Best Core Muscle Exercises

The best core muscle exercises may surprise you. It's not enough to just do abdominal crunches and sit ups. To build a strong core you need to exercise a variety of muscles from your hips to your shoulders.

Most people think of the core as a nice six-pack, or strong, toned abs, but the truth is abdominal muscles are just small group of the entire core.

The abdomen has very limited and specific action and it is consisted with small muscle groups which stabilize the spine and pelvis, and run the entire length of the torso.

When these muscles contract, they stabilize the spine, pelvis and shoulder girdle and create a solid base of support. When this happens, we are able to generate powerful movements of the extremities.

The core muscles also make it possible to have good posture: to stand upright and have good balance as you walk. These muscles help control movements, transfer energy, shift body weight and move in any direction.

A strong core distributes the stresses of weight-bearing and protects the back. Core conditioning exercise programs need to target all these muscle groups to be effective. But first, we must now these kinds of core muscles.

What are the Core Muscles?

1. Rectus Abdominis - located along the front of the abdomen, this is the most well-known abdominal muscle and is often referred to as the "six-pack" due to it's appearance in fit and thin individuals.

2. Transverse Abdominis (TVA) - located under the obliques, it is the deepest of the abdominal muscles (muscles of your waist) and wraps around your spine for protection and stability.

3. External Obliques - located on the side and front of the abdomen.

4. Internal Obliques - located under the external obliques, running in the opposite direction.

5. Erector Spinae- This group of three muscles runs along your neck to your lower back.
These are the muscles we need to target as we go the exercise. What we will need are resistance tube and adjustable dumbbells.

These equipments are very helpful and effective, thus, affordable. You do not have to go to gyms, buy new programs, and buy expensive gym sets if you have both of these equipments. Instead, you can perform the whole routine anywhere you like, may it be outside your garden, inside your room, and anywhere you are comfortable enough!

Core muscle exercises with resistance tube

• Lay on your back with the centre of the tube attached to a fixed point behind your head. Hold the ends of the tube and bend the elbows. Use your stomach muscles to pull your head and shoulders off the ground. Keep your arms still and slowly return to the starting position. Repeat 12 times

• Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front. Loop the tube around the soles of your feet and hold both ends together in your hands. Use your stomach muscles to twist round to one side. Go back to the middle and round to the other side. Repeat 12 times.

• Attach one end of the tube to a stationary object and stand to the side of it. Hold the end in both hands with the arms straight out in front of you. Start close to the attachment and twist away from it, using your stomach muscles, not your arms! Slowly return to the starting position.

Core muscle exercise with adjustable dumbbells

• Start by sitting on the floor with hips and knees flexed to approximately 90 degree angles.
Grasp the dumbbells and swing it to the right and left as you keep the hips from rotating with the shoulders. The arms are not perpendicular to the torso, but instead, kept low, near the thighs, as the dumbbells is swung to each side. Repeat 12 times

• Stand with your feet together and a dumbbell in one hand. Place your opposite hand behind your head. Using your side abdominal muscles, lower the dumbbell towards the floor until you fell a comfortable stretch in the side opposite of the dumbbell. Hold for 1 second and then slowly return to the starting position.  Repeat 12 times

• Begin by simply holding a dumbbell over your head while standing. Inhale and slowly bend towards one side. Move as far as you can comfortably move. Hold for a brief second and then slowly bend to the other side.