Do you remember as a kid how you liked to jump on the bed (until your parents yelled at you to get off). Or maybe you were lucky enough to have a trampoline or knew someone who had one. For what ever reason most people love to jump up and down on a trampoline. Maybe it’s the feeling of exuberance as you go higher and higher. Today bounding on a trampoline as have proven to be good form of exercise and not only for young people, older people should also consider it.

In order to build a stronger body and a body more fit for exercise you need to do core strength training. Like a building that depends on its foundation your body has core muscles that must be strengthened and taken care of.
Your core muscles are in your abdomen, back and hips. This general area is the core of how you move and how you exercise. Without a strong core you wouldn’t be able to reach your potential in strength training and you would probably have a difficult time doing just the simplest things in life. To often people who start to exercise concentrate on getting bigger arms, shoulders and a broad chest. That is fine, but your main focus should be to strengthen your stomach and your back. Why? Whether you are aware of it or not lifting depends greatly on a strong abdomen and a equally strong back.
What are the best exercises for strengthening the core muscles?
All abs workouts are good as long as they don’t strain your stomach or your back. A common workout device for balance and core developing is a stability ball. There are various exercises that you can do with a stability ball that will help with your core. from the mayoclinic.com site there is a slide show that provides core exercises.
As always check with your doctor before starting any exercise program.
Other benefits of a strong core are good posture and good balance, which is important as you grow older.

There is one thing that can’t be stressed enough and that is to increase the amount of weight that you are lifting.

In an earlier article I wrote about Sarcopenia, the loss of muscle mass. This usually occurs as we age. Luckily there are things that we can do (strength training) to slow that down.