(Non)Sense About Training Your Core as a Singer
Originally published on 13/04/2025, last updated on 19/08/2025
Yesterday, I was working with a singer who wants to learn how to sing distortion, an extreme vocal effect that demands super-efficient core engagement if you want to pull it off without wrecking your voice. As it turned out, she was having a hard time connecting with those muscles properly, so at the end of her online voice lesson, I suggested she work on her core strength and stability at home. She lit up and told me she’d just started doing daily ab exercises.
But the moment she explained what she was doing, I knew I had to jump in. Yeah… it was one of those moments, when ending the lesson on time is just not an option. I could already see it: if I didn’t give her the extra guidance right then and there, she’d end up doing more harm than good to her voice (and honestly, to her whole body) before her next lesson.
Afterward, it hit me: so many people still believe that “working your core” means static or tight, compressive movements. No wonder! Social media is drowning us in “six-pack” style workouts that teach you how to tighten everything, restrict your breathing, and kill your dynamic stability: exactly the opposite of what you want if your goal is a flexible, resilient voice.
Before I explain further, I want to let you know that I offer 2 webinars on the Core!
Christine Schneider returns after her highly appreciated webinar Core Training for Singers – The Vocal Resilience Cylinder, which she has led in August ’25, now available in The singsing! Sofa Library.
I left feeling informed and inspired to apply these lessons to both functional movement and singing!
Stella Handley, Avocational singer
The session even stirred unexpected emotions, proof of how deeply this work reaches. I left feeling more aware of my body, excited to apply these ideas to my singing, movement, and even my sports practice.
Kim, Avocational Singer
On 30 January 2026, Christine will lead Core Workout for Singers, a 1-hour practical class to strengthen your stability, mobility, and breath with targeted core exercises designed specifically for singers!
(You do not need to have attended or watched the first webinar to benefit fully from this one.)
When you overtrain your core to be stiff, you can even end up with paradoxical breathing, where your abdomen pulls in instead of expanding during inhalation. That messes with the natural movement of your diaphragm and pelvic floor, which are key players in efficient breathing for singing.
You might be diligently hammering out those “traditional” ab exercises like sit-ups and crunches, thinking you’re doing something good for yourself and your voice. But here’s the kicker: you’re actually training your body to hold your core muscles tight all the time, not just when needed. And then you’ll end up straining your voice.
That means when you come into your (online) voice lesson, I’d have to spend precious time helping you unlearn that tension, teaching you how to relax your core during inhalation and how to engage it gradually and contextually, depending on the vocal sound you want to make. And then… you’d go right back home and undo all that work with your daily crunches. Frustrating, right? And honestly, pretty counterproductive.
So here it is: a blog post to finally clear up the confusion about what it actually means to train your core, especially if you’re a singer.
(Apologies for the “perfect people” in the pictures. It’s hard to find stock images of “normal people” regarding this subject.)
What is the core?
When people talk about “the core,” they’re often just thinking “abs.” But in reality, the core is a whole system of muscles – front, sides, back, bottom, and even deep inside – that work together to stabilize your body.
In case you’re an anatomy geek like me, click “Overview of alllll the core muscles” to satisfy your brain 👇🏼
Deep Core Muscles
These muscles stabilize your spine and support breathing and pressure management. Click here for images.
- Transversus Abdominis: The deepest abdominal muscle, wraps around like a corset.
- Multifidus: Deep back muscles along the spine.
- Pelvic Floor Muscles: Support the bottom of your core.
- Diaphragm: Your main breathing muscle at the top of your core cylinder. Indeed, your diaphragm has multiple jobs! Not just respiration, but also stabilization.
- Internal Obliques (partially deep): Underneath the external obliques, help with twisting and stabilizing.
Outer Core Muscles
These muscles help with larger movements and dynamic stability. Click here for images.
- Rectus Abdominis: The famous “six-pack” muscle on the front.
- External Obliques: Run diagonally across your sides.
- Erector Spinae: Big back muscles that keep you upright.
- Latissimus Dorsi: Big side-back muscles connecting the arms to the spine.
- Quadratus Lumborum: Deep in the low back, helps with side bending and stability.
Hip-Connected Muscles
These are technically hip muscles, but they interact heavily with the core. Click here for images.
- Psoas Major: Deep hip flexor connecting the spine to the legs.
- Iliacus: Works with the psoas.
- Gluteus Medius and Minimus: Stabilize the pelvis.
- Gluteus Maximus: Biggest butt muscle, important for posture and force transfer.
Your core isn’t just your abs. It’s a 360° system that runs from your diaphragm to your pelvic floor, wraps around your spine, and connects to your hips. These muscles coordinate to manage intra-abdominal pressure, facilitating efficient breathing and singing. Healthy core function is about dynamic stability and adaptable tension, not rigid bracing like crunches and static planks.
Before diving into my go-to core exercises, let’s look at some popular ‘six-pack’ exercises that actually promote rigid, unhealthy core patterns. Not ideal for singers, and really for anyone.
What NOT to do 🚫
Crunches and Sit-Ups
- They train the abs to overcompress and shorten.
