Inpower to the Core...Inpower to the Core Troyvanspanje.com Page 4 Nutrition I have listed some...

Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

Contents

Introduction_______________________________________________________________Page 3

Quick nutrition tips_________________________________________________________Page 4

Disclaimer_________________________________________________________________Page 5

Before you start____________________________________________________________Page 6

Floor exercises_____________________________________________________________Page 7

Swiss ball exercises_________________________________________________________Page 9

Bonus exercises ___________________________________________________________Page 20

Workouts_________________________________________________________________ Page 25

Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

Introduction

There are over a Hundred core exercises that you can perform on the swissball and there are

hundreds more that you can do on the floor. I have chosen my top 10 from some basic criteria.

The Criteria in which I selected these exercises:

1. If it creates a big bang for my buck. Which means it targets all the muscles of the core and in all

three movement planes.

2. The functional carry over the exercise has toward everyday life

3. Exercises that train the transverse abdominals which are the deep stabilisers of the spine.

4. A high neuromuscular demand to create better results

5. Can be used as a corrective exercise to improve motor control

6. Exercises that can be done by the average Joe who is at home or has limited time to exercise

6 .And of course to give you Six pack abs.

Forget all the 6 minute ab videos, the ab roller, the ab king pro and all of those gimmicks out there.

Without the correct recruitment of the right muscles you can actually weaken the abdominals by

faulty recruitment patterns and strengthen the opposing muscles. This can lead to muscle

imbalances which can be harder to correct later on and even cause injury.

Throughout this book I hope to give you the right education, tips, tools and guidance to help you

achieve the best results possible.

I have seen people who do abdominal exercises every day result in having a worse looking stomach

then when they started. Even if people are eating well and have a supportive lifestyle some are

overly frustrated about their distorted and bloated abdominal region. This is usually caused from

over recruitment of the rectus abdominals from incorrect use of the exercises. Without the proper

recruitment or understanding on how to engage your deep abdominal wall there will be significant

growth of the outer unit creating a bulge or distorted look. The outer unit serves the purpose of

purely aesthetics and have little functional use in terms of core control and strength.

These exercises that I am about to show you can be used as a workout on their own. They can be

used individually and also at the end of a workout as metabolic finishers to create core fatigue. They

are also great tools to use within a workout to train a specific movement plane.

Some exercises may seem simple but after you apply my simple rules of ASA. Activating,

Stabilising, Aligning you will see great benefits from these straight after the first week. If you are an

experienced trainer and understand the ASA rules and have been conditioning the core for some

time then make sure you try the Bonus exercises which will create huge inner and outer unit fatigue

and are some of my personal favourites.

Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

Nutrition

I have listed some simple lifestyle changes regarding nutrition that I use myself and also give my

clients. There is no need to treat it as gospel but use them as an insight as to what is happening

inside the body not just on the outside. These guidelines have created amazing results for myself

and my clients.

Exercising without maintaining a healthy diet is pointless. You might as well throw this whole book

away now. It is so important if not more important to maintain a healthy diet full of the correct ratio

of proteins, vegies, fruits, oils, and starches then the exercise alone.

I have listed 4 things you should get started on right away.

1. Grab a probiotic from your local health food store

This will help balance out the good and bad bacteria which is caused by processed foods, stress and

poor lifestyle. If you suffer from bloating and this continues to happen after 4 weeks of a good

probiotic then its possible that you may have leaky gut syndrome and you should seek a

professional for treatment. When shopping for a probiotic look for products that have 45 billion CFU

per capsule.

2 Cut down on as much sugar as possible. Only source it from your 2 to 3 servings of fruit per day.

Sugar is another substance that affects your gut wall and kills the good bacteria. Sugar can increase

parasites in your body which will again hurt your chances of a flat stomach. Wash your fruit to

further avoid parasites.

3 Find a good electrolyte supplement to put in your water each day. It’s the best way to hydrate the

body as water is sometimes not absorbed in people with gut issues. Electrolytes are great for your

joints and will better hydrate you than water alone. If you are on a budget just try a pinch of organic

sea salt for electrolytes. Celtic sea salt is the purest.

4 Fish oil! The studies on fish oil and fat metabolism are unreal. Take 6,000 mg per day for optimum

results.

Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

Disclaimer

In know way am I , Troy van Spanje held liable for any injuries that occur trying these exercises. You

must first seek the advice of a medical professional before starting any exercise program.

Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

Before you start

To get the most out of these exercises I want to take you through some basic steps.

