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Delavier’s Core Training Anatomy is your guide for increasing core strength, stability, flexibility, and tone.
Whether you’re just beginning your routine or looking to enhance an existing conditioning program, Delavier’s CoreTraining Anatomy presents the most effective exercises and workouts for the results you want. It’s all here, and all in the stunning detail that only Frédéric Delavier can provide.
With 460 full-color photos and illustrations, you’ll go inside over 100 exercises and 60 programs to see how muscles interact with surrounding joints and skeletal structures. You’ll learn how variations, progressions, and sequencing can affect muscle recruitment, the underlying structures, and ultimately the results.
Delavier’s Core Training Anatomy includes proven programming for sculpting your abs, reducing fat, improving cardiovascular health, and relieving low back discomfort. Targeted routines are presented for optimal training and performance in more than 20 sports, including running, cycling, basketball, soccer, and golf.
The former editor in chief of PowerMag in France, author and illustrator Frédéric Delavier is a journalist for Le Monde duMuscle and a contributor to Men’s Health Germany and several other strength publications. His previous publications, Strength Training Anatomy and Women’s Strength Training Anatomy, have sold more than 2 million copies.
PART 1
20 Steps to Creating the Perfect Core Workout Program
1. Set your goals
2. How many workouts should you do each week?
3. On which days of the week should you exercise?
4. Should you exercise once or twice per day?
5. What time of day should you exercise?
6. How many sets should you do?
7. Be flexible and adaptable
8. How many exercises should you do for each muscle?
9. When should you change exercises?
10. How many repetitions should you do per set?
11. How quickly should you perform repetitions?
12. Adjust range of motion in the exercises
13. How long should a workout last?
14. How much rest time should you take between sets?
15. Determine the most appropriate weight for each exercise
16. When should you increase the weight?
17. Determine rest time between exercises
18. Learn to choose exercises that work for you
19. Know when to change your workout program
20. Taking a vacation?
Keep a Workout Notebook
Making Progress
PART 2
Increase the Visibility of Your Abs
Exercising Your Abs for a Smaller Waist
Intensity First!
Diet as a Way to Slim Your Waist
Diet Plus Workout Synergy
Improving the Effectiveness of Your Diet
Role of Supplements
BCAAs for Losing Belly Fat
Calcium: The Anti-Belly Fat Mineral
PART 3
Basic Exercises to Sculpt Your Abs
Anatomical Considerations
Beware of Fake Abdominal Exercises!
If You Have an Inguinal, Femoral, or Abdominal Hernia
Rectus Abdominis Exercises
Crunch
Lying Leg Raise
Seated Leg Raise
Oblique Exercises
Apollo’s Belt
Twisting Crunch
Side Crunch
Stability Exercises
Static Stability Exercise, Back Against a Wall
Plank
Breathing Exercises to Improve Athletic Performance
Lying Rib Cage Expansion With a Weight
Diaphragm Contraction
Stretching the Abdominal Muscles
On a Stability Ball
Stretching the Hip Flexors
Tilting of the Pelvis
Abdominal–Lumbar Balance
Lunge
Stretches for the Low Back
Preventing Low Back Pain
Relaxation Stretch on a Stability Ball
Hanging From a Pull-Up Bar
PART 4
Advanced Exercises and Techniques
Three Difficulties of Ab Work
How to Isolate Upper Abdominal Work From Lower Abdominal Work
Why Are the Lower Abs So Hard to Develop?
1. It is difficult to recruit that part of the muscle
2. Lower abs lack strength
3. It is difficult to isolate the lower part
4. Lower abs are not robust
5. Some exercises are inappropriate
Three Zones of Attack for Total Development
Relative Importance of Each Zone
Getting a Head Start on Recovery
Exercises for the Upper Abdominal Muscles
Double Crunch
Sit-Up
Exercises for the Lower Abdominal Muscles
Pelvic Tilts on the Pull-Up Bar
Leg Lift
Hanging Leg Raise
Exercises for the Obliques
Hanging Leg Raise to the Side
Lying Twist
PART 5
Ab and Core Exercises Using Machines and Accessories
Purpose of Home Equipment
Professional Machines
Exercises for the Upper Abdominal Muscles
Crunch Machines
Swiss Ball Crunch
Rocking Machine Crunch
Standing Cable Crunch
Exercises for the Lower Abdominal Muscles
Ab Coaster
Exercises for the Obliques
Cable Twist (or Using a Machine)
Side Bend
PART 6
Workout Programs for Abdominal and Core Muscles
Six-Pack Programs
Beginning Programs
Advanced Programs
Very Advanced Programs
At-Home Programs Using Accessories
Programs Using Equipment in a Gym
Programs to Reduce Belly Fat
Programs to Reduce Love Handles
Programs to Highlight Apollo’s Belt
Programs for Well-Being
Programs for Cardiovascular Health
Programs to Relax Your Back Before Sleep
Programs to Help Protect Your Lumbar Spine
Programs to Help With Bloating and Other Digestive Problems
Sport-Specific Core Programs
Phase 1: Basic Muscle Conditioning Programs for Beginners
Phase 2: Working Toward Circuit Training
Phase 3: Workouts to Improve Overall Physical Qualities
Phase 4: Working Toward More Specific Training
Frédéric Delavier is a gifted artist with an exceptional knowledge of human anatomy. He studied morphology and anatomy for five years at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and studied dissection for three years at the Paris Faculté de Médecine.
The former editor in chief of the French magazine PowerMag, Delavier is currently a journalist for the French magazine Le Monde du Muscle and a contributor to several other muscle publications, including Men's Health Germany. He is the author of the best-selling Strength Training Anatomy, Women’s Strength Training Anatomy, The Strength Training Anatomy Workout, and Delavier's Stretching Anatomy.
Delavier won the French powerlifting title in 1988 and makes annual presentations on the sport applications of biomechanics at conferences in Switzerland. His teaching efforts have earned him the Grand Prix de Techniques et de Pédagogie Sportive. Delavier lives in Paris, France.
Michael Gundill has written 13 books on strength training, sport nutrition, and health including co-authoring The Strength Training Anatomy Workout. His books have been translated into multiple languages, and he has written over 500 articles for bodybuilding and fitness magazines worldwide, including Iron Man and Dirty Dieting. In 1998 he won the Article of the Year Award at the Fourth Academy of Bodybuilding Fitness & Sports Awards in California.
Gundill started weightlifting in 1983 in order to improve his rowing performance. Most of his training years were spent completing specific lifting programs in his home. As he gained muscle and refined his program, he began to learn more about physiology, anatomy, and biomechanics and started studying those subjects in medical journals. Since 1995 he has been writing about his discoveries in various bodybuilding and fitness magazines all over the world.
Keeping a workout notebook is important
It is very important to keep a workout notebook. It immediately helps you see what you did during your previous core workout.
Keep a Workout Notebook
It is very important to keep a workout notebook. It immediately helps you see what you did during your previous core workout. Make a small box where you can note the time you start your workout. Below that, write down when you finished. This way you will know exactly how much time you spent exercising. Measuring the time spent is an important factor, because if you rest longer between sets, your performance will increase but you won't necessarily get stronger. To truly compare two workouts, you must ensure they are approximately the same length.
Your workout notebook should be as precise as possible but still easy to maintain. Here is an example:
Crunch with a dumbbell on the chest:
- 5 lbs: 20 reps
- 10 lbs: 17 reps
- 15 lbs: 13 reps
- 20 lbs: 8 reps
Time: 5 min.
We know which exercise was done (crunch), the weight, the number of repetitions, the number of sets, and how much time it took.
Do the same for all workouts. This is how you will determine exactly what your goals are for your next workout.
Analyze Your Workouts
After each workout, analyze your performance by asking yourself these questions:
- What worked well?
- What did not work well?
- Why did it not work well?
- How can I make things better during my next workout?
- Start with a heavier weight because the first set might be too light (you did 20 repetitions).
- Carry this same increase in weight over to the second as well as the third sets.
- In the third set, the muscles start to get tired, because you lost four repetitions instead of three for an increase of 5 pounds in weight. You will have to stick with it to overcome this fatigue.
- In the last set, the loss of strength is accentuated with a loss of five repetitions for an additional 5 pounds. You must halt the rate at which you are increasing the weight so that you will be able to do more repetitions using a lower weight than last time. The new workout would look like this:
Crunch with a dumbbell on the chest:
- 10 lbs: 18 reps
- 15 lbs: 15 reps
- 17.5 lbs: 12 reps
- 20 lbs: 10 reps
Time: 5 min.
For the next workout, your goal will be to increase the number of repetitions using the same amount of weight. Increase the weight again once you reach 20 repetitions.
How Do You Finish Your Analysis?
The trend over a month, rather than from one workout to another, is what helps you adjust your core workout program. If your numbers are increasing regularly, then all is well! If your increase slows down, you can change things by doing the following:
- Switching exercises
- Resting more between workouts
If you notice a persistent loss of strength, then you need to both lower the weight and increase your rest time.
Conclusion
Only a well-maintained workout notebook can precisely show how your performance has changed over time. Do not just rely on your memory. Of course you can remember the numbers from your last workout. But how will you remember what you did a month ago? Also, if you change exercises, how will you remember what you did for that exercise when you introduce it again one or two months later? Your workout notebook is the best way to monitor your progress, and it is an important aid in creating future workout programs.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
Rest time between sets can vary
The rest time between sets can vary from 1 second to 1 minute, depending on the difficulty of the exercise as well as your goals.
How much rest time should you take between sets?
The rest time between sets can vary from 1 second to 1 minute, depending on the difficulty of the exercise as well as your goals. You should take
- more rest after difficult exercises like hanging leg raises or sit-ups,
- less rest after easier exercises like crunches,
- more rest when you are using heavier resistance, and
- less rest when you are using light resistance.
As a general rule, it is time to add another set when
- your breathing is almost back to normal, and
- you feel like your enthusiasm is overcoming any fatigue.
However, before beginning a new set, be sure that you are focused again:
- Know how many repetitions you have done.
- Focus once more on your goals.
At first, time yourself so that you adhere to the rest time you decided on. Timing yourself will help you be rigorous and avoid taking rest breaks that are too long. Keeping track of the time will also help you control the intensity and duration of your workout. Your goal should be to adjust your rest time more precisely.
Goal: Strengthen Your Core
If you want to strengthen your muscles, it is not a good idea to restrict your rest time too much. You need to allow your muscles the time they require to recover their strength completely. Heavily working a muscle that is not fully recovered is counterproductive. But you should not totally relax and fall asleep during your workout, either. A good average for a rest break is 45 seconds to 1 minute. But a rest break lasting more than 2 minutes between sets is too long.
Goal: Lose Inches Off Your Waist
Rest breaks between sets should be relatively brief: no longer than 30 seconds. A good strategy is to reduce your rest time progressively with each workout while striving to maintain (or even increase) your repetitions. For example, if you have done a workout with 30 seconds of rest time between sets, try to repeat that effort while taking only 25 seconds of rest. If, after several sets, you cannot keep up that pace, then increase your rest time to 30 seconds. During the next workout, try to do even more sets (or possibly the whole workout) with only 25 seconds of rest between sets.
