FitnessU
Don’t bore your core
You use your core for everything—it’s not just about belly muscles and crunches. Here’s what your obliques, lower back, and other core muscle groups need from you.
Lower abs routine
Leg flutters:
Begin on your back with your knees hugged into your chest. Release by relaxing your arms by your sides and have your legs float up in the air, feet flexed. With your upper body relaxed, lower your legs so they hover the floor. By engaging your abs, try to keep your lower back connected to the floor and begin to flutter your feet up in down with a very small range of motion. When you start to flutter your legs, you are really activating your lower abs. Make sure arms and hands stay relaxed!
Scoop ups:
Begin in a boat pose; seated position with your arms straight out at shoulder height, legs lifted with a bent knees so shins are parallel to the ground, and toes pointed. While holding this pose, extend your legs down and straighten them, then begin to scoop your legs back up in that bent knee position to return to your boat pose. Think of this as moving your legs downward and to challenge your core, scooping up to work your lower abs, and then back to boat pose to reset. To modify, you can come back onto your forearms and do the same legs.
Seated toe taps:
Begin in a seated position with your legs out straight and leaning back onto your forearms. Lift your legs so your knees are bent and shins are parallel to the ground. Keep your left leg up and bent tap your right toe down to the ground and lift it back up. Then tap your left toe to the ground and lift it back up. The further you reach your toes, the harder it is. Engage your core, especially your lower abs to control this move.
— Submitted by Eliza S., University of Massachusetts Amherst
Lower back hack
Many people think about the abdomen when they think about the core. The core is actually comprised of several muscle groups that surround the torso and hip, including the lower back. A strong core allows us to stabilize our bodies, transfer force between our lower and upper extremities, and move efficiently.
The lower back, like much of our body, includes both deep and superficial (surface) muscles. These include the erector spinae, multifidus, and latissimus dorsi. Here are five exercises to engage primarily the lower back segment of the core:
1. Cat Stretch
Place both hands and knees on the floor. Arms and thighs should be parallel. This is called the quadruped position. From there, breathe in deeply as you sink your lower back and raise your head and hips. Then breathe out completely as you do the opposite—raise your lower back and sink your head and hips. To visualize this movement, imagine that a string is attached through the bellybutton. Pulling the string from the top will raise the lower back whereas pulling the string from the bottom will sink the lower back. Repeat this movement for 10 deep, complete breaths.
2. Bird-Dog
Obtain the quadruped position. Simultaneously lift and extend one arm and the opposite side leg away from the body. From the hand to the foot you should form a straight line that is parallel with the floor. After pausing for a brief moment, return that arm and leg to the floor and repeat on the opposite side. Perform 2-3 sets of 10-12 total repetitions (5-6 each side).
3. Superman
Lie face-down on the floor with your arms extended overhead. Perform this exercise on a padded surface or carpet to reduce any discomfort. With thumbs up, lift your arms and legs off the floor so that only the hips remain on the floor. Hold this position for 5-15 seconds for 5-10 repetitions depending on your fitness level.
4. Stability Ball Back Extensions
Kneel on the floor with your hips and upper body resting over a stability ball. With hands either to the side or behind the head, extend your hips into the ball to lift the upper body. Tuck your chin to help keep from producing momentum and excessive hyperextension. Take your time and maintain control throughout this movement. Perform 3 sets of 8-12 repetitions.
5. Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts (RDLs)
Stand with both feet about shoulder-width apart. Hold a dumbbell in each hand. Start with either a light weight or no weight to ensure proper technique. Keeping only a slight bend in the knees, perform the hip hinge by pushing your hips back to lower the upper body rather than bending forward. This cue will help keep the back in a neutral, straight position to avoid unwanted strain. Once the dumbbells reach about knee-height, push the hips in to raise the upper body and return to the starting position. Perform 3-4 sets of 6-8 repetitions.
— Submitted by Frankie R., Lipscomb University
Training obliques
Lying wipers:
Start lying on your back with your arms out to your sides and knees bent. Raise your legs off the ground, keeping the knees bent. From here, bring both legs to one side as far as you can while keeping both shoulders on the ground. Contract your opposite side oblique to bring your legs back to center and continue to the other side. To make this exercise more difficult, keep your legs straight throughout the entire movement. Do 3 sets of 8-10 reps per side, resting 60 seconds between each set.
Russian twists:
Start sitting on the floor with your knees bent. Lean back slightly, and twist your upper body to one side, touching both hands to the floor next to you before going the other direction. Keep your lower back flat by squeezing your core. To make this exercise harder, you can raise your feet a few inches off the floor while pressing the feet together. Do 3 sets of 10-15 reps per side, resting 45 seconds between each set.
Side v-ups:
Start lying on your side with your bottom arm straight out in front of you and your legs stacked on top of each other. Focusing on the oblique muscle and using your bottom arm only as needed, raise your upper body and top leg off of the floor simultaneously and come back down slowly. To make this exercise more challenging, bring both legs up together. Do 2 sets of 8-10 reps per side, resting 60 seconds between each set.
Side plank:
Start lying on your side, and prop yourself up on your bottom elbow so that it is directly under your shoulder. Next, place your feet so that they are in a straight line down from your elbow, and contract your oblique to come to a side plank position - not allowing your hips to sag or having them too high up. If this exercise is too hard, you can bring your bottom leg’s knee to the floor and hold the same position. To make it more difficult, go into the side plank position on your hand instead of elbow to give yourself less stabilization. Do 2 sets of a max effort hold until your form fails on each side, resting twice as long as you held each plank between sets.
— Submitted by Chase S., Northern Illinois University
