Stabilizer muscles are also called core muscles because they are the base of our body. They participate in all positions and movements, even when we’re just sitting or standing.
The condition in which you maintain these muscles determines your stability and balance in everyday activities.
More importantly, the strength of the stabilizer muscles significantly affects general fitness results.
What Are Stabilizer Muscles?
These muscles act as stabilizers in any movement of the body so that the joints can perform the desired actions. In addition, stabilizers serve to keep your movement steady so that your primary muscles can perform their tasks.
Imagine the group of stabilizer muscles as a belt that keeps the lower part of the back, abdomen, hips, and pelvis firmly on all sides. When all these muscles are solid and function in harmony, your body is upright and works very easily.
But if you allow them to relax, you risk injuring yourself not only during exercise but also in the simplest movements outside the gym.
Many stabilizing muscles aid the movements of our body. In order to explain the point why you should maintain them in excellent shape, we will focus on three muscle groups.
Those are the front and inner abdominal muscles (abominus), lateral abdominal muscles (obliques), and spinal muscles (erector spinae).
Stabilizer Muscles Anatomy
The main function of all muscles that fall into these groups is to ensure stability for the spinal column.
The front and the inner abdominal muscles allow flexibility of the spine, the obliques help with its rotation, and the spinal muscles help with movements involving stretching the spinal column.
What do you get by strengthening the stabilizer muscles?
As mentioned in the beginning, these muscles participate in all positions and movements of the body. But with their strengthening, you will enjoy several essential aspects as an athlete does.
Benefits of Strengthening Your Core Stabilizer Muscles
✓ Improved balance
Strengthening these core muscles improves the entire body’s balance, giving you greater control over your movements.
✓ Increased strength
Strength in the area of the stabilizing muscles is needed for almost all body movements, especially when sport and gym are in question.
An example of this is boxing or football. To give an effective kick, you must have strong stabilizer muscles in the back that will enable fast and firm rotation in the belt section.
The strength in the legs and arms, of course, has its role. But these muscles are at the core of the movement.
✓ Better performance
When exercising with weights, the body naturally activates the group of stabilizer and mobilizer muscles to keep the balance and help in dealing with the challenge. For example, spinal muscles help you perform biceps exercises.
✓ Reduced risk of pain and injuries
Weak stabilizer muscles can cause irregular stances, leading to back pain and the risk of exercise injuries. This applies to all muscles in this group because unequal force can cause a problem.
For example, if the back muscles are strong and the stomach is weak, your body will compensate and transfer the weight to the back at each major effort.
But, if you train these muscles equally and allow them to function in harmony, you will provide perfect movements during the exercises.
Exercises to Work Stabilizer Muscles & Strengthen Them
Include the following exercises in your training program that will help you maintain proper posture and excellent shape when performing all other exercises.
Plank
This exercise will help you achieve the perfect harmony between the spinal and abdominal muscles. The fixator muscle by definition serves as a stabilizer, and it’ll benefit the most from a plank exercise.
Take care to keep your legs and arms upright and keep muscle contraction for better stability. Breathe normally, and each next time try to keep yourself in this position longer than the previous one – 20, 30, 40 seconds.
Cable Wood Chopper
This exercise can be performed on different sides and angles because with the rotation itself, you strengthen the abdominal muscles, especially the side muscles. Always keep your hands upright and make movements to the end to strengthen the stabilizing muscles.
Russian Twist
You can perform this exercise freely, with a medicine ball or weights. As you do it, hold your hands straight and move the torso without turning your neck. Keep the muscles in contraction for 1-2 seconds at the end of the movement – when you are facing the side.
Hanging Leg Raise
You can perform this exercise by holding your legs right and forward, and you can also perform it by rotation to the side. What is important is your movements to be controlled, similar to when you’d be strengthening the stabilizer muscles in a squat. That way, you will contract your abdominal muscles and keep your upper body in a static position. Be careful with breathing.
Ab Wheel Rollout
This is an exercise that you can perform in many different versions. Always be careful that you keep the stabilizing muscles contracted. Move forward to the extent that you are sure you can go back.
Summary
Keep in mind that you can strengthen these muscles with exercises involving complex movements, such as squats or dead-lifting.
You do not have to take time for specially targeted exercises. Just be sure to include the group of stabilizer muscles in your training program because they make your daily life easier.
