I get the questions all the time: “What can I do to get a
six pack?” or “Can you give me some extra ab work?” So I’m going to let you in on one of the
reasons that Warrior Performance Gym’s athletes (everybody that trains here is
an athlete) have unrivaled core strength in Lenawee County.
To start, let’s get an understanding of what your core
consists of. Your core, or torso as some
may call it, ranges from above the knees to below the shoulders. That means your hips and lats are part of
your core. Now, not only are they part
of your core, but they are extremely strong pillars of your core. So get rid of that mindset that your abdomen makes up your core. Yes, they
are a part of it, but only one piece to the puzzle.
Next, let’s also change the mindset from “how the core looks”
to “how the core performs.” So many people are worried about having a six
pack. The truth is that a six pack is
attained through good genetics, good diet, and good metabolic conditioning. It
is not attained through an overload of crunches. So in essence, your six pack could arrive if
you worry about the factors that influence body fat rather than doing more
crunches. Now back to “how the core
performs.” The primary purpose of your
core is something called mid-line stabilization.
What this means is that the muscles in your core keep everything in line
and acts as a solid base to transfer energy.
If you think of an electrical current, the electricity can’t flow
properly if there is a short or break in the line. This is why a strong core is so
important. Transferring energy or power
is what both athletics and life are all about.
Joe DeFranco, an extremely well respected strength and conditioning
coach, has said: “It doesn’t matter if you have a strong lower or upper body if
you have a marshmallow in the middle.”
This is a great way of explaining the importance of your core.
So now that we know the function of your core: how do we
train it to be efficient? When we take
into account the considerations that we just talked about above, you have to look for
movements that either train stabilization or help transfer power. The movements that can meet both of these
criteria are the best for workout efficiency.
That being said, there are a lot of movements that can do both of
these. At Warrior Performance Gym we are
firm believers that the best overall core movement is the Overhead Squat. The reason is simple: in just this one
movement you have to incorporate shoulder and mid-line stabilization while at
the same time transferring force through your lower body to stand up. You have to do all of these things while
maintaining the stabilization (not to mention the great amount of mobility you
will have when performing this movement properly). If you take a look in the picture below (it
is a much heavier weight than our typical athletes are going to do, but same concept)
I am having to stabilize the weight overhead and keep my core tight in order to
squat the weight down and drive it back up.
If at any time I relax, I am going to miss the rep.
If you look at athletics, when you run, jump, swing, skate,
and throw, you are always producing force through the ground to create
movement. The good athletes lose very
little of that force as it transfers from the ground through the core (hips)
and on to the upper body to propel your movement. These are the most efficient and explosive
athletes, who then are going to have the most success in their sport. What this does NOT mean is that you have to have a six pack to have a
strong core. Many people that have six
packs have very weak core muscles and would struggle to perform an overhead
squat.
Now, before you go out and start performing overhead squats
you should be able do the following movements properly in this order and use
proper exercise progression:
- · Body Weight Squat
- · Goblet Squat
- · Overhead Squat with broomstick/PVC Pipe
- · Overhead Squat with light barbell
- · Overhead Squat with regular barbell
- · Overhead Squat with weight
Other great movements that you can do that help train
midline stabilization while also transferring force are: the Olympic Lifts
(Cleans, Jerks, Snatches and their many variations), Front Squat, Back Squats,
Lunges, Push Up variations, Barbell Bent-Over Rows, Inverted Rows, Various
Medicine Ball throws, etc. Anything that
requires you to have a tight core in order to perform the movement in an
efficient manner is great for training your core. (Again, proper movement progression should be
used. Sacrifice in form to increase
weight or difficulty is not acceptable.)
So if you want to have a strong core and reduce your risk of
injury, all while increasing your power and strength levels and making your
body more efficient, come and check out our various programs that we offer at
Warrior Performance Gym to help take you to the next level.
NOTE TO READER:
We still do traditional core movements like sit ups, planks, leg raises, etc.,
we just put more of an emphasis on our main core movements and use these others
as assistive movements.
TRAIN WITH PASSION,
TRAIN FOR LIFE!
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