Anti-Aging Benefits of Strengthening Your Core
by www.SixWise.com
Do you run religiously on a treadmill for hours every week? Do you lift weights, too, and assume you’re covering all of your fitness basics? Well you’ve got a good start, but you’re missing out on a very important fitness staple that is a key to your health and longevity: building your core.
What exactly is your “core”? It’s a set of 29 muscles in your back, abdomen and pelvis, muscles that are essential to your ability to function on a daily basis. It’s because of your core muscles that you can control your movements, maintain balance and stability. They also protect and support your back, which is an essential element as you age.
If your exercise program does not address your core muscles, your body can become weak in its center, making you more prone to poor posture, lower back pain and muscle injuries.
Strengthening your core muscles, on the other hand, means that your spine will be supported and your body less prone to injury during sports activities and also during daily life.
Considering that more people rush to U.S. emergency rooms for injuries related to falling than from any other cause, and, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians, they're the primary cause of accidental death in people over the age of 65, strengthening your core muscles to keep your center of gravity stable could very well save your life, and also extend it.
The Benefits of Strengthening Your Core
When your core muscles are strong, it makes you more stable and less prone to injury. Studies have shown, for instance, that:
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Core strength enhancement programs can help prevent injuries in workers. Among one group of firefighters, an intervention to improve flexibility and strength in the trunk stabilizer and core muscles groups results in 42 percent fewer injuries and reduced lost work time due to injuries by 62 percent in a 12-month period.
The Mayo Clinic has also pointed out numerous ways that core exercises can benefit you, such as:
So even though toned core muscles may not make as big an aesthetic impression as toned abdominals or biceps, toned core muscles will keep you agile and stable even as you get older.
What is the Best Way to Strengthen Your Core Muscles?
You don’t need to go to a gym or buy special equipment to strengthen your core, you simply need to perform exercises that will get all your core muscles working together as you use the trunk of your body without support. Three such exercises include:
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Bridge
Lie on your back with your knees bent (feet on the floor). Contract your abdominal muscles and raise your hips off the floor, holding the position for five to eight seconds. Slowly lower your hips to the floor, then repeat the move. For a more advanced bridge, try extending one knee, then the other, while in the bridge position.
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Plank
Lie on your stomach, resting on your forearms with your palms facing down. Raise off the floor so you are resting on your elbows and toes. Keeping your back flat, contract your core muscles and hold for 10 seconds, then lower yourself to the floor and repeat. For a challenge, try stretching out one arm or leg at a time, or reaching out an arm and opposite leg at the same time.
- Side Plank
Lie on your left side, then raise your body onto your left forearm, keeping your shoulders, hips and knees aligned. Rest your right arm on your side. Hold the position for 10 seconds, then repeat on the right side. For a more advanced side plank, raise onto your left hand with your hips coming off the floor and extend your right hand toward the ceiling.
However, to get a more comprehensive workout, one that will build your core muscles and provide you with a phenomenal mind-body workout, the SheaNetics fitness program from MySheaNetics.com can’t be beat.
SheaNetics® uses “Tri-Core Power Training” to help build up all three key muscle groups of your core, helping to prevent injuries and improve performance. Below you can hear from leading surgical, medical and physical therapy professionals discuss the health-giving benefits, including core stabilization and strength, of SheaNetics:
SheaNetics is simply the best way to build core strength, flexibility and to achieve meditation in thought and motion … all at the same time. This is something that other fitness programs just don’t offer, and best of all you can do the entire program right from your own living room.
If you like pilates and yoga, both of which work the muscles of the abdomen, lower back and buttocks to create flexibility and strength, you will love SheaNetics®, which is a self-styled blend of Yoga, Pilates, Martial Arts, Tai Chi, Gyrokenisis®, Dance and other great formats to give you fabulous comprehensive core-building workouts.
Whether you want to excel at sports, play tennis on the weekends or simply stay strong and active well into your golden years, building your core is essential. Be sure you are including core-strengthening moves into your life now to experience the phenomenal benefits both now and later.
SixWise Says ...
Want to try an exercise that will work your core right now? Try the Quadruped:
Get on your hands and knees, keeping your hands below your shoulders and your head and neck aligned with your back. Contract your core muscles, then raise one arm off the floor and reach ahead. Return the arm to the floor, then repeat with the opposite arm and each leg. For a challenge, raise one arm and the opposite leg at the same time, then repeat with the other side.
Want affordable Pro-Trainer help? We recommend Vince Vaughn’s Mom Shea Vaughn’s DVD SheaNetics Program.
Recommended Reading
How and Why You Need to Focus on Building Your Core ... and Six Top Core-Building Exercises
8 Ways to Avoid The Top 5 Common Crippling Exercise Injuries
Sources
The American Journal of Sports Medicine October 7, 2010
Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology 2007; 2: 3.
Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 2004 Jun;36(6):926-34.
MayoClinic.com Core Exercises