By Buvnesh

If in case you read my last article on push-ups, towards the end I wrote about speaking about a “dual effect” in my next article.

So while doing a push-up I like to suck my tummy in. This not only helps me to increase muscle endurance but also helps to develop my core muscles.

Many assume that ‘Core’ means Abs and by doing Sit-ups and Crunches one can build a strong Core. But this is a myth.

Core does not only mean your Abdominal Muscles but involves a whole lot more than just Abdominal muscles. It involves a variety of muscles including your lower lat muscles.

Fun Fact: Your core muscle involves as many as 29 different muscle groups including trapezius (Traps); the muscle towards the bottom of your neck to your glutes (buttocks). And you can work on all of them at the same time with the exercise I am about to tell you.

What does Core mean?

In simple terms, Core means your whole upper body minus your arms and legs. Your core is where most of your power is derived from. Your core is used to stabilize your whole thoracic region (upper body and pelvis). It provides the foundation for all the movements of the arms and legs.

How to feel your Core?

The Core is a deep muscle and cannot be felt easily. However, it can be felt during a movement or any action that involves rapid release of energy or air from the body. It can be as simple as a cough or laughing hard. Many at times it happens that you get cramps in your stomach while laughing. Now you know the reason why it happens.

Core Strength is Important Because:

The human movement is Multi-dimensional and requires more than one single muscle to complete the desired movement. It is a combination of various muscles/ muscle groups working together.

Eg. When you rotate your torso; in this movement your external and internal obliques work together to complete the movement or like when you bend sideways.

Your Core can be felt while an action simple as opening a door; and go up to moving heavy weights.

Regardless of the daily activities you do, it is of utmost importance that you have a strong core in order to have a strong foundation.

Strong core muscle results in:

Improving your posture

The Core muscles are responsible for aligning the spine, ribs and pelvis of a person and help them stand straight with good posture. A strong core also helps a person to resist force whether dynamic or static.

The lack of core muscle strength would result in wrong postures such as, *slouching* where your shoulders rotate forward. This is very common with people who have a desk job or people who are immobile for most of the day.

The way you sit or stand determines the amount of stress on your lower back. A strong core would mean the least amount of compression of your lower back.

Improved performance

A strong core translates to improved performance; let it be in sports or your daily life. One can perform day-to-day tasks easily, and not fatigue as early as others. Weak core muscles would lead to weakness in one’s body and also cause lower-back pain, which is common in today’s older generation. A weak core would cause you to fatigue way before than a person with a much stronger core.

Perform bodily functions

As mentioned earlier, core muscles help you maintain a good posture and to resist any external force whether static or dynamic. These are mainly the function of the outer core muscles, which involves your Rectus abdominus (Abdominal Muscles)

In addition to the above stated functions, the deeper core or Inner core muscles handle much more complex functions of the body such as defecation (remove fecal waste from the body), bladder control, weight lifting and is also a great help during pregnancy.

Difference between Core and Abs

To many people Core and Abdominal muscles are one and the same, but that isn’t the case.

A core is a much more complex muscle that involves a variety of different muscle/muscle groups which work in combination, whereas the Abdominal Muscles mainly consists of the rectus abdominus (the infamous “6 pack muscle”). Core muscles work as a natural isometric and dynamic stabiliser during physical activity as compared to the rectus abdominus with a one dimensional function i.e. crunching the trunk to the pelvis or the other way around.

These are certain differences that would certainly refine your knowledge on how to train abs and core.

Where crunches and hyper-extensions are good to train the rectus Abdominus there are a few exercises that directly work on the Core.

In my next article I shall speak about one of the most effective exercise that targets all the core muscles at once.

Quiz Time:

Since we are on the topic about Core; Name an exercise where your body is not moving but all of your muscles are under tension? Comment down below with your best answer, and stand a chance to win a free workout at: “Kashrath- for a better you”.

Until then, keep grinding! 

For queries and suggestions, please feel free to mail me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.