Tag: training
Five Must-Do Exercises for A Bigger Bench Press
The barbell bench press is arguably the most popular strength training exercise on the planet. Almost everyone who lifts weights includes bench presses in their workouts. When you get two lifters together, invariably, one will ask the other, “Bro, how much can you bench?”
Bodybuilders do bench presses to build chest size, while athletes do them to increase upper-body pushing strength. As well as being a popular muscle and strength-building exercise, the bench press is one of the lifts contested in powerlifting and is occasionally featured in strongman events.
Regardless of why you bench press, most exercisers want to know the secret to lifting more weight. After all, a big bench press can win you major bragging rights. Learn the average bench press by age, weight, gender, and experience level here.
In this article, we share five must-do bench press-boosting accessory exercises.
Five Key Exercises for Boosting Your Bench Press
Has your bench press progress ground to a halt? Do you want to put more plates on the bar? Do you want to score a new bench press one-repetition maximum?
We hear you!
Supplement your bench press workouts with the following must-do assistance exercises.
1. Close grip bench press
Muscles targeted: Triceps, pectoralis major, anterior deltoids.
While bench presses are classed as a chest exercise, your triceps are also heavily involved. In fact, because of their smaller size, the triceps usually fatigue and fail before the pecs during heavy or high-rep bench presses.
Benching with a narrower-than-standard grip means your triceps must work harder than usual. This extra overload should carry over and boost your bench press performance.
Steps:
Lie on the bench with your eyes directly under the barbell.
Hold the bar with an overhand shoulder-width grip or slightly narrower. Pull your shoulders down and back, brace your core, and plant your feet firmly on the floor.
Unrack the bar and hold it over your chest.
Bend your arms and lower the bar to lightly touch your chest.
Drive the bar back up and repeat.
Benefits:
Boosts triceps strength.
Builds a stronger lockout.
More shoulder-friendly than parallel bar dips.
Tips:
Avoid “bodybuilder-style” close grip bench presses where your thumbs are touching. These can cause shoulder, elbow, and wrist problems.
This exercise works best with moderate to heavy weights and low to medium reps, e.g., sets of 4-8.
Lower the bar under control and then drive it up explosively.
Read more on close grip bench press and alternatives.
2. Paused bench press
Muscles targeted: Pectoralis major, anterior deltoids, triceps.
There are several performance-boosting reasons to do paused bench presses. Firstly, they break the eccentric/concentric stretch-shortening reflex, making each rep harder. You’ll need to work MUCH harder to drive the weight up and off your chest. Next, they teach you to be more explosive, so you can blast the bar through your sticking points. Finally, it’s the best way to eliminate bouncing the bar off your chest, which, frankly, is cheating!
Steps:
Lie on the bench with your eyes directly under the barbell.
Hold the bar with a wider-than-shoulder-width overhand grip. Pull your shoulders down and back, brace your core, and plant your feet firmly on the floor.
Unrack the bar and hold it over your chest.
Bend your arms and lower the bar to lightly touch your chest. Do not relax or let out your breath.
Pause for 1-5 seconds.
Drive the bar back up to arm’s length and repeat as necessary.
Benefits:
Good for developing speed and power off your chest.
Keeps each rep honest by eliminating bouncing.
Teaches you how to stay tight and grind out hard reps.
Tips:
Vary the length of your pauses from one second up to five seconds per rep.
Keep your reps relatively low – 3-6 per set is ideal.
Don’t go too heavy too soon; pauses make weights feel much heavier.
3. Floor press
Muscles targeted: Pectoralis major, triceps, anterior deltoids.
A lot of benchers struggle with their lockout. They have no problem getting the bar up and off their chests but are often unable to complete their rep. This is why you should always bench press with a spotter on hand or in a power rack. Floor presses emphasize the last stage of the bench press and can help you improve your lockout strength. As an added benefit, floor presses are also very shoulder-friendly and ideal for banged-up bodybuilders and powerlifters.
Steps:
Set up your barbell in a squat rack set to about knee height or slightly higher.
Lie on the floor with your eyes directly beneath the bar.
Hold the bar with a wider-than-shoulder-width overhand grip. Pull your shoulders down and back, brace your core, and plant your feet firmly on the floor.
Unrack the weight and hold it over your chest.
Bend your arms and lower the bar toward your chest until your triceps lightly touch the floor.
Drive the bar back up and repeat.
Benefits:
Builds a stronger lockout.
Increases triceps size and strength.
Very shoulder friendly.
Tips:
You can also do this exercise with a close grip to increase triceps engagement.
Try this exercise with bent or straight legs to see which you prefer.
You can also do floor presses with dumbbells:
Read more on Floor Press.
4. Wide grip bench press
Muscles targeted: Pectoralis major, anterior deltoids, triceps.
While the triceps are a common weak link in the bench press, weak pecs could also be holding you back. After all, the pectoralis major is the agonist or prime mover during bench presses. Wide grip bench presses deemphasize your triceps, so your pecs have to work harder. This is also an excellent chest-building exercise.
Steps:
Lie on the bench with your eyes directly under the barbell.
Hold the bar so your hands are 3-6 inches wider than your regular bench press grip.
Pull your shoulders down and back, brace your core, and plant your feet firmly on the floor.
Unrack the bar and hold it over your chest.
Bend your arms and lower the bar to lightly touch your chest.
Drive the bar back up to arm’s length and repeat as necessary.
Benefits:
Increases strength and power off your chest.
Good for building bigger pecs.
Reduces your range of motion.
Tips:
Combine this exercise with paused reps for a more intense chest workout.
You can also do this exercise with dumbbells if preferred.
Reduce the weight on the bar; this exercise is more strenuous than it looks!
5. Push-ups
Muscles targeted: Pectoralis major, anterior deltoids, triceps.
The humble push-up might seem like an unlikely way to boost your bench press, but it’s actually one of the best exercises you can do. Push-ups work the same muscles as bench presses, but they’re not as systemically fatiguing, so you can accumulate a ton of volume without detracting from your bench press workouts. Plus, you can modify push-ups to replicate close grip, wide grip, and paused bench presses, so you can do your must-do bench press assistance exercises at home. Bench pressers in the know do LOTS of push-ups!
Steps:
Kneel on all fours and place your hands roughly shoulder-width apart, fingers pointing forward. Pull your shoulders out and back, and brace your core.
Walk your feet out and back so your body is straight.
Bend your arms and lower your chest down to within an inch of the floor.
Drive yourself back up and repeat.
Benefits:
Easy to modify and adapt to suit all strength levels.
Very functional and shoulder-friendly.
You can do push-ups anywhere and anytime, making them the perfect excuse-free bench press assistance exercise.
Tips:
Bring your hands in to emphasize your triceps, or move them out to work your chest more.
Raise your feet to put more weight on your hands. Alternatively, use a weighted vest or resistance band behind your back.
Put your hands on yoga blocks or use push-up handles to increase your range of motion and the difficulty of this exercise.
Bigger Bench Press – FAQs
Do you have a question about training for a stronger bench press? No sweat because we’ve got all the answers!
1. How often should I do bench presses?
To get good at something, you need to practice doing it, including the bench press. So, while a lot of lifters bench press just once a week, usually on a Monday, you’ll improve faster if you hit the bench twice or even three times a week.
However, you should avoid doing so much bench pressing per workout that you’re tired for your next session. Instead, focus on quality rather than quantity.
You should also rotate bench press variations to avoid overuse injuries, plateaus, and boredom, and it’s also a good idea to vary the intensity level and set/rep scheme from one workout to the next.
For example:
Monday
Bench press – 5 sets of 3 reps
Wide grip bench press – 2 sets of 8 reps
Push-ups – 2 sets of 30 reps
Wednesday
Paused bench press – 4 sets of 5 reps
Close grip bench presses – 2 sets of 10 reps
Dumbbell bench press – 2 sets of 12 reps
Friday
Floor press – 4 sets of 8 reps
Bench press – 2 sets of 6 reps
Close-grip push-ups – 2 sets of 25 reps
2. How important is good technique for a bigger bench press?
While brute strength can take you a long way, good bench press technique can add a lot of weight to your lift. Proper bench press form ensures that all your energy goes into the movement and that none is wasted. Tricks like leg drive and elbow tucking vs. flaring can also have a marked impact on your bench press performance.
Good technique is also generally safer and less likely to cause injuries.
It’s beyond the scope of this article to teach you how to bench press correctly, but you’ll find all the information you need here: Bench Press Ultimate Guide
3. How much should I be able to bench press?
Several factors can affect and determine your ultimate bench press performance. For example, long arms and a shallow chest mean you’ll have to lower and lift the weight further than someone with short arms and a barrel chest. As such, some people are built to bench press, while others are not.
Bodyweight, gender, age, and experience can also affect how much weight you can bench press.
That said, there are charts depicting average bench press performance by age and gender, which will tell you how your lifts compare to other people in your demographic.
Check out this article to see how your bench press measures up.
4. Are exercises like triceps pushdowns and skull crushers good bench press assistance exercises?
While pushdowns and skull crushers are great triceps isolation exercises, they may not be the best way to improve your bench press performance. That’s because neither of these exercises works your triceps the way they function during bench presses.
During the bench press, the elbows and shoulders move simultaneously. However, pushdowns, etc., only involve the elbow joint, so they won’t necessarily carry over well to bench presses.
Generally, the best assistance exercises closely replicate the movement you want to improve. That’s why our list of five must-do exercises for a bigger bench press is mostly variations of the bench press.
5. So, I only need to train my chest and triceps for a bigger bench press, right?
While the chest and triceps are the engines that drive your bench press, they don’t work alone. You also need a strong upper back to bench press heavy weights.
During the bench press, muscles including your latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, trapezius, and deltoids, work hard to stabilize your shoulders and shoulder girdle. Any weakness will result in unwanted movement and wasted energy.
As such, as well as training your pecs and triceps, you also need to train your upper back if you want to build a bigger bench press. Good exercises for this purpose include:
Closing Thoughts
The bench press is an emotive exercise, and a lot of lifters want to get better at it. However, good bench press performances don’t happen by accident – you’ll need to train to build a bigger bench press.
The good news is that no matter your current bench press ability, you can improve it. Following a smart, progressive bench press program will help, as will supplementing your workouts with the best bench press assistance exercises. Set some goals, and then crush them.
Include these must-do assistance exercises in your upper body workouts; with time and effort, your bench press will GROW!
Related:
The 9 Best Morning Stretches for Men
Most exercisers have heard the expression “use it or lose it” many times. These five little words describe how your fitness and strength quickly decrease if you discontinue training. While your body will barely register a break of a week or two, skip the gym for three weeks or more, and your muscles will shrink, and you’ll lose strength and conditioning.
Take a long enough break, and your body will eventually end up back where you started – weak and out of shape. Sadly, you cannot store fitness.
The concept of use it or lose also applies to flexibility, which describes the range of movement at a joint or joints. In the same way that your muscles weaken from lack of use, they can also get shorter and tighter. This is especially true for sedentary people who spend long periods sitting.
Tight muscles can have an adverse effect on your performance and appearance. They’re less contractile, pull you into poor posture, and are more prone to injury.
Poor flexibility can even hurt your muscle-building gains. For example, tight pecs will stop you from using such a big range of movement during your chest workout, making your training less effective. Tight quads and hammies will prevent you from squatting to parallel and beyond, robbing you of the leg gains you crave.
The good news is that flexibility is very trainable, and you can restore lost muscle elasticity in less than 15 minutes a day.
In this article, we reveal the best stretches for men, presented to you in an easy-to-follow morning routine.
The Nine Best Morning Stretches for Men
These are the most important stretches for men. Do each one for 30-60 seconds to create a morning stretching routine that takes about 15 minutes to complete. If any of these exercises feel particularly difficult, find time to repeat them elsewhere during your day, as those are the muscles probably that need your attention.
1. Standing arms overhead stretch
Muscles targeted: Latissimus dorsi, deltoids, pectoralis major.
Every good workout starts with a warm-up, and this stretching routine is no different. This simple stretch is designed to gently wake up your muscles and loosen up your upper body. Use this time to get your head in the game, practice your breathing, and prepare yourself for the stretches that follow.
Steps:
Stand with your feet together, arms by your sides. Your legs should be straight but not locked.
Interlace your fingers. Gently pull your shoulders down and back and engage your core.
Raise your arms above your head so your biceps are next to your ears. Press the palms of your hands up toward the ceiling.
Hold this position for 30-60 seconds, and then slowly lower your arms and relax.
Tips:
Sway gently from side to side to increase the stretch.
Plant your feet firmly, and imagine you are pushing the floor away with your legs.
Take care not to overextend your lower back.
2. Cat/cow
Muscles targeted: Upper and lower back.
Cat/cow is a classic yoga exercise that’s great for mobilizing your entire spine. Having just woken up, your back may feel stiff, a problem made worse by prolonged sitting. This exercise gets your lumbar, thoracic, and cervical spine moving, leaving your back feeling flexible and mobile.
Steps:
Kneel on all fours with your arms straight, shoulders over your hands, and hips over your knees. Pull your shoulders down and back and engage your core.
Lift the middle of your back up toward the ceiling as you lower your head down toward the floor. Imagine you are an angry cat.
Next, lift your head and tailbone while lowering your abdomen down toward the floor, like a milk-laden cow.
Slowly and smoothly alternate between these two positions for 30-60 seconds or 6-12 reps.
Tips:
Kneel on a folded exercise mat for comfort.
Exhale as your flex your spine, and inhale as you lift your chest.
Make sure your fingers are pointing forward and your elbows are rotated backward and into your sides for best results.
3. Low lunge
Muscles targeted: Hip flexors, rectus abdominis.
The low lunge is designed to stretch the front of your hips and abs. These muscles are often tight because of prolonged sitting. Also known as a runner’s lunge, this exercise is good for everyone, especially athletes, and will help make your hips feel looser and more mobile.
Steps:
Kneel on the floor and take a step forward so your front shin is vertical. Pull your shoulders back and down and engage your core.
Ease your weight forward to extend your hip. Move your rear knee further back to achieve a deeper stretch.
Keep your torso upright and even lean back slightly to lengthen your abs more.
Hold for 30-60 seconds, and then switch sides.
Tips:
Place your rear knee on a folded exercise mat or foam pad for comfort.
Link your hands behind your hips to open your chest and increase the stretch.
Do not twist your pelvis, as doing so makes this stretch less effective.
4. Seated adductor stretch
Muscles targeted: Adductor longus, brevis, and magnus.
The adductors are your inner thigh and groin muscles. Adductor/groin strains are very common, especially among athletes. Prolonged sitting puts these critical muscles into a chronically shortened position, which is why most men have tight adductors and hips.
Steps:
Sit on the floor in good posture. Bend your legs and place the soles of your feet together. Lightly grip your ankles and rest your elbows on your knees.
Using your elbows for assistance, gently press your knees out and down toward the floor.
Hold for 30-60 seconds and then release.
Tips:
Sit on a raised platform, e.g., a yoga block, if you cannot keep your lower back straight.
Hinge forward from your hips to increase the stretch.
Keep your chest up and open throughout; do not slouch.
5. Supine figure-four stretch
Muscles targeted: Gluteus maximus, piriformis, hip adductors.
The stretch hits your glutes and outer hips and thighs. These areas are notoriously hard to stretch, and tightness in this region can cause hip and knee dysfunction. This is a common site of tightness for runners and active people, as these muscles often have to act as stabilizers.
Steps:
Lie on your back with your legs bent and feet flat on the floor.
Cross your left ankle over your right knee.
Hold on behind your right knee and gently pull it toward you.
Hold for 30-60 seconds, and then relax.
Switch sides and repeat.
Tips:
Keep your head and shoulders on the floor throughout.
Push your knee outward to open your hips and intensify the stretch.
Don’t worry if this exercise is hard – that’s perfectly normal!
6. Assisted hamstring stretch
Muscles targeted: Hamstrings.
If there is one muscle you can almost guarantee will be tight in most men, it’s the hamstrings. This long, powerful muscle group is often kept in a flexed, shortened position, invariable leading to tightness. Spend extra time on your hamstrings if you cannot get your leg vertical during the following exercise.
Steps:
Lie on your back with your legs bent. Loop a belt, yoga strap, or resistance band over one foot and straighten your leg.
Use your arms to gently pull your leg up until you feel a stretch in the hamstrings at the back of your thigh.
Relax and hold for 30-60 seconds.
Switch legs and repeat.
Tips:
Rest your head on a pillow for comfort.
No strap? Clasp your hands around the back of your knee instead.
Bend your knee slightly to make this exercise a little easier.
7. Prone quadriceps stretch
Muscles targeted: Quadriceps, hip flexors.
Most quadriceps stretches involve standing on one leg. While can be effective, your balance may determine how well you are able to stretch your quads. This exercise requires no such balance and ensures your hips and thighs remain in optimal alignment.
Steps:
Lie on your front with your legs straight and your head resting on your folded arms.
Bend one leg and reach back to grip your ankle.
Gently pull your foot into your butt and hold for 30-60 seconds.
Relax, release, and swap legs.
Tips:
Wrap a belt or yoga strap around your ankle if you cannot reach it comfortably.
Place a folded mat under your hips for comfort.
Do not hold into your toes or foot, as this puts unnecessary strain on your ankle joint.
8. Standing calf stretch
Muscles targeted: Gastrocnemius, soleus.
Tight calves can have a profound effect on how you walk and run and can even contribute to knee, hip, and lower back pain. The good news is that the calves are also one of the easiest muscles to stretch, and all you need is a step to do it!
Steps:
Stand with the balls of your feet on the edge of a stable step. Use your arms for balance as required.
Keeping your legs straight, lower your heels down below the edge of the step to get a good stretch in your calves.
Hold for 30-60 seconds, and then relax.
Tips:
Shift your weight onto one leg to stretch one calf at a time.
Bend your knees slightly to emphasize your soleus or lower calf.
Turn your foot in or out to hit the different heads of your calf muscles.
9. Doorway chest stretch
Muscles targeted: Pectoralis major, anterior deltoids.
Like the hamstrings, most people have tight pecs – especially men. All that bench pressing and sitting at a desk means the pecs or often short, which can wreak havoc on your shoulder health and posture. So, if you’ve only got a few minutes to stretch, you should spend that time on your hammies and pecs. This will fix two of the most common flexibility problem areas.
Steps:
Stand in an open doorway. Place your forearms and elbows on the vertical frames, upper arms parallel to the floor.
Adopt a staggered stance.
Pulling your shoulders down and back, push your chest between your arms to stretch your chest.
Hold for 30-60 seconds, and then relax.
Tips:
You can also do this exercise in the corner of a room if no doorway is available.
Raise and lower your arms to hit different parts of your chest.
Stretch one side at a time to detect and fix left-to-right flexibility imbalances.
