12 Best Exercises to Develop Your Core Muscles

Expert opinion

MARIA AMBURG, Certified Yoga Therapist, Critical (Precision) Alignment Yoga Instructor, Posture Specialist “The core is a collection of different muscles located in the waist and pelvis area.
These muscles stabilize the spine, pelvis, hips and form the abdominal muscle corset. The word "core" comes from the English core - core, core, center. The core muscles are the center of muscle activity in our body.” Surprisingly, most people do core exercises incorrectly, thereby causing even more problems with posture and muscle pain. But then the question involuntarily arises: “Is it worth starting to make them?” Costs. Core strength is important for good posture, a strong spine, and overall physical health.

Dynamic bar

This is one of the many versions of the bar, but in dynamics. This exercise can work almost your entire core in a short period of time—according to Richard Wilcock, the dynamic plank works 6 different core muscle groups.

Technique:

Stand in a regular elbow plank position with your forearms on a ball (preferably an exercise ball).
Keeping your core engaged and your body still, begin rolling the ball in a small clockwise circle using your hands. 1 round – 1 rep.

Do the required number of repetitions.

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"Bird Dog"

This exercise comes from yoga. It involves almost the entire body and is aimed at finding balance. According to certified trainer and Aaptiv (fitness app) head instructor Jaime McPhaden, bird dog is a healthy, low-impact exercise that helps improve stability and coordination without putting too much pressure on your joints.

Technique:

Get on all fours, knees at a 90-degree angle, hands under your shoulders. Remember to keep your abs tense and your back straight.
Extend your right arm straight out in front of you and at the same time move your left leg back.
Complete the movement by connecting your right elbow with your left knee under your body. Return to the starting position and repeat the same with your left arm and right leg.

Do the required number of repetitions.
see also

17 real weight loss tips from people who have lost more than 20 kg

Benefits of Core Training

Beautiful posture is formed.
General physical fitness improves.
Sports performance improves.
Back pain goes away.
The thoracic and lumbar spine are strengthened.
The risk of neurological diseases is reduced.
The psycho-emotional state improves.
The muscles become more prominent.
Increase in strength indicators.
It becomes easier to move and gain speed.

A strong core does not always mean ripped abs. Let's imagine a powerlifter weighing 150 kg. You won't see eight-pack abs, but the core of these athletes is incredibly strong. And if the athlete adjusts his nutrition, then we will see all the beauty and power of the torso. Without a powerful center, it is impossible to lift barbells weighing 200-300 kg. Movements that involve many parts of the body begin with a contraction of the torso, and after that the impulse is transmitted through the arms and legs.

If you want to have an even posture, a flat stomach and easily cope with stress, rock your torso. Perform this list of exercises twice a week for 45 minutes. Don't forget about warming up and stretching.

Photo: istockphoto.com

Gluteal bridge

“Weak core muscles are often associated with weak gluteal muscles,” noted trainer Jaime, already familiar to us. According to the expert, this is an ideal exercise that you can do not only in the gym but also at home to strengthen your hamstrings and buttocks.

Technique:

On the mat, lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Keep your heels directly under your knees. Place your arms at the sides of your body, palms down.
Push off with your heels, straining your buttocks and abdominal muscles, lift your pelvis as high as possible.
Hold at the maximum point for a few seconds, making sure that your spine does not round and your pelvis does not sag.
Return to the starting position.

Do the required number of repetitions.

Where are the core muscles located?

The core is a complex of muscles that “weave” the central part of our body. “There is a common misconception that the core is the transverse abdominal muscle, the abs,” says Sergei Miroshnichenko , personal trainer at the Women Secrets women’s fitness studio in Tsaritsyno. - But these are only elements of the core.
The core is a logically interconnected row of muscles, the coordinated work of which depends on each link. Thus, this is not just one, but a whole complex of muscles that are responsible for stabilizing the pelvis, hips and spine.” What kind of muscles form the core? “It includes several abdominal muscles (rectus, transverse, oblique); gluteus maximus, medius and minimus muscles; the adductor muscles of the thigh and the muscles of the back of the thighs,” adds Leonid Zasedatelev , a specialist in rehabilitation and posture correction .

To work out the core, a whole range of movements is required - ones that would involve all the listed muscles in the work.

