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What workout routine is best for your core muscles on a daily basis?
Before we dig into which exercises to do, we need to address what “core” means. Typically when we think of the “core” we are usually referring to the abs, and more specifically, we are thinking of a six-pack.
The core however, is much bigger than that, and is much more important than mere aesthetics. Your core is the central part of your body, rotating 360 degrees around the entirety of your frame.It includes your pelvis, hips, lower-back and stomach area. We can even extend that a bit further to incorporate your leg, namely the grouping of muscles we call the quads, glutes and hamstrings. It also encompasses your diaphragm, which is the primary muscle used for breathing.
To put it simply, think of your core as “knees to nipples”.
The core is extremely vital to our safety. As animals in the wild, if we sever our spine and become paralyzed, we die. The core’s primary function is to protect our spine. In our more domesticated state, our core helps us with everyday items such as yardwork, sitting comfortably at a desk, playing with our children and getting up from a prone position. In the world of sports the core helps generate power, ensure proper tension, maintain balance, and creates torque in extension and flexion motions.
Since the core is made up of so many different muscle groups that all do different functions, finding one specific training program can be difficult. However, this means we can consistently vary our training and get great results while maintaining some novelty. Core training is about learning to develop control and endurance of the muscles, engaging proper movement patterns, breath coordination and having consistent abdominal pressure. Think about muscle tension over quantity. Flexing your abs as hard as possible and holding for one minute will do more than you think and will be harder than you think!
Exercises that can be done at home, without much coaching, would be glute bridges, birddogs, alternating knee raises in a prone position, flutter kicks, scissor kicks, twists, and bodyweight squats, good-mornings and push ups. Doing this exercises three times a week, with roughly three sets of 10 reps of each is a fantastic place to start, or to add to an already existing exercise program.
