Effective Core Exercises for Fitness Enthusiasts

Core strengthening exercises encompass activities like yoga positions, crunches, planks, and more, engaging not just the abdominal muscles but also utilizing additional muscle groups.

Essential for daily tasks such as pushing a shopping cart or wearing shoes, these exercises influence balance, posture, and overall stability. see our guide on Daily Supplements: Boost Your Health with Essential Nutrients for more details. The core is more than just abs; it includes back muscles and those around the pelvis.

Strong core muscles are vital for stabilizing the body, supporting the spine, and enhancing overall fitness, providing optimal moves for all fitness levels.

Bridge

This position engages your glute muscles to elevate your hips, aiding in core strengthening as well as sculpting your buttocks and thighs.

1. see our guide on Mindfulness for Emotional Regulation for more details. Begin lying on your back. Bend your knees and set your feet hip-width apart on the ground. Your hands should rest by your sides, with palms facing down.

2. Engage your core and glutes.

3. Lift your hips so that they align with your shoulders.

4. Maintain this posture for 10 to 30 seconds.

5. Perform this exercise 3 to 5 times.

Crunch

Crunches are a key exercise for core strength, focusing on the abdominals.

If you experience occasional back pain, proceed with crunches cautiously, starting slowly with few reps.

For chronic back pain, consult a professional before attempting crunches.

1. see our guide on Morning, Noon, or Night: Discover the Best Time to Meditate for more details. To start, lie on your back with knees bent, feet flat and hip-width apart, aligning your head and spine.
2. Cross arms over your chest. Engage your core, keep your neck relaxed, chin tucked, and lift your upper back, keeping the lower back and feet grounded.
3. Hold, then slowly lower back down.
4. Begin with one set of 8–12 reps.

Supine toe tap

This exercise, a fundamental Pilates movement, activates your core while also engaging your glutes, hips, and legs.

Toe taps exert minimal strain on your spine, making them a great substitute for crunches for those with back discomfort.

1. see our guide on The Power of Gratitude Journaling for more details. Begin lying on your back. Elevate your legs so your knees form a 90-degree angle. Your hands should rest by your sides, palms facing down.
2. Engage your core muscles. Lower your right foot to softly tap the floor, maintaining the stillness of your left leg and a flat back.
3. Lift your right leg back to the initial position.
4. Follow by repeating the motion with your left leg.
5. Initiate with one set of 8–12 repetitions.

Bird Dog

The bird dog exercise effectively works both abdominal and back muscles, making it a superb choice for core strengthening. see our guide on From Stress to Serenity: How Meditation Can Transform Your Day for more details. It also puts your coordination, balance, and stability to the test.

1. Begin in a tabletop position, with your hands aligned under your shoulders and knees under your hips.
2. Engage your core muscles. Extend your right leg back to align with your hip while simultaneously lifting and reaching your left arm forward to shoulder height, palm facing down. Keep your spine neutral, avoiding any arching while you stretch your arm and leg.
3. Hold briefly.
4. Switch to extending your left leg and right arm.
5. Initiate the exercise with one set of 8–12 repetitions.

Bicycle crunch

This crunch variation targets your obliques, rectus abdominis, and hips effectively.

Lie on your back on the floor, bend your left knee towards your chest while keeping your right leg straight and slightly raised off the floor. see our guide on From Chaos to Calm: How to Manage Stress Like a Pro for more details. Hands should be placed behind your neck or on the lower part of your head — ensure not to pull on your neck during the exercise.

1. With your left knee bent and your right leg straight, lift your right shoulder off the floor, bringing your right elbow towards your left knee.
2. As you lower your right shoulder back to the floor, straighten your left leg, simultaneously bending your right knee and drawing it towards your chest.
3. As you bring your right knee in, lift your left shoulder off the floor, aiming your left elbow towards your right knee.
4. Begin with 3 sets of 12 alternating repetitions.

Plank

The plank exercise engages the entire body, focusing primarily on the core while also strengthening the arms, shoulders, back, glutes, and legs.

1. see our guide on Fuel Your Body with the Right Nutrition for more details. Get in a press-up position with hands flat on the ground.

2. One hand at a time, lower yourself onto your forearms and hold plank position.

3. Raise yourself back into press-up position and repeat.

Standing Crunch

When you're short on time, traveling, or don't have access to equipment, this standing ab exercise is ideal. see our guide on Healing from Within: Transform Your Emotional Well-Being for more details. You can also add it to your own custom ab workout!

1. Start with your right foot extended back behind you and your hands together, reaching up and out (at about a 45-degree angle from your face). Keep your core tight and keep the weight in your left foot, with little to no weight in the right foot.
2. Drive your right knee up and toward your chest as you bring your hands down and twist your upper body to the right.
3. Re-extend your hands up and out while you tap your right foot back behind you. Tip: keep a soft bend in the knees.
4. Repeat, continuing for 30 seconds. Then repeat on the left side for 30 seconds.

