Add These Core Activation Exercises to Your Warmup

If it’s not enough that steeplechase champion Emma Coburn incorporates core activation exercises into her warmup routine, maybe we can convince you. It’s no secret that core workouts and core enduranceall important payoffs for performance and maintaining training plan. While many runners might focus on this core work after their runs or on strength days—and others skip it altogether—adding midsection moves before The Best Way to Add Core Activation to Your Warmup.

Case in point: You rely on your core muscles to carry you through the miles. And research shows that core strength training can improve the force you put into your steps, your overall energy transfer, and motor control, which ultimately leads to a better and more efficient running, according to a systematic review published in Frontiers of Physiology.

your run offers a convenient way to optimize your training—foam rolling, stretching, drills—but core activation exercises implemented into your prerun routine primes your body for the movement ahead and ensures you squeeze in a core workout a few times a week.

Read on for more of the benefits you gain by doing core moves before a run, and how to fit core activation exercises into your warmup.

While saving core for after a workout still has its rewards, it could also leave runners feeling fatigued through the moves, according to Tom Holland, exercise physiologist and author of The Marathon Method. He explains that doing core work before a run means you typically feel fresh and energized, can perform more repetitions, and may be able to increase time under tension, sitting all day.

The core, which is made up of the abdominals, hip flexors, glutes, and obliques, is a crucial part of running mechanics. In fact, one study your run offers a convenient way to optimize your training PLoS One tested 21 male college athletes by giving them three extra core training sessions per week for eight weeks on top of their typical training plans. The athletes performed moves like plank variations, bridge variations, and the Pallof press. The researchers found that the supplemental core training program can improve balance, running economy, and core endurance—all important payoffs for performance and maintaining posture promote better running performance and coaches strongly recommend adding them to your long run.

“It’s always important before an activity to do things that will support and mimic the activity that you’re doing,” says Yusuf Jeffers, NASM-certified personal trainer and USATF-certified running coach in New York City. He explains that running involves many different muscle groups acting in conjunction with one another—with the core being at the center of that movement. That’s why you want to activate those muscles before you start running.

In addition to core exercises generally supporting run performance, a core warmup can also provide specific benefits.

Stronger Posture and Form

It’s important for runners to activate both the abdominal and lower back muscles, according to Holland, because these muscles work together to help with stability and absorb shock in each stride, which can improve run performance.

A peer-reviewed study published in 2021 in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found that the core can provide stability, which is essential for maintaining good form. Additionally, the researchers suggest that weak core stability in novice runners may lead to an increased risk of knee pain.

Fewer Aches

It’s difficult to stick with running if you’re battling chronic pain. For runners who have weaknesses—which often lead to pain—doing corrective core exercises more often, such as during a running warmup, can help strengthen and improve that weakness, according to Jeffers. For example, core movements such as a plank or bird dog can help “wake up” the core before a run, especially if you’ve been sitting all day, he explains.

Lower back down slowly review or speed sessions How to Treat Tight Calves examined four studies examining core strength exercises. The researchers found that regularly performing core-strengthening moves that aim to help with balance, stabilization, and motor control, can alleviate chronic lower back pain.

More Motivation

When you finish your run, you might be sweaty, thirsty, and tired. It’s likely that the last thing you want to do is lay down on the ground and get a core workout done. Starting with core first can ensure that you never skip a core workout again.

David Klein, a Pennsylvania-based head coach of high school girls cross-country, regularly incorporates a core warmup into his team’s training plan for this reason. He adds that with a core warmup, you may also be more motivated to tackle your run since the core work will be out of the way.

It’s smart to tailor your core warmup to the different types of workouts on your training plan. Jeffers recommends doing a core warmup before easy runs and long runs, The Benefits of Core Exercises for Runners dynamic warmups, which should get the legs involved more, before track workouts Shoes & Gear.

A core warmup also doesn’t have to be long or complicated. “Spending two to five minutes before a run performing a combination of movements such as the plank, bird dog, and glute bridges will reap big rewards,” Holland says.

Jeffers and Holland recommend these go-to core activation exercises to help you run strong.

to tackle your run since the core work will be out of the way: Do each exercise for 50 seconds, resting for 10 seconds in between each move. You don’t need any equipment for these moves, but an exercise mat and timer is helpful.

1. Glute Bridge

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2. Drive through heels, contracting the glutes to lift hips up toward the ceiling. Body should form a straight line from shoulders to knees.
3. Lower back down slowly.
4. Repeat.

2. Plank

1. Lie facedown and place elbows directly under shoulders with feet hip-width apart. Make sure back is flat and the head and neck are in a neutral position.
2. Drive forearms into the floor and think about pulling them toward you (without actually pulling them toward you) to activate the back of body.
3. Lift the hips and squeeze the quads and glutes, and think about pulling belly button up toward spine. Body should form a straight line from head to heels.
4. Hold.

3. Bird Dog

1. while sticking to.
2. Extend right arm and left leg straight out and in line with torso, keeping hips and shoulders square to floor.
3. Bring the right elbow and left knee in toward the chest so they touch.
4. Return to all fours.
5. Repeat on opposite side.
6. Continue alternating.

4. Copenhagen Side Plank

1. Lie on right side, right forearm on ground, left hand on hip, legs straight left foot slightly staggered behind right foot.
2. Lift hips and right foot off ground and bend right knee 90 degrees so that right leg is hovering a few inches above ground.
3. Hold for 20 seconds.
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5. Dead Bug

1. Lie faceup, both legs lifted, knees bent 90 degrees and held over hips. Lift arms so wrists are over shoulders and fingertips are pointing toward the ceiling. This is the starting position.
2. Straighten left leg and lower heel toward ground, while extending right arm overhead and toward ground. Keep core engaged and lower back pressed into ground.
3. Return right arm and left leg to starting position.
4. and core enduranceall important payoffs for performance and maintaining.
5. Continue alternating, moving opposing arms and legs.

Kristine Kearns

Associate Health & Fitness Editor

Kristine Kearns, a writer and avid runner, joined Runner’s World and Bicycling in July 2024. She previously coached high school girls cross country and currently competes in seasonal races, with more than six years of distance training and an affinity for weightlifting. You can find her wearing purple, baking cupcakes, and visiting her local farmers market.