Four abdominal exercises to strengthen your core

1) Crunches: This exercise mainly targets the rectus abdominis. How to do it: Get into the position shown, with feet flat on the floor and hands behind your head. Lift your shoulder blades off the floor as you exhale, hold for two seconds, then lower your body down slowly without relaxing until it is resting on the floor. Aim for 15 repetitions with perfect form. — 123rf

in this column, I’m going to focus on one exercise that you can do for every abdominal muscle.

It’s not to achieve a flat stomach, but to strengthen your core muscles to help stabilise your body, allowing you to move in any direction without losing your balance.

From a rehabilitation perspective, a strong core can help alleviate lower back pain, improve spinal alignment and reduce the risk of injury during physical activity.

A strong core doesn’t necessarily mean a toned stomach, while a visible six-pack does not always equate to a strong core.

A six-pack looks good with or without clothes, no doubt, but you have to ensure it is also functional.

Having visible abdominal muscles just means your body fat percentage is low enough to show the muscle fibres beneath subcutaneous fat.

Doing core exercises alone won’t help as burning off body fat is best accomplished by modifying the diet and engaging in cardiovascular activities.

And the reality is that the older you get, the harder it is to trim fat and build muscle.

We have five main muscles in our abdomen:

• Rectus abdominis – the top or superficial layer.
• Pyramidalis – a small triangular muscle, anterior to (in front of) the rectus abdominis muscle.
• External obliques – outermost abdominal muscles, extending from the lower half of the ribs around and down to the pelvis.
• Internal obliques – muscles on the lateral (outer) side of the abdomen and anterior to (in front of) the external oblique muscles.
• Transversus abdominis – the deepest layer.

Of the five, the transversus abdominis is the hardest to get to because it is located in the deepest area.

Virtually all daily movements and activities involve the abdominal muscles to some extent, from walking/running and putting on shoes to playing board games.

However, they don’t bulk up to the degree of other muscles because they are relatively thin structures.

That said, try out the four exercises below.

Perhaps do them two or three times a week as all muscles need to be rested in between workouts.

If you’re a beginner, stick to one set of all the exercises, and build up from there.

Revathi Murugappan is a certified fitness trainer who tries to battle gravity and continues to dance to express herself artistically and nourish her soul. For more information, email [e-mail]. The information contained in this column is for general educational purposes only. Neither The Star nor the author gives any warranty on accuracy, completeness, functionality, usefulness or other assurances as to such information. The Star and the author disclaim all responsibility for any losses, damage to property or personal injury suffered directly or indirectly from reliance on such information.