Five kettlebell exercises for the core. The core is really your torso right here but we tend to
think of it as our abs and our obliques, but it's everything here. Either way, these five exercises
really target everything around your spine, okay. So you need to stabilize you need to move,
your erector spinae is working, your obliques are working, your abs are working,
everything around the shoulder blades, your trapezius, your rhomboids. We got everything here.
So what have we got, we got the exercise where I do a curl and rotate,
rotation of the thoracic spine right here. So I'm doing rotation. The muscles.
I'm moving the spine and then I'm moving the weight here, when I do that I'm also activating
my obliques here, and quadratus lumborum on the inside because that weight is here, and back.
I'm also getting a good pump in the biceps of that curl. You don't want to go too heavy with this.
You want to put your thumbs through and under the handle, your hands around the horns, that's a good
grip. Elbows tucked in, stand straight so that's another thing that you're doing
you have to stand straight because the weight is here, so you're using your erector spinea,
which is a group of muscle groups in your back and it keeps it upright. Then we have the halo,
really nice and wide so you do need good shoulder mobility. If it's wide, a big circle, that weight
is away from your body, and that's when you need to do more work to stabilize and using your core.
So, the closer you hold it to your face, to your head, the more you focus on just your shoulders.
The more you go away the more you focus on the core. Okay, so that weight just here everything on
this side is doing work, if the weight is at the front, at the back, if the weight is at the back,
you're doing work at the front, and so on. So, basically the opposite of where the weight is.
Then you got just a simple overhead static hold. That's a lot of work as well but you want to
do that with heavy weight, so, this is light, probably too light for that. But grab yourself
a heavy weight, either one or two, and just hold it overhead for 30 seconds, a minute, or start
walking and you're doing a lot of stabilization there. Guaranteed you will feel your core.
The side bend is great too. So, that's lateral thoracic flexion right here now it's lateral
thoracic extension right here. It's a great exercise but it gets a bad name, why? Because
a lot of people do it when they're not conditioned at all, they take a heavy weight and they'll start
doing this and then they'll get sore, and they'll get issues. So, make sure that you start safely,
you know, a little bit of range, the more you condition the lower you can go and then the
further you can go. Opposite sides right here you need to have good thoracic flexibility, mobility,
so here's what's happening side-on. I'm not moving to the front I'm just moving down letting that
hand go towards the knee. I'm looking ahead, all the movement is in the spine, back up,
opposite side. So, you could do this with two bells but you're getting a lot more work done
in the muscles if you use one bell. So, if I have two bells it's even and it's stabilizing itself.
if I have one weight, here I need to do a lot more work here. So, that's one thing to keep in mind
as well. Around the body. Around the body, again, it's the same concept as the halo the further you
go away from it with your arm extended, the more stabilization work you need to do. So, the closer
that circle is, the less work you're doing and the more you're focusing on just the shoulders. So,
really get that bell away and resist any movement of the spine. So, if you're going this way
and you want to rotate that spine, don't! Because that's where you're getting the benefit, resisting
that rotation. Okay, so big circles elbows extended and then catch and go the other way.
So, that's five awesome simple kettlebell exercises to work your core, to work your
thoracic spine, your shoulders, etc. If you're interested in really learning all kettlebell
exercises go to www.cavemantraining.com/shop and look for the Kettlebell Exercise Encyclopedia.
It's one big fat book with all the kettlebell exercises you can imagine, they're all described
there with photos nice looking photos with a white background, really clear step-by-step explanations
check that out. It's also available on Amazon, Google Play, and iTunes so make sure you check
that out. Now, if you want to learn a whole lot more about exercises that are good for your range
of motion we got CAVEMANROM, check out the course on our website CAVEMANROM. You can get certified,
it's a course that includes everything from the beginning, so you need to have no experience. It
takes you from nowhere to learning all the basics, if you already have those basics, you can start
straight away and dive into CAVEMANROM. So, it's all there, included in the price,
check out CAVEMANROM certification you're going to learn a whole lot and it's really going to open up
a whole new world of training for yourself or clients. See you there!