Oct. 23, 2024 -- Some popular and eye-catching exercises, performed by very fit and flexible athletes, are making the rounds online.
Known as “core compression” moves, the exercises pop up often on social media: L-sits, V-sits, single-leg raises, and others that target your abdominal muscles and hip flexors. They involve bringing your feet closer to your head to strengthen your core.
But they’re not the best option for those of us who are (ahem) slightly less fit and flexible than fitness models, experts say.
“We frequently see examples on social media of questionable exercise practices that develop into trends, and in my opinion, ‘core compression’ training is one of those,” said David Diggin, PhD, associate professor of exercise science at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York.
These exercises can be beneficial for athletes, especially gymnasts — and some of the posters appear to be gymnasts. And the goal is commendable: Strengthen your core to counteract the effects of our sedentary lifestyle.
But they don’t help much with everyday activities and can exacerbate lower-back issues, 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 elongate some of your back muscles. If you perform these core compression exercises, “we’re stretching those muscles at the back of our body more, and we’re strengthening the muscles at the front of our body more, which are already shortened.”
Ideally, your exercises will help you with real-world activities, like picking up laundry baskets or raking leaves, which tend to involve twisting and rotating. Core compression exercises focus on linear, straight-line motions.
“Especially with Instagram, we kind of see all of these click-baity type exercises,” said Lewis Lupowitz, DPT, a clinical specialist in sports physical therapy in Woodbury, NY. A post of someone doing a standard bodyweight squat is “not engaging content,” Lupowitz said. But sensible, basic exercises like squats are important for building strength.
Another problem: The term “core compression” can mean different things to different people. While on social media it tends to be things like leg lifts, to professionals it could also mean anything where the core is engaged. Or it could be like a loaded squat, where you have to use your body to stabilize that weight that’s on your back.
“Many exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench press, you have to compress your core to stay stable,” said Shawn Arent, PhD, professor of exercise science at the University of South Carolina. “Everything just winds up with these new names.”
Safe, Sensible Alternatives
Many exercises should engage the core. “To me, core training is squatting, hinging, carrying, pushing, pressing -- your standard movements,” Lupowitz said. He offers a simple tweak for additional core work: “If we do it with maybe one weight in one arm that’s heavier than the weight in the other arm — versus always even keel — you’re training core to stabilize, to balance.”
For instance, a simple dumbbell shoulder press could be done with a heavier weight in your left hand and a lighter one in your right. Repeat the motion 10 times, then switch the weights and repeat. The unequal weights mean your core must engage to prevent you from twisting, Lupowitz said. This builds rotational strength — the ability of the core muscles to effectively twist and rotate the torso while stabilizing your back. No weight? Use a bottle of water or a can of vegetables.
Diggins’ favorite exercise for people with desk jobs is a plank — keeping your body straight while holding yourself off the ground with your forearms and knees, or hands and toes like a pushup. These can be done with your tummy toward the ground (front plank) or your side toward the ground (side plank). Planks engage core muscles, including the transverse abdominis, internal obliques, and rectus abdominis.
And by adding a bit of extra movement to your planks — by tapping alternate shoulders as you hold a front plank, or by moving from side plank to front plank to opposite side plank, you add rotational movement, Arent said.
Even breathing more actively can help your core while you’re sitting. “Take a nice two-second inhale through the nose and really feel yourself not expand upward, but expand more outward, and then as you exhale, pursed lips, you can create core compression that way,” said Lupowitz.
What Deskbound Workers Can Do
If you sit for much of the day, it’s important to get your butt engaged from time to time, said Arent. While seated, your hip flexors are shortened and your rear-end muscles are stretched.
A reverse plank can help. Sit on the floor with your legs straight in front of you. Place your hands just behind you, fingers forward. Lift your hips off the ground, forming a straight line from your head to your heels. This exercise elongates your body and strengthens your backside.
Arent also recommended lunges, squats, split squats (a squat with one foot stepped in front of the other), glute bridges (lying on your back with your knees bent and lifting your pelvis into the air), and step-ups (stepping on and off a platform). All are simple, safe, and effective.
Everyday activities can become exercises, Lupowitz said. “Instead of just rushing down the stairs, use the stairs as an exercise” by ascending or descending slowly and in control.
Stretching is also crucial. “If you’re sitting a lot, also stretch those muscles that are getting so contracted,” Arent said. He recommends a cobra pose — lying on your stomach, placing your hands beneath your shoulders, and lifting your chest off the ground — to elongate the core and stretch what’s been shortening 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 everyday go-to exercise. As for core compression moves, “If you were to do those once a week, it’s not the worst thing in the world.” But start with simple, safer alternatives.
