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Top 10 Exercise Guide for Creating a Stronger You

By: Dr. Sarah E. Ellis, DPT, PT, CPT, CNC

Welcome to Core Exercise Solutions!

Congratulations on starting this ebook. In it you will find an amazing set of exercises
that enhance the way your body moves. Looking better and feeling better are one in the
same. Each exercise should leave you feeling better than before!

Having a healthy strong body is important for enjoying life to the fullest and staying fit
well into your golden years. No one wants to think about not being able to do the things
they love and that especially includes me! I want to be that 90-‐year-‐old out there
rocking the world. You can join me!

It's not always easy to stay in shape, responsibilities take up a considerable amount of
your time. Then with what little time you have left you try and squeeze in exercise. I
know it's crazy to have a Physical Therapist wanting to make you look better but let's
face it I rarely see a 35 year old in my office worried about keeping a healthy spine. It's
not until they are 50 and their backs are killing them that they are ready for my help.
That's why my goal is to prevent those type of injuries from ever happening.

Having a strong, fit waist is likely to keep you from injuring your back. The same applies
for your hips, neck, shoulder, etc. So, if I can get you doing the right exercises today,
then you will look great AND be injury free tomorrow!! Win win!

If you have questions about any of the exercises simply email me at
[email protected]. I'm always here to help!

I find that despite our best intentions, injury happens. Our bodies breakdown, they can’t
sustain the wear and tear of improper overuse. (Back pain, neck pain rotator cuff tears,
ITBand Syndrome, Knee Pain, Hip Pain, Plantar Fasciitis...) Have you had any of these?
Or is an area just tight? If yes, then let's catch it before it turns into a full blown
debilitating injury.

I’ve taken tons of pictures for you. Pictures with perfect form and pictures with bad
form so you can see the difference. I encourage you to be your own coach. Take
pictures and video of yourself and work on perfecting technique, the results will speak
for themselves.

The exercises listed below are based on a mid-‐level athletic ability level. They are
written for the person that already has a base level of strength. If you are finding the
exercises difficult, do not do them, stay tuned for simpler versions that will help you
build a base and work up to these. Likewise, if they are super easy, stay tuned for
harder versions. Shoot me an email and let me know they are too hard or easy.
Although some of them we should all be doing all the time for prevention!

In the words of Tina Fey:

Disclaimer: This exercise program is not designed to diagnose or treat any injuries or
illnesses. Please consult a physician before starting any new workout program.

Side Plank with Feet on a bench

Why do this exercise?
Because it will create a rock solid core! It’s also one of the best exercises for stabilizing
the SI Joint and preventing back pain.

I love planks, and this exercise is even better because it takes the shoulder completely
out of the equation. Creating shoulder stability takes lots of specific work, and in my
opinion core strength needs to come first to protect your spine. I find with regular side
planks clients will either have an unstable winging scapula or they will try and push up
with their shoulder using their delt muscle and under-‐using their core. This exercise is a
great way to maximize core strength without worrying over shoulder positioning.

Coaching Tips:

• Head back in line with your body.
• Entire body in a straight line.
• Lift using your stomach muscles (obliques and TAs).
• Make sure you don’t roll backwards, I don’t want your back muscles getting too
involved.
• Make sure you do not bend at the hip. Your body should be straight as a board.
Especially the front of your hip!
• If you have wide shoulders or a tight neck place a towel roll under your head to
support your neck.
• The more leg you place on the bench the easier it is to do.
• Work up to holding 30sec x 3


Advanced Version

Your inner thigh (adductor muscle) plays an important roll in creating strong hips.
Without a strong adductor muscle you can suffer from knee pain, hip pain and low back
pain. These muscles make you more agile and less likely to strain something playing in
the yard with your kids. Plus, they will give you great looking legs!

Do one set with both feet on the bench (or chair) getting the bottom leg hip muscles
(squeeze your bottom glute), then do a second set with just your top leg on the bench
holding your bottom leg up. This will work your top adductor muscle.

• Be careful with the top knee if you do not contract your adductors (inner thigh)
muscles enough you can strain your MCL in your knee.
• Work up to holding 30sec x 3

If this exercise seems beyond your current ability level, then stay tuned. I have a future
newsletter planned on nothing but building a base of core strength. This will start you
at the beginning and work your way up.


