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Killer Abs: 9 Articles To A Better Core

Abs and core work is an area for me that I neglect. I believe that it’s a great source of where our strength begins. Not to mention your core offers support for your back, helps to promote better posture, offers better balance and stability, and I’m sure a whole host of other benefits if you look into it. I thought in an effort to developing my own ab routine I’d share with you 9 articles I’ve come across in my quest to doing so. Some workouts and movements are repeated across the articles but the focus on the routines as a whole are different. I chose 3 areas to focus on. The rectus abdominus, the Serratus anterior, and the external obliques. I believe these three areas round out the core of our bodies. As a friendly reminder if your current goal is losing belly fat, targeting your abs will not directly aid to losing belly fat. 80% of that battle is won or lost when choosing what to eat.

 

Rectus abdominus

The rectus abdominus or more commonly referred to as the abdominal muscles or abs, it is just one component to building a killer core. It’s the one that everyone wants and talks about, but there are other pieces to the puzzle.  The following three articles I feel round out this part of the body nicely. I made sure to include an article that centered around warm up to help avoid causing your abdominal muscles pain and straining of the muscles.

 
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/layne4.htm

This article gives a lot of nice takeaways. I really enjoy the beginning of the article which dis-spells some common misconceptions with the abdominals. It also gives a list of movements and it also states which part of the abs it targets. The end of the article wraps up with two alternate workouts along with some printable and downloadable content which is a nice bonus.

 
http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/5-ways-blast-your-abs-during-your-warmup

I enjoyed these five floor warm ups for your abs. Because they can be done anywhere with enough space and it could be modified to be as long or short as you need. It could be used as a warm up or worked in as part of your routine. There’s high quality short videos that explain each movement as well as it’s benefit.

 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ctqn3b_4rw

I decided to include a video. Chris Jones is one of my favorite if not my favorite fitness personalities on YouTube. I like this video because it’s not just another, “hey check out my workout.” Which I have nothing against, I actually really enjoy those as well. This video aligns perfectly with my interests for this article. In the video he coaches us on how to properly contract the abdominals and this instruction is very important because it should carry across every ab exercise we do. He goes over three basic exercises and also gives advice on how to intensify the movements.

 

Serratus anterior

The serratus anterior is located between the ribs and are easily overlooked but compliment your abdominals and obliques nicely. I did some searching, trying to find exercises that target this ignored part of the abdominals. I found that exercises we know target our abs also hit this area. My goal was to mix that in as well as finding some exercises that target the serratus anterior specifically.

 
http://www.chunkfitness.com/exercises/ab-exercises/serratus-anterior-exercises

A nice little overview of the serratus as well as a general list of workouts that will hit the serratus anterior. You can click on each workout and each page has a nice description of performing the workout as well as a video demonstrating the movement. Included are some nice tips to get the most out of the workout and tips on what to avoid when performing the workout.

 
http://www.livestrong.com/article/417553-serratus-anterior-strengthening-exercises/

This article on livestrong is nice and short. It highlights a couple workouts and explains how to target the serratus. I like how they highlight that the serratus is also referred to as, “the boxers muscle.”

 
http://greatist.com/fitness/small-muscle-spotlight-serratus

I like the highlight done in this article. It gives a description of the serratus as well as highlights it’s purpose. The article includes some suggestions of some common ways to target the muscle as well as some links at the end of the article to videos that show how to do some more serratus specific movements. My favorite is the serratus push-up.

 

External Oblique

 

Another easily overlooked but critical component to a strong core. Strong obliques reinforce core stability. If your into playing sports it offers more power to be generated out of rotating your torso. With this reinforced core through strong obliques it helps to prevent sports related injuries or injuries in any activities. The obliques also offer stability in the torso for running as well as maintaining a strong pelvic and spinal position.

http://www.leanitup.com/best-oblique-exercises-to-get-ripped-up-abs/

This article includes five movements to target the obliques. You can easily use these movements with heavy or light weight, depending on what you want to accomplish in the workout. It includes a guide to toughness with each workout. Videos are also included to demonstrate each workout.

 
http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/oblique-stretches-6413.html

I love this article on oblique stretches. The article gives  four different stretches for the obliques. Each stretch should be used in a different situation. The situations given in the article are before your workout, after your workout and at work. As someone who sits most of the day at work I appreciate the stretch for work. The only downside to this article is there’s no pictures demonstrating the movements, but a quick Google search will solve that if you need the added visual.

 
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/best_oblique_workouts.htm

I really like the first four workouts of this article. They are heavy intense workouts for your obliques. The last three workouts of this article aren’t as heavy or intense but have more of a purpose toward leaner muscle building. The article itself is a very fast read and it’s geared toward delivering the workouts to get you to take action.

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