The Core Back-and-Belly Challenge

Say goodbye to the same old ab work. These 8 moves will target your core muscles and help strengthen your back.

Start: Hold a weight in each hand and hang your arms by your sides while standing on your left leg. Raise your right foot off the floor and spread your left toes in your shoe to help balance. Soften your left knee slightly and push your hips back to shift your body weight to your front heel, rather than toe. Lift your ribcage and elongate your spine while tightening your core muscles.

Technique tip: Touch your right toe to the floor behind your hips if you need help with balance.

Finish: Push your hips back as you lean your straight back slightly forward. Bend your left knee to 90 degrees or greater as you lower into a one-legged squat. Let your arms hang straight down, weights on either side of your front, bent knee. Drop your hips as low as you comfortably can. Squeeze your butt to straighten up, then lower and repeat. Then switch legs.

Safety tip: Hold your chest high and your abs tight to keep your spine lengthened.

Common error: Your shoulders slump

Fit fix: Avoid letting the weights pull your shoulders forward by holding your chest high and flattening your shoulder blades to your back.

Start: Hold one light weight in both hands and lower your body into a squat position. Push your hips back away from your knees and bend the knees until your hips are at, or just above, knee level. Hold your spine straight and your chest high as you rotate your torso to the right and reach the weight out away from your body, just outside of your right thigh.

Technique tip: Do not bend at the waist or slump forward when your reach the weight out.

Finish: Contract your butt and stand up, moving the weight in a diagonal line forward in front and across your body and up to the opposite (left) side. Stop when your arms are extended and just above shoulder level. Hold, tightening the core muscles. Then slowly return back to the starting position, rotating to the right again. Repeat and make sure that your head turns with your chest. Then switch sides.

Safety tip: When you lower the weight, do not bend forward. Lean at a diagonal, keeping your chest high and your back straight.

Common error: Swinging the arms without rotating the torso

Fit fix: Allow your arms to act as a lever to help turn your entire body as a unit. Do not swing the arms; move slowly and with control. Tighten your abs while rotating in both directions as the weight lowers and lifts.

Start: Lie on your back with your left knee bent, foot flat and your right leg extended straight. Slide both hands underneath your lower back to prevent it from flattening to the floor. Tighten your core muscles, but without pulling your bellybutton in or pressing your back against your hands.

Finish: Continue to "brace" your core muscles by tightening as much ab muscle as you can without sucking in. At the same time, press your elbows up creating more resistance as your arms are held up and your core muscles are tightening.

Safety tip: Think of this contraction as a squeeze without any movement in your torso.

Start: Begin on your hands and knees. Then raise your right leg straight up in back, stopping when your thigh is parallel to the floor and hip level. Avoid letting your right hip tilt up, keep your pelvis level so that your abdomen faces down. With your right leg raised, raise the left arm up in front, stopping when it is parallel to the floor and in line with your back and leg. Stabilize yourself in this position by tightening all the muscles in your abs, butt and back.

Finish: With the arm and opposite leg raised, stabilize your body, then pull your left elbow down toward the outside of your ribcage, sliding your left hand horizontally through the air as if you were wiping a table. Feel the left shoulder blade move toward your spine as you complete this arm sweep. Then extend your arm straight in front again and repeat. Then switch sides.

Common error: Dropping the back leg when your arm moves

Fit fix: Keep your butt tight as you slide you arms back and forth.

Start: Lie on your stomach with your legs extended and prop yourself up on your forearms. Lower your shoulders. Pull your abs in away from the floor to engage the muscles in your entire torso, then raise your hips off the floor. Then raise one knee at a time off the floor until you are in a raised plank position, your body forming a straight line from head to toe. Without bending your elbows or dropping your hips, try to focus on your upper back and open the shoulder blades so they separate.

Technique tip: Avoid letting your shoulders inch their way up to your ears. Keep them low throughout the move.

Finish: Contract your upper back muscles and draw your shoulder blades in closer toward each other without bending your elbows. Hold then separate the shoulder blades again and repeat.

Safety tip: Keep the movement subtle and simply focus on increasing the mobility in the middle of your upper back.

Common error: Dropping your neck

Fit fix: Limit movement to the back of your shoulders and shoulder blades. Keep your neck and spine stable by tightening your core muscles and keeping your arms straight.

Start: Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet hip-width apart and flat on the floor. Slide your feet forward, away from your butt. Place one weight in between your knees and press your thighs together to hold it in place. Rest your arms by your sides, hands flat on the floor.

Finish: Continue gripping the weight with your thighs and raise your hips and ribcage off the floor in one smooth motion. Squeeze your butt as your lift your torso. Then lower slowly and repeat.

Safety tip: Do not suck your bellybutton in or tilt your pelvis. Bend at the waist to lift up.

Common error: Overworking the back thigh

Fit fix: If you get cramps in the back of your legs, lower your hips, rest and move your feet farther away from your body.

Start: Lie on your left side and rest on your bottom (left) bent elbow. Bend your knees and shift them back so that your thighs are in line with your torso. Lift your ribcage away from the floor so your torso forms a triangle shape between your right side, arm and the floor. Position your head slightly sideways so that your neck stays in line with your spine.

Finish: Raise your torso as a unit sideways to form a straight diagonal line from your head to shoulders to hips to knees. Avoid letting your ribs sink. Tighten your abs, especially the right side of your waist, and align your top hip directly above your bottom. If your shoulders feel uncomfortable, make sure that your supporting elbow is directly underneath the shoulder, rather than in front or in back of it. Hold for five to 10 seconds. Then, lower and repeat. Then switch sides.

Common error: Letting your body collapse inwards or rotate out.

Fit fix: Position your body sideways and tighten all the muscles along the side of your body, as well as your abs and back, to anchor yourself in place.

Start: Wrap a resistance band around a sturdy piece of exercise equipment or a stable pole. Position it at chest height. Hold on to the handles, or if your band does not have handles, wrap the ends securely around each hand and face the point where the band is attached. Stand tall, but lower your center of gravity slightly by bending your knees and shifting your body weight to your heels. Hold both hands together and stretch the band, bringing your hands to rest against your ribs.

Technique tip: Step forward or back to adjust the band length. There should be no slack. But it should not be so taut that your posture crumbles.

Finish: Brace your torso by tightening your abs against the pull of the resistance band and rotate your rib cage toward the right as far as you comfortably can. Move your torso as a unit and allow your head to turn with your chest. Hold, then keeping your core muscles tight, slowly twist back to the center starting position.

Safety tip: If you feel any strain in your back, move closer to the band to lighten the resistance and/or limit the range of motion of your turn.

Common error: Using the arms to pull the band.

Fit fix: Anchor your hands to your chest, then use your core to pull against the band to turn. If your arms fatigue, step closer to the band and press your hands directly on your chest.

from msn health