« Healthy Benefits Of Stretching | Home | Importance Of Warming Up Before Exercise »
The Importance Of Working Your Core Muscles
By Joe | July 24, 2009
Suppose that at a distance you see a short, stooped figure walking with short, slow steps. Most likely, you will conclude that the person is old. The hunched posture gives you the clue.
Why does aging contort so many bodies in this way? The reason is that many people, throughout their lives, never extend the neck to its full range, and so the muscles shorten. Long hours of reading, sewing, surfing the internet, or standing at a workbench take their toll. Eventually deposits of calcium salts in the joints complete the process of immobilization.
Fortunately, people of any age can take action before it is too late. The best action is regular exercise that stretches the muscles and improves flexibility, with special consideration of the core muscles.
What Are Core Muscles?
Core muscles pertain to the muscles found at the obliques, abdominals, lower back, and the glutes. These four areas of the body are the ones that usually frame the posture of a person. A good posture reflects the strength in these muscle areas.
What people do not know is that core muscles are actually the “core” or the central part of all the strength that is needed to carry out different physical activities. This only means that if an individual’s core muscles are physically powerful, it will maintain equilibrium on the body and will stabilize the system every time the person is working out and moving around. This stability is what helps to prevent pulled muscles and backaches.
Strengthening Core Muscles
The main responsibility of the core muscles is to provide enough power and stability to the body in order to enable it to cope with the dynamic challenges of every physical activity that a person encounters. For this reason, many health and fitness experts have realized that it is more important to strengthen the core muscles than many other muscles in the body.
Through a series of experiments and research, it has been discovered that having stronger core muscles can lessen a lot of posture-related health problems. For instance, a well-conditioned core muscle group can support good posture. It can also improve the endurance of the back through the entire day.
Why? Because muscles that are included in the group of core muscles are actually the ones that initiate the proper stabilization of the whole upper and lower torso.
So, for those who wish to know and understand why it is important strengthen the core muscles, here is a list of some of the benefits that you can use as references:
1. Strengthening core muscles will improve posture and prevent low back pain of a muscular origin. This means that as you incorporate stretching exercises in your routine, taking a particular focus on the muscles of the upper and front part of the trunk, including the abdominal and trunk muscles, the activity has the tendency to strengthen the muscles of the back that extend to the spine.
2. It will help tone the muscles, thereby, avoiding further back injury. Exercising your core muscles will strengthen and tones your lower back muscles and buttocks while stretching the hip flexors and the muscles on the front of the thighs.
3. Improves physical performance: Exercising the core muscles with slow, static stretching is just as effective in relieving stiffness and enhances flexibility. Once the flexibility of a person has improved, it follows that they will be able to perform physical activities much easier.
4. They do not cause sore aching muscles: Static stretching for core muscles is best for the muscles and connective tissues. And because it employs slow stretches only, it will not cause any soreness, as do the quick, bouncing exercises that rely on jerky muscle contraction.
5. Lengthen muscles and be more sure-footed as you age: Core muscle exercises lengthen the muscles that have contracted as a result of pain. That tension can affect many muscles and bone/joint alignments.
Health and fitness experts highly recommend starting core workouts immediately and repeating the routine at least 3 times a week.
Core muscles are extremely important in determining the good posture of the body. Strengthening them can eliminate those nuisances of back pains and provide the flexibility to move through your day. You strengthen core muscles with resistance training and abdominal exercises, to name two.
I hope this gives you a better perspective on our muscles, and again please remember to check with your Doctor before making any changes.
Topics: HSE Articles | 3 Comments »
3 Responses to “The Importance Of Working Your Core Muscles”
Comments
« Healthy Benefits Of Stretching | Home | Importance Of Warming Up Before Exercise »
August 2nd, 2009 at 8:22 am
You are right.
—————————————
signature: bactrim pills e56599oejle8
June 18th, 2010 at 12:26 pm
Thanks for this
information
June 24th, 2010 at 8:06 am
Thanks for
your sharing, it’s very useful