A Simple Exercise to Build Your Core

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Over-complicating things is just something we men do. And nowhere is our penchant for perplexity more on display than the gym. Benches, pulleys, springs, pneumatics... when did working out become a science project?

Thousands of years ago, our ancestors – the same folks busy inventing things like yoga, Tai Chi, and Kung Fu – somehow managed to get themselves into shape without benefit of abdominal crunchers, Stair-Masters, or rowing machines. In fact, they literally got ripped without moving a muscle.

We know the technique today as isometrics, exercises in which no joint angle or muscle length changes. Every time you've pushed against an immovable object, like the sides of a doorway or up against a wall, you're ding an isometric exercise. Contrast that with isotonics, that is, the concentric and eccentric contractions we suffer our muscles through when we do bicep curls or leg extensions.

One benefit of isometrics is that the body is able to activate nearly all the available motor units. (A motor unit is one neuron and all the muscle cells it triggers.)

Isometrics is also more time efficient. In 1953 two German researchers, Hettinger and Muller, concluded that a single daily isometric exercise that utilized two-thirds of a person’s maximum effort exerted for six seconds at a time increased strength by 5 percent for up to 10 weeks.

One of the biggest issues people often cite is that isometrics will only work at that specific joint angle. However, Mel Siff, in his book Supertraining, which has become the gym rat's bible, noted:

“...isometric training also produces significant strength increase over a range of up to as much as 15 degrees on either side of the training angle. Moreover, as with all strength measurements, there is a specific force or torque versus joint angle curve for each type of muscle contraction, so that it is highly unlikely that a strength increase would be confined to a very precise angle and nowhere else in the range.”

One of the best and most popular exercises you can do for arguably the most important part of your body – your core – is an isometric one. Here's how to do “the plank:”

  • Start by getting into a press up position.
  • Bend your elbows and rest your weight onto your forearms and not on your hands.
  • Your body should form a straight line from shoulders to ankles.
  • Engage your core by sucking your belly button into your spine.
  • Hold this position for the prescribed time.

Hold this position for the healthiest 20 seconds of your day!