The appearance of abs doesn’t reflect the strength of your core. If you want nothing but a six-pack, do crunches, clean up your diet, and lose some weight. For serious core strength — the kind that’s crucial for every sport, functional fitness, and full-body injury prevention — it requires a more rounded approach.
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The secret is in forcing your abdominal muscles to stabilize, and not just contract. In other words, a thousand crunches a day won’t cut it. Instead, you want compound moves that use a bunch of muscle groups and work your core in all planes of motion. That means ample trunk twists, planks, and, yes, sit-ups. Here, 10 movements to develop true core strength.
