How Strong is Your Core?

Do You Have Strong Abs? Or is your core holding you back in regards to strength gains?



Unlike our other muscles, most of us do not really know how strong our core actually is. It is not nearly as easy to see core strength gains as it is to see strength gains in other muscles groups--such as squats and legs.

Check out this Core Strength Test from Gray Cook, PT., and author of Movement: Functional Movement Systems.  It is a very simple test to see if your core is or is not as strong as it should be.

Many people I have worked with were very surprised by their results.  Just because you regularly to abs exercises does not mean you will do well on this test.  Many people that do lots of crunches, sit-ups, leg raises, etc., still have a weak core.  How come?  Because these classic ab moves work the muscles that flex your lower spine, that round it.  True core exercise work the muscles that prevent the spine from moving, they stabilize the spine.  This test exposes this.

If you can not pass this test, then you should probably re-examine your ab workout.