Stretching Guidelines and Tips for Men
Stretching is good for everybody’s body, but it’s especially critical for men. Women tend to be more flexible than men because a) their bodies produce more of the hormone relaxin, which enhances muscle elasticity, and b) they’re more likely to have done dance, gymnastics, or yoga, all of which promote flexibility.
With less elastin and an athletic history focused more on strength than suppleness, men tend to suffer from muscle tightness more than women. Poor flexibility is then made worse by prolonged sitting and other sedentary activities.
Because they’ve got poor flexibility, men are often reticent to stretch. That’s why you won’t see many guys stretching at your local gym. No man wants to be seen struggling to touch his toes!
And that’s where the morning stretches in this article come in; you can do them at home, working on your flexibility in private and comfort.
But you must stretch correctly to get the most from your new morning routine. Like lifting weights, there is a right way and a wrong way to perform any stretching exercise. Invariably, the right way produces rapid results, while the wrong way is a waste of time and energy.
Follow these guidelines to get the most from every stretch you do.
1. Ease into each stretch
Because of sensory organs called muscle spindles, when you stretch a muscle too quickly, its initial response is to contract and shorten. This is a self-preservation mechanism designed to prevent overstretching and injury.
However, if you stretch slowly, those same spindles tell your muscles to relax and lengthen.
To avoid triggering the so-called stretch-shortening reflex, you must ease into each stretch and then wait for the muscle to relax. After 10-20 seconds, you’ll feel the tension leave your muscles so you can stretch a little further.
Repeat this stretch/wait/relax/stretch sequence several times for optimal results.
2. Breathe slow, quiet, and deep
While you probably don’t need to be told to breathe, how you inhale and exhale can determine how effective your stretches are. To maximize flexibility, you need to work with your parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for energy conservation and relaxation.
Rapid, shallow breathing sends stress signals to your muscles, readying them for activity. It fires up your sympathetic nervous system, which is linked to energy expenditure. As a result, your muscles tighten up and are less receptive to stretching.
In contrast, slow, quiet, deep breaths tell your muscles that it’s okay to relax, making your stretches more effective. Breathe in for 4-6 seconds and out for the same. Focus on breathing into your abdomen and not your chest. Nasal and not mouth breathing may also help promote relaxation.
3. Don’t bounce or jerk
While you might have seen athletes warming up with bouncy, jerky ballistic stretches, these have no place in your morning flexibility routine. Ballistic stretches are somewhat dangerous and won’t do much for muscle relaxation or long-term flexibility. Instead, they trigger the stretch-shortening reflex discussed in point number one.
So, no bouncing or jerking while you stretch. Instead, make your movements slow, smooth, and deliberate.
4. Ease off if your muscles shake or burn
Bodybuilders like to say, “no pain, no gain,” but the opposite is true when it comes to stretching. Forcing your muscles to stretch further than comfortable will make them contract and tighten up.
Shaking or burning suggests you have extended your muscles beyond their current limit and should ease off to avoid injury.
5. Don’t forget about your posture
It’s all too easy to put all your focus on the muscles you are stretching and completely forget about all your other muscles and joints. For example, you can slouch while stretching your hamstrings or push your head forward while working on your pecs.
While most of your attention SHOULD be on the muscle you’re stretching, don’t forget about the rest of your body. Make sure your posture is as good as it can be. In most cases, this will make your stretches even more effective.
6. Visualize your muscles lengthening
Exercisers often talk about the importance of the mind-muscle connection. This is the term used to describe the ability to feel what muscles you are exercising. Visualizing your muscles working can help strengthen the mind-muscle connection, often resulting in better workouts and faster progress.
You can use the same technique to enhance your flexibility. Imagine you’re your muscles relaxing and lengthening like warmed clay. Picture your relaxed breaths traveling into the muscle you’re stretching. See the tension leaving your muscles so you can ease into a deeper stretch.
While these techniques will take practice to master, combined with your controlled breathing, they’ll make stretching much more effective.
7. Be consistent
Your muscles will soon shorten if you don’t stretch them regularly. Your body is incredibly adaptive, and spending long periods sitting will make your muscles tighten up. Sit in a chair for four hours straight, and you’ll feel these muscle-shortening effects for yourself.
So, if you want to improve your flexibility and stop being so tight, you need to commit to regular stretching. Not a couple of times a week, but every day.
Adopting a morning stretching routine is one of the best ways to do this, as it will soon become a habit and something you do automatically, like brushing your teeth or having breakfast. So, stretch every day to fix your flexibility.
Related: Seven Tips for More Consistent Workouts
Morning Stretches FAQs
Do you have a question about morning stretches for men or flexibility training in general? No problem, because we’ve got the answers!
1. Do I need to warm up before my morning stretching routine?
Providing you don’t stretch too far too fast, you probably don’t need to warm up before doing this morning mobility routine. Just start off gently and only increase the stretch as your muscles begin to relax.
Also, the order of the stretches is such that each one prepares you for what comes next. Finally, ease off if any of the stretches feel uncomfortable or painful.
That said, if you’ve got time to do a few minutes of light cardio before stretching, it certainly won’t do you any harm, as warm muscles usually stretch more readily.
2. Do I need to do all nine stretches in my morning routine?
Between them, these nine stretches target all your major muscle groups. However, it’s common for some muscles to be tighter than others, while some muscle groups may already be sufficiently flexible.
If you can’t feel a stretch, this suggests that the target muscle is as flexible as it needs to be, so you can probably skip it for now. However, do all the stretches occasionally to determine if anything has tightened up.
3. Do I have to do all these stretches in one go?
While this morning stretching routine should take no more than 15 minutes to complete, we understand that may be too long for some people, especially if you are rushing to get ready for work or school.
If you cannot find a spare 15 minutes to complete this routine, consider breaking it into thirds and doing it throughout your day. For example, do the first three exercises on rising, the next three when you get home from work, and the final three before bed.
Alternatively, you could do one stretch every hour or so to break up your working day.
While these approaches may not be quite as effective as a morning stretching routine, any stretching is better than none.
4. Can I do this routine more than once a day?
Providing you don’t go too aggressively, you can stretch several times a day without ill effects. In fact, the more often you stretch, the quicker your flexibility will improve. So, if you’ve got the time, feel free to stretch two or three times per day.
Alternatively, you could run through the routine once and then pepper your day with short bouts of stretching to keep on top of your flexibility training. This is a good option for desk warriors who tighten up as their workday progresses.
5. Can I stretch for longer than 30-60 seconds?
By all means, hold your stretches for longer, e.g., 2-3 minutes. However, you may find it more comfortable if you work in sets and reps, e.g., stretch for 30 seconds, relax for a breath or two, and repeat 4-6 times. This is usually more enjoyable than staying in the same position for a long time. However, you should endeavor to stretch a little deeper each time as your muscles lengthen and relax.
Related: Calories Burned Stretching Calculator
Wrapping Up
Some fitness experts believe that stretching is a waste of time. They’re quick to suggest it has no measurable effect on performance or risk of injury.
However, decades of anecdotal evidence suggests that regular stretching can be incredibly beneficial, especially for people who spend a lot of time locked into a fixed position, e.g., office workers. Not only that, it feels good!
Tight muscles often feel tender and painful, and the obvious antidote is to stretch more.
So, don’t worry about the naysayers; stretching will invariably do more good than harm, and it’s definitely not a waste of time. In fact, in terms of posture, mobility, and joint health, it’s probably one of the best things you can do.
5 Best Natural Bodybuilding Supplements: Sculpt Your Body Into a Work of Art
Let’s be real. Bodybuilding is hard. You must train hard, eat a nutrient-dense diet, sleep seven to eight hours a night, and then use other recovery methods to ensure your body is primed for building muscle and strength.
Doing all of this can be overwhelming, especially for beginners. You’ve probably found yourself in a position where you wished there was a supplement that could turn you into a swole superhero. Lo and behold, you are scrolling through Instagram one fine day, and there it is, the versatile supplement that can help fix all your transformation voes staring you in the face.
I am sorry to break the news, but most of the fancy supplements you find online are nothing but fads. Sports nutrition companies have become really good at making up new supplements, advertising unproven benefits, and selling them to their loyal clientele.
These brands rope in some of the most popular bodybuilding and fitness social media influencers to push their products. The only bottom line these products push is that of these companies, whereas the returns on the user’s investment are close to zero.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to paint sports nutrition companies in a bad light. Some of these companies are doing a commendable job and delivering high-quality third-party tested products that deliver on their promises. However, I’m skeptical about some products that are pushed as the holy grail of natural bodybuilding but have no scientific research backing them.
Beware of Fad Supplements
If you have been following the fitness and bodybuilding space, you’ve probably heard of (or even tried) glutamine, arginine, and Tribulus. These supplements were promoted as the real deal until they were all disproven and lost their flair.
Remember, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not regulate sport nutrition supplements. You must be extremely careful with how you proceed while buying bodybuilding supplements and only choose the ones with scientifically-proven results.
In this article, we dive into what it means to be a natural bodybuilder and reveal the best natural bodybuilding supplements that will help take your physique to the next level. We also shed light on some popular supplements that are on the banned substances list of popular natural bodybuilding federations. There is a lot to cover, so sit tight, and read on.
What is Natural Bodybuilding?
It depends on who you ask. Different people have varying definitions of natural bodybuilding. Armchair bodybuilding experts expect natural bodybuilders to reject any and every supplement. It means that if a product comes in a box, you cannot have it. However, this definition is half-baked.
According to the general bodybuilding consensus and drug-tested bodybuilding federations, a natural bodybuilder can use supplements containing ingredients that are found naturally. However, an athlete must abstain from using performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).
Performance-enhancing drugs go by different names, such as steroids, gear, juice, and super supplements. Anabolic steroids are synthetic substances that mimic the effects of testosterone. These super supplements significantly boost the user’s muscle and strength gains.
Notably, virtually every bodybuilder on the Mr. Olympia stage (the most prestigious competition in pro bodybuilding) uses steroids. You could interpret this as if you want to make a living as a pro bodybuilder in the IFBB Pro League; you would have better chances of succeeding on gear.
Trivia: The eight-time Mr. Olympia champ, Ronnie Coleman, competed as a natural athlete in his first two Olympia competitions.
That said, it doesn’t mean that natties cannot build a fitness magazine cover photo-worthy physique; far from it. You can build a muscular, chiseled, diced, shredded, peeled, jacked, ripped, whittled, cut (you get the point) while staying natural.
At this moment, I must point out that building a Greek god-like physique requires much more than supplements. You must follow a balanced diet, training, and recovery program to carve a chiseled body and achieve your objectives.
How Do You Compete as a Natural Bodybuilder?
Drug use in bodybuilding is more widespread than most people think. Chances are, many jacked bodybuilders in your local gym are on juice. Interestingly, the bodybuilders that swear on being nattys usually aren’t.
But why do I bring this up, you ask?
I have nothing against people that use steroids. In fact, I think starting a gear cycle requires a different level of dedication and commitment.
However, when it comes to competitive bodybuilding, folks using roids have a significant advantage. Natural supplements are no match for the results of synthetic testosterone. All other factors being equal, nattys have no chance against enhanced bodybuilders in a competition.
Enter Natural Bodybuilding Federations
The INBA/PNBA, WNBF, and ANBF are the most popular natural bodybuilding organizations that hold drug-tested contests.
These drug-free federations use the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) guidelines that include 10 years drug-free of prescription/pharmaceutical hormones and two years free of over-the-counter hormones, pro-hormones, or banned substances listed or their chemical counterparts.
These guidelines ensure that no enhanced athletes can compete against a natural bodybuilder; putting the nattys on a level playing field and giving them much-needed recognition.
The WADA guidelines are very stringent. They also prohibit cannabinoids use. Although CBD oil is not prohibited, some products contain THC and other cannabinoids that could result in a positive test for a prohibited cannabinoid. You must be 100% sure of what you put in your body if you are a competitive bodybuilder.
Must Read: The Ultimate Guide To Natural Bodybuilding: Best Training and Diet Tips
Best Natural Bodybuilding Supplements
The sports nutrition market is flooded with supplements. There are supplements that claim to boost muscle mass by improving your sleep and supps that are supposed to enhance your muscle-building potential by improving your gut health and immune function.
Bodybuilding supplements can burn a hole in your pocket if you go down the rabbit hole of everything the sports nutrition companies offer and their extravagant claims. To be honest, most of these supplements are nothing more than placebos.
This article aims to reveal the most effective natural bodybuilding supplements. I have no intention of pushing inconsequential supplements down your throat. As you’ll soon learn, the most effective muscle and strength-building supps are relatively inexpensive and will help you meet your training objectives without breaking the bank.
Without any further ado, here are the supplements that should be a part of your stack:
Whey Protein
Protein is the building block of muscle. You break down muscle tissue during your workout; they grow back bigger and stronger during rest and with proper nutrition intake. A whey protein supplement contains all the nine essential amino acids (EAAs), which help build bigger and stronger muscles. Your body cannot produce the EAAs naturally; you must consume them through food.
Whey protein supps are the cornerstone of muscle-building supplements. They come in different forms (concentrate and isolate) and flavors. Because of their fast-digesting nature, most lifters prefer consuming protein shakes right after their workout.
Bodybuilders trying to build muscle mass and strength should consume 1.6–2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight for optimal results. [1]
Check Out: Awesome Whey Protein Powders Reviewed
Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs)
BCAA supplements consist of three essential amino acids — valine, leucine, and isoleucine. This supplement promotes muscle protein synthesis, reduces muscle breakdown, and supports quicker recovery. [3]
Like all amino acids, your body uses BCAAs to make protein, which can help build bigger and stronger muscles. Most lifters sip on a BCAA supplement intra-workout, as it can help kickstart recovery. Plus, they can reduce fatigue during exercise by lowering serotonin production in your brain.
Check Out: Best BCAA Supplements on the Market
Creatine
Creatine is one of the most studied and safe bodybuilding supplements. This compound occurs naturally in the body. It can boost muscle mass, strength, and endurance and is abundant in seafood and red meat. [2]
There are two ways of supplementing with creatine — loading and maintenance. The loading phase requires you to consume 20 grams of the supp for 5–7 days and then switch to a 3–5 gram dosage. On the other hand, the maintenance phase requires you to take 5 grams consistently.
Creatine is one of the most budget-friendly supplements on the market. A high-quality creatine supplement can cost you $0.15 per serving. This supplement is incredibly versatile and can be consumed with other supps.
Check Out: Best Creatine Supplements (Reviewed & Ranked)
Beta-Alanine
Beta-alanine is a non-essential amino acid — and a godsend for endurance athletes. This supp boosts exercise endurance by delaying lactic acid buildup, which can help you maintain a high training intensity. [5]
Besides its performance-enhancing abilities, beta-alanine has been shown to improve body composition by promoting lean muscle mass build-up. Plus, beta-alanine has anti-aging and immune-enhancing properties. [6]
Check Out: 10 Best Beta-Alanine Supplements
Although this article lists the five best natural bodybuilding supplements that will help you achieve your training objectives, you don’t have to take all of them at once. Use your discretion to select the supplements that fit your lifestyle and fill the voids you cannot achieve through your whole-food diet. Furthermore, you can start with one supplement and add more supps if needed.
Caffeine
Caffeine can significantly boost your exercise performance by increasing energy, focus, concentration, and alertness. Furthermore, it can delay the onset of fatigue, which can help you do more quickly. [4]
You could consume caffeine in the form of coffee or tea before a workout for optimal results. On the flip side, you can use a stimulated pre-workout supplement, which can deliver additional benefits like mental clarity, enhanced endurance, faster recovery, and better blood flow for insane muscle pumps.
Check Out: Best Caffeine Pills Reviewed
Banned Substances in Competitive Bodybuilding
Although most drug-tested bodybuilding organizations follow the WADA doping guidelines and prohibited list, some have additional rules that the bodybuilders must follow. Here are a few substances banned by the World Natural Bodybuilding Federation (WNBF):
All anabolic steroids
Human growth hormone
IGF
Peptides
Prohormones and steroid precursors
Diuretics
Ephedrine, ephedra, and most stimulants
Cannabinoids (including CBD)
How do I know if a product or ingredient is on the WADA prohibited list?
If you have to ask this question, chances are that the product in question is probably on the banned list. You must always check the WADA and relevant bodybuilding organizations’ prohibited list before starting a new supplement, especially if you are a competitive bodybuilder.
Beyond Bodybuilding Supplements
Building your dream physique requires much more than a few daily scoops of magic powder that are supplements. Here are the four factors that you must consider:
Diet
Follow a nutrient-dense whole-food diet to build a chiseled physique. Determine your daily caloric intake goal and break it into a suitable macronutrient split to fast-track your strength and muscle gains. You can use a whey and casein protein supplement to fill the protein void in your diet.
Training
Most lifters make the mistake of following a cookie-cutter training program, which leads to suboptimal results. You must follow a personalized training regimen to fix your weaknesses and polish your strengths. Drinking a cup of coffee or using a caffeinated supplement before a training session can boost your performance. Beta-alanine supplements also increase your endurance, which can help you get more done quickly.
Recovery
Sleep at least seven to eight hours each night to give your body enough time to rest and recuperate from your workouts. Self-myofascial release, massages, and cold plunges are excellent ways to boost your recovery. Whey protein and BCAA supplements also help in this regard.
Lifestyle
Switch to an active lifestyle to build a shredded physique. Take the stairs instead of the elevator and bike to work when possible. These lifestyle habits will help keep your metabolism high, which will help you burn calories throughout the day.
FAQs
Do I need supplements to build a chiseled physique?
No. You can build a jacked body by following a balanced training, diet, and recovery program. Use supplements to fill the voids in your diet.
Can I become a pro bodybuilder without using supplements?
Bodybuilding requires much more than supplements and steroids. Your genetics will dictate your potential as a pro bodybuilder. Plus, the organization you choose to compete in will also dictate your performance if you stay natty.
You can turn pro in the IFBB Pro League (non-tested) while staying natty. However, it is highly unlikely that you will ever win the coveted Mr. Olympia title. On the other hand, natty bodybuilding organizations are reserved for natural athletes.
Which supplements should a beginner start with?
It will depend on your starting physique and training objective. Assuming the individual already consumes caffeine in some form, they should start with a whey protein supplement and stick with it for six to eight weeks. They can add more supplements to their arsenal after assessing their progress.
Note: The content on Fitness Volt is for informative purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice to diagnose, prevent, or treat health problems. If you’re suffering from a health issue, are pregnant, or are under 18 years old, you should consult your physician before starting any new supplement, nutrition, or fitness routine.
Wrapping Up
The initial progress as a natty is usually slow, which pushed many bodybuilders to go the steroid route. However, the risks of using gear are not worth the reward for most lifters.
