Even those who have taken a break from fitness — or have never really engaged in a fitness program — can have awesome abs. Perform these three simple exercises every day to strengthen your core. And the good news? You already do two of the three daily, so it’s just a matter of focusing on your form.
1) Walk Correctly
It’s all about repetition. We do it all day long. We will not only strengthen our core, we will benefit in many ways. So, to walk correctly:
- Stand tall, as if we want to grow an inch.
- Open your chest and lungs, pushing shoulders back and down.
- Slightly squeeze our bottoms as our leg travels behind us.
- Get rotation in our “t-spine” where we need it most.
- Most importantly: breathe.
2) Stand Tall
After all, we do it all day long, and doing it properly will really help your breathing and tighten your core.
- Make sure you head is in the center of your shoulders and not “ahead of your body.”
- Look straight ahead.
- Breathe fully.
- Squeeze your bottom.
- Pull back shoulders and press them downward, like you are squeezing your armpits.
- Press your feet through the floor.
3) The Bird Dog
At Fitness on the Run, we know the core loves “cross-body movements.” But there’s another part of your body that may like them even more: your brain!
- Get on to your hands and knees into a “crawl” position, with hands under shoulders and knees under hips.
- Pressing hands into floor, raise your right arm over head while simultaneously extending your left leg back behind you, pressing as if you’re pressing your foot through something hard.
- Repeat 10 times.
- Initiate with the left arm and right leg.
- More advanced: lift feet off floor and alternate from right to left.
- Most advanced: raise knees off floor at the beginning and perform without allowing them to drop to the floor.
