Strengthen Your Core Canister With This Exercise

Tight hamstrings? Lower back pain? Weak pelvic floor? Just had a baby? Dr. Duch says this quick but effective move could be useful to you because it would show you how to connect together with your “core canister,” strengthen your hamstrings, and activate your inner thighs—and you most likely won’t even break a sweat. (Plus, it actually feels really good, trust us.)

In a recent Instagram post, Dr. Duch wrote, “I really useful a version of this several times this week for somebody with back pain, someone with ‘tight’ hamstrings, and someone attempting to re-establish a reference to their core canister after having a baby.”

So, uh, what’s your core canister?

Nowadays, when fitness figures talk concerning the “core,” they often mean your abdominals. But your core canister actually encompasses your diaphragm, abdominals, hips, back, and pelvic floor, Dr. Duch says. So lots of our aches and pains on this area come from strength imbalances, resulting in some muscles doing more work than others with a purpose to compensate.

This particular exercise is so powerful since it fires up all these muscle groups without delay. “We wish to ensure that every one areas of that canister are being asked to assist out,” Dr. Duch says. “It distributes the work throughout the core canister more evenly.”

Give it a shot

Want to offer this holy grail exercise a try for yourself? Here’s methods to do it:

1. Lie in your back together with your feet propped up at a 90-degree angle on a couch or chair.
2. Place a squishy ball or a rolled-up towel between your inner thighs, and press your lower back to the ground.
3. Inhale, flex your feet, and press your heels into the couch or chair until your butt is hovering just an inch or two off the bottom while gently squeezing the ball between your legs.
4. Do three to 5 long, regular breaths while hovering. Take into consideration expanding your ribcage on the inhale and drawing your pelvic floor up on the exhale.
5. Slowly lower your butt back to the ground and shake out your muscles.
6. Repeat that three to 5 times.

A word of warning: This may sometimes be so much to your hamstrings. In case you find that yours are cramping up once you hover, Dr. Duch suggests keeping your butt on the ground and just gently pressing your heels into the couch or chair. This can still activate and strengthen the hamstrings without leaving you limping.

Try incorporating this circuit into your each day routine, either as a standalone exercise or as a warmup, and see how your back, hips, and hamstrings feel. It will not be a cure-all, however it could prevent a dear trip to the chiro.