To build a strong, athletic body you can’t skip out on core training. It may be the one thing that’s holding back your progress. But to train the core for performance, you need to address its main functions. The 3 Main Functions of the Core: Transfer force between the feet and hands Transfer force where you want the force to go Transfer force without energy leaks When you’ve trained the core the way it’s meant to be trained, you’ll run faster, jump longer and higher, throw further, strike harder, and simply be a strong, resilient beast in your sport. A strong core will also keep your spine and body healthier. It’s vital for both performance and health. The Top Exercises You can perform thousands of different ab and core exercises. But I’m a strong proponent of keeping the spine rigid while the hips, legs, and arms move. This doesn’t mean that I’m against spinal flexion, sit-up variations, etc. I simply see more direct carryover to performance from training the ability to let the hips, shoulders and arms do the movement while the spine stays mostly rigid. 1 – The Athletic Plank The regular plank is a fine exercise to teach core stability and the ability to generate full body tension. (If you’re going to do them, look up the RKC version.) Once you’ve mastered the regular plank, it’s time to introduce a more reactive version. During functional movements and sports, the core has to respond, not simply work in and from a passive position. This exercise will teach you to respond and react by creating stability and stiffness. To do it, start by moving the hips up and down slowly. Then “jump” up so the feet lift from the floor. When you land, you instantly want to stick the landing in a regular tight plank position. When you’ve got this down, jump and land in a rotated position, switching sides from rep to rep. To be explosive you have to be able to go from ON to OFF and back to ON again. The faster you can go from active to relaxed, and from relaxed to tight, the better it is for your athletic ability. Master this and your performance will increase. 2 – The Bulletproof Side Plank This is the plank’s forgotten sidekick. That’s not good because too much focus on the front side of the body (by doing only regular planks) will lead to a big gap in your core strength. Without directly loading the sides, you’ll leave a hole in your performance. You’ve probably never done REAL side planks. I can say this because I’ve watched hundred of athletes do them and they all compensate, rotate, and/or flex their hips. Why? Because their core muscles are weak in this area. Most people struggle with the bulletproof side plank in the beginning because it forces you to use the right muscles. It’s simply hard to cheat this exercise! With the bulletproof side plank, your heels, butt, and shoulders must be touching the wall. Your elbow can be placed a bit out from the wall for stability. The head will preferably touch, but if you have neck issues it can remain wherever it’s most comfortable. The first step is to be able to hold the position for at least 30 seconds. When this is mastered, add lateral movement as shown in the video. This is a great way to train the lateral core and hip strength and stability. 3 – Dumbbell Core Rotation Once you’ve mastered the moves above, you’re ready for rotations. Rotation – and the ability to be its master – is the foundation for athletic performance and a healthy body. Most injuries and compensations happen because force is “leaking out” in movements. This leaking is often a result of training mainly in the sagittal and frontal plane. For example, if you only train squats, deadlifts, lunges and side lunges, you set yourself up for failure. These are all good, but without a strong focus on rotation you self-sabotage your performance. Training rotation will automatically train and teach anti-rotation as well, especially if you’re turning up the volume (the speed of execution). To do the exercise, stand upright with a dumbbell in each hand, placed in a neutral hammer, curl-like position. From here, start to swing the dumbbells from side to side in a circular motion. The point is to accelerate, decelerate, and re-accelerate with the whole body and core engaged. The great thing about it? It instantly teaches the importance of where the rotation force is coming from – the feet. A common cause of many problems is a lack of proper “rooting” of the feet. This exercise will reveal it. You can either do this exercise with a “core” focus, which means you’ll mainly focus on the abs/low back area, or you can integrate more hips in the movement. In the former version, the feet are locked on the ground at all times. In the latter version, you allow your heels to come off the ground, creating movement throughout the balls of your feet. Obviously your whole body is working in both versions, but you can direct the focus where you need it. Start with feet locked in. 4 – The Athletic Landmine
Origin: 5 Violent Core Exercises