Goal: Get a Cardio Workout Using Abdominal and Core Exercises
The ideal method here is to do circuits. That is, do different exercises one after the other with no real rest time in between. The only respite is during the transition from one exercise to the next. Throughout the workout, as the circuits become more and more difficult to accomplish, you can give yourself a 10-second break between each exercise.
Goal: Improve Your Athletic Performance
You should calculate your rest time based on the requirements for your sport. Thus, in sports with brief but intense explosive movements, follow the guidelines previously given for strengthening your core. In sports requiring both endurance and explosiveness, such as team sports, follow the guidelines previously given for losing inches off your waist. For pure endurance sports, follow the cardio model.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
The first 5 steps to creating the perfect core workout program
The very first step in creating your core workout program is to be specific when defining your goals. Are you working out for these reasons?
Set your goals.
The very first step in creating your core workout program is to be specific when defining your goals. Are you working out for these reasons?
- To get a six-pack
- To get a slimmer waist
- To maintain your cardiovascular health
and fitness - To increase your athletic performance
Often, your goals may be a combination of several of the items listed. However, if you do not define your goals well, it will be difficult to establish an optimal program. Write down your goals on paper so that you can read them before every workout.
Then, you need to quantify your goals. For example, I want to
- be able to see my abs in 3 months,
- lose 2 inches off my waist in 2 months, and
- double the number of sets I can do in 10 minutes to increase my endurance within 15 days.
The time frame and amount of progress for your goals must be realistic. Keep in mind that no one ever progresses as fast as desired. You might often feel that you have hit a plateau. But with a good program, a true plateau is rare. By quantifying your goals and creating monthly milestones, you will more easily be able to gauge your progress. Each step you achieve will serve as motivation to continue exercising. We provide some typical programs in part 6 of this book. These are basic plans, and you will be able to personalize them using various parameters that we describe next.
How many workouts should you do each week?
Your schedule will be the determining factor in answering this question. Unfortunately, your schedule is not always optimal. Just know that if you can work out only once a week, that is still better than not working out at all! You will still make progress. Working out twice weekly is a good minimum. The ideal scenario would probably be three core workouts per week. However, we recommend that you do no more than five workouts per week. Be aware that overtraining slows progress more than undertraining. Only very serious athletes will benefit from daily workouts.
Development
Ideally, you should begin with two workouts per week for a few weeks. When you feel ready, you can move up to three workouts per week. At first, do not go beyond these three weekly workouts. After three months of working out regularly, you could try four workouts per week.
On which days of the week should you exercise?
You should alternate exercise days with rest days. If this doesn't fit your schedule, do the best you can between what is ideal and what will work for you. Some options:
- One workout per week: Choose any day you like.
- Two workouts per week: Ideally, your core-specific workouts should be spaced out as much as possible. An example is Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday. In any case, give yourself at least one rest day between two core workouts. The exception is, of course, if you can exercise only on the weekends. Although doing back-to-back workouts is not ideal, you will still have the rest of the week to recover.
- Three workouts per week: The ideal configuration is to alternate a day of training with a day of rest. For example, work out on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This way your whole weekend is free. It is still possible to do two days of consecutive training (on the weekend, for example) and do the third workout on Wednesday. But you should avoid this as much as possible. The worst program would have you doing core workouts three days in a row. The only way to justify this is if your schedule absolutely requires it.
- Four workouts per week: Since there are fewer rest days in this schedule, you will have to work out two days in a row. But if you have a very flexible schedule, you could spread the four workouts over eight days instead of seven days. This way, one day of training will always be followed by one day of rest. The slightly longer training intervals will mean you get an optimal recovery. The only drawback is that your workout days will change from week to week.
Should you exercise once or twice per day?
Only champion athletes exercise more than once a day. And they do it only when preparing for a competition! For everyone else, it is better to exercise only once a day and not every day.
If you can work out only once a week because of your schedule, you might eventually want to divide that into two workouts: a session in the morning and one in the evening. You should consider that only after you exercise for a few weeks, though; that program is far from ideal.
The exception is if your goal is to lose inches off of your waist quickly. In this case, you could consider two workouts per day. In fact, doing a circuit of abdominal and core exercises will still burn fat even if the muscle is overworked and not in its optimal shape. Nonetheless, overall fatigue could result. If that happens, you will need to reduce the frequency of your workouts.
What time of day
should you exercise?
Some people prefer to train in the morning and others in the afternoon or evening. In fact, strength varies depending on the time of day. Some people are stronger in the mornings and weaker in the afternoons. For others, the opposite is true. These fluctuations are caused by the central nervous system and are completely normal. It is rare to find athletes who have consistent strength throughout the day.
Ideally, you should exercise when your muscles are the strongest. The majority of athletes are strongest around 6 to 7 p.m. This time works out well because it is when many people have the time to exercise.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
Keeping a workout notebook is important
It is very important to keep a workout notebook. It immediately helps you see what you did during your previous core workout.
Keep a Workout Notebook
It is very important to keep a workout notebook. It immediately helps you see what you did during your previous core workout. Make a small box where you can note the time you start your workout. Below that, write down when you finished. This way you will know exactly how much time you spent exercising. Measuring the time spent is an important factor, because if you rest longer between sets, your performance will increase but you won't necessarily get stronger. To truly compare two workouts, you must ensure they are approximately the same length.
Your workout notebook should be as precise as possible but still easy to maintain. Here is an example:
Crunch with a dumbbell on the chest:
- 5 lbs: 20 reps
- 10 lbs: 17 reps
- 15 lbs: 13 reps
- 20 lbs: 8 reps
Time: 5 min.
We know which exercise was done (crunch), the weight, the number of repetitions, the number of sets, and how much time it took.
Do the same for all workouts. This is how you will determine exactly what your goals are for your next workout.
Analyze Your Workouts
After each workout, analyze your performance by asking yourself these questions:
- What worked well?
- What did not work well?
- Why did it not work well?
- How can I make things better during my next workout?
- Start with a heavier weight because the first set might be too light (you did 20 repetitions).
- Carry this same increase in weight over to the second as well as the third sets.
- In the third set, the muscles start to get tired, because you lost four repetitions instead of three for an increase of 5 pounds in weight. You will have to stick with it to overcome this fatigue.
- In the last set, the loss of strength is accentuated with a loss of five repetitions for an additional 5 pounds. You must halt the rate at which you are increasing the weight so that you will be able to do more repetitions using a lower weight than last time. The new workout would look like this:
Crunch with a dumbbell on the chest:
- 10 lbs: 18 reps
- 15 lbs: 15 reps
- 17.5 lbs: 12 reps
- 20 lbs: 10 reps
Time: 5 min.
For the next workout, your goal will be to increase the number of repetitions using the same amount of weight. Increase the weight again once you reach 20 repetitions.
How Do You Finish Your Analysis?
The trend over a month, rather than from one workout to another, is what helps you adjust your core workout program. If your numbers are increasing regularly, then all is well! If your increase slows down, you can change things by doing the following:
- Switching exercises
- Resting more between workouts
If you notice a persistent loss of strength, then you need to both lower the weight and increase your rest time.
Conclusion
Only a well-maintained workout notebook can precisely show how your performance has changed over time. Do not just rely on your memory. Of course you can remember the numbers from your last workout. But how will you remember what you did a month ago? Also, if you change exercises, how will you remember what you did for that exercise when you introduce it again one or two months later? Your workout notebook is the best way to monitor your progress, and it is an important aid in creating future workout programs.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
Rest time between sets can vary
The rest time between sets can vary from 1 second to 1 minute, depending on the difficulty of the exercise as well as your goals.
How much rest time should you take between sets?
The rest time between sets can vary from 1 second to 1 minute, depending on the difficulty of the exercise as well as your goals. You should take
- more rest after difficult exercises like hanging leg raises or sit-ups,
- less rest after easier exercises like crunches,
- more rest when you are using heavier resistance, and
- less rest when you are using light resistance.
As a general rule, it is time to add another set when
- your breathing is almost back to normal, and
- you feel like your enthusiasm is overcoming any fatigue.
However, before beginning a new set, be sure that you are focused again:
- Know how many repetitions you have done.
- Focus once more on your goals.
At first, time yourself so that you adhere to the rest time you decided on. Timing yourself will help you be rigorous and avoid taking rest breaks that are too long. Keeping track of the time will also help you control the intensity and duration of your workout. Your goal should be to adjust your rest time more precisely.
Goal: Strengthen Your Core
If you want to strengthen your muscles, it is not a good idea to restrict your rest time too much. You need to allow your muscles the time they require to recover their strength completely. Heavily working a muscle that is not fully recovered is counterproductive. But you should not totally relax and fall asleep during your workout, either. A good average for a rest break is 45 seconds to 1 minute. But a rest break lasting more than 2 minutes between sets is too long.
Goal: Lose Inches Off Your Waist
Rest breaks between sets should be relatively brief: no longer than 30 seconds. A good strategy is to reduce your rest time progressively with each workout while striving to maintain (or even increase) your repetitions. For example, if you have done a workout with 30 seconds of rest time between sets, try to repeat that effort while taking only 25 seconds of rest. If, after several sets, you cannot keep up that pace, then increase your rest time to 30 seconds. During the next workout, try to do even more sets (or possibly the whole workout) with only 25 seconds of rest between sets.
Goal: Get a Cardio Workout Using Abdominal and Core Exercises
The ideal method here is to do circuits. That is, do different exercises one after the other with no real rest time in between. The only respite is during the transition from one exercise to the next. Throughout the workout, as the circuits become more and more difficult to accomplish, you can give yourself a 10-second break between each exercise.
Goal: Improve Your Athletic Performance
You should calculate your rest time based on the requirements for your sport. Thus, in sports with brief but intense explosive movements, follow the guidelines previously given for strengthening your core. In sports requiring both endurance and explosiveness, such as team sports, follow the guidelines previously given for losing inches off your waist. For pure endurance sports, follow the cardio model.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
The first 5 steps to creating the perfect core workout program
The very first step in creating your core workout program is to be specific when defining your goals. Are you working out for these reasons?
Set your goals.
The very first step in creating your core workout program is to be specific when defining your goals. Are you working out for these reasons?
- To get a six-pack
- To get a slimmer waist
- To maintain your cardiovascular health
and fitness - To increase your athletic performance
Often, your goals may be a combination of several of the items listed. However, if you do not define your goals well, it will be difficult to establish an optimal program. Write down your goals on paper so that you can read them before every workout.
Then, you need to quantify your goals. For example, I want to
- be able to see my abs in 3 months,
- lose 2 inches off my waist in 2 months, and
- double the number of sets I can do in 10 minutes to increase my endurance within 15 days.
The time frame and amount of progress for your goals must be realistic. Keep in mind that no one ever progresses as fast as desired. You might often feel that you have hit a plateau. But with a good program, a true plateau is rare. By quantifying your goals and creating monthly milestones, you will more easily be able to gauge your progress. Each step you achieve will serve as motivation to continue exercising. We provide some typical programs in part 6 of this book. These are basic plans, and you will be able to personalize them using various parameters that we describe next.
How many workouts should you do each week?
Your schedule will be the determining factor in answering this question. Unfortunately, your schedule is not always optimal. Just know that if you can work out only once a week, that is still better than not working out at all! You will still make progress. Working out twice weekly is a good minimum. The ideal scenario would probably be three core workouts per week. However, we recommend that you do no more than five workouts per week. Be aware that overtraining slows progress more than undertraining. Only very serious athletes will benefit from daily workouts.
