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Your Midsection for Mobility, Stability, and Healthy Ageing
If you have ever had a personal trainer, joined a course at the gym, or have more than a passing interest in fitness, you would have heard these words: “Once you strengthen the core, everything else comes into place.” As we are a clinic specialising in anti-ageing treatments, we argue that building core strength is not only essential for posture and mobility, but also plays a subtle but important role in slowing the physical signs of ageing.
A strong central column keeps you upright and steady, reduces strain on your joints, and encourages deeper breathing. These shifts translate into better posture, fewer aches, and more active years, and at the same time, nourishing your skin by maintaining healthy blood flow and moderating stress-related collagen loss. Build your core, and you lay the groundwork for ageing on your terms.
What exactly is the core?
Your core acts as an internal support belt, stretching from the base of your ribs to the line between your hips. It wraps 360 degrees around your torso, forming a cylinder rather than a flat sheet of ‘abs’. The main structures are:
- Transversus abdominis – a deep muscle wrapping your waist that braces every lift, twist, and step.
- Internal and external obliques – diagonal fibres that control rotation and side-bending.
- Rectus abdominis – the straight muscle known as a “six-pack,” important for forward flexion.
- Multifidus and erector spinae – deep spinal muscles that stabilise the vertebrae and control fine spinal movements.
- Diaphragm – your primary breathing muscle, linking respiration to spinal stability.
- Pelvic floor – sling-like muscles supporting your organs and coordinating with deep abdominals.
- Gluteals and deep hip rotators – often considered part of the core because they stabilise the pelvis and transfer force between trunk and legs.
These muscles work together to stabilise the spine, transfer force between your upper and lower body, and protect joints and discs during everyday movement. Keeping these muscles active helps prevent the slow decline in movement quality, joint health, and posture often attributed to ageing.
Why does core function matter?
A strong core will allow you to move well, working behind the scenes to keep you upright, stable, and protected.
Every time you walk, lift, twist, or even breathe, your core activates to support your spine and control the load through your limbs. If these muscles are weak or poorly coordinated, your body compensates elsewhere, potentially leading to pain, injury, or reduced performance. Over time, poor core function accelerates wear and tear on the body, – think stiff joints, poor posture, and shallower breathing, all of which contribute to visible and functional signs of ageing.
Good core function means:
- Spinal stability under pressure, whether you’re deadlifting or putting the washing out.
- Efficient movement, with less energy wasted and fewer compensations
- Joint protection, especially in the lower back, hips, and shoulders
- Improved balance and coordination, critical for everything from running to reaching
As a personal trainer will tell you, “it’s the centre of everything you do.”
How to train your core
Training your core does not have to equate to endless crunches or holding a plank for five minutes straight. Real core strength comes from building control, stability, and coordination across multiple planes of movement.
A good core programme should include:
- Anti-extension work – exercises that resist back-arching, like dead bug (pictured below), hollow holds, or ab rollouts.
- Anti-rotation and anti-lateral flexion – movements like Pallof presses or suitcase carries that challenge you to stay centred under load.
- Dynamic core movements – controlled twisting or bending, like Russian twists or woodchops, once you’ve built a strong foundation.
- Breath and bracing control – learning to coordinate your diaphragm and deep abdominals during movement, not just when lying on a mat.
- Integration into big lifts – using core engagement during squats, deadlifts, and overhead presses, where it counts.
The goal isn’t to feel the burn in your abs but to maintain alignment, resist collapse, and transfer force smoothly through your whole body.
Dead Bug Exercise
Common mistakes in core training
Most people train their core the wrong way, or not at all. The problem isn’t effort; it’s misunderstanding what the core actually does.
Here are some of the most common mistakes:
- Chasing the burn – Just because your abs are on fire doesn’t mean you’re building useful strength. High-rep crunches can often reinforce poor posture and movement habits.
- Ignoring the deep muscles – The muscles that matter most, like the transversus abdominis, diaphragm, and pelvic floor, don’t respond to basic sit-ups. They need precise, low-load activation.
- Holding your breath – Bracing is not the same as breath-holding. You should be able to breathe under tension, not lock everything down.
- Training in isolation – Endless ab exercises on the mat won’t carry over to real-world strength. Your core needs to work with your limbs, not apart from them. Training in isolation can limit your long-term movement quality, leading to compensations that speed up joint ageing and postural decline.
- Skipping progression – People can lead towards going straight to advanced movements like hanging leg raises or rollouts without first building control in simpler exercises. Injury could prevail.
True core training is about patience, precision, and control.
Is your core working properly?
Just because you have a core doesn’t mean it’s doing its job. Poor posture, back pain, and joint niggles often trace back to a weak or underperforming core. Even in people who ‘train’ it.
Here’s how to tell if your core is functioning well:
- You can breathe and brace at the same time. If you have to hold your breath to feel ‘strong,’ your deep core system isn’t coordinating properly.
- You can balance on one leg without wobbling. Core stability under load shows up in how well you control single-leg tasks.
- Your back doesn’t ache after simple tasks. If walking, standing, or picking up a box triggers discomfort, your core may be offloading too much to the spine. Back discomfort during everyday activities is often attributed to ‘just getting older’, but in reality, it’s often a preventable sign of core dysfunction.
- You can control slow, unloaded movement. Moving slowly and staying in control in exercises like bird-dogs (pictured) or dead bugs is often harder than flinging weights around.
- You feel strong and stable in your bigger lifts. If your form breaks down in squats or overhead presses, it may not be your legs or shoulders; it could be your midline.
A well-functioning core doesn’t scream for attention. It quietly holds everything together.
Bird Dog Exercise
Core training done properly
To reiterate, to train your core properly, you need:
- Control before intensity – Build coordination with slow, precise movements before progressing to harder variations.
- Stability under load – Focus on resisting unwanted movement, not creating it, in multiple directions.
- Full-body integration – Your core doesn’t work in isolation, so neither should your training.
- Breath and brace awareness – Learn to generate tension without locking down your breathing.
- Consistency over extremes – A few smart exercises, done regularly and correctly, beat endless crunches every time. Like good skincare or nutrition, consistent core training pays off quietly, but visibly, – over time.
A functional core won’t just help your training. It’ll help your posture, your energy, your mobility, and the way you move every day. The things that are intrinsically tied to ageing.
Disclaimer:
As with any new form of exercise, please start gradually and listen to your body. Always warm up, move within a comfortable range, and stop if you feel pain. If you have an existing injury or medical condition, consult a healthcare professional before beginning any new training routine.
Contact Us
If you have any rheumatological concerns surrounding topics discussed in this article, please contact us at 01603 360360 for an appointment with Dr. Bevington at The Doctors Laser Clinic.
