Core Exercises and Core training has been a popular topic for years.
Trends have had us doing thousands of crunches, balancing on balls, shocking ourselves and a myriad of television gimmicks.
The truth is that our trunk, core, abdominal wall or whatever you want to call it, ties our upper and lower body together.
It stabilizes, supports, transfers energy and helps us move efficiently.
While the rest of the world is still obsessed with sit ups, crunches and planks, we understand that there are a lot of other ways to challenge and train our core.
7 Best Core Exercises
1. Sandbag Carries
Carrying a heavy sandbag in your arms forces you to stand tall and resist collapsing forward. This is a simple, yet effective way to improve strength throughout the arms, back, abdominal wall, and hips.
2. Single Arm XT Row
Using the Jungle Gym XT, we simply lean back, resist rotation and pull our thumb to our armpit. Similar to other rows, but the anti-rotation aspect really challenges the core.
3. Single Kettlebell Rack Carry
Having the kettlebell on one side adds another level of difficulty. Stand tall and do not allow the body to shift, tilt or compensate with the asymmetrical load. Your sides will be working on this one.
4. Chain Pull
Starting in a push up position, with a chain looped around a bucket, we simply reach out and pull the chain towards us. Avoid a lot of movement with the hips/legs and this will challenge the core like no other.
5. Barrel Push/Pull
Two heavy barrels are side by side. Assume a good athletic position in front of the barrels, place one hand on each barrel lid, and then push one and pull the other. This one is a killer!
6. Chain Sidewinder
Similar to the sidewinder exercise with the heavy ropes, we found that using the chain added a little more resistance and forced us to move as well. This exercise is smooth and incredibly tough.
7. Sandbag Rotational Lunge
This lunge variation has a lot going on, but has quickly become one of our favorites. The sandbag is propelled forward by our hips and the core has to support, resist rotation and assist in the movement. Great great great exercises for athletes.
Improving our abdominal wall doesn’t have to be boring and should progressively become more difficult. Our bodies are incredible at adapting and changing to the stimulus we provide.
With a little science and creativity, we are able to safely create workouts to fit anyone’s ability level and goals as you just read with the 7 best core exercises.
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I love these. My core is always so sore after these exercises! I never liked doing crunches!
The last three exercises are super cool. The push and pull with the barrels I haven’t done yet, but they seem very difficult. As for the sidewinders and rotational lunges, they just look dope and will work you for sure.