arms straight in front but keep shoulders relaxed. Pull navel in and slowly roll halfway down. Reach arms up overhead and then arms forward as you sit up straight to starting position. Repeat 10x.
- Superman – lie on your stomach and arms forward forming a “V” and legs back slightly separated. Pull in navel to engage abs. Keep shoulders relaxed as you raise arms as high as you can and raise legs as high as you can by squeezing glutes. If you have low back issues, raise only as high as comfortable. Hold 5-7 seconds, all limbs down, rest a few seconds and repeat 10x. As an alternate, you can move both arms to the right and feet to the right while everything is elevated. Think, “make a banana shape”.
- Standing Pelvic Tilt – You can do this against a wall or standing. Leaning against a wall, bend knees slightly. As you exhale, tilt pelvis forward and away from wall. Keep low back again wall. Keep abs engage to maintain form. Relax and repeat 10x.
- Standing Bird Dog – Reach right arm up to ceiling and have weight on right foot. Now lean forward, reach right arm forward as you extend the left leg back behind you. Keep arm and leg straight so they are parallel to ground. Keep abs tight and squeeze your left glute and hamstring. Keeping right glute engaged helps with stability. Stand back up and repeat on left side. Alternate for 10 reps.
- Wide Side Crunch – stand with feet wider than shoulders and toes out at about a 45 degree angle. Put hands behind head and elbows wide. Lower torso into a wide leg open toe squat. Keep back straight and pelvis tilted forward and abs engaged. Reach right elbow down to right tight and crunch and then back to center. Now crunch to left. Alternate crunch to right and left while maintaining squat.
- Standing Bicycle Crunch – start standing with feet shoulder width apart. Bend elbows and place hands behind head. Bend right knee, bring it to your left elbow as you bend forward. Alternate on both side and keep abs squeezed thought the exercise. 10x
- Good Mornings – start standing with feet shoulder width apart. Hands go behind your head with fingers clasped. Keep shoulders down and back with core engaged. Breathe in and exhale as you bend body forward hinging at hips until your upper body is parallel to floor and you begin to feel a stretch in hamstrings. 10x