Core Exercises

Keeping your knees on the ground, move into a push-up position (as if you’re about to do a half press-up), then lower your forearms so that they are flat on the ground. Engage your core (suck your tummy muscles in) and keeping the tension between your shoulders, maintain a straight line from your head through to your knees (this is easiest to check if you have a mirror sideways-on). Hold the position for thirty seconds, release down and then repeat. The duration of the hold can gradually be extended as you become stronger, alternatively you can move to a full-plank, starting from a press-up position with your body weight through your forearms and toes, rather than forearms and knees.

Starting on all-fours (hands and knees), hands are shoulder width apart and placed directly under your shoulders; knees are the same distance apart as your arms and placed directly under your hips. Back is in a straight line between your shoulder blades and hips (check in a side-on mirror if possible) and your neck is in a straight line with your back (so you’re looking at a spot on the ground very slightly in front of you). Engage your core so that you feel complete stability along your back and abdominals. Keeping your head, neck and the rest of your body still, slowly move your right arm up off the ground until it pointing directly out in front of you, then extend your left leg (opposite leg) out behind you so that your foot is pointing directly back behind you. Try not to let your hips or your shoulders drop, but maintain the line along your neck and spine and your core engaged. Just hold the position for a second, then return the hand and knee to the starting position. Repeat ten times on this side, then switch sides.

With the swiss ball on the ground, kneel behind the ball and then slowly roll yourself over the top of the ball, first using your feet for stability, then by placing your hands on the ground in front of the ball. Continue this forward movement by placing your hands one in front of the other, until the ball is positioned under the tops of your legs. Feet are off the ground and legs are straight, creating a straight line down the length of your body. Keeping the tension in your abs so that your back doesn’t arch, your arms are straight and at a ninety-degree angle with your body; hands are directly under shoulders (don’t lock your elbows). Now to take this move to the next level, keeping the body in a straight line on the ball, parallel to the floor, move one hand in front of the other so that the ball moves down your legs and is now sitting underneath your shins. Abs tight, don’t let your hips sag towards the floor. The next level of this exercise is a swiss-ball pike, where from the plank position on the ball and using your feet and legs you pull the ball back in towards you. Arms remain straight, top of the feet are on the top of the ball, now ‘gripping’ the top of the ball with your feet, pull the ball in towards you, knees bending underneath you. Abs are still tight, helping you to keep your back in a straight line from shoulders to hips. Planks can be held for thirty seconds, increasing up to a minute as your strength improves; the pike can be repeated ten times, increasing up to fifteen per set.

Start sitting on the floor, with your legs straight out in front of you, heels on the ground and knees bent at a ninety degree angle. Put the palms of your hands together a couple of inches away from the front of your chest, as if you’re praying (if you’re using a medicine ball, hold the ball in front of you, level with your chest). Now tilt backwards very slightly, keeping your back in a straight line from your shoulders to your hips; at the same time your feet come a few inches off the floor, maintaining that ninety degree angle in your legs. Keeping your neck and your head facing forwards and the rest of your body still, with your palms still together move your hands towards the floor on your right-hand side, then in a kind of window-wiper movement, move your hands towards the floor on your left-hand side. If you are using a medicine ball, first move the ball and lightly touch it to the floor by your right-hand side (by your bum) and then the same on the left-hand side. You will feel a good twist across the oblique muscles down the side of the torso and maintaining the balance, with your feet off the ground is a great workout for the stomach muscles. Exhale as you twist and inhale as your hands move back to the centre of your chest. Try and twist tent times to each side (twenty in total) and steadily increase to thirty in total once your strength improves.