Backbone And Abdominal Exercise

Working with your backbone and abdominal exercise helps keep everything in place.

Backbone and Abdominal Exercise

Your “backbone” does not bare the weight of the body, the head and whatever load we happen to carry at any one time. As a matter of fact, this mass of weight sits on the “pelvic girdle.” Your body is like a sack of wheat setting on a bar stool and the back of the chair is the backbone.

Furthermore, there is a whole passel of muscles that may be referred to as peripheral, or ancillary, muscles that hold the body together, much like the wheat sack holds and supports the loose wheat and keeps it from spilling out. Of course, I have over simplified the whole picture. The wheat and bag cannot move around, run, jump, climb a tree and do the things that the human body can.

My point here is that the bar stool supports the bag of wheat, much as the pelvis supports the human body. What’s more, the backbone depends on the various muscles to hold the whole mess in place. Think of how a series of guy lines support a large tower. If one line is weak or too strong it will cause the tower to be out of alignment.

I have greatly simplified the picture. We have legs, arms and other apparatus that put demands on out poor overworked backbone. Also, this doesn’t mention our relaxed lifestyles. They tend to not keep our muscles strong enough to do the job they were meant to do.

Thinking About These Muscles

I say this to get you to think about the muscles that must hold the backbone into its rightful position. These muscles need daily attention to keep them strong. Now I suggest one exercise to you for almost anywhere or any time.

Stand relaxed and pretend there is a clock on the ceiling. Keep your head erect and move it slowly around the clock. As you get stronger pretend a bigger clock. Experiment with a bigger clock and move your feet further apart.

Now pick up one heel and just keep the big toe on the floor for balance. Move your head around the clock. Do a couple hundred of the circles in each direction. This is a good overall body exercise.