Full Body Core Workouts

According to Vern Gambetta, director of Gambetta Sports Training Systems, core training is your ability to maintain posture and center of gravity while you move in different directions and speeds. It is not about training your abdominal muscles, but your entire trunk and hip region. Having a strong and stable core can prevent injury and improve your strength, endurance and flexibility.

Chops and Lifts

The chop and lift movements are the foundation to correcting left-right asymmetries of your body and improve your posture and core strength in all sports and activities. Gray Cook, founder of Functional Movement Systems, describes the chop as a downward and diagonal movement across the body from a high position to a low position, while the lift is just the mirror image of the chop (low to high position). These two exercises can help you determine if one side of your body is weaker and less coordinated than the other.
Use a cable column machine or a resistance band attached to a hook for these two exercises.

The Chopper

Juan Carlos Santana, director of the Institute of Human Performance in Boca Raton, Florida, developed the Chopper, which is a series of three exercises that moves the body in different directions. It serves as a dynamic warm-up exercise before a workout or as a workout by itself. You do all three with no rest between sets.
For the overhead chop, hold the medicine ball above your head and swing it down between your legs. Squat down as you do so, but do not hunch your back.
For the horizontal rotation, hold the ball in front of your chest and twist to your left while pivoting your right hip and leg. Then twist to your right and continue the movement back and forth, gradually increasing your range of motion and momentum.
For the diagonal chop, hold the ball over your right shoulder and pivot your left leg and hip slightly. Swing the ball down across your body your left knee, bending your lower back and right hip and leg as you do so, but do not hunch. Repeat the pattern on both sides.

Push, Pull, Squat

Any push, pull, squat exercise, such as push-ups, pull-ups and bodyweight squats always trains your core muscles, according to Vern Gambetta. When you do these exercises, your body is constantly maintaining balance and posture while you are moving. If your core is weak, then your body will use adjacent muscles of the core, such as hamstrings, superficial lower back muscles and shoulders to compensate the movement.