Thoracic Spine Stretch

Fix Hunched Forward Posture and Rounded Shoulders

Why do this exercise:
Having greater confidence is linked to having great posture! Who doesn’t want more
confidence these days? Hunched forward posture increases your risk of neck pain,
midback pain, low back pain and incontinence. Yep, I said incontinence. Crazy right!

Your posture affects so much more than you think!

Before we start into any upper body exercises to fix hunched forward posture and
rounded shoulders it’s important to make sure you have mobility in your thoracic spine
(midback). A mobile thoracic spine supports fluid, correct movement of your scapula,
which is needed to prevent shoulder pain. Because we sit a lot and complete forward
tasks, almost everyone’s midback is tighter than it should be. This leads to neck pain,
muscle tightness and shoulder pain.

Simply lie back on the foam roller, hands supporting neck. Roll and stretch back from
the bottom of your scapula to the top. (Midback to top of shoulder) Try not to hyper
extend your neck or low back, this exercise is meant to stretch the midback only.

Coaching Tips:

• Start at your midback (around your bra line)
• Lean back and hold for a second or two
• Roll up, moving the roller toward your head an inch or two and lean back again.
• Repeat until you have made it all the way to the top of the shoulders, or about where
I am in this picture
• Repeat any tight spots again


Great stretch to add to your post-‐work routine, especially if your job is forward and
stressful, then this stretch will feel amazing!

If you have osteoporosis, check with your doctor. Severe osteoporosis is a
contraindication for the foam roller, and it is not worth the risk of a fracture. I usually
find most people with osteoporosis feel a stretch just lying flat on the floor anyway,
which is risk free.

If you have really hunched forward posture, simply start by lying flat on the floor and
supporting your head with your hands. This would be a great time to incorporate a chin
tuck! Once that feels comfortable, use a small towel roll or soft yoga mat instead of the
roller and be gentle on your back. The foam roller can be rather aggressive so you want
to work your way in slowly.

There are some great shoulder mobility exercises you can do with the roller as well as
foam rolling key areas like the ITBand, so hang on to that roller because we will get into
more later.


Executing the Perfect Push-Up

Great posture, perky pecs and a lean waist!

Creating a strong pec major makes your chest bigger. This gives you a balanced look to
your posture along with making you stronger. There will never be a piece of furniture
that you cannot push across the floor by yourself! Push-‐ups also build scapula control,
which can be immensely helpful for preventing shoulder pain.

Push-‐ups are a great catch all for a lot of the upper body muscles. You get chest, triceps,
delts (shoulders) and scapula (shoulder blade) muscles if they are done correctly. You
also need a great deal of core control since a push up is simply a front plank with
arm movement. Since there are so many muscles working, doing a push up correctly
can be difficult.

One of the biggest problems I see is weak scapula (shoulder blade) muscles. Key
muscles in the scapula help to control the eccentric motion of this exercise (slowly
lower you down). If your scapula muscles are weak (particularly your serratus anterior-‐
more on that later), then you will collapse into your shoulders without the assistance of
the back muscles. This can be very bad for your rotator cuff and biceps tendon.

Coaching Tips:
• Hands up about a foot wider than shoulder width
• Fingers spread out and connected to the floor, I want your hands to look strong.
• Head up, chin tucked in line with your body. Do not let your head lead the way.
• Keep your core tight, pretend there is a plank of wood on your back, or better yet
that your spine is a plank of wood and it cannot bend, give or move.
• Bend your elbows before lowering; this will keep you from collapsing through
the core or scapula.

• Think about lengthening in the shoulder or pulling out on the elbows to keep it
out of your neck and upper traps.
• Stop at 90 degrees of elbow bend. Do not touch your chest to the floor unless you
want to put strain on the shoulder joint rather than your muscles.
• And for Pete’s sake (that’s my granddad), do not look up. This hyperextends your
neck.
• Come all the way back up each time to make sure you work the serratus anterior.

If you miss one of these pieces, you are more likely to injury your rotator cuff or biceps
tendon during push-‐ups. They are difficult to do correctly but produce amazing results
when done right.

• Strong hands create a strong foundation
• Make sure you maintain the arch in your hand and connect your fingers to the
floor.

