The 24 Best Core Exercises for Building Strength, Stability and a Mean Six-Pack

A strong core will help you on the gym floor and going about your daily life. Chiselled abs are just an added benefit

Deadlifts hit a plateau?  Do you run with shoulders hunched forward? Or maybe you've just found yourself slumped over your desk one too many times.  Whatever your reasons for wanting to improve your core strength, our guide to the best core exercises will help you build strength, stability and six-pack muscles.

 Not that muscle is the sole focus of this. There is never a time when you don't use your core, from the moment you get out of bed to the moment you go to sleep. That's why we've enlisted the help of Marvin Burton, head of fitness at Anytime Fitness UK, to get your core ready for action, whether you need it to get you through 80 minutes of rugby or carry your shopping home from the supermarket.

 Burton asserts, "You core is not something that you can switch on or off." "It will always be present." If I say to you: try getting out of bed without using your core, it can't happen.  Every time you sneeze, cough or laugh your core is contracting, so it's important you build sufficient core strength for whatever task you're doing.'

Which Muscles Comprise the Core?

The relationship between your core and abs is analogous to that between your biceps or triceps and your arms: one is a muscle, while the other is a multi-muscled area. 'By exercising your core you're trying to focus on what's happening around the centre of your body,' says Burton.  'Whereas if someone says specifically I want to do an ab exercise, I know they're talking about the muscles at the front of the stomach.'

Your core muscles extend from your neck down to your pelvis and incorporate muscles such as your:

 Traverse abdominis: wraps around the front and side of your trunk.  The pelvis is stabilized by this muscle. The internal and external obliques allow you to rotate your trunk and extend diagonally from the ribs to the pelvis. More commonly known as your "six-pack" muscle, the rectus abdominis When you bend forward you're using this.

 Multifidus: back muscle that supports your spine.

 The muscle in your back called the erector spinae helps you stand up straight by extending your trunk.

Why You Should Train Your Core

There are numerous benefits to strengthening your core, including injury prevention and improved sports performance. With the help of Burton and the latest science, let's take a look at some of them in greater detail.

A Strong Core Will Improve Your Posture

A study in Isokinetics and Exercise Science found that core training can help you to stand a little taller.  The study reported that men who took part in three hour-long pilates sessions a week for two months saw significant improvements in postural stability tests.

A Strong Core Will Help You Build Muscle in Other Areas

Are you more concerned with growing large abs than strengthening your core? Well, you're unlikely to be able to do one without the other.  'If you're a guy who wants a bigger chest but you've got a weak core, that's going to contribute to a forward pulling and a rounding of the shoulders,' says Burton.  Core exercises will fix that rounding and give you the chest you've always dreamed of.

 If you're looking to build strength then you can't go wrong by focusing on big compound lifts, like the deadlift, squat and bench.  A strong midsection will help you lift heavier weights for more reps by generating more force throughout your body and safeguarding your back if you want to perform these moves correctly.

A Strong Core Will Help You When Playing Other Sports

Researchers at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center discovered that runners with weak deep core muscles are more likely to experience low-back pain. Additionally, the majority of people do not have deep core muscles that are nearly as strong as they should be. The low-back pain runners suffer from is a consequence of poor form caused by a weak core, which also has obvious downsides.

 'Once you start to slouch when you run you close down the amount of oxygen going into your lungs,' says Burton.  'If you saw someone running along a road and their head's hanging and their shoulders are hunched forward, your coaching points would be lift your head up and pull your shoulders back – what you're trying to do is get more air in the lungs because your muscles don't work without oxygen, but that whole system of getting oxygen to muscles and holding yourself upright relies on your core.'

 Having a strong core won't just make you a better runner, most sports rely on a sturdy foundation, so if you want to improve your functional performance you need to include core exercises.

How to Engage Your Core

 It's one thing to know the exercises that will work your core, but it's another to know how to properly engage it, and you'll know how to work any muscle you train with your core. In essence, engaging your core means to brace your body as if you are expecting to receive a haymaker to your midriff, and while that may sound simple, turning that into an unconscious action isn't easy.  

Fortunately, Burton has developed a straightforward method for developing core engagement. According to Burton, "lay on your back with your knees bent and feet flat" is the first step. Try to get your hand under your lower back by pressing your back into the ground. Try to prevent your hand from passing through the gap by pressing down slightly and tensing your core muscles.  Maintain this position for three to four times before taking a break for six to ten seconds.

"Try standing and contracting to move forward." Understanding what it means to contract and engage the core is easier once you know what you should be feeling. The key things to remember are that your glute muscles, stomach and breathing should all contribute.  The contraction shouldn't be so difficult that it's hard to breathe and contract at the same time. 'Practiced over time, it will soon become a subconscious action and help to maintain the correct position, and posture and provide you with greater support, balance, control and strength.'