FItness Training - Get
up and Go, Strengthen More than Your Core
With today’s economy, everyone
is looking to get more bang for their buck. Your approach
to the gym should
be no different, especially when it comes
to building a strong and functional core.
Everyday, I see men and women wasting
valuable time and energy striving for that Holy Grail
of 6-pack abs by performing
countless numbers of floor crunches from every possible
angle, sometimes with weight, or with legs raised on a
bench, or while lying on their side trying to hit their
oblique’s. Do these mainstream moves work to build
up your six little friends? Sure they do, but, not only
are they an awful lot of unnecessary work, they also put
you at greater risk of injury to your back, which means
you could find yourself stuck at home with a heating pad,
while the gym cashes in on your monthly membership fees.
Enter the Turkish Get Up – or, just Get Up, if
you prefer - one of my personal favourite exercises, and
one that each and every one of my clients performs, whether
they are a beginner or an experienced lifter. The Get Up
has so much more to offer than your standard crunch because
it doesn’t just isolate, it works the entire core
musculature used to stabilize your body.
How does this exercise work? Exactly how it sounds. You
begin by lying in a supine position on the floor and then
you get up and perform a series of steps that will bring
you up into full standing position before you return to
your original stance on the floor. Easy enough, right?
When you break it down into 6 simple
steps (see figure X), you can see that the Get Up really
has it all. Not
only does it require abdominal strength to raise your torso
off of the floor, but the side plank position forces you
to stabilize your entire core. For your lower body, getting
up off the ground and bringing yourself upright will work
out your internal & external hip flexors, while increasing
your leg strength. Reversing the movement and bringing
your self back down to the floor offers unparalleled benefits
in honing your overall coordination skills. Can a crunch
claim the same? I didn’t think so.
Better still, you can easily make this a total body workout
by adding a kettlebell or dumbbell to the mix. The added
weight will improve your shoulder strength and, more importantly,
stability by building up the surrounding connective tissues
and the muscles of the rotator cuff to protect you from
having to go see a surgeon.
Performing five reps of Get Ups on each side of your
body will leave you gasping for air with your core thoroughly
worked, and in a fraction of the time it will take you
to attack your abs from every angle with basic, boring
crunches.
The Get Up is a must for athletes because a strong and functional core generates
power and explosiveness. In fact, this move was used by old-time strongmen
and weight lifters in the late 19th Century who needed a measuring stick to
determine if they were ready to graduate to more advanced exercises. Instructors
would not allow their students to move on to other lifts until they could get
up from the ground with a 100lb weight raised above their head.
If you’re not an athlete and just want year-round,
head-turning abs, then skip the backbreaking crunches from
your program and go for the Get Up. Combine it with a consistent
cardio program and the right nutrition plan and you’re
on your way to a chiseled midsection that supports the
rest of your hard earned physique.
The Get Up
1. Lie on your back with a KB/DB held directly over
your shoulder and wrist locked with knuckles pointed
towards
the ceiling. This arm should remain vertical throughout
the entire movement. Maintain eye contact with KB/DB
until step #6. Bend the knee on the side that has the
KB and extend your free arm out to the side. It is
also important to compress the shoulder that is
supporting
the KB/DB down and back, as close to your spine as
possible.
2. Roll on to your side towards the free hand.
3. Rise up onto your hand.
4. Raise your hips and brace your body in a side plank
and hold for a 2 count.
5. Next, bring your straight leg back onto your knee,
into a lunge position.
6. Stand up.
Return to the starting position by reversing the 6
steps.
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