THE CORE ISSUE
For years now, I’ve been hearing about the importance of strengthening one’s core. I think it started when my daughter began running cross country in high school. I believed I had a general understanding of the concept and was happy for her. Thanks to Facebook, in the years that followed I was able to advance my knowledge.
It was through this medium I was introduced to “planking.” Well toned young men and women were shown demonstrating this “exercise.” I’ve seen enough body sculpting gimmicks over the years to quickly dismiss this as just another hoax. Even a casual observer could see the guinea pigs weren’t even moving. What the videos failed to show were the hours these ripped models of undergarments spent in the gym with a highly paid trainer. Absent too were the “meals” they were partaking in. Salads, vegetables, an occasional grape or two and on special occasions a bite size kale cookie as their diet were kept secret. Planking. Ha.
I have a “friend” who thought it a good idea to take a plank challenge. He was kind enough to invite me to join him by also taking on the endeavor. Its simple, he explained. We’ll each start with a 30 second plank on day 1 and just add a mere 3 seconds per day until Easter. Having never attempted a plank I decided to give it a test run in private. No problem. Not for a half minute at least.
At the time of the writing of this blog entry I’m at 135 seconds. For those scoring at home, that’s more than 2 minutes. That’s more than 4 times as long as my first plank. Yes, that’s four times the fun.
A natural question at this point would be, “Is it worth it?” Hmmmm. I haven’t fielded any calls from Hanes or Fruit of the Loom yet, but that wasn’t the goal. I just wanted to strengthen my “core.” I suppose that would suggest the need to find out where my “core” is.
I’m currently spending a week in a Motel 6 which has ZERO wifi. Googling “core” isn’t an option unless I leave my room. Its raining, hard. Recalling a time when “googling” wasn’t the only way to gather information I went with plan “B.”
Surely if this planking thing works on the core, I should by now have a sore core pointing to the source, of course.
My research is complete. The “core” includes, but is not limited to the following: Elbows, biceps, neck, shoulders, lower back, upper back, mid back and all parts relating to the back, abs (good to discover those bad boys are still in there), quads and calves. That fairly well covers it. I guess its like an apple core. When you think about it, an apple core almost covers the entire span of an apple, sparing the stem and whatever little part of the fruit that hangs below the base of the core. For a human, that would be the feet. At this point, my stem (head) and feet aren’t sore. I guess that’s only partially true since I might have a slight cramp to my ego.
Is it Easter yet?