Core Exercises

I have to admit and most of you already know this, but I am not a gym rat. I have a membership at a local gym here in Atlanta and most of the time I end up not going as often as I should. Here lately however, the roommates (David and Andy) and I have decided that we want to get into better shape. We are all members of different gyms in the city. I don’t think that either of them is too worried about what to do when they go to they gym because they both played college football and are very experienced in the gym. I, on the other hand, don’t really have a clue when it comes to working out.

Now, I know how to run on a treadmill, use the machines, and do push-ups or crunches but I don’t know the first thing about how to string all of them together to form a workout that will help me get into shape. So I began reading about working out. I am not sure why I didn’t just ask David and Andy to help me develop a plan. I could have even called my college friend Bryan who is a personal trainer, but I decided to read up on it instead.

I have been flipping through magazines like Men’s Heath or Men’s Journal to get the latest tips on what I need to do to slim down and tone up. Each different magazine I read and each show I watch about exercise on TV all seems to get back to one topic: The Core. I had never really heard that there was such a thing as a core.

Apparently the secret to working out is to strengthen your core muscles. Who knew?!? As far as I can tell these are the muscles in the center of your body that provide the “foundation” of your balance and strength. If I work out these muscles and develop them using these techniques then I should literally watch the pounds fall off my body replaced by lean, tone muscle.

So I took my magazine to the gym last Friday while I was on vacation. I went around 10:30 in the morning because I didn’t want to go with the Gym Rat crown while carrying my magazine with the workout plan.

So there we were: me and some ladies around my mother’s age all in the gym together. They were reading magazines while they walked on their treadmills or used the elliptical machine. I pulled out my headphones and iPod and opened my magazine up to the workout plan that was guaranteed to make my body look like a Greek statue.

As I looked at the exercises I thought to myself, “This is going to be easy!” I saw lots of variations on push-ups, a lot of the exercises involved laying on the floor (OH YEAH!!) and some of them incorporated the use of an exercize ball. To me it looked like a piece of cake!

The first exercise was to grab some light weights (I chose 8 lb. dumbbells) and grip them in your fists. Then you were to get into the “up” push-up position and raise one arm at a time straight out to your side. I did one on each side before I fell over onto the floor. This was not going to be as easy as I thought.

I then decided that since I was on the floor I would do some of the laying down exercises. I was to lay down on my back with my feet on top of an exercize ball and then raise my hips into the air completely lifting my rear-end off the ground and letting my shoulders, abs, and hips do the work. I began to think that working on my core was going to be hard work as soon as the ball began to roll around when I pushed my hips into the air. I looked like a complete idiot as every muscle in my body tensed as I was trying to keep the ball from rolling away.

I began to think as I gave up and went home that the core muscles of our physical body are very similar to the core muscles of our spiritual body. We go to church, read a book, or attend a retreat and learn about exercises that will strengthen our spiritual core.

These exercises sound easy enough: read your bible, pray on a regular basis, seek Godly counsel, work with an accountability partner, and the list goes on. So we rush home with our pamphlets or notes and after a couple attempts at different exercises we realize that it’s a lot harder than we thought. Even the one’s we can do lying down!

In Matthew chapter 7 Jesus gives a little insight into the difficulty of maintaining our core muscles. He says, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

When I got to the gym on Friday I should have known better. There is no easy way to lose weight and get toned. In order to do it I have to be willing to take the narrow road of working hard at the core exercises to achieve the results that I want. At the end of the day these exercises will enable me to be healthier and I will have a good foundation to branch out into other types of exercize.

And so it is with your spiritual core. The exercises are tough and it will be easy to say, “I just don’t see why it should be so hard.” In the end all the hard work will pay off.

You see, your spiritual core is the very heart of who you are! We can all look around us and recognize people who hit the gym on a regular basis. People will be able to recognize you as a person who has a well developed spiritual core. They will come to you with their questions about prayer and accountability. Your relationship with Christ will grow and your relationships with others will flourish as well.

Now when you see your friends in the gym, ask them how their “other” core workouts are going.