Over the last few years I have really fallen in love with weight training and enjoy the physical and mental strength that comes from practicing it. But now that I’ve put the time and effort into mastering this skill, I have less time to focus on growing my abs. So I’ve been trying to regain my motivation to build my core without taking the fun out of my regular workout schedule.
Rewinding to lockdown during the pandemic, I had a lot done best workout for abs Every day is enough to pass the time and I feel like I am staying in shape. But as soon as I got back to the gym, I started working on building strength and muscle again using barbells and other equipment. best kettlebell Challenge lower body and upper body.
Lo and behold, when it comes to weight training, core strength is essential to improve your form, aid your posture, and protect your back from injury. Correct way to deadlift But I knew that if I wanted to progress my training and lift heavier, I would have to pick something up core strengthening exercises Immediately.
I’ve determined that the only way I can form a habit of sorts with ab training and maintain it consistently is to add a short series of moves to the end of my regular workout. , I grabbed one of them best yoga mat From my gym, I capped things off with a 5-minute ab finisher. . This is what i noticed.
1. Enjoyed the pain
Doesn’t sound too sadistic, but I loved the core pain I felt after my workout.It targeted my abs and core muscles well, even though I was only doing the weight movement for 5 minutes to see results. It was reassuring to be able to
It was also quite common to experience stomach muscle pain when laughing or getting up in bed after an ab workout. American Council on Exercise (opens in new tab)explain it Dom (delayed onset muscle soreness) is a natural process in the body after strenuous exercise. It usually occurs between 24 and 48 hours after a workout, and muscle damage is usually repaired within 72 hours.
Don’t get me wrong, the first week of working out was pretty grueling. My abs weren’t used to being challenged like this and it took a while to recover. I remembered the pain in my butt when I got on the seat of a motorcycle for the first time in a while. The first ride is painful, and the pain continues until your lower body gets used to the feeling of sitting back in a small bike seat.
2. It was a different challenge than weightlifting
The free weight section of the gym can feel more intense than the rest. Some goals often focus on gaining weight. For me, progressive overload Techniques to avoid hitting plateaus and to continue strength and muscle gains. Rather than defining strength, I would like to take a more holistic approach to fitness.
It was certainly humbling, after a day of big legs, getting into a plank position and struggling to maintain a perfect plank position for more than a minute. I was more impressed with the people around me running than anyone else at the gym. Heaviest.
(Image credit: Getty)
3. Ab workouts can incorporate weights
The stronger my core, the harder it was to make a five-minute ab finisher.Instead of spending more time on my abs at the end of my strength session, I decided to incorporate weights into my exercises.
Sometimes this seemed to add these dumbbell abs exercise At the end of your workout, incorporate weights into familiar moves like crunches, dead bugs, and plank variations. Even if you can’t go to the gym best adjustable dumbbells You can increase the challenge by participating in ab workouts at home and increasing weight loads on the fly with this type of weight.
Or, on days when you don’t want to get up on the floor for a core workout or when your back is a little sore, complete a standing ab workout. My favorites are weighted side bends, crossover to touch, and around the world with kettlebells.
Five minutes of abs and core exercises, with or without weights, are now a staple part of my regular gym routine. It’s a time-efficient activity that makes you feel good and complements your strength training.If you like simpler ab challenges, one writer wrote I did planks every day for a month.
