Introduction to Core Exercises

Series Summary

Core body strength exercises are exercises for the innermost muscles of the human body. The core is where your innermost strength comes from. These muscle groups include the upper and lower abdominal and back muscles and when toned, can offer a powerful support structure of the body. The core muscles also absorb shock, stabilize the body and link the arms and legs.

In these video clips, you will see experts demonstrating various core exercises. Begin your core exercise routine with an introduction to these core exercises with our expert. You can watch these videos to learn how to do crunches and curl exercises as well as stability ball and resistant ball exercises. Become familiar with pike and plank exercises and work those core muscles! Try the basic knee and leg drop exercises and then try the more complicated reverse plank and shoulder-bridge exercises. Stretching the core muscles is important in building its strength. Learn the single leg stretch exercise and the toe reach exercise from our core strengthening experts. Strengthen your core muscle groups and learn some new exercises and stretches in these informative videos!

Video Transcript

"Hi my name Ricki Butler and I’m a group fitness professional. I have been in the fitness industry for the past 10 years. I am a personal trainer, a group exercise instructor and a group exercise program director. I am certified through AFA and AAAI, on behalf of ExpertVillage.com, today I will be demonstrating a series of core exercises. Before we start I want to let you know what your core consists of. Your core consists of your abdominals, your lower back, your gluts and your hips. Throughout the series I will be asking you to keep your navel pulled into your spine or scoop your belly button in towards your spine, when I ask you to do those two things I don’t mean holding your breath. So you don’t want to inhale and lift your shoulders to your ears, this is incorrect. So you want to relax – your shoulders are going to come down, when I ask you to pull your navel into your spine, you should be able to talk and breathe at the same time. So your navel is going to go right in towards your spine and you’re going to keep your abdominals engaged throughout every exercise. We’re going to go ahead and get started. "