To get that ripped and powerful midsection, you need the best sports for your abs and core that work more than just your abdominal muscles. Your abdomen has multiple layers of muscle including soft tissues, blood vessels, and nerves. Even though you can't feel them or see them, they are extremely important in keeping your whole body stable and strong.
If you are looking for sporting activities that can give you a six-pack, engaging in sports that work both your ab and core muscles are key. They must be aggressive sports that require the coordination of your lower and upper body and they should also naturally activate and stabilize your torso. The rational movement is essential in generating force and power in your extremities.
A sport that ensures these movements are repetitive and constant will build up your muscles which including your obliques, and your traverse muscles. Sports are more effective than doing millions of crunches and sit-ups because they require you to be extremely flexible. A sit-up can sometimes cause you to shorten instead of lengthening your muscles.
What Are The Perfect Sports For Working Your Ab And Core?
Volleyball
The process of blocking, digging, and spiking in volleyball and jumping up and down works great for your abs and core. Players constantly wait to serve which causes their core muscles to become taught and ready for an explosive amount of action. For you to spike during a game, your upper body must become tense and rotate sharply to deliver strength to your arms and shoulders. This similar rotation exercises can also be performed at the gym, but when playing volleyball, they are done better.
Kayaking
This has got to be the most aggressive ab workout of all time. The powerful paddling motions and strong abdominal rotations shall build up your core and stomach muscles to your chest, back and shoulders. The obliques shall be especially challenged whenever you try to make sharp hairpin turns or when you try to maintain a balance against a strong current. Kayaking is a great cardio workout that helps in burning plenty of fat. It is also arguably the most challenging activity that requires you to have a very strong and stable core to remain upright.
Swimming
There is no way you can swim without having to contract your abs. It’s just not possible. For you to cut through the water, you must stabilize your abdominal muscles and remain streamlined in a horizontal posture. When you have a strong core, you shall be able to anchor your body which shall help you kick more strongly, and also rotate from right to left with each stroke of your arms.
Swimming also helps to strengthen your breadth of core muscles entirely and your speed does matter in this case. Doing this also burns your calories quicker, and enables your obliques and abs to remain tighter for a longer time. Paddling in slow motion can force your arms and legs to do more work and become strong as well.
Cross-Country Skiing
This type of skiing builds your cardiovascular strength and also burns hundreds of calories, but it can be challenging for your upper body and core. The main drawback, in this case, is that you can only manage to do it during winter. When its off-season, you can keep the exercise going by using an elliptical machine. To maintain balance, you should perform a series of trunk exercises to engage your abs from the navel area.
Yoga
Yoga by itself is extremely beneficial for building your body strength and stomach muscles due to the poses. The use of poses such as the plank pose can help you build your balance and core strength. You can also further enhance the benefits of yoga by ensuring that you practice deep, relaxing and rhythmic breathing exercises. As you keep progressing in your practices, you shall be able to balance poses such as the crow, which may seem very hard at first.
Soccer
Soccer is very good for building your abs. it makes use of sprinting, and this requires an explosive pump of your legs and arms rhythmically. On the other hand, heading and kicking the ball demands you to contract your lower and upper body in rotation and also propelling the ball with force works great for your entire body.
Also Read: These Hip Flexibility Stretches Can Boost Sports Performance
The Best Sports For Your Abs And Core Conclusion
So, if you are looking to get a six-pack, then playing any one of the above sports will work wonders for you. The beauty of sports is that they do not just work on one type of muscle, but your entire body as well. So you can get an overall workout while also tackling that hard-to-reach midsection.