Engaging your core

Before each of these exercises it is crucial to engage your abdominal wall first or you will only be

recruiting the outer unit. The key to a flat and strong stomach is conditioning the inner unit

stabilising muscles such as the Transverse abdominals, multifidous, pelvic floor and the diaphragm.

The first step is to teach you how to take in a diaphragmatic breathe. You will see that my first

exercise in my top 10 exercises is just that! That’s how important it is. I have had clients get results

from just doing that every day. The diaphragmatic breathe is really important to use before heavy

lifting and definitely before each abdominal exercise. The breathing is done by inhaling while

expanding the stomach first and then the lungs. The first 70 per cent of the breathing should be

expanding the stomach and the last 30 percent is expanding the chest. Jump to exercise 1 if you

want a deeper understanding of what I’m talking about.

After you have engaged your abdominal wall you will need to activate your pelvic floor. Most have

heard of this before, think of the feeling you have when trying stop urination mid flow. The next

part is tricky to explain. The analogy I like to use is for guys to think about slightly lifting your

testicles. Females think about lifting your downstairs to upstairs.

The last portion for core engagement is sightly drawing in of the belly button.

Try that whole sequence a few times and once all of that is completed, practise maintaining a

normal breathe. I don’t want you holding your breathe in abdominal exercises.

Stabilize the neck

Try this for me. Take a second to swallow…. Done?

Did you feel the tongue go onto the roof of the mouth? That is the position that you should be in

when doing all core exercises. Internally, the tongue and core muscles are all one organ. To get a

more fixed position of the spine and better core control you need to place the tongue on the roof of

the mouth and keep it there for each ab exercise. This technique will also protect you from over

developing the sternocleidomastoid which is a muscle in the neck. This can happen when doing a lot

of crunches.

Correct posture alignment.

Spinal alignment in crucial in developing the core musculature and also to help prevent injury.

Correcting spinal alignment during core exercises will also have a great carry over into sports

performance. You will see in some pictures there is the use of a dowel rod. It serves as a tool for

correcting alignment and proprioception in maintaining the correct form throughout. Make sure

you are constantly aware of your shoulder, lumbar and hip position. The core musculature

comprises of all of these points so it is important to be correcting yourself the whole way through

each exercise.

Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

Ok are you ready!

Here are my Top 10 exercises for an amazing beach ready stomach!

Floor Exercises

1. Diaphragmatic breathing: Try this on all fours. This is such an easy exercise to apply into your

daily routine. As you inhale expand your stomach like you are relaxing all the contents of your

stomach to the floor. As you exhale draw your belly button in towards your spine. Put this ebook

down and try this now for a minute. Did you find it hard to do? Chances are that you have an

inverted breathing pattern which is caused by poor diet or stress, maybe even poor posture. If you

find it hard to get results from abdominal exercises this is a great exercise to get you on the right

track.

Start with a set of 20 reps. breathing in as you expand your stomach down to the ground then draw

your belly button inwards as you breathe out.

Figure 1.1

Figure 1.2

Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

2 Vertical horse stance

This exercise is a great starting tool because it also works on the stability of the shoulder girdle.

Straight after your diaphragmatic breathing double check that your wrists are directly beneath your

shoulders and that your knees are directly under your hips. You can see I have placed a dowel rod on

my back. That is just to give myself bio-mechanic feedback on the correct technique. You can use a

broom or nothing at all as long as you get my point that the spine is supposed to be in a neutral

position. Start with a decompression of the right hand and left knee. A decompression is to gently

lift up but not completely off the ground, just enough so there is hardly any pressure on it. In figure

2.3 you can see that my hand is just off the ground. That was just to show you that the shoulder

blade is not moving. This is ok to do as a progression from the beginner level as long as the shoulder

blade is in the same stable position as it was at the start. Try to envision that if someone was

standing above you and looking at your spine, shoulder blades and your hips that they wouldn’t

know what you’re doing or which side that you are elevating. Hold for 15 seconds then complete the

other side. That is one rep each side. Complete 1 to 2 sets of 4 reps each side. Figure 2.5 is the

incorrect technique. You can see the shoulder drop as a result of lifting the hand.

Figure 2.1 Figure 2.2


Figure 2.5

Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

Swissball Exercises

The swissball is a great tool for many exercises in particular the abdominals. An unstable surface is

going to challenge the neuromuscular system in all planes of movement. To find the right size

swissball for you, sit on the ball and see if your knees make a 90 degree angle. If the ball is too big

then it will feel like you are sitting too high. Another general guideline is for people taller than

170cm require a 65cm ball, and those under 170cm are probably looking for a 55cm swissball. Inflate

your swissball until you can make a dent in the ball with your finger to the size of a 20 cent piece.

