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Cut to the Core

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Al Kavadlo Front Lever

It’s tempting to use the terms “core” and “abdominal” muscles interchangeably.

After all, having visible abs and sub-seven percent body fat gives us an automatic pass to forget training our core, right?

Not exactly.

You see, the truth is that the abdominal muscles are just a part of our core.

Why?

Because BROscience. And because I said so.

All joking aside, our entire core includes our upper back muscles, our lower back muscles, our psoas muscle and then our abdominal muscles.

That last area becomes especially important for earning our “beach body” card.

However, without a strong core, our “beach body” muscles are just there for show.

The good news is that Progressive Calisthenics happens to be the perfect way to wake these muscles up—even when they’re hidden beneath layers of fat.

What about abs being made in the kitchen (not the gym)? Yeah, yeah . . . we’ve all heard that one before.

We could just as easily counter that question with: What foods STRENGTHEN the core musculature?

So, instead of wasting time on semantics and dogmatic fitness debates, let’s cut to the core with more important matters.

Like WHEN and HOW to train the core for best results.

Who’s with me?

Al Kavadlo Beach Back Lever

WHEN to Train the Core

Ideally, we’ll train the core first thing during our workouts whenever we are:

  1. Making a comeback from a sports injury
  2. Combating some form of lagging or acute inflammation around a joint/tendon so that it doesn’t turn into chronic inflammation (i.e., performing an active recovery workout in place of a regular workout)
  3. Not feeling a solid muscle contraction where we need to on a given movement—which could lead to acute and/or chronic inflammation

Whenever we are feeling closer to 100 percent and beyond, we’ll train our core after emphasizing our lower body muscles.
This is because, when we target our largest muscles first, we elicit a favorable hormonal response that translates into greater energy expenditure from our core musculature.

What if we’re emphasizing our upper body muscles during our main workout?

Well, it’s still recommended to superset some lower body plyometrics and core moves during our warm-up to help get us get in the zone.

We could also consider throwing in some core moves as bonus work if we accomplish our desired training effect earlier than expected for a given workout day.

Just ‘cause, you know, that playing around stuff is good for us every so often.

HOW to Activate the Core

Now that we’re all on the same page with when we should train our core, I’m sure you’re dying to know how you can start applying this info . . . like yesterday.

Kavadlo Brothers Two Flags

In this capacity, here are some drills to help you feel what it’s like to activate the entire core musculature.
These are ordered from least to most challenging and should be practiced as such.

  1. Hollow Rock (Floor)
  2. Hollow/Reverse Hollow Sideways Roll (Floor)
  3. Reverse Hollow (Superman) Rock (Floor)
  4. Hollow/Reverse Hollow Swing (Start/Stop – Hanging)
  5. Sideways Hollow Swing (Start/Stop – Hanging)

Here’s what these moves look like in action in case you’re unfamiliar with the naming system I’ve used for them.

https://youtu.be/OjccrGGndGk

While it’s not necessary to structure your practice too much with these moves, it is recommended to just pick one or two at a time, and really focus on accentuating total body tension with them.

Implication or Application – You Decide!

As you’ll see and feel over time, a stronger core allows you to progress toward more advanced skills without fear of injury.

In particular, the similarities between the positions and transitions of these moves and those of front levers, kipping muscle-ups, and human (press) flags should be fairly noticeable.

Defying gravity rules!

Adrienne progression towards the human flag
Senior PCC, Adrienne Harvey working towards the full press flag with Step #6 Split Press Flag from Convict Conditioning Vol. 2

Now that you have further knowledge and tools to help you cut to the core, hopefully you will either imply other intelligent questions from this info, or apply greater integrity when using these muscles, moving forward.

In other words, knowledge is power, and the choice is yours in how you use it!

****

Eric Buratty brings six years of experience to the DC Metro Area as a Certified Personal Trainer, Progressive Calisthenics Instructor, Nutrition Consultant and Sports Injury Specialist. For more information about Eric check out his website, EricBurattyFitness.com.