Contrary to what most people think, you don’t need a cupboard full of supplements and a sponsorship to build a natural physique. Following a balanced diet, training, and recovery program, and using natural bodybuilding supplements, such as whey protein, creatine, BCAAs, caffeine, and beta-alanine, might take some time to work their magic, but it should be the way to go for you if you lift to improve your overall health, well-being, and longevity. Best of luck!
References
Stokes T, Hector AJ, Morton RW, McGlory C, Phillips SM. Recent Perspectives Regarding the Role of Dietary Protein for the Promotion of Muscle Hypertrophy with Resistance Exercise Training. Nutrients. 2018 Feb 7;10(2):180. doi: 10.3390/nu10020180. PMID: 29414855; PMCID: PMC5852756.
Antonio J, Candow DG, Forbes SC, Gualano B, Jagim AR, Kreider RB, Rawson ES, Smith-Ryan AE, VanDusseldorp TA, Willoughby DS, Ziegenfuss TN. Common questions and misconceptions about creatine supplementation: what does the scientific evidence really show? J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2021 Feb 8;18(1):13. doi: 10.1186/s12970-021-00412-w. PMID: 33557850; PMCID: PMC7871530.
Khemtong C, Kuo CH, Chen CY, Jaime SJ, Condello G. Does Branched-Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) Supplementation Attenuate Muscle Damage Markers and Soreness after Resistance Exercise in Trained Males? A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Nutrients. 2021 May 31;13(6):1880. doi: 10.3390/nu13061880. PMID: 34072718; PMCID: PMC8230327.
Paluska SA. Caffeine and exercise. Curr Sports Med Rep. 2003 Aug;2(4):213-9. doi: 10.1249/00149619-200308000-00008. PMID: 12834577.
Hoffman JR, Emerson NS, Stout JR. β-Alanine supplementation. Curr Sports Med Rep. 2012 Jul-Aug;11(4):189-95. doi: 10.1249/JSR.0b013e3182604983. PMID: 22777329.
Kendrick IP, Harris RC, Kim HJ, Kim CK, Dang VH, Lam TQ, Bui TT, Smith M, Wise JA. The effects of 10 weeks of resistance training combined with beta-alanine supplementation on whole body strength, force production, muscular endurance and body composition. Amino Acids. 2008 May;34(4):547-54. doi: 10.1007/s00726-007-0008-3. Epub 2008 Jan 4. PMID: 18175046.
Toes to Bar Exercise Guide: How To, Benefits, Muscles Worked, and Variations
A shredded midsection is the symbol of peak fitness. Although many people aspire to develop a well-defined six-pack that could rival the sculpted Greek statues, it usually remains that — an aspiration.
The benefits of a strong core extend beyond aesthetics. A strong core can improve your balance and functionality, which can boost your performance in compound exercises and daily tasks. Plus, it can improve your posture and reduce the risk of lower back pain and injury.
Most people avoid training their abs because they find the orthodox ab exercises, such as crunches and leg raises, boring and redundant. You have come to the right place if you’re looking for a challenging exercise that requires skill, strength, and endurance. Toes to bar is a compound exercise that primarily works your abs and also engages your arms, shoulders, lats, glutes, and hip flexors.
Toes to bar (TTB) is a gymnastics exercise and a mainstay in many CrossFit workouts. It is an extended and advanced version of the hanging leg raise. That said, performing the TTB requires significantly more core strength and practice.
In this article, we go over the basics of TTB, its benefits, muscles worked, correct exercise form, most common mistakes, and the best variations and alternatives to add to your training regimen.
What is a Toes to Bar?
Toes to bar involve lifting your feet to an overhead bar. Simple, right? Wrong. TTBs are more challenging than hanging leg raises, and depending on your experience level, it might take a long time to drill the movement.
Since the TTB is a compound movement, it helps improve your overall anterior chain strength. Plus, TTBs performed with a flawless form look dope. It is also an excellent way to show off your core strength.
There are two main toes to bar variations:
Strict Toes to Bar
The strict TTB is one of the most difficult abdominal exercises. It is generally included in a workout to test an exerciser’s midline strength. Save this TTB variation for after you’ve mastered the kipping TTB. Besides core strength, the strict TTB demands decent hip flexor, gluteal, and hamstring mobility.
Kipping Toes to Bar
The kipping TTB is a popular ab exercise in gymnastics and CrossFit workouts. As the name suggests, it involves using a kipping motion that makes touching your toes to the bar a little easier. On the other hand, the strict TTB involves touching the overhead bar with your toes while keeping your torso parallel to the floor.
Muscles Worked During Toes to Bar
Toes to bar works the following muscles:
Abs
The TTB primarily targets your abs. It engages the rectus and transverse abdominis and will leave you with a sick ab pump. The rectus abdominis runs along the front of your abdomen and is commonly known as the “six-pack.” Conversely, the transverse abdominis wraps around your trunk from front to back.
Hip Flexors
Hip flexors are located on the front of your upper thighs. These muscles are involved in flexing the hips and bringing the knee closer to the chest. Weak hip flexors can make it more challenging to complete a TTB.
Arms
Your grip and forearm strength are crucial factors that can dictate your performance in toes to bar. Plus, you might experience biceps recruitment during more extended TTB sets, which involve holding on to the bar for longer.
Lats
Your lats kick in as soon as you hang on to the pull-up bar. Furthermore, the kipping TTB variation can lead to greater lat engagement as you cycle between the hollow and arch positions.
Glutes and Hamstrings
You need good glutes and hamstring mobility to perform the TTB with optimal form. The glutes and hamstrings also help control the movement during the exercise’s eccentric (lowering) part.
Notably, the kipping toes to bar variation increases the demand on the grip, shoulder, and back.
Benefits of Toes to Bar
Adding the TTB to your training regimen entails the following advantages:
Build a Strong and Shredded Core
TTB is a challenging abdominal exercise that will help build a stronger and chiseled core. To avoid swinging between reps, you must keep your core contracted throughout the exercise. TTB will also strengthen your stabilizers, improving your overall balance and boosting your performance in compound exercises and everyday functioning.
Boosts Muscle Coordination
A TTB involves several moving parts. You must hang onto a pull-up bar, generate momentum by kipping, raise your toes to the bar, return to the start position, and repeat this process for the recommended reps. Adding TTB to your workouts will improve your muscle coordination, which will carry over to other exercises.
Improves Posture
Toes to bar strengthen your abdominal muscles and lower back, which can contribute to a better posture. Core exercises are a must for folks who spend most of their day sitting or hunched over their phones or computer screens.
Read also: Toes To Bar Workout Progression Routine
How To Do Toes to Bar
The TTB is a complex exercise, and you must master several steps to perform this movement correctly. Below I’ll take you over the kipping toes to bar step-by-step instructions that require a cyclical, ballistic motion.
Step 1: Grab an Overhead Bar
Jump and grab onto a pull-up bar with a slightly wider than shoulder-width overhand grip. You can use a hook (fingers over the thumb) or reverse hook grip (thumb over the index fingernail) on the bar.
Pro Tip: Avoid using a false grip on the bar. A thumbless grip will make it harder to hold onto the bar during the kipping motion.
Step 2: Generate a Kip
Kipping involves alternating between an arch and a hollow position to generate momentum. Initiate the kip by driving your head and chest forward and extending your legs behind you. Immediately kick your legs in front of your body as you push on the bar and bring your body behind it to get into a “hollow” position.
Pro Tip: Beginners can perform two to three kips to generate enough momentum before raising their legs.
Step 3: Raise Your Legs in the Hollow Position and Flick the Bar
After generating momentum and getting into a hollow position, contract your abs, lats, shoulder blades, glutes, and quads, and raise your legs toward the ceiling. Your toes should hit the bar at the top of the movement. Keep your head neutral throughout the range of motion, and look at the bar during the concentric (upward) phase of the lift. Looking ahead during the upward motion will make lifting your legs more difficult.
Pro Tip: Instead of locking out your knees and keeping your legs straight during the concentric motion, you could break it into two parts. First, bend your knees and bring your quads to your chest. Finish the movement by extending your knees and touching the bar with your toes. This technique is also known as the tuck-and-flick method.
Step 4: Return to the Extended Arch Position
After flicking the bar, lower your legs by extending your spine. Push your legs behind you and your torso forward to immediately enter the arched position. Use the momentum to get into the hollow position. Repeat for recommended reps.
Pro Tip: The eccentric motion of the tuck-and-flick method involves returning your legs to your chest and extending your knees as your legs move below your waist. Many exercisers find the tuck-and-flick method more convenient while stringing bigger sets.
Toes to Bar Tips:
It is common for beginners to experience ab cramps while performing TTBs. Stop your set and stretch out your abs if you experience the same.
Master the kipping TTB before trying the strict TTB.
Before attempting the kipping TTB, drill your kipping form. Perform three sets of 10 kips in alternate workouts until you have command over the exercise.
Use CrossFit grips to avoid ripping your hands on the pull-up bar. Remember, you are as strong as your grip on this exercise.
Advanced trainers can perform this exercise on gymnastic rings. The unstable rings lead to greater core and stabilizer recruitment.
In This Exercise:
Target Muscle Group: Abs
Type: Strength
Mechanics: Compound
Equipment: Bodyweight
Difficulty: Intermediate
Best Rep Range: 10-15
Common Mistakes While Performing Toes to Bar
Avoid the following toes to bar mistakes to get the best bang for your buck and limit your risk of injury:
Incorrect Hand Position
Most people fail to kip consistently and complete a TTB because of incorrect hand placement. Grabbing the bar too close will make touching your toes to the bar more difficult, whereas taking a snatch grip on the bar will lead to uncontrollable swinging. Grab the bar just outside shoulder-width for optimal range of motion.
Keeping Your Shoulders Under The Bar
Many rookies try to do a TTB while keeping their shoulders under the bar. Although you might be able to complete one TTB, you’ll likely not be able to control the eccentric motion, which will lead to uncontrollable swinging.
Not Using a Kip
In continuation with the previous point, strict TTB is significantly more difficult than the kipping variation. You must master kipping before attempting toes to bar. Begin the kip by pretending to perform a straight-arm pushdown and pull your torso behind the pull-up bar.
Banging Your Toes Into The Pull-Up Bar
Avoid banging your toes into the bar at the top of the motion. Many exercisers end up with bruised toes due to kicking the bar too hard. Bring your toes over the bar, or touch it lightly; this will get easier as you gain more experience.
Slowing the Eccentric Motion
Many trainers make the mistake of controlling the descent, which can break their momentum. You want to use the momentum from the eccentric motion to power your kip and the next rep. That said, you must control the eccentric motion on the strict TTB.
Variations and Alternatives of Toes to Bar
The following TTB variations and alternatives will help add variety to your training regimen:
Hanging Leg Raise
The hanging leg raise is an excellent progression exercise for the TTB.
Steps:
Hang onto a pull-up bar with a shoulder-wide overhand grip.
Brace your core and glutes, and lift your legs toward the ceiling until they are at least parallel to the floor. Keep your knees locked out throughout the range of motion.
Pause and contract your abs at the top.
Slowly return to the start position.
Repeat for recommended reps.
Pro Tip: Incorporating kipping into this exercise can help drill the TTB movement. Get into the arched position during the eccentric motion and a hollow position during the concentric lift.
Check out our complete hanging leg raise guide here!
Lying Leg Raise
Perform the lying leg raise on an elevated platform like a flat bench to mimic the arched position of the TTB.
Steps:
Lie supine with your hips on the edge of a flat bench. Your leg should be extended and parallel to the floor.
Hold the bench at your ear level for stability.
Keeping your legs straight, raise your lower body toward the ceiling until it is at a 90-degree angle with your torso.
Lower your legs toward the floor until your feet are a few inches off the floor.
Rinse and repeat.
Pro Tip: As you gain more experience, touch your knees to your head at the top of the movement. Progressing to this stage can take a long time as it requires significant core strength and flexibility.
Check out our complete lying leg raise guide here!
Knees To Elbow
Knees to elbow is the middle ground between the hanging leg raise and the toes to bar. This exercise involves touching your elbows with your knees.
Steps:
Grab onto a pull-up bar with a shoulder-wide grip.
Contract your abs, glutes, and quads.
Raise your quads to your chest by flexing your hips.
Bend your knees and touch your elbows at the top of the motion.
Return to the starting position.
Pro Tip: Kipping can make the exercise easier and help cycle through reps faster.
Hanging L-Sit
The hanging L-sit might look easy, but it requires a strong core. This exercise will improve your core and grip strength, which will translate to a better performance on the toes to bar.
Steps:
Hang onto a pull-up bar with a shoulder-wide pronated grip.
Keeping your elbows and knees locked, raise your legs until they are parallel to the floor.
Hold the position for as long as possible.
Pro Tip: Experienced exercisers can perform L-sit pull-ups. This variation will help build a stronger core, resulting in better lower body control during TTB.
Check out our complete L-sit guide here!
Controlled GHD Sit-Up
GHD sit-ups will help you build a robust midline. However, we will limit the extension on this exercise since we are using it as a TTB progression.
Steps:
Sit at the edge of the GHD pads and place your ankles between the foot pads.
Your torso should be perpendicular to the floor at the start position.
Hold your hands in front of your chest.
Contract your abs and slowly lean backward.
Your torso should at least break parallel to the floor at the bottom of the movement.
Return to the starting position.
Repeat for recommended reps.
Pro Tip: More experienced athletes can use the full range of motion and touch the floor with their fingers at the bottom.
Related: 9 Toes-to-Bar (TTB) Alternatives To Revamp Your Core
Wrapping Up
Toes to bar is a compound exercise that requires decent core strength and kipping practice. Mastering this exercise will help build a stronger core, boost your endurance, and bless you with sculpted abs.
So swing, reach, and touch your toes to the bar with fierce determination, knowing that every rep brings you closer to an extraordinary transformation. Each TTB will hurt, but it will all be worth it in the end.
Best of luck!
L-Sit Exercise Guide: How To, Benefits, Muscles Worked, and Variations
Some exercises look super easy, but when you try them, you fail to get even in the correct position; the L-sit is one of them.
The L-sit is a classic gymnastic movement that will set your core on fire. On the outside, the L-sit looks very easy. You sit on the floor, plant your hands next to your hips, and lift your hips and legs off the ground. However, this is easier said than done.
Beginners that do not have a gymnastics background will most likely find themselves grinding their teeth while they fail to lift themselves off the floor. I have had newbie exercisers tell me they are anatomically unfit to do the L-sit because they have a long torso and short arms. You might experience the same thing.
However, most people falter at doing the L-sit not because of their body mechanics but because of an incorrect form or a lack of core strength.
Since the L-sit is a bodyweight exercise, most people think that they should be able to do it from the get-go. This, however, is not the case. Like most gymnastic exercises, you will be better off starting with an L-sit progression plan.
In this article, we dive deep into the L-sit and cover its fundamentals, an effective progression plan; the muscles worked during an L-sit, its benefits, proper form, the most common mistakes, and the best variations and alternatives.
What is a L-Sit?
L Sit With Kettlebells
The L-sit is an isometric exercise that improves your core strength and balance. Isometric exercises involve static muscle contraction without visible movement in the joint’s angle. The L-sit is a fundamental gymnastic exercise that grew popular thanks to CrossFit. This exercise is also very popular in the calisthenics circuit.
Besides the conventional L-sit, CrossFit WODs (workout of the day) include several variations of this exercise, including L-sit bar pull-ups and L-sit ring pull-ups. The conventional L-sit demands decent core and hip flexor strength. On the other hand, the pull-up variations also engage most of your upper body, including the biceps, lats, traps, rhomboids, and teres major and minor.
Beginners should start practicing this exercise by placing their hands on an elevated object, such as yoga blocks, or perform this exercise on parallettes or parallel bars. If you still cannot perform this exercise, use the progression exercises listed in this article to build the required core strength.
Muscles Worked During L-Sit
The L-sit works the following muscles:
Abs: The core is the primary target muscle of the L-sit. This exercise requires you to keep your core contracted, resulting in a rectus and transverse abdominal recruitment.
Hip Flexors: These muscles run along the front of your upper thigh. You must engage your hip flexors to keep your legs parallel to the floor throughout the exercise.
Glutes and Quads: This exercise involves keeping your glutes and quads contracted to maintain a stable position.
Triceps: You’ll experience triceps stimulation as soon as you lock out your elbows and lift yourself off the floor. Furthermore, pointing your fingers behind you will engage your biceps.
Shoulders: The L-sit involves actively pushing into the floor, which will result in a sick deltoid pump. You will also experience trapezius muscle stimulation as this exercise requires pushing your shoulders back and down.
Benefits of L-Sit
Adding the L-sit to your training regimen entails the following benefits:
Build a Solid Core and Six-Pack
L-sits can help you build abs of steel. Holding your legs parallel to the floor while extended in the air will work muscles in your core that you didn’t know existed. A strong core can also improve your performance in compound exercise and daily functioning.
Enhance Stability and Balance
A strong core translates to robust stabilizer muscles, which can significantly improve your stability. The L-sit also improves your balance and performance in handstands, push-ups, toes-to-bar, deadlifts, and barbell squats.
Improve Posture
The L-sit strengthens the muscles responsible for maintaining an upright and stable spine, which can help improve your posture. This is an excellent exercise for people that spend most of their day sitting.
Boost Hip Flexor Strength
The hip flexors help bring the knee closer to the chest, meaning they are used in activities such as walking, running, jumping, and kicking. Since the L-sit involves holding your legs parallel to the floor, it engages and strengthens your hip flexors.
How To Do L-Sit
This is how to perform the L-sit with the correct form:
Steps:
Sit upright on the floor with your legs extended in front of you.
Place your hands on the floor next to your hips. Spread your hands and curl your fingers slightly so that your fingertips are pushing into the floor.
Straighten your arms and lock out your elbows. Simultaneously engage your lats and push your shoulders back and down.
Push your palms into the floor, engage your core, and lift your hips and legs off the floor. Your legs should be parallel to the floor throughout the exercise.
Your body should resemble an “L” at the top of the exercise.
Hold the position for as long as possible or a specific time.
Return to the starting position.
Repeat for the desired number of sets.
L-Sit Tips:
Keep your quads and glutes contracted and your toes pointed throughout the exercise.
Place your hands on yoga blocks if you have trouble pushing yourself off the floor.
Spreading your hands and pushing your fingertips and palms into the floor will help you maintain your balance.
Maintain an upright torso while pushing yourself off the floor. Bending forward will make lifting your legs off the floor more difficult.
Advanced exercises can wear a weighted vest to make this exercise harder.
In This Exercise:
Target Muscle Group: Abs
Type: Strength
Mechanics: Isometric
Equipment: Bodyweight
Difficulty: Intermediate
Best Rep Range: 30-60 seconds
L-Sit Progression Exercises
Use the following L-Sit progression exercises if you lack the strength to perform the conventional variation of the exercise:
Step 1: Boat Hold
The boat hold is an excellent core exercise that is suitable for trainers of all experience levels. It will help you build the foundational strength for L-sits.
