When it comes to exercise… I am but a creature of habit.
It’s either running, or running, or maybe an occasional swim.
To say I’m set in my ways would be an understatement, but I’d always assumed that what my routine lacked in variety… it made up for in consistency.
Turns out, however, I might be wrong.
After a brief consultation with Personal Trainer Bruno at the Anantara Vilamoura, I discovered that cardio can only do so much, without sufficient core work to complement its benefits.
Core work, shmore work… I probably would have once said, as I wallowed in the blissful unawareness of how LITTLE running actually does to ameliorate the wear and tear of two pregnancies, especially.
Granted, this realisation comes nearly nine years too late…but alas, I’m assured that re-gains in core strength can still be made with the right abdominal-strengthening exercises… repeated often.
The most effective exercises, according to
Bruno, work from the outside abdominals inwards, and the lower stomach muscles… up.
Bruno showed me several ways to do this, with a focus on techniques that can be completed at home, without the need for a gym.
I’ll be honest… I am interpreting the fact that I found these techniques so difficult, as a measure of how much I NEED to be adopting at least some aspect of core work into my run-swim-run routine.
To this end, a Swiss ball is going to be first on my list of things to buy when I get home.
Realistically, I will probably end up rotating the exercises I’ve been taught, rather than trying to do them all in each session, but I’m assured that this is ok, and that there are aggregate gains to be had from even these small, incremental changes.
For the full ab-workout video, click here.