
Hopefully the tips I shared a few weeks ago helped you in clearing the first eating hurdle, Thanksgiving. Now we are in full eating mode for Christmas and other holidays throughout the month of December. ‘Tis the season to eat and plank: Warming up our body’s core for January and beyond begins this month. There are many exercises that help strengthen the core, but my favorite for its simplicity is planks. Planks are an effective way to increase the body’s balance and endurance. They also strengthen the body for more advanced exercises like push-ups. In other words, if you have never been able to do a decent push-up, start building the core muscles with a few minutes of planks every day. If you have never really exercised, just start slowly by trying to hold this position for 20 seconds and move on from there. Like my gym class, you will be doing amazingly good, solid push-ups in a few weeks if you work at doing planks first. See the diagram of “Suits and Guarders” characters below.
I confess that I am like Thomas. I like to tell my gym guys and gals jokes while we are planking. There is nothing like belly laughing while planking. It works your ab muscles when you laugh, so it hurts and feels good all at the same time. Okay, get planking!