Wednesday, May 22, 2013

"COW" Workout

Once again it's time for your Core Of the Week workout, specifically designed to help improve your overall core strength; leading to better balance, and better athletic performance.

"In anatomy, the core refers, in it's most general of definitions, to the body minus the legs and arms"

Your core provides the foundation for human movement.  A weak core (all the muscles around your trunk and pelvis) can lead to low back pain, poor posture, and even injury.  It can also limit your ability to perform maximal performance in sports and normal daily activities.  However, a properly trained core will lead to better balance, more strength and even more speed in your training.

Your core muscles are just like any other muscle, if you train them everyday it can lead to too much stress and eventually it can breakdown the tissues causing injury.  Just as you wouldn't train your leg muscles 5 days a week, you don;t want (or need to) train your core muscles 5 days a week either.  I like to recommend 3 days a week for the average person and 4 days a week for a more trained athlete.  It's also beneficial to train your core muscles every other day, rather than 3 or 4 days in a row.  Remember, you want those muscles fresh each time you work them so they can get stronger and provide the stability to move athletically.

Here is another good workout to strengthen those core muscles.  You'll challenge the muscles in different planes of movement and target each area for a complete workout.  It would be best to perform this workout at the end of your strength workout or on a rest day between upper/lower body strength days.

Complete each exercise for 30 seconds, followed by 15 seconds of rest between each exercise.  When finished with all exercises, rest 1-2 minutes and repeat 2-3 more times.  Total workout time should be roughly 20 minutes.

AB Wheel Rollouts
Barbell Pull/Push Rotation
Captain's Chair Bicycle Crunch
1-Arm Cable Rotation
Swiss Ball Pikes
Decline Bench Circle Crunches
Side Plank with 1-Arm Row

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