Whether you’re a golfer, gardener, or gamer, you’ve likely come to realize that staying flexible, maintaining balance and strength, and lessening the likelihood of back pain are all essential if you want to pursue your passion. The problem is, as you get older, all of these goals become harder to achieve unless you put in the work. And there’s no area of the body more essential to that work than your “core.” We previously began to highlight the importance of strengthening your core if you want to maintain your balance and confidently move your body, and our resident yoga expert, Louise Applebome, has also written her own “ode” to the core. But given its centrality in the movement of your body (and the accomplishment of just about every daily chore), we wanted to dive a little deeper into exploring the advice and resources out there to help you maintain or restore your own core.

As a reminder, your “core” constitutes your midsection or trunk, encompassing the large group of muscles on your sides and hips, from your neck to your pelvis on the front and along your spine in the back. Considered “the most misunderstood muscle group in the body,” core muscles were the essential workhorses for our ancestors, getting them through such activities as hunting, farming, washing, and walking each day just to survive. In today’s world, a strong core is necessary for everything from reaching on the pickleball court to bending down to tie your shoe, and everything in between. Planning on carrying some groceries or hitting some golf balls on the course soon? You won’t be capable or comfortable if you don’t have a strong core supporting you. What happens when you allow your core to get weak? At a minimum, weak core muscles will leave you vulnerable to lower back pain, muscle injuries, and poor posture, and will leave your balance unsteady, thereby raising the risk of a fall. As one expert makes clear, “You can’t have good balance without a nice stable core.” Since almost all of us experience balance declines as we age, it means that a core workout must be an essential component of your exercise regimen.

And so what are the exercises that can maintain and strengthen your core? No matter whether you can get down on a mat, stand and lean against a chair or counter, or sit down to compensate for weak legs or unsteady balance, you’ll find a range of exercises that can help build up your core. For example, the challenging exercises (along with photos and descriptions) touted in this recent list of The 10 Best Core Exercises For Seniors will have you planking, holding, sliding, and rotating, working all the major core muscle groups. Another set of demanding core exercises for anyone over 50 comes from LIVESTRONG, which has both written and video explanations for such essential core exercises as the “Dead Bug,” “Incline Push Ups,” “Side Bends,” and “Holds & Twists,” using a resistance band.

For those looking for a less demanding (but no less valuable) approach to core exercises, take a look at these simple midsection moves (with visual illustrations) from Harvard Health– simple but not always so easy. For example, can you rise from a chair without holding on to anything? Or stand, hold a sturdy chair to the side, and lift one leg at a time sideways? Generally speaking, experts recommend you find the core routine that will work for you and slip it into your schedule 2-3 times per week, doing 10 reps of each exercise 3 times. They may be simple but will put your endurance and strength to the test. For those seeking a sit-down routine for core strengthening, take a look at LIVESTRONG’s 20-minute sitting core routine (video demonstrations included) that may have you sitting but will also have you working.

The Silver Sneakers website (offering both online and in-person classes) has a range of posts and free videos available to help you begin your core journey. For example, they’ve got a comprehensive guide to start building your core, a core routine that eliminates any mention or use of those dreaded planks, a yoga approach to building core strength, and a 10-minute sitting core workout. Again, all of these posts include free explanatory video instructions- and if your insurance plan or pocketbook so approve, there may be a Silver Sneakers facility in your area for live, in-person classes.

Finally, speaking of free, for those of you who have a Kindle, the Amazon website offers many free downloadable resources to help you get a core routine underway. So fire up your Kindle, and click here for a selection of core-strengthening selection publications.