Your core: the most important muscle group
Your core is the foundation of your strength. It’s the link between your upper and lower body and is essential for all athletic movements. If your core is weak, so is the rest of your body. That’s why it’s crucial to focus on strengthening your core muscles.
Core Anatomy Basics
Many people think that core means the abs, but it’s actually a more complex group of muscles including the transverse abdominis, obliques, rectus abdominis, multifidus, and erector spinae.
While there is nothing inherently wrong with exercises like crunches, sit-ups, and leg raises, incorporating core stability exercises into your workout routine is necessary to achieve true core strength, as these exercises are mainly anti-movement and isometric in nature.
Five great exercises for core stability
- Bird dog: Start with this simple yet effective exercise to learn how to brace your core and move your limbs without putting undue load on the target muscles.
- Plank: A favorite core stability exercise, it is important to maintain proper form to make this exercise more effective.
- Dead bug: This exercise combines elements from bird dogs and planks to teach you how to stabilize your core as you move your arms and legs.
- Hollow hold: This face-up plank is a challenging exercise that is great for pushing your core to its limit.
- Pallof press: An anti-rotation exercise that puts a lot of tension on your obliques, this exercise is great for strengthening your core muscles.
