Whenever you hear people talk about core, you can’t help but think of washboard abs, or of that celebrity that seems like his six-pack was photoshopped on.
And, while abs are a great side effect of working on your core, the real benefit is the stability that it gives the rest of your body.
From better lower back support to protection from hernias to being more explosive, having a strong core is vital.
An excellent way to work on developing strong core muscles is with the TRX system. And while TRX exercises offer something for the whole body, they are really able to lock in on developing core strength.
The TRX straps are going to be able to provide an added level of difficulty to several traditional core exercises.
They are able to force your stabilising muscles to work harder than they usually would have to. The difficulty level of exercises like the plank and ab crunch get ratcheted up with the use of the TRX straps.
So, if you are looking to lock in on developing a strong core, these six TRX exercises are a must.
After spending some time mastering these different TRX core exercises, you will feel stronger, have a more protected core, and most likely be showing off your six-pack at the beach.
TRX Plank Exercise
Planks are pretty much the standard exercise when it comes to developing a strong core.
There are traditional planks, side planks, extended planks, weighted planks, and so on. All of them accomplish pretty much the same thing, with a little variation.
What makes the TRX plank exercise so great, is that it is going force your core to stabilize itself. With a traditional plank exercise, your feet use the ground to stabilize. Well, with having your feet in the TRX straps, you are going to have to use your core to keep your feet from swinging back and forth. This is going to increase the difficulty of the exercise substantially.
How to do the Exercise: Start by placing your feet in the straps with the front of your body towards the ground. From here, you are going to raise up into a traditional plank position. Do your best to keep your body still and your back straight. Hold this position for the desired amount of time.
TRX Body Saw Exercise
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8QwySflzLQ
This TRX exercise is pretty similar to the previous plank exercise, but with a little twist.
It is going to allow you to be able to work on the same muscles, but will add a little bit more difficulty to the exercise to challenge you.
Just as with the last exercise, though, you must keep your core tight, control your breathing, and don’t arch your back.
Also, this exercise could be done with some of the different plank variations as well.
How to do the Exercise: With your chest towards the ground, you are going to place your feet in the TRX straps. From here, pick your body up off the ground so that your forearms and feet support you. Keeping your body in a straight line and parallel to the ground, you are going to move forwards and backward, mimicking a saw-like motion. Continue this pattern for the desired amount of time.
TRX Ab Crunch Exercise
Traditional ab crunches are a pretty standard bodyweight exercise.
They are going to require you to lay flat on your back, and then use your core muscles to lift your upper body off the ground. TRX ab crunches are going to work the same muscles but in a much more challenging way.
Instead of doing them with your back towards the ground, they are going to be chest towards the ground. They will also allow you to really isolate your abs.
How to do the Exercise: Begin with your chest towards the ground and your feet in the TRX straps. Now, raise up on your forearms with your body in a straight line. From here, you are going raise up on your hands, slightly arch your back, and then pull your knees in till they touch your elbows. After contacting your knees to your elbows, you will release back out and get ready for your next repetition. Continue this pattern for the desired amount of reps.
TRX Oblique Crunch Exercise
The obliques are an often-overlooked muscle group.
People think of working on their core, but most of the time, that means the abs. The obliques are critical for core stability, though, and will also help to give you a narrow waist.
This TRX exercise is almost identical to the last one, but instead of highlighting the front part of your stomach, it will add a twist and emphasise the obliques.
How to do the Exercise: Begin with your feet in the straps and your elbows on the ground out in front of you. Now, raise up onto your hands and bring your knees up and outside of your right elbow. Bring your feet back down and then repeat the same motion, but this time bring them up and outside of your left elbow. Continue this motion, alternating sides, for the desired amount of repetition.
TRX Mountain Climber Exercise
If you have ever done traditional mountain climbers, you already know how well they can isolate your core.
With the TRX straps, this gets ratcheted up to a whole new level.
As you rotate your knees forwards and backward, you will be able to fell the burn and know that your core is getting stronger and leaner.
How to do the Exercise: Start with your chest facing the ground and your feet in the straps. With both feet still back, you are going to raise up onto your hands. Keeping your back as straight as possible, begin alternating which knee you bring up to your elbows. Continue this alternating pattern for the desired amount of time.
TRX Kneeling Rollout Exercise
This TRX ab exercise is excellent because it will allow you to go at your own pace. The stronger your core is, the more you will be able to lower yourself to the ground. So with this exercise, just lower yourself down as far as you can go, and then continue to work on improving at it.
How to do the Exercise: For this exercise, you are going to start on your knees with the straps in front of you. Next, you will take a handle with each hand, and begin to lower yourself downwards. As you lower yourself down, keep your arms straight and begin to raise them up over your head. Go down as far as you can, and then raise yourself back up, keeping your arms straight.
Conclusion
There are a lot of different ways to work on developing a strong core. There are swiss ball exercises, machines at the gym, bodyweight exercises, etc., and all of those are good options as well.
TRX straps, though, are able to take a lot of traditional ab exercises and put a unique twist on them. They are able to make them a little bit more challenging, and also something new and fun to try.
So rather than doing the same old ab exercises every time you go to the gym, give these six TRX exercises a try and start developing a strong core.
If you have any questions or feedback about these exercises, please, feel free to comment below. We will do our best to reply and help you out in any way that we can.
Fitness enthusiast, suspension training addict. Ditched the gym 5 years ago, never looked back. Passionate about teaching how to build muscle and loose weight using only the force of gravity and your own bodyweight.
