9781422286951 An Integrated Life of Fitness Core Workouts

hands. Exercisers use the arms and core muscles to raise the knees as far up as they’ll go, then bring them slowly back down to the ground. The abdominal crunch machine is a little more complicated. If you’re using one, hook your legs under the bottom supports. Grab the arm handles behind your head and place your elbows against the arm pads. Then push your elbows in, bend forward, and lift your legs to your chest all at the same time. Use your core muscles as much as pos- sible when lifting and then letting go. While all these machines can be useful, you can also get a thorough and challenging workout at home without all the fancy equipment. Ma- chines do make core workouts more interesting, though, if you’re bored with your regular routine and have access to a gym. DO WHAT YOU CAN One of the biggest mistakes people new to exercise make is to try and do too much. You may want to try the hardest exercises right away, or work out for a long time. But core workouts build up strength over time. There aren’t any shortcuts, and trying to do too much too soon could end up in an injury. Then you won’t be able to do any exercise at all! Start off doing core exercises for fifteen or twenty minutes at a time. You probably won’t get bored in such a short amount of time, and it’s easier to motivate yourself to exercise for a short period of time rather than a longer one. After fifteen or twenty minutes gets easy, add five minutes on your workouts for a week or two. Then add another five. Before you know it, you’ll be at forty-five minutes or an hour. You also want to start off slow so that you don’t burn out or get frustrated right away. People who try really hard exercises right away probably won’t be able to perform them properly. Then they might get discouraged from exercising at all, because they feel like they failed so soon. Instead, a beginning exerciser should start off with easier moves and work up to the harder ones. After a few months or a couple years, experienced exercisers can do those challenging moves with more ease and less danger of injury. You should also feel comfortable taking some days off from exercising.

Core Workout Equipment and Safety

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