Correct and strong push-up.

Do you do zillions of push ups but still seem to have no chest muscle? This is
probably why. Check out all my bad example pictures for comparison…

• Do not internally rotate your
shoulders
• Turning your hands in increases the
strain on your shoulder and
decreases the work done by your
chest and triceps.


More pictures of fun things done wrong:

Get your butt out of the air!

• Do not let your head lead the way! Tuck
your chin and get your head up in line
with your body.
• Have someone take a picture of you at
the bottom of the movement to see if
your head is lower than your body.
• Your ears should be up in line with
your shoulders.

• Do not let your belly sag.
• Remember a push-‐up is a plank
with arm motion.
• Keep your core tight and your
back straight as a board.

Lastly, I don’t have a picture here, but do not look up! This hyperextends your neck.
Keep your chin tucked and in-‐line with your body.

Good luck with your perfect push-up!


Increase Pull Up Strength with Lat Pulls

Because fit strong women do pull-ups! Also, it protects your back and shoulders
from injury while giving you a V-shape that makes you look killer in a strapless
dress.
I’m going to go crazy and call the lats a core muscle. Yes, you are thinking correctly I
said lats, the muscles you think of using for pull ups. They are very, very large back
muscles. These muscles come down and attach into your thoracolumbar fascia, which is
also where your transverse abdominis attaches (main core muscle for spinal stability.)
Having strong lats goes a long way for protecting your back.

Not strong enough to do pull-‐ups yet or want to increase the number of pull ups you can
do?
You are going to love lat pulls.

Coaching Tips:

• Place a heavy band over the door and
close it.
• Stand tall in an athletic ready position.
This means a small squat through your
hips not your knees.
• Knees should not extend over toes.
• Lock your corset in place. I like to put
my hand on the opposite side of my
stomach to feel for tight core muscles.
• Do not scrunch your back!! No
substituting QL and Paraspinals for Lats.
• Pull down using your lats 100% and not
your shoulder.
• Elbow stays forward, inline with body.
• Focus on working your lats!
• If you are having trouble isolating your
lats then loop the band around elbow.
Taking your grip out it makes it easier
to recruit the right muscles.


Trouble Shooting:

• Make sure you do not pull too far down.
• Do not scrunch your back.
• See how my elbow is going back and
my shoulder is going forward? This
is wrong.
• Keep your elbow forward in line with
your body.
• If you look closely in this wrong
example you can see how my lats are
not firing as much as above and my
rotator cuff is taking over. This is how
rotator cuffs get over worked!!!


Chin Tuck with a Head Lift
Gives you amazing posture by fixing forward head posture. It also relieves neck and
midback tension and pain.
You need a strong neck to stand up straight and hold your head in line with your body. Due
to forward head posture, most people have overused and tight muscles in the back of their
neck. These muscles have to strain to constantly hold the head up all day. To offset this
overuse, it is important to build the muscles in the front of the neck.
The muscles in the back of the neck get strained and overworked with forward head
posture, and this is a great exercise to bring about balance, creating a loose, tension free
neck, and most importantly bringing your head back in line with your shoulders!
Coaching Tips:
• Lie on your back, knees

bent, shoulders back,
palms up
• Stretch your head,
lengthening your neck,
like someone is pulling
on your head
• Slightly tuck your chin
• Pretend someone is
pulling on your hair so
hard that it lifts your
head no more than 1 in
off the floor
• Hold it there for 5-
10seconds. Repeat 5 times.
No one looks good with slouched posture and a forward head.

Trouble Shooting:
When you first start this exercise, your neck might be too weak to do it properly. If you find
yourself lifting your head too high or sticking your chin out, try helping your head by either
pulling on your hair or giving your head some gentle support. By pulling on your hair, it
really gives you the feeling of lengthening through your neck that you need to do this
exercise correctly.
Try this exercise after a hard day

at the office. It will make your
neck feel wonderful!
Don’t forget to take a picture of

yourself and analyze it so you can
make sure your neck is in the
proper place.


Prone Y’s on Foam Roller

Because it builds a strong looking back while preventing rotator cuff tears and upper
and lower back tightness.

