Core Work

slicus ricus

I was wondering what y'all do to work on your core and how often you should do core work in a week. I've been told that good core muscle improves your overall strength. Any info on core exercises would be greatly appreciated!

t-ha

squat
deadlift

slicus ricus

Cheers for that info t-ha: i do those anyway (im working core without even realising!). I always thought that your main core are underneath your abs - have i been misinformed??

g'em

the core muscle group consists of the abs, obliques, glutes and lower back muscles. so yeah, a strong core defintiely makes you stronger overall!!! squats and deadlifts are popular for core strenghtening because they're such compund movements and involve good core strenghtening. But to make sure your core is getting a good workout make sure you tighten your abs as you're doing the exercise- try to consciously 'activate' the muscles as you lift/ support the weight.

the bridge, crunches, quadruped (superman) and, the real killer, the plank are all great core exercises (as beautifully shown in glorious line drawing here http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/corestabex.htm ). as before, keep your abs tight, your butt pulled in, concentrate on maintaining a straight spine.

BrianD3

Also, any exercise which involves putting a weight over your head hits the core muscles. Try doing a heavy push press and holding the weight over head for a few seconds. Without core involvement you will wobble and lose control of the weight, you might injure yourself too.

slicus ricus

g'em wrote:

the bridge, crunches, quadruped (superman) and, the real killer, the plank are all great core exercises (as beautifully shown in glorious line drawing here http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/corestabex.htm ). as before, keep your abs tight, your butt pulled in, concentrate on maintaining a straight spine.

Cheers g'em - that's savage! I've done the plank and side plank before, but i've never heard of the quadruped and the bridge - some pretty interesting swiss ball exercises there as well.

Is it advisable to do core exercises every training day? I lift 3 or 4 times a week and have a split program. Because im in da college gym and spend my weekends wrestling and working, those 3 to 4 days are always weekdays and are often consecutive. Should i be doing core 2 days in a row or is it better for core muscle development to skip a day to allow for recovery?

t-ha

I would do them on the same day as a heavy compound at the end of your workout - then your core is already worked out alot and it'll be easier to fatigue (it's usually quite difficult to fatigue your core). If you are doing heavy compound lifts, which it sounds like you are, three or four times a week + wrestling I would say your core is getting enough attention.

You can also try doing as many of your exercises as possible unilaterally. I.e. Instead of a standing barbell press do a one-arm standing barbell press. Instead of shoulder raises do one-arm shoulder raises etc. I personally wouldn't recommend specific 'isolated' type core exercises unless you have a specific area of core weakness.

If you really really wanna demolish your core then google Barbell Turkish Get-ups.