The Core Muscles

When you hear someone saying they are about to train their abdominals, it always conjures up the feeling that the person who said it does not understand training quite as much as they think. If you ask any ardent gym goer they will say they are training their core muscles, but just what are the core muscles and why are they called this?

The muscles of the core are situated between the Pelvis and Thorax and are made up of the following:

The Obliques

The Obliques are made up of two muscles, these are the obliques externus and obliques internus (external and internal obliques).

The Obliques are found on the lower eight ribs, they look like fingers that curve down and forward towards the top of what is known today as the “Six Pack”.

The Transversus Abdominis

The Transversus Abdominis is a muscle with horizontal muscle fibres that is flat and triangular in shape. The muscle can be found under the oblique on the lateral side of the body and runs down to the bottom of the Rectus Abdominis, this means that it is the muscles on the outside of your “Six pack muscles” that forms the outside of your core muscles.

The Rectus Abdominis
The main reason people wish to train their core; these muscles are what are colloquially referred to as the “Six pack”. These muscles are paired muscles that run vertically from just under the rib cage down to the pelvic area. The muscles are situated in the centre of the front of the human body.

As you can see when training the core you are training more than simple the six pack abs that everyone dreams of. The core muscles are very important as they are the trunk of the body and near enough support all exercises you carry out whilst also protecting your core area. The core muscles also play an important role in posture and other functions.