Three Simple Exercises for Core Strength

Here are three of the best exercises for building strength and stability in your midsection:
 
1) Crunch
The crunch is the most basic exercise for activating and building muscular strength and endurance in the core. Your core must be strong in order to safely lift heavy objects and it must have endurance to maintain proper posture while standing for long periods of time. To perform a basic crunch, lie face up on the ground with your knees bent and your arms folded across your chest. In one motion, exhale, contract your abs, tuck your chin to your chest and curl your upper body up off the floor towards your thighs. Keeping your abs contracted, then lower your shoulders slowly and under control.

While exhaling, lower your back to the ground and then your head.  To increase the challenge, raise your legs off the ground and bend your knees so that both your hip and knees form 90˚ angles. Repeat the same motion described above. The great thing about the crunch is that it is a bodyweight exercise. This means that all you need is YOU; the crunch can be performed anywhere at any time. So go ahead, drop down and give me 20!
 
2) Plank
One exercise that will activate all muscles in your core—both the abdominal and the stabilizer muscles—and improve their overall strength and endurance is the plank. The plank is just as it sounds—your body is fully extended in a rigid position and your entire torso is elevated, propped up by your toes on one end and your elbows and forearms on the other end.

In order to begin, lie face down on the ground resting on your forearms with your palms on the floor. In one motion, push off the floor raising up onto your toes and resting on your elbows. Be sure to keep your back completely flat and in a straight line from head to heels. Contract your abdominal muscles in order prevent your rear end from stick up in the air or sagging in the middle. Hold this position for as long as you can maintain proper form. Challenge yourself to maintain this position for a few more seconds for each repetition.
 
3) Rotational Movements
Most people tend to focus on the crunch as the only way to build core strength. However, we often forget that our body twists when we perform everyday chores like pulling groceries out of the trunk. Rotational exercises are important for almost all movements. In order to avoid injury, it is important to build and maintain rotational (twisting) strength, all of which comes from the core. One way to do this is to hold a weight at your chest and twist back and forth. Your obliques respond and activate in order to counteract the twisting force.

If you extend your arms in front of you with the weight away from your chest, it gets harder to stop the momentum of the weight and your oblique muscles have to work even harder.

Once you master this, try twisting while sitting or laying flat on a Swiss ball. This progression of exercises will challenge your oblique muscles and help build rotational stability and strength.