Lance, Andrew
I'd like to know your thoughts on improving core power aside from compound exercises.
I feel my core is my weak point and am doing my barbell rollouts/med ball throws religiously, but I haven't been seeing much progression in these exercises though; I can still only do a barbell rollout kneeled (about 20 easy) and am still at the same ammount of med ball throws 'till failure.
What's your oppinion on the progression of these lifts? The core contains the same type of muscles your whole body does, so progressive resistance and gradually more difficult exercses seems best to me.
I'd like to be able to do a standing barbell rollout and have found a couple of good video's, but I'd like to know your oppinion first.
In conclusion, doing compound lifitng requires a huge ammount of core work, but I think sufficient additional core work (more than the barbell rollouts + med ball throws) or even a 'core day' wouldn't be such a bad idea.
Thoughts?
First off, agree with on you progressing core specific exercises for sure, too many people doing the same exact resistance, same exact intensity over and over, if they even do it at all.
IMO, the single best way to progress the rollouts once you can go all the way out on knees is to start standing, but only a short distance away from a wall, that will stop the barbell or wheel for you at your desired range of motion. The end point is the "hardest" part, so when you have a wall there it makes coming back up much easier, while you still get all the benefits of the eccentric going through a longer range of motion than you could otherwise. Have some way to gauge your progress (distance from wall), and slowly but surely move the distance a little further and a little further back over time. Soon you will be doing full rom rollouts.
be sure and remember to dig in and activate the lower abdominal area and psoas as well, its a huge difference in overall strength if youre not doing this already. (the motion is similar to a leg raise against the floor.)
