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First, lets clear up one common misconception: Your core isnt just your abdominals, or abs.
Your abs make up part of your core, but there is more to it.
The core also consists of the muscles in your pelvis, lower back, and diaphragm.
certified personal trainer and Tonal strength coach
These muscles help move, support, and stabilize your entire body.
Your body will give you other clues if it’s crucial that you focus on core strengthening.
The biggest issue with a weak core is pain, says Jordan.
Especiallypain in the lower backand hips.
You may also have difficulty with balance, poor posture, or frequent injuries during exercises or sports.
The one thats been around the longest is draw your navel into your spine.
I dont like that one because its confusing.
People often think it means to suck in your belly.
This leads you to empty all your breath and mistakenly disengage many of the important muscles of your core.
certified personal trainer and Tonal strength coach
My trick is to have clients gently cough.
My trick is to have clients gently cough.
verify you arent holding your breath while your core is engaged.
Practice keeping that tight feeling, while letting your rib cage move in and out as your breath.
you might also place your hand on your abdominals and feel if they are tight.
While exercising or doing activities like lifting weights, your body should feel stable and strong.
You should stop, rest, and focus on re-engaging your core.
If you are exercising or doing sports, you should engage your core.
The intensity of core engagement increases with the risk or effort related to the movement, says Jordan.
What about during strength training?
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But the reality is that we should think about our abs just as much during these main lifts.
Our core is responsible for creating stability and safe movement in our spine.
Here are the main benefits of a strong and engaged core.
Prevents injuries
Strengthening your core and engaging it during exercise or sports can prevent injuries.
Experts say that weak core muscles are more prone to fatiguewhich can lead to injuries.
The deep core muscles include the diaphragm, pelvic floor, transverse abdominis, and multifidus muscle.
Core muscles such as the rectus abdominis and glutes are considered more superficial.
Strengthening all of the core muscles means they are more easily engaged as you go about your daily activities.
Our deep stabilizing core muscles are only as strong as the supporting muscle groups, says Wilking.
During basketball, an engaged core helps with your balance and stability with direction changes.
Astudy5found that eight weeks ofcore strengtheningsignificantly improved the balance of older participants.
Being able to engage your core easily means your entire body is stable and secure when doing activities.
Strengthens your pelvic floor
Yourpelvic floormakes up part of your core.
There are many benefits of a strong pelvic floor, includingimprovements in urinary incontinence7or bladder leakage.
Helps your body move more efficiently
A strong core is beneficial in every area of your life.
Dead Bug
I always warm the core up with abasic dead bug drill, says Jordan.
This exercise considered anti-rotational strengthening as it works all the muscles that support your spine to resist rotation.
Its also simple, but very effective.
Superhero
This one of Wilkings favorite core-strengthening moves.
It also strengthens your hamstrings.
There are also severalplank variationsyou can try.
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Core Stability Training for Injury Prevention.
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