The Inchworm Is a Simple, Effective Core Move

If you’ve ever played a sport – even if it was just youth soccer or a leisure club – you’ve likely gone through a series of warm-up exercises that included a movement called inchworm. The maneuver is accessible to all types of people (including wild kids), and it’s even more effective than you might have guessed if you kept moving through the moves before your workout or competition. The key to getting the most out of the exercise is to focus on every single detail.

For Men’s Health Fitness Director Ebenezer Samuel, CSCS, the inchworm is a great opportunity to work out your abs in ways that go beyond your typical crunch-to-static plank combo. “Every now and then you need a different kind of core movement,” he says. “Not a move that will make you tired or make your abs feel fried, but a move that will help your abs feel great, that will help you challenge a bit of stability, that will and will help warm your core Might challenge your multiplanar stability a little more than you might think. ” Along with the benefits to your core, you’ll also move more than other static stretches and stretch your hamstrings more than you might expect.

Those are some of the advantages of such a seemingly basic exercise – not to mention that you can do this exercise almost anywhere without the need for equipment. Just find enough space to take a plank position and you’re good to go.

Photo credit: Men’s Health

Before you recreate the inchworm of your youth, however, take a moment to learn the subtle keys of exercise from Samuel and Men’s Health Fitness Editor, Brett Williams. This is how you get more out of your training.

How to do the inchworm

Keep your legs straight – until you can no longer

To get the nice hamstring stretch that we are looking for at the beginning of the exercise, you need to keep your legs straight. Start with your feet just over shoulder width apart, then hang from your hips to bend down and place your hands on the floor. As you descend, you want to keep your legs as straight as possible – but for some people, this means bending your knees. That’s a good thing. Everyone has a different level of flexibility.

The story goes on

But the goal is to give up the squat. “You want to get as far as keeping your legs as straight as possible because the straighter you keep them, the more you’re going to get that really good hamstring stretch,” says Samuel.

Go slow it down

The inching to which the name of the move refers is created when you move from a stooped position onto the plank by moving your hands forward. This is where most of the benefits come from. But you don’t want to rush it or you’ll throw yourself off balance. Go slow

“This is the part where you can explore your core a little and explore the stability of the core,” says Samuel. However, it’s important to make sure the raised rump remains stable when you put one hand in front of the other. “I think about the hips and shoulders on the floor all the time,” he continues.

Own your pushups

Once you’ve brought your hands to the end point, your focus shouldn’t let up. Now is your chance to get even more benefit from the exercise. When you’re in this spot, you’re essentially holding a plank.

As with a regular plank, there are a few things you can do to make the static position a great core move. First, be sure to keep your spine straight without rounding your back or squeezing your pelvis. Second, make sure you contract your glutes, core, and shoulders by squeezing these muscles.

Get it right up

Getting back to the starting position shouldn’t be as easy as just getting up. Instead, you should keep the focus until you get to the top.

“Let’s take the opportunity when we get up to use this as a chance to get your hips in proper extension,” says Samuel. “We’re essentially coming back from a Romanian deadlift.” Squeeze your glutes while standing, keeping your hips and shoulders straight, and stepping back with your hands.

Do you want to master even more moves? Check out our entire Form Check series.

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source https://www.bisayanews.com/2021/09/23/the-inchworm-is-a-simple-effective-core-move/