12 Moves to Build Core Strength

Updated February 25th, 2025

A strong and properly functioning core is essential for preventing pregnancy-induced pains and injuries, improving fetal growth environment, facilitating an easier and more efficient labor, and preparing you to better manage the (very physical) 24/7 demands of early parenthood). While there are certainly core exercises to avoid or modify during pregnancy, this article will focus on some of the most beneficial ones to focus on to help you build a strong and functional core that is able to withstand the stresses of pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood.

Read on to learn:

• Core Training: Where to Start (foundational principles to master before doing any other exercises)
• How to Increase Core Strength with “Anti” Core Exercises
• Incorporating “Anti” Core Exercises Into Your Training
• Additional Resources to Support You

Core Training: Where to Start

Just as building a house requires starting with a solid foundation, the same is true for your core. There are two steps to establishing that foundation, which apply to ANY individual regardless of whether you are pregnant or not.

1. Eliminate excess tension: It’s difficult to strengthen muscles when they are faced with unnecessary stress and tension. When your body is out of neutral alignment, unnecessary stress is placed on your muscles, especially your core muscles. So, the first step is to get rid of that excess tension by getting your body into neutral alignment.
2. Master the “#1 Most Effective Core Exercise” With the excess tension cleared, you’re ready to begin laying the foundation, which — when it comes to your core — means learning how to activate your critical deep core muscles. This is accomplished by mastering what we refer to as the #1 most effective core exercise: 360° Breathing.

How to Increase Core Strength with “Anti-Core” Exercises

With your body in alignment and your deep core muscles functioning optimally, you’re ready to focus on increasing your core strength. We do this by focusing on exercises that attempt to pull your body out of neutral alignment. This forces your core muscles to work hard to resist being pulled out of neutral. Resisting this pull causes the muscles to adapt and grow stronger.

These are known as “anti” core exercises because they involve resisting the pull toward a certain direction. There are 4 types of “anti” core movements:

1. Anti-flexion
2. Anti-lateral flexion
3. Anti-rotation
4. Anti-extension

Whatever term follows the hyphen is the direction the trunk is trying to resist getting pulled into. Let’s talk through each category in detail, with a few examples of each.

Anti-Flexion Exercises

These are movements during which the body must resist getting pulled forward into flexion. Anti-flexion moves tax the posterior core muscles because the muscles must work to prevent the body from collapsing forward. Examples include:

• Goblet Squats: Be sure the weight you are holding is heavy enough that you really have to work hard to resist its pull forward. Holding a light weight for this will not have the same anti-flexion benefit.  Inhale on the way down, exhale as you push back up.

• Deadlifts (or Ground Pickup): It’s quite common to see people doing this movement with a rounded spine as they lean down. Be sure to initiate the movement by sending your hips backward and keeping your spine in neutral (shoulders down and back). We often refer to a deadlift as a “ground pickup” as we want you to associate this movement with how you normally pick things up off the ground in your daily life.

• Crib Reach: This movement is similar to a deadlift, but it involves hinging over a barrier. Initiate the movement by sending your hips backward (keeping your shoulders pulled down and back) instead of reaching your arms forward with your spine rounded and shoulders raised like you see at the end here. Inhale as you lower down. Exhale as you stand back up.

If you’re a parent (or soon to be), anti-flexion movements are especially important because so many of the daily tasks that you’ll face tend to pull you forward into flexion, like baby wearing, lifting and lowering baby out of crib/stroller/car seat, picking heavy objects up from the ground, etc. Doing anti-flexion movements can help you grow stronger to resist the forward pull of these frequent activities, while helping you avoid the aches and pains that can result from them.

Anti-Lateral Flexion Moves

This is probably the most important one for new and expecting parents (and any caregiver of little ones). These are moves that attempt to pull your body into a side bend, like holding a heavy car seat, diaper bag, or bag of groceries. Practicing anti-lateral flexion moves, like the ones below, train your body to resist the many forces throughout your day that attempt to pull you into lateral flexion:

• Carries: Specifically, single-sided (or asymmetrical) carries. You can do a low carry, like you see here (holding a heavy object of some sort). Or, you can do it racked (at your shoulder) or overhead. The point is to resist being pulled into a side-bend – either in the direction of the heavy weight, or toward the opposite side as you attempt to counterbalance.

