Last Updated on July 8, 2016 by Michael Brockbank
Your core includes a variety of muscles that are often the most used in everyday life. These groups are what support your body and contribute to maximizing other physical activities such as weight training. You should never ignore the core muscles and should include work of some kind during a weekly routine. For the beginner, it will be a slow start until you build up momentum.
Workouts from Home for Core Muscles
You don’t need a gym membership in order to benefit from workouts. All it really takes is your own motivation to succeed. For those who are just starting, this will be one of your greatest accomplishments: self-reliance. You’ve got to focus on something that can keep you going even on days when you feel like you just want to curl up under a blanket on the couch and watch Netflix.
In this workout, we’ll be doing some of the easier exercises in order to start firming your core groups. The times and repetitions I’ve listed should be viewed as a baseline for what you may be able to accomplish. Feel free to do more or less depending on your own physique. Not everyone will be able to do the same workout, but you should try to do the best you can. The whole point is to get the core muscles flexed and used as often as possible.
Before we begin, let me explain what some of the terms you’ll see below mean.
What is a Rep?
A rep is short for repetition. This is an activity that is done repeatedly.
What is a Set?
A set is a series of exercises that are joined for a specific goal. Each set will contain a specific number of repetitions or a certain amount of time. It’s a good idea to give yourself 30 to 60 seconds of rest in between each set as a beginner.
Let’s Get On With the Workout
- Air Bicycle: 3 sets at 10 reps each
Lay on your back and lock your fingers behind your head. Lift both of your legs slightly off of the floor. Lift your upper body slightly up as well. Now, bring your right knee up to your chest while bringing your left elbow to touch it. Straighten out your right leg and bring your left knee up while touching it with your right elbow. Straighten your left leg. This is one repetition. - Dead Bug: 3 sets at 10 reps each
Lying on your back, reach your arms and bend your knees up towards the ceiling. Your feet should be parallel with your knees as if you’re pointing away from you. Lower your left leg until it is straight, but don’t touch the floor. Bring it back up and then lower your right leg in the same way. This is one repetition. - Scissor Kick: 3 sets at 10 reps each
While still on your back, stretch your arms out away from you. Lift your right leg up and try to point it at the ceiling. Now, lift your left leg up while moving your right leg down as if making a “scissor” appearance. This is one repetition.
Take a short break. This can be as short as you feel comfortable with. Usually, I’ll walk up the stairs to my kitchen to get a drink of water before continuing.
- Standing Toe Touch: 3 sets at 30 seconds each
In a standing position, move your feet out about shoulder width. Now, bend over and attempt to touch your toes. Go as far as you’re comfortable and hold this posture for 30 seconds for each set. - Bodyweight Duck Squat: 3 sets at 10 reps each
While standing, spread your feet about shoulder width apart and clasp your hands in front of your chest. Squat until your butt and thighs are parallel with the floor. This is almost a sitting position and is the start of the exercise. Squat further until you can almost touch your heals with your butt. Now, raise yourself up back to the sitting position. This is one rep. - Basketball Jump: 3 sets at 10 reps each
This exercise requires that you have enough overhead room to not smash your hands into the ceiling. Place your feet about shoulder length apart while placing your hands in front of you as if holding a basketball. Now, bend your knees slightly and jump off the ground while pretending you’re shooting a basket with your arms. This is one repetition.
Keep in mind that the focus of this workout is for beginners and the core muscles. As a result, more intensive workouts will be available to you without extensive straining. This should take between 20 and 30 minutes depending on your efforts. Once you get the hang of the routine, it could take less time.
Muscles Used in This Workout
These six exercises focus effort on your core muscle groups. After about a week or two of doing this routine once per day, you’ll start to develop a stronger core allowing you to take on more difficult workouts. The muscles that are focused on are the:
- Quads
- Abs
- Hamstrings
- Glutes
- Hip flexors
- Obliques
Feel free to do more or less according to your comfort level. You can also add a bit more to these exercises to get more of a workout. For example, wearing gloves with additional weight during the basketball jump will add more resistance to your shoulders – which means greater results.
Don’t feel bad if you can’t quite make the suggested numbers above for exercising the core muscles. Getting into better shape, especially for someone who is obese such as myself, is all about getting more physical activity than you got before. Set goals for yourself. Keeping up with a routine will strengthen your core allowing you to perform higher repetitions and longer duration of time.
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