8 Excellent Core Workouts You Can Do at Home

Your core is essential for pretty much every exercise out there, so building a strong midline whether you are at the gym, travelling or at home will translate directly to your performance. These home core workouts can be performed pretty much anywhere without the need of additional equipment.

While GHD sit-ups and toes to bar are brilliant core exercises, you can also forge a strong midline at home without the need of all the fancy equipment.

A strong core is about much more than its aesthetic, it will help you:

• Carry weights: every time you pick something up from the floor, whether it’s groceries, something obstructing your path or your children.
• Pull external loads: like when you’re faced with a very heavy door or move furniture around.
• Push objects: like storing things overhead.
• Stabilise your entire body: in addition to balance and a strong posture, which will then translate into improving your performance in pretty much all areas of sport.

You rely on your core during daily life as much as you do when doing sports.

Developing a powerful midline will increase your overall stability and balance, thus helping you perform high-level movements easier and make exercises that require less skill more efficient. Try out these home core workouts and upgrade your performance.

HOME CORE WORKOUTS

1 – Gymnastics basics

5 Rounds for Time:

• 10 seconds Hollow Hold
• 10 Alligator Rolls
• 10 seconds Arch Hold
• 1 minute Rest

The hollow hold is a classic CrossFit exercise taught to every beginner who steps into a box. A relatively simple movement, it forms the basis of solid gymnastic movement – swings and kips derivate from the hollow body position.

Dave Durante, creator of this workout, explains athletes should start with 10 repetitions or 10 seconds and build up over time to try and achieve 60 reps or 60 seconds respectively.

The goal should be to increase the total repetitions (or seconds for the holds) of each movement while retaining the ability to perform the entire series unbroken.

Workout by Dave Durante

2 – Suffer in Place

AMRAP (with a Partner) in 18 Minutes (6 Rounds):

• Partner 1: 1 Minute Plank Hold / Partner 2: 1 Minute Push-Ups
• Partner 1: 1 minute Wall Sit Hold / Partner 2: 1 Minute Jumping Squats
• Partner 1: 1 minute Handstand Hold / Partner 2: 1 Minute Hollow Rocks

One partner does the holds while the other does the movements. Swap after each completed 3-minute round.

Score is the total number of repetitions (Push-Ups, Jumping Squats, and Hollow Rocks) completed with partners’ scores combined.

Athletes should be able to recover a little through the holding stations.

All movements involved in this workout will tax your core, so ensure you keep good form throughout.

Workout by Brendan Walcoff