The 10 Moves You Need to Get a Rock-Solid Core

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The appearance of abs doesn’t reflect the strength of your core. If you want nothing but a six-pack, do crunches, clean up your diet, and lose some weight. For serious core strength — the kind that’s crucial for every sport, functional fitness, and full-body injury prevention — it requires a more rounded approach.

The secret is in forcing your abdominal muscles to stabilize, and not just contract. In other words, a thousand crunches a day won’t cut it. Instead, you want compound moves that use a bunch of muscle groups and work your core in all planes of motion. That means ample trunk twists, planks, and, yes, sit-ups. Here, 10 movements to develop true core strength.

By Lee Boyce

Exercise 1: Transfer Planks

Hold a good plank, and stack 5 light plates (2.5 or 5lb plates work best) on one side of your body. With the arm furthest away, reach across and stack those plates to the opposite side, and then repeat with the other arm. Perform for sets of 30 seconds.

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Exercise 2: Hanging Leg Raises

These beat crunches because they don’t promote poor posture. The ribcage gets to stay facing up, the way it should. Hang off of a pull-up bar, avoid swinging the body, and in a controlled fashion raise the knees as close to the shoulders as possible. Control the descent as much as you can, and repeat. Use sets of 8-12 reps.

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Exercise 3: Renegade Rows

Assume a push-up start position with your hands placed on dumbbells (hexagonal dumbbells work well). Alternating arms, pull one dumbbell right back to the ribcage, while maintaining a stable, rigid trunk. Repeat on the opposing side. Perform for sets of 30 seconds.

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Exercise 4: Ab Wheel Rollouts

Start kneeling, with the ab wheel as close to the knees as possible. Keep your back rounded, not arched, and push the hips towards the ground as you roll the wheel away from you. Brace the core and reach out as far as possible before returning to the start position. If you feel plenty of low back pressure with good form, don’t go out as far. Try sets of 6-10 reps.

Exercise 5: 4 Point Touch

Assume a push-up start position, with hands flat on the ground under the shoulders. Without adjusting the body, touch one hand to the opposite shoulder. Then touch the opposite hand to the first shoulder. Then touch one hand to the opposite thigh, then touch the opposite hand to the first thigh. That’s one rep. Be sure to remain slow and controlled, and work on sets of 6-8 reps.

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Photo By Les and Dave Jacobs / Getty Images

Exercise 6: Split Stance Cable Lift

Half-kneeling, use a straight bar attachment and keep the bottom side close to the body. Pull the bar diagonally upwards and then push straight out with the bottom hand. Avoid twisting. You’ll feel it in your lower abs.

Exercise 7: Dragon Flags

Using any flat bench and lay on your back. Hold the sides of the bench behind your head for support. Tuck the knees into the body, and then project the legs, butt, and lower back straight up in the air. The only thing left on the bench should be your head and shoulders. Staying rigid, resist gravity and lower your straight body back down to the bench as slowly as possible. It shouldn’t be easy. Try sets of 6 reps.

Exercise 8: Medicine Ball Slams

It’s as easy as it sounds. Grab a med ball, and a mat. Stand tall, reach way overhead with the ball, and using all your force, slam the ball down to the mat on the floor. Be sure to contract the abs hard. Work quickly, and slam in sets of 15-20.

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Exercise 9: Weighted Back Extensions

Sometimes we forget that the lower back is part of the core. Hold a weight plate at chest level and set up the back extension machine at hip height, then go to town. Sets of 10-20 reps is a good fit.

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Exercise 10: Side Planking

Be sure the elbow is located directly under the shoulder, and the hips are square. Squeeze the glutes and hold for no more than 30 seconds. To make things more challenging, as you get better at the side plank, perform a dynamic action with the top arm (examples would be a cable row or a lateral shoulder raise).