Kick It to The Core. Go 3D with the new CORE TRANSFORMER® 3D Personal Training Core Performance Kit.
What the heck is 3-dimensional core performance training? How do you do it, and what are the benefits? No, we’re not talking about Avatar here, but we are talking about a revolutionary approach to working out that the elite and professional athletic trainers and strength coaches have been practicing with their athletes for over the past decade to keep them in peak performance mode and injury free versus old skool floor crunches. The abs crunch, while it has a handful of applications, is not functional. In real life, especially in elite and professional sports, you must quickly use your whole trunk, such as when you’re catching a pass, blocking, tackling or simply carrying groceries, (all while standing upright). In other words, moving in every dimension or 360° of space (not just crunching up) requires progressive strength or resistance from your body. It also delivers better results.
True functional core movement is performed moving through standing trunk (standing core) extension followed by standing trunk flexion. The upward facing trunk flexion or an “abs crunch,” while it has a handful of applications, is not functional. Just think about it…do you ever do a crunch on the ground in real life? Rarely if ever. But—as those in elite and professional sports know—in the real world, you might have to quickly perform trunk flexion, such as catching a pass (or catching the car keys your spouse throws to you from across the room on your way out the door), blocking (or catching the dog after he gets out through that faulty gate) and tackling (or breaking up a fight between your two kiddos). In other words, multi-planer movement in every dimension of space requires progressive strength or resistance from your body—and we move in multiple planes every single day of our lives. 3-D core training delivers maximal calorie burn in a short amount of time. In fact, extensive university testing has shown that this method of training recruits the most number of muscle fibers (a whopping 622%* more of your entire trunk or core muscles than an ab crunch) working at their highest intensity level. And muscle fibers equal strength, which adds up to fat loss. The other bonus is that this type of training is low impact, so your joints don’t wake you up the next morning screaming bloody murder.
But don’t get fooled. While short, the workouts are challenging, as they blends progressive, multi-planar resistance with cardio. Because the movements require so many systems to work in a singular coordinated effort, the exercise progressions become high intensity (HIIT) very quickly. Remember, results are about intensity, not duration. The best part of this is that you can give it your all for a short time and see huge changes in your body—while burning calories and improving the health of your heart. It’s a two-fer! Ideally, to perform this type of workout you need constant resistance system that will engage all your a super long specialty resistance exercise band, such as the CORE TRANSFORMER specialty band with foot straps and a super durable foot guard to keep your feet securely anchored and that allows you to comfortably work your entire core and upper body, unlike standard too short “old skool” exercise bands that cause excessive shoulder and neck pain when trying to move in your upper planes of motion.
Why train your core to get a flat, ripped 6-pack ab midsection instead of endless, traditional ab crunches? Today in the fitness industry both personal trainers and group exercise instructors perform core training using has surpassed standard ab moves including the crunch, and rely heavily on a full array of small, portable equipment that was nonexistent years ago. Equipment like the Core Transformer, BOSU, TRX, etc. challenges the body from head to toe and activates the core functionally because of the balance and coordination requirements. The availability of these and other tools which effectively target the core, and the in-depth education that goes with programs that support functional and portable core conditioning tools has fueled the interest and sustained the core conditioning “trend.” In fact, functional core conditioning is really no longer considered a trend; it is quite simply, here to stay. The industry has moved away from isolated core training (abs only) to training the core in an integrated fashion and considering the science of fascia and its contribution to movement. This type of training and progressive loading and integration leads to a core that unifies the body from head to toe and allows the core to work as the key, coupling link between the upper and lower body. Core stability (the ability to resist rotation) and core rotation are two key aspects of abdominal training that teach the core to work functionally in helping to prevent back injuries, promote optimal performance, and of course flat, defined abs.
To view one of our favorite CORE TRANSFORMER 3D movement progressions visit our CORE TRANSFORMER YouTube Site
To purchase the CORE TRANSFORMER Personal Training Starter Kit created by core performance guru, Linda LaRue, RN MEd, ATC, click here.
* Petrofsky, Jerrold, S, PhD, JD, Michelle Prowse, MS, PT, Gurinder S. Bains, MD, Anshul Sharma, BPT, Jennifer Batt, BS, Shashi Gunda, MPT, Core Muscle Use in Superficial and Deep Abdominal Muscles with a Crunchless Abs Video, Journal of Applied Research, 2009, 9 (3)
