You can! Rowing, Pilates, and yoga can get you there. Consider a yoga meant for people with chronic pain like DDP yoga.
A lot of excersizes can be adapted to where you don’t have to lift your head up during the movement until get stronger and are ready to increase the difficulty. I would recommend checking out Cassie’s Blogilates videos. They are free on YouTube and she has a lot of beginner videos that walk through proper form for Pilates as well as a begginner’s calander that will help you work on both core and total body strength. That’s what I did anyway! :)
Try doing crunches with your arms raised vertical to your body, pointing at the ceiling, this helps ease the tension in the neck. Another good exercise is the "deadbug", you can search for instructions online.
You start by ensuring you are hiderated, then you engaging in short brisk walks either in the evenings or early mornings.
If your neck and back are a concern, and you have a low amount of core strength, then I recommend one exercise over every other one taught in boot camps, infomercials, and all other intense or insane amounts of sweating and doing sit-ups, crunches, curl ups, etc, all of which can hurt your back. Ready? Ok! Do the Plank! Comes from Pilates and yoga. Stand erect. Squat down, assume the push up position, but arms are extended. So, you look like someone prepared to do a push up. Keep yourself in that position, back straight, and arms straight. Now, hold that position for 1-2 minutes, daily increasing it to 5 minutes, then it’s up to you. The abs get a work out so
You could try doing a plank with one knee on the ground. Make sure you keep your back straight and but up a little. Tighten your abs ( you have them already, they are just waiting to meet you 🙂) Hold as long as you can then switch knees. When your comfortable just try a full plank for any amount of time and drop that knee when you can’t hold it. Do that for a couple of weeks
I found some good, 5 minute beginner videos by searching YouTube for “standing ab workout” or “standing core workout”. These put much less strain in my back and neck. Best of luck and keep up the good work!
Without straining your neck and back? You could do planks, or hula hoop! Practice standing up straight in front of a mirror. Do some neck, back, and core stretches. That’s all the suggestions i have for now.
See how long you can hold the plank position and start building on that time by doing it everyday and adding 15s or more every week
I’d highly recommend starting with yoga or running. It seems silly, cause you’re not focusing on your core necessarily when doing these things, but running actually requires using your core to make sure you have good posture and can breath well. And yoga is about being mindful with your body and how it moves, so you’re more likely to be attentive and careful about how you place your body and if you’re forcing or holding tension in the wrong areas. Core workouts can be planks and sit ups and push ups, but they don’t have to be. Your core is the foundation for how you hold yourself while doing almost any other exercise. So don’t feel like you need to push yourself to do core specific workouts. You can do many other workouts that will give you a good base and strengthen your core before you move on to core specific workouts. And by the time you get to the core specific workout, you’ll have a base to build off of so you’re not hurting your back or neck :)
Answers reflect the personal experiences of Fabulous community members. They are not medical or professional advice — for guidance about your health, talk to a qualified professional.