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Monday 17 June 2013

The Importance of a Strong Core

This article will discuss what the core is, why it is important to build a strong core and also look at some key exercises to help to develop a strong core.

What is our core?

I would suggest, from personal experience, that many people believe our core to be the abdominal muscles. And this is partly true. However, there is much more to the core than just our abs. The muscles in the lower back, pelvis and hips also make up our core. 

Why is it important to build a strong core?

Our core is so vital to most of our movement that it is important to develop a strong core for a number of reasons. 


  • A strong core can help with our balance and stability.
  • A strong core can help to reduce our chances of injury. Developing our core leads to a greater range of motion for us and thus makes us far less likely to get injured. 
  • We need a strong core to help us with daily tasks. Bending, reaching and twisting are all aided with a strong, healthy core and these are things that we do every single day. 
  • Developing our core is a major thing with sports. Athletes of all levels should look to build their core as it can lead to an improved performance. We can swing better, run faster and kick further.


Some key exercises to develop our core

There are many exercises that can be used to develop and strengthen our core muscles. At a beginners level there are simple exercises that will start building our core. As we progress we can change these exercises, making them harder to improve our core even further. 

Sit-ups and crunches, planks (bridges), push-ups, squats and leg raises are some of the basic exercises that we can do to develop and strengthen our core muscles. Once we master these, we can advance upon them. For example, we can start adding side planks, one armed push-ups and pistol squats into our routines. 

Conclusion

It is clear that the core is vital to our everyday lives, but it can also help us steer clear of injury and enhance our sports performance. There are many exercises we can do to strengthen the core, including crunches and planks. 

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