The abdominals are a group of muscles--together called the "abs"--and their development is a coveted prize and goal of fitness training. The abdominal group also serves as the pillar of movement and must be well trained for you to excel in sporting activities. The visible "six pack" is the outer unit of the core and can only be as strong as the inner unit of smaller muscles allows them to be. Properly sequence your abdominal training to ensure you're fully prepared.
Step 1
Develop your ability to breathe properly to first activate the inner unit musculature. Breathing stimulates the smaller fixators that must activate before any movement of the extremities. Practice breathing low and slow through your nose by lying on your back, placing one hand on your belly button and one on your chest and beginning to inhale. The hand atop your belly button should rise directly toward the ceiling, and the hand on your chest should not move.
Step 2
Challenge your rotational stability while lying on your back. Try the dead bug exercise, says Patrick Ward of Optimum Sports Performance. Begin lying on your back with your arms and legs off the floor, hands directly above the shoulders and knees above the hips. Straighten and lower your left leg and right arm to the floor while breathing easily. Return to the starting position and repeat up to nine more times before beginning on the opposite side.
Step 3
Improve your abdominal endurance against gravity using bridging exercises. Position yourself face down with your weight supported on your elbows, forearms and your toes. Hold this prone bridge position for up to 60 seconds and repeat up to two more times.
Step 4
Establish a firm lateral foundation using the lateral bridge exercise. Begin on your side and lift yourself on your elbow and the side of your foot. Hold for up to 60 seconds and repeat on both sides up to two times.
Step 5
Practice transition to standing using the get-up, a surefire way to develop great abdominal function, says physical therapist Gray Cook. Begin lying on your back holding a kettlebell directly above your shoulder at arm's length in your right arm and your right leg bent, foot flat on the floor. Crunch up and across your body to position your weight on your left elbow, then hand. Push your right leg into the floor to lift your hips from the ground and sweep the left leg underneath you to a kneeling position. Stand up and reverse the steps to return to lying on your back. Perform two more get-ups and then repeat on your left side.
Step 6
Finish your core training in standing position using the tornado ball halo; a tornado ball is a medicine ball on a rope. Stand in an athletic position with your knees and hips slightly bent holding the far end of the rope attached to the tornado ball. Swirl your hands around your head like drawing a halo, while accelerating the ball in a clockwise direction. As the ball moves faster, be sure to attempt to prevent spinal motion. Continue the exercise for up to 60 seconds before resting. Repeat two times clockwise, and do three in the counterclockwise direction.
Tips and Warnings
- Increase the challenge to your abdominals by spending more time holding positions or increasing the weight of the implement. Spend as much time as necessary to ensure a strong command of a step before moving onto the next challenging step to reduce risk of injury.
Things You'll Need
- Kettlebell
- Floor space
- Stopwatch
- Tornado ball
References
- "Experimental Brain Research"; Feedforward Activity of the Cervical Flexor Muscles During Voluntary Arm Movements is Delayed in Chronic Neck Pain; Greg Jull, Ph.D. and Paul Hodges, PT; July 2004
- Optimum Sports Performance: Breathing Patterns-Part 3; Patrick Ward, MS; April 2010
- "The Ultimate Back: Enhancing Performance"; Stuart McGill, Ph.D.; 2010
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