Strong lower traps are important for building healthy strong shoulders, enhancing core
strength, and prevent scapula pain. Most of my patients that come in with a tight lower
back, midback and upper neck pain have weak lower traps. One of the best ways to
strengthen this muscle is a facedown exercise called Ys. Doing this exercise in child’s
pose with your forehead on a foam roller takes out the paraspinal muscles and prevents
you from cheating with your lower back.

Coaching Tips:

• Sit back on your heels in child’s
pose with your forehead on the
roller
• Place the arm you will be lifting
out at a “Y” angle
• Place the non-‐active arm in
position stabilize your trunk by
your shoulder
• To lift think Reach – Turn – Lift
• Reach out lengthening your
arm
• Turn your thumb up toward
the ceiling
• Lift your arm from your
scapula

• Try to relax your upper traps
• You should feel your scapula glide down your back
• Don’t try and lift too high, just lifting a little can build strength without kicking in
a bunch of cheaters.

As it gets easier you can maximize your time by doing both shoulders at once.


• Keep your chin tucked and your spine long, you are using the muscles in the
front of your neck to help stabilize.
• Open your chest toward the floor.
• If you have limited range in your knees, try bending over a table and using a
towel roll or the roller there.
• If you have limited shoulder range, shift the roller to the side so your arm hangs
off one side.
• Work up to 3 x 10 and when that is easy grab some 1lb weights!


Learn a Hip Hinge to Build Glute Strength

To save your lower back and prevent disc injury! Plus, it gives you a butt like JLo.

Quick Test for Hamstring Flexibility in a Deadlift
As you can probably tell by looking at me, I’m not a bodybuilder. I love lifting to keep me in shape for my
sports but I’ve never taken things to the next level. One thing I’ve noticed from going to the gym with
girlfriends is deadlifts have been given a bad rap as a bodybuilder exercise. “Normal” people who workout stick
to the elliptical and leg curl machine and don’t venture into the area with all the big guys with bald heads.
Well, I’m here to tell you that

1. the big guys with bald heads aren’t that scary and
2. even your Grandma needs to be doing a deadlift
Learning to accurately execute a hip hinge i.e. deadlift might be the single most important exercise you do to
protect your lower back. It works your glutes, hamstrings, core, lats, and teaches you how to correctly pick up
heavy things. Being able to pick up something heavy off the floor is life skill.

Hamstring Length Test:

Bend over as far as you can keeping your back flat.
Feel where your hamstrings catch?

Now I can go further…but it all comes from my mid
and lower back! Bad, bad, bad!

See how my low back is rounding in the picture? That is what you want to avoid.
If your flexibility test was less than 90deg of bend at the hip, then you should spend
more time stretching your hamstrings. Or figure out which muscle in your hip is weak
and causing your hamstrings to tighten up.

Modified Dead Lift or RDL
Learning a correct hip hinge is the number one thing you can do for your back. I want
you to incorporate this motion everywhere, washing your hands, writing a quick note,
picking up your purse, etc. There are so many times in life where you come from your
back and hunch because the task is light, but this repetitive hunching will catch up with
you and eventually damage your discs!

Coaching Tips:

• Stand tall, chin tucked. Head stays
inline with body the entire time. Do
not look up into a mirror at the
bottom. That causes your neck to
hyperextend and your core to relax.
• Engage your lats be by squeezing
your arms in.
• Hinge at the hips shifting your
weight backwards, keeping your
back completely flat.

• When you feel a stretch in your

hamstrings stop, anything further could
come from your lower back and
damage your disc. We do not want to
lose that flat back position for the sake
of getting closer to the ground.
• Engage your glutes to come back up
and stop at an athletic position.
• Do not come so far up that you shove
your hip forward in the socket and
hyperextend your back. This is not a
safe position!

Do not hyperextend the finish! This is bad
(I know all you power lifters are gasping
right now.) But it’s bad for your hips, so
don’t do it. Stop at athletic! See first picture
for athletic start.


Build Single Leg Squat Strength

Because this exercise creates strong hips! It also prevents knee pain, IT Band Syndrome,
Piriformis Pain and helps you master a single leg squat.

