2023-11-10 08:31:54
Enjoy stability and proper posture depends largely on the corea term that encompasses the muscles found in the center of the body, including the abdominals, lower back and pelvic muscles. And there is no doubt that strengthening these muscles helps improve physical fitness at any age, but As we get older, keeping them strong becomes key..
It is so important to keep the abdominal muscles, lower back and pelvis strong that from Harvard Medical School they maintain that Exercises that work the core should be part of any physical exercise programwhether to improve sports performance, prevent back pain or simply feel more comfortable and agile when performing any household task, from getting up from a chair or bending over to pick something up from the floor to doing DIY or gardening.
This becomes especially important when we enter middle age, because weakness of the muscles of the core leads to further loss of balance and the appearance of muscle pain. Marty Boehm, a physical therapist at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital, explains that this is because “core muscles provide stability to the moving parts of the trunk below and above: the middle back, rib cage, spine and hips.
But not just any exercise works. Harvard has also spoken about which exercises are good and which exercises are bad for working the core. Some exercises that are commonly used to strengthen the trunk and especially the abdominal area can be counterproductive.
Here we will tell you which exercises you should avoid and the three most recommended exercises according to Harvard experts to keep your core strong, especially after fifty.
Strengthen the core but also make it more flexible!
The muscles of the core, like the trunk of a tree, they have to be strong and at the same time flexible, they maintain from Harvard. Otherwise, arms and legs cannot function with the strength they need to move well.
“The movement of our arms and legs starts in the center of the body, That is why the abdominal muscles are so important, and that is why they must also be flexible and not rigid,” explains physiotherapist and role player Bibiana Badenes. “The concept of center or core It is functional, not anatomical: when the center is stable our arms and legs feel supported.
Disciplines such as Pilates or yoga place great importance on strengthening the muscles of the trunk with exercises that take this aspect into account and do not simply seek to build muscle and sculpt the silhouette.
The worst exercises to strengthen the abdomen
Las squats and the crunches, for many years proposed as the most effective exercises to strengthen abdominal muscles, are not as recommended as is believed according to Harvard experts. They only strengthen some muscles and, in middle-aged people, they can pose more risks than benefits.
“They are dangerous because they pull the neck“, explica Marty Boehm, del Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “Y They do not work the core, but the hip flexor muscles. When these muscles become too strong, they pull on the lower back and promote back pain“.
This is important, because with inadequate exercises, on the one hand, we create conditions that promote pain, and on the other hand, we miss out on the benefits of having a core strong in order to prevent back pain.
The best exercises to strengthen the core according to Harvard
According to Boehm, a much more effective approach when trying to strengthen the core es work several muscle groups at the same timeas would happen when you do natural movements like lifting a weight or climbing a wall.
For it, The Harvard expert recommends three specific exercises that we can find in the Pilates method and in yoga. Recommend start little by little, increasing the number of repetitions as the exercise is mastered and the muscles become stronger.
Before starting it is advisable to warm up the muscles minimallyjogging a little and moving his arms, and at the end stretch the muscles to ensure that, in addition to strengthening the muscles, we also make them more flexible:
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