What do I mean by hollow body position?

It’s characterized by a shortening of the anterior part of the torso (abs are contracted) and a posterior pelvic tilt (to achieve the posterior pelvic tilt, think about squeezing your butt cheeks together). Ultimately, doing this puts your body in a hollow, or banana-shaped, position—hence the name.

If you’re in a hollow hold position on the floor, it means just your bum and lower back only are touching the floor. Your shoulder blades and extended legs shouldn’t be touching the floor, your heels should hover just a couple inches off the ground, and your arms should be extended straight overhead squeezing your ears.

1. Deadbug Holds

2. Wall Deadbugs

4. Straight-Legged Deadbug Holds

5. Tuck-Ups

The Hollow Mash-Up

If you think your hollow body position is already pretty solid, try this hollow body mash-up test. Can you do it unbroken?

10 V-Sits
15 Tuck-Ups
20 Hollow Rocks
30 Second Hollow Hold

You'll blast abs, obliques, lower back muscles, and glutes by combining sprinter situps and gator rolls in this at-home, no-equipment core finishing move from Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S.

The best part: You can do this core series anywhere.

• Start with your back on the ground, lower back glued to the floor, arms and legs slightly off the ground. Contract your abs and lift legs and shoulder blades off the ground. You're now in a hollow hold.
• Roll over to the left onto your belly and then your back quickly; do this without letting arms or legs touch the ground. You should land in a hollow hold.
• Go right into sprinter situps: Maintain a hollow hold and elevate your torso while tucking your right knee to your chest. Then return to a hollow hold and repeat the move on the other side. That's 2 reps.
• Gator roll to the other side; now do 4 sprinter situps.
• Repeat the pattern until you've completed the round of 10 sprinter situps.
• Rest 1 minute; do 3 sets.

Anti-rotation exercises build core strength by helping you resist force pulling at your sides. Here's how that can make you a stronger runner.

• Bird Dog With Yoga Block
• Weighted Offset Dead Bug
• Plank Pillar March
• Pallof Press
• Single-Arm Press With Balance
• Single-Arm Swing

Perform each move for 40 seconds, going from one move to the next (trying not to rest in between). One round is six moves, which takes about four minutes. Repeat twice for an eight-minute workout.

• High Plank Opposite Limb Reach
• Superman
• Flutter-Kick Leg Lift
• Alternating Side Plank
• Seated Core Twist
• Plank Mogul

Build strength with this challenging series of moves.

• Walking Squat to Walking Plank
• Cat-Cow to Bear Plank Shoulder Tap
• Side Plank With Cross-Body Crunch
• Reverse Crunch to Straight-Leg Raise
• Hollow Hold to V-Sit

How to use this list: Clayton suggests doing each exercise in the lower abs workout below for 30 to 45 seconds before every run. “This will fire up your muscles so they’re active when you need them most,” Clayton says. Clayton even demonstrates them herself, so you can nail the perfect form. You will need a mat and a set of sliders. Two hand towels or paper plates will work. too.
1 Downward Dog Split to Elbow Knee Hold. ...
2 Side Plank With Reach-Through. ...
3 Slider Plank to Pike. ...
4 Slider Bear Plank. ...
5 Hollow Hold to V-Sit. ...
6 Straight Leg Pulse Up. ...
7 Diagonal Mountain Climber.

The best part? You don’t need any equipment at all. Here’s how to do it:

• Start in a hollow body position: Lie on your back. Press your lower back into the ground. Lift your shoulder blades off the ground one inch, and your legs off the ground — all without letting your lower back lose contact with the ground. Tighten your abs to drive your lower back into the ground.

• Do a sprinter sit-up, contracting your abs then bringing right elbow to left knee; your right leg stays straight. Do 1 rep.

• After that one rep, keep your right elbow connected to your left knee; you’re now in corkscrew hollow rock position. Do one hollow rock, then return to hollow body position.

• Do 2 sprinter sit-ups; after the second one, stay in corkscrew hollow rock position and do 2 hollow rocks. Continue this pattern, laddering up to 5 sprinter sit-ups and 5 corkscrew hollow rocks.

• Rest 30 to 45 seconds. Do 3 sets per side.

The Workout

Directions: Do the workout in the video above twice a week. You can add it to a routine that’s already in your program, or do it on its own. Perform the exercises as a circuit, completing reps of each move in turn for 30 seconds and resting 30 seconds in between. That’s one round. Repeat for two total rounds.

How to do each workout: See the exercises and circuits below. Repeat each exercise for 30 seconds, followed by a 15-second rest between moves, for a 5-minute circuit. You can add one circuit to the end of your run as a finisher or use it as a part of your cross-training workouts.

• X-Mountain Climber
• Squat Thrust
• Plank March
• Windshield Wiper
• Crab Kick

The Workout
Do this as a circuit. In weeks 1 and 2, do each move for 30 seconds, then rest 15; do 3 rounds. In weeks 3 and 4, work for45 seconds, then rest 15; do 4 rounds.

1. Two-Step Getup
2. Ab Runner
3. Weighted Hollow Hold
4. Side Plank Leg Lift
5. Inverse Crunch

Conditioning Finisher

1. Renegade Row
2. Dumbbell Swing

Perform each exercise for 20 reps each with little to no rest

Straight Leg Sit-Up
Tip: Keep the arms reaching for the ceiling the whole time

Regression: No weight; traditional situp; classic crunch

Double Crunch
Tip: Bring the elbows to the knees. Extended position is a hollow body hold.

Regression: No weight

Leg Lowers
Tip: Try to keep legs as straight as possible with lower back pressed into the mat.

Regression: No weight

https://www.instagram.com/p/B1dycDonFDD/

EXERCISES:

1. Push-Up (5-10 reps)
2. Shoulder Taps (10-20 total)
3. Plank Hold (30-60 seconds)
4. Air Squat (10-12 reps)
5. Elevated Glute March (12-20 reps total)
6. Supine Hip Flexion (12-20 reps total)
   Complete for 3 -5 rounds!

Building a strong, stable core to help you power your runs means targeting every part of your core—including your obliques.

Try holding 30 seconds on each side for 3 to 5 rounds during your next core workout, then work your way up to holding the position for a full minute at a time. If you’re starting from the scaled version on your knees, extend those legs once you can easily last through the 30 second mark.

“Nine times out of 10, this is the ab routine I use, and I give to all of my clients,” she says. “It’s easy to modify to all athletic levels, and it’s, of course, a killer ab routine.”

• HIGH PLANK
• DEADBUG
• FULL ROLL-UP
• TABLETOP HEEL TAP
• HIP TIP CRUNCH
• BICYCLE CRUNCH
• QUADRUPED PLANK TAP

• Alternating Straight Leg Toe Touches
• Flutter Kicks With Knee Tucks
• Plank With Leg Lifts
• Side Plank Hip Dip With Leg Lift
• Leg Lifts With Pulses
• Straight Leg Sit-Ups

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dpYawm_lv0

How to do it: Perform three rounds of squats with overhead ball hold, mountain climbers, plank shoulder taps with ball on toes, planks to rolling pike, sit-ups, and jackknife ball passes. Rest for one minute between rounds.

• Squat With Overhead Ball Hold
• Mountain Climber
• Plank Hands to Elbows
• Plank to Rolling Pike
• Sit-Up
• Jackknife Ball Pass