CORE EXERCISES SHOULD be a part of every weight training programme. End of story.
Not only is much force generated from here, but a strong core can help prevent muscular imbalances and possible injury elsewhere.
We’ve devised a little routine here that’ll take no more than 20 minutes and done three times a week for eight weeks, we guarantee you’ll notice a difference in how you feel, how you look and how you perform. It goes like this.
1. Cable crunch
Starting position: Start with this machine exercise where you kneel below a high pulley with a rope attached. Grasp the rope attachment and lower it towards your face (as you are facing away from the machine). Now flex your hips slightly to arch your back.
Action: While keeping your hips stationary flex your waist and contract your abs, your elbows should be down towards your thighs. Make sure to keep tension on your abs as you perform the exercise. Hold here for a second and release slowly for one rep. Do 20 reps for one set and do three sets or five minutes.
2. Lying leg raises
Starting position: Lie flat on a bench and your legs extended off the edge.
Action: As you keep your legs extended raise them to form a 90 degree angle at the hip. Hold it at the top before slowly lowering to the starting position.
Do 15 leg raises for one set and four sets or five minutes.
Starting position: Start on your knees, facing the ball and rest your elbows on the top. Lift up your core up and squeeze your glutes. Maintain this squeeze throughout.
Action: Tighten your core muscles and hold this position for 30 seconds. Remember to breathe. Rest for 30 seconds and repeat six more times.
4. Hanging leg raise with a twist (not for the feint-hearted)
Starting position: Hang from a chin-up bar with your arms and legs fully extended.
Action: Now bring your knees up until they’re parallel to the floor and at the top of the movement twist to one side, back to centre, and over to the other side and back to centre. Hold for a second and drop the legs again, hold for a second and repeat. This is a BEAST of an exercise and you’ll be doing well to get 10 reps and three sets out of it if it’s your first time.
20 minutes is all you need for these exercises. We didn’t forget the word rest. That was deliberately omitted.
Try this 20-minute abs blasting core routine
CORE EXERCISES SHOULD be a part of every weight training programme. End of story.
1. Cable crunch
2. Lying leg raises
3. Swiss ball plank
4. Hanging leg raise with a twist (not for the feint-hearted)
Starting position: Hang from a chin-up bar with your arms and legs fully extended.
Action: Now bring your knees up until they’re parallel to the floor and at the top of the movement twist to one side, back to centre, and over to the other side and back to centre. Hold for a second and drop the legs again, hold for a second and repeat. This is a BEAST of an exercise and you’ll be doing well to get 10 reps and three sets out of it if it’s your first time.
20 minutes is all you need for these exercises. We didn’t forget the word rest. That was deliberately omitted.
Exercise of the week: Barbell curls for those Christmas guns
Try this awesome chicken noodle soup to combat the winter blues
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Exercise Fitness work-out