6 Best Exercises to Strengthen Your Core Without Equipment

Strong core muscles can make all the difference when it comes to back pain, posture, and overall physical fitness.

Although a strong core is built by incorporating multiple exercises into your routine, there are some that are more effective in strengthening the abdominal muscles than others.

Best Non-Equipment Exercises to Strengthen Core

The following six exercises are easy to perform at home without any equipment:

1. Crunch

Crunches are a great way to strengthen the core. This is one of those exercises where having someone watching over you can help keep you from hurting yourself by doing too much too quickly or not lying straight enough when starting out. However, even if no one's around to do that for you, don't worry—there are plenty more options.

Here's how you should do it:

Lie on your back with your knees bent and hands behind the head.
Inhale as you lift your shoulder blades off the floor; hold for a second, and exhale as you lower yourself back down.
Keep your lower back pressed into the floor at all times. If it begins to arch up, try adding some weights (like a heavy book or water bottle) on your stomach for more resistance.

2. Superman

The Superman works out many core muscles, including the chest (pectorals), upper back (trapezius), lower back (erector spinae), and hamstring groups in both legs simultaneously.

The exercise also helps strengthen the hip flexors - which are key to running faster or longer distances due to fast-twitch muscle fibers getting activated by using only oxygen instead of fat stores for energy needs during exercise.

Here's how you should do the Superman:

Lie face down on a flat floor or bench.
Lift your arms and legs so that they're perpendicular to the floor, and lift your torso off the ground as well while keeping your back and neck straight.
While holding this position, slowly lower yourself back towards the floor till you feel a stretch in your abdomen or back muscles.
Hold for 5 seconds, and repeat 10 times.

3. Plank

The plank is one of the most widely used core exercises. If you've ever done a plank, it's easy to see why.

Planks target all of the major abdominal muscles and engage the lower back, shoulders, and arms as well. Although the exercise is simple (you just have to hold yourself up from the floor), it can be challenging if you're new to strength training or working out at home without any equipment.

So how do you make sure your planking technique is optimized? Proceed as follows:

Make sure your body position aligns with gravity and balance — which means no body parts should touch each other except for one arm (if both arms are supporting your weight). That will help keep tension on all the muscles being targeted by the planks.
Keep a straight line between your hips and shoulders while contracting the glutes slightly so that they don't sag too much during the plank position.
Keep your shoulders away from your ears while making sure the neck remains neutral by looking down at the floor when starting out with slow bursts before increasing speed.

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4. Russian Twist

This is a great exercise to do at home or in the gym. All you need is a mat.

Proceed as follows:

Start by sitting on an exercise mat with your legs extended. Raise your legs till they're just off the ground.
Brace your core, and twist from side to side. Repeat the motion for reps.

5. Bicycle Crunch

Bicycle crunches are a very simple movement that can be done anywhere. They're also one of the best core exercises, as they target all areas of the abdominal muscles, especially the lower abs and obliques.

Bicycle crunches are performed by lying on the floor with hands behind your head and knees bent at 90 degrees. Bring both knees towards each other as far as possible while maintaining contact between them before separating them again with a quick motion.

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Repeat that for 10–20 reps (depending on your fitness level) or as many repetitions it takes for you to feel the burn.

6. Hanging leg raise

Hanging leg raises are an excellent way to strengthen the lower abdomen area, as they work the same muscles as sit-ups or crunches but without putting as much pressure on the back and neck region.

This exercise also helps build endurance in the upper body and core because of how challenging it is to keep yourself steady while doing them.

To do a hanging leg raise:

Start by hanging from a pull-up bar. Your arms should be straight and feet together, so that you look like you’re about to do a handstand.
Slowly lift your legs up till they’re parallel to the ground.
Hold for a second before lowering them back down to their starting position..

Takeaway

We hope that this article has helped you learn about some great exercises to strengthen your core without equipment. Core exercises are not that mind-boggling to understand, so don't procrastinate, and start today.

Edited by Bhargav