W8R1

[choondal]

I directly went to W8R1 after doing W7R2. Am feeling confident. I can manage to breathe comfortably, but my core muscles are starting to give me mild problems - especially the lower back. I now realize the importance of regular exercise for the core muscles.

[gary_bart]

It's never too late. Somewhere, recently I saw it half jokingly described as "always pinching your bum cheeks together". The other "short tip" I found there was that you should use your "lats" to pull your shoulders back and down to open up your chest, breathe better, and stand more comfortably. The point of the above two points being that although the right place to start is with the abs, the core is everything down from top of ribcage to bottom of pelvis.

The unfortunate thing is that it's really hard to work on the core. The trick here is not to be "too cool". If you're managing without any undignified puffing and panting and groaning and complaining, you're letting your dignity get in the way of your fitness. If it doesn't get difficult enough, it's not much help, and if it gets difficult enough, you're probably going to strain a bit (by moderation!).

[Hidden]

have a look at this - nhs.uk/Livewell/strength-an...

It may help if you are not doing anything other than running

[misswobble Graduate]

Absolutely! Start doing some core exercises to get you fit all over. Upper body, core. The whole lot! Nothing too difficult or strenuous. Yoga is good ! cycling, walking, swimming. All good exercises for non-running days

I do exercise DVD's at home so no need to lash out on expensive gyms

Our backs need strengthening as if you've not been exercising then it will be weak. Build up gently though. No rush.