The BEST core exercises for strength and stability
“What’s the best exercise for…” is a question I get often in my line of work. I’m sure you’ve seen the answers to those types of question plastered all over social media.
The truth is, exercises are just tools we can use to support our bodies. The best exercise for any given muscle or group of muscles is going to meet the following criteria:
The exercise helps you connect to your body (i.e. you can feel the muscles we want to be working actually doing the work).
The exercise is pain free.
The exercise is supporting your body in what it needs (ex: increasing range of motion at the shoulder, strengthening the muscles that rotate the hip).
The more exercises that you have in your toolbox that work for YOU, the better you will be able to support your body through movement.
The same thing applies to strengthening your core. The very BEST exercises to help you strengthen and stabilize your core are going to be specific to your body and what your body needs. Nevertheless, there are a few exercises that will support ALL bodies based on how that system (core) functions to support you as you move.
Core stability is just pressure (stability = pressure). Can you keep pressure between your diaphragm and your pelvic floor? Part of your body’s ability to do that depends on the positioning of the ribcage — under which the diaphragm sits — and the pelvis. Let’s quickly take a look at those structures:
For optimal core function, we want the ribcage and pelvis to be in the stacked position (see the above left skeleton). Physiologically, this allows us to maintain pressure (stability) in that space, which is integral to the functioning and performance of your body as a whole. The stacked position also allows the diaphragm and muscles of the pelvic floor to optimally work both independently and together.
Many of us find our ribcage and pelvis in a scissor position (see above right skeleton); i.e. the ribcage is flared upwards and/or the pelvis has tipped forward (anterior pelvic tilt). This is not a solid foundation from which your body can move. It also puts stress on your low back, can create a breathing pattern that over stresses your neck muscles (if you have chronic tension in your neck this could be why), and can lead to other issues throughout the kinetic chain.
One of the best ways to strengthen this system is through breathing. Some of my favorite breathing exercises include variations of diaphragmatic breathing and an exercise called elevator breathing.
Diaphragmatic breathing is often interchanged with “belly breathing” when, in fact, these two things are not the same. While we do want have the ability to expand the belly as we inhale, we also need the ability to expand the ribcage giving room for the lungs to expand and the diaphragm to function at its best. Diaphragmatic breathing is just that — expansion of the ribcage as you inhale, ribcage moving back inwards and down towards the pelvis as you exhale.
I go into more detail about diaphragmatic breathing and outline some exercises to practice here:
With elevator breathing, we are practicing expansion of the whole torso from the bottom up and maintaining that pressure/stability as we move. Mastering this is a great foundation for ALL movement. I use it with all of my clients, I use it as a warm up for any strength training or sports I am playing, and I use it as a part of my daily movement practice. The below video is from one of my favorite trainers to learn from, Ian Markow with Markow Training Systems. Elevator breathing is demonstrated around minute 3:50.
I highly recommend incorporating diaphragmatic breathing and elevator breathing into your movement practice to strengthen and stabilize your core and improve overall function and performance. As with anything, it’s going to take practice. The more inputs your body receives, the more expansion of the ribcage will become your natural breathing pattern. We talking about practice (cue Allen Iverson)!
Feel free to reach out via email with any questions. I am always here to support you.