"Cot"

The “clamshell” will help strengthen the muscles of the hips and pelvic floor even for those who are still new to the world of fitness. The exercise evenly distributes the load between the muscles of the inner and outer thighs.

Technique:

Lie on your side with one leg crossed over the other. Bend your knees at an angle of 45 degrees.
Place your head on your forearm.
Pull your stomach in, as if pulling your navel towards your spine.
Keeping your feet touching, lift the knee of your top leg as high as possible. Try to make the movement only with your knee, without rotating your pelvis. Your bottom leg should not leave the floor.
At the top, pause for one count, then return your leg to the starting position.

Repeat.

Types of fitness training for working out the muscular frame

There are several main tasks facing complex training:

correction of found violations of the body frame and muscle activation;
increasing muscle strength and improving all types of stabilization;
increasing endurance and power.

To create the right gym workout plan, you need to know which exercises are suitable for a particular task and when you can do them.

So, before each workout there should be an activation load. Activation of muscle fibers is necessary to prevent injury and increase metabolism in them before more serious loads. Also, elements from the warm-up set of exercises can be performed during short breaks between the main approaches.

Improving body coordination is beneficial before increasing power and performance. Coordination exercises will teach you to better control your body and help train the motor areas of the cerebral cortex. To improve stabilization, you do not need to purchase special devices. You can perform pistol squats, stepping onto a bench, raising your knees high. To increase endurance, you need to constantly increase the number of repetitions.

Pallof press

Side pulley forward press. This is a core strengthening exercise that also forces the body to minimize stress on the back during various body movements, such as squats or running.

Technique (in the gym):

Attach a standard overhead pulley D-handle and position it at shoulder height. You can also use the bottom block.
Standing with the left side of your body at the machine, grab the handle with both hands and move away from the block a few steps to feel the tension on the cable.
Place your feet shoulder-width apart and bend your knees slightly. Hold the handle at mid-chest level - this will be the starting position.
As you exhale, pull the cable with straight arms. The core muscles should be tense and engaged. Hold for 2 seconds before returning to the starting position.

Do 10 reps on each side.

Exercises with a roller

Oblique rolling

If you've never used a roller, now is the time to change that. Try this exercise. Get on your knees and grab the handles of the machine. Make a roll to the side. First go left, go back and do the exercise to the right. Repeat 10-12 times on each side.

"Dead Bug"

The Dead Bug is a static exercise that targets the abdominal, back and thigh muscles. Doing it regularly will make it much easier to do other exercises that involve moving your legs and arms while keeping your abdominal and back muscles stationary but engaged.

Technique:

Lie on the floor, bend your knees and lift them so that a right angle forms between your knees and hips.
Extend your arms towards the ceiling.
Reach your left leg with your right hand. Try not to lift your lower back off the floor.
Pause and return to the starting position.
Repeat with the other arm and leg.

Do the required number of repetitions.

see also

The Real Reasons Why Muscles Get Tired During Exercise

Why train your core?

Improves spinal health.
Beautiful posture is formed.
The stomach becomes flat.
A strong and sculpted press appears.
The lower back is strengthened.
Hips and buttocks gain relief.
The body core becomes more powerful.
A narrow waist is formed.
Strength indicators in the bench press, deadlift and squat improve.

Alexandra:

As you age, muscle mass decreases and the amount of fat increases. Well-developed core muscles will keep your figure beautiful. According to standards, the waist of a healthy adult man should not exceed 98 cm. For women, the maximum is 78 cm. Large numbers are considered a deviation and indicate obesity and health problems.

Photo: istockphoto.com

If you participate in strength sports or martial arts, strengthening your core muscles will improve your physical performance. Many movements begin with the core muscles and move to the legs and arms, and are then transferred to the barbell in the form of a blow, throw or push. If the body core is weak, then the impulse will be the same.

Alexandra:

Perform basic exercises with free weights. Focus on stretching, even if you're not aiming to have a bodybuilder figure. Most spasms can come from overexertion of these muscles. Once you stretch them, a lot of pain will go away. You don't need to train your core every day. It takes 24 to 72 hours for muscles to recover after a workout. Allow your muscles to recover so that progress is permanent.

"A hundred"

“The Hundred” is a fairly simple but effective exercise that comes from Pilates. It is aimed at stabilizing the lumbar spine and strengthening the abdominal muscles. Daniela Caesar-Roden, a certified Pilates instructor at Old School Pilates, notes that it's important to pay attention to breathing, as the exercise also affects the diaphragm, which stabilizes the core muscles, especially during deep exhalations.