Please make sure that your swissball does not have any gashes on it. They will look like small scars.

If it does have gashes then it may be time to purchase a new one. If a ball is going to burst then it is

going to do so from those gashes on the ball.

3 Swissball reverse crunch-

This exercise is very challenging and I do not recommend it for anyone who suffers from any kind of

back pain. It requires a lot of lumbar flexibility along with low abdominal strength and I will usually

only give it to a client who passes my level 4 lower abdominal conditioning drill.

1 Set up on the ball so that your lumbar spine is supported and grab hold of a stable object like a

machine or pole. Think of this position like you’re stretching you lower abdominals but not to a

point where there is back pain. If there is back pain then it’s possible you don’t have the right lumbar

flexibility and you should regress to a bench although it’s just not as effective. See figure 3.5 and 3.6

for the regression on a bench.

2 Engage your abdominal wall with a diaphragmatic breathe. Then bring your knees up to a 90

degree angle.

3. As you exhale, think about gently curling your lower abdominals up towards your upper

abdominals keeping the knees bent at 90 degrees. Try your best to insure that the knee angle stays

the same throughout.

4 As you inhale slowly bring your hips back down to the starting position keeping the knees at 90

degrees.

5 Complete 3 sets of 8-12 reps with a 60 second rest in between.

Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com




4. Prone jacknife

The prone jacknife is another exercise that requires some base core conditioning. I only prescribe

this to clients who can maintain a static push up hold on the floor for at least a minute. If you cannot

maintain the correct position in the prone jacknife then your exercise will be holding the push up

position on the ball for a minute. Position yourself with just your legs on the ball and maintain a

neutral posture alignment. See figure 4.1. Done with the correct technique this exercise teaches hip

Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

and back dissociation and is a great transverse abdominal training exercise and works the entire

core.


1 Start with the shins and shoes on the ball and check that your hands are directly underneath your

shoulder

2. Trying to maintain a broom on the back is a great proprioception tool for the back and shoulders.

Think about screwing your hands in to the ground which will set your shoulder blades in the correct

postural position.

3. Before engaging the movement slightly draw in the belly button and bend your knees bringing

the ball inwards without rounding your low back.

4 The purpose of this exercise is to maintain the same neutral spine throughout the movement.

5. Return back to the start position. That completes 1 repetition. Complete 3 sets of 12 repetitions.

5a Swissball See saw

Figure 5.1 Figure5.2

Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

1 Start with a position with the elbows directly under the shoulders and clench you fists together.

2 Again make sure of neutral spinal alignment at all times

3 make small movement with the arms back and forth. Pretend your fists are holding a giant pencil

and you are drawing a straight line. The bigger the line the more demanding it is on the core

Try to build up to a minute and complete 1 to 2 sets. As a beginner start with 30 seconds with a 15

second rest and do this twice. That equals your minute.

5b. Swissball alphabet.

Figure 6.1 Figure 6.2 Figure 6.3

Same as the see saw except draw letters of the alphabet with your fists

Try to complete the whole alphabet. In figure 6.1-6.3 you can see I’m drawing the top of the letter T

1 to 2 sets of this exercise is best. The see saw and the alphabet are great finishing tools to do at the

end of a workout

Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

6 Supine Lateral walkout

This is a great exercise and possibly one of my favourites to finish a session with a client. It works

the entire nervous system while also working the entire body in all three planes of movement being

the transverse, sagittal and frontal planes.

Again I have emphasised the postural alignment with a dowel rod that you can use first just as a

proprioception tool. You will not be able to complete a set with the rod on the lower body. It is

important to keep the hips level at all times even when under load once we start the exercise.



1 Start in a supine position on the ball palms facing up. Shoes lined up directly underneath the knees

and hips in a level position.

The nose is aligned with the belly button. I want you to try and keep this position as best as you can

throughout the entire set.

2 Start to crab walk the feet one at a time while simultaneously moving the upper body across the

ball in order to keep the nose and belly button alignment.

3 Keep moving until you find what is called your balance point. Your balance point is a point to

where you are almost about to either lose all the alignment or fall off the ball. Be careful and be

Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

ready to fall on your first time because most people do. It’s the only way you can find your balance

point right?!

4 once you are at your balance point take around 3-5 sec to hold and check all of your alignment.

Your hands should still be horizontal. Your hips should be level and your nose and belly button

should still be aligned. Now count to three and then move across the ball to the other side and do

the same.

Complete 5- 10 reps each side and use it as a finisher to your workout.

