I can’t believe it is fall already! I hope you are having a great week.  It is time for a Fitness Life By Design Core Challenge. You can choose to start the fall off strong.

It is important to strengthen your core muscles (the muscles around your trunk and pelvis).  Your core has several major muscles which include your abdominals, obliques, diaphragm to name a few.  They are an important part of a fitness program for many reasons.

Reasons to Include Core Exercises:

• Helps to improve balance and stability which is important especially as you age.
• Can strengthen and tone your ab muscles
• Core muscles may help with good posture and improve back pain

Having a strong core can help with many fitness activites.  These activities might include playing golf, walking, riding bikes, and even dancing!  Gym memberships or specialized equipment are not required.  You can strengthen your core anywhere at any time. 

In the videos, I have provided 5 different core exercises (beyond sit ups and push-ups). Next week I will add 3 more.  The fitness challenge is to add core exercise to your weekly routine or if you are doing some now, to increase your core exercise. 

Some ideas about the challenge:

• Pick 2-3 exercises to start with
• Start with few reps and increase as you get stronger. Start out with 6-8 reps of each exercise.  Work up to 10-12 reps.  I would not recommend that you do 10 or more reps of all 5 exercises on the first day.  This can lead to ab muscle pain the next few days since your muscles might not be used to these movements.  Gradually work up to doing the 10 reps over the next couple of weeks.
• Develop a new routine of when you will do them.  As an example, do them first thing M-W-F after drinking your morning water.
• Core exercises do not take long.  A 10 to 15 min session can make a difference. (again, work up to this amount of time).
• Turn the challenge into a habit, make core exercises part of your life.

It is time for a Fitness Life By Design Core Challenge.  Good luck!  Send me a message or video that you are taking part and give updates about your progress.