FitSugar

5 Moves to Work Your Core

FitSugar — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:40:37 PST

We all know that the elbow plank is a great core exercise. But this move, like any other, can get a bit stale. And if you're bored with an exercise chances are high your body has becomes accustomed to the exercise and you're no longer gaining strength.

If you're ready to add variation to your core routine, here are five new moves to strengthen your mid-section courtesy of Core Performance Women. These exercises target the back, glutes, abs, and inner thighs. Add two to three of these exercises to your strength training sessions and you will notice a more toned middle and stronger workouts all around.
Photos courtesy of Core Performance Women (Penguin)

How to Work Your Abs With 3 Easy Yoga Moves

PopSugar LivingTV — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 19:27:05 PST

You may be familiar with how yoga helps to relax and center yourself, but it can also be a great way to work your core. Here, Zelana and Susi show how to do three easy yoga moves that can help strengthen your abs - from the basic downward facing dog, to a harder twist for your obliques, and finally how to up the ante and do a leg thread. Watch our video for more tips on how to properly do these moves.

Strengthen Your Core With Tone It Up's Stability Ball Workout

Fit Community — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 04:30:00 PDT

If you enjoyed the bikini body and body toning video workouts from the Tone It Up group, here's a stability ball workout video from Karena and Katrina.

To see detailed descriptions of the exercise moves,

How to Get a Celebrity Workout at Home - Tips From The Hills' Personal Trainer

PopSugar LivingTV — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 08:00:00 PDT

When Lauren Conrad and the rest of The Hills cast want to get in top shape, they turn to celebrity fitness trainer Jarett del Bene. Watch our video to find out the celebrity workout plan he recommends to clients, as well as how to do two of his signature moves - "The Plank" for hot abs, and "The Squat & Press" for an allover body workout!

Cross Train by Sitting Up Straight

FitSugar — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:00:18 PST

In all kinds of exercise - swimming, biking, lifting, running - a strong and connected core makes you more efficient, which means faster and less likely to suffer an overuse injury. My Equinox swim coach Hannah is tweaking my stroke, but the most effective change by far is my rib cage. She wants it up and forward, which interestingly enough is the same postural correction I received from Danny Dreyer, creator of Chi Running, when I studied with him last Spring. Since I'll be unable to get into the pool before our next session, Hannah told me to work on my ribs and posture - to lengthen my torso and lift my chest.

Yes! I can cross train at my desk, while walking my daughter to school, and when doing the dishes. When I leave the slouching behind and lift my ribs, not only am I taller, but I feel my upper abs engage. I call that a double bonus. Are you slouching right now? Try a little desk cross training and sit up straight, with the ribs over the pelvis not behind it, and engage your abs. This should help your aching back too.

Another Reason to Exercise: Coregasms!

FitSugar — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:00:00 PDT

My pal DearSugar writes about sex daily. She can tell you how to have a better orgasm, and I can tell you the health benefits of having them regularly. Having sex not only relieves stress, but it also boosts your immunity. Most of the time you find the big "O" behind closed doors, but this just in - many women are experiencing them in the gym. I'm talking about something called a coregasm.

Have I caught your attention yet? If so read more.

Core Concepts: Running

FitSugar — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 10:00:00 PST

Whether running for fun, fitness, or to be fast, efficiency is key. Having a strong core plays an important part in translating the power of the legs to propelling the entire body forward through space. The deep abs, made up of the transversus abdominis (TVA) and internal obliques, are the keystone for core stabilization. Unfortunately, running bio-mechanics expert Michael Fredericson, Ph.D, found that about 90 percent of runners have weak abs leading to faulty running patterns. Having weak abs can easily translate into "running funny" with too long or too short of steps, or a pelvis that swings from side to side.

The deep abs stabilize the pelvis by keeping it in a neutral position, so that the back of the legs can push your entire body forward, rather than just wasting power just stretching the low abs. A strong core can help make your running more efficient as well as faster. When the weak low abs work in tandem with the spinal muscles these muscles support the torso and give you more endurance too.

Due to our modern and sedentary lifestyle, many folks have weak deep abs because sitting all day leads to slouching, which deactivates the deeps abs. To learn how to reactivate your TVA right now

Yep, Down There: Strengthening Your Pelvic Floor

FitSugar — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 02:20:05 PST

No one ever brags about how hard they worked their pelvic floor. It just sounds a wee bit smutty. These often neglected, little muscles that support your torso from the base of your pelvis need to be demystified so you can strengthen them correctly; since they are considered an important component of your core.

