A common statement you will hear when working on the core muscles in the gym – Engage your core. Feel the heat in your core.
What if we said that yoga can also help you strengthen the core and in a better way? Yes! Yoga might be ancient but it does gives you a natural and less-intense way to develop impressive core strength.
Let us start by understanding about the core a bit in detail.
The Core Muscles
The core encompasses the area from abs, diaphragm, pelvis, hips, glutes, and lower back. All these contain a total of 29 muscles that make up the core.
Having good core strength helps take off the unnecessary load off your spine. It transfers the force from the lower to upper body.
Even simple activities like standing and sitting use the core muscles. Also, when you bend to pick something from the floor, stretch your hands upward or swing a bat; all these engage the core. Enroll in a yoga certification to know everything about the core muscles.
Why a Weak Core is Bad For You?
Having a weak core increases your risk of injury and tightness. In the long run, having a weak core leads to loss of normal movement. Apart from this, you also develop a risk of lower back pain, poor body balance, and difficulty with lifting yourself up.
A weak core always reduces your athletic performance and interferes with day-to-day activities. In other words, you cannot enjoy normal life.
Let us now look at why developing core strength is good for you.
Importance of Good Core Strength
A strong trunk improves your stability It also improve the strength of your arms and legs. Building a solid core helps you develop more endurance and balance. In the long run, you should include yoga in daily routine to develop solid core strength.
Which Yoga Poses are Great for Improving Core Strength?
Yoga focuses on your stamina, stability, and overall balance. Although you might not be able to have a six-pack but your core strength will be off the charts.
That said, let us check out 6 of the most powerful yoga poses to build solid core strength.
- Plank Pose
Plank Pose is more of a reversed yoga exercise. It is the part of not just yoga but many fitness programs. It is the best exercise to stimulate and activate the core muscles. You should become a yoga instructor to learn and teach this yoga stretch to help others build a solid core.
- Low Plank Pose
A difficult variation of the Plank pose is the Low Plank pose. There is not much difference between your body and the ground in this yoga exercise. It not just strengthens your core muscles but also stimulates the forearms muscles and wrists.
- Side Plank Pose
As the name suggests, Side Plank pose requires you to balance the entire body on one side. You have to activate the core muscles to prevent unnecessary weight on your arms and legs. Join the yoga certification to learn this yoga pose from experienced yoga teachers.
- Boat Pose
Boat Pose is a unique yoga exercise as it requires you to use core muscles to create balance. This yoga asana also stretches your hamstrings, hip flexors, and lower abdominal muscles. Yoga experts recommend that you use a yoga strap if you have tight hamstrings.
- Chair Pose
Chair pose is a standing squat that engages your core muscles and improves your overall body balance. This also engages the hips, thighs, and buttocks to prevent you from falling. It also helps lengthen and stretch the spine to alleviate lower back pain. The yoga certification will help you master this pose and develop solid core muscles.
- Eagle Pose
If there is one yoga pose that strengthens your core muscles, Eagle pose is the one. This yoga asana strengthens your hips, thighs, knees, ankles, and calves.
Conclusion
Want to develop impressive core strength? Try the yoga asanas mentioned above. Make sure you enroll in yoga certification to learn and practice these under the guidance of yoga gurus.