Before we get down to the nitty gritty on core exercises you should be doing, I have a public service announcement:

Core training does not, in fact, get rid of belly fat.

I know. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Or good news, if you hate things like planks and deadbugs.

If you don't care about the "why" behind core training, you can just skip down to the videos. I won't be offended.

I often get requests from clients to include more core work in their programs, which is always a good idea - but our motivations to do so aren't always the same. They want more exercises to whittle their middle* - and I want to incorporate work that will help create a strong and stable core because balance and stability are two of the most important components to staying healthy as we age.

I know, my reasons aren’t very sexy…

What is your core?

You don't care and could we please get on to how to whittle your middle...

I'm glad you asked. It's a group of muscles that stabilizes the pelvic and the spine. Your core muscles connect your lower body to your upper body and therefore play a role in everything that we do. All movements either start with the core or go through the core.

Back in the day, the assumption was that endless crunches and sit ups would help you get the abs you wanted. But that's not how we train our core anymore - mostly because the repeated flexion on the spine that happens during a sit up (think of bending a wire coat hanger back and forth over and over and over again at the same spot) can, over time, damage the lumbar discs.

So we train the core very differently these days, and here are three exercises that you should include in your training:

1. Deadbugs

A more accurate description would by dying bug, given that a deadbug is presumably not moving, but let's not split hairs here. The focus of this exercise is to keep your lower back flat to the floor throughout the entire movement.

Why you should do it:

One of the most common injuries to the lower back happens while lifting (or while sneezing, coughing, and doing virtually nothing. If you're curious, it's because our spine has experienced a lifetime of micro-traumas so it's often only a matter of time before you do something basic like write on a chalkboard and throw your back out. Yes, this happened to me.

The deadbug trains you to hold your back and spine in an anti-extension position - it teaches you to avoid arching your back when you bend over, which is often the source back pain.

If it feels like too much to worry about moving your arms and your legs at the same time, keep your arms pointed toward the ceiling and focus on your legs.

2. Side Plank

This exercise can often be more challenging than it appears, especially for beginners, and in the video below, I offer some tips and techniques on how to get started. You will be forced to focus on posture, endurance (side planks are held for breath cycles or time, not reps), and this will also give you a chance to see the dust bunnies under your couch, if you’re doing the exercise at home.

Why you should do it:

Because a side plank reduces the amount of contact you have with the floor compared a a traditional front plank, you will be forced to work on balance. As you age, balance becomes incredibly important to help prevent falls, and will set you up for success if you’re asked to do a keg stand at your son’s wedding. (That’s a true story)…

Side planks also strengthen the oblique muscles and as well as a deep spinal stabilizing muscle known as the quadratus lumborum (QL), which is crucial in preventing back injuries.

Also, side planks will train you well in anti-lateral flexion strength which sounds like a mouthful, but really it means that you will be better prepared in the event that you’re mowing your lawn and you run out of gas and you have to walk back to the barn that’s 100 yards away, get the gas can which is probably empty, so then you have to go to the gas station and fill it, and by now you’re tired and don’t want to finish mowing the lawn, but it’s going to rain so you have to and so you can confidently and safely carry the full gas can out to the mower and finish mowing the lawn and keep your wife happy.

3. Pallof Press

This exercise is a staple in almost all of the programs that I write, because it trains the core in the way that your core in its true primary function - which is to act as a stabilizer rather than a mover. If you think of a crunch or a sit up, those exercises have you moving at your core and through your core.

The main goal of the Pallof Press however, is to maintain a stable core while pressing your arms away from your body - something that we call anti-rotation - your core is working to avoid the rotation.

Why you should do it:

Because injury prevention. If you've ever tweaked or thrown out your back, you've probably been told how important it is to strengthen your core. Think of all of the situations in your day to day life where you need to lift something or reach for something away from your body.

Sure it's a little weird. But it's good for you.

Ok, so last week I went on a mini-rant about how using push ups and pull ups as a litmus test for fitness is a bad idea - especially for women.

And I was reminded of this yesterday when, while taking a boxing class for the first time, a fellow female classmate looked terrified when we were asked, as a class, to mix push ups in with our heavy bag hits and squats.

