The modern plague of bad ab workouts Weak abdominals and other core muscles abound in modern society. It seems like almost everyone wants to build up their core and make their abs pop.
Granted, some of that desire is the misguided attempt to reduce belly fat, for which core training plays a relatively minor role. Aside from that, there's still a vast, and unsatisfied demand for more strength in the midsection. There are whole books dedicated to core training, and gyms often have some variation
of a core class. All of this pent-up demand points to a simple truth: that most abs workouts suck! If they didn't, we wouldn't be constantly searching for new core workouts, books, and various gadgets.
The good news is that it doesn't take much to train your abs effectively. You don't need 20 different core exercises. You also don't need to endure hundreds of reps that make your abs burn with the mild intensity of an Easy-Bake Oven. All you need to do is improve your tension control and crank up the resistance until your abs burn hotter than a blow torch.
Tension control phase exercises for the flexion chain Poor abdominal tension control is the number one reason why many ab workouts suck. You can do all of the planks, crunches, and leg raises you to want, but nothing will come of it if your brain has trouble stuffing your abs with tension. The good news is that once you improve your tension control, even a modest core workout will become supremely effective.
This classic yoga technique is one of the best abdominal tension control
exercises there is. The top "cat" position makes it easy to crunch and wake up your abdominals. The real challenge is maintaining abdominal tension as you go into the "cow" position as you extend your spine. Keeping even a little tension in your elongated abs can be very hard and will probably take some practice. Thankfully, the cat-cow exercise is easy enough to do every day, which I highly recommend. Not only does daily practice help improve tension control, but it also helps mobilize your spine and releases stress in the back.
This isometric technique uses a bit more resistance than the cat-cow exercise. Start off sitting on the floor with your legs straight in front of you and press your fingertips into the floor just above your knees. As you press down into your fingers, gently try to lift your feet off the floor. Don’t worry if you can’t lift your heels off the floor just yet, it’s not necessary to do so to get the tension flowing in your flexion chain.
Unlike the cat-cow exercise, this technique includes all of the muscles along your flexion chain especially the muscles in your hips and the top of your legs. I like this exercise because it’s easy to practice daily. Stand about a
foot away from a counter or table and place your hands flat with your palms down. Press your hands downward using isometric tension in your arms, shoulders, abs, and hips. You may also find it’s more effective to pick up the front of your feet to improve the tension in your shins and quads. Stability phase exercises for the flexion chain Crawling is one of the best total body stability exercises you can do. It
requires stability throughout every joint in your body while maintaining a tight core to prevent excessive lateral motion with each step.
The most natural form of crawling is to move right into a bent-knee variation of the cat-cow exercise. Start in the cat position and drive your toes into the floor to lift your knees about three inches. From there, step with your hands and feet to move forward, backward and side to side while keeping your back level to the ground. You can progress any crawling exercise by taking bigger steps with your
hands and feet. The bigger the steps, the more stability and strength you'll need through each transition. You also don't have to move along the floor with crawling moves. Just rema Just remain in place and pick each hand or foot off the
floor for a couple of seconds. Strength phase exercises for the flexion chain I always recommend starting light with these exercises, especially if you're finding your abdominal tension control is somewhat lacking. Poor flexion chain tension control is easy to work around with a compromised exercise technique. A lot of people and even many athletes can do advanced core exercises, yet they hardly feel it in their abs due to the compensation of other muscles. Always remember that muscle tension is what makes your workouts effective, not whether or not you can move your body in an advanced way. An "easy" exercise that fills your muscles with tension will always be much more effective than an advanced exercise that uses compensation.
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