Running is not just about your legs. Keeping your core body fit can help to improve your form and improve your overall running ability. The core muscle groups are made up of the belly, mid, and lower back. They help you to maintain your balance and have correct posture in addition to making you less injury prone.
Core body workouts abound on the Internet, and on your TV. I don’t know how much stock I really take in all of these workout plans that you can buy online. I may not be doing the best workouts in the world but I am working my main core muscle groups. As I stated in my running plan post I am running Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. In between I plan to do core body exercises on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Hopefully the combination of muscle workouts and running will allow me to condition my body to be better able to maintain a decent pace throughout and entire marathon.
Currently my workouts consist of the simplest forms of exercise, push ups and sit ups. The sit ups are actually what we would consider crunches, not true full sit ups. You may mock my choice of workouts, or you may not. Either way I prefer to do exercises which utilize only my body weight as resistance, and no machines. By not using a machine to workout you are actually using more muscles for each rep as your body is working to stabilize itself during the exercise. The key to any workout is having proper form, when you have proper form you minimize the possibility for injury and maximize the effectiveness of the workout.
A Good Form Push up
Lay on the ground with hands placed as wide as your shoulder or just a little bit further. Stay straight and bend your elbows to lower yourself to the ground, then extend your arms back up, rinse and repeat. Make sure you are keeping your body straight, as if there were a steel rod running from your head down to your ankles.
Check out this video at Run to Win to see how to do a good push up.
A Good Form Crunch
Lay on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor, place your hands gently behind your head to support it, not to push it. You should then curl up your shoulders towards your hips and trying to keep your eyes looking at the ceiling. Slowly tighten your abs and lift your body to no more than 35 degrees. Make sure your lower back does not leave the floor.
My Plan
I am trying out the 100 push up challenge as well as the 200 sit up challenge. This is an online “program” which is supposed to get you to where you can do 100 consecutive push ups and 200 consecutive sit-ups. You start the program by completing an initial test which consists of doing the maximum number of good form sit ups/push ups. You then use this number to establish the level at which you are going to train. The programs call for three workouts a week and consist of a total of 6 weeks of workouts. I completed my second day of week one last night and so far I am happy with the programs. I know I am going to have to supplement my workouts with some additional exercises, but for now I think this is a good solid start to core body exercises.
I would also suggest lunges with a medicine ball and superman. Both will give you stability and balance in the core that you are missing with just push-ups and sit-ups.
Ab machines vary greatly in price but although most are normally under the hundred dollars, it does not automatically reflect how good the machine is. For the average person wanting to get started they should look at the AB Slide or Torso Track II which do the job, are cost effective, movable and easy to store. Most machines enhance regular exercise and gym regimes but what you need to investigate before paying out the money is what muscles they actually work on. If they do not tone up both the ab muscles and the oblique’s then do not buy that machine because you cannot obtain the ultimate six pack if you do not work on these muscles.