Steps:
Sit upright on the floor and extend your legs in front of you.
Cross your arms in front of your chest.
Engage your core and tilt your torso backward. Anything between 1 to 2 o’clock will work.
Lift your legs off the floor while keeping your knees locked out.
Hold this position for as long as possible.
Pro Tip: If you have trouble maintaining your torso in position, place your hands next to your hips on the floor.
Step 2: Elevation
This L-sit progression exercise involves using an elevated platform, such as yoga blocks or parallettes. Furthermore, you will focus on lifting your hips off the floor while keeping your heels grounded.
Steps:
Sit on the floor with your legs extended and place parallettes on each side of your hips.
Grab the bars with an overhand grip. Your elbows will be bent at this position.
Extend your elbows while pushing your shoulders back and down. You must lock out your elbows at the top, and your hips should be off the floor.
Your heels should be the only point of contact with the floor.
Slowly return to the starting position.
Repeat for 15-20 reps.
Pro Tip: Avoid using your legs to push yourself into a lockout position. Conversely, beginners can bend their knees slightly and push their heels into the floor to generate force.
Step 3: Alternating Leg Lift
In this L-sit progression exercise, you’ll focus on the lockout and lifting one leg at a time.
Steps:
Sit upright on the floor and extend your legs in front of you.
Place your hands on your hip side.
Push your shoulders down and back, and extend your elbows. Your hips should be off the floor at this point. Your heels should be the only point of contact with the floor.
Contract your abs and lift your left leg off the floor until it is parallel to the floor.
Return your left leg to the floor and repeat with the right leg.
Alternate between sides for the recommended reps.
Pro Tip: As you get better at this exercise, lift your legs as high as possible without bending your knees. Hold for a five-second count before lowering your legs to the floor.
Step 4: Tuck Sits (on an elevated platform)
Tuck sits can be incredibly effective in building the required core strength and confidence to perform the L-sit. This is also the first exercise where we bring together most of what we’ve learned up to this point.
Steps:
Sit upright on the floor and extend your legs in front of you.
Bend your knees and plant your heels on the floor as close to your hips as possible.
Place your hands on the sides of your hips.
Push your shoulders back and down and extend your elbows to lift your hips off the floor.
Pull your quads to your chest as you lift your hips off the floor.
Hold for as long as possible.
Pro Tip: Holding your legs close to your chest is easier than maintaining straight legs. You can also use an elevated platform for this exercise if you have difficulty doing it on the ground.
Step 5: Tuck-Sit to L-Sit (on an elevated platform)
We push into the next gear with this L-sit progression exercise. This exercise begins in the tuck sit position and requires you to work into a full L-sit.
Steps:
Follow the steps mentioned above to get into a tuck-sit position.
While keeping your back straight, extend your legs until they are parallel to the floor.
You might lose balance as you extend your legs. In this case, pull your legs back to your chest.
Hold the L-sit position for as long as possible.
Pro Tip: Use elevated platforms for this exercise if you cannot do it on the floor. Performing this exercise on an elevated platform will ensure you have enough space to pull your legs into your chest without having your feet touch the floor.
Step 6: L-Sit
After you have spent enough time practicing the tuck-sit (step four) and tuck-sit to L-sit (step five), the conventional L-sit will be the natural next step. Use the steps mentioned in the “How To Do L-Sit” section to perform the L-sit.
Common Mistakes While Performing L-Sit
Avoid making the following mistakes while performing the L-sit to get the best bang for your buck:
Rounding Back
This is one of the most common mistakes exercisers commit while performing the L-sit. You must avoid hunching your back as you extend your elbows to lift your hips off the floor. Rounding your back makes it harder to lift your legs off the floor.
Skipping Warm-Up
Since the L-sit is a bodyweight exercise, many people skip warming up their bodies, which can hamper their performance. Before doing this exercise, you must spend 5-10 minutes warming up your wrists, arms, shoulders, abs, glutes, hamstrings, and legs to ensure you’re primed to hold this position for as long as possible.
Not Locking Out Your Elbows and Pushing Your Shoulder Back and Down
Maintaining soft elbows while performing the L-sit is a rookie mistake. You must lock out your elbows to ensure optimal stability and balance. Soft elbows usually lead to the rounding of the back. Also, you must push your shoulders back and down to gain an optimal height to lift your legs off the floor comfortably.
Variations and Alternatives of L-Sit
Add the following L-sit variations and alternatives to your training regimen to build a shredded midsection:
L-Sit Pull-Up
After mastering the L-sit, you can progress to the L-sit pull-up for an additional challenge. Most people tend to use their legs to perform a pull-up; however, since you’ll be holding your legs in front of you in this variation, this exercise is much more difficult than the conventional pull-up.
Steps:
Stand under a pull-up bar.
Grab the pull-up bar with a shoulder-wide grip.
Lift your legs until they are parallel to the floor.
Perform a pull-up while holding this position until your chin is over the bar.
Return to the starting position.
Repeat for recommended reps.
Pro Tip: Beginners can perform hanging L-sit until they develop the core strength to perform a pull-up.
L-Sit Pull-Up on Rings
Since you can pull your head between the rings, this exercise is a little easier than the L-sit pull-up on a pull-up bar, where you must pull your body at an angle. However, performing it on the rings requires more core stability.
Steps:
Jump and grab the gymnastic rings with a neutral (palms facing each other) grip.
Lift your legs until they are parallel to the floor.
While keeping your core contracted, perform a pull-up.
Return to the start position.
Repeat for reps.
Pro Tip: Keep your shoulders pulled back and down while performing pull-ups.
Plank
You need a strong core to perform the L-sit. Planks are an incredibly effective beginner-friendly exercise to build the requisite core strength.
Steps:
Get on all fours on the floor.
Place your elbows under your shoulders and plant your forearms on the floor. Your forearms should be parallel to each other.
Extend your legs behind you.
Your body should be in a straight line from head to toe.
Hold this position for as long as possible.
Pro Tip: As you get more experienced, make this exercise more difficult by wearing a weighted vest or placing a weight plate on your back.
Check out our complete plank guide!
Hollow Body Hold
Hollow body hold is an excellent exercise to build core strength. It is used widely in CrossFit gyms to improve your kipping pull-up mechanics.
Steps:
Lie supine on the floor. Extend your arms over your head.
Contract your abs and lift your legs off the floor. Simultaneously lift your shoulders and arms toward the ceiling.
Your hips and lower body should be the only point of contact with the floor.
Hold the position for as long as possible.
Pro Tip: Focus on actively pushing your arms and legs toward the ceiling throughout the exercise.
Check out our complete hollow hold guide!
Toes-To-Bar
Performing toes-to-bar requires significant core strength. You must keep your core engaged throughout the exercise to avoid swinging between reps.
Steps:
Grab a pull-up bar with an overhand shoulder-wide grip.
Lock out your elbows.
Press on the bar using your lats; this will pull your torso behind the bar.
Simultaneously lean back slightly and raise your legs toward the pull-up bar.
Touch your toes to the bar.
Lower your legs to the starting position.
Repeat for recommended reps.
Pro Tip: Perform a kip to stabilize your body and generate momentum to raise your toes to the bar.
Wrapping Up
The L-sit is an isometric exercise that will help you build a strong core, strengthen your stabilizers, improve your balance and posture, and boost hip flexor strength. Mastering this exercise is a must if you are into gymnastics or CrossFit.
The five beginner-friendly progression exercises listed in this article are excellent movements to work toward an L-sit. Perform the variations thrice weekly, and you should be able to perform a picture-perfect L-sit by the end of six weeks. Best of luck!
The Best Daily Mobility Exercises for Men
Speaking as a typical man, I can honestly say I’d rather be lifting weights or doing push-ups than stretching. Heck, I’d even prefer to do cardio!
However, not stretching can have an adverse effect on flexibility, mobility, exercise performance, posture, and joint health. You might not notice the consequences yet, but as you get older, the effects of not stretching become more noticeable.
The good news is that, like your biceps and quads, your flexibility and mobility are highly trainable. And it doesn’t take a lot of time or energy to improve them.
In this article, we reveal the best daily mobility exercises for men.
Why You NEED to Do These Exercises Daily
Your body was designed to move. Muscles, joints, ligaments, tendons, cartilage, intervertebral discs – all of these structures get healthier and stronger when you move your body.
However, unless you have a manual labor job, the chances are you don’t move enough to be healthy. Prolonged sitting can do a real number on your musculoskeletal system, leaving you sore, stiff, and immobile.
Regular workouts can help but aren’t enough to offset the effects of an otherwise sedentary lifestyle. For example, even if you hit the gym for five hours a week, that still leaves 163 hours during which you can be inactive.
Prolonged sitting causes your muscles to shorten and stiffen up. This will adversely affect your flexibility and mobility. Your posture can also take a hit.
Like a machine allowed to rust, this will make your joints more prone to wear and tear and could even stop you from performing movements that should be smooth and painless, such as reaching overhead or touching your toes.
Animals don’t need to be told to stretch and move. It’s something they do instinctively. Watch a cat, dog, lion, or tiger, and invariably, they’ll stretch briefly but regularly throughout the day. That way, they’re always ready for action; you don’t see big cats warming up before a hunt!
Humans would do well to take a page from the animal fitness guidebook and stretch little and often to break up periods of inactivity. This would alleviate many of the detrimental effects of prolonged sitting and sedentarism.
But which stretches should you do? After all, fitness experts often recommend dozens of different and often convoluted exercises, which is one of the things that makes stretching so unattractive.
It doesn’t matter that most men know they need to stretch more; the moment it becomes inconvenient or seems more trouble than it’s worth, they quit doing it.
So, we’ve boiled things down to a short list of six simple movements most men should do daily. These big-bang-for-your-buck exercises focus on the areas most likely to be tight, i.e., the hips, back, and shoulders.
Sure, you could do more if you want, but that may mean you get bogged down and, due to lack of time, don’t stretch and mobilize at all.
Like most animals, who only do a couple of different stretches, it’s better to do less but do it well than try to do more and fail to do it at all. So, we’re aiming to be good and consistent rather than perfect but inconsistent.
By keeping things simple, you can work on your mobility in less than ten minutes a day.
The Best Daily Mobility Exercises for Men
Do the following exercises daily or more often if you have time. You can combine them to make a morning routine, do them before or after your workout, during your lunch break, after dinner, or before going to bed.
Spend longer on the exercises that feel the most difficult. Invariably, these are the ones that you need the most.
Cat/cow
Standing spine twist
Waiter’s bow
Kneeling hip flexor stretch
Yoga push-up
Yoga squat
1. Cat/cow
Target areas: Lower back, upper back, neck, erector spinae, rectus abdominis.
Cat/cow is a pose from yoga, so people have been doing this exercise for centuries. This move effectively mobilizes your entire spine, from your lumbar or lower vertebrae to your cervical vertebrae or neck. It also “flosses” your spinal cord, which can help alleviate issues like sciatica. Your spine will feel fabulous after this exercise, especially if you’ve been stuck in a chair or car for a few hours.
Steps:
Kneel on all fours with your shoulders directly over your hands and your hips over your knees.
Exhale and lift the middle of your back up toward the ceiling. Lower your head and tilt your pelvis under to create a large C-shape with your spine.
Next, inhale and lower your abdomen down toward the floor. Lift your head and your butt to extend your spine.
Smoothly alternate between these two positions for 6-12 reps, timing your movements with your breaths.
2. Standing spine twist
Target areas: Lower back, upper back, obliques, shoulders, hips, knees.
Twisting is a very uncommon movement pattern in modern life. As such, a lot of people are rotationally restricted. So if you find turning your head and shoulders to look behind you difficult, e.g., when reversing your car, this exercise will help. It’s also a great stress reliever and general warm-up movement.
Steps:
Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent. Relax your shoulders, arms, and neck.
Start by rotating your head and shoulders to the left and right. Allow your arms to trail behind, reaching around to touch your hips.
Then, allow your hips and knees to turn with your shoulders. Add a slight lateral weight shift if you wish.
Increase your momentum as your muscles start to loosen and warm up. However, never force the movement or fling your arms. Make “soft and supple” your movement mantra.
Continue for 15-30 reps per side.
3. Waiter’s bow
Target areas: Lower back, hips, hamstrings.
The waiter’s bow is a great way to ease tension from your lower back and stretch your hamstrings, commonly one of the tightest muscles in the body. Tight hammies can cause numerous postural and functional problems and are also prone to injury. Do this exercise anytime you’ve been sitting for a long time, which invariably causes the hamstrings to tighten up even more.
Steps:
Stand with your feet about hip-width apart, knees slightly bent, and arms by your sides.
Push your butt backward, hinge forward from your hips, and extend your arms in front of you so your entire upper body is roughly parallel to the floor. Do not round your lower back.
Lower your arms and return to the starting position.
Repeat 10-15 times.
4. Kneeling hip flexor stretch
Target areas: Hip joints, hip flexors, quadriceps, rectus abdominis.
Prolonged sitting can leave you with very tight hip flexors, which are the muscles located on the fronts of your thighs and pelvis. Tight hip flexors are a leading cause of low back pain and poor posture. Hip flexor problems can also cause your lower abdomen to protrude, making your belly bulge even if you are very lean. This exercise is critical for anyone who spends long periods sitting – so everyone, really!
Steps:
Step forward and bend your legs. Lower your rear knee to the floor. Adjust your feet so your front shin should be vertical.
Gently push your hips forward to stretch the hip flexor on your back leg.
Take care not to hyperextend your spine. Instead, keep your lumbar spine and pelvis neutral. Do not rest your hands on your front leg; let your arms hang relaxed by your sides.
Hold for 30-60 seconds, and then switch sides.
For added credit, reach up into the air with one arm to stretch your obliques and lats; this stretch feels so good!
5. Yoga push-up
Target areas: Lower back, hips, hamstrings, shoulders, upper back, calves.
While push-ups are usually viewed as a strength and conditioning exercise, the yoga push-up is also a top-drawer mobility exercise. Yoga push-ups will stretch and mobilize your ankles, hips, lower back, and shoulders. In fact, if you only have time for one mobility exercise, the yoga push-up is probably your best choice.
Steps:
Adopt the push-up position with your hands shoulder-width apart, arms extended, and body straight. Brace your core and pull your shoulders back and down.
Bend your arms and lower your chest down to within an inch of the floor.
Next, push up and back, lifting your hips up toward the ceiling.
Gently push your head between your arms to extend your shoulders, open your chest, and stretch your lats. Keep your legs as straight as possible, and press your heels down toward the floor. Your body should now resemble an inverted V. Hold this position (but not your breath) for several seconds.
Return to the starting position, bend your arms, and repeat for 4-6 smooth reps.
6. Yoga squat
Target areas: Lower back, hips, inner thighs, calves.
This exercise is a variation of the famous Asian squat but with more emphasis on opening the hips and stretching your inner thighs. While this exercise might feel awkward at first, in time, it will become a relaxing resting posture. Practice it often to mobilize your hips, knees, and lower back. Look for opportunities to drop into a squat throughout your day.
Steps:
Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, toes turned slightly outward.
Raise your heels and descend into a deep squat.
Next, lower your heels to the floor and press your elbows against your inner thighs to open your hips and knees.
Sit in this position for 60-90 seconds.
Rest your heels on one-inch blocks if you are unable to keep them flat on the floor. Lower the height of the blocks as your flexibility improves.
Mobility Exercises – FAQs
Do you have a question about these daily mobility exercises for men? No problem, because we’ve got the answers!
1. Do I need to warm up before doing these exercises?
While you could warm up before these exercises with some light cardio, it shouldn’t be necessary. Instead, start each movement slow and easy, and only increase your range of motion as you feel your muscles start to relax and your joints begin to loosen. Use the first few reps as your warm-up.
Also, the exercises are listed in approximate order of difficulty, so each one will prepare your muscles and joints for what comes next.
Finally, if you do the exercises several times a day, especially to break up long periods of sitting, you should find they get more manageable as your day progresses.
2. Some exercises are more difficult than others. Is this normal?
Most people have some muscle groups tighter than others. For example, you may have overly tight hamstrings while the rest of your muscles are relaxed and supple. This is completely normal.
Mobilizing your entire body is an excellent way to identify localized areas of tightness. If you find any such places, just spend a few extra minutes on them. With this extra attention, they’ll soon catch up with the rest of your muscle groups and cease being the tight link in your kinetic chain.
3. When is the best time to do mobility exercises?
There is no single best time to stretch and mobilize. It’ll do you good almost any time of day. That said, there are times when it might be marginally more beneficial or convenient, such as:
Shortly after waking as part of your morning routine.
Before or after exercise.
Before bed.
To break up long periods of sitting.
After long journeys.
During TV ad breaks.
To reduce stress or promote relaxation.
Anytime you need to wake up and energize.
Try to set a mobility schedule to ensure you do these exercises regularly. Doing them at the same time each day is a great way to make mobility training more habitual so you’re less likely to forget to do it.
4. Do I have to stick to the prescribed number of reps for each exercise?
The prescribed number of reps is merely a suggestion. If you feel like you would benefit from doing more, then please do so. Continue doing each exercise until you feel it’s done its job, i.e., stretched your muscles and mobilized your joints.
However, remember these are not conditioning exercises and, as such, should not be fatiguing. Rather, you should feel energized but relaxed after completing them.
5. Do I need to do all the exercises in sequence?
While these mobility exercises are presented in a sequence, you don’t have to perform them that way. If you only have time to do a couple of the exercises, that’s what you should do. Any mobility training is better than none.
Choose the exercises that target known areas of tightness. This is usually the hips and shoulders for most men but can vary from person to person.
6. Can I do these exercises more than once a day?
You can stretch and mobilize as many times a day as you want or need to. In fact, the more often you do these exercises, the better you’ll feel, and the longer-lasting their effects will be.
The entire sequence of exercises should take no more than ten minutes, so you should have no problem doing it 3-5 times per day.
That said, even once per day will be beneficial if you do them consistently, i.e., daily for several months. However, do your best not to skip a day. Daily mobility training is a must.
Closing Thoughts
Modern living means that many people are tight and stiff, unable to perform everyday movements comfortably or efficiently. Prolonged sitting and other sedentary activities are primarily to blame. The less you move, the more difficult moving becomes.
Working out can help, but a few hours of gym time cannot make up for an otherwise sedentary, inactive lifestyle. Your body is the master adapter, and muscles soon shorten with lack of use.
Thankfully, in the same way you can develop your aerobic fitness or build bigger biceps, you can improve mobility and win back lost flexibility. All you need to do is move more.
Use the exercises in this article to restore lost mobility. Do them at least once a day and more often if you can. They might be difficult at first, but that’s precisely why you need to do them! Focus on the exercises that feel most challenging.
