With the recent fascination in the fitness world to focus on developing functional fitness levels, you may find it comes as a surprise to discover that the best core exercise is not based on a yoga mat. In fact, if you want to develop a leaner, stronger base from which to boost all your big lifts you'll have to go back to the annals of bodybuilding years gone by.
Many people are fooled into believing that the greatest moves for strengthening your core muscles involve working out in a park and doing push ups while hanging from a tree, such is the industry's obsession with new fads and passing gimmicks.
In fact, the best exercise for achieving a well balanced midsection was recently discovered to be the Front Squat. That's right - the variation of the squat everybody overlooks!
Not only is this gym based barbell work, but it's an exercise which is consistently overlooked by gym users in favor of trendy mat-based exercises which do little to stimulate anything other than the abdominal muscles. You see, developing a strong core does not mean simply blasting your abs with thousands of crunches. The core is made up of muscles which surround the spine from front to back, therefore it would be very foolish to only focusing on the front ones, right?
A recent study in the UK, which was then published by the Journal Of Strength & Conditioning Research in 2011, directly compared barbell front squats to the superman exercise to see which returned the greatest strength improvements. The superman is among the elite core strength moves prescribed by most personal trainers and fitness instructors, so was a great fit for this particular case study.
While both exercises have obvious benefits and should both be used regularly, the surprising winner of this mini-battle was the front squat, with a 5% increase in core strength.
Furthermore, this finding occurred using an empty bar in a bid to keep things fair against a body weight exercise. As more weight was added to the front squat the gains got greater and greater. While adding resistance to a body weight move can be tricky, with a front squat it is as simple as loading more plates on to your barbell.
The increase in strength was due to the fact that front squats stimulated the erector spinae muscles considerably. These are the muscles which sit around the spine and play a major role in overall core strength and ability.
If you were one of the many to believe that the greatest exercises for your midsection were based on a yoga mat or outside hanging from a suspension trainer, you are not alone. The fitness industry's obsession with finding a new way to do old tricks causes a great deal of confusion and people often over complicate simple things. Overall, though, the old proven principles of bodybuilding, HIIT and aggressive strength training still trump any new developments scientifically.
Overall, the best core exercise is going to change upon personal preference, of course. However, if you like to base your training on the latest scientific studies then front squats should become an integral part of your leg training program.
Many people are fooled into believing that the greatest moves for strengthening your core muscles involve working out in a park and doing push ups while hanging from a tree, such is the industry's obsession with new fads and passing gimmicks.
In fact, the best exercise for achieving a well balanced midsection was recently discovered to be the Front Squat. That's right - the variation of the squat everybody overlooks!
Not only is this gym based barbell work, but it's an exercise which is consistently overlooked by gym users in favor of trendy mat-based exercises which do little to stimulate anything other than the abdominal muscles. You see, developing a strong core does not mean simply blasting your abs with thousands of crunches. The core is made up of muscles which surround the spine from front to back, therefore it would be very foolish to only focusing on the front ones, right?
A recent study in the UK, which was then published by the Journal Of Strength & Conditioning Research in 2011, directly compared barbell front squats to the superman exercise to see which returned the greatest strength improvements. The superman is among the elite core strength moves prescribed by most personal trainers and fitness instructors, so was a great fit for this particular case study.
While both exercises have obvious benefits and should both be used regularly, the surprising winner of this mini-battle was the front squat, with a 5% increase in core strength.
Furthermore, this finding occurred using an empty bar in a bid to keep things fair against a body weight exercise. As more weight was added to the front squat the gains got greater and greater. While adding resistance to a body weight move can be tricky, with a front squat it is as simple as loading more plates on to your barbell.
The increase in strength was due to the fact that front squats stimulated the erector spinae muscles considerably. These are the muscles which sit around the spine and play a major role in overall core strength and ability.
If you were one of the many to believe that the greatest exercises for your midsection were based on a yoga mat or outside hanging from a suspension trainer, you are not alone. The fitness industry's obsession with finding a new way to do old tricks causes a great deal of confusion and people often over complicate simple things. Overall, though, the old proven principles of bodybuilding, HIIT and aggressive strength training still trump any new developments scientifically.
Overall, the best core exercise is going to change upon personal preference, of course. However, if you like to base your training on the latest scientific studies then front squats should become an integral part of your leg training program.
About the Author:
Your writer: Expert south shields personal trainer Russ Howe PTI provided today's post. Discover the best core exercise for strength and tons of weight loss tips via his fitness and nutrition blog today.
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