A Footballer’s Guide to “Core Training”

You know the drill: at the end of training, we are going to do our “core and stability” circuit, which is usually a mix of plank holds for time, russian twists (usually unweighted), and maybe some sit-ups with a partner holding your feet to the ground so you cannot cheat.

The next time that plank holds are in your program or in your head, do me a favor. Pause for a moment and ask yourself (or, if you trust yourself, ask your coach) one simple question: “Why?”

I have posed this question to innumerable sport coaches (also plenty of strength coaches!), personal trainers, and my own athletes in the last eight years. The response is usually within the ballpark of “for core development” or “abs” or, again, a German’s favorite term, “stability training”.

Planks have long been hailed as a staple of “abs” training, of “core” workouts, both in the fitness realm, as well as in sports performance. Influencers on Instagram and beyond hardly make this better, with 5min weighted holds daily being heralded as the ultimate fitness quality.

Unfortunately, planks themselves are often poorly executed due to form issues, lacking hip and back strength and coordination, or simply from fatigue. Performing holds for time as a workout progression also offers very little assistance, as current research concedes that plank holds have little, if any, benefit after 60 seconds, and people are hesitant to put a real, challenging weight on their backs.

So, when we ask for a deeper “why”, we might just discover that planks are not as effective for abdominal hypertrophy (the visible six-pack), for stability, for lumbo-pelvic coordination or for performance as we might have hoped. And, while I will never argue that planks are useless and ineffective, but I personally encourage my athletes and the coaches I mentor to find more efficient, transferrable alternatives with less risk and more benefit.

I am not a promoter of six-packs. Those with the genetic circuitry, naturally low body fat, or the discipline (insanity?) of God Themself to stick out a stringent, long-term diet plan are blessed and should, of course, be appreciated. But abs don’t win games. Unless you are a bodybuilder or physique competitor, they don’t bring home the titles or trophies in football either.

True, athletic core strength and coordination is about being stable, strong, explosive, and capable of moving and limiting movement effectively while producing aggressive amounts of force against the ground, the ball, your opponent, or whatever else whenever required.

So ditch your sit-ups and planks for a while. Let’s have some fun and get results that make you a better, more resilient player on the pitch as well.

Dead Bugs Variations

I am a huge fan of dead bugs and find that they are unmatched as far as core development is concerned. Almost every person on the planet can benefit from them - a high performance athlete, a grandmother with arthritis who just wants to play with her grandkids on the ground, and a postpartum athletes (“moms”) who need pelvic floor strength, and those with desk jobs who sit or drive all day will all reap benefits from weekly DBs.

Dead bugs are actually THAT girl!

Even if you are emotionally attached to plank holds, try out a dead bug. It is essentially the same static hold, but upside down with back to the ground.

And, no, just because you are lying flat on the floor does not mean your life gets easier. Prepare for the experience of pinning your lower back to the floor while holding, squeezing, and/or pulling and pushing. Drive your entire back actively into the ground (“pin your belly button to your spine”) throughout the range of movement. The purpose of a dead bug is to train more than just abs: hips, glutes, limb coordination, control over the pelvis, and general core tension are all developed through this movement. It is exquisitely easy to adjust, with many variations, and can be easily regressed to a lighter movement or progressed to a more difficult version.

Prescription:

Exercise Selection: start with the hold and then the squeeze, moving into opposite and same-side movement of the limbs. You can then experiment will loading, such as pull-overs, band holds, one-side squeezes, and more.

Sets x Reps/Time: 3-5 sets of 8-12 repetitions OR for time, such as a 15, 20, or 30-second holds or squeezes.

Heavy Carries

Remember when “midline stability” was the buzzword of the 2015 powerlifting (or was it CrossFit?) scene? Those were the days.

Whether midline stability is a critical performance factor that we are all inherently lacking if we don’t do 400m of heavy sandbag carries per day or not, doing heavy carries with one or both hands can and will set you up for success.

