Favorite Body Weight Exercises to Strengthen Abdominal Muscles and Improve Core Stability
With Plank Focus!
Why is it important to strengthen the abdominal muscles?
Your body has a natural corset muscle called the transverse abdominis. This muscle
attaches at the spine and attaches to a line of tissue in the front of your stomach. This
muscle helps to support and stabilize your spine when you are walking and performing
daily tasks. Strengthening the transverse abdominis and the other abdominal muscles
helps to reduce the risk of straining your back or causing other injury to your spine. Your
abdominal muscles should be engaged when you are lifting, performing pushing and
pulling motions, performing repetitive bending tasks, or activities in which your arms and
legs move but your trunk remains stable (running, seining a golf club or tennis racquet,
dancing, etc.). If you are not activating your abdominal muscles or if you are holding
your breath (referred to as a Valsalva), you may suffer an injury to the soft tissue or bony
structures in your spine and back.
What is the best way to strengthen the abdominal muscles?
Many people think of doing a lot of sit ups to strengthen their abdominal muscles;
however, sit ups have been shown to place excessive stress on the spine and promote
abnormal curvature of the spine. In this article, we will go over some of my favorite
abdominal exercises that can help to progressively strengthen your abdominals and
reduce your risk for injury.
Plank
A full plank is a great total body exercise. This is one of my favorite foundational
exercises to ensure good TA activation for many other exercises and helps practice core
activation needed for safe performance of daily activities.
Modified Plank: Start on your hands and knees, with your hands flat on the floor and
your hips and knees at 90 degrees. Bring your belly button toward your spine to engage
your transverse abdominis muscle (one of your abdominal muscles). Walk your hands a
little more in front of your starting position until your hips begin to angle toward the
floor. Keep your spine in a straight line and your hands under your shoulders. You may
feel some shaking, but this is normal and means that your muscles are being challenged.
Full Plank: To Progress to a full plank position, start with your hands directly under your
shoulders, extend your legs straight behind you with your toes helping to support and
stabilize you. The closer your feet are together, the more challenging the plank will be.
Having your feet closer to hip-width apart will give you more stability. Your core should
be engaged as discussed earlier, and your hips should be in line with your spine. Hold this
position for 10 seconds to start with and work your way to 30 seconds.
Shoulder Taps: Start in the full or modified plank position above with your feet about hip-width apart.
Shift your weight slightly into one hand and use the other hand to tap your opposite
shoulder. Place your hand back flat on the floor. Repeat with the opposite arm. Be sure to
maintain tight abdominal muscles, and do not let your hips excessively rotate when you
shift your weight.
Up-Up Down-Down
Start in a plank position, either on your toes or in the modified position with hands flat on
the floor. For this exercise, having your feet more spread apart will give you more
stability and help keep your hips from rotating too much. Next, you will drop one
forearm down flat to the floor followed by the other forearm, so you will end up in a
forearm plank position with your elbows directly under your shoulders. You will return to
the starting full plank by placing each hand flat on the floor under your shoulders.
Repeat, alternating which arm changes positions first. Be sure to keep your hips facing
the floor and not to excessively rotate your hips with your arm movements. Perform 10
reps x 3 sets.
Hip Twists
Hip twists will help to strengthen the oblique muscles, which help to bend the trunk
forward and also help with trunk rotation.
Start in a plank with your forearms on the floor and your elbows positioned under your
shoulders. Have your feet or knees about hip width apart. You can move your feet closer
together as you get stronger. Keep your transverse abdominis muscle tight and keep your
upper body in the starting position. Twist your hips to one side so that the outside of your
hip moves toward the ground but does not rest on the ground. Then return to the regular
plank position with your hips centered. Repeat by tapping the other hip to the floor.
Continue to alternate from side to side 10 times, and repeat for 3 sets. Remember to
breathe throughout the exercise, keep your buttocks in line with your spine, and keep
your abdominal muscles tight throughout the exercise.
These exercises are not for everyone and should not be performed if you have recently had
surgery or have experienced a recent injury. If you are currently experiencing back pain, hip
pain, neck pain, call 260-900-2437 to schedule an appointment with a ProTailored Physical
Therapist today!