When I trained at the gym back in my teens, I had no idea what Core Training meant or even understood the importance of it since all I knew back then was if you were to develop abs you had to do hundreds of crunches, that's really all I did for my abs. Although I did lift and all that, I rarely ever focused on the abs or obliques. Paid a price for it a time or two. When I transitioned to Bodyweight Exercises, it became very clear that there was more to Core Training than just upper abs, lower abs, obliques and lower back individually. They needed to be trained as a unit in order to perform better.
My first taste of really tackling those muscles was the bridging from Combat Conditioning and from there, I started gaining strength and flexibility in that area. I got Combat Abs and was learning the basic exercises from there, the next course I used in Core Training was Gymnastic Abs that Ed Baran put out which became a favorite. It had some cool stuff and really helped strengthen areas I was lacking from the others. It kept going from there.
One of the things that really tested my Core Strength and flexibility was doing the Bridging Gymnastics where you would fall back into a bridge, kick over and kick back. I was never into the Human Flag or those crazy barstarzz workouts but the Bridging Gymnastics was pretty fun to do. At a point in time, I was doing workouts 2-3x a week where I would do kickovers and flipping back on my head and hands in the bridge up to I think 30 reps in a workout and that was exhausting as hell. I stopped after a while and moved onto more of the Power Wheel, Ab Isometrics and Animal Movements.
Over the last few years, training the Core comes and goes and I'll do things like Bridging, V-Ups, various holds, the Ab Wheels to the point where I managed to do one standing rollout and back (haven't been able to do it since so maybe it's time to train that again), farmer's carries and hoisting up the 50 lb sandbell many times. I don't train necessarily for a 6 pack (not really my thing) but for function and resilient to injury as much as possible. One workout I've done on a few occasions is a Tabata Style Isometric workout that I learned from the Red Delta Project which you can find here...It's intense and it's only 4 minutes long. Another that I tried out was not only just as intense but I did it a little differently to make it interesting.....
It's based on the Gymnastic Abs exercises I learned and made them into a Tabata Workout with a 1 min finisher. It's very simple and you can do them in the beginning stages or advanced, depending on where you are.
Hollow Body Hold for 20 seconds
Rest 10
Side Plank (Start whatever side you want) for 20 seconds
Rest 10
Arch Body Hold for 20 seconds
Rest 10
Side Plank (Opposite side) for 20 seconds
Rest 10
Repeat this 1 more time for a total of 4 minutes. The finisher is 1 minute of V-Ups using as good form as possible on the reps. If you have the control, keep the legs as straight as possible with little to no bend in the knees and arms straight overhead. All together, this really is a 5 minute workout you can do practically anywhere and gives you a Core quite a kick. This is great if you're short on time or want something done quick before whatever it is you're doing. If you're ambitious and have enough strength, do the Iso Holds and V-Ups but add in the Gymnastic Bridge to really stretch the abs, spine and everything else. Just hold as long as you can even if its for less than 10 seconds, add 1-5 seconds per workout until you can do a minute or more. Including rest time, you can get a complete Core Workout in under 10 minutes. If you have progressed to more advanced holds and movements, work them in or do a workout on their own. It's up to you.
Hundreds of Crunches & Sit-Ups can get boring and some exercises can put a damper on your spine and neck so utilize Holds & Movements that help strengthen those areas instead of hurting them. A strong Core doesn't need to be a 6 pack, but strong enough to take a hit and/or perform better with all your other exercises along with resistant to injury. Having a bad back is no joke I've been there and it can be painful as hell and it becomes much more common as we get older, train your abs with intensity beyond just the muscles, strengthen the lower back, obliques and groin area (save the jokes). You don't need to do hundreds of reps of an exercise unless you have a goal in mind.
Build that Core, stay strong and keep being amazingly awesome. Looking for workout ideas to build your abs? Check out the Darebee Ab Workouts for FREE!!! Some of the best exercises for building Core Strength is from Movement 20XX from Vahva Fitness.
