Strong to the Core

Bill Starr
Supercharge Your Power Center    Part 2

To recap: The center of your body—hips, legs, glutes, abs and lumbars—makes up the core of
strength. You must give specific attention to those muscle groups if you’re seeking consistent
and long-term gains. Front and back squats will take care of the hips, glutes and legs if you go
low—not just below parallel, but extremely deep. One of the reasons I insert the front squat
into athletes’ routines is that it forces them to hit rock bottom. After doing front squats for a
few months, they can go just as low on the back squat.

The lower back is often referred to as the keystone of strength. I’ve stated that good mornings
were my exercise of choice for the lumbars. You can do them with a rounded back, a flat back
or while sitting on a bench. In this installment we’ll go into form points for the good
mornings, as well as an alternative and a few other exercises that can strengthen the core.

Do good mornings on your light day, right after squats. Since the squat session isn’t nearly as
demanding as on the heavy or medium days, you should have plenty of strength left in your
lower back for the specific exercises. Doing them right after squatting is beneficial in a couple
of ways. Squats flush blood into the lumbars, glutes and hamstrings, and because those groups
are all directly involved in the execution of a good morning, they’re better prepared for the
work to follow. Besides, after handling relatively heavier weights for front or back squats,
you’ll feel that the poundages selected for the good mornings are light in comparison, at least
for the first few sets.

Many avoid doing good mornings because they’re so demanding, a test of your grit. Yet it’s a
truism of strength training that the tougher the exercise, the greater the result, and they bear
fruit rather quickly. Once you get into the habit of doing them regularly, they never get any
harder. Of course, they never get any easier either, but if you can do an exercise one time, you
can do it again. Also keep in mind that you aren’t expected to handle 50 percent of your best
squat weight for eight to 10 reps on the good mornings right away. That may take a couple of
months; you must first learn correct form because technique is critical on them.

There are several things you can do to make good mornings less intense, however, such as
locking the bar into your upper back. Invariably, beginners rest the bar across their backs
passively and grip it lightly. That lets the bar move during the lift, and it’s quite irritating and
distracting. Typically, they attempt to pull their necks away from the discomfort, which only
makes matters worse because it sets the bar closer to the spine, causing even more pain.
Sometimes the bar hurts more than the exercise itself and prevents the athlete from being able
to concentrate on form.

Regardless of the size of your traps, you need to elevate them and create a cushion of muscle
on which to place the bar. It works equally well for petite ladies and hulks. Extend your traps
up and hold them there while you lock the bar against them, and maintain that position
throughout the exercise.
Place your feet a bit closer than shoulder width. You may want to try turning your toes in
slightly. Once you have the bar locked firmly on your back, bend your knees and lower your
upper body until your back is below parallel. Try to place your chest on your thighs. Several
of my athletes have been so flexible that they could look back between their legs at the bottom
of a good morning.

After you bend your knees, don’t bend them any further or straighten them at all. They stay in
exactly the same position from start to finish. The up-and-down motion must be smooth and
controlled, not fast and herky-jerky. Also, don’t fall into the lower position. Rather, pull your
upper body down into it, then recover with the bar under control. On the light and moderate
sets you can knock out reps without ever coming fully erect. Once the weights get heavy,
though, it’s better to stand up, lock your knees, reset, bend them again and proceed with the
next rep.

Here’s another useful tip. Just before you start the movement, tighten all the muscles in your
body from traps to feet and think about gripping the floor with your toes. That will help
establish a very solid base and make the lift much easier. The lower you can go, the more
muscles you activate. You’ll quickly discover that when you attempt to cut off the exercise, it
becomes much harder. A short-range move doesn’t involve nearly as many muscles, which is
why you’re doing it in the first place. Establish the pattern of going low with the lighter
warmup sets, and you’ll find that you can do the same when the weights get demanding.

One more tip. As soon as you finish squatting, unload the bar and start your good mornings
without any break. That takes advantage of the fact that the groups you work on the good
mornings are thoroughly primed and ready for the stress. Meanwhile, you should move
through your sets expeditiously, as opposed to dawdling between them. That serves two
functions. Warm muscles respond much better than those that have cooled off, and it helps
you get the exercise out of the way. Every sane trainee wants to get good mornings finished as
quickly as possible. My athletes have a saying: “Once my good mornings are done on
Wednesday, I’m done for the week.” Not entirely correct, but the point is well taken.

Your goal on good mornings is to eventually use 50 percent of what you’re squatting for eight
to 10 reps. That may take a while, but there’s no great rush. Stay with that ratio until you
reach 225 on the good mornings, even if you plan to move your squat to 450. At that juncture,
in order to add more lower-back work to your routine, you can do an extra set or two, either
with the 225 or a lighter poundage. The rationale for limiting the good mornings to 225x8-10
goes to the changes your body must make in order to handle heavier weights. You have to
move your hips way back to counterbalance the bar, and that changes the nature of the
exercise from a pure lower-back, glute and hamstring movement to one that involves other
muscle groups.

