If you are a newcomer to
exercise, have chronic lower back pain or trying to recover your stomach
muscles after having a baby, then it is worthwhile learning how to “fire” your
core muscles to create a girdle of strength that supports your back and
flattens your stomach.
These are basic guidelines for
Core Stability. Each exercise should be
performed in order and you should not move on to the next exercise until you
are happy that you can achieve what is listed. The reason for this is that as
the core “fires”, it stabilises the spine.
If you try to do more difficult exercises without this initial stability
you can compromise your back – never a good idea. Take your time and repeat as often as you
wish. You don’t need to be in sports kit to do this.
1. Stabilise:
a.
Lie on your back with your knees bent and your
feet flat on the floor, hip distance apart.
b.
Slide you hands under your lower back in between
the space of the last rib and the start of your pelvis. Get the fingertips to
touch
c.
Take a deep breath in and as you breathe out,
tighten the stomach muscles – think about contracting towards the centre of the
stomach
d.
There should feel like a pressure from the
contracted muscles on the fingers – but the pelvis must not rotate.
e.
Hold for 6 seconds and repeat
2. Adding
weight
a.
Once you can maintain good contraction of the
deep abdominals from the exercise above, you then make the muscle work harder
by lifting the foot about 1cm off the floor.
b.
Keep chin tucked in and abdominals flat as
possible
c.
Hold 6 seconds and repeat with other leg
3. Adding
movement
a.
Once the above exercise has been mastered,
slowly slide the leg away from you until the calf muscle touches the floor –
foot flexed.
b.
Draw back in slowly and breathe out at the same
time
c.
Repeat 4-6 times keeping core contracted
4. Adding
more weight
a.
From exercise 2, to make this harder, please
lift the other foot off the floor – knee height (you should be able to see your
foot)
b.
Still only slide one leg away as before and keep
the opposite leg still
5. Adding
more movement
a.
Once you can master exercise 4 then start with
both feet off the floor at knee height
b.
Slide or tap the feet along the floor – R, L, R,
L
c.
Repeat for 6-30 seconds and repeat each set 3
times with rest and stretch in between.
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