When we talk about building a strong core, we’re referring to a lot more than six-pack abs. Your core is a collection of muscles that make up your midsection, acting as your body’s corset, as well as protecting your spine from injury. Yet when we think of core exercises, we typically picture sit-ups and crunches performed on an exercise mat.
Standing ab exercises are not only more accessible to a lot of people, but they’ll often work your core harder than you would lying down, as your deep stabilizer muscles have to fire to work against gravity and keep you upright. According to one personal trainer, the dumbbell overhead march is the best deep-core exercise for building functional fitness and addressing muscle imbalances in the body. Read on to find out how to do it, and what happened when I swapped my regular core exercises with this one for a week.
