Hard Core
Strengthen Your Core For Just Five Minutes A Day
I work my core about five times per week and while I appreciate the importance of having a strong core, I absolutely hate it. It’s hard. It hurts. But it’s a vital component of any fitness regimen.
I have a history with terrible posture and its caused me all sorts of issues. Aside from walking hunched over, I’ve had a history of lower back spasms and my upper back has, at times, felt like somebody was forcing my muscles through a meat grinder. Trips to the chiropractor would alleviate the issues temporarily, but they always came back. I worked to strengthen my back muscles of course, but it just wasn’t enough, especially when it came to my lower back. It wasn’t until I started incorporating core workouts into my workout schedule that I finally saw (knock on wood) some seemingly permanent relief.
As we age, we lose muscle mass. Age-related muscle loss, called sarcopenia, is a natural part of aging. After age 30, you begin to lose as much as 3% to 5% per decade. Traditional strength training can help reverse that muscle loss and that includes training your core. It’s that muscle group that helps keep us stable and allow us to perform the daily activities we take for granted, including everything from coughing to maintaining good posture.
For me, a core workout was typically a few sets of crunches or sit ups at the end of the workout that I frequently skipped out on, because, well, it was the end of the workout. I needed to change my approach so it would be at the core (pun intended) of my strength training. So I decided to train my core for 5 minutes on all the days that I complete other strength training workouts. And perhaps the most important of those changes was doing the core workout first.
If you’re exercising regularly, you are more than likely training your core without even knowing it, which is why five minutes of focused time is plenty to noticeably strengthen those muscles. It’s also important to remember that your core is more than just your abdominal muscles, so a few sit ups here and there won’t cut it. I’m sharing my core workout, which I’ll typically schedule as 3 days on, 1 day off. These workouts can be mixed to meet your specific goals and the collection of exercises will work all aspects of your core.
Day 1 - (repeat the circuit twice)
30 seconds of crunches
30 seconds forearm plank
30 seconds “normal” plank
30 seconds of side forearm plank (each side)
Day 2 (Repeat the circuit twice)
30 seconds of “supermans”
30 seconds of side forearm plank dips (both sides)
30 seconds of hollow hold
30 seconds of traditional sit ups
Day 3 (Repeat the Circuit Twice)
1 minute of plank walks (Warning: One minute of these are brutal)
30 seconds of plank jacks
30 seconds bicycle crunches
30 seconds reverse crunches
Since I started doing core consistently (and that is the key word), I’ve not experienced any muscle tightness in my back, nor have I experienced the back spasms that at some points were so bad that it was difficult for me to walk. It’s also helped my posture tremendously, though I’m sure there is still work to be done. And the best part is that it takes 5 minutes a day. It won’t happen overnight, but I guarantee that you will feel a big difference if you incorporate core workouts into your regular fitness regimen.