Development
Ideally, you should begin with two workouts per week for a few weeks. When you feel ready, you can move up to three workouts per week. At first, do not go beyond these three weekly workouts. After three months of working out regularly, you could try four workouts per week.
On which days of the week should you exercise?
You should alternate exercise days with rest days. If this doesn't fit your schedule, do the best you can between what is ideal and what will work for you. Some options:
- One workout per week: Choose any day you like.
- Two workouts per week: Ideally, your core-specific workouts should be spaced out as much as possible. An example is Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday. In any case, give yourself at least one rest day between two core workouts. The exception is, of course, if you can exercise only on the weekends. Although doing back-to-back workouts is not ideal, you will still have the rest of the week to recover.
- Three workouts per week: The ideal configuration is to alternate a day of training with a day of rest. For example, work out on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This way your whole weekend is free. It is still possible to do two days of consecutive training (on the weekend, for example) and do the third workout on Wednesday. But you should avoid this as much as possible. The worst program would have you doing core workouts three days in a row. The only way to justify this is if your schedule absolutely requires it.
- Four workouts per week: Since there are fewer rest days in this schedule, you will have to work out two days in a row. But if you have a very flexible schedule, you could spread the four workouts over eight days instead of seven days. This way, one day of training will always be followed by one day of rest. The slightly longer training intervals will mean you get an optimal recovery. The only drawback is that your workout days will change from week to week.
Should you exercise once or twice per day?
Only champion athletes exercise more than once a day. And they do it only when preparing for a competition! For everyone else, it is better to exercise only once a day and not every day.
If you can work out only once a week because of your schedule, you might eventually want to divide that into two workouts: a session in the morning and one in the evening. You should consider that only after you exercise for a few weeks, though; that program is far from ideal.
The exception is if your goal is to lose inches off of your waist quickly. In this case, you could consider two workouts per day. In fact, doing a circuit of abdominal and core exercises will still burn fat even if the muscle is overworked and not in its optimal shape. Nonetheless, overall fatigue could result. If that happens, you will need to reduce the frequency of your workouts.
What time of day
should you exercise?
Some people prefer to train in the morning and others in the afternoon or evening. In fact, strength varies depending on the time of day. Some people are stronger in the mornings and weaker in the afternoons. For others, the opposite is true. These fluctuations are caused by the central nervous system and are completely normal. It is rare to find athletes who have consistent strength throughout the day.
Ideally, you should exercise when your muscles are the strongest. The majority of athletes are strongest around 6 to 7 p.m. This time works out well because it is when many people have the time to exercise.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
Keeping a workout notebook is important
It is very important to keep a workout notebook. It immediately helps you see what you did during your previous core workout.
Keep a Workout Notebook
It is very important to keep a workout notebook. It immediately helps you see what you did during your previous core workout. Make a small box where you can note the time you start your workout. Below that, write down when you finished. This way you will know exactly how much time you spent exercising. Measuring the time spent is an important factor, because if you rest longer between sets, your performance will increase but you won't necessarily get stronger. To truly compare two workouts, you must ensure they are approximately the same length.
Your workout notebook should be as precise as possible but still easy to maintain. Here is an example:
Crunch with a dumbbell on the chest:
- 5 lbs: 20 reps
- 10 lbs: 17 reps
- 15 lbs: 13 reps
- 20 lbs: 8 reps
Time: 5 min.
We know which exercise was done (crunch), the weight, the number of repetitions, the number of sets, and how much time it took.
Do the same for all workouts. This is how you will determine exactly what your goals are for your next workout.
Analyze Your Workouts
After each workout, analyze your performance by asking yourself these questions:
- What worked well?
- What did not work well?
- Why did it not work well?
- How can I make things better during my next workout?
- Start with a heavier weight because the first set might be too light (you did 20 repetitions).
- Carry this same increase in weight over to the second as well as the third sets.
- In the third set, the muscles start to get tired, because you lost four repetitions instead of three for an increase of 5 pounds in weight. You will have to stick with it to overcome this fatigue.
- In the last set, the loss of strength is accentuated with a loss of five repetitions for an additional 5 pounds. You must halt the rate at which you are increasing the weight so that you will be able to do more repetitions using a lower weight than last time. The new workout would look like this:
Crunch with a dumbbell on the chest:
- 10 lbs: 18 reps
- 15 lbs: 15 reps
- 17.5 lbs: 12 reps
- 20 lbs: 10 reps
Time: 5 min.
For the next workout, your goal will be to increase the number of repetitions using the same amount of weight. Increase the weight again once you reach 20 repetitions.
How Do You Finish Your Analysis?
The trend over a month, rather than from one workout to another, is what helps you adjust your core workout program. If your numbers are increasing regularly, then all is well! If your increase slows down, you can change things by doing the following:
- Switching exercises
- Resting more between workouts
If you notice a persistent loss of strength, then you need to both lower the weight and increase your rest time.
Conclusion
Only a well-maintained workout notebook can precisely show how your performance has changed over time. Do not just rely on your memory. Of course you can remember the numbers from your last workout. But how will you remember what you did a month ago? Also, if you change exercises, how will you remember what you did for that exercise when you introduce it again one or two months later? Your workout notebook is the best way to monitor your progress, and it is an important aid in creating future workout programs.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
Rest time between sets can vary
The rest time between sets can vary from 1 second to 1 minute, depending on the difficulty of the exercise as well as your goals.
How much rest time should you take between sets?
The rest time between sets can vary from 1 second to 1 minute, depending on the difficulty of the exercise as well as your goals. You should take
- more rest after difficult exercises like hanging leg raises or sit-ups,
- less rest after easier exercises like crunches,
- more rest when you are using heavier resistance, and
- less rest when you are using light resistance.
As a general rule, it is time to add another set when
- your breathing is almost back to normal, and
- you feel like your enthusiasm is overcoming any fatigue.
However, before beginning a new set, be sure that you are focused again:
- Know how many repetitions you have done.
- Focus once more on your goals.
At first, time yourself so that you adhere to the rest time you decided on. Timing yourself will help you be rigorous and avoid taking rest breaks that are too long. Keeping track of the time will also help you control the intensity and duration of your workout. Your goal should be to adjust your rest time more precisely.
Goal: Strengthen Your Core
If you want to strengthen your muscles, it is not a good idea to restrict your rest time too much. You need to allow your muscles the time they require to recover their strength completely. Heavily working a muscle that is not fully recovered is counterproductive. But you should not totally relax and fall asleep during your workout, either. A good average for a rest break is 45 seconds to 1 minute. But a rest break lasting more than 2 minutes between sets is too long.
Goal: Lose Inches Off Your Waist
Rest breaks between sets should be relatively brief: no longer than 30 seconds. A good strategy is to reduce your rest time progressively with each workout while striving to maintain (or even increase) your repetitions. For example, if you have done a workout with 30 seconds of rest time between sets, try to repeat that effort while taking only 25 seconds of rest. If, after several sets, you cannot keep up that pace, then increase your rest time to 30 seconds. During the next workout, try to do even more sets (or possibly the whole workout) with only 25 seconds of rest between sets.
Goal: Get a Cardio Workout Using Abdominal and Core Exercises
The ideal method here is to do circuits. That is, do different exercises one after the other with no real rest time in between. The only respite is during the transition from one exercise to the next. Throughout the workout, as the circuits become more and more difficult to accomplish, you can give yourself a 10-second break between each exercise.
Goal: Improve Your Athletic Performance
You should calculate your rest time based on the requirements for your sport. Thus, in sports with brief but intense explosive movements, follow the guidelines previously given for strengthening your core. In sports requiring both endurance and explosiveness, such as team sports, follow the guidelines previously given for losing inches off your waist. For pure endurance sports, follow the cardio model.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
The first 5 steps to creating the perfect core workout program
The very first step in creating your core workout program is to be specific when defining your goals. Are you working out for these reasons?
Set your goals.
The very first step in creating your core workout program is to be specific when defining your goals. Are you working out for these reasons?
- To get a six-pack
- To get a slimmer waist
- To maintain your cardiovascular health
and fitness - To increase your athletic performance
Often, your goals may be a combination of several of the items listed. However, if you do not define your goals well, it will be difficult to establish an optimal program. Write down your goals on paper so that you can read them before every workout.
Then, you need to quantify your goals. For example, I want to
- be able to see my abs in 3 months,
- lose 2 inches off my waist in 2 months, and
- double the number of sets I can do in 10 minutes to increase my endurance within 15 days.
The time frame and amount of progress for your goals must be realistic. Keep in mind that no one ever progresses as fast as desired. You might often feel that you have hit a plateau. But with a good program, a true plateau is rare. By quantifying your goals and creating monthly milestones, you will more easily be able to gauge your progress. Each step you achieve will serve as motivation to continue exercising. We provide some typical programs in part 6 of this book. These are basic plans, and you will be able to personalize them using various parameters that we describe next.
How many workouts should you do each week?
Your schedule will be the determining factor in answering this question. Unfortunately, your schedule is not always optimal. Just know that if you can work out only once a week, that is still better than not working out at all! You will still make progress. Working out twice weekly is a good minimum. The ideal scenario would probably be three core workouts per week. However, we recommend that you do no more than five workouts per week. Be aware that overtraining slows progress more than undertraining. Only very serious athletes will benefit from daily workouts.
Development
Ideally, you should begin with two workouts per week for a few weeks. When you feel ready, you can move up to three workouts per week. At first, do not go beyond these three weekly workouts. After three months of working out regularly, you could try four workouts per week.
On which days of the week should you exercise?
You should alternate exercise days with rest days. If this doesn't fit your schedule, do the best you can between what is ideal and what will work for you. Some options:
- One workout per week: Choose any day you like.
- Two workouts per week: Ideally, your core-specific workouts should be spaced out as much as possible. An example is Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday. In any case, give yourself at least one rest day between two core workouts. The exception is, of course, if you can exercise only on the weekends. Although doing back-to-back workouts is not ideal, you will still have the rest of the week to recover.
- Three workouts per week: The ideal configuration is to alternate a day of training with a day of rest. For example, work out on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This way your whole weekend is free. It is still possible to do two days of consecutive training (on the weekend, for example) and do the third workout on Wednesday. But you should avoid this as much as possible. The worst program would have you doing core workouts three days in a row. The only way to justify this is if your schedule absolutely requires it.
- Four workouts per week: Since there are fewer rest days in this schedule, you will have to work out two days in a row. But if you have a very flexible schedule, you could spread the four workouts over eight days instead of seven days. This way, one day of training will always be followed by one day of rest. The slightly longer training intervals will mean you get an optimal recovery. The only drawback is that your workout days will change from week to week.
Should you exercise once or twice per day?
Only champion athletes exercise more than once a day. And they do it only when preparing for a competition! For everyone else, it is better to exercise only once a day and not every day.
If you can work out only once a week because of your schedule, you might eventually want to divide that into two workouts: a session in the morning and one in the evening. You should consider that only after you exercise for a few weeks, though; that program is far from ideal.