Once again, by adding this to your program, you stand to gain more forearm and grip strength, shoulder stability and strength, balance, and more “static holding” time than you bargained for with planks! This is also a brutal exercise to learn how to stay upright in a 1v1 situation on the pitch; you learn NOT to lean.

Grab two dumbbells or kettlebells (or one, because Suitcase Carries will annihilate your obliques and your life in the best way), find a strip of walkable space, and get to work!

Prescription:

Weight: actually heavy, but also movable.

Sets x Reps/Time: You can plan by number of steps (“20 per side”), by distance (“20-40m”), or by time (“20-60sec”). I like to use time. Start with 4x15sec, moving up by 10-15sec intervals each week.

Weighted Hold Variations

Holds are not the devil - in fact, isometric movements can be loaded up and be incredibly helpful for developing strength and general athleticism.

Quadruped-Position Holds (possibly with weight on the back), weighted Hollow Holds, and weighted plank or Bird Dogs Holds all offer an intensity via weight and body position that a classic, unweighted plank for time cannot offer.

Bonus points: the weights can be progressed or regressed as needed, so it is simple to vary and still get results!

Prescription:

Weight: entirely dependent on which movement you take and how strong you are. Start with less and work up to more as technique improves.

Sets x Time: A classic 3x15-30sec hold is a good starting point. Duration has to be adjusted for the weight - less time when more weight is introduced or the other way around.

Crawls

Before you say anything, just know that crawls will make you sore, sweaty, and jealous of infants.

Although crawls of all kinds and animals and insects can be recruited into a core-specific exercise, I am partial to the bear crawl. Here, we work on all-fours (in the quadruped position) and are tasked with conditioning, balance, strength, and coordination - all at once!

Yeah, bear crawls are that good. Put a foam roller on your lower back and don’t let it fall. Now try it backward. Suddenly you will have the sensation of pulling and pushing the earth away with your whole body at once.

Planks who?? Bye!

Prescription:

Sets x Reps: depending on the type of crawl and the purpose of the exercise, you can use distance, time, or steps for this movement. Think 3x10m forward and backward, or “crawl a box” x4.

Dynamic Plank-Adjacent Exercises

Renegade Rows, Shoulder Taps, Bird Dogs, Plank-To-Pushups, Plank Pull-Throughs, and Quadruped Rows are all dynamic versions of a plank hold, meaning we are in or adjacent to plank position and, while holding this isometric position, there is some kind of movement to coordinate while holding.

This could be through the row of a dumbbell or kettlebell while the rest of the body holds, or through the movement from underarm to extended arm hold repeatedly. Get creative here.

Adding a dynamic factor to a classic hold adds another stimulus: it adds intensity either through more weight that has to be moved, by requiring more balance and coordination and focus, and by keeping it interesting. These exercises also engage other nearby, relevant muscle groups that work with the core to help you perform.

Prescription:

Sets x Reps: When trying to coordinate multiple aspects at once in a movement, I recommend starting with a lower weight and more repetitions, just to groove in the movement. As soon as the coordination itself is not an issue, add weight and reduce repetitions to fit your goals.

…and many more!

There is an incredibly large library of possible core movements, be it a medicine ball side slam, a Zercher squat, a Copenhagen hold…

…but the truth of the matter is that the core almost never works in isolation. It always needs assistance and works in tandem with other muscle groups, for example the hamstrings to control the pelvis or the ab/adductors to coordinate forward and lateral movement of the legs and hips.

We need more variation than a basic plank hold in a position that hardly helps us perform in our sport, is unloaded and based solely on time. There is only so much stimulus in a plank hold that can make you better, and they are simple to adapt to. Doing many long plank holds will get you fit for plank holds, and doing them with poor form helps no one and may raise injury risk.

Once planks have been mastered, it is absolutely time to move on and integrate more variety and dynamicism into your core routine.

And yes, bringing in more variety is even possible on the pitch without equipment. You just need to get creative or find a partner.