What Does It Mean To Engage Your Core? A PT Explains

If you’ve ever attended an exercise class, done a personal training session or simply followed an online workout plan, no doubt you’ve heard the phrase ‘engage your core’. It’s one of the most commonly used cues given by fitness professionals – yet for many of us, the concept remains elusive. What does it mean to activate your core muscles? And on that note: what even is the core? C&TH’s resident PT Ellie Smith is here to answer all your questions about the often misunderstood, yet crucial, technique.

Engaging Your Core: A Personal Trainer’s Guide

What Is The Core?

First thing’s first: what does the core actually entail? While we often think of our core as just our abdominals, it’s actually a group of muscles in the central part of the body, including the pelvic floor, spine, hip flexors and obliques. The core is our centre of stability, acting as the foundation for all body movements and allowing mobility in both the upper and lower limbs.

There are two groups of muscles: the inner core muscles, which help stabilise the spine and ribcage. These include the transverse abdominis (the deepest of the abdominal muscles), the multifidus (which runs up both sides of the spine), the pelvic floor muscles (which support your bladder) and the diaphragm (the primary muscle used in breathing). Outer core muscles, meanwhile, are the superficial ones, including the rectus abdominis (what you might know as abs or a six pack), the external obliques, and the erector spinae.

What Does It Mean To Engage Your Core?

Contrary to popular belief, engaging your core doesn’t mean simply sucking in your stomach – in fact, this is sort of the opposite of what you should be aiming for, as it creates tension and can make it hard to breathe normally. Instead, activating your core is a bracing action which involves contracting the muscles to encourage support of the spine.

Engaging your core is associated with a number of benefits, including:

• Lowers risk of injury
• Reduces lower back pain
• Encourages proper form, particularly in weight training exercises
• Makes exercises more effective
• Helps encourage good posture and balance

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How To Do It

There are a number of visualisation techniques that can help when it comes to activating your core. Imagine you’re expecting a punch in the torso, or someone is about to throw a ball at you (they’re not, don’t worry!) – that tensing action is what you’re aiming for. For a slightly nicer image, you can also picture giving your body a hug from the inside.

Breathing is an important part of core engagement, too. Begin by taking a deep breath in through your diaphragm, feeling your lunges expand, then drawing your belly button towards your spine as you exhale. Then, try to contract the muscles in the front and side of the core, as well as the lower back.

The method of engaging the core can differ based on what movement you’re doing, or what position you’re in. A good place to start is trying from a lying down position, with your feet flat on the floor. 

1. Tilt your tailbone to press your lower back into the floor.
2. Take a deep inhale, and while your belly is full of air, clench your abdominal muscles, without allowing your spine to lift off the ground.
3. As you exhale, think about pushing your ribs down towards the hips. Once you’ve found that activation, you should continue to breathe normally during the exercise (it can be tempting to hold your breath during abdominal moves). 

When To Engage Your Core

• Strength training: engaging your core when lifting weights helps keep your spine neutral and reduces the risk of injury, particularly in exercises like deadlifts and squats.
• Abdominal workouts: it might seem obvious, but core engagement during ab exercises ensures the abs are working hard – always think about keeping your spine flat on the floor during movements like leg drops and deadbugs.
• Cardio: engaging your core might be the last thing on your mind when you’re struggling through a run, but it can help with posture and improve your performance.

It can also be beneficial to include a core activation section at the beginning of your workout, particularly with strength training – this helps switch the core muscles on so they’ll be recruited during bigger lifts. To do this simply incorporate some planks, shoulder taps or deadbugs into your warm up.

Ellie is a Level 3 qualified personal trainer with NASM