The exception is if your goal is to lose inches off of your waist quickly. In this case, you could consider two workouts per day. In fact, doing a circuit of abdominal and core exercises will still burn fat even if the muscle is overworked and not in its optimal shape. Nonetheless, overall fatigue could result. If that happens, you will need to reduce the frequency of your workouts.
What time of day
should you exercise?
Some people prefer to train in the morning and others in the afternoon or evening. In fact, strength varies depending on the time of day. Some people are stronger in the mornings and weaker in the afternoons. For others, the opposite is true. These fluctuations are caused by the central nervous system and are completely normal. It is rare to find athletes who have consistent strength throughout the day.
Ideally, you should exercise when your muscles are the strongest. The majority of athletes are strongest around 6 to 7 p.m. This time works out well because it is when many people have the time to exercise.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
Keeping a workout notebook is important
It is very important to keep a workout notebook. It immediately helps you see what you did during your previous core workout.
Keep a Workout Notebook
It is very important to keep a workout notebook. It immediately helps you see what you did during your previous core workout. Make a small box where you can note the time you start your workout. Below that, write down when you finished. This way you will know exactly how much time you spent exercising. Measuring the time spent is an important factor, because if you rest longer between sets, your performance will increase but you won't necessarily get stronger. To truly compare two workouts, you must ensure they are approximately the same length.
Your workout notebook should be as precise as possible but still easy to maintain. Here is an example:
Crunch with a dumbbell on the chest:
- 5 lbs: 20 reps
- 10 lbs: 17 reps
- 15 lbs: 13 reps
- 20 lbs: 8 reps
Time: 5 min.
We know which exercise was done (crunch), the weight, the number of repetitions, the number of sets, and how much time it took.
Do the same for all workouts. This is how you will determine exactly what your goals are for your next workout.
Analyze Your Workouts
After each workout, analyze your performance by asking yourself these questions:
- What worked well?
- What did not work well?
- Why did it not work well?
- How can I make things better during my next workout?
- Start with a heavier weight because the first set might be too light (you did 20 repetitions).
- Carry this same increase in weight over to the second as well as the third sets.
- In the third set, the muscles start to get tired, because you lost four repetitions instead of three for an increase of 5 pounds in weight. You will have to stick with it to overcome this fatigue.
- In the last set, the loss of strength is accentuated with a loss of five repetitions for an additional 5 pounds. You must halt the rate at which you are increasing the weight so that you will be able to do more repetitions using a lower weight than last time. The new workout would look like this:
Crunch with a dumbbell on the chest:
- 10 lbs: 18 reps
- 15 lbs: 15 reps
- 17.5 lbs: 12 reps
- 20 lbs: 10 reps
Time: 5 min.
For the next workout, your goal will be to increase the number of repetitions using the same amount of weight. Increase the weight again once you reach 20 repetitions.
How Do You Finish Your Analysis?
The trend over a month, rather than from one workout to another, is what helps you adjust your core workout program. If your numbers are increasing regularly, then all is well! If your increase slows down, you can change things by doing the following:
- Switching exercises
- Resting more between workouts
If you notice a persistent loss of strength, then you need to both lower the weight and increase your rest time.
Conclusion
Only a well-maintained workout notebook can precisely show how your performance has changed over time. Do not just rely on your memory. Of course you can remember the numbers from your last workout. But how will you remember what you did a month ago? Also, if you change exercises, how will you remember what you did for that exercise when you introduce it again one or two months later? Your workout notebook is the best way to monitor your progress, and it is an important aid in creating future workout programs.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
Rest time between sets can vary
The rest time between sets can vary from 1 second to 1 minute, depending on the difficulty of the exercise as well as your goals.
How much rest time should you take between sets?
The rest time between sets can vary from 1 second to 1 minute, depending on the difficulty of the exercise as well as your goals. You should take
- more rest after difficult exercises like hanging leg raises or sit-ups,
- less rest after easier exercises like crunches,
- more rest when you are using heavier resistance, and
- less rest when you are using light resistance.
As a general rule, it is time to add another set when
- your breathing is almost back to normal, and
- you feel like your enthusiasm is overcoming any fatigue.
However, before beginning a new set, be sure that you are focused again:
- Know how many repetitions you have done.
- Focus once more on your goals.
At first, time yourself so that you adhere to the rest time you decided on. Timing yourself will help you be rigorous and avoid taking rest breaks that are too long. Keeping track of the time will also help you control the intensity and duration of your workout. Your goal should be to adjust your rest time more precisely.
Goal: Strengthen Your Core
If you want to strengthen your muscles, it is not a good idea to restrict your rest time too much. You need to allow your muscles the time they require to recover their strength completely. Heavily working a muscle that is not fully recovered is counterproductive. But you should not totally relax and fall asleep during your workout, either. A good average for a rest break is 45 seconds to 1 minute. But a rest break lasting more than 2 minutes between sets is too long.
Goal: Lose Inches Off Your Waist
Rest breaks between sets should be relatively brief: no longer than 30 seconds. A good strategy is to reduce your rest time progressively with each workout while striving to maintain (or even increase) your repetitions. For example, if you have done a workout with 30 seconds of rest time between sets, try to repeat that effort while taking only 25 seconds of rest. If, after several sets, you cannot keep up that pace, then increase your rest time to 30 seconds. During the next workout, try to do even more sets (or possibly the whole workout) with only 25 seconds of rest between sets.
Goal: Get a Cardio Workout Using Abdominal and Core Exercises
The ideal method here is to do circuits. That is, do different exercises one after the other with no real rest time in between. The only respite is during the transition from one exercise to the next. Throughout the workout, as the circuits become more and more difficult to accomplish, you can give yourself a 10-second break between each exercise.
Goal: Improve Your Athletic Performance
You should calculate your rest time based on the requirements for your sport. Thus, in sports with brief but intense explosive movements, follow the guidelines previously given for strengthening your core. In sports requiring both endurance and explosiveness, such as team sports, follow the guidelines previously given for losing inches off your waist. For pure endurance sports, follow the cardio model.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
The first 5 steps to creating the perfect core workout program
The very first step in creating your core workout program is to be specific when defining your goals. Are you working out for these reasons?
Set your goals.
The very first step in creating your core workout program is to be specific when defining your goals. Are you working out for these reasons?
- To get a six-pack
- To get a slimmer waist
- To maintain your cardiovascular health
and fitness - To increase your athletic performance
Often, your goals may be a combination of several of the items listed. However, if you do not define your goals well, it will be difficult to establish an optimal program. Write down your goals on paper so that you can read them before every workout.
Then, you need to quantify your goals. For example, I want to
- be able to see my abs in 3 months,
- lose 2 inches off my waist in 2 months, and
- double the number of sets I can do in 10 minutes to increase my endurance within 15 days.
The time frame and amount of progress for your goals must be realistic. Keep in mind that no one ever progresses as fast as desired. You might often feel that you have hit a plateau. But with a good program, a true plateau is rare. By quantifying your goals and creating monthly milestones, you will more easily be able to gauge your progress. Each step you achieve will serve as motivation to continue exercising. We provide some typical programs in part 6 of this book. These are basic plans, and you will be able to personalize them using various parameters that we describe next.
How many workouts should you do each week?
Your schedule will be the determining factor in answering this question. Unfortunately, your schedule is not always optimal. Just know that if you can work out only once a week, that is still better than not working out at all! You will still make progress. Working out twice weekly is a good minimum. The ideal scenario would probably be three core workouts per week. However, we recommend that you do no more than five workouts per week. Be aware that overtraining slows progress more than undertraining. Only very serious athletes will benefit from daily workouts.
Development
Ideally, you should begin with two workouts per week for a few weeks. When you feel ready, you can move up to three workouts per week. At first, do not go beyond these three weekly workouts. After three months of working out regularly, you could try four workouts per week.
On which days of the week should you exercise?
You should alternate exercise days with rest days. If this doesn't fit your schedule, do the best you can between what is ideal and what will work for you. Some options:
- One workout per week: Choose any day you like.
- Two workouts per week: Ideally, your core-specific workouts should be spaced out as much as possible. An example is Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday. In any case, give yourself at least one rest day between two core workouts. The exception is, of course, if you can exercise only on the weekends. Although doing back-to-back workouts is not ideal, you will still have the rest of the week to recover.
- Three workouts per week: The ideal configuration is to alternate a day of training with a day of rest. For example, work out on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This way your whole weekend is free. It is still possible to do two days of consecutive training (on the weekend, for example) and do the third workout on Wednesday. But you should avoid this as much as possible. The worst program would have you doing core workouts three days in a row. The only way to justify this is if your schedule absolutely requires it.
- Four workouts per week: Since there are fewer rest days in this schedule, you will have to work out two days in a row. But if you have a very flexible schedule, you could spread the four workouts over eight days instead of seven days. This way, one day of training will always be followed by one day of rest. The slightly longer training intervals will mean you get an optimal recovery. The only drawback is that your workout days will change from week to week.
Should you exercise once or twice per day?
Only champion athletes exercise more than once a day. And they do it only when preparing for a competition! For everyone else, it is better to exercise only once a day and not every day.
If you can work out only once a week because of your schedule, you might eventually want to divide that into two workouts: a session in the morning and one in the evening. You should consider that only after you exercise for a few weeks, though; that program is far from ideal.
The exception is if your goal is to lose inches off of your waist quickly. In this case, you could consider two workouts per day. In fact, doing a circuit of abdominal and core exercises will still burn fat even if the muscle is overworked and not in its optimal shape. Nonetheless, overall fatigue could result. If that happens, you will need to reduce the frequency of your workouts.
What time of day
should you exercise?
Some people prefer to train in the morning and others in the afternoon or evening. In fact, strength varies depending on the time of day. Some people are stronger in the mornings and weaker in the afternoons. For others, the opposite is true. These fluctuations are caused by the central nervous system and are completely normal. It is rare to find athletes who have consistent strength throughout the day.
Ideally, you should exercise when your muscles are the strongest. The majority of athletes are strongest around 6 to 7 p.m. This time works out well because it is when many people have the time to exercise.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
Keeping a workout notebook is important
It is very important to keep a workout notebook. It immediately helps you see what you did during your previous core workout.
Keep a Workout Notebook
It is very important to keep a workout notebook. It immediately helps you see what you did during your previous core workout. Make a small box where you can note the time you start your workout. Below that, write down when you finished. This way you will know exactly how much time you spent exercising. Measuring the time spent is an important factor, because if you rest longer between sets, your performance will increase but you won't necessarily get stronger. To truly compare two workouts, you must ensure they are approximately the same length.
Your workout notebook should be as precise as possible but still easy to maintain. Here is an example:
Crunch with a dumbbell on the chest:
- 5 lbs: 20 reps
- 10 lbs: 17 reps
- 15 lbs: 13 reps
- 20 lbs: 8 reps
Time: 5 min.
We know which exercise was done (crunch), the weight, the number of repetitions, the number of sets, and how much time it took.
Do the same for all workouts. This is how you will determine exactly what your goals are for your next workout.
Analyze Your Workouts
After each workout, analyze your performance by asking yourself these questions:
- What worked well?
- What did not work well?
- Why did it not work well?
- How can I make things better during my next workout?
- Start with a heavier weight because the first set might be too light (you did 20 repetitions).
- Carry this same increase in weight over to the second as well as the third sets.