7. Supine Russian twist

A great exercise for the Transverse plane.



1. Start in a supine position with the shoulder blades and head on the ball. Alignment is another

important rule here otherwise this exercise will not work the correct muscles we are targeting or

train the muscles that require the movement to work in the correct way.

Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

2 Initiate movement of the ball with the shoulder blades by pushing the ball in the direction

opposite to the direction you are rotating. With the purpose of trying to roll completely onto your

shoulder try to keep the hips from rotating too much

The movement initially comes from upper body rotation but a little low body movement is ok

because not everyone has good lumbar or hip flexibility.

3 The end range of movement should be horizontal.

4 slowly rotate back the middle and hold there until you feel you are balanced, be careful because

this first movement back to the centre is where I usually see people fall off. Now initiate the

movement to the other side and repeat.

Complete 6 to 8 reps each side. The exercise is great to use in a circuit for your transverse plane

exercise of you can use it at the end of your workout with a dumbbell as a core finisher

8 Cross body crunch on swissball or bosu

I love this exercise on a swissball you will not find a better burn because of the constant stability

required and the entire core gets fatigued. People find it hard to balance though. More so o n one

side than the other so that’s why I have put the regression on a bosu here. Still works the same

muscle group just obviously not as challenging.


Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com



1 The setup is the key point here if you do not have the correct amount of extension over the ball

then the abdominals will not be working through their full range of motion. And if you are not

positioned correctly you will not be able to find the correct balance point.

2. Walk out into a supine position and position your self draped over the ball slightly. Because of the

structure of the lower and upper abdominals you need to position your hips so that they are lower

than horizontal and your shoulders are also lower than horizontal. There is an example if figure 10.1

of the next exercise the swissball crunch.

3. Place your fingertips of your right hand behind your right ear. The left knee will soon be the one

lifting off the ground, but let’s get a more stable base first.

4. The right foot will be only base of support that you have so start to feel more weig ht shifting into

that foot.

5 Gently lift your left foot off the ground and see if you are balanced. If not you will have to find a

better position on the ball.

6 As the foot comes off the ground start to crunch with the upper body. Aim your right elbow

towards your left knee. Hold for a split second and slowly lower back tho the ground. Complete 8-12

reps each side. Complete 3 sets

Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

9 Swissball crunch

A simple exercise but yet so effective because of the more range of motion you get as opposed to

the floor.



Figure 10.5

Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

1. Position yourself draped over the ball. Place your arms across your chest. A general position I like

to explain is if looking from side on you should be able to draw a line between the ears and hips. See

Figure 10.1

2 Place your tongue on the roof of your mouth and bring your chin to your chest.

3. Draw in your belly button and think of bringing you upper abdominals towards you lower

abdominals for a count of around 3 seconds. Too many times I see the hips move upwards. This

suggests that there is a muscle imbalance between the upper abdominals and hip flexors.

4 Slowly lower back to the start position for 3 seconds.

5 There are three different levels you can choose from. I will usually start with hands over the head

(level 3)Figure 12.1 trying to keep the arms behind the head the whole time. You should never be

able to see your arms. When fatigued move to level 2 ( fingertips behind ears)Figure 11.1 then level

1 (arms across body) Figure 10.1 in order to achieve 3 sets of 12 with the slow second up 3 second

down tempo.



Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

10. Supine swissball pass


Figure 13.3

1. Lie on the floor a place the ball between your legs.

2 Slightly flatten your back into the floor and bring the ball up to meet the hands in the middle.

3 Take the ball away from the legs with your hands and slowly lower simultaneously. Your shoulder

blades should be slightly coming up off the ground using the upper abdominals.

4 Now bring the ball up with your arms to meet your legs half way simultaneously then slowly lower

with the ball now between the legs.

Taking the ball from the legs to the hands counts as one rep. Then taking the ball back to the feet

counts as 2 then so on. Complete 3 sets of 12 reps.

Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

Bonus Exercises

Here are my favourite advanced exercises. These are the exercises that did not make the list of my

top 10 because of their complexity and high level of caution required. I only recommend people who

are very familiar with swissballs and have done core training for at least the last 12 months. Some

require a spotter and all should be used with strict caution. If you have any low back injuries I do not

recommend doing these until that is rectified.

Weighted swissball crunch

Figure 14.1 figure 14.2

Figure 14.3

1. Anchor your feet either under a stable or object or under 2 heavy dumbbells as I have don e here. I

am using 35kgs each here.

2 Carefully set up on the ball like the traditional swissball crunch.

3. When setting up with your working weight you may want to get someone to hand you the

dumbbell that you are using because it is highly likely the ball could shoot out from underneath you

when getting into position on your own.

