4 core functions and movements you need to transform your abs

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Here’s an excerpt from the New Men’s Health Training Guide’s 90-Day Transformation Challenge: Abs.In one book, you’ll get all the tools you need – information, nutrition guides, and exercises – to build your abs in just 3 months.
As I’ve said repeatedly, planning your program should be a collaboration between all the elements that will make you look and feel better.Understanding muscles and their specific functions provides you with the first layer of knowledge you need to better prepare your training regimen.
To take the next step, you must look at the four categories of movements (and counter movements) that you will master as the program progresses.These four types of exercise are essential for building your abs.You can’t rely on just one movement, like the forward fold for a sit-up, to get the results you want.
All four of these categories will not only enhance the skills you already have, but also add some brand new tools to your tool belt.Not only will this make your abs look better – you’ll run faster, hit new PRs, and push past your existing limits!Let’s take a look at the four categories and their functions.
Bracing is one of the most underrated skills in training.You have to support what you want to protect, which in this case refers to the position of your spine.The pose you carry every day is the same pose you bring into the lift.Whether you have a bar in your upper back for squats or your hands with a trapezoidal bar for deadlifts, if you don’t support it properly, you run the risk of injury.
Bracing is the act of building stability between the shoulders and hips.It should feel like a strong tension line connecting the bottom of the chest and the butt.One of the most common misconceptions about bracing is that you engage in bracing by sucking into your stomach.This is done to remove the intra-abdominal pressure on your belly, which is the exact opposite of what we want to accomplish.
Intra-abdominal pressure is defined as the steady-state pressure within the abdominal cavity.This mechanism can better stabilize your abdomen.Imagine your upper body is an empty plastic water bottle.If there is no cap on the water bottle (no pressure, no support), the bottle can be bent in almost any direction you want with almost no effort.But if you put the cap on it (air pressure, support) it’s almost impossible to bend the water bottle.This is the same type of mechanism we are trying to use in training.
As I said before, the core is an energy transfer junction.If you’re sprinting, squatting, pressing, etc., you need to know how to properly support your core and to what extent.
Rotation is an essential movement.Most of the movements you see people doing in the gym are in isolation, through straight lines, which doesn’t quite resemble the way we go about our daily lives.The truth is, we rotate (a lot).Think about turning your body as you merge on the highway, or twisting your torso to pack groceries.
Rotation is the integration of multiple joints and muscular systems working around a central point.Usually, this center point is in the midsection, especially when we move around the body or from different levels.While we don’t want to take turns generating power from the midsection, you have to respect the fact that we need some level of easy movement in that area to stay safe.More important than rotation in this regard…
As I said, rotation is an essential movement.When we move, the body is only willing to do its best when it feels safe.Building a framework for the body so they feel safe and comfortable through movement opens up new opportunities for movement.
Just like you don’t want to learn how to ride a bike without brakes, you don’t want to learn how to properly resist spin in the midsection before you know how to spin.
The anti-rotation technique is similar to bracing; it is acquired through practice.One of the key reasons this program is so successful is that it unfolds over the course of 90 days, giving you time to slowly build one skill on top of another.This will be one of the recurring themes in our plans.
Bending forward is a common daily exercise.Although often overlooked lately, spinal flexion prepares us for common movements, so we need to get better at performing this basic movement.To better prepare for this daily movement, we need to improve our approach.
Yes, that means crunches and other moves aren’t all bad.In the fitness world, some movements are outdated, and spinal flexion has been demonized as a “problem” in recent years.But, just like you do with crunches, flexing your spine is what you do every morning when you sit up and get out of bed—and when you pick something up off the floor.Bending forward won’t hurt you.Poor practice execution!That’s why I want to emphasize your form and technique at every step.