2
1 votes
Let's talk about core (Part 2)
Posted by
vat
,
03 May 2012
·
162 views
Continued from the previous post...
Ab Roller
The same can't be said for the ab roller. This thing will murder you the first couple of times - and DOMS in your lower abs can be tough! Still, this is an epic - I'm back to about 3 x 11, but did have this out to 3 x 16 with a good long roll. I do like to leave a day afterwards to recover, though, or just do the bridges routine above.
There's a good YouTube video of the technique here (apologies for the audio - others are considerably worse, trust me). The ab wheels are pretty cheap, I think I got mine for about $10-15 at Super A-Mart or Rebel.
Bosu Board
Some years ago in Sydney I bought a thing called a bosu board, after coming across it at a gym in St Leonards. It is this thing:
The top bit is basically the top third of a Swiss ball (which can be inflated) mounted on to a hard base.
I do a routine of four exercises on this which are basically active versions of the static bridging exercises I do (front, sides and back). So, essentially, crunches, sides bends, and back raises. The beauty of the bosu is you can go past 180 degrees.
Crunches
Side Bends
Back Raises
I generally prefer to do the bosu stuff the day before the ab roller stuff, as if I do the roller routine the day before the bosu, I'm really sore for the crunches.
In an ideal week, it'd be the bridges/planks every day in the morning, and a rotating schedule in the evenings of bosu, roller, day off, bosu, roller, day off, and so on.
Ab Roller
The same can't be said for the ab roller. This thing will murder you the first couple of times - and DOMS in your lower abs can be tough! Still, this is an epic - I'm back to about 3 x 11, but did have this out to 3 x 16 with a good long roll. I do like to leave a day afterwards to recover, though, or just do the bridges routine above.
There's a good YouTube video of the technique here (apologies for the audio - others are considerably worse, trust me). The ab wheels are pretty cheap, I think I got mine for about $10-15 at Super A-Mart or Rebel.
Bosu Board
Some years ago in Sydney I bought a thing called a bosu board, after coming across it at a gym in St Leonards. It is this thing:
The top bit is basically the top third of a Swiss ball (which can be inflated) mounted on to a hard base.
I do a routine of four exercises on this which are basically active versions of the static bridging exercises I do (front, sides and back). So, essentially, crunches, sides bends, and back raises. The beauty of the bosu is you can go past 180 degrees.
Crunches
Side Bends
Back Raises
I generally prefer to do the bosu stuff the day before the ab roller stuff, as if I do the roller routine the day before the bosu, I'm really sore for the crunches.
In an ideal week, it'd be the bridges/planks every day in the morning, and a rotating schedule in the evenings of bosu, roller, day off, bosu, roller, day off, and so on.
