ReviewBehavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)2023
Effects of Core Training on Sport-Specific Performance of Athletes: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
Review in Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effects of battle rope training on sporting performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of core training on physical performance in team-sport athletes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2026Pooled it
- Effectiveness of core strength training for racket sport athletes' performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2026Pooled it
- The effects of instability training on balance and jump performance in athletes: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Physiological reports · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of core training on balance performance in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Instability core trainingPeerJ · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of speed, agility, and quickness (SAQ) training on soccer player performance-a systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Unstable trunk core strength training improves shooting performance and holding stability in elite 10 m air pistol athletes: a pilot randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- Effects of an 8-week unstable core training on trunk muscle strength and sprint performance among kayakers.PeerJ · 2026Trial
- Effects of Periodization Core Training on Physical Fitness in College Table Tennis Players.PloS one · 2025Trial
- Evaluating raw versus body-weight-normalized McGill core endurance composite scores in recreational weightlifters: implications for strength and functional performance.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Quantitative MRI of core muscles at different activity levels: muscle-specific metrics and composite core fat fraction and lean-volume scores.Skeletal radiology · 2026Article
- Effects of dance training on core muscle strength and physical fitness in higher education: a review.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- Core stabilization training improves balance in adolescent male basketball players: a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Article
- The effects of core stability training on swimming performance in youth swimmers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Effectiveness of progressive core stabilization training on anaerobic performance in elite athletes: a randomized controlled trial.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Chronic low back pain and exercise: a molecular perspective on aerobic and anaerobic core training.Molecular biology reports · 2025Review
- The effects of instability core training on balance ability and paddling performance among young male Chinese flatwater sprint kayakers: a randomized controlled trial.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Correlation Between Core Stability and Plantar Pressure Distribution During Double-Leg Stance, Single-Leg Stance, and Squat Positions in Healthy Male Athletes.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Article
- The impact of core training on overall athletic performance in different sports: a comprehensive meta-analysis.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Improving athletes' performance is a major topic of interest in studies on competitive sports. Core training has been used as a training method in daily life and rehabilitation, and recently, in competitive sports, with positive results. Previous experimental studies showed that core training can improve the fitness level of athletes (e.g., balance, core stability, etc.), but offer no consistent conclusions on whether it can improve sport-specific performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of core training on the sport-specific performance of athletes through a meta-analysis. Relevant studies on randomized controlled trials were selected, and we calculated the effect size using standardized mean difference values and the random effects model. Results showed that core training had almost no effect on athletes' power and speed, while agility showed a medium effect size but no statistical significance. On the other hand, there was a large effect on general athletic performance, such as core endurance and balance. Consequently, core training had a great effect on the core endurance and balance of athletes, but little effect on sport-specific performance. This result implies that more elaborate core training programs should be designed to improve the sport-specific performance of athletes.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.