- Promote constant bracing rather than dynamic, responsive stability.
- Can interfere with efficient breathing because your rib cage gets pulled downward.
- People often cranck their head forward instead of supporting it lightly, causing neck strain
Planks with Over-Bracing
- Long, stiff holds with the core and glutes squeezed to the max.
- Encourage holding tension instead of activating and relaxing when needed.
- Most people accidentally hold their breath while doing them.
Planks can be beneficial if they’re dynamic and breath-focused, but many people just lock everything down to “hold” the position.
Fast and Heavy Russian Twists
- When done fast, they teach the body to tense up globally, because you work on momentum instead of control.
- Can cause excess compression in the midsection.
- A lot of people hold weights during russian twists, which encourages breath-holding and rigid tension.
- Twisting forcefully while rigid can also stress the spine.
Russian twists can be good if adapted properly:
- Slow down the movement.
- Breathe while moving, use little or no weight.
- Keep a neutral spine.
- Limit the range of motion.
Fast and Hard Bycicles
- Instead of rotating from the ribs and core, people often pull with their arms and shoulders, straining the neck, placing unnecessary stress on the cervical spine.
- Breath-holding raises intra-abdominal pressure too much and stiffens the body, limiting good core coordination and stability.
- Pushing the lower back hard against the ground can force the lumbar spine out of its natural curve, increasing spinal compression and injury risk.
Bycicles can be good if adapted properly:
- Move slowly and smoothly, almost like you’re pedaling through molasses.
- Focus on the ribcage and pelvis moving in a connected, coordinated way.
- Keep a natural curve in your lower back (neutral spine, not squashed flat).
- Breathe naturally: exhale when crossing, inhale when switching sides.
- Minimize neck strain: keep the head supported lightly, don’t crank it forward.
Even though you can adapt Russian Twists and Bycicles Crunches, I advise singers to also focus on other exercises that will bring you even better results! Keep reading…
The Importance of Context-Dependent Core Activation
Context-dependent activation involves engaging core muscles as needed, based on specific tasks or movements. This is especially helpful for dynamic activities like singing, where you need to adjust posture and muscle engagement on the fly for effective breath management!
I admit, the principles behind the exercises I love are a bit geeky, but I couldn’t resist adding them here. So if you’d rather skip the deep dive and jump straight into my favorite core exercises, whatever you do, DON’T click ‘The Principles’ 🙃
If you’re hypermobile, PLEASE DO click “Adaptations for Hypermobile People”. They’re important.
- Breath-Centric Core Engagement:
Allowing the diaphragm and associated muscles to function without unnecessary restriction. Rule of thumb: If you can’t breathe easily, your exercise is too rigid! - Functional Movement Exercises:
Focus on exercises that promote natural coordination between all your core muscles. Research has found that when muscles work together, they help the nervous system react quickly and appropriately, allowing us to move smoothly and adjust to different activities. For example: singing loudly requires different core engagement than singing softly. - Proprioceptive Training:
Enhance your body awareness through movements that improve your brain’s mapping of your body’s position in space. Studies show that being able to sense and adjust your body’s position is actually more important for core stability than just having strong or long-lasting muscles. - Practicing movements in varied contexts:
This improves the ability to adapt and perform tasks efficiently, leading to enhanced motor learning. - Improved Sensorimotor Integration:
This means the connection between what your body feels (sensory feedback like touch, position, or movement) and how your body moves (motor control). Your muscles will contract or relax in response to what your body senses.
For example, if you’re standing on one leg and feel yourself tipping over, your brain will activate certain muscles to help you stay balanced. When your muscles respond correctly to these sensory cues, it makes your movements more coordinated and improves balance. Brushing your teeth while standing on one leg is a beautiful example. I know you’re going to try this out next time you brush your teeth… Let me know how it went 🙂
(Read my blog post Hypermobile Singers: From Pretty Impressive to Pretty Painful to understand all the ins & outs!)
- Closed chain movements
This means that you are going to put a part of your body against something (the wall, a chair,…) to give it reference. It helps your brain understand where you are in space and thus lowers the threat. You could also work with a ball or yoga block between your knees to help your brain understand “Oh, there are my knees!”. If you want to do the tooth brushing exercise I mentioned above, maybe put one hand on the sink. - Isometrics!
You’re going to train your strength without changing the muscle length. You work through load against something like an elastic band. Plank positions and pushing back against a wall are also isometric exercises. Training against resistance is always a good idea as it lowers the feeling of threat. You create a map of what it’s like to voluntarily contract there. - Slow & Whole range
If you’re hypermobile, you are probably dealing with muscles that are working too hard as they compensate for your lax joints. You want to slowly take the muscles through their function and range, so that they’re educated on what the options are, because they’re stuck in this short position.
Here’s a video by Adam Foster from The Fibro Guy – I’m a big fan! – with some great core exercises for hypermobile people. Well, they’re actually great for every body, not just the hypermobile ones 🙂
Get to work! ✅
Here are a few core exercises that strengthen the muscles while training context-dependent activation, meaning: the muscles activate only when needed, not all the time. These exercises also keep breathing free and natural, which is crucial for singing.
