Exercise Library

Ab Wheel Rollout

Rolling a wheel out in front of you and dragging it back. One of the hardest things you can ask the abs to do: resist the spine extending under a long lever.

Banded Dead Bug

A dead bug while pressing a band overhead. The band pulls your ribs up, so the abs have to work harder to keep the back flat.

Banded Pallof Press

Pressing a band straight out from your chest while it tries to twist you. Anti-rotation work with no machine needed.

Banded Woodchop

A diagonal chop across the body against a band. Trains rotation under load, which almost nothing else in a normal session does.

Bear Crawl

Crawling on hands and toes with the knees hovering. Full-body conditioning that hammers the shoulders and the anti-rotation muscles at once.

Bear Plank

A plank on hands and toes with the knees hovering an inch off the floor. Shorter lever than a full plank, far more demanding than it looks.

Bird Dog

From all fours, extending one arm and the opposite leg while the torso stays still. A staple of lower-back rehab and a genuinely useful warm-up.

Cable Pallof Hold

The Pallof press held at full extension for time instead of pressed for reps. Pure anti-rotation, and the version that exposes how long you can actually hold the position.

Cat-Cow Stretch

Arching and rounding the spine on all fours. Moves every segment of the back through its range and is the standard opener for a warm-up.

Copenhagen Plank

A side plank with the top leg resting on a bench and the bottom leg held in the air. Brutal adductor work, and well known for keeping groins healthy.

Decline Sit-Up

A sit-up on a decline bench with the feet anchored above the head. The angle keeps the abs loaded through the part of the range a floor sit-up gives away.

Dragon Flag

Lowering the whole body from a shoulder stand while gripping a bench behind your head, keeping everything rigid. Famously hard, and worth working toward.

Half Burpee

A burpee without the push-up and the jump: squat, kick back to a plank, jump the feet in, stand. Keeps the conditioning and drops the impact.

Half-Kneeling Pallof Press

A Pallof press from one knee. Taking the stance away means the core cannot borrow stability from your legs.

Hanging Knee Raise

Knees drawn to the chest while hanging from a bar. The scaled version of the hanging leg raise, and the one most people should be doing.

Heel Tap

Lying with knees bent, crunching side to side to tap each heel. Simple side-bending work for the obliques.

Hollow Body Hold

A held banana shape on your back with the lower back pressed flat. The gymnastics staple, and the position every other core exercise borrows from.

Hollow Rock

The hollow body hold, rocking back and forth. Adds a dynamic demand without letting the position break.

L-Sit Hold

Supporting yourself on your hands with the legs held straight out in front, body making an L. Enormous demand on the abs, hip flexors and triceps together.

Plank Jack

A plank with the feet jumping in and out like a jumping jack. Adds a conditioning demand to a hold that is otherwise static.

Plank Shoulder Tap

A high plank where you tap alternate shoulders. Taking a hand away forces the core to stop your hips rotating, which is what it is really for.

Push-up Shoulder Tap

A push-up followed by a shoulder tap on each side. Pressing strength and anti-rotation work in the same rep.

Seated Knee Tuck

Balanced on your backside, extending and tucking the legs. Works the lower abs and asks you to hold a leaned-back torso the whole time.

Side Plank Hip Dip

A side plank with the hip lowered toward the floor and lifted back up. Turns the hold into reps and loads the obliques through a range.

Squat Thrust

Hands down, feet kicked back to a plank and jumped in again, without standing up between reps. The engine of the burpee, trained on its own.

Toe Touch

Legs held vertical, crunching up to reach for your toes. A short-range crunch that keeps the hip flexors out of it.

Torso Twists

Rotating the upper body side to side with the hips still. Loosens the mid back before pressing, rowing or anything overhead.

V-Up

Lying flat, then folding at the hips to bring straight arms and straight legs together above you. A sit-up and a leg raise in one rep.

Weighted Russian Twist

A Russian twist holding a dumbbell or plate. Loads the rotation, which is what makes the obliques work rather than just move.

Single Leg Circles