Core Workout

So, I promised myself that I would work on core strength this year. Until recently, I have come up with a lot of excuses for why I couldn't do this... (1) too tired from long runs, (2) concern over my back locking up, (3) not knowing what exercises to do, (4) not owning a medicine ball or stability ball...

Well, I am no longer marathon training, so Excuse #1 is out the door. And, as I am currently not training for anything in particular (aka so who cares if my back locks up?... not really, I do like to stand upright, but I am a little bit more willing to experiment), so is Excuse #2. #3, the Internet exists. #4, they sell these things at Target. Ok, so I guess I'm out of excuses.

Outside of situps and plank, I really have very little idea of what I should do. I've tried the whole 200 situps thing a few times, and made it to week 4 or so before getting bored. We did butterfly kick things in college, so there's one. And, I found a 15min core workout (that was really more than 15min) a while back. But, most of these exercises work the same muscles, and there are a lot of core muscles. Plus, I like variety. So, to the Internet! Unfortunately, a lot of the workouts are tagged using such phrases as "belly-buster" or "Victoria Secret Model Workout". While I'm sure that the suggested exercises do something for core strength, or at least more than the nothing that I'm doing now, I'm not sure exactly what they're doing. The people just look skinny, not strong. I'm doing this so I can be a stronger runner and breathe better and not get injured... not so I can be a Victoria Secret model (although abdominal strength probably wouldn't be the deciding factor in that case).

So, I narrowed my search to runners (since that's what I cared about), and found this video with Shalane Flannagan and Kara Goucher:



Being that I am over an hour slower than Shalane Flanagan, I decided to start off a little easier (I broke the set of 10 down into 2 sets of 5 and left out the Figure 8 thing completely because that is crazy). Well friends, I can assure you that I look NOTHING like Ms. Flanagan. The side-to-side thing... the first time I tried it, I rolled right off the side of the stability ball and nearly hit my head on the couch. Lesson learned- now I make sure that the room is free of "obstacles" (or that they are blocked off with pillows). The circles... yeah... I gave up restarting the count every time I fell off to the side. Basically, the only exercise that I could do halfway decent was the back-and-forth one, and that may have only been because it's the first in the series. However, I think I am getting better because I don't go careening off the stability ball quite as often (I actually made it through both sets the other night!). And, because these exercises don't just focus on movement in one plane, I found out that my right side is definitely a lot weaker than my left (hmmm... guess that might be why my right leg that always hurts).  

I've also tried adding a few more exercises, like situps and pushups using the stability ball. The situps are definitely a lot harder than normal situps, but the pushups are probably a little easier (I think the stability ball we have is actually a little too big for me). And, I've also thrown in some opposite leg+arm raises on the stability ball, but I have no idea if that's doing anything. Maybe stretching. Actually, I did fall off a few times when I first added those in, so maybe it's working my core as well and I just don't realize it because it doesn't hurt as much as other things.

Then, there are the more traditional things like plank. Plank sucks. Especially for a minute. It's a lot harder than the 5x 20sec on / 10sec rest that I used to do. And, the other day I tried side plank for 30sec on each side. It wasn't as bad, but I think my form might have been a bit sloppy. Anyways, I think if I just did a few sets of 1min plank everyday, I'd probably be pretty well off! Outside of that, I've tried to do bicycle situps instead of regular situps. And, while I'm sure they are doing something for my core, my hip flexors hurt more than anything else.  

I'm still looking for other things. I tried adding a day of swimming back since I consider that to be an "active core workout". Of course, I'm not sure what a "passive core workout" would be outside of the silly As Seen on TV things. Anyways, swimming is good for me, like kale and beets. So yeah, any suggestions are welcome (except for burpees because I hate those and the 10-15 that Sean has us do during track workouts are enough)!