Your Core Is More Than Just Your Abs — Here's How to Keep It Strong | Livestrong.com (2023)

FAQs

Can your core be strong without abs? ›

Having visible abs just means your body fat percentage is low enough to show the muscle fibers beneath subcutaneous fat. You can 100% have great core strength without having visible abs.

Core exercises train the muscles in your core to work in harmony. This leads to better balance and steadiness, also called stability. Stability is important whether you're on the playing field or doing regular activities. In fact, most sports and other physical activities depend on stable core muscles.

Six-pack abs do not mean you have a strong core. It is easier to get washboard abs than having a strong core. Clean eating and the right balance of body-fat percentage are enough to show you results. Abs just give our abdomen a nice shape.

Signs of Weak Core Muscles. Muscle weakness or decreased control of these muscles can be a result of surgery, injury or inactivity. Common signs of weakness or decreased control of your core muscles can lead to dysfunction in your movement and, ultimately, affect your quality of life.

“Dancing, swimming, cycling, running, brisk walking, skipping rope, stair climbing, hula hoops, yoga and planks can all help you build your core muscles,” says Reddy. Ojha recommends at-home abs workout for the same.

When we're talking specifically about strengthening and building your ab muscles — not necessarily seeing them – "it can take anywhere from four to eight weeks, depending on what exercises you're doing and your eating habits," said fitness coach Nick Leyden, MS, CSCS.

It can be hard to know if your core is weak, because even visible six-pack-abs are not a sign that your core is strong.

The 'core' muscles work together to keep the spine stabilised, maintain an upright body position as well as being critical for bending forward, backwards and twisting from side to side. Your abs sole function is to assist in bending the torso forward (a.k.a. Flexion of the lumbar spine).

How do I strengthen my core after 70? ›

Tighten your abdominal muscles and lower your upper body onto your forearms, aligning your shoulders directly over your elbows and keeping your feet in the air behind you. Keep your back straight, making your body as much like a "plank" as possible. Hold the position and return to the starting position.

The best way to build a big, strong core is by carrying heavy loads multiple days a week. Use different implements and don't be scared to go heavy. Picking up heavy-ass weights and walking with them is primal. And from a strength and hypertrophy standpoint, it enhances a midsection like no other.

Maintaining a strong core also benefits bowel movements and your intestines, which helps to regulate much of your entire digestive system. If you're looking for speedier digestion, spending time strengthening your abdominal muscles may be helpful.

As we age, our core muscles weaken, and we can lose balance and stability. By doing core exercises regularly, you can help prevent these issues. A strong core promotes better posture and alleviates back pain. Strengthening the body will allow for better shoulder movement, hips, knees, and ankles.

Walking is a great way to improve or maintain your overall health. Just 30 minutes every day can increase cardiovascular fitness, strengthen bones, reduce excess body fat, and boost muscle power and endurance.

Training the core muscles daily may result in them being fatigued during heavy squats, cleans, and competition lifts, making training frequency a potential reason you are limited in core strength during lifts.

The researchers estimated that doing just 20 minutes of brisk walking every day or the equivalent (which would burn about 90 to 110 calories), would elevate a person into the “moderately inactive” group and reduce their risk of early death by 16 to 30 percent.

What are 3 exercises that strengthen the core? ›

With the three core exercises above, that's not a concern. The bicycle, the Russian twist, and the towel plank knee-in are fundamental moves that will immediately start helping you achieve and maintain that strong core you've always wanted.

Fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, fatty fish, and tea can all help accelerate fat burning and improve body composition. Meanwhile, you'll want to avoid fried foods, sugary snacks, refined grains, sugar-sweetened beverages, and excessive alcohol intake.

"The reality is while you are crunching your way to strong abs, you can actually be overworking your core and causing back pain and poor posture," she tells me, reiterating the importance of having a strong core, since it's the "main support for your spine, organs, pelvic floor, and entire body."

Most can expect to see noticeable muscle growth within eight weeks of starting a new strength training routine. Linking this with aches/pains/injuries when seeing your Physiotherapist, most people look for a quick fix and once they are out of pain then they think they are cured.

Does a weak core cause back pain? Back pain can be caused by many different things. If you have a weak core, that might be one of the contributors to your back pain. Your abdominals help support and stabilize your spine so if they're weakened or not as strong then it can lead to an increased risk for low back pain.

Many people do not realize that shortness of breath can be due to a weak core. The diaphragm is an internal muscle that separates your lungs and ribs from your digestive system. It also controls your breathing. The outer core muscles help to support the diaphragm, making breathing easier.

Sit tall in a chair with your feet flat on the floor and palms on top of your thighs. From here, gently press your right palm down into your right thigh while pressing your thigh up into your palm. Press firmly enough that you feel your abs tighten. Hold for a few breaths, then release and repeat on the opposite side.

