Latest news with #corestrength
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
This Is the Best Workout Move for Core Strength, No Crunches Required
This Is the Best Workout Move for Core Strength, No Crunches Required originally appeared on Parade. Aesthetic reasons aside, having strong and stable abdominal muscles is important for several major reasons. 'Core strength is key for good posture, balance and preventing falls,' says Andrea Lepcio, CPT, a certified personal trainer and the founder and owner of Mighty Fit. Casey Lee, CPT,a certified personal trainer at Purposeful Strength, adds that core strength is important for overall health. 'Core strength is critical for total body strength. Your core is the area that connects your upper body to your lower body and is the key to managing your center of mass,' he says.'Core strength is important because it's the fundamental base of your entire body,' explains Vinn Reddy, CPT, a certified personal trainer and the founder of Vinn Reddy Personal Training Fitness. Think about where your core engagement is located; it helps your upper body and your lower body move and function safely. Without it, you can strain, pull or agitate other muscles because you didn't use your that developing a stronger core means tons of crunches? Not necessarily. There's a move that's even more effective than the standard sit-up you learned in grade school gym class.🩺SIGN UP for tips to stay healthy & fit with the top moves, clean eats, health trends & more delivered right to your inbox twice a week💊 One super effective core strengthening move, according to the three personal trainers we talked to, is dead bugs. Here's how to do it step by step: Lie on your back with your knees bent at 90 degrees and your arms extended toward the ceiling. Reach your left arm back behind your ear and extend your right leg out in front of you. Come back to the starting position. Now, reach your right arm back behind you and extend your left leg out in front of you. Come back to the starting position. Do 2 to 3 sets of 10 reps per side. Related: 'Simply put, dead bugs build core strength from being able to activate your core and keeping a neutral spine while moving your arms and legs,' Reddy says, explaining why it's so effective. He adds that this ab-strengthening move also puts your coordination to the test. That means it's good for your brain says that dead bugs require the core to stay stable while the limbs move. 'The strength-building comes through the stillness you demand of your core. By coordinating the movement of opposite limbs, you are asking your muscles to resist movement. This activates your deep mindful stabilizers front, side and back,' she doing dead bugs, Lepcio stresses that it's important to breathe correctly. To do this, she says to exhale when lowering the opposite leg and arm and to inhale when returning to the starting As with other healthy habits, if you want to notice a difference in your core strength by doing dead bugs, it's important to do it consistently. The benefit of this move is that it doesn't require any equipment whatsoever. You can spend a few minutes doing it at home whenever it best fits into your schedule. Reddy recommends doing dead bugs every other day to really notice a difference. 'Doing two or three sets of 10 dead bugs every other day gives you a chance to really focus on the quality repetitions and then giving your core a day of rest,' he says. But he emphasizes that the rest day doesn't mean doing nothing; it's still important to stay active and move your body. If you keep at it, Lepcio says you can expect to notice a difference in your ab strength in about eight weeks. How can you tell your core is getting stronger? She explains that you may notice that you have less lower back fatigue after standing or sitting for an extended period of time and just generally be able to move through life with more ease. Reddy agrees, saying, '[Everyday] movements start to feel easier, such as moving boxes, picking things up around the house, cleaning and gardening.'Related: According to Lee, another way you will notice your ab strength improving is that you'll be less shaky when doing dead bugs than when you first started doing them. 'Shakes aren't bad, but typically come when you're developing strength and your body is working on mastering the resistance limbs naturally provide,' he says. Certainly, dead bugs is not the only way you should be moving your body; cardio and strength training are important too. But as far as ab strengthening goes, this move is a winner. Do it regularly and you'll notice a difference. Up Next: Andrea Lepcio,CPT, certified personal trainer and the founder and owner of Mighty Fit Casey Lee, CPT,certified personal trainer at Purposeful Strength Vinn Reddy, CPT, certified personal trainer and the founder of Vinn Reddy Personal Training Fitness This Is the Best Workout Move for Core Strength, No Crunches Required first appeared on Parade on Jul 8, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 8, 2025, where it first appeared.