4 Place the tongue on the roof of the mouth and tuck the chin to the chest.

5. Slowly crunch to the point of maximal contraction of the abdominals. Do not flex past 30 degrees

which is the optimal range of motion for the abdominals.

Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

6. Slowly lower back down to the beginning position and then relax the head. The tempo should be

a 303 tempo. 3 seconds up, 3 seconds down.

7. 8-12 reps should create core fatigue. Adjust the weight accordingly to create muscular failure

Prone Frog Kick

Figure 15.1 Figure 15.2F



Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

Figure 15.7

1 Set up in a push position and place one foot directly in the middle of the ball

2 Think of the movement of the legs as if doing the breast stroke in the swimming pool

3 Bring the ball in like a single legged prone jacknife while also moving the other leg the same way

4. Kick the legs out like the kicking part of the breast stroke

Low body Russian Twist

Figure 16.1 figure 16.2


Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

Figure 16.5

1 Set up with legs on the ball and make sure your legs are locked out and the quads are engaged to

help with balance. Feet should be slightly wide to hug the outside of the ball

2 Without moving the upper body, rotate the ball so that one foot ends up being just off the floor,

hold for a second and then return back to the middle.

3 It is important with this exercises that your hips follow the direction of your legs to avoid too much

strain through the spine which can lead to a lower back injury. As you can see in figure 16.2 my hips

are rotating to the same direction as the legs.

Prone Pike


1 You can start with either having the toes on the ball as seen here or on the shins which is easier.

2 Keep a neutral spinal alignment as you think of shooting your hips straight up while rolling the ball

in towards you.

3 Make sure you tuck your chin and look at your feet to prevent any neck strains. See figure 17.2

4 Carefully return to the start position and do not sag the hips deeper than when you started.

Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

Leg raises with Swissball. This exercise helps ensure proper lordosis through the holding of a ball.



1 Grab onto the handles of the chin up bar and then grab a ball between your feet and place it

behind you with your knees bent at 90 degrees. You might need the help of someone else to do this.

Squeeze tight

2 Draw in your belly button and initiate the movement by the lower abdominals to bring the ball up

in front of you. Hold for a second and then return

Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

Workouts

I have listed a few workouts below that you can try. I have designed them the way I would prescribe

to a client or myself. When doing core exercises it is important to train in a specific order. You

cannot get the appropriate recruitment of transverse abdominals if it has been fatigued before

hand. The correct exercise order should be lower abdominals first followed by the obliques and

then lastly the upper abdominals. You also want to design it so that the most neurologically

demanding exercise is last so that you do not compromise the recruitment of the correct muscles

because the nervous system has been fatigued.

Workout 1

5 exercises in a circuit. Complete all 5 exercises before resting 60 seconds. Complete 3 sets

Exercise Reps

1 Diaphramatic breathing 5 Breathes

2 Prone jacknife

10-15 reps

3 Lateral walkout

5-10 each side

4 Cross body crunch

10 each side

5 Swissball alphabet

A-Z

Workout 2

Supersets.

Complete the first and second exercise before resting. Complete 3 sets of each superset

Exercise Reps Sets Rest

1A Swiss ball reverse

crunch

10 -12 3 -

1B Russian twist

10 each way 3 90

2A Supine swissball pass

12-15 3 -

2B See saw

12-15 3 60 sec

3A Level 3 swissball crunch

12-15 3 -

3B Swissball alphabet

A-Z 3 30 sec

Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

Workout 3

Lower abdominal workout. Complete an ab exercise followed by the swissball alphabet. Complete

this circuit 2 times. This workout targets the Transverse abdominals and is very demanding for the

deep abdominal wall so only complete 2 sets resting 2 minutes between sets.

Exercise Reps

1 Leg raise with swissball

8-10

2 Swissball alphabet A-Z

3 Prone frog kick 10 each leg

4 Swissball alphabet A-Z

5 Low body Russian twist 12 each way

6 swissball Alphabet A-Z

Inpower to the Core

Troyvanspanje.com

Thank you for taking the time to read my publication.

I hope you got something out of it.

It is my purpose with all the books that I create to share my knowledge to you and to those around

you.

Keep a lookout for more stuff that I put out there.

Enjoy.

Aim High. Dream Big. Soul dier on

.

Inpower to the Core...Inpower to the Core Troyvanspanje.com Page 4 Nutrition I have listed some...

Documents

Transcript of Inpower to the Core...Inpower to the Core Troyvanspanje.com Page 4 Nutrition I have listed some...