Want to bust plateaus, challenge your muscles and really encourage growth?
Then you need to train different. Training different, or training ‘weird’ means doing exercises you don’t normally do. This means training muscle fibers that have previously been overlooked and it means training your muscles at angles that they might not be used to as well. In short, it means filling in the gaps in your training and ensuring that you’re body is strong from every angle imaginable.
And when it comes to training weird… Well it doesn’t get much weirder than this! This is probably the most bizarre ab exercise you’ve ever seen. It’s so weird that you probably won’t want to do it in the gym – and you probably won’t want to do it in front of your other half either!
So find a quiet place first and then give it a go…
Rolling Like a Ball
To start with, we’re going to use a movement called ‘rolling like a ball’. Here, all you need to do is pearch on your buttocks with your legs raised and holding your knees in towards your chest. You should find it takes a little balance just remaining in this position.
Next, you’re going to roll directly backwards and then forwards again. This is actually a yoga move but it’s great for the abs. And what’s more, is that it’s actually fun! You’re basically rolling around like a kid, which is awesome.
What’s crucial while doing this is that you aren’t touching the floor with your feet even briefly. If you touch the floor with your feet, this means you’ve probably rolled using too much momentum and this has caused you to move too quickly.
This requires precise and careful control of your ab contractions and this is what’s so useful. This is called a ‘spontaneous contraction’ and it’s awesome for improving that mind-muscle contraction.
Progressing
But that’s just a yoga movement – not so weird!
It gets stranger. First, you’re going to try and do it with your arms straight behind you and legs straight in front of you. You should look slightly concave and it’s called ‘the hollow rock’.
But the real weird one is called ‘The Seal’. This is the same rolling motion, except now you’re arms are holding your feet by the heels with your legs hooked over the top. It looks awkward as heck and it kind of is… but it makes the movement much harder by locking your body rigidly in place and thus preventing you from cheating and using momentum.
And finally, at the end of each rocking motion, you’re going to ‘clap’ your feet together which throws in a bit of a static contraction.
So yeah… this looks absolutely ridiculous. But if you can do this regularly you will quickly start so see the benefits. And it’s weirdly addictive too…
Give it a go and see for yourself how training weird can mean training smart.
