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posted: 4/23/2014 5:30 AM

How to strengthen your core

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  • Instead of doing crunches to strengthen your core, try exercises such as side planks to help build the lateral muscles of the trunk.


By Gabriella Boston, Special to The Washington Post

Core, core, core. Yes, we hear it ad nauseam: "You need to strengthen the core." Or the other favorite, "It's all about the core."

But what does it really mean?

There is no clear medical definition of core, but fitness trainers use the term to describe the muscles of the trunk -- front and back.




In other words, if you are a golfer or baseball player, you know that your swing doesn't originate in the arms -- it comes all the way from the ground up. And if you have a strong core, that power is more likely to stay intact all the way up from your toes through your fingertips, generating a powerful swing.



So, how to train the core? All three experts agree that traditional crunches are not the way to go.


And, he says, the key to functional fitness is to find a way to build muscle that supports daily activity -- of which crunching in a fetal position probably is not one.

Instead, Burgett works on exercises such as side-lying planks to help build the lateral muscles of the trunk, and single-leg bridges with hip extensions to work the back and glutes.

Gillanders approves.


In the trunk, like elsewhere in the body, there are big, small, front, back, side, surface and deep muscles -- and for the best outcome for fitness and wellness, he says, all of them need to be worked to "fire appropriately."

For example, there are the rectus abdominis (the six-pack) and underneath them are the transverse abdominis (equally important but not visible to the naked eye). Then there are the big back muscles, such as the erector spinae, and the much smaller and local muscles, such as the sectional muscles between the vertebrae.


Gillanders points out that the smaller, more local muscles often require subtle movements -- like "bringing the navel toward the spine" or "bracing with the pelvic floor" -- that don't necessarily fit the idea of "workout exercises."




Think of exercises such as lunging and squatting with overhead weights. This type of work strengthens the core because it requires the core to stabilize the body.

But let's face it, it's almost swimsuit season, and some people want to go for the six-pack look. How to get there?

"Eat less," says Miller half-jokingly, adding that everyone has a six-pack -- it's part of our anatomy. It's just a matter of how much fat is layered on top.

There is no such thing as spot-reducing fat, he says, so it's overall dietary -- and exercise -- changes that create a calorie deficit that ultimately will reveal the six-pack. Working the abs to create more bulk will also help reveal them.

And here is where Miller has an admission to make.


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