Put your mat away and give your neck a rest. Standing core exercises work more muscles than crunches—and the more muscles we use, the more calories we burn. Your core includes any musculature about your central skeleton that may balance your trunk. Try including more standing postures in your work day to avoid back pain and other health concerns. Now apply some of those abdominal exercises you did on your back; the standing knee-cross crunch, the cross-body chop (with or without a medicine ball, use any easy weight really) and the overhead-dumbbell side bend; all of these can be found on our website. The great thing about these exercises, is that they can be done anywhere and will greatly improve your postural core. Give yourself more reasons to stand today!

Chris Bisignano, Concourse Physiotherapy, www.yourphysio.com