Just a few minutes a day is all you need to regain your mobility. You don’t have to be sore and stiff and remember that even old big cats are still supremely supple. Why? because they stretch every day!
Rowing Machine Form Guide: Use The Rower To The Best Effect
There are plenty of options out there when it comes to getting a good cardio workout. As a personal trainer, I’ve tried them all. Yet after 30 years of training athletes, sports people, and everyday gym goers, I’ve settled on just one device — the rowing machine.
Rowing has a lot going for it. Besides working more than 80% of your muscles, it provides a joint-friendly way to get a great cardio workout. Your rowing workout, though, is only as effective as your form. Unless you learn how to do it right, you will develop poor habits that could lead to injuries. In this article, I’ll explain exactly what proper rowing machine form looks like. I’ll also cover the most frequent rowing machine form mistakes and address the most common rowing machine form questions.
Rowing Machine Benefits
Before we get into the specifics of how to row with proper form, let’s consider the benefits of rowing:
Full Body Training
Lower body muscles are the main focus of most cardiac activities. This is because their primary workout movement is typically some variant of walking. These workouts effectively tone and strengthen the quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. However, the upper body gets very little stimulation.
Rowing is different, as 85% of your body’s muscles are used during a rowing workout. Besides the leg muscles, rowing engages the latissimus dorsi and trapezius muscles of the upper back, the deltoids, biceps, and core, as well as the muscles that run down either side of the spine.
Working out on a rowing machine won’t give you bodybuilder-like muscles but will strengthen your muscles. You can increase the rowing resistance if you want to employ more pulling power to complete the rowing motion. The strength and endurance of your muscles will increase by performing hundreds or even thousands of repetitions while rowing.
Joint Friendly Cardio
Rowing is a classic example of a closed-chain exercise. This is because your feet are always in contact with the foot platform. In contrast, most cardio exercises have an open chain, which causes the feet to rise and drop frequently. This results in recurrent foot strikes.
Since rowing is a closed chain movement, there is minimal impact pressure on the ankles, knees, and hips. Rowing also relieves the compressive pressure on the spine because it is a sitting workout.
Rowing not only lessens the strain on your joints but it also improves the health of those joints. In a 2014 study, 24 participants were followed for eight weeks as they exercised on rowing machines. Their knee, shoulder, and elbow joints’ capacity for rotation had increased by an astounding 30% on average by the time the trial was over. [1]
Calorie Burn
Rowing burns a whole lot of calories. Your heart and lungs have to work harder to deliver the nourishment required for those muscles to work since you are using both your upper and lower body muscles. Because of this, rowing is a fantastic option for those looking to lose weight.
For a 180-pound person, a 30-minute workout of moderate-intensity rowing will burn about 200 calories. They could easily burn more than twice as many calories if they increased their effort. You can regularly lose weight by combining a daily rowing program with a calorie-reduced, nutritious diet.
Cardio Workout
Rowing is an excellent cardiovascular workout. Since cardiovascular exercise is aerobic, oxygen must be consumed to fuel the activity. That oxygen and other nutrients are delivered to the working muscles through the bloodstream. Your cardiovascular system facilitates this process.
Your heart is the central organ in your cardiovascular system. The stronger it is, the more effectively it will pump the blood that delivers the nutrients to your cells. Rowing strengthens the heart so it can act as a more efficient pump.
Understanding the Rowing Machine
Rowing machines are designed to simulate the experience of rowing on the water. The parts of a rowing machine work together to enable the user to perform the four key movements that a rower performs:
Catch
Drive
Finish
Recovery
Here are nine rowing machine parts that you need to become familiar with:
Flywheel: The flywheel is the large wheel at the front of the machine. It is connected to the handle by a cable. When you pull on the cable, you create resistance. This may be air resistance through fab blades, magnetic resistance through magnets, or water resistance as the flywheel churns through the water.
Damper: Air and water resistance rowers usually feature a damper. This is a lever that controls the amount of air that gets to the fan. Most dampers will have settings from 1 to 10. The higher you set the damper, the more air flows to the fan. This makes the rower feel heavier and, therefore, more challenging to operate.
Footplates: The footplates are positioned where the rail meets the front housing of the machine. The best footplates pivot to allow for natural ankle motion while rowing. They should also be adjustable and feature sturdy foot straps to allow you to lock your feet in place securely. Getting the correct foot placement will help with proper rowing form. You won’t be able to drive as hard and risk lower back damage if your heel height is too low. Your stroke length will be constrained, and your form will deteriorate if your feet are too high in the footplate.
Seat: Many modern seats are ergonomically contoured for comfort. Others are molded, padded, or flat. You can increase your sitting comfort by sitting a few inches forward from the back of the seat and not leaning back excessively at the top of each rowing stroke.
Seat Rollers: Seat rollers sit on the underside of the seat, connecting it to the rail. High-quality rollers will allow for smooth movement up and down the rail.
Handle: The handle may be ergonomically contoured for comfort. It should be long enough to allow you to grip it out wide. The best handles will also have a center cut out to allow you to row one-handed.
Rail: The rail is the central part of the frame that the seat moves up and down. It may use aluminum or steel. The rail may also be parallel to the floor or slightly angled. Angled rails are more challenging because they offer more resistance.
Monitor: The monitor displays your key training data, including your time, strokes per minute, total strokes, calories burned, and heart rate.
Frame: The frame of a rower may be made of aluminum, steel, or wood. It should have a maximum user weight of at least 50 pounds heavier than the user. This will ensure the rower is sturdy and won’t move around during use.
Proper Body Positioning
The correct rowing form starts with your setup. Begin by sitting on the rower seat and putting your feet on the foot pedals. Adjust the footrests so they are aligned with your feet, and then secure the foot straps so you are locked in.
Sit upright with a naturally slight back arch and lean forward to grab the handles with an overhand grip. Hold the handles with a relaxed grip, avoiding squeezing too tightly.
Lean slightly forward while maintaining a neutral spine position and bending your knees slightly. Keep your shoulders relaxed and down. Finally, engage your core to activate your abs and lower back muscles.
Executing the Rowing Stroke
The rowing stroke has four distinct parts — catch, drive, finish, and return. Let’s break down each part with an explanation of its purpose.
The Catch
The catch is the portion of the stroke where you are most squeezed and tense at the beginning. Your arms are straight, your knees and hips are bent, your ankles are dorsiflexed, and you feel like there is nowhere for your stomach to go. In terms of rowing on the water, this is the portion of the stroke where your oar has just been lowered into the water, and you are about to push or drag the oar through the water to propel the boat.
The Drive
During this phase of the stroke, you push incredibly hard with your leg muscles to propel the oar through the water and propel the boat forward. It is what determines the numbers on the rowing machine’s LCD that displays your split time and indicate how much effort you are exerting. This is what accelerates you. It is the portion of the stroke where you put in all the effort, requiring a powerful leg push.
The Finish
The finish comes at the conclusion of the drive. This is the point where the oar emerges from the water. Your core is tight, your arms are bent, your knees are straight, and your hips are extended further than before. After completing the movement of the handle, you are prepared to bring it back to the front, or the catch, position.
The Recovery
You must go through the recovery portion of the rowing stroke to get from the finish back to the catch. It is called recovery because you get to rest (very briefly) and recover during this part.
Putting It All Together
Each of the four phases is covered with the following cue:
“Legs, core, arms … arms, core, legs”
Many people have a natural tendency to think “pull” when in the catch position. They want to pull with their arms when they should be pushing with their legs first. Your legs provide 60% of the force for the movement.
So, most of the work is being performed by your leg muscles, the largest in your body. However, if you pull with your arms first, your smaller, weaker arms do most of the work, producing much less force and efficiency. So, straighten your knees and push back through your feet rather than pulling with your arms first while using those bigger, stronger leg muscles. Your legs will straighten, and the seat will slide backward.
Once your legs are straight, you can begin to open up your hips by moving from a slightly forward-bent position to a slightly backward position. Keep your core tight as you bring your arms into the action.
By this time, your legs have already exerted so much force that the flywheel is turning very quickly, and you do not need to exert much force with your arms to bend your elbows and pull the handle close to your body. About 20% of the power for the rowing stroke comes from the arms.
The driving phase of the stroke was formed by the three motions (legs, core, and arms). You are now in the finish position when your legs are straight, your core is slightly leaned back to the 1 o’clock position, your elbows are bent, and the handle is close to your body.
You must go through the recovery phase to return to the catch position. To do this, you simply reverse the actions you’ve just performed, making it arms, core, and legs.
As soon as you are in the finish position, immediately push your hands away from you and straighten your elbows to allow the handle to pull your arms in front of you. This will be made easier with the help of the handle and chain recoil. When your elbows are straight, you close the hip angle, which causes your trunk to go from 1 to 11 o’clock. You must perform the leg component of the stroke in reverse once your core and trunk have reached that position. This will bring you back to the catch position.
You are now ready to start the stroke cycle over again.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Here are the ten common mistakes that people make on the rowing machine and how to fix them:
1. Overgipping the Handle
You should grip the handle with a relaxed grip. There is no need to grab it tightly or overgrip with the wrists angled downward. Your fingers should be comfortable around the handle with your thumbs underneath. Your wrists should remain flat throughout the entire rowing stroke.
2. Leaning Forward in the Catch Position
People frequently slump forwards at the catch to reach further forwards. This results in the rounding of the upper and mid-back. This is not the best position for your shoulders or back. Instead, try sitting straighter-backed and more upright, but not so straight that your spine is overextended.
If your back is rounded with your arms far in front of you in the catch position, you will struggle to maintain contact with your body. That’s because you rely more on your ligaments and arms to start rowing than back and shoulders.
You want to be in the catch position with your back straight, hips still tilted forwards at 11 o’clock, core engaged, and lats (back shoulder) engaged. Pull your shoulders back and down to engage the lats.
3. Breaking the Arms at the Catch
Your arms should be as straight as possible in the catch position. This allows you to more effectively connect the handle to the power of your leg drive. So, avoid the tendency to bend the elbows in the catch; that will come as you move into the drive.
4. Chicken Wing Arms
Chicken wing arms occur when you stick your elbows out to the side in the finish position. This results in quite a lot of energy loss. Allowing the elbows to return past the body with relaxed rather than hunched shoulders is far more efficient.
5. Lunging at the Catch
It’s common to see people lunging their torso forward just before the catch position. This puts excessive strain on your lower back and could result in pulling a muscle in the mid-back. Establish the proper forward upper body lean during recovery before you bend your knees to avoid this tendency. Your shoulders should be in front of your hips before you move into the catch position. Do not deviate from this position.
6. Overreaching at the Catch
Avoid reaching too far toward the flywheel in the catch position. Doing so puts you in a weaker, compromised position. You want your torso to be in a 1 o’clock position, with your shoulders in front of the hips. Do not overextend the shoulders, keeping them down and relaxed.
7. Leaning Too Far Back in the Finish Position
Leaning too back in the finish position is the most common mistake I see among rookies. Doing so negatively affects your balance and stability, puts excessive strain on the lower back, and prevents you from adequately engaging the upper back, glutes, quads, and hamstrings.
In the finish position, your torso should be in the 1 o’clock position. Another cue is to look at the chain or belt that connects the handle to the flywheel. It should be parallel to the floor throughout the stroke, including in the finish position. You are leaning too far back if it is angled upward in the finish position.
8. Only Pushing Through the Heel in the Drive Position
Let’s now focus on what part of your foot you are pushing through in the drive position. In the catch position, many people lift the heel and push through the toes. That is perfectly fine, but as you transition into the drive, you must drop your heels to push through the entire foot — not just the heel or toe.
Some people find they can only push through the heel as they complete the drive position. This can result in your shin and toe muscles being overworked, which can also result in an injury.
9. Bending the Knees Too Early on the Recovery
If you bend your knees too early on the recovery, your arms have to row too high or follow an arcing movement. Maintain a parallel chain position throughout the entire stroke. Achieve this by extending the arms and allowing your body to swing naturally so that the hands and handle clear the knees before you bend your knees.
10. Rushing the Slide
If you try to move forward too quickly on the rail as you transition from recovery to catch, you won’t be able to establish a smooth rowing cadence. Allow time during the recovery phase to breathe, and ensure you’re in the proper position for the next drive.
Watch The Correct Technique for Rowing Machine Exercise:
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the rowing technique important?
By learning proper technique, you will be able to avoid common rowing machine injuries, especially those relating to the lower back. You will also become a more efficient rower, able to burn more calories with less wasted effort and to row faster and in a way that engages more muscles.
What key cues should I think about when rowing?
Good rowing form can be distilled to a simple six-word cue — “legs, core, arms … arms, core, legs.”
You can follow the proper bodily sequence to achieve proper rowing form by repeating this cue to yourself.
What muscles does rowing work the most?
The main muscles worked when rowing are the glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, upper back, lower back, and core. Rowing has been described as a horizontal deadlift repeated hundreds of times over.
Wrap Up
Rowing is one of the most effective forms of cardio you can do. It is also one of the safest, being extremely joint-friendly. However, the benefits you’ll get from rowing are only as good as your technique. Take the time to apply the technique guidance we’ve provided, avoid the 10 common rowing mistakes, and your rowing workouts will be far more productive, safe, and enjoyable.
References
Kang SR, Yu CH, Han KS, Kwon TK. Comparative analysis of basal physical fitness and muscle function in relation to muscle balance pattern using rowing machines. Biomed Mater Eng. 2014;24(6):2425-35. doi: 10.3233/BME-141056. PMID: 25226943.
How Sitting Is Bad for You and What to Do About It
Sitting is part and parcel of modern life. Many people earn a living while seated, travel while seated, and then spend their leisure time seated. And, if you go to a gym, your workout will probably include seated exercises, too.
As a result, the average American spends as much as 60% of their day sitting or otherwise sedentary – about 15 hours. In contrast, people living in less developed, more rural places spend as little as three hours a day sitting (1, 2). Unfortunately, while sitting is often commonplace and hard to avoid, it may also be bad for your health. Even regular exercisers are not immune to the damaging effects of sitting too much. It’s also possible to be an ardent exerciser and too sedentary to be healthy.
In this article, we reveal the dangers of too much sitting and what you can do to minimize its harmful effects.
The Effects of Sitting Too Much
While it may be hard to believe that sitting is bad for your health, numerous studies have linked sitting and other sedentary behaviors to various adverse effects and health risks. These include:
Weight Gain
Weight Gain
With a large and growing percentage of adults and kids overweight or obese, it’s clear that weight gain is a big problem in almost every developed country. While dietary changes are partly to blame, i.e., the easy availability of highly calorific junk food, lack of physical activity is also a factor.
Sitting is a very passive activity. Your chair supports your weight, so you don’t have to use your muscles to maintain your position. This passivity reduces your caloric expenditure significantly.
To put this in perspective, office workers burn an average of 1,000 fewer calories than manual laborers and agricultural workers. Such a low daily caloric expenditure increases the likelihood of weight gain and makes it much harder to lose weight. Statistics show that obese people tend to sit an average of two more hours than those of a healthy weight (3).
Related: See how many calories you burn while sitting here.
Poor Posture
Posture is the alignment of your joints, and it can be good or bad. Good posture requires minimal muscle tension and tends to stress your joints in an even, balanced way. While it is possible to sit in good posture, prolonged sitting still causes some muscles to tighten while stretching and weakening others, pulling joints out of optimal alignment. This causes tension and pain, and joints are loaded unevenly, increasing structural wear and tear, and is a leading cause of low back pain.
It’s no coincidence that office workers often suffer from back and neck pain. Many even look like they’re sitting even when they’re standing, i.e., a rounded upper and lower back and forward head position.
Linked to Disease and an Early Death
The less active you are, the more likely you are to die early. Studies show that sedentary people have a 22–49% greater risk of early death (4). However, given that sitting is one of the most common sedentary behaviors, it’s clear there is a link between sitting more and dying sooner.
Diseases commonly associated with sedentarism that can also shorten your life include:
Abnormal cholesterol levels
Cancer
Coronary heart disease
Diabetes
Heart attack
Increased blood pressure
Metabolic syndrome
Obesity
Osteoporosis
Stroke
There are also strong links between sedentarism and mental/brain health, e.g., an increased risk of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, anxiety, depression, etc.
Lost Mobility and Lower Quality of Life
The less physically active you are now, the less physically capable you’re likely to be when you’re older. This can significantly reduce mobility, strength, and quality of life in your later years.
Sitting involves very little muscular work, and, as such, your muscles will weaken through lack of use. Exercise can help, but a couple of workouts a week won’t offset spending the rest of your time sitting in a chair.
Age-related muscle loss, called sarcopenia, is unavoidable. However, it can be delayed and slowed to a crawl by leading an active lifestyle, i.e., sitting less and moving more.
Related: Sitting vs. Standing Calories Burned Calculator
Strategies for Sitting Less
Exercise is good for everybody’s body. However, some research suggests that even regular exercise may not offer much protection from the damaging effects of prolonged sitting (5). Rather, the best solution is to try and spend less time sitting.
While this might sound difficult, especially if you have an office or driving job, there are actually several effective strategies you can use to get yourself up and moving more.
These include:
1. Take Microbreaks From Sitting
Sitting for long periods is very easy, especially when you are engaged in whatever you are doing, e.g., working or watching TV. Before you know it, you’ve been sitting in the same position for several hours without moving.
One way to avoid this is to break up long periods of sitting with microbreaks. These breaks are small enough that they won’t disrupt your productivity or relaxation but long enough to get your body moving and offset some of the negative effects of sedentarism.
One way to do this is with the pomodoro method. Named after the famous tomato-shaped kitchen timer, this system for increasing productivity involves taking a five-minute break every 25 minutes, and a 15-minute break every two hours, so:
Work/sit for 25 minutes
Move for 5 minutes
Work/sit for 25 minutes
Move for 5 minutes
Work/sit for 25 minutes
Move 5 minutes
Work/sit for 25 minutes
Move for 15 minutes
Work/sit for 25 minutes
Move 5 minutes, etc.
You can do whatever you want during your five and 15-minute breaks, so long as it doesn’t involve more sitting. Good options include:
If such frequent microbreaks are inconvenient, try taking a five-minute break every hour.
However, don’t rely on your time-keeping skills to remind you to get up and move. Instead, use a timer on your watch or phone or download one of the many pomodoro apps now available. Some smartwatches also have movement alarms to remind you to stand up and shake off the effects of prolonged sitting.
2. Look for More Walking Opportunities
If sitting is one of the worst things you can do for your health, walking is arguably one of the best. In fact, walking is the perfect antidote to prolonged sitting.
It’s very easy to fall into the trap of barely walking at all. Mechanized transport, elevators and escalators, drive-throughs, food delivery services, etc., means that walking is almost optional. Needless to say, the less walking you do, the more time you’ll probably spend sitting.