Technique:

Lie on your back, place your arms along your torso, raise your legs and bend them at a right angle.
Exhale and use your abdominal muscles to lift your upper body off the floor. Press your lower back to the floor by tensing your abdominal muscles and drawing in your abdomen.
Raise your arms parallel to the floor and hold.
Keeping your legs at right angles (or, if you want to complicate the exercise, at an angle of 45 degrees), begin to make up and down patting movements with tense hands, without bending your elbows or touching the floor. Do 5 beats on a long inhale and 5 beats on a long exhale. Remember to keep your core tense. You have completed 1 cycle. Over time, try to do up to 10 cycles.

Static and dynamic exercises to strengthen the core

You can work your core muscles in almost any exercise that involves the central part of the body. “And we need to choose them depending on what goal we are pursuing,” explains Natalya Kuzmich, personal trainer at X-Fit Monarch . - If we want to strengthen the muscles that help maintain balance, for example, in yoga asanas and Pilates, we should do exercises on the stabilizer muscles - twisting the upper body, crunches in a short amplitude with pressing the lower back to the floor. If our goal is “six”, we will work the rectus abdominis muscle in exercises with body flexion: leg raises, full rise from a lying position.”

Planks (straight and lateral), “climber” and “dead bug” exercises (raising arms and legs from a supine position) also help to work out the core. “I would also recommend variations of the gluteal bridge and hyperextension on the machine (it can be replaced with boat or superman exercises),” adds Leonid Zasedatelev.

You can work on strengthening your core in a static mode (for example, holding a plank) and dynamic (performing crunches, burpees). We asked Natalya Kuzmich to create and show us a set of exercises for the core muscles.

Elbow plank

The classic plank is one of those exercises that involves and puts a lot of stress on the main muscles of our body. At first glance, the exercise may seem simple - but just try it!

Technique:

Take a lying position, leaning on your forearms.
Place your hands shoulder-width apart.
Keep your body above the floor without lifting your pelvis up. The abs should be tense, the shoulders should be relaxed, and the back should remain straight. Your body should form a stationary line.
Hold the position for as long as you can. Start with 20-30 seconds, gradually increasing the time to 1 minute.

see also

How to pump up your abdominal muscles with one forgotten wiper exercise

Self-test at home

How to understand and check yourself whether everything is okay with your muscles:

Correct lumbar position . You should not have either hyperlordosis (a large arch in the lower back) or hypolordosis (when your back is completely flat).

Rounding of the back and arching in the lower back during physical activity and, even more so, in everyday life.
Flabby belly with no visible fat . If, when you retract, your stomach becomes visually much smaller, then most likely you have a weak transverse abdominal muscle.
If you can't hold a plank for 30 seconds.

Side plank

The side plank is another effective exercise that strengthens the abdominal muscles without putting stress on the spine.

Technique:

Lie on your left side. Lean on your left elbow, placing it directly under your left shoulder. Place your right foot on top of your left.
Raise your hips up, transferring your body weight to the tips of your legs and forearms. The main load should fall on the core muscles.
Pull your stomach in and tighten your abs.
Stay in this position, focusing on your breathing.

Consequences of muscle weakness

Due to weakness and general underdevelopment of the muscular corset, it can:

posture worsens. Due to the inability of the core muscles to take on part of the load, the body weight is distributed exclusively across the spine. Under excessive load, the spinal column bends, the person begins to stoop, the shoulders can shift to different levels of height;

loss of ability to maintain balance;
general flexibility of the body decreases;
deterioration of the health of the circulatory, excretory, digestive systems, as well as reproductive organs (core muscles are of particular importance for women);
change in a negative direction the appearance of a particular person, in particular the abs and buttocks (the body becomes more flabby, muscles weaken, skin elasticity is lost, cellulite may appear);
there is a displacement of one or more internal organs from their natural place;
the indicator of strength and endurance decreases (this factor is especially important for athletes who care not just about physical indicators, but also about the presence of “explosive” strength necessary to make jumps, strikes or perform plyometric exercises);
the health of the spinal column, as well as joints and tendons, deteriorates (this can lead to the premature development of serious diseases, for example, osteoporosis, osteochondrosis, and so on).