- In the third set, the muscles start to get tired, because you lost four repetitions instead of three for an increase of 5 pounds in weight. You will have to stick with it to overcome this fatigue.
- In the last set, the loss of strength is accentuated with a loss of five repetitions for an additional 5 pounds. You must halt the rate at which you are increasing the weight so that you will be able to do more repetitions using a lower weight than last time. The new workout would look like this:
Crunch with a dumbbell on the chest:
- 10 lbs: 18 reps
- 15 lbs: 15 reps
- 17.5 lbs: 12 reps
- 20 lbs: 10 reps
Time: 5 min.
For the next workout, your goal will be to increase the number of repetitions using the same amount of weight. Increase the weight again once you reach 20 repetitions.
How Do You Finish Your Analysis?
The trend over a month, rather than from one workout to another, is what helps you adjust your core workout program. If your numbers are increasing regularly, then all is well! If your increase slows down, you can change things by doing the following:
- Switching exercises
- Resting more between workouts
If you notice a persistent loss of strength, then you need to both lower the weight and increase your rest time.
Conclusion
Only a well-maintained workout notebook can precisely show how your performance has changed over time. Do not just rely on your memory. Of course you can remember the numbers from your last workout. But how will you remember what you did a month ago? Also, if you change exercises, how will you remember what you did for that exercise when you introduce it again one or two months later? Your workout notebook is the best way to monitor your progress, and it is an important aid in creating future workout programs.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
Rest time between sets can vary
The rest time between sets can vary from 1 second to 1 minute, depending on the difficulty of the exercise as well as your goals.
How much rest time should you take between sets?
The rest time between sets can vary from 1 second to 1 minute, depending on the difficulty of the exercise as well as your goals. You should take
- more rest after difficult exercises like hanging leg raises or sit-ups,
- less rest after easier exercises like crunches,
- more rest when you are using heavier resistance, and
- less rest when you are using light resistance.
As a general rule, it is time to add another set when
- your breathing is almost back to normal, and
- you feel like your enthusiasm is overcoming any fatigue.
However, before beginning a new set, be sure that you are focused again:
- Know how many repetitions you have done.
- Focus once more on your goals.
At first, time yourself so that you adhere to the rest time you decided on. Timing yourself will help you be rigorous and avoid taking rest breaks that are too long. Keeping track of the time will also help you control the intensity and duration of your workout. Your goal should be to adjust your rest time more precisely.
Goal: Strengthen Your Core
If you want to strengthen your muscles, it is not a good idea to restrict your rest time too much. You need to allow your muscles the time they require to recover their strength completely. Heavily working a muscle that is not fully recovered is counterproductive. But you should not totally relax and fall asleep during your workout, either. A good average for a rest break is 45 seconds to 1 minute. But a rest break lasting more than 2 minutes between sets is too long.
Goal: Lose Inches Off Your Waist
Rest breaks between sets should be relatively brief: no longer than 30 seconds. A good strategy is to reduce your rest time progressively with each workout while striving to maintain (or even increase) your repetitions. For example, if you have done a workout with 30 seconds of rest time between sets, try to repeat that effort while taking only 25 seconds of rest. If, after several sets, you cannot keep up that pace, then increase your rest time to 30 seconds. During the next workout, try to do even more sets (or possibly the whole workout) with only 25 seconds of rest between sets.
Goal: Get a Cardio Workout Using Abdominal and Core Exercises
The ideal method here is to do circuits. That is, do different exercises one after the other with no real rest time in between. The only respite is during the transition from one exercise to the next. Throughout the workout, as the circuits become more and more difficult to accomplish, you can give yourself a 10-second break between each exercise.
Goal: Improve Your Athletic Performance
You should calculate your rest time based on the requirements for your sport. Thus, in sports with brief but intense explosive movements, follow the guidelines previously given for strengthening your core. In sports requiring both endurance and explosiveness, such as team sports, follow the guidelines previously given for losing inches off your waist. For pure endurance sports, follow the cardio model.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
The first 5 steps to creating the perfect core workout program
The very first step in creating your core workout program is to be specific when defining your goals. Are you working out for these reasons?
Set your goals.
The very first step in creating your core workout program is to be specific when defining your goals. Are you working out for these reasons?
- To get a six-pack
- To get a slimmer waist
- To maintain your cardiovascular health
and fitness - To increase your athletic performance
Often, your goals may be a combination of several of the items listed. However, if you do not define your goals well, it will be difficult to establish an optimal program. Write down your goals on paper so that you can read them before every workout.
Then, you need to quantify your goals. For example, I want to
- be able to see my abs in 3 months,
- lose 2 inches off my waist in 2 months, and
- double the number of sets I can do in 10 minutes to increase my endurance within 15 days.
The time frame and amount of progress for your goals must be realistic. Keep in mind that no one ever progresses as fast as desired. You might often feel that you have hit a plateau. But with a good program, a true plateau is rare. By quantifying your goals and creating monthly milestones, you will more easily be able to gauge your progress. Each step you achieve will serve as motivation to continue exercising. We provide some typical programs in part 6 of this book. These are basic plans, and you will be able to personalize them using various parameters that we describe next.
How many workouts should you do each week?
Your schedule will be the determining factor in answering this question. Unfortunately, your schedule is not always optimal. Just know that if you can work out only once a week, that is still better than not working out at all! You will still make progress. Working out twice weekly is a good minimum. The ideal scenario would probably be three core workouts per week. However, we recommend that you do no more than five workouts per week. Be aware that overtraining slows progress more than undertraining. Only very serious athletes will benefit from daily workouts.
Development
Ideally, you should begin with two workouts per week for a few weeks. When you feel ready, you can move up to three workouts per week. At first, do not go beyond these three weekly workouts. After three months of working out regularly, you could try four workouts per week.
On which days of the week should you exercise?
You should alternate exercise days with rest days. If this doesn't fit your schedule, do the best you can between what is ideal and what will work for you. Some options:
- One workout per week: Choose any day you like.
- Two workouts per week: Ideally, your core-specific workouts should be spaced out as much as possible. An example is Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday. In any case, give yourself at least one rest day between two core workouts. The exception is, of course, if you can exercise only on the weekends. Although doing back-to-back workouts is not ideal, you will still have the rest of the week to recover.
- Three workouts per week: The ideal configuration is to alternate a day of training with a day of rest. For example, work out on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This way your whole weekend is free. It is still possible to do two days of consecutive training (on the weekend, for example) and do the third workout on Wednesday. But you should avoid this as much as possible. The worst program would have you doing core workouts three days in a row. The only way to justify this is if your schedule absolutely requires it.
- Four workouts per week: Since there are fewer rest days in this schedule, you will have to work out two days in a row. But if you have a very flexible schedule, you could spread the four workouts over eight days instead of seven days. This way, one day of training will always be followed by one day of rest. The slightly longer training intervals will mean you get an optimal recovery. The only drawback is that your workout days will change from week to week.
Should you exercise once or twice per day?
Only champion athletes exercise more than once a day. And they do it only when preparing for a competition! For everyone else, it is better to exercise only once a day and not every day.
If you can work out only once a week because of your schedule, you might eventually want to divide that into two workouts: a session in the morning and one in the evening. You should consider that only after you exercise for a few weeks, though; that program is far from ideal.
The exception is if your goal is to lose inches off of your waist quickly. In this case, you could consider two workouts per day. In fact, doing a circuit of abdominal and core exercises will still burn fat even if the muscle is overworked and not in its optimal shape. Nonetheless, overall fatigue could result. If that happens, you will need to reduce the frequency of your workouts.
What time of day
should you exercise?
Some people prefer to train in the morning and others in the afternoon or evening. In fact, strength varies depending on the time of day. Some people are stronger in the mornings and weaker in the afternoons. For others, the opposite is true. These fluctuations are caused by the central nervous system and are completely normal. It is rare to find athletes who have consistent strength throughout the day.
Ideally, you should exercise when your muscles are the strongest. The majority of athletes are strongest around 6 to 7 p.m. This time works out well because it is when many people have the time to exercise.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
Keeping a workout notebook is important
It is very important to keep a workout notebook. It immediately helps you see what you did during your previous core workout.
Keep a Workout Notebook
It is very important to keep a workout notebook. It immediately helps you see what you did during your previous core workout. Make a small box where you can note the time you start your workout. Below that, write down when you finished. This way you will know exactly how much time you spent exercising. Measuring the time spent is an important factor, because if you rest longer between sets, your performance will increase but you won't necessarily get stronger. To truly compare two workouts, you must ensure they are approximately the same length.
Your workout notebook should be as precise as possible but still easy to maintain. Here is an example:
Crunch with a dumbbell on the chest:
- 5 lbs: 20 reps
- 10 lbs: 17 reps
- 15 lbs: 13 reps
- 20 lbs: 8 reps
Time: 5 min.
We know which exercise was done (crunch), the weight, the number of repetitions, the number of sets, and how much time it took.
Do the same for all workouts. This is how you will determine exactly what your goals are for your next workout.
Analyze Your Workouts
After each workout, analyze your performance by asking yourself these questions:
- What worked well?
- What did not work well?
- Why did it not work well?
- How can I make things better during my next workout?
- Start with a heavier weight because the first set might be too light (you did 20 repetitions).
- Carry this same increase in weight over to the second as well as the third sets.
- In the third set, the muscles start to get tired, because you lost four repetitions instead of three for an increase of 5 pounds in weight. You will have to stick with it to overcome this fatigue.
- In the last set, the loss of strength is accentuated with a loss of five repetitions for an additional 5 pounds. You must halt the rate at which you are increasing the weight so that you will be able to do more repetitions using a lower weight than last time. The new workout would look like this:
Crunch with a dumbbell on the chest:
- 10 lbs: 18 reps
- 15 lbs: 15 reps
- 17.5 lbs: 12 reps
- 20 lbs: 10 reps
Time: 5 min.
For the next workout, your goal will be to increase the number of repetitions using the same amount of weight. Increase the weight again once you reach 20 repetitions.
How Do You Finish Your Analysis?
The trend over a month, rather than from one workout to another, is what helps you adjust your core workout program. If your numbers are increasing regularly, then all is well! If your increase slows down, you can change things by doing the following:
- Switching exercises
- Resting more between workouts
If you notice a persistent loss of strength, then you need to both lower the weight and increase your rest time.
Conclusion
Only a well-maintained workout notebook can precisely show how your performance has changed over time. Do not just rely on your memory. Of course you can remember the numbers from your last workout. But how will you remember what you did a month ago? Also, if you change exercises, how will you remember what you did for that exercise when you introduce it again one or two months later? Your workout notebook is the best way to monitor your progress, and it is an important aid in creating future workout programs.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
Rest time between sets can vary
The rest time between sets can vary from 1 second to 1 minute, depending on the difficulty of the exercise as well as your goals.
How much rest time should you take between sets?
The rest time between sets can vary from 1 second to 1 minute, depending on the difficulty of the exercise as well as your goals. You should take
- more rest after difficult exercises like hanging leg raises or sit-ups,
- less rest after easier exercises like crunches,
- more rest when you are using heavier resistance, and
- less rest when you are using light resistance.
As a general rule, it is time to add another set when
- your breathing is almost back to normal, and
- you feel like your enthusiasm is overcoming any fatigue.
