I was once a high school athlete and as the summer season approached, I had one thing on my mind (in regards to working out) and that was getting my “summer abs”. I knew the girls loved em, so that was really my motive. Guess what, never got em! It may have been my eating habits at that time of my life that prevented me from ever seeing those abs, but I sure tried to get my “summer abs” by doing non stop sit-ups and crunches.

My story probably holds true for most high school athletes these days. Well I am here to tell you, stop doing sit-ups and crunches! I had no idea what I was doing at that age, but there is a better way to get your “summer abs” and become a better athlete at the same time!

I want you to shift your mindset. Try to move on from the mindset of “how do my abs look” and instead have the mindset of “how well do my abs perform.” By the way, when referring to abs, I am actually referring to all the muscles that wrap around your midsection, also deemed as the core muscles.

Here are some good questions to ask those core muscles.

• Can they resist any type of rotation?

• Can they resist flexion or extension?

• Can they brace your midsection?

• Can they move fast and be powerful?

Let’s do an analogy! Think of your core muscles as a soda can. If you took a soda can that was empty and then twisted or crushed it, you may find that it was easy to manipulate the soda can. It was flimsy and weak. This would be an example of an athlete who crumbles from the middle every time they land or change directions. Now flip the script and try to do the same thing to a soda can that has not been opened. It’s difficult and you probably were not successful. This would be an example of an athlete who was able to maintain stiffness from the middle on all types of athletic movements. The soda can analogy gives us an idea on how our core muscles should work.

Doing sit-ups and crunches will not get you there. Now I am not against doing them, but if I am talking about sport performance, there are other exercises that will benefit you more so than doing sit-ups.

Check out this video on some of my favorite core exercises we use with our athletes at BFP!

Exercises, In order of the video.

• TRX or Ring Fallouts

• Ab Wheel Rollouts

• Hollow Body Hold

• Hollow Body Snaps

• Hollow Body Rockers

• KB Pull Throughs

• Banded Pallof Presses

• Banded Rotations

Coach Silas