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There Is So Much More To Core Strength Than Crunches

Your abs are just the beginning.
Single person exercising in a gym (room with a brick wall), using free weights, wearing all black.
Christopher Futcher via Getty Images
Single person exercising in a gym (room with a brick wall), using free weights, wearing all black.

A hunched back, forward-slouching shoulders and a forward-protruding head are signs that you’re either perfecting your Mr. Burns impression or you need to work on your core strength.

But don’t feel singled out -- we all have to work on our core strength continually, from the most sedentary office worker to the regular exerciser to the athlete, according to Chris Kolba, a sports medicine physical therapist at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

“Most people need to work on their core strength,” Kolba said. “Strength is not something that’s stored -- you continually have to work to maintain it.”

Having a strong core can improve your posture, protect you from back pain and help you lift, push and pull things more easily. But because of the mostly sedentary lifestyle we live, sitting at a desk for work, in our cars and watching TV, our core muscles are not as strong as they should be.

Over time, weak core muscles can lead to back pain, spinal injury, bad posture and difficulty doing simple movements like walking, bending over, lifting or carrying things.

For core strength, think beyond crunches

Before you roll out your yoga mat and get on the floor for some crunches, realize that the “core” encompasses more muscles beyond the abdominal “six-pack." Your core muscle group includes anything that helps stabilize the trunk and pelvis, says Kara Radzak, an associate professor with the Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

In addition to your abs, this includes back muscles like the transverse abdominis, which lies under your obliques and wraps around the spine, the erector spinae muscles that run along the spine, and the muscles surrounding your pelvis, which include the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius.

Strength is not something that’s stored -- you continually have to work to maintain it.

Because of the number of different muscles involved in having a strong, stable core, crunches alone will not produce the results you want, Radzak explains. She advocates doing regular weight lifting exercises, like a squat or an overhead press, with an eye toward “engaging” the core muscles.

“One of the often overlooked things in developing good core strength is using the core muscles in all the other exercises that you do,” she said. “If you’re working out in general doing any type of strength training activity and you’re not engaging your entire core, then you’re not really gaining the [full] benefit of all those other exercises.” In practice, this means concentrating on good posture and drawing your bellybutton in toward your spine while lifting weights, so that your abdomen feels tightly pulled in.

But if you want more ideas for exercises that specifically strengthen the core, Kolba highlights four of his favorites in the list below.

Four exercises for a stronger core:

1. Farmer’s Carry