Cooke - Core Training For Seniors: A Complete Guide To Improving Core Strength And Mobility

Before we can look at how to exercise your core, we need to understand it better. Once we understand the benefits we can reap from maintaining our core properly, and the problems that can arise if it is not properly exercised, once we understand this we will feel motivated enough to exercise this very important part of our body. Oftentimes, when someone hears the word core, they immediately think of a six-pack and well-defined abs, and they are correct to a certain extent. I will be showing you that the core is much more than that.

Your core is the middle area of your body, better known as your midsection. It includes your stomach, your back, and your sides. It stretches from your diaphragm to your pelvic floor muscles. The main function of your core muscles is to take the weight and pressure off your spine and to help regulate force between your upper and lower body. Your core muscles assist you in doing a wide variety of actions such as, sitting down, standing up, and using everyday tools such as a vacuum cleaner, broom, and rake. It even includes just standing upright in general, such as when you are cooking a meal or paying for your groceries at the supermarket.

In this section, we will be looking at all of the major core muscles and where they are located in your body, as well as what their functions are in your normal day to day life. The scientific names may seem intimidating at first, but dont let them discourage you. I will explain them to you in depth so that by the time you are through with this section it will not seem so scientific and complex at all.

These are the muscles and connective tissue that can be found around your pelvis area. These muscles offer support for the organs that are housed in the pelvic area, such as your bladder, liver, kidneys, and intestines; in females this will include the uterus as well. When these muscles are properly exercised regularly it can benefit those that experience a condition known as stress urinary incontinence. The pelvic floor muscles are superior to your glutes, but inferior to the rest of your core muscles.

These muscles can be found layered deep inside the front and sides of the abdominal wall. They are most notably the inferior muscles to your diaphragm, and superior to the pelvic floor muscles. These are the muscles that are actually responsible for a flat stomach. But more importantly, they help to compress the ribs and organs in your upper body and provide stability to your pelvic and thoracic areas. These are also the muscles that pregnant women will use while giving birth. Exercising these muscles can reduce as much as 40% of the pressure that is found on the intervertebral discs of your spine, where a lack of exercise can lead to spinal injury.

This is a collection of muscle fibers that can be found connected on either side of your spine, and travel from just below where your skull and neck meet and all the way down to where your spine and pelvis meet. The function of this muscle group is to give stability to your spine, making the vertebra more effective. When this muscle group is not exercised properly and regularly it can lead to lower back pain.