Core exercises

The Best Core Exercises For All Levels Of Gym-Goer

Develop a stronger core with these beginner, intermediate and advanced exercises

The Police’s 1983 classic “Every Breath You Take” is not about your core muscles. It’s about a creepy, creepy guy who can’t let a relationship go. But it could be, because every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you break, every step you take (“take” again, lazy from Sting), involves using your core muscles. Except possibly the bond thing – that’s unclear.

Ensuring your core is strong and flexible will help you in the gym, playing sports or just going about your daily business. A strong core will also help you maintain good posture and avoid issues like lower back pain.

Beginner Core Exercises

Building a strong core is all about keeping still, not doing hundreds of abdominal curl repetitions. These three holds will create the foundation of a strong core, teaching you to keep your hips aligned and how to control your posture.

Plank

The definitive core exercise. The plank involves minimal movement but maximal effort, requiring you to support your body on your forearms and toes while holding your body in a straight line from your shoulders to your ankles. You can make it easier by resting on your knees, or harder by extending your arms so you’re supported by your hands.

Dead bug

Lie on your back with your arms extended straight up towards the ceiling, and your legs raised with your knees bent at 90°. Lower your right arm and left leg at the same time until they are hovering just above the floor, then return to the starting position. Then do the same with the opposite limbs.

Boat

Sit on the floor with your knees bent. Lean back slightly, keeping your back straight, and hold your arms out in front of you as you raise your feet off the ground with your legs together. If you can, extend your legs so they are straight and your body forms a V shape. You can also raise your arms and spread your legs to make the hold harder.

Beginner Core Workout

Naturally you can do each of the exercises as part of a training session, but for a beginner core workout try this suggested routine from Tidmarsh, doing five rounds in total of these three exercises.

1 Plank Time 30sec Rest 0sec

2 Dead bug Reps 10 Rest 0sec

3 Boat Time 30sec Rest 1min

Intermediate Core Exercises

Here we start to add movement to a controlled core. Can you stay still with good posture whilst another area of your body moves? It’s much tougher than you think!

Ball push-away

Get into a plank position with your feet spread and your forearms resting on a gym ball. Push the ball away with your forearms, then pull it back it, while maintaining the plank position.

Hanging knee raise

On a set of dip bars, hold yourself steady with arms fully extended. Raise your knees towards your chest, then lower them slowly. Repeat. You can also do this exercise hanging from a pull-up bar.

Dumbbell plank drag

Get into the top press-up position. Put a dumbbell on the ground just to the right of your torso. Reach underneath and across with your left hand to grab the dumbbell and drag it to your left side. Then mirror the movement with your right hand.

Intermediate Core Workout

If you want to combine three movements in one workout, here’s a suggested routine. Do three rounds in total of the three exercises.

1 Ball push-away Reps 8 Rest 0sec

2 Hanging knee raise Reps 8 Rest 0sec

3 Dumbbell plank drag Reps 8 Rest 1min

Advanced Core Exercises

Now we start to add greater difficulty to posture control by adding more of a load, more of your body weight, or a larger range of movements. Remember – slow and steady movement wins the race to a stronger core.

Strict toes to bar

We did say these were advanced exercises, and this is certainly not one for newbies. While hanging from a pull-up bar, bend at the hips (not the waist) and lift your toes to the bar, keeping your legs together as you move.

L-sit

Use a pair of parallettes for this core cruncher. Lift and hold yourself up above the parallettes with your arms extended. Extend your legs straight out in front of you so you form an L-shape. Hold it – if you can.

Wall plank

Another savage hold exercise. Get into an elevated plank with your feet against a wall so you form a flat, horizontal line from heels to head. Hold. HOLD!

Advanced Core Workout

Put these three exercise together for this quick but brutal core workout designed by Tidmarsh. Do three rounds in total.

1 Strict toes to bar Reps 6 Rest 0min

2 L-sit Time 30sec Rest 0sec

3 Wall plank Time 30sec Rest 1min

More Core Exercises

Given how important a strong core is, we’re sure that you won’t mind us throwing a few more core moves at you that Tidmarsh didn’t mention, starting with an essential plank variation.

Side plank

While the plank works most of the crucial core muscles, there are a few it misses. Fortunately, a minor tweak remedies that. The side plank works your obliques and the little-known quadratus lumborum, which is part of the posterior abdominal wall and a key muscle when it comes to avoiding lower back pain.

To do the side plank lie on your right side with your feet together, left stacked on top of the right, and prop yourself up on your right forearm. Push your hips up so you form a straight line from your feet to your head, then hold this position for the set time, without letting your hips drop. Make sure to repeat on the other side.

Leg raise

The perfect counterpart to the sit-up, which tends to work only the upper abs. Leg raises hit the lower abs hard, as well as improving the flexibility of your hips and lower back. Lie flat on your back with your legs together. Keeping them together and as straight as possible, raise them until your toes are pointing at the ceiling. Lower slowly back to the start.

Flutter kicks

A very simple exercise that starts feeling like absolutely murder after about ten seconds and only gets worse from there. Lie on your back and lift your legs slightly off the floor. Your shoulders should also be raised slightly so there is tension in your abs. Press your lower back into the floor and don’t let it lift off the floor. Then flutter your feet up and down while keeping your torso still. Keep going as long as you can, but don’t be surprised if that’s not very long.

For more questions, we are always here to help coach you through this as results come in all different forms