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Several studies have looked at the activation of core muscles (around the abdomen and lower back) during heavy lifts like squats and deadlifts, in comparison to isolated core exercises like bridges and supermans. The findings usually suggest that core muscles reach higher levels of activation during the heavy lifts than they do during core-specific exercises. This has led many to conclude that there is a secret weapon for improving core strength or getting a six-pack: just lift heavy.

Unfortunately, there are a subset of coaches for whom just lifting heavy answers everything. Want more muscle? Just lift heavy. Want to get faster? Just lift heavy. Want a six-pack? Just lift heavy.

If you’ve read any of my other posts, you know I feel very strongly about strength training with a variety of compound movements. It offers a huge array of real-world benefits, and a stronger core is probably among them. After all, you can’t squat, deadlift, push or pull a challenging weight without being able to organise and brace your spine. However, to say that this is a sufficient amount of core training is a massive over-simplification. It also highlights exactly why you need to be clear about what you expect to get from your core training – something I’ll be discussing in a longer post soon.

Heavy Lifts Only Train Your Core Isometrically

Many big lifts require you to use the muscles of the core to:

1. Brace;
2. Resist back extension (arching the back excessively);
3. Resist back flexion (folding over through the spine);
4. Combinations of the above.

These tasks require contractions from your abdominal muscles and lower back muscles. However, this doesn’t guarantee that the big lifts will provide a good enough opportunity for you to directly challenge the individual muscles of the core.

When the core muscles contract to hold your spine in one position during a squat or deadlift, they do not lengthen or shorten much, if at all. Therefore this is an isometric (or static) contraction. Isometric contractions do not seem to be as effective at building muscle, so if you’re looking for more development in the abs, you’re unlikely to get that from heavy squats.

Heavy lifting may not be enough for building core strength, either. Strength increases from isometric contractions seem to only be specific to the position they were trained in, meaning a strong core in the squat may not transfer over to other activities.

Increases in strength and muscle mass both benefit from being trained through a large range of motion.

Heavy Lifts May Not Overload the Core

In training, every exercise has a limiting factor. This can be an aspect of your cardiovascular fitness or something that has been injured. Most of the time, however, it is simply the muscle that is most heavily taxed by the movement. This is the criteria that many of us use to choose an exercise in the first place. Therefore, it is this limiting muscle that is usually overloaded the most by the exercise.

Most would agree that the abs are not the limiting factor in a heavy lift like squatting. Using the criteria I just mentioned, this would suggest that the abdominal muscles are not being sufficiently overloaded by this movement and therefore the squat will probably not stimulate much change here.

Some may argue that the lower back muscles can be the limiting factor in a deadlift if it is taken to the extreme, but I would ask: do you really want your core muscles to be overloaded on such a demanding, complex lift? The answer is probably no, especially when, this would still mostly be an isometric movement anyway!

Personally, I would rather train my deadlift within a more conservative range and then use more isolated exercises for strengthening the core directly.

Summary

Muscle activation studies should not be the sole factor in helping you decide how to choose exercises.

If you’re only training to lift heavy weights, then maybe you can get away with most of your core training coming from your main lifts (although even then I have my doubts). If you’re training for almost any other range of abilities (including fighting zombies), you probably need to mix it up a little.

If you enjoyed this post: 7 Ultimate Exercises for a Strong Back

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