Whenever you meet someone doing ab exercises, chances are they’re looking to develop a six-pack. But that’s not the only reason to start an abs home workout. In fact, it’s not even the best reason. Working on your core fitness has lots of upsides for your overall wellbeing. In this short article, we’re going to talk you through the 4 main benefits of giving your core muscles a workout.
- Core fitness leads to a healthy back
Most of us suffer from back pain at one time or another. But for some people it’s a chronic problem that they have to learn to live with. If you’ve ever injured your back, you’ll know that it can severely restrict your movements. To avoid getting yourself into that state, one of the best things you can do is work on your core muscles.
In some ways, it seems a bit counter-intuitive working on the front of your body to support your back. But actually, it makes sense once you understand how your body supports itself. Your back muscles have a lot of work to do keeping you propped up and stable. So, they benefit from having the muscles at the front of your body sharing the load. This is where a simple abs and core workout can be really beneficial. By strengthening your core, you take some of the pressure off your back, helping it to stay strong and healthy.
- Good posture starts with strong core muscles
When your core muscles are weak, you’ll quickly find that you become prone to slouching. This is bad for your body because it places undue stress on the base of your back. Think of the base of your spine as the foundation of your entire body. If you overload it, you throw it off balance, which means the upper parts of your back have to compensate for the misalignment.
Core exercises help to strengthen your body front and centre. When your core muscles are strong it effectively pulls your body upright. This doesn’t just improve your posture but helps keep your spine in balance. This lessens the wear and tear that your back suffers as you get older and helps make you less prone to back injuries.
- Ab exercises help improve your balance and stability
Balance and stability are perhaps not things you think about a great deal. But actually, your ability to stand in one spot without wobbling, or to walk across uneven terrain without falling is really important – especially as you get older. With strong core fitness, you’re able to right yourself if you stumble, reducing your risk of toppling over and seriously hurting yourself.
Ab exercises that help keep your core muscles strong are useful if you play contact sports like rugby and football too. That’s because any game where you need to run and change direction at speed requires you to have a good sense of balance.
- An abs home workout makes day-to-day activities easier too
There are lots of movements and activities you perform every day, which work your core muscles, without you really thinking about it. For example, picking up the post off the doormat, pushing the vacuum cleaner round the house or putting your shoes on before you go out. Even the simple act of sitting down and getting up out of a chair are movements that put your core muscles to work. As you get older and your body begins to suffer a bit of wear and tear, these muscles can get weaker, and you’ll start to notice these simple movements become harder or even painful to perform.
That’s why a good abs and core workout can be helpful – to keep these vital muscles in the right shape.
Working on your core fitness is easy with the Ab Doer 360
The Ab Doer 360 is an at-home training machine which combines ab-toning, muscle-shaping and aerobics into one simple and fun core fitness exercise known as Abdobics. The first thing you notice about it is that it looks like a chair. That’s because you perform all the Abdobics exercises while sat down. So, not only do you get a great workout, you get to do it without having to hit the floor. You lose weight, build your core muscles and strengthen your back, all from a sitting position.
Explore how the Ab Doer 360 can help you strengthen your core here.