Oct. 23, 2024 – Some popular and attention-grabbing exercises performed by very fit and versatile athletes are making the rounds online.
Known as “core compression” movements, the exercises pop up often on social media: L-sits, V-sits, single leg raises, and others that concentrate on your abs and hip flexors. As you do that, bring your feet closer to your head to strengthen your core.
But they're not the perfect option for those of us who're (ahem) barely less fit and versatile than fitness models, experts say.
“We often see examples on social media of questionable exercise practices becoming trends, and in my opinion, 'core compression training' is one of them,” said David Diggin, PhD, associate professor of exercise science at Ithaca College in Ithaca. New York.
These exercises will be useful for athletes, especially gymnasts – and among the posters seem like gymnasts. And the goal is laudable: strengthen your core to counteract the consequences of our sedentary lifestyle.
But they don't help much with on a regular basis activities and might worsen lower back problems, Diggin said.
The problem with #CoreCompression
Here's what happens if you sit for much of the day, Diggin said: You shorten your abdominal muscles and hip flexors and lengthen a few of your back muscles. When you do these core compression exercises, “we are stretching the muscles in the back of our body more and strengthening the muscles in the front of our body that are already shortened.”
Ideally, your exercises will provide help to with real-world activities, like picking up laundry baskets or raking leaves, which frequently involve twisting and turning. Core compression exercises deal with linear, straight-line movements.
“Especially on Instagram, we see all these click-baity exercises,” said Lewis Lupowitz, DPT, a clinical sports physical therapy specialist in Woodbury, NY. A post wherein someone performs a normal body weight squat is “not engaging content,” Lupowitz said. But useful basic exercises akin to squats are necessary for constructing strength.
Another problem: The term “core compression” can mean various things to different people. While on social media it's more more likely to mean things like leg raises, for pros it could also mean anything that involves the core. Or it could possibly be like a loaded squat, where you've got to make use of your body to stabilize the burden in your back.
“Many exercises like squats, deadlifts and bench presses require you to engage your core to remain stable,” said Shawn Arent, PhD, professor of exercise science on the University of South Carolina. “Everything ends with these new names.”
Safe, sensible alternatives
Many exercises should engage the core. “For me, core training is squatting, moving, carrying, pushing, pushing — your standard movements,” Lupowitz said. He offers a straightforward tweak for extra core training: “Perhaps if we do it with a weight in one arm that is heavier than the weight in the other arm – rather than always keeping the keel level – you are training the core to stabilize and balance it .”
For example, a simple one Dumbbell shoulder press could be performed with a heavier weight in the left hand and a lighter one in the right hand. Repeat the movement 10 times, then switch weights and repeat. The unequal weights mean your core has to engage to prevent you from twisting, Lupowitz said. This builds rotational strength – the ability of the core muscles to effectively twist and turn the upper body while stabilizing the back. No weight? Use a bottle of water or a can of vegetables.
Diggins' favorite exercise for people with desk jobs is the plank – keep your body straight, using your forearms and knees or hands and toes to push off the floor like a push-up. This can be done with your stomach facing the floor (front plank) or your side facing the floor (side plank). Planks work the core muscles, including the transverse abdominis, internal obliques, and rectus abdominis.
And by adding a little extra movement to your planks — by alternating taps on the shoulders while holding a front plank, or by switching from side plank to front plank and the opposite side plank, you're adding rotational motion, said Arent.
Breathing more actively can also help your core while sitting. “Breathe in through your nose for a pleasant two seconds and really feel yourself expanding not upward but more outward, after which as you exhale along with your lips pursed, you possibly can create core compression that way,” Lupowitz said .
What desk workers can do
“If you're sitting many of the day, it's necessary to squeeze your butt now and again,” Arent said. Sitting shortens your hip flexors and stretches your glutes.
A inverted plank can help. Sit on the floor with your legs extended. Place your hands directly behind you, fingers facing forward. Lift your hips off the floor, forming a straight line from head to heels. This exercise lengthens your body and strengthens your back.
No lunges are recommended either, SquatsSplit squats (a squat where one foot steps in front of the other), Glute bridges (lying on your back, knees bent and pelvis lifted into the air) and step-ups (getting up and down on a platform). All are simple, safe and effective.
Everyday activities can become exercises, Lupowitz said. “Instead of just running down the stairs, use the stairs as exercise” by ascending or descending slowly and in a controlled manner.
Stretching is also important. “When you sit a lot, you also stretch the muscles that are so tight,” Arent said. He recommends cobra pose—lying on your stomach, placing your hands under your shoulders and lifting your chest off the floor—to lengthen your core and stretch what's shortened while sitting.
But if you're tempted to try an exercise you see on social media, go ahead, Arent said, as long as it doesn't become your daily practice. As for core compression exercises: “If you probably did them once every week, it wouldn't be the worst thing on the planet.” But start with simple, safer alternatives.