I’m currently trying to get to the gym 3x per week. My aim is to try to build my core muscles so that i’m centrally strong, then work from there…

The last 3 sessions has been.. 10 minute gentle warm up on the rowing machine, followed by 5 mins of lower limb stretches, then a 15 minute hard cardio session on the treadmill followed by more stretches.

Then 3×10 sets of light crunches for the abs like this(Rolling up so that the lower back is only just off the floor keeping my abs and glutes tight), 3×10 sets of bridging for the lower back and glutes raising my leg at full extension like this. I then do some front bridging on hands and knees, doing 15x5second arm and leg lifts like this.

I then do 1 minute side plank on each side like this, followed by a full plank for about 1minute30 like this. I then try to stretch the muscles i’ve worked, then a 5 minute brisk walk on the treadmill slowing down to an amble to warm down.

Does anyone have any other things that i should be doing to try to build my core up evenly?

I have (up until busting my ankle) been doing very similar thing through work with a trainer giving different exercises every month. The core exrecises remain same but upper and lower body change and i do a core session with either upper and lower body each time.

The only thing i’d change about your core routine (based only on what i have been doing) is to do the crunches to failure x 3 because 3 lots of 10 is not very many at all.

The rest are all good core exercises… and surprisingly hard if done with good form!

I Xs
lay on front, arms stretched out in front, legs extended with toes pointing away from body.
Raise both arms/legs about 20cm off floor, keep looking down ( I shape).
Maintain the raise and open both arms and legs to X shape, hold for 10, then back to I, hold for 10.
Repeat x 20 for three sets.

Crunch variation 1
normal crunch position – extend legs vertically so knees are over hips, bend knees to be parallel to floor, arms straight at side.
Crunch to R knee, centre, L knee, centre
again 3 x 20

Crunch variation 2:
normal position, feet on floor, knees over hips.
slowly rotate pelvis to R as far as you can whilst keeping shoulders flat and soft, crunch x 20
knees back to normal, crunch x 20
knees to L, crunch x 20

1 set of these is usually enough.

1/2 plank/push up:
plank with foreams on floor, hold for 30
then 10 slow push ups maintaining form
x 3

Leg raises (hanging) if you have access to a rope even better.
Find a chin bar, do half a heave and rotate so that your shins touch the bar. An old commando favourite.

I work 12 hour shifts and am lucky enough to have a gym in work!!
I get about 40 – 45 mins in the gym and try to mix it up as much as I can, covering mostly cardio/core.
Some of my rough nightly routines are below, they are pretty short liek I said, but there is quite a variety.
Some of the names you may need to google,lol

walk 2 mins
Plank 30 secs x2 set
Push up plank 30 secs x2 sets
thread the needle 15reps, x2 sets
Mountain Climber 30 secs x2 sets
Negative chinups
Reverse curls
french curls
skipping 4 mins
crunchs 100
6 mins bike
Stretchs

or
run 2 mins warm up
bicep curls sets of 12,10,8
Lunges x10 each leg, x3 sets
Weighted walking Lunges x10 lengths of gym
Skipping 5 mins
Crunchs x40
run 3 mins up/down gym
Crunchs x40
Sprint 1 min 18km(speed on treadmill, not distance covered in 1 min)
Crunchs x40
Twists with weights 24, 20, 16
Cross trainer 6 mins
2 mins walk cool down.

or
10 mins skipping
breakdown –
10 double bounce, feet together
10 single bounce, feet together
10 double bounce, running on the spot
10 single bounce running on the spot
10 single bounce, one legged, right foot
10 single bounce, one legged, left foot
10 double bounce front straddle (one foot in front, one behind, like a pair of scissors)
10 double bounce side straddle (feet together, feet apart)
8 mins bike
8 mins run
8 mins something else??

One routine could include the following:

100 Rope Turns
10 Burpees
10 Pushups
10 Bodyweight Squats

or

Plank 40 secs
Reverse curls
Push up plank 40 secs
Calf Stretches
thread the needle 15reps,
Hamstring stretches
Mountain Climber 40 secs x
do the above through x2 then do below.
Negative chinups
Crunchs 50
french curls with weights
crunchs 50
Negative chinups
Crunchs 50
calf stretch
skipping

some of these may have been done quicker than 40 mins and I would have filled that time with other cardio exercise.
No science just what I could squeeze into the time I had without getting bored.
Recently started adding in some rowing as well.

Hmm, quite a bit to think about there!

I’m also lucky enough to have a gym at work, but it’s only small. Will try to add a few things to my routine and see where i go from there.

Get a swiss ball. Stick feet on it, do one push up. Stick lower back on it, do one sit up. Next, do the same but two of each, then three of each, then 4 of each, keep going up until you cant do any more then reduce them one by one until you get back to 1 of each.

Dead lifts and squats are real core building exercises. There are loads if variations of each. I would chuck some of these in with your current plan and you’re on to a winner. If you’re not used to dead lifting get one of the instructors to give you some tips, its an easy exercise to get wrong and injure yourself

Cheers Everyone!

As for deadlifts, there’s no chance i’ll be able to do them at the gym, we don’t have the capacity! I use the gym at work, and there are only dumbells that go up to 10kg.. And no supervision at all.

these core workouts

(and yes thats oli beckingsale in the pics)

single leg deads won’t need more than 10k, and single leg squats are hard enough at body weight

The Gym/Leisure centre I’m a member of do circuit training classes.

These seem to work well for me & the class is different every time (class is 1 hour long)

If your gym offers them, then I’d give them a go.

Download Convict Conditioning and work your way through that. No need for a gym.

Yoga.
Great for core strength + flexibility + countering the short hamstrings that regular cycling tends to leave you with.
More relaxing and fun that being a gym bunny, more social and you feel great afterwards

convict conditioning looks good and no weights needed.

edit: beaten to it by hamish…link to book download would be nice hamish!!

here

Convict Conditioning is a excellent program.

Also recommend;

Becoming Bulletproof

This guy is involved with Convict Conditioning 2, again by Paul Wade
Al Kavado

Some good stuff on his site

@hamish..linky no worky for me 🙁

Hmm, see what you mean. TBH I’ve got CC on my Kindle – a riding mate downloaded it in PDF from Bittorrent – which was what I tried to post a link to – maybe not allowed on STW…

so how does it rate as a download/kindle format? the e book is only £19 so is worth a punt but not sure how i would get on with it reading it off the laptop? 300+ pages is something id rather have in paperback…..
is it something you need to work through whilst reading or can you read it then go off and get on with it?
sorry to hijack!

Download as PDF and print hard copy…