So, look for opportunities to walk more. By default, this will invariably mean you spend a lot less time sitting. Good options include:
Walk any journey of less than a mile/20 minutes
Go for a walk during your lunch break
Walk to another floor to use the bathroom/water dispenser
Walk to see colleagues instead of calling or emailing them
Take the stairs instead of riding in an elevator
Park further away from work or the store and walk the rest of the way
Walk to the coffee shop or takeout instead of ordering in
Walk your kids to school instead of driving them
Have walking meetings instead of meeting in the boardroom
Try a treadmill desk
Walk around the gym rather than resting passively between sets
Do fewer seated exercises at the gym
Even the most office-bound person should be able to find numerous opportunities to walk more and sit less. Track your steps and try to clock up at least 10,000 each day.
3. Try a Standing Desk
Standing desks are pretty trendy, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t effective. Standing engages more muscles than sitting, and you are more likely to shift your weight and fidget, breaking you out of that fixed posture.
Of course, it’s as easy to stand in bad posture as it is to sit in it, so you’ll need to set your desk up properly to avoid hunching and slouching. However, used correctly, a standing desk can be a real lower back saver and will get you up off your butt so you spend less time sitting.
Adjustable desks that allow you to alternate between sitting and standing are ideal as they’re more versatile and will allow you to ease into going chairless.
4. Seek Out More Active Leisure Activities
Despite sitting so much at work, many people spend most of their leisure time seated, too. After a hard day at the office, who doesn’t want to just crash on the sofa binge-watching Netflix?
Unfortunately, while this is undoubtedly relaxing, more time spent sitting won’t do much to break you out of your sedentarism rut.
So, at least a few times a week, try to engage in more active leisure activities. This doesn’t have to be sport or exercise but should involve physical movement and time on your feet.
Good options include:
Nature walks
Casual games of basketball, baseball, soccer, touch football, Ultimate Frisbee, etc.
Play with your kids
Explore your neighborhood
Go to the gym
Do some gardening or chores
Go for a walk with friends instead of hanging out at home
Walk your dog
Go for a walk after dinner
Walk to a nearby restaurant to eat
Walk rather than drive to your local coffee shop
Walk to visit friends
That’s not to say you have to give up watching TV or you can’t enjoy going to the movies from time to time. However, these passive activities should be balanced with more energetic leisure activities.
5. Follow a Corrective Exercise Program
As discussed, sitting can do a lot of damage to your muscles and skeletal system. It causes some muscles to tighten up while others are stretched and weakened. While sitting less and moving more will help partially alleviate this problem, you’ll probably benefit from a more prescriptive corrective program.
Because of the effects of sitting, most people need to stretch their:
Calves
Hamstrings
Adductors
Hip flexors
Rectus abdominis
Neck flexors
Pectoralis major
Anterior deltoids
Conversely, the following muscles usually need strengthening:
Gluteus maximus
Abductors
Core
Middle trapezius
Rhomboids
Posterior deltoids
Neck extensors
A few weeks of corrective training will do wonders for your posture and help alleviate much of the pain caused by prolonged sitting.
Related: Exercises to Fix Your Nerd Neck and Desk Slouch
6. Set up an Ergonomic Workstation
Sitting, especially at work, is largely unavoidable, so it’s worth trying to make it as safe and comfortable as possible. This means setting up your desk in the most ergonomic way you can.
There are lots of theories on what desk setup is best, but some general guidelines include the following:
Adjust the height of your chair so your feet are flat on the floor
Knees bent to around 90 degrees and level with your hips
A supportive, comfortable chair
Monitor about an arm’s length away and straight in front of you
Elbows bent to about 90 degrees, shoulders relaxed
Wrists flat on your desk
Mouse within easy reach
Good lighting
Your desk and chair can affect your productivity, and the more comfortable you are, the better you’ll be able to concentrate and the more work you’ll be able to do. So, if your chair or desk is causing you problems, let your boss know and explain how you’ll be able to do a better job if they spring for an ergonomic workstation.
Of course, if you work for yourself, you’ll need to buy these things, but they’re probably a tax-deductible expense.
7. Drink More Water
Drinking more water can act as an indirect reminder to get up and walk more. Increasing your water intake means you’ll need more bathroom breaks, forcing you to leave the confines of your chair and take a quick walk.
So, if you keep forgetting to move around, drink more water and let your bladder be your alarm clock. Plus, being more hydrated is good for many aspects of your health and can even help you lose weight by making you feel full, so you eat less.
Talk about a win-win situation!
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you have a question about the damaging effects of sitting? No problem, because we’ve got the answers!
1. In terms of calorie burning, how does sitting compare to walking?
Sitting is a very passive activity using much less muscle tension. As such, sitting burns fewer calories per hour than walking. That said, the number of calories used during these activities will depend on several factors, including your weight, muscle mass, age, and gender. So, any calculation of calories burned will be an approximation.
Using online calculators, we estimate that a 180-pound male will burn approximately 110 calories by sitting for an hour but 300 while walking at a moderate pace. Standing falls roughly halfway between these two extremes.
2. Could too much sitting be why I struggle to lose weight?
Spending prolonged periods sitting makes it very hard to create a big enough calorie deficit to lose weight. In contrast, more physical activity, e.g., walking, exercising, or doing chores, can significantly increase your daily calorie expenditure, which, depending on your diet, will probably make it easier to lose weight.
As little as five minutes of movement, most waking hours, can add a considerable amount to your daily energy expenditure, so look for ways to sit less and move more.
3. What does sedentary mean, and why is it so bad?
Sitting or lying down when you are awake are examples of sedentary behaviors.
Most people are sedentary when watching TV, using a computer or other screens, driving, or studying.
Sedentary behaviors are associated with weight gain and poor health, even if you are a regular exerciser. For example, being sedentary increases the risk of obesity, some cancers, coronary heart disease, and type 2 diabetes and can shorten your life.
While it’s almost impossible to avoid sitting completely, we can minimize the total time we spend sitting each day and break up long periods of sitting with short bursts of physical activity.
Related: The Best 5 To 10-Minute Workouts for Time-Pressed Exercisers
4. Is exercise enough to offset the dangers of prolonged sitting?
While exercise will do you nothing but good, even regular workouts aren’t enough to completely outweigh the negative effects of prolonged sitting or an otherwise sedentary lifestyle. When you take a moment to run the numbers, the reasons for this quickly become clear.
There are 168 hours in a week – 24 hours x 7 days. So, even if you clock up five hours of gym time a week, that still leaves 163 hours of inactivity. And, the reality is that many folks struggle to do even a couple of workouts a week, so actual exercise levels may be far lower than this.
That’s why non-exercise physical activity, or NEPA for short, is so critical for offsetting inactivity. You can do lots of it, it’s not overly tiring, and you can slot it in anywhere you have a few spare minutes.
Examples include:
Walking for transport or pleasure
Household chores
Gardening
Washing your car by hand
Taking out the trash
Recreational games and sports
Playing with your kids
Interactive/VR video games
Suppose you rely solely on workouts to offset an otherwise sedentary lifestyle. In that case, you’ll have to commit to several hours of exercise each day, which will probably be impractical for anyone except professional ultra-marathon runners!
5. How much physical activity do I need to do to be healthy?
While scientists know that too much sitting and sedentarism is bad for your health, they don’t know how much physical activity you need to do to be healthy. This is because, like many health and fitness characteristics, your risk of developing diseases associated with sedentarism is influenced by other factors, including genetics, stress, family history, and diet.
However, the take-home message is to sit less and move more. Get up and move briefly every 30-60 minutes every hour, and avoid sitting for more extended periods whenever possible. Even very short bursts of movement, e.g., 1-2 minutes, may help reduce the harmful effect of prolonged sitting.
Closing Thoughts
According to the media, sitting is the new smoking. And while such dramatic headlines are often nothing but hyperbole, when it comes to sitting and its effect on your health, it’s no exaggeration.
People are sitting more than ever, and rates of being overweight and obese are climbing at a similar rate. Diseases associated with sedentarism are also on the rise, which suggests a strong correlation between prolonged sitting, weight gain, and poor health.
Interestingly, in less developed countries where agricultural and manual labor is more common, incidences of many common “Western” diseases are lower, despite poorer medical care (2).
The good news is that the antidote to the harmful effects of sitting is available to all – walking. It’s easy, free, and you can do it anywhere and anytime; in terms of bang for your buck, walking is hard to beat.
So, try to avoid sitting for long periods without taking a break. Even a couple of minutes of movement per hour could be enough to protect you from the dangers of prolonged sitting.
References:
Dunstan DW, Howard B, Healy GN, Owen N. Too much sitting–a health hazard. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2012 Sep;97(3):368-76. doi: 10.1016/j.diabres.2012.05.020. Epub 2012 Jun 9. PMID: 22682948. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22682948/
Levine JA, McCrady SK, Boyne S, Smith J, Cargill K, Forrester T. Non-exercise physical activity in agricultural and urban people. Urban Stud. 2011;48(11):2417-27. doi: 10.1177/0042098010379273. PMID: 22073428. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22073428/
Levine JA, Lanningham-Foster LM, McCrady SK, Krizan AC, Olson LR, Kane PH, Jensen MD, Clark MM. Interindividual variation in posture allocation: possible role in human obesity. Science. 2005 Jan 28;307(5709):584-6. doi: 10.1126/science.1106561. PMID: 15681386. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15681386/
Wilmot EG, Edwardson CL, Achana FA, Davies MJ, Gorely T, Gray LJ, Khunti K, Yates T, Biddle SJ. Sedentary time in adults and the association with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and death: systematic review and meta-analysis. Diabetologia. 2012 Nov;55(11):2895-905. doi: 10.1007/s00125-012-2677-z. Epub 2012 Aug 14. Erratum in: Diabetologia. 2013 Apr;56(4):942-3. PMID: 22890825. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22890825/
Biswas A, Oh PI, Faulkner GE, Bajaj RR, Silver MA, Mitchell MS, Alter DA. Sedentary time and its association with risk for disease incidence, mortality, and hospitalization in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ann Intern Med. 2015 Jan 20;162(2):123-32. doi: 10.7326/M14-1651. Erratum in: Ann Intern Med. 2015 Sep 1;163(5):400. PMID: 25599350. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25599350/
How To Lose 5 Pounds in a Month: 15 Healthy and Effective Tips To Lose The Flab
There is a big event coming up (it could be a much-deserved vacation at a beach resort, a wedding, or a photoshoot), and you want to shed a few pounds quickly to look dapper. Most of us find ourselves in such situations quite often, but let’s be honest, how many of us end up achieving our objective?
I can’t say about you, but I can do it ten out of ten times. No, I’m not bragging; okay, I’m bragging a little bit, but I digress. The point is that I don’t have a magic potion that helps me shed weight overnight. I follow a tried and tested approach that allows me to drop weight on demand.
In this article, I share everything you need to know to lose weight as quickly as possible while staying healthy. You’ll also learn about the science behind weight loss and what is possible on a long-term weight loss program. We’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s get started.
How Much Weight Should I Expect To Lose in a Month?
Many people never achieve their weight loss goals because of their unrealistic expectations. On the other hand, many folks do not know what to expect. If you join a gym with the vague goal of ‘losing weight,’ you will most likely be unsatisfied with your progress. Conversely, exercisers that aim to ‘lose 15 pounds in a month’ will crash and burn.
Your transformation objective should be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound). You should be able to throw concrete numbers at whosoever asks you about your transformation goals. For example, losing 5 pounds in a month ticks all the right boxes. It is specific, measurable, relevant, and time-bound. However, is it attainable? Let’s find out.
The Science of Weight Loss
To lose weight, you must be in a calorie deficit, meaning you must burn more calories in a day than you consume. Of course, there are other things that you must consider for a successful weight loss journey, for example, eating nutrient-dense whole foods and avoiding empty calories or eating refined calories, and adhering to a suitable macronutrient split. But maintaining a calorie deficit (calories in vs. calories out) is the most crucial factor when it comes to weight loss.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cutting your daily calorie intake by 500-1,000 kcal can help you shed 1-2 pounds weekly. On the flip side, adding 500-1,000 calories to your diet will result in a 1-2 pounds weekly gain.
As per the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), a 3,500-calorie deficit results in a body fat loss of one pound. Sticking to these calorie increases and cutting limits will keep your physique transformation journey gradual, steady, and sustainable. [1][2]
Going by the CDC guidelines, your goal of losing 5 pounds in a month is attainable and safe. Furthermore, a month technically has 4.3 weeks (30 days). To lose 5 pounds in a month, you need to cut approximately 583 calories from your daily diet, which is absolutely doable.
Weight loss not only improves your physique aesthetics but also boosts energy levels, enhances self-confidence, and improves mental health and overall well-being.
How To Find How Many Calories To Cut From Your Diet To Lose 5 Pounds in a Month
Here is the step-by-step process of determining your calorie intake goal to lose 5 pounds in a month:
Find Your Daily Average Calorie Goal
There are two ways of doing this:
1. Use a TDEE Calculator
Total daily energy expenditure estimates how many calories your body burns daily by accounting for three major contributing factors: your basal metabolic rate (BMR), your activity level, and the thermic effect of food metabolism.
Don’t worry; you don’t have to buy a scientific calculator to determine your TDEE. Use our neat TDEE calculator to determine how many calories you need daily for optimal functioning.
2. Find Out Your Daily Average Calorie Intake For Five Days
The TDEE calculator requires your gender, age, weight, height, activity levels, and body fat percentage (optional) to calculate the calories you need in a day. However, many people do not find it reliable, as no calculator can account for your lifestyle.
Alternatively, you could go the manual route and do all the hard work yourself. For this step, you will need a calorie-tracking app, such as MyFitnessPal. You must log your daily food intake for five days in the app.
Ensure that you are logging meals for typical days. Avoid recording meals and snacks on days when you’re out partying.
Take an average of these five days; this will be your average daily caloric intake, which accounts for your lifestyle.
Cut Calories
After determining your average daily caloric intake, deduct 583 calories to enter a calorie deficit. Remember, this is a generic recommendation, and your exact calorie reduction will depend on your lifestyle. People dealing with medical issues should consult a healthcare provider before starting a transformation program.
Also, this calorie cut is optimal for folks that consume more than 2,000 calories daily. Individuals that eat fewer calories than 2,000 should opt for a smaller daily calorie deficit, as it will ensure a more stable fat loss progress and prevent excess muscle loss.
You can enter a deficit by cutting calories, exercising, or combining the two. We recommend adjusting your diet and starting an exercise regimen, as it will get you faster results.
Weight Loss Timelines
Once people learn about what is possible in a month, they want to know what they can achieve long-term by sticking to the 500-1,000 daily calorie deficit. This section answers just that. Here are the weight loss estimates and timelines for up to a year based on the CDC weight-loss guidelines:
Time
Expect Weight Loss Results
1 Day
0.14–0.28 pounds
1 Week
1–2 pounds
1 Month
4–8 pounds
3 Months
12–24 pounds
6 Months
24–48 pounds
12 Months
48–96 pounds
Factors That Determine If You Can Lose 5 Pounds in a Month
No two people will have the same weight loss results by following the same fitness regimen. For example, your training partner might lose the required 5 pounds in a month by cutting 583 calories from your diet, whereas you might only manage 4 pounds.
Multiple factors can influence your weight loss progress. You can tweak some of these factors but must make peace with the others. Here are the factors that affect your weight loss progress:
Experience Level
Your training and dieting experience will influence how much weight you can lose in a month. People that are just starting their fitness journey shouldn’t expect to lose 5 pounds in their first month. Your body needs some time to adjust to your diet routine before you can see the needle budge in the right direction.
Beginners hit the weight loss sweet spot within a couple of months of starting their transformation journey. However, once you get the knack of things and have successfully dropped 5 pounds in a month, you will have no problems replicating the results in the future.
Gender
Men usually shed body weight and fat faster than females. It is primarily because of the male sex hormone — testosterone. Low testosterone levels are also the reason women cannot gain the same amount of muscle mass as men.
Furthermore, the essential body fat storage in men is 2–5%, whereas it is 10–13% for the ladies. The essential body fat is required to maintain life and reproductive functions. That said, females can still attain a shredded physique quickly by following the correct training and diet regimen.
Metabolism
Metabolism is how your body changes food and drink into energy. The energy generated through metabolism powers essential body functions, such as breathing and digestion. Your body needs a minimum amount of calories to carry out these functions, known as the basic metabolic rate (BMR).
Your age, sex, muscle mass, and physical activity determine your BMR. Some people have a higher metabolic rate than others, which helps them burn more calories throughout the day. Regular exercise to build muscle mass can help boost your metabolic rate.
Age
The natural testosterone levels in men and women decline with age, which can slow down their weight loss progress. Your metabolic rate also declines with age, which further hampers your fat loss progress.
Furthermore, we tend to lose muscle mass with age. Greater muscle mass helps you burn more calories throughout the day, even when you are physically inactive. The dip in the metabolic rate will require you to work harder to achieve a calorie deficit.
Genetics
Your genetic makeup will determine how you react to your training regimen and how quickly you lose weight. Some people will lose weight faster than others simply because they are genetically blessed.
However, people who are not born with Greek god genetics do not need to hang their heads. Your genetics might slow down your weight loss progress, but it won’t stop you dead in your tracks.
Your unique genetics is also why you should always use a personalized diet and training regimen. Following a cookie-cutter training regimen or using your best friend’s fitness program will return suboptimal results and can lead to strength and muscle imbalances.
Training, Nutrition, and Recovery Program
These three are the holy trifecta for losing weight and building muscle mass. To achieve your dream physique, you must follow a customized diet, training, and recovery program. We recommend working with a personal trainer and a registered dietician to help design your transformation program.
A personal trainer can give you a workout regimen that fits your strengths and weaknesses. He can also build a solid physical foundation by teaching you the correct exercise form. A dietician will provide you with a suitable nutrition regimen that will help speed up your weight loss progress.
Remember, you don’t have to do everything on your own in a transformation program. Seeking a professional’s help can save you a lot of time, energy, and frustration. Hiring coaches might cost you some money upfront, but it will pay dividends in the long run.
Consistency
Consistency, dedication, and commitment are implacable in a transformation program. You must be consistent with your diet, training, and recovery routine to ensure you lose 5 pounds in a month. You might get through your first one-month fitness regimen without much friction, but if you want to continue your weight loss progress, you must adopt military-like discipline.
15 Tips To Lose 5 Pounds in a Month
Many people adopt fad diets, such as the boiled egg diet and the cabbage soup diet, for quick weight loss. These diets promise mind-boggling results in a short period. However, they have little to no scientific research backing them. Following these fad diets or other obnoxious weight loss methods can lead to chronic health conditions.
In this article, we go over 15 tips that will help you lose 5 pounds in a month safely and steadily. Plus, unlike in the case of extreme weight loss methods, the weight you lose by following these tips won’t return as quickly as it came off.
