Core versus abs: What's the deal?

The other day I saw a video of someone doing a stomach vacuum, a weightless core exercise that looks absolutely insane! The exercise makes it seem like the person's organs evaporate into thin air... a neat party trick that's for sure.

Seeing this video sent me down a path of exploring various ab and core exercises, a topic I've always been interested in learning more deeply but never took the time to do so. But what even is your core or your abs? Many people, including myself for a long time, use the terms abs and core interchangeably, but there's very important distinction here. Let's dive into that!

Rectus abdominis and abdominal obliques

These are muscles that many people are more familiar with, it's what we tend to think about when we want to train our "core" and obtain those ever-so appealing six pack abs. Traditionally, these muscles are trained via movements such as crunches, sit-ups, toe touches, etc for the your rectus abdominis and side-bending and twisting movements like Russian twists, side planks, and dumbbell carries for your obliques.

These two muscles, on top of giving you the ability to look like Greek gods and goddesses, also allow you to properly and safely bend in a forward and sideward manner.

The Core

Your core is made up of a multitude of muscles, in additions to the two above it also includes the: the diaphragm, the multifidus, the transverse abdominis, and the pelvic floor. Each of these muscles have an important function within your body:

• Your diaphragm, a large dome shaped muscle situated below the lungs, is responsible for controlling your breathing.

• Your multifidus is a long, thin muscle that extends spans from your cervical spine (neck) all the way down your sacral spine (the low back). Since this muscle extends across such a large span of your back, you can imagine the major role it plays in your movements. It is responsible for arching movements involving your back, as well as contributes to bends and twists. It acts a stabilizer for your vertebrae.

• Your transverse abdominis accounts for the deepest layer of your abdominal muscles and can be found running between your ribs and your pelvis. The transverse abdominis is also responsible for stabilization in your lumbar spine. A weak transverse abdominis is a common factor in low back pain.

• Your pelvic floor muscle spans from your pubic bone to your sitting bone (the coccyx) and is critical in many aspects of your pubic region; responsibilities of the pelvic floor muscle range from bladder and bowel functions to sexual functions.

So what have I gathered through this research?

Just by taking a quick look at the descriptions of the functions and importance of each component of the core, it jumps out to me that strengthening these muscles will have more than just musculature impact but also a physiological impact.

On the musculature level, strengthening the core will give you a better, more solid foundation when making compound movements, movements like the squat, the overhead press, the deadlift.

On the physiological level, it seems strengthening the core, will allow you to extend the functionality and the quality of your body as it ages.

I don't know about you, but I'm definitely more motivated now, to figure out how to properly train and strengthen each of these individual muscles.