Why is Core Strength Important?

When we think about fitness and health, one of the stereotypical images that comes to mind is a 6-pack of abs. It’s considered by many to be the ultimate fitness goal. And sure, having a 6-pack can be an excellent target for your fitness journey, but the story behind the 6-pack goes much deeper than aesthetics. 

When we talk about core exercise training, we’re not just talking about those front-facing ab muscles. We’re talking about all of the muscles that make up your trunk or midsection. All of our movements come from this zone, so while keeping it strong just might earn you that coveted 6-pack, training it will do much, much more. 

Why is building core strength so important? Read on to find out. 

Balance Improvement 

Our sense of balance lives in our inner ears, but our ability to maintain that sense of balance requires our core muscles. The simple act of standing up straight, whether you notice it or not, is rooted in the core. How else would we balance on a surface area as small as our feet?

When we have a strong core and, therefore, a strong support system for our sense of balance, we’re able to perform any activity without having to worry about toppling over. This gets even more important as we become more prone to falling in advanced age, so it’s important to train your core at all stages of life.

Ease of Movement

If you take anything away from this article, let it be this: core strength training allows us to move through the world with ease. 

When our core is strong, using our limbs is easier, and—as we said—we’re better at maintaining balance. If we train our core, we can bend and throw and climb and twist with a foundation ready to support those movements. With a strong trunk, simple things like standing up from a chair, picking up grocery bags, or turning from one path to another become as easy as 1, 2, 3.

Posture Support

Good posture comes with a whole lot of benefits, from breathing better to improving concentration. 

When we train our core muscle groups, our spines are surrounded by a beautiful structure to lean on (literally). Having strong core muscles helps us keep our backs upright without thinking about it, which is what fitness training is all about: making your body function so well that you don’t have to think about it. 

Athletic Performance

If you’re an athlete, you probably already do enough grueling core strengthening exercises to know how important it is to keep a strong trunk. But if you are looking to improve your game—whether you’re an Olympic gymnast or you’re considering joining an intramural sports team or club—core strength is essential. 

Think about any movement in any sport. Holding a handstand, swinging a golf club, shooting a basketball into a hoop, scrubbing an icy floor to move stones at a target—you name it—all of these movements use muscles in your abs, sides, and back to accomplish a goal.

Working your core muscle strength will improve your athletic performance, period. 

Injury Prevention

Another wonderful side effect of core conditioning is that it prevents injuries. This has everything to do with what we mentioned about ease of movement: having a strong core allows us to perform our daily activities with more support for our bones, muscles, and joints. 

That way, when we slip, we’re better equipped to catch ourselves before we fall, and when we bend down to pick up a box, we don’t hurt any muscles in our backs.

Core strength is important because it is a mechanism of improving anyone and everyone’s quality of life, and we have all the tools you could possibly need to get that core working at all of our locations. If you are looking for guided core routine workouts that you can do at home or in the club, try our virtual fitness platform, iChuze Fitness. Here, our instructors and Coaches will walk you through every movement in your core workout. Try it out for seven days here.