5 Best Core Muscle Workout You Can Try

In the fitness, you may often hear: CORE MUSCLE. Actually in some of my posts, I've also given a little introduction to core muscle. In this post, I will deepen the core muscle and also the main types of exercises to form core muscle.


Core muscle or in the Indonesian language is the core muscle is the whole of your abdominal muscles (abdominal muscles above, middle, bottom, side) to the muscles that support your hip and lower back. For more details, consider the picture below: 

Image source: T Nation

That is the core muscle structure. If you notice a bodybuilder or maybe your friends who are diligent, they have well-defined abdominal muscles. This is because they train their core muscles correctly.

Then how to train core muscles? Here are 5 types of movements / exercises that are specific to forming your core muscles:

1. Ab wheel rollout


Ab wheel rollout is a very good exercise to form your core muscle. This movement can train all your abdominal muscles, starting from the upper abdominal muscles, middle, lower and side abdominal muscles. Ab wheel also trains the lower back muscles, so ab wheel will directly hit your core muscles. If you want to know the ab wheel rollout movement for core muscle, you can see my video here: Core Muscle: Ab Wheel Rollout Exercises Video.

2. Hanging knee raises 

This movement is a movement similar to pull ups. But the implementation stage is different. Following are the implementation stages for hanging knee raises:

- Your hands hold onto the pull up bar
- Raise your knees (bend position) to the chest level
- Lower your legs again
- Repeat the movement. Do 10-15 reps, 3-4 sets.

3. Hanging leg raises 

The hanging leg raises are basically similar to the hanging knee raises, only the difference between your legs must be lifted straight, not just the knees raised. Following are the stages of hanging knee raises:

- Your hands hold on to the pull up bar
- Raise your legs straight, to form like the L position
- Lower your legs again
- Repeat the movement. Do 10-15 reps, 3-4 sets.

4. Dumbbell side bend 

Dumbbell side bend specifically exercises the side abdominal muscles and the muscles that connect the side abdominal muscles with the lower and lower punggun muscles. So this movement is very focused on forming core muscle. Following are the stages of implementation:

- Stand up straight and one hand holds the dumbell
- The other hand over the head
- Tilt your body sideways (towards the dumbell)
- Do it also for both sides
- Do 10-15 reps, in 3-4 sets

5. Oblique pull up 

Oblique pull up is similar to hanging knee raise, but in this movement you have to move your legs tilted to the left and right, so that your side abdominal muscles and your hips will form better.

Implementation stage:

- Your hands hold on to the pull up bar
- Raise your knees (bend position) to the left, and lean your body
- Do it also for the other side
- Lower your legs again
- Repeat the movement. Do 10-15 reps, 3-4 sets.

Those are the 5 main types of exercises to form your core muscle. If you are currently looking for references to train core muscles, try these five movements.