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Rich talks with COACH Magazine all about how to develop a stronger core. Here are some beginner, intermediate and advanced exercises for you to try…

Ensuring your core is strong and flexible will help you in the gym, playing sports or just going about your daily business. A strong core will also help you maintain good posture and avoid issues like lower back pain.

Basically, core exercises are a must for any fitness routine, so we asked Richard Tidmarsh, strength and conditioning coach and founder of Reach Fitness, for the moves he recommends for beginner, intermediate and advanced gym-goers.

Beginner Core Exercises

“Building a strong core is all about keeping still, not doing hundreds of abdominal curl repetitions,” says Tidmarsh. “These three holds will create the foundation of a strong core, teaching you to keep your hips aligned and how to control your posture.”

Plank

The definitive core exercise. The plank involves minimal movement but maximal effort, requiring you to support your body on your forearms and toes while holding your body in a straight line from your shoulders to your ankles. You can make it easier by resting on your knees, or harder by extending your arms so you’re supported by your hands.

Dead bug

Lie on your back with your arms extended straight up towards the ceiling, and your legs raised with your knees bent at 90°. Lower your right arm and left leg at the same time until they are hovering just above the floor, then return to the starting position. Then do the same with the opposite limbs.

Boat

Sit on the floor with your knees bent. Lean back slightly, keeping your back straight, and hold your arms out in front of you as you raise your feet off the ground with your legs together. If you can, extend your legs so they are straight and your body forms a V shape. You can also raise your arms and spread your legs to make the hold harder.

Naturally you can do each of the exercises as part of a training session, but for a beginner core workout try this suggested routine from Tidmarsh, doing five rounds in total of these three exercises.

1 Plank Time 30sec Rest 0sec

2 Dead bug Reps 10 Rest 0sec

3 Boat Time 30sec Rest 1min

Intermediate Core Exercises

“Here we start to add movement to a controlled core,” says Tidmarsh. “Can you stay still with good posture whilst another area of your body moves? It’s much tougher than you think!”

Ball push-away

Get into a plank position with your feet spread and your forearms resting on a gym ball. Push the ball away with your forearms, then pull it back it, while maintaining the plank position.

Hanging knee raise

On a set of dip bars, hold yourself steady with arms fully extended. Raise your knees towards your chest, then lower them slowly. Repeat. You can also do this exercise hanging from a pull-up bar.

Dumbbell Plank Drag

Get into the top press-up position. Put a dumbbell on the ground just to the right of your torso. Reach underneath and across with your left hand to grab the dumbbell and drag it to your left side. Then mirror the movement with your right hand.

If you want to combine three movements in one workout, here’s Tidmarsh’s suggested routine. Do three rounds in total of the three exercises.

1 Ball push-away Reps 8 Rest 0sec

2 Hanging knee raise Reps 8 Rest 0sec

3 Dumbbell plank drag Reps 8 Rest 1min

Advanced Core Exercises

“Now we start to add greater difficulty to posture control by adding more of a load, more of your bodyweight, or a larger range of movements,” says Tidmarsh. “Remember – slow and steady movement wins the race to a stronger core.”

Strict toes to bar

We did say these were advanced exercises, and this is certainly not one for newbies. While hanging from a pull-up bar, bend at the hips (not the waist) and lift your toes to the bar, keeping your legs together as you move.

L-sit

Use a pair of parallettes for this core cruncher. Lift and hold yourself up above the parallettes with your arms extended. Extend your legs straight out in front of you so you form an L-shape. Hold it – if you can.

Wall plank

Another savage hold exercise. Get into an elevated plank with your feet against a wall so you form a flat, horizontal line from heels to head. Hold. HOLD!

Put these three exercise together for this quick but brutal core workout designed by Tidmarsh. Do three rounds in total.

1 Strict toes to bar Reps 6 Rest 0min

2 L-sit Time 30sec Rest 0sec

3 Wall plank Time 30sec Rest 1min

Written by Richard Tidmarsh, Strength & Conditioning Coach, Owner and Lead Trainer of Reach Fitness. Follow Rich now on Instagram and Twitter

Check out the article and watch the exercise videos in COACH Magazine HERE

That’s right gentlemen your mum and grandma weren’t lying, breakfast really is the most important meal of the day! Having said that it doesn’t actually mean that you need to eat breakfast if that is part of your daily plan. Like any meal it should be specific to your goals and most importantly with breakfast, the time of day that you intend to train.

So let’s look at the different training options and a killer breakfast to match them…

Up at the crack of dawn to smash a training session before work?

Even with the greatest will in the world it is unlikely that you will be getting up at 4am to prepare a gourmet breakfast to fuel this early morning session. So the best approach here is to eat big the evening before with plenty of carbohydrates, sweet potato etc. (you know the drill,) so that you can wake up and use that energy in your morning workout.

What are the tricks of the trade here? Two pints of water to get you hydrated, a strong double espresso for that wake-up kick and then use a BCAA hit during your workout to protect your lean mass during your fasted training session. The reward for not hitting snooze and sleeping in is that you can really eat breakfast like a king for the ultimate post session refuel.

Here’s one of my favourites:

Chocolate Oat Supreme

Mix porridge oats with almond milk and chocolate whey protein and leave to soak overnight.

Then add the following toppings:

A handful of blueberries
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
10 chopped almonds
And sprinkle with desiccated coconut

Not up at 5am for a training session, but hitting the gym after work?

Breakfast is going to be the key meal to fuel your day. You can eat big here but eat lots of protein and fats and keep carb content low as you will need that energy boost closer to the time that you are training. The important thing is to leave enough time to prepare breakfast before you head off to work. Don’t grab an extra 30 minutes sleep and then think a croissant from Pret, as you sprint to the office, is going to cut the mustard!

Here are my favourite breakfast options:

The Fit Full English

4 eggs scrambled with a dash of butter, chilli flakes and pepper
150g smoked salmon with a squeeze of lemon
6 cherry tomatoes
1/2 avocado crushed

This isn’t rocket science guys, I am not a chef but anyone can scramble some eggs and be organised enough to have quality ingredients in the fridge. This will literally take 3 minutes to prepare.

Omega Kick-Starter

Canned sardines in tomato sauce (yes you should always have this in your cupboard for emergencies) Microwave for 90 seconds
Get your wok out and chuck in 6 asparagus spears
Chop 4 chestnut mushrooms and add them to the wok and cook until soft
Finally throw in 4 big handfuls of fresh spinach and stir in the wok until the spinach is wilted
Whack on a plate and stick the sardines on top.

Again, this isn’t difficult or fancy, but a great way of getting protein and omega 3s in to your diet and no I am not on commission from John West!

I personally have never measured my macros but I eat to match the food groups in my meals to my training objectives and how I feel. This keeps life and food pretty simple to manage and enjoyable. I suggest you do the same.

As seen in Men’s Health Online HERE