Core Strengthening Exercises for Seniors – Why They Are Crucial to Your Health and Fitness.
As we get older, having a bulging 6-pack is not quite as important as it once may have been. But I can assure you, having good core strength and stability is now even more important than it was back in your younger days.
When I talk about core muscles, you might think they are the domain of the beach going younger generation and have no place in the thoughts of baby boomers.
Well that’s where you are wrong.
The muscle groups of the core and lower back are one of the most important parts of the body all oldies should be thinking about as they control so much of what we do in our everyday activities.
World renowned back and core guru Dr Stuart McGill PhD, Professor of Spine Biomechanics at the University of Waterloo, Canada, says, “There is a lot of confusion about core stability, exercise, injury prevention, and performance enhancement.”
In this excellent article by Dr McGill, Why Everyone Needs Core Training, he states, “Having worked with people who suffer from back pain and high performance athletes for over 30 years, I am often asked “to choose the most influential variable that links pain and performance. My response would be an under-performing core. Why is this? What is the core?”
Our core muscles are the central linking point between the lower and upper parts of your body so just to stand up straight you need good core stability and strength.
In the long run, the quality of our daily lives can more than often be governed by the strength and stability of our core muscles so it is well worth working on them as it underpins nearly everything you do.
Our ultimate goal should be to make our core muscles as strong as possible because every action we take on a daily basis originates from the core.
This muscle group affects how we lift, reach, turn and bend as well as our balance and stability. In other words, virtually everything we do from day to day, week to week and month to month.
You may also be hearing people speak about core stability, but you might not know exactly what the term means.
While the two concepts are related by the same muscle group, the specifics are actually quite different.
Let’s find out what makes core strength so separate from core stability, how they each affect your body and what you can do to modify your exercise program to focus on your core more effectively.
4 Things Seniors Need to Know about Core Strength and Core Stability
1. What is core strength?
As its name suggests, core strength refers to the actual strength of your core muscles. For many people, the first thing that comes to mind is rippling abs.
For younger people , while having strong core muscles can help with various actions, such as jumping, throwing twisting and bending in different sports, excessive strength training for the core eventually leads to a plateau in results.
However with older people we are not looking for a defined set of abs…….we just need just strength and stability so we don’t have to do endless sets of crunches and sit-ups which are bad for your lower lumbar anyway.
We do low impact exercises like planks.
Additionally, some of these strength-training moves the youngies do don’t provide specific help in improving your stability.
2. What is core stability?
Core stability refers to your ability to keep your spine from movement during physical activity which could be something as simple as walking.
It could also be anything from keeping level while planking to swimming in a straight line, as the core muscles are integral in virtually all forms of physical activity.
Stability comes from engaging all of the muscles in your core, not just your ab muscles, and thus involves a much more complex focus on the region.
All of these muscles help you to control your body more effectively, starting out by keeping the spine from bending or flexing unintentionally and extending to your ability to better utilize your arms and legs.
The core muscles are the workhorse of your body and influence the way you move in every capacity.
3. The benefits of core workouts
While both types of core workouts can have a positive impact on your health and your everyday life, core stability training is likely going to yield better and more noticeable results.
This is because stability is an integral part of a wide range of daily activities, whereas the base strength of your core has a more limited focus.
Increasing your stability helps you to execute better form, and sustain it for longer, because you are more capable of controlling your body.
More core stability helps you to keep from leaning forward while you walk, jog or run which can lead to a decrease in speed and form over time and also as you age it affects your stability when you walk.
Similarly, being able to keep your body still during stretches makes them more effective at reducing injury, as well as ensuring you do not unintentionally hurt yourself which is very important in a senior exercise program.
4. How to train for core stability
For the most balanced results, you should focus on improving both your core strength and your core stability together to avoid creating an imbalance in your body. Despite the differences between each type, the two are very much related through the shared musculature and functionality.
The key to senior core fitness is to refrain from putting too much emphasis on either camp and retaining an even focus on the entire body. We need a good balance.
Moves such as planks help to engage the entire core, rather than overly targeting a single section. An easy way to help identify moves that can improve your core stability is to see if they involve stability to begin with.
For example, because a plank requires you to keep your body still and level with the ground, you know its engaging those muscles. Alternately, crunches typically only focus on your ab muscles and thus may not have a major impact on your stability.
Apart from that, I don’t recommend sit-ups or crunches as they put too much pressure on your lower lumbar which is not good for us baby boomers.
In conclusion, have a look at these core strengthening exercises for seniors as they should form part of your regular exercise program. You can also discover the real-world benefits of strengthening your core when you are a senior in this article from Harvard Medical School.
Core exercise for seniors is a must as part of your ongoing fitness program.
If you are not sure what to do then either see a Personal Trainer at your local gym or contact me and I will see what I can do to help.
Cheers – John – your Active Ageing Coach and Mentor.
P.S. Do a friend a favour…….please like and share……core training is more important than most people ever realize.
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