"My doctor says I need to [engage mocking, sarcastic tone] 'work my core more.' Whatever..."

So said my coworker, who happens to experience chronic back pain, which occasionally escalates quickly to explosive pain given the wrong movement.

Core strength is necessary. Let's just get that out of the way. It's not a "nice-to-have," it's a "need-to-have." Unless you like arthritis, or shoulder injuries, or knee injuries, or ankle injuries, or chronic pain in your joints. It's not like a strong core will prevent the possibility of these, that depends on what else you do with your own body. But a lack of core strength will surely exacerbate and raise the likelihood of all of these conditions seeing their way into your body, into your life.

"Having money's not everything, not having it is." - Kanye West

(NB: This has been said before, but in my limited experience never in such a fun way as Kanye did it in "Good Life" so I'll credit him here.) Anyway, the point is, core strength is like money.

The good news is this. There are plenty of exercises to make core work fun. Like the two I show in this (poorly made) video.

1. Bicycle

What I love about the bicycle is that it's integrated. It recruits a ton of different muscles at the same time, making you not only stronger, but increasing your kinesthetic intelligence. Your body gets smarter when you make it do things you haven't done before. When your body gets smarter, your mind does too.

2. Walking lunges.

Many wise people will tell you there's no leg exercise that beats the good, ol-fashioned squat, and they would be right. That said, if fitness required doing the same thing all the time, you'd see a lot more compliance officers getting into it. (That's right Shannon, I went there.) Walking lunges surprise your legs in a couple ways at the same time. First they must contend with extra weight (in my case above, though I'd recommend against it when you're starting). Next, they are not used to such a thoughtful, mechanical motion. Focusing on activating the right muscles and feeling the right connection between those muscles, while moving, is a very powerful way to improve your gait, balance, and weight distribution busy, in everyday life. Oh, and did I mention they are excellent for your core as well?

My form is far from perfect, but don't let that stop you from trying.

I still am!

It's no coincidence that Ron Burgundy mentioned his core in a moment of authenticity and raw vulnerability. What more proof do you need? This stuff is important.