Most of us change up our workouts fairly often, trying a new class here or wanting to jump on the newest TikTok fitness trend there. Fitness can get boring really quickly if you don’t keep tweaking and experimenting. But chances are, you’ve probably been doing the same core exercises for years. It’s all too easy to throw in a few sit-ups or crunches at the end of a workout and expect abs of steel in return.

While both of those exercises might target the abdominal muscles, the abs are only one part of the core. The core’s made up of 35 different muscle groups, spanning from your hips up to your chest. This includes the rectus abdominis (aka the six-pack part of the abs), the transverse abdominis (deep core muscles), the internal and external obliques (the muscles down the side of your torso), the pelvic floor muscles and many more.

“Strengthening your core is what’s going to help with daily activities and build a strong chain throughout your body,” explains personal trainer Pippa Sealey from Luxe Fitness, explaining that it’s essential to think about targeting the entire core during workouts rather than focusing on abs.

If you work an office job, it’s often the case that your core muscles are weaker than you think. Sitting down for hours can mean going for a long time without engaging the core at all. Pair that with the fact that many of us don’t know how to engage the core properly, and we run the risk of never being able to harness that central set of muscles. 

“A strong core will help you while doing any kind of exercise, especially with weightlifting. Exercises like deadlifts, squats and shoulder presses all require a strong core,” Sealey explains. “If you have a weak core, your other muscles might have to overcompensate, which can lead to issues like back pain,” Sealey says.

Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to build up core strength, most of which you can do from home or simply add into your other workouts. Here are some of the best core exercises to try, from pilates moves to functional exercises…

There are plenty of core exercises you can do that don’t require any equipment at all. Try these pilates bodyweight exercises…

Dead bugs

This move engages your transverse abdominis muscles, also known as your deep core. Plus, you’ll also be targeting the abdominal muscles and the lower back, making this a great move for overall core strength.

How to do a dead bug:

1. Lie on your mat with your legs in a tabletop position, bent at 90 degrees and your arms lifted to the sky.
2. Squeeze your abs by pulling your belly button to your spine and imprinting your spine onto the mat, ensuring there’s no space between your lower back and the ground.
3. Slowly begin lowering your leg arm and right leg towards the ground, extending the leg out straight.
4. When they are an inch above the ground, squeeze through your core to bring them back to the starting position.
5. Repeat on the other side. 

Plank

A plank is a full-body movement, but if you engage the mind-muscle connection properly and think about squeezing the core muscles, it can help you build up core strength as well as balance and stability.

How to do a plank:

1. On a flat surface, lie with your stomach on the ground, hands under your armpits with elbows by your ribs and toes tucked under.
2. Lift yourself onto your hands and feet so that your body is one straight line parallel to the floor.
3. Make sure that your bum isn’t sticking up the air and that you’re not collapsing into your lower back. Hands are directly under shoulders, again in one straight line. Keep your glutes and thigh muscles engaged.
4. Brace your core by sucking your belly button in. That’ll help prevent collapsing into your lower back and will help get those ab muscles working.
5. Choose a spot slightly ahead of you to concentrate on. Your neck should be parallel to the floor.

Side plank

The side plank is usually thought to be an exercise for the obliques, but it engages almost all of the abdominal muscles and it’s a great one to practise if you’re trying to work on your balance.

How to do a side plank:

1. Place the bottom hand onto the floor, distributing weight evenly between all of the fingers. Keep the arm straight as you push up into the side plank.
2. Either stack both feet on top of each other, place both feet on the floor in a slightly staggered stance or bend the bottom leg so the knee rests on the floor while keeping the top leg straight and off the ground.
3. Push up through your obliques into the side plank position. Actively lift through the side of your body as you continue to hold.
4. Make sure that your chest is open, shoulders are back, you’re squeezing your shoulder blades together and the upper back is engaged.

Leg raises

Many people don’t realise that the hips are a part of the core, and strengthening your hip flexors is a great way to build up core strength, especially if you lift weights.

How to do leg raises:

1. Lie down flat on your back with your arms by your sides and legs stretched out next to each other. Then, squeeze your core and raise your legs.
2. Keep your legs as straight as possible, and lift them until they are pointing at the ceiling, or as close to 90 degrees as you can get.
3. Keeping your core engaged and your legs straight, lower your legs back down to the ground.

Hollow hold

Holding a hollow position certainly isn’t comfortable, but it’s a great way to strengthen the lower back muscles to prevent pain in that area. It also engages the abdominal muscles and the hip flexors. Keep your feet lower to the ground and lift your arms up overhead to increase the difficulty of this move. 

How to do a hollow hold:

1. Start by lying on your back. Engage the core to press your lower back into the floor so that there’s no gap between the shoulder blades and the coccyx.
2. Now, lift the shoulder blades and legs off the floor. Keep the legs straight and arms by your sides a couple of inches away from the floor.
3. Hold for as long as you can or set yourself a goal time.

Another way to strengthen your core is by incorporating functional exercises, that are designed to mimic the way we move in everyday life to make daily movements easier, into your routine. Here are some weighted functional movements you can try.