Dead Bug
Trains the deep core muscles to stabilize while you move, without over-bracing.
- Lie on your back, knees bent at 90 degrees above your hips, arms reaching toward the ceiling.
- Inhale naturally.
- As you exhale, slowly lower your right arm and left leg toward the ground without holding your breath or flattening your lower back too aggressively.
- Inhale to return to center. Switch sides.
Extra tips:
- Keep breathing quietly throughout; avoid sucking in or pushing out your belly.
- If you feel your neck or lower back tensing up, scale down the movement. This is about control, not force.
- If you’re hypermobile, you’ll want to include reference from a wall.
- If you watch the demonstration of wall dead bugs in the video, ignore him saying “keep your core tight” and BREATHE!
Pallof Press:
Teaches your core to resist unnecessary movement — just like you need stability when singing without tensing up.
- Stand or kneel next to a resistance band anchored at chest height.
- Hold the band with both hands in front of your chest.
- Press it straight out — you’ll feel it trying to pull you sideways.
- Stay tall and breathe normally without “locking” your core.
- Hold for a few seconds, then bring it back.
Extra tips:
- If you watch the demonstration in this video, follow my instructions about engagement and ignore theirs
- Focus on gentle bracing rather than stiffening up.
- If you’re hypermobile, you might feel better starting the Pallof Press in a half-kneeling position (one knee down, one foot forward). This gives you more feedback from the ground and helps prevent wobbling.
- If you watch the demonstration in this video, follow my instructions about engagement and ignore theirs
Dynamic Side Plank Reaches
This plank variation builds side-body strength, while allowing movement and breath flow.
- Start in a side plank on your forearm.
- Reach your top arm up toward the ceiling.
- Inhale and reach your arm overhead, toward your ear.
- Exhale and bring your arm back to vertical.
Extra tips:
- Keep your core gently active — think “long and lifted” rather than tight.
- If you can’t breathe easily, lower your knees or shorten the hold time. Breath is priority.
- If you’re hypermobile, you might want to create more stability by bending the knee of your supporting leg and creating wall reference. This means placing the foot of your upper leg against the wall, like you see Christine Schneider doing here. The exercise she’s demonstrating (click the picture to view) is slightly different, but also great!
Can I train my core while singing?
Yes! You might already know the balance board, an excellent training device for your vestibular system and core.
However, especially if you’re hypermobile, singing on this sucker can be too big of a challenge and you might have to integrate progressions with reference. Putting your hand against the wall might be enough adaptation to make this exercise more closed chain.
Here are a few exercises I’ve learned from Celest Pereira:
- Sing with a weight in one hand while standing on one foot.
- Sing while standing on one leg and alternatively look to your left and right.
- Train your proprioception with perturbation: Sing with your feet together and ask your teacher (or somebody else) to give you little pushes .
- Tie a strap around your hips and attach it to the wall / door / furniture while singing.
In short: Singers need a responsive core, not a rigid core. These exercises train the brain to choose when and how much to engage, based on need, which is exactly what you want for efficient singing without strain!
Do you want to experience all of this under the guidance of a true expert?
Enroll for Core Workout for Singers on 30 January 2026, a 1-hour practical class to strengthen your stability, mobility, and breath with targeted core exercises designed specifically for singers!
And / or subscribe to The singsing! Sofa Library to get immediate access to the recording of Christine’s webinar Core Training for Singers – The Vocal Resilience Cylinder.
The session even stirred unexpected emotions, proof of how deeply this work reaches. I left feeling more aware of my body, excited to apply these ideas to my singing, movement, and even my sports practice.
Kim, Avocational Singer
I left feeling informed and inspired to apply these lessons to both functional movement and singing!
Stella Handley, Avocational singer
Resources
- Effect of Core Stabilization Exercises on Acoustic Properties and Performance of Voice by Satı Doğanyiğit Yıldız, Anıl Özüdoğru and İsmail Ceylan
- The importance of sensory-motor control in providing core stability: implications for measurement and training by
- Muscle coactivation primes the nervous system for fast and task-dependent feedback control by Philipp Maurus, Daniel P. Armstrong, Stephen H. Scott and Tyler Cluff
- Core Exercises for Hypermobility/EDS by The Fibro Guy
- Christine Schneider from The Visceral Voice
- Andrew Byrne from The Singing Athlete
- Stop Engaging Your Core! by Celest Pereira
- Hulk Up The Core With Your Breath by Celest Pereira
- The Role of Core Stability in Athletic Function by Kibler, W. Ben, Joel Press, and Aaron Sciascia
- Anatomy Trains: Myofascial Meridians for Manual and Movement Therapists by Thomas W. Myers
- Anatomy of Breathing, by Blandine Calais-Germain
- The Thoracolumbar Fascia: Anatomy, Function and Clinical Considerations by Willard, F. H., et al.
- Z-Health Performance Solutions – Core Stability and Dynamic Neurology (Course materials and public blog resources)
As always, feel free to send me your thoughts, questions, and feedback in the comments below this blog, via the contact form or in the singsing! online community 
Cordially,
Sarah