The Sun
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Watch the moment Celebrity Catchphrase star misses out on whopping £25k prize – but would you have known it?
THIS is the moment a Celebrity Catchphrase star missed out on a whopping £25,000 prize - but would you have known it? The hit ITV show has always lead with the 'say what you say' mantra, but as members of the public - and more recently celebrities - have found out, it isn't as easy as it sounds. 4 4 4 During the latest series of the show - hosted by Stephen Mulhern - impressionist and comedian Luke Kempner made it all the way to the Super Catchphrase. After whizzing through the first couple of catchphrases, Luke took on the starred number 11, in the hope of doubling the money of his co-stars Charlie Hedges and Jeremy Vine. He secured that relatively easily as well, but things unravelled when he got to the £25,000 catchphrase. The scene revealed Mr Chips doing sit ups next to an apple core with muscular arms lifting weights. Luke guessed 'working on his guns' before struggling to think of anything else. He said pass and moved onto the only other option on that level, but he sadly ran out of time when he was unable to get that one right too. It meant he left the show with a respectable £10,000 for his charity, as well as doubling Charlie and Jeremy's earnings from earlier in the show for their respective charities. It was then Stephen's job to reveal what the missing catchphrases had been. He explained that the gym scene was actually "core strength" as it was an apple core working out. Did you get it right? Watch the moment Stephen Mulhern is left red-faced as he makes HUGE blunder on Catchphrase puzzle The final clip that he missed was "under study", which Luke was kicking himself about. Earlier in the episode, Stephen was left red-faced after giving away an answer. As the clip showed a man going into a coffee shop with rapidly increasing price tags until they burst through the ceiling, Stephen declared: "Literally, the prices have gone through the roof!" The contestants then stood in silence for a second as an embarrassed Stephen clocked what he had said. Stephen Mulhern's career so far The presenter is a mainstay on various ITV shows, but how did he become one of Britain's most well-known faces? Stephen first gained an interest in magic and tricks from his father who taught him as a kid. After performing at Butlins, he became the youngest member of the Magic Circle and even made an appearance on Blue Peter in a piece about Harry Houdini. His career started in Children's TV when he presenter the show Finger Tips in 2001. After four years, he launched Tricky TV on CITV in 2005, which he presented until 2010. During this time, he was handpicked by bosses to front the ITV2 spin-off for Britain's Got Talent. He presented Britain's Got More Talent until the cancelation of the companion in 2019. But it's not all bad news for Stephen who is known for his duties on a number of quiz shows. In for a Penny, a format originally launched on Ant & Dec 's Saturday Night Takeaway was launched the same year. Before, he was chosen by bosses to host Catchphrase in 2013 and has been fronting the show ever since. Other huge shows he presented for ITV included Big Star's Little Star, Rolling In It and the reboot of Deal Or No Deal. He also made regular appearances on This Morning in 'The Hub' segment between 2011 and 2014. After the Philip Schofield scandal rocked ITV, he was chosen to reunite with his former CITV co-star Holly Willoughby as the host of Dancing on Ice. Jeremy eventually broke the silence, pressing his buzzer and asking: "Sorry, what? Was that the answer?" Stephen then embarrassingly nodded and burst into fits of laughter alongside the cast and studio audience. "I have never in my life done that. In 10 years!" he admitted. 4
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The Army-Backed Move Guaranteed to Build Your Core and Chest
If you want to build a rock-solid core and strengthen your chest, there's no better person to learn from than a U.S. Army strength coach. Army Reserve Lt. Col. Jason Barber, PA-C, CSCS, TSAC-F, has spent over a decade at the World Class Athlete Program (WCAP), where he's helped to consistently qualify more than 10 athletes for every Olympic and Paralympic Games across eight different sports. According to Barber, if there's one exercise he swears by for core stability and upper-body strength, it's the stability ball dumbbell chest press. It forces you to engage your core through the full range of motion while also working your chest, shoulders, and triceps. While it's a go-to for novice lifters working on core control and balance, this move delivers benefits for athletes at any level. "When I started as a young strength coach, one of the biggest things that I always glommed onto was building the foundation," Barber says. "And that core development is truly the foundation. Making our bodies more