Without any further ado, here are the 15 tips that will help you lose 5 pounds in a month:
Fix Your Diet
If you are dealing with excess weight, chances are that your diet is out of place. A weight loss program must always begin with fixing your diet. You must enter a calorie deficit to kickstart your weight loss journey.
Determine your average daily calorie intake and deduct a suitable amount of calories to lose weight. You must cut 583 calories from your daily intake to lose 5 pounds in a month.
After arriving at a daily calorie intake goal, you must use a suitable macronutrient split to shed the excess weight and develop a chiseled physique. Plan and prep your meals in advance so you don’t find yourself scrolling through your favorite fast food restaurant’s menu while you are starving.
Eat Protein and Fiber Rich Foods
Following a high-protein and high-fiber diet can help you lose weight quickly. A high-protein diet will help you build muscle. Muscle mass is more metabolically active than fat, meaning it requires more calories to sustain itself. People with higher muscle mass have a higher BMR and burn more calories throughout the day.
Eating fiber-rich foods can speed up your weight loss progress as it will keep you feeling satiated for longer, a quality it shares with protein. Furthermore, it improves your gut health and slows down your digestion.
You must switch to a moderate-carb and low-fat diet on a weight loss program. However, eating carbs two to three hours before a training session will ensure you have enough energy to crush the workout.
Track Your Calories
Losing weight requires you to be in a calorie deficit. You must track your food intake to ensure you are maintaining a calorie shortfall. Using rough estimates isn’t going to cut it. Eating one extra bread slice can disrupt your weight loss progress if you are not careful.
Get in the habit of logging your meals in a calorie-tracking app to stay on top of your diet. Folks that eat the same meals daily can stop logging them after ensuring they are in a deficit by recording their meals for at least a week.
Try Fasting
Fasting is an excellent weight loss method. Beginners can use intermittent fasting to achieve their goal of losing 5 pounds in a month. Intermittent fasting involves cycling between voluntary fasting and non-fasting over a given period.
The 16/8 method is the most common intermittent fasting protocol. It requires you to fast for 16 hours in a day and meet your daily caloric needs within the remaining eight hours. You could also use more advanced IF methods such as OMAD (one meal a day) and ADF (alternate-day fasting).
Intermittent fasting focuses on eating within a particular period. It doesn’t restrict your food choices. Nonetheless, you should avoid junk food and get your calories through nutrient-dense whole foods while fasting to ensure optimal results.
Eat Nutrient-Dense Whole Foods
Consuming 2,000-2,500 calories is extremely easy if you consume a soda and a burger daily. However, it requires considerable effort when limiting yourself to whole foods.
Whole foods are packed with nutrients that will help you achieve your weight loss goals. Refined foods digest quickly and lead to more cravings. On the flip side, whole foods keep you feeling satiated for longer, which will keep you from snacking on junk food throughout the day.
Add Cardio To Your Weight Loss Routine
Although working out is not mandatory in a weight loss program, exercising can help speed up your progress by boosting your calorie expenditure and putting you in a deficit. Since one month is a short time, you should ideally do two daily cardio sessions for optimal results.
The first cardio workout will be a 30-45 minute low-intensity steady state (LISS) session on an empty stomach first thing in the morning. Perform a 15-20 minute high-intensity interval training (HIIT) cardio session after your weight training session in the evening.
Many people despise cardio as they find it boring. If you are one of these people, you could spice up your training program by incorporating different equipment into your training regimen. Furthermore, you could switch training intensity and intervals to spice things up.
Avoid Liquid Calories
Most people lose track of their calorie intake while consuming liquid calories in the form of carbonated soft drinks. These can also cause blood sugar spikes and crashes, leaving you feeling tired and drained. During your weight loss program, you must also limit energy drinks and fruit juices.
Instead, you should opt for metabolism-boosting beverages such as green tea. Remember, water is the only beverage you need. Drinking a couple of glasses of water whenever you crave an energy drink or a sugar-laden beverage will curb your urges.
Capitalize on HIIT Resistance Training
You shouldn’t limit your HIIT workouts to cardio sessions. HIIT resistance training workouts can help fast-track your weight loss progress by improving your metabolism. They can also improve your physique aesthetics by toning your muscles.
A HIIT strength training workout lasts 15-30 minutes, making it a perfect fit for people with a packed schedule. Since most HIIT resistance workouts require minimal equipment, you could do them in your garage gym.
Cut Out Cheat Meals
Although losing 5 pounds in a month is possible, safe, and sustainable, it won’t be a walk in the park. You must stick to your guns for 30 days to achieve the desired results.
Most people consume anywhere between 500-1,000 extra calories in a single cheat meal. Burning these excess calories can take up to an additional week. Since we are on a tight deadline, you must cut out cheat meals on this program. You will sacrifice four cheat meals, but the results will be worth it.
Focus on Your Recovery
Sleep seven to eight hours each night to give your body enough time to rest and recuperate. You build muscle mass and shed weight while sleeping. Sleeping four to six hours each night doesn’t allow your body appropriate time to work its magic.
Use self-myofascial release, cold plunges, and weekly massages to improve your recovery. Plus, do not hold back from taking a day off from training if you feel sore and tired. Learn to listen to your body.
Avoid Alcohol
Alcohol is a no-go if you want to lose 5 pounds in a month. It is a source of empty calories, makes you retain fluid, shuts down your digestive system, and disrupts your sleep, which can hamper your recovery.
Alcohol increases your appetite, which is why folks tend to overeat while sipping their favorite drink. It can also lead to dehydration and decrease your exercise performance. Just like fast food, you must cut out alcohol for 30 days to achieve your weight loss objective.
Hydrate
Drinking water throughout the day can help you avoid dehydration. Furthermore, it can improve your metabolism, regulate your appetite, boost your training performance, flush out toxins, and improve your digestion. Drink at least a gallon of water daily to ensure optimal body function and performance and lose 5 pounds quickly.
Follow an Active Lifestyle
A sedentary lifestyle is one of the biggest reasons behind weight gain. Staying active throughout the day improves your metabolic rate, helping you burn more calories. Become more active by being mindful of your choices. Take the stairs, bike to work, and use a standing desk for work.
Control Your Stress Levels
Your body release cortisol whenever you are under stress. Cortisol and adrenaline are the stress hormones that make you hold onto excess fat. Use relaxing activities like yoga, meditation, reading, or listening to calming music whenever you are stressed. Seek a medical professional’s help if you are dealing with chronic stress.
Find Your Support System
It is your friends and family’s fault if you cannot achieve your weight loss goal in the desired time. No, I am just kidding. But really, your near and dear ones, directly or indirectly, play a vital role in your transformation journey.
You must find a support system that helps and motivates you on your transformation journey. Surround yourself with people who are trying to lose weight and can understand what you are going through.
Keep yourself accountable by sharing your goals and progress with your friends, family, and coaches. It will keep you motivated and push you to achieve your objectives. It might also push others to join you, which is a win-win for everyone involved.
Note: The content on Fitness Volt is for informative purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice to diagnose, prevent, or treat health problems. If you’re suffering from a health issue, are pregnant, or are under 18 years old, you should consult your physician before starting any new supplement, nutrition, or fitness routine.
Wrapping Up
Losing 5 pounds in a month might sound like a gargantuan ask for newbies. It might sound impossible and borderline offensive. However, you must not let this big goal stun you. All you need to do is take that first step.
Start by limiting your portion sizes or cutting out the soda from your lunch, and with this, you’ll have taken the first step toward losing 5 pounds. You don’t have to adhere to all the 15 steps mentioned in this article at once for a successful weight loss campaign.
Begin with making one small change and steadily incorporate other steps until the first pound comes off. After that, it is all about doubling down on your strengths, and you’ll achieve your goal before the 30 days are up. Now, go, get it, tiger!
Related:
References
Wishnofsky M. CALCULATION OF DIETS. JAMA. 1957;163(5):384–385. doi:10.1001/jama.1957.02970400056024
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Losing Weight. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/losing_weight/index.html
The Best Anti-Core Exercises for Increased Lumbar Stability
When most people talk about core training or working out in general, they tend to mean exercises that involve movement. For the core, that means things like crunches, sit-ups, hanging leg raises, Russian twists, side bends, etc.
These exercises usually feature a concentric or shortening phase followed by an eccentric or lengthening phase. After all, what goes up, must come down, right?
However, in many instances, the core muscles work isometrically, generating force without changing length. They contract to prevent unwanted movement, which is what the term core stability means.
Training to prevent movement might seem kinda odd. Still, it’s actually critical for various sports and activities in and out of the gym. For example, squats and deadlifts require incredible levels of static core stability, as do overhead barbell presses, push-ups, and barbell curls.
Fitness experts call these static core strengtheners anti-core exercises. The anti refers to how the core muscles work to prevent movement rather than cause it.
Whether you are training for improved aesthetics, better performance, weight loss, or health, anti-core exercises deserve a place in your workouts. If nothing else, preventing unwanted movement of your lumbar spine could help stop lower back injuries.
In this article, we reveal the best anti-core exercises.
Core Anatomy Basics
Core is the collective term for the muscles that encircle your midsection. Some fitness folk also like to include other muscles in the core, such as the glutes and lats, but that just confuses matters. So, for the purposes of this article, the core is the muscles in and around the abdominal region.
The primary muscles that make up the core are:
Rectus abdominis
Located on the front of your abdomen, the rectus abdominis is the large, flat muscle that, when you are lean, has that unique six-pack appearance. The rectus abdominis is responsible for the flexion of your spine and also contributes to lateral flexion.
In anti-core terms, the rectus abdominus prevents extension and lateral flexion of the spine.
Obliques
The obliques are essentially your waist muscles. There are two sets of obliques on each side of your abdomen – internal and external. They work together to rotate and laterally flex your spine.
In anti-core terms, the obliques prevent rotation as well as initiating it.
Transverse abdominis
Known as the TVA for short, this muscle surrounds your abdominal contents like a corset or weightlifting belt. It contracts inward to increase intra-abdominal pressure, stabilizing your spine from within.
If prizes were being given for the most critical anti-core muscle, the TVA would be a shoo-in for the gold medal!
Erector spinae
Erector spinae is a group of muscles that run up either side of your spine, including the
iliocostalis, longissimus, and spinalis, each of which can be subdivided into three further sections. The erector spinae are responsible for extending your spine as well as lateral flexion.
In anti-core terms, the erector spinae prevents flexion and lateral flexion.
Movements of the spine
The spine is a column of 33 individual bones called vertebrae. It’s divided into five sections:
Cervical spine – your neck – made up of 7 vertebrae
Thoracic spine – your upper back – made up of 12 vertebrae
Lumbar spine – your lower back – made up of 5 vertebrae
Sacrum – part of your pelvis – made up of 5 immovable/fused vertebrae
Coccyx – your “tailbone” – made up of 4 immovable/fused vertebrae
The cervical, thoracic, and lumbar vertebrae are separated by intervertebral discs, which are sections of tough fibrous cartilage. These discs absorb shock and compress to allow movement.
Speaking of which, the spine is capable of four main movements:
Flexion, i.e., bending forward
Extension, i.e., bending backward
Lateral flexion, i.e., bending sideways
Rotation, i.e., twisting
Movements can also be combined, e.g., flexion with rotation during a twisting crunch.
As such, there are four groups of anti-core exercises, each one designed to prevent one (or more) of these movements. For example, anti-extension exercises emphasize the rectus abdominis, while anti-rotation exercises emphasize the obliques. However, all anti-core exercises involve the transverse abdominis.
Benefits and Drawbacks of Anti-Core Exercises
Not sure if you need to include anti-core exercises in your workouts? Consider these benefits and then decide!
Very functional
Functional training is a very misused term. Many people confuse functional training with technically demanding exercises involving a lot of balance, e.g., squats on a stability ball or curls while slacklining. While these are impressive feats, they’re not examples of real functional training.
In contrast, functional training means doing exercises that have a carry-over to your life outside of the gym, i.e., they improve how you function.
Anti-core exercises train your midsection in a very functional way. People often have to use their core muscles this way during their daily lives, in the gym, or on the sports field. Anti-core exercises will have a significant carry-over to your everyday life.
Spine-friendly
Like any joint, the spine is prone to wear and tear. If you do a lot of crunches, sit-ups, Russian twists, etc., you can cause stress to both the vertebrae and intervertebral discs, and these structures can become worn and damaged.
By their very nature, anti-core exercises involve no movement, so there will much less stress on your vertebrae, spinous ligaments, or discs. In fact, anti-core exercises should not cause lower back stress or pain of any sort – done correctly, of course!
Easy to learn
With no movements to think about, most anti-core exercises are very straightforward and easy to learn. You just have to keep still and prevent movement. That’s not to say these exercises are easy – far from it. However, from a technical performance perspective, the learning curve for most anti-core exercises is pretty short.
While anti-core exercises are mostly beneficial and safe, there are also a few drawbacks to consider:
Usually done for time instead of reps
Many anti-core exercises are held for a predetermined time, e.g., 30 seconds. This means you’ll need to use a timer or be able to see a clock with a second hand. Also, some people prefer to pump out reps, and keeping still may be less appealing.
Elevated blood pressure
Isometric anti-core exercises can cause a short-term increase in blood pressure (1). This is because the muscles are contracted, which reduces blood flow. This should be no issue for people with healthy blood pressure but could be problematic for anyone with hypertension.
This problem can be reduced by never holding your breath during anti-core exercises. Breath-holding can have a significant effect on blood pressure.
Speak to your doctor if you have high blood pressure before doing any of the exercises in this article.
Five Best Anti-Flexion Core Exercises
Anti-flexion exercises emphasize your erector spinae muscles. These exercises are good for improving your posture and protecting your lower back from pain and injuries.
1. Back extension hold
Anti-flexion exercises don’t come much simpler than the back extension hold. Done for time, this exercise teaches you to use your back muscles to resist the pull of gravity. Back extension holds are an excellent stepping stone onto more demanding exercises and is ideal for beginners.
Steps:
Mount your back extension machine (45-degree or horizontal) and get into the mid-point of the exercise so your body is straight. Brace your core and engage your glutes and hamstrings.
Without holding your breath, maintain your position for as long as possible.
Yes, all that shaking is perfectly normal.
Relax, rest a moment, and repeat.
Muscles targeted:
Erector spinae, core, gluteus maximus, hamstrings.
Benefits:
Very easy to learn.
Very accessible as most gyms have a back-extension machine.
Easy to progress/regress by altering the time of each hold.
Tips:
Work up to holding for 2-3 minutes per rep.
Make this exercise harder by holding a weight to your chest or using resistance bands.
Keep your knees slightly bent throughout for comfort and safety.
2. Cobra Superman hold
No back-extension machine? No problem! You can work on your anti-flexion strength with this straightforward floor exercise. On the downside, it can be a little uncomfortable, so make sure you use a mat to avoid any unnecessary pain.
Steps:
Lie on the floor on your front and place your hands on your temples.
Lift your head, chest, arms, legs, and feet a few inches off the floor so you’re balancing on your abdomen and hips only.
Hold this position for as long as possible.
Muscles targeted:
Erector spinae, gluteus maximus, hamstrings, core, trapezius, rhomboids, deltoids.
Benefits:
An ideal exercise for home workouts.
No equipment required.
Good for improving spine mobility.
Tips:
Place a folded mat under your hips for comfort.
Take care not to hyperextend your spine.
Do not hold your breath.
3. Dual kettlebell front rack carry
While stationary exercises like back extension and Superman/cobra holds are effective, they don’t teach you to stabilize your spine during movement. As such, they’re good preparatory exercises but also need to be progressed. Dual kettlebell front rack carries train you to resist flexion while moving your legs, so they’re much more functional.
Steps:
Rack and hold two kettlebells on your shoulders. Pull your shoulders down and back, and brace your core. Look straight ahead.
Keeping your torso upright, walk around your training area until you start to tire.
Lower the weights to the floor, rest, and repeat.
Muscles targeted:
Erector spinae, gluteus maximus, hamstrings, core, trapezius, rhomboids, deltoids.
Benefits:
A highly functional exercise.
Good for integrating your core with your upper and lower body.
An excellent general strength and conditioning exercise.
Tips:
Use dumbbells instead of kettlebells if preferred.
Use gym chalk to stop your hands from slipping.
Use one weight only to add anti-lateral flexion to this exercise.
4. Romanian deadlift
While most people do RDLs to strengthen their glutes and hamstrings, it’s actually a very effective anti-flexion exercise. However, you need to be able to resist flexion in isolation first, e.g., with back extension holds, before attempting this exercise.
Steps:
Hold a barbell with an overhand, shoulder-width grip. Stand with your feet between shoulder and hip-width apart, knees slightly bent.
Brace your core and pull your shoulders down and back.
Hinging from your hips, lean forward and lower the bar down the fronts of your legs. Do NOT round your lower back.
Drive your hips forward, stand up straight, and repeat.
Muscles targeted:
Erector spinae, gluteus maximus, hamstrings, core, trapezius, rhomboids, deltoids, forearms.
Benefits:
An excellent exercise for your entire posterior chain.
Easy to scale by adding or subtracting weight.
A proven way to learn how to hip hinge, which is a prerequisite for many more demanding exercises, such as kettlebell swings and power cleans.
Tips:
Remove your shoes to keep your heels on the floor and your weight toward the back of your feet.
Use chalk or lifting straps to reinforce your grip.
Keep your chest up and your lower back slightly but tightly arched throughout.
Related: Romanian Deadlifts (RDLs) Guide
5. Deadlift
The barbell deadlift is one of the best bang-for-your-buck exercises you can do. Working a large percentage of the muscles in your body, deadlifts have the potential to build muscle size and strength like no other. However, the key to a good deadlift is keeping your spine extended, which is what also makes them an excellent anti-flexion exercise.
Steps:
Place a loaded barbell on the floor. Ideally, the bar should be about mid-shin height.
Stand with your toes under the bar, feet between shoulder and hip-width apart.
Bend down and hold the barbell with an overhand or mixed shoulder-width grip.
Straighten your arms, drop your hips, and lift your chest. Brace your core and pull your shoulders back and down.
Drive your feet into the floor and stand up, ensuring your hips don’t rise faster than the bar.
Push your hips back, bend your legs, and lower the weight back to the floor.
Allow it to settle for a couple of seconds, reset your core and grip, and repeat.
Muscles targeted:
Erector spinae, gluteus maximus, hamstrings, quadriceps, core, trapezius, rhomboids, deltoids, forearms.
Benefits:
One of the most productive barbell exercises you can do.
Teaches you how to lift heavy objects off the floor safely.
A very time-efficient exercise that trains multiple muscle groups at the same time.
Tips:
Place your barbell on blocks or in a power rack if you tend to round your back when deadlifting from the floor.
