Brief Summary
This video demonstrates seven core strengthening exercises that can be done at home, starting with easier movements and progressing to more challenging ones. It includes exercises performed on the floor, with a Swiss ball, and standing, focusing on proper form and gradual progression to avoid injury and maximize effectiveness.
- Pelvic Tilts and Bridges for initial core engagement.
- Swiss Ball exercises for balance and deeper muscle activation.
- Standing exercises for functional strength and balance.
Dr. Jo introduces a set of seven core strengthening exercises designed to be easy to perform at home. The exercises progress in difficulty, starting with basic movements and advancing to more challenging ones.
The first exercise is the pelvic tilt, performed lying on the floor, bed, or couch. The goal is to flatten the back by tilting the pelvis, engaging the core muscles. This position is held for three to five seconds, and ten repetitions are recommended to start. Following the pelvic tilts, the video transitions to full bridges, where the bottom is lifted off the floor to a level position without arching the back. The movement should be controlled, lifting and lowering one segment at a time. Start with ten repetitions, and if it becomes easy, progress to 15-25 repetitions. For an added challenge, one-legged bridges can be attempted, but only if you can maintain a level hip position.
The video introduces the use of a Swiss ball, starting with a prayer plank. Begin with a modified version on the knees, placing the arms on the ball and squeezing the glutes to maintain a straight line. If this becomes easy and can be held for a minute, progress to a full plank. Hold for 10-15 seconds initially and gradually increase the duration. The next exercise involves lying with the legs on the Swiss ball and gently rotating the hips from side to side, engaging the core muscles in a rotational movement. Perform about five rotations on each side, keeping the movements smooth and controlled.
This exercise is performed sitting on a Swiss ball with hips and knees at a 90-degree angle. Holding a light weight (2-3 pounds) straight out in front, gently rotate from side to side, keeping the back upright. If the weight feels too heavy, perform the rotations with clasped hands instead.
The tall kneeling lean back exercise works both the core and hamstrings. Start in a tall kneeling position and lean back slightly, keeping the core engaged. You can modify the exercise by placing your hands on your hips or keeping them by your side. Gradually increase the range of motion as flexibility improves, starting with 10-15 repetitions.
The final exercise is a standing elbow to knee movement, which can be done on the same side or alternating sides. This exercise requires balance, so it may be necessary to start sitting or lying down before progressing to standing. Keep the trunk upright and avoid bending the back, focusing on meeting the elbow and knee in the middle to engage the core muscles. Start with five repetitions on each side and work up to 20-25 as strength and balance improve.
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Transcript
Full transcript of “7 Great Core Strengthening Exercises - Ask Doctor Jo”. Click a timestamp to open the video at that moment. Need another video? Use the YouTube transcript generator.
0:00 hey everybody it's doctor jo and today i'm going to show you seven easy core strengthening exercises so let's get started disclaimer alert disclaimer alert before we start if you haven't subscribed already make sure and click on the button so we're going to start off with some pretty easy core strengthening exercises and then get to a little bit harder so the first ones we're going to start off with you're just going to lie down on the floor now if you are not comfortable getting on the floor you can do this on your bed or a couch you just want it to be firm enough where you can do the movement so a lot of people say they can't get up off the floor just get on your bed or your couch and do it and that should be fine so we're going to start off with a pelvic tilt with the pelvic tilt basically what you're trying to do is flatten out your
0:46 back onto the floor so that little curve that we have in our back you're moving that pelvis or you're tilting the pelvis to push it flat down and that kind of just contracts those core muscles so once you do that if you can see that movement almost like you're going to lift up your bottom but you're not going all the way up hold that for about three to five seconds and then relax so just start off with doing about 10 of those and this is just really to kind of start getting them loosened up getting those movements getting the muscles starting but not going too crazy yet so again just a three to five second hold really trying to flatten it out if you need to put your hand under there as a target you can but you really want to feel that back flat on the floor and then do about
1:32 10 of those so after you get those get everything kind of loosened up in there you're going to go into a full bridge so now you're just lifting your bottom up off the floor and you want to lift it to about where it's level but not arching your back and really just going controlled the whole time so you're coming up and then once you start to come back down come one segment at a time so you don't have to pause at each segment but really control it so you're going up and then nice and slow coming back down so again just starting off with about 10 of these if this becomes really easy you can do 15 to 20 up to 25 if you get to 25 and they're pretty easy then you can actually start doing one-legged bridges