That’s not always a negative, however; on the contrary, it can be very helpful. The exceptions
to the 225-pound limit are Big Pups—men who weigh 250 pounds or more. Most of them can
hold the correct positioning throughout the performance of a good morning with much more
than 225. As long as they’re using good technique, I let them run the numbers up as high as
they want.

In addition, some strength athletes—powerlifters, throwers in the field events and strongman
contestants—can benefit from doing heavy good mornings even when they break strict form.
That’s because they’re hitting groups in their back, hips and legs that they use in their sports.
Whenever athletes choose to go beyond 225 on good mornings, I lower their reps to fives. It’s
a lot less difficult to hold full concentration on five heavy reps than eight or 10. A handful of
my athletes could exceed 400 pounds for five reps, but for the majority it’s smart to stay with
the 225 limit.

Even though I believe good mornings are the best exercise for building lumbar strength (with
a nice bonus for the glutes and hamstrings), I’m aware that some people cannot do them in
any fashion: flat, rounded back or while seated. The good mornings cause a pain that is quite
different from what they feel from the exertion of doing the exercise. Then there are people
who can do them all right but really hate them or want to build some variety into their lower-
back work.

Almost-straight-legged deadlifts fill the bill as an alternative. Almost-straight because you

Whenever I put athletes on almost-straight-legged deads, they figure they’ll be a great deal
easier than good mornings. Well, yes and no. Deadlifts are easier in the beginning, when you
use light weights, but once you know form and the base is solid and the numbers start
climbing, the final sets are as demanding as they are on good mornings.

As with the good mornings, I have a poundage goal for almost-straight-legged deads that’s
based on the lifter’s back squat. The deadlift needs to be three-quarters of a person’s best
squat for eight to 10 reps. Translation: Those who squat with 400 pounds should do their last
set of deads as 300x8-10. It’s not a cakewalk, yet it’s necessary to keep the balance of
strength—to work the lumbars, glutes and hamstrings diligently enough to keep pace with the
other strength exercises in the program.

Use straps. While you may not need them early on, they’re helpful when the weights get
heavy and you have to concentrate more intently and not be concerned about gripping the bar.
I have my athletes use 25-pound plates instead of the heavier 45s because it forces them to
reach down deeper, bringing more muscles into action. Use a shoulder-width grip, feet more
narrow than wide, with toes forward. Step up close to the bar so your shins are touching it.
Tighten your body, bend your knees, strap onto the bar, flatten your back, and let your hips
stay high. Then think about pushing your feet down through the floor to set the weights in
motion. The bar should glide up your legs. Stop at midthigh and lower the bar back to the
floor close to your legs and in a controlled fashion. Don’t get into the habit of rebounding the
plates off the floor to help you start the next rep. The bottom of the movement is the meat of
the lift, and you lose that benefit when you rebound. Stop at the bottom for a second, and then
proceed with the next rep.

To back up just a bit. The reason I have athletes use 25-pound plates is to keep them from
standing on benches or blocks to do almost-straight-legged deads. They do that to get a fuller
range of motion, but the smaller plates serve the same purpose and are more productive and
safer for the lifter and the equipment. Drop an Olympic bar across a bench, and you can kiss
that bent buddy good-bye. Standing securely on the floor, however, athletes can give their full
attention to the exercise and not have to think about their balance.
When I start athletes out with smaller plates, they invariably scoff because they’re only lifting
95 pounds on the first set. After three additions of 50 pounds, however, they’re suddenly
handling 245 for reps, and they’re no longer scoffing but sweating. That’s usually when I
have them stop the first time out, unless they have very strong lumbars and hamstrings. Then I
let them go up to 295. They all feel it the next morning.

The biggest form fault on almost-straight-legged deads occurs on the final set or sets. After
the fourth or fifth rep athletes lower their hips to relieve their tiring lumbars and sometimes
hamstrings. By the end of the set they’re doing a conventional deadlift.

Although the deadlift is an excellent core exercise, if your goal is to isolate the lumbars and
hamstrings, you must maintain correct form on almost-straight-legged deads. You must lock
your hips in place and not let them dip down when the going gets tough. If you can’t do that,
use less weight and throw in an extra set or some additional reps until you’re strong enough
on the movement to hold the correct position.

As with the good mornings, do almost-straight-legged deads immediately after you finish
your squats on your light day, and move through your sets with purpose. Take advantage of
having your lumbars, glutes and hamstrings warm and ready for more work. On the first three
sets load the bar, do the exercise; load, lift; load, lift; load and then slow the pace for the final
work set or sets.

