3 Great ways to train your core and save time in the gym

© Matt D’Aquino 2012

1 By Matt D’Aquino

If you walk into almost any gym you are bound to see people training their core by

performing exercises such as crunches, sit ups, leg raises and plank holds. These exercises

have for a while now been the norm in abdominal training, but has it ever occurred to you

that there might be a more effective way to train and activate your core muscles without

having to put yourself through the same boring and time consuming movements?

There has been much research of late into other, more effective means of activating and

strengthening your core such as unilateral training, mind-muscle connection and unstable

surface movements such as push ups on a Bosu ball or a shoulder press while seated on a

Swiss ball. Firstly, it is important to know and understand that the ‘core’ isn’t just made up of

your upper and lower abdominals, but it is also made up of your gluteal, pelvic floor and

lower back muscles.

The first way you can activate the core is to include a variety of unilateral exercises into your

strength program. Scientists at the Memorial University of Newfoundland found that

unilateral training is one of the best ways to stimulate your ‘core muscles’ when training.

Unilateral exercises include any exercise where you are lifting one dumbbell instead of two:

for example a single arm dumbbell bench press, single arm dumbbell shoulder press and a

single arm dumbbell bicep curl.

Dr Behm and Dr Anderson from Memorial University used electromyography to measure

how much of the core was being activated when performing a unilateral shoulder press and

chest press opposed to a bilateral shoulder press and bench press. They found that due to

the fact that the trainer is unevenly balanced, the core must activate a lot more muscles in

order to compensate for the additional load being placed onto one side of the body.

Therefore, if you are looking at seriously increasing your core activation, why not opt to lift

one dumbbell instead of two and enjoy the benefits of unilateral training.

Another great way to stimulate and strengthen your core is to actively and mindfully engage

those muscles each and every time you lift in the gym. In her book Balance Training Karon

Karter talks about the fact that ‘your mind controls your muscles’, and to help us concentrate

Karon recommends concentrating with our ‘eyes, ears and core’. Thinking about your core

while performing a triceps pushdown may seem strange at first, but as you become more

familiar with ‘contracting your core’ you will begin to activate it without even thinking about it.

It may take a few sessions to get it right and at first you may have a tendency to hold your

3 Great ways to train your core and save time in the gym

© Matt D’Aquino 2012

2 breath, but if you continue to practice you will soon be stimulating and activating your core in

nearly every aspect of your fitness regime.

In addition to unilateral exercises and mind-muscle connection another great way to

stimulate your core is to perform basic strength movements on an unstable surface such as

TRX bands, Bosu balls or a Swiss ball. For example, you may like to try doing push ups on

an upturned Bosu ball or a barbell bench press with a Swiss ball under your feet. Noward,

Anderson Etal (2007) tested the amount of core stabilizers that were activated during both a

stable and unstable barbell bench press with Swiss balls supporting the upper body, and a

Bosu ball supporting the lower body. In this study, the scientists used ten experienced

trainers and they found that the most core activation occurred when the trainers had a Bosu

ball under their feet and their upper body supported by a Swiss ball. The least amount of

activation occurred when both the lower body and upper body were supported by a stable

surface. In this study however, the researchers found that although the core received a

greater amount of stimulus, the assisting muscles received less stimulation due to the fact

that the trainers cannot lift as much as when they are lifting on a stable surface.

In conclusion, why not include your core training as part of your gym program by focussing

on your core when lifting, using unilateral movements and lifting on an unstable surface, and

then you can spend the last ten minutes of your workout stretching or fixing yourself a nice

post workout snack.

Matt D’Aquino

3 Great ways to train your core and save time in the gym

© Matt D’Aquino 2012

3 References:

Behm, D & Andreson K, (2006) The Role of Stability with resistance Training. Journal of

Strength and Conditioning Research, School of Human Kinetics and Recreation, Memorial

University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland, pp716–722.

Karter, K (2009) Balance Training: Stability Workouts for Core Strength and a Sculpted

Body, Ulysses Press pp7

Norwood J, Anderson G, Gaetz M, Twist P, (2007) Electromyographic activity of the trunk

stabiliziers during stable and unstable bench press. Journal of Strength and Conditioning

Research, pp497-502