2:20 so just coming up and then coming back down still trying to keep everything level though so if you feel like you go up and your hip is dropping let me do it on this side so you can see it if it's dropping like that that just means you're not quite strong enough and ready for it so then go back to the two legs so then we're going to go and use a swiss ball today i'm going to be using the king athletic swiss ball and if you're interested in purchasing it make sure you click on the link up here so now we're going to go into a prayer plank on the ball so i would start with a modified which is on your knees because this one is a little bit harder using a swiss ball makes an uneven surface so just kind of place your arms on the swiss ball and then bring your knees back
3:05 tucking in the butt so squeeze those butt muscles in and try and be in a fairly straight line when you do it if this is easy if you can hold it and get to a minute and you're just kind of like do you need to do then you can come up into a full plank but really squeezing in that butt holding it nice and tight keeping everything tight so you're not sagging down you're not coming up like that you're really trying to stay in a nice straight line so again starting off maybe 10 to 15 seconds and then working your way up from there so the next one with the swiss ball you're going to lie down and put your legs on the ball so bend the knees and get kind of in a comfortable position if
3:51 you need a pillow for your head you can if you just want to lie down flat on the floor you can do that as well but keep those knees just a little bit bent and then you're just going to kind of rotate your hips from side to side so almost like a trunk rotation but now you're just getting those core muscles strengthening in a rotation position so you don't have to go and rotate all the way down just go until you feel a little bit of tightness and then come back up but keep it nice and smooth and controlled so again just doing maybe five on each side and then you can progressively go down deeper if you need to for the next swiss ball exercise you're going to be sitting on the swiss ball when you sit on a swiss ball you want
4:36 your hips and your knees to be about at 90 degrees so your feet are nice and flat but your knees aren't coming right up so you want to be in a pretty comfortable position so with this one i have a pretty heavy weight here you probably just want to start off with maybe a two or three pound weight and then work your way up from there so just take the weight and put it straight out in front of you and then just gently rotate from side to side so again this is working the core in a rotational movement try and keep your back nice and upright upright and just gently rotate back and forth if you feel like the weight is starting to drop and you've only done like two or three it probably means the weight is too heavy
5:23 and then just get something lighter you can actually do these if you're not quite ready for a weight just clasp your hands out in front of you and still do that rotational motion so you're still getting a good core strengthening exercise with this so if you're not quite ready for that weight you can actually do that as well whoa so the next exercise is a tall kneeling lean back this works your hamstring as well as your core so as you can see i don't have anything anchoring my feet sometimes people do need something holding their feet down to do this again you can go modified and just go here you can place your hands on your hips here or you can just have them down by your side but if you just want to start
6:09 right here you can i'm already feeling my core and my quads and my hamstrings working but once you start going further back you're going to feel it a lot more so don't try going really far back in the beginning because you need good flexibility with this as well just try a little bit and then you can try a little bit further so i just start off with about 10 or 15 of those and then work your way up so the last exercise is going to be standing so the last core exercise is going to be a simple elbow to knee standing up so you can either do same side or you can do opposite back and forth so this one requires some balance while you're doing it so if you don't have really good balance you might want to start off doing these sitting or lying down and then you can work your way to standing
6:54 up some people put their hands all the way behind their head i just kind of like to hold my hands up a little bit so you can do same side you're kind of meeting in the middle so you're but you're not curling your upper trunk forward you're just kind of crunching as you're going or you can alternate sides back and forth so this is not only working your balance but it's working your core as well but see i'm still pretty upright i'm not coming down and bending my back i'm just meeting in the middle to really work those core muscles so again you can start off five on each side 10 work your way up to 20. if you're getting the 20 25 on each side that's easy then you can start doing some other
7:40 stuff so there you have it those were the seven easy core strengthening exercises if you're interested in purchasing the king athletic swiss ball make sure and click on the link up there and don't forget to subscribe by clicking down there and remember be safe have fun and i hope you feel better soon
