Regular core workouts get you more than a chiseled six-pack. They also train the back muscles that oppose your abs, helping you preserve or achieve proper muscular balance. A strong core gives you better balance and stability in athletic and everyday activities, as noted on MayoClinic.com.
Don’t be fooled by claims that any given piece of exercise equipment is the key to chiseled abs. Yes, some exercise equipment can help you develop your abs, but the only equipment strictly necessary for a core workout is your body working against gravity.
Muscles Worked
Many people equate a core workout with working your abs, the rectus abdominis or obliques. But your core also consists of all the muscles that hold your back and hips steady, including the transverse abdominis, glutes and erector spinae.
Benefits
Having a strong core means less risk of injury because your ab, hip and back muscles are strong enough to support your body as you run, jump, or lift. Simple movements like lifting a bag of groceries onto the counter or getting up from a chair engage your core muscles, as do intense sporting efforts like rock climbing or wrestling. As with other types of exercise, the muscle strength and endurance you gain from core training can help you stay independent longer than if you live a sedentary life.
Types
Proper weight training technique includes engaging your core, even if a given exercise doesn’t seem to target your core specifically. Push-ups, for example, are primarily a chest and arm exercise. However, they give you an intense core workout as your abs, back and hip muscles work together to keep your body straight.
Some common exercises that do focus on your core include front and side planks, in which you practice holding your torso straight from head to heels. This is known as an isometric contraction, since your muscles work to prevent motion instead of creating it. Abdominal crunches, bicycle crunches, hanging knee raises and back hyperextensions all target core muscles, too.
Equipment Used
You can do basic core exercises like traditional crunches or oblique crunches, D-leg thrusts and the bird dog exercise with no equipment beyond an exercise mat to cushion your knees and spine against a hard floor.
A 2001 American Council on Exercise-commissioned study that compared various ab machines against the traditional crunch found that the stability ball was the most effective piece of ab exercise equipment tested. You can use stability balls for training your other core muscles, too.
Other common types of core exercise equipment, not all of which were tested in the ACE-commissioned study, include gymnastic-style rings, the Roman chair, also known as a captain’s chair, ab slings that hang from a pull-up bar or power rack, and wobble boards.
Considerations
If you have a back injury, consult your doctor or physical therapist before beginning a core strengthening program. She may instruct you to focus on certain exercises or avoid other exercises entirely because of your injury.
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