Spiderman push-ups

This is a fairly complex strength exercise aimed at strengthening the pectoral muscles, triceps, deltoids and abdominal muscles.

Technique:

Stand up straight with your arms outstretched. Place your hands shoulder-width apart. Tighten your abdominal muscles.
As you lower yourself to a push-up position, draw your left knee toward your elbow.
Pause, push up, then return to the starting position. Do the same with the other leg to complete one repetition.

Do the required number of repetitions.

Literature

Avdeev I., Babaev A. Turn your passion into a profession. – Ekaterinburg: Publishing solutions, 2022 – 382 p.
Lyuboshenko T. M., Lyapin V. A. The role of food and biologically active additives in the system of training athletes. – Omsk: SibGUFK, 2011. – 107 p.
Kapilevich L. V. Physiology of sports: textbook. – Tomsk: Tomsk Polytechnic University Publishing House, 2011. – 142 p.
Kots Ya. M. Sports physiology: a textbook for physical education institutes. – M.: Physical culture and sport, 1998. – 200 p.
Platonov I. N., Kasyanova M. N., Solovyova O. M. Muscles and joints. Musculoskeletal system. – M.: Amphora, 2013. – 584 p.
Solodkov A. S., Sologub E. B. Human physiology: general, sports, age: textbook. for universities physics culture. – M.: Soviet Sport, 2012. – 620 p.
Schuler L., Cosgrove A. The new rules of lifting: six basic moves for maximum muscle. – New York: Avery, 2006. – 304 p.
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Author: Korolev E. S.

Reviewer: reflexologist Kurus A. N.

Leg raises while lying on your back

Many trainers recommend this exercise to strengthen the abdominal muscles, especially in the lower part, because it is quite simple, but at the same time effective. Plus, it can be done anywhere.

Technique:

Lie on your back with your legs raised towards the ceiling. The arms are extended along the body or clasped behind the head.
While pressing your back, slowly lower both legs down without touching the floor.
Slowly lift them back up.

Repeat.

Functions: what they are responsible for

the most important: the core muscles help us maintain balance when walking upright,
it is these muscles that correctly distribute the load when standing, walking, running, lifting weights, getting up, allowing the muscles of the upper and lower parts of the body to effectively interact with each other,
they are also needed to fix the internal organs in the anatomically correct position,
to maintain optimal intra-abdominal pressure,
it is also insurance against hernias,
performing complex coordination actions,
these muscles make your stomach flat,

As you understand, we almost always need core muscles. Whether you need to stand up, stretch, get a saucepan from the top shelf, or “work” as a loader - the correspondent works everywhere here.

That is, roughly speaking, these muscles, although they do not move the bones, still ensure the correct position of the body during movement.

All of the above is very important to understand in order to properly train this muscle complex, and not make it worse!

In general, competent and high-quality core strengthening provides you with healthy posture and spine.

Mahi "Woodchop"

An exercise similar to the lumberjack movement engages the core muscles, causing them to resist side-to-side movement. The exercise is aimed at strengthening the abdominal muscles, especially the obliques.

Technique:

Take a standing position. Feet slightly wider than shoulder width.
Hold the dumbbell with both hands and lift it above your head, rotating your shoulders up to the right.
Exhale and lower the dumbbell down diagonally across your body, ending behind your left hip.
Return the dumbbell to the starting position.

Do the required number of repetitions.

General training recommendations for girls and women

The core muscles are located in three large areas of the body, which means it is recommended to train them in strict accordance with the basic rules formulated by fitness trainers for girls and women playing sports.

These are the following rules:

Before the main part of the training, it is necessary to perform a warm-up set , the duration of which should be no more than 5-7 minutes. If an athlete has no contraindications, she should use cardio exercises as a warm-up. They will not only prepare the body for further sports, but will also increase the speed of blood flow, due to which the cardiovascular system will adequately supply the body with oxygen, increasing the athlete’s endurance during exercise;
after the main part of the training, it is necessary to do a cool-down (it will help restore the heart rate and adjust the frequency and depth of breathing);
during sports, it is recommended to maintain a drinking regime (otherwise, dehydration may occur, which sometimes provokes fainting or sudden jumps in blood pressure);
The time for playing sports must be selected taking into account the characteristics of the body - biological rhythms (the time of exercise does not have any effect on the effectiveness of the training).