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I've worked out for much of my adult life, but have always been plagued by core issues. Since about a year ago, I've been working out with kettlebells (KBs), and they have become the source of for most of my resistance training. II'm reasonably satisfied with my progress in basic moves like the swing and one-arm snatch. My clean and jerk is acceptable, too.
However, although I was hoping that my core would improve naturally as my strength in the swing and snatch increased, this really hasn't happened. For those who don't know KBs, the basic KB movement for core strength is the Turkish get up.
(YouTube link - if you can't watch the video, suffice to say that the TGU is essentially getting up from a supine position while holding up a KB; it engages nearly every muscle but especially your core.)
Typically, one should be able to do a TGU using about the same weight as one does for KB swings or snatches, or at least that's what I'm reading here and there. But I'm struggling at about half that weight, and don't really see any improvement in the offing, because it's not becoming any easier at the weight I'm using now. I think part of the issue is balance and stability; I've never been able to do handstands or even headstands away from the wall, and in yoga I have always struggled with most poses involving balance, i.e. having less than both feet on the ground.
Is there any way I can remedy this? There's are so many conflicting opinions out there about exercise generally, but especially about core work, e.g. "do crunches", "don't do crunches", "planking is the best thing ever","no it isn't", and so on.
I've worked out for much of my adult life, but have always been plagued by core issues. Since about a year ago, I've been working out with kettlebells (KBs), and they have become the source of for most of my resistance training. II'm reasonably satisfied with my progress in basic moves like the swing and one-arm snatch. My clean and jerk is acceptable, too.
However, although I was hoping that my core would improve naturally as my strength in the swing and snatch increased, this really hasn't happened. For those who don't know KBs, the basic KB movement for core strength is the Turkish get up.
(YouTube link - if you can't watch the video, suffice to say that the TGU is essentially getting up from a supine position while holding up a KB; it engages nearly every muscle but especially your core.)
Typically, one should be able to do a TGU using about the same weight as one does for KB swings or snatches, or at least that's what I'm reading here and there. But I'm struggling at about half that weight, and don't really see any improvement in the offing, because it's not becoming any easier at the weight I'm using now. I think part of the issue is balance and stability; I've never been able to do handstands or even headstands away from the wall, and in yoga I have always struggled with most poses involving balance, i.e. having less than both feet on the ground.
Is there any way I can remedy this? There's are so many conflicting opinions out there about exercise generally, but especially about core work, e.g. "do crunches", "don't do crunches", "planking is the best thing ever","no it isn't", and so on.
Until you actually try something for yourself you won't know whether you will get results from it. But do try planks of various kinds. As well, there is an isometric exercise I don't have a name for, but you simply lie supine on a stool with only your butt on the stool. Your body is straight. Parallel to the ground. Your ab muscles have to work hard to keep your body straight. Of course your core muscles also involve your back muscles. For that, try lying supine with your head and shoulders one one chair and your feet on another chair. Your back muscles must work to keep your body straight.
There are actually many different core exercises you can do.
And yes, you can strengthen your core at 59. I'm strengthening mine at the age of 63 and very soon to be 64.
To get strong core you have to strengthen core not places else and hope it will kick into core. Like my mom was exercising her abs by dropping down box of matches and then picking them up one by one.
Start your gym routine with set of core only exercise. You have to address all of them - anterior, obliques, lateral, paraspinals. You can develop a cyclic set for that and change it every 2 months or so.
KBs will do OK for paraspinals, maybe for laterals. Not so good for the rest. Strong core requires HEAVY loads to get strong. Hundreds of pounds.
Ad hoc, 62.5 here. I dead lift 360 3 times. Could do more with straps.
Until you actually try something for yourself you won't know whether you will get results from it. But do try planks of various kinds. As well, there is an isometric exercise I don't have a name for, but you simply lie supine on a stool with only your butt on the stool. Your body is straight. Parallel to the ground. Your ab muscles have to work hard to keep your body straight. Of course your core muscles also involve your back muscles. For that, try lying supine with your head and shoulders one one chair and your feet on another chair. Your back muscles must work to keep your body straight.
There are actually many different core exercises you can do.
And yes, you can strengthen your core at 59. I'm strengthening mine at the age of 63 and very soon to be 64.
Yep, building core strength is very important. Agree the Plank is one of the best if done properly. I bought an inversion table several years ago to relieve back issues. I began doing sit-ups while hanging upside down which targets the core.It's not as hard as it sounds, you can use the handles to help as needed. I see folks at the YMCA using the popular sit -up crunch machines.A little bit everyday is the way to get started, good luck...
To get strong core you have to strengthen core not places else and hope it will kick into core. Like my mom was exercising her abs by dropping down box of matches and then picking them up one by one.
Did this work for your mom?
Quote:
Start your gym routine with set of core only exercise. You have to address all of them - anterior, obliques, lateral, paraspinals. You can develop a cyclic set for that and change it every 2 months or so.
KBs will do OK for paraspinals, maybe for laterals. Not so good for the rest. Strong core requires HEAVY loads to get strong. Hundreds of pounds.
