Core Power (1 of 1) Core Power 2 (1 of 1)

So it’s that time again, Fitness Friday with Slimmer You Fitness, the last day before the weekend and your best opportunity to sweat out the stress of the week and set yourself up for a fun and productive two days off! I wanted to take a minute to hyperlink peptides online as I know many people are suffering from low testosterone level and the use of peptides can help them. A huge shout out CORE POWERRRRR!!!!! It’s arguably the most important area of fitness and it often gets overlooked because people just don’t like to work their core muscles. When I say core power, I don’t just mean a flat stomach or a pronounced six-pack, I’m talking about the plethora of stabilizing muscles in your stomach, lower back, pelvic area and hips that are also interconnected to the rest of your body.

Core strength benefits: Alleviation of back pain, better posture, improvement in balance and healthier everyday movement (aka making your life better!)

Do you struggle with back pain from sitting at your desk all day? Perhaps you have a bum hip from an old sports injury? As much as physical therapy and direct targeting of those areas can help, by strengthening your entire core, you’re only going to indirectly help yourself get rid of the aches and pains you’ve been dealing with for way too long. By tightening and toning these muscles, you’re going to feel better, look better and have more self confidence (which are my personal three keys to happiness).

– Reference: Check out Omega Boom to learn about the proper nutrition and supplements.

I’m here today to explain how to strengthen your core in only five minutes! Two simple moves, 30 seconds each, repeated one after the other. It’s really that easy…(I know you read and hear this all the time in relation to fitness, but I promise if you give this a week, you’ll absolutely feel a difference).

  1. Plank: Planking (no I don’t mean the popular meme from a few years ago) is the activity of resting on your toes and elbows while engaging your stomach and butt muscles. It’s an awesome alternative for people who hate doing crunches (me). By holding yourself parallel to the ground for 30 seconds, you’re activating the full set of core muscles and forcing them to work on their strength for stabilization. This is going to help you immensely if you struggle at all with lower back pains (again, like me). Once you’ve held the position for 30 seconds, immediately flip over onto your butt and go into the second pose…
  2. Jackknife: While sitting on the ground, raise your legs, keeping them as straight as possible. If you need to brace yourself with your hands on the ground for the first few days, that’s fine. If you’re able, lift your arms towards your toes and press your chest forward. Ideally, you want your butt to be the only thing touching the ground. This will strongly engage your abs and intercostals (the area around your ribcage). Hold for 30 seconds, then flip back over for another round of plank.

Repeat this process four more times, for a total of 5 minutes and you’re done! Oh, and breathing is key! Don’t forget that because you’re holding your postures for extended amounts of time you still need to be breathing regularly. It will only make the whole thing easier. After a week of these exercises, you’re hopefully going to feel better in your everyday life and it’s going to lead to exploration of other ways to improve.

Thanks for reading!

Stay smiling, my friends!

PYS

About the author

I'm Parker York Smith, a curious dude still very much figuring everything out. I hail from the Midwest but have been dwelling in Los Angeles for the last few years being a pretty stereotypical west coast transplant. I'm a fashion geek, I love to walk (a LOT) and I do my best to find the bright side. I'm extremely excited about this blog and hope that (with some hard work and luck) it turns into what I believe it can. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please get in touch with me via my social networks (which can be found in the sidebar) or email me at parker@thelooksmith.com.

Comments(1)

Andres(October 9, 2015)

Thanks for the advice. I will be trying that out tonight

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