Core Training

When you think of Summer, what comes to mind? Swimsuits, lake season, poolside lounging. To make you feel a little more comfortable this Summer, why not work on your abs with a Summer Core Training. Life Transformations Personal Training in Lee’s Summit has some tips.

Sometimes people think of an ab workout as doing 1,000 crunches. This is quite a few crunches, but how would you feel after? Are your abs sore? I like to think of an ab workout as an all round core workout. Think of your core in sections, top, bottom, sides, back.

There are many benefits to having a strong core. Improved posture, reduce strain on spine, reduce risk for torn muscles or ruptured discs, injury prevention, allow muscles to work together, and many more. Many exercises, outside of core exercises, strengthen your core. Squats, shoulder presses, deadlifts, pushups, front raises all work the core as secondary muscles. Think about it: you must stabilize your body and engage your core to do a shoulder press. Tight core as you lift the dumbbells over your head. IF you were loosey goosey, you would fall over. So, you are probably working your core more than you know, the tip is to make sure your core is engaged and strong.

Simple ways to strengthen your core at home are done while sitting. If you are sitting in a chair, sit up straight, try to pull your belly button to your spine, hold it. This is a core exercise (and good for posture). Simple exercises like this can be done at home or in the workplace.

Let’s jump back to the sections of the core. Below are some exercises divided up into core sections. Try to pick one or two exercises from each section to make an overall core workout. Now, some exercises may work more than one core section at a time, this is fine. Try for 3 sets or 10 reps, work your way up to 4 sets of 20-30 reps. Click on the exercises for a video of the exercise.