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breathe out and pull your abdominal in tight.

2. Return to start position breathing in and holding abdoninals tight.

Key point the movement should be one movement, not a twist the crunch or crunch then twist. If this is the way you perform the exercise just think about the damage you could do to your spine! Try it with a sponge and see!

Lower back work (dorsi raises).

Lying on your stomach with your arms down by your sides.

1.Contracting the muscles in your lower back lift your head and shoulders of the floor. In this movement we need to be breathing out and pulling the abdominal in.

3. Lower the head and shoulders back down to the floor while breathing in and holding the abdominal tight.

Variations.

The same exercise can be performed by placing the hands by the temples or even out stretched in front, each one get harder and more challenging.

Supermen.

This will work the lower back muscles and as we make the exercise harder it will challenge stability as well.

1. Lying on your stomach, with arms out stretched, concentrate on your breathing.

2. Rise opposite arm and leg of the floor while breathing out and pulling your abdominal in tight.

3. Return the arm and leg to the floor while breathing in and holding your abdominal tight.

4. Repeat process with other arm and leg.

This exercise can also be repeated on hands and knees. With this yours ears, shoulders, and hips should be inline and be concentrating on your breathing. Then repeat the exercise of raising opposite arm and leg, with the correct breathing.

Lateral Work.

Lateral work is core stability group of muscles that most people don't train. The muscles help us lean from side to side and hold an upright shape. To train them we need to do the following: -

1. Lie on your side with your arms out stretched. If you have one foot on top of the other you will be less stable than if you split you feet due to you having more contact points with the floor.

2. Concentrate on your breathing and breath out and pull you're abdominal in tight and let the top arm arch over your body till it reaches your thigh. You should find that your body had risen slightly up. The slide of your body that you are in contact with the floor with has risen up slightly.

3. Breathing in and holding your abdominal return the arm on your thigh to touch your other arm the start position in the ark it travelled in. You should find your self back in your starting position and full contact with the floor.

To make it more challenging we can start on one elbow or with a straight arm so only hips and legs are in contact with the floor. Then as the top arm comes over the body and you are using the correct breathing the hips and legs should leave contact wit the floor. This means that your elbow or straight arm and the feet are the only contacts with the floor and to return to the start take the are back over the head and he hips and legs will return to the floor.

Learn more about this author, Steve Lilley.
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