There are a number of primary muscles that are found within your core. The most common muscles in the core are the abdominal muscles. These are the “six-pack” muscles that are in the front of your body and are the primary core muscles that nearly everyone seeks to develop, often for reasons of appearance. These muscles work to curl your spine forward, as you would do while performing any basic abdominal exercise.

Under the abdominals are your internal and external obliques, which run diagonally across the front of your body. These are the muscles that, when developed, give someone that V-shaped look about the torso. The job of the obliques is to rotate your spine as well as to flex it from side to side (a movement you will commonly perform when dodging, bobbing, slipping, or ducking a punch).

Deep Muscles

There are a number of core muscles many people do not know about. For example, you have the transversus abdominis (or transverse abdominal muscle), which runs around the front of your belly much like a belt. This muscle is what allows you to draw your navel inward toward your spine. You are not able to see this muscle as easily as the abdominals simply because this is considered a “deep” muscle in the body. If you have a distended (or swollen) belly, and you are not pregnant, it may be that you have a weakened transverse muscle.

The back of your body has a considerably large and dense muscle — the quadratus lumborum, or QL for short. This muscle is part of your lower back and is somewhat like a natural weight belt. This muscle begins at the bottom of the rib cage and comes down to the top of the pelvis. It helps with lateral flexion, rotation, and works to stabilize your spine and pelvis.

This muscle is utilized with every punch and kick delivered, so strengthening the QL is a great way to strengthen your punches and kicks. Usually, this muscle is strengthened by general physical exercise, but squats are a great exercise to strengthen your QL. Integrating trunk rotations into quadricep exercises, such as lunges, will also provide an added amount of strength for your core muscles.

More Muscles of the Trunk

Along the bones of your spinal column are layers of muscles that overlap one another. These are called the spinal erectors, and it is very important to keep these muscles physically sound. The closer these muscles are to bone, the smaller they are. As they grow further away from the spine, they begin to increase in length and mass.

Whenever you keep the muscles closest to your bones strong, then your joints will have better odds of remaining healthy, strong, and injury free. Exercises that work on extending your spine are excellent for strengthening these muscles — such as the Cobra pose or Bridges. (Refer to the yoga poses section for more information.)

As you continue to move down your spine you come to the musculature of your pelvic floor. Your pelvis is shaped like a bowl. The only thing holding the internal parts of your body from falling out of the bottom of this bowl is a layer of muscle known as the pelvic floor. These muscles are highly important, especially in women, for maintaining physical strength. Pelvic muscles are the root of your stability and movement.

You may have already heard of a thing called Kegel exercises, which can help strengthen your pelvic floor muscles. These muscles, like any other, can become weak, and while exercising such weaknesses can become problematic. When performing exercises such as squats or lunges, focus some attention to the tightening of those muscles. This can help you add stability and strength to your entire core and foundation.

Another core section of your lower body is the collection of muscles that cross your hips.

Although it may not immediately seem so to you, many of the muscles in your upper legs actually continue to run across your hip joints, helping to stabilize your pelvic region. Due to the role they play in pelvic and hip stabilization, these are considered core muscles as well. Therefore, exercises that strengthen your upper legs, such as leg lifts, cross extensions, lunges, and squats, fall within the scope of core training exercises.

Core Muscles of the Ribs and Shoulders

Moving up your rib cage you will find a tight network of muscles surrounding your ribs. These muscles are referred to as the serratus (shortened name), serratus anterior, serratus magnus, or (because they are active during the action of punching) the “boxer” muscles. The serratus run along the side of your body and can be located at a spot that is roughly just below your armpit.

The serratus muscles are extremely important in the stabilization of your torso. They also work to stabilize and move the housing and components of your shoulder blades, as they connect the front side of your upper body to the back side. Many exercises can engage these muscles, particularly pushups, pull-ups, and chin-ups. You might also try performing sit-ups with your arms over your head, as doing so will engage and therefore help to strengthen your serratus.

Lastly, the latissimus dorsi (from Latin meaning “the widest of the back”), or “lats” for short, are core muscles. The lats are very large, fan-shaped muscles that are found on either side of the spine on the mid to upper back of your body. Fanning away from the spine, these muscles wrap around the side of your body up to the front and insert at your upper arm bone. The job of these muscles is to perform pulling actions. However, they also play a large part in the stabilization of your spine and shoulder girdle.

Exercises such as rows or pull-ups and chin-ups are excellent for strengthening these muscles. Surprisingly enough, during pushups your lats help to support the entire upper half of your body.