How many people are doing crunches, leg lifts, and planks during their workouts and calling it a day for their ab work?
All of these exercises have something in common; they are all sagittal plane exercises, challenging you in the same plane of motion.
While these exercises can help to recruit all of the abdominal muscles (transverses abdominis, rectus abdominis, external obliques, and internal obliques… at this time we won’t even mention the importance of the diaphragm and pelvic floor!), they largely target the rectus abdominis.
The rectus abdominis muscle is important and we certainly want to target it during exercise, but we also want to balance this out with recruitment of the other abdominal muscles. This way when we are doing everyday activities, strenuous activities and exercise, we have the core muscle recruitment and strength that we need in ALL planes of motion. You can think of this as having core muscle strength in motions that are front to back, side to side, and rotational planes.
Can you see how this would be more beneficial?
So, here are some ideas to help incorporate that for you.
Front to back plane: Sagittal
90/90 Taps: Lying on your back, activate your core and bring your legs up so that your hips and knees are at 90 degrees. Hold at 5# weight in your hands and push your arms towards the ceiling as if you are separating your shoulder blades apart so that you are activating your serratus anterior. While holding this, alternate taping your toes to the floor without allowing your back to lift from the floor. Do 10 taps total, 2-3 sets based on tolerance.
2. Side to side plane: Frontal
Side-Planks: Do a plank with your right arm and right foot on the ground. Hold your core tight as you hold this position. Make sure your hips are in neutral so that you are in a straight line from your head and trunk down to your hips. Hold this position for 30 seconds-1 minute, 2x/side based on tolerance.
To make this more challenging you can dip the outside of your right hip to the floor and then raise it back up to the starting position. Repeat 8 times/side, 2 sets.
3. Rotational plane: Transverse
Paloff press in a lunge position: Position your legs in a lunge with the left leg in front and with a resistance band attached to something stable to your right. Hold the band in your hands starting with your hands at your belly button. Activate your core and punch both of your arms straight forward in front of you. Make sure you do not rotate your trunk as you do so. Return your arms to the starting position and repeat. You can do 8-12 reps/side, 2-3 sets based on tolerance.
As with any exercise, there are many modifications that can be made to make these exercises easier or harder and you must choose the level of difficulty based upon where your body is right now.
To help with any of these exercises or for improving core strength, set-up an appointment with us and we can work on it together so that you can feel strong and capable no matter what you are doing!
