Every Sunday I FaceTime with my parents, and as they fill me in on their week of working out and the weather in Western PA, I ask if they’ve tried the new exercises I sent them using links to You Tube videos.

Dad: What's youtube?

Me: You can also find the link on my blog.

Dad: What's a blog?

Aside from encouraging my parents to do more core training, I also get this request from many clients looking to lose belly fat. And it's a fair assumption that doing more exercises that target that area, or feel like they target that area, is the solution. 

Core exercises aren't going to slim down the waistline though. That comes down to nutrition and reducing your stress. But core training is important for many other reasons, not the least of which is helping to protect your spine as well as improving your overall balance and stability. Yesterday a client mentioned to me that her goal for the summer is to get out of her kayak without help. 

The solution? More core training. 

But training the core isn't the same as training the abs. 

When many of us think of core training, we think of training the ab muscles (the transverse abdominus, the rectus abdominus, the internal obliques and external obliques) which are the muscles that make up that traditional six pack. While it's important and feels good to strengthen those muscles, it's also important to train your obliques (the muscles on your side) and your erector spinae, which is a group of muscles in your back. When you strengthen all of these muscles in a 360 approach, it contributes to better balance (catching yourself when you slip on the ice), better squats, and most importantly, when these muscles are stronger your body doesn't have to rely solely on your bones for support. 

Thanks to the research of Dr. Stuart McGill, a professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo, we now understand that too many crunches and sit ups, or too much flexion of the spine, can cause damage to the spine. Rather than doing the traditional sit ups, crunches and side bends ("you can do side bends and sit ups, but please don't lose that butt..") - training the muscles that protect the spine for endurance is what could really make a difference in overall back and spine health.

Do this test right now. Get down on the floor, and using your forearms instead of your hands, press yourself into a front plank position. Like so:

Can you hold that position above for at least 30 seconds? If so, that's great. Continue working on it. If not, then that's a good sign to include more front planks into your workout routine. For more information on how to perform the front plank, check out the video below which I recorded when my arm was supposed to still be in a sling, so don't mind the fact that it's just sort of hanging there. 

Equally important to the front plank, is the side plank or side bridge.

The back muscles used in the side plank, the erector spinae, multifidus and longissiums thoracic are used to stabilize your spine, which in turn prevent it from bending to the side. To perform a side plank, make sure your elbow is properly stacked directly underneath your shoulder (not up by your head) and using your knees, press your hips up from the floor. Squeeze your butt cheeks and work on maintaining a straight spine. 

It helps to wear your Captain America Shirt. 

If this position above doesn't feel challenging enough perform the same movement, but raise both your knees and your hips off of the floor as well.

It also helps to wear your Captain America socks. 

An additional modification if the short side plank (from your knees) is too easy, but the full side plank is a little too challenging, is to use your top arm for support:

Do your planks and side planks. 

Do them!

In the case of both exercises, perform them for breaths as opposed to time, which I explain more in the plank video above.

And enjoy your St. Patty's Day weekend. 

In the book Tatoos on the Heart, Father Gregory Boyle tells the story of a young man battling a heroin addiction.

In counseling the boy, he says “you have to crawl before you can walk and walk before you can run.”

To which the boy replies with tears in his eyes, “But I know I can fly. I just need a gust of wind.”

The little gust of wind for my cape here came from a fan. But you never know where that gust is going to come from that's going to help you fly. 

I was listening to the book on my drive down to the gym yesterday and paused it after he told this story. I couldn't listen to anything else.

It was one of those lines that landed on my heart. 

I know I can fly. I just need a gust of wind.

We all want to run before we can walk. I don’t just want to write blog posts, I want to write a novel. Yesterday at physical therapy, my therapist handed me a pair of pink one pound dumbbells for me to do bicep curls.

One pound. 

I don’t want to do one pound dumbbell curls, I want to deadlift twice my bodyweight. 

Restraint is so difficult.

We know in the world of health and fitness that adopting a restrictive diet or trying to work out five days a week, in the beginning, is often the recipe for failure. We decide to run a 5k and bust out 20 miles in a week before our bodies break down and we find ourselves battling injuries because we didn't have the patience to pace ourselves.

We adopt a no carb diet only to find ourselves gorging on a piece of cake seven days in to the 30 day plan. 

We know that in order for behavioral change to stick, we have to start slow, and stack one block at a time. 

We have to crawl before we can walk. 

We know this.

But it's that last line from the boy that pulls so hard at me. Crawl before we can walk, yes. Stacking the blocks one at a time, yes.

"But I know I can fly." 

What this boy is speaking to is potential. 

The definition of potential is "latent qualities or abilities that may be developed and lead to future success or usefulness." I believe we all have it within us to be the best version of ourselves that we can be. It's up to us to determine what that means. 

And yet..

"I just need a gust of wind."

I think we sometimes beat ourselves up over our own potential. Do you know the number one comment I hear from clients whenever I ask what we can do to help support them in the process?

"Nothing. It's not you. It's me. I just need to do a better job. I know what I need to do, I just need to do it."

To those clients I'd say no.

Stop being so hard on yourself. 

Yes you have the potential. You know you can fly. I know you can fly. 

Sometimes you just need a little gust of wind. 

It's almost impossible for me to write a post about glutes that does not, in some way, reference Sir Mix A Lot:

"Oh my God Becky, look at her butt. It is so big..."

Every time this song comes on the gym, all of the over 35ers stop whatever they're doing to get their groove on. 

Everyone else just watches.

Working on the glute muscles is more than just impressing Becky and her friend though. The glutes are responsible for stabilizing the pelvis and can help promote back health. Here are a few exercises that you can incorporate into your workouts on a weekly basis to help build the kind of butt you can bounce a quarter off of. 

If you really want to know everything there is to know about glutes, you want to check out this guy - Bret Contreras, also known as the Glute Guy.

In the meantime, here are a few of my favorites.

Cable pull throughs

Everyone loves doing these in public. And I mean everyone. This is one of the best from the awkward exercise selection, but in all honesty is one of the best for you. 

Key coaching cue: Use your hips, not your hands. Keep your spine straight throughout the movement and squeeze those cheeks at the top like you're cracking a walnut.

Monster walks

This is an easy exercise to rush through, so be sure to take your time with them. Start with a lighter band around your knees.

Key coaching cue: The focus here is not stepping forward but loading your weight into the planted leg and lifting the working leg, which makes the movement look more like a Frankenstein walk (hence the name) than a traditional walk.

1-legged hip thrusts

Chances are if you try this one out, you're going to hate it. If you hate it, do more of it. No, not because I'm a sadist, but because it's really good for you. 

Key coaching cue: Maintain a straight spine throughout the exercise, not letting your butt sag throughout the movement.