By Gabby Landsverk Don't just focus on the main muscles of your core — working on your hips, back, and deep ab muscles can help prevent injury. fizkes/Getty Images Dec 30, 2022, 10:33 AM PT ...

Your erector spinae muscles also come into play; these sit on either side of your spine and help support it as you stand up straight from a bent-over position, Ribble says.

A study comparing front squats and overhead squats found that these exercises elicited greater engagement of the erector spinae muscles, part of the core, when compared to the back extension exercise.