Your core muscles are the muscles around your hips, pelvis and lower back. These muscles are intertwined and layered. Because of this, core exercises target all the muscles in the area, not just a particular set of muscles. The goal is to get all of the muscles in the area working together in order to get the best results.

There are four major muscle groups in your core area. The rectus abdominis runs along your abdomen while the erector spinae muscles go from your lower back all the way to the base of your skull. The oblique muscles are the group that are most often talked about. These muscles run along the sides of the rectus abdominus. The transversus abdominis muscles are the abdominal muscles that are below the obliques, often referred to as the deep sleeping abdominal muscles.

It is important to exercise all of the core muscles during a core workout, not just one set of muscles. There are several exercises that can help with this goal.

Plank

The plank is an exercise move that targets the abdominal muscles as well as the lower back muscles. To do the plank, you first lie face down on the floor. Then, raise your legs and stomach off the floor, balancing the weight of your body on your toes and hands. Your entire body should be flat. Actually, your body will look like a plank if the exercise is done properly.

Leg Raises

Leg raises are also a good example of a core exercise. Leg raises work the abdominal muscles as well as the back muscles. To do leg raises properly, lie down on your back with your legs out flat and slowly raise your legs a few inches off the ground, keeping your knees straight. Hold your legs in position for several seconds before slowly lowering. To make this exercise more difficult, you may want to add ankle weights.

Torso Lifts

Torso lifts are also another good exercise to target the core muscles. They are similar to the popular ‘Cobra’ pose in yoga. To do a torso lift, you should first lay face down on the floor. Slowly raise your upper torso off the ground using your hands to push yourself up, making sure to keep your hips touching the floor. Stop when you feel a stretch in your hip flexors and hold the pose for 10 seconds. Then, slowly lower yourself back to the floor.

Crunches

Abdominal crunches are another easy exercise that can really help to strengthen your core muscles. Basically, crunches are similar to sit-ups. However, you do not need to sit up all the way to do a crunch. Instead, you simply crunch your abdominal muscles and raise your head and upper back off the floor. Cross your arms over your chest instead of placing them behind the head, as this tends to put excessive stress on the neck.

These exercises are not difficult to perform, and do not require any expensive exercise equipment. However, they will help strengthen and tone the core muscles.

WEEK 1: BECOMING ACCUSTOMED TO THE HEALTHY LIFE!

This first week will just focus on you becoming used to staying healthy, and not becoming scared off by the dedication you will have to put into this. The exercises you will be performing will not be advanced yet, and you will not have to be extremely strict with the healthy living. Also, this week will mainly focus on the calorie burning aspect of fitness, and not too much on strength training.
NUTRITION: We recommend throughout our whole plan to have about 5-6 meals a day. You should also enjoy a sugar-less beverage with all of these meals. Since this is just the first week you are allowed TWO cheat days. Meaning two days you can eat, drink whatever you please. The purpose of cheat days is to keep you encouraged.
FITNESS: The fitness routines will usually only last fifteen minutes. Our belief in Fitryo is that fitness should be for everyone: people who do not have much time during their day to exercise and people. For the first week the exercises will be more centered on weight loss than strength training. Weight loss exercises are typically easier to do and less tiring. You will perform exercises such as: jumping jax and basic Total Bar exercises that are easy to perform.

WEEK 2: STEPPING IT UP!

Now that you are used to a healthy lifestyle, it is time to push your limits a little bit. The second week is crucial because it will usually decide if you will stay consistent with the program or if you will decide to give up. This is why in this week we recommend to make the fitness aspect a little more challenging.
NUTRITION: The nutrition factor this week will be very similar to the previous week. Of course we recommend switching up the recipes which you cook. By switching up the recipes every week you will make your journey more enjoyable. This week you will also keep two cheat days, in which you can eat whatever you please.
FITNESS: The workouts this week will become a little more challenging. This week you will switch from the weight-loss focused exercises, to muscle firming type of exercising. In order to accomplish this you will now switch from the first week’s jumping jacks exercises that were performed before and after the Total Bar workouts to pushups instead. These pushups depend on your current physical capability, be it the amount of push ups or the form in which you do them. You will also begin to try out more complex Total Bar exercises, but will keep doing most of the basic ones still.

WEEK 3: TIME TO COMBINE WEIGHT LOSS AND MUSCLE FIRM!

The third week will now become to really challenge you. This is the part in which you will combine calorie burning exercises with toning exercises. The combination of both of these will get you sweating more and will be a little harder.
NUTRITION: Nutrition wise you will once again have an identical schedule. The only difference this week is that you will decrease your cheat days from two days to one day. This will of course be a painful switch, since you only have one day in the whole week to choose what to eat. Once again we recommend switching up the recipes from the previous weeks to keep this part of the plan fun and exciting. The Fitryo Nutritional Guide has many recipes for these purposes.
FITNESS: It is crucial for your fitness goals to combine calorie burning exercises with strength training. It is when you combine both of these factors, then you typically see the goals you set for yourself come to reality. We usually recommend starting to do some jogging or high intensity interval training before you begin your Total Bar workouts. The Total Bar workouts will only be different this week. You will begin to focus more on the advanced workouts and you will increase your reps from 30-45 seconds to 45-60 seconds each.