unstable means that we have to incorporate more accessory muscles and more core stability in order to move the weight that we're trying to move." Hold a dumbbell in one hand and lie back on a stability ball as if you were going to perform a bench press, using your core to keep your butt from sinking down, to start. Press the weight straight overhead while maintaining your balance. Do not allow your body to rotate to one side. Reverse the motion to return to the starting position. That's one rep. Complete all your reps on that side and then switch sides and repeat. "I like adding things like that into programs," Barber adds. "I think it's good for everyone to think about that and think holistically about how they train, not just biceps and triceps and chest. So, I'm a huge advocate for those types of modalities." The stability ball chest press and traditional dumbbell bench press have a similar setup and may look alike, but they activate the body in very different ways. The flat bench used in a standard dumbbell chest press provides a stable base, allowing you to focus purely on pressing power, which means you can typically move more weight. The stability ball version, on the other hand, forces your entire body to work. Your core, glutes, and even legs stay engaged throughout the movement to keep you balanced on the unstable surface, turning a simple chest press into a full-body challenge. 'All of the muscles that are in my back and my hips and my legs, my core, my abdomen, and then even using some more, like, accessory shoulder muscles to accommodate the dumbbell, are being used," Barber adds. "That's a whole-body lift, almost. Whereas before, if we're in the traditional bench, we're pretty locked in, and it's really just a chest exercise.' Although most people who've been lifting for a while assume their bench press weight will translate directly to the stability ball, they're wrong. Because the ball is free-moving, it requires a different movement pattern and a whole lot more control. Below, Barber breaks down the two most common mistakes he sees people make when performing this exercise. "Guys usually pick up too much weight," he says. "It's always good to be conservative first, so that's a big common mistake that I'll see, is too much weight, which puts you in danger." Lying down on a stability ball takes some getting used to. Add dumbbells, and it gets even trickier. One of the most common mistakes Barber sees is lifters arching their bodies over the ball instead of keeping a flat, supported back. This usually means you're either too far off the ball or not engaging the right muscles. To fix it, position your shoulders on the ball—not your glutes or mid-back—to create a stable base and maintain proper alignment throughout the movement. Squeeze your glutes and core to support yourself, and aim to keep the top of your core flat and even with your knees. The Army-Backed Move Guaranteed to Build Your Core and Chest first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 24, 2025
Telegraph
13-06-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
Planking is a miracle exercise – here's how to get it right
A good few hours and too many G&Ts after watching the World Cup Final in 2018, I found myself nose down in a forearm plank, on the floor of a friend's sitting room. Next to me was a similarly braced male acquaintance, whose challenge I had accepted. Minutes passed before we both started to show signs of strain. Five minutes in, my core was still intact, but my knuckles were whitening. As we passed the 10-minute mark, everyone else, luckily, had grown bored of our bravado and we were able to settle on an amicable draw; egos intact. The plank, an isometric core-strength exercise that involves maintaining a position similar to a push-up for the maximum possible time, is both feared and prized in fitness circles. The benefits of planking There are many benefits of planking, including: Strengthen core muscles Lower blood pressure Low impact Helps reduce risk of injury Plank is an isometric exercise, meaning it creates tension in the muscle to help build strength without any movement. One 2022 study found that the plank and other isometric exercises such as wall sits and leg extensions are better at preventing high blood pressure than going for a run, walk or a bike ride. Scientists at Canterbury Christ Church University, in Kent, reviewed more than 200 trials which looked at a range of exercises and how they impacted blood pressure.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
I did 20 military presses every day for a week — here's what happened to my shoulders