Bird dog with elbow to knee

This bird dog variation adds dynamic movement to target your abs and back, enhancing core mobility.

1. see our guide on Unlock Your Potential: Mindfulness Techniques to Boost Productivity for more details. Position yourself on all fours, aligning your hands under your shoulders and knees under your hips.
2. Engage your core. Raise and straighten your right leg to the level of your hip while simultaneously lifting and extending your left arm to shoulder height, palm facing down.
3. Draw your right knee and left elbow together, then extend back to the initial pose.
4. Begin with one set of 8–12 repetitions.
5. Switch sides and repeat.

Mountain climber

This intermediate workout blends a plank with knee motions, making it a superior exercise for balance and core fortification.

1. see our guide on Top Picks for Nourishment: Curated Guides and Tips for more details. Initiate in a plank position, ensuring your hands are positioned under your shoulders. Engage your core firmly.
2. Elevate your right knee towards your chest, maintaining a straight back and lowered hips.
3. As you revert your right leg to its initial position, proceed to lift your left knee towards your chest.
4. Alternate between legs. Begin with one set consisting of 8–12 repetitions.

Side plank

Before starting, try to find a mat or other soft surface to perform a side plank on. see our guide on Unlock the Science of Meditation: How It Heals Your Mind and Body for more details. This can help reduce stress on your arms and feet.

1. Lie on your right side with your legs straight and feet stacked on top of each other. Place your right elbow under your right shoulder with your forearm pointing away from you and your hand balled into a fist. The pinky side of your hand should be in contact with the ground.
2. With your neck neutral, breathe out and brace your core.
3. Lift your hips off the mat so that you’re supporting your weight on your elbow and the side of your right foot.
4. Your body should be in a straight line from your ankles to your head. 5. Hold this position for the duration of the exercise. Depending on your fitness level, aim for between 15 to 60 seconds. Repeat on your left side.

Turkish get-up

This full-body exercise enhances spinal stability and increases hip, lumbar, and thoracic spine mobility. see our guide on Vital Nutrients for a Healthy Life for more details. It boosts strength in the abs surrounding your spine and shoulders.

First, try the move once or twice without weight, then use a light weight (about 5 pounds) to ensure shoulder stability. Gradually increase the weight as your strength improves.

1. Lie down with legs straight and arms at a 45-degree angle. Bend your right leg, placing your foot near your buttocks. Extend your right arm upwards, fist clenched, knuckles to the ceiling, for shoulder stability.
2. Watch your fist, maintaining it above your shoulder. Push through your right heel and left elbow to sit up on your left elbow. Then, press your left hand into the floor to sit up, engaging your abs.
3. Slide your left leg back, lining it with your left hand, and kneel with your left knee and right foot on the floor. Stand up by pressing your right foot down, mimicking a lunge, with your right arm still overhead.
4. Reverse the movements to lie down again.
5. Begin with 3–5 repetitions.

Rectus abdominis

The rectus abdominis, commonly referred to as the six-pack muscle, spans from the lower ribs to the front of the pelvis. see our guide on Focus Like Never Before: Strategies to Eliminate Distractions for more details. Its main function is spine flexion, like the action of sitting up in bed or executing a crunch.

As the most superficial among core muscles, it plays a lesser role in spinal stability.

Internal and external obliques

The internal and external obliques, situated on the trunk's lateral sides, stretch from the ribs to the pelvis. see our guide on Master the Art of Stress Reduction: Simple Techniques for a Calmer Life for more details. They offer stability to both the front and sides of the trunk in a static manner.

Their main functions include facilitating trunk rotation, like swinging a baseball bat, and enabling side bending. Additionally, when these muscles work together, they contribute to spinal flexion.

Diaphragm

The diaphragm connects to the lower part of your ribs on the underside.

Not only is it the main muscle for inhaling and exhaling, but recent studies indicate its significant contribution to heart function, lymphatic return, emotion regulation, swallowing and vomiting, stabilizing the lumbar region, and managing pain tolerance.

Back extensors

Your back extensors, comprising the erector spinae muscles, quadratus lumborum, and multifidus, are multilayered muscles that generally connect the spine to the pelvis or a single vertebra to the ones above and below it.

Their key roles include facilitating spinal extension (bending backwards), providing postural support, and supporting the spine during forward bending and load lifting activities, such as squats or biceps curls.

Iliopsoas

The iliacus and psoas major, collectively known as the iliopsoas, are hip flexors merging into a single muscle group. The psoas originates from the thoracic and lumbar spine, while the iliacus stems from the iliac crest of the pelvis, both attaching to the femur, or upper leg bone.

The iliopsoas is responsible for hip flexion, pulling the legs towards the torso in movements like high knee exercises. Its connection to the spine also categorizes it as a crucial stabilizer for the deep core.