August 15, 2012
I always look for chaos. I hate conformity and any ‘follow the crowd’ thought process. It drives me crazy. Spice things up I say, and explode concepts. Blow them to smithereens I tell ya. I do this often with my blog rants of knowledge bombs. Yes, I love to talk about corrective exercise and movement, however I love to workout myself. It’s a part of who I am. The very core of how I live. I love to share some of my favorite workouts and this post is about that very thing.
If you follow my work long enough you know that I love using the TRX Suspension Trainer. It’s one of my favorite outside the box tools in my arsenal for movement. However, I like to think ‘outside’ the outside box. Double dipping if you will. Here is peek inside my outside brain for some really cool abdominal movements using your arms inside the foot handles of the TRX. Who says I cant? Chaos remember?
The good news is that chaos is great for training. Some call it variety. Not me, I like the term chaos.Deliver a shock and awe session to your abdominals and see magic happen in how you look and feel. Feel free to ‘play’ around with other ideas and see what you discover.
Do all Core 4 in a circuit non-stop. Aim for minimum 15 reps for each. Maintain control and precision of movement. Don’t hold your breath or clench your jaw.
Elbow Clench
Key Cue: Lead with the elbows and not your butt. Curl your spine into flexion and let the rear end follow you. Aim your elbows to your groin. Great move because you go from a suspended plank position to an abdominal crunch with more gravity bearing down on you for core stability. Pivot on the balls of your feet.
Cauldron of Chaos
Key Cue: Stir the cauldron in a 360 circuit both ways. Excellent move for obliques and TVA. Plus you must learn to resist rotation and also really hits the horizontal plane nicely. If you don’t feel this one you are officially hardcore.
Oblique Bomb
Key Cue: Lock and load the forearm in both foot straps and get into a side scissor stance. Brace the forearm with your other hand and aim your elbow towards the forward knee lifting your hip in the air. Lead with the elbow first. Reverse on other side. Great way to train a cross body oblique pattern with stability challenge. This is a tough move to master with timing so be patient and do it right.
Rollout Plank
Key Cue: Hold foot straps with your hands while kneeling. Roll out forward into a plank position and return to start. Holding the straps requires greater stability and grip strength. Feel free to roll out to different angles too. Be careful not to extend in the lower back too much and keep your neck packed in.
Repeat entire circuit 3 times waiting 2 minutes between circuits. Do kettlebell swings between sets for a real metabolic boost. Now go play with your TRX and have fun.