1. Deadlifts
“Wait a second, that’s not an ab exercise?”
Exactly. Many people think of the “core” as their “six pack muscles” on the front of their midsection.
We want to be strong ALL AROUND our midsection. Think of a thick belt wrapped around your waist.
Back exercise 👑
2. Extended Range Sit Ups
Deadlifts are a trunk extension exercise. They work the lower back hard!
Here we have the opposite, a trunk flexion exercise.
This targets the “six pack” muscles, the rectus abdominals.
Can start with regular sit ups of course.
3. Weighted Side Bends
1 & 2 covered bending & extending, but they were straight up and down.
Side bending targets another plane of motion, and hits the obliques and QL’s very nicely.
Switch hands & do both sides of course 👍.
4. Downward Cable Rotations
These get our pelvis and torso twisting and separating.
This is our 4th movement.
We had:
1) Extending
2) Flexing
3) Side bending
4) Rotating
I like setting these up so that you’re in a similar pattern to the transition in the swing.
Sets, Reps, Frequency?
For deadlifts, I never go above 5. They become difficult from a cardiovascular & metabolic standpoint because so much muscle mass is working so hard.
For the others, anywhere from 5 to 8 reps per set is my preference.
Just like any other exercise 2-3 hard sets, 1-3 x week, works great.
You can include one or two of these exercises in each workout.
The big mistake people with “core” training is doing high rep low force output exercises for “the burn”.
Treat them like other strength exercises.
