Get you body right series: The importance of core strength

In the third part of the Get Your Body Right series we focus on the core – and it will help make the workouts from weeks two and three much easier for this reason.

This week of the series focuses on core.

You might be feeling a little sore from all the squats, wall sits, push ups and walking over the past couple of weeks.

So, in the third instalment of the Get Your Body Right series we are adding some core exercises to help with it all.

Kieser exercise scientist Deb Lawrence, who designed the program in the videos below, said strengthening the core would make the exercises from the first two weeks easier.

“What is great about these core exercises is they actually help us with our first week program and second week program,” she said.

Brandon Demura works his core muscles with a bird dog. Picture: Jason Edwards

“If our core is nice and strong it helps us translate the strength from our limbs and actually supports us through other movements.

“For example, when I’m walking, if my core is nice and strong I can present a better posture.

“When I’m doing my squats (which also work the core) I can be a bit more upright with less effort.”

Accredited exercise physiologist at Peak Fitness Health Hub and University of Sydney clinical educator David Hutchinson works with a lot of patients with osteoporosis.

He agreed the bird dog, dead bug and plank helped build important strength in “the bridge between the legs and upper body”.

“Without your core muscles your body would flop around like a wobbly noodle any time you try to do something with your arms because there is no stable base for it to push off,” he said.

“If we want to do anything with our arms, whether that’s carrying baskets, or raising things above our head, or driving the car, we need to have a steady base to push off and that’s where the core comes in.

This one requires a fair bit of a co-ordination. It’s called a dead bug. Picture: Jason Edwards

“Your core does offer that support to the rest of your body and therefore it will have knock-on effects in improving your body capacity as well.

“These are three very accessible and easy exercises you can do at home to achieve that without any equipment.”

He said the dead bug and the plank were good stabilising exercises to do.

“It would also absolutely strengthen the muscles in the stomach area,” he said.

“But if you want to lose fat over your belly, unfortunately you’re going to need a bit more of an energy-burning stimulus like aerobic exercise such as walking or running (that’s why the program is again increasing the step count for week three).

“However I would suggest a much more efficient option is to just improve your diet for a flatter stomach.”

He said it was important to also include the bird dog when doing core exercises as it helped with the back.

“It is important to include the bird dog in the routine because the other two are very focused on the muscles at the front of the body,” he said.

“It has potential to maintain postural muscles which will help you to stay upright and not slouch forward.

“It’s a great lower intensity exercise.”

Week three workout:

WALK:

Can you bring your step count up to 6000 a day or about 40 minutes of walking when factoring in the walking you do just through everyday tasks?

CORE EXERCISES:

BEGINNER: 8 to 12 repetitions

INTERMEDIATE: 20 repetitions

ADVANCED: Go beyond until fatigued

LEG RAISE:

This exercise incorporates a little bit of hip flexor as well as stabilising the core. Lie down on your back. Use a pillow, if you need for your neck. Make sure you aren’t rocking through your hips and raise one leg up and down. Repeat on the other side.

DEAD BUG:

Beginner: Lie on your back with your legs bent and feet on the ground. Lift one knee up to a 90 degree angle slowly without shifting your torso and then lower it back down. Swap to the other leg.

Harder: While lying on your back bring your knees up to 90 degrees and have your arms up straight in the air. As you extend your left leg, extend your right arm so it goes by your head. Squeeze and hold. Bring them back to the start and alternate.

Advanced: Try extending both legs and both arms at the same time.

BIRD DOG:

Beginner: Get onto your hands and knees into a tabletop position like you have a glass of water balanced on your back. Extend one leg out straight behind you and bring it back in slowly while keeping your torso steady and squeezing your glute.

Harder: As you extend out your left leg in this way, extend your right arm out straight in front of you so you’re only balancing on your right hand and left knee. Alternate.

PLANK:

This one is a bit harder than the bird dog. Get into a tabletop position again before extending your legs out straight so you are on your toes. Hold squeezing your tummy. If you’re a beginner, aim for five to 10 seconds. If you can do a bit more, aim for 20 to 30 seconds. And if you’re advanced, try for 45 seconds to a minute.

MOBILITY MOVES

SIDE FLEXION

This is a good mobility exercise for your trunk or core. Have your hands down by your sides. Safely bend sideways to your left, running your left hand down your side, without needing to collapse your legs. You’ll feel a nice stretch through the right side. Alternate and repeat each side 20 times.

Who are our experts?

Deb Lawrence is an experienced exercise scientist and sports scientist at Kieser in Melbourne. She is passionate about strength longevity, injury prevention and loves sports like futsal, hockey and soccer.

Bill Dooley is a clinical exercise scientist, which he says is just a fancy way of saying he helps people with exercise. His interest is in helping people to exercise for the first time at any age, or helping people get back into exercise later in life.

FOLLOW ALONG:

Each week high-profile journalist Anthony Dowsley will follow the workout plan to help him train for his upcoming Machu Picchu trek. See how he went last week with upper body exercises from week two.

Anthony Dowsley shares how he went with upper body - and how a bird put him back on track.

Salads, fish, carrots, skim milk and low-carb beer.

It’s for the birds.

So, after work on Thursday I weakened.

The aroma of thick, cheesy slices of pizza filled the air outside the shops that line Flinders Street Station in Melbourne’s CBD.

It was too much. I couldn’t resist.

With a slice of pizza in my hand, I walked beneath the station’s famous clocks and people watched for a moment.

Then I headed for the tram, but I couldn’t wait to devour my slice of margherita.

Big mistake.

I was already being tracked from above and all I heard was the air move around me as something swooped.

A friggin’ seagull stole my pizza.

It was a major victory for the thieving bird and an unintended triumph for my weight loss ambitions.

This week the Get Your Body Right series, I’ve added push ups, dips, seated rows and shoulder exercises into my routine with the squats and calf raises.

Getting through the reps makes you instantly feel stronger. And you stand a little straighter.

But I can really feel the extra 20kg I carry around towards the end of my third set of push ups or dips.

And I haven’t forgotten to get more than 5000 steps in a day.

I’m getting some early walks in with my dog, Sunny, who has been known to chase a bird or two.

So, if he does his job, there’s not going to be a repeat of the spectacle on Flinders Street.

Flock that.

Originally published as Get you body right series: The importance of core strength