On both good mornings and almost-straight-legged deads, alternate sets and reps every other
week. Week one: Do four sets of 10. Week two: Do five sets of eight, going a little heavier
than in week one. That may seem like no significant change, but you’ll find that it is. Many
athletes prefer to do good mornings two weeks in a row, then switch over to almost-straight-
legged deads for a couple of weeks. Others find that staying with one or the other exercise for
six to eight weeks works best. Then they move to the other for the same length of time. Do
whatever fits, just so you include a reasonable number of good mornings during the year. It’s
so tempting to leave them out entirely.

The conventional deadlift is a terrific core exercise, second only to the full squat. Like the full
squat it hits the large muscles in the back, hips and legs in a concentrated manner.

Unless you’re planning to enter a deadlift or powerlifting contest, use straps. They allow you
to handle more weight and concentrate on your technique rather than your grip. Set your feet
at shoulder width, and strap onto the bar outside your legs. The bar should be tucked up
against your shins and your front deltoids out over the bar. Flatten your back, and lower your
hips so they’re parallel or below parallel. Setting them high gives you a leverage advantage,
but only if you’re able to hold that position throughout the lift. The bar and your hips should
move upward at exactly the same rate. If you can’t hold that high hip posture, lower them a
bit. Keep your eyes front, not down.

Tighten all your muscles from ankles to neck, and then drive your feet down through the floor
to set the bar in motion. Follow through that initial move, and bring the bar up your legs
smoothly. After you lock it out, take a breath and lower it back to the floor under control,
maintaining a very flat back.

I find it’s helpful to alter the sets and reps for the deadlift at every session. That makes every
workout a challenge, and the different programs help establish a wider base and improve peak
strength. Alternate four sets of eight, five sets of five and six sets of three. Go through the
cycle twice; then go after a max single. Do three sets of five as warmups, and then single out.

For variety, try some wide-grip or sumo-style deadlifts, where you grip the bar between your
legs. They hit the muscles in the hips and legs differently from conventional deadlifts and are
a nice change in the yearly routine. The key form point for sumo-style deads is that you must
keep your upper body erect. Tip forward even slightly, and the bar will run out front, making
the lift difficult to complete.

An excellent core exercise that used to be a part of every strength athlete’s routine but is
rarely done any longer is the hack lift. Hack lifts attack the adductors and abductors in a
unique fashion. They’re easy to learn and require only a barbell and some plates. Straddle the
bar and grip it with one hand in front of your body and the other behind. It’ll take some trial
and error to determine exactly where to grip the bar in order to balance it properly. Your back
needs to be very flat and your torso upright, since you want your hips and legs to provide the
power for the movement. Your back and arms play minor roles. They remain straight
throughout. However many reps you decide on, do half of them with one hand in front, and
then change around so your trailing hand is in front.

Straps aren’t necessary for hack lifts. In fact, they’re a burden because of the trouble you’ll
have attaching them to the bar on the hand behind your back. Plus, you’re not going to be
using huge amounts of weight, which means gripping the bar isn’t a problem. Use the same
set-and-rep formula I recommended for deadlifts, alternating eights, fives and threes.

I’ve noted in this space in the past that hyperextensions and reverse hypers are great exercises
for warming up the core muscles before a session and useful for increasing the total workload
at the end of one. If you have a well-padded hyperextension bench or a reverse hyper machine
available with built-in resistance, you can make either version into a primary core exercise.

For back hypers, wrap a towel around a 10-, 25- or 45-pound plate, place it on your upper
back, and do as many reps as you can. While the form is basic, keep a few things in mind.
Make sure your knees are bent just a bit, remembering the no-locked-knee rule when working
your lumbars and hamstrings. Also, don’t come up past parallel, which is potentially harmful
to your lower back and which adds nothing to the exercise. Parallel is high enough, and higher
is risky. Finally, make sure you do each and every rep precisely, a smooth up-and-down
stroke. Often when athletes tire, they start to twist and jerk about. That’s a no-no. Far better to
do fewer reps and do them all perfectly.

I haven’t mentioned abs this time because I went into so much detail on how to strengthen
them last month. Just be sure to work them consistently and deliberately, for they’re important
in establishing a strong core.

If you’re serious about getting bigger and stronger, organize your programs around core
exercises.

 Editor’s note: Bill Starr was a strength and conditioning coach at Johns Hopkins University
from 1989 to 2000. He’s the author of The Strongest Shall Survive—Strength Training for
Football, which is available for $20 plus shipping from Home Gym Warehouse. Call (800)
447-0008, or visit www.Home-Gym.com.