However, before beginning a new set, be sure that you are focused again:
- Know how many repetitions you have done.
- Focus once more on your goals.
At first, time yourself so that you adhere to the rest time you decided on. Timing yourself will help you be rigorous and avoid taking rest breaks that are too long. Keeping track of the time will also help you control the intensity and duration of your workout. Your goal should be to adjust your rest time more precisely.
Goal: Strengthen Your Core
If you want to strengthen your muscles, it is not a good idea to restrict your rest time too much. You need to allow your muscles the time they require to recover their strength completely. Heavily working a muscle that is not fully recovered is counterproductive. But you should not totally relax and fall asleep during your workout, either. A good average for a rest break is 45 seconds to 1 minute. But a rest break lasting more than 2 minutes between sets is too long.
Goal: Lose Inches Off Your Waist
Rest breaks between sets should be relatively brief: no longer than 30 seconds. A good strategy is to reduce your rest time progressively with each workout while striving to maintain (or even increase) your repetitions. For example, if you have done a workout with 30 seconds of rest time between sets, try to repeat that effort while taking only 25 seconds of rest. If, after several sets, you cannot keep up that pace, then increase your rest time to 30 seconds. During the next workout, try to do even more sets (or possibly the whole workout) with only 25 seconds of rest between sets.
Goal: Get a Cardio Workout Using Abdominal and Core Exercises
The ideal method here is to do circuits. That is, do different exercises one after the other with no real rest time in between. The only respite is during the transition from one exercise to the next. Throughout the workout, as the circuits become more and more difficult to accomplish, you can give yourself a 10-second break between each exercise.
Goal: Improve Your Athletic Performance
You should calculate your rest time based on the requirements for your sport. Thus, in sports with brief but intense explosive movements, follow the guidelines previously given for strengthening your core. In sports requiring both endurance and explosiveness, such as team sports, follow the guidelines previously given for losing inches off your waist. For pure endurance sports, follow the cardio model.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
The first 5 steps to creating the perfect core workout program
The very first step in creating your core workout program is to be specific when defining your goals. Are you working out for these reasons?
Set your goals.
The very first step in creating your core workout program is to be specific when defining your goals. Are you working out for these reasons?
- To get a six-pack
- To get a slimmer waist
- To maintain your cardiovascular health
and fitness - To increase your athletic performance
Often, your goals may be a combination of several of the items listed. However, if you do not define your goals well, it will be difficult to establish an optimal program. Write down your goals on paper so that you can read them before every workout.
Then, you need to quantify your goals. For example, I want to
- be able to see my abs in 3 months,
- lose 2 inches off my waist in 2 months, and
- double the number of sets I can do in 10 minutes to increase my endurance within 15 days.
The time frame and amount of progress for your goals must be realistic. Keep in mind that no one ever progresses as fast as desired. You might often feel that you have hit a plateau. But with a good program, a true plateau is rare. By quantifying your goals and creating monthly milestones, you will more easily be able to gauge your progress. Each step you achieve will serve as motivation to continue exercising. We provide some typical programs in part 6 of this book. These are basic plans, and you will be able to personalize them using various parameters that we describe next.
How many workouts should you do each week?
Your schedule will be the determining factor in answering this question. Unfortunately, your schedule is not always optimal. Just know that if you can work out only once a week, that is still better than not working out at all! You will still make progress. Working out twice weekly is a good minimum. The ideal scenario would probably be three core workouts per week. However, we recommend that you do no more than five workouts per week. Be aware that overtraining slows progress more than undertraining. Only very serious athletes will benefit from daily workouts.
Development
Ideally, you should begin with two workouts per week for a few weeks. When you feel ready, you can move up to three workouts per week. At first, do not go beyond these three weekly workouts. After three months of working out regularly, you could try four workouts per week.
On which days of the week should you exercise?
You should alternate exercise days with rest days. If this doesn't fit your schedule, do the best you can between what is ideal and what will work for you. Some options:
- One workout per week: Choose any day you like.
- Two workouts per week: Ideally, your core-specific workouts should be spaced out as much as possible. An example is Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday. In any case, give yourself at least one rest day between two core workouts. The exception is, of course, if you can exercise only on the weekends. Although doing back-to-back workouts is not ideal, you will still have the rest of the week to recover.
- Three workouts per week: The ideal configuration is to alternate a day of training with a day of rest. For example, work out on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This way your whole weekend is free. It is still possible to do two days of consecutive training (on the weekend, for example) and do the third workout on Wednesday. But you should avoid this as much as possible. The worst program would have you doing core workouts three days in a row. The only way to justify this is if your schedule absolutely requires it.
- Four workouts per week: Since there are fewer rest days in this schedule, you will have to work out two days in a row. But if you have a very flexible schedule, you could spread the four workouts over eight days instead of seven days. This way, one day of training will always be followed by one day of rest. The slightly longer training intervals will mean you get an optimal recovery. The only drawback is that your workout days will change from week to week.
Should you exercise once or twice per day?
Only champion athletes exercise more than once a day. And they do it only when preparing for a competition! For everyone else, it is better to exercise only once a day and not every day.
If you can work out only once a week because of your schedule, you might eventually want to divide that into two workouts: a session in the morning and one in the evening. You should consider that only after you exercise for a few weeks, though; that program is far from ideal.
The exception is if your goal is to lose inches off of your waist quickly. In this case, you could consider two workouts per day. In fact, doing a circuit of abdominal and core exercises will still burn fat even if the muscle is overworked and not in its optimal shape. Nonetheless, overall fatigue could result. If that happens, you will need to reduce the frequency of your workouts.
What time of day
should you exercise?
Some people prefer to train in the morning and others in the afternoon or evening. In fact, strength varies depending on the time of day. Some people are stronger in the mornings and weaker in the afternoons. For others, the opposite is true. These fluctuations are caused by the central nervous system and are completely normal. It is rare to find athletes who have consistent strength throughout the day.
Ideally, you should exercise when your muscles are the strongest. The majority of athletes are strongest around 6 to 7 p.m. This time works out well because it is when many people have the time to exercise.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
Keeping a workout notebook is important
It is very important to keep a workout notebook. It immediately helps you see what you did during your previous core workout.
Keep a Workout Notebook
It is very important to keep a workout notebook. It immediately helps you see what you did during your previous core workout. Make a small box where you can note the time you start your workout. Below that, write down when you finished. This way you will know exactly how much time you spent exercising. Measuring the time spent is an important factor, because if you rest longer between sets, your performance will increase but you won't necessarily get stronger. To truly compare two workouts, you must ensure they are approximately the same length.
Your workout notebook should be as precise as possible but still easy to maintain. Here is an example:
Crunch with a dumbbell on the chest:
- 5 lbs: 20 reps
- 10 lbs: 17 reps
- 15 lbs: 13 reps
- 20 lbs: 8 reps
Time: 5 min.
We know which exercise was done (crunch), the weight, the number of repetitions, the number of sets, and how much time it took.
Do the same for all workouts. This is how you will determine exactly what your goals are for your next workout.
Analyze Your Workouts
After each workout, analyze your performance by asking yourself these questions:
- What worked well?
- What did not work well?
- Why did it not work well?
- How can I make things better during my next workout?
- Start with a heavier weight because the first set might be too light (you did 20 repetitions).
- Carry this same increase in weight over to the second as well as the third sets.
- In the third set, the muscles start to get tired, because you lost four repetitions instead of three for an increase of 5 pounds in weight. You will have to stick with it to overcome this fatigue.
- In the last set, the loss of strength is accentuated with a loss of five repetitions for an additional 5 pounds. You must halt the rate at which you are increasing the weight so that you will be able to do more repetitions using a lower weight than last time. The new workout would look like this:
Crunch with a dumbbell on the chest:
- 10 lbs: 18 reps
- 15 lbs: 15 reps
- 17.5 lbs: 12 reps
- 20 lbs: 10 reps
Time: 5 min.
For the next workout, your goal will be to increase the number of repetitions using the same amount of weight. Increase the weight again once you reach 20 repetitions.
How Do You Finish Your Analysis?
The trend over a month, rather than from one workout to another, is what helps you adjust your core workout program. If your numbers are increasing regularly, then all is well! If your increase slows down, you can change things by doing the following:
- Switching exercises
- Resting more between workouts
If you notice a persistent loss of strength, then you need to both lower the weight and increase your rest time.
Conclusion
Only a well-maintained workout notebook can precisely show how your performance has changed over time. Do not just rely on your memory. Of course you can remember the numbers from your last workout. But how will you remember what you did a month ago? Also, if you change exercises, how will you remember what you did for that exercise when you introduce it again one or two months later? Your workout notebook is the best way to monitor your progress, and it is an important aid in creating future workout programs.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
Rest time between sets can vary
The rest time between sets can vary from 1 second to 1 minute, depending on the difficulty of the exercise as well as your goals.
How much rest time should you take between sets?
The rest time between sets can vary from 1 second to 1 minute, depending on the difficulty of the exercise as well as your goals. You should take
- more rest after difficult exercises like hanging leg raises or sit-ups,
- less rest after easier exercises like crunches,
- more rest when you are using heavier resistance, and
- less rest when you are using light resistance.
As a general rule, it is time to add another set when
- your breathing is almost back to normal, and
- you feel like your enthusiasm is overcoming any fatigue.
However, before beginning a new set, be sure that you are focused again:
- Know how many repetitions you have done.
- Focus once more on your goals.
At first, time yourself so that you adhere to the rest time you decided on. Timing yourself will help you be rigorous and avoid taking rest breaks that are too long. Keeping track of the time will also help you control the intensity and duration of your workout. Your goal should be to adjust your rest time more precisely.
Goal: Strengthen Your Core
If you want to strengthen your muscles, it is not a good idea to restrict your rest time too much. You need to allow your muscles the time they require to recover their strength completely. Heavily working a muscle that is not fully recovered is counterproductive. But you should not totally relax and fall asleep during your workout, either. A good average for a rest break is 45 seconds to 1 minute. But a rest break lasting more than 2 minutes between sets is too long.
Goal: Lose Inches Off Your Waist
Rest breaks between sets should be relatively brief: no longer than 30 seconds. A good strategy is to reduce your rest time progressively with each workout while striving to maintain (or even increase) your repetitions. For example, if you have done a workout with 30 seconds of rest time between sets, try to repeat that effort while taking only 25 seconds of rest. If, after several sets, you cannot keep up that pace, then increase your rest time to 30 seconds. During the next workout, try to do even more sets (or possibly the whole workout) with only 25 seconds of rest between sets.
Goal: Get a Cardio Workout Using Abdominal and Core Exercises
The ideal method here is to do circuits. That is, do different exercises one after the other with no real rest time in between. The only respite is during the transition from one exercise to the next. Throughout the workout, as the circuits become more and more difficult to accomplish, you can give yourself a 10-second break between each exercise.
Goal: Improve Your Athletic Performance
You should calculate your rest time based on the requirements for your sport. Thus, in sports with brief but intense explosive movements, follow the guidelines previously given for strengthening your core. In sports requiring both endurance and explosiveness, such as team sports, follow the guidelines previously given for losing inches off your waist. For pure endurance sports, follow the cardio model.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
The first 5 steps to creating the perfect core workout program
The very first step in creating your core workout program is to be specific when defining your goals. Are you working out for these reasons?
