When most people hear “core training” the first thing they think about are your abs. While the abdominals are definitely a part of your core muscles, there’s much more to it than that. The list of muscles that actually make up your “core” is open to interpretation, but generally they’re the muscles that run the length of your spine/torso. I don’t really consider chest and upper back core muscles, but that’s just me. These muscles are responsible for stabilizing everything from your hips to your spine to your shoulders and they give you a strong base so you can better control your body.

Protect Your Back

Everyone wants those six pack abs, except Nash that is, and that’s all well and good as long as you train that area 360 degrees. An unbalanced core can kill your posture, cause back pain, and lead to back injury when you’re working out (possibly the most debilitating and nagging kind of injury).

Improves Athletic Performance

Everything movement you make originates from your center. Your core muscles facilitate the transfer of energy to your extremities, which means that you’re not going to be able to generate any kind of powerful movement without having a powerful and stable torso. Additionally, if you’re playing sports then you’re probably going to need to be changing directions, making quick cuts, twisting in midair, etc. and you’re definitely going to need balance. All of these attributes can be obtained by having balanced and strong core muscles.

I’ve found that some of the best exercises you can do for your core are medicine ball/kettle ball exercises. A great exercise to do is just grab a medicine ball, hold it out in front of you and just start twisting at your waist. There are a whole bunch of variations to this exercise, you can do it sitting down in a crunch position for a better ab workout for example, or you can do it with a partner, wither way the twist is a great core exercise. If you want to know a little more, you can check out Nash’s post on obliques.

Really what it comes down to is that having a healthy core muscle group is going to make you more effective at absolutely everything you do during the day and make everything easier and less tiring, so definitely start working those muscles.