The Missing Link to the One-Arm Push Up

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Al Kavadlo One Arm Push Ups

I love body weight exercises.  I think they should be the basis of any training program.  Body weight movements can be used for warming up, for cooling down, for flexibility and mobility.  Then, once you learn these movement patterns, they can be progressed to truly test one’s individual strength.  Things like pistol squats, pull-ups, handstand push-ups and one-arm push-ups are incredible exercises, which is one of the reasons I gravitated towards Convict Conditioning.   This book has been instrumental in bringing my skill set to the next level.  I use it to train myself as well as my clients.  It has helped me clearly structure a periodized workout plan for my clients with clear goals and progressions.

When I design my training programs, I train opposing muscles groups or movement patterns.  For every action – there is an equal and opposite reaction.  For example, we all know that the push up is a fantastic upper body strength exercise – but when overused, it can cause some issues.  The big muscle groups like the upper pectorals; shoulder and the internal rotators of the arm and shoulder can become shorter and tighter than the external rotators and scapula retractors.  This tightness can possibly cause a forward rounding posture and possible neck and shoulder injuries.  So to make sure I don’t cause these possible issues, I always have an opposite movement paired with the exercise, in this case, the body row.  This is my push/pull relationship method of training.

The body row is the sister exercise to the push up, however, it is much less utilized.  It also incorporates almost all the same muscle groups as the push up.  The exception is that the prime movers are the back of the body (posterior chain) as opposed to the front (anterior chain) of the body.  Most of the attention goes to the Pull Up as the ultimate body weight back exercise, which is of course an awesome exercise, but until my clients are strong enough to do them correctly, the Body Row rules the roost!

So, what is that missing link you may ask?  It’s the Body Row.  Actually, since we are talking about the One-Arm Push Up, it’s the One-Arm Body Row!

In fact, as I progress up the ten steps in Convict Conditioning Push Up Series, I progress up my own steps to a one-arm body row.

In Convict Conditioning, the horizontal pull is what I call a body row.  I use the Lebert Equalizers for my horizontal pulls because I can add some great variety to the pulls as well as bring them with me to where ever I want to train, inside or outside.  Always having a place to do a pull up is sometimes an issue.  So, if I am outside and want to add in some pulls, I can.

The Body Row is similar to Convict Conditioning’s Pull Up Series Step Two, but with a different tool.  Here is the point where I branch off from the Pull Up Series and add a few alternative steps with the Equalizers that translate to a better one-arm push up.

I will not go into great detail about each body row movement because I am sure if you are following Convict Conditioning, you get the main points on proper form.  I will point out the basics though, which are pretty straightforward.  When you get into your starting position with the Equalizers (EQ), dig your heels into the ground and fire your glutes to keep your hips locked and aligned.  Grab the black grips with a firm hold to fire the forearms.  Keep a neutral spine as you pull yourself off the ground.   When you progress to the single arm body rows, it is much like a single arm kettle bell swing in that your body will want to rotate on you.  Do your best to keep your shoulders parallel to the floor.  Your core will get quite a workout here too!

Convict Conditioning Push Up Steps with correlating Body Row Movements:

Step 4 – Half Body Row – Mirrors the Half Push Up (the ball under the glutes is to help cue you to keep your hips up)

Todd Cambio Half Body Row Todd Cambio Half Body Row

Step 5 – Full Body Row – Mirrors Full Push Up

Todd Cambio Half Body Row Todd Cambio Half Body Row

Step 6 –Single EQ Chin up – Mirrors Close Push Ups

Todd Cambio Half Body Row Todd Cambio Half Body Row

Step 7 –Single Leg EQ Body Row – Mirrors the Uneven Push Up

Todd Cambio Half Body Row Todd Cambio Half Body Row

Step 8 – One Arm Half EQ Body Row – Mirrors the One Arm Half Push Up

Todd Cambio Half Body Row Todd Cambio Half Body Row

Step 9 – One Arm EQ Body Row – Mirrors the One Arm Push Up

Todd Cambio Half Body Row Todd Cambio Half Body Row

So there you have it, a push/pull relationship that not only enhances your one-arm push up but also increase your overall body weight strength.

Todd M. Cambio, CSCS, HKC is the owner of Precision Fitness in Westerly, RI. He is a strength and conditioning coach that specializes in sports performance and obstacle course race training. Todd is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, a Spartan Group X Obstacle Course Coach, a published author and Master Body Weight Trainer & Presenter for Lebert Fitness. See what Todd is up to by visiting www.ToddCambio.com.