There is a saying one of my favorite professors is fond of: you can’t fire a cannonball out of a canoe. Makes sense, right? Canoes don’t have the stability for such a powerful reaction and thus firing a cannonball would flip them over. The same principle is true in the gym. Without stability, our ability to generate power is compromised. A lot of that stability comes from the core.

The core is the group of muscles that surround your lower torso. Though many people think of the core in terms of six pack muscles, there’s a lot more to it than that. Though washboard stomachs may get all the attention, core muscles also include lower back muscles, obliques, and many small stabilizer muscles placed around our midsections.

All these muscles work together to keep us upright and stable. Nearly every movement of the body incorporates core muscles. That is why a weak core hinders power.

Some may think that strengthening the core can be done simply by knocking out a ton of crunches and calling it good. That’s incorrect. Crunches and sit-ups do a good job of working the larger abdominal muscles, but very little to help with back or lateral stability.

Nearly everybody that thinks they have a solid, stable core is surprised by how little stability they actually have when they first attempt BOSU ball jackknives. Falling backwards, forwards or sideways, they feel their core challenged in ways that can’t yet be controlled.

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That exercise is one of many exercises that have a proprioceptively enriched environment. Proprioception is essentially our understanding of where we are in space. When we create controlled instability with BOSU balls, exercise balls, balance disks, etc., our proprioceptors are challenged.

The resultant challenge from proprioceptively enriched exercise causes the smaller stabilizer muscles to contract to keep us upright. Sometimes these muscles are forced to work in ways they are not used to.

At such times, the core is underdeveloped. It is a canoe; easily rolled from a shifting environment.

Persisting with proprioceptively enriched stability exercises develops and strengthens these weak muscles. Over time, it becomes easier to remain upright, even when increasing the instability in the exercise environment.

The increased internal stability easily counteracts the external instability because the core is no longer a canoe. It has become a battleship that can fire cannonballs with ease.

The increased stability allows us to generate explosive power through all planes of motion. It also protects us against injury.

The importance of core stability affects all levels of physical fitness. The gym rat who has been exercising for as long they could walk is going to benefit from proprioceptively enriched exercise as much as the person who walks into the gym for the very first time.

Even those who believe they have all the power they need would do well to consistently challenge their core stability. They might just be surprised to discover how much their performance can be improved.

Keep working hard to reach your goals and make sure to incorporate controlled instability training. It will transform you from a canoe to a battleship with the ability to generate great amounts of explosive power.