Top 11 exercises to work your core (and none are abdominal crunch)

When it comes to working the core, we usually always resort to the same three or four exercises and especially the abdominal crunch, which is almost never the best option. Today, we want to teach you eleven exercises so that you can work your core without resorting to the usual ones. Among all the options that we propose, some require minimal equipment, and others you can do right now at home without any material. In addition, there are exercises of different difficulty and intensity, so you can start with the least intense ones and little by little, as you progress, increase the difficulty and intensity. Abdominal plank, A classic, is often underrated. The plank in general and the straight plank with supported elbows as the base of all of them is an excellent way to work the abdomen. As simple as getting into a push-up position but with your elbows supported and holding the position for a few seconds. It is important to keep your back straight at all times. If you lower or raise the buttocks, you are relaxing the body and therefore the exercise is no longer effective. Plank with one arm and/or leg raised In this case, to the previous abdominal plank, we add an extra difficulty. What we do is raise an opposite hand and leg alternately. The simple fact of removing points of support makes this exercise harder and believe me, it is difficult to maintain stability. In this case, we do not count the exercise by seconds, but instead, we count it in repetitions and, as in any unilateral exercise, it is important to do the same elevations for each leg and arm to avoid imbalances. Side plank The plank emphasizes the frontal abdominal area, but we can increase the involvement of the obliques simply by placing ourselves on our sides and supporting only one elbow. In this case, we count the exercise again by seconds under tension, and it is important to work both sides for the same amount of time. Here, as in the normal plank, it is also important to keep the body straight. If you bring your hip closer to or away from the ground, you will be affecting the intensity of the exercise. Plank bringing knees to chest Another way of doing planks is by increasing the intensity and difficulty of the movement. You only need a medicine ball or, even better, a fit ball. At first, you can simply place your feet on it, and the lack of stability is already contributing to increasing the difficulty of the exercise. Over time and as you get used to it, you can flex your feet bringing your knees to your chest and thus increase the intensity even more. Leg raises, A classic among classics. In this case, you do not need any equipment, with a mat or a towel you have plenty. Simply lie on your head, place your arms next to your body, palms down, and raise both legs at the same time to form a 90º angle with your torso and legs. Ideally, you should not support your legs on the ground until you finish the repetitions that you have proposed. In this way, you manage to maintain tension in the abdomen throughout the movement. Alternate leg raises Another option is to work the legs alternately when doing the elevations. In this way, we change the muscles involved and add some difficulty to the movement. As in the previous case, it is important not to support any of the legs to withstand the tension at all times. You will notice the difference! Ab wheel, In this case, using an abdominal wheel, and resting on our knees, we have to lower our bodies, bringing the wheel over our head until our torso is almost parallel to the ground. We can also increase or reduce the difficulty by expanding or reducing the length of the movement. If at first, it is difficult for you to finish a repetition, try to stand in front of a wall and not stretch your arms so much. As you get used to it, you move away from the wall and increase the difficulty. When you master the movement, you can directly support yourself with your feet instead of your knees. Spider-man plank In the plank position, in this case, we alternately bring one of our knees to the elbow on the same side of the body. It is a way to add difficulty and increase the work of the obliques while doing planks. Think that you have to continue maintaining the same position but, in addition to removing one supporting foot alternately, you contract the obliques. High pulley crunches This exercise is a better alternative to the abdominal crunch of a lifetime. In this case, we do it with a pulley, which allows us to regulate the intensity of the movement simply by increasing or decreasing the weight. It is important not to work with excessive loads since, if you do, you will end up pulling with your whole body and not with your abdomen, which is the idea. In this case, it is more important to pay attention to the sensation and notice how the abdomen works than to put on kilos. Wiper washer A very spectacular oblique exercise, although there are less complex versions. In the video, we see how we can do it suspended in the air while holding our weight, but it is also possible to do it while lying on the floor head up on a mat. For the latter case, we simply have to place our body forming a 90º angle with the legs and torso. In this position, what we do is lower the legs, rotating the hips until they come to be close to the ground without touching it. Then we return to the starting position and repeat the movement to the opposite side. The "Army Drag" Here we have a mix between the normal plates, the plates bringing the knees to the elbow and also adding displacement of the arms. A way to add more intensity to this exercise. As we can see in the video, we can do it with dumbbells or, we can even do it simply by resting our elbows on the ground and walking with them as if we were soldiers.