• Suitcase squat: Just as you can add some anti-flexion work into your squat by holding a weight in front for a goblet squat, you could also add in anti-lateral flexion work by holding that weight down by one side instead. Notice how you have to work to keep your trunk your trunk from falling toward the side of the weight like you see at the end here.  Inhale as you lower down. Exhale as you stand back up.

• Side planks: In any variation, the core muscles must work to resist the hips from sinking downward and pulling the spine into lateral flexion.

Anti-Rotation Moves

These are moves during which the body must resist being pulled into rotation (or a position in which the hips and shoulders are dissociated). Many of these moves require a band or cable and an anchor point (or partner), such as:

• Pallof Press: This movement can be done with a cable at the gym or a simple resistance band and door anchor at home.  With the band or cable anchored at one end, it will try to pull you into rotation, so you will have to work hard to resist this rotation, especially when your arms are extended further away from your body. You can add challenge to this movement by moving your feet closer together, or even stand on one foot. You can also progress this by adding an overhead reach.

• Bird-Dog: This highly beneficial core exercise is an anti-rotation movement because you have to resist tipping toward the direction of the extended arm, as shown at the end. It’s also a bit of an anti-extension movement, as you have to resist sinking into the lower back arch as you extend you extend your arm and leg.

• Standing Horizontal Single Arm Press: When your arm pulls back in, your body must resist rotating in the direction of your working arm.

Anti-Extension Moves

Finally, anti-extension moves are the opposite of anti-flexion because the body must resist getting pulled into extension. The most widely recognized example of an anti-core movement is a plank. In a plank, your core muscles must work to prevent your hips from sinking downward, which pulls your lumbar spine into extension.

Anti-extension movements tax the anterior (front) core muscles. Therefore, anti-extension exercises will need to be regressed as pregnancy progresses. Here are some good regression options:

• Incline Plank: Notice how the incline is higher here. This is important during the later stages of pregnancy and early postpartum period to avoid placing excess stress on the external abdominal wall. Focus on a lighter inhale and stronger exhale as you hold.

• Dead Bugs: Supine core exercises like leg lifts and dead bugs (right photo) are also anti-extension because the abdominal muscles must work hard to prevent the lower back from lifting off the ground into extension. Even though this exercise involves lying flat on your back, it is still safe to perform throughout pregnancy provided you are comfortable (and do not see signs of coning in your belly). For more information, see this article on the supine position during pregnancy. 

Incorporating “Anti” Core Exercises into Your Training

Doing these movements will help your body grow stronger to resist everyday stresses that attempt to pull you into extension. For example, wearing a heavy backpack on your back can pull you into extension just like that bar in the back squat. So, practicing the back squat could help you avoid the aches and pains that may otherwise be associated with heavy backpack wearing.

“Anti” core movements are easy to layer into whatever existing program you have by simply adjusting the loading parameters. Below are a few examples:

• Instead of squatting with a weight in each hand, switch to holding just one heavy weight in front, and now you’ve made this an ­anti-flexion
• If doing a set of lunges, you could hold a weight in one hand, and now you’ve added anti-lateral flexion
• You could switch from a 2-arm cable pull to a single-arm pull and this makes it an anti-rotation

You can progress the challenge by increasing the load and/or time under tension (the amount of time you hold the position). Prioritize anti-flexion and anti-lateral flexion, as they are the directions new parents are pulled in most throughout their day.

Want Complete Workouts?

Want a complete total body workout program for your entire pregnancy? Explore our Prenatal and Postpartum Workout Programs. Select the program that’s right for you and you’ll be guided through a safe and effective workout program for your entire pregnancy or postpartum recovery. You’ll also receive nutrition guidance and additional resources specific to your stage.

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