I’m looking for some suggestions on core strength routines. Yoga? Pilates? Some-book-I-can-read-and-follow-on-my-own?
http://magthree.com/Thoughts/Core_Work.html
this one is good. 15 exercises. some nice gif? images to follow along
Thanks for the link.
One suggestion … when doing crunches, your chin should not move toward your chest … but, toward the celing. In the gif, he looks as if he’s pulling his head up with his arms. Just put your hands by your ears, and let you abs contract and pull your upper body off the floor (think “chin to celing”).
Dont tell my Fantasy Football buddies but Pilates is a killer core workout. Get past the Jane Fonda look and it is the best Ive done.
I think between ballet, pilates and yoga you would end up with superb core strength/balance. Considering many students of ballet have been turning to pilates for some time now, if you only choose to do one, I’d go with pilates. I’m considering it myself, there is a local studio that is offering 20 - 1 hour sessions for $320, which sounds pretty reasonable I think, especially as the class size is between 3-6 people.
I like doing Astanga because I feel it’s more aerobic than Pilates. I tried wearing my HRM once and I reached up to 70% of my Max HR. Breathing/visualization techniques used to relax muscles in yoga is also helpful when cramping.
Yoga and the Bobby Magee routines, pretty well explained (with pics) on gordo’s website.
‘Core Performance’ by Mark Vergestren (or something like that). Excellent book with photo illustrations…kj
I think Justin’s routine is pretty good, but maybe a bit to much “on the back” stuff. I like to do multi-plane stuff and only a limited number of “crunch based” stuff. Get to your feet or on a physio ball. And yes Verstegen’s book is pretty good too, it incorporates some more gym based strength stuff.
Kurt
You’d be so much better off going to a Pilates class.
You need the close supervision of the teacher to make sure you are doing the right thing. Without this - I wouldn’t consider a book or dvd as you’ll be doing it wrong.
And the class is full of hotties.
It’s also something that fits in well with Tri training - you can run and bike on the same day as a pilates class.
I posted some weeks back about doing kick sets on your back with fins. This won’t only improve your swimming, but will also have huge benefits to your core strength - remember core strength is also your back, not just your front.
Core Performance is excellent. Not b/c of the specific ab stuff, but b/c of the complex moves that may concentrate on one area but incorporate stability and core strength. Going through a regular lifting routine, you can challenge your core the entire time. I do one “hybrid” lifting day where all I do are compound movements like those in the book and it’s awesome.
I am also a big fan of Pilates. The Pilates Body (Brooke Siler) is a great book to teach you the foundation. Better explanations than teachers sometimes give. If you can’t make it to a class, Hilary Burnett dvds are good.