5 Great Core Strengthening Exercises

As the weather gets cooler and the nights get longer than you can count on your fingers and toes, it’s a good time to start strengthening your core. Behind your abs and core lie a group of muscles, including your obliques, transverse abdominus, external and internal obliques, and rectus abdominus. These muscles are responsible for running the show—your torso—from your pelvis to your hips and back.

Most people know that they need to work out if they want to build muscle. But many don’t know how to best make their workouts productive.  And so many people end up doing the same exercises over and over, hoping that something will work.  Well, it’s time to move past the common “core strengthening” exercises and look at a few new options.  The old exercises like the side plank and the bicycle crunch have been around forever, but there are some great alternatives that are just as effective and just a little more fun.

What are core strengthening exercises?

Core strengthening exercises are an important part of your workout routine. They help keep you healthy and may give you a deeper range of motion in your muscle groups. There are several core strengthening exercises you can do to help your core muscles stay strong.

The core includes the lower back, abdominals, hip flexors, and glutes. A strong core helps support the spine and protect the muscles, ligaments, and tendons that connect it to the skeleton. The abdominals, hip flexors, and glutes are the primary muscles in the core, and they are all important for everyday activities like sitting, standing, and walking. It’s also important to strengthen the back muscles, which support the spine, to prevent injury.

• Glute Bridge

Glute bridges are a fantastic lower body exercise that effectively works your core. This is because it works your hip abductors and external rotators, which is an area of the core that is primarily responsible for maintaining the core’s stability and stability (especially during movement). The glute bridge also works the quads, abdominals, and hip adductors.

• Plank

This is the king of core exercises and should be a staple in any resistance training program. Plank variations include: 

Assisted Plank: This is where a partner holds your hips down whilst you perform the exercise. This is an ideal exercise for beginners; you can also do it with your arms resting on the floor.

Side Plank: This is a variation where you place the side of your forearm on the ground.

Single-leg Plank: Where you place one hand on the ground, and the other on one of your legs

• Bird Dog Crunch

The Birddog Crunch is a great exercise to strengthen your midsection and can be done at any time. Bird dog is a great exercise to strengthen your core. You can do it anywhere, anytime. You don’t need a gym, it’s easy to do, and it works several different muscles in the body. All of the following exercises are core exercises, but they are also excellent for the glutes and calves and even the arms.

• Bicycle Crunch – Sitting

The bicycle crunch is a great upper-body exercise for strengthening the upper back and core. This exercise can be performed with a variety of handles: the low-rise handle on a stationary bike, a handgrip like a trainer on an elliptical machine, and a stronger grip from a standing position.

• Reverse crunch

Reverse crunches are a great way to target your abs and those of your lower back. When you start crunches, the torso twists on itself, and the lower back is in a state of constant contraction and lengthening.  Instead, you want to start the crunch with your back in a neutral position and then slowly begin to turn your torso until it is in the same position as your legs, with your arms pointing out to the side.

You may already know about the benefits of performing core strengthening exercises to help you achieve optimal health and fitness. Core strengthening exercises can help you achieve a stronger core, which means a stronger core, which means a stronger core, which means a stronger core. There’s a reason that the traditional Pilates workout involves a series of core strengthening exercises. Another rule of thumb is that if an exercise is included in the core strengthening series, it can help strengthen the core. For example, a single push-up is a core strengthening exercise, but a push-up is also a core strengthening exercise.