If you practice yoga you might refer to the pelvic floor (PF) as the mula bandha. Most ladies work their PF by doing kegels, but that just works a portion of the muscles and doesn't necessarily help pull the PF up. The muscles of the pelvic floor fill in the space between your pubic bone (front of your pelvis), your coccyx (tail bone), and your sits bones (ischial tuberosites in anatomy lingo). The overall shape is similar to a kite and contains many different muscles. To activate the pelvic floor you want to imagine those above mentioned bones coming closer to one another as the muscles attached to them activate and pull up. It helps to think of the PF as similar to your diaphragm that moves up and down as you inhale and exhale.

To learn a a simple exercise to just

read more Here is a subtle and simple exercise that you can do right now. It is so subtle that no one will know you are exercising your nether regions. On a four-count exhale, pull the PF up and in toward the center line of your body. Then release slowly on a four-count inhale. Allow your pelvic floor to completely relax in between repetitions. Repeat five to ten times and throughout the day. Fit's Tip: This exercise isn't just for postpartum mamas. Nope - it is great for everybody since it helps create a stable base for motion. Aside from providing support while running and lifting weights, a toned pelvic floor provides beneficial side effects in the bedroom, too! I actually had husbands of my Pilates clients thank me for teaching their wives this exercise. Source

Pilates 101: Finding Neutral Spine

FitSugar — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 10:00:00 PST

The concept of neutral spine may sound simple, but this important Pilates concept can be elusive. To keep a neutral shade of spine, you maintain the natural curves of your back while doing an exercise, such as an upper abdominal curl (aka crunches). Keeping neutral means the muscles in your back are working in conjunction with your abs, and when you get your abs and back to fire together, you are working your core. Maintaining those natural curves keeps your ab work honest and makes it more difficult to cheat.

Although the concept of leaving things as they are sounds simple, when the majority of people lie on their backs, they automatically press their low spines into the floor. This, my friends, is not neutral.

To find your neutral spine:

Lie down on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor, with your heels about a foot from your bum.
Rock your pelvis up and down so you can feel the top and bottom of your sacrum, the bony back of your pelvis.
Stop rocking and feel the entire sacrum on the ground, allowing the five vertebrae in your lumbar spine to make a gentle curve away from the floor. It will not be big curve!
Your bottom rib should also be making contact with the floor.
The curve of your neck should mirror the curve of your low spine, so it pulls away from the floor as well.

To learn how to find neutral spine from the front of your body, simply

read more. You can also monitor your neutral spine from the front.

Your pubic bone and top of your pelvis (ASIS) should be on the same plane and parallel to the floor.
To get a sense if these bones are even, place the heels of your palm on the top of your pelvis and the middle fingers of both hands on your pubic bone. These bones should be on the same plane.
The apex of the curve in your lower (lumbar) spine should be even with your belly button. This is another way to feel that the curve is there but not huge!

When lying on your back with both feet off the ground, you should round your low back (super scoop) and not maintain neutral. In those positions (like the 100s in Pilates), rounding the spine protects your back! Source

Core Knowledge

FitSugar — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 09:00:00 PST

Fitness types toss the term "core" around with little explanation, leaving many people confused and believing that ab work, like crunches, is strengthening their core. But this is not the case; the core is not simply the muscles on the front of your body. Nope. The core is three-dimensional, and in general terms you can think of it as your torso. One of my favorite definitions of the core is that it runs from your nipples to your knees.

Essentially, the core stabilizes your pelvis, low back, and rib cage, and it is made up of many muscle groups: all four layers of your abdominal muscles, including the obliques and transversus; the muscles on either side of the spine; the little muscles that run vertebrae to vertebrae know as the multifidi; as well as your glutes, hip flexors, and inner thighs. In Pilates, we also include the pelvic floor as part of the core; these small deep muscles help stabilize the pelvis.

To see how these muscles work together

read more. All these muscles work together to maintain torso stability, but I feel a working core is easiest to feel if you imagine sandwiching your spine with your deep abs and deep spinal muscles, like when holding plank. When you add leg movement to a plank, like a donkey kick, you are challenging your core even more. You should feel your core working during squats as well as boat pose in yoga. And if you don't feel your back and abs working together, imagine that sandwiching sensation and know that if you pull your abs toward your spine without moving the vertebrae, the muscles in your back will be working too. Looking for more exercise to strengthen your core, now that you know crunches are not targeting all the elements of your core? Check out these core exercises. Source