Guest post by Fit Athletic
Ah February and March…..the month of love and the month of all that can be made green. The months of preparing for taxes. The months to ponder and await spring. And the time of the fitness doldrums.
The wind is out of your sails. The post-holiday motivation/panic and New Year’s inspiration to get and to stay fit and healthy has ebbed. Spring Break and summer beach-body have not yet crept into your mind’s eye. You’re wearing warm, physique-hiding sweaters and “life” has taken precedence.
So where to turn to find a renewed enthusiasm for getting your body moving? You need look no further than the foundation for all movements within our bodies. Look to YOUR CORE!
The core: as in your center, your trunk, your torso, all that is not your arms and legs. Any foray back into the world of getting your body fit should always begin with the core.
This does not mean solely losing your keg to find your six-pack. This means strengthening the muscles and connective tissues of everything from your shoulders to your hips, front AND back.
Why the core first you ask?
When you build a house, you would never devise a construction plan that said to put up four walls and a roof without first pouring a foundation. In the same vein, when you build your “house” of a body, you must start with a solid, strong foundation.
That’s your core.
“Ok so I’ll do a thousand crunches a day for the first week and I’ll be ready burn up my biceps and trick out my triceps.” Nope. Sorry. You need to be sure that your entire foundation is level, even and covering the entire base of the footprint that will support your house. A small bubble or a slight flaw in the foundation could compromise the integrity of the structure above it.
So, too, is the case with your core. You must begin with a focus on strengthening the muscles of the abs, back, hips and shoulders. Once you have a created that strong foundation and core, you can go to town on the rest of the structure.
Having a strong core will help to prevent injury at the shoulders, hips and back when you begin to strengthen and use your limbs. However, you cannot simply leave that core behind to max out your bench press or to sculpt your triceps. You must keep up with the maintenance of that core.
Incorporate some of the same exercises that you use to build up that core as part of your warm-up before heading into your strength-training workout.
Get rid of the fitness doldrums by creating a fabulous, strong core. Hit up Google for some core exercises and you will be amazed at the encyclopedia that will appear. Try some new moves.
Or work with a certified personal trainer to help you devise a program that will be specific to your needs. A trainer will identify deficiencies and weaknesses in your core and provide expertise to correct them and help you to create a rock solid base.
Build your personal house the smart way and it will protect and keep you moving for years to come.
The information in this video has been called the missing link in mental health and personal development. In a world full of shallow, quick-fix techniques, second rate psychology and pharmaceutical takeovers, real solutions have become nearly impossible to find. This presentation will turn your world upside down.
Mike Bundrant is co-founder of the iNLP Center and host of Mental Health Exposed, a Natural News Radio program.
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