When a squat works your core muscles and sculpts your legs, add a resistance band to it to tone up your arms too! And I swear, it's harder to do it on the beach!
Instructions:
- Lower hips to (almost) parallel to the floor with band handles in hand.
- Keep knees behind/ aligned with your toes, engage in the core (tuck in tummy).
- Squeeze your glutes when standing up, at the same time, pull handles up to chest.
- Repeat 10 - 15 reps, 3 sets.
What is core?- Part 1
When we talk about core, we associate it with abdominal muscles. What we do not know about is, core muscles also include mid and lower back muscles, as well as part of the hips, shoulders and neck.
From an anatomy’s point of view, major muscles in the core include the pelvic floor muscles, transversus abdominis, multifidus, internal and external obliques, rectus abdominis, erector spinae especially the longissimus thoracis, and the diaphragm. Minor core muscles include the latissimus dorsi, gluteus maximus, and trapezius.
What does core really do?
Core muscles put our posture together! You have heard people complain about neck, shoulder pain, lower back pain, etc, but they do not realize that the culprit is the weak core muscles. Not only is your posture affected by weak core muscles, but it also causes muscle imbalance.
So, hands down, how do we strengthen the core muscles?
Aside from the conventional core exercises like plank and side plank, also try to incorporate back extension, copra prone, deadlift and squats into your core routine. As I mentioned earlier, gluteus maximus, mid and lower back muscles are also part of the core, right?
Now, read on for the exercise tips…
Plank
Give it a try. We will talk about more core strengthening exercises in the coming posts.
