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FUZO
08-13-2014, 11:25 AM
Core Training 101: Overview, Benefits, and Best Exercises

This article was originally posted on http://www.fitnessgeared.com/forum its a FUZO original

Conditioning the abdomen and lower back muscles has had many names during the last few decades. As far as Fitness Geared forums can remember, in the 80s we remember it being called “abdominal training” or “ab work”. There wasn’t much attention given on the lower back because we put all our focus on the mirror front muscles. Then during the late 90s — and even up to now — we call it “core training”, which now includes the importance of the lower back.
So what is core training anyway, and why is everyone going crazy about it? Well, let’s find out.
Core Training Overview

Your midsection that is commonly referred to as the core includes all the muscles in the front, back, and sides. In anatomical terms, we’re talking about the transverse abdominis, erector spinae, obliques, and lower lats. These work as stabilizers in your entire body.
In essence, core training is doing specific exercises to develop and strengthen these muscles. Just like any other muscle in your body, if any of these core muscles are weak, it will affect the rest of your body. For exmaple, weak core strength can result in lower back pain. Weak core muscles can also affect your posture or daily activities such as walking and running.
With that, core training is something that everyone must do, not just bodybuilders or those looking to look good. Not only will it help with a person’s athletic performance, but will also help in life’s everyday tasks. Think about it — you are bending, twisting, and reaching almost every day, all of which require your stabilizer muscles to work. Ever get hurt doing any of those movements? It’s probably because your core isn’t strong enough.
Core Training for Athletes and Bodybuilders

Staying healthy is key for athletes. The last thing a coach wants is for their athlete to blow out their back by picking up a weight on the floor, or by simply moving around on the field. With a strong core, these unfortunate instances can be avoided.
Having a strong core is very important for performance athletes, but so do bodybuilders. With all the squatting, deadlifting, overhead pressing, and rowing that bodybuilders do, having a strong core is very essential. Handling the poundages necessary for building mass requires a very strong midsection if a bodybuilder wants to stay healthy. The heavier the weights get over time, the more and more the core needs to work in order to support the body. Imagine going for a personal record in deadlifts and your lower back muscles give out halfway through your first rep. Ouch.
And of course, the other reason why bodybuilders need to prioritize core training is for the beloved six pack. By doing core exercises that hit every angle, one can expect to get plenty of attention at the beach or a lot of cheers at the bodybuilding stage.
Core Training Myths

A lot of people think that working out their abs is the solution to fixing their fat midsection.
Wrong.
In order for a human being to see abs, the solution is in the diet, not the training. The only way for someone to see six-pack abs in their stomach is if they lower their body fat, and this is done by following an eating plan that puts your body in a calorie deficit. Only by doing this will your body start to shed off a few pounds of fat from the midsection.
Core training is just that, to strengthen the core muscles. If people spent more time eating better as opposed to doing more ab exercises, there’d be more people in this world walking around with six-packs.
Another myth is on core stability itself. Ever see someone standing on a bosu ball while barbell squatting? Well that’s because they think that doing that “exercise” works on core stability. Again, wrong. It’s just plain stupid and dumb to do such thing. Trying to stabilize your core on an unstable surface is like trying to cure cancer with cancer. The best way to strengthen the core is by hitting it from all angles, whether it’s by doing flexion, extension, lateral flexion, anti-flexion, anti-extension, and anti-rotational exercises. Not by standing on an unstable surface.
Best Core Training Exercises

So what exercises are good for your core?
Well, as mentioned above it’s best to hit the core from every angle possible. Too many people just do crunches alone thinking that they’ll strengthen their abs and see a six-pack. Big mistake. There’s too many muscles in your core to only be doing a single-dimensional exercise.
There are a lot of great core exercises out there for us to list out, but in addition to doing the big lifts like squats, deadlifts, and overhead presses, other ancillary core exercises such as below are great:

•Romanian deadlifts
•Farmers walks
•Suitcase carries
•Planks
•Leg raises (hanging or on the ground)
•Side bends
•Oblique crunches
•Jackknife sit-ups
•Bear crawls
•Woodchops

The list goes on and on. The key to core training is to keep it simple and not overcomplicate it. Do what’s effective, not what looks cool. You’re at the gym to work out, not to perform circus acts.

zedhed
08-16-2014, 12:46 PM
Core work.....important and will def help you on every other lift you do not to mention that it will add to your raw strength.
Most peeps fail to realize that Back Squats, Front Squats and Dead Lifts are major core exceriszes.
You can do them for raw brute strength or for endurance or somewhere in the middle. You can mix them up in a circuit too.
Now here is one that I do that I would bet 3, 30mg vials of Tren E that none of you do or have even heard of.

METCONS! This from a buddy of mine that happens to be a pro baller. He be a BIG boy too.

1. Dumbell or kettel bell swings, 10 each arm. 50 LB min weight. Full swings from behind your legs to where your arm is 45° to the floor.
2. Pullups, 10 reps from a dead hang.
3. Burpees, 12 full reps.

Now the killer is that you go ALL OUT AS HARD AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN GO for 10 full minutes.
These are designed for pure CORE power and extremely intense metabolic conditioning and they work.
You WILL notice a big difference in 2 weeks of doing them 3x/week. A very viable difference.
If you do it right you will notice that midway thru you will feel like you wanna barf up a lung and that your heart feels like its gonna explode. Yes you will puke into the puddles of sweat on the floor.
No rest between excersizes other then how fast it takes you to run from one to the next.
I have a vid of me giving everything I have into these I will see if I can find it and link it.
Remember Im 53...
If you wanna have some real fun give this a shot. It will only take once to see if you "like" em or not. But it will be an experience that you will not soon forget.
:cool:

Ironguruera
08-17-2014, 01:09 AM
Zed I don't question for a second that's brutal and nearly a sure fire puke fest!

I'll stick to dragon flags and decline bench ....fuck all that noise.

Sounds like some shit my buddy would make clients do.....while he ate his meals In front of them lmao. !

Dragon flags are also an amazing move but u have to have a decent damn core to be able to pull them Off. Dragon flags are the signature sly Stallone ab move from rocky 4. When he lowers his legs to almost touching the bench then brings his feet high up with only shoulders resting on the bench. Bring arms overhead to hold the bench. Thers a video of sly still doing them. He is jacked as hell!

Decline bench arms over head full sit up with medicine ball or weight plate is a great one. Boxer buddy showed me these. He would use a medicine ball and hand off the ball at the full contraction portion of the sit up. I just keep repping out without handing it off.

Did twisting decline bench full range sit-ups other day superset with straight up and down crunches. Can u say ab spasms!! Really dug the twisting several times while going up and down. Really worked my sides and really tightens up my core fast!