Deadlift

The deadlift is well-known as a lower-body movement. But if you properly engage your core, it’s a great way to target those deep core muscles and doing so will also improve your lifts. Think about bracing your core as you lift the weight from the floor. The below directions are for kettlebell deadlifts, but the technique is very similar with barbells and dumbbells.

How to do kettlebell deadlifts:

1. Place the kettlebell on the floor and stand just behind it with your feet hip-width apart.
2. Hinge at the hips and slightly bend your knees so your hands can hang straight down to grip the handle.
3. Engage your core and roll your shoulders back and down.
4. Press through your heels to stand, straightening your legs and pushing your hips forwards to a neutral position.
5. Hinge at the hips and bend the knees to lower the weight back down.

Kettlebell marches

Most core exercises involve lying on a yoga mat, but how often do we actually need to engage our core muscles while lying down IRL? Standing core moves are a great example of functional exercises that make moving in everyday life feel easier. You can do this exercise with kettlebells or dumbbells.

How to do kettlebell marches:

1. Stand with feet hip-width apart.
2. Grab your weights and push them overhead with your wrists facing forwards.
3. Bracing the core, slowly lift the right leg and bend the knee so that it forms a 90° angle in front of you. Slowly lower the leg and then lift the left one.
4. Continue to march on the spot. 

Ab rollouts

This exercise uses an ab roller, which is a great piece of equipment if you’re trying to improve balance and stability. With ab rollouts, the further you can move the roller while keeping your back straight, the more this will engage the core, particularly the rectus abdominis (aka those six-pack muscles).

How to do ab rollouts:

1. Sitting up on your knees place the ab roller on the ground in front of you so you’re slightly leaning over.
2. Hold the bars on either side of the wheel, and pressing your weight into the roller, move your hands forward keeping your back straight.
3.  Keep moving your hands forward until just before you feel like you can no longer pull yourself back up and then roll back up, keeping the torso tight.

Farmer’s carry

Ever found yourself struggling to carry shopping bags home from the supermarket? This might be down to a lack of core strength. This functional movement will help you get some practice in for the next weekly shop and strengthen your entire core at the same time.

How to do the farmer’s carry:

1. Hold a kettlebell in each hand down by your sides, keeping your arms straight.
2. Brace your core and walk a specified distance while holding the kettlebells without swinging your arms.

Birddog

Birddog is another full body move, but the foundations of it rely on core strength. Proper form is particularly important here, to ensure you’re engaging your core and protecting the backs.

How to do birddog:

1. Start on all fours with your hands underneath your shoulders and your knees underneath your hips. Keep a neutral spine and engage the core by drawing that belly button into the spine
2. Begin by lifting and extending the opposite arm and leg. Reach out as far as you can with both your arm and your leg.
3. When you reach full extension, hold and squeeze the glutes and the core.
4. Return back to the starting position and repeat on the opposite side. 

Finally, these are some exercises you can try using a pull-up bar or a captain’s chair, a large piece of equipment with handles designed for ab workouts.

Hanging knee raises

This is the kind of exercise that looks a lot easier than it actually is. But you’d be surprised just how much core stability is required to move your legs while hanging, as well as hip mobility and strength. You’ll need a bar you can hang off (try a monkey bar frame or gym bar).

How to do hanging knee raises:

1. Hang off the bar with your hands shoulder width apart, as if you’re about to do a pull-up.
2. Keeping your legs together, squeeze your shoulders together and engage the core, then lift your knees up to your chest before bringing them back down to the hang position.
3. Repeat.

Side tucks

This exercise is similar to the hanging knee raises, but is designed to target the obliques. Try to twist your legs as far as possible to each side while hanging to engage the muscles at the side of your body. Make sure you don’t let your hips swing to ensure you isolate the core muscles.

How to do side tucks:

1. Hang off the bar with your hands shoulder-width apart, as if you’re about to do a pull-up.
2. Keeping your legs together, squeeze your shoulders together and engage the core, then lift your knees up towards your armpit, twisting the torso as much as you can.
3. Bring them back down to the hang position and repeat.

Russian twists

You can do this exercise with or without weights. Either way, it’s a great way to target the obliques and develop stability.

How to do Russian twists:

1. Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet placed firmly on the ground.
2. Engage your core by pulling your belly button to your spine as you lift your torso off the ground. You should be making V shape with your thighs and stomach.
3. Hold your hands together in front of you and twist to the right-hand side. Ensure the movement comes from your obliques rather than hips or shoulders.
4. Twist back through centre to the left-hand side.
5. Repeat. To make it more challenging, lift your feet a few inches off the ground or hold a dumbbell in your hands.

Bar leg lifts

This is a real burner. You can do it on a monkey bar frame or a bar at the gym/outdoor playground. If you manage to keep your legs straight, you’ll feel a real burn in your quads, but it’s your core that’s doing all the work. Decide how high you’re going to lift your legs and stick with that height for all of the reps (again, this is harder than it looks).

How to do leg lifts:

1. Hang off the bar with your hands shoulder width apart, as if you’re about to do a pull-up.
2. Keeping your legs straight and your core tight, lift your legs up as high as possible, aiming to touch your toes to the bar if you can, or if you can’t, getting as close to parallel as possible.
3. Bring your legs back to the hang position but keep everything tight rather than letting your body swing.
4. Repeat.

Images: Getty