Do NOT bounce the bar off the floor. Instead, allow the weight to “go dead” between reps for safety and best results.
Experiment with an overhand and mixed grip to see which you prefer.
Related: 9 Weeks to a Bigger Deadlift Program
Five Best Anti-Extension Core Exercises
Anti-extension exercises target your rectus abdominis. Working on your anti-extension strength will lessen the likelihood of hyperextending your spine during athletic and everyday activities.
1. Plank
The plank is the original anti-extension core exercise. With roots in yoga and Pilates, this exercise has been around for centuries. However, despite being so common, many people do this exercise incorrectly. Don’t be one of them!
Steps:
Kneel down and rest your forearms on the floor. Your elbows should be under your shoulders, lower arms parallel. Brace your core and pull your shoulders back and down.
Walk your feet out and back to form a straight line with your shoulders and hips.
Hold this position for the required duration. However, do not hold your breath.
Muscles targeted:
Rectus abdominus, core, hip flexors.
Benefits:
No equipment required.
An excellent preparatory exercise for more advanced movements.
An easy exercise to progress or regress.
Tips:
Try to increase muscle tension instead of holding for excessively long durations.
Bend your legs and rest on your knees to make this exercise easier.
Rest your forearms on a stability ball to make this exercise more challenging.
Related: Plank Progressions and Variations for Stronger Abs
2. Dead bug
Dead bugs teach you to resist extension while moving your arms and legs, which is how your core muscles often have to work in nature. This is a highly functional anti-core move that’s suitable for all levels of exerciser.
Steps:
Lie on your back with your legs bent and arms extended up toward the ceiling. Brace your core and press your lower back into the floor.
Extend your left arm and right leg and lower them to the floor. Keep your lower back pressed down.
Return to the starting position and repeat on the opposite side.
Continue alternating arms/legs for the duration of your set.
Muscles targeted:
Rectus abdominus, core, hip flexors.
Benefits:
A very lower back-friendly exercise.
A very functional anti-extension core exercise.
No equipment required, so ideal for home workouts.
Tips:
Make this exercise easier by only lowering your arms OR legs.
Make it more challenging by lowering both arms and legs together.
Increase the intensity of this exercise by holding dumbbells or a medicine ball.
3. Overhead Pallof press
The Pallof press was invented by Bostonian physical therapist John Pallof. Unlike many anti-core exercises, this one uses weights to overload your muscles. As such, it can be progressed just like any other strength-training exercise, i.e., by increasing the load. Unlike the traditional anti-rotation Pallof press, this is an anti-extension exercise.
Steps:
Attach a rope handle to a high pulley. Grab the handle and then turn your back to the cable machine. Hold your hands at shoulder height. Brace your core and adopt a split stance for balance.
Without leaning forward or backward, raise your arms above your head. Note how the tension on your core increases as you extend your arms.
Lower your hands back to your shoulders and repeat.
Muscles targeted:
Rectus abdominis, core, pectoralis major, latissimus dorsi, deltoids.
Benefits:
Can be made as easy or as challenging as required by adjusting the weight.
Teaches you how to integrate your upper and lower body with your core.
A good exercise for improving shoulder mobility and stability.
Tips:
The narrower/closer your feet are, the more challenging this exercise becomes.
You can also do this exercise with a resistance band.
Experiment with different height cables to see what works best for you.
4. Rollout
Rollouts are like a moving plank. As you extend your arms, the tension on your core increases dramatically, and you’ll have to work harder to prevent lumbar spine extension. Rollouts also provide an intense lat workout. An ab roller is an excellent investment!
Steps:
Kneel down and hold your roller with an overhand grip. Place the roller on the floor in front of your knees. Brace your core and pull your shoulders back and down.
Push the roller out in front of you and lower your chest and abdomen down to the floor. Do not allow your lower back to extend.
Using your abs and lats, pull the roller back up to your legs.
That’s one rep – keep going!
Muscles targeted:
Rectus abdominus, core, latissimus dorsi, triceps.
Benefits:
A low-tech exercise that’s ideal for home workouts.
Can be modified to suit most levels of exerciser.
A challenging, effective anti-extension core exercise.
Tips:
Do this exercise from standing for a more intense workout.
Don’t extend your arms so far to make this exercise less challenging.
No ab roller? No problem! You can also do this exercise with a barbell.
Related: Rollouts: Benefits, Technique, And Alternatives
5. Extended plank
Planks are an excellent exercise. However, if you can do them for over a minute or two, they probably aren’t challenging enough to increase core strength. This variation takes your hands and feet further apart to make them much more demanding.
Steps:
Firstly, lie on your back with your arms stretched out to the side. Make marks on the floor with your fingertips to determine your “wingspan.”
Next, place your feet on one mark and your hands on the other. This is your extended plank position.
Brace your core and hold the extended plank position for as long as possible, taking care not to hyperextend your lumber spine or hold your breath.
Muscles targeted:
Rectus abdominus, core, hip flexors.
Benefits:
No equipment required.
A much more challenging way to do planks.
An excellent anti-extension move for advanced exercisers.
Tips:
Shorten the distance between markers if you cannot do this exercise correctly, or you can feel it in your lower back.
Ensure your hands are dry and won’t slip to avoid accidentally face-planting the floor.
This is a very challenging core exercise, so proceed with caution.
Five Best Anti-Lateral Flexion Core Exercises
Anti-lateral flexion exercises strengthen your obliques, rectus abdominis, and erector spinae muscles, albeit one side at a time. Improving your ability to resist lateral flexion will ensure you can keep your torso upright when dealing with unilateral or unbalanced loads.
1. Side plank
The side plank is an excellent introduction to anti-lateral flexion exercises. It’s a little harder than front planks but just as simple to learn. This exercise is popular in group workout classes for a reason!
Steps:
Lie on your side and rest on your forearm. Your body and legs should be straight. Brace your core.
Lift your hips off the floor and hold them up for the required duration.
Lower your hips back to the floor, roll over, and repeat on the opposite side.
Muscles targeted:
Obliques, rectus abdominus, erector spinae, deltoids.
Benefits:
No equipment required, so ideal for home workouts.
Easy to learn and master, so perfect for novice exercisers.
An excellent preparatory exercise for more demanding anti-lateral flexion movements.
Tips:
Rest your elbow on a folded exercise mat or foam pad for comfort.
Bend your legs to make this exercise easier.
You can also do this exercise with your supporting arm extended:
2. Single-arm farmer’s walk
Exercises don’t come much more functional than the single-arm farmer’s walk. However, despite its simplicity, this exercise can be extremely challenging. All you need is a single dumbbell, kettlebell, or heavy bag, so this exercise is ideal for home workouts.
Steps:
Hold a heavy weight in one hand, arm by your side. Brace your core and make sure your hips and shoulders are level.
Without leaning sideways, go for a walk around your training area.
On completion, lower the weight to the floor, swap hands, and repeat.
Muscles targeted:
Obliques, rectus abdominus, erector spinae, forearms.
Benefits:
A highly functional core.
Can be modified for all levels of strength by increasing or reducing the weight.
An excellent way to develop a stronger, more enduring grip.
Tips:
Chalk your hands or use lifting straps to reinforce your grip if necessary.
Walk in zigzags to destabilize the weight and make this exercise more demanding.
Take care not to lean sideways or shrug your shoulders during this exercise.
3. Single-arm waiter’s walk
The single-arm waiter’s walk is similar to the farmer’s walk, but the weight is held overhead and not down by your side. This increases the stability demand of this exercise. Take care not to go too heavy too soon with this exercise; it’s harder than it looks!
Steps:
Lift and hold a single dumbbell or kettlebell overhead. Brace your core and engage your shoulders and upper back to stabilize the load.
Without leaning sideways, go for a walk around your training area.
On completion, lower the weight to the floor, swap sides, and repeat.
Muscles targeted:
Obliques, rectus abdominus, erector spinae, deltoids.
Benefits:
A challenging and effective anti-lateral flexion exercise.
Builds stronger, more stable shoulders.
Can be modified for all levels of strength by increasing or reducing the weight.
Tips:
Chalk your hands or use lifting straps to reinforce your grip if necessary.
Walk in zigzags to destabilize the weight and make this exercise more demanding.
Take care not to lean sideways or shrug your shoulders during this exercise.
4. Single-arm overhead press
Overhead presses are great for building bigger shoulders and triceps. However, when you switch from using both arms to just one, they become an excellent ant-lateral flexion exercise. Requiring just one weight, this anti-core move is ideal for home workouts.
Steps:
Hold a dumbbell or kettlebell in one hand at shoulder height. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and brace your core. Make sure your hips and shoulders are level.
Without leaning sideways, press your weight up and overhead to arm’s length.
Lower the weight back to your shoulder and repeat.
Switch hands and do the same number of reps with your other arm.
Muscles targeted:
Obliques, rectus abdominus, erector spinae, deltoids.
Benefits:
A very functional upper-body and core exercise.
An excellent way to identify and fix left-to-right strength imbalances.
A very accessible, practical exercise.
Tips:
Do this exercise in front of a mirror to ensure you’re keeping your shoulders level.
Use less weight than you would for a two-handed overhead press.
You can also do this exercise with a barbell, which is an exercise called the javelin press:
5. Suitcase deadlift
The suitcase deadlift is so-called because it’s the same technique you’d use to pick up a single bag at the airport. This awesome exercise teaches you how to maintain a neutral and stable spine while generating force with your legs.
Steps:
Place a kettlebell or dumbbell on the floor and then stand sideways on to it. The handle should run parallel to your feet.
Squat down and grab the handle with a neutral or palms-in grip.
Pull your shoulders down and back, brace your core, and look straight ahead.
Drive your feet into the floor and stand up straight, taking care not to lean sideways.
Lower the weight back to the flood and repeat.
Turn around and do the same number of reps on the opposite side.
Muscles targeted:
Obliques, rectus abdominus, erector spinae, gluteus maximus, hamstrings, forearms.
Benefits:
A high degree of crossover with activities outside of the gym.
An effective and functional anti-lateral flexion exercise.
An excellent deadlift assistance exercise.
Tips:
Use gym chalk or lifting straps to stop your hands from slipping.
Do this exercise in front of a mirror to ensure your torso, hips, and shoulders are straight.
Experiment with your stance width to see what works best for you.
Five Best Anti-Rotation Core Exercises
Anti-rotation exercises target your obliques. Having stronger obliques will help you prevent unwanted twisting during activities like running, kicking, and throwing. Anti-rotation is especially important during contralateral activities where you use one arm and the opposite leg, e.g., running.
1. Bird-dogs
Bird-dogs are one of the most basic anti-rotation exercises around. Ideal for beginners, this exercise teaches you how to stabilize your core as you move your arms and legs. Bird-dogs are also an excellent muscle activation exercise and are perfect for warm-ups.
Steps:
Kneel on all fours with your shoulders over your hands and your hips over your knees.
Brace your core and set your shoulders down and back.
Keeping your hips and shoulders level, extend your right arm and left leg.
Lower them back to the floor and repeat.
On completion of your set, swap sides and do the same number of reps with the opposite arm and leg. Or, if preferred, you can use an alternating arm and leg action.
Muscles targeted:
Obliques, rectus abdominis, gluteus maximus, hamstrings, deltoids, erector spinae.
Benefits:
An excellent exercise for lower back pain sufferers.
A great movement for beginners.
No equipment required, so ideal for home workouts.
Tips:
Kneel on a folded exercise mat for comfort.
Use ankle/wrist weights to make this exercise more challenging.
You can also do this exercise in a high plank position like this:
2. Pallof press
The Pallof press is one of the most widely-performed anti-rotation core exercises. Popular with almost every type of exerciser, it’s safe to say that this move delivers. If you’ve never done Pallof presses before, you are in for a treat, but if you’re already doing them, you should definitely continue!
Steps:
Attach a D-shaped handle to a cable machine set to mid-chest height.
Stand side-on to the pulley and hold the handle on both hands. Your feet should be about shoulder-width apart, with your knees slightly bent. Brace your core.
Pull your hands into your chest and step away from the machine to load the cable.
Without moving your hips or shoulders, extend your arms out in front of you. Feel how the tension on your muscles increases as you straighten your arms.
Bend your arms and return your hands to your chest.
Repeat for the required number of reps and then switch sides.
Muscles targeted:
Obliques, rectus abdominis, erector spinae, pectoralis major, deltoids, triceps,
Benefits:
An ideal exercise for beginners.
A very spine-friendly anti-core exercise.
Very scalable – just adjust the load to reflect your current strength.
Tips:
You can also do this exercise with a resistance band.
Vary the height of your arms to work your core from different angles.
Try doing Pallof presses in a half-kneeling position for variety, like this:
3. Single-leg Romanian deadlift
While regular Romanian deadlifts are an excellent anti-flexion exercise, switching to one leg/one arm means you’ll also have to work hard to prevent twisting. This exercise is also great for improving balance and stability and is ideal for runners and other athletes.
Steps:
Stand with your feet together and a dumbbell or kettlebell in your left hand. Shift your weight over onto your right foot. Brace your core and pull your shoulders back and down.
Hinge forward from your hips and lower the weight down the front of your leg. Extend your left leg out behind you for balance.
Stand back up and repeat.
Rest a moment and then do the same number of reps on the opposite leg, remembering to switch hands, too.
Muscles targeted:
Obliques, hamstrings, gluteus maximus, rectus abdominis, erector spinae.
Benefits:
A time-efficient way to train your core and lower body simultaneously.
An excellent exercise for better balance and coordination.
Easier on your lower back than two-legged Romanian deadlifts.
Tips:
Rest your non-working foot lightly on the floor for balance if needed, i.e., B-stance or kickstand RDLs.
Try holding the weight in the same hand rather than the opposite hand. This is considerably more demanding.
Do this exercise next to a wall or handrail for balance if required.
Related: Why the Single Leg Romanian Deadlift Deserves to Be the Hero of Your Workout
4. Renegade row
Renegade rows are among the most challenging anti-rotation exercises, even with light to moderate weights. However, if you’ve mastered Pallof presses and can do bird-dogs in your sleep, this is the exercise you’ve been waiting for!
Steps:
With a dumbbell in each hand, squat down, and place them on the floor.
Walk your feet out into the push-up position. Brace your core and tense your legs.
Bend one arm and row your dumbbell up and into your lower ribs.
Lower the weight back to the floor, switch arms, and repeat.
Alternate arms for the required number of reps.
Muscles targeted:
Obliques, rectus abdominus, latissimus dorsi, biceps, triceps, deltoids, erector spinae.
Benefits:
A total core exercise that teaches you to stabilize your core as you move your arms and legs.
A time-efficient conditioning exercise that burns lots of calories.
A challenging movement that’s ideal for intermediate and advanced exercisers.
Tips:
Wear a weighted vest to make this exercise even harder.
Use hexagonal dumbbells for increased stability and safety.
Combine renegade rows with push-ups for a complete upper-body and core workout:
Related: Renegade Rows Guide
5. Single-arm cable chest press
While the single-arm chest press is not an especially good exercise for your pecs, it is an excellent anti-rotation core exercise. It teaches you how to integrate your core with your upper and lower body.
Steps:
Attach a D-shaped handle to a chest-high cable machine. Hold the handle and turn your back on the machine so the cable runs outside your arm. Adopt a split stance for balance. Brace your core.
Keeping your hips and shoulders stationary, push your arm forward and out to full extension.
Bend your arm, bring the handle back to your chest, and repeat.
Switch sides and do the same number of reps with the other arm.
Muscles targeted:
Obliques, rectus abdominus, pectoralis major, deltoids, triceps, erector spinae.
Benefits:
A very lower back-friendly anti-rotation exercise.
Infinitely scalable by increasing or reducing the weight.
Suitable for beginner, intermediate, and advanced exercisers.
Tips:
Press up at an incline to change the feel of this exercise.
Do this exercise with your feet together to challenge your core and balance more.
Do this exercise with a resistance band or in a half-kneeling position:
Anti-Core Exercises – FAQs
Do you have a question about anti-core exercises? No problem, because we’ve got the answers!
1. How many reps and sets should I do?
There is no magic number of reps you should use to train your core. You will make progress whether you do 10 or 30 reps per set. That said, lower reps are generally more time-efficient, so it’s worth choosing exercises that are demanding enough to fatigue your muscles relatively quickly, e.g., between 12-20. Wherever possible, avoid very high-rep sets, e.g., 50.
In terms of sets, 3-5 should be sufficient for most people. If you can do more, the chances are that you a) aren’t getting close enough to failure or b) are resting too long between efforts.
2. How often should I do anti-core exercises?
It’s generally accepted that it takes 48-72 hours for a muscle or muscle group to recover from a workout. As such, you should aim to do anti-core exercises 2-3 times per week on non-consecutive days, e.g., Monday and Thursday, or Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This provides a good balance between work and recovery.
Training your core more often, i.e., daily, won’t necessarily produce better results, and could even lead to overtraining.
3. Will anti-core exercises give me a six-pack?
While doing anti-core exercises will develop your six-pack muscle (the rectus abdominis) and other critical core muscles, you won’t be able to see them until your body fat percentage is low enough. This usually means under ten percent for men and 15 percent for women.
It’s true what they say – six-pack abs are made in the kitchen, and your diet will determine if your abs and core muscles are visible.
4. Are anti-core exercises safe?
Because they involve minimal movement, most anti-core exercises are very safe. As long as you brace and stabilize your spine correctly, there should be very little stress on your intervertebral discs or spinous ligaments, so many are even okay for folk who suffer from back pain.
That said, exercises that involve additional movements, e.g., suitcase deadlifts and single-arm overhead presses, are somewhat riskier than static exercises like planks and side planks.
However, if performed correctly and with appropriate loads, there is a very low risk of injury with most anti-core exercises.
5. Do I have to do anti-core exercises – aren’t regular core exercises enough?
While all core exercises are beneficial, anti-core exercises are often more functional. That’s because you often need to use these muscles to prevent unwanted movement of your lumbar spine, e.g., during deadlifts, push-ups, and overhead presses.
If your core is strong, you may not need to do a lot of anti-core training. However, if your lumbar spine lacks the stability it needs, then anti-core exercises are a must.
Wrapping Up
Whether you’re training for performance, aesthetics, or health, your workouts should include anti-core exercises. Anti-core exercises teach you how to stabilize your lumbar spine, which will protect you from lower back injury.
A more stable spine will also let you do more reps with heavier loads, making the rest of your workout more effective.
With 20 anti-core exercises to choose from, you have more than enough options to keep you busy and progressing for years to come. Include anti-core exercises in all your midsection workouts for best results.
References:
Hanson P, Nagle F. Isometric Exercise: Cardiovascular Responses in Normal and Cardiac Populations. Cardiol Clin. 1987 May;5(2):157-70. PMID: 2884033. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2884033