(Emphasis mine)
I'm not sure I understand. Do you mean that there are people who can do isolating core movements with such heavy loads? Or do you mean that one would have to use hundreds of pounds in some other exercise, like a deadlift, in order to "kick into core"?
Quote:
Ad hoc, 62.5 here. I dead lift 360 3 times. Could do more with straps.
Just a thought, but have you tried doing the TGU with a dumbbell instead? This might help you with building stability/balance before moving on to using a KB.
OP, you missed the point. You do not exercise abs by picking matches from the floor. She acted under wrong assumption.
Abs, gastroc and forearms are the hardest to exercise and strengthen muscles in the body, because they literally work all the time. hence, they have to be heavily loaded, in pyramid fashion, to strengthen them. Literally, hundreds of pounds. I ran out of ab machines at my gym, not enough weight for crunches. Gastroc can take tremendous load, I just gastroc machine, isolated, with 6x45x6.
I am not bragging. I am getting weaker as body gets older. What I am saying is - it is the reality. Paraspinals, back extensors, part of the core, can also take huge load. Dead lifts is common exercise and you know, how much some folks lift.
What I am saying is that doing dead lift type of exercise, for average healthy male, without any back complications, with say 50lb x 10 and claiming "I did it" is a joke that is not even funny. And I see plenty of them in my gym do just that.
I call it "milling air". You basically move air, not weights. Strong core requires very hard consistent loads, contionuosly increased, to actually become STRONG.
Just like anything else, by the way.
Just a thought, but have you tried doing the TGU with a dumbbell instead? This might help you with building stability/balance before moving on to using a KB.
I've tried this, and yes it does help a little.
But my TGU is still so much weaker than it should be, and I think it's a question of figuring out what the weakest link in the chain is, as it were.
What I am saying is that doing dead lift type of exercise, for average healthy male, without any back complications, with say 50lb x 10 and claiming "I did it" is a joke that is not even funny. And I see plenty of them in my gym do just that.
I call it "milling air". You basically move air, not weights. Strong core requires very hard consistent loads, contionuosly increased, to actually become STRONG.
Just like anything else, by the way.
It's the core again. People have hurt themselves, or are afraid of doing so, by trying to squat or deadlift too much when their cores can't take it. One mistake of being overambitious with the squat, for instance, and you walk around in pain and a slight crouch and have to skip the gym completely for two weeks. This happened to me...like I said it's been plaguing me throughout the years I've been working out. And at the time when it happened I was really trying to isolate and strengthen my lower back.
An important point to keep in mind at your age is that it's important to advance with any exercise a little more gradually than you might have when you were younger. In your mature years you're likely to heal more slowly if you injure yourself by pushing for too much too soon, so anything other than the most minor injury can be a setback to your progress.
I'm 62, and I've developed good core strength with compound exercises that use the core in more of an ancillary function, the way you'd use those muscles performing manual labor as opposed to structured exercise.
Deadlifts are a staple exercise for this, but I'll also do farmer's walks, as well as deadlifts with one hand at a time and the weight held more to the side than you would with a standard two-handed deadlift. You can do these one-handed lifts with dumbbells. I've never used kettlebells, but they look as if they would be made for this exercise. The farmer's carries and those one-handed deads are good for developing the external obliques along the sides of the torso.
For the twisting that works the internal obliques, a favorite exercise of mine is to simply pick a weight up and move it side-to-side. You want to use a weight heavy enought so you can't swing it from side to side. Start with the weight just in front of one foot, and lift the weight high enough so you partially stand up as you simply move the weight over and set it down in front of the other foot. Then you do the same move going back in the other direction and set it down in front of the foot where the weight was to start with. Keep going from side to side like that. The idea is to use a weight heavy enough so you can't really swing it through the air, but have to work at it to pick the weight up and move it from side to side. A kettlebell would likely be ideal for this exercise also.
A decent exercise for the six-pack is similar to the one I just described, except that you move the weight forward and backward instead of side-to-side. The forward movement is similar to a kettlebell swing, except that you want to use a weight heavy enough so you can't really swing it, but have to work hard to simply pick the weight up enough to move it forward and set it down, then pick it up and move it bacward to the starting point.
Tire flips and the like are also great for the six-pack muscles. I don't have a large tire around, but I do something similar with a large, heavy log which is one of the cut-up pieces of a big tree that used to stand in my back yard. I'll lift the log by one end, with the other end resting on the ground the whole time, then lower it and repeat.
Loading up a wheel barrow so it's good and heavy and pushing it is another effective six-pack exercise. You can also get in some good work for the front and back of the core area by walking backward while pulling a heavy wheel barrow.
I don't do all these exercises with every workout. I vary them, but aim to do exercises that hit all the core muscles each time I work on the core. I've been doing this long enough to have developed a good feel for how to vary the workouts. Give this kind of workout a try, and over time you should find that you develop the same instinctive feel for what works, and for how to devise your own exercises that use the same basic kinds of moves.
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