WEEK 4: HALF WAY THERE!

Wow! By this time you are half done with the eight week program. This stage is something to be proud of, but you cannot stop your drive just yet. Matter of fact, this is the time to really push yourself. Your nutritional schedule will not change much. But your exercising will now be even longer than before and you will focus only on complex Total Bar exercises.
NUTRITION: This week nothing changes for your nutrition plan. Of course we also recommend picking different recipes from the Fitryo Nutritional guide once again to keep the excitement going.
FITNESS: So by now you have been introduced to weight loss exercises and strength exercises. This week you will once again combine both of them, however you will make both exercises longer in duration and add a little more sets to each. Also, the entire Total Bar training will be expert level by this time. Meaning you will really get a burn from your fitness training!

WEEK 5: GETTING SEXY, CAN’T STOP NOW!

This is the turning point in your nutritional aspect of the plan, because you are getting rid of the cheat day. Meaning there are no more cheat days! Fitness wise, you will be very much the same thing.
NUTRITION: So no more cheat days. Now you are stuck with healthy recipes and sugar-less drinks. But you are eating 5-6 meals a day! That is plenty of food. Fitryo also has delicious healthy recipes. Do not be upset and encourage the beautiful body that you are achieving.
FITNESS: This week you are performing very similar exercises to last week’s routines. The Total Bar workouts that you will be performing this week, however, will be done until exhaustion. Meaning, you will be performing these exercises until you cannot do them anymore. This will get the best strength training results out of you, and give you those firm arms, leg and abs that you always wanted.

WEEK 6: READY FOR THE BEACH!

At this point you are really repeating the previous week’s routines. The only thing you will incorporate this week is using the Total Bar in your cardio.
NUTRITION: Change up your recipes. Otherwise, everything stays the same! NO CHEAT DAYS.
FITNESS: The biggest change here is the fact that you will either be shaking the Total Bar while jogging. Or if this is too difficult for you, you can just hold it without shaking it. This will make your fitness a little more challenging.

WEEK 7: STEP TO SUCCESS, ALMOST AT THE TOP!

This is the point of no return. You already came this far, and you are already seeing tremendous results. At this point it is all about consistency. You have the Nutritional guide and can experiment with various meals as you have been doing. Your fitness routine will remain the same. Make sure you are not slacking off every day. We even recommend writing your accomplishments down at this point so you stay focused and you stay on track.

WEEK 8: YOU MADE IT!

This was a long eight week journey. But you got this far and you will for sure be consistent. Now look at your body, embrace its beauty, you have made it!

Weight Watchers did a study where they found out that Behavioral Therapy plays a significant role in improving fitness goals. As many psychologists have proven in the past, the thought process of a human being has a great impact on his or her behavior. Behavioral therapy is often used for people who are extremely overweight, where the therapist targets the patients negative thought process and teaches the patient how to repel those thoughts. This strategy can be extremely influential for fitness results, because an individual can focus more on the target in hand and not become distracted.

A thought process that makes 90% of people unmotivated about fitness is unrealistic expectations. How many times have you told yourself at the beginning of a New Year: “That’s it. I’m going to exercise all the time now and lose 20 pounds in a month!” Losing 20 pounds, for example, in ONE month is an unrealistic expectation. When a month passed and you only lost 3-4 pounds, you are likely to stop exercising. This is because you expected something that is practically impossible to accomplish. The truth about exercising is that it’s a long term goal, and not something quickly accomplished. The best thought process is to look at exercising as an exciting journey and not a specific destination.

Many psychologists have also studied that writing your workout progress down does a lot for your mind. When you see your results and accomplishments on paper that motivates you to go out and achieve more than that. Also, the results become more realistic and you have something to be proud of. Studies show that people who write down their fitness results and fitness routines down are 62% more likely to stay consistent than those who do not.

Bernice Bates says that yoga for her is a lifestyle rather than a job. This is exactly the mind set that every athlete or fitness enthusiast has! Bernice practices yoga when she wakes up, when she instructs her students and even in her bed before she goes to sleep. Bernice explains that yoga is the best type of exercising there is because it does not exhaust your body. She also criticizes other exercises such as treadmills which exhaust you and discourage you from exercising consistent. Bernice explains that, “Yoga itself means yoke, that’s to join. We join our mind, our body and our spirit in everything we do.”

This woman can be quite inspirational, no matter what is your age, gender or physical built. Bernice proves that all it really takes to stay healthy and motivated is to have the right mind set. Bernice also proves that it is never too late to start getting into fitness. She only started her yoga career in the 1960′s, which means half her life she did not have this passion. Yoga also has immense benefits on your overall health. “I’ve never had anything I had to go to the doctor for, except checkups,” she explained, who tips the scale at 105 pounds and is about 5 foot, 2 inches tall. “That should say something.”

The most important lesson to get out of this is; if you make fitness your passion, it will not be a chore. Staying healthy and fit is a great challenge for Americans, and stories such as this can be inspiring. As Bernice explained, her passion for yoga is the reason she is healthy and strong at her age. Many people at this age end up in nursing homes and lack energy due to poor fitness. After reading Bernice’s story, I am sure inspired to make fitness my lifestyle. So what is your fitness passion?

You can read more about Bernice Bates by clicking here.