Strengthening Your Core with the Dead Bug Exercise
Leah ZahnerDescription
This exercise may look and feel silly. Hence the name. But as far as core exercises go, the Dead Bug Exercise may be the most influential. This ab exercise is a great place to start core training for beginners and experts alike.
Bowling is a dynamic motion and this exercise trains trunk stability and is geared to help protect your lower back. Specifically, the Dead Bug Exercise hits the core unlike other core exercises that can get the arms, shoulders, and neck involved in ways you may not want.
Step 1
Start by laying flat on your back with your arms and legs elevated.
Step 2
Next, release one leg down. Simultaneously release the opposite arm down while holding the non exercised arm and leg in position. Return to your starting position and exercise the opposite arm and leg.
The abdominal muscles are used to press your back into the floor throughout the exercise. If you feel your back rise up off the floor, you are going too far/fast. Keeping your back to the floor is key to strengthening your core with the Dead Bug Exercise so if you need to slow down or not go as far with your arms and legs, do so.
Check out more beneficial exercises that are aimed at improving overall well being and your bowling performance at the same time.
A great way to strengthen your core and work on some coordination is an exercise called the Dying Bug. This exercise is done on your back and you'll be working opposite arm and opposite leg movement while strengthening your core. Simply lie down on your back, send your legs up towards the ceiling, reach your arms up as well. If you're feeling tight in your hamstrings you can always keep your knees soft so that you're still reaching your legs straight up into the air. Then you'll carefully release one leg down, and the opposite arm back. Return, and switch. You'll need to use your abdominal muscles to press your back into the floor even as you lower your arm and your leg, and you want to maintain that contact through the full range of motion. Any time you feel your back start to lift up away from the floor, you've gone a little bit too far for you, so take that range of motion a little bit smaller on the next repetition. Once you've completed the same number on each side, you can tuck and roll yourself up to a seated position and move on.
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