🏋️ Why Your Core Routine Might Be Holding You Back

PLUS: Train Your Core for Stability, Not Just Crunches

AuthorAuthor

Michael Pender & Ryan Engel
June 26, 2025

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TODAY’S LEVEL UP:

  • Coach’s Corner: Why Your Core Routine Might Be Holding You Back

  • Pro Tip: Train your core for stability, not just crunches

  • Question from Our Readers: What’s better—planks or sit-ups?

  • Fit Trivia: Which 90s action sequel featured a scene where the star did shirtless incline sit-ups while hanging upside down in a prison cell?

Why Your Core Routine Might Be Holding You Back

Still doing endless crunches hoping to see abs? It might be time for an upgrade.

Your core isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s about function and power.

When trained right, it can:

  • Protect your spine during big lifts

  • Improve posture and movement

  • Make you stronger in nearly every exercise

The problem? Most core routines only target the front.

You need to train anti-rotation, stability, and bracing—not just flexion.

Swap crunches for:

  • Plank variations

  • Dead bugs

  • Pallof presses

  • Farmer’s carries

Your core will thank you—and your gains will reflect it.

FROM RYAN’S DESK

Waiting for the right moment? The right support? The right plan? Stop. No one’s coming. This is your fight. Your responsibility. Your future. Be the man who leads himself. That’s where true power begins.

Pro Tip:

Train Your Core for Stability, Not Just Crunches

Want visible abs? That’s nutrition.

Want a core that performs and lasts? That’s bracing and control.

Next time you train,

Ask:

“Does this challenge me to stay stable under tension?”

If the answer is yes, you’re on the right track.

Question from Our Readers:

“What’s better—planks or sit-ups?”

– Derek, 51, from Tampa

Planks. Hands down.

Here’s why:

  • Planks train bracing and posture, which transfers to real-world strength

  • Sit-ups often stress the lower back, especially if done fast or sloppy

  • Planks can be progressed endlessly: side planks, weighted planks, plank-to-pushups, etc.

If you really want abs that work (and not just look good), start holding a solid plank for 60–90 seconds and build from there.

Fit Trivia: Which 90s action sequel featured a scene where the star did shirtless incline sit-ups while hanging upside down in a prison cell?

Answer: Universal Soldier: The Return (1999) Jean-Claude Van Damme brought the heat (and abs) in this sequel with one of the most memorable “prison workout” scenes of the decade. Gravity-defying sit-ups, shredded physique, and no machines required—just pain, precision, and purpose.

Ryan Engel, Intl. Fat Loss Coach

Ryan is a leading fitness coach and one of the most known professionals in the space.

He specializes in Body Recomposition and visual body aesthetics and has reached millions worldwide with his powerful messaging. He brings a unique, non-nonsense, yet sophisticated approach to body change.

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Publisher: Ryan Engel

Editor: Michael Pender

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