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. I was recently cleared for exercise after having a baby, so I've been very eager to dust off my favorite dumbbells and get back to work. Despite my enthusiasm, I knew I'd have to rebuild my deep core strength first before attempting most of my pre-pregnancy routine. However, I did feel strong enough to incorporate some upper-body exercises into my postpartum program. I was doing military presses consistently both before and during my pregnancy, so I decided to kickstart my return by doing 20 military presses every day for a full week. While this felt like a doable challenge for me, you should always check in with your medical team before trying a new workout, especially if you're postpartum. Meeting with a certified personal trainer is also a good idea to ensure you're moving correctly. The military press, also called an overhead press, is a compound exercise that targets multiple muscles in the shoulder. This move will work the anterior, lateral, and posterior deltoids along with your triceps, serratus anterior, and rotator cuff muscles. Military presses also require core engagement. Your transverse abdominis and internal obliques keep your torso stable and your spine neutrally aligned as you press the weight overhead. You'll need a pair of dumbbells, a barbell, or a curl bar for this exercise. If you have any lower back issues, you may also want an adjustable weight bench so you can sit while performing the movement. Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand. Bring the dumbbells to your shoulders with your knuckles facing behind you. Engage your core and maintain neutral spine alignment. Press the dumbbells towards the ceiling. Slowly lower the dumbbells back to your shoulders. Continue for the desired number of reps. If you're using a barbell or curl bar, align the bar with your sternum, with your hands placed slightly wider than shoulder width apart. Engage your core and press the bar overhead. Return to the starting position with control. Since I was returning to exercise after a long absence, I split 20 reps into two sets of 10. Here's what I found after my week-long experiment. Pregnancy really does a number on your core, and I've noticed the lack of strength and stability in my abs even during the simplest of moves. Knowing that I was dealing with some serious core strength deficits, I decided to perform the exercise seated with back support for the first few days. This was the right choice, as even seated, I could feel the muscles in my back trying to overcompensate for my weak abs. Dropping the dumbbell weight alleviated this problem, and the exercise still challenged my shoulder muscles. Keep this in mind if you've got lower back issues or compromised abdominal muscles. Doing the exercise seated takes a lot of the core work out of the equation, but sometimes that's necessary to ensure proper form and prevent injury. Even though I was seated, I still made sure to engage my abdominals throughout the movement. By the time I got to the fifth day of the week, I felt like my core muscles were conditioned enough to try the military presses standing. It was much easier to keep my spine aligned without letting the low back arch. I finished out the week standing, which was more taxing for my core, but in a positive way. I was starting to see the benefits from military presses combined with my postpartum core routine. Military presses are primarily a shoulder exercise, but they're great for building abdominal stability too. My fifth day of military presses also came with a bump in dumbbell weight. Before pregnancy, I was doing military presses with 20 pounds regularly, so I decided to jump back in a bit lighter — 15 pounds. The first few days were harder than I expected, but I started to find my groove by day three. By day four, I barreled through all 20 reps without stopping. I knew that meant I was ready to up the ante, so on day five, I grabbed my 20-pound weights. I was able to increase my dumbbell weight pretty quickly because my body was used to the movement. If you're trying military presses for the first time, be wary of increasing your weight too quickly. Doing so could result in injury. Since the dumbbells were starting to feel easy, I swapped them for a curl bar on the last day of the week. Curl bars look similar to a barbell but are much shorter and lighter, making them accessible to almost anyone. I selected a 35-pound curl bar, which wasn't as heavy as the dumbbells I'd been lifting. The weight displacement on a curl bar is much different than dumbbells, though, and that threw me off a bit. I even developed some slight shoulder pain on the last few reps, and could feel my abdominals working hard. I had to rest before I got to the end of my sets. Doing military presses with different pieces of equipment, like curl bars or kettlebells, could add some much-needed variety to the movement. I'm a personal trainer — here's 3 hip-opening exercises to reduce stiffness and boost lower-body mobility This routine is designed to improve your lower body's range of motion, increase blood flow, and enhance joint mobility Personal trainer shares a five-move mobility routine to unstick tight hips and shoulders using your bodyweight.
