What is core strength and stability – why does it matter?

September 18, 2022 4 min read

Core strength refers to the power of the muscles in your midsection or torso. This includes abdominal muscles, pelvic floor muscles, and surprisingly - your buttocks. Good core strength is essential because it helps aid your agility, mobility, and balance.

Ever wondered why back pain exists? The main suspect of back pain is a weak core strength, primarily because it shoulders all the load on your spinal cord instead of your core muscles. Possessing good core strength enables you to be more agile and mobile - therefore we should introduce core exercises to our workouts.

Core strength matters because apart from the fact that exercising your core muscles makes your muscles look aesthetically and physically pleasing, it also improves overall mobile function.

Core muscles also help keep an upright and erect posture, further aiding your spine - this avoids back pains. Improving your core strength is also quite simple because it doesn't require equipment whatsoever. Start implementing core exercises into your workouts today!

What’s the best way to train the core?

Ideally, the best way to improve core strength is through compound exercises. Compound exercises are essential for this task because it enables multiple muscle groups to work in unison. By utilizing several muscle groups together, you can train your core equally and ensures you don't strain your spine or other muscles.Of course, muscle strain is a part of the exercise because you want to rebuild those muscles, but it is more important toexercise safely and effectively.

With all things considered, let's learn more about compound exercises. Your core is composed of multiple muscle groups, so the best way of strengthening them is to work all of them, specifically by introducing them through slow and concise exercises. No equipment exercises are the fundamentals of abdominal strength.

Here are some you can easily do at home or anywhere:

Leg raises – First, ensure that your body is in correct neutral position and your back completely against the floor. Then raise your legs perpendicular to your torso. Leg raises are designed to target lower and upper abdominal muscles and build strength in this region. Ideally, your legs should be perfectly straight, and your leg raises slow and steady.
Push-ups – Push-ups are one of the best compound exercises because it also works your chest and core muscles, with the addition of using no equipment at all. It builds upper body strength and significantly boosts your workout skillset.
Burpees – Burpees are the ultimate compound workout because it is a full-body exercise; this helps build muscle strength and endurance. It combines multiple simple workouts like a squat, a push-up, and a jumping jack.

Core Stabilization Exercises

Core stability often refers to the ability to assist and aid, balance, stability, and good posture during everyday life. These muscle groups are usually from the pelvic-hip region; they primarily support the upper half of your body and vertebrae.

The difference between core stability and core strength is that core strength refers to the power of the force your muscle can handle underload and tension, the latter refers to the coordination of muscles to achieve balance and resist unwanted motion.

These two aspects of our core enable us to perform daily tasks efficiently and effectively. Here are some exercises to help with core stability:

Planking –Planking requires you to stay in a position that trains your abdominals which requires good posture. Developing these muscle groups will help your posture by working muscles through endurance training. Planking is quick and easy to learn for beginners.
Side-planks -Similarly to planking, side planking involves you holding a position for abdominal muscles to grow through endurance training. Side planking on both sides is essential for your next workout session.
Supine toe taps - Supine toe taps require you to lay on your back and raise your legs. This exercise is on the gentler side for your lower back, it also helps for lower back pains as it primarily functions for lower back workouts.

3 Benefits of Strengthening the Core

Improved balance and stability

Strengthening your core is a must because it is used in everyday motor functions. Walking, running, standing, and changing directions swiftly are a few components of our daily lives.

Understanding the importance of maintaining a healthy muscle core enables us to be more healthy, physically active, and fit. Understanding the significance between the harmony of core strength and stability is perfect for starting out as a beginner workout; it's quick, easy, and requires no equipment at all.

Better posture

Maintaining a good posture not only makes us look better but also takes a load off our spine. Most back pains are known to be caused by a weak core strength and stability. Understanding these two concepts can make us more mobile. Maintaining a good posture has a lot of benefits like:

A boosted productivity
Better self-esteem
Fewer head aches
Fewer back pains
A reduced risk of injury

Better agility and mobility

Possessing an improved sense of agility and mobility is essential for us because it can improve dynamic balance. This can include general reaction time, eye-foot coordination, and being able to change direction quickly with ease and accuracy. For non-athletes, having improved agility and mobility is still essential for daily life because it reduces different types of injuries and develops our general reflexes. Simply reacting to threats around us is a significant skill to possess.

The core is precisely at the center of our bodies which is where our center of mass is. Understanding that our bodies require regular agility training enables us to become physically and mentally more confident. The real benefits of working out, in general, is to develop a proper mindset of willpower and implement a consistent physically active work ethic.