Strengthen Your Core For More

Your body core (link explains what your core muscles are) is very important to how much weight you can lift – even on exercises such as bench press and curls that don’t directly engage your core muscles.  What can core do for you?

Image: sxc.hu

One beneficial aspect of strengthening core muscles is you will improve your form.  Take curls for example.  Although performing a regular dumbell curl is supposed to only work your bicep, you still need your core to stabilize your arm’s lifting.  Think about it, you can have the strongest arms in the world, but without a good core, heavier weight is going to pull your arm and body out of form.

Another bonus is balance.  Think of your body’s core like a tree’s trunk.  When the wind blows on a tree with a strong trunk, the tree doesn’t give as much but if the  tree doesn’t have a strong foundation, it will bend to the wind.  Similarly, your core helps your body stabilize against outside forces.  For example, if you have a weak core and get bumped into, the bump will have a bigger impact.  If you have a strong core, you will experience less impact.

Of course overall strength is the biggest benefit from your core.  If you feel as if you’ve plateaued on bench press, curls, squats, military press or another exercise, continue building on those muscles but also attack your core to burst through that plateau.

Here is a great video on how to get a stronger core: