Core Muscle Training for Football Part 2

If you are like me, you are tired and bored with doing crunchers. They are a good work-out for the abs but they don't work out the entire core. If you are like me......I some how manage to strain my neck....maybe its an age thing in my case but either way I manage to hurt my neck doing crunchers. In this core muscle work-out tip we will rely on the expertise of David Jack, director of TeamWorks Fitness in Acton, Massachusetts. He will demonstrate how to effectively do a Kettlebell Figure 8 exercise. There are several advantageous in using this work-out. Not only will it work the core muscles from all angles it will work the shoulders and give the thighs an isometric work-out all at the same time. First we will discuss the proper position. Set your feet about shoulder width apart and the assume a squat position with the back and head up and in a straight line. Place the kettle mid to the front of your feet and your elbows pressing against the knees. This will insure you work all the core muscles and stabilize the spine. With one hand pickup the kettle and begin doing a figure 8 changing hands with each pass. When I did this I did feel the tightening in all my core muscles. Be sure to suck the stomach in to keep the abs tight and the belly flat. I particularly felt the burn in the stomach muscles going up into the chest. I also felt a burn in the quads and hamstrings. Suffering deteriorating discs in my neck and lower back made me wonder if I could do this exercise but I found it easy to do and felt the burn in the areas I was told I would. See how to do the Kettlebell Figure 8 and decide for yourself if it is an exercise you want to include in your work-out exercise. I did not have a kettle so I used a 15 pound hand weight and it worked fine. Kettelbell Figure 8 video