Shredded abs might boost your attractiveness quotient, but that's not their primary purpose. In everyday life, your core has one directive: to stabilize your spine. That makes the three exercises below the ultimate gut check. By forcing your core to brace against three kinds of potentially spine-damaging motion--rotation, flexion, and extension--they'll reveal just how strong it really is, says Kevin Carr, C.S.C.S., a trainer at Mike Boyle Strength & Conditioning in Massachusetts. And if you add them to your weekly routine, you'll soon notice greater stability and power in everything you do--not to mention an increasingly chiseled profile.
DIRECTIONS
Perform these exercises as a circuit, moving from one to the next without resting. Once you've finished all three exercises, rest for one minute and then repeat the circuit.
Your goal: 3 total circuits
Plank Row (Anti-Rotation)
Assume a pushup position while gripping a pair of dumbbells that total half your body weight. Row the weight in your left hand to your ribs, then repeat with the right. Continue alternating sides for 20 reps.
Farmer's Walk (Anti-Flexion)
Grab a pair of dumbbells equal to your body weight and let them hang naturally at arm's length next to your sides. Keeping your chest up and shoulders back, walk forward for 40 yards.
Ab Wheel Rollout (Anti-Extension)
Kneel on the floor and grab the handles of an ab wheel. Roll it forward as far as you can. Use your core to pull the wheel back. Do 15 reps. No ab wheel? Use a barbell loaded with 10-pound weights instead.
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