We all dream of 6 pack abs or at least having a flat stomach, but we rarely dream of having a strong mid-section.
But are we prepared to put in the work to see those sexy abs?
A strong core is an easily attainable thing.
Following a good program with regular challenges and progressions will help build core strength fast.
Exercises like planks, bear crawls, dead bugs, Turkish getups, medicine ball work, roll outs and kettlebell swings are some of the best ones we use at Fit Faster Performance.
This stuff builds a very strong core with consistent training and regularly making the exercise harder.
Why is it important?
It helps keep good posture, keeps you standing tall, limits the chance of injury and makes physical jobs around the house or workplace much easier to deal with.
Most importantly, it makes you feel strong in your body and feeling strong builds confidence and leaves you feeling good.
There’s a few things to maximize your core training.
1 – You gotta squeeze your abs.
Pull your belly button to your spine or brace them as if someone is going to punch you in the stomach.
2 – You gotta sync your breath to the movement.
If you breathe in before you squeeze your abs, you’ll be able to create more tension than if you breathe out or are just breathing normally.
3 – You gotta squeeze your butt muscles hard.
Your glutes are the biggest stabilizer muscle in the body, so learning to switch them on and use them properly will build your core strength faster than anything.
Butt it’s hard work. They may not have been used this way before or for a long time, so the brain has to learn how to fire the muscle again.
We all go through this process. When you can make your butt muscles dance in time to the music, you’ve got it sussed.
4 – You gotta create tension through the whole body.
Squeeze your hands tight, pull your shoulders down and back and squeeze your quads, abs and glutes tight.
5 – You may even need to stretch out your hip flexors before you do core work.
Tight hip flexors can limit how much of the core and the glutes are able to switch on. That’s why we do so much stretching in our warm ups.
6 – If your diet is made up of crap foods, your muscles, tendons and ligaments will be made of crap.
In this case, the tissues will not stretch or strengthen in the way they are supposed to. This can limit results and increase the risk of injury. I know this one from experience.
Inflammatory foods can also shut down function of the core and make it harder to get the muscles to fire properly.
If you really want to see your abs, you have to be willing to stick at a disciplined diet for a considerable amount of time.
No amount of exercise will be able to burn off all the extra fat.
Diet must be addressed consistently.
This means limiting junk food, alcohol and other liquid calories, eating mostly fresh produce, lean meats, wild caught fish, free range egg and getting as much organic food as you can to limit the amount of pesticides consumed.
Basics work best. Just do the basics consistently.
There is no magic formula and each of our bodies are different, but follow our advice and you’ll see the magic happen in your body.
