What core muscle exercises are good to help develop all round fitness? How often should you do them, how many reps/sessions etc? Ideally exercises that can be done with minimal of equipment.

My aim is to mainly improve fitness, but also to reduce body fat (with dieting, starting iDave diet on 23rd when moving into new flat away from my lovely mums' cooking!), and improve my general strength.

Are there any good online resources for demonstrating exercises and rough ideas of training plans? Thanks 🙂

Pilates in all based around core muscle training.

Do ab exercises using a swiss ball – core strength is all about "supporting" muscles and balance rather than being Arnie. Ballerinas and climbers have a lot of it, bodybuilders usually have naff all.

Most core exercises aren't really fat burners – you need cardio exercises for that.

Many sports will naturally develop your core strength – balance sports like surfing and skiing and martial arts all help it a lot.

swiss ball is demon i loved mine till the dog ate it ! – need to get another !

learn to love the plank and its variations !