Set your goals.
The very first step in creating your core workout program is to be specific when defining your goals. Are you working out for these reasons?
- To get a six-pack
- To get a slimmer waist
- To maintain your cardiovascular health
and fitness - To increase your athletic performance
Often, your goals may be a combination of several of the items listed. However, if you do not define your goals well, it will be difficult to establish an optimal program. Write down your goals on paper so that you can read them before every workout.
Then, you need to quantify your goals. For example, I want to
- be able to see my abs in 3 months,
- lose 2 inches off my waist in 2 months, and
- double the number of sets I can do in 10 minutes to increase my endurance within 15 days.
The time frame and amount of progress for your goals must be realistic. Keep in mind that no one ever progresses as fast as desired. You might often feel that you have hit a plateau. But with a good program, a true plateau is rare. By quantifying your goals and creating monthly milestones, you will more easily be able to gauge your progress. Each step you achieve will serve as motivation to continue exercising. We provide some typical programs in part 6 of this book. These are basic plans, and you will be able to personalize them using various parameters that we describe next.
How many workouts should you do each week?
Your schedule will be the determining factor in answering this question. Unfortunately, your schedule is not always optimal. Just know that if you can work out only once a week, that is still better than not working out at all! You will still make progress. Working out twice weekly is a good minimum. The ideal scenario would probably be three core workouts per week. However, we recommend that you do no more than five workouts per week. Be aware that overtraining slows progress more than undertraining. Only very serious athletes will benefit from daily workouts.
Development
Ideally, you should begin with two workouts per week for a few weeks. When you feel ready, you can move up to three workouts per week. At first, do not go beyond these three weekly workouts. After three months of working out regularly, you could try four workouts per week.
On which days of the week should you exercise?
You should alternate exercise days with rest days. If this doesn't fit your schedule, do the best you can between what is ideal and what will work for you. Some options:
- One workout per week: Choose any day you like.
- Two workouts per week: Ideally, your core-specific workouts should be spaced out as much as possible. An example is Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday. In any case, give yourself at least one rest day between two core workouts. The exception is, of course, if you can exercise only on the weekends. Although doing back-to-back workouts is not ideal, you will still have the rest of the week to recover.
- Three workouts per week: The ideal configuration is to alternate a day of training with a day of rest. For example, work out on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This way your whole weekend is free. It is still possible to do two days of consecutive training (on the weekend, for example) and do the third workout on Wednesday. But you should avoid this as much as possible. The worst program would have you doing core workouts three days in a row. The only way to justify this is if your schedule absolutely requires it.
- Four workouts per week: Since there are fewer rest days in this schedule, you will have to work out two days in a row. But if you have a very flexible schedule, you could spread the four workouts over eight days instead of seven days. This way, one day of training will always be followed by one day of rest. The slightly longer training intervals will mean you get an optimal recovery. The only drawback is that your workout days will change from week to week.
Should you exercise once or twice per day?
Only champion athletes exercise more than once a day. And they do it only when preparing for a competition! For everyone else, it is better to exercise only once a day and not every day.
If you can work out only once a week because of your schedule, you might eventually want to divide that into two workouts: a session in the morning and one in the evening. You should consider that only after you exercise for a few weeks, though; that program is far from ideal.
The exception is if your goal is to lose inches off of your waist quickly. In this case, you could consider two workouts per day. In fact, doing a circuit of abdominal and core exercises will still burn fat even if the muscle is overworked and not in its optimal shape. Nonetheless, overall fatigue could result. If that happens, you will need to reduce the frequency of your workouts.
What time of day
should you exercise?
Some people prefer to train in the morning and others in the afternoon or evening. In fact, strength varies depending on the time of day. Some people are stronger in the mornings and weaker in the afternoons. For others, the opposite is true. These fluctuations are caused by the central nervous system and are completely normal. It is rare to find athletes who have consistent strength throughout the day.
Ideally, you should exercise when your muscles are the strongest. The majority of athletes are strongest around 6 to 7 p.m. This time works out well because it is when many people have the time to exercise.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
Keeping a workout notebook is important
It is very important to keep a workout notebook. It immediately helps you see what you did during your previous core workout.
Keep a Workout Notebook
It is very important to keep a workout notebook. It immediately helps you see what you did during your previous core workout. Make a small box where you can note the time you start your workout. Below that, write down when you finished. This way you will know exactly how much time you spent exercising. Measuring the time spent is an important factor, because if you rest longer between sets, your performance will increase but you won't necessarily get stronger. To truly compare two workouts, you must ensure they are approximately the same length.
Your workout notebook should be as precise as possible but still easy to maintain. Here is an example:
Crunch with a dumbbell on the chest:
- 5 lbs: 20 reps
- 10 lbs: 17 reps
- 15 lbs: 13 reps
- 20 lbs: 8 reps
Time: 5 min.
We know which exercise was done (crunch), the weight, the number of repetitions, the number of sets, and how much time it took.
Do the same for all workouts. This is how you will determine exactly what your goals are for your next workout.
Analyze Your Workouts
After each workout, analyze your performance by asking yourself these questions:
- What worked well?
- What did not work well?
- Why did it not work well?
- How can I make things better during my next workout?
- Start with a heavier weight because the first set might be too light (you did 20 repetitions).
- Carry this same increase in weight over to the second as well as the third sets.
- In the third set, the muscles start to get tired, because you lost four repetitions instead of three for an increase of 5 pounds in weight. You will have to stick with it to overcome this fatigue.
- In the last set, the loss of strength is accentuated with a loss of five repetitions for an additional 5 pounds. You must halt the rate at which you are increasing the weight so that you will be able to do more repetitions using a lower weight than last time. The new workout would look like this:
Crunch with a dumbbell on the chest:
- 10 lbs: 18 reps
- 15 lbs: 15 reps
- 17.5 lbs: 12 reps
- 20 lbs: 10 reps
Time: 5 min.
For the next workout, your goal will be to increase the number of repetitions using the same amount of weight. Increase the weight again once you reach 20 repetitions.
How Do You Finish Your Analysis?
The trend over a month, rather than from one workout to another, is what helps you adjust your core workout program. If your numbers are increasing regularly, then all is well! If your increase slows down, you can change things by doing the following:
- Switching exercises
- Resting more between workouts
If you notice a persistent loss of strength, then you need to both lower the weight and increase your rest time.
Conclusion
Only a well-maintained workout notebook can precisely show how your performance has changed over time. Do not just rely on your memory. Of course you can remember the numbers from your last workout. But how will you remember what you did a month ago? Also, if you change exercises, how will you remember what you did for that exercise when you introduce it again one or two months later? Your workout notebook is the best way to monitor your progress, and it is an important aid in creating future workout programs.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
Rest time between sets can vary
The rest time between sets can vary from 1 second to 1 minute, depending on the difficulty of the exercise as well as your goals.
How much rest time should you take between sets?
The rest time between sets can vary from 1 second to 1 minute, depending on the difficulty of the exercise as well as your goals. You should take
- more rest after difficult exercises like hanging leg raises or sit-ups,
- less rest after easier exercises like crunches,
- more rest when you are using heavier resistance, and
- less rest when you are using light resistance.
As a general rule, it is time to add another set when
- your breathing is almost back to normal, and
- you feel like your enthusiasm is overcoming any fatigue.
However, before beginning a new set, be sure that you are focused again:
- Know how many repetitions you have done.
- Focus once more on your goals.
At first, time yourself so that you adhere to the rest time you decided on. Timing yourself will help you be rigorous and avoid taking rest breaks that are too long. Keeping track of the time will also help you control the intensity and duration of your workout. Your goal should be to adjust your rest time more precisely.
Goal: Strengthen Your Core
If you want to strengthen your muscles, it is not a good idea to restrict your rest time too much. You need to allow your muscles the time they require to recover their strength completely. Heavily working a muscle that is not fully recovered is counterproductive. But you should not totally relax and fall asleep during your workout, either. A good average for a rest break is 45 seconds to 1 minute. But a rest break lasting more than 2 minutes between sets is too long.
Goal: Lose Inches Off Your Waist
Rest breaks between sets should be relatively brief: no longer than 30 seconds. A good strategy is to reduce your rest time progressively with each workout while striving to maintain (or even increase) your repetitions. For example, if you have done a workout with 30 seconds of rest time between sets, try to repeat that effort while taking only 25 seconds of rest. If, after several sets, you cannot keep up that pace, then increase your rest time to 30 seconds. During the next workout, try to do even more sets (or possibly the whole workout) with only 25 seconds of rest between sets.
Goal: Get a Cardio Workout Using Abdominal and Core Exercises
The ideal method here is to do circuits. That is, do different exercises one after the other with no real rest time in between. The only respite is during the transition from one exercise to the next. Throughout the workout, as the circuits become more and more difficult to accomplish, you can give yourself a 10-second break between each exercise.
Goal: Improve Your Athletic Performance
You should calculate your rest time based on the requirements for your sport. Thus, in sports with brief but intense explosive movements, follow the guidelines previously given for strengthening your core. In sports requiring both endurance and explosiveness, such as team sports, follow the guidelines previously given for losing inches off your waist. For pure endurance sports, follow the cardio model.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
The first 5 steps to creating the perfect core workout program
The very first step in creating your core workout program is to be specific when defining your goals. Are you working out for these reasons?
Set your goals.
The very first step in creating your core workout program is to be specific when defining your goals. Are you working out for these reasons?
- To get a six-pack
- To get a slimmer waist
- To maintain your cardiovascular health
and fitness - To increase your athletic performance
Often, your goals may be a combination of several of the items listed. However, if you do not define your goals well, it will be difficult to establish an optimal program. Write down your goals on paper so that you can read them before every workout.
Then, you need to quantify your goals. For example, I want to
- be able to see my abs in 3 months,
- lose 2 inches off my waist in 2 months, and
- double the number of sets I can do in 10 minutes to increase my endurance within 15 days.
The time frame and amount of progress for your goals must be realistic. Keep in mind that no one ever progresses as fast as desired. You might often feel that you have hit a plateau. But with a good program, a true plateau is rare. By quantifying your goals and creating monthly milestones, you will more easily be able to gauge your progress. Each step you achieve will serve as motivation to continue exercising. We provide some typical programs in part 6 of this book. These are basic plans, and you will be able to personalize them using various parameters that we describe next.
How many workouts should you do each week?
Your schedule will be the determining factor in answering this question. Unfortunately, your schedule is not always optimal. Just know that if you can work out only once a week, that is still better than not working out at all! You will still make progress. Working out twice weekly is a good minimum. The ideal scenario would probably be three core workouts per week. However, we recommend that you do no more than five workouts per week. Be aware that overtraining slows progress more than undertraining. Only very serious athletes will benefit from daily workouts.
Development
Ideally, you should begin with two workouts per week for a few weeks. When you feel ready, you can move up to three workouts per week. At first, do not go beyond these three weekly workouts. After three months of working out regularly, you could try four workouts per week.
On which days of the week should you exercise?
You should alternate exercise days with rest days. If this doesn't fit your schedule, do the best you can between what is ideal and what will work for you. Some options:
- One workout per week: Choose any day you like.
