Core Stability Exercises

Two weeks ago I talked about the muscles that give us core stability, how they’re designed to work, and how they change in response to pain or surgery. Last week I debunked the myth that sit-ups and crunches are the best (or even a beneficial) exercise for your back and core. This week I’d like to give you some examples of ways to strengthen those core muscles in a safe and effective way.

First Step: Locate the Transverse Abdominis Muscle
Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet on the ground and place both hands over your belly (between your navel and pubic bone). Open your mouth and exhale as though you are trying to fog up a pair of sunglasses so you can clean the lens. If you use enough force you will feel your TrA contract under your hands. (It will subtly drop away from your fingertips toward your spine.) Another way to contract the TrA is to imagine you’ve got a raging sunburn on your abdomen and you’re trying to keep your shirt from touching it. The motion is subtle–the back should neither arch nor press into the floor and your legs (especially the buttocks) should stay relaxed. Imagine a corset being drawn tight (and thank God we women don’t have to wear corsets anymore!).

Modified “crunches”
Lie on your back with your legs resting on a chair/exercise ball/couch. Gently tighten your TrA and maintain the contraction for the duration of the exercise. Lift both arms overhead and then bring them down toward your knees. Repeat. Keep breathing normally and make sure the head/neck/back still and relaxed (only the arms move). Continue this for 1-4 minutes, taking breaks as the TrA fatigues and you can’t keep it tightened. DON’T LIFT UP THE HEAD. (see last week’s post)

     

Variation: You can also criss-cross the arms, one at a time, toward the opposite knee. For more challenge, use 1-3 lb dumbbells or exercise bands.

    

Quadruped Leg Lift / Bird Dog
Get onto your hands and knees and tighten the TrA. Slowly straighten one leg behind you, stretching the foot toward the back wall. Make sure you don’t rotate the pelvis and back (they should stay table-top straight). Lower the leg and repeat with the other leg. Do this 10 times each leg.

Variation: You can straighten one leg behind, then lift the opposite arm out in front.

 

Planks
Tighten the TrA (are you sensing a pattern here?) and come onto knees and elbows, keeping the hips and the back straight. Hold this position for 10-15 seconds and then rest. Repeat 5-10 times

Variation: Do the plank on your elbows and toes. Or you can try a side plank. The plank position also easily transitions to a push-up, provided you keep the body completely still as you lower and raise it.

   

There are easily 100 different exercises you can do to improve your core stability—and lots of progressions/variations of these exercises mentioned above. The key things to remember are to tighten the TrA throughout the entire exercise and keep the spine stationary as the arms/legs move. Advanced exercises involve maintaining core stability while the trunk moves, but today I’ve just listed a couple of base level exercises. When executing these (or any core stability) exercises you should feel no pain. Pain is an indicator that the exercise is being performed incorrectly or that it might be more advanced than what your body can currently tolerate. For more core stability exercises or if you’re having difficulty or pain with exercises please call us at Mountain Valley Physical Therapy. We’d love to get you started on a program that matches your fitness level and challenges you to grow!