An email from one of my clients:

"Sarah, those single leg squats with a stool are killer, my glutes were killing me
next day, I had to build up the chair height to decrease distance! But boy does it
isolate! Thanks for the great exercise, Jane

These build eccentric hip and leg strength. The eccentric or lengthening phase of a
motion often gets overlooked. These are the opposite of step-‐ups and half of a single leg
squat. They are a great way to progress into doing single leg squats correctly.

Coaching Tips:

• Stand in front of a bench or chair.
• Start with a short foot exercise. I want
your foot to be really responsive
through the entire process.
• Make sure you maintain a neutral
spinal curve, chin tucked, good
posture.
• Sit back through your hip, slowly
lowering to the bench.
• Keep a 90 degree angle on your hip.
You will lose this angle if your hip
collapses or your knee caves in.
• Make sure you maintain your lumbar
curve the entire way down.
• Lower all the way down until you are
sitting on the bench. Use both legs to
come back up.

• After you can comfortably lower all
the way down without losing your
hip, knee or lumbar positioning then
try and pause at the bottom and
come back up.
• Note how high my arch in this
photo. Your arch and ankle strength
helps support your hip.
• Work up to 3 sets of 10


Trouble Shooting:

Do not let your knee collapse in.

Do not let your opposite hip drop. See how my
right hip is dropping in this picture? That has
to do with left hip strength.

Do not let your knee go into your toe.
Make sure you sit back into your hip. This exercise will
hurt your knee if you do it wrong.

Lastly, make sure you do not lose your lumbar
curve!!!

Maintain the same curve from start to finish. All motion
comes from your hips, not your lumbar spine.

Modified Split Squats

Because it builds awesome leg and hip strength and prevents knee and hip pain.

This is one of my favorite ways to build leg and hip stability. This is a great starting
point for training eccentric glute loading. Eccentric glute loading is key for protecting
your lower back. The advanced version can also be used as a functional hip flexor
stretch. This is also a great balance exercise. Once you can do this exercise with no
weight, grab some dumbbells and make it harder!

Coaching Tips:

• Place one foot on the wall behind you
(or floor if it’s a really big ball.)
• Place ball behind your low back. As you
squat, you will sit underneath the ball.
• Stand tall, keep hips square the entire
way through the movement.
• Make sure your front foot is far enough
forward that your front knee does not
go over your front toes. This can cause
knee pain!
• Think about dropping your back knee
straight down. Then squeeze your back
glute to come back up.
• Keep your core tight.


Trouble Shooting:

• Do not let your knee go over your toe.

• Do not let your knee rotate in. (I’m obviously
exaggerating, but even a small amount of
rotation can cause knee pain.)

• Do not let your opposite hip drop. Keep your
hips level.
• Both a hip drop or knee rotating signify a
weak hip.


Short Foot Exercise

To prevent Plantar Fasciitis and knee pain and increase arch strength. Having strong
feet builds a strong foundation for the rest of your body!

Strong feet help prevent pain all the way up the chain. They are your foundation for
strong knees, hips and torso. Likewise, if your foot is weak, it causes your arch to
collapse which can put additional stress on the fascia causing plantar fasciitis. It also
causes internal rotation of the tibia (lower leg collapses in) which can cause severe
torque at the knee, along with other issues up the chain like hip pain, knee pain, ITBand
syndrome, and even back pain.
To create a strong arch, practice this foot exercise while standing in the shower. (Most
everyone has bare feet then!)

• Stand with your weight on the
middle to outside of your
heel, not the inside.
• Keep your toes flat and press
down with your ball of your
foot under your big toe lifting
your arch.
• If you are having trouble not
scrunching your toes then lift
them, but work toward being
able to keep them down and
not let them scrunch.

• You should feel (and see)
your arch lift
• Hold 3 seconds and repeat.
Work up to 10
• Follow with a calf stretch

Strong arches create a foundation for all exercises! Utilize short foot positioning before
doing squats, deadlift or lunges and see if you can feel the difference.

You did it!!!

Congratulations on making it through all the exercises in this program. Were any
particularly difficult? Did you feel better after doing them? Shoot me an email. I’d
love to hear about it.


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• Lie on your back, knees

No one looks good with slouched posture and a forward head.

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Try this exercise after a hard day

Don’t forget to take a picture of

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Well, I’m here to tell you that

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• When you feel a stretch in your

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