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3 Core Strengthening Exercises That You Can Do At Home

Often we get patients in our clinics who come in with 

• hip pains
• neck pains
• back pains and low back pains
• knee pains

and we find more than 50% have either weak core muscles or core muscles that do not activate / fire enough consistently.

As promised, here are three core strengthening exercises that you can do at home (or at office, or as you travel for work or leisure too, of course).

planking exercises

Planks, or planking exercises, are one of those exercises that can work multiple muscles, joints and body parts, such as

• stomach muscles (abs)
• lower back muscles
• oblique muscles
• other long muscles of the spine

However, if you're new to planking, we recommend to ease your way into starting. You can start with a simpler and easier version, such as knee-based planking, or wall planking exercises.

If you're advanced, there's other harder versions of the plank, such as side planks and full planks (toe/feet).

bridging exercises

Bridging exercises work the complex of the lower back muscles and the glutes (buttock muscles). 

To do it,

1. you lie down on your back on the floor (or yoga mat)
2. bring your knees and ankles together
3. bend your knees but keep your knees and ankles together
4. then lift up your buttock off the floor and bring it up, both ankles firmly planted to the floor

That's the basics of a standard bridging exercise.

If that gets easy and you become more advanced, here's some ideas how to make it more difficult (and more strength benefits):

1. as you do #4 above, hold for XX seconds eg 30, 45, 60 or longer seconds
2. as you do #4 above, straighten one knee for XX seconds (then the other)
3. do this exercise on a soft mat (creates more instability which is harder)

To make it easier, lower the height raised, or do it on a firm surface like the floor.

dead bug exercise

The dead bug exercise is a good workout combination too!

It works a ton of muscles in your core, including your

1. transverse abdominis (deepest core muscles that wrap around your spine and sides)
2. rectus abdominis (muscles that run vertically along the front of your abdomen)
3. obliques (muscles on the sides of your stomach)
4. and pelvic floor muscles

How to do it?

1. you lie down on your back on the floor (or yoga mat), hands flat above your head
2. combination 1: left shoulder bend forward 90 degrees, bring your right knee to your stomach
3. combination 2: right shoulder bend forward 90 degrees, bring your left knee to your stomach
4. repeat

Basically its a repeating cross exercise.

If that's easy, here's how to make it harder: do it sloooooooooowly. Momentum can make exercises feel easy, when you're swinging, but the magic is truly in doing the exercises slowly.