Written by the Phoenix Rehab physiotherapy team.Clinically reviewed by Louise Yow, Principal Physiotherapist and Director, AHPC A1300363H.Last reviewed 2 October 2026.
Core strengthening exercises train your trunk to hold steady and control movement while your arms and legs do the work. The core is not just the six-pack. It is the stomach muscles, the muscles along the spine, the hips and the breathing muscles working together. The exercise that suits you is the one you can do with control, progress, and keep doing.
Core strengthening exercises for beginners: a progression
Five exercises we use often. Move to the next level of each when the current one is easy and controlled, not when the week is up.
| Exercise | How | What it trains | Move up when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dead bug | On your back, knees and hips at 90 degrees, arms up. Lower one arm and the opposite leg slowly, keeping your lower back still | Holding the trunk still while the limbs move | 3 sets of 10 slow repetitions, back still, breathing steady |
| Bird dog | On hands and knees, reach one arm and the opposite leg out long, pause, return | Control of the back and hips | 3 sets of 10 with no wobble at the hips |
| Side plank | On your forearm and knees, lift the hips into a straight line. Progress to the feet | The sides of the trunk | 3 holds of 30 seconds each side, both sides close |
| Glute bridge | On your back, knees bent, lift the hips without arching the lower back | The hips, which share the work with the trunk | 3 sets of 12, then single-leg |
| Pallof press | Standing side-on to a band, press it straight out and stop it turning you | Resisting rotation, for sport and lifting | 3 sets of 10 each side, then a heavier band |
What are the big 3 core exercises?
The “big 3” are the curl-up, the side plank and the bird dog, a set described by the spine researcher Stuart McGill for training the trunk without much load through the spine (McGill 2016). They are a sensible base for most people. They are not the only way, and for someone back in sport they are a start, not a finish.
Signs of a weak core
There is no single reliable sign, and back pain does not by itself mean a weak core. What we actually measure is more useful: how long you can hold a side plank on each side and whether the two sides match, whether your trunk stays still when you lift one arm or one leg, and whether your hips drop when you stand on one leg.
Core strengthening exercises for back pain
The research is plainer than the marketing. For long-standing lower back pain, exercises aimed at the deep core muscles work about as well as other kinds of exercise, and better than doing very little (Saragiotto et al. 2016). So the special exercise matters less than doing enough of something, progressing it, and keeping it up. We use Clinical Pilates because people keep turning up for it, not because it does something other exercise cannot. If your back hurts, the first question is still which kind of lower back pain you have.
After pregnancy or a C-section
A gap down the middle of the stomach after pregnancy (diastasis recti), and leaking when you cough or run, are common and trainable. After a C-section, core work starts once your doctor has cleared you. See women’s health physiotherapy and pelvic floor physiotherapy.
A pulled stomach muscle
A strained stomach muscle hurts when you sit up from lying, cough, sneeze, twist or reach up to serve. It is tender to press and it hurts in the same place every time. Most settle over a few weeks. Core strengthening waits until sitting up and coughing no longer catch.
Side strain is its own pattern. It hits fast bowlers and serving athletes on the side opposite the throwing arm, where the muscle attaches to the lower ribs, and it usually keeps a player out for four to six weeks (Humphries and Jamison 2004). Coming back too early tends to put the same spot out again.
- Stage 1, Calm & Protect: the movement that did it stops, and walking, breathing and everyday movement carry on.
- Stage 2, Move & Mobilize: rotation and reach come back without the catch.
- Stage 3, Rebuild & Strengthen: the progression above, holding still against load first, then turning against it.
- Stage 4, Return & Perform: serves, swings or deliveries come back on a counted ladder.
When to see a doctor first
Go to the emergency department now for sudden severe stomach pain. See a doctor the same day if stomach pain comes with fever, vomiting or blood in your urine or stool, or does not change at all with movement or pressing. See a doctor soon for a bulge in the groin or at the belly button that appears when you cough or strain. If you are pregnant, stomach pain goes to your obstetrician first.
If there is a gap down the middle of the stomach after pregnancy, start with diastasis recti.
Where are you with this right now?
1. It is settling on its own
If sitting up and coughing hurt less each week, you are on the right road. Bring the sport and the core work back gradually. You do not need us for this, and we would rather say so.
2. It has stopped improving
You have done the planks for months and your back still decides what kind of day you have. Or the first hard serve still catches at the same rib, so you have changed your action, and now the shoulder complains too. Doing more of the same will not change it. Trunk control and rotation strength can be measured side to side, and the plan built from what is actually weak. Every first visit is one 45-minute Assessment & Treatment, $230, nett, no GST. If it has been months, the Stalled Recovery Review is three appointments over three weeks with the same therapist, $690.
3. You have had surgery, or you have a date
After abdominal or hernia surgery, your surgeon sets the lifting limits and we build within them. See physiotherapy after surgery. All of it runs on the four stages of the Phoenix Recovery Protocol.
Related reading
Sources: McGill S. Low Back Disorders: Evidence-Based Prevention and Rehabilitation. 3rd ed. Human Kinetics; 2016. Saragiotto BT, Maher CG, Yamato TP, et al. Motor control exercise for chronic non-specific low-back pain. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2016;(1):CD012004. Humphries D, Jamison M. Clinical and magnetic resonance imaging features of cricket bowler’s side strain. Br J Sports Med. 2004;38(5):e21.
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