Navel base: Exercises for stronger core start at belly button
Swimsuit season starts early in Vegas. The temperature seems to get warm sooner than you might like and climb to hot faster than you can apply sunscreen. The weather won't be the only thing that's hot in June if your fitness is on track now.
Since it's already February, you're probably making good strides with your cardio program. Before long your abs will start to show, and you'll be ready for the pools or the California beaches.
When those abs do emerge from winter's hibernation, you want them strong. To strengthen your core, you'll need a few good exercises and some applied principles.
For core training to be effective you need to follow a few principles: activation, stabilization and progression. Think about this: the belly button is also the core's "on" button. To activate the core all you need to do is draw the belly button inward. This "turns on" or activates the core, and you can feel the muscles contract.
Now that the core is engaged, you need it to stabilize. Some muscles are better worked pushing or pulling things. Core muscles are worked best when they are stabilizing the body. In an earlier column on core fitness that you can find on the R-J website, I discussed the plank and the machine crunch. Today I describe the basic leg raise and the stability ball rotation. All four of these exercises require the core to stabilize.
Progressing exercises means making them increasingly more difficult. The core learns how to do new movements very fast. This means you need to know a few progressions of the basic exercises to push yourself. Be sure to earn the progression of an exercise by doing it properly before moving on to more advanced forms. Before long you will be able to do some impressive core routines.
The leg raise and the ball rotation will work your entire core with emphasis on a few particular muscles.
The leg raises will emphasize the lower abdominal muscles and the lower back. Keeping the lower back from arching will strengthen the muscles there. I especially like this because it allows you to strengthen the lower back without moving it.
Ball rotations work the obliques on each side of the abdominal muscles. The obliques help your body to rotate and bend to the side to reach in your pocket.
Chris Huth is a Las Vegas trainer. You can contact him at 702trainer@gmail.com. Before beginning any exercise program, consult your physician.
Photos for this column were taken at UNLV's Student Recreation and Wellness Center. Although the facility's primary clientele is students, faculty and staff, the center also welcomes community members 18 and older at a monthly fee of $25. You can contact the service desk at 774-7100 or by email at srwc.memberships@unlv.edu.
