The core muscles of your body include the abdominals, back and hips, and these are the muscles responsible for balance, lifting strength and basic bodily movements. Strengthening your core can lead to plenty of health benefits, including reducing back pain, slimming your waistline and improving your balance and posture. You can exercise your core muscles using any of several different strength-training programs depending on the type of equipment you have and your personal preference.
Resistance Exercise Program
A basic resistance training program can be effective at working the core without any special fitness equipment required. Mayo Clinic put together a core-building workout consisting of 12 effective exercises. The exercises are crunches, bridge, single-leg abdominal press, single-leg abdominal press variations, double-leg abdominal press, double-leg abdominal press variations, segmental rotation, quadruped, modified plank, modified plank variation, side plank and superman. Perform each of these exercises up to five times per workout, and try for 10 to 15 repetitions per set. Alternatively, you can choose several of these exercises to create your own core strength-training regimen that better fits your fitness level, but be sure to add exercises to your custom regimen as your fitness level increases.
Stability Ball Training
Stability balls, also known as Swiss or fitness balls, are used to promote balance and core strength. There are hundreds of exercises that can be done using a stability ball, and they can even replace a weight bench for some exercises using dumbbells, such as bench press or shoulder presses. A sample core strength-training program using a stability ball would include abdominal crunches, back extensions and squats. Crunches on a stability ball are done the same way you would do them on the floor, only you lie on top of the ball. Back extensions work the lower back muscles, and they are done by laying face-down with the ball positioned near the abdomen; extend your legs straight out with your toes touching the floor and basically do a reverse crunch motion by lifting your upper body until it is aligned straight with the rest of your body, and then bring your upper body back down to rest.
Squats are one of the best stability ball exercises because they work out most of the muscles in the lower body. There are two primary ways to use a stability ball to do a squat: wall squats or squat-and-presses. Wall squats are done by placing the ball between your back and a wall, and then do a squat motion while letting the ball roll behind you for stability. For squat-and-presses, stand up straight while holding the stability ball in front of you. Squat down until the stability ball touches the floor between your legs, and then lift your body and raise the stability ball above your head; this extra movement also helps to work the shoulder muscles.
Medicine Ball Workout
Medicine balls come in various sizes, although most are about the size of a basketball and weigh from about eight to more than 20 pounds. By using a medicine ball to strengthen your core, you can provide additional resistance to some of the already effective core exercises. One of the essential medicine ball core-training exercises is the abdominal crunch. For this exercise, do a basic crunch like usual but with the added resistance of holding the medicine ball on your chest during the exercise.
Another key medicine ball exercise is called "chops," or "wood chops." Begin with the ball lifted high above your head, then bring it down near the floor between your legs in a slow, controlled motion, which simulates chopping wood with an ax, working the abs and back muscles.
The Russian Twist is also effective at targeting the core muscles. To perform this exercise, keep the ball held in front of you at waist level while slowly swinging your trunk left and right. This exercise will work your oblique muscles.
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