A Workout to Rule Them All: In Search of the Perfect Home Core Exercise Routine

If you want a toned and fit body, nothing beats the gym, of course! Sure, there are body weight exercises, free weight exercises, and a number of affordable home exercise machines that you can invest in to create your own home exercise space. But unless you invest a ton of money and have a lot of free space to store all your exercise equipment, you’ll never be able to replicate all the workouts and bodybuilding routines that you can at a gym. Body weight and free weights can go a long way, but for many of our muscles, it’s very difficult to master all the workouts they need with home-based exercises alone.

This is particularly true for the core muscles. Most of the core muscles, unlike the more visible muscles like the biceps and hamstrings, lie deep in the body and rarely work independently. They are used as part of our daily lives – simply standing up and existing – and not just for specific tasks when we tell them to. And the core is not just one muscle; it’s not even just 2 or 3. It’s a huge block of over 100 muscles that all work together in an incredibly complex manner. These include the abdominal, which is what we often think of as “the core,” but also the obliques, hip flexors, quadrates, pelvic muscles, spinae, the quadratus lumborum, and lower back muscles. The complexity of this area means that proper technique when exercising the core is incredibly important if you want to see the best results and avoid injury.

It’s not easy to engage all the right muscles the right way (especially when they’re the muscles we can’t see!), so many of us stick to traditional core exercises like crunches and planks. While effective, more varied exercises are required to strengthen the entirety of the complex group of muscles that make up the core. So when we want to see real results, most of us fitness buffs head to the gym, where we know they’ll have a huge core section waiting for us with every possible core exercise available.

But the good news is that it is without a doubt possible to maintain that six-pack and well-toned core with home-based exercises if you have the right equipment, routine, and dedication! Let’s dive into what you need and how to put it into action.

The Daily Core: The Exercise Machine to Rule Them All

With the core being as complex as it is, you might think there’s no way to achieve a well-toned core with just one machine and a simple set of exercises. Well, meet The Daily Core, and think again!

A compact machine that takes up only about the same floor space as a small treadmill, The Daily Core is the perfect addition to your exercise room if you value a simple exercise routine that can not only build your core strength but maintain your overall health and wellbeing through cardiovascular conditioning as well. Yep, the benefits of not just one but all the core workout machines you’re used to using at the gym, plus the added cardio benefits that you get from a treadmill or stair machine!

A 12-Step Workout for Core Strength

The exercises you’ll do with The Daily Core are almost entirely done in a standing position. While this might seem atypical for core workouts, and indeed it is a bit unconventional compared to most ab and core machines you’ll find at the gym, you’ll find that standing exercises do a much greater job building your overall strength and tone. They also burn more calories and contribute to a better posture. Evidence also shows that standing workouts can prevent injuries, as you do more of your routine in a natural position and avoid contorting your body into odd poses.

Rather than going off pure strength and physical resistance, The Daily Core exercises stress form and function because these are the keys to maximizing gain and performance. If you have the right form and are doing the right function, you can build all the strength your body can manage. As you grow stronger, you’ll keep up the workout, add more resistance and more repetitions, and see the gains!

The Daily Core is dedicated to ensuring that their community uses their machine according to their thoroughly tested methodology. Once you’ve set up the machine, you’ll meet one-on-one over Zoom with a fitness specialist from The Daily Core’s team to ensure that you know the exercises and can do them well. How many exercise machines have you bought that come with their own personal trainer? Well, let this be your first!

Here, we’ll briefly go through a couple of the exercises so you can get an idea of how incredibly simple yet powerful the solution to a toned body can be.

Standing Sit-Ups

Exactly what it sounds like! The standing sit-up works out the same muscles as a regular seated sit-up, with the additional benefits of also improving your balance and posture and avoiding unnecessary back strain.

To do a standing sit-up with the daily core, set the shaft to the position recommended in the instructional manual and grasp the handle with the right hand and the shaft with the left, in a canoe paddle position. Standing shoulder width apart, allow both arms to straighten while keeping your back firmly upright. Making sure to keep the arms straight and upper back firm, engage the abdominal muscles to lean forward and backwards, returning to the starting position after each rep. Do 12-15 reps before switching hands and repeating.

The workout itself is similar to a canoe or SUP (stand-up paddle) stroke, but with the added benefit of achieving perfect posture and body position that you probably won’t manage if you’re out on a lake in a canoe or SUP! Despite this, stand-up paddling is widely known by trainers and physiologists to be one of the best core workouts. So you can only imagine how great this exercise is!

Twister

Core-twisting-based exercises are essential exercises to work out your oblique muscles. These are among the hardest muscles to keep toned, as despite their relatively infrequent usage in day-to-day life, they play a critical role in almost every sport. Whether you want to excel at tennis, baseball, football, soccer, swimming, skateboarding, or golf, you need to be able to quickly twist those hips!

Start by setting the bars and shaft to the position described, and stand sideways facing the left. With your right hand, reach out and grab the right vertical bar, and put your left hand on your left oblique muscle, just above the hip. You should be able to stand straight with your arm fully extended and comfortably grab the bar. Keeping your right arm as straight as possible and avoiding using your shoulder or arm muscles, slowly twist your core 90 degrees to the right and back. If you do this correctly, your left hand should feel your oblique muscles doing their work. A very satisfying feeling!

If you’re training for a specific sport that requires footwork, such as tennis or baseball, you can also add a small pivot to your feet to imitate the full-body motion of a swing.

Maximizing Your Daily Core Routine

For best results, it is recommended to go through each of the 12 exercises in each session, repeating them 4-5 times per week. As the golden rule of conditioning says, consistency is key! The routine is designed to take no more than 10-15 minutes, so there’s no excuse for not being able to fit it into your day!

Though the standard number of sets in each exercise is designed to keep your core toned and in shape, if you’re looking to take your body to the next level, you can always add repetitions. You can also use the included adaptor to add weight plates or resistance bands to increase the resistance for a number of the exercises. There is a lot of room to improve, and the power of The Daily Core will grow with your muscles! As with any workout routine, in order to avoid injury, make sure that you are fully comfortable with the current set as it is before attempting an increased difficulty or number of repetitions.

Look no further than The Daily Core if you’re looking for a simple solution to maximize your daily workout routine. The machine and the set of exercises that come with it provide something for your core that you can’t replicate elsewhere. You’ll save time by not having to go to the gym and bounce from area to area, and you’ll save space at home by not having to keep piles of exercise equipment around. And most importantly, it’s a simple routine that’s easy to learn, easy to master, and can grow with you as you get stronger. Your core will thank you!

* In partnership with our friends at Jeff Broffman _ Standing Fitness, Inc* Photo courtesy of Jeff Broffman _ Standing Fitness, Inc
* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
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