The core should be active throughout almost all training activities, and the abdominals should be trained to help balance the core and to look good at the beach. Thinking about the muscle fiber orientation is an advanced way to train, but developing this skill will undoubtedly take your training to another level.

If you want to take your workouts to a whole new level, start with your middle. “People achieve better results when they do core exercises at the beginning of their workout instead of the end,” says Alwyn Cosgrove, C.S.C.S., coauthor of The New Rules of Lifting for Abs.

Is training core better than training abs? ›

Core Muscle Exercises are Better for Your Overall Health. Core muscles are better than just abs. Why? Your core is one of the most important muscle groups in your entire body.

Strength training is the secret to muscle growth for older adults. It's best to do this with light weights and to work slowly. Slow movements with lighter weights force your muscles to work harder. If you don't have a set of weights, you can use your body weight with resistance exercises like push-ups and squats.

Repeated research has shown that, through weight training, men and women in their 60s and beyond can grow muscles as big and strong as an average 40-year-old.

Seniors Can Still Bulk Up On Muscle By Pressing Iron Our muscle mass decreases at surprising rates as we get older. But researchers found that people older than 50 can not only maintain but actually increase their muscle mass by lifting weights.

“Research shows that, even into your late 80s, your body still has the potential to build muscle mass,” Stacy Schroder, director of wellness at Masonic Village at Elizabethtown, said.

If you're an older adult looking to establish an exercise routine, you should, ideally, be able to incorporate 150 minutes of moderate endurance activity into your week. This can include walking, swimming, cycling, and a little bit of time every day to improve strength, flexibility, and balance.

If you have a weak core, you are missing the link in the armour for your body. It connects our upper to lower body, it keeps us upright, helps us twist and turn and move freely without collapsing. When we have a weak core, we begin to see our ability to move become harder and our risk of injury increases.

You Have Too Much Body Fat Covering Your Abdominal Wall

Strong abs aren't the most important component of a visible six-pack; low body fat is. If you have too much subcutaneous body fat covering your abdominal area, then no matter how many hours of crunches or leg raises you do, you won't be able to see your six-pack.

Yes, it's a hard-to-miss attribute of many fit people (many of whom proudly let it show on Instagram or while working out in a sports bra). But the truth is that defined abs are not a requirement for fitness, don't come easily to a lot of people, and sometimes don't come at all—even to dedicated fitness pros.

1. You have too much body fat. The single most important aspect when it comes to getting your abs to show is having a low body fat percentage. All humans have abdominal muscles that can be made more visible with training – but ultimately to see your abs you need to be at 10% body fat or less (18% or less for women.)

Can you be fit without visible abs? ›

“A visible six-pack may be a goal for many people – but visible abdominal muscles are in fact not a reliable indicator of physical fitness, they are an indicator of low body fat (around 10% for men and 14% for women) which is simply unachievable and not necessary for most people,” Hannah Lewin, Digme Fitness instructor ...

Your exercises are too easy

Choose exercises that are challenging for you in order to make strength gains. If you're still doing core activation exercises, heel slides and bridges months after having a baby or a new injury, it's just too easy. It's not that you'll lose strength, but you won't really gain any either.

Because the ab crack is dependent on the underlying physical structure of your abdomen, there's no ab crack exercise or diet that can make one appear if your linea alba isn't deep or wide enough to form this divot. If you have the underlying structure for an ab crack, losing fat should bring it out.

The only thing that determines if you have abs or not, is the amount of body fat you have on your body. If your body fat is low enough, your abs will begin to show, and the lower the fat, the more visible your abs will appear.

No matter who you are, the appearance of your abs is largely based on your genetics. “How visible they are, how they're shaped, whether they're aligned or crooked—it boils down to your DNA,” says Mike Israetel, Ph. D., sports physiologist and co-founder of Renaissance Periodization.

Just because you have a flat stomach, doesn't mean you have strong abs. These are two different things. You can have strong abs and not have a flat stomach, and vice versa.

The primary obstacle to unveiling abdominal definition is, unsurprisingly, fat. “If you have fat covering your abs, you're not going to see a six-pack, and as a result, it's a not a realistic goal for most people,” says Kathleen Trotter, personal trainer and author of Finding Your Fit.

Whole grains like oats, barley, buckwheat, and quinoa can be a great addition to your diet if you're looking to get abs. In addition to being high in fiber, which can enhance weight loss, digestion, and blood sugar levels, whole grains are a good source of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants ( 9 , 10 ).

If you have been exercising and still have belly fat, you could be doing the wrong style training, your stress levels may be too high, or you may have an endocrine disorder like polycystic ovary syndrome.

10 to 14 percent

This range of body fat is still lean, which means your abs will be visible.

Why can'ti see my abs if I'm skinny? ›

It's common for naturally skinny guys to have smaller ab muscles, meaning that they don't show through very well, even at lower body-fat percentages. Fortunately, just like with the rest of our muscles, we can bulk up our abs.