Core Strength Training Program: A Cure for Painful Posture
When you have poor posture, you feel it everywhere. Your back aches, your knees hurt, you may have headaches and even stomach upset. Your body is designed to align a certain way and when you slump your shoulders or arch your back all the time; that alignment is thrown off. This creates a domino effect of pain, discomfort and difficult mobility. Slumped shoulders leads to neck pain, back pain and even problems with the hips, knees and ankles. It can also cause internal organs to become crowded which leads to stomach upset and other issues.
Over the course of time, a person who has poor posture will literally train their body to remain in that position. Core muscles weaken and the body slowly yields to the poor posture. While this leads to painful posture, there is good news because this can be remedied rather easily. Core strength training can strengthen the body and retrain it to assume good, healthy posture naturally.
Posture programs come a dime a dozen, but most fail to recognize the importance of strengthening the core. When this crucial aspect of good posture is overlooked, the result is typically failure to correct the problem for the long term. Strengthening the core is absolutely vital if you want to have good posture and maintain good posture throughout your lifetime.
In its most general sense, the core is the body without the arms and legs. The major muscles that make up the core lie in the mid and lower back area and in the abdominal region. They also include the muscles of the neck, shoulders and hips. This is where all functional movements, such as swinging a bat or walking, originate.
It is the core that keeps the body in an upright position and is the crux of movement. It is also the building block of pain free posture. Without these vitally important muscles working together efficiently and correctly, the posture reverts to a painful and even damaging, unhealthy state.
While you should engage in regular exercise at least three times a week, incorporating core work and weight bearing exercises, you should not overwork your core muscles. You use your core muscles every day to walk, sit, get dressed, just about everything you do relies in some part on your core muscles. To injure them would make moving about rather difficult and painful. Injuring your back can render you immobile so take care when you are working out your core area.
The best way to work your core is in a coordinate manner, working the muscles as a group. Isolating the muscles, particularly if they are weak, is inviting injury. Each of the muscle groups relies on the other for support. For example, the back muscles are also supported by the abdominal muscles. This is why when you work the core, work the groups of muscles together.
Always stretch prior to working out. Stretching increases muscular strength and helps to prevent injury. If you are tense or overflexed, you can injury yourself. Stretching helps you achieve strong, supple muscles.
If you are serious about correcting your poor, painful posture, find a program that includes proper core training. Pay attention to form and listen to your body. If you experience pain during exercise, stop and try something else. If the pain persists, see your doctor. If your body is way out of alignment, it will take some time to get your posture back were it needs to be. But once you get there you can have a great time enjoying your new found confidence as you look taller and thinner and your back is pain free.
Tag: core strength training program
Category: Posture Exercises