Having an exercised and fit body is a vital goal for more and more people. Maintaining an active routine and healthy eating has been shown to help extend life expectancy and avoid being prone to disease. If you have been training and committed to your health for a long time, the word core may be familiar to you, however, many people have no idea what the core is and why it is important to exercise it. Standing, lifting weights, kicking a ball all engage different muscles. However, the base that is always compromised is precisely the core.
This part of our body consists of several muscles in the central area and in this new article, we explain in detail what the core is and why it is important to strengthen it.
Table Of Content
1. What is the core and what are its muscles
2. Why is it important to strengthen the core?
3. Core exercises
What is the core and what are its muscles
Are you wondering what the core is? Well, the term “core” comes from English and its literal meaning is “nucleus” or “center”. In Spanish, this concept has been adopted to define all the muscles in the central area of the body that are responsible for keeping us firm and allowing us to carry out daily strength activities. The greatest strength of our entire body is concentrated in the core and that is why, even if you are not in a training routine in the gym, it is interesting to be able to perform routine exercises that exercise this area, since it will prevent, on the day to day, drag discomfort in the back or joints. According to Ask Doctor Jo know Great Core Strengthening Exercises
The main muscles that make up the core are the abdominals, lower back, pelvic muscles, buttocks and spinal muscles. All of them together are responsible for giving stability and strength to our entire body and also have the function of protecting the spine and the entire spine.
Why is it important to strengthen the core?
As we said before, the exercises that help and strengthen the core are not only aimed at gaining muscle or having a defined body but also go further. This part of our body is the most important at a muscular level since it must support all the stability of the trunk. Our extremities are necessary to carry out some activities, but it is the core that is in charge of keeping everything together and protecting it from possible injuries.
It does not matter that you are not 100% fit or that you do not usually do sports frequently, if you do exercises to strengthen the core, you will be helping your body to be more resistant and stable, in addition you will also be promoting bone movement, this will help to have injuries or back problems if you spend many hours sitting. One of the functions of the core is to keep our posture straight and protect the central muscles of our body when making some kind of effort, such as lifting shopping bags, climbing stairs or raising or lowering the blinds. It is, therefore, very useful and beneficial for our health and comfort to be aware of our core and keep it fit and active when performing any type of strength movement.
Core exercises
The core muscles are several, so complete exercises are needed to be able to exercise it correctly. The good thing is that, with just a mat, you will be able to perform this routine from anywhere. Some of the most popular exercises to work the core are:
- Abdominal plank: one of the most classic and complete strength exercises that exist. It may be very intense at first, but little by little you will notice the progress. You must lie face down and suspend the weight of your body on the elbows and the tip of your feet with the body straight, you must keep the core firm for 30 and 60 seconds.
- Side plank Exercise: Same as an abdominal plank, but pushing all the weight to one of the sides and keeping the strength in one of the elbows and one of the heels, ideal for exercising the obliques. At the end, you must change sides to exercise both sides. If you want to know in detail how to exercise your obliques, don’t miss this OneHOWTO article.
- Leg raises: you must lie on your back on a mat and have your arms straight next to your body, followed by raising both legs at an angle of 90 degrees. The exercise consists of raising and lowering the legs without resting on the ground, strengthening the abdominal part of the core.
- Military drag: as if it were a military camp, the idea of the exercise is to move with the elbows in a plank position to exercise the core and the sides at the same time.
These are some of the most important exercises to work the core, but if you want to know more, we provide you with this article on Core exercises for beginners at home. They will help you get in shape!