Are You in a Core Workout Rut? Here's How to Upgrade Your Routine.

"Establishing a workout routine is an incredibly common struggle. I hear about it all the time in my work as a yoga teacher and personal trainer. Overcoming inertia to start and maintain a consistent strength-training or yoga practice takes discipline and time. However, once someone commits, they often tend to keep practicing the same exercises over and over. Workouts become a copy and paste from one day to the next. This is particularly true of core workouts."

"Consistently performing the same core-strengthening yoga poses or ab exercises will help your body strengthen the particular muscle groups targeted. However, unless you regularly progress the intensity of the exercise, your body will adapt to the point where the exercise is no longer demanding. This means your muscles will no longer receive the same stimulus that triggers increases in strength or size."

"What is commonly considered the "core" includes several muscles that work together to stabilize the spine and trunk in your posture and your everyday life. Studies show that different core muscles are activated by different types of exercises. For example, the internal obliques are targeted the most with core stability exercises such as Plank, whereas the deep and tricky-to-target spinal stabilizers such as the multifidus are activated with more focused c"

Establishing a workout routine is a common struggle and many overcome inertia but then repeat the same exercises daily, especially for the core. Consistent repetition builds mastery but can be inefficient and compromise results. Repeating identical core exercises without progressing intensity leads to adaptation and strength plateaus because muscles stop receiving stimulus that promotes gains. Varying core workouts taxes muscles in new ways, forcing adaptation and greater strength. Different core exercises activate different muscles; for example, planks target internal obliques while deeper spinal stabilizers such as the multifidus respond to more focused movements. Varying exercises improves functional strength and overall core development.

Read at Yoga Journal