- Two workouts per week: Ideally, your core-specific workouts should be spaced out as much as possible. An example is Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday. In any case, give yourself at least one rest day between two core workouts. The exception is, of course, if you can exercise only on the weekends. Although doing back-to-back workouts is not ideal, you will still have the rest of the week to recover.
- Three workouts per week: The ideal configuration is to alternate a day of training with a day of rest. For example, work out on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This way your whole weekend is free. It is still possible to do two days of consecutive training (on the weekend, for example) and do the third workout on Wednesday. But you should avoid this as much as possible. The worst program would have you doing core workouts three days in a row. The only way to justify this is if your schedule absolutely requires it.
- Four workouts per week: Since there are fewer rest days in this schedule, you will have to work out two days in a row. But if you have a very flexible schedule, you could spread the four workouts over eight days instead of seven days. This way, one day of training will always be followed by one day of rest. The slightly longer training intervals will mean you get an optimal recovery. The only drawback is that your workout days will change from week to week.
Should you exercise once or twice per day?
Only champion athletes exercise more than once a day. And they do it only when preparing for a competition! For everyone else, it is better to exercise only once a day and not every day.
If you can work out only once a week because of your schedule, you might eventually want to divide that into two workouts: a session in the morning and one in the evening. You should consider that only after you exercise for a few weeks, though; that program is far from ideal.
The exception is if your goal is to lose inches off of your waist quickly. In this case, you could consider two workouts per day. In fact, doing a circuit of abdominal and core exercises will still burn fat even if the muscle is overworked and not in its optimal shape. Nonetheless, overall fatigue could result. If that happens, you will need to reduce the frequency of your workouts.
What time of day
should you exercise?
Some people prefer to train in the morning and others in the afternoon or evening. In fact, strength varies depending on the time of day. Some people are stronger in the mornings and weaker in the afternoons. For others, the opposite is true. These fluctuations are caused by the central nervous system and are completely normal. It is rare to find athletes who have consistent strength throughout the day.
Ideally, you should exercise when your muscles are the strongest. The majority of athletes are strongest around 6 to 7 p.m. This time works out well because it is when many people have the time to exercise.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
Keeping a workout notebook is important
It is very important to keep a workout notebook. It immediately helps you see what you did during your previous core workout.
Keep a Workout Notebook
It is very important to keep a workout notebook. It immediately helps you see what you did during your previous core workout. Make a small box where you can note the time you start your workout. Below that, write down when you finished. This way you will know exactly how much time you spent exercising. Measuring the time spent is an important factor, because if you rest longer between sets, your performance will increase but you won't necessarily get stronger. To truly compare two workouts, you must ensure they are approximately the same length.
Your workout notebook should be as precise as possible but still easy to maintain. Here is an example:
Crunch with a dumbbell on the chest:
- 5 lbs: 20 reps
- 10 lbs: 17 reps
- 15 lbs: 13 reps
- 20 lbs: 8 reps
Time: 5 min.
We know which exercise was done (crunch), the weight, the number of repetitions, the number of sets, and how much time it took.
Do the same for all workouts. This is how you will determine exactly what your goals are for your next workout.
Analyze Your Workouts
After each workout, analyze your performance by asking yourself these questions:
- What worked well?
- What did not work well?
- Why did it not work well?
- How can I make things better during my next workout?
- Start with a heavier weight because the first set might be too light (you did 20 repetitions).
- Carry this same increase in weight over to the second as well as the third sets.
- In the third set, the muscles start to get tired, because you lost four repetitions instead of three for an increase of 5 pounds in weight. You will have to stick with it to overcome this fatigue.
- In the last set, the loss of strength is accentuated with a loss of five repetitions for an additional 5 pounds. You must halt the rate at which you are increasing the weight so that you will be able to do more repetitions using a lower weight than last time. The new workout would look like this:
Crunch with a dumbbell on the chest:
- 10 lbs: 18 reps
- 15 lbs: 15 reps
- 17.5 lbs: 12 reps
- 20 lbs: 10 reps
Time: 5 min.
For the next workout, your goal will be to increase the number of repetitions using the same amount of weight. Increase the weight again once you reach 20 repetitions.
How Do You Finish Your Analysis?
The trend over a month, rather than from one workout to another, is what helps you adjust your core workout program. If your numbers are increasing regularly, then all is well! If your increase slows down, you can change things by doing the following:
- Switching exercises
- Resting more between workouts
If you notice a persistent loss of strength, then you need to both lower the weight and increase your rest time.
Conclusion
Only a well-maintained workout notebook can precisely show how your performance has changed over time. Do not just rely on your memory. Of course you can remember the numbers from your last workout. But how will you remember what you did a month ago? Also, if you change exercises, how will you remember what you did for that exercise when you introduce it again one or two months later? Your workout notebook is the best way to monitor your progress, and it is an important aid in creating future workout programs.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
Rest time between sets can vary
The rest time between sets can vary from 1 second to 1 minute, depending on the difficulty of the exercise as well as your goals.
How much rest time should you take between sets?
The rest time between sets can vary from 1 second to 1 minute, depending on the difficulty of the exercise as well as your goals. You should take
- more rest after difficult exercises like hanging leg raises or sit-ups,
- less rest after easier exercises like crunches,
- more rest when you are using heavier resistance, and
- less rest when you are using light resistance.
As a general rule, it is time to add another set when
- your breathing is almost back to normal, and
- you feel like your enthusiasm is overcoming any fatigue.
However, before beginning a new set, be sure that you are focused again:
- Know how many repetitions you have done.
- Focus once more on your goals.
At first, time yourself so that you adhere to the rest time you decided on. Timing yourself will help you be rigorous and avoid taking rest breaks that are too long. Keeping track of the time will also help you control the intensity and duration of your workout. Your goal should be to adjust your rest time more precisely.
Goal: Strengthen Your Core
If you want to strengthen your muscles, it is not a good idea to restrict your rest time too much. You need to allow your muscles the time they require to recover their strength completely. Heavily working a muscle that is not fully recovered is counterproductive. But you should not totally relax and fall asleep during your workout, either. A good average for a rest break is 45 seconds to 1 minute. But a rest break lasting more than 2 minutes between sets is too long.
Goal: Lose Inches Off Your Waist
Rest breaks between sets should be relatively brief: no longer than 30 seconds. A good strategy is to reduce your rest time progressively with each workout while striving to maintain (or even increase) your repetitions. For example, if you have done a workout with 30 seconds of rest time between sets, try to repeat that effort while taking only 25 seconds of rest. If, after several sets, you cannot keep up that pace, then increase your rest time to 30 seconds. During the next workout, try to do even more sets (or possibly the whole workout) with only 25 seconds of rest between sets.
Goal: Get a Cardio Workout Using Abdominal and Core Exercises
The ideal method here is to do circuits. That is, do different exercises one after the other with no real rest time in between. The only respite is during the transition from one exercise to the next. Throughout the workout, as the circuits become more and more difficult to accomplish, you can give yourself a 10-second break between each exercise.
Goal: Improve Your Athletic Performance
You should calculate your rest time based on the requirements for your sport. Thus, in sports with brief but intense explosive movements, follow the guidelines previously given for strengthening your core. In sports requiring both endurance and explosiveness, such as team sports, follow the guidelines previously given for losing inches off your waist. For pure endurance sports, follow the cardio model.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
The first 5 steps to creating the perfect core workout program
The very first step in creating your core workout program is to be specific when defining your goals. Are you working out for these reasons?
Set your goals.
The very first step in creating your core workout program is to be specific when defining your goals. Are you working out for these reasons?
- To get a six-pack
- To get a slimmer waist
- To maintain your cardiovascular health
and fitness - To increase your athletic performance
Often, your goals may be a combination of several of the items listed. However, if you do not define your goals well, it will be difficult to establish an optimal program. Write down your goals on paper so that you can read them before every workout.
Then, you need to quantify your goals. For example, I want to
- be able to see my abs in 3 months,
- lose 2 inches off my waist in 2 months, and
- double the number of sets I can do in 10 minutes to increase my endurance within 15 days.
The time frame and amount of progress for your goals must be realistic. Keep in mind that no one ever progresses as fast as desired. You might often feel that you have hit a plateau. But with a good program, a true plateau is rare. By quantifying your goals and creating monthly milestones, you will more easily be able to gauge your progress. Each step you achieve will serve as motivation to continue exercising. We provide some typical programs in part 6 of this book. These are basic plans, and you will be able to personalize them using various parameters that we describe next.
How many workouts should you do each week?
Your schedule will be the determining factor in answering this question. Unfortunately, your schedule is not always optimal. Just know that if you can work out only once a week, that is still better than not working out at all! You will still make progress. Working out twice weekly is a good minimum. The ideal scenario would probably be three core workouts per week. However, we recommend that you do no more than five workouts per week. Be aware that overtraining slows progress more than undertraining. Only very serious athletes will benefit from daily workouts.
Development
Ideally, you should begin with two workouts per week for a few weeks. When you feel ready, you can move up to three workouts per week. At first, do not go beyond these three weekly workouts. After three months of working out regularly, you could try four workouts per week.
On which days of the week should you exercise?
You should alternate exercise days with rest days. If this doesn't fit your schedule, do the best you can between what is ideal and what will work for you. Some options:
- One workout per week: Choose any day you like.
- Two workouts per week: Ideally, your core-specific workouts should be spaced out as much as possible. An example is Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday. In any case, give yourself at least one rest day between two core workouts. The exception is, of course, if you can exercise only on the weekends. Although doing back-to-back workouts is not ideal, you will still have the rest of the week to recover.
- Three workouts per week: The ideal configuration is to alternate a day of training with a day of rest. For example, work out on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This way your whole weekend is free. It is still possible to do two days of consecutive training (on the weekend, for example) and do the third workout on Wednesday. But you should avoid this as much as possible. The worst program would have you doing core workouts three days in a row. The only way to justify this is if your schedule absolutely requires it.
- Four workouts per week: Since there are fewer rest days in this schedule, you will have to work out two days in a row. But if you have a very flexible schedule, you could spread the four workouts over eight days instead of seven days. This way, one day of training will always be followed by one day of rest. The slightly longer training intervals will mean you get an optimal recovery. The only drawback is that your workout days will change from week to week.
Should you exercise once or twice per day?
Only champion athletes exercise more than once a day. And they do it only when preparing for a competition! For everyone else, it is better to exercise only once a day and not every day.
If you can work out only once a week because of your schedule, you might eventually want to divide that into two workouts: a session in the morning and one in the evening. You should consider that only after you exercise for a few weeks, though; that program is far from ideal.
The exception is if your goal is to lose inches off of your waist quickly. In this case, you could consider two workouts per day. In fact, doing a circuit of abdominal and core exercises will still burn fat even if the muscle is overworked and not in its optimal shape. Nonetheless, overall fatigue could result. If that happens, you will need to reduce the frequency of your workouts.
What time of day
should you exercise?
Some people prefer to train in the morning and others in the afternoon or evening. In fact, strength varies depending on the time of day. Some people are stronger in the mornings and weaker in the afternoons. For others, the opposite is true. These fluctuations are caused by the central nervous system and are completely normal. It is rare to find athletes who have consistent strength throughout the day.
Ideally, you should exercise when your muscles are the strongest. The majority of athletes are strongest around 6 to 7 p.m. This time works out well because it is when many people have the time to exercise.
Read more about Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
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