“Um….” She looked terrified. “I can’t even do a push up.”

I waved her over to a stack of giant tires.

“Not many females can - let’s use the tire.”

I took a minute after the class to give her what has become my soap box talk on push ups - the one I gave all of you last week. Click here if you missed it.

Push ups are an incredible exercise and even better than that - make for the perfect performance goal. Remember that setting a performance goal can be a helpful way of guiding your training. (In other words, you want to lose 20 pounds, but if you focus on working your way up to a push up, there's a good chance you'll see some weight loss as a by-product of training your strength.)

If you want to work your way up to a push up, here are a few strategies you can work in to your routine.

1. Elevated push ups

Doing what used to be known as "girl push ups" or push ups from your knees, actually only makes you better at doing one thing - push ups from your knees. Core strength is a crucial component to performing push ups, and if you want to work your way to doing this exercise correctly, you'll need to keep your core involved.

2. Negative push ups (with a positive attitude :-)

Also known as eccentric push ups (no, not push ups with flair), this style of exercise means that you are going to spend more time under tension - blah, blah, blah science. I can just tell you that this style of training will do two things - get you to your goal quickly, and make you sore as hell the next day.

Start in a high plank position and lower yourself down as slowly as possible - when you can't hold yourself up any longer, drop to your knees. Use your knees to raise back up to the high plank position (remember, this movement is only about going down) and repeat.

Technique tips:

Don't let your core sag - you want to keep your body in a straight line, and there is a tendency to keep the shoulders away from the floor while your hips and lower back sag. If possible, balance a PVC pipe on your back or record yourself for form. I used to do five sets of five in my office back when I had an office job.

With the door locked...

Slow is the name of the game here.

3. Push ups to a stack of cones

Similar to the elevated push ups, training yourself to a stack of cones can be a helpful way to gauge your progress once you've been training for a month or two. In the video below, I've got a stack of 13 cones. Once I can hit 10 reps, I take off a cone and train until I can hit 10 reps to the cone. My goal is to get down to one cone. 

On an almost weekly basis, I hear clients or strangers at dinner parties make the following statement:

I mean I can’t even do a push up. Or a pull up!

They’re often surprised at my response.

It took me a year to work my way up to a push up from the floor, and I can’t do a pull up….yet. (Keep that mind open.)

Yesterday I put up a social media post about push ups - and one of the comments I received was perhaps the most telling:

"I hate push ups....they make me feel so defeated."

I’m not exactly sure why so many people, women in particular, use those two exercises as the gold standard of fitness, but I’m going to blame it on Dwight Eisenhower, and his implementation of the holy terror that was known as the President’s Physical Fitness test.

My memories of this torturous misery largely revolve around trying to run a mile in jeans when I was eight years old. (Chaffing. So. Much. Chaffing.)

There was also the goal of climbing a rope without using your legs.

As an athletic kid, I learned two important lessons from this challenge - running was God’s punishment for not listening to my mother and I didn’t know much about Ronald Reagan, but hated him for making me do distinctly not fun things in gym class.

While doing push ups wasn’t part of the President’s challenge, it was still a measure of fitness prescribed to many of us by well-intended coaches and gym teachers. I remember my college lacrosse coach telling us to do 25 push ups at the end of many sprints - and there I’d be trying my damndest to do some measure of push ups from my knees and wishing that we could just switch to the 50 sit ups already.

Between these coaches and the media’s portrayal of the push ups in many sports movies (Remember Rocky doing one armed push ups??) we are mostly made to feel that an inability to perform a push up from the floor means that we’re weak.

When really it means that we are just human.

That's because, according to MRI's, females have 40% less upper body mass than men. So yeah, not many females are going to just drop to the floor and bang out 25 push ups, despite our experiences with gym class and even some sport preparation.

Now don’t get me wrong, if you are looking for a performance goal to strive for - the push up is an incredible place to start. The exericse requires core strength and can help improve muscular endurance with the upper body. But what nobody tells us, is that being able to perform a push up with proper depth and proper form takes time and hard work. And a lot of both.

So how can you train your way to a proper push ups?

Check back for part II and I’ll give you a couple of exercises to help you build towards that goal.