34 Core Exercises Top Trainers Swear By to Work Every A part of Their Abs

Although you might consider your “core” only once you’re doing specific abs moves, you truly use these muscles all day, day by day—which is why core exercises are so essential. Whether you’re walking, reaching, balancing, getting up from a chair, or just just standing upright, the muscles of your midsection are firing to maintain you stable and supported in nearly every movement.

“People often consider abs when referring to the core, but our core is definitely made up of a way more complex network of muscles present in the trunk of our body,” certified personal trainer Brian Abarca, CPT, owner of Abarca Fitness in Latest Jersey, tells SELF.

These include the rectus abdominis (along the front of your abdomen, likely what you’re thinking that of once you think “abs”), transverse abdominis (around your sides and spine), erector spinae (in your lower back), pelvic floor muscles, and the internal and external obliques (along the perimeters of your abdomen). Abarca says even your rotator cuffs, lats, traps, and pectoral muscles could be involved in core work.

In the event you engage your abs once you’re lifting—bracing your core muscles to maintain you more stable and will let you resist rotating or arching—any exercise can change into an abs exercise. Plus, some workout routines with moves you might not consider as “core exercises” really smoke those muscles too, especially ones through which you’re hefting weight over your head, like with overhead presses, holding weight in front of your, as with goblet squats, or difficult your balance, à la single-leg deadlifts.

But due to how much you utilize your abs in on a regular basis life and during your workouts, it’s value showing them some extra love with some specific core exercises, Abarca says. Not only can that help with injury prevention (including back pain!), but it will probably also improve your range of motion, boost strength, and maintain mobility.

Below, take a look at 34 great core moves that top trainers swear by. Sprinkle a couple of of those throughout your next full-body workout, or string together a couple of for a simple core sequence.