Forget crunches — elite gymnasts share 2 tips for better core workouts
Georgia Jones/Courtesy of KJ Johnson
- Gymnasts have elite core strength.
- Try the hollow hold exercise and variations to build core muscle and strength without a gym.
- Stay consistent and make steady progress instead of taking on too much at once.
Take your core workouts to the next level with simple techniques recommended by elite gymnasts.
Having a strong core is essential to success in gymnastics, according to KJ Johnson, a student-athlete at Louisiana State University who helped her team win the 2024 NCAA women's national championship title.
"When you first start gymnastics, the core is the main thing. They always tell us to keep our core tight," she said.
Training your core the right way and engaging your abs correctly can help you build muscle and strength more effectively, even if you're not an Olympian or D1 champ.
The hollow hold exercise builds a stronger core without a gym
Working out as a D1 athlete involves an intensive schedule, Johnson told Business Insider in an interview coordinated by creator subscription platform Fanfix, where Johnson shares details of her life and workouts.
"It's on the go 24/7," Johnson said.
In addition to training gymnastics skills, Johnson said she's also passionate about lifting weights to boost her performance and make her more durable for tough training sessions and competitions.
But one of her favorite core exercises is a movement you can do at home in just a few minutes without any equipment
The hollow hold exercise is a simple bodyweight movement that involves lying on your back and pressing your lower back into the floor to fire up your core muscles while holding your legs above the ground and extending your arms overhead.
Try it, and you'll likely feel the burn in your abs within 30 seconds.
Once you've mastered the basic move, you can add in more challenging variations of the exercise like:
- Hollow rocks: while holding the hollow body position, gently rock back and forth, keeping your core tight
- V-ups: extend your feet up over your hips as you reach your hands up to toward your toes in a "V" shape
- Scissor kicks: from a hollow hold with legs extended, bring your legs together and cross one leg over the other. Return to the start position and repeat with the other leg on top.
Johnson routinely incorporates these hollow hold moves into her workouts.
"Whether it's upper body or lower body or just a cardio day, I will always do core at the end," Johnson said.
Focus on consistency
Team USA gymnast Fred Richard's training sessions can take seven hours of the day.
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In addition to drilling techniques, Richard spends an extra hour a day of training so he can perform his best, he told Business Insider in an interview about his partnership with the energy drink brand Celsius, which fuels his workouts.
Richard said the extra time is mostly taken up by yoga, which keeps him flexible and prevents injury, along with physical therapy.
But no single exercise has been key to his success; he swears by a training technique of planning ahead to achieve his goals, Richard told Business Insider in an interview about his partnership with the energy drink brand Celsius.
"I think the biggest thing I've learned in my sport is whatever you want to do, the first step is creating a system for it," Richard said.
A common fitness mistake is going all-in on a goal for a short period of time, which can backfire if you're not able to keep up with the effort long-term.
Instead, Richard said it pays to build small habits and think about making progress in terms of months instead of days.
"It's not, Hey, I want to get stronger. Let me work really hard today on strength. That's not going to solve your problem. When I think I want to get stronger and more flexible, I say, okay, in the next six months, what's something I can do every single day?" Richard said.