The following exercises can serve as a core training primer for beginners or they can be added or substituted into your current core workout routine.

1 – Lying face up, hand down at your side. Bring your legs up, knees slightly bent with the bottom of your feet toward the ceiling. This is your start position. While keeping the abdominals pulled in (contracted), slowly lower your right leg, until the heel touches the ground, and then raise it back up. Do this fifteen times. Then switch legs.

2 – Lying face up with knees bent, feet off the floor. Arms are extended as if reaching toward the sky if you were standing (reach above your head). As you breathe out, slowly bring your knees toward you by contracting your abdominals (pulling inward), lifting your butt and lower back off the mat, if possible. Then breathe in as you return to the start position.

3 - Lying face up with knees bent, heels on the ground and toes pointing up. Lift your butt off the ground to engage the core muscles. Now, here is where the fun starts. Lift one foot off the floor, extending that leg until it is straight, bring it back to the start position (heel on ground) and then do the same with the other leg. Keep alternating until you do a total of twenty, ten on each side.

If this exercise sequence is too easy, go through it again and see how you do. If it was too challenging, decrease the number of repetitions to about five and do this every other day. Gradually increase the repetitions as your core gets stronger.

A big mistake many people, even trainers, make is to mimic the abdominal routines of bodybuilders or power-lifters. The problem with that is most people are not bodybuilders or power-lifters - and these people tend to over-train anyway (I know this because I used to do it myself!). The problems here range from a lot of wasted time to serious, long term injuries.

This happens every day to people who try to exercise without proper guidance and it's one the reasons why physical therapists are so busy!

The proper workout must be designed to provide the most effective exercise training stimulus to the entire midsection, in the shortest amount of time (because we are all very busy people, right?), with minimal risk of injury. The problem is it is extremely rare to find an abdominal and core workout routine that fits all of these criteria.

These are the exact principles I follow when training my personal, one-on-one clients AND they are the same principles I follow in my own fitness training workout program. Structure your own program according to the principles outlined above, with the proper selection of core exercises for effective and safe results.

 

Joey Atlas, MS - Exercise Physiology, has been in the fitness industry since 1985. He has worked with clients ranging in age from 11 years old to 96 years old (yes, 96!). He has also been featured in numerous publications in Northeast Florida such as The TimesUnion, Ponte Vedra Lifestyles, The Jacksonville Business Journal, TPC Magazine and in several publications in New York such as The Daily Item and Westchester & Fairfield Weekend. Joey has also served as a consultant to Pepsi-Cola's Corporate Fitness Program at Pepsi's headquarters in Somers, New York. He is the creator of the unique DVD workout series: Abs of Stone - Core of Steel - Unleash Your Perfect Midsection & Butt, Hip And Thigh Makeover   Abs Of Stone - Core Of Steel: Click Here For More Information On The DVD Workout Series

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