Be forewarned, this blog is not about "tummy sculpting" or "shaving off inches" with a couple exercises in 3 minutes per day. Here at Newton Center Chiropractic, we don't care so much about your beach body, but we do care about getting your body strong and ready to enjoy your physical activity of choice this summer! If you're anything like most people, you've been sitting this winter. A lot. Most of our favorite winter activities involve using the heated seats in our car, drinking something warm under a blanket, and trying our best to not go outside. But since I got my first sunburn of the year this past weekend (apparently my really pale skin gets burned when it's 65 out), all that is about to change. 

As you spent all winter hibernating, your body started to accommodate to sitting down all day. When you sit, the muscles of your core, especially your abs/obliques, and glutes tend to atrophy (get weaker) and your hip flexors start to tighten. So to get you ready for all the running, biking, baseball throwing, soccer ball kicking, hiking, frisbee tossing, and swimming you're going to be enjoying this summer, what do you think we want? (GLUTE ACTIVATION) and when do you think we want it? (NOW)

Here are a few good exercises/stretches to get your muscles strong and ready to have fun this summer

1) Planks and Side Planks

Planks and side planks are a great place to start to get your abs and obliques working. If you have to start with 10 second on your knees and elbows, then great! Start there. If you're already a pro at planks and side planks, then add a little instability to your workout. Grab a bosu ball, try a high plank bird dog or add some rotation to your side plank.  While you're in your plank, make sure you're activating your glutes to help keep your pelvis in a good neutral position. No matter where you're at, there is a plank/side plank variation that will challenge you and help your core strength.

2) Lateral leg lifts

This is one of those exercises that is really easy if you cheat, and probably not so easy if you do it right. Make sure as you lift your leg, that your toes don't start to point up and that your leg doesn't start to drift forward. You will want to feel like you are actively extending your hip as you raise it up, and maybe even pointing your toes towards the ground a little bit. People tend to use too much hip flexor with his exercise and not enough glute, so if you're not feeling your glutes work then you're probably cheating!

3) Hip Flexor Stretch/Mobilization

Most of us lack a healthy amount of hip extension because of how much we sit, and a lot of that can be attributed to hip flexor tightness. I really like this low lunge hip flexor stretch (stretching the back leg), but if your knees won't let you do that, you can do it standing too. You can do both of these in one of two ways: you can hold one long stretch for 30 seconds or so, or you can do 4 or 5 reps of shorter, 5 second stretches. Whichever feels better for you is fine with me. Just make sure that when you do these, you square your pelvis up (usually that involves bringing the hip of the back leg forward), and activate your glutes, especially of the leg you're stretching, and abs so that you get good hip extension without overarching in your low back.

So go ahead and get outside and enjoy the and show off that beach body, whatever yours looks like. Just make sure your abs, glutes, and hips are as ready as you are.