Core training improves balance and jumping in pooled randomized trials; no endurance outcome was pooled, so it gives no support for better running or cycling performance
Key Findings
Core training improved balance (effect size 1.17, p < 0.0001), vertical jump (0.69, p = 0.0003) and horizontal jump (0.84, p = 0.01).
Throwing or hitting velocity did not change significantly (0.30, p = 0.14); throwing or hitting distance improved (3.42, p = 0.03 — an implausibly large pooled value that suggests few, heterogeneous studies).
No running economy, time-trial or cycling outcome was part of the analysis.
Practical Application
Prescribe core work for what it is shown to do: trunk control, balance and jump performance. Do not promise an endurance athlete a faster 10 km or a better economy from it.
For an athlete short of time, core work is an addition after the sessions with proven transfer — heavy lower-body strength and plyometrics — not a replacement for them.
The question "planks or dynamic and anti-rotation exercises" has no head-to-head trial behind it; choosing either is practice, and should be said as practice.
Limitations
Figures are from the abstract; the abstract's positive summary of throwing velocity is not supported by its own p-value.
Two other reviews agree in direction: marginal benefit to athletic performance (Reed 2012, Sports Med, PMID 22784233) and little effect on